The Reign of Alexander III, 1881-1894
Teacher recommended
?- Created by: sammiecaine
- Created on: 12-05-12 21:00
Fullscreen
Problems facing Alex III:
- crisis following assassination of Alex II by the ‘People’s Will’
- immense challenges maintaining Tsar’s supreme political power & keeping empire together
- Alex II’s reforms had raised expectation of major change in Russia
- pressure from advisers to make empire more like western & central Europe
- i.e. reforming autocracy, allowing elective parliament to share power w/ Tsar
- hadn’t approved of father’s modernising methods
Repression & Reaction:
- assassination of Tsar threatened social & political system
- threat to Tsar meant threat to upper social classes therefore Alex III’s campaign of repression had widespread support from upper levels of society
Political Repression:
- to Alex III, those who supported political reform should be repressed
- brought in Pobedonostsev as Tsar’s chief minister & leading official of State Church
- wielded immense power & influence
- masterminded Alex III’s Manifesto, April 1881
- April Manifesto declared Tsar held absolute political power
- govt introduced Statute of State Security - setup govt controlled courts to try govt opponents
- were meant as temporary measure, but stayed in existence until 1917
- press freedom = severely restricted, foreign books & newspapers = censored by Okhrana
- aim: to prevent dangerous foreign ideas, e.g. democracy & parliamentary govt
- universities = under strict govt supervision
- extremist groups continued to operate underground
…
Comments
Report