Tsarist Russia from 1855 - 1914. A2 History.

1. Russia (Tsarism) 1855 – 1914http://www.revisionworld.com/a2-level-level-revision/history-0/tsarist-russia/russia-1885-1914
PAIGE TIMMINS

2. Tsar Alexander II 1855-1881
•Became Tsar in 1855 in the Crimean war.
•The war showed how backward Russia was.
•Industry failed to meet the need for munitions.
•Agriculture didn’t supply demands for food.
•Civil service unable to organise the war.
•1856 he made peace with GB and France then set out to reform Russia.

3. The Peasants
•Tsar and noble owned the majority of Russia’s arable land.
•Most people were serfs who:
• Had to work 3 days a week for their owner.
• Paid most of the tax intake.
• Could be sold and punished without trial, e.g. flogged by their masters.
• Could be conscripted for service in the army.
•Each family had about 15 acres of farm for themselves, but did not own it.

4. Effects of Serfdom
•Inefficient agriculture.
•No incentive to work hard – profits went to owners.
•Developing industries were short of workers.
•Serfs were not allowed to more to the factories.
•West European revolutionaries could persuade serfs to revolt.
•Alexander II – ‘”it’s better to abolish serfdom from above rather than await the time when it will
begin to abolish itself from below”.

5. The Edict of Emancipation – 3rd March 1861
•44 million peasants freed by the edict.
•They could now own land.
•They could leave their estate but had to carry a passport.
•They didn’t have to work on the nobles land.
•Government surveyors divided the land between the owners and serfs.
•Former serf families given about 8 acres – less than when on their master’s estate.
•Had to pay for land. It was valued by a government official.
•The government paid the owner.
•Ex-serfs had to pay instalments for 49 years.
•The Mir (village commune) became the new owners.
•Each year the ‘elders’ were divided the land according to the numbers in each family.
•The Mir collected the debt instalments.

6. Developments
•Population increased from 50 million (1850) to 82 millions (1900).
•After 1861 annual division of land led to the ward of smaller and smaller plots.
•Farming was so inefficient that peasants could feed their own families but few could produced
enough for sale.
•Result = shortages in towns.
•Many peasants had to abandon farming because they were unable to pay the annual
instalments.
•Some went to work for more successful ex-serfs (Kulaks).
•Others went to work in industrial towns.

7. Local Government Reforms
•Upper classes had governed the countryside, building brides and schools etc.
•After Emancipation another way was needed.
•The Mir (commune) was bottom of the government ladder.
•There were elections to choose its leaders.
•Zemstvos (district council) controlled by nobles.
•After 1861 they were elected by nobles, townspeople and peasants (ex-serfs).
•Zemstvos ran roads and bridges maintenance and an improved school system.
•Zemstvos were 2nd rung of the government ladder above the Mir.
•3rd rung were the provincial Zemstvos.
•They looked after public health and chose magistrates for the new law courts.

8. Liberals
•Pleased by democrati8c elections to the Mir and district Zemstvos (included nobles gentry and
townspeople).
•Such partial democracy made them discontented because provincial governors (appointed by
government) could overrule a Zemstvo.
•Tsar had created these 3 tiers of government but refused a national council or parliament.
•Also forbade members of Zemstvos meeting in national conferences.

9. Other Reforms
Press
•Censorship relaxed.
•Writers could criticise government – Alex wanted critics out in the open.
•National Newspapers increased from 6 to 16 by 1881.
Legal System
•Judges and magistrates were appointed for life and could not be sacked by the government.
•Equality before the law was proclaimed and trials were open.
•Trial by judge replaced a system in which a nobleman judge/magistrate presided.
•Political offenders were not tried by jury.
•Peasants and offending newspaper editors had their own courts.
•These couldn’t speak in their own defence during trial.

10. Other Reforms (cont...)
Army
•1874 all classes became liable for military service and not only peasants.
•Service length reduced from 25 to 15 years.
•Flogging of soldiers stopped.
Education
•10,000 schools built by local Zemstvos to deal with illiteracy.
•Old fashioned schools offered mainly classics – no sciences.
•Modern schools offered science.
•Only students from old-fashioned schools could go to university.
•Government regarded science as dangerous.

11. Poland
•Poland part of Russian Empire.
•1863 Poles rose in revolt because:
• Russian defeat in Crimean war suggested they were too weak to crush a revolt.
• Italians rebelled against Austria.
• Reforms created a liberal atmosphere.
•Revolt was sparked by the closing of the Polish Agricultural Society.
•Anti-Russian demonstrations took place.
•Troops fired on the crowds.
•Napoleon III of France wanted to help the Catholic Poles.
•But Bismarck wouldn’t allow French troops to cross Prussia.

12. Poland
•This gained Russian friendship.
•The rising was savagely crushed.
•Alexander II and his ministers now encouraged:
• Russian nationalism.
• Pan-Slavism.
• Union of the Slavs of South-Eastern Europe under leadership of Russia.

13. Threat of Revolution
•The threat of revolution developed because:
• Land reform left many dissatisfied.
• Education produced more literates people who could read radical literature.
• Each reform increased the appetite for more.
• Growth of industrial towns led to increase in radical workers.

14. The Nihilists
•From Latin – ‘nihil’ means nothing.
•This was a group of revolutionaries who believed that everything from the past had to be
destroyed.
•From this the new society could be developed.
•Took advantage of new press freedoms to gain support.
•Thousands joined.
•Used terrorism in effort to overthrow system – bombs, knives and guns etc.

15. Government Repression
•Thousands sent to Siberian exile.
•Many leading Nihilists were students so government tried to restrict university entrance to those
that were thought to be loyal to the Tsar.
•Newspaper editors sacked in they failed to reveal names of nihilist writers.

16. Narodniki
•The name given to thousands of students.
•In the 1870s went to preach revolutionary ideas to the peasants.
•Little success due to:
• Most peasants didn’t understand the ideas involved.
• Local priests had great influence and got the peasants to attack them.
• Peasants shocked by their behaviour.
•Movement faded away and Alexander restricted university entrance further.

17. Socialism
•Influenced the 1870s.
•Revolutionaries were attracted by the village commune.
•Believed it was the ideal socialist society with commune land shared according to need.
•Tried to preach peaceful revolution.
•Others led by ex-nihilist Michael Bakunin who wanted a violent revolution.

18. Assassination of Alexander II in 1881
•He began as the ‘Tsar Liberator’ making key reforms.
•Couldn’t satisfy everybody.
•Unable to get what they wanted, some people turned to terrorism.
•1866 attempt to kill him.
•1879 saw 2 more unsuccessful attempts on his life.
•In one day 5 shots fired at him; in another day they dynamited the Winter Palace but he wasn’t
there.
•1880 he was away again when the dining room of his palace was mined.
•A mine on a track his train was on failed to explode.
•1881 they finally succeeded in killing him with a bomb.

19. Tsar Alexander III 1881-1984
•He declared that his father’s reforms were wrong and had failed.
•He determined to undo the reforms.
•He thus gave a free hand to his minister – Pobedonostsev.

20. Pobedonostsev
•1865 was Alex’s tutor.
•Alex made hi, Chief Procurator of the Holy Synod controlling the church.
•He was responsible for a number of severe policies.
•The Okhrana (secret police) were given extra powers to deal with terrorists.
•Many were exiled, imprisoned or executed.

21. Reforms
Education
•University entrance restricted to classical students.
•Teachers were spied on and government critics sacked.
•Children of peasants and working classes denied secondary education.
•Primary schools now controlled by church.
•Children taught to be obedient to the government.
Press
•More closely supervised.
•14 newspaper were closed due to being critical of government.

22. Reforms
Land Captains
•Drawn from old nobility.
•Given powers over all other officials.
•Replaced magistrates appointed by Alex.
Subject Races
•Latvia Estonia & Lithuania had been allowed to keep their own languages/customs.
•Now they had to use Russian – became official language in press, courts and in dealings with
officialdom.
•Russian made compulsory in Polish schools.
•Lutheran church was persecuted.

23. The Jews
•Attacks on the Jew were common but intensified (pogroms).
•Only allowed to live in towns.
•Fewer allowed secondary education.
•Orthodox priests encouraged people to attack Jews.

24. Industrialisation
•Russia was poor, inefficient and militarily weak.
•Industrialisation on the western model essential.
•But it would come such ideas as trade unions and political development.
• 1855 only one railway in Russia.
• By 1860 over 1,00 miles of rail.
• By 1883, 130,00 miles.
• Boosted iron, steel and coal industries.
• Textile industry began centred on 2 or 3 areas.
•Foreign participation proved vital in this development.
• French finance helped pay for raw materials and machinery imports.
• Nobel brothers of Sweden began oil industry and built the 1st oil tanker.
• British formed the New Russian Company to set up factories in Donetz Basin.
• Siemens of Prussia set up telegraphic system and factories.

25. Paying for Development
•Interest had to be paid on borrowed money and the loans themselves.
•Exported wheat to get the money.
•Government increased peasant taxes – got the money in the form of grain.
•Result = peasants even poorer than before.
•Hit industrial workers too – prices rose because not enough grain.
•Result = famines but exports maintained.
•Workers suffered from:
• Shortage of food and high prices but low pay.
• Poor housing.
• Poor working conditions with no trade union.
•Number of town workers increased and were less under the influence of the Church than peasants.
•Foreign industrialists showed the benefit of working for a profit and that science was essential for
industrial progress.

26. Witte
•Minister of finance 1892 – 1903.
•Responsible for the effort to industrialise Russia at that time.
•Major roles played by the foreigners – Witte of Dutch ancestry.
•Main industry = agriculture – Witte thought this was strong.
•It was industry that needed developing.
•1892 took foreign loans to build Trans-Siberian Railway (completed 1902).
•1900 coal output = 15 millions ton (GB = 200 million tons).
•Central Asian cotton farming allowed textile production to grow in Poland & Moscow.
•Wool, iron and steel grew.
•1885-1900, industrial input increased 3-fold.

27. Witte (cont…)
•3 million industrial workers.
•Industrial development helped by import tariffs on goods Russian Factories could make.
•To pay for Loans, government income had to increase.
•One way was by the government taking monopoly on alcohol sales.
•Provided ¼ of government revenue.

28. Development of Revolutionary Organisations
Social Revolutionary Party (SRP)
•Founded 1901 from earlier attempts to rouse the peasantry.
•Industrialisation led to fall in peasant’s standard of living.
•They paid more of the tax take and poverty was reflected in their mortality rate. Caused by poor
diet and living conditions.
•1882 Peasant’s Land Bank helped them buy land but interest rates were high.
•Payment of instalments for land grants made after 1861 left little cash for new purchases.
•SRP hoped to lead the peasants to violent revolution.
•SRP carried out terror attacks on Land Captains and other officials.
•Attacks on Alex II – 1887 attempted assassination – plotters tried in court.
•Lenin’s brother Alexander Ulyanov was executed.

29. Development of Revolutionary Organisations (cont…)
The Liberals
•Known as the Kadets from the initials of their Constitutional Democratic Party wanted the Tsar
to allow a British style government.
•Most of their support came from Zemstvos.
Social Democratic Labour Party (SDLP)
•Formed 1898.
•Main support = industrial workers.
•Followed Marxist policies.
•Didn’t believe terrorism could succeed.
•Often attacked by secret police.

30. Development of Revolutionary Organisations (cont…)
The Bolsheviks
•Lenin arrested in 1895.
•1897 put in prison again.
•1897-1900 exiled to Serbia then forced to live abroad.
•He and other exiles published a newspaper called Iskra (the Spark) and smuggled in into Russia.
•1903 its production committee had meetings in Brussels and then London.
•Argued over what a revolutionary party should be like.
•Trotsky wanted a mass party like the SRP.
•Lenin wanted a small party in which every member was revolutionary who knew what a Marxist
revolution meant.
• Majority (Bolsheviks in Russia) agreed with Lenin.
• Minority (Mensheviks) agreed with Trotsky.

31. Tsar Nicholas II 1894 – 1917
•Promised to adhere to principles of autocracy.
•His wife had no sympathy with reform.

32. Plehve
•1902 became Minister of the Interior when his predecessor was assassinated.
•He was in charge of domestic government.
•Policies were:
• Organised anti-Jewish demos and pogroms.
• Continued the Russianisation of Finland, Poland, Baltic provinces & Armenia.
•But his polices were different because:
• Was alarmed by success of SDLP in winning support of industrial workers.
• Sent spies into factories as workers – tried to start strikes to flush out leaders who could be arrested.
•Promoted the idea of Holy Russia and a peasantry loyal to the Tsar and church.
•This was in opposition to Witte’s ideas.
•1903 he persuaded Tsar to sack Witte.
•Discontent continued – strikes, terrorism & peasant revolts.
• persuaded Tsar to have a short, victorious was against japan.
•Hoped it would support gain support for Tsar and end unrest in Russia.

33. Russo-Japanese War 1904 – 1905
•Began in February 1904.
•Ended in September 1906 at the Treaty of Portsmouth.
•Poor leadership had caused heavy Russian defeats.
•High casualties.
•Transport system not good enough to supply the military.
•Shortage of food in industrial towns.

34. 1905 Revolution
•1904 Plehve assassinated by SRs.
•Constitutional reform demanded by Union of Zemstvos who wanted:
• A Russian parliament.
• Free speech.
• Fair trials.
• Abolition of the secret police.
•SDLP organised strikes and demos.
•Wanted an end to the war and an end to Tsarist rule.
•Regional peasants rioted.
•Land Captains and nobles murdered.

35. Bloody Sunday 22nd January 1905
•Father Gapon (priest) was a government spy sent to work among industrial workers.
•SDLP panned an anti-Tsarist demo in the capital St. Petersburg (Jan 1905).
•To stop SDLP getting the credit, Gapon and other agents planned their own.
•Industrial workers and their families set out to march to the palace to present their petitions
complaining about:
• Long working hours, low wages, poor housing, high prices etc.
• Asked for a parliament.
• Protested their loyalty to the Tsar.
•In fear, Nicholas had gone to another palace at Tsarko Selo.
•The guards at the Winter Palace fired at the crowds.
•130 were killed and 3,000 wounded.

36. Unrest
•Strikes in industrial towns.
•Mutiny on the battleship Potemkin June 1905 – bombarded port of Odessa.
•October rail strike in Moscow – became a national strike.
•Food not getting to industrial towns.
•Trotsky created soviets (worker’s councils) in St. Petersburg and Moscow factories.
•They were supported by teachers, doctors and lawyers.
•Demanded an overthrow of the system of government.

37. October Manifesto 1905
•Witte was recalled as Chief Minister (he had opposed the war) after the signing of the Treaty of
Portsmouth.
•Tsar promised reforms in a Manifesto:
• Promised a Duma (parliament).
• He would make no laws without Duma approval.
•The Liberals liked this development.
•Many strikers went back to work believing they would get their desired reforms.
•Soviets led by SDLP believed it was not enough.
•Peasants continued with riots not believing a Duma would help them.
•Tsar felt more secure when the army came back from the war against Japan.
•Soviet leaders were arrested.

38. October Manifesto 1905 (cont…)
•Armed rising by Moscow workers (Dec. 1905).
•This was crushed by force.
•Tsar’s advisers knew the concessions would not be enough.
•April 1906 new French loans.
•Terrorist attacks on reformers carried out by right-wing Russian People’s League.
•May 1906 (just before 1st Duma due to meet) Tsar issued The Fundamental Law of the Empire
which declared:
• As autocracy was ordained by God it could not be subject to the Duma.
• Control of finance would not be left to the Duma.
• Duma would have limited powers to pass new laws .

39. Duma Election of 1906
•Most men allowed to vote in a secret ballot.
•Direct elections only held in large towns.
•Most reps elected by an indirect system contrive to ensure landowners and non-socialist
peasants were elected.
•Aim = elect a conservative Duma loyal to Tsar.

40. 1st Duma May 1906
•Kadets (Liberals) won most seats.
•Demanded full control of taxes.
•They reminded Tsar of October Manifesto promise of constitutional government.
•Tsar now dismissed the Duma and called fresh elections.
•Leading Kadets fled to Viborg in Finland.
•They issues a Manifesto calling on voters not to pay taxes or serve in army.

41. Stolypin and 2nd Duma June 1907
•Peter Stolypin appointed PM as Witte’s successor was a conservative.
•Wanted effective reforms and resist and stop revolution.
•He refused to allow some candidates to stand for election.
•Anti-Tsarist candidates were put in prison.
•Many voters were removed from the voting list.
•Jews threatened with death if they voted.
•But – 2nd Duma was more radical than 1st.
•Moderate and constitutional Liberals lost seats.
•SDLP won 65 seats Stolypin asked the Duma to condemn terrorism – it refused.
•Tsar ordered arrest of SDLP for treason – Duma refused and so was dismissed.

42. 3rd and 4th Dumas 1907 - 1914
•1907 electoral laws were changed.
•SDs could not stand for election.
•Potential trouble-makers put in prison.
•3rd and 4th Dumas Loyal to Tsar and Stolypin.

43. Stolypin’s Reforms
•Revolutionaries remembered Stolypin’s repression.
•After 1905 revolution 1500 were executed.
•Stolypin’s response was that 4,000 officers had been killed or injured.
•Russianisation continued in Finland and elsewhere.
•Jews still badly treated.
•Elections were rigged and the Duma emasculated.
•Many peasants remembered only his reforms:
•The Mir abolished.
•Peasants could own/rent own land without interference from the commune.
•Peasant banks helped them buy land.

44. Stolypin’s Reforms (cont…)
•Many did – these kulaks (rich peasants) were more go-ahead.
•They made their land profitable.
•Result = there was enough food for town workers and export.
•Another result = kulaks became more loyal to the Tsar and opposed to revolution.

45. Problems
•Stolypin unpopular with many.
•Assassinated 1911 in Tsar’s presence in a Kiev theatre.
•The monk Rasputin became a strong influence on the royal family.
•Their son had haemophilia and was dying – Rasputin prayed over him and he lived.
•By 1912 there were lurid stories about his behaviour with the ladies of the court.
•Such scandals reduced loyalty to the Tsar.
•July 1914 Russia went to war – it revealed how little hold the Tsar had over his people.

46. Russian Foreign Policy 1870 – 1914
The Eastern Question
•Turkey had ruled large parts of SE Europe.
•By early 19th century they were unable to control their empire.
•Numerous rebellions e.g. Greece.
•Greece was 1st Christian state to break away from Muslim Turks.
•During 19th century others tried as well – the empire was crumbling.
•Other major states had an interest in this.
•Russia was biggest Slav state and many Slavs were ruled by the Turks e.g. Serbs, Bulgars,
Albanians and Rumanians.
•All were members of the Orthodox Church.
•Russia made herself protector of the Slavs.
•If they rebelled against the Turks, Russia would help.

47. Russian Foreign Policy 1870 – 1914 (cont…)
The Eastern Question (cont…)
•In return it was hoped they would let Russia influence their foreign policies and trade.
•Russia wanted an outlet to the Mediterranean too.
•To achieve this one of two things could be done:
•Help one of the Christian peoples to gain control of the Aegean Sea coast where Salonika could
become the Russian controlled outlet for Russian trade.
•She could capture Constantinople, control the Dardanelles and develop her Black Sea ports.
The Franco-Russian Alliance
•1873 Russia involved in talks with Prussia and Austria to promote friendship and guard against
revolutionary activity by France.
•This ‘League of the Three Emperors’ was strengthened in 1881 when Bismarck persuaded them to
sign a treaty.
•They promised not to help any 3rd country (i.e. France) if that country went to war with any of the 3
states.

48. Russian Foreign Policy 1870 – 1914 (cont…)
Renewal of the Eastern Question
•1878 Congress of Berlin created a ‘small’ Bulgaria.
•1885 Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia united under the Tsar’s nephew.
•1886 Serbia declared war on Bulgaria and was defeated.
•Russia had the Bulgarian ruler kidnapped hoping to make him more pro-Russian.
•Bulgaria refused to accept him as their leader.
•He was replaced by Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg in 1887.
•He followed an ant-Russian and pro-German line.

49. Russian Foreign Policy 1870 – 1914 (cont…)
The Reinsurance Treat 1887
•Russia unhappy with the loss of influence.
•Bismarck feared Austria might declare war on Russia and drag Germany in.
•1887 Bismarck made secret treaty with Russia (Reinsurance Treaty).
•He promised German support for Russian claim to influence in Bulgaria and German neutrality in
an Austro-Russian War if Austria was the aggressor.
•This broke the terms of the Dual Alliance with Austria.
•1888 there was another row over the choice of German Prince Ferdinand as ruler of Bulgaria.
•Bismarck published the terms of the Dual Alliance.
•Russia would have to fight Germany if she went to war with Austria.

50. Russian Foreign Policy 1870 – 1914 (cont…)
The Franco-Russian Alliance 1892 – 1895
•Reinsurance Treaty of 1887 not renewed in 1890.
•Kaiser made it clear he wanted Germany to become an important influence in the Balkans.
•Russia felt isolated now.
•France and Russia had many differences but economics drew them together.
•France had recovered from the Austro-Prussian War but Russia needed loans for modernisation
– France could help here.
•The navies of both countries exchanged visits.
•The press of both countries wrote in friendly terms.
•1892 the Franco-Russian Alliance was signed, confirmed in 1894, strengthened 1897.
•Each promised to help the other if attacked by Germany.

51. Russian Foreign Policy 1870 – 1914 (cont…)
Entry into 1st World War in 1914
•When the Austrian Archduke was killed at Sarajevo Austria made demands that Serbia could not
accept.
•28 July Austria therefore declared war on Serbia.
•30 July Russia ordered partial mobilisation.
•Germany demanded this be revoked – Russia refused so Germany declared war.