Opposition- Alexander II Flashcards
What stimulated opposition to the regime?
Hope and disappointment brought by Alexander’s reforms.
How did education increase opposition?
Created an educated elite who were confident enough to spread out against a regime they saw as backward and contrary to progress.
What were the westernizes and slavophiles?
Westernizers wanted to catch up with the west by copying their ways of governance/economy etc. Slavophiles believed Russia was unique and that there was a superior Russian path to a better future.
Who were the intelligentsia?
Nobles and individuals who had been educated at the universities, they had time to reflect on political matters and saw that Russia needed to change.
What was the Tchaikovsky circle?
1872- literary society which organized the publication of scientific and revolutionary literature.
What did narodniks believe?
Political propaganda amongst peasants would lead to the awakening of the masses and, through their influence, to the liberalization of regime, as Russia was predominantly agricultural, peasants were the majority.
What was the going to the people?
2000 intelligentsia youths travelled to the countryside in 1874 and 1876 to persuade the peasants to accept their revolutionary ideas.
How did the peasants react to the going to the people?
They were confused and some thought it was a trap set by officials, they reported visitors to the authorities, with 2000 arrested. Some attacked and maimed the students.
What was land and liberty?
Started in 1877, it was a populist group who saw the peasants at the center of revolution.
What happened to land and liberty in 1879?
It split into the more radical people’s will and the moderate black repartition.
What happened to the black repartition?
They wanted to partition land amongst the peasants and bring change through education. They were destroyed by arrests in 1880.
What did the people’s will want?
They believed change could only be brought about through violence, their main aim was to assassinate the tsar and they carried out a number of assassinations on high profile individuals.
What happened in 1881?
The people’s will successfully assassinated Alexander II in St. Petersburg.
Why did the system not collapse?
The crown passed peacefully to alexander III, opposition was not strong enough or large enough in number, the forces that held up the autocracy were too strong.
How did the assassination effect the opposition?
Alexander III introduced reactionary reforms which ensured that opposition was pushed underground and suppressed like never before.
