Discontent and Opposition to
the Tsar
The nature of Russian society in 1914
• Russia is a vast country stretching from the
Eastern European plain, across the Ural
Mountains and the plains of Siberia to the Far
East.
• Approximately 110 million people lived in Russia
in 1900, 97 million of which were peasant
farmers, three million were industrial workers
• About one million made up the aristocracy and
approximately half a million were from the
professional classes.
• Russia was socially and economically backward in
contrast to the other Great Powers, although it was
beginning to undergo rapid industrialisation in the cities
as it tryed to catch up with the USA, Germany, Great
Britain, France and Japan.
• The vast majority of Russians were peasant farmers who
lived an almost medieval existence - dependant upon
the soil and the local aristocracy.
• By 1900 the peasantry was growing
rapidly and there was a hunger for
land that was mainly owned by the
aristocracy.
The government of Nicholas II in
1914
• The Romanov Tsar Nicholas II, was an
absolute monarch who ruled from
St Petersburg.
• This situation changed Following a revolution
in 1905 when the Tsar was forced to accept
the establishment of the Duma, a Russian
parliament.
• However, this organisation was weak and essentially
rubber-stamped decisions made by the monarchy and its
council.
• Although the Duma theoretically limited Nicholas II’s
power, he could still be described as an absolute monarch
with absolute power over the Russian people.
• The Romanov dynasty
maintained its position
through the traditional
loyalty of powerful sections
of Russian society:
Traditional loyalty
– The most important of these
were the aristocracy, the
Church, the bureaucracy, the
police and the Russian army.
– Each of these powerful elites
was interested in preserving
their own positions and the
power of the monarchy.
• By 1914 Russia seemed to
be very old fashioned, even
medieval, in contrast to the
other Great Powers.
Opposition groups
• Opposition groups such as Kadets, Social Revolutionaries
and Social Democrats were suppressed and many of the
Tsar’s political enemies were forced to live abroad.
• The Kadets, (Constitutional Democrats) were a middle-class
liberal party that wanted peaceful political change leading to the
handover of power to an elected duma. They were the most
moderate of the opposition groups.
• The second major opposition group were the Social
Revolutionaries wanted to seize power by revolution. They
would change the system of land ownership to make life better
for the peasants.
• The third group were the Social Democrats. They
followed the communist the writings of Karl Marx. He
predicted that workers would rise up against the middle
and upper classes and seize control of the means of
production (factories and land). Eventually a classless
society would be created - communism.
• The communists aimed to overthrow the Tsar, the
aristocracy and the Church and replace them with small
councils or Soviets, which would represent the ordinary
people and control the means of production on their
behalf.
• The communists were split amongst themselves:
– The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, or Lenin. who
believed a communist revolution in Russia could only be
achieved by a small elite of professional revolutionaries under
his command.
– The other communist group were the Mensheviks. The
Mensheviks also wanted a communist revolution, but one that
was democratic and not controlled by one person or a small
group.
The Tsar’s Opponents and
Supporters
Against the Tsar
For the Tsar
The Kadets
The nobles
The Social Revolutionaries
The Church
The Social Democrats
The wealthy middle class
The Bolsheviks and the
Mensheviks, (after 1903)
Many peasants and workers
who were traditionally loyal to
the Tsar.
The Tsar’s response to
opposition
• He could be completely ruthless to people who
protested.
• He used the army to put down street demonstrations
• He had a highly effective secret police force called the
Okhrana
• Once arrested suspects could be tortured, imprisoned
or sent into exile in a remote part of the country.
• The work of the Okhrana kept illegal opposition groups
weak and disorganised.
• By the early 1900s most of their leaders had fled
abroad.
First World War
The First World War was a disaster for
Russia. Many Russians laid all the blame
on the Tsar and came to see his
overthrow as the only way to save the
country from a crushing defeat.
Discontent by 1916
• Russia was losing the war:
– It was impossible to supply the huge army of 6 million
men, with Russia’s small amount of industry.
– Inefficiency and corruption of Tsar’s adminstrators led
to waste & confusion
– Transport system could not cope supplying both
towns and the army
– Army used outdated tactics and its generals were
poor leaders.
• In 1915 the Tsar made himself Commander-inChief of the army
– now soldiers could directly blame him for their misery
and the high casualties.
Discontent
by 1916
• The Tsar left the running of the country to his wife the
Tsarina:
– She refused to take any advice from the Duma so she was blamed
for everything that went wrong.
– The Tsarina was German – this made her unpopular – rumours she
was trying to sabotage the war effort.
• The Tsarina listened to Rasputin:
– His character and the many scandals made him unpopular.
– Some believed he had a satanic hold over the royal family and he
was leading Russia to her doom.
– Wild rumours that they were both German agents
– He was murdered in December 1916 but by this time it was too late
Crisis in the Cities
• Throughout much of the war, Russian cities
suffered from a shortage of food:
– Bad harvests
– Poor transport arrangements
– Loss of large areas of rich farmland to the Germans
• The shortage meant food prices went up 700%
in 3 years of war, but wages only increased
200%.
• By the beginning of 1917, workers in towns were
faced with starvation.