Alexander III

Question 1

When was Vysnegradsky Minister for Finance?

Answer 1

1887-1892

Question 2

When was the Tariff Act and what did it do?

Answer 2

1891
Increased import tariffs by 30% in order to boost home production

Question 3

How many people died in the famine of 1891-92?

Answer 3

Around 350,000

Question 4

Why was Vyshnegradsky dismissed?

Answer 4

His forced requisitioning of grain from the peasants created the Great Famine.

Question 5

Who replaced Vysnegradsky?

Answer 5

Sergi Witte

Question 6

By how much did Witte expand the railway?

Answer 6

There was 62,000 km of railway track in Russia by 1914, and Witte began construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway

Question 7

How did industry improve under AIII?

Answer 7

. Increased mining in coal and oil:
. Huge increase in the output of coal (5.9 million tonnes by 1890)
. Huge increase in output of oil (3.9 million tonnes by 1890)

Question 8

What was the problem with agriculture?

Answer 8

Continued to use medieval and ineffective farming techniques.

Question 9

When was the University Statute?

Answer 9

1887

Question 10

What was the University Statute?

Answer 10

Brought universities back under tight government supervision

Question 11

When was the Statute on Police Surveillance?

Answer 11

1882

Question 12

What was the Statute on Police Surveillance?

Answer 12

Any area could be deemed an “Area of Subversion”, and hugely increased the powers of the Okhrana

Question 13

When were the Jewish Pogroms at their height?

Answer 13

1881-84

Question 14

What were the May Laws

Answer 14

Jews weren’t allowed to move outside the “Pale of Settlement”

Question 15

When was the Statute of State Security?

Answer 15

1881

Question 16

What was the Statute of State Security?

Answer 16

. Prohibited gatherings of more than 12
. Any individual could be prosecuted for political crimes
. Established special courts outside the legal system for political criminals
. Closed many schools, universities and newspapers

Question 17

When was the Zemstva Act?

Answer 17

1890

Question 18

What was the Zemstva Act?

Answer 18

Reduced the power of the Zemstva and introduced Land Captains

Question 19

What were living conditions like in St Petersburg?

Answer 19

. 40% of housing in 1900 had no running water
. Food and rent often took up 3/4 of worker’s income

Question 20

What was life like for the nobility

Answer 20

. In 1882, more than 700 nobles owned their own businesses in Moscow
. Many nobles took positions on the Zemstva or as Land Captains
. Many noble lost significant money after the emancipation. In 1880, nearly 1/5 of university professors were from hereditary nobility.

Question 21

What was life like for the peasants?

Answer 21

. 2/3 of ex-serfs were still tied to the land due to crippling redemption payments
. Kulaks were able to buy and sell land