cambridge as history: the russian revolution module. russia in 1900

CAMBRIDGEASHISTORYREVISION

THERUSSIANREVOLUTION

18941917

5.1 RUSSIAIN1900

TIMELINE OF THE EVENTS 1894-1906November 1894 – Nicholas II becomes the tsar

February 1904 – Russo-Japanese war begins

January 1905 – Start of the 1905 revolution

October 1905 - October Manifesto issued

November 1905 – Sergei Witte becomes prime-minister

April 1906 – New constitution introduced and first duma convened

TIMELINE OF THE EVENTS 1906-1918July 1906 – Pyotr Stolypin becomes prime minister

September 1911 – Stolypin assassinated

July 1914 – First world war begins

March 1917 – Nicholas II abdicates and provisional government established

October 1917 – October Revolution led by Lenin

July 1918 – Nicholas II and family murdered by bolsheviks

RUSSIA IN 1900 – PEASANTS / MIDDLE CLASSPopulated by many different racial groups: Russians, Armenians, Balts, Georgians, Slavs, Poles, Ukrainians; held together only by loyalty to the tsar.

The Romanov dynasty: ruled Russia for almost 300 years.

Peasants: most people in Russia were peasants; emancipated in 1861, they remained poor and burdened by heavy taxes; worked in communes (mirs), which varied greatly depending on area, quality of soil, etc.; frequent famines; widespread poverty.

Middle class: small; largely landowners who had no interest in improving farming.

RUSSIA IN 1900 – TSAR NICHOLAS IINicholas II: became tsar in 1894; committed to autocracy; not interested in modernisation or reform; increasingly isolated from the people of Russia.