6 - Economic and social developments

Question 1

Economically, what did the absence of a middle-class mean

Answer 1

Industrialisation was almost entirely state-driven

Question 2

When did von Reutern hold office

Answer 2

1862-78

Question 3

Annual growth rate under von Reutern

Answer 3

6%

Question 4

What showed no transformation ecnomically under von Reutern’s time in office

Answer 4

• Textiles remained the dominant industry
• 1/3 of all Government expenditure went of repayment of foreign loans
• Rouble subject to wild fluctuations in it’s value

Question 5

What major developments were established under von Reutern

Answer 5

• Oil extraction in Baku 1871
• Ironworks in Dontesk reigon 1872

Question 6

Why were peasantary kept poor under Alexander II

Answer 6

• Terms of emancipation meant it was hard producing a surplus
• Indirect and direct taxation was heavy

Question 7

Example of heavy taxation under Alexander II

Answer 7

66% of all Government Revenue came from indirect taxation

Question 8

Succsesses of Vyshnegradsky

Answer 8

• Coal, pig-iron and oil production was significantly boosted
• Neogtiated key loans with the French in 1888

Question 9

What lead to The Great Famine

Answer 9

Between 1881-91, grain exports increased by 18%

Question 10

How widespread was The Great Famine

Answer 10

Affected 17 out of the 39 provinces

Question 11

What pushed the death toll from The Great Famine to over 350,000

Answer 11

Cholera and Typhoid outbreaks

Question 12

What was railway developement under Alexander II

Answer 12

From 1866-81, 3,000km to 13,270km

Question 13

Why was the growth of railways so important

Answer 13

It marked the start of industrial transformation

Question 14

What did Witte use industrialisation to do

Answer 14

Curb revolutionary activity

Question 15

Statistic to show foreign loans (+expertise) increasing under Witte

Answer 15

• 98milliion roubles in 1880
• 280million roubles in 1895

Question 16

Russia’s economic position by the turn of the century

Answer 16

In 1897, Russia had the fourth largest economy

Question 17

What shows how there was no economic transformation for Russia on the turn of the century

Answer 17

• Bulk of export trade still in grain
• Grain production still 3x less than that of Britain and Germany

Question 18

What hampered the rate of agrarian change on the turn of the century

Answer 18

• High taxes
• Grain requisition
• Redemption payments
• Traditional farming practises perpetuated by the Mir

Question 19

What is the reason for the overall increase in agricultureal production in the 1870s-80s

Answer 19

Kulaks

Question 20

Why was socieity kept highly stratified by the end of the 19th century

Answer 20

Most former serf-owners retained much of their wealth, and there was little opportunity for peasants to rise above their class

Question 21

How significant was the growth of the middle class by the end of the 19th century

Answer 21

• Rapid growth
• Numbers equated to no more than half a million by the 1897 census

Question 22

How significant was the urban working class growth by the end of the 19th century

Answer 22

• No more than 2% by the 1897 census
• Workers often returned to their towns during harvest

Question 23

Statistic to show massive urban shift under the Alexander’s

Answer 23

By 1864, one in three inhabitants in St Petersburg were peasants by birth

Question 24

What was so attractive about the cities at the end of the 19th century, despite conditions being grim

Answer 24

The prospect of regular wages and opportunity

Question 25

What class continued to thrive into the 20th century, and what did this only increase

Answer 25

• Kulaks
• Resentment by other ex-serfs

Question 26

Statistics to show how Russian peasantry were under great poverty under Alexander III

Answer 26

• In the Tambov reigon in the 1880’s, two out of three former serfs were unable to feed their families without falling into debt
• A large proporiton of the peasantry were turned down for military service for being ‘unfit’
• Mortality rates in England were 45, yet in Russia were 27 for males, and 29 for females

Question 27

What percentage of the population were subscribed to Orthodoxy under the Alexanders’

Answer 27

70%

Question 28

What had changed about the Tsar’s position in the Church by the end of the 19th century

Answer 28

It had become more secular

Question 29

Why was the Church so crucial for the Alexanders’

Answer 29

It continued to dominate over the supersticious, and ill-educated peasantry

Question 30

How was the Church intertwined with the police state

Answer 30

Priests were encouraged to pass statements given in confession to the authorities