Reasons for emancipation

Question 1

How did serfdom limit the economy

Answer 1

No internal market demand or opportunity for capital accumulation - serfs were very poor, surviving on produce they grew themselves.

The Mir controlled farming patterns, remaining backwards as agricultural improvements in Europe increased competitiveness. Three field rotation system.

Tied to the land, no class mobility.

Question 2

Events of Crimean war

Answer 2

Tsar Nicholas I fought the Ottoman Turks in an attempt to increase influence in 1853.

Humiliating defeat in 1856, treaty of Paris signed, Russian warships cannot use the Black sea.

Question 3

Why did Russia lose the Crimean war?

Answer 3

Conscript army of 1.3 million serfs lacked training and determination
Poor leadership
Troops and supplies moved along bumpy roads that turned to mud in wet weather.
Rifles and artillery outclassed

Question 4

percentage of nobility and serfs

Answer 4

1 percent nobility
about 90 percent serfs

Question 5

reasons for threat of revolt

Answer 5

1880 - 1844 less than 30 outbreaks of disorder per year. Figure more than doubled over next 15 years.
Weekly reports from 1857
Protests against conscription landowners pushing rent
1848 revolutions in Europe were worrying
“Better to abolish serfdom from above than below.”