In this essay I am looking at the period 1855 to 1917 saw many changes in the ruling of Russia. In 1855 there was a strong Autocratic leader in charge of the country. This remained to be the case until early 1917 when the Tsar abdicated. So in this essay I am going to look at nature of the opposition to the Tsarist regime. In total there were 3 different leaders during the period I am looking at and in this essay I will be trying to answer questions such as how successful was the opposition in Russia in carrying out their respective plans? Also I will be looking at how each of the Tsars respectively dealt with the opposition in Russia.
In this first paragraph I am going to look at why there was opposition in Russia in 1855 - 1917 and look at those who made up the opposition.
English: Photo taken by A. A. Pasetti of Tsar Nich...
Coronation of Maria Fyodorovna and Alexander III
Portrait of Alexander III (1845-1894), the Russian...In 1855 Russia was under Autocratic rule under Tsar Alexander II and was currently fighting in the Crimean war. The new Tsar didn't exactly inherit a stable Empire. His father Nicholas I famously apologised to his son Alexander on his death bed for not leaving the Empire as he would have wished. He said "I am not handing over the command in the good order I should have wished, and I am bequeathing you much worry and distress." So this shows how Russia was in trouble by 1855. They were suffering heavily in the Crimean war (estimates suggest that by the end of the war there was only one gun per 6 soldiers.) Also they were behind the other world powers in both agriculture and industry. This obviously caused unrest amongst the Russian people and helped create opposition groups. However opposition around this time only really
came from those...