Alexander III Flashcards
How did Alexander III keep control?
-Alexander III wanted to ba an autocratic leader from the beginning
-Tolstoy had decided that he wanted government-appointed officials to have direct control over peasant and village communes
-Members of the gentry were chosen as land captains to control rural areas
What Local Government counter reforms did Alexander III introduce?
-The 1890 Zemstva Act reduced the independence of the Zemstva
-Control was more centralised
-Provisional governors could veto and amend the decisions of the Zemstva
-The number of people eligible to vote was cut drastically
-The local government was taken over by the minister of interior
-Land captains carried out what the tsar wanted
What Judicial counter-reforms did Alexander III introduce?
-Jp’s abolished (Judicial functions mainly passed to land captains
-Judges lost security of tenure (Can be threatened)
-The Minister of Justice could order trials to be held in private
-There was a huge increase in the centralisation of power
-Central ministers and local government officials gained control
-Special courts set up outside the legal cases
- Political force stepped up
-Political prisoners released
What Educational counter-reforms did Alexander III introduce?
-1884 university statute - strict control on universities reducing their autonomy and student freedom
-University courses for women closed
-Church given more control over primary education
-Fees in secondary school rose (The percentage of children of nobles and officials significantly rose)
What censorship reforms did Alexander III introduce?
-Censorship was tightened even further
-Publications which criticised the regime could be suspended and editors banned from publishing anything else
What economic development occurred under Alexander III?
- Supported successive finance ministers - Bunge, Vyshnegradsky, and witte in laying down the basis for future development and creating the industrial spurt of the 1890s
-Railway building
-Encouraging foreign investment
-Tariff protection to protect fledging industries
-Building up gold reserves
-Exporting grain for foreign imports and pay interests on foreign loans
Financial and social measures under Alexander III
-1883-87 - Poll tax abolished and redemption payments abolished
-1883 - Peasant land bank was set up to help helpless peasants buy land
-1885 - Noble land bank established lending money to nobles at low-interest rates to pay off debts or invest in land
-Some measures were taken to improve the lives of workers but they had limited impact (Laws passed to restrict child labour, limit working hour of women at night, reduce fines for workers, and to provide compulsory education for younger factory children)
What repression did Alexander III use?
-Following the assassination of A II, a nationwide police offensive led to 10,000 arrests and emergency measures that led to a crackdown on anybody connected to terrorist or revolutionary activities
-The Okhrana (Special police) recruited thousands of informers and agents who penetrated opposition groups
-Many masqueraded as cab drivers as cab drivers to listen into conversations
-Most post offices had rooms where mail was read
-Many suspected of being a danger to the state were arrested and sent to exile
Despite the repressive climate, revolutionary parties still continued to spring up
What was Alexander III’s treatment of ethnic minorities?
Alexander III and his ministers engaged in a policy of “cultural Russification” (This sought to merge all the tsar’s subjects into a single nation with a feeling of shared identity
-The destruction of non-Russian national cultures was particularly marked in Poland and Finland
-1888 - 330 cases of mass disturbances
- In Finland, the parliament was reorganized in 1892 in order to weaken its political influence
How did Alexander III keep control of ethnic minorities?
Language
Currency
Violence
Religion
-Polish National Bank closed in 1885
-37,000 Lutherans converted to orthodoxy(caused increased resentment)
-In schools and universities, all subjects except the Polish language had to be in Russian
-Military service arrangements were extended into areas that were previously exempt
-Uprisings were mercilessly suppressed in Guriya
Alexander III’s treatment of Jewish people
-Under Alexander III, they faced a wide wave of antisemitism
-Not allowed to own property and land in Rural areas
-Could not hold government office
-Were denied the vote in Zemstva
-In the early 1880s a series of pogroms were carried out
-The police turned a blind eye
-16 major cities attacked
-Holy league - Coordinated attacks
what was terror under Alexander III like?
-In 1881 new secret police was established (Okhrana)
- A decree of March 1882 allowed the police to declare any citizen subject to surveillance
-Censorship was tightened even further (Publications which criticised the regime could be suspended and editors banned from publishing anything else
-Members of the gentry were chosen as land captains to rural areas - They were very powerful and could overrule district courts with no appeal
-Following the assass ination of Alexander II a nation wide police offensive lead to 10,000 arrests
