1 - Political Authority And The State Of Russia

Question 1

What was Mid-19th Century Russia like?

Answer 1

Large but economically underdeveloped

Question 2

What was the ratio of villagers to town dwellers?

Answer 2

11:1

Question 3

How much of the population were illiterate peasants?

Answer 3

85%

Question 4

What 2 places did Serfs belong to?

Answer 4

Village communes/Mirs

Question 5

In what 2 ways were Serfs owned?

Answer 5

Private/State

Question 6

In what 2 ways did Serfs pay their master?

What 3 things could their masters do to them?

Answer 6

Rent and labour

Bought/Sold/Beaten

Question 7

What was Russia ruled as in 1855? How was it run?

Answer 7

An empire

An Autocratic Tsar

Question 8

What was the Tsar head of?

Answer 8

Russian Orthodox Church

Question 9

What was the Tsar believed to have possessed?

Answer 9

Semi-divine powers

Question 10

What were edicts? What could the Tsar choose?

Answer 10

Law

His own advisers

Question 11

When did Alexander II become Tsar? What was Russia involved in?

Answer 11

March 1855

Crimean War

Question 12

Which 3 countries had Russia been fighting in the Crimean War since 1853?

Answer 12

Britain/France/Turkey

Question 13

What 2 battles did Russia lose in 1854?

Answer 13

Battles of Balaclava/Inkerman

Question 14

What did Russia lose in August 1855? What was it?

Answer 14

Sevastopol

Major naval base

Question 15

What 2 things did Russia’s 1856 final defeat highlight?

Answer 15

Reliance on Serf armies/Conscripts

Economic backwardness

Question 16

How much of Russia’s expenditure was spent on the army? What 3 things did the army suffer from?

Answer 16

45%

Incompetent officers/Humiliation/Increase in Serf uprisings

Question 17

What 3 things had Alexander II done prior to Serf emancipation?

Answer 17

Travelled the empire/Served on father’s Council of State/Led a Serfdom committee

Question 18

What 2 benefits did Alexander II believe Serf Emancipation would have?

Answer 18

To curb tensions/Stimulate the economy

Question 19

Which 2 groups also believed in the idea of Serf emancipation? Who were 2 key figures of the latter?

Answer 19

Family/Bureaucrats

Nicholas and Dmitri Milyutin

Question 20

What were the 4 types of motives behind Alexander II’s reforms?

Answer 20

Political/Economic/Moral/Intellectual

Question 21

What type of motive was nobility debt? Why did nobility debt occur?

Answer 21

Political

Nobles shunned business and relied on serfs

Question 22

What type of motive was declining incomes? What 2 things caused this? What 2 things were masters forced to do?

Answer 22

Political
Growing Serf population/Inadequate agriculture
Mortgage/Sell Serfs as security for loans

Question 23

What type of motive was Serfdom? What 2 things prevented reform?

Answer 23

Economic

Inability to move to town factories/Internal demands for goods low

Question 24

What type of motive was experimentation? What 2 things prevented reform? What did the latter lead to?

Answer 24

Economic

Mirs prevented experimentation/Rural poverty led to a state debt of 54 million roubles

Question 25

What type of motive were the Westernisers? What did they believe?

Answer 25

Moral/Intellectual

Russia should abandon Serfdom

Question 26

What type of motive were the Slavophiles? What 2 things did they believe?

Answer 26

Moral/Intellectual

Serfdom should be reformed/Russia should stay as a traditional peasant society

Question 27

What type of motive were the Intellectuals? What did they believe?

Answer 27

Moral/Intellectual

People were treated like animals

Question 28

What type of motive were the Nihilists? What did they believe?

Answer 28

Moral/Intellectual

Sweep all tradition

Question 29

What did Historian John Gooding about Russia in the Mid-19th century?

Answer 29

“It was more backwards now than at the beginning of the century”