Alexander II

Alexander II’s problems when he came to the throne

Only 6% of land was farmed

Only 1.6% lived in towns/cities

Only 1% enrolled in schools

Life expectancy of 35 in peasant population.

80% peasant population

Reliant on army, backward farming methods, limited industrial growth, violence only outlet

Crimean War

1853-56

Russia suffered 100k casualties

Ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1856

Humiliated Russia, weapons were in short supply and poor quality. Serfs in the army were poorly trained, and revolted when called up to fight.

Alexander’s initial reforms

Immediately stopped army recruitment

Eased censorship

Released all Decembrists that had tried to overthrow his father

Released all Poles that had rebelled in 1830

Lifted restrictions on travel, by 1859 26,000 passports had been issued

Emancipation of the serfs - reasons

Humanitarian, liberal influences, desire to catch up with the West, defeat in Crimean War, fear of revolt

Said ‘better to begin abolishing serfdom from above than to wait for it to begin to abolish itself from below’ to the nobility

Emancipation of the serfs provisions and reaction

Serfs freed, couldn’t be punished by landowners, could own land, could get married without permission

Had to pay redemption tax for 49 years with 6% interest

Peasants could pay tax back by working for free for landowners (so ended up on same terms for emancipation)

But peasants couldn’t leave land without the mir and mir would equally distribute land every 10 years

647 incidents of peasant unrest 4 months

Alexander’s economic developments and limitations

Industrial workforce increased from 860k to around 1.3 million by 1887

Coal production increased to around 4.4 million tons by 1887

Russian rail network increased 7 times due to Reutern

Average economic growth of 6%

But poll tax increased by 80%

Alexander’s education reforms and limitations

Number of primary school children increased from 450,000 to 1 million by 1856 to 1878

Illiteracy dropped to 21% due to Zemstva

1870 - first school with girls education authorised

1859 - 2/3s of students were exempt from fees at Moscow University

1871 - gimnaziya were founded, focused on classical education.

Number of gimnaziya increased by 1881, but attendees had fallen below 50,000.

Opposition towards the Tsar

Students travelled to where Russian dissidents lived, listened to their ideas, and came back to Russia and distributed opposition pamphlets

1868 - Baukunin’s ‘Catechism of a Revolutionary’ encouraged people to dedicate themselves to revolutionary violence

1866 - attempt to assassinate Tsar

4000 Narodniks tried to convince the peasants to rise up, but failed and arrested

1878 - head of third section assassinated

1879 and 1880 - failed bombs on the Tsar, railway tracks and dining room

1881 - People’s Will assassinated Alexander

Period of reaction - changes in government

Count Shuvalov made chief of police - banned student processions, tightened censorship, promoted others who agreed with his ideas. Third section tightened.

‘Shuvalov era’ where 1611 populists arrested

Count Tolstoy made minster of education. Replaced liberal subjects with Church History, Latin etc.

Created the gymnasia in 1871, only those who attended could progress to uni and they focused on ‘classical’ education.