Tsarist Russia 1855-1881

• Who served as Finance Minister between 1880-1881?


  Alexander Abaza
• Why was Alexander Abaza dismissed as Minister of Finance in 1881?


  He was fiercely liberal and the new Tsar, Alexander III, dismissed the liberal ministers his father had appointed
• Who was Minister of Finance between 1878-1880?

  Samuil Greig
• Who succeeded Von Reutern as Finance Minister?

  Samuil Greig
• Why did Mikhail von Reutern resign as Finance Minister?

  He resigned due to economic difficulties caused by the 1877-78 Russo-Turkish war which undermined his economic policies
• Who was Minister of Finance between 1862-78?

  Mikhail Von Reutern
• Economic reforms under Von Reutern

  - The treasury was reformed with new arrangements for collecting taxes, auditing government department accounts and publishing budgets

  - Tax farming was abolished and more indirect taxation was used

  - Banks and credit facilities were extended with the establishment of the state bank (1860), municipal banks (1862) and a savings bank (1869)

  - Import duties were reduced in 1863

  - Government subsidies were offered to promote private development of railways

  - Government-guaranteed annual dividend given to encourage foreign investment

  - Regulation of joint-stocl companies

  - Government support for the cotton industry during the American Civil War (1861-65) and mining in the Donets Coalfield
• Who was 'the Father of Russian Marxism'?

  Georgi Plekhanov
• The People's Will


  An extreme Russian terrorist organisation that split off form Land and Liberty. It was led by Aleksander Mikhailov and a spy in the Third Section kept the group informed on actions by the Secret Police. In 1879, they declared that the Tsar must be removed if he did not agree to a constitution and they successfully assassinated him in 1881
• Black Repartition


  A populist faction of Land and Liberty set up in 1879 that was more moderate in methods and wanted to partition the black soil provinces of Russia among the peasants. It was weakened in 1880-81 by arrests and ceased to exist after 1881. Its leader, Georgi Plekhanov, then turned to Marxism.
• Land and Liberty

  A populist group that split in 1879
• Narodniks


  A populist movement who tried to go to the people in 1874 in a group of 2000 only for around 1600 to be arrested. They tried again in 1876, but were no more successful. It did, however, give publicity to the opposition.
• Tchaikovsky Circle


  A radical circle, including Nikolai Tchaikovsky, who circulated scientific and revolutionary literature comprising of no more than 100 people spread through St Petersburg and other major cities. In 1872, it began organising workers to send them to work among peasants in the countryside
• Mikahil Bakunin


  An anarchist and socialist who put forward the idea of collective ownership and pay based on hours worked and the first person to translate the Communist Manifesto into Russian in 1869
• Nikolai Chernyshevsky


  Author of What Is To Be Done? in 1862 and author of the journal The Contemporary, he was an influential nihilist and spent time in the Peter and Paul Fortress in St Petersburg
• Aleksander Herzen


  Editor of the radical journal of the Bell who called on his followers to 'go to the people' in 1869
• Anarchists


  the rejection of the state
• Nihilism


  the total rejection of religious or moral beliefs
• Westernisers


  Russian intellectuals who wanted to modernise, taking influence from Europe e.g. Ivan Turgenev
• Slavophiles


  Russian intellectuals in the early nineteenth century who favoured resisting European influences in favour traditional peasant values and institutions of the Slavic people, e.g. Leo Tolstoy
• Assassination of Tsar Alexander II

  - On 13th March 1881, Alexander was travelling to the Winter Palace in a closed carriage

  - Members of the People's Will threw three bombs, with the third killing the Tsar
• Changes under Loris-Melikov

  - Release of political prisoners

  - Relaxation of censorship

  - Removal of salt-tax

  - Lifting of zemstva restrictions

  - Abolition of Third Section, although it would be replaced by the Okhrana
• Loris Melikov-Consitution

  - Count Mikhail Loris-Melikov proposed the inclusion of elected representatives of the nobility and town governments in debating some drafts of state decrees
• Counter-reforms in Police, Law and Control

  - Pyotr Shuvalov strengthened the police, encouraged the Third Section and increased the persecution of ethnic and religious minorities

  - Konstantin Pahlen tried to use show trials and arrests to make excuses of those accused of being political agitators

  - Agreements with Germany and Switzerland allowed radicals who fled to those countries to be pursued by the 3rd Section

  - Political crimes were transferred from civil courts to special secret courts
• Education counter-reform under Alexander II

  - The church regained authority over education

  - Only students from Gimnazii could go to University (1871)

  - More liberal university courses were replaced with a traditional curriculum, seeing courses such as Lierature, Science, Modern Foreign Languages and History forced out in favour of Maths, Latin, Greek and Divinity

  - Stronger censorship increased with government powers to veto university appointments

  - This led to many wealthier students studying abroad
• What was the Third Section?

  The Secret Police
• Reshuffles in Alexander II's cabinet during his reactionary phase

  - Dmitry Tolstoy replaced Golvonin as Education Minister

  - Aleksander Timashev replaced Pyotr Valuev as Minister of Internal Affairs

  - Pyotr Shuvalov became head of the Third Section

  - Konstantin Pahlen became Minister of Justice
• When did Alexander II's first wife die?

  1865, of tuberculosis
• Attempted assassinations of Alexander II

  - April 1866, Dmitry Karakozov shot at Alexander but missed

  - 1867, Polish immigrant Antoni Berezowski fired at a carriage carrying Alexander and his sons but hit his horse and a cavalryman instead

  - April 1879, Aleksander Soloviev fired at Alexander five times without success

  - December 1879, A bomb on the railway line blew up the wrong train and Alexander survived

  - February 1880, a mine below the dining room of the Winter Palace was set off, but the Tsar was late to dinner and survived
• Yekatarina Mikhailovna Dolgorukova

  Alexander II's mistress and later wife
• When was the trial of the 50?

  1877
• When was the first attempted assassination of Alexander II?

  1866
• When did Alexander II's son die?

  1865
• How did the number of books published change between 1855 and 1864?

  It rose from 1020 to 1836
• Censorship reform (1858-70)


  - Initial relaxation of press censorship

  - Reduced restrictions of publishers and foreign publications were permitted with government approval

  - The press was allowed to print editorials commenting on government policy
• How did the number of university students change between the 1850s and 70s?

  It grew from 3600 to 10,000
• How did the number of primary schools change between 1856-1880?


  It rose from 8000 to 23,000 with the number of students changing from 400,000 to over a million
• Who was Minister for Education between 1862-67?


  Alexander Golovnin
• Education reforms (1863-1864)


  - Universities were given the opportunity to govern themselves and appoint their own staff

  - Responsibility for schooling was transferred from the Orthodox church to the Zemstva

  - Primary and secondary education was extended with modern schools and gimnaziya with students from both being allowed to go to university

  - Schools were declared open to all regardless of class and sex

  - Women were allowed to enter non-vocational training from 1870
• Judiciary reforms (1864)


  - Introduction of innocent until proven guilty

  - Equality before the law with a single system of local, provincial and national courts although volost courts continued to deal exclusively with peasant cases

  - The defendant could employ a defence lawyer

  - Criminal cases were heard before barristers and a jury, selected from a list of property owners

  - Judges were appointed by the Tsar and given improved training and pay

  - Local justices of the peace were elected every three years by the Zemstva and were supposed to be independent from political control

  - Courts were opened to the public and could be reported upon, including by the government newspaper The Russian Courier

  - Military and ecclesiastical courts remained

  - Juries never appeared in Poland