Explain why Alexander II emancipated the Serfs (10 Marks) Tsar Alexander II was a conservative who believed it was his divine right to rule Russia. This autocratic rule was described as tyrannical by many who visited Russia, especially so when it came to how the Serfs were treated, who were eventually emancipated in 1861. Alexander II’s conservative rule created causes over time, which led to the emancipation of the Serfs. This therefore makes Alexander II’s conservatism a major cause of the emancipation. As well as this, the conservatism may have caused a ‘domino effect’ of sorts, which in turn, could have led to the foundations of all of the other causes that led up to emancipation.
The Articles of Confederation were created as a new central government form after the American Revolution. The Articles still consisted of problems, specifically financial ones. Hamilton proposed a plan that would put U.S. finances on a stable foundation. He planned to lower national debt and strengthen the national credit because he believed that "a national debt was a national blessing". However, some people, such as Jefferson and small farmers opposed his ideas, because they believed in states' rights and a strict interpretation of the constitution, which led to the split of two different political parties.
The military issues perhaps would not have escalated the way they did if it was not for existing social and economic problems at home. The revolution had began in Petrograd as a workers’ revolt in response to bread shortages, and was aimed at the Tsarist system because it was believed that the government was hoarding the bread in order to drive up prices. However a workers’ revolt, by itself, is very unlikely to result in the abdication of the Tsar, and a critical phase of the revolution was the mutiny of the Petrograd garrison, and the loss of control over Petrograd that the Tsar experienced. Marxist historians have exaggerated the extent of political involvement in the revolution, and it would be fair to say that only at a very late stage of the revolution did socialist political parties become involved. The Tsarist system fell for many reasons: the war against Germany meant that troops could not be deployed in force against the
The areas to investigate include political, economic, social and military reforms from the Russian government in order to see if they are ‘reluctant reformers’ or not. Socially, Alexander II introduced arguably the most radical reform in 1861 by emancipating the serfs and granting peasants freedom. This is by far the reform that affected the population most widely in the period – by granting this, peasants were allowed to own themselves in body and soul and could dictate their own lives as far as they could. Class bias was reduced and education was given more widely across Russia, regardless of social standing. This certainly fights against the view that Alexander II was reluctant in his reforms on the surface – however, once investigated, the limits of emancipation are clear.
Explain why Alexander II introduced further reforms after the emancipation edict of 1861 Emancipation opened many opportunities for further reforms and forced a change in the structure of the Russian society. Serfdom was abolished and the nobility could no longer control them which led to light being shed on other problems in society such as the law, industry and also the military. The most important reason for the introduction of further reforms is that they were a reasonable response to the emancipation of the serfs, but only in short term. The emancipation act gave the serfs power to control their own lives instead of being dictated by people of a higher status, such as the nobility. For this, rural councils known as the Zemstvas were set up in 1864 which offered the serfs a representative government; but they were mostly dominated by the nobility and professionals and many of them resented their loss of power over the serfs.
Why did Alexander II emancipate the Serfs? In 1861 Alexander II made the decision grant the Serfs freedom. There are many reasons as to why Tsar Alexander II decided to emancipate the serfs. The Crimean war was just a simple trigger to Alexander to actually make that change and realise Serfdom was the reason Russia was not modernising as a country, However this was not just a wakeup call to him, but to the whole of Russia also. Serfdom was holding Russia back economically, politically and military wise.
In What Ways Were the Corn Law Important in Creating Popular Discontent in the Years 1815 to 1820? 1815 was a very difficult time for the Tories and the party leader Robert Banks Jenkinson, Lord Liverpool. After a series of threats of a possible revolution, the radical threat pushed onwards and now it was up to Lord Liverpool to make changes and stop any chance of the radical threat. Lord Liverpool understood and was aware that a rising was forming however he also had a problem that he found himself a prisoner to his own parties’ beliefs and outlook. Tory party supporters were aristocrats who felt Lord Liverpool the Prime Minister had a duty to protect them, their interests and to save them from the radical threat.
It can be seen that, even after Poltava, Russian industry was still instrumental in Peter’s absolutism, as the stable economy prevented the revolt of important members of society such as merchants, who could now trade effectively with other countries. However, there were some reforms that were unconnected with foreigners, and others which were Western in origin but not designed to strengthen his rule. The abolition of the position of Patriarch was a move prompted not by any Western influence but by Peter’s desire to remove opposition, and hence maintain his absolutism. The actual date (1700) was determined by the convenient death of Patriarch Adrian, and Peter chose not to appoint a successor as the war was going badly and he was unpopular, and the Patriarch would have been a focus for disillusioned Russians. The assemblies which were held from December 1718 in St Petersburg and included the compulsory presence of women, were a complete break with the Muscovite tradition but owed more to Peter’s desire to show the extent of his Westernisation, rather than any advance in royal
There was a lot of pressure between the north and south. Just like any other large group of people, of course there were some disagreements, which is probably why the whole thing escalated the way it did. What one liked the other did not, for example, the confederate states (South) wanted to keep slavery around because it was very important to them and the union (North) did not find the need to keep it around. The emancipation of slaves depended on who won the war or not which caused more problems than expected. President Lincoln, just by going off of the fact that he asked the soldiers to only sign up for three months shows that he did not expect the war to last as long as it did.
He believed that the people should own the land. He states that he believes that the people deserve land because it’s a freedom. Document 7 also shows political causes of the Russian Revolution. Lenin created laws that were fair and better for Russia. Document 10 explains an economic factor that contributed to the Russian Revolution.