Recapping the Social Structure of the Russian Empire CLASS%WHOCHARACTERISTICS Ruling Class0.5Tsar and his family Members of govt: State council of Russia, Ministers, senate Privileged class with disproportionate wealth Autocrats and rulers of Imperial Russia Upper class12Nobility, gentry, hereditary land owners, wealthy merchants, church leaders, bureaucratic leaders, high ranking army officials High incomes and privileges with low work load. Exempt from many oppressive laws. Group monitored behaviour of competitors to ensure fair share of resources and power. Few were appointed by the Tsar to keep other groups of upper class under control Commercial and professional middle class 1.5Small scale manufacturers and factory managers. Clerks. Educated thinkers, writers and artists, known as ‘intelligentsia’ Developed at end of 19 th century as a result of industrialisation in major cities and some towns. Lack of unity between different professions. Fear protests from classes below. Merchants (especially Jewish) viewed with suspicion by government Industrial working class 4Urban workersGrowing with industrialisation, population was concentrated in limited number of city centres. Work in overcrowded factories with extremely poor working conditions. 14 – 15 hour days with low, fluctuating wages Peasants 82 Agricultural workforceExtremely poor living and working conditions. Overcrowded, impoverished. High illiteracy and resistant to change. Starvation and disease common. Financially dependent on landowners and subsistence farming

The Russian Revolution AOS1 - Revolutionary ideas, leaders, movements and event TSARISM: HOW IT WAS IMPLEMENTED AND TSAR NICHOLAS II

LEARNING INTENTION: Understand the meaning of Tsarism, and identify how it was implemented Provide a detailed description of Tsarism Identify some of the personality traits of Tsar Nicholas II Express how Tsarism was implemented Explain the role of the church in Tsarist Russia

Tsarism: Defined ‘Tsar’ = Russian for ruler, ‘Tsarism’ = this system of one person rule As defined in the ‘Fundamental Laws of the Empire’ issued in 1716 and again in 1832:  The Tsar is an autocratic and unlimited monarch  God commands his supreme power be obeyed Helpful points from historian Merilyn Hoystead:  No constitution or other institutions limited Tsar’s authority  Russian officials swore oath of loyalty to him (not the state)  Civil servants/ministers needed his consented to resign  Consider by Nicholas II as sacred, t`o be handed to his son intact

Tsarism: Origins and the Tsars BEGINNING OF THE ROMANOV DYNASTY: Michael Romanov became Tsar in 1613 after years of political uncertainty. Over next 300 years, his descendants became Tsars. Adopted double headed eagle from Byzantine period for coat of arms implying power as great as Roman Empire PETER THE GREAT (1682 – 1725): Attempted to ‘Westernise’ Russia. Built new capital on Baltic Sea (St. Petersburg). Raised taxes and introduced conscription to deal with foreign wars CATHERINE THE GREAT (1762 – 1796): Greatly influenced by enlightenment thinkers, encouraging development of educated classes (intelligentsia). This would, in part, liberate Russians from Tsarist rule in 20 th century NICHOLAS I (1825 – 1855): Heavily censored ideas critical of Tsarism. However, at this time intelligentsia ‘Westerners’ encouraged growth of industrialisation in Russia while intelligentsia ‘slavophiles’ tried to promote and protect Russia’s unique culture ALEXANDER II (1855 – 1881): Led during Crimean War with Turks which caused massive reforms, abolished serfdom freeing 40 million peasants, create mir (village commune) system which controlled land and property redistribution. In 1864, created zemstvos: elected assemblies representing land owners, peasants and townspeople. Assassinated with a bomb by radical revolutionary group ‘The People’s Will’, which lead to a long period political repression, known as ‘the reaction’ In 1864 Alexander II made deeply impacting reforms to the Russian empire: Abolished serfdom ( where a peasant is attached to the land owned by a lord and required to perform labour in return for certain legal or customary rights). Created Mirs (A village community of peasant farmers) Create zemstvos (An elective council responsible for the local administration )

Tsarism: Implementation Divided government: Three key bodies: 1.Imperial council: Personal advisors to the Tsar 2.Cabinet Ministers: Given responsibility over a specific department (e.g: military, education) 3.The Senate: Transformed Tsar’s ideas into state laws Corrupt bureaucracy: Civil services put policies into practice Fourteen levels of bureaucrats took bribes when enacting policies, creating a noble upper class and not addressing country’s problems They randomly determined how to apply Tsar’s policies Oppressive police: Tsar’s secret police ‘Okhrana’. Monitored Tsar’s suspected enemies (social agitators and anarchists Second group maintained order among people (one for every 3,850 people). They used oppressive measures to control population. Tsar employed Cossacks (in return for land) and were savage fighters Conservative Russian Orthodox Church: Official Russian religion since 989AD, legitimised Tsar’s power Under state control since 1721 Create a visual or written explanation of the implementation of Tsarism. Also research the personality traits of Tsar Nicholas the II and explain how this effected the implementation of Tsarism

The Church From the 1880’s onward, the Church was increasingly used to reinforce conservative values in order to stifle revolutionary ideas and movements Was widely criticised (see page 8) Later in the same year, Deni released this famous cartoon, using the same devices to criticise capitalism