Who are the characters in this cartoon? What message is the artist trying to convey? Clue

1
? starter activity
Who are the characters in this cartoon? What
message is the artist trying to convey? Clue
focus on the eyes.
2
Who was Rasputin?

• Grigory Efimovitch aka Rasputin (name means
  disreputable one)
• Starets (holy man) suspected member of Kylysty
  sect (religious fulfilment through sexual
  experiences)

Rasputin. Why did so many people have such
respect for Rasputin?
3
What was he like?

• Eyewitness reports refer to transfixing gaze
• Lack of hygiene
• Insatiable sexual appetite (involving actresses
  prostitutes)

Why are historians sceptical about some of the
comments on Rasputins character appearance?
4
Why was he so popular?
Alexis

• Healing powers
• Tsarina thought Rasputin could cure Alexis of
  haemophilia
• 1907 Rasputin first helped Alexis to recover from
  bout of illness
• 1912 cured Alexis via telegram from outside St
  Petersburg

5
Why was he so unpopular?

• Immorality shocked conservatives
• Professional jealousy amongst senior ministers,
  e.g. Stolypin
• Resentment over his influence over Tsarina,
  especially during WWI
• Tsar censored critical reports in the Press

Chief Minister, Stolypin. Why was he among
Rasputins harshest critics?
6
Why was the Tsar overthrown in February 1917?
? Aims

• To identify the reasons for growing hostility to
  Tsarist government
• To examine the role of Rasputin in the Tsars
  downfall

7
? Your task

• Read Oxley, p.80-1 and list reasons why
  opposition to Tsar intensified in this period.

8
Growing opposition

• Russian military defeats (e.g. Tannenburg,
  Masurian Lakes)
• Poor organisation, e.g. shortages of munitions
• Growing criticism from political groups
  leaders, e.g. Guchkov, Octobrist leader of
  Central War Industries Committee, as well as All
  Russian Unions of Towns and Zemstva
• Miliukov Progressive Bloc 2/3 of members of
  Duma

9
Economic problems

• Inflation govt. increased circulation of money,
  wages increased at half pace of inflation
• Food shortages food not reaching cities, grain
  hoarding, poor infrastructure
• Fuel shortages coal rationed, factories closed,
  winter 1916-17 v. harsh, no fuel for bakeries in
  Petrograd, 1917

10
? Your task

• Read Oxley, p.81 and list reasons why Tsar
  Nicholas Tsarina Alexandra were unpopular

What clues does this cartoon provide?
11
Unpopularity of Nicholas Alexandra

• Supported Tsars divine right to govern as an
  autocrat
• Remote lived at Tsarskoye Selo
• German background
• Influenced by ministers, esp. Rasputin whilst
  Nicholas was at front

12
? Source investigation

• In pairs, study the sources on p.82-3 and
  complete questions 1-5