Alexander II (1855 - 1881)

• What was Tsarist Russia like in 1914? 


      cross-continental empire from Eastern Europe to East Asia; largest cont. Empire in history
• Describe the land geography of 1914 Tsarist Russia.   


        Differing climates w/ land having ltd. productive use; Russia = overwhelmingly rural cntry w / steppe area = major crop-growing belt due to rich soil.
• Describe the economy of 1914 Tsarist Russia.  


       grain = most valuable export (steppe area); immense natural resources (eg. coal) but cntry industrial development ltd. to towns
• Describe the ethno-makeup of Tsarist Russia.     


    wide variety of ethnicities across empire - Russian, Poles, Serbs, Uzbeks, etc.
• What year was The Crimean War and what was the outcome?      


          1855: R. defeated by Entente - R. army no match for W. powers
• How did the Crimean War (1855) influence Tsar Alexander II?   


             concluded war loss due to serf-based economy - had to modernise like the West via industrialisation; influenced him to intro social reforms.
• Explain the social and economic structure of serfdom.   


  R. peasants = Serfs = slaves; ties to land via binding agreement to serf owner - couldm't own land + farmed land leased out to them.
• What was the economic impact of serfdom?       


     no incentive to farm land w/ no pay or ownership
• What law abolished serfdom, and when was it passed?     

           Emancipation Statutes, February 1861
• What was the effect of the Emancipations Statutes (Feb 1861)? 


  1. serfs had personal freedom w/in two years; 2. volo bought land w redemption payments - had to pay 6% / 49 years to gov.
• What was the impact of the end of serfdom?        

    1. 85% of serfs legal owners of land they worked; 2. had debt to gov - redemption payments; 3. rich retained best land;
• Describe censorship under Alexander II.    


  relaxed sig - controversial mtrl from abroad allowed in; 1860s: radicalism grew on uni-campuses bcz new pol.lit
• What was the impact of Das Kapital (Marx) being publish in Russia?           


    ideas challenged est social structure - R. receptive to socialist principles + willing to Q. social strcuture & systems of gov.
• Explain Trial by Jury, 1870.   


  first time normal citizens able to participate in dispension of justice.
• When and where was the zemstva formed, and what was its structure?      


  1864, in rural areas. It had a ltd. electorate of rich + educated, who carried out council responsibilities - primary edu, road-building, etc.
• Why was the formation of the zemstva important?  


             est. ltd. form of democracy + middle class desire for more led to middle-class push for further social reforms.
• What was the impact of the relaxation of censorship?      


  Middle-class uni stu receptive to ideas and increased calls for radical pol reform; also cntrbtd to est. of LW pol.parties + increasing calls for revolution in factories & slums
• When was Alexander II's first assassination attempt and by who?       


         St. Petersburg, 1866 by a radical student.
• What was the impact of the 1866 assassination?


  -ve impact. overtly progressive ministers fired + replaced w slightly more conservative ones - slowed pace of reform
• Who was People's Will?        


  Carried out several assassinations attempts on Alexander II - radical stu group demanding W-style freedoms + social reforms
• When was Alexander II assassinated, how and by who?   


  1881, w a bomb in St. Petersburg by People's Will