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modernization was due to their extreme poverty, the agriculture in Russia was not sufficient as they were still using outdated methods, because of this and lack of using new machinery and methods, as well as russia's ever growing population hundreds of thousands of peasants starved.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.

Russia 1905 to 1914

1. How did Tsar Nicholas II survive the 1905 revolution?
 Answer: Tsar Nicholas II was able to survive the 1905 revolution for a few reasons, one being that his opponents were not a unified group therefore they could not defeat Russia successfully ( getting rid of the Tsar ) another reason why the Tsar Nicholas II was able to survive the revolution was due to the lack of centralized power, the revolution just began on its own, and there was no way to know how it had begun. A last reason for his survival would be the loyalty of his army, since most of his army stayed loyal to the Tsar when the fighting broke out, he had a protective force.

2. What was the Tsar's general attitude about the Dumas?
Answer: The Tsar did not really take the Duma's seriously, he didn't take their purpose as valid and pretty much ignored everything that they said or did. To the Tsar the Duma's were unnecessary and unimportant because the Tsar was still the highest power.

3. What specific improvements occurred following the 1905 revolution?
 Answer: Post-Revolution in 1905 the abolishment of the redemption payments were over and the Peasants were encouraged to buy their own land, also post revolution Russia many more schools were opened beginning a new educational reform. Lastly the revolutionaries had stopped their uprising.

4. Summarize 5 major weaknesses of the Tsar's regime.
Answer: The tsar's regime post- revolution also had weak points some of which would be the failure of the land reforms with the peasant population growing rapidly the originally proposed plan would not be able to support the people, industrial unrest stemming from the strikes that occured post shooting of 270 striking miners. Another weakness is government repression with the secret police rooted out the revolutionaries, as well as Revival of the revolutionary parties they were beginning to gain money and influence again. Lastly the royal family was discredited, the trust that the people had in the royal family was no longer the main power and trust for the people of Russia.

Bismarck & Europe 1871- 1878

1. What were Otto von Bismarck's aims in foreign policy following Germany's victory over France in 1871?
              A:  After the victory over France in 1871, Otto Von Bismark, Germany's leader was satisfied with Germany as the superior power in Europe,  in his eyes Germany had all the territory it needed, and all the power it was to have.  Now, Von Bismark's main goal in life was to ensure that Germany would stay safe and be able to maintain its control and power without an attack.  Von Bismark aimed to keep France and Russia away from each other to ensure that they would not become allies, and " sandwich " Germany to a defeat as well as keep their territory where it belonged, in their eyes to Germany. Also, the conflict within the Balkans concerned the Germans,  in theory the only thing that they could do as a nation was isolate completely their only threats. 
               Another form of combatant against the inevitable was to bring on change, to keep other change from happening. One way he succeeded in this was through planting the ideas of nationalism and imperialism in the minds of the population however, these were things that the people of Germany could not fully understand nor could he control which he unleashed into the population.


2. Why did events between the years 1875-78 in the Balkans lead to a crisis between the Great Powers?
             A:  During the years of 1875-78 in the Balkans there was much social unrest, which in turn created crisis and uneasy feelings from the Great Powers. The question of who would have control in the Balkan reason raised much unrest between the Great Powers of Europe, especially challenging Otto Von Bismark, to see what kind of government man he was. Another problem stemming from the Balkans that was concerning to the Great Powers of Europe  was the inability to reach an agreement in what was to be done in that region. Russia, Germany, and Austria-Hungary could not seem to reach an agreement about what should happen to this region of the former Ottoman Empire.