How Successful Was the Tsarist Regime in Overcoming Opposition in the Years 1881 - 1904?

Between the years 1881 to 1904, Alexander III and Nicholas II reigned over Russia; they faced lots of opposition in many different forms. After the assassination of Alexander II in 1881, his predecessors realised the potential consequences of not controlling opposition successfully. Alexander and Nicholas dealt with the increasing opposition in lots of different ways which could be deemed either successful or unsuccessful. The opposition came in many different forms; however it was mainly organised political groups and the different sectors of society that showed opposition

The populists were one of the main political opposition groups before 1881 however after the assassination of Alexander II they lost a lot of support. The populists were forced to go underground and hold secret meetings. Overall their main methods were to carry out acts of terrorism with the intention of assassinating Alexander II; they wanted to reform the rural economy and were an extreme political opposition group. They carried out many major assassinations, for example in 1901, they assassinated the education minister. This particular assassination was dealt with by the Tsarist regime; they caught and hanged Alexander Ulyanov, one of the key personalities in the running of the party. Although this was, to an extent, a successful way for Alexander to deal with the opposition and increased threat of assassination it did backfire slightly as Ulyanov became a martyr. The populists lost support after the many assassinations they carried out due to an increase in police surveillance and arrests. To an extent the Tsarist regime was successful in controlling opposition from the populists. The police surveillance and arrests considerably limited the Populist Party as it meant that