Under Czar Nicholas’s rule in World War 1, there were 1,700,000 to 2,254,396 total military deaths and 410,000 civilian deaths. As the head of the Imperial Russian Army, each and every one of these deaths was blamed on Czar Nicholas, the Czar of Russia. The wrath of his people later led to the the Russian Revolution and the end of the Romanov dynasty. Czar Nicholas II was an autocratic and inefficient ruler, which caused political opposition, neglect, and internal rebellions.…
All state leaders across the whole period held qualities that didn’t please the whole of the population in Russia. During the reign of Alex II, the government showed some strength with controlling opposition from the peasantry through the emancipation of the serfs in 1861. It was thought that to prevent revolt from below, this was a key movement that had to be made, and therefore prevented future unrest and opposition. However, the new liberated serfs had to deal with more laws concerning land ownership with led to further unrest and repression in the peasantry by the state. The state moreover, appeased the most vocal critics but in such a way that allowed dissenters to express themselves in the knowledge that Tsar’s decision would be final. Compared to Nicholas II’s reign, this showed a decisive leading technique, as Nicholas’s style was more conservative, and showed weakness, relying on others’ advice to fuel his decisions. A key failure throughout his period was the mixed rule attempt with the Duma introduced from 1906 to 1917, it is arguable that Nicholas II made concessions only to keep opposition temporarily at bay and that his aim was to uphold the principle of autocracy.…
| * The land given to the peasants was not of good quality, the peasants also had to pay the state long term installments. The peasants were also responsible to the village commune that forced them to pay their installments and not be free of the land. * The local assemblies couldn’t attain much because of the interruption of bureaucrats afraid that it would turn into a self –government. * Alexander’s reform policies led to increasing reform movements that led to a populist group assassinating him, making his son turn against any reform and go back to repression. His reform policies also set the foundation for the fall of Russia’s Monarchy in 1917.…
Alexander ll became Tsar in 1855 after succeeding Tsar Nicholas l and was regarded as a “liberator” throughout his time as Tsar, until an attempted assassination attempt on him in 1866 were he turned more reactionary. Alexander ll was assassinated in March 1881, he was not radical and believed in a slow and progressive change, due to this he gathered much opposition to him and was eventually killed by The Peoples Will, and this kicked off ‘the era of great reforms’ [5].…
Peter the Great made many reforms in the interest of Russia such as the reorganization of the Government, in the military, the economy and also in the appearance of his social structure to reflect western ideals. After a visit West did he decide that Russia was not suitable for the modern advancements of their neighboring European nations. Not only did Peter adopt the standard of living of the western European world; his efforts sped up Russia's development greatly.…
Progress in Russia was slow until the reign of Alexander ll. He was known as the Tsar liberator for his radical reform during his reign from 1855 to 1881. His most important reform was the emancipation of the serfs. When Alexander lll became Tsar it was the end of any political reform. His reign was known for being one of political repression.…
After the war in 1856 Nicholas's son Alexander II decided to move Russia toward modern needs and social changes. Alexander believed that his reforms would allow Russia to compete with western Europe for world power. The first of Alexander's reform was an official order for freeing the serfs in 1861. However, putting an end to serfdom only went halfway. Instead of individual peasants, peasant communities were given about half the farmland in the country, nobles kept the other half and the government paid the wealthy people for their land. However, each peasant community had 49 years to pay the government for the land it had received. Therefore, while the serfs were legally free the money that was owed still tied them to the land. Political and…
An aspect of the Soviet Union that changed between 1801 and 1939 was the shift of the government from a czar ruled totalitarian government to a more distributed communist government. In March of 1801, Paul I was killed and his son Alexander I of Russia was appointed the ruler. Czar Alexander I was not too harsh of a leader. He led a government that was not too strict upon its people unlike his father. But this changed when the next czar came into power, Nicholas I in 1825. Anybody who was leading or supporting the Decembrist Revolt was executed. Nicholas I undid everything that Alexander I did. He censored media, ran secret police, and exiled 150,000 people. Alexander II was the next one in power who was extremely different from Nicholas I. He freed the serfs but did not let them leave. But he did allot power to the people by creating local councils called Zemstvos to give them control of their land and women the right to vote. Alexander III went back into a strict totalitarian government, censoring media and deploying secret police. Alexander III also wanted all Russian minorities to speak Russian and convert to Russian Orthodox. Russian Jews were specifically targeted; they had to live in ghettos and eventually many Jews fled to the United States. The last of the czars in this time period, Nicholas II, came into power in 1894. A decade after his appointment, over three thousand workers grouped outside the czar’s palace asking for reforms. The czar was not home, but he still did not approve the order to fire at the protestors. In order to bring back his name, he enabled a national assembly called Duma that would allow the people of Russia to elect. As one of his reforms, he gave more land to…
A reform Alexander lll did reverse, was the freedom of speech for the press. Alexander ll took away the heavy censors that were on the Russian press. He did this because he wanted Russia to become of a liberal country, with freedom of speech, and religion. Alexander ll wanted Russia to become equal like England, and France. They both had no censors on their press. Alexander lll didn’t want to become like the western countries, he had conservative views, and he thought heavily censoring the press would stop the spread of radicalism. Alexander lll also heavily censored books, and many ones banned. This was to stop the ideas, and views of western countries entering Russia and causing uprising against the Tsar.…
The creation of the Oprichnina marked something completely new, a break from the past that served to diminish the power of the boyars and create a more centralized government. "...the revolution of Tsar Ivan was an attempt to transform an absolutist political structure into a despotism... the Oprichnina proved to be not only the starting point, but also the nucleus of autocracy which determined... the entire subsequent historical process in Russia."[20] Ivan created a way to bypass the Mestnichestvo system and elevate the men among the gentry to positions of power, thus suppressing the aristocracy that failed to support him.[21] Part of this revolution included altering the structure of local governments to include, "a combination of centrally appointed and locally elected officials. Despite later modifications, this form of local administration proved to be functional and durable." [22] Ivan successfully cemented autocracy and a centralized government in Russia, in the process also establishing "a centralized apparatus of political control in the form of his own guard."[23] The idea of a guard as a means of political control became so ingrained in Russian history that it can be traced to Peter the Great, Vladimir Lenin, who "... [provided] Russian autocracy with its Communist incarnation",[24] and Joseph Stalin, who…
Bruce Lincoln, writing decades later in 1990, took a different look at the causes of the Great Reforms. The Crimean War was the catalyst that made it apparent that Russia had to reform to maintain her status internationally. Serfdom impeded the military and the industrial side of modern warfare because it did not have a proper labor force for it. He argues that giving millions of peasants their freedom scared the autocracy and the nobles. Lincoln highlights the efforts of “enlightened bureaucrats who believed that serfdom was a moral blight on Russia as well as a impeding her development that pushed for the reforms.” Following the death of Tsar Nicholas I these enlightened bureaucrats took advantage of Alexander II’s attention to public opinion…
The 1905 Revolution was the build up of the dissatisfaction of Russia’s people with the government. Tsar Nicholas II had turned to key individuals such as Peter Stolypin to save the Tsarist regime. Stolypin, Russian Prime Minister from 1906 – 1911, had addressed a number of problems which threatened Tsarism by appeasing opposition and therefore putting down revolutionary attitudes. His reforms certainly did help gain back some of the Tsar’s supporters, however due to his assassination in 1911, it is hard to determine whether his reforms would have saved Tsarism.…
The Tsarist autocracy has succeeded for more than three hundred years, but the Russian Revolution that occurred on November 1917 ended the long term autocracy. During this time period, Tsar Nicholas II was the leader of Russia and indeed the last one. He caused Russia’s downfall and made many Russians frustrated about the government. The Tsar did not acknowledge the nation's problems and failed to improve the lives of the citizens. As the Russians struggled with limited rights and lack of help from Nicholas II, they had to make a move. Although peasant unrest led to the Russians protesting and rebelling against the country, the Russian Revolution occurred because of Tsar Nicholas II’s weak leadership, in which he failed to accomplished the Russian’s goals, horribly managed the military, and thought that the system should not change.…
Russian Revolution and Tsar Nicholas II The Russian Revolution, a 20th century period of political and social change, had many factors, the most impactful being Tsar Nicholas II’s incompetence. His self-centered goals and struggles to meet the people's needs caused uprisings throughout Russia. We see Tsar Nicholas II’s incompetence in his overall management ability, how he reacted to Bloody Sunday, and his delegation of power to his wife. When Nicholas II became Tsar in 1896 following his father's death, Russia was already behind in the world of industrialization.…
Revolts were frequent, 1467 of them since 1800. Nicholas I saw this and created nine secret committees to find a way to end serfdom. Alexander II was part of one of those committees. He was also there to be the acting Tsar when Nicholas I was away. Therefore Alexander II was the most prepared heir to the Tsar the empire has ever had. Alexander made a very good start in change when he became Tsar. He stopped all army recruitment, which meant it was no longer forced to enter the army, nor was it a punishment for crimes. Applying for military was completely voluntary. Alexander also released all of the Decembrists, who are people who tried to overthrow his father in 1825 and the Poles, who revolted in 1830. He also lifted restrictions for travelling, 26,000 passports were granted in 1859. Allowing people to travel to Western Europe and learning more about liberal culture and allowing Russia to catch up with the rest of…