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

• By 1815, Russia was the largest and most populous
  nation in Europe and a great world power

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I. Conditions in Russia

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

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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

• Czars ruled with absolute power and resisted
  reforms that would undermine their power

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II. Russian Absolutism

• In 1801, Alexander I seemed open to liberal ideas
  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, a group of 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 and all
  dissent, banned books from Western Europe and
  jailed or exiled liberals

Nicholas 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"
Czar Nicholas I 1796-1855
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II. Russian Absolutism

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

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

• Alexander II came to the throne in 1855 during
  the Crimean War, which Russia lost and 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

• Alexander's reforms failed to satisfy many
  Russians and in 1881, he was assassinated by
  terrorists

"'It is Too Soon to Thank God.' - The
Assassination of Czar Alexander II"
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IV. Reaction to Change

• Alexander III increased the power of the secret
  police, restored censorship, exiled critics, and
  began a program of Russification

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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

• War broke out between Russia and Japan in 1904
  and Russia suffered one defeat after another

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VI. Turning Point Crisis and Revolution

• Military losses and years of oppression led to
  wide spread protests

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

• Bloody Sunday - 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

• Discontent exploded 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 1906 Nicholas dissolved the first Duma and
  appointed a new prime minister, Peter Stolypin

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VI. Turning Point Crisis and Revolution

• Stolypin sought to restore order and made some
  reforms, but was assassinated in 1911

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".