Alexander II Flashcards
Emancipation of the serfs
1861- peasants allowed to own land, 49 year redemption payments, tied to Mir, 490 outbreaks
Local government reform
1864- nobles no longer in charge, first representative political system for Russia, Zemstva (countryside) health, roads, agriculture, education, famine relief, but provincial governors could reverse zemstva’s decision.
Military reforms
1862-74: Milyutin reduced conscription from 25 to 15 years, promotion by merit, better training, flogging abolished. But officers remained aristocratic, issues with supply and uneducated troops.
Legal reforms
1864- magistrates, district and regional courts created, fair trials, freedom of speech in the courts, right to representation. But special courts for political prisoners and jury not universally enforced.
Educational reforms by Golovnin
1863- reduced church control, science and history taught, university efforts: more freedom, more accessible to the less wealthy, more secondary and primary schools, 1864 women included, numbers doubled to 800,000 during 1860s
Censorship reform
1863- press allowed to discuss government policy, monitored foreign publications were allowed.
Assassination attempt on AII
April 1866
Shuvalov Era
1866-74: chief of police, supported rule by decree, tightened censorship, banned student processions and cooperatives, brought reactionary conservatives into office
Dissent 1873-7
The tsar couldn’t satisfy the expectations he’d aroused. Opposing literature emerged eg Chenyshevsky’s ‘what is to be done’ 1862 arguing for political reform
Arrest of populists
1874: 1,611 populists arrested after revolutionary activity, sent to Siberia.
Tolstoy
1866- he blamed universities for spread of revolutionary ideas, replace science and history with maths, Latin, Greek and church history, restored censorship in 1873
Liberator?
Educated, reforms, liberal ministers, vast breadth and impact of reforms, modernised and restored Russia, treated minorities fairly, Reutern liberal trade
Reutern’s liberal trade policies
Tariffs lowered until 1877, railways increased 2,220 to 14,200 miles, workforce expanded 900,000 to 1.3 mil
Treated minorities fairly
Finns given their own currency and diet, removed some restrictions on Jews and allowed some to settle outside the pale
Disappointing liberal?
Motivated by desire to benefit army and nobles, inconsistent, ineffective and incomplete reforms, destabilised regime, refused to end autocracy, reaction after 1866
