The Tsar faced many challenges.

Mark scheme

Marking points from the official mark scheme (Oct/Nov 2021). The mark or mark type is shown in brackets.

1. [1] Stolypin attempted to reform agriculture.
2. [1] Stolypin allowed wealthier peasants, the kulaks, to buy more land.
3. [1] He allowed the kulaks to leave the mir.
4. [1] This meant they could own more land and develop more efficient farms.
5. [1] The Peasant Land Bank was established to give loans to help develop farming.
6. [1] He came down hard on strikers, protesters and revolutionaries.
7. [1] 20 000 were exiled and over 1000 hanged.
8. [1] The noose came to be known as 'Stolypin's necktie'.
9. [1] He used a 'carrot and stick' approach.
10. [1] He insured urban workers against illness, accident and death of family members.
11. [1] He extended religious freedom to Jews.
12. [1] Russia was humiliated by losing to the Japanese.
13. [1] There was discontent in the armed forces.
14. [1] The Tsar faced a mass demonstration in St Petersburg.
15. [1] Revolutionary ideas were spreading in the new industrial cities.
16. [1] Many were experiencing poor living and working conditions.
17. [1] There were demands for political reform.
18. [1] The Tsar lost respect because of his methods.
19. [1] The Russian government was unpopular with the people.
20. [4-5] There was discontent with the Russian government because the new industrial cities were breeding grounds for revolutionary ideas. The industrial workers had been peasants but now they lived and worked in the cities. Living and working conditions were appalling. There were few controls on child labour, industrial injuries were common, and employers paid starvation wages. People wanted change.
21. [1] The Tsar took personal command of the army.
22. [1] Russia suffered huge casualties.
23. [1] There was anger over food shortages and forced grain requisition.
24. [1] The Tsarina and Rasputin were not popular.
25. [1] The army and police were loyal to the Tsar.
26. [1] The Tsar was popular when war broke out.
27. [1] The secret police worked to stop opposition to the Tsar.
28. [1] The Tsar had not allowed political reform.
29. [1] Soldiers suffered food shortages and hunger.
30. [1] The army refused to fire on protesters.
31. [1] The Tsar fell from power because Russia was in a bad state.
32. [7-9] It is not surprising that the Tsar fell from power in 1917. In 1915 he had assumed supreme command of the Russian Army fighting on the Eastern Front. This meant that he was held responsible for the country's military failures and the country's huge loss of life, which, by the end of 1916, was estimated at nearly five million dead, missing or as prisoners. There was discontent and mutiny.
33. [7-9] In some ways it is surprising that the Tsar fell from power in 1917. When war broke out in 1914, the Tsar had been popular and there were demonstrations in support of him. He could always rely on loyalty from his government, armed forces and secret police. The events of February 1917 started due to a bread strike and not because of a demand for revolution. It was surprising for the Tsar that the army refused to fire on the demonstrators.