The Russian Empire
This term describes the system of government in which the tsar held total, unrestricted power.
What is autocracy?
This man was the last Tsar of Russia, ruling from 1894 until his abdication in 1917.
Who is Nicholas II?
On this 1905 date, tsarist troops fired on peaceful protesters marching to petition the Tsar in St Petersburg.
What is Bloody Sunday?
Russia entered WWI in 1914 as part of this alliance, alongside Britain and France.
What is the Triple Entente?
After Nicholas II's abdication, power passed to this temporary governing body.
What is the Provisional Government?
This 1904–05 conflict, fought over rival imperial ambitions in Manchuria and Korea, ended in a humiliating Russian defeat.
What is the Russo-Japanese War?
This term describes a ruler who inherits power through birth within a single family line, as the Romanovs did for 300 years.
What is a hereditary monarchy (dynasty)?
In response to the 1905 Revolution, Nicholas II reluctantly issued this document, promising civil liberties and an elected parliament.
What is the October Manifesto?
Massive military casualties combined with shortages of this kind fuelled growing unrest on the home front during WWI.
What are food and fuel shortages?
This term describes the system of two competing centres of authority that existed in Russia after February 1917.
What is dual power?
This vast, multi-ethnic state, ruled by the Romanov dynasty, stretched across Europe and Asia in the early 20th century.
What is the Russian Empire?
Many historians criticise Nicholas II for lacking this quality, often citing his poor decision-making and reluctance to reform.
What is political leadership/skill?
This elected legislative assembly, created after 1905, had its powers repeatedly limited by the Tsar.
What is the Duma?
In 1915, Nicholas II made this decision, leaving Alexandra (and Rasputin's influence) in charge of government at home.
What is taking personal command of the army?
These elected councils of workers and soldiers, based in cities like Petrograd, held real power alongside the Provisional Government.
What are soviets?
Russia's economy in the early 1900s was mostly agrarian, with the majority of the population belonging to this social class.
What are peasants?
This German-born wife of Nicholas II became deeply unpopular, partly due to her closeness to Rasputin.
Who is Tsarina Alexandra?
This Marxist political party, which split into Bolshevik and Menshevik factions in 1903, opposed the tsarist autocracy.
What is the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party?
This February 1917 uprising, sparked by bread shortages and strikes in Petrograd, led directly to the Tsar's abdication.
What is the February Revolution?
This Provisional Government figure, eventually its head, was a key leader before the Bolsheviks seized power in October 1917.
Who is Alexander Kerensky?
This term describes Russia's slow, state-driven modernisation of its industry and cities in the decades before 1917.
What is industrialisation?
This mystic and self-proclaimed healer gained major influence over the royal family through his treatment of the haemophiliac heir, Alexei.
Who is Grigori Rasputin?
This radical faction, led by Vladimir Lenin, favoured a small, disciplined revolutionary party and ultimately seized power in October 1917.
Who are the Bolsheviks?
In March 1917, Nicholas II took this final step, ending over 300 years of Romanov rule.
What is abdication?
Following the abdication, the Romanov family was moved to this Siberian town, and later on to Yekaterinburg.
What is Tobolsk?