In the case where terror was not used to maintain stability in political rule, it was being used as an instrument to force political change in opposition to Tsardom an example being the Narodnaya Volya 'Peoples will', a revolutionary group who challenged the forces of reaction with terrorist acts. With pressure from the bottom during the late 1800's via terror intensifying, the Russian soviet revolutionaries were able to use terror to push the state for what they wanted rather than the state use terror to preserve a dictatorship.
Another example of the way in which the imperial system did not preserve autocracy with terror is 'Bloody Sunday'. Historian Lionel Kochanii argued that 'Bloody Sunday is to be one of the key events which led to the end of Tsardom and also the Russian Revolution of 1917. The event has significance in that it was the first time the government used terror with such intensity, rather than reform. Bloody Sunday was an event with grave consequences for the Tsarist regime, as the disregard for ordinary people shown by the authorities undermined support for the system. The event presented the government as using terror ineffectively to preserve autocracy, in that era due to the numerous revolutionary groups; such force only backlashed which ruined support for the Tsar.
The establishment of the October manifesto under Tsar Nicholas II was an attempt to re-establish support from the masses. The manifesto promised a more democratic constitution ' no law can come into force without its approval by the State Duma and that the elected representative will play a real part', which could have gained more support, however the Tsar renounced these promises with the Fundamental Laws just a few months later ' supreme autocratic power belongs to the Emperor of Russia, the sovereign emperor stratifies all the laws, no law can come into force without his consent.' .
This act again did not contribute towards the preservation of autocracy, support decreased as he had put forward a total claim to authority.