Free Sample Essays > European History
Was the size of Russia the main reason for making it difficult to rule?
Was size the most important reason in making the Russian Empire of Tsar Nicholas II so difficult to rule in the years before the outbreak of WWI?
The size of Russia was an important factor as to why Russia was so difficult to rule, but there were more further reasons that can be used to show the difficulty in ruling Russia in the years leading up to the outbreak of WWI.
Russia was an Autocracy. This meant that there was an automatic leader who was unelected, and only one person was in full control. Russia has been ruled like this for centuries. Being an Autocracy had its’ advantages and disadvantages. Some advantages were that there wouldn’t be any disagreement over who was supposed to rule, the people were used to the system and there would be no challengers from within. However, the disadvantages were that people couldn’t choose who they wanted to rule the country, there was more potential for a civil war due to no elections, and the autocrat would always be blamed if anything went wrong.
The Tsar who was charge in the years leading up to World War One was Tsar Nicholas II. He had complete and absolute power, and he made this clear in the way he ruled. He believed that he had divine right and that he was appointed by God. He felt he was always right, and so did not see the need for taking advice from people. The Tsar took no criticism, and one way he dealt with this was by having secret police called the Okhrama. The Okhrama stopped anyone saying any bad things or allowed anyone to criticise the Tsar. The Tsar had the media, such as newspapers, censored and freedom of speech was prohibited. The country was run on bribery and corruption.
When the Tsar came in control in 1894, he already had a disadvantage. His grandfather, who was Tsar, was assassinated by revolutionaries, and then his father who was also Tsar, ruled in a ruthless way and was disliked by many. As soon as Nicholas II would take control, people were bound to think that he would be no different from the previous Tsars, and so therefore it would have been likely that he would’ve been disliked as soon as he took power. This is a reason that would have made Russia difficult to rule that is not linked to size, because this is about the Tsar being disliked, and if the people do not like the person in charge of their country then they might rebel.
Russia was so big that it actually crossed over two continents – Europe and Asia. This therefore meant that Russia was not just one nationality, but lots of different nationalities like [next page]