Alexander II, The ‘Tsar Reformer’

Question 1

Why was Alexander II called the tsar liberator?

Answer 1

Due to his decision to emancipate the serfs

Question 2

When was the emancipation of the serfs?

Answer 2

1861

Question 3

How many serfs were freed?

Answer 3

51 million serfs were freed

Question 4

What were the economic motives to abolish serfdom?

Answer 4

-free peasants
-greater incentive to work
-grain surplus
-export of grain providing money for landowners/ state
-investment companies j industry within Russia
-mobile peasantry moving to towns to work in industry
-greater prosperity

Question 5

What were the social reasons for reforms?

Answer 5

Peasant uprisings had increased since the 1940s and this may have encourages Alexander to concede that emancipation should be granted

Question 6

Why was the main reason for emancipation triggered due to Russia’s defeat in the crime and war

Answer 6

Dmitry Milyutin argued that only a ‘free’ population would provide the labour needed to improve the army

Question 7

How did Alexander maintain autocracy during the first year of his reign?

Answer 7

-released political prisoners
-relaxed controlled censorship
-lessened restrictions on foreign travel and university entrance

Question 8

Who did the emancipation edict apply to?

Answer 8

This applied to privately owned serfs immediately and state serfs from 1866

Question 9

What did the emancipation edict state?

Answer 9

-Serfs were granted freedom and a land allotment
-landlords were compensated by the government. They kept some lands but open fields were given to the peasant commune (Mir)
-freed serfs has to pay redemption payments over 49years
-volosts we’re established to supervise the Mirs; from 1863, the volosts ran their own courts

Question 10

What’s the period of temporary obligation?

Answer 10

Around 15% of peasants remained temporary obligated to their landlords until 1881, when redemption was made compulsory

Question 11

What were the positive results of emancipation?

Answer 11

-peasants were no longer subject to their masters’ whim and had free status
-kulaks die well out of the land allotments, buying up extra land and exporting surplus grain
- some peasants sold their land, obtained a passport to leave the Mir, and raised their living standards by finding work int he cities
-some landowners used the compensation offered to get out of debt
-enterprise landlords made profits through investment in industrial enterprise

Question 12

What were the negative results of the emancipating?

Answer 12

-land allocations were rarely fair
-most peasants holdings grew increasingly smaller as the population grew
-the Mir system was highly traditional- subsistence farming and technical backwardness persisted
-the loss of former benefits, restrictions on travel and the burden of the redemption made rural life difficult
-the newspapers ran articles about their disappointments and a wage of student protests and riots occurred in St Petersburg, Moscow and Kazan

Question 13

When were the local government reforms?

Answer 13

1864-70

Question 14

What did the local government reforms state?

Answer 14

Elected local councils (zemstva) replaced the rights and obligations of the serf-owning entry

Question 15

What did the zemstva do?

Answer 15

-they were given power to improve public services, develop their industrial projects and administer poor relief. In 1870 elected town councils called Dumas were set up in the towns

Question 16

What were the limitations of the local government reforms (1864-70)?

Answer 16

-the power of the zemstva was strictly limited
-they had no control over taxes
-the voting procedure favoured the nobility
-the councils were never truly people assemblies. They attracted doctors, lawyers, teachers and scientists who used meetings to debate political issues

Question 17

When were the judiciary reforms?

Answer 17

1864

Question 18

How was the law before the reforms?

Answer 18

There was no jury system, no lawyers and no examinations of witness. The accused was considered guilty until proven innocent and Judges decision was final

Question 19

What did the new law system look like?

Answer 19

-a single system of courts established equality before the law. The accused was presumed innocent until proven guilty and could employ a lawyer
-criminal cases were heard before barristers and a jury, selected from lists of property owners. Judges were appointed by the tsar and given improved training and pay
-courts were opened to the public and proceedings could be reported

Question 20

When was the education reforms?

Answer 20

1863-64

Question 21

Who was the minister of education from 1862-67?

Answer 21

Golovin

Question 22

What did the education reform state?

Answer 22

-universities could govern themselves and appoint their own staff
- responsibilities for schools was transferred from the church to the zemstva
-opened to boys and girls
- primary and secondary education was extended

Question 23

What was a limitation of the education reform?

Answer 23

The universities’ new independence increased the number of radical thinkers. After 1866, government control was reasserted

Question 24

When were the military reforms?

Answer 24

1874-75

Question 25

Who was Dmitry Milyutin?

Answer 25

Minister of war

Question 26

What did Dmitry Milyutin do?

Answer 26

He reorganised the armed forces which improved efficiency and reduced cost

Question 27

What did the military reform state?

Answer 27

-conscription became compulsory for all classes from the ages of 21
-punishment were less severe
-the system of military colonies was abandoned
-modern weaponry
-a new command structure
-military colleges were set up to provide better training for the non-noble officer corps

Question 28

What were the limitations of the military reforms?

Answer 28

-richer people often found substitutes to serve for them
-the officer class remained largely aristocratic
-problems of supply and leadership continued

Question 29

What were the other reforms?

Answer 29

-between 1858 and 1870, press censorship was relaxed
-there were attempts to eliminate corruption in the lower levels of the church
-some reform of the condition of the Jews and ethnic minorities was initially undertaken
-some economic liberalisation was granted

Question 30

What were the limitations if the other reforms?

Answer 30

-after critical writing increased, government control was tightened again in the 1870s
-the lenient treatment of poles and Jews was reversed after the 1863 polish rebellion
-economic liberalisation remained, but it was largely at the peasants’ expense

Question 31

What happened during Alexander II rule?

Answer 31

-Alexander II reforms letter Russias social, economic, political, and military structures
-there was some continuity with before; the noble class remained dominant and peasant society changed little
-however, the reforms, thought limited, changed patterns of land ownership and brought about wide ranging social changes
-there may have increased instability in Russia by setting expectations for further change