Russia Before WW1 Flashcards
(33 cards)
What was the Emancipation reform of 1861?
The Emancipation Reform of 1861 in Russia (literally: “the peasants Reform of 1861”) was the first and most important of liberal reforms passed during the reign of Emperor Alexander II of Russia. The reform effectively abolished serfdom throughout the Russian Empire.
What did the 1861 Emancipation Manifesto proclaim?
The 1861 Emancipation Manifesto proclaimed the emancipation of the serfs on private estates and of the domestic (household) serfs.
Emancipation definition
The fact or process of being set free from legal, social, or political restrictions; liberation.
How many people received their liberty after the 1861 Emancipation Edict?
By this edict more than 23 million people received their liberty.
What rights did serfs gain from the 1861 Emancipation Edict?
Serfs gained the full rights of free citizens, including rights to marry without having to gain consent, to own property and to own a business. The Manifesto prescribed that peasants would be able to buy the land from the landlords.
Since the Emancipation Edict of 1861, what were peasants demanding more of?
The peasants were demanding more land and had been since the Emancipation Edict of 1861
Did the 1905 revolution bring down the Tsar?
The 1905 revolution had failed to bring down the Tsar.
What did the 1905 Revolution show the Tsar and what did he do in response to his?
It had shown the Tsar that he lacked a stable constituency. He had managed to divert the capitalist and middle class groups in 1905 by promising constitutional monarchy in his October Manifesto.
What were the tsars keen to do in the second half of the 19th century?
The Tsars were keen to modernise Russia in the second half of the 19th century.
What diluted the influence of the nobility?
The growth of the state for administrative purposes, the industrialisation drive of the 1890s, and the growth of cities all diluted the influence of the nobility as the nobility’s proportional importance to the political, economic and social spheres of life fell.
What was the black hundreds?
A group of nobles, but also rich peasants, bureaucrats, merchants, shop-keepers, policemen and the clergy, who rallied to the defence of absolutism in 1905, uniting in anti-revolutionary and antisemitic thought.
How many parliaments were there between 1905/1917?
4
Why was Nicholas Ii forced to abdicate?
Russia was defeated again and again in WW 1
When did Lenin and the Bolsheviks seize power and take Russia out of WWI?
October 1917
What was the estimated population of Russia before WW1?
132 million
Three words to describe the Romanov dynasty
absolute autocratic monarchs
Which revolution led to the creation of the world’s first communist state?
The 1917 October revolution
Communism definition
Last stage in Marx’s notion of the evolution of history where there would be no state; everybody would be equal and share in abundance of goods produced by machinery rather than by workers’ labour; more leisure and people would take what they needed from central pool goods.
Who was the leader of the Bolsheviks?
Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov - Lenin
What did Tsar Nicholas II believe about democracy?
Any moves towards democracy would lead to revolution, chaos and the collapse of the Russian Empire.
Define Socialism
Workers’ control of the state. Factories, machines, owned collectively and run by state; everybody equal, class system brought to an end; wealth and goods shared out fairly; equal entitlement to good housing and standard of living.
Define capitalism
Economic system based private enterprise and the profit motive in which the market determines the price of goods and regulates the supply and distribution of raw materials and products.
What was Tsar Alexander II (1855-1881) like?
Prepared to contemplate reforms; Emancipation of serfs 1861. Assassinated in 1881.
What was Tsar Alexander III (1881 -94) like?
Turned firmly against reform and presided over a period total reaction.
