What were the duma in accosiaction with NIcholas II in The February revolution ?
Nicholas II set up the Dumas in the October manifesto after the 1905 revolution. They were a ‘democratic’ assembly that provided oversight of the Tsar and had legislative powers. However, in practice the actual democratic value of the Dumas was tiny, as the Tsar could choose to close the sessions of the Duma as and when he saw fit, which meant that if they were going to go against him in anything, then he could just end the Duma and re-open it again later, when the issue was gone. Hence the relationship between the Dumas and the Tsar was somewhat of a love-hate one; they only existed as a concession to the people after a bloody revolution (appeasing them, so to speak), and the Tsar wished to keep his autocratic powers despite them. The Dumas themselves, however, were appeased initially by the power they were given to legislate, as well as the civil rights the october manifesto gave the people, but compared to other European powers at the time they were still subservient to their monarc
