How Much Russia Changed from 1856-1894
During the years of 1856 and 1894, Russia changed immensely in its
policies and general state. It went from being an ageing superpower
into a country with internal problems and an ambience of civilian
unrest.
Alexander II realised the need to modernise Russia in order to prolong
their status as a superpower. This stemmed from their defeat in the
Crimean war. To modernise and industrialise Russia, a free workforce
was needed and this could only be made available if people were freed
from the land. This meant that Alexander II would need to somehow
release the serfs from their owner’s land. Another reason for
emancipation was made clear in a quote from Alexander II in March
1856: “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
emancipation was going to be used as a tool to solve two problems
facing Alexander II. However, in order for emancipation to succeed
another reform had to occur which was land reforms. However, Alexander
II did not want the political system of Russia to change whilst the
economic transformation was occurring. However, the political system
also changed because there was an addition to the local villages. This
was the zemstva and to a more national degree, the duma. However, the
tsar still had supreme power over these structures. Despite Alexander
II’s reforms, Russia still faced a number of problems. Alexander II’s
counter reforms created a problem as this led to the peasants wanting
more than usual. Also, land hunger was a huge problem leading to a
more restless peasant force.
In ...
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...m taking place in Russia, some
aspects of life stayed the same. Generally in Russia, there was some
kind of repression occurring. Although the Duma was meant to represent
the people of Russia, the tsar still had the power to simply over rule
any decisions. Also, the average peasant life was not much better than
pre emancipation as they were crippled by redemption payments.
In conclusion, Russia changed immensely between 1856 and 1894.
When recognised as being an ageing superpower by Alexander II it was
inevitable that some sort of change would take place in Russia in the
hope of modernisation. We can see that the changes were mostly
political and economical. During Alexander III’s reign we can see that
the changes were suppressive although it ultimately led to further
change in the form of revolution in the future.
Historically, Russia has always been a country of perplexing dualities. The reality of Dual Russia, the separation of the official culture from that of the common people, persisted after the Revolution of 1917 and the Civil War. The Czarist Russia was at once modernized and backward: St. Petersburg and Moscow stood as the highly developed industrial centers of the country and two of the capitals of Europe, yet the overwhelming majority of the population were subsistent farms who lived on mir; French was the official language and the elites were highly literate, yet 82% of the populati...
During the 19th century, Russia was experiencing a series of changes with its entire nation and society overall. The government was trying to adapt themselves to them at the same time. It was not an easy time period for Russia whatsoever. Vladimir Lenin helped change this.
Russia's industries were beginning to develop and the number of people living in towns was increasing. These people were the urban working class of Russia and they were not as eager to accept the poor wages and conditions as the peasants were.
Moss, W., 2014. A History of Russia Volume 2: Since 1855. 1st ed. London, England: Anthem Press London, pp.112-113.
This change happened with the Russo-Japanese War. After Russia faced its loss from the war, many urban workers and peasants revolted. The government was forced to create a national parliament called the Duma. This paved the way for more peasant reforms and an increase in production.
After their “peasant economy [had] come to a full collapse and ruin, from which it will not recover in several years”, the peasants started getting furious (Document 5). They became frustrated as their living situation continued to decline rather than improve. Anton Chekhov, a physician, and short story writer, depicted in his short story “Peasants” the life of peasants. He wrote that “they lived in discord, quarreling constantly [...] Who keeps a tavern and makes people drunkards? A peasant.” (Document 7). Peasants were seen by many as the root of the problem and trouble makers. They were blamed for many of the problems in the society. After Nicholas II became Tsar and Russia started to industrialize, the peasants were believed to create more tension. Police Report 4894 to the Ministry of the Interior, claimed that “there has recently emerged a series of peasant disorders in the form of systematic damage to the noble’s fields and meadows” (Document 9). The Nobles were significantly favored over the peasants as the new image of them being the cause of the problems engraved the minds of the public. This was the case until Tsar Nicholas II created the Duma in
The reign of Nicholas II catalysed the downfall of Tsardom. His lack of concern for civil liberties and political sternness directly lead to the revolutions. However, it was not just the weak leading of Tsar Nicholas II but rather the whole system of autocracy that was to blame for Russia’s misfortune, with its ideology fundamentally primitive and oppressive towards the greater population. The Russian society was formed around a hierarchy that was inefficient and degenerate to those below. This would lead to economic and social problems for the people of Russia, as well as a lack of progression and eventually, downfall.
The Russian revolution of February 1917 was a momentous event in the course of Russian history. The causes of the revolution were very critical and even today historians debate on what was the primary cause of the revolution. The revolution began in Petrograd as “a workers’ revolt” in response to bread shortages. It removed Russia from the war and brought about the transformation of the Russian Empire into the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic, replacing Russia’s monarchy with the world’s first Communist state. The revolution opened the door for Russia to fully enter the industrial age. Before 1917, Russia was a mostly agrarian nation. The Russian working class had been for many years fed up with the ways they had to live and work and it was only a matter of time before they had to take a stand. Peasants worked many hours for low wages and no land, which caused many families to lose their lives. Some would argue that World War I led to the intense downfall of Russia, while others believe that the main cause was the peasant unrest because of harsh living conditions. Although World War I cost Russia many resources and much land, the primary cause of the Russian Revolution was the peasant unrest due to living conditions because even before the war began in Russia there were outbreaks from peasants due to the lack of food and land that were only going to get worse with time.
In 1917, two revolutions were involved in Russia, which terminated centuries of imperial ruling. The Russian revolution was made up of two revolutions, which the first one was in February, and the second one was in October.These revolutions started political, and social changes that lead to the creation of the Soviet Union. By March of 1917, Russia who became civil turned into turmoil, which caused constant food shortages.This turned into a revolt against Czar.By the year of 1917 lots of Russian citizens lost faith in their leader Czar Nicholas II. The citizens lost faith in Czar’s leadership due to the governments corruption, Russia’s economy, and Czar constantly affecting the success of the Duma ( the Russian legislative assembly established by Czar Nicholas II in 1905) .This impacted Russia in a disastrous way, which caused Czar Nicholas II to be overthrown.A few months later after Czar was overthrown, the new provisional government was overthrown by Bolsheviks. The first appearance of the Russian Revolution was in February 1917, due to the destructive involvement in World War I. The military and imperial side of Russia, could not compare to the industrialized Germany at the time. The costly war also made Russia’s economy decline in a major way. Word count: 207
Through these decrees we see how Russian social class is very stratified and there are more high official roles but more people in poverty. Russia still had to serfs until 1861. Also the state of the Russian economy was probably very limited to do the fact that there was no manufacturing company to provide for the empire. The Russian economy was very isolated and they go to areas where they can trade. With Russia’s subsistence economy, they were not able to specialize in other areas.
The most important book I examined during my research was Stephen J. Lee’s Russia and the USSR 1855-1991 written in 2005 after the soviet archives had been opened. Lee was an A-level teacher making his book more comprehensible and credible as there were pellucid links to my course. Lee’s book is divided into thematic chapters which deal with theories and regimes across both the Tsarist and Communist reigns, which makes it a straightforward way to find selective information. It also gave utilizable interpretation as well as having a range of sources which further increased my knowledge of how the peasantry were treated under the Tsar and Communist reigns. However it lacked the range and scope of someone like Martin McCauley.
Throughout history, revolutions have developed in response to a variety of conditions. These revolutions have often resulted in significant political, economic, and social change. As the 1900’s rolled in, European nations were at peace, that is until the darker forces were pushing Europe toward war. Those darker forces included nationalism and alliance systems that would help fuel the Great War or World War I. The effects of World War I were massive including the Treaty of Versailles and the enormous amount of human casualties as well as economic losses. During World War I, another revolution broke out in Russia, removing Russia from the war and transformed the Russian empire into the first Communist state. There were many causes of the Russian Revolution including the weakness of the Czar and World War I. Finally, there were many effects of the Russian Revolution, two of which included the establishment of a communist government as well as a new economic policy.
Riasanovsky, Nicholas V., and Mark D. Steinberg. A History of Russia. 7th ed. Oxford: Oxford, 2005. Print.
The need to modernise in Russia was a problem that the tsar had to face between the years, at the time in question, Russia was very backwards in the way that it farmed its lands, its economy was behind that of the rest of Europe, this meant that action had to be taken, in this area the tsar did have some successes.
After their defeat in the Crimean war (1853-1856), Russia’s leaders realized they were falling behind much of Europe in terms of modernisation and industrialisation. Alexander II took control of the empire and made the first steps towards radically improving the country’s infrastructure. Transcontinental railways were built and the government strengthened Russia’s economy by promoting industrialisation with the construction of factory complexes throughout...