russia at Xroads (decline of noble power) (ipad notes)

romanov dynasty

• only imperial dynasty (romanoff)

• nobles in russia were educated in france to get a western education, so the nobles all spoke french (french was an upper class language)

  • nobles were really removed from the rest of the population

• russians were orthodox christians (not catholic)

Russian imperial expansion

• the russians covered the edge of baltic sea all the way to the pacific

  • it was a land based empire

• they only have a pacific post, and most of the year it is iced over, so they want a post down south, where they can use it year round

• they want a post down south near turkey (free of ice), meaning that they would need to expand down to turkey

• by this point, the ote is being held together by the british and french, who dont want to take over, but get the trade + have power over them

• the straigt of istanbul that connects the black sea to the mediteranean was the place russia wanted to conquer

status quo c. 1820 russia

• huge population

• huge army (although only with swords and pikes)

• 90% of russia’s population are enslaved/serfs

  • the plague that got rid of serfdom in Europe never hit russia, so there was no reason to stop

  • serfs cant leave because they hed debt to pay the landowner, but they are “free”

• absolute monarchy

• by this point, serfs are bought and sold like slaves

• to industrialize, you needed people to work in cities, and most are legally bound to their landowners

russians attack ottomans

• the main fighting in on crimea, which is a nice warm vacation place

• russia + OTE are both not industrialized, and russia has more man-power, so russia should win

• the british and french dont want the russians to take over, because they wanted to keep their trade + control over the OTE

• british and french come help the ottoman empire, fighting in crimea

• called the crimean war

• the russians lose (as they arent industrialized like britain and france), and the british and french armies destroy them

nurses

• it was unheard of/not allowed for women to see naked male bodies other than her husbands, so women couldnt work in the medical field

• florence nightengale offers ti go work to help anyone who needs medical care in crimea

• she works with swiss Henri Dunant after the war to form the red cross

Tsar Alex II (1855-81)

• after this humiliation, Alex II decides that they need to industrialize

• they have no factories, modern cities, or modern navies/armies

the great reform

• legally freed the serfs to get people to work in cities and factories

• they give the freed people land (a set amount, enough to run a family farm), with the land coming from the nobles

  • the nobles gave them crappy spots of land (marsh, swamp, wooded, etc)

• many young people chose to go to the cities. they werent paid very well, but there will be a workforce!

decrease noble power

• reforming judicial to open trials

• removing noble military general titles from the people who only got it because of their status, not merit

• the military adademies open to merit

• every adult man was to serve time in the military

modernizing lower class

• national elementary school system

• establishing local govts

  • this takes noble and local power away from nobles