Alexander III

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  • Created by: LucyC
  • Created on: 19-11-24 11:54
When did Alexander III rule?
1881-1894
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Personality and Tone of Rule
• Could be rude and blunt in conversation, terrifying when angry
• Used foul language when frustrated
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Personality and Tone of Rule contd.
• Controlling, "oppresssive antithesis" of his father
• Autocratic
• Intimidating
• Strong
• Had presence
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Russification
• Full Russian-style beard
• Very anti-German
• A "natural conservative"
• Against Western politics
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Russification contd.
• "A deception based on a foreign model that is unsuitable for Russia" (Alexander II's reforms)
• There were some reforms to help the peasantry, but they were mainly designed to increase loyalty to the Tsar. These were rejected.
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What positive results did Alexander III's reforms achieve?
• Tariffs on some foreign goods were as high as 33% by 1881, so government income rose by almost 50%.
• Government revenue benefitted from 18% increase in grain exports.
• The economic growth helped secure a series of
French loans after 1888, and Russia’
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What positive results did Alexander III's reforms achieve contd.
• The economic growth helped secure a series of French loans after 1888, and Russia’s budget achieved a surplus for the first time in 1892.
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What problems did these things cause for peasants, who already bore the brunt of taxation?
• They were forced to pay back-dated taxes and redemption payments.
• They also had to sell grain to the state at the lowest possible prices in order to maximise export profits.
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The coincidence of Vyshnegradsky’s export drive with the worst harvests of the century in 1891-2 in the Volga region caused massive famine. How many people were affected and how many became ill or died?
• 20 million people living in 900,000 square miles of Russia’s most productive provinces were affected.
• 1.5 to 2 million people became ill or died.
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How did repression continue through the Russian Orthodox Church?
• As lay head of the Church, Pobedonostsev believed re-educating the people was the best way to stop a revolution.
• By 1894, White clergy had increased by 20% and Black clergy by 64%.
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Church contd.
• The numbers of church schools increased sevenfold (to 31,835), and numbers of pupils attending these schools increased ninefold (to 981,076)
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Church contd.
• The Church published spiritual literature and laid on more church festivals, while clergy were encouraged to give more sermons.
• Under Pobedonostsev, each year 250 new churches and 10 monasteries were built.
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Church contd.
• Churches built earlier in the century were built in a more Western style, but now, there was a return to the Russian style of onion-dome churches.
• However, the clergy were unenthusiastic about this and the reforms had little impact.
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How was the policy successful?
• People's names were Russianised and they were forced to learn Russian.
• 500 Russian civil servants were sent to Berlin in the hope that their experience could be used to create a modern civil service which could further expand autocracy.
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How was the policy unsuccessful?
• Unrest and opposition e.g. in Poland
- Russification, already established after the 1863 Polish rising, was extended in 1885- all teaching, except Polish and Catholicism, had to be in Russian.
• At least 100,000 Russian troops were permanently stationed
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How was the policy unsuccessful contd.
• Anti-Semitic persecution emerged. Over 600 social, political and economic restrictions culminated in a wave of pogroms, the worst of which (in Kishinev, Bessarabia, in 1903)
left 47 dead, 400 wounded, and 700 houses and 600 shops destroyed
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How was the policy unsuccessful contd.
• Anti-Semitic persecution emerged. Over 600 social, political and economic restrictions culminated in a wave of pogroms, the worst of which (in Kishinev, Bessarabia, in 1903)
left 47 dead, 400 wounded, and 700 houses and 600 shops destroyed
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Impact on Society/Industrialisation
Alexander III wanted the benefits of modernisation e.g. trains, factories and economic growth, but without the cost of organised, politicised workers, who wanted change.
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Define Russification
The forced cultural assimilation of minority groups within the Russian Empire. The Russian language, culture, beliefs and traditions were forced.
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Define Zemstvos/Zemstvas
The district and provincial assemblies established in Russia in 1864.
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Define Okhrana
Secret police after Alexander II's assassination
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Define pogrom
An organised massacre of a particular ethnic group
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Who was Pobedonostsev?
A Russian civil servant and conservative political philosopher, who served as tutor and adviser to the emperors Alexander III and Nicholas II.
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Other cards in this set

Card 2

Front

Personality and Tone of Rule

Back

• Could be rude and blunt in conversation, terrifying when angry
• Used foul language when frustrated

Card 3

Front

Personality and Tone of Rule contd.

Back

Preview of the front of card 3

Card 4

Front

Russification

Back

Preview of the front of card 4

Card 5

Front

Russification contd.

Back

Preview of the front of card 5
View more cards

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