Witte’s Dilemma: An Overview of Industrial Developments in the Reign of Nicholas II

Tsarist Russia under Nicholas IIFor IB / A-Level historians. In this worksheet, students are presented with a series of key policy options facing Sergei Witte, the economics minister under Nicholas II. For each issue, they have to consider the advantages and disadvantages of carrying out the policy and how those policies could relate to each other. After formulating their own suggested approach to the issues, the teacher tells the students what Witte did using this teacher helpsheet and the class then forms its own judgement on his success or failure.