Russia 1885-1914 Flashcards
1
Q
Tsar Alexander II
A
- Became Tsar in 1855 in the Crimean War
- The war showed up how backward - Russia was
- Industry failed to meet need for munitions
- Agriculture didn’t supply demand for food
- Civil Service unable to organise the war
- 1856, he made peace with GB and France and set out to reform Russia
2
Q
The Peasants
A
- Tsar and nobility owned most of Russia’s arable land
- Most people were serfs who:
1. Had to work 3 days a week for their owner
2. Paid most of the tax intake
3. Could be sold and punished without trial eg flogging by their masters
4. Could be conscripted for service in the army - Each family had about 15 acres to farm for themselves but they didn’t own it
3
Q
Effects of Serfdom
A
- Inefficient agriculture
- No incentive to work hard – profits went to owners
- Developing industries short of workers
- Serfs not allowed to move to the factories
- West European revolutionaries could persuade serfs to revolt
- Alexander II: “It is better to abolish serfdom from above rather than await the time when it will begin to abolish itself from below”
4
Q
The Edict of Emancipation 3 March 1861
A
- 44 million peasants freed by this edict
- They could now own land
- They could leave their estate but had to carry a passport
- They didn’t have to work on the nobles’ land
- Government surveyors divided the land between the owners and serfs
- Former serf families given about 8 acres – less than when on their master’s estate
- They had to pay for land
- It was valued by a government official
- The government paid the owner
- The ex-serfs had to pay instalments for 49 years
- The mir (village commune) became the new owners
- Each year the ‘elders’ divided the land according to the numbers in each family
- The mir collected the debt instalments
5
Q
Developments
A
- Population increased from 50 million (1850) to 82 million (1900)
- After 1861 annual division of land led to the award of smaller and smaller plots
- Farming was so inefficient that peasants could feed their own families but few produced enough for sale
- Result – shortages in the towns
- Many peasants had to abandon farming because they were unable to pay the annual instalments
- Some went to work for more successful ex-serfs (kulaks)
- Others went to work in industrial towns
6
Q
Local Government Reforms
A
- Upper classes had governed the countryside, building brides and schools etc
- After Emancipation another way was needed to do it
- The mir (commune) was bottom of the government ladder
- There were elections to choose its leaders
- Zemstvos (district councils) controlled by nobles
- After 1861 they were elected by nobles, townspeople and peasants (ex serfs)
- Zemstvos ran roads and bridges maintenance, and an improved school system
- Zemstvos were 2nd rung of government ladder above the mir
- 3rd rung were the provincial zemstvos
- They looked after public health and chose magistrates for the new law courts
7
Q
Liberals
A
- Pleased by democratic elections to the mir and district zemstvos (included nobles gentry and townspeople)
- Such partial democracy made them discontented because Provincial Governors (appointed by government) could overrule a zemstvo
- Tsar had created these 3 tiers of government but refused a national council or parliament
- Also forbade members of zemstvos meeting in national conferences
8
Q
OTHER REFORMS: Press
A
- Censorship relaxed
- Writers could criticise government – Alex wanted critics out in the open
- National newspapers increased from 6 to 16 by 1881
9
Q
Legal System
A
- Judges and magistrates were appointed for life and could not be sacked by the government
- Equality before the law was proclaimed and trials were open
- Trial by jury replaced a system in which a nobleman judge/magistrate presided
- Limits to the legal reforms:
1. Political offenders were not tried by jury
2. Peasants and offending newspaper editors had their own courts
3. These couldn’t speak in their own defence during trial
10
Q
Army
A
- 1874 all classes became liable for military service & not only the peasants
- Service length reduced from 25 to 15 years
- Flogging of soldiers stopped
11
Q
Education
A
- 10,000 schools built by local zemstvos to deal with illiteracy
- Old fashioned schools offered mainly classics – no sciences
- Modern schools offered science
- Only students from old-fashioned schools could go to university
- Government regarded science as dangerous
12
Q
Poland
A
- Poland part of Russian Empire
- 1863 Poles rose in revolt because:
1. Russian defeat in Crimean War suggested they were too weak to crush a revolt
2. Italians rebelled against Austria
3. Reforms created a liberal atmosphere - Revolt was sparked by the closing of the Polish Agricultural Society
- Anti-Russian demonstrations took place
- Troops fired on the crowds
- Napoleon III of France wanted to help the Catholic Poles
- But Bismarck wouldn’t allow French troops to cross Prussia
- This gained Russian friendship
- The rising was savagely crushed
- Alexander II and his ministers now encouraged:
1. Russian nationalism
2. Pan-Slavism
3. Union of the Slavs of South-Eastern Europe under leadership of Russia
13
Q
Threat of Revolution
A
- Revolutionary movements developed because:
1. Land reform left many dissatisfied
2. Education produced more literate people who could read radical literature
3. Each reform increased the appetite for more
4. Growth of industrial towns led to increase in radical workers
14
Q
The Nihilists
A
- From Latin – ‘nihil’ means ‘nothing’
- This was a group of revolutionaries who believed that everything from the past had to be destroyed
- From this a new society could be developed
- Took advantage of new press freedoms to gain support
- Thousands joined
- Used terrorism in effort to overthrow system – bombs, guns, knives etc
15
Q
Government Repression
A
- Thousands sent to Siberian exile
- Many leading nihilists were students so government tried to restrict university entrance to those thought to be loyal to the Tsar
- Newspaper editors sacked if they failed to reveal names of nihilist writers
16
Q
Narodniki
A
- This was the name given to thousands of students
- In the 1870s went to preach revolutionary ideas to the peasants
- Little success because:
1. Most peasants didn’t understand the ideas involved
2. Local priests had great influence and got the peasants to attack them
3. Peasants shocked by their behaviour - Movement faded away and Alexander restricted university entrance further
17
Q
Socialism
A
- Socialism had influence in 1870s
- Revolutionaries were attracted by the village commune
- Believed it was the ideal socialist society with commune land shared according to need
- Tried to preach peaceful revolution
- Others led by the ex-nihilist Michael Bakunin wanted violent revolution
18
Q
Assassination of Alexander II in 1881
A
- He began as the ‘Tsar Liberator’ making key reforms
- But he couldn’t satisfy everyone
- Unable to get what they wanted, some turned to terrorism
- 1866 attempt to kill him
- 1879, 2 more unsuccessful attempts on his life
- In one 5 shots were fired at him; in another they dynamited the Winter Palace but he wasn’t there
- 1880 he was away again when the dining room at the palace was mined
- A mine on a track his train was on failed to explode
- 1881 they finally succeeded in killing him with a bomb
19
Q
Alexander III 1881-94
A
- He declared that his father’s reforms were wrong and had failed
- He was determined to undo the reforms
- He thus gave a free hand to his minister Pobedonostsev
20
Q
Pobedonostsev
A
- 1865 he was Alex’s tutor
- Alex made him Chief Procurator of the Holy Synod controlling the Church
- He was responsible for a number of severe policies
- The Okhrana (secret police) were given extra powers to deal with terrorists
- Many were exiled, imprisoned or executed
