Chapter 23 Nationalism Triumphs in Europe

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Chapter 23 Nationalism Triumphs in Europe

• Section 5 Russian Reform and Reaction

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• Setting the Scene
• Although serfdom had almost disappeared in
  Western Europe by the 1700s, it survived and
  spread in Russia. Masters exercised almost total
  power over their serfs. In the 1800s, a noble
  described the brutal treatment of serfs
• "I heard ... stories of men and women torn from
  their families and their villages, and sold, or
  lost in gambling, or exchanged for a couple of
  hunting dogs, and then transported to some remote
  part of Russia to create a master's new estate
  ... of children taken from their parents and sold
  to cruel masters
• Reformers hoped to free Russia from autocratic
  rule, economic backwardness, and social
  injustice. But efforts to modernize Russia had
  little success, as czars imprisoned critics or
  sent them into icy exile in Siberia.

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I. Conditions in Russia

• Peter the Great and Catherine the Great tried to
  westernize Russia, but it remained economically
  undeveloped

Peter the Great (1672 1725) Tsar of Russia 1682
- 1725
Catherine the Great (1729 1796) Empress of
Russia 1762 - 1796
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I. Conditions in Russia

• One obstacle was the rigid social structure -
  landowning nobles, a small middle class, and a
  majority of serfs

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II. Russian Absolutism

• In 1801, Czar Alexander I eased censorship and
  promoted education but feared losing the support
  of nobles

Czar Alexander I, grandson of Catherine the Great
- On November 19, 1825 in the town of Taganrog,
he is claimed to have faked his own death,
disappearing to become a monk named Kuzmich,
wandering the forests of Siberia for years
afterward
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II. Russian Absolutism

• When Alexander I died, army officers led an
  uprising known as the Decembrist Revolt

The Decembrist revolt or the Decembrist uprising
was attempted in Imperial Russia by army officers
who led about 3,000 Russian soldiers on December
14, 1825. Because these events occurred in
December, the rebels were called the Decembrists
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II. Russian Absolutism

• Nicholas I suppressed the Decembrists, banned
  books from Europe and jailed or exiled liberals

Czar Nicholas I (1796-1855) saw himself as God's
general in charge of Russia's well-being and
every citizen as his subordinate. He insisted his
will be followed at all times and ruled the
Empire personally and believed in "One Tsar, One
Faith, One Nation"
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II. Russian Absolutism

• Nicholas I embraced the three pillars of Russian
  absolutism - "Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and
  Nationalism

Romanoff Czars Coat of Arms
Cathedral of St. Basil the Blessed, Moscow
Czar Nicholas I
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II. Russian Absolutism

• Alexander II became czar in 1855 during the
  Crimean War. Russias loss revealed the country's
  backwardness

The Crimean War (1854-56) seriously weakened both
Austrian Russian powers A humiliating defeat
for Russia by Turkey, France, England, Sardinia
Austria
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II. Russian Absolutism

• In 1861 Alexander II issued a decree that
  required emancipation of the serfs

The reign of Alexander II is marked by contrasts
while Alexander II was known as the
"Tsar-Liberator" for his emancipation of the
Russian serfs, he also reigned over one of the
most repressive periods in Russian history and
faced numerous attempts on his life, ultimately
resulting in his assassination.
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II. Russian Absolutism

• Other changes were government, military and legal
  reforms, and easing censorship

Alexander II implemented important reforms in
national, military and municipal organization. He
also rethought foreign policy Russia now
refrained from overseas expansion and
concentrated on strengthening its borders. In
1867, he sold Alaska and the Aleutian Islands to
the United States. His greatest foreign policy
achievement was the successful war of 1877-8
against the Ottoman Empire, resulting in the
liberation of Bulgaria
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IV. Reaction to Change

• His reforms failed to satisfy many. In 1881,
  Alexander II was assassinated by the People's
  Will

'It is Too Soon to Thank God.' The
Assassination of Czar Alexander II by the
Peoples Will
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IV. Reaction to Change

• Alexander III increased the power of the secret
  police, restored censorship, and exiled critics

Alexander III Alexandrovich (1845 1894) Emperor
of Russia from 13 March 1881 until his death in
1894
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IV. Reaction to Change

• Persecution of Jews increased, resulting in
  pogroms. Many became refugees

1903 Kishinev pogrom victims
Jewish refugees
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V. Building Russian Industry

• Russia finally entered the industrial age in the
  1890s

The shell-shop of the Putilov works St
Petersburg 1903
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VI. Turning Point Crisis and Revolution

• 1905 - years of oppression and losing the
  Russo-Japanese war led to wide spread protests

Demonstrators march on the Winter Palace
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VI. Turning Point Crisis and Revolution

• Bloody Sunday - January 22,1905 - protesters were
  fired on by the czars troops and hundreds were
  killed or wounded

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VI. Turning Point Crisis and Revolution

• Revolution spread across Russia and Nicholas
  finally agreed to summon a Duma

On May 6th, 1905 Czar Nicholas announced the
implementation of the Fundamental Laws. Under the
laws, a State Council was established to act as
the upper house of the Duma. This upper house was
controlled by Nicholas.
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VI. Turning Point Crisis and Revolution

• In the October Manifesto, Nicholas II promised
  "freedom of person, conscience, speech, assembly,
  and union."

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VI. Turning Point Crisis and Revolution

• In 1906 Nicholas dissolved the first Duma and
  appointed Peter Stolypin as prime minister

Pyotr Arkadyevich Stolypin (1862 1911)
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VI. Turning Point Crisis and Revolution

• Stolypin first sought to restore order through
  arrests, pogroms, and executions

Stolypin introduced legislation that enabled
peasants to have more opportunity to acquire
land. People living in rural areas also got more
freedom in the selection of their representatives
to the zemstvo. Stolypin instituted a new
court system that made it easier for the arrest
and conviction of political revolutionaries. Over
3,000 suspects were convicted and executed
between 1906-09. As a result of this action the
hangman's noose in Russia became known as
"Stolypin's necktie".
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VI. Turning Point Crisis and Revolution

• To regain peasant support, Stolypin introduced
  moderate land reforms, but was assassinated in
  1911