The Russian Autocracy in 1855

Question 1

How big was the Russian Empire?

Answer 1

21 million km

Question 2

How was Russia governed?

Answer 2

Autocracy

Question 3

How was the Tsar supported by the church?

Answer 3

Divine right, The three pillars of autocracy, The church and the state wer closley entwined

Question 4

How was the tsar supported by his advisors and ministers?

Answer 4

The tsar chose his ministers himself

Question 5

How was the tsar supported by the nobillity?

Answer 5

Kept orders and served as provincial governors or on special committees

Question 6

How was the tsar supported by the bureaucracy?

Answer 6

They were paid noble officials each holding a rank. Orders were passed down through the bureaucracy from the central government

Question 7

Describe the army?

Answer 7

• 1.5 million conscripted serfs
• conscripted for 25 years
• could be used to fight wars
• Higher ranks were fior nobles
• Cossacks were the elite, they acted as the tsars personal body guards and reinforced the police

Question 8

Describe the Police State?

Answer 8

• Prevented freedom of speech, press and travel
• political meetings and strikes wer forbidden
• Censorship was enforced
• The third section was the secret police. It agents had unlimited powers and ensured the security of the regime

Question 9

The russian people

Answer 9

• over 50% of the peasant population were peasant serfs
• they were classified as the property of their owners
• Half were privatley owned half were state peasants
• most serfs worked in village communes called the mir- living and working conditions were primitive
• Most peasants were illeterate and hostile to change

Question 10

Political developments

Answer 10

• liberal ideas were spreading from the west
• Nicholas I had followed a path of repression and sought to maintain autocracy.

Question 11

what was the economy like?

Answer 11

• The russian economy was predominantley rural due to russias geographic issues
• Russia was a serf based economy
• this limited the force that drives change

Question 12

Russian society

Answer 12

• Russia was divided into the landowning elite and the productive classes
• landowning elite - 10% of the population & owned 75% of the land
• serf majority - 90% of the population, owned little land
• No middle class as there hadnt been industrialisation
• small number of proffessionals ( intelligentsia)
• society remained feudal

Question 13

timeline of the crimean war (1853-56)

Answer 13

1) nicholas’s attempts to increase the russian empire had caused the turks to declare war in october 1853
2) Britain and france want to protect there trading interests so side with turkey
3) the Russians were defeated by the west at Balaclava and Inkerman

Question 14

When did Alexander II become Tsar?

Answer 14

March 1855

Question 15

What was the impact of the crimean war?

Answer 15

revealed Russias military and administrative weaknesses
- Outdated technology
- Poor transport
- Inadequate leadership
- problems of having a conscripted army
The loss of the war was embarrassing for Russia

Question 16

What had the crimean war shown?

Answer 16

• The need for Russia to catchup with the west and modernise
• proved a ‘wake up call’ for Alexander II
• Marked a new generation of liberal mided nobles
• the war was a catalyst for change