Alexander III, the 'Great Reactionary'

Question 1

Who was known as the ‘Black Tsar’?

Answer 1

Konstantin Pobedonostsev

Question 2

When was the ‘Manifesto of Unshakeable Autocracy’ written?

Answer 2

1881

Question 3

Who was Mikhail Katkov?

Answer 3

An influential right-wing journalist who edited the Moscow News until his death in 1887.

He was much liked by Alexander III.

Question 4

Name 2 changes in local government under Alexander III.

Answer 4

• Land captains introduced (1889)
• Changed election arrangements for the zemstva, reducing peasant vote (1890)
• In towns, electorate was reduced to owners of certain valued properties (1892)

Question 5

When were Land Captains introduced?

Answer 5

1889

Question 6

Who was Vyacheslav Konstantinovich von Plehve?

Answer 6

Director of the Okhrana (1881-84)
Vice-Minister for Internal Affairs (1884-99)
State Secretary for Finland (1899-1902)
Minister for Internal Affairs (1902-04)

Question 7

Who led the Okhrana from 1884?

Answer 7

Pyotr Durnovo

Question 8

Name 2 key roles in the Okhrana.

Answer 8

• Spies
• Counter-spies
• Agent provocateurs

Question 9

When was Alexander III’s Statute of Police Surveillance?

Answer 9

1882

Question 10

What were closed court sessions?

Answer 10

A trial held in secret where no observers were permitted and where no reporting was allowed.

Question 11

When were closed court sessions allowed?

Answer 11

1887

Question 12

When was Delyanov’s University Charter?

Answer 12

1884

Question 13

What were problems that autocracy faced in education?

Answer 13

• Liberal/radical ideas spreading
• Student protests
• Mixing of lower and upper/middle classes

Question 14

When did Tolstoy establish a government committee to issue ‘temporary regulations’?

Answer 14

1882

Question 15

When was the poll tax abolished?

Answer 15

1885

Question 16

What was Russification?

Answer 16

Enforcing the Russian language and culture, to everyone in the Russian Empire.

Question 17

How many ethnic groups were there in Russia?

Answer 17

100+

Question 18

What were pogroms?

Answer 18

An old Russian word meaning ‘round up’ or ‘lynching’, connoted to Jewish killings in Russian empire after 1881

Question 19

What is chauvinism?

Answer 19

Exaggerated belief in national superiority and glory

Question 20

When was the Pale of Settlement created, and what was it?

Answer 20

1791, A region in the south and west parts of European Russia, out of the 5 million Jews in Russia, most of them were confined to this area.

Question 21

When were the Jewish pogroms at their worst?

Answer 21

1881-84

Question 22

When were the May Laws introduced?

Answer 22

1882

Question 23

What was the proletariat?

Answer 23

Urban working class

Question 24

Who began the spread of communism?

Answer 24

Karl Marx

Question 25

When was the Great Famine?

Answer 25

1891-92

Question 26

Who wrote Das Kapital?

Answer 26

Karl Marx

Question 27

Who was regarded as the ‘Father of Russian Communism’?

Answer 27

Georgei Plekhanov

Question 28

Who was the Minister of Finance from 1862-78?

Answer 28

Mikhail von Reutern

Question 29

Who was Minister of Finance from 1887-92?

Answer 29

Ivan Vyshnegradsky

Question 30

Who was Minister of Finance from 1992?

Answer 30

Sergei Witte

Question 31

How did Tsar Alexander III die?

Answer 31

Liver failure

Question 32

What was the foreign investment of roubles in 1890?

Answer 32

215 million

Question 33

When was the Great Famine?

Answer 33

1891-92

Question 34

How many people died during the Great Famine?

Answer 34

350,000

Question 35

When was the Peasant Land Bank introduced?

Answer 35

1883

Question 36

When was the Nobles Land Bank introduced?

Answer 36

1885

Question 37

What percentage of the population were literate by 1897?

Answer 37

21%

Question 38

What was introduced in the University Charter of 1884?

Answer 38

Made appointments of professors to be based on religious, moral and patriotic orientation.

Question 39

How many cases of mass disturbance were there, in June 1888?

Answer 39

332
43 of these were in 9 of 12 central provinces.