For a long time, Russia had been considered backward, both in its political methods and its ways of life. 80% of the population were peasants and Russia itself was a very large country to govern. Modernisation was a way for the country to keep up with its European neighbours. There were two key areas that Sergei Witte, Finance Minister for Russia, was focused upon: Industry and Transport. He felt these areas would help to solve Russia's three biggest problems; Communication, Size and Social Divide.
History Essay – Russia To what extent did Witte achieve economic modernisation in Russia? Russia saw a lot of changes in the years 1881-1903. A lot of these were due to Witte. The Russian empire wasn’t strong as it seemed and it was certainly not modern. Witte tried to change this with a series of projects, to help the economy and industry of Russia.
This status had depended on military power but by the 1890s military power was becoming increasingly linked to economic power. Furthermore Russia itself was the most economically backward Great Powers; based solely around agriculture which itself was old-fashioned and unmodernised. If Russia was to compete as a Great Power its ability to deal with these problems would be essential for the Tsarist system’s survival. A man called Peter Stolypin would become essential for reform in Russia. The political situation in 1881 was non-existent; the Tsar had complete power.
The Russo-Japanese was an important factor which lead up to the outbreak of the 1905 revolution as it was a catalyst which highlighted the fundamental weaknesses in the leadership of the Tsar. Though it was an was important factor, ultimately the outbreak of the 1905 revolution was due to a number of factors such as the long term issues such as the lack of modernisation; socially, economically and politically. The most significant cause of the 1905 revolution was the lack of modernisation. Due to the failure of modernisation in the countryside led to increase in social tension. Agriculture in Russia was far behind other great powers and peasants were suffering greatly through the repeated famines in 1902 and 1905.
How Far Did the Economy create Opportunities for Hitler and the Nazi’s 1924-29? The Economy in Germany helped create several opportunities for Hitler and the Nazi’s to gain acclaim and greater sway with the German people. However I don’t believe that some of the bigger opportunities for Hitler to gain power came specifically from the economy. The German Economy was in a bad way throughout the years 1924-1929. the economy had only just recovered from the tragic and disastrous hyperinflation of 1923 which saw the country crippled and the German currency plummet in value to as low 20,000 million marks to the point, considering that 5 years previous it was only 20 marks to the pound this was unbelievably bad. This however was supposedly solved by the intervention of the Dawes Plan of August 1924.
For some peasants life did improve dramatically, Stolypin set up banks that would help peasants get loans and buy land. This was a huge improvement for peasants as they were getting more freedom, this may have been because they would murder their landlords. This lead to improvements in farming this therefore lead to an industrial boom and made Russia the world’s fourth largest producer of coal, pig iron and steel. Only 15% of peasants took up Stolypin’s idea though. As for the Dumas, they could not pass laws, could not appoint ministers and could not control finance.
How secure was the tsarist regime in 1914? Before the Great War between the Allies and the Central Powers, Russia had experienced a period of unrest and turmoil mainly a cause of the Tsar’s outdated and cruel system. But, however, everything seemed to look better by around about 1914. The Tsarist regime was weak because around 80% of the Russian population were peasants. Not all peasants were loyal or religious as many supported the opposition, the Social Revolutionaries.
To what extent had Russia modernised by 1903? It is simplistic to argue that Russia had not modernised much at all by 1903 and was still stuck in it’s traditional and often considered backwards ways that the country functioned which prevented Russia from catching up to the other large international powers such as Britain who were industrialising, mechanising and modernising radically at the time. There were, however, areas in which Russia did modernise to an extent such as its agriculture, society and communication systems. There was one key event brought about in 1861, by Tsar Alexander II, that aided the partial modernisation of several key aspects in Russia. This event was the Emancipation of the Serfs.
How far does Alexander II deserve the Title “Tsar Liberator”? Prior to the reign of Alexander II, his father, Nicholas I ruled Russia under repressive and old fashioned policies. Alexander felt there was a lot of change needed to help boost the Russian economy. Russia’s economy was largely based around agriculture which was seen as backward for the time. One of Alexander’s reforms was to boom industries to start competing with the west who had more developed technology and whose economies were much more stable.
The purpose of this essay it to look at the Russian Empire before 1905 and look into why the Tsar was so strong before 1905. I will look into detail about how the Tsar used the pillars of autocracy to his strengths and also how he controlled the Russian people and how that gained him even more control. It can be argued that the control of the peasants is one of the main reasons as to why the Tsar was so strong before 1905. The Russian peasants made up around 80% of the Russian population, and therefore it was vital for the Tsar to have a tight control on them. Peasants were at the bottom of the Russian Society and in many people's eyes the most likely to want to revolt, but due to the illiteracy and lack of understanding of what was going on, they never, as Robert Service states in “A history of modern Russia” by saying “Peasants, while making money from the expanded market of their products, kept to tradition notions and customs,” this highlights how controlled the Russian Society was and that though many, if not all, peasants were in a bad situation, they upheld traditional values.