Russia tsarist to communist russia 1855-1964 Flashcards
The Social, Economic and Political condition of Russia in 1855
Social Condition:
-Russian society in the nineteenth century had changed little over the last hundred years, due to the fact of the strong
tsarist system.
-Serfdom was huge in Russia in 1855 (50 million serfs). They were stuck and tied to land so they could not leave. This
would be very problematic as the serfs make up much of the population as well as limited jobs they could do.
-Russia had a very small middle class so there are very limited doctors, teachers etc. Meaning that education was very
scarce.
-Russia had westernizers and Slavophil’s. The westernizers believed Russia should look towards the rest and develop like
them. On the other hand, the Slavophil’s believe that they should remain the way that they are.
Economic Condition:
-The main way you could survive in Russia was agriculture being your job. Due to Russia’s large empire many could survive
this way for example the western side of the Russian empire was sunny and warm whereas other parts of the empire was
in frost for most of the year. This meant that it was a real struggle to survive if there was a bad harvest.
-Due to Russia’s large empire, it was difficult to transport goods around due to the lack of railway. By 1860, Rusia had
1,600km of
railway despite Britain having 15,000km. This large contrast puts how little development Russia had.
-Russia was very well known in the 1800s for their production in pig-iron. However, by 1855, Britain was producing 10 times
more. Due to the lack of modernization and serfdom led Russia to not economically advance with the rest of the world.
Political Condition:
-Russia had a motto of “autocracy, orthodoxy, nationality” which essentially meant that the tsars of Russia thought they were
chosen by God.
-The Tsar regime relies on the nobility to help support the whole “autocracy, orthodoxy, nationality”.
-The Tsars would have very limited rebellion because many would be too illiterate to challenge the Tsars.
-Additionally, the only forms of armed forces and police were serfs who had little training, so they were inadequate.
The Impact of the Crimean War
he Crimean War was between the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire. The Ottoman Empire had a massive empire, but the difficulty was controlling his empire. Tsar Nicholas I wanted more Russian Influence, so he sent troops to Moldova in June 1853. His reasoning was he was protecting the eastern Europeans of the Ottoman Empire as well as the Christians. In the beginning the Russians seemed to be stronger as they sank a squadron from the Turkish Fleet. However, the Ottoman Empire had allies in France and Britain due to the trade interests. They sent 60,000 men to crime and attacked the Russian Naval Base, which affected trading. In October 1854, the Russians were defeated in the battle of Balaclava and the battle of Inkerman. The Russians had many weaknesses since their military was made up of serfs who had no military which made them look incompetent. Also, there was a lack of sufficient transport so it would take longer to get to places.
Death of Nicholas I:
-In March 1855, Nicholas I dies, this meant that Alexander II became the Tsar at age 36. In September 1854 to September 1855 there was a siege of Sebastol which the Russians gave up. This was quite humiliating because Alexander II couldn’t finish the war like his father wanted him to do. The Russians had to sign the Treaty of Paris which humiliated Russia: they can have warships go into the black sea at times of peace.
Alexander II’s personal life
- Alexander II was born on April 1818 and then died March 13, 1881, from an assassination ending his life at the age of 61. His first wife, Maria Alexandrovna, he had 8 children giving him his successor Alexander III. Following his wife deaths, he married Catherine Dolgorukova who he had 4 children with. Alexander II was a family man which broke what the Tsarist looks like.
- During his years as a tsar, Alexander II reign started from the 2nd of March to the 13th March 1881 where he died from assassination. Due to the emancipation of the serfs in 1861, he is known as Alexander the Liberator. During his reign, he reorganized the judicial system, abolished corporal punishment, promoted university education.
- He had many assassination attempts on his life which he survived but he died in 1881.
Alexander II’s Emancipation Edict and other domestic reforms
Emancipation Edict 1861:
-This essentially freed the serfs from their landowners. The landowners got paid compensation paw whereas the serfs had reduction payments. The serfs could now buy land however the poor land had high prices and the good land had very small areas.
Judicial Reforms 1864:
-This introduced trial by jury which means that peers would decide on the verdict. Also, the independent judiciary was more independent which was more democratic, which was well viewed in society. The law was simplified, higher pay so there was no bribes taken.
Local Government Reform 1864:
-This removed the landowner’s control over the peasants, the zemstvo and zemstva was introduced which was essentially jury like. They decided education, roads and taxation.
Military Reforms 1874:
-Strategic railways would be put in place, so transportation was easier, corporal punishment and branding was banned, there was improved military education plus professional elite colleges.
Post 1863- Alexander II’s more conservative stance and appointments
Post 1863, Alexander introduced many new factors which showed his conservative stance . He introduced the law and police. The secret police increased the persecution of ethnic minorities. From 1877-78 there were show trials which were open to the public so they could see what would happen if the revolted against the tsar. Hoping to deter crime and revolt. Education changed as well, the church regained control on what could be taught through the classical curriculum and less amount of people were thought to progress to university. In the middle of the Russo Turkish War and more assassination attempts Alexander reinstated some democracy by freeing political prisoners.
Radical Thinkers - Under Alexander II
Chernyshevsky :
-He authored What is to be done? In 1863. This work suggested peasants would lead revolutionary change.
Herzen:
-He authored radical journey, he advocated society based on a peasant-based structure. This was smuggled into Russia which undermined the Russian censorship.
Bakunin:
-He believe that private ownership should be replaced with collective ownership. He translated Marx’s das Kapital into Russian in 1869 allowing those who could read Russian follow.
Early Groups - Under Alexander II
Young Russia:
-Students set fires in St. Petersburg which destroyed around 2000 shops.
Slavophiles:
-They believe that Russia’s unique beliefs and culture should be preserved, despite modernization.
Westernizers:
-They believed that they should abandoned all Russian traditions like the west.
Opposition- the Narodnik’s / populists- Under Alexander II
- In 1870s, the populists ‘went to the people’ and tried to rally the peasantry against the regime.
- Land and Liberty (1877), this group had the same aim as the populists, but became more radical. In 1879, Land and Liberty split, it formed the Black Partition, and the peoples will.
- The peoples will wanted to overthrow the autocracy and did this by multiple assassination attempts.
Alexander III- Russification
In 1881, following Alexander II’s death, Alexander III introduced a series of new laws. In 1881, he introduced the statute of state powers. This increases the power that the government had, liberal judges were removed from offices and new courts were set up which handed out harsher punishments. The censorship was tightened making it difficult to talk about the government negatively. The first pogrom against the Jews was introduced in 1881, meaning that the 5 million Jews were blamed for Russia’s problems. In 1887, the university statute brought the universities under state control limiting what they could learn. In 1889, justice of peace meant that the zemstvos were replaced by land captains who were appointed by the government. This meant that the land captains had more control over the peasants. In 1890, the zemstva act decreased the independence of the local councils and allowed government officials to interfere in the decision making. In 1892, municipal councils were under the control of the central executive which meant less local freedom. The russification forced the national minority groups to conform to the Russian language and adopt Russian customs. In Poland it was forbidden to teach polish. Due to all this minorities found the policy to attack their culture and religion leading into many uprisings. In Russia’s attempts to stay autocratic Alexander III reinforced the nationalist stance of other parts of her own empire. Loyal minority groups such as the Finns were treated with the same way as disloyal groups such as the Ukrainians. As one of Alexander II’s assassins was Jewish, Jews were heavily persecuted. This was detrimental to the Russian economy because the Jews consisted of a good proportion of Russia’s population.
Liberal and Radical opposition post 1881
The works of the socialist and those in exile became more prominent in Russia post 1881, following the successful assassination attempt of Alexander II. Georgi Plekhanov set up ‘The Emancipation from Labor’ group in 1883 while in exile in Switzerland. Such work and translation of Marxist literature suggested that Marxism could easily be applied to Russia. He argued the inevitability of Marx’s stages of development and that this inevitability meant fellow revolutionaries should accept these stages. Noting that the proletariat needed to begin co-operating with the bourgeoisie to combat the dominance of autocracy and subsequently accelerate to the capitalist stage. The union of liberation was the first major liberal group of Russia in 1904. This was dominated by the middle class of Russia rather than the nobility who made it. They adopted a three-point strategy, constitution, celebration of Alexander II, the creation of unions. The Kadets, the constitutional democratic party, believed in radical change for the government. They wanted a constitutional monarchy like Britain. The Octoberists were a conservative liberal party with the fulfillment of Nicholas II manifests. It was full of businessmen, they essentially wanted a form of parliament in Russia, like Britain. The social revolutionary party was formed in 1901 from the ruins of the populists, they wanted land to dispute to the peasants, they also wanted the peasants to overthrow the autocratic regime, they used very radical methods (terrorism and assassination whilst killing 2000 government officials. All of these because the group consisted of peasants. The social democrats came about from under the influence on of Marxism. There was different ideas which caused the party to split into the Bolshevik party which was led by Vladimir Lenin and Menshevik party which was led by Julius Martov.
Marxism
Finance Ministers (applies to all Tsars)
Social divisions
Russo Japanese War (1904-05)
Factors of the 1905 Revolution: Short term
Factors of the 1905 Revolution: Long term
