A Level Russia and its Rulers History Mindmaps. Containing all the information from multiple textbooks - the best way to revise for amazing grades!
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,What was Russia like politically? What was Russia like economically?
• Autocracy – Tsar chosen by God • Overwhelmingly rural country
• Ideology reinforced by Orthodox Church • Grain was the most valuable export
• Very small population of nobles • Serfs lived and worked on nobles’ land
• Majority of country made up of serfs who support the small • Nobles could trade serfs and had a huge in
minority in power • Half the week the serfs worked on the nob
• Nobles receive land in exchange for ruling provinces on their own
Strengths Weaknesses Strengths Weaknesses
• Tsar held all • Divide between Tsar and Nobles, and Serfs • Produced 1/3 of the • Limited industry
power and • Communication slow between provinces, many world’s iron in 1800 • Protected by duties on foreign imports, so little pressu
everyone ministers did what they wanted to do • Cotton industry used competitors
looked up to • Corrupted ministers – tax intake wasn’t honest new technology, fifth • Government monopolies – complex restrictions
him • Majority of country lived in poverty largest in the world • Impossible to finance large enterprise
• Tsar ruled • Large distance between provinces and Tsar by 1850 • State and private banks were unstable
how he • No infrastructure or transport system in Russia, • Biggest economic • Little incentive to invest in machinery to reduce labour
wanted to moving armies and good around is complicated strength is large • No group interested in enriching itself through busines
and time consuming population • Costs of transporting goods were high
• Reliant on nobles to look after regions • Towns/markets were administrative no industrial
• Social mobility doesn’t exist – serfs born into their lifes
What was Russia like socially?
Strengths Weaknesses
• No capital punishment, it was forbidden as serfs were • Structure of society hadn’t changed since previous century
property and needed for work • Unequal treatment
• Serfdom supports nobles and keeps them wealthy and • Tsars and his wife were prone to revolution because of their
powerful minority
• Serfs worked for nobles to ensure they could pay for rent • Serfs had restricted lifestyle and vulnerable to being sold off
and food • No middle class, large separation between rich and poor
• Religion had a large role in serf life • Serfs prone to conscription – terms of 25 years
• Village organisation (mir) made up of village elders that • Life expectancy very low
helped with land distribution and food shortages • Poor working conditions
, Alexander II: 1855-1881
Area of Change to Russia Benefits Weaknesses
reform
Serfs • 19th Feb 1861, Emancipation Act – serfs no longer • Peasants no longer forced to work for nobles on • Nobles began to dispose of their serfs
forced to settle on estate owners property their land army/moving them to poor lands
• Serfs had to pay communal taxes and
payments to the state
Political • Creation of first elected local government • Local administration more efficient • Wealthy had more voting power
(Zemstvos) • Encouraged hope for greater change – fair as • No intention for political developmen
elected • Zemstvos helped Tsar control land
Law • Reorganisation of local and regional courts • No equality previously • Flogging retained
• Judiciary more dependent on state • Bribery reduced by paying judges better • Censorship/crimes against state not inc
• Higher courts reorganised • More modern laws by judges that weren’t independent
• Reform of criminal trial by jury
Education • Literate workforce with greater technical skills • Rise in opposition against Tsar • Restricted curriculum based on classica
needed – reforms for universities • Plants the seed for revolution • Moves towards science discouraged as
• Censorship lifted, books allowed – exposure to new liberalism
radical ideas • Inspectors appointed to watch over sch
• Science allowed first but went against what Church • Only basic education from the Church in
said
Military • Changes made after loss in Crimea • Put Russian state on the path to developing a • Russo-Turkish War (1877-8) revealed lim
• Six year service and long period in reserve modern army on the Prussian model armies
• Conscription happens from both serfs and nobility • Attempts to increase technical ability of soldiers • Infrastructure not able support large mi
• Economic reforms to stabilise currency and through training • Poor health conditions of serfs
encourage foreign loans • Brings end to some corruption
, Alexander III: 1881-1894
Positive Reform Repression
• Peasant Land Bank established in 1882 to allow farmers access to capital for • Russification – pressure on nationalities to accept Russian language
improvements • Anti-Semitic policies targeted Jews and prevented them from going t
• Redemption payments reduced emigration increased as a result
• Poll tax (only peasants had to pay it) was abolished in 1886 • Press censorship increased in 1882
• Working conditions in factories regulated in 1882 – imposed official limits on hours • Control over peasants increased by appointment of land captains – th
worked by women and children were paid and gave beatings for breaking the law
• Tsar encouraged first collection of Russian art • Increase in closed secret trials for political offences
• Towns/industries/communications developing • Executive boards of all local councils became government officials
• Electorate reduced, voting rights removed from 13,000 people in Mo
• University education restricted and religious tolerance eroded
• The Okhrana became highly active
How repressive was Alexander III?
• Much fiercer than his father
• Strictly educated in Orthodox ways
• Faced growing rural discontent and opposition form liberal elements in upper class
• Assassination of Tsar generated insecurity and determination to crush opposition
• Re-established control but didn’t deal with any underlying issues
• At end of rule there was a great famine due to bad harvests
• Government fails to admit famine is real, Zemstvos step in showing the people that the
Tsar isn’t ‘the father’ of Russia
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