Autocracy And Modernisation Flashcards
Describe autocracy
Tsar has unlimited power and he wasn’t constrained by the rule of law he was a father to his subjects and was appointed by God
Who is konstantin pobedonostsev?
An influential tutor to both Alexander III and Nicholas II
What was pobedonostsev like?
Instrumental in driving repressive measures
Encourages Russification
Deeply anti Semitic
Total believer in autocracy
What was the orthodox church’s job?
Support the tsar
Get messages to peasants
Church a prop for autocracy
What are the weaknesses of the tsarist state?
Tsar was the centre (weak tsar = weak govt)
Inefficient- ministers and departments didn’t work together
Ministries fought each other
Incompetence at top of system
Operation of govt kept secret from officials who carried it out
Elements in govt conspire against each other
Describe bureaucrats
Bribe taking common
More interested in getting to higher ranks and salaries than the public good
What was Alexander IIIs 13 years of rule like?
Peaceful and stable
Describe Alexander III
Broad shouldered and powerfully built
Impression of authority
Devoted to his family
Military training
Why did Alexander III reject his fathers reforms?
They and the western ideas that inspired them led to his fathers assassination
Name six of A IIIs counter reforms
Emergency measures Control (police) Education Local government (zemstva) Legal Repression
When were the emergency measures?
1881
Statue of state security
What were the emergency measures?
Have govt power to: Prohibit gatherings of more than 12 people Prosecute anyone Introduce emergence police rule Special courts outside legal system Close schools, unis and newspapers -initiated period of repression
When were the okhrana established?
1881
What did a decree in March 1882 allow the police to do?
Declare any citizen subject to surveillance
What did the counter reforms for control do?
Land captains created - could overrule district courts
Censorship tightened
Okhrana
What are the three main principles for the tsarist regime?
Autocracy
Orthodoxy
Nationality
What were the education counter reforms of AIII?
1884 uni statute brought in strict controls on unis, reducing autonomy and student freedom
Uni staff appointed by m o e
No women uni courses
Church controls primary schools
Secondary schools fees raised to exclude lower classes
When was the zemstva act?
1890
What was the zemstva act?
Reduced independence of zemstva
M o I controls them
Electoral system changed to favour landowners
Peasant representation reduced
When was the municipal government act?
1892
What was the municipal government act?
Number of people eligible to vote in elections cut drastically
In Moscow and St Petersburg only 0.7% of population could vote
What are the two counter reforms of AIII in local government?
1890 zemstva act
1892 municipal government act
What were the counter reforms in the legal system under AIII?
M o j could order a trial to be held in private
Crimes against state could be tried without jury
Judges appointed directly from m o j
Justices of peace abolished and land captains replace them
What repressiveness followed the assassination of A II in 1881?
Nationwide police offensive 10 000 arrests Crackdown on anyone associated with revolutionary activities Okhrana Mail was read Thousands arrested and sent into exile
What happened to revolutionary groups when A III reigned?
Peoples will greatly weakened and never recovered
Violence kept under control but more plots discovered by okhrana
1887 Alexander Ulyanov (Lenin bro) hung with four others for assassination plot
What were AIIIs more progressive policies?
Economic development - supported finance minsters into creating industrial spurt
What are the three finance minsters that worked under AIII?
Bunge
Vyshnegradsky
Wire
When did bunge abolish poll tax and lower redemption payments?
1883-87
What did vyshnegradsky do that nullified bunges abolition of poll tax?
Increased indirect taxes so the overall tax burden on the peasants wasn’t changed
When was the peasants land bank set up?
1883 (bunge)
When was the nobles land bank set up?
1885 (bunge)
What measures were taken to improve workers lives?
Restrict child labour Limit working hours for women at night Reduce fines Factory inspectorate But these had limited effect
How much of the population of the Russian empire were actually Russian?
Around half (55.6 million)
What did the government come across as a result of the civil disobedience of the ethnic groups in Russia?
Russification
What did pobedonostsev believe about Russification?
Orthodox Church was at the centre
All citizens of the empire become orthodox Christians
Non orthodox subjects are disloyal
What did Russification mean for nationalities?
Had to adopt Russian language, culture sitcoms and religion
Lose national identity
What happened under Russification?
Russian language used in schools lawcourts and regional government
Russians got the important jobs in government and state sponsored industry
How did the nationalities react to Russification?
Infuriated them fundamental attack on their way of life and heritage unfair policy and discrimination
Drove many to revolution
what did the poles do in 1863
Attacked the regime it was put down by the government and rebels were exiled to Siberia
Who were one of the first national group to take advantage of the 1905 revolution
The polish because of Russification
What group is the second largest ethnic group in Russia
Ukraine
What happened to the Jews in Russification
Forced to live in pale of settlement and faced prejudice and persecution with restrictions on their way of life poverty
Pogroms
Name seven rules and band imposed on Jews
Can’t own property
Couldn’t appeal against the court sentence
Couldn’t live outside the pale or would be deported
Can’t work in legal militarily or medical profession
Restricted uni and school entry
denied vote
Rights to trade and sell products restricted
The pogrom’s against the Jews
Armed groups break into Jewish homes destroyed property murder local authorities turned a blind eye or were involved Ministry of interior backed and planned programs
What was the result of all of the repression on the Jews
Many joint revolutionary groups or emigrated to the USA and Western Europe
When and why did Alexander the third die
First of November 1984 of kidney complaint
What did industry take the form of at the beginning of the 1860s
State run factories manufacturing military goods
domestic craft based industry and workshops making materials for the local domestic market
What were the only privately funded industries in the 1860s
Sugar and textiles industry
That was 90% of the domestic demand for cotton produced
Petersburg
What is the number of miles of railway track increase from to between 1866 and 1881
3000 miles to 13,270 miles
When did Alexander the third invite John Hughes to come to Russia to demonstrate iron and steel methods
1868
What did John Hughes do in Russia
Set up the new Russia company limited in the Donbass with the capital of £300,000 called use of called yuzovka
What was the largest steelworks in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century
The new Russia company limited (Welsh company)
What is wittes program for industrial growth
State-sponsored development of heavy industry
Foreign loans investment and expertise
Hi tariffs on foreign goods
Raised tax , grain exports
When was sergei witte finance minister from and to
1892 to 1903
Give an example of the higher tariffs to protect the development of Russian industry
By 1891 the duty on the materials had risen to 30% of the value allowing Iron industry to develop supplies of coal and iron
What was good about all the railway development
Can access more distant areas for new oilfields and food and grain supplied to cities and required coal and steel so stimulated the industries
How much of all Iron and steel was consumed by the railways by the end of the 1890s
60%
How many locomotives were built in Russia
4/5
When was there a railway boom
1890s
By 1899 how much of the railways did the state control
70%
How did witte achieve the railway boom
Invested state money directly into the railways and heavy industry
What was the problem with all of the state sponsorship
Date to have enough money so witte had to negotiate huge loans from the French and foreign investors
By 1900s how much of the capital in Russian companies have been invested by foreigners
One third
What did high tariffs on foreign industrial goods mean
Companies in Russia bought home produced iron steel and other products