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The Russian Revolution (Part 1). Background - Population. Gurians, Caucasus. Population – diverse mix of people with different culture, language and religion. 80% were ethnic Russians. Muscovites. Evenki, Siberia. Jews, central Asia. Background - Population.
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Background - Population Gurians, Caucasus • Population – diverse mix of people with different culture, language and religion. • 80% were ethnic Russians Muscovites Evenki, Siberia Jews, central Asia
Background - Population A Sample of the composition of Russian Empire in 1897
Background - Population The diversity of culture, religion and language throughout the empire was astonishing, ranging from sophisticated European Russians living in St Petersburg, to nomadic Muslim peoples in the desert areas of the south, to the people who wandered the vast spaces of Siberia, living and dressing very much like native Americans.
Background - Population • This policy involved making non-Russians use the Russian language instead of their own, wear Russian-style clothes and adopt Russian customs. • Russian officials were put in charge of regional governments. • Russian was used in schools, law courts and regional governments - e.g. in Poland it was forbidden to teach children in Polish. • This led to a number of uprisings and protests from national groups seeking more autonomy in their parts of the empire.
Background - Population Why do you think the Russians pursued this policy of russification?
The Tsar, the Priest and the Rich Man on the Shoulders of the Labouring People, coloured lithograph by A. Apsit, 1918.
Background - Geography • Tundra, nearly always frozen • Taiga, impenetrable forests • Russian steppes, grasslands • Desert
Map from: http://www.nicholasandalexandra.com/virtual1999/russmap.html
Background - Geography • The Russian Empire by 1900 was a vast one, crossing two continents - Europe and Asia. • It stretched 6400 km from west to east and 3000 km from north to south. • Communications across the huge area were poor. Not many properly paved roads for transportation. Took a week of travel by train to make it across the empire.
Background - Communication • Hard-paced mud roads • Wooden platforms in cities due to mud • Longer journeys by river, e.g. passenger steamers on River Volga • Expansion of railways, e.g. Trans-Siberian Railway, 1904 - Moscow to Vladivostok took 1 week! Peasant women pulling boats on the River Volga
Question What were some possible problems you can anticipate as a result of Russia’s geography and population? Why do you think so?
Background - Agriculture • 90% population peasants • Medieval strip farming • Inefficient • Little investment • Average life expectancy of peasant farmer, 40 years Interior of Russian peasant’s cottage
Background – Peasants • 80% were peasants – subsistence farmers • 60%+ = illiterate • Life expectancy = 40 • Low tech and low investment • Land ownership rare • Land owned by OBSCHINA (Commune) • It also organised taxes and allotted strips of land to each household
Background – Peasants • Peasants could not leave the commune without the consent of the elders • Discipline and punishments harsh – even to exile in Siberia • Drought and crop failure common • 1891 = famine + cholera and typhus = 400,000 dead • 1890 – 64 % of peasants called up for military service were declared unfit.
Background – Peasants • Some did prosper and it was generally the shortage of land rather than shortage of food that was the irritant. • Rural population grew but land owned by peasants and land size failed to keep pace. • Faith in Tsar remained strong • BUT hunger for land would grow.
Social Structure • The nobility made up just over 1% of the population but owned 25% of all land. • They spent little time on their estates, and were largely detached from the peasants, spending most of their time in St Petersburg or Moscow. • Some had important jobs in government or in the army - but were often there more because of their position.
Social Structure • The middle class didn’t exist as an “estate” in Russia, and often they were classified either as Merchants or Urbanites. • This was a growing group with merchants, bankers and industrialists as industry and commerce developed in Russia. • Professional class (doctors, lawyers, teachers) was growing and beginning to play a significant role in local government.
Social Structure • Peasants lived a hard life, slogging on small patches of land they owned or working on land of the nobility. • Most were poor and illiterate, although there were others who were quite well off and some areas were more prosperous than others. • Agriculture was backwards with inefficient farming techniques - in years of bad harvests there would be widespread starvation.
Social Structure • There was not enough land to go around. A population explosion amongst the peasants at the end of 19th century led to overcrowding and competition for land. • Many peasants had serious debt problems as a result of the need to make repayments to the government for their land. This was a result of the emancipation of serfs in 1861.
Social Structure • Urban workers were largely young and male. Many were ex-peasants, while a growing number were children of urban workers themselves. • High literacy rate - able to articulate their grievances and were receptive to revolutionary ideas. • Low wages in general with poor working conditions. • Appalling living conditions.
Background - Economy • Beginnings of industrialisation – Sergei Witte’s reforms • Coal mining, iron, steel & textiles • Economic migrants – peasants to cities • Poor housing & living standards • No trade unions Canteen in Moscow
Background - Economy • Russia had grown industrially but living and working conditions were horrendous • Average working day was 14 hours • Trade unions banned but some strikes took place • Potential for hotbed of political activism
Background - Government • 1894, Tsar Nicholas II, Romanov dynasty • Autocrat • Divine right to rule • Governed through a council of ministers • 1000s of civil servants • No parliament • Newspapers & books censored • Secret police - Okhrana • Order enforced by Cossacks • Massive personal wealth Tsar Nicholas II & Tsarina Alexandra
Question • How similar were conditions in France during the 1780s with Russia more than 100 years later? • What do you feel is needed for a revolution to occur in Russia during the early 1900s?
Unrest prior to 1905 • Tsar Alexander II was assassinated 1881 • The passivity of the Russian people had limits • May 1896 – riots in St. Petersburg • 1902 - Street demonstrations in Rostov on Don • 1901-1907 arson of manor houses in rural areas became commonplace • 1904 – Viacheslav Plehve – Minister of the interior assassinated by Social Revolutionary
Nicholas II: The Last Romanov Tsar[r. 1894-1917] His word was law He appointed his ministers But did not have to listen to them AND could ‘hire and fire’ them at will He was a true autocrat.
Yet… Many Russians worshipped the Tsar and peasants typically had a picture of the Tsar on a wall of their hut.
Question • How well suited was the Tsar to tackle the problems that confronted Russia in the 1860s?
Exercise Do a mind map of the causes of the 1905 Revolution and show links between the reasons. Look up the effect of World War 1 on Russia
