Russia in the 19th century
Russia before 1855
Tsars in the 19th century:
Alexander I (1801-25)
Nicholas I (1825-55)
Alexander II (1855-81)
Alexander III (1881-94)
Nicholas II (1894-1917)
Only Alexander I before 1820 and
Alexander II before 1863 had reform
minds, other were absolute monarch
Different parties in Russia
during mid 19th century
There were mainly two parties in Russia
in the 19th century
The Westerners believed that Russia
was too backward and should be
reformed in the model of the west
The Slavophiles emphasized the
Russian tradition. They believed that
Russia was an agrarian society and
should not learn from West
December Uprising in 1825
In 1825, There were an uprising.
Some officers returned from the
Napoleonic War learnt western thoughts
and advocated to reform Russia
There were also some secret societies in
Russia.
The Northern Society
The Northern Society in St Petersburg,
members were mainly officers in the
army
They aimed at changing Russia into a
limited, decentralized monarchy
They were mild reformers
The Southern Society
The Southern Society in Kiev, members
were mainly officers in the army, too.
They believed that Russia should
become a republic
They were radicals and advocated to
use violence to reach their ends
The December Uprising in
1825
In December 1825, the Northern Society
began the Uprising and, two weeks later,
the Southern Society had their uprising
They were suppressed by Nicholas I
quickly
The reign of Nicholas I
Nicholas I were an absolute monarch
He hated liberalism, and believed in
Divine Right of Monarch
A secret police force was formed and the
philosophy department in university was
closed
During the period 1832-1852, more than
150,000 people were exiled to Seberia
The reign of Nicholas I
During the period 1832-1852, more than
150,000 people were exiled to Seberia
The foundation of his rule was absolute
monarch, Orthodox church and Russian
Nationalism
He suppressed The Polish revolts in
1831, and intervened into the Hungarian
Uprising in 1849
The Reign of Alexander II
The situation in 1855
Externally: Russia lose the Crimean War
Internally: The Economic condition was
terrible. The Serfs were the
most important problem
Alexander II realised that major changes
were needed if Russia was to remain a
great power
Alexander II : The Tsar
Liberator?
Alexander II: The Tsar Liberator?
During the reign of Alexander II, The
Tsar had established a lot of reforms,
especially the liberation (emancipation)of
the serfs so he was nicknamed “the
Tsar Liberator
Some historians think that he was not a
real reformer. Only the situation forced
him to reform.
The emancipation of the Serfs
80% of Russia’s 60 million people were
peasants during in the mid 19th century
Two types of peasant:
3. The state peasants: enjoyed more
freedom
4. The landlord’s peasants (the Serfs):
usually in very terrible condition
The Serfdom faced many problems in
the mid 19th century
Liberation of the Serfs
In 1861, the Emancipation Edict was issued
Main issues:
3. Serfs became free citizens
4. Peasants would get a piece of land but he
had to pay for that.
5. The peasants who received land had to
repay the government in annual installments
over 49 years
6. The Mir was responsible to collect the
payment
The impact of emancipation
Peasants were not happy because they
had to pay for the land and the landlords
usually kept the best land
There were over 500 incidents of rioting
in 1861
The mir was kept to collect taxes and
other duties which the landlord did in the
old days
Peasants became the mir’s serfs. The
life of peasants unchanged
The emancipation of Serfs
Merits:
2. The emancipation was a precondition for
reforms in other fields, such as military
and economic reforms
3. Many landowners invested the
redemption from the government for
government purposes
4. Some serfs, especially the domestic
serfs, went to cities and became workers
The emancipation of Serfs
Merits
4. The nobility lost their administrative and
economic power, were also losing their
power to suppress the revolution in the
future
5. Some other reforms could be done after
the end of Serfdom, such as reforms of
legal system, army and local
government
The emancipation of Serfs
Demerits
The condition of the serfs did not improve or
even worse after the emancipation
They had to pay for their land values and
other taxes
The plan had so many defects which caused
the disappointment among the peasants
The emancipation of Serfs
The reform was a “fall between two
stools”.
While people blamed that the reform was
too cautious, too little and too late, the
nobles thought that Alexander acted too
speedily and radical
The government was blamed by
everyone
Other reforms
Judicial reform (1862)
The jurisdiction was divided into 2
parts: the Justice of Peace and the
regular court
The peace courts decided on petty
cases
The regular courtsresponsible for more
serious cases
Other reforms-Legal
Introduction of the conception of judiciary
independent
Trial by jury for criminal cases
Courts opened to the public
Justices of Peace was appointed for
petty cases
Other reforms-Army
All males over 20, irrespective of class,
had to conscription. The actual service
was decided by ballot.
Substitution and exemption by purchase
were abolished
Service would be as long as 15 years (6
years regular service and 9 years in the
reserve)
Other reforms-Army
Military colonies came to an end
Most barbaric forms of punishment were
abolished
Common soldiers were equipped with
up-to-date arms
The construction of strategic railways
was speeded up
Other reforms-Political
Local government (Zemstvo)
There were two levels of local government,
the district and the provincial
All classes of the population to articipate in
the local affairs
Other reforms-Political
Local councils - Zemstvo –were set
up at two levels: The district level
and the provincial level
Population was divided into 3
classes: The landowners,
townsmen and peasants
Other reforms-Political
The district government was
elected by the three classes
The provincial Zemstvo was elected
by district Zemstvo
Municipal councils were set up in
1870, elected by male property
holders over 25
Other reforms-Political
All local councils were responsible
for maintain roads, arranged
military conscription, supervised
prisons, took care of education,
public health and development of
industries and agriculture
Zemstvo members were elected for
3 years
Other reforms- Education
Liberalization of the educational system
was carried out by the Ministry of
Education
New schools were built. Between 1861-
81, the number of Primary and
secondary schools increased fourfold
After 1863 university were given much
greater freedom, including the right to
import scholarly text of any kind from
abroad
Economic development
Russian Industries had a rapid growth
during the reign of Alexander II
Between 1865-79 the number of workers
more than doubled
Exports increased from 26 million tons in
1864 to 86 million tons in 1880
Alexander II – The Opposition
1. The Intelligentsia:
The intelligentsia was the educated classes who
concerned the future of Russia
The Westerners believed tha Russia would be
progress if she adopted the main features of Western
civilizations
The Slavophiles believed that Russia had already
moved too close to the west.
Radical ideas developed among the intelligentsia
Alexander II – The Opposition
2. The populists
They invested their hopes for change in
peasantry.
They thought that the liberation of people
should relied on the mass but not
professional revolutionaries
They were failed and some people
turned to terrorism.
Alexander II was murdered in 1881
Alexander III
He was a soldier and believed that
terrorism could be crushed our of
existence by using irresistible force.
He use iron policy against liberal
ideas and revolutionary movement
Alexander III – his policies
Strict cencorship
Monitoring universities
Appointing conservative Officals
Dismissed liberals from Zemstvos
Persecution non-Orthodox religions
Anti-semitism
Russianization of the minorities
Secret police
Consequences of the
repressive policies
Revolutionary activities reduced
He had to shut himself up in the
palace and reduced the change to
contact with the mass
He died a natural death in 1894
Economic development
Industries and trade continued to
grow rapidly
Railways were built and more
remote area had the chance to
contact with the outside world
Middle classes and working class
began to grow
Nicholas II : His character and
ideas
1. He is often seen as a weak, indecisive
man, much under the control of his
German-born wife, Alexandra
2. However, he believed the principle of
autocracy, liked his father
3. He is also seen as an opportunist, like
provoking a war with Japan in 1904,
and intervened in the Austrian-Serbian
Crisis in 1914
Industrial development under
Nicholas II
Industrialization began in Alexander II,
the trend continued in Nicholas II’s time.
Factories sprang up, often with over
5000 workers
Town population increased by 30%
By 1914, the industrial population in
Russia increased to over 3 million
Reasons for the rapid
industrial development
Russia caught up the trend of the age of
industrialization in Europe
Serge Witte contributed a lot during his
office between 1892 -1896
Cheap labour from the villages
Resources and market were available in
Russia
French loans and support
Consequences
Long working hours and bad
environment for the workers because
there was no labour law
Socialist movement was active
Strikes became common
A stronger middle classes appeared
A strong anti-government force had been
created
Revolutionary parties
Anti-government parties were founded:
2. The Social Democratic Labour Party
3. The Socialist Revolutionary Party
4. The union of Liberation Party
The Social Democratic Labour
Party
The party based on the revolutionary
theory of Karl Marx
The leaders were Lenin and Trotsky
The party was divided into the
Bolsheviks (the majority) and
Menshevils (the minority)
The Socialist Revolutionary
Party
It believed that a peasant revolt was
essential to bring about a successful
revolution
Terrorist methods was used in their
struggle
The Union of Liberation Party
Formed by intellectuals and middle class
It favoured a liberal constitution and a
parliamentary system
It also opposed the idea of proletarian
revolution
After 1905, it split into the October Party
and the Constitutional Democrats
Russianization and its
consequences
The policy of anti-Semitism forced more
Jews to join the extreme societies
The liberties of Baltic provinces were
suspended. Reactionary policies in
Finland and Poland aroused resistance
in the dominions
The Russo-Japanese War
(1905)
Defeated by Japan, the war once again
exposed the inefficiency of the Czarist
government
Greater discontents were found among
Russian people
They demanded constitutional reforms or
revolution to overthrow the Czarist
government
The Bloody Sunday
On 22 Jan 1905, A procession of
200,000, led by Father Gapon, to make
a petition to the Czar.
He petitioned the Czar to improve the
conditions of work and grant political
freedom
The procession was a peaceful but the
guards opened fire and killed over 1000
people
Consequences
The bloody Sunday massacre provoked
strikes and demonstrations throughout
the country
Anti-government feeling spread and the
Social Revolutionaries agitated riots in
the countryside
Even the crew of the Battle mutinied
The October Manifesto, 1905
On Witte’s advice, Nicholas II issued a
manifesto in October
The manifesto promised to summon an
elected parliament, the Duma and to
grant people freedom of speech, press
and association
Since strikes and demonstration faded
out, the revolution ended in failure
1905 Revolution--Causes of
Failure
1. The Revolution was not planned
2. The Russo-Japanese War ended in
September, 1905. The returned
soldiers strengthened the repressive
force
3. The October Manifesto split the
revolutionaries
4. The nobles and army still supported the
Tsar
Results of the Revolution
1. Establishment of Duma: There were totally 4
Dumas During the period 1906-1917
2. The ineffectiveness of the Dumas caused
another revolution in 1917
3. A series of reforms were carried out by Witte
and Stolypin. The peasants and workers
enjoyed a limited improvement in their life
4. A “dress rehearsal” for the 1917 Revolutions
Russia after 1905 Revolution
The Dumas
There were altogether 4 Dumas:
The 1st Duma was formed in May 1906,
but was dissolved by the Tsar in July
because it asked for more power
Many liberals re-elected in the 2nd
Duma. Moreover, many seats were
occupied by the Social Democrats. It
was again dissolved by the Tsar
Russia after 1905 Revolution
The 3rd Duma was elected in 1907 and
lasted until 1912 because only rich men
could vote
The 4th Duma, like the 3rd one,
supported the government and lasted
until 1916
Russia after 1905 Revolution
Russia under Stolypin
Stolypin was Russia Minister of Interior
before 1906, and he became the Prime
Minister till he was assassinated in 1911
He carried a policy of both repression
and reform
Russia after 1905 Revolution
He suppressed revolutionary activities
ruthlessly
However, he gave land to no land
peasants and allowed the peasants to
sell their land and move to cities
He introduced accident and health
insurance
He also improve the conditions of the
army and navy
