The Russian Autocracy in 1855

Question 1

Who was the Tsar before 1855?

Answer 1

Tsar Nicholas I.

Question 2

What is autocracy?

Answer 2

A system where the ruler has absolute power

Question 3

What is localism?

Answer 3

Loyalty to the local community or area

Question 4

Who was the head of the Russian-Orthodox Church?

Answer 4

The ruling Tsar

Question 5

What was the Over-Procurator of the Holy Synod?

Answer 5

A government minister appointed by the Tsar to run church affairs

Question 6

What did the Patriarch of Moscow provide?

Answer 6

Spiritual guidance to the Tsar

Question 7

What were ‘edicts’?

Answer 7

The ‘law of the land’ - an official order issued by a person of authority

Question 8

What is a bureaucracy?

Answer 8

A system where state officials take decisions rather than elected representatives

Question 9

How big was the Russian army in 1855?

Answer 9

1.5 million conscripted serfs

Question 10

How long was military service in 1855?

Answer 10

25 years

Question 11

Where did soldiers live?

Answer 11

Military colonies

Question 12

What were Cossacks?

Answer 12

Elite horsemen from the Ukraine and Southern Russia

Question 13

Russia had developed into what kind of state by 1855?

Answer 13

A police state

Question 14

What was the secret state security called?

Answer 14

The Third Section

Question 15

What rights/liberties did the Third Section prevent?

Give two.

Answer 15

• Political meetings
• Strikes
• Freedom of speech
• Freedom of the press
• Travel abroad

Question 16

What powers did the Third Section have?

Give two.

Answer 16

• Could carry out raids
• Arrest and imprison
• Send people into exile

Question 17

The Russian population was very sparse.

Give the ratio of village to town dwellers in 1855.

Answer 17

11:1

(village to town dwellers)

Question 18

What is a cottage industry?

Answer 18

Work done in the worker’s own home or a small workshop

Typically spinning, weaving, and small-scale wood and metal work

Question 19

Who owned private serfs?

Answer 19

The landowning elite

Those who owned land and were a privileged minority in Russian society

Question 20

Give a restriction of being a serf in Russian society.

Answer 20

Serfs;
- Were subject to beatings
- Could be bought or sold
- Were not allowed to marry without permission
- Could be conscripted into the army

Question 21

What was a mir?

Answer 21

Village communes where serfs typically worked.

Question 22

What was the key problem of working in a mir?

Answer 22

Difficult for them to evolve into wage-earners

Due to there being little incentive or opportunity

Question 23

What were the recurring payments that private serfs could pay.

Define Obrok and Barschima.

Answer 23

30% payed rent (obrok)
70% provided labour (barschima)

Question 24

Which recurring payments did state serfs pay?

Answer 24

Tax and rent

Question 25

| Give two.

Question 26

What were the **problems** with owning serfs? | Give two.

Answer 26

Provoked idleness | Landowning elite were generally uninterested in developments

Question 27

What was an **urban artisan**?

Answer 27

A manual worker in a town who possessed some skills | E.g. a cobbler or a leather maker

Question 28

What were the **intelligentsia**?

Answer 28

**Educated members of Russian society**; many opposed the state for various cultural, moral, religious, philosophical and political reasons | E.g. Writers, Philosophers

Question 29

# Also known as the main 'direct' tax. What was the **poll tax**? | Introduced in 1719.

Answer 29

A tax on male peasant heads | Created to cover the costs of the massive army

Question 30

What was **obrok**?

Answer 30

A tax paid by serfs to the state in place of land and service dues

Question 31

What were **indirect** taxes?

Answer 31

Tax on goods and services, representing 30% of government income | E.g. a tax on salt, vodka

Question 32

The peasantry, urban workers and tradesmen contributed to **how much of imperial finance**? | In a percentage.

Answer 32

Around 90%

Question 33

In what **direction** was the **Russian economy** considered to be going in?

Answer 33

Backwards

Question 34

What was the Crimean War over?

Answer 34

Russian Crimea

Question 35

When did the Crimean War **start and finish**?

Answer 35

1853 to 1856

Question 36

Which **Treaty** in 1856 **concluded** the Crimean War?

Answer 36

The Treaty of Paris

Question 37

**When** was the **Treaty of Paris** signed?

Answer 37

1856

Question 38

What did the Treaty of Paris **prevent**?

Answer 38

Russian warships from using the Black Sea in times of peace.

Question 39

**Why** did Russia **lose** the Crimean War? | Give two reasons.

Answer 39

- Outdated technology - Poor transport - Inadequate leadership - Lacked flexibility and determination

Question 40

When did Tsar Nicholas I die?

Answer 40

1855

Question 41

Who was believed to have been **appointed** their position **by God?**

Answer 41

The Tsar

Question 42

How many **square km** was the **Russian Empire** in 1955?

Answer 42

the Russian Empire was 21 million square kilometres

Question 43

How much government expenditure went to the military?

Answer 43

45%