1905 Revolution

1. Why was modernization needed?
Answer: Modernization was necessary in because in order for Russia to become a great power in the twentieth century; the Tsar wanted his country to be an elite on the world stage. In order to have an important military power, ( which would sustain Russia as a great power) you must have means of providing weapons, ships, munitions etc... ( industrialization ). Another reason Russia required such modernization was due to their extreme poverty, the agriculture in Russia was not sufficient as they were still using outdated methods, because of this and lack of using new machinery and methods, as well as russia's ever growing population hundreds of thousands of peasants starved.

2. Why was modernization dangerous to the Tsar?
Answer: The modernization of Russia would be particularly dangerous to the autocratic Tsar because he would be unable to maintain the institutions of a Tsarist Autocracy in a modern russia, most modern industrial countries had democracies or parliaments where the middle class was strongly favored over that of monarchs. Also, people would have to be more educated in order to perform their duties and jobs, therefore with the new education, they might be more apt to challenge their government.  Lastly the growth of the middle classes would create pressure for political change, and for a more accountable and representative government.

3. How did Witte try to build up industry?
Answer: Witte tried to build up industry by ensuring that  a huge investment would be made within the field to cause an industrial upturn. Witte based his plan of increased industrial upturn off the " domino" effect, of one demand leading to another, so on and so forth. Witte soon realized that what he had planned would not be enough to skyrocket Russian into an economical-industrial place of high power, therefore Russia would need to buy heavy machinery from large powers such as Germany, in order to manufacture their own goods for export, the money had to come from two places, A. foreign investment- huge foreign loans ( France ) which, came along with the issues of interest payments, and B. the Peasants- where taxes were upped- at the state level, and on the goods they used everyday.

4. How successful was Witte's policy?
Answer: Essentially this policy was a flop, although Russia's railroads were nearly doubled in length an over all international Eco-Industrial downturn was experienced, leaving nothing coming in; and nothing going out, making Russia even further in debt then they would have accounted for. The "home-market" in Russia was at a downturn, due to the Peasant's lack of money to buy their goods, thousands of people lost their jobs at factories causing strikes to break out.