Russia 1857-1917 Flashcards
Points showing Alexander II doesn’t deserve to be viewed as ‘Tsar Liberator’
Emancipation edict - redemption payments; peasants lost land (fell by fifth); had less land and had to pay for it; desire for second emancipation; failed to stimulate modernisation; traditional methods still dominated (Mir); many peasant farms did not produce a surplus; agriculture was not revolutionised - still strip farming
Zemstva - powers reduced - meetings and publications banned (1867); power of provisional governor increased, could reverse decisions; no desire for parliament; slow to spread only 43/70 had a Zemstva; voting system weighed in favour of the gentry; no power ove police who supervised them.
Legal Reforms - some courts still outside the syste, - Mir, church and the military; arbitrary arrest still used; judges influenced by government
Military - officers still remain gentry; low education level still a problem in recruits; 1877 - war against Turkey went well but this was as deceiving as Turkey were weak - ‘the one eyed beating the blind’ – German General
Education - post 1866 (assassination attempt) reactionary influences prevail; Tolstoy replaces the more liberal Golovnin; traditional syllabuses, less emphasis on science, more on classics
Censorship - post 1866 - suppression; 1870s - increase of government pressure on the press
National minorities - ended liberal policy after revolt 1863; Russification; emancipation favoured the peasants to weaken the. Polish nobility.
Points showing Alexander II deserved to be viewed as ‘Tsar Liberator’
Emancipation Edict - emancipation committees were set up; peasants were free, could own a property, marry, trade and were given a quarter of old land.
Zemstva (1864) - local government inefficient and corrupt; replaced by Zemstva - given powers to maintain local roads, prions, hospitals, public health, poor relief and education; 1870 - Duma (town version introduced); impressive work 15,000 new primary schools; employment of experts formed a new liberal middle class professional group; some change from below was evident; local involvement - 40% chosen from peasant.
Legal Reforms - legal system was low, corrupt and complex; end to private trials; new modern justice system (open trials, trained judges etc); did modernise; new atmosphere - public meeting, debate, freedom of expression; new profession - law, revolutionary leaders came from this group.
Military - brutal punishment ended; all males eligible for conscription; conscription now over 6 years and 9 years in reserves; army - smaller, better trained; a lot of reforms done by Milyutin rather than Alex II
Education - limits on university admissions lifted from 3000 to 10000; philosophy re allowed; primary education was extended by the Zemstva; difficult for tsarist regime, creation of intelligentsia which is potentially critical.
Censorship - 1855 censorship reduced; 1865, decree allowed the press to discuss govt issues (potential threat)
National Minorities - initial relaxation; Finnish diet (parliament) meet in Helsinki and supported use of Finnish language - successful.
Why did revolution break out in 1905?
Working class unrest - industrialisation - long hours, low pay, poor conditions; wanted an end to the war; strikes in 1905 increased as a result; government never addressed issue; virtual national strike
Peasant poverty - Redemption payments plus fear of repression and high taxes; land hunger - peasant holdings drop by 20%; poverty; unrest increased - included illegal pasturing, seizure of lords’ animals/land/grain; Peasant Union congress established to co-ordinate action; Volga region - some estates burned to the ground.
Middle Classes - alienated by lack of voice/reform; upset by incompetence of wartime governments; Radical Union of Unions formed to combine professional organisations; students involved in unrest; 1904 - liberals formed illegal unions of liberations - banquets
Repression - continued Alexander III’s policies; too shy to be an autocrat; expected blind obedience
Military Defeat - Russo-Japanese War was a catalyst, 89000 dead at Battle of Mukden; Russian Baltic Fleet destroyed; Incomptence- criticism grew
Spark: Bloody Sunday - peaceful march to request help (father gapon); troops fore on innocent, several hundred killed; strike wave grew; summer of unrest
Why did Tsarism survive the 1905 Revolution?
Division in Opposition Groups - middle class feared explosive classes below so happy with October manifesto; peasant uprisings more serious in 1902/03 (not big threat); lacked coordination and leadership; more outbreaks of rage than revolutionary action; significant enough to grant concessions but not replace government
Troops - troops returning from Russo-Japanese war remained generally loyal; used to quell unrest in 1905; made peace with japan…a popular move.
Timely Concessions - October manifesto; split revolutionary forces esp middle class; moderates moved to support government; legislative Dumas (Witte), full of hope; freedom of speech, consultation on government/laws; watered down by 1906 fundamental law.
Working classes - government went on offensive and arrested the St Petersburg Soviet; government crushed a second wave of strikes eg 1000 killed in Moscow in December
Peasants - concessions and repressions calmed the countryside; promised to reduce then end redemption payments; force used to restore order. ‘Cartridges must not be spared.’ - General trepov
