Russian Nationalism: Tsar Led Reforms • Post-Crimean War: Russian tsar, Alexander II, realizes need to catch up to West (Cf., Peter the Great) • Rapid industrialization – Serf emancipation, 1861 (Cf., US – 1863) • Most burdensome problem – Subjugation of millions of peasants to land and their landlords was a corrupt and failing system – Reduced to antiquated methods of production based on serf labor, Russian landowners were economically pressed and unable to compete with foreign agriculture – Serfs backbone of Russian infantry – uneducated and couldn’t deal with machines and weapons of war • Peasants could now own property, marry as they chose, and bring suits in the law courts • Government provided land for the peasants by purchasing it from the landowners but landowners kept best lands – Peasants expected to repay the state – Ultimately, emancipation led not to a free, landowning peasantry along the Western model but to an unhappy, land-starved peasantry that largely followed the old ways of farming – Zemstvo established, 1864 • Local assemblies that provided a moderate degree of self-government • Given limited power to provide public services • Efforts frequently disrupted by bureaucrats who feared self-government – Legal reforms of 1864 – Industrial growth masterminded by Sergei Witte – Russian railroad building explodes, 1860-1880 – Encouraged foreign investment
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Russian Nationalism: Tsar Led Reforms Post-Crimean War: Russian tsar, Alexander II, realizes need to…
Alexander III Convinced that reform had been a mistake and he quickly instituted what he said were “exceptional measures” Powers of the secret police were expanded Advocates of constitutional monarchy and social reform along with revolutionary groups were persecuted Russification program of numerous nationalities that make up Russian Empire –Russians only made up 40% of population –Policy only angered national groups and create new sources of opposition to tsarist policies When Alexander III died, his weak son and successor Nicolas II adopted his father’s conviction that the absolute power of the tsars should be preserved But conditions were changing, especially with growth of industrialization and the tsar’s approach was not realistic
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Russian Nationalism: Tsar Led Reforms
• Post-Crimean War: Russian tsar, Alexander II, realizes need to catch up to West (Cf., Peter the Great)
• Rapid industrialization– Serf emancipation, 1861 (Cf., US – 1863)
• Most burdensome problem– Subjugation of millions of peasants to land and their landlords
was a corrupt and failing system– Reduced to antiquated methods of production based on serf
labor, Russian landowners were economically pressed and unable to compete with foreign agriculture
– Serfs backbone of Russian infantry – uneducated and couldn’t deal with machines and weapons of war
• Peasants could now own property, marry as they chose, and bring suits in the law courts
• Government provided land for the peasants by purchasing it from the landowners but landowners kept best lands
– Peasants expected to repay the state – Ultimately, emancipation led not to a free, landowning
peasantry along the Western model but to an unhappy, land-starved peasantry that largely followed the old ways of farming
– Zemstvo established, 1864• Local assemblies that provided a
moderate degree of self-government
• Given limited power to provide public services
• Efforts frequently disrupted by bureaucrats who feared self-government
– Legal reforms of 1864– Industrial growth
masterminded by Sergei Witte– Russian railroad building
explodes, 1860-1880– Encouraged foreign
investment
Patience Lacking• Autocratic tsar unable to control
forces he unleashed by his reform program.
• Reformers wanted more and rapid change.
• Conservatives opposed what they perceived as the tsar’s attempts to undermine the basic institutions of Russian society
• Populism – movement whose aim was to create a new society through the revolutionary acts of the peasants
– Some populists resort to violent means to overthrow tsarist autocracy
• People’s Will (group of radicals) assassinated Alexander II in 1881
• His son and successor Alexander III turned against reform and returned to the traditional methods of repression
Alexander III• Convinced that reform had been a
mistake and he quickly instituted what he said were “exceptional measures”
• Powers of the secret police were expanded
• Advocates of constitutional monarchy and social reform along with revolutionary groups were persecuted
• Russification program of numerous nationalities that make up Russian Empire
– Russians only made up 40% of population– Policy only angered national groups and
create new sources of opposition to tsarist policies
• When Alexander III died, his weak son and successor Nicolas II adopted his father’s conviction that the absolute power of the tsars should be preserved
• But conditions were changing, especially with growth of industrialization and the tsar’s approach was not realistic
The1905
Russian Revolutio
n
Russian Nationalism: Anti-Tsar Fever
• Japan defeated Russia in war, 1904-5
• Revolution of 1905: Not against Nicholas II, initially– Bloody Sunday Massacre, St.
Petersburg – Turned workers against the
tsar• October Manifesto: issued by
tsar; granted full civil rights• Duma: Russian parliament;
never attained goals because tsar limited parliamentary powers from outset
• Had these reforms carried, would Communist Revolution have happened?
Nicholas II: The Last Nicholas II: The Last Romanov TsarRomanov Tsar
[r. 1894-1917][r. 1894-1917]
The Tsar & His FamilyThe Tsar & His Family
Hemophilia & the Hemophilia & the TsarevichTsarevich
Alexis and Rasputin• Within a few months of his birth, his parents realized that their precious and only son, Alexis, had
hemophilia. • The first sign had been some unexpected bleeding from the navel, which had stopped after a few days.
Much more serious, however, were the dark swellings that appeared each time the child bumped an arm or a leg. And worst of all was the bleeding into the joints.
• This meant a crippling of the affected limbs in addition to excruciating pain. As the boy grew older, he was obliged to spend weeks in bed, and after he was up, to wear a heavy iron brace. Neither well-experienced doctors nor numerous prayers to God by desperate parents seemed to help the suffering child.
• Distressed over their son’s condition, his parents, the Tsar and Tsarina, turned to the monk Rasputin, a spiritualist who claimed he could help Alexis. Rasputin received an unlimited trust from Alexandra because he was the only person who was able to relieve her son’s sufferings.
• How he managed to do this is uncertain. “A likely explanation is that Rasputin, with his hypnotic eyes and his self-confident presence, was able to create the aura of tranquility necessary to slow the flow of blood through the boys veins. Where the demented mother and the dithering doctors merely increased the tenseness of the atmosphere around the suffering child, Rasputin calmed him and sent him to sleep.”
• While Tsar and Tsarina were preoccupied with the health of their son, the affairs of state deteriorated, culminating in the Russian revolution.
• Alexis did not die from hemophilia. At the age of fourteen he was executed with the rest of the family. His four oldest sisters were also young and didn’t have children, so we don’t know whether any of them was a carrier. But we can make an estimate.
Nicholas II & His Uncle, Nicholas II & His Uncle, George VGeorge V
Causes
1. Early 1. Early 2020cc: :
Russian Russian Social Social
HierarchHierarchyy
2. First Stages of 2. First Stages of IndustrializationIndustrialization
Building the Trans-Siberian RR[Economic benefits only in a few
regions.]
5. Russo-Japanese War 5. Russo-Japanese War [1904-1905][1904-1905]
The “Yellow Peril”
Russo-Japanese War Russo-Japanese War [1904-1905][1904-1905]
Russo-Japanese War Russo-Japanese War [1904-1905][1904-1905]
Russian & Japanese Russian & Japanese SoldiersSoldiers
Russia Is HumiliatedRussia Is Humiliated
Treaty of Portsmouth Treaty of Portsmouth [NH] - 1905[NH] - 1905
President Theodore Roosevelt Acts as the Peacemake
r
[He gets the Nobel
Peace Prize for his
efforts.]
6. Unrest Among the 6. Unrest Among the Peasants & Urban Peasants & Urban
Working PoorWorking Poor• Socialist thought and socialist parties developed– Marxist Social Democratic Party
• Socialist revolutionaries worked to overthrow the tsarist autocracy and establish peasant socialism– Having no other outlet for their opposition to the
regime, they advocated political terrorism and attempted to assassinate government officials and members of the ruling dynasty
• The growing opposition to the tsarist regime finally exploded into revolution in 1905
Unrest• In midst of war, the growing discontent of increased
numbers of Russians rapidly led to upheaval• A middle class of business an professional people
longed for liberal institutions and a liberal political system• Nationalities were dissatisfied with their domination by
ethnic Russian population• Peasants still suffering from lack of land and laborers felt
oppressed by their working/living conditions • Breakdown of the transport system caused by the
Russo-Japanese War led to food shortages in major cities of Russia