Alexander the II: the extent of his reforms HL OPTION

Introduction

Important dates to remember

· Nicholas the I: died in 1855 from pneumonia

· Alexander the II: ruled from 1855 to 1881 when he was assassinated

· Emancipation of the serfs: 1861

· Alexander the third: 1881 to 1894 (called girly girl by dad)

Alex the second

· Received liberal education although still attached to autocracy

· More open minded

· Extremely rich and powerful

Domestic policies

· 1855 (came to power)

· 1856 “it is better to abolish serfdom from above than wait for it to abolish itself from below”, saying this to the noblemen

· 1861 – serfs finally freed (6 years of legislation creation)

o Had to change education, legal system etc.

o If you change bottom must change top.

Reform overview

· Increased openness and transparency in government and institutions “Glasnost”

· Overall aim: to modernise and strengthen the economy whilst maintaining the autocracy.

· Emancipation of the serfs (1861), and subsequent political, legal, military, education and minorities.

· Traditional serfs replaced by poor people (economic serfs)

Emancipation of the serfs

Aims

· Create industrial workforce

· Create a domestic market – Russian goods

· Shorten army service (was 25 years)

· Improve agricultural efficiency, produce more grains

· Pacify peasants (stop chances of rebellion)

Methods

· Manifesto of emancipation

· Serfs freed over a period of 2 - 5 years

· Freedom to own land, marry and sue in courts

· Allowed for ownership at homes

· Government bought land from the landlords for the peasants, but they has to pay the government back in instalments over 49 years with 6% interest

· Domestic serfs (who hadn’t been farmers, lived in cities) received no land.

Results

· Peasant revolts/disturbances reduced over next 40 years

· Few peasants received enough land

· There were 712 peasant uprisings between 1826 and 1854

Political reforms

Aims

· Replace the rule of the landlords with alternative government structure

Method

· 1864 – elected assemblies zemstvo which were responsible for the local government

· Elected by three electoral colleges, peasants, townspeople and gentry

Results

· Dominated by the nobility – 76% of seats were held by them

· The zemstvo was very good at controlling the hospitals and schools, however their rule was a small area only

· Members of zemstvos began to question the tsar, requesting for a national zemstvo. It also angered the tsar

· Eventually, it created a forum of liberal opinion.

· The intelligentsia were able to communicate their liberal ideas to everyday people

· The zemstvo became very good at local organisation. This was the first time that Russians could practice politics. Later, ‘zemstvo men’ became significant in the opposition of Tsarism.

Legal Reforms

· Public trials and court cases accessible to all

· Same laws apply to all classes

· Trial by jury for all

· Judges independent of state

· The government still maintained the ability to impose martial law if it is necessary

· Nobility began to dominate juries

· There were cases where nobles were not sentenced or accused even though everyone knew they were guilty.

· This was new and different for peasants

military reforms

· Reduced term of service in the army from 25 to 6 years, with 9 years in the reserves.

· Universal military service for all men, no more loopholes for the Nobility or the rich

· Stopped using military service as a punishment for crimes

Growing dissent

· Loris Melikov: progressive minister who wrote a proposal to allow more representation by zemstvo in government levels.

· A2 was on his way to ratify, when he was exploded.

Writing essays

Question

· Sentence that addresses the Question

· Thesis, point, opinion, your argument

· Three key arguments to back up your thesis

· 1 – Body Para 1 TEAC

· 2 – Body para 2 TEAC

· 3 – Body para 3 TEAC

· Conclusion: restate in a meaningful way, not verbatim.

Assess is equal to evaluate. Eg. “it could be said that the political reforms were the most successful

some good sources, quotes, perspectives etc.

pages 69 and 70

· Alex the second created these reforms to maintain the autocracy and feudal structure within Russia.

· He was neither a liberal nor an autocrat – somewhere in-between. “Alexander proved himself a disappointing liberal and an ineffective autocrat.”

· “During all his 25 years as tsar, he was to display and alternation between enthusiasm and apathy, stubbornness and defeatism, vision and myopia” – Crankshaw.

· He unintentionally threatened the old class structure of Russia, and failed especially by angering those at the top of the pyramid, who he truly maintained for support.

· Despite seeming so forward thinking and liberal, his visions for the future were already behind the times. It created an even more sluggish and dysfunctional country.

· He tried to frame his selfish reforms as being altruistic, eventually even peasants realised they had been cheated of their freedom. He was solely motivated to reform simply for military reasons – Alfred Reiber.

· He created an enemy himself, dug his own grave.

· He did want Russia to be a successful nation, and realised that process began from the bottom up.

· Seaton – Watson: he was moving towards to a constitutional monarchy”

· Saunders – “the laws which freed the serfs emerged from a process that the tsar barely understood ond over which he had only partial control”

	Created by Dan Watson about 8 years ago

Note on Russian History HL , created by Dan Watson on 16/11/2016.