Key facts - depth studies (Alex II, PG, Khrushchev) Russia & its Rulers Y318

Alexander II

defeat in Crimea:

• Russia accepted peace in 1856 when Austria threatened to enter the war

• 30 March 1856, Treaty of Paris

  • neutralisation of Black Sea, loss of influence over Romanian principalities 

  • (was never threatened with losing its status as a “great power”)

• 500,000 casualties, equal numbers on both sides. much of this was caused by disease

• proved that Russia’s military strength was an illusion! 

  • had an outdated system of communications - could not muster more than 60,000 of its 1 million troops.

  • only 4% Russian troops had the new percussion rifles, while 50% of british troops did

  • britain + france were better equipped + organised, even though they were often incompetent

• showed the advantages of a western-style army

  •  soldiers served for a short period, then lived as military reserve

  • could not achieve this with serfdom: tradition was to free serfs after 25 years of service

emancipation: 

• 5 years between Alexander II declaring the emancipation and the Edict of Emancipation of February 1861 (difficult)

  • land could only be granted to peasants at the expense of landlords - too radical?

  • however, you cant just liberate the serfs with no land - destitute mass of peasants 

• few of the 232,000 serf owners would cooperate unreservedly with the Edict; a direct order from the Tsar (Nazimov rescript, November 1857) to make it clear that serfs were to receive land as well as their personal liberty

• terms:

  • serfs were granted freedoms (to own land, to marry without interference, to use law courts) 

  • ownership of plots they worked + houses they lived in 

  • allowed peasants to purchase land from landlords

  •  govt was to compensate landlords for land transferred to the peasantry in the form of govt bonds

  • charged peasants “redemption dues” over 49 years

• wholly successful in achieving its immediate aims  (peasant disturbances died away for 40 years 1862; did not provoke immediate rebellion) 

• legal status of 40 million Russian transformed in one movement

• however, socially (and short-term) it was grim:

  • could not be implemented in localities without cooperation of landlords: process always slow and landlords did land distribution unsatisfactorily, areas granted often too small

  • redemption payments of the ex-serfs often far greater than the actual production value of the land

  • peasants overpaid as much as 90% in unproductive regions

  • did not solve industrial backwardness

  •  in 1878, only 50% of the peasantry farmed allotments large enough for the production of surplus goods

  • majority of the landowners before emancipation were so deeply in debt that ~248 million of 543 million roubles paid to them by the govt by 1871 was used to pay off existing debts and mortgages 

• by undermining landed interests + the role of the nobility in local govt, the emancipation struck a serious blow at the effectiveness of the Tsarist govt

• so reform !

zemstva:

• Imperial decree of 1864 established series of local govt assembles; zemstva

• system of voting + established reputations of the zemstva made it easy for conservative nobility to dominate the assemblies

  • provincial level, they occupied…