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Russia 1855-94 Flashcards

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1
Q

What was Russian Autocracy like in 1855?

A

Autocratic
‘little father’ embodying God on Earth
Intertwined Church and State
Reliant upon Orthodox infrastructure to enforce authority
Regime relied on provincial nobility
Civil service careers depended on maintaining status quo

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2
Q

Social situation of Russia in 1855?

A 
Divided by class
No freedom of movement
Ethnically diverse
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3
Q

How much of government income was from serfs in 1855?

A

90%

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4
Q

What was the state of the Russian economy in 1855?

A

Subsistence farmers; strip farming
Serf-reliant
No internal market demand; no wage work
Lack of capital accumulation; inefficient.
Rural vulnerability; yield per hectare half UK’s
Inhospitable land

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5
Q

When was the Crimean war fought?

A

1853-56?

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6
Q

What was the impact of the Crimean war 1853-56?

A 
Health; Cholera
Outdated technology; one musket for two
Transport; channel ports faster
Army; lacked determination
Economic; 3 years of income, print money inflation. 45% spending.
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7
Q

What were the consequences of the Crimean war?

A

Peasant uprisings escalated
Intelligentsia demanded gap closed
Treaty of Paris humiliation
1 million dead - 250,000 disease alone

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8
Q

What was Alexander II’s nickname?

A

‘Tsar Liberator’

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9
Q

How many Russian’s dies in the Crimean War?

A

1 million with 250,000 from Cholera alone.

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10
Q

How much did the Crimean War cost?

A

3 years of income and 45% of spending.

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11
Q

In what year were the serfs emancipated?

A

1861

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12
Q

What were Alexander II’s motives for reform?

A

Liberal influence
Milyutin Brothers
Crimean War
The threat of peasant uprisings

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13
Q

In what ways did Alexander II have ‘liberal influence’ in his life?

A

‘Romantic poet’ teacher
Traveled Europe
Progressive nobles ‘Party of St Petersburg’
Grand Duke Konstantin

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14
Q

How did the Crimean war lead to the abolition of serfdom?

A

Humiliation and inefficiency
‘Strengthen state and dignity’
Lacked determination

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15
Q

What did Alexander II say to Moscow nobility in 1856 about emancipation?

A

He claimed that it was an ‘unjust rumor’ that he wanted emancipation, but it would happen ‘sooner or later’ and so it is important that it ‘comes from above, rather than taken from below’. It showed a contradiction between actions and intentions.

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16
Q

Why was the effect of the decree limited?

A

Did not grant freedom to state serfs
2 year ‘temporary obligation’
Redemption payments
Confined to the Mir who collected taxes

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17
Q

What were the successes of emancipation?

A

Allowed an internal economy
Long-term gain with entrepreneurship
Road to prosperity with ‘wage-work’
Prevent Revolution

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18
Q

What were the failures of emancipation?

A

Feasibility; took longer than anticipated with 15% temporarily obliged 20 years later
Redemption payments amounted to ‘buying freedom’
Technical backwardness persisted with only 50% of serfs producing a surplus in 1878.
Resentment of kulaks
Riots; 647 in 1861
Noble bankruptcies; mortgage land; resentment aired in Zemstva

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19
Q

Was emancipation a success?

A

Intention was contrary to implication. Legislation failed to allocate adequate land and so perpetuated dependence on the nobility.
Redemption payments strained the agricultural economy, serfs were free but economically enslaved.
Growing noble disillusionment; between 1861 and 1905 peasants lost 1% of land share anually

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20
Q

Between what years did peasants loose 1% of land annually?

A

1861-1905

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21
Q

How many serfs were still ‘temporarily obliged’ in 1881?

A

15%

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22
Q

When were state serfs emancipated?

A

1866

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23
Q

What key areas Alexander II reformed?

A

Military
Local Government
Censorship
Judiciary

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24
Q

Who was in charge of military reform under Alexander II?

A

Dmitry Milyutin

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25
Q

What reforms were there under Alexander II in the military?

A

Smaller, cheaper, more efficient army
Modern command structure and weapons
Compulsory conscription cut from 25 to 15 years
Less severe punishments, no military colonies
Military collages for non-nobles
Medical care and education

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26
Q

What problems were there with military reform under Alexander II?

A

Aristocratic officers substituted

Supply and leadership problems

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27
Q

What censorship reforms were undertaken under Alexander II?

A

Relaxation of press censorship

Approved foreign publications 10x

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28
Q

When was censorship in Russia re-tightened under Alexander II?

A

In the 1870’s due to critical writings

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29
Q

What reforms were there in the judiciary under Alexander II?

A

Innocent until proven guilty
Paid judges and trial by jury
Justices of the Peace elected
National trials publicised

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30
Q

What were the limitations of judiciary reform under Alexander II?

A

Volost courts for peasants only
The tsar appointed judges
Articulate lawyers criticized the regime and became ‘celebrities’
Juries too sympathetic
Never established in Poland
Military and ecclesiastical courts serperate

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31
Q

Who was Vera Zasulich?

A

Found not guilty of attempted murder of the governor of St Petersburg due to a sympathetic jury and articulate lawyer.

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32
Q

What reforms were there to Local Government under Alexander II?

A

Zemstva replaced noble jurisdiction

Improved public services locals understood the locality

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33
Q

What were the limitations of Local Government reforms under Alexander II?

A

Nobility dominated due to voting system
Power strictly limited - no tax control
Provincial governors could overturn decisions

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34
Q

What happened to the ‘tsar liberator’ and his reforms towards the end of his reign?

A

The censorship reforms in 1865 finally exhausted Alexander II’s drive for change: the last 16 years were almost absent of government innovation.
He replaced liberal ministers with conservatives.

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35
Q

Why did Alexander II have little reform in the last 16 years of his reign?

A

Death of his eldest son

First attempt on his life in 1866

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36
Q

Why can it be argued that the title ‘tsar liberator’ is ill deserved?

A

Alexander II was not keen on reform at first, but was pressured by the effects of the Crimean war and reform-minded ministers. Russia entered a period of reaction.

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37
Q

What change was there under Alexander II?

A

Emancipation showed direct government interest in economic matters.
A mobile labor force provided opportunity for industrialization and led to urbanisation.
Increase in grain exports to help finance industrialisation.

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38
Q

What continuity was there in Russia under Alexander II?

A

Still a mainly agrarian economy.
Noble classes retained most of their power, it was just exerted in a different fashion.
Peasant society remained similar; mostly illiterate and superstitious.
Heavy taxes undermined progress.

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39
Q

What reactionary changes did Alexander II make education in his later years?

A

Dmitry believed tight church control would eradicate liberals.
Church gained control over rural schools.
Only those from the gymnasia could go t university.
Liberal university courses replaced with liberal courses.
Strict censorship on student censorship.
State teacher-training collages.

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40
Q

What reactionary changes did Alexander I make to police, law and control in his later years?

A

Third section increased persecution of minorities.
‘Show trials’ held.
1878 political crimes transferred to military courts.
1879 governor-general’s introduced.

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41
Q

What was the Loris-Melikov Constitution in 1881?

A

Relaxed censorship, release political prisoners.
Removed salt-tax.
Lift restrictions on Zenstva activities.
Third section abolished - ironically killed soon after.

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42
Q

When was the Loris-Melikov constitution due to be signed?

A

13th March 1881, the same day the tsar was killed by a bomb.

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43
Q

What year was Alexander II assassinated? Who by?

A

1881.

The People’s Will.

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44
Q

Why could Russia only remain a great power if it abolished serfdom?

A 
Serfdom had led to: 
Prevention of labour market
No need to modernise
Crimean war exposing backwardness
Peasant revolts - 1467 before 1800
'Better to abolish from above, than have it forced upon us from below'.
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45
Q

What we the problems with serfdom?

A

Peasants had less land
Paid more tax - had to sell grain, leaving nothing to survive on.
Household serfs had no agricultural skills - landless labourers
Landlords paid off debts - not investing I the economy.
Russia remained backwards- a ‘new type of slavery’ with economic slavery.

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46
Q

Who replaced Alexander II as tsar?

A

Alexander III

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47
Q

Who was Alexander II’s tutor?

A

Konstantin Pobedonostsev

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48
Q

What did Konstantin Pobedonostsev think of the Loris-Melikov proposals?

A

It was a ‘a deception based on a foreign model that is unsustainable for Russia’.

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49
Q

How did Alexander III begin his reign?

A

4 liberal minister’s resigned
Set about counter-reform
Hanged his father’s assassins and made 10,0000 arrests

50
Q

What changes did Alexander III make to education?

A 
Teachers needed government approval
Closed uni to women
21% literate by 1897
Student groups limited to 5 people
Peasants only had primary education controlled by the orthodox church
51
Q

In what year was Alexander II assassinated?

A

1881

52
Q

What changes dd Alexander III make to censorship?

A

Newspapers closed down, banned editors for life.
Literary publications, art and theatre censored.
‘Russification’ enforced.

53
Q

What changes did Alexander III make to the judiciary?

A

1855: Judges could be dismissed.
1887: closed courts allowed.
Property and educational qualification needed to be a juror.
1889: Land Captains replaced JoP’s in the countryside.

54
Q

Who were land captains?

A

Members of the landowning nobility, they appointed town elders who had the power to fine and arrest peasants.

55
Q

Who was appointed Minister of the Interior in 1882?

A

Dmitry Tolstoy followed a policy of uncompromising reaction and counter reform aimed at revision of the liberal legislation of the 1860s. He died in 1889.

56
Q

What changes were made to local government unbder Alexander III?

A

Land Captains could override Zemstva decisions.
Fewer peasant voting rights, cementing noble dominance.
Property qualifications introduced to vote in 1892.

57
Q

What changes did Alexander III make to policing?

A

More police, Okhrana created.

1882: arbitrary search, arrest, imprisonment and exile powers.

58
Q

What were more positive aspects of Alexander III’s reforms?

A

In May 1881 redemption fees were reduced for all ex-serfs in 37 provinces.
In May 1885 poll tax was abolished and inheritance tax introduced, taking a burden away from the poor.
The Peasant Land Bank was established in 1883.

59
Q

In what year was the Peasant Land Bank introduced?

A

1883

60
Q

What percentage of people in the Russian Empire were not ethnically Russian in 1855?

A

50%

61
Q

What was Russia’s village to town population ratio in 1855?

A

11:1 compared to Britain’s 2:1

62
Q

Why was there ethnic tension in Russia?

A

Over 100 ethnic groups who wanted to assert their distinct identities.
Polish nationalism.

63
Q

How did Alexander II treat ethnic minorities?

A

1863 Polish Rebellion; sent Grand Duke Konstantin to fight rebels, fought guerrilla warfare and won in 1864.
Didn’t believe in racial superiority.
Concessions.

64
Q

How did Alexander II use concessions to keep control?

A

Latvians and Estonians allowed to revert to Lutheranism.
Finns given their own diet and could use their own currency.
Some Jews allowed to settle outside the ‘Pale of Settlement’.
Polish intellectuals allowed the ‘Agricultural society’ which became a forum for debating political ideas.

65
Q

How did Alexander II have increased ‘reaction’ towards minorities towards the end of his reign?

A

Prohibition of the Ukrainian language in 1867 ‘Little Russian’.

66
Q

Why was Alexander III anti-semetic?

A

Encouraged by Pobedonostsev.
Wanted to homogenise Russia
Wrote “we must never forget that the Jews crucified our master” in the margin of a paper addressing Jew persecution.
Right-wing press said the Jews orchestrated his father’s assassination.

67
Q

What anti-semetic slogans did Pobedonoststev use?

A

“Beat the Yids - Save Russia”

“One third should emigrate, one thirds die and one third assimilate”.

68
Q

What happened during the 1881-84 Jewish pogroms?

A

Riots spread throughout Ukraine, many Jews fled to western Europe. In 16 cities Jewish property was burnt, businesses destroyed and Jews were murdered or raped.
Outbreaks continued in 1884.

69
Q

What is a pogrom?

A

A pogrom is a violent riot aimed at massacre or persecution of an ethnic or religious group.

70
Q

Why were Jews easy targets for pogroms?

A

They were concentrated inside the ‘Pale of Settlement’.
Encouraged by the Okhrana; linked Jews to assassination.
Government did little to curb violence.
The ‘Holy League’, supported by Pobedonostsev, helped co-ordinate attacks.

71
Q

What anti-semetic laws were introduced under Alexander II?

A

May 1882: Reduced Jew freedom to move, get a mortgage and do business on Sundays. A second decree reduced Jewish doctors in the army.
Jews graduating outside Russia couldn’t settle outside the Pale.
Subject to quotas when attending schools.
Illegal to have a ‘christian’ name.
Could not sell alcohol.

72
Q

What was Russification?

A

Russification aimed to unite all the tsars subjects into a single nation with a feeling of shared identity.

73
Q

What was Pobedonostsev’s official creed?

A

“Autocracy, Orthodoxy, Nationality”

74
Q

What distinct areas were the in Russia under Alexander III?

A 
Loyal Baltic Germans
Poland
Belorussia, Georgia and the Ukraine
Finland
Siberia
75
Q

How were the Loyal Baltic Germans affected by Russification?

A

Enjoyed special protection under his predcessors.
1885-89 Russian is enforced in all state offices, schools and justice.
Dorpar University named Lurev.

76
Q

How was Poland affected by Russification?

A

In 1855 the Polish national bank was closed

All subjects taught in Russian

77
Q

How were Belorussia, Georgia and the Ukraine affected by Russification?

A

1884 theatres in 5 provinces closed.
Military service extended to areas previously exempt, dispersed to prevent national groupings turning into an army.
1892 Georgia uprising.

78
Q

How was Finland affected by Russification?

A

Diet recognised in 1892.
Russian increasingly demanded.
Independent postal service abolished.
Finnish currency replaced.

79
Q

How was the Orthodox Church affected by Russification?

A

Laws benefited orthodoxy.
37,000 Baltic Lutherans converted, taking advantage of special measures.
Catholic monasteries in Poland were closed and there were incentives for non-Catholics to move there.
In Asia ‘Muslims and heathens’ had to take forced mass baptisms.
From 1883 it was illegal to spread anti-orthodox propaganda and attempts to convert people was punishable by exile to Siberia.

80
Q

How many Baltic Lutherans converted to orthodoxy to take advantage of special measures?

A

37,000

81
Q

What was the impact of anti-semitism Russia?

A

Many Jews fled to western Europe, some were expelled e.g. Kiev 1886.
From 1890 Jews were deported along with Jews outside the Pale.
In the winter of 1891-2 over 100,000 Jewish artisans were expelled from Moscow.
Tsar’s brother closed a synagogue and expelled 20,000 Jews during Passover.
Disproportionate numbers of Jews joined revolutionary groups.

82
Q

What arguments are there to support the policy of Russification?

A

Strong nationalistic feeling in Europe. Unity was necessary for Russian strength.

83
Q

What arguments are there to suggest that Russification failed?

A

It was misguided and intensified national feeling among non-Russians.
Wealthier citizens migrated.
Opposition groups.

84
Q

What was suprising about post-1855 opposition to the tsar?

A

It came from circles traditionally loyal to the tsar, hope was raised and then there was disappointment surrounding liberal reforms.

85
Q

How did relaxation of censorship increase opposition to tsarist rule?

A

Spread of radical literature.
Articulate lawyers made in courts.
More independently minded students.
The zemstva provided a platform for criticism.

86
Q

What was the Tchaikovsky Circle?

Alexander II

A

Literary society.
Published and printed revolutionary literature.
Translated Das Kapital.
Sought social, not political revolution.

87
Q

Who were the Narodniks (populists)?

Alexander II

A

Believed in ‘going to the people’.
In 1874 2,000 nobles and intellectuals tried to persuade peasants that the development of Russia relied on the development of the peasant commune.
Exploited resentment of redemption payments and lack of land.
Romantic illusions; hostile, superstitious and had deep-rooted loyalty to the tsar.
Peasants reported them and 1,600 were arrested.
In 1876 it was more successful but followed by show trials. But it did mobalise opposition.

88
Q

Who was Mikhail Romas?

A

Set up a cooperative store, peasants refused to buy cheap goods, murdered his assistant and set lit to his shop.

89
Q

What was the result of the failure of the Narodniks to ‘go to the people’?

A

Changed opinion; peasants were not the basis for revolution, it depended on a small group of activists.

90
Q

What two groups did ‘Land and Liberty’ split in to?

Alexander II

A

The People’s Will

Black Reperation

91
Q

Who were ‘Land and Liberty’?

Alexander II

A

1877: Continued populist tradition, worked alongside peasants in a less intrusive way e.g. doctor.
Assassinated head of the Third Section in 1878.

92
Q

Who were Black reparation?

Alexander II

A

Wanted to share a portion of the fertile black soil provinces with the peasants.
Peacefully worked among the peasantry and published materials.
Weakened by arrests 1880-81.

93
Q

Who were the People’s Will?

A

Planted a spy in the Third Section, evaded arrest.
Advocated Violent method, assassinated officials.
1879 declared the tsar should be removed unless he agreed to a constitution.
Assassinated the Tsar in march 1881.

94
Q

Why did Marxism emerge in Russia?

A

Relaxation of controls.
Failed populist movements.
It is of no coincidence that the resurgence of Marxism coincided with the 1891-2 famine.

95
Q

What was the first Russian Marxist group?

A

Emancipation of Labour

96
Q

What did ‘Emancipation of Labour’ believe?

A

Identified the urban working class as the proletariat was the dynamism from which revolution would emerge.

97
Q

Why did Marxism spread in cities?

A

Industrialisation saw trade unions and Marxism spread.

98
Q

What were Karl Marx’s ‘stages of development’?

A 
A class struggle.
Primitive society, Slavery, Feudalism, Capitalism and Communism
99
Q

What were the main categories of liberal opposition?

A

Slavophiles and Westernisers

100
Q

What did ‘Westernisers’ want?

A

To catch up by civilizing through representative assemblies, reducing church power and establishing civil liberties.

101
Q

What did ‘Slavophiles’ want?

A

A superior path centered on Russia’s unique culture and orthodox church.

102
Q

Why did the 1891-2 famine help opposition to government?

A

Showed the Zemstva was largely responsible for relief work and central government was slow to act.

103
Q

What year was Alexander II assassinated? By who?

A

1881.

The People’s Will.

104
Q

Why did Russia need to abolish serfdom to modernise?

A 
Prevention of the Labour market
No need to modernise methods
Crimean war  backwardness 
Peasant revolts - 1467 before 1800
Better to abolish from above, rather than be taken from below
105
Q

What were the problems with emancipation?

A

Peasant had less land.
Paid more tax - so high they had to sell grain, nothing to survive on.
Little changed - Mir and farming methods.
Some serfs were landless labourers.
Landlords maid off debt - not investing in the economy, just under half of compensation used for this.
Russia remained backwards - ‘new type of slavery’ economic.

106
Q

What 3 main ways did Russia try to modernise to?

A

Emancipation
Banks
Railways - 13,000 lines by 1888

107
Q

Why did Alexander II’s reforms come to an end?

A 
Assassination attempt 1866.
Death of son.
Criticism - 'slavophiles' thought he went to far and westerners 'not far enough'.
More conservative ministers.
Polish revolt - ingratitude.
108
Q

Why did terrorism fail to destroy tsarism?

A

Failed to gain enough support.
Offered no alternative government.
Conservatives supported the tsar rather than radicals.

109
Q

When was Von Reutern Minister of Finance?

A

1862-78

110
Q

When was Vyshnegradsky Miniter of Finance?

A

1887-92

111
Q

What did Vyshnegradsky do?

A 
'We ourselves shall not eat, but we shall export'
French loan 1888
Grain production expanded 2.1% 1883-1914
1891-2 famine
Grain aquisition.
112
Q

By what year was Russia the 4th largest economy in the world?

A

1897

113
Q

What years was Witte Ministerof Finance?

A

1892-1903

114
Q

By what year were 1/5 of university professers nobles?

A

1880

115
Q

By what year did 700 nobles own businesses in Moscoww?

A

1882

116
Q

Name details about the Urban working class.

A

1864 1/3 of St Petersburg were peasants at birth

Poor conditions

117
Q

Who were the kulaks?

A

Kulaks, pawn broWealthy peasants.

Pawn brokers, selling back grain at inflaed prices.

118
Q

Howw many serfs in the Tambov region were unable to feed their household?

A

2/3

119
Q

What was the life expectancy in Russia?

A

29 years.

120
Q

Why was russian agriculture backwards?

A

Traditional farming methods.
Strip farming.
High taxes.
Grain aquisition.

History (2 decks)

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