Alexander III

• The reassertion of autocracy pt 1

  • After his fathers assasination, Alexander III was encouraged to resassert the principal of autoracy and abandon his fathers reforms
  • He arrested 150 members of the Peoples Will and publically hanged those responsible for his fathers assasination
  • He increased the powers of the police, making the Department of Police (which supervised the Okhrana), reponsible to the Ministry of Internal Affairs so that its activites could be monitored
  • From 1885, closed court sessions (where trials were held in secret) without juries were reintroduced
• Reassertion of autocracy pt2

  • In 1889, Alexander III introduced Land Captains, appointed from the nobility, replacing local magistrates and had the power to override Zemstva elections and decisions
  • Land Captains could also overturn the judgements of local courts and order the flogging of peasants
  • In 1890, the peasant vote to the Zemstva was reduced
  • Outspoken liberal members of the judicary and the Zemstva were removed from office
• Russification pt 1

  • Alexander III adopted this policy, supressing ethnic minorites of the empire
  • Russia was to be declared the offical first language, so trials and local government had to be conducted in Russian
  • Public office was closed to those who did not speak Russian fluently
  • Adherence to the Orthodox Church was encouraged - in the Baltic region, 37,000 Lutherans converted
• Russiafication pt 2

  • Catholic monastries were closed down. Members of non-Orthodox churches were not allowed to build new places of worship
  • Resistance to Russification was supressed, often by the military
  • The nationalities that suffered the most were the Polish, Finnish, The Baltic German and the Ukrainian people
  • Russiafication was intended to 'unite' the country but it intensified national feeling among non-Russians and drove some to join opposition groups
• Antisemitism pt1

  • The group that suffered the most from Russiafication were the Jewish people
  • Antisemitism was ingrained in Russian society and, when anti-Jewish pogroms broke out in 1881-84, the authorities did little to curb the violence
  • Many Jewish people were raped or murdered and Jewish property in several cities was destroyed
• Antisemitism pt 2

  • There were about 5 million Jews, mostly living in western Russia
  • Many laws were passed in Alexanders reign to restrict the rights and movement of Jewish people, who were forced to live in certain districts or ghettoes - Pale of Settlement
  • Many Jewish people emigrated or expelled and many were driven to join revolutionary groups
• Industrialisation under Vyshnegradsky

  • Minister of Finance 1887-92
  • Despite some progress under Reutern, Russia remained underdeveloped
  • Increased import tarrifs by as much as 30% in order to produce home production
  • Increased grain exports by forcing peasants to sell grain to the state
  • Increased loans from abroad (eg from France)
• Results of industrialisation under Vyshnegradsky

  • Grain exports increased by 18% between 1881 and 1891
  • By 1892, the budget was in surplus
  • Peasants suffered from heavy taxation, high goods prices and grain requisitions
  • A famine (1891-92) following a bad harvest killed about 350,000 people and he was dismissed
• Wittes reforms

  • Minister of Finance 1892-1903
  • Sought additional loans from abroad
  • Increased investment in mining, oil and banking
  • Encouraged European experts to oversee industrial development and advice on planning
  • Achieved huge expansion of the railway network (Trans-Siberan railway)
• Agricultural and land issues

  • Emancipation brought about little change in farming as most peasants had too little land to become prosperous and owing to high taxes, grain requisitioning, redemption payments and the traditional farming practices favoured by the mir elders
  • Landowners - They were mainly nobelmen. Many sold off some of their land to pay off debts. Some abandoned farming to set up business or enter the professions.
  • Peasants - The Kulaks (richer peasants) bought up land, sometimes with loans from the Peasants Land Bank.