3 - The autocracy of Alexander II and Alexander III

Question 1

What shook Alexander II’s confidence, making him less inclined to resist reactionary ministers

Answer 1

Five assasination attempts in >15 years

Question 2

What made Alexander II more seperated from the reforming figures of his family

Answer 2

• In 1865 his oldest son died of tuberculosis
• Alexander II forced into the hands of his misteres Yekaterina Dolgurakova
• Isolating himself from his family

Question 3

What ministers were repalced by Alexander II to introduce more reactionary policies

Answer 3

• Tolstoy for education
• Shuvalov as Head of Third Section

Question 4

What reactionary policy did Alexander II introduce for education

Answer 4

• Zemstva powers over schools reduced
• Subjects encouraging critical thinking forced out in favour of maths and latin
• More state teacher-training collages establsihed to increase tsarist control

Question 5

How did Shuvalov change the Third Section

Answer 5

Stepped up searches and arrests, and sought after radicals who had fled to Switzerland and Germany to face justice

Question 6

What reactionary judicial reforms were introduced under Alexander II

Answer 6

• Show trials introduced
• In 1878 following the trial of Vera Zashulich, political cases were transferred to special secret courts

Question 7

What was the case of Vera Zasulich, and what was the significance of it

Answer 7

• In 1878 Vera Zasulich shot the Governor of St Petersburg
• Was found not-guilty due to a sympathetic jury
• Crimes of political intent transferred to special courts

Question 8

What did Count Loris-Melikov do for Russia

Answer 8

• Abolished the Third Section
• Drew up a constitution with some of the zemstva’s demands

Question 9

Describe the assasination of Alexander II

Answer 9

• Was travelling to discuss the Loris-Melikov Constitution with his Council of Ministers
• On the way, was blown up by the People’s Will

Question 10

When was Alexander II’s assasination

Answer 10

13th March 1881

Question 11

Who tutored and brought up Alexander III to be highly reactionary

Answer 11

Konstantin Pobendonostev

Question 12

How did Alexander III begin his reign

Answer 12

• Publically hanging his father’s conspirators
• Issued the Manifesto of Unshakeable Autocracy
• Abolished the Loris-Melikov Constitution

Question 13

What signs are there that Alexander III was highly reactionary from the beggining

Answer 13

Reforming Ministers like Milyutin resigned

Question 14

What greatly significant position was introduced under Alexander III
* When
* What Powers

Answer 14

• Land Captains
• July 1889
• Could override Zemstva descions, and overturn court judgements

Question 15

How did Alexander III establish a police state

Answer 15

• Numbers of police rose, with more spies, counter-spies and agent provacatrurs (who posed as revolutionaries to incriminate others) recruited
• The Okhrana became just as opressive as the Third Section, commonly intercepting mail and resorting to torture
• In 1882, any area of the Empire could be searched to arrest, detain, imprison anyone suspected to have, or related to someone who had commited a crime

Question 16

What judicial reforms were introduced under Alexander III

Answer 16

• In 1887, closed court sessions were introduced
• In 1889, volost courts were put under direct jurisdiction of Land Captains

Question 17

What educational reforms did Alexander III introduce

Answer 17

• In universities, professors were appointed on their ‘religious, moral and patriotic orientation’, rather than their academic grounds
• University students were forbidden from gathering in groups of more than five
• Primary education was placed back in the hands of the Orthodox Church

Question 18

What is evidence of how reactionary educational reforms impacted the population

Answer 18

By the 1897 census, only 21% of the population was literate

Question 19

What censorship measures did Tolstoy introduce under Alexander III

Answer 19

From 1882, Tolstoy started to close newspapers, placing lifetime bans on editors

Question 20

What counter-reforms did Alexander III introduce

Answer 20

• In May 1881, he cancelled the arrears of ex-serfs in 37 of the central provinces of the Empire
• At the end of his reign, he introduced the right to appeal to higher courts