Alexander Dealing With Opposition

Question 1

What were the direct threats to the Tsar?

Answer 1

• 1866 - Dmitry Karakozov shot at him but missed
• 1867 - polish immigrant shot at tsars carriage but missed
• 1879 - Alksandr Soloviev fired five times but missed
• 1879 - attempt to blow up train
• 1880 - bomb under Winter Palace

Question 2

Who wanted to turn the clock back?

Answer 2

• large number of conservatives within his court
• usually argue that values of past need to be preserved and strengthened rather than abandoned
• in this case known as slavophiles who were suspicious of westernising instincts of Alexander himself
• argued Russia was changing too fast and regime was weakened
• Russia should not try to be like the rest of Europe and follow its own unique path

Question 3

How did the eduction reforms change?

Answer 3

• conservatives worry that schools were teaching western ideas so schools were taken away from the zemstva and handed back to the Russian Orthodox Church
• Count Dmitri Tolstoy was put in charge of education and insisted that the classics =, along with obedience to the church were taught
• 1871 only students from grammar schools (gymnasium) could go to university
• the subjects taught at university were also restricted to the traditional classics
• is this going to dampen the revolutionary feeling and reestablish respect for the tsar?

Question 4

How did the legal reforms change?

Answer 4

• not actually reversed but powers of the police were strengthened
• law courts began to put ‘trouble makers’ opposed to tsarist rule on trials
• Pyotr Shuvalov was put in charge of the police and strengthened the ‘Third Section’ which was an early blueprint of the secret police
• ordered more arrests to be made and show trials to take place
• lack of censorship meant that these trials were widely reported in the press and the public often supported the accused

Question 5

How were rebellions dealt with?

Answer 5

• rebellions such as Polish in 1864 were crushed
• foreign influence of groups such as Poles, Finns and Jews was lessened when Alexander forced them to speak Russian and adopt a Russian culture (Russification)
• harsh treatment gained much sympathy and to some of his opponents, the tsar seemed crueller than ever

Question 6

What was the Okhrana?

Answer 6

When the power of the police was increased in 1880, the ‘Third Section’ was abandoned and replaced with the Okhrana who were greatly feared. Russification and the Okhrana were later strengthen by Alexander III but were introduced as a last attempt to quell rebellions and re-establish power

Question 7

What was the Loris-Melikov Constitution?

Answer 7

• despite actions, opposition continued and by 1880 Alexander began to accept that unrest might be better curbed by listening to people more
• Count Mikhail Loris-Melikov became Minister of Internal Affairs
• censorship was relaxed, restrictions on zemstva lifted and political prisoners freed
• 1880 Loris-Melikov produced a report that said that elected representatives from the nobility zemstva and town government should be included in helping draft some state decrees - became known as the Loris-Melikov constitution
• 13th March 1881 - tsar accepted the report and called a meeting
• However, Alexander was assassinated and the reforms never went ahead