Alexander II, the ‘Tsar Reformer’ Flashcards
define emancipation
freeing from bondage
how many serfs were there in 1861?
51 million
party of st petersburg progress
- a loose title given to more liberal nobles who frequented the salons of the tsars aunt, or gathered around his brother
- came into prominence at alexander II’s court
motivations for emancipation of serfs
- views shaped by his romantics poet tutor, Zhukovsky
- own travels around the empire influenced him
- party of st petersburg progress influence
- enlightened bureaucrats who had been committed to abolition of serfdom for some time
milyutin brother’s names
- nikolai milyutin
- dmitry milyutin
who was nikolai milyutin?
- influential voice in ministry of internal affairs
- favoured reform within slavophile tradition
- largely responsible for the terms of the emancipation edict
- supported establishment of the zemstva
who was dmitry milyutin
- reputation as a military scholar
- analysed reasons behind defeat in the crimean war
- felt serfdom was holding back russia economically and was weakening her ‘great power status’
- thought serfdom to be morally wrong
7 economic motives behind emancipation
free peasants -> greater incentive to work -> grain surplus -> export of grain providing money for landowners/state -> investment in industry with russia -> mobile peasantry moving to towns to work in industry -> greater prosperity
where would alexander II be on the political spectrum?
conservative rather than liberal
- if was liberal, wouldn’t be a tsar as they support a constitution and freedoms
how much disorder was there on privately owned estates between 1840 and 1844? how did that figure change in the next 15 years?
30 outbreaks
more than doubled
name some enlightened bureaucrats
- milyutin brothers
- alexander II brother, Grand DUke Konstantin
- alexander II aunt, Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna
what did the enlightened bureaucrats help influence?
emancipation
what was the catalyst in the emancipation?
- the humiliations and inefficiencies of the crimean war
who was dmitry milyutin?
minister of war 1961-1981
what was dmitri milyutins response to the defeat in crimea?
- pleaded for reform in order to ‘strengthen the State and restore dignity’
- wanted modernisation of the army
- thought only a ‘free’ population would provide the labour needed for military improvement
what did Alexander II start with in terms of easing pressure?
- dismissed some of the Decemberists that assassinated his father
- relaxed controls on censorship
- lessened restrictions on foreign travel and university entrance
how did Alexander II gain nobel support for emancipation?
- toured the countryside making pro-emancipation speeches
1858 - 1859
when did state serfs receive their freedoms? and why?
- 1866
- was initially only privately owned serfs that got their freedom
what did the emancipation edict allow?
- granted the serfs freedom and an allotment of land
- landowners recieved government compensation
what did freed serfs have to pay?
redemption payments for 49 years
what were the redemption payments bound by?
- they had to remain within their peasant commune (mir) until these redemption payments had been made
what was the mir responsible for?
- responsible for distributing allotments, controlling the farming and collecting and paying the peasants taxes
volosts
- a peasant community consisting of several villages/hamlets.
- between 200 and 300 people
- supervised the mirs
- from 1863, ran their own courts, managed by ex-serfs which replaced the landlord’s jurisdiction over serfs
- under the control of government officials and a noble ‘peace keeper’
kulak
a prosperous/richer peasant
what was ‘temporary obligation’
- a two year period before freedom was granted
- allocations worked out during this time
what did landowners keep and give away during emancipation?
- kept their meadows, pasture, woodland and a personal holding
- open fields were given to the mir to give out to the peasants
example of how long emancipation took for all serfs to be freed
around 15 percent of peasants remained ‘temporarily obliged’ to their landlords until 1881
how did kulaks do following emancipation?
- bought extra land so they could produce surplus grain for export
- some sold their allocation and obtained a passport to leave the mir to work in industrialised cities
examples of how some serfs felt cheated by emancipation
- small allotments were divided as several sons would inherit the land (which then had to be shared)
- in 1878, only 50% peasantry was able to create a surplus
what was travel bound by?
- had to have a passport to leave the mir, even for internal travelling within the empire
how did the average peasant feel towards the kulaks?
- resentment, violent outbreaks occured in the mirs
where was their protesting about the consequences of emancipation and why?
- st petersburg, moscow and kazan
- student protesting and riots because landowners resented in their loss of influence
examples of unrest following the emancipation edict
- 647 incidents of riot in the four months that followed the decree
- peasant riot in Bezdna (area of Kazan), resulting in 70 peasant deaths
- noble bankruptcies happened as landowners had to sell or mortgage
local government reform details
- jan 1864 decree establishing the zemstvas, had district and provincial levels
- chosen through electoral colleges
- local election council responsible for public education, health, local economic development, road building and professional services
- still wanted control and overall stability
successes of local government reform
- compromised of nobles and peasants (efforts to close the gap in class divide)
- represented what locals wanted
failures in local government reform
- local taxation favoured the rich/nobility
- raised the hope of the intelligentsia that wanted a representative national assembly, however the power was strictly limited
- no control over state and local taxes (liberals wanted power over the disposal imperial taxes)
- provincial governors could overturn outcomes and appointed officials
- never a true representation of the people as they attracted lawyers, doctors, teachers and scientists
details of judical reform
- westernised approach, could employ lawyers and assumed innocent until proven guilty
- tsar chose judiciary, gave them improved training and pay
- criminal cases were heard before barristers and juries (selected from lists of property owners)
- local justices of peace were elected every three years by the zemstva, independent of political control
- courts open to the public and proceedings were reported
successes in judicial reforms
- fairer and less corrupt
- first proper attempt at giving the people the ‘right to a fair trial’
failures in judicial reforms
- some juries acquitted the guilty because they were sympathetic to their plight
- therefore a new decree had to be set up to permit political crimes to be tried by special procedures
- trial by jury was never established in poland, western provinces and the caucasus
- ecclesiastical and military courts were excluded from the reforms
- peasantry in the volost courts were still discriminated against
ecclesiastical and military courts
- ecclesiastical court was a church court where punishments were in the hands of the priests
- in military courts, army officers awarded the sentences.
war against turkey
- 1877-1878
- in support of balkan states fighting against turkish rule
- march 1878, concluded the Treaty of San Stefano with turkey
- created a large bulgaria under russian protection
- britain and austria-hungary were alarmed by this, and russia was forced to accept the Treaty of Berlin July 1878 which split up the new bulgaria
what was the outcome of the turkish war?
- the treaty of san stefano march 1878
- created bulgaria under russian rule
- britain and austria hungary felt threatened by this so the treaty of berlin july 1878 concluded bulgaria to be split up
when were the military reforms?
1874 - 1875
when were the local government reforms?
1864 - 1870
when were the judiciary reforms?
1864
when were the education reforms?
1863 - 1864
details of education reform
- unis given powers to govern themselves and appoint their own staff
- primary and secondary education extended, ‘modern schools’ established at secondary level
- schools declared open to all, regardless of class or sex (women allowed to attend secondary school for non-vocational education from 1870)
what was the intention of opening ‘modern schools’
established for those who didn’t want the traditional education that was offered in the gymnaziya (plural = gimnazii)
stats of increase in education
- number of primary schools rose from 8k in 1956 to 23k in 1880
- number of children in primary education rose from 400k to over a million
- number of students at university grew from 3.6k to 10k by the 1870s
successes in education reform
- increase of literate population
- zemstva had more power meaning more devolution of power amongst locals
failures in education reform
- new power given to the unis saw a rise in radical and militant thinkers
- education curriculums were restricted, e.g. students had the option st secondary school to study classics or modern subjects, however these were mainly preserved for the upper classes
details of censorship reform
- restrictions on publishers were reduced, foreign publications were permitted with government approval, press was allowed to print editorials with comment on government policy
- number of books grew from 1,020 in 1855 to 1,836 in 1864
- a growth in critical writing brought a re-tightening of government control in the 1870s
who was the minister of education 1862 - 1867?
Alexander Golovnin
when was the polish revolution?
1863
continuity during Alexander II’s reign
- noble class retained its dominance
- agriculture retained its dominant place in the economy
- peasant society changed very little as the illiteracy, religious teachings and superstition, combined with have taxation and control of the mirs worked against progress
change under Alexander II’s reign
- emancipation marked a turning point in the governments willingness to take a direct interest in economic matters
- changed patterns of land ownership, produces a more mobile labour force, permitted a substantial increase in grain exports in the second half of the 19th century which helped to finance industrial development
- social change perpetuated by the military, educational and even local government judiciary reforms, which empowered a growing group of professionals
- due to these reforms, expectations were raised about the Tsarist regime, when these weren’t fulfilled, the autocracy was in danger
