The Decline and Fall of the Romanov Dynasty Part 1

Case StudyModern History Preliminary Course

ByS.Angelo

History Head TeacherEast Hills Girls Technology High School

2007

Background Information

Major themes– Historical development– Agrarian problems and the peasants– Economic and industrial development– Role of the State– The Nobility– The development of ideas and ideologies

Historical development

Kiev and Novgorod were settled and developed by Slavs Tartars overran most of Russia and stopped the developments in Kiev Novgorod continued to develop and traded with the Hanseatic League The Tartar rule was largely instrumental in determining the pattern for Russia –

local lords – boyars – ruled their own estates and surrounding areas with no overall chief

In order to rid Russia of the Tartars the people had to unite The Prince of Moscow gained power through this process and became the Tzar

of Muscovy The Tartars were eventually expelled and a new kingdom set up in Moscow by

Ivan the Terrible At the end of the 16th Century development in Russia was similar to other

countries However, the desire to dominate all areas led to the defeat of Novgorod and the

destruction of trade and the merchant class until the late 19th century It also destroyed any form of democratic rule without a ruler

Agrarian problems and the peasants

Tartar domination stressed agriculture rather than trade as an economic basis This was to ensure self sufficiency Society blended autocracy and feudalism and was state controlled Patriarchal groups were the main landholding unit Land could be seized by the strong and weaker groups had no protection in law By the end of the 16th century free peasants had become serfs This was most likely due to the reliance of landowners for labour to work on their

estates Kovalevensky suggests that this may also have been linked to the economic

dependence of serfs on the landowner for tools, animals and other necessities which were borrowed and repaid in labour

In the 17th century laws were enacted restricting the movement of peasants (Restrictive Code of 1649)

Indebtedness, custom and legislation now meant the peasants were in actuality serfs 3 kinds of serfs

– obrok = paid rent in money or kind– Barshchina = worked a certain number of days on landowners’ estates– Household serfs

Economic and industrial development

Tradespeople were also bonded and could not move freely Industry was not part of towns, but rural until the 19th century when the State

took control Trade was limited and the largest market was the regular army Peter the Great encouraged the development of factories and peasants were

forced to work in them– The larges were cotton and textiles

Industrial development was hampered by great distance and lack of an adequate communication system – first railway was not built until 1850 and not developed until the 1880s

Religious beliefs also hampered the development of the economy and industry

– The move to Greek orthodox meant a belief in thrift, frugality, simplicity Agricultural development was not geared to produce for sale Industrial production was limited by the state

Role of the State

Every group in society had to give some service to the state

Landowners were the military, administrative, economic and financial agents of the State

In turn the State depended on the Nobility By 1800 Russia had a population of 36 million

– 54% serfs of landowners; 40% state serfs– 6% (about 2 million) were not serfs

The Nobility

The 18th century saw a revival of privilege and demand for more privilege and power by the Nobility

In some countries this led to revolution, centralized government, new bureaucracy, or parliamentary reforms

In Russia the Nobles were a class with a Table of Ranks which existed virtually intact until 1917

The most powerful group was the Guards Regiment until 1825 Catherine the Great freed Nobles from state service in 1762

– Charter of Nobility codifying their privileges– control over local government– monopoly over land and serf ownership

Nobles were mostly poverty stricken– Poor harvests – poor soil and climate– Division by inheritance (smaller landholdings)– Lack of improvement in technique– Dependence on the tsars for land

The development of ideas and ideologies

The intelligentsia until the end of the 19th century were usually Nobility – most others were illiterate

Liberalism developed fostered by the ideas from young officers during the Napoleonic Wars The landowners had no share in the administration Education was limited to the upper classes

– 1824 the Minister for Public Instruction stated that knowledge was only good when it was used like salt – used appropiately

– Education was graded according to the social level and future occupation of the students Slavophiles developed – a group of landholders with close connections to their estates and the

provinces Westerners – anti bureaucratic group supported by the petty nobility, lower clergy, merchants,

younger sons However all these developments took place in the shadow of censorship laws brought in by

Nicholas I in 1826 which meant nothing political could be discussed Literature then became the vehicle for dissemination of ideas Philosophy was suppressed Karl Marx’s Capital was allowed because it was an academic theory for specialists After 1848 all Russians living abroad were recalled, no foreigners were allowed in and no

reports of the French Revolution were published In 1850 scholars and universities could no longer get material from abroad You could not even use the word evolution because it sounded too much like revolution

Key Terms and Concepts

Autocracy– Rule by one person with unrestricted power

Liberalism– Political theory that government powers should be limited and the rights and

freedoms of individuals should be protected Slavophile

– Lit. Slav lover – landowners who had close connections with their estate and provinces

Russophile– Lit. Russia lover –

Serfdom– Basis of social and economic order – bound a class to give services, good or

money to another privileged class Orthodoxy

– Christian belief of the Greek-speaking Orthodox Church; the government and ruler were intimately linked – the ruler was the earthly reflection of God and reinforced the concept of autocracy

Key People: The Romanovs

The Romanovs ruled Russia 1613 – 1918– Mikhail Romanov 1613 - 1644– Alexis 1645 – 1676 – relied on his boyar advisers and there were many

uprisings 1648, 1662, 1670-71– Peter the Great – transformed Russia; wars, religious, political– Elizabeth I (daughter of Peter the Great) 1741 – 1762– Peter III & Catherine the Great (German princess) – reformer – attempts to

westernise Russia; - support for nobility – increase in education; medical; expansion wars – Russo-Turkish; Poland

– Alexander I 1801 – 1825 – restored some freedoms; increased army; Napoleon’s invasion of Russia – and defeat of French

– Nicholas I 1825 – 1855 – Decembrist revolt; Crimean War– Alexander II 1855 – 1881 – encouraged the arts – Tchaikovsky; Tolstoy;

Pushkin; Gogol; Dostoyevsky; reforms – abolition of serfdom – Emancipation Acti 1861 - 52 m (45%) freed

– Alexander III 1881 – 1894 – development of Marxism; Bolshevik and Meshevik groups; Lenin – unrest -> tighter controls

– Nicholas II 1894 – 1918 revolution; war; and the 1917 revolt ending with the assassination of the last of the Romanov family

Geography & Maps and Graphs

Examine your maps/graphs1) Topography2) Weather3) Time Zones4) Provinces and Population5) Industry

Consider the significance of each one for the history of Russia. Discuss and write a report of about 250 words citing your evidence with clear reference to each of the maps. Submit for comment.

Topography

Source: http://www.iiasa.ac.at/Research/FOR/russia_cd/rel_maps.htm#land

Weather

- 40 - 35 - 30 - 25 - 20 - 15 - 10 - 5 0 5 10 15 20 25

J an

Feb

Apr

May

J un

J ul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

AnnualAverage

NorilskMoscowNovosiblisk

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

J anuary

February

March

April

May

J une J u

ly

August

September

October

November

December

NorilskMoscowNovosibirsk

Temperature Snow

Russian Time Zones

Time Zones – consider the problems with so many different time zones

Source: http://www.worldtimezone.com/time-russia24.php

Population: People and Races

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/rs.html Russian 79.8%, Tatar 3.8%, Ukrainian 2%, Bashkir 1.2%, Chuvash

1.1%, other or unspecified 12.1% (2002 census)

Slavic Finno-Ugrian Turkic Mongolian & Korean Iranian Ibero-Caucasian Romance Germanic Letto-Lithuanian

INDUSTRY – by 1900

http://library.thinkquest.org/C005121/data/russia.htm

Railroads (1250 miles in 1860 and 15500 miles by 1880) – exportation of grain

Petroleum – ½ world’s production of oil Steel & coal Foreign capital used

Internet Resources

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook39.html http://www2.sptimes.com/Treasures/TC.2.3c.html