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Tsar makes himself Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy
In August 1915, Nicholas II decided that despite not having millitary experience, he would be able to lead the army. The duma and advisors of Nicholas strongly advised against this; however, they understood the Tsar would be blamed for furthur millitary defeats from that point onwards. He believed it was his sacred duty to protect Russia; however, this decision only shot himself in the foot when Russia lost the war. -
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Russo-Japanese War
The Russo-Japanese War occurred between Russia and Japan when they went to war over Manchuria. Russia wanted Manchuria due to it's importance of a Ice-free port and the many resources however so did Japan. Although Russia was a European superpower at the time the Japanese military humiliated them and many blamed the Tsarist government for this defeat -
Potemkin Mutiny
This mutiny arose because of the extremely poor treatment of soldiers and the lack of their rights. The mutiny started when the executive officer of Potemkin shot a leading mutineer who disobeyed to eat rotten meat. The sailors mutinied and took control. The ship then sailed to Odessa, where riots spread. The riots were brought back under control after 1000 people were killed. Potemkin then fled to Romania where the sailors were given asylum. -
Bloody Sunday
The Bloody Sunday was an unarmed massacre of protestors. These protestors consisted of workers and their families wanting to bring a petition to the Tsar calling for trade unions and better working conditions. Despite being unarmed, these protestors were stopped by soldiers, who, after giving a warning, started attacking them. The Cossacks charged into the crowd and, using whips and violence, murdered over 100 protestors. Many blamed the Tsar for failing to protect them. -
October Manifesto
The October Manifesto was a significant concession by Nicholas the Tsar. It gave many more rights to the people, i.e., the ability to make political parties and form trade unions. The October Manifesto also created state parliaments called Duma's, which pleased the middle class. This gave the middle class the revolution that they wanted, and as a result, many strikes around the city were called off, helping divide the Russian population and allowing Tsar Nicholas II to survive. -
Fundamental Law's
The Fundamental Law's helped to insure that power remained with the Tsar. Under the Fundamental Laws limited the power of the State Dumas as all decisions had to be approved by the Imperial State Council which consisted of ministers chosen by the Tsar. Additionally the Tsar still had power to veto all law's passed by the Duma therefore he maintained ultimate authority. -
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Stolypin’s Land Reforms "Wager on the Strong"
Stolypin's plan for land reforms as to let individuals leave the commune and farm for themselves as communes would stick to traditional village beliefs. Each farmer would get the profit from their own farms or crops. These reforms also encouraged peasents to move to Siberia. in the end, the reforms failed with peasents still acting as part of a commune and sharing resources. Additional peasent unrest swept through rural Russia again in 1917, causing reforms to fail on the political front. -
Start of WW1
Russia was an ally of Serbia so joined to protect them when Austria-Hungary and Germany both declared war on Serbia. In the beginning the Russian people were passionate about the war and this boosted the Tsar’s popularity however failures in the war caused this enthusiasm to soon fail. Many defeat's that occurred in Russia's military led to rising discontent at the Tsar and the leadership structure of Russia -
Russia suffer heavy defeats in Battle of Tannenberg and the Masurian Lakes
During the battle of Tannenburg, which occurred at the end of August 1914, the Germans defeated Russia in Tannenburg. In it, the Russians lost over 122,000 men (many captured) and vast quantities of supplies and weapons. Additionally, two defeats followed in the Masurian lakes in September 1914 and February 1915, which resulted in more heavy losses to the men. This caused Russia to be in retreat by 1915, having lost over 2 million men. -
Tsar Nicholas II abdicates the throne
The abdication of the throne had been caused by several reasons. The mistrust toward the Tsarina and her German influence, the Tsar's poor leadership and use of violence, and the influence of Rasputin. The final blow came on International Women's Day, when a protest against bread shortages took place. Police were used to forcefully control the crowd 25th Feb police shot into the crowd to regain control, killing 50 people. This was a significant turning point as people stopped trusting the Tsar. -
The formation of the Dual Authority
After the abdication of Nicholas the Second, a power vacuum was created. Two groups volunteered to assume temporary power: the Provisional Government, made up of Duma members, and the Petrograd Soviets - Council of Workers, which represented the workers and soldiers. This sharing of power was called dual authority. Both had some power, but neither had full control of the country. However, dual control let to control issues with the Petrograd Soviets having a majority of the power ie order no.1.