Aqa As History - Tsarist And Communist Russia

Front 1

What type of political system was Russia in 1855?

Back 1

It was an autocratic empire, at the head was the Tsar who took the title; 'Emperor and Autocrat of all Russia'. According to the work compiled by Nicholas I the Emperor is an autocratic unlimited monarch and God ordains that all must bow down to his power out of fear and conscience.

Front 2

What is an Empire and what is autocracy?

Back 2

An empire is made up of lesser states ruled over by a monarch

Autocracy meaning having no limits to a rulers power

Front 3

How were the Russians taught to view their autocratic leader and what were some of his powers?

Back 3

He was also head of the orthodox church and was regarded by orthodox believers as God on Earth. The vast land of Russia was seen as his property and the Russian people were his children.

Russian people were taught to show devotion to their Tsar and to accept the conditions on Earth as the will of God.

Front 4

What was the orthodox church?

Back 4

The orthodox church was following in Spirit of the Christian Church but took on a lot of Eastern beliefs and rituals - with Moscow as the spiritual capital

Front 5

Who worked closely with the Tsar?

Back 5

The patriarch of Moscow worked closely with the Tsar and provided spiritual guidance, whilst the Holy Synod (group of bishops) was a Tar approved organisation to help church and state affairs.

This meaning people in the church were subject to Tsarist control over appointments, education and church finance.

Front 6

What is an edict?

Back 6

An unofficial order issued by a person of authority.

Front 7

What were the Tsar's imperial edicts and what did they constitute?

Back 7

They were the law of the land, he did of course have advisors and ministers, but they were a;; chosen by him and nothing could be done without his approval.

Front 8

What were his main governing bodies ?

Back 8

His main advisory bodies were; imperial council or chancellery, a body of 35- 60 nobles who were specially picked to advise him and give their expert opinions

the council of ministers, a body of 8-14 ministers were in charge of different government departments (the senate) which was to oversee the workings of government in practice

(became redundant in 1855)

Front 9

Where was the Tsar and the central government based?

Back 9

They were based in the imperial capital of St Petersburg

Front 10

What was the job of nobles?

Back 10

Nobles had not been obliged to serve for state since the 1700s although many continued so do so. The sense of obligation remained strong and and all land owners were expected to keep order on their estates.

When needed the Tsar might choose to appoint a speical committee to carry out an investigation or report, such committees were usually trusted by the head of nobles

Front 11

What did the Tsar aslo have at his disposal?

Back 11

The worlds largest army of around 1.5 million conscripted serfs, each forced into 'military colony' for 25 years. This huge army and much smaller navy absorbed around 45% of the governments annual spending.

The higher ranks were pretigeous posts, usually taken up by nobles who bought and sold their comissions, but for the lower ranks life as harsh and tough.

This army could be called upon to fight wars or to put down uprisings or disturbances inside Russia. cossacks also acted as police reinforcements.

Front 12

Who were the cossacks?

Back 12

They came from Ukraine and Southern Russia and were known for their skills in horsemanship and military tradition. They had a special place in terms of military with the Russian government and served the Tsar.

Front 13

What was the police state in 1855?

Back 13

To maintain autocracy the Russian government had to create a police state. The police prevented freedom of speech, freedom of press and travel wand political meetings and strikes were forbidden.

Front 14

How was censorship regulated in regards too the police state?

Back 14

Censorship existed at every level of government and the police made sure that censorship exerted by the Church was enforced.

Front 15

What was done to people who went against the police state regime?

Back 15

The secret state security network was run y the 'Third section' of the imperial council. Its job was to keep strict surveillance over the population and had unlimited powers to carry out raids and to arrest, imprison or exile anyone suspected of anti-Tsarist behavior.

Sometimes they worked upon the act of informers and were greatly feared.

Front 16

What did Alexander I believe during his rule?

Back 16

He ruled between 1801 and 1825 and considered setting up an advisory representative (like a government) following the French revolution but never had it put into practice.

Front 17

When did Nicholas the I rule and what was his approach?

Back 17

Alexander I (1825-1855) totally rejected his dead brothers thoughts.

A military uprising in 1825 caused him to follow a path of repression and deliberately sought to distance Russia from the West and liberal ideas.

Front 18

What were his ideas on rule?

Back 18

He believed in strict autocracy and severe restrictions were imposed on Russia's other nationalities.

Front 19

How did intellectuals respond?

Back 19

Intellectuals argued for civil society and based on rule of law, Nicholas tightened censorship and police.

Front 20

How did his reign end?

Back 20

In military defeat in Crimea which highlighted much needed change.

Front 21

The economic situation

Back 21

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Front 22

When did Alexander II come to the throne?

Back 22

1855

Front 23

What was Russias industry like when he came to power compared to the rest of the world?

Back 23

Britain, Belgium and France were well advanced with industry. Mills, factories, coal pits and quarries were filling the landscape and trade was flourishing.

However the Russian economy remained backward, with 11:1 village to town dwellers compared to 2:1 in Britain.

Front 24

What were some of the reasons for Russia's economic backwardness?

Back 24

Although Russia was vast it was very inhospitable, compromising forrests and stretches of barren countryside to the north.

As a result both size and climate placed severe trains on economic development.

During the mid 1800's Russia was a main exporter of timber, gold and oil, but the industry died down due to bad comminication in poorer areas.

Front 25

What was the main reason for the bad economy ?

Back 25

There economy was mainly serf based. The landowning aristocracy were all reliant upon serfs. This inhibited economic development by limiting forces that drive change - entrepeneurs and wage earners.

The serfs were poor and just managed to survive on the produce they grew themselves which was very little and could provide very little in terms of taxes.

They often suffered with starvation and especially in years of bad harvest, system of land management between the serf communities offered little opportunity.

Front 26

What is serfdom?

Back 26

Russian peasants who were classified as property of their land owners than of people, 'citizens' of the state.

Front 27

What were the markets like?

Back 27

Market's existed, although businesses were mainly small scale. The most common purchases were vodka and things to preserve food.

Self sufficiency meant that very few goods were actually purchased, and most things were acquired through exchange.

Front 28

How did 'exchanges' work?

Back 28

For example; eggs might be given for some wool.

In some areas, mainly cities, market forces were beginning to introduce wage work, but for the vast majority money was irrelevant and there was no internal working demand.

Front 29

Who were the landowning elite?

Back 29

people who acquired all their earnings from their serfs in the form of service.

They were usually uninterested in how efficiently their estates operated so long as they were able to squeeze as much profit out of their serfs as possible.

Front 30

Why were the landowning elite beginning to struggle?

Back 30

The agricultural changes in western eruope meant that Russia was loosing at the competitiveness of the market and many had been forced into debt and mortgages (but money was still little use in their society)

Front 31

Social context

Back 31

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Front 32

What was Russia like socially?

Back 32

Socially Russia was very segregated between the land owning elite and the serf majority.

The former consisted of officals, army personel, clergy, nobility and more.

Front 33

What were the rest of the classes like?

Back 33

There were some urban artists and merchants in the productive classes but the striking feature of the 1800's was that there was absence of a middle class which as dominant in other developing countries.

There was the intelligensia but these people were often the sons of nobles (lawyers, doctors ect...) - intelligensia being more intelligent members of Russian society

Front 34

What was class like in the nineteenth century?

Back 34

Class was still based on land, birth and service.

1855 legal barriers still inhibited social mobility.

Serfs had to pay custom to their masters and had to pay indirect customs to government - nobility were exempt from this.

Front 35

What were government policies on taxes like?

Back 35

The government was financed from taxes and dues. The main direct tax, paid by all people except merchants, was the poll tax; literally meaning a 'tax on heads' which had been introduced in 1719 in order to cover the costs of the large army

Front 36

How did this affect Russian peasants? (the poll tax)

Back 36

It was levied meaning it was put at the same rate for all peasants regardless of situation

This tax with obrok paid by serfs in lieu of land made up 25% of normal government income.

Front 37

What were some indirect taxes ?

Back 37

Some indirect taxes included a tax on salt and vodka. This grew in the 1800s to make up 30% of government by 1855 suggesting there were more commercial inclining towards government revenue.

Front 38

Who did taxes hit the hardest and why?

Back 38

The peasantry - who provided 90% of imperial finance.

Front 39

Whats the conclusion on the state of Russia at this time?

Back 39

While it was still considered a great power it remained underdeveloped and backwards in comparison with the west.

Small changed were taking place, but nothing to promote intense modernization.

Front 40

Impact of the Crimean war

Back 40

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Front 41

When was the Crimean war?

Back 41

1853 - 56

Front 42

Background to the Crimean war

Back 42

In the mid-nineteenth century the empire of the Ottoman Turks stretched from the middle east across to the black straits and into the Balkans, however since the 1820's the sultan had struggled to control the Christians in his

European dominions and Nicholas I seized opportunity to increase Russian influence posing as 'protector of the Christians'

Front 43

How was war declared?

Back 43

In June 1953 Nicholas sent a Russian army to Moldavia and Wallchia. This provoked the Turks into declaring war in October.

The Russians were very strong and sank a squadron in the black sea.

Front 44

Who were introduced ?

Back 44

The British and french who were anxious to protect their trading areas and would defend Turkey.

They sent a force of more than 60,000 men to Russian Crimea where they mounted a land and sea attack on a major Russian naval base

Front 45

How did Russia fare in the Crimean war?

Back 45

There was incompetence on both sides with the death toll high from cholera.

Front 46

Why did Russia suffer?

Back 46

They had outdated technology, poor transport and inadequate leadership showing that even though the army was a lot bigger in size, the lack of flexibility and determination from the British and French units.

Front 47

When russians defeated?

Back 47

November 1854

Front 48

What did Nicholas I say to his son?

Back 48

Before his death in 1855 Nicholas addressed him with the words; 'I hand you over my command even though its not as good', leaving the Tsarists humiliated.

Front 49

What did the defeat show?

Back 49

It showed Russia's military inadequacies.

Trade had been disrupted, peasant uprisings also rising heavily.

The defeat caused a 'wake up call' that Russia needed, the rise of the new Tsar opened a door to new liberal nobles and officials - the trouble being how to remain autocracy but also revolutionise like the West.

Front 50

2 - Alexander II, the 'Tsar reformer

Back 50

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Front 51

emacipation of the serfs

Back 51

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Front 52

Emancipation definition

Back 52

freedom from bondage

Front 53

Why did Alexander II decide to amcipate the serfs

Back 53

It had been hailed as the product of the Tsars own liberal, humanitarian ideas. Alexander had been praised for making this bold move and challenging convention- the emancipation was followed by a series of other reforms, making him known as the 'Tsar libertaor'

Front 54

When was the emancipation edict and how many serfs were there ?

Back 54

51 million serfs in 1861

Front 55

What were some reasons for Alexander's motives for reform

Back 55

Many thought that his views on serfdom were shaped by his romantic poet tutor, Vasily Zhukovsky

People also thought it was due to his extensive travelling around his fathers empire during his father reign

Many people thought it was due to his political circle of progressive nobles known as 'Party of St Petersburg' who came into prominance at his court (the party meaning liberal nobles who hanged around in areas of the Tsars relatives)

Front 56

How did people think his family influenced his decision?

Back 56

Because his brother, the grand duke of Konstantin and his great aunt, Grand Duchess Pavlona and other enlightnened beaurocrats had all been committed to the abolition of the serfs for some time, helping him to act.

Also the Milyutin brothers who were influential scholars who made very clear they thought serdom was morally wrong

Front 57

What was Alexander's natural tendancy?

Back 57

He was conservative rather than liberal and may not have been fully convinced on such airy arguments. But due to peasant uprisings it would have been likely to alarm him as although the uprisings posed no threat to autocracy it did add weight to the argument

Front 58

What was the state on uprisings and why was this?

Back 58

between 1840 and 1844 there had been fewer than 30 outbreaks of disorder, this number doubling over the next 15 years, mainly due to;

1. landowners pushing peasants to produce more or pay higher rents in order to maintain their income

Front 59

What was another reason for uprisings stemming from the crimean war?

Back 59

Protests against military conscription was common during the crimean war, but when the war ended the fighting didn't stop in 1856.

Since it was traditional for the Tsar to announce the freedom of the serfs conscripted to fight at the end of the war, Alexander's delay caused tensions

Humiliations from the war was also a huge catalyst, Miylutin pleading for action to restore dignity and free people to create a modern society

Front 60

Why was Alexander II determined to succeed

Back 60

Alexander was determined as his ancestors to maintain the tsarist autocracy and uphold his 'God given' duties, but he also felt pressure for reform.

He began his reign by releasing political prisoners and pardoning decembrists, a group who had been involved in the plot to assassinate his father. He relaxed controls on censorship , lessened restrictions on foreign travel, universities and cancelled debt collects.

he also restored some of the rights of poland and the catholic church.

In march 1856 he began by asking a small group of nobles to produce suggestions for emancipation

Front 61

What did Alexander set off by doing in 1858-59 ?

Back 61

He set off on a tour of the countryside making pro-emancipation speeches to try and win support for freedom of the serfs but the decree was not ready until Feb 1861

Front 62

What were the initial rules of the emancipation edict?

Back 62

The 1861 emancipation edict was initially only applied to privatley owned serfs, although state serfs recieved their freedom in 1866 .

It granted them freedom and a plot of land for which they had to pay 'redemption payments' to the governement over 49 years as compnesation and were required to stay in their peasant commune (mir)until these payments were made.

Front 63

What was the mir responsible for?

Back 63

The mir was responsible for distributing allotments, controlling farming, and collecting and paying the peasants taxes whilst volosts were established to supervise the mirs.

From 1863 volosts ran their own courts

Front 64

What happened concerning the landowners?

Back 64

There was a 2 year temporary obligation period in which before freedom was granted allocations were worked out, landowners kept the pasture and woodland with the open fields given to the mirs.

Front 65

What happened to the serfs during this 2 year period?

Back 65

The abolition of serfdom was a huge undertaking but took a lot longer than expected , around 15% of serfs remained with their landlords till 1881 when redemption was made compulsory.

Front 66

Who were Kulaks?

Back 66

Kulaks were rich peasants

Front 67

How did kulaks benefit from emancipation ?

Back 67

They bought land allocations and also bought extra land so they could produce surplus grain for export. Others who sod their land allocations or obtained a passport to leave the mir raised their living standard by finding work in the industrialised cities.

Front 68

How did some landowners benefit?

Back 68

Some landowners used the money to get out of debt, and enterprising individuals made profits through investment industry.

Front 69

Why did a lot of peasants feel cheated?

Back 69

A lot of peasants felt cheated because not only because the land allocations were rarely fair, but also because the small allotments of land were often divided between sons and provided little land to adopt new farming methods.

Front 70

What did the mir appear to be?

Back 70

The mir also appeared to be a highly traditional constitution with substinence famring and backwards farming methods being perisistent

In 1878 only 50% of the peasant population was able to produce a surplus

Front 71

What other things upset the peasants?

Back 71

The loss of former benefits, restricitions on travel and the burden of redemption payments made rural life difficult, resentment of the Kulaks also becoming prominent causing more violent outbreaks.

Front 72

What was a negative affect on landowners?

Back 72

Land owners also resented their loss of influence, newpapers wrote articles about their disspapointment causing protests in the capital.

Front 73

What were some examples of protests and riots after the edict?

Back 73

Unrest in the countryside continued after the edict as disputes erupted surrounding land-holding and redemption payments

There were 647 incidences of riot in the four months that followed the decree and a peasant riot in Bezdna was brutally crushed with 70 peasant deaths.

`Noble bankrupcies continued, as landowners had to sell their land or mortgage it. Some nobles expressing their resentments in the newly elected zemstva.

Front 74

Date of Alex II's military reforms

Back 74

1874- 75

Front 75

What were the new military reforms and who was resposible for them?

Back 75

Dmitry Milyutin reorganised armed forces to create a smaller, more efficient, less expensive army

Conscription was made cumpulsory for all classes from the age of 21 but the length of service was reduced from 25 to 15 years

Punishments were made less severe and the system of military colonies were abandoned. Better medical care was established

Modern weaponery was introduced and a new command structure established

Miltary colleges were set up to provide beter training for non-nobles

Literacy within the army was improved, with mass army education campaigns in the 1870s-90s.

Front 76

Although military reforms were good what was the problem with them?

Back 76

They were better off while the officer class remained mainly aristocratic. But leadership problems continued, the army struggled to win the war with turkey in 1878 and was defeated at the hands of the Japanese in 1905 and again by germany in WWI

Front 77

When were the local government reforms

Back 77

1864 - 1870

Front 78

What were 2 of the local government reforms?

Back 78

To replace the rights and obligations of the former gentry, a system of local councils were established, known as zemstva. these were chosen through electoral colleges, with seperate ones for nobles, the church and peasants. Although nobilty still dominated the system

The zemstva were also given permission to improve public services, road, schools, healthcare,prisons ) and developed industrial projects and administer poor relief in times of hardship .

Front 79

2 more local government reforms

Back 79

The establishment of degree of representative government at local level raised the hopes of those members of the intelligensia who wanted a representative national assembly. But the power of the zemstva was very limtied not contorlling law

never the less the zemstva provided valuable addition to local government not ebcause it was run by people who knew its purpose, although it did attract people of higher stature and wasn't really for the people.

Front 80

Judiciary reforms dates

Back 80

Emancipation also demanded an overhaul of the law, particularly concenring property rights, and had an exchange in the administratcion of local justice. This had formerly been in the hands of