Alexander II- reform and reaction

When did Alexander II become Tsar and under which circumstances?

1855 after the death of his father during the Crimean War

What motivated Alexander’s earlier reforms?

• The need to modernise Russia after the defeat in the Crimean War 

• Strengthen the armed forces

• Prevent further peasant uprisings 

• Improve the economy as it was behind on industrialisation

What terms characterised the Emancipation Statute of 1861

• the serfs were free and could marry who they wanted, own property and see up their own businesses

• gentry had to grant use of their home and a portion of arable land to each peasant

• each serf had a minimum size of allotment

• Landowners were compensated by the state immediately

• freed serfs had to pay the state redemption taxes for 49 years with interest of 6% when if fully paid they would have legal title to their land

• local mir was responsible for paying the redemption taxes

• separation by a peasant of his land from the commune could be done with the consent of the mir until the redemption tax was paid

What were the results and the reaction towards the Emancipation Edict?

• 647 incidents of peasant rioting occurred four months after

• troops were used in 449 cases of these riots

• Peasants had less land than before and the landowner reserved the best for himself

• the nature of the reforms proved the limited nature of the Tsar’s government was incapable of meeting the needs of the people

• this led to more revolutionary and terrorist activity

What did Alexander II do with the army and what were the results 

• Recruitment was suspended in 1856

• every man under 20 was made liable for conscription if medically fit

• length of service was reduced to 6 years followed by 9 years in the reserve and 5 in the militia 

• military reserve was raised from 210,000 to 553,000 by 1870