100% satisfaction guarantee Immediately available after payment Both online and in PDF No strings attached
logo-home
Previously searched by you
Previously searched by you
logo
Summary Russia and its Rulers Highly Detailed and Comprehensive Notes for A-Level History £15.49
Add to cart
Quickly navigate to
Preview
  2.  
  3. OCR
  4.  
  5. History
  6.  
  7. Russia and its Rulers 1855-1964

Summary

Summary Russia and its Rulers Highly Detailed and Comprehensive Notes for A-Level History

2 reviews
 4 purchases
  • Institution
  • OCR

Russia and its Rulers A-Level History Revision Notes (101 pages!!!) Thematic Revision Material targeting the following themes: Nature of Government. Economy and Society. Wars and Revolutions. (Satellite States not included due to content for 2022 examinations being cut back) Rulers inc...

[Show more]

Preview 4 out of 102  pages

Document information

  • No
  • Unknown
  • June 3, 2022
  • 102
  • 2020/2021
  • Summary

Subjects

Connected book

book image

Book Title:

Author(s):

  • Edition:
  • ISBN:
  • Edition:

More summaries for

All for this textbook (7)

Written for

All documents for this subject (28)

2  reviews

review-writer-avatar

By: mashavainshtein • 1 year ago

reply-writer-avatar

By: alevelsmadeeasyrevision • 1 year ago

Hi Masha, I was very sorry to see that you have given my resource on Russia and its Rulers, one-star! May I ask why this is the case? As stated in the description, the resource is multiple pages of dense and detailed information. I have collated a lot of information from various resources (including historian publications) and, therefore, it is for you to take what you want from it. It is not a revision source with the key information. I look forward to hearing from you, but please do not hesitate to email me at alevelrevisionmadeeasy@gmail.com should you need anything. All the best, Olivia

review-writer-avatar

By: deniz4korkmaz • 2 year ago

Seller

avatar-seller
alevelsmadeeasyrevision

Reviews received

Content preview

History A-Level

Russia and its Rulers 1855-1964

Context: Russia by the mid-nineteenth Century



Topic: Geography

 By the Mid-Nineteenth Century the Russian Empire was vast

o Spread over 8 million square miles

o Covering Europe and Asia

o The people living in this area numbered around 70 million (a substantial increase
from 1815, where there had been about 40 million)

 The Middle of the Century represents something of a demographic explosion in Russia,
closely linked to economic change

o Most people lived in western Russia in-between the two main cities of St Petersburg
and Moscow

o The majority (80%) were peasants

 Throughout the empire there were many different races, with their own language, religions
and cultures

o Ukrainians, Tatars and Latvians

o Minority groups posed a threat to Russia rulers as many wanted independence



Topic: Society

 Russian society was dominated by a landed gentry

o A middle class did exist, consisting of merchants, early industrialists and
professionals (lawyers) but was much smaller

o The gentry controlled an often volatile peasantry through the adoption of village
councils led by village elders known as the ‘mir’

 These councils had an important role in establishing and collecting
taxes, selecting peasants for the army and allocating plots of land to be
worked

o Half of the peasant who essentially serf slaves owned by the gentry; the other half
were owned by the state

 Peasants provided labour or cash from their labour to their owners for
shelter and crop shared

 Punishments for breaking arrangements were harsh (public floggings)

 Peasants needed the permission of a noble landlord if they wished to move out of the
community or if they wanted to get married

o Peasant living and working conditions were appalling causing disease, starvation
and death

,  Town and city dwellers were employed in small-scale textile industries, iron and steel
production or mineral extraction

o Roughly 15,000 enterprises employing more than 800,000 workers

o Signs of deterioration as living conditions were inadequate (poor sanitation and
workplace danger)



Topic: Economy

 Economic growth by the middle of the nineteenth century might best be described as
sluggish when compared to the first industrialised nations of Britain, Germany and the USA

o At the start of the 19th Century, Russia was the world’s greatest producer of pig
iron but in 1855 Britain had overtaken it and was producing ten times more

 The poor economic growth was due to Russia possessing an undeveloped banking system,
which was unable to supply investment capital required for the introduction of modern
technology

 The majority of economic activity was related to the production of grain, both for home
consumption and for export (nearly half of the value of all Russian exports cam from the
trade of grain)

 Trade could have been more fruitful if transport and communications had been more
advanced

o Russia lacked a developed railway system; it took until 1851 for a link between St
Petersburg and Moscow to be opened

o The alternative forms of transport were roads and rivers but their condition varied
from region to region which made rans-regional transportation of raw materials
difficult



Topic: Government and Politics

 Russia was governed by a Tsar which contrasted to how many countries in the West were
governed, which was through constitutional governments or monarchies

 Nicholas I (tsar in 1855) belonged to the Romanov family which had ruled since election in
1613

 All Romanovs were raised to believe that their authority was ordained and that they were
answerable only to God

 All members of the Government were appointed by the Tsar

o The governmental institutions of the Imperial Council of State, the Senate and the
Personal Chancellery of his Imperial Majesty all appeared to have a degree of
power

 It was the tsar who accepted or rejected the advice of ministers and
who had the final say of policy

 The centre of government was based in St Petersburg

,  Due to the vast size of the empire, many bureaucrats were needed: by 1855, there were
around 114,000, ranging from provincial governors to assembly members, local judges and
police chiefs

 Another key feature of the Government was the secret police, along with a more
conventional police force in order to maintain law and order

o When law and order broke down, the army was deployed

 In 1855, the army consisted of about 1.4 million soldiers where the majority were
conscripted serfs who were forced to join up for at least 25 years as part of their serf-based
obligations

o Serfs were badly trained and poorly looked after which meant that they performed
erratically in conflict situations such as the Crimean War

 By 1855, the overriding concern for the Government was that Russia was falling behind the
West and would soon become a second-rate power



Topic: Religion

 Religion was dominated by the Russian Orthodox Church

 The Church was a very conservative body that supported the authority of the tsar, but it
was not separate from the State as it was governed by Holy Synod which was headed by a
government minister

 Tsar had absolute control over Church matters (particularly those related to finance)

 The Church was therefore important for the ruling authorities as a means of control

 An assumption was that religion was all-pervasive in Russia: peasant homes contained ‘red
corner’ shrines decorated with icons and religious celebrations dominated the national
holidays

 In parts of Russia, there were breakaway religious groups (Old Believers and Hysts)

o These groups challenged the Orthodox Christians and focused on dealing in some
unorthodox practices

 By the middle of the nineteenth century, the Orthodox Church was becoming more
detached from the wants and needs of both urban and rural populations

, History A-Level

Russia and its Rulers 1855-1964

The Nature of Government in Russia 1855-1964



Topic: Ideologies – Autocracy (Repression and Reform)

How far could all Russian government from 1855 to 1964 be described as autocratic?



Subtopic: The principal of Autocracy

What was Autocracy in Russia from 1855-1917?

 Russia was government by an autocracy from 1855 to March 1917

 Tsars had absolute power which was said to be ordained by God

 All Russians had to obey the will of the tsar or suffer punishment

 The historian J.N. Westwood has indicated that there were three strands to tsarist
autocracy:

o The ‘tsar expected willing and total submission of his subjects’. This was a system
based on religious faith, and did not require the tsar to be made accountable the
people through elections or a constitutional government

o The tsar was obliged to act as a ‘moral judge’ on behalf of God

 He had a paternalistic duty to project his subjects and control their
behaviour for the good of the nation as a whole. He was supported in
this role by the Russian Orthodox Church

o As the Russia Empire was so large and diversified, autocracy was seen as a
practical, straightforward way to rule

 Advisers of the government, such as Konstantin Pobedonostsev, argued
that liberal democracy would have led to too many people demanding
too many different policies

 The Russia population was made up of illiterate peasants, it was
believed that democracy would be in the hands of those who did not
have the ‘ability to reason’



Subtopic: Continuity in the belief in Autocracy

 Although there were variations in how autocratic power was used by the tsars throughout
the period, the significance of autocracy was continuously enforced through manifestos,
speeches and policies

The benefits of buying summaries with Stuvia:

Guaranteed quality through customer reviews

Guaranteed quality through customer reviews

Stuvia customers have reviewed more than 700,000 summaries. This how you know that you are buying the best documents.

Quick and easy check-out

Quick and easy check-out

You can quickly pay through credit card for the summaries. There is no membership needed.

Focus on what matters

Focus on what matters

Your fellow students write the study notes themselves, which is why the documents are always reliable and up-to-date. This ensures you quickly get to the core!

Frequently asked questions

What do I get when I buy this document?

You get a PDF, available immediately after your purchase. The purchased document is accessible anytime, anywhere and indefinitely through your profile.

Satisfaction guarantee: how does it work?

Our satisfaction guarantee ensures that you always find a study document that suits you well. You fill out a form, and our customer service team takes care of the rest.

Who am I buying these notes from?

Stuvia is a marketplace, so you are not buying this document from us, but from seller alevelsmadeeasyrevision. Stuvia facilitates payment to the seller.

Will I be stuck with a subscription?

No, you only buy these notes for £15.49. You're not tied to anything after your purchase.

Can Stuvia be trusted?

4.6 stars on Google & Trustpilot (+1000 reviews)

64257 documents were sold in the last 30 days

Founded in 2010, the go-to place to buy revision notes and other study material for 15 years now

Start selling

Recently viewed by you

Case ·

(0)

Case Study Assessment and Management of Carl Vinson- Riverside City College

Exam (elaborations) ·

(0)

TEST BANK FOR NURSING RESEARCH METHODS AND CRITICAL APPRAISAL FOR EVIDENCE-BASED PRACTICE 9TH EDITION BY GERI LOBIONDO-WOOD, AND JUDITH HABER ISBN: 9780323431316 ISBN: 9780323447652

Essay ·

(0)

Introductie Kunstzinnige Oriëntatie PABO

Exam (elaborations) ·

(0)

TEST BANK FOR ESSENTIALS OF NURSING LEADERSHIP AND MANAGEMENT, 3RD EDITION, PATRICIA KELLY, JANICE TAZBIR
£15.49  4x  sold
  • (2)
Add to cart
Added