A2 reforms in-depth study Flashcards
3 factors in ‘what motivated A2 great reforms’
- crimean war
- liberal beliefs
- preserve/stregthen tsarist regime
strengths of crimean war
factors in ‘what motivated A2 great reforms’
- defeat in crim war interrupted victorious advance since defeat of napolean in 1812
- showed weakness - the surrender od Sebastopol, the conditions of the peace of paris 1856
- economic factors of serfdom stopped industrialisation
* serfs serve for 25yrs then free – costly as had to maintain a costly peace-time army + had no reserved to draw on - could only be removed by emancipation
* N1 - ‘serfdom is an evil, but to touch it now would be disastrous’
weaknesses of crimean war
factors in ‘what motivated A2 great reforms’
- little evidence of A2 desire to industralise; wanted to increase rail network+military provisions
- these problems already existed - over-emphasis on short term
terms of peace of paris 1856
deprived russia of its fleet and naval bases on the black sea
strengths of liberal beliefs
factors in ‘what motivated A2 great reforms’
- in 1837, went to 29 provinces and saw life of avg. serf
- liberal views held by tsars since catherine the great
- critics of serfdom; Turgenev’s sportsman sketches
weakness of liberal beliefs
factors in ‘what motivated A2 great reforms’
- influence from inner circle instaed of A2’s beliefs
* A2’s brother
* the Milyutin brothers; one of whom who was responsible for terms of emancipation - didnt really liberalise — e.g redemption payments
strengths of preserve/stregthen tsarist regime
factors in ‘what motivated A2 great reforms’
- serfdom - should come from ‘above’ not ‘below’ to avoid revolution to overthroe tsarism
- fear of peasnat revolution; since 1800 there’d been 1467 serf revolts
- relaince on serfs
weaknesses od preserve/stregthen tsarist regime
factors in ‘what motivated A2 great reforms’
- revolts not organised enough to have actual effect on society
modernisation: emanicpation
did A2’s reforms modernise russia
- legal right to own property, marry who they wanted, could set up their own businesses
- peasants guaranteed the right to farm a specific amount of land
- serfdom hadnt existed in western europe for 200yrs -so catching up with the west
limits to modernisation: emanicpation
did A2’s reforms modernise russia
- redemption payments - controlled by the mir so restricted peasant movement
- nobles still owned most land – land given was poor quality - struggled to earn enough— financial probs meant other freedoms were meaningless
- didnt legally own land until redemption payments paid
modernisation: Zemstva
did A2’s reforms modernise russia
- ‘third element’ of russia society- as added a more liberal minded middle class
- first elected reprensentatives
- responsible for local issues
* building hospitals/schools etc
* depsite lack of budget, effectively did 1891 famine relief
limits to modernisation: Zemstva
did A2’s reforms modernise russia
- only reform local gov
- ensured local affairs were under control of nobility
- slow – only 37/90 by 1917 had zemstva’s
modernisation: legal reforms
did A2’s reforms modernise russia
- changes to organisation of courts - standardise legal progress
- changes to equality – ‘equality before law’
- jury trials were introduced, kept secret
- judges appointed for life – gave them security that they wouldn’t be removed if they made a just by politically unpopular ruling
modernisation: military
did A2’s reforms modernise russia
- the shrinking of the army – from 25yrs to 6-9yrs
- universal conscription- all classes likely to do service
- improvement of training, provision, equipment
modernisation: education
did A2’s reforms modernise russia
- more school opened – 1856= 8000 primary schools, to 23,000 in 1880
- women allowed to go to secondary school
- highly controlled by gov [Zemstva]
- uni statute in 1863 gave more control to uni’s
limits to modernisation: education
did A2’s reforms modernise russia
- the university discipline taken away
modernisation: censorship
did A2’s reforms modernise russia
- relaxed publication of books
- foreign publications allowed
limits to modernisation: censorship
did A2’s reforms modernise russia
- karl marx ‘Dis Kapital’ was published
what happened in ?
1856 - 1861 [reactionary]
how liberal was A2?
planning to reform – details of emancipationis compromised
what happened in ?
1866 [reactionary]
how liberal was A2?
suppression of radical newspapers [tempory] –Tolstov as new education minsiter
what happened in ?
1867 [reactionary]
how liberal was A2?
education + censorship. reform ends
when was the shuvalov era [reactionary]
how liberal was A2?
1870-80
how many revolutionaries killed between 1873-77 [reactionary]
how liberal was A2?
1611
* trial of the 50
* trial of the 193
what happened in ?
1880 [reactionary]
how liberal was A2?
31,000 under supervision of third section
what happened in ?
1856 [liberal]
how liberal was A2?
loss of crime - plan to emancipate
what happened in ?
1861 [liberal]
how liberal was A2?
emancipation of serfs
what happened in ?
1862 [liberal]
how liberal was A2?
- uni. statute
- military reforms
what happened in ?
1864 [liberal]
how liberal was A2?
intro of Zemstva
what happened in ?
1865 [liberal]
how liberal was A2?
judical reforms – jury trial reform
censorship reduction
what was 1866 [liberal]
how liberal was A2?
THE TURNING POINT
what happened in ?
the late 1870’s [liberal]
how liberal was A2?
the lois-meilkov constititon
* abolish secret police + move towrads a reprensentative institution
* BUT only a proposal- Bc. A2 killed
how far did A2 improve the lives of the russian people?
evidence for ‘A2’s reforms greatly improved the lives of the peasants’
- emancipation - legal right to own property, marry who they wished, set up their own business
- ‘to the people’ movement failed - 1874
- militia reforms - conscription length falls from 25yrs to 6-9yrs
- legally free - protected under the law
evidence against ‘A2’s reforms greatly improved the lives of the peasants’
how far did A2 improve the lives of the russian people?
- land remained property of nobles
- on avg. peasants farmed $20 less than priori to emancipation
- redemption payments + 6% interest year on year
* by 1870, 55% paid redemption back
* by 1878, 50% had made profit - mir empowered - in charge of paying back redemption payments so peasnats couldn’t leave the Mir – so restriction on peasant movemnet remained
- 1159 riots in 1861
evidence for ‘A2’s reforms marginally improved the lives of the peasants’
how far did A2 improve the lives of the russian people?
- 1878 - 50% had made a profit
- 1/3 of noble land went to peasnats - ‘cut offs’
- mir restricts peasnat movemnet
evidence against ‘A2’s reforms marginally improved the lives of the peasants’
how far did A2 improve the lives of the russian people?
- some peasants had a worse experimce 1861- farmed less land
- some peasants improved - Kulaks
evidence for ‘A2’s reforms helped the nobles more than the peasnats’
how far did A2 improve the lives of the russian people?
- continued to hold monolply over jobs in the civil service
* in 1897, 1000/1400 of top highest ranking civil servants were nobles - Dr’s, lawyers, educational professions were highly likely to be nobles
- sold land to reinvest in cities – in 1882, 700 nobles in Moscow owned factories or businesses
- A2 reforms ensured nobles kept their priveledge - nobles had greatest impact on voting in local Zemstva [70% majority]
- nobles compensated for loss of Serfs via redemption paymenyts - which serfs had to pay back
evidence against ‘A2’s reforms helped the nobles more than the peasnats’
how far did A2 improve the lives of the russian people?
- judical reform - ‘equality before law’
- 1861 owned 80% of land but only 40% in 1905 – sold to peasnats
- between 1877-1905 –landholdinsg fell from 200 mil to 144 mil acres
- universal conscription
- loss of serfs/symbolic power and income
- third eleemnt
evidence for effectiveness of the Narodniks
how effective was opposito to A2
- formation of land & liberty
* formed cells in towns & cities - people’s will managed to kill A2
evidence for ineffectiveness of the Narodniks
how effective was opposito to A2
- ‘going to the Narod’ movement, 4000 uni students & teachers displace to countryside with aim of eductaing/encouraging peasants to join a revolution
* 1000 revolutionists reported to the state by peasnts
* their actions stopped reforming nature of tsarism and returned to tsar oppression - divisions in the movemnet
evidence for effectiveness of the peasants
how effective was opposito to A2
- emancipation
- the prospect of peasant revolution - feared by european elites
- post emancipation saw widespread rural discomfort —-1159 riots in 1861
* Bezdna 1861, saw the military being brought in and killed 100 peasants
evidence for ineffectiveness of the peasants
how effective was opposito to A2
- 1773, 75 pugaches saw a huge uprising as an aim of ending serfdom – didn’t work
- the peasants had been repressed in all uprisings
- local riots had increased but they were all local in scale, not organised enough to threaten the state
evidence for effectiveness of national minorities
how effective was opposito to A2
- 1861 riots spread, russia briefly losing control of warsaw
- 10,000 members in 1863
evidence for ineffectiveness of national minorities
how effective was opposito to A2
- ended up achieving the opposite
* russification increases
