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Imperial Russia 1801 - 1917

Imperial Russia 1801 - 1917

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Imperial Russia 1801 - 1917. The Tsars. Alexander I1801 – 25 Nikolai I1825 – 55 Alexander II1855 – 81 Alexander III1881 – 94 Nikolai II1894 - 1917. Alexander I: liberal rhetoric. Verified the Code of Nobility Abolished ( but soon reconstructed ) the secret police - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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Imperial Russia 1801 - 1917

The Tsars• Alexander I 1801 – 25• Nikolai I 1825 – 55• Alexander II 1855 – 81• Alexander III 1881 – 94• Nikolai II 1894 - 1917

Alexander I: liberal rhetoric• Verified the Code of Nobility• Abolished (but soon reconstructed) the secret police• Introduced the Permanent Council• Attemt to make administration more efficient

through the Ministries• Constitutional experiments in Finland and Poland• Reform of education• Won international prestige after the defeat of

Napoleon

Nikolai I: Orthodoxy, Autarchy and nationality

• Decembrist Revolt 1825• Personal chancellery• Showed no interest in liberal reforms• Independence of the nobility removed• The Third Section and censorship• A Russian Intelligentsia emerges• Conflict with the Ottomans and the other European

Great Powers leads to the Crimean War 1853 - 56

Alexander II: the reformer• Defeat in the Crimean War a desaster for the

tsarist personal regime• National debt was high and steadily increasing• Unrest in several cities worried• Peasant support was declining• A growing intelligentsia would demand

reforms

Alexander´s Reforms• The Emancipation Edict 1861; Serfdom ended• Legal reforms 1864: Independent courts introduced; all

equal before the law• The Zemstvo reform 1864• Army reform• Work on a constitution started• Industrial development encouraged: focus on railways,

oilfields, export of wheat• Rise of Russian terrorism• Alexander assassinated by radicals in S:t Petersburg 1881

Alexander III: the Reactionary

• Direct response to the murder of Alexander II was a decisive turn back to a more repressive and autocratic rule.

• The group ”People´s Will” broken up in a large police offensive, numbers of prisoners in Siberia increased.

• The power of the ordinary courts was diminished, administrative officials were given more power and military courts introduced.

• A system of informers developed, the secret police expanded.

Instruments of tsarist control

• Police apparatus• Introduction of Land Captains• Censorship tightened• Autonomy of the universities ended, steps

taken to exclude poor boys from gymnasiums• Indepence of the courts reduced• More power given to the Orthodox Church,

less tolerance for other religions.

Targets/Victims of Tsarist repression

• National minorities – Russification used• Jews – increased discrimination and pogroms

under Alexander III; ca 2 million jews left Russia

• Illegal trade unions in the growing industrial centers

• Parts of the Intelligentsia

Structural problems• Alexander II:s land reforms meant that heavy taxation on

the peasants, forced them to sell as much as possible of the production. Desaster after harvest failure 1891.

• Farming methods remained primitive, peasants could hardly afford new machines or were suspicious of them.

• The population growth put enormous pressure on the cultivable land.

• Land area owned by nobility decreased, also the nobility suffered from high protection tariffs, slowed the modernisation.

Population Growth• 1860 74 100 000• 1870 84 500 000• 1890 110 800 000• 1900 133 000 000• 1910 160 000 000• 1914 175 000 000

Industrial Development• Alexander´s minister of Finance, Sergei Witte, led

Russia into a rapid industrialisation.• Witte actively spronsored foreign investments and

implemented protection tariffs to encourage domestic industry.

• Direct state investments encouraged, especially regarding railways

• Transibirian Railroad constructed• Industrial output expanded at an annual rate of 8% in

the 1890s.

Railway construction 1880 22,865km1890 30,596km1904 59,616km1914 77,246km

Nikolai II: the weak tsar• Conservative, religious• Manipulated by the tsarina