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