How Well Do You Know About Russia Quiz

He was a pianist and leading composer in the USSR in the Twentieth Century (even though he had an on-off relationship with the government). After a rare visit to the opera in 1936 Stalin said his work has “considerable ideological-political value.”

This would be the first time a country turned Communist and many others would follow in the future, not least Vietnam, China, Korea, and Cuba. So it is important to understand why this happened in the country where it first took place, Russia. Lenin was the leader.

In 1903 a split occurred in the RSDRP conference held in Brussels (many opposition leaders were abroad for safety) and two new groups were formed - Martov's Mensheviks and Lenin's Bolsheviks. (Bolshevik meant majority but in actual fact they were, confusingly, the minority).

The area he came from was home to a bizarre religious sect called the Khlysty. They liked to make themselves dizzy by dancing in a whirling motion (they called this ‘spiritual beer’) and believed that people could only be cleansed of their sins if they had indeed first sinned. This led to many of them having very lurid relations with one another. Many people believed that Rasputin had been a member of this sect and that it explained his sexual appetite.

Nicholas was married to Alexandra, who had been born in Hesse-Darmstadt in Germany. He was reported to be a good family man and their children included Tatiana, Maria, Olga, Anastasia, and the next in line to the throne, a boy, Alexei (who enjoyed sailing and dressing up as a sailor).

Alexei, however, had a disease known as haemophilia, which is when the blood does not clot when one gets bruised. So a simple accident could lead to his death. As such the Tsar and Tsarina were extremely wary of his behaviours and actions for fear he may harm himself. This illness was kept secret from the public, however.

However, soon after (April 1906) the ‘Fundamental Laws’ were re-written and they stated that “supreme autocratic power belongs to the Emperor of all Russia” in Article 1. An upper chamber appointed by the Tsar was put in place in the Duma so it could veto new laws; this was known as the State Council. Moreover, Article 87 gave the Tsar the right to rule by “emergency decree” when the Duma was not in session. This showed the Tsar didn’t really want reform to a more enlightened form of government and revealed his stubbornness. He was reported to have said “I have a constitution in my hand but in my heart I spit on it.” The opportunity for the Tsar to work with his educated elites to follow a path through a constitutional monarchy was gone. Only a ‘revolution from below’ would change the government from this point on.

Lenin published his April Theses and created slogans such as 'Peace, land, bread' and 'All power to the Soviets’. The Bolsheviks had a clear and precise programme.

This meant Russia was an autocracy. Nicholas II was the current Tsar but just before he was crowned in Moscow many people were crushed to death because of rumours the free beer he supplied was running out! Some saw this as an omen of bad things to come in his reign.

There were 2.5 million factory workers in Russia and many were working for extremely low wages. These poor industrial workers are referred to as the Proletariat. Conditions were often rough and workers lived in cramped and crowded accommodation. They ate in shared public soup kitchens and there was no insurance if they got sick or lost their job. Many of the Proletariat would wear cloth caps which are now known as 'Lenin hats.' Labour unions were illegal and so employers could offer very low wages. People lived close together and in these conditions rumours and news spread fast. Amongst the many new ideas in the Nineteenth Century was a concept known as Marxism which was written about in a book titled The Communist Manifesto and which had been written in 1848.

The Russian economy was the fifth largest in the world (behind Britain, France, Germany, and the USA) but was growing fast at 10% per year. Sergei Witte, the director of railway affairs from 1889 to 1891, had constructed the great Trans-Siberian Railway from Moscow to Vladivostock (about 5,700 miles)

The Tsar and Tsarina had four daughters; Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia. But only a son could inherit the throne, and so Nicholas and Alexandra were overjoyed when on 30th July 1904 at 1.15pm they finally had a baby boy, Alexei. However, this future leader of Russia (Tsarevich), had a serious illness called haemophilia. The disease had been passed on by his mother's grandmother Queen Victoria who had been a carrier and it is often called ‘the Royal disease’. This meant Alexei's blood did not clot properly and if he bruised himself the bleeding would go on for a long period, perhaps days, and could kill him. As the English Historian Sir Bernard Pares wrote: "the nursery was the centre of all Russia's troubles."

The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed on 3/3/18. Soldiers could come home although Trotsky’s delaying tactics failed.

The Tsar tried to leave Petrograd by train but was advised to give up the throne, or abdicate, whilst making this journey. He did so at 3.00pm on 2nd March 1917 for both himself and his son, Alexei, because Alexei was deemed too young to rule. Instead Nicholas nominated his brother Grand Duke Michael to rule. Michael realized it was not a job he could perform and the next day turned down the throne. The 300-year old Romanov Dynasty which began in 1613 with Tsar Mikhail I had come to an end. Russia had been led by Emperors since around 980AD. No longer.

During the February Revolution when the Tsar lost power and the Provisional Government came to power Lenin, the leader of the Bolsheviks, had been in exile in Switzerland with his wife, Nadezhda Krupskaya. Indeed, he had hardly set foot in Russia for 17 years. He once told a gathering of young socialists that "we old timers may not live to see the decisive battles of the coming revolution." In February 1917 the Bolsheviks remained a fairly small party of only 25,000 members. But once he heard of the events of February 1917 he was very excited and determined to return to Russia. As such the German government decided to help him return by offering him transport to Petrograd's Finland Station via a 'sealed train' on board of which was Lenin himself and 19 Bolsheviks (including also his mistress Inessa Armand). This meant the train would not open its doors whilst travelling across Germany and it arrived just after 11.00pm on 3rd April 1917. The German government felt that by injecting Lenin into Russia they might cause another revolution and bring Russia out of the First World War.

Eventually Rasputin claimed he had a calling from God and set out to cross Russia as a pilgrim. He claimed he had a vision of Mother Mary saying "Give all that up and become a new man and I will exhalt you." Such people were known as stranniki or holy wanderers and were a common enough sight in old Russia (in 1900 there were about 1 million such people). Others say he was fleeing to escape charges of horse stealing. Nevertheless, he would sometimes walk 30 miles per day and begged or did odd jobs to earn a few kopecks. It is possible he travelled as far afield as Mount Athos in Greece, the main centre of Orthodox Christianity. Through his travels he developed a terrific talent for preaching as well as for reading people. Douglas Smith reports "he could meet someone for the first time and strangely see inside them." Word began to spread about this remarkable Holy Man who, even when set upon by thugs and muggers, would freely share what little he had saying "It is God's, not mine."

Rasputin was seen as uncouth and vulgar by man. He would eat with his hands, was rough-looking, and smelt like a peasant. To many high-society ladies this was quite appealing! They had never met anyone quite like Rasputin. Some even cut his fingernails and sewed them into their clothing as if they were holy relics. One thing most people agreed on is that Rasputin had piercing and mesmerising eyes (which were greenish-grey) and he had huge sex appeal. Rasputin was a womaniser and a drinker who would visit bars and get outrageously drunk. The Okhrana regularly spied on his apartment and their records reveal hundreds of female visitors. Because people knew he had the ear of the Tsarina people would often come to visit him to ask for favours. He has been described as a ‘King Rat’ that would turn women to jelly with a single look!

Because of the concept of 'divine right' to rule (the idea that God had appointed the Romanovs to rule) the Tsar held near total power. There were small assemblies in the provinces, called zemstvos, which allowed a tiny bit of political expression. These had been set up in 1864 by Tsar Alexander II but they didn't have much real power by the time Nicholas II came to the throne in 1894. Instead, the Tsar appointed all of his own ministers. Absolutely no opposition was allowed.

Russia's capital city was Petrograd, later to be renamed St Petersburg (during the First World War, because it was felt the original name sounded too 'German' and they were fighting Germany). About 1.5% of Russians were aristocrats, the very richest people in Russia. You might be surprised that the official language of these aristocrats was actually French, not Russian. But many of these very rich Russians (also called Bourgoisie) would live comfortable lifestyles. You would also be very amazed at Petrograd's beautiful buildings and architecture such as the incredible Winter Palace, built by Tsar Peter the Great.

If you took a trip to Moscow in 1900 you could see a wonderful number of beautiful Russian Orthodox churches and cathedrals, St Basil's in Red Square perhaps being the most famous of these (it is legend that Ivan the Terrible ordered the designer to be blinded afterwards so he couldn't make anything to rival its beauty). Russia was a very religious country and it was said Moscow had 'forty times forty' churches with their colourful onion domes and minarets. Tsars were crowned in the Uspensky Cathedral inside the red brick walls of the Kremlin.

Okhrana punishments for being in political groups included katorga (hard penal labour) and exile to the freezing climate of Siberia where it was extremely hard just to stay alive.

Russia was famous for its army (which was so big it became nicknamed 'the steamroller') and its best troops were the Cossacks, known for their crowd control through the use of their knouts (whip). They wore elegant uniforms and fought bravely but were a minority of the army, which even in peacetime stood at 1 million. 30% to 40% of soldiers could read and write, compared to 90% in the German army because most of the Russian army were peasants.

The correct answer is Japan because the question states that Tsar Nicholas had been attacked in a far east country, which implies that the country in question is located in the far east. Additionally, it is mentioned that this attack made him racist towards this country, indicating that the attack had negative consequences on his perception of that particular country. Therefore, Japan is the most suitable answer as it is a far east country and has a historical context of conflicts with Russia, which could have influenced Tsar Nicholas' racist attitude towards Japan.

‘Bloody Sunday’ is the name given to the events of Sunday 22nd January 1905 in St. Petersburg when unarmed demonstrators, led by an Orthodox Priest called Father Georgi Gapon, marched towards the Tsar’s Winter Palace in the hope of giving him a petition which included a list of changes they felt would improve their lives. These included improved working conditions, fairer wages, a reduction in the working day to just 8 hours, and the introduction of universal suffrage (so everybody could vote). 135,000 workers had signed the petition, which was polite and respectful in tone.

The Romanov's symbol was a doubled-headed eagle which can be seen on the Coat of Arms of Russia and they lived in many beautiful palaces such as The Winter Palace and The Alexander Palace.

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Nicholas was reported to have said “I have a constitution in my hand but in my heart I spit on it.” By not allowing freedom and democracy he was creating a road to revolution.

Rasputin came from Pokrovskoye in Siberia where temperatures could reach as low of -71 degrees celsius. He was an uneducated peasant (not surprising because literacy rates in Siberia at this time were only 4%) and is reported to have been born to Yefim and Anna Parshukova on 9th or 10th January 1869, their first child to survive (after four previous child deaths).

There were a whole series of events, some long-term and some short-term, which resulted in the February Revolution. The main events took place in Petrograd, the capital city, where protests erupted against food rationing on 23rd February, International Women’s Day. There were huge demonstrations and armed clashes but some of the army began to side with the protesters. In all, 1300 people were killed during the protests which were known as ‘bread riots’. On 24th February there were 200,000 people on the streets and by 25th February there was hardly a factory not on strike in Petrograd. Nicholas described the strikes as “impermissible” and suggested rifle fire be used to stop the protests.

Lenin was ruthless and Russia experienced the Red Terror. "No weakness or indecision can be tolerated during this period of mass terror" he said. Gulags (concentration camps) were set up. Nearly 15,000 people were executed in the first two months of Lenin’s rule alone - more than twice the number of the last century of Tsarist rule (6,321).

Pogroms is the specific word that describes the attacks on Jews in late Imperial Russia. Pogroms refer to violent, organized attacks against Jewish communities, often involving destruction of property, looting, and physical harm to individuals. This term is commonly used to depict the targeted and systematic nature of these attacks, highlighting the anti-Semitic sentiments prevalent in that era.

Kerensky moved into the Alexander III suite of the Winter Palace and was reported to be sleeping in the ex-Tsar's bed and travelling in his carriage! He even took on a mistress. Many people perceived him to be a new Tsar.

The calendar used in 1894 was the Julian calendar, which was 12 (and then 13) days behind the Gregorian calendar used in the West. Russia did change this but not until January 1918. For this reason you sometimes see two different dates given for the same event in History books.

Gapon himself described what happened in his book ‘The Story of My Life’: “Suddenly the company of Cossacks galloped rapidly towards us with drawn swords. So, then, it was to be a massacre after all! There was no time for consideration, for making plans, or giving orders. A cry of alarm arose as the Cossacks came down upon us. Our front ranks broke before them, opening to right and left, and down the land the soldiers drove their horses, striking on both sides. I saw the swords lifted and falling, the men, women, and children dropping to the earth like logs of wood, while moans, curses and shouts filled the air.”

Peasants formed 80% of the population. These peasants had previously been slaves or serfs until they were freed (emancipated) in 1861 by Tsar Alexander II (nicknamed the 'Tsar Liberator') yet they still had a tough life. Many would be out in the fields ploughing or harvesting as they travelled up and down the dusty tracks. Farming machinery was still relatively primitive - it was not uncommon to see men with ploughs fixed to themselves instead of cattle - and Russian farmers yielded only about one seventh of their British equivalents in terms of agricultural produce per acre. Even though they were no longer serfs they were still tied to the commune (Mir) and had to pay redemption payments to their landlords for 49 years which kept them very poor.

On 14th June 1905 the crew aboard the Battleship Potemkin were served soup but with maggots in. They rebelled and killed seven of the ship's eighteen officers.

Kerensky did not end the First World War. Although he took over the Provisional Government from Lvov, he implemented several reforms such as bringing in an 8-hour day, getting rid of the death penalty, and abolishing the practice of katorga. However, he was unable to bring an end to the ongoing war.

In the manifesto the Tsar declared he would create a state Duma or parliament which could create laws, control finances, and which would be elected by universal male suffrage (one man = one vote). The manifesto also offered freedom of speech and the right to peacefully assemble as well as freedom of association. It would have control over national finances and no law code could be issued without the Duma’s approval.

In one letter Alexandra (who let us remember was from from Hesse-Darmstadt in Germany) incredibly wrote: "My beloved and unforgettable teacher, saviour and mentor. How tiring it is for me without you. My soul is calm and I can rest only when you, my teacher, are seated next to me, and I kiss your hands and lay my head on your blessed shoulders. Oh, how easy things are for me then. Then I wish for one thing only - to fall asleep, fall asleep forever on your shoulders, in your embrace. Oh, what happiness it is just to feel your presence near me. Where are you? Wither have you flown? It's so difficult for me, such longing in my heart ... Give me your Holy Blessing, and I kiss your blessed hands. Loving you for all times. Mama."

With the Tsar away at the front leading the army and the German-born Tsarina in St. Petersburg rumours were widespread. Many Russians believed Rasputin was damaging the monarchy; some thought he was responsible for ministerial appointments and others even thought he was having an affair with the Tsarina. There were many people who thought Russia would be better off without him. On 6th November 1916 a politician in the Duma, a right-wing politician called Purishkevich stood up and made a speech in which he asked if the Royal Family was guilty of "stupidity or treason." He went further by saying "while Rasputin is alive ... we cannot win the war."

The war continued to go extremely badly for Russia up until it was forced to sign an incredibly harsh peace treaty with Germany at Brest-Litovsk in 1917. By this time a total of 1.7 million Russian soldiers had died, 8 million were wounded, and 2.5 million were taken prisoners of war. This figure was greater than any other nation involved in the war.

Finally, we must remember the conditions of the peasantry (which made up 80% of the Russian population). They were still tied to their Mirs on their often tiny plots of land and faced 49-year redemption payments to their landlords. In other words, they had to pay for what they felt was rightfully theirs. They had been promised ‘land and liberty’ when they were freed from serfdom in 1861 and that had still not been realized. Life was tough and there had been a series of terrible harvests between 1897-1901. New technology, such as the railways (which had grown from 9000 miles in 1860 to 19000 miles by 1899), meant it was easier for the government to export even more grain, leaving peasants in the countryside hungry. Grain exports had increased by 18% in the late Nineteenth Century and the motto of the Minister in charge of this, Vyshnegradsky, was "We ourselves shall not eat, but we shall export."

"Delaying the uprising now really means death" Lenin said. And so on Wednesday 25th October 1917 Bolshevik Red Guards under cover of darkness spread out across the city of Petrograd. They walked up to soldiers and simply told them they were being relieved. Others walked into the Central Telegraph Office and disconnected the phone lines to the Winter Palace. Kerensky, in disguise, escaped Petrograd in a car from the US Embassy and lived out his days in exile in Paris and New York. Military units surrounded the Winter Palace and the battleship Aurora on the River Neva fired a series of blank shots. There were some cadets, some Cossacks, and famously the Women's Death Battalion, guarding the Winter Palace. The Women's Death Battalion fought but the Provisional Government collapsed. Bolsheviks burst in and arrested the ministers at 2.10am on 26th October 1917. It was a relatively bloodless revolution.

Russia was plunged into a Civil War from November 1917-1922 (most of the fighting was in the south and east). The Reds fought against Kolchak’s Whites. Many believe Lenin deliberately wanted this Civil War to take place and that it was required to remove the Bourgeois elements of society.

The third Duma ran from November 1907-June 1912. Because of changes made by Stolypin this Duma was dominated by moderates who supported the Tsar and there were much fewer socialists. Political violence continued to grow and by 1907 a total of 4,500 Tsarist officials had lost their lives since the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904. Stolypin himself was assassinated in September 1911 when he was shot twice on a trip to the opera. His successor, Vladimir Kokovstov, simply tried to ignore the Duma. It was known as the ‘Duma of the Lords and Lackeys.’

Between June and November 1915 8 ministers were fired. Many people thought this ‘Ministerial Leapfrog’ was because of Rasputin.

In response to the defeat at Warsaw Tsar Nicholas II declared himself Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces in the late summer of 1915. Considering how badly it was going and that the peasants would actually fight for their Tsar there was some sense to this decision. However, it left the (German-born) Tsarina Alexandra at home with Rasputin and this led to tremendous gossip in St. Petersburg. Some argued she was a German spy and others claimed they were having an affair. It also meant the Tsar was now directly accountable for any military defeat that happened. It was a crucial decision.

Because the Tsar did not allow any public opposition or parliament there was a growing underground opposition, with groups like Sergei Nechaev's Narodniki (People's Will) which had assassinated Alexander II. Because of this the Tsars had introduced a secret police, known as the Okhrana who would infiltrate political groups and who would torture suspects. Another political group which was growing which opposed Tsardom was called the Socialist Revolutionaries (SRs). They were founded in 1901 and spoke for the peasants. A third major opposition group also existed, the Russian Social Democrat Labour Party (RSDRP) and they believed in the ideas of German philosopher called Karl Marx.

There had been lots of councils, known as Soviets, set up all over Russia in the lead up to the February Revolution. The most famous of these was in Petrograd - the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' Deputies. And they too wanted power. In the days that followed the February Revolution therefore power was shared in what is known as 'Dual Authority' or dvoelastie.

In 1914 the Russian Army totalled 115 infantry and 38 cavalry divisions with nearly 7,900 guns (7,100 field guns, 540 field howitzers and 257 heavy guns). There were only 2 army ambulances and 679 cars. Divisions were allocated as follows: 32 infantry and 10.5 cavalry divisions to operate against Germany, 46 infantry and 18.5 cavalry divisions to operate against Austria-Hungary, 19.5 infantry and 5.5 cavalry divisions for the defence of the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea, and 17 infantry and 3.5 cavalry divisions were to be transported in from Siberia and Turkestan. The Russian army was nicknamed the ‘steamroller’ because of the sheer number of men who could be called up to fight.