Alexander III

Why did Alexander III develop a kidney disease?

Why did Alexander III develop a kidney disease?

Excessive drinking that he refused to stop

When were five of Alexander II's assassins executed?

3rd April 1881

What were Alexander III's four immediate steps following his father's murder?

• Orders a crackdown on the People's Will

• Published the 'Manifesto on Unshakeable Authority'

• Introduced the Statute of State Security

• Begins plans for the Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood

Who was the last monarch before Alexander III to wear a full beard?

Peter the Great

Who was Konstantin Pobedonostsev?

Advisor to Alexander II, Alexander III's tutor and Chief Procurator of the Holy Synod from 1880-1905

When was the Manifesto on Unshakeable Authority published?

29th April 1881

How many ministers resigned following the publication of the manifesto?

Four, including Loris Melikov

What did Alexander III's crackdown look like?

Execution of the five People's Will assassin, a nationwide police offensive and 10,000 arrests

When was the Borki train disaster?

29th October 1888

What was the Borki train disaster?

An Imperial train carrying the Tsar and his family from Crimea to St Petersburg derailed at high speed, killing 21 people at the scene. Alexander supposedly held the collapsed roof of the royal car on his shoulders while his family escaped

How did Pobedonoststev reform the Church?

• The number of clergy increased, with white clergy up by 20% and black up by 64%

• Number of church schools increased sevenfold to 31,835

• Number of students attending these schools increased nine fold to 981,076

• Each year 250 new churches and 10 monasteries were built

How did the clergy respond to reform?

They were resentful of government control over the Church and were unenthusiastic about the reforms, leading to very little impact

When were Land Captains introduced?

July 1889

What were land captains?

Members of the landowning nobility who were appointed by the government to control local zemstvas, and represented a return to autocratic principle

What did land captains have the power to do?

• Overrule any decision made by a peasant court

• Remove peasant officials

• Fine or arrest peasants

• Use corporal punishment if necessary

What were the Okhrana?

The secret police who spied on the people and arrested, tortured and imprisoned those who criticized the government. The courts had little control over them.

How did the Okhrana's power increase with Alexander III?

Agents in almost every building, and caretakers now became authorised government agents who were required to report suspected illegal activity

Why couldn't the Okhrana provide permanent protection from revolutionaries?

It was riddled with incompetence, corruption and dishonesty

How many worker strikes were there between 1886-94?

An average of 33 strikes per year. By 1903, there were 550 strikes involving 138,877 workers

What happened in November 1890?

Four terrorists with links to Zurich bomb-makers were hanged

What was the result of the 1891 famine increasing revolutionary activity?

The Okhrana found printing presses in seven towns and arrested 240 people

What was discovered about Ekaterinoslav Police Chief Rittmeister Krementskii?

His national reputation for efficiency, which grew after he closed down three or four illegal printing presses each year, was ruined after it was discovered that he had the presses set up so that he could find them

What did Nicholas II's statue of Alexander III become known as?

The Hippopotamus

What was the statue of Alexander III symbolic of?

The state's own colossal immovability and was one of the first St Petersburg landmarks to be defaced at the start of the revolution in 1917

How old was Alexander III when he died?

49

When did Alexander III die and how?

1st November 1894 due to a kidney complaint

Why were some civil servants sent to Berlin?

500 Russian civil servants were sent to Berlin in the hope that their experience could be used to create a modern civil service which could further expand autocratic power

How was Russification extended in Russia in 1885?

All teaching, except that of the Polish language and Catholic religion, had to be in Russian. A minimum of 100,000 troops were stationed in Poland and protests were brutally supressed

What were pogroms?

Organised violence against the Jewish community

What was the worst pogram attack?

In Bessarabia, 1903, which left 47 dead, 400 wounded and 700 houses and 600 shops destroyed

What was the Mir?

A peasant commune run by elders

How hard was it for peasants to leave the Mir?

In March 1883, a law increased the power of the bolshak, making it harder for peasants to leave. By 1893, peasants were banned from leaving

When was the Gentry Land Bank set up and why?

In 1882 to give favourable loans to nobles buying land

What were the results of Vyshnegradsky's policies?

Tariffs on some foreign goods were as high as 33% by 1891 and government income thereby rose by almost 50%. Government revenue also benefited from 18% increases in grain exports. French loans were secured after 1888 and Russia's budget had achieved a surplus in 1892

What was Vyshnegradsky's slogan?

'We must go hungry, but export'

How were the peasantry affected by Vyshnegradsky's policies?

They were forced to pay back-dated taxes and redemption payments, had to sell grain to the state at the lowest possible prices in order to maximise export profits, famine in the Volga region in 1891-2

Famine of 1891-92

Precarious agriculture and Vyshnegradsky's export drive with the worst harvests of the century lead to the death of 2 million people

The 'Mendeleev Tariff'

Russia must maintain relatively high customs duties for three reasons: in order to obtain government income, to preserve existing businesses from the threat of foreign competition, and to develop new industries which had not yet been established

What reforms did Bunge plan to implement?

Improved living conditions, legalised trade unions, industrial training for workers, accident insurance, the investigation of owner-worker disputes, the construction of workers' houses, laundries, cafes and reading rooms

When did Bunge resign and why?

1st January 1887 due to pressure from conservatives accusing him of incompetence and his inability to overcome the budget deficit

Who replaced Loris-Melikov as Interior Minister?

Nikolai Ignatiev

What did Nikolai Ignatiev try to do?

He attempted to strengthen the state and increase the base of social support for tsarism

What legalisation did Ignatiev implement in order to reduce the burden on the peasantry to increase their loyalty?

In May 1881, a law made it easier for peasants to rent state land. By December, a law brought all of Russia's remaining serfs into the emancipation and redemptions process, whilst lowering payments for all.

What is an Assembly of the Land?

A consultative body of 3,000 representatives directly elected by the nobility, the merchant class and the peasantry. Ignatiev hoped it would satisfy calls for parliamentary processes without limiting Alexander's authority

Why did Alexander III reject the Assembly of the Land?

Due to pressure from Katkov and Pobedonostsev

When did Witte become finance minister?

1892, until 1903

When did the Russian rouble join the Gold Standard and why?

1897 to encourage foreign investment

How did Witte develop heavy industry?

He built 31,000 miles of railway by 1905, including the Trans-Siberian railway in 1904

What did Witte establish in 1895 and what did this do?

A state monopoly on alcohol which raised large amounts of revenue

At what rate did the economy grow in the 1890s?

8% per year

When did Bunge serve as finance minister?

1881-87

When did Bunge introduce the Peasant Land Bank?

1883

What was the Peasant Land Bank?

Provided loans at low rates of interest to peasants who wishes to invest in more land

Why is Bunge considered the best finance minister for the people?

• Ended the poll tax on the peasantry

• Introduced an inheritance tax that targeted noble wealth

• Introduced a law to regulate employment and offer protection within the workplace

• Introduced a system of factory inspections

How many factory inspections were there in 1897?

267

What economic policy did Russia adopt under Reutern?

Free trade policy

What made Russian economy different to that of other European societies?

Russia had no middle-class to drive the economy forward

What approach did Alexander III's finance ministers take?

State capitalism, which consisted of:

• Higher taxes

• Foreign loans

• Major infrastructure spending, such as railways

• Increased tariffs

What was the main focus of state capitalism?

Extraction industries and heavy production were prioritised, while lighter, consumer products were not

When was the Steppe Statute established?

1891

What was the Steppe Statute?

Ethnic Russians granted 40 free acres of land to settle in central Asia

What was the reaction to the Steppe Statute?

Central Asian nomads saw this as an unwelcome encroachment onto their lands

Why did Russification occur in Finland?

As Finland industrialised at a faster rate, it began to undermine the Russian market

What were the methods of Russification in Finland?

• Penalised Finnish businesses

• Russian weights and measures imposed

• Finnish postal and railway systems were integrated into Russia

Why did the Russification of the Jews occur?

Pre-established, hateful attitude towards the Jewish community by the time of Alexander III's reign. Treated as scapegoats

What were the methods of the Russification of the Jews?

• Outbreak of pogroms. Extreme violence and mobs with assistance from the state that led to the damage of properties

• Limits on number of Jews admitted into education

• Temporary Regulations of 1882

What were the Temporary Regulations of 1882?

• Inhibited the economic freedoms of the Jewish population

• Jews not allowed to own land/buildings outside the Pale

• Jews banned from trading on Christian holidays

Limits on Jewish education

From 1887, a maximum of 10% of students in schools and universities were accepted in the Pale, with smaller quotas elsewhere

What was Alexander III's nickname?

The peacemaker

FM - best for the economy

Witte > Vyshnegradsky > Bunge

FM - best for the people

Bunge > Witte > Vyshnegradsky

Order of finance ministers during Alexander III's reign

1. Bunge

2. Vyshnegradsky

3. Witte