...The nineteenth century was filled with a variety of tsars. There are two that deserve a great amount of focus: Alexander II and Alexander III. Alexander II hoped to change and resolve Russia and their social and economic problems. His son, Alexander III, was more conservative and wished to undo everything his father did. Alexander II ascended the throne at the age of thirty-seven. He was tsar of Russia from 1855-1881. Alexander II was referred to as the “Tsar Liberator.” One of the major accomplishments of Alexander II is that he was able to emancipate the serfs. Alexander II singed the emancipation manifesto on March 3, 1861. At his coronation he stated that it is better to abolish serfdom from above than to wait until it would abolish itself from below. (Riasanovsky 366) Prior to the emancipation there had been many peasant uprisings in the attempt to gain freedom. According to the official record, Vasilii Semevsky had counted 550 peasant uprisings in the 19th century prior to the emancipation of the serfs. (Riasanovsky 365) It is speculated that this number is very inaccurate and it is more likely that there were 1,467. Inna Ignatovich gave this break down, “281 peasant rebellions, that is, 19 percent of the total, in the period form 1801-1825; 712 rebellions, 49 percent, from 1826-1854; and 474 uprisings, or 32 percent, in the six years and two months of Alexander II’s reign before the abolition of serfdom.” (Riasanovsky 365) Clearly there were many uprisings going on, which...
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...ESSAY BETWEEN ALEXANDER II AND III Tsar Alexander II and III while father and son had very different ambitions as Tsar and different view for the future of the empire. Alexander III succeeded to his father’s throne in 1894. His reign is looked upon by most historians as a time of repression that saw the undoing of many of the reforms carried out by his father. Certainly that was a time of great economic and social change but these had led, in the West of the nation, great pressure on political system. However Alexander was deeply suspicious of the direction in which his father had taken Russia and the internal reforms that he instituted were designed to correct what he saw as the too-liberal tendencies of his father's reign. In fact his first task was to review a proposal, approved by his father in 1881, called ‘constitution’, that would have appointed committees to discuss legislation and the administration of the country. Therefore Tsar Alexander II and III where at their very different since we can see that Alexander II made a lot of changes in areas like serfdom, civil rights, justice and law, education, popular representation, national rights and dissent. On the other hand, with reference to national rights, the two Tsars were at their most similar. In fact the both firmly believed that the Tsar autocratic structure must remain untouchable. However When Tsar Alexander the II came to the throne in 1855 the desire of reform was widespread. Tsar Alexander II gave to the people...
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...Alexander II faced several major problems during his reign, largely stemming from the negative implications of Russia’s system of serfdom that stifled economic and industrial growth, as well as Russia’s outdated and ineffective military that limited Russia’s presence in Europe and demonstrated her lacking industrial sector. Alexander was shown to be a keen reformer and managed to effectively tackle these problems, with his emancipation of the serfs, followed by his overseeing of successful economic and military reforms. Arguably the greatest problem that faced Russia in 1855 was the outdated and feudal – like system of serfdom which lagged far behind the social infrastructures of other major European nations. This system, in which over 23 million serfs were forced to work for their food and keep under private landowners, Nobles, and the state, was both economically inefficient (as Russia required a free labour force for industry and internal markets to grow) and attracted rising opposition to the Tsarist autocratic rule. For these reasons, Alexander decided to emancipate the serfs in an attempt to quell unrest and bring Russia “up to date”, famously stating: “It is better to abolish serfdom from above than to await the time when it will begin to abolish itself from below”. This shows that Alexander II saw the threat of grievances among the serfs with the ruling administration and wished to protect his own position from threatening opposition. This desire for self-preservation...
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...Czar Alexander III Known as Russia’s “peacekeeper”, Czar Alexander III reigned from 1881 to 1894 and is considered as one of Russia’s finest rulers. His ideals closely resembled that of his granduncle, Czar Alexander I instead of his father Czar Alexander II. At the end of his reign, Russia sufficiently kept out of harm's way and brought along of foreign relations with other countries. He helped improve the military and made sure that no major wars were fought. Czar Alexander III was born on March 10, 1845 to Alexander II and Maria Alexandrovna in the Winter Palace in St.Petersburg, Russia. He was born as second son in his family and therefore was only given the training of a Grand Duke, and not that of a Czar. He often disagreed with his father's ideals for running a country and did not play a public role in the government until a few centuries. His elder brother, Nikolay, was the original heir to...
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...History – Alexander II #3 Revision Notes Opposition, Conclusion Lucas Fox 11OA The Opposition to Alexander II consisted on two divisions; the Moderates, and the Extremists. The Moderates included: * Alexander Herzen – who believed that socialism should be based on village commune, he believed that with patience the peasants could be educated. “to the people.” * Pisarev – who believed the peasants were not ready to rebel and needed a group of educated elite “vanguard” to lead them. He believed in nihilism and in no authority and for everything to be questioned… * Lavrov – who also believed that the peasants should be educated so that they can free themselves (eventually). * “Populists” (1874-1875) – 3000 students went to educate the peasants in their villages but it was a failure as they were arrested and sent to exile in Siberia instead… * Black Partition – led by Plekhanov, which consisted in a peaceful spread of socialism. * Land+Liberty (1875-1878) – secret group that went to live with the peasants to understand them better, and to influence them, at first there was success with labor unions in the 1870s, but it was eventually split due to built up tension – which led to a new extremist group to be created – The People’s Will. The People’s Will was a group of terrorists whose aims were to trigger a revolution. This was done through violence and assassinations of generals and politicians (their main aim being the Tsar). Before The People’s Will...
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...‘The reforms of Alexander II weakened the Tsarist regime’, explain why you agree or disagree with this view. (25 marks) While in reign Alexander II introduced many reforms into Russian life, hoping they’d play a key part and influence society positively. Nevertheless, the majority of the reforms weakened the Tsarist regime showing that planning was not effective, and that many of the ideas had been rushed, for example, the emancipation of the serfs. The reform of emancipation weakened the Tsarist regime, and was the reform that showed the most cracks. The idea behind emancipation was to ensure that Serfs had freedom and were not tied down by the nobles. Alexander did this by giving the serfs their own land, although, on paper this looked like a positive reform in reality it was infact the complete opposite. The serfs had no money behind them, indicating that they would not make a profit on their land; the land they were given had poor soil. The Peasants had to pay for this land, often putting the majority in debt, and therefore, affecting the economy. As well as the Serfs being badly effected Alexander also upset the nobility because they no longer had the Serfs working for them, leading to a decline in their profits also. It was recorded that between 1877 to 1905 the number of landowners fell from 115,000 to 107,000 and land ownership fell from 2,000 to 144 million acres. The nobility were therefore, becoming a lot weaker and wanted to do something about it. They formed a commission...
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...aggression, and new technology. The leader at the time was Nicholas I from 1825-1855. After his death, he was succeeded by Alexander II that reigned from 1855-1881. Nicholas did not like serfdom, which was a member of the lowest feudal class, attached to the land owned by a lord and required to perform labor in return for certain legal or customary rights. He wanted to abolish it but did not because he feared the aristocracy and believed they might turn against him if he abolished serfdom. When Alexander II came to power, he completely abolished serfdom granting freedom to 12 million serfs and land to peasant communes. In 1864 most local government in the European part of Russia was organized into provincial and district zemstva. Zemstvo was a form of local government which were made up of representatives for each district that were responsible for local schools, public health, roads, prisons, and food supply. The district zemstvos elected executive committees and delegates to the provincial assemblies. Resources were scarce due to the defeat in the Crimean war. There were insufficient rail lines in the railway system and the production rate of weapons and machinery decreased by a lot. The standard of living in Russia was very bad. There were millions and millions of serfs and a lot were very poor. Almost 50% of Russia was made up of serfs until Alexander II issued the Emancipation reform of 1861. This made serfs free from their landlords. Surprisingly, this reform wasn’t too...
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...‘The Main objective of the reforms of Alexander II (1856 – 1881) was to establish a liberal-democratic monarchy in tsarist Russia’. Do you agree? Give reason for your answer. The Main objectives of Tsar Alexander II were in a sense to support certain aspects of Liberal Democracy in Russia but his main objective was to ascertain Tsarist Autocracy. I will be discussing what his reforms were and the events leading up to them and their influence and whether it improved Russia. In Tsarist Russia, it was one of the largest land empires which covered one sixth of the surface of the world. It mainly stretched from Poland and the Baltic Sea (West) all the way to the Pacific Ocean (East). The Economy of the country was mostly a rural economy with agriculture as the main source for Economy. The large population had to be provided for and Russia also possessed other natural resources such as coal and iron ore. There were only a handful of main industrial developed towns (Moscow and Petersburg). The Society of Russia was ruled by the Tsar who held absolute power (Political) over Russia. Tsar Alexander II came to power in 1855. The Crimean War (1853 – 1856) is important to take note of as this influenced the Concert of Europe. This was a league of monarchs who banded together to ensure that political and diplomatic was stable by ensuring that there was not even a single power that dominated another in Europe. This was to ensure a balance of power. Russia did also play an important...
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...of the Russo Japanese war was a considerable loss for Russia, a country typically seen as powerful. The loss of the war challenged the old Russia, therefor change had to occur. The loss of the war demonstrated how far behind Russia was in comparison to the rest of Europe. As most war supplies came from the work of the Serfs, it made sense to free them and further increase the effectiveness of Russia’s army. Soldiers were allocated to suppress protesting Serfs, meaning Russia could further portray its image of solidarity as a nation. As the war was a large reason towards the emancipation, personal attitudes towards the Tsar became significant. A Russian novelist, Leo Tolstoy described Alexander II as a humane ruler through asserting “In reality we owe the emancipation to the Emperor alone.” Alexander is often seen as a liberator that further instigated reforms in education and the aims of moving towards a constitutional monarchy. Earlier Russian rulers considered Emancipation, but later war was the catalyst needed for progression and change. The Russian revolution demonstrates how an idea of liberalization can grow and cultivate a break from a traditional form of government. Nicholas II’s declaration states, “maintain the principle of autocracy as strongly and firmly as my late father.” This contradicted the social desire to see more democratic form of government. This can be seen in the agricultural debates addressing Russia’s rural issues. The divided government would prove to...
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...Alexander II emancipated the serfs in 1861 to improve Russia’s military performance. Discuss There are many different reasons why Alexander emancipated the serfs. Such as moral, economic, social-political and military. Alexander II comes to power in 1855, in 1856 he loses the Crimean war, because of this he decides to create reforms and investigations are made. The main reason Alexander emancipates the serfs is because he is trying to secure his reign against any opponents he may occur. By emancipating the serfs he thinks that this will gain him popularity and support. Economic reasons on why the Tsar emancipated the serfs was that there was a very unproductive labour force as people didn’t want to work hard if they didn’t get anything out of it. The majority of Russia relied on agriculture for a stable economy. Alexander thought that if the serfs worked for themselves then they would produce more harvest and therefore the economy would benefit not just the common serf. This also meant that if the common serf is benefitting then they would be much healthier and much more willing and effective when it came to their military role. Russia had a very small tax base and a high reliance on foreign imports, which meant that if he emancipated the serfs then maybe that might diversify the Russian economy and give it a strong domestic industrial sector based on private property. With Britain and France booming with the industrial revolution, Russia was still agriculture so alexander...
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...Eighteenth Century Russian Reforms Russian reforms were not exclusion just to the late eighteenth century; however, the need for Russia to emerge from backwards of policies, administrative, and agriculture means met its mountain by the mid-1800s. The need to modernize Russia was apparent from the defeat during the Crimea War 1853 – 1856 that saw Russian borders erode back to eastern territories which left unattended defense against the French and British navy that could attack from the Black Sea. As with any monarch, reforms came from whom the ruler was but the reforms that the Russian people needed and paved the way to modernization first were the ideas of Peter the Great, expanded upon under Catherine the Great, and materialized during Alexander II’s wearing of the crown. First notion to mimic western cultures first came to pass during Peter the Great reign. Already established as a great land empire, Peter I did not changed ruling policies of past emperors. He did add changes in economy and culture by benchmarking western innovations. Peter’s first major change was in his military structure. Peter recruited bureaucrats from outside of the aristocracy. This led to the creation of his secret police force which kept the aristocracy in check. Peter the Great also created the Imperial navy; the council of nobles was disbanded and replaced by provincial governors that Peter was able to control. The tax system was reformed to place more burdens on the serfs. Serfs began to work...
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...After the loss of the Crimean war in 1856, Tsar Alexander II of Russia, his people, and its surrounding major powers realized the true conditions of un-industrialized Russia. The strength of its military ended up being an illusion, and now the country faced both an incredible backwardness and a lack of credibility in its own potential in protecting itself against competitive and rival countries, bringing into question some of the very basic structures of Russian politics and society. Russia’s backwardness in all key institutions compared to surrounding great powers was massive, and the loss of the war had a critical effect on the faith the people of Russia had in their Tsar. Because of this intolerable humiliation, Alexander II found his back pushed against a wall and was forced to make all sorts of reforms in order to ameliorate the poor conditions of his country. As one of Alexander’s first reform, in 1861 Alexander II declared “the edict to emancipation”, in other words, the abolishment of serfdom for fear that it would “reform from the below”. Even though Slavophiles stressed the importance of serfdom in the preservation of political and social stability, Westernizes emphasized its role as a brake upon Russia’s economic development in relation to other countries surrounding it. Alexander therefore decided to free the serfs from their landowners and give them land that they could now grow crops on without being governed by the landowners. However, right from the very first...
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... an individual. Similarly ,before Lenin, Witte had been significant by reforming the economic policies of the Tsars by improving the Russian currency aswell as making the Russian market for accessible for foreign enterprises. This had long term significance as investments were more likely to come to Russia and thereby strengthen the Russian economy. All Tsars attempted some form of economic reforms, however in comparison to Lenin and stalin they did not succeed. From this it can be argued that individuals did play a role in the shaping of Russia, however it was very much dependant on the time an d situation in which they found themselves. One factor that was more important than the individual was the political structure in Russia. Alexander II,...
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...Nicholas I • Was the third son of Czar Paul I, he had few chances of ever gaining the throne. o Not seen as a possible heir, thus was educated accordingly. o His upbringing was strict, flogging was common and few efforts were made to motivate the young student. • Was attracted to engineering and military affairs, especially enjoying the drills and luster of parades. • His eldest brother, Czar Alexander I, was childless. o Paul’s second son and next in line for succession, Constantine, renounced the throne. o Left Nicholas an apparent heir. • Didn’t feel ready to rule, realizing he lacked necessary skills & knowledge. o His lifestyle didn’t change. o Wasn’t taking part in state affairs & was unpopular among soldiers; was disliked for his ruthlessness and fault-finding. • The sudden death of Alexander I, in November 1825 plunged Russia’s monarchy into turmoil. o Army swore allegiance to Constantine. o Having no support, Nicholas was prepared to give up power. • After Constantine confirmed his refusal, Nicholas declared himself emperor o A plot was hatched by the military to overthrow Nicholas and to usurp power. Led to the Decembrist Revolt on 26 December 1825 Nicholas was successful in suppressing the uprising. • Fighting revolutionary ideas & dissent became Nicholas’ obsession o In the early 1830s, he brutally crushed a Polish rebellion, reducing Poland to the status of a Russian province. o In 1848 he sent troops to suppress a Hungarian uprising...
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...introduction of the Zemstvos, and changes within the Russian Army. The members, who were a part of the Russian army, were none other than Serfs themselves. The allies' had won victory in the Crimean war by having professional soldiers who were highly skilled, whereas the Serfs who severed as part of the Russian army had no skill at all and were frail, and had been forced into serving for the Russian Army, which led to the Russian defeat. The conflict made it evident that Russia's known bureaucracy was instead filled with corruption and was poorly organized. Thus in 1861 the Emancipation of the Serfs took place, which was the most significant and most important of the liberal reforms which were brought into effect during the reign of Tsar Alexander II. "At the root of all the weaknesses and abuses was the supreme evil of serfdom" , which concludes that Serfdom was one of Russia's biggest weakness, so therefore if Russia was to regain strength then the "evil of serfdom" was to be abolished. However, many historians argue against the idea of the Crimean War as being the key reason as to why...
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