THE REIGN OF TSAR NICHOLAS “THE BLOODY”
Russia by the Turn of the Century was a rapidly changing society, the nation was slowly emerging from it’s old feudal past into a modern westernized nation. Freed serfs flocked to the cities in search of labor, a new Russian intelligentsia was emerging from the universities, electrification and railroads emerged as a symbol of modernity, the days of toiling for all day to a Feudal noble seemed over. Until the moment these new workers stepped out of the trains, when they had to live in miserable conditions, toiling away at factories for hours a day in even poorer conditions than the countryside, security was completely precarious with industrial accidents almost being the norm, and the sanitation was somehow even worse. This delusion of modernity would be the environment where political radicalism, from Bolsheviks to the National Renewal, would emerge promising to end the status quo, but which Status Quo ?
The fact that Russia was still a centuries-old autocracy and Nicholas II ruled in the same way as Nicholas I or Pyotr I. When Alexander III died in 1894, he left an unprepared Tsarevich Nicholas to take his throne, with the Prince saying “
I cannot govern, I know nothing of the Business of ruling”. Nicholas would try to be a popular ruler in his first decisions, giving away free bread in the Khodynka festival, yet it would backfire as the crowd stampeded over a thousand civilians to death and many more injured. The Tsar didn’t show the necessary respect for the dead and would instead go to a ball at the French Embassy in order to further solidify the Entente Cordiale, but by doing that his reign would have a bad start. A coalition of Zemstevo representatives of the rural peasantry and small cities would address the Tsar in the Tver Address, asking him to begin the transition of Russia into a modern Constitutional Monarchy similar to the European ones, yet Nicholas would completely reject such notion, showing himself as a firm Autocrat like his predecessor, but without the skills of the late Aleksandr III.
Nicholas Romanov would marry Princess Alix of Hesse, her name changing to Alexandra after the marriage, and she proved to be terribly unpopular. Although considered to have a good nature by modern historians, at the time she was considered an arrogant and prude woman who didn’t understand court politics or how to talk with the people. Yet her marriage with Nicholas wasn’t just a political one, it was one out of mutual love, which resulted in Alexandra having a large influence over Nicholas, and many feared about the influence of a German wife that barely spoke Russian to the Tsar in a moment that Germany itself was growing to become a rival of Russia. To complicate matters more, Alexandra failed to have a male heir in the early years of the reign, having 4 daughters from Olga to Anastasia, and the desperation of that set on the Royal couple. In an incident in 1902, the Orthodox Church was debating on whether to canonize Seraphim of Sarov, and when promised by a supporter of the canonization that she would have a son after his canonization, Alexandra pushed Nicholas to intervene in the Orthodox Ecclesiastical affairs and pushed for his canonization, a terrible scandal for the image of both Nicholas and Alexandra.
While Alexander III was known as “The Peacemaker” due to not being involved into major conflicts during his reign, Nicholas would prove to be the opposite. He would draw closer to the Entente Cordiale and intervened in China over the Boxer affair as part of an international coalition. With the anti-western Boxers defeated, China had to give up large zones of influence to the winning powers, and that put Russia in immediate conflict with Japan over the spheres in Manchuria and Korea. A conflict between the rising Japan and the aggressive Russia was inevitable, and in February 1904, the Japanese fleet launched a surprise attack on Port Arthur, trapping the Russian Pacific Fleet in a blockade while troops in Mukden laid siege on the Port. The war would be intensified, with Russian and Japanese troops clashing against one another, and in order to turn the tide of the war, Nicholas would try a completely bold move, sending in the Russian Baltic Fleet from St. Petersburg all the way to Asia, but by the time the fleet arrived, the Japanese flag was flying over Port Arthur. When the Russian Baltic Fleet arrived, it would clash in a Battle for the Straits of Tsushima, and although the Russians had impressive ships and numbers, they didn’t have much other than size, and were completely annihilated by the technologically superior Japanese ships.
The war started with the people hoping for victory, but as the tide turned against Russia, the popularity would fall. To make matters worse, with the soldiers in the East and the conditions at home getting even more precarious, the climate was perfect for unrest. It would blow up on the 22nd of January 1905, when an Orthodox priest named Father Gapon would lead a peaceful march of thousands of civilians to the Winter Palace, wishing to deliver a petition asking the Tsar for improved living conditions. The March would be met by the Imperial Guards, who opened fire on the demonstrators by the orders of the Tsar, resulting in a thousand dead and injured with over 6 thousand arrested, and that would earn Nicholas II the nickname “The Bloody”. Unknowingly to the protestors, the Tsar wasn’t even in the city at the time and no order was given from him, yet that action would start a series of protests and strikes, beginning the 1905 revolution.
Everything went into chaos, the popularity of the Tsar plummeted, in fact the maneuver of the Russian Baltic Fleet was partially caused by Nicholas’ desperation to improve his image, which only backfired from the disaster. Several leading figures of the Imperial government were assassinated by radical terrorists, on the 15th of February, the Carriage of Grand Duke Sergei, uncle and close advisor of Nicholas, was blown up by members of the Social Revolutionary Combat Squads, led by a certain Boris Savinkov, and it wouldn’t be the last act made by him. Meanwhile, workers would start organizing themselves in the form of local Soviets, which organized strikes and actions of the workers. Liberals would use the opportunity to press the Tsar to finally allow a constitution, establishing an elected parliament and limiting his powers, ending censorship laws and other authoritarian measures.
At this time, it is important to know about clandestine (or not) political movements in Russia, many of which were either born or grew into relevancy at this time and one of the Chief movements was the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (RSDLP). Formed by Marxist groups in opposition to the Tsar and in favor of a Proletariat regime, it was a very divided movement in practice, from Social Democrats to Communists. The short-lived party would last for 14 years before it was eventually split in two groups: One led by Vladimir Lenin, the radical Bolsheviks, and the more moderate Mensheviks led by Julius Martov, and there would also be a third faction, the Social Revolutionaries. In the other side of the spectrum, an ultra-reactionary anti-Semitic movement that preceded the National Renewal would the the Black Hundreds, led by Vladimir Purishkevich, the group would be formed as supporters of the Tsar during the 1905 revolution, including many members of the clergy and nobility, the group would be used as a paramilitary force to fight strikers and revolutionaries during the second part of the reign of Nicholas II. In the democratic side, the liberals would form the Constitutional Democratic Party, or Kadets, a liberal movement in support of a Constitutional monarchy led by Pavel Milyukov , with other groups like the Progressives and the Union of the 17th of October rising later. These groups in would play key roles in Russian history during the turbulent years before the rise of the PNOR.
Nicholas would first attempt to bring peace to Russia by making peace with Japan, giving up the Russian sphere in Korea and Port Arthur. But the momentum couldn’t be lost, the war was just the last straw and there was a whole bucket left. The Tsar would be forced to accept the demands of the Liberals, ending centuries of absolutism in Russia with the October Manifesto. The Duma would be created and elections called, but that was until the war was over, with the army returning, the Tsar cracked down on the Soviets with thousands of arrests and executions, including the death of Leon Trotsky, a prominent communist leader, the Okhrana would exile thousands to Siberia and many more would flee to Europe, joining the exiles of Vladimir Lenin and Julius Martov. And against the Liberals, the Tsar would institute the “Basic Laws”, restoring much of his former powers and reducing the Duma to a system in charge of menial affairs and as advisor to the Tsar. By 1906, although substantial changes happened, the forces of reaction would break the momentum and most of the status quo would prevail.
Between 1906 and 1914, Russia experienced a period of relative stability and economic growth, with the situation calming down and revolutionary forces crushed, foreign industries were invited and especially investments from Britain and France would arrive. Between 1906 and 1911, Russia would be led by Pyotr Stolypin, a convicted Monarchist but also a reformist, believing in the need of a rural reform in order to solidify the position of the Tsar by breaking the Peasant communal system and allowing them access to private propriety. The Land reform employed by Stolypin wasn’t a very popular one, and sometimes he would have to resort to Martial Law to keep order, yet he has been considered by many historians as “The last hope of the Romanov Dynasty”, although his reforms were harsh they would contribute in the accelerated economic growth of Russia in the Pre-War years. But his attitudes would end up alienating him from various sectors of society and the Duma, and on the 17th of September of 1911, he would be assassinated by Dimitry Bogrov in Kiev.
In his personal life, the Tsar had a mixed blessing. In 1904, Alexandra would finally bring a male heir, Tsarevich Alexei Romanov, but he would sadly bring in a terrible disease from his mother’s side of the family, the same of Queen Victoria, Hemophilia. A single scratch could be enough for him to bleed to death, medical treatments only seemed to worsen his condition and each time he was hurt, Alexandra had panic attacks fearing her son’s death and the future of the Romanovs could be ended by a paper cut. In their desperation, the Royal couple would be forced to resort to a more... unorthodox treatment.
Diplomatically, the Russian focus after the Russo-Japanese war would turn to Pan-Slavism once again, with the eyes shifting to the Balkan Peninsula. In 1908, a coup by the Committee of Union and Progress, formed by elements of the 3rd army in Thessaloniki, would take control over the Ottoman Empire with an ideology of modernization and Pan-Turanism. In response, the Austro-Hungarian Empire would turn their occupation of Bosnia from de facto to de jure, annexing Bosnia officially in the Empire. Still in the middle of reforms after disastrous Russo-Japanese war, Russia would be unable to react other than drawing closer to the Entente, including their decades-old rival of Britain. But by 1912, Nicholas was determined to not abandon their Slavic brothers again, supporting the Balkan League between Serbia, Greece, Bulgaria, and Montenegro during the First Balkan War against the Ottoman Empire, and later supported the Anti-Bulgarian league when Bulgaria turned against its old allies in the Second Balkan War. And it would be no surprise that Russia would stand by Serbia in the face of the July Crisis that would unleash the Greatest War the World had ever seen up to that moment, the First World War.
