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History: Tsarist and Communist Russia > Alexander II > Flashcards

Alexander II Flashcards

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1
Q

When did Alexander II come to the throne?

A

1855

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2
Q

What was the ration of village to town dwellers?

A

11:1

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3
Q

What are 3 reasons for Russia’s economic backwardness?

A
  1. Russia’s commitment to the serf based community
  2. Most of its land was inhospitable
  3. Size and weather placed severe strain on the economy
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4
Q

What is serfdom?

A

Russian peasants were men, women and children who were classified as property of their owners, rather than citizens of the state.

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5
Q

What were the most common peasant purchases?

A

vodka, metal tools and salt

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6
Q

How were goods ‘bought’?

A

Money was not the usual form of payment so good were exchanged.

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7
Q

There was no internal market. What’s internal market?

A

The desire to buy the products of manufacturing within the country.

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8
Q

Which group is on the other end of the scale of peasants which accumulated to the lack of economic development?

A

The landed elite

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9
Q

There was no opportunity for capital accumulation. What is Capital accumulation?

A

Building up money reserves in order to invest

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10
Q

Why were the landed elite unable to gain capital accumulation?

A

Markets became more competitive due to agricultural change. This left many of the landed elite in debt. However, in their despair they did look for alternative ways to make money.

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11
Q

What was money like?

A

Money was of little use in Russia’s underdeveloped economy.

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12
Q

When were the serfs emancipated?

A

1861

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13
Q

What were the motives for emancipation and reforms?

A
  1. The Milyutin brothers
  2. Peasant uprisings
    3.Failure and inefficiency in the Crimean War
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14
Q

How many peasant uprisings were there?

A

Between 1840-1844 there had been fewer than 30 outbreaks of disorder per year but the figure more than doubled over the next 15 years.

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15
Q

What did the emancipation edict of 1861 say?

A

It granted serfs freedom and an allotment of land and landowners received government compensation.
Freed serfs were required to pay redemption payments to the government over 49 years.
The Mir was made responsible for distributing the allotments, controlling the farming and collecting and paying the peasant taxes.

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16
Q

Who were the Kulaks ?

A

A prosperous land peasant. They brought up extra land so they could produce surplus grain for export.

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17
Q

What were the results of emancipation?

A
  1. Kulak class were prosperous
  2. Some peasants left to work in the cities to raise their living standards and some used their compensation to get out of debt
  3. Some felt cheated by the unfair land distribution, restrictions on travel, redemption payments and loss of benefits.
  4. Landowners resented their loss of influence
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18
Q

What were the military reforms?

A
  1. Armed forces reorganised to create a smaller, more professional, more efficient and less expensive army.
  2. Conscription was made compulsory for all classes from the age of 21
  3. Punishments made less severe
  4. Better provisioning and medical care
  5. Modern weaponry and new command structure.
  6. Military colleges were set up
  7. Literacy within the army was improved.
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19
Q

Between what years were the military reforms?

A

1874-1875

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20
Q

How was Russia’s relationship with war which showed that problems with the army still continued?

A

The army struggled to win the war against turkey 1877-78 and in the longer term was defeated by Japan 1094-05 and again in Germany 1914-17

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21
Q

What were the local government reforms?

A

A system of elected local councils was established. They were known as the Zemstva. The voting procedure however, was arranged in a way which allowed the nobility to dominate. The Zemstvo was given the power to improve public services, develop industrial projects and administer poor relief in times of hardship.

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22
Q

What were the limitations of the local government reforms?

A

Its power was limited and despite some peasant representation, it was never truly a ‘people’s assembly’

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23
Q

What were the judiciary reforms?

A
  1. The accused was presumed innocent until proven guilty and could employ a lawyer to defend themselves.
  2. Criminal cases were heard before barristers and a jury.
  3. Courts were opened to the public and proceedings could be freely reported.
  4. The system was fairer and less corrupt and a new opportunity arose for the articulate lawyers of the intelligentsia to criticise the regime.
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24
Q

What were the limitations of the judiciary reforms?

A

The peasantry were still treated differently in court than those of higher status.

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25
Q

What were the education reforms?

A

1.Universities govern themselves and appoint their own staff.
2. Responsibility for schooling was transferred from orthodox church to the zemstvo.
3. Primary and secondary education was extended.
4. Schools were declared open to all regardless of class and sex.

26
Q

How many primary schools were there in 1880?

A

23,000
It rose from 8000

27
Q

How many children were in primary education?

A

Over a million
It rose from 400,000

28
Q

How many students were in university by the 1870s?

A

10,000
It rose from 3600

29
Q

What were the censorship reforms?

A
  1. Restrictions on publishers were reduced
  2. Foreign publications were permitted with government approval.
  3. Press was allowed to print editorials with comments on government policy.
  4. This led to a short lived growth in the number of books, journals, newspapers on sale.
30
Q

How many books were published in 1864?

A

1936
It rose from 1020

31
Q

When was the assassination attempt in Alexander II ?

A

1866

32
Q

Describe the assassination attempt.

A

Dmitry Karakozov, a former student, shot at Alexander but missed.

33
Q

What did reactionaries fear?

A

the spread of Western ideas through the liberal universities and freer press and argued that the ethnic minorities with their different religions were diluting Russian strength.

34
Q

What were the education reactionary reforms?

A
  1. The zemstvo power over education was reduced
  2. The church regained its authority over rural schools
  3. Subjects which encouraged critical thinking such as English, science and history were forced out.
35
Q

What were the police and law reactionary reforms?

A
  1. The police was strengthened
  2. The third section was encouraged
  3. Persecution of other ethnic and religious minorities was stepped up
  4. Searches and arrests increased and Show trials were opened
36
Q

Who was Loris Melikov ?

A

appointed Minister for Internal Affairs. He released political prisoners, relaxed censorship, removed the salt tax and lifted restrictions on the activities of the Zemstva. The third section was abolished and its powers transferred to the regular police, although a special section which became known as the Okhrana was created and soon became just as oppressive.

37
Q

What did the Loris Melikov’s constitution demand ?

A

It recommended the inclusion of elected representatives of the nobility, of the zemstvo and of the town governments in debating drafts of some state decrees

38
Q

When was Alexander II assassinated?

A

Alexander II accepted and signed the report on the morning of 13th March 1881 calling for a meeting of the council of Ministers to discuss the document. The same day the Tsar was killed by a bomb.

39
Q

What was Alexander’s attitude to ethnic minorities?

A

He was more concerned with control than with matters of racial superiority. He reacted swiftly and strongly when a further Polish rebellion broke out in 1863. Alexander II did not engage in systematic persecution of racial minorities and also used concessions (granting a request in response to a demand) as a means of keeping control. E.g. Latvians were allowed to revert to Lutheranism and Finns to have their own diet.

40
Q

How did Alexander II’s and his administers attitude about ethnic minorities change towards the end of his reign?

A

saw growing intolerance of national differences on the part of the Tsar’s ministers and administrators who were keen to reinforce the Tsarist regime. This turned into, for example; a prohibition on the use of the Ukrainian language in publications or performances in 1876.

41
Q

Moderate Liberals

A

They not only had the benefit of education but also possessed the wealth, time and interest to reflect on political matters. Many had travelled abroad and despaired at the political and social stagnation in their country. They fit into two broad categories; Westernisers and Slavophiles.

42
Q

Westernisers

A

wanted to catch up with the West by copying western ways

43
Q

Slavophiles

A

favoured a superior Russian path to a better future.

44
Q

Radical Opposition

A

Another far more radical strand of opposition developed among the younger generation who, although often the children of liberals, wanted to go further than their parents.

45
Q

‘The Organisation’

A

‘The Organisation’ was set up by students at Moscow University and more calls for reforms were made.

46
Q

Who was Bakunin and Sergei Nechaev?

A

In 1869 Bakunin and Sergei Nechaev, a student radical activist, published a manifesto, Catechism of a Revolutionary. It exhorted opponents of autocracy to be merciless in their pursuit of revolution. He used underground contacts to return to Russia, determined to go to the people and carry out a revolution. However, he was soon forced to flee again after the murder of a student who disagreed with him.

47
Q

What was the Tchaikovsky Circle?

A

set up in 1868 in St Petersburg. It was primarily a literacy society that organised the printing, publishing and distribution of scientific and revolutionary literature. It sought social revolution.

48
Q

Populist

A

The idea of going to the people became known as Populism.
Believed in Agrarian Socialism which was all land should be shared
Inspired by Pyotr Lavrov

49
Q

What did Pyotr Lavrov do?

A

In 1874 Pyotr Lavrov encouraged a group of around 2000 young men and women, mainly from the nobility and intelligentsia, to travel to the countryside in order to persuade the peasantry that the future of Russia depended on the development of the peasant commune. The peasants’ ignorance, superstition, prejudice and deep rooted loyalty to the Tsar ensured that the incomes were reported to the authorities and many Populists were arrested. There was a second attempt at this but this proved no more successful than the first. Despite its immediate failure, Narodnyism had helped to take radical opposition away from the underground meeting rooms.

50
Q

When was ‘Land and Liberty’ set up?

A

1877

51
Q

What did land and liberty do?

A

It continued the populist traditions. Its members sought work within the peasant communes, but in less obtrusive manners. Some carried out political assassinations. There were even talks with the Zemstva and the land and liberty organisation to try to place more pressure on the autocracy for constitutional reforms.

52
Q

What 2 groups did land and liberty split into?

A

Black repartition and The peoples will

53
Q

Black repartition?

A

It wanted to share or partition the black soil provinces of Russia among the peasants. It worked alongside the peasants peacefully, developing ties with students and workers and publishing radical material in the hope of stimulating social change without resorting to violence.

54
Q

The people’s will?

A

Planted a spy in the third section to keep the group informed of the secret police’s activities. It advocated violent methods, undermining the government by assassinating officials. In 1879 it declared that the Tsar had to be removed. After a number of attempts against Tsar Alexander II, their aim was finally achieved in March 1881.

55
Q

Who was Alexander II’s minister of finance?

A

Mikhail Von Reutern

56
Q

What were Mikhail Von Reutern reforms?

A
  1. Tax farming was abolished and the tax system was reformed to include more indirect tax
  2. Trade was promoted
  3. Government subsidies were offered
  4. Foreign investment was encouraged
  5. Government support was offered for the development of the cotton industry
57
Q

What was the result of Mikhail’s reforms?

A
  1. enterprise was encouraged
  2. industry and the railway network expanded
  3. there was an annual growth rate of 6%
  4. oil extraction began in the Caspian sea port
  5. iron works was set up in Donetsk and Naphtha
  6. Extraction company was established to exploit the coal and oil extraction further.

However, despite these improvements, Russia’s economy remained weak. A third of all government expenditure went on the repayment of debts and the Russian currency was subject to wild variations in its value. The peasantry were kept poor and domestic markets small.

58
Q

What did Alexander II’s Minister of Finance from 1862-78, Mikhail von Reutern do to improve industrial growth?

A

He produced a series of reforms designed to boost the economy and provide funds to drive industrial growth.
- Tax farming was abolished
- Trade was promoted with the reduction of import duties
- Government subsidies were offered
- Government support was offered for the development of the cotton industry

59
Q

What was the impact of Von Reutern’s reforms?

A
  • Annual average growth rate of 6%
  • Enterprise was encouraged
  • Capital and railway expansion
  • Oil extraction began in the Caspian Sea port of Baku
  • Iron works was set up in Donetsk which started mining the iron rich iron fields
60
Q

What where the limitations of Von Reutern’s economic reforms?

A
  • Russia’s economy remained comparatively weak
  • A third of all government expenditure went on the repayment of debts
  • Peasantry were kept poor and the domestic market small
  • The rouble was subject to wild variations
61
Q

Who developed Russian Revolutionary Thought?

A
  • Chernyshevsky published What is to be Done? which sympathised with the poor and suggested the peasantry must be made leaders.

History: Tsarist and Communist Russia (5 decks)

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