Recapping the Social Structure of the Russian Empire

CLASS % WHO CHARACTERISTICS

Ruling Class 0.5 Tsar and his familyMembers of govt: State council of Russia, Ministers, senate

Privileged class with disproportionate wealthAutocrats and rulers of Imperial Russia

Upper class 12 Nobility, gentry, hereditary land owners, wealthy merchants, church leaders, bureaucratic leaders, high ranking army officials

High incomes and privileges with low work load. Exempt from many oppressive laws. Group monitored behaviour of competitors to ensure fair share of resources and power. Few were appointed by the Tsar to keep other groups of upper class under control

Commercial and professional middle class

1.5 Small scale manufacturers and factory managers. Clerks. Educated thinkers, writers and artists, known as ‘intelligentsia’

Developed at end of 19th century as a result of industrialisation in major cities and some towns. Lack of unity between different professions. Fear protests from classes below. Merchants (especially Jewish) viewed with suspicion by government

Industrial working class

4 Urban workers Growing with industrialisation, population was concentrated in limited number of city centres. Work in overcrowded factories with extremely poor working conditions. 14 – 15 hour days with low, fluctuating wages

Peasants 82 Agricultural workforce Extremely poor living and working conditions. Overcrowded, impoverished. High illiteracy and resistant to change. Starvation and disease common. Financially dependent on landowners and subsistence farming

The Russian Revolution

AOS1 - Revolutionary ideas, leaders, movements and event

TSARISM: HOW IT WAS IMPLEMENTED AND TSAR NICHOLAS II

LEARNING INTENTION:Understand the meaning of Tsarism, and identify how it

was implemented

• Provide a detailed description of Tsarism

• Identify some of the personality traits of Tsar Nicholas II

• Express how Tsarism was implemented• Explain the role of the church in Tsarist

Russia

Tsarism: Defined• ‘Tsar’ = Russian for ruler, ‘Tsarism’ = this system of one

person rule

• As defined in the ‘Fundamental Laws of the Empire’ issued in 1716 and again in 1832:

The Tsar is an autocratic and unlimited monarch God commands his supreme power be obeyed

• Helpful points from historian Merilyn Hoystead: No constitution or other institutions limited Tsar’s authority Russian officials swore oath of loyalty to him (not the state) Civil servants/ministers needed his consented to resign Consider by Nicholas II as sacred, t`o be handed to his son intact

Tsarism: Origins and the Tsars

BEGINNING OF THE ROMANOV DYNASTY: Michael Romanov became Tsar in 1613 after years of political uncertainty. Over next 300 years, his descendants became Tsars. Adopted double headed eagle from Byzantine period for coat of arms implying power as great as Roman Empire

PETER THE GREAT (1682 – 1725): Attempted to ‘Westernise’ Russia. Built new capital on Baltic Sea (St. Petersburg). Raised taxes and introduced conscription to deal with foreign wars

CATHERINE THE GREAT (1762 – 1796): Greatly influenced by enlightenment thinkers, encouraging development of educated classes (intelligentsia). This would, in part, liberate Russians from Tsarist rule in 20th century

NICHOLAS I (1825 – 1855): Heavily censored ideas critical of Tsarism . However, at this time intelligentsia ‘Westerners’ encouraged growth of industrialisation in Russia while intelligentsia ‘slavophiles’ tried to promote and protect Russia’s unique culture

ALEXANDER II (1855 – 1881): Led during Crimean War with Turks which caused massive reforms, abolished serfdom freeing 40 million peasants, create mir (village commune) system which controlled land and property redistribution. In 1864, created zemstvos: elected assemblies representing land owners, peasants and townspeople. Assassinated with a bomb by radical revolutionary group ‘The People’s Will’, which lead to a long period political repression, known as ‘the reaction’

In 1864 Alexander II made deeply impacting reforms to the Russian empire:

Abolished serfdom ( where a peasant is attached to the land owned by a lord and required to perform labour in return for certain legal or customary rights).

Created Mirs (A village community of peasant farmers)

Create zemstvos (An elective council responsible for the local administration )

Tsarism: ImplementationDivided government: Three key bodies:1. Imperial council: Personal advisors to the Tsar2. Cabinet Ministers: Given responsibility over a specific department (e.g: military, education)3. The Senate: Transformed Tsar’s ideas into state laws

Corrupt bureaucracy:• Civil services put policies into practice• Fourteen levels of bureaucrats took bribes when enacting policies, creating a noble upper class and not

addressing country’s problems• They randomly determined how to apply Tsar’s policies

Oppressive police: • Tsar’s secret police ‘Okhrana’. Monitored Tsar’s suspected enemies (social agitators and anarchists• Second group maintained order among people (one for every 3,850 people). They used oppressive

measures to control population. Tsar employed Cossacks (in return for land) and were savage fighters

Conservative Russian Orthodox Church:• Official Russian religion since 989AD, legitimised Tsar’s power• Under state control since 1721

Create a visual or written explanation of the implementation of Tsarism.

Also research the personality traits of Tsar Nicholas the II and explain how this effected the implementation of

Tsarism

The Church

• From the 1880’s onward, the Church was increasingly used to reinforce conservative values in order to stifle revolutionary ideas and movements

• Was widely criticised (see page 8)

Later in the same year, Deni released

this famous cartoon, using the same

devices to criticise capitalism