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Summary Russia and its rulers- Exam topics
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Notes on the key areas of each russian ruler for the exam.
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Alexander IIGovernment
Replaced imperial chancellory with the committee of minsters, 13 men responsible for the administration of Russian affairs,
it was ineffective as they did not communicate with each other, resulting in contradictory policies being followed.
Set up zemstva in 1864, Russia’s first elected local councils. Had no say in government and only oversaw local issues such as
road maintenance. Set up the town Dumas in 1870 as equivalents.
Introduced legal reforms in 1864 as after the emancipation, land owners could no longer simply impose local justice. Open
courts, better pay for judges, defense lawyers for the accused. Introduced a new department of the senate to try political
cases in private in 1878. He replaced the third section with the softer okhrana.
Overall embraced change and bringing modernization and reform from the top before it was brought from below, wanted
to modernize Russia and make it more respected by the west. Wanted his people to have better lives, but had no intention
of ending his autocratic powers or introducing any sort of National Assembly, became less reformist after an assassination
attempt on him in 1866 by a student radical.
War
1853-56 Crimean war was a colossal humiliation for Russia with 450,000 deaths, under the treaty of Paris they were forced
to give up their claim to protecting Christians in the holy lands, had to cede land in Bessarabia and lost the right to maintain
a fleet in the Black Sea. The war had revealed Russia’s backwardness and this resulted it a spate of reforms to modernize
Russia.
Army reformed under the Milyutin plan, service reduced from 25 to 15 years, all men over the age of 21 were conscripted,
courts no longer allowed to give service as a punishment, soldiers and officers were better educated and army colonies
were banned.
Realized that Russia had to modernize, leading to a drive for greater railway construction, with 2billion roubles spent on
railway construction 1861-78. The war also acted as a major catalyst for the emancipation of the peasants, the setting up of
the zemstva and legal reforms.
1877-78 Russo Turkish war, meant to be a grand and swift victory for Russia, they were victorious but the war took longer
then expected. 1878 treaty of san Stefano was very generous to Russia, but was unpopular with the British and Austrians
who forced Russia to accept a new treaty at the congress in Berlin, a smaller Bulgaria was established, Britain was to
administer Cyprus and Austria Hungary controlled Bosnia.
The treaty was seen as a great humiliation for Russia as they had been bullied into signing it, the tsar lost respect and
opposition grew. It dispelled the myth of the ‘great Russian bear.’
Russo Turkish war undid the economic gains made by Reutern, the tsarist system was once again in debt and he stood
down in protest.
Economy and society
Emancipation of the serfs 1861, came about owing to moral and economic concerns and pressure from young apathetic
nobles who criticized the regime and its policies. Serfs gained the rights of citizens, were able to leave their villages, marry
as they chose and were allotted a small amount of land. They were forced to pay redemption taxes for 49 years, which
meant that many were still tied to the land, their rights were only theoretical and many found themselves with less and
worse land then they had before. However, it allowed enterprising peasants to buy up land and increase output, it allowed
more peasants to move to the cities and landowners could use redemption payments to pay off debts.
Educational reforms; 1863 private schools were permitted, 1864 running of schools taken away from the church and given
to the zemstva, 1870 boys and girls to receive the same education. Made universities autonomous in 1863 and decreased
tuition fees. Introduced a new code for secondary schools which allowed the creation of modern gymnasia which taught
‘new’ subjects such as science and math, number of secondary students doubled 1855-65.
Educational counter reforms; reactionary Dmitri Tolstoy became minster of eduction in 1865, by 1877 the government
controlled what the zemstva could do in education, university appointments and the content of the curriculum.
He embraced glasnost and relaxed censorship laws in 1865, books published increased from 1020 in 1855 to 1836 in 1864.
Reutern was finance minister 1862-78, he focused his policies on foreign investments, experts and railway construction. It
was thought that railways would industrialize Russia as their construction would stimulate secondary and tertiary industries
whilst connecting the country and allowing the transportation of goods across the vast empire.
Miles of track increased from 2,200 to 14,000 under Reutern, foreign companies were offered bail outs, taxation
exemptions and government bonds to invest in Russia, this lead to a great deal of corruption and by 1880, 94% of railways
were privately owned.
Economic growth was around 6% during Reutern’s tenure and industrial output doubled.
, Alexander III
Government
Hugely effected by the death of his father, for which he blamed his reforms. His rule is seen as reactionary as he put a stop
to greater reforms and modeled his rule around pobedenostov’s principles of autocracy, orthodoxy and nationality.
1881 statute of state security greatly increased the powers of the secret police, they could arrest, imprison and question
anyone they thought might have committed a crime. New courts for political offenders were set up outside of the legal
system and any judges thought to be sympathetic to liberal ideas were dismissed.
1889 introduction of land captains to oversee the countryside and ensure any peasant revolts were put down before they
could pose a major threat, hugely unpopular.
1890 zemstva act decreased the power of the zemstva, decreased the peasant representation, introduced provincial
governors to oversee what was going on in the zemstva and empowered land captains to overrule any zemstva decision.
Put Russification at the center of his rule as he saw the breakdown of the multi ethnic Ottoman Empire and was concerned
by the threat posed by the newly formed German empire. Russian was declared the official language of the whole empire,
administration, education and government, anyone who could not speak it could not get a government job. Conversion to
the Eastern Orthodox religion was encouraged and he continued the ban on the publication of books in Ukrainian.
Hated Jews as he believed they were behind the ignatiev memorandum and his father’s assassination. 1882 May laws
banned Jews from military, medical and governmental jobs, forced them to keep their shops open on Saturday, banned
them from voting and confined them to the Pale of Settlement.
Pogroms were stirred up by groups such as the holy league, 1881 Kiev pogrom saw 25 deaths and 250 rapes. In 1890 10,000
Jews were evicted from Moscow. These were not official government policies, but nothing was done to stop them.
War
No war took place during this period
Economy and society
First minster bunge 1882-87 ended the poll tax and the salt tax and introduced the peasant land bank in 1883 to allow
peasants to take low interest loans to buy up more land. Dismissed in 1887 with his liberal policies blamed for the fall in the
value of the rouble.
Vyshnegradsky finance minster 1887-91, introduced import tariffs of 30% such as the 1891 Dmitri Mendeleev tariff, these
were meant to stimulate industry at home, in reality they raised the price of consumer goods and made it impossible for
peasants to buy them. Forced peasants to export grain even when there were shortages at home, led to an 18% increase in
grain exports but caused famine.
1891 famine caused by drought, inefficient farm methods and a lack of machinery and vyshnegradsky’s policies. 350,000
died and the government was very slow to act, setting up the ministry of agriculture and the emergency committee for
famine relief, but this was all rather too late and minsters largely blamed the peasants for the famine.
Famine led to vyshnegradsky’s dismissal, he was replaced by witte who would oversee Russia’s great industrial
transformation, famine also led many once loyal peasants to loose trust in the system. Economic growth was around 5%
during this period.
Witte made finance minster in 1893, he was the first minster to commit totally to industrialization, his policies consisted of
raising taxes and foreign loans, investing in railway and heavy industries and state sponsored industrialization.
Reversed many of Alexander II’s educational reforms, increased tuition fees in universities in 1887 to stop social mobility,
gave full control of schools back to the church and banned the teaching of science and switched back to a curriculum which
emphasized autocracy and obedience. He also made it so that members of university councils were appointed, not elected.
Introduced factory inspections in 1882, with factories banned from employing under 12s, the power of inspectors was so
limited that owners continued to operate as they had done before.
1883 bill gave ‘old believers’ the right to meet in their houses of prayer, but outlawed any public promotion of their beliefs,
anyone who tried to convert a member of the orthodox church could be arrested.
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