Russia Before 1881

Russia before 1881
Tsar Alexander I ruled 1801-1825
Tsar Nicholas I ruled 1825-1855
Tsar Alexander II ruled 1855-1881
Tsar Alexander III ruled 1881-1894
Tsar Nicholas II ruled 1894-1917

Geography

- world's largest continuous land empire
- had permanantly-frozen grassland, semi-desert, coniferous forest and mountain ranges = very diverse
- owned Alaska until 1867 when it was sold to the USA

Economy

-mainly agriculture
-grain was Russia's most valuable export
-losts shipped from the Black Sea port of Odessa
-Immense natural resourcees: iron ore and coal
-but didn't utilise these natural resources
-industry was limited to major cities, such as Moscow and St. Petersberg and parts of the Ukraine

Society

-majority of population before 1861 were serfs and peasants
-barschina serfs = worked to stay on the land
-obrok serfs = paid rent to stay on the land
-serfs were legally tied to the land, not the landowners

Politics
-1864: first form of elective government - but the vote was restricted to the wealthy and educated i.e. the people that would be supportive of the Tsar as a threat to him was a threat to their position too
-1870: zemstva extended to towns and cities
-1870: trial by jury introduced

Main themes in Russian History are:

-change from above
-war
-revolution