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Q8. After a hard loss during the Crimean War, the previous Czar Nicholas I position was taken over by his son Alexander II. This brought new change and hope to the people of Russia. Russians were hoping for change at the time, and that is exactly what the driven new Czar had brought to the table. Alexander II came along with the idea of modernization and social change for Russia. In order to do this, Alexander II created his reforms which he thought would be Russia's best interest in order to compete with other nations powers. During the 1800s under Russia's feudal system, serfs were bound to the nobles land at which they worked. Serfs were known as an agricultural worker that were bound by the feudal system to work on their lord's estate. …show more content…
Nobles enjoyed the amount of power they had over the serfs; however, in the 1820s Russians believe that what they were doing was morally wrong. Many Russians believe it had held back their empire from advancing economically. On the contrary, the czars at the time were against freeing the serfs. The czars believe that if they were to release the czars it would anger the nobles; nevertheless, without the nobles in the czars corner, they would be unable to stay in power. In 1853 the then current Russian Czar Nicholas I made threats to take over the Ottoman Empire during the time of the Crimean War. However, the country was unable to give supplies to the Russian troops; as a result, Russia had lost the war. If they had won the war it was believed that it would bring economic changes to the Russian Empire. Although, after the sad loss, the Russians did receive a change in their Czar. The Russian Empire would now be lead by Nicholas's son, Alexander II. These new reforms however could lead to the rise or fall of the Russian government. Alexander's first reform in 1861 was believe to be his boldest, it entitled the freedom of the serfs.
During the year of 1861, Alexander II official issued the Edict of Emancipation, this freed over 20 million serfs. Looking back to the times of 1820, many of the Russians believed in abolishing serfdom. Despite this, the czars and nobles were reluctantly against it. You can imagine going back to the current time in 1861, after having serfdom for countless years, some Russians would be unwilling to change the system now. Unfortunately, his reform regarding serfdom only went halfway. Instead, peasant communities received about half of the farmland in the country, and the nobles were to keep the other half. The government then paid the nobles for their farmland. On the other side, the peasant communities had 49 years to pay the government for their land. Although, the reform had made the serfs free, the debt still remained which tied them to the land. Before Alexander II could begin work on the social and political reforms, he was assassinated by terrorist in 1881. After his assassination his role was taken over by Alexander III. Alexander III had encouraged the industrial development which he believed would expand Russia's power. It could be possible that these reforms were the reason behind Alexander II assassination. Although, the terrorist were unlikely his fault, the idea behind terrorism could eventually spread giving people bad goals and ideas. Terrorism still plays a major role in today's
society. To conclude, Alexander II did indeed have some powerful ideas and goals; however, they did lead to some consequences. His vast idea of freeing 20 million serfs was jaw-dropping; although, it did not completely work out in the end. The consequence it had on the present communities was in my opinion, unfair. The nobles were paid for their farmland; on the other hand, the peasant communities had to pay their debts within 49 years. Alexander II had the right idea going into this reform; unfortunately, he was unable to foresee the outcome it would have against the serfs. It was with good intentions; but in the end, the serfs remained tied to their land. Consequently, due to his assassination, the social and political reforms were put on the back burner. In the end, Alexander II reforms did leave consequences behind for the rest of Russia.
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.
In the years leading up to World War I, social unrest among the Russian people was spreading rapidly. There was a huge social gulf between the peasants who were former serfs and the landowners. The peasants regarded anyone who did not work as a parasite. They had always regarded as all land belonging to them. They regarded any land retained by the landowners at the time serfs were freed as stolen and only force could prevent them from taking it back. By the time Russia entered the war, one peasant rebellion had already been suppressed and several socialist revolutionary movements were developing.
Have you heard of a man named Alexander the Great, the famous historical figure? There are many amazing stories about him explaining the courageous things he had accomplished. However, if you learn more about him and his accomplishments you will soon realized the real person Alexander was. Alexander the Great, ruler of his empire was in fact not great as his title states. The definition of great is a person who shows concern for others, has leadership and shows intelligence. Alexander didn’t show any of these characteristics therefore he doesn’t deserve the title of “great”.
Russia, industrialized as a result of many peasant revolts. The revolts led to the emancipation of the serfs in 1861, they received land but the political chains were still in place. Many reforms were still needed. The military became based on merit, education was increased, transportation became more efficient with the introduction or railroads, and law codes were improved with local councils put in place called zemstvoes. These reforms and the great size and natural resources of Russia allowed it to build factories. Yet, the change experienced by the West had not, yet, occurred.
After the emancipation of the Russian Peasantry, land was given to the peasants. This was between 1861 and 1866, but because the nobility had lost their land when the peasants were given land, the peasants had to pay a tax until 1905. As the years passed, the land allotted to each person decreased from 13.8 acres to 7.3 acres as the population increased. Due to this increase in population and decrease in land, a series of famines struck the rural areas. As the peasants mainly occupied the rural areas, they were perceived to be living in poor conditions by the Russian people, and as response to their conditions, peasants started taking a stand, and voicing their opinions; change was proposed in the end when peasants were given more freedom,
While most of Europe had develop strong central governments and weakened the power of the nobles, Russia had lagged behind the times and still had serfs as late as 1861. The economic development that followed the emancipation of peasants in the rest of Europe created strong industrial and tax bases in those nations. Russian monarchs had attempted some level of reforms to address this inequality for almost a century before, and were indeed on their way to “economic maturity” (32) on par with the rest of Europe. But they overextended themselves and the crushing defeats of the Russo-Japanese War in 1905 and the First World War in 1917 lost them the necessary support from their subjects and created “high prices and scarcity” which were by far “the most obvious factors in the general tension”
During the Revolution of 1905, he ordered the mass execution of over 100 and arrested several more rebels. Also, he focused on an agricultural reform in order to address the famine and ineffective use of agricultural land by canceling redemption payments and establishing land banks; creating a positive impact and increased the agricultural production. Moreover, the creation of the Duma can actually be credited to Nicholas II. Additionally, the Czar did not trusted the Duma for their ‘unrealistic’ and hostile demands, their bias towards the aristocracy, the freedom of political debate the Duma and the fact that they were allowed to pass
The need to abolish serfdom was a persistent and, according to Mosse writing in 1958, biggest problem in Russian society since the reign of Peter the Great. All the problems of Russian Empire stemmed from serfdom and would automatically be solved with its removal .
...o hundred thousand murders during Alexander’s reign of terror into account. Alexander the Great was not so great!
The government and reform; the actual character of Nicholas II hindered his time in office, for example his outlooks on situations meant he did not trust a lot of his advisors, he was also seen to have been very lazy with respects to making decisions, other observations included him being, weak, timid and lacked guts. This all adds up to a very weak leader that is vulnerable to opposition, due to his tunnel vision and un-ability to see the main needs of the country. The duma was another challenge to the tsar; after the 1905 revolution the tsar had set up an elected body called the duma, this was a way of showing the public that he could be open minded in that delegating decisions to other people, looking back in hindsight this would also be seen as a challenge to the tsar as he never gave the duma any real power, and were easily dissolved, this meant that people were further angered and he was receiving opposition from all sides, it did however hold off opposition for a small period of time in order for the tsar to retain his power. Other individuals had an influence to the challenges facing the tsar, Nicholas had brought some new people in to try and conquer some problems, these included Rasputin who he had originally appointed to become saviour of family, he managed to influence the tsar in many of his decisions, this inevitably caused there to be conflict as the he was relying on Rasputin to relay details of the state of the country, these were not accurate which meant that tsar could not act upon opposition. Other people did help the tsar for example stolypin and his reforms.
The ‘Proclamation of Serfs’ given at Saint Petersburg on March 3, 1861 by Alexander II, states “[Peasants] should understand that by acquiring property and greater freedom to dispose of their possessions, they have an obligation to society and to themselves to live up to the letter of the new law by a loyal and judicious use of the rights which are now granted to them.” He adds: “We confidently expect that the freed serfs, on the eve of a new future which is opening to them, will appreciate and recognize the considerable sacrifices which the nobility has made on their behalf.”
“He was Tsar Nicholas II of Russia: the wealthiest Monarch in the world, who ruled over 130 million people and one-sixth of the earth’s land surface, yet turned a blind eye to the abject poverty of his subjects.” - Candace Fleming. The Romanov Dynasty ruled over Russia for 300 years, but once Nicholas II came to power, it all came falling down on him. World War I and different instances of prejudice in 1917 provoked the Russian Revolution to come into play. The Russian Revolution then had many affects on the Russian people, and then compelled Nicholas II abdicate the throne; the Bolshevik Party rose to power after that. Then after it all, on the eve of July 17, 1918 Nicholas II, his family, and servants were executed in the cellar of the
Russia had been defeated in all except the war with Turkey and its government and economy had the scars to prove it. A severe lack of food and poor living conditions amongst the peasant population led firstly to strikes and quickly escalated to violent riots. Tsar Nicholas II ruled Russia with an iron hand while much of Europe was moving away from the monarchical system of rule. All lands were owned by the Tsar’s family and Nobel land lords, while the factories and industrial complexes were owned by the capitalists’. There were no unions or labour laws and the justice system had made almost all other laws in favour of the ruling elite.
Eastern European countries such as Russia were encouraged to increase their unpaid labor force to profit from the agricultural demands of Western Europe. In the 17th century serfs were divided into three classes, landlord serfs, state-bonded serfs, and royal serfs. For the purpose of narrowing the field of study for this paper, only landlord serfs from private estates will be discussed and referred to when mentioning the term serf. Serfs were bonded to the land of their landowners and were not permitted to move. They were subject to physical punishment by the landowners if they attempted to flee or resisted orders.
The serfs of Russia played an important role in the Russian revolution before it took place. In Russia, a serf identified as an agricultural laborer that worked on his lord’s estate, but the lord kind of owned the serf. The serfs or working class made up over ⅓ of the population and formed half of the peasantry (Lynch). The new ruler, Alexander II, realized he needed to release the serfs in owe to the fact 712 peasant uprisings had occurred in Russia between 1826-1854 (Lynch). Alexander II asked the lords to produce and propose ideas in the matter of how much land the