Russian Autocracy In 1855

Question 1

What was the Tsar like in 1855?

Answer 1

• Autocracy - the tsar was the single and all powerful ruler. His word was law and delivered through edicts
• The tsar has advisors but he didn’t listen to them
• Appointed people to a government but they had to enact what the tsar said
• Many considered him to be semi-divine and appointed by God so worshipped him
• 1855 - Alexander II succeeded his father Nicholas I - the latest tsar in the 250 year old Romanov Dynasty

Question 2

What was the capital city?

Answer 2

• Ancient centre was Moscow but the new ‘modern’ city was St Petersburg and was also home of the tsar
• Tsar’s official residence was the Winter Palace but had others such as Tsarskoe Selo
• Gov ministers reported back to Tsar were also based in St Petersburg
• However, practical difficulties with governing a large country from one city
• Russia was 90% rural 10% urban

Question 3

What was the military like?

Answer 3

• Largest army in 1855 of 1.5 million
• Higher ranks could be bought and sold by the rich - no matter how skilled they were
• Accounted for 45% of government spending
• Most was made up of conscripted serfs who were forced to serve 25 years
• Discipline was harsh
• Conscripts lived with their families in ‘military colonies’

Question 4

What was law and order like?

Answer 4

• Tsar used Cossacks - elite soldiers on horseback to keep order
• Strict police state where people had little freedom of speech, press was heavily censored and people could not travel abroad
• Agents from the secret state security (the Third Section) monitored the people
• Anyone showing anti-tsarist behaviour was exiled or imprisoned

Question 5

What was the population like?

Answer 5

• Very diverse ethnically but not socially
• Unlike the rest of Europe there was virtually no middle class
• There were only a small number of professionals who were usually sons of nobles
• Very small section of intelligentsia (doctors, lawyers) such as Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky

Question 6

What role did the church play?

Answer 6

• Official religion was Russian Orthodox and Tsar was head of state
• Tsar appointed ministers and gov financed the church
• The church emphasised the importance of absolute obedience to nobles and the tsar- key to upholding Russian society
• Every village had its own small church while towns and cities had ornate cathedrals
• Russians were deeply religious so was a key part of their lives - took up to 90 holy days a year

Question 7

What did the village priest do?

Answer 7

• usually only literate person so read out proclamations from the tsar whilst preaching of absolute obedience
• officiate births, marriages, deaths and teach peasants
• spiritual leader of local community and a link with tradition and continuity with the past
• organise holy days
• Many peasants were superstitious and obeyed and respected the priest but others resented him and saw him as an agent of repression

Question 8

What role did the villages play?

Answer 8

• 90% rural
• most peasants lived in poor conditions in huts with not modern facilities like heating or lighting and has poor sanitation
• was names a mir and was a self-regulating community run by the elders
• controlled local taxes, divided up land, enforced local law

Question 9

What was the role of the nobility?

Answer 9

• sometimes referred to as the dvoriane or aristocracy
• main role was to serve the tsar and had roles within government and contributed to military
• owned land and therefore serfs
• 1861 = 40000+ landowners were described as living in poverty after having fewer than 21 male serfs and by 1850s some were in debt to banks
• much smaller number were considered rich because they owned over 150,000 serfs

Question 10

What was the serfdom like?

Answer 10

• 50/60 million people were serfs
• essentially slaves - property of others - feudalism or feudal economy
• half were privately owned who lived on land of nobility and property of them
• other half were state owned who lived on land of the crown and property of government

Question 11

What was serf life like?

Answer 11

• had to work for owners and in return allowed to work small lots of land to grow for their family (subsistence farming)
• ‘cottage industries’ provided small amounts of cash (work done in homes)
• exchange produce for other goods (bartering)
• most common purchase was vodka
• life expectancy was 35 years in 1855
• not allowed to leave the village
• could be severely punished and the owner chose marriage partners

Question 12

What was farming like?

Answer 12

• farmland around each village was divided into strips and the mir elders decided how to fairly share them out so each family family would have good and bad land
• farming methods were primitive - why invest in machines when serf labour was free?
• without money and a market for their goods, serfs had little incentive to work and produce more than they themselves needed
• periodic famines took place