Animal Farm: Czar Nicholas II/Farmer Jones Czar Nicholas II was the last tsar of Russia and ruled the country during the 19th and 20th century. He was overthrown by his own people because he lacked the leadership abilities needed to run Russia. Nicholas was the eldest son of Czar Alexander III and Princess Dagmar of Denmark. Nicholas became Czar in 1894, after his father’s sudden death, and ruled the largest country in the world which at the time had a population of 130 million people. From the start of his reign, people were starting to get angry at the royal family and wanted a better government ("Nicholas"). Farmer Jones, a character from George Orwell's Animal Farm, is the owner of Manor Farm who treats his animals very harshly. He …show more content…
After the two dictators took over things went back to the way they were when the Czar/Jones ruled. Napoleon/Stalin took control of Russia and famine swept the land again. They were no better rulers than Czar Nicholas and Jones were. After he abdicated, the Czar was allowed to return to Tsarskoe Selo to live with his wife and children in Alexander Palace (Vogt 104). As the civil war in Russia got worse, the royal family were moved to a safer location, the Ural Mountains in Ekatrinburg (“Nicholas”). The royal family and their servants were shot on July 16, 1918 in Ekatrinburg and their remains were burned in a forest nearby (“Czar of Russia Nicholas II”). Other members of the royal family soon fled Russia and went to England, France, Denmark, and other parts of Europe. Jones was not killed by the animals like Nicholas but he eventually died at the Red Lion because of his excessive drinking, the same thing that caused him to lose control of the farm. Czar Nicholas was a king who could not lead his people and eventually lost power because he could not lead his country to prosperity. He cared a lot about his family but did not care as much for his country and his people. Mr. Jones was a neglectful owner who did not take care of his animals or his farm and was eventually forced to leave and give up his power because of his choices. Both of them could have prevented the
Rasputin’s influence over Alexandra allowed him to promote political allies to high-ranking state positions, leading to a massive reorganization of bureaucracy in 1915-1916 (Massie 389). Government officials soon believed that Rasputin’s presence was the source of too many of the troubles of the empire and posed a threat to the Romanov Dynasty. In December 1916, a group of nobles led by Prince Felix Yusupov plotted Rasputin’s death. After inviting him to a dinner party, they brutally murdered Rasputin, shooting him several times, beating him, poisoning him with cyanide, and finally throwing him into the Neva River (Rasputin 235; King 182). The Romanov Dynasty would collapse in the following year 1917 in the February.
Whilst St Petersburg was growing and thriving around him, it seemed as though the Tsar turned his back on the requirements that come with large crowds of people such as, resources, food supplies, housing, etcetera. Due to his closed mindedness the overpopulation of factories, shortages of income and lack of basic necessities became a huge issue. The people stuck in this great poverty began to lose faith in the Tsar and once again sought for a new source of power. Another factor that adds to this cause is the fact that when the Russian society came up with the idea of a government, to help guide the Tsar towards helping his people and modernizing his laws and mindset, he refused to let the people have a say. Nicholas ultimately took away all power from what little government they did set up, called a ‘duma,’ when he set the ‘Fundamental Laws.’ These laws meant that he would overrule all of the duma’s decisions or suggestions. For example, the first law stated, “To the emperor of all the Russias belongs supreme autocratic power.” Then in 1907, the Tsar changed to voting laws to make sure that revolutionaries could not be elected. This meant that all the elected candidates were politicians that were great followers of Nicholas, meaning he got what he wanted. Consequently leaving no way of communication between Nicholas and the lower class of Russia, causing the tragic conditions to continue. As the poor became progressively poorer, malnourished and uncared for the Tsars inaction and lack of sympathy caused a radical
However, Nicholas’s personality was not the sole reason why the Old Regime collapsed. Chubarov argues that “another Peter the Great could have saved the Romanovs and Imperial Russia. It is obvious though that the last tsar could not” . Nicholas’s lack of
In 1917 the Russian revolution had began, this was the biggest factor in the fall of the Romanov dynasty. The white Russians arrested the tsarist and abdicated him from his throne putting Nicholas and his family on house arrest and he was no longer known as the Tsar, replacing him with a Bolshevik government. The red Russians had captured Nicholas and his family causing a civil war between the white and red Russians. In July 1918 Lenin and his red Russian squad had won the civil war, and shot Nicholas and his family, leaving Russia a communist country until the 1990’s.
Czar Nicholas II was the last tsar to rule Russia, before ending the 450 year span of the monarchy. During the tsar’s ruling they had always been disliked by Russia’s citizens, however “Tsar Nicholas II faced a situation no other tsar had faced. Tsars had ruled during unpopular wars, but never a war as bloody as World War I.” (Waldron). When czar Nicholas II decided to lead their country into war one of the biggest issues was transporting supplies to the troops and the rest of the country. Therefore, Russia was suffering extreme famine and began to face several defeats under the leadership of czar Nicholas II.
Various aspects of Nicholas II’s political decisions reflected his clear unsuitability for the role of Tsar, and these decisions form a preliminary basis for both his own legacy of incompetency & the eventual undoing of the Romanovs. In comparison to rulers preceding, Nicholas was ill-prepared for the role: his father, Alexander III, failed to adequately develop his son’s understanding of civil & state responsibilities before his death in 1894, under the guise that he would live long enough to teach Nicholas of these affairs. Upon his consecration as Tsar, Nicholas spoke in his diary of his apprehensiveness
‘The optimists believe that imperial Russia was ruined by the First World War. The pessimists maintain that the war provided merely the last mighty push to bring the whole rotten structure tumbling down.’ When Russia become engulfed in World War I, the Russian army mobilized 15.5 million men and suffered great casualties. This leads to the shortage of workers for the factories and farms and thus cause a widespread shortages of food and materials. As supply decreases and demand is increasing, this causes the prices of goods to increase dramatically, causing unrest among people, leading to revolt and labor riots. Soon, famine hit Russian cities. The worst of all is that Nicholas II held fast to his anachronistic political faith in unfettered
The lower class of Russia, which was composed of the working people felt misrepresented- or not represented at all.Nicholas II was the son of Alexander III of Russia, who was also the Emperor of Russia, before Nicholas. He was the heir of approximately 200 years of Czarist rule in Russia.Coming from a very rich family, Nicholas could hardly relate to the lower class. He had inherited Russia’s rule from his dad, and was not elected, which meant he was not necessarily qualified to correctly rule Russia, as he later proved through his actions.After he had angered the working class by slaughtering their own people, losing major battles in the war with Japan as well as in WWI, there was no way for him to amend for the mistakes he had made. Therefore, had the people been given the choice of taking down the Czar, they would have not hesitated.Their anger was represented through Lenin, with whom they felt they could connect to.Due to their dislike for the Czar, not many were dissatisfied when he was overthrown, and lated ordered to be executed by
Russia was in a terrible state; there was poverty, very little money and poor living conditions. Tsar and his wife, however, lived in luxury. He had plenty of money; riches, food and he lived in a fine house with plenty of comforts. Jones is the parallel in 'Animal Farm'. Whilst times are hard on the farm Jones always has his warm house to return to.
The Grand Duchess Olga wrote in her journal: “…and he was wholly ignorant about governmental matters. Nicky had been trained as a soldier”. (Fiehn, T. 1996). Nicholas’ sister suggests that he was not ready due to his lack of training. Margot Tracey, daughter of a Russian industrialist declared in 1917, after Nicholas’ abdication “Everybody was fed up with the Tsar because they thought he was weak. When he abdicated there was great rejoicing everywhere. My parents opened champagne bottles and celebrated with friends.”.(White 1994 p.14) Margot shows her understanding of what was going on at the time and that Nicholas was very weak leader, although still a tyrant. Margot’s statement supports the hypothesis as it plainly says that the people did not like Nicholas as a leader due to how weak he was. Margot’s statement is further corroborated by Sergei Witte, a Russian Minister during Nicholas II rule “I pity the Tsar. I pity Russia. He is a poor and unhappy sovereign. What did he inherit and what will he leave? He is obviously a good and quite intelligent man, but he lacks will power, and it from that character that his state defects developed, that is, his defects as a ruler, especially an autocratic and absolute ruler.” (Russian Revolution Quotations 2015). These sources work together to support the fact that Nicholas II was responsible for his own downfall due to his weak character and that he was not properly prepared for the role. This caused
Tsar Nicholas II is thought to be personally responsible for the collapse of the Russian Monarchy. His nature wasn’t well suited for the role he held therefore he was an incompetent leader. Russia was undergoing many changes and was in early stages of industrialization. This was followed by an embarrassing string of defeats of which the Tsar was badly prepared. His unsuccessful involvement in the First World War added to the disappointment in the government’s incompetence and corruption. There were many opportunities for Russia to modernize but this would require political change, which the Tsar was unwilling to do. Nicholas had many opportunities throughout his reign to reform, but destroyed his last chance of survival.
Have you ever heard about the Russian Revolution and other important events of Russia? George Orwell, amazing author, published a novel in 1947, called Animal Farm, that intelligently satirized animals in a farm to the events that occurred during the Russian Revolution and the events surrounding the Russian Revolution. Through the character Napoleon and his use of terror and propaganda on the citizens of the Animal Farm, George Orwell castigates mad dictator Joseph Stalin and his reign on Russia.
The fall of the Romanov Dynasty in 1914 proved that the Tsar could not handle the problems of Russia. Ironically, he would have been ideal as a constitutional monarch, but was adamant against the idea. As the First World War started Russia’s problems arises, from short-term and long-term causes. The war brought back inflation which led to “demonstrations over food shortages combined with workers’ grievances,” (Hosking, 2012, p. 91) thus this destroyed Nicholas’s image as Father of Russia. Military became ineffective as the transport system was not adequate, thus leading to food supplies decreasing in key cities such as Petrograd. Historians believe the impacts of the First World War led to Russian society becoming unstable and was ultimately the main reason of the downfall of the Tsar. However other factors, such as the Tsarina placing large amounts of trust into Rasputin who was notorious for his reputation as an alcoholic and a womanizer (Westwood, 2002, p. 215) and the role of the revolutionaries due to Lenin promising peace, land and bread, eventually leading to the growth of the Bolsheviks Party. Although, it can most rightfully be deemed that the impact of the war was the main reason for the fall of Tsar Nicholas II in 1917.
Animal Farm is about a lot of animal that's trying to protect thyself from humans which is they enemies and they trying to figure out who going to be the leader. Czar Nicholas ii was neither trained nor inclined to rule, which did not help the autocracy he sought to preserve in an era desperate for change. Born in 1868, he succeeded to the russian throne upon the death of his father, czar alexander iii in november 1894. That same month, the new czar married alexandra a german-born princess who came to have great influence over her husband.
George Orwell’s novel Animal Farm is a great example of allegory and political satire. The novel was written to criticize totalitarian regimes and particularly Stalin's corrupt rule in Russia. In the first chapter Orwell gives his reasons for writing the story and what he hopes it will accomplish. It also gives reference to the farm and how it relates to the conflicts of the Russian revolution. The characters, settings, and the plot were written to describe the social upheaval during that period of time and also to prove that the good nature of true communism can be turned into something atrocious by an idea as simple as greed. This essay will cover the comparisons between Animal Farm and the Russian Revolution. It will also explain why