1. Tsarist Russia – Background Information
Objective- To familiarize ourselves with the nature of Russian society in the late 19th C.

2. Why was Russia a difficult country to govern?

3. Terms to Know Problems in Russia as of 1881: Terms: Peasants
Social Divisions
Economic Problems
Lack of Education
Weak Army
Ethnic Minorities
Terms:
Serf
Zemstva
Mir
Duma
Populists
People’s Will
Russification
Constitutional Monarchy

4. Social divisions
Economic problems
Social divisions
Problems in Russia
Ethnic minorities
Military
Lack of education
Weak army

5. Problems: Peasants
Until 1861, 22.5 million Russians were serfs. They were literally owned by the landowners and could be bought and sold.

7. Problems: Peasants
Until 1861, 22.5 million Russians were serfs. They were literally owned by the landowners and could be bought and sold.
This made it difficult to assemble an industrial workforce.
This also meant that agriculture continued to use old fashioned labour-intensive methods because there was no incentive to change.
There were frequent peasant rebellions.

8. Problems: Social Divisions

9. Problems: Lack of Education
Although Russian intellectuals in this period were producing some of the world’s greatest works of literature, Russia had one of the lowest literacy rates in Europe.

10. Problems: The Ethnic Minority Majority
55% of the people in the Russian empire were not Russian. Many of these groups resented Russian rule, and the many different spoken languages made the country difficult to govern.

11. Problems: Economic Russia was economically backward
In the middle of the 19th century, only 2 million out of 70 million people lived in cities.
Russia’s industry was backward.
Russia’s first railway was not built until 1837; The first train from St Petersburg to Moscow in 1851

12. Problems: Military
Russia’s army was weak and was defeated in the Crimean War (1853-6)

13. Problems: Military
Had 1 million soldiers, but only 60,000 of them could be deployed in the Crimean war at a time because of the need to cover multiple fronts and because of communication problems. 480,000 Russian soldiers died in the war
At the beginning of the Crimean War, the Russian army had only one musket for
every two men. Only 4% of Russian troops had modern rifles, while 33% of French troops and 50% of British troops did
Russian soldiers were not well trained and the army was not well organized

14. Liberal and Socialist opposition to autocracy was growing
Problems: Opposition
Liberal and Socialist opposition to autocracy was growing
Liberals wanted Russia to become a constitutional monarchy. A constitutional monarchy is a country where the king or queen shares power with elected representatives.
In 1874, the Populists formed. They wanted to get the peasants to revolt and form a socialist government.

15. Liberal and Socialist opposition to autocracy was growing
Problems: Opposition
Liberal and Socialist opposition to autocracy was growing
In 1874, the Populists formed (They would later change their name to Social Revolutionaries). They wanted to get the peasants to revolt and form a socialist government. The Populists were mostly middle class students. At first they tried to convince the peasants to support them by going to the countryside to make speeches to them. This wasn’t very successful because the peasants were very conservative.

16. Liberal and Socialist opposition to autocracy was growing
Problems: Opposition
Liberal and Socialist opposition to autocracy was growing
In 1879, a group called the People’s Will split off from the Populists. Their plan was to gain support by assassinating unpopular officials. In 1881, they would assassinate the Tsar.

17. Alexander II ( )

18. Alexander II’s Domestic Policies
Emancipation of the serfs

19. Alexander II’s Domestic Policies
Emancipation of the serfs

20. Alexander II’s Domestic Policies
Emancipation of the serfs
Aims
Create an industrial work force by freeing peasants to move to the towns
Create a domestic market for Russian goods by making the peasants rich enough to buy things.
Make it possible to introduce short terms of service in the Russian army, instead of 25 year terms. This would mean that ex-soldiers could be a trained reserve that could be called on in time of war
Make agriculture more efficient by freeing up land ownership and allowing more prosperous farmers to improve their land and methods. This would mean Russia would produce more grain to feed the industrial workers and to sell abroad to make money for industry.
Pacify peasants
Possibly hoping that the landlords would benefit from having all the cash from the peasants buying the land, and that they would invest it in industry.

21. Alexander II’s Domestic Policies
Emancipation of the serfs
Method
Edict of Emancipation, 1861
Serfs freed over a period of two years for private serfs and 5 for state serfs
Freedom to own land, marry and use law courts
Ownership of their houses and the plots around them
The government bought land from the landlords for the peasants, but the peasants had to pay the government back in installments over 49 years with 6% interest.
On average, peasant families farmed 20% less land than they had before emancipation
Domestic serfs (serfs who hadn’t been farmers) received no land.

22. Alexander II’s Domestic Policies
Emancipation of the serfs
Results
Peasant disturbances died down noticeably for the next 40 years
Few peasants received enough land – the average holding was about 9 acres, and the redemption payments were often greater than the money to be made on the land. This meant that they remained poor and could not buy things to stimulate the domestic market. The population also grew rapidly in the second half of the nineteenth century, which made the problem worse.
In many cases, the land was given not to individual peasants, but to the Mir, or village commune, which was responsible for making the redemption payments. This meant peasants had no motivation to make improvements as they could lose the land the next year. Peasants needed the consent of the mir to separate their land from the commune, and could not travel without the written permission of the mir. Thus, they couldn’t buy or sell their land or move away to form an industrial labour force.
Because of the small size of the farms, and because of communal ownership in many areas, agriculture didn’t become more efficient. 50 % of peasants only grew enough to feed themselves.
Landlords mostly used the money they got to pay off debts rather than to invest in industry.

23. A mir meeting

24. Alexander II’s Domestic Policies
Political Reforms: Zemstva (singular=zemstvo)
Aims
Replace the rule of the landlords with alternative local government structure. (The cities had similar assemblies called dumas)
method
In 1864, elected assemblies called zemstva were introduced in each province and district. Zemstva were responsible for local government – schools, hospitals, etc.
They were elected by 3 electoral colleges, representing the peasants, townspeople and gentry. Thus, the gentry were overrepresented and the peasants were underrepresented. The townspeople and gentry elected their electoral colleges; the peasant electors were chosen by the village elders.
results
Dominated by the nobility (74% of seats in held by nobles)
Very successful at creating schools and hospitals, but strictly limited to local administration.
Members began to propose that a national body of zemstva representatives be formed, which made the Tsar angry.
Eventually provided a forum for liberal opposition.

25. “The Zemstvo Eats Lunch” by Grigori Miasoedov, 1872

26. Alexander II’s Domestic Policies
Legal reforms
Public trials and court cases
Same laws for all classes
Trial by jury for all
Judges independent of the government
Government still had the power to impose martial law in emergencies.

27. Alexander II’s Domestic Policies
Military reforms
Reduced term of service in the army from 25 years to six years, followed by 9 years in the reserves and five years in the militia
Universal military service for all men at the age of 20 (1874) – no more loopholes for nobility and the rich
Stopped using military service as a punishment for criminal offenses
Abolished brutal punishments previously used on common soldiers
Army schools to teach recruits to read

28. Alexander II’s Domestic Policies
Policy towards national minorities
Poland
Initially showed respect for Poland’s distinct culture
Appointed a Catholic archbishop of Warsaw in 1856, instead of insisting on an orthodox one.
Established an agricultural society in 1857 to promote new techniques of cultivation
The process of land reform and the proposal that Poles be conscripted into the Russian army kicked off a rebellion led by the Polish nobility in In response, 700,000 peasants were given land without any redemption payments.
After the rebellion, Alexander adopted Russification – attempting to suppress the local characteristics of various regions within the Empire and to spread Russian characteristics to all the Tsar’s subjects.
Seized property of Polish Roman Catholic Church (1864)
Closed Warsaw University (1869)

29. Alexander II’s Domestic Policies
Educational reforms
1855 allowed number of university students to rise
1857 allowed lectures on European government
1860 allowed lectures on philosophy
1863 More autonomy for universities (freedom to conduct their own affairs)
All classes allowed to enter secondary education. In 1853, only 18% of secondary students were commoners. In 1885, 44% were commoners.

30. Assassination
Ironically, by making all these reforms, Alexander II actually created more opposition, because he opened people’s minds to the possibility that the system could change. Once people realized that change was possible, they wanted faster and bigger reforms. When they didn’t get them, they got angry. Opposition groups like the Populists (1874) and the People’s Will (1879) formed. In 1881, the People’s Will assassinated Alexander II.

31. Task: Alexander II’s obituary
Your task is to write an obituary (notice of death and brief biography) for Alexander II. You should discuss his achievements and the impact he had on Russia.
You should also include people’s opinions of him; 1) Serfs 2) Aristocracy 3) Populist party members.
Think about the style, language, audience and format of a newspaper article. It should be words in length (you can use your laptops.

32. Task: Alexander II’s obituary
Assessment criteria
Content
Analysis
Organisation and communication
Overall
Do you have a good understanding of the impact of this figure / event? Are your views / arguments backed up by detailed evidence?
Have you used a wide range of sources to inform your response? Have you interpreted the source evidence correctly?
Is your work well structured ie in full sentences and paragraphs. Is the language / style suitable and engaging? Is your work detailed?
Average of the 3 grades