Origins and nature of the Russian Empire
What fraction of Earth's land surface does Russia comprise?
1/6th.
Which social class made up the vast majority of Russia's population?
Peasants.
Russia's interest in what region brought it into direct conflict with Japan?
Manchuria.
What were the two main things promised by Nicholas II in the October Manifesto?
Series of basic rights (eg: conscience, speech, association). The establishment of an elected parliament called a Duma.
How did the Russian people react to Russia's decision to join WW1?
They were patriotic and united in their devotion.
The February Revolution which toppled the Romanov regime involved very little violence. True or false?
True.
Approximately what percentage of the Russian Empire's population was Russian?
50%.
What is the okhrana?
Russia's secret police.
Fill in the gaps. After an _____ _____ voyage, the Russian Baltic Fleet was destroyed in less than ____ ______ by Japanese naval forces.
eight month; one hour
What did Nicholas II publish just days before the opening of the first Duma, proclaiming that he still held "supreme autocratic power"?
The Fundamental State Laws
Name two significant defeats endured by the Russian army in the first year of WW1.
Battle of Tannenberg, Battle of Massurian Lakes.
Which two administrations were established to take control of Russia and vied for power throughout 1917?
Provisional Government, Petrograd Soviet.
What significant development in Russia's history occurred in 1861?
Emancipation of the Serfs.
By what affectionate term did loyal peasants refer to the tsar?
What was Bloody Sunday?
The massacre of workers in St Petersburg in January 1905.
What was the immediate effect of the October Manifesto?
Divided opposition, giving breathing space to regime.
Russian POWs outnumbered the dead by how many people to one? Two, four, eight or sixteen?
16.
On what date did the tsar abdicate, signalling an end to the Romanov Dynasty?
2 March 1917.
What term means the enforcement of Russian language and culture on non-Russians?
Russification.
What were the organs of local self-government called?
Zemstvos.
What was the most significant effect of Bloody Sunday?
Broke the emotional bond between the tsar and his people.
Why was the First Duma dissolved after only two and a half months?
It proved to be an opposition Duma which passed a vote of no-confidence in the tsar's government.
What was the fundamental reason for the collapse of Russian forces in WW1?
The backward state and eventual collapse of the Russian economy.
What key difference enabled the Bolsheviks to consolidate its hold on power where the Provisional Government had failed?
They called for immediate peace talks with Germany to get Russia out of WW1.
The type of farming where farmers only make enough to feed themselves and their families rather than enough to sell for profit. Common for Russia at that time.
Subsistence farming.
Which political party was formed when they split from the Mensheviks due to wanting a smaller, more disciplined party of full-time revolutionaries as opposed to a larger party with wide membership among workers?
Bolsheviks.
Who led the march to the tsar's Winter Palace on 9th of January 1905?
Father Georgi Gapon.
To ensure a more conservative Third Duma, the franchise rules were altered. It now took 230 votes to elect one landowner. How many did it take to elect one worker?
125,000.
List two mistakes made by Nicholas that made the war so damaging politically.
Nicholas becoming Commander of the Russian army. Nicholas leaving Alexandra in charge of the government.
Why as the decision made to execute Nicholas and his family rather than put them on trial?
It became too dangerous to keep Nicholas alive because he could be a unifying influence on the disunited White forces.
Who was Russia's finance minister who tried to stimulate foreign investment in Russian industry.
Sergei Witte.
The name of the report that described the squalor, poor building standards, disease, inadequate food, etc that was impacting workers living in Moscow.
1902 Moscow Municipal Corporation Report.
What is name given to the workers' councils that were established around Russia?
Soviets.
In order to drag Russia into the twentieth century, Stolypin introduced a series of land reforms among other things. Part of this involved wanting richer peasants to buy the land of less efficient peasants. What were these prosperous peasants known as?
Kulaks.
What two things did Interior Minister Peter Durnovo predict in a letter to the Tsar in February 1914?
Involvement in a European war would result in social revolution and would cause the economy to disintegrate.
Which historian believes that February was a leaderless and spontaenous revolution?
Richard Charques.
Name three factors that might have made autocracy the logical form of government.
Vastness of empire, heterogeneous nature of Russian society, long history of invasion.
Historian Richard Charques blamed which finance minister for the plight of peasants, saying that his policies caused prices for manufactured goods to increase dramatically?
Sergei Witte.
What mutiny in June 1905 led the regime to quickly improve conditions, increase pay and settle back pay claims to secure the loyalty and unquestioning obedience of the armed forces?
Mutiny of the Battleship Potemkin.
To deal with the rise in terrorist violence in 1906, a state of emergency was declared in August. Under Article 87 of the Fundamental Laws, what could now happen?
By means of field courts-martial, a suspect could be arrested, tried, sentenced and executed within 24 hours.
What was a key cause of the hunger experienced by Russian troops during WW1?
Poor organisation of trains and lack of drivers/mechanics.
What official decree of the Petrograd Soviet gave them power by instructing soldiers to only obey decisions of the Provisional Government with which they agreed?
Order Number One.