Russia in 1914 19 th - PowerPoint Presentation

Russia in 1914 19th cent. → 1914GeographySocial structure – class, nationalitiesPolitical institutions, structure and changesEconomic structure – agrarian society & Witte’s modernisationRole of the Orthodox ChurchKey events & figures

Changes for 2016 2015 – Time period = 1905 – 1941 2016 – Time period = 1914 – 1945How much background knowledge is enough to make sense of the period (1914-1945)?

What was Russia like up to 1914?

Russia - 1900

1812 – Napoleon’s defeat – Russia’s zenith? Tchaikovsky Overture 1812 - The Final

Geography & history Empire spanned two continents – Europe & Asia.West to east = >4000milesUSA could fit 2½ times, Britain nearly 100 times.Night on one side / Day on the other.Communications difficult.Few paved roads.Outside main cities most roads = hard-packed earth.Travel by road = slow, winter often impassable. Longer journeys = rivers & rail.Enormous growth of railways 1890s, however, by 1900 Russia only as much railway as Britain. Most in European Russia. Only line of communication across vast eastern expanse = Trans-Siberian railway.

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Geography & history 1/6th of world’s total land – vast range of landscapes.Northern Russia = Tundra.South of tundra = Taiga – miles & miles impenetrable forest. Russian steppes = vast grasslandSouth = desertMuch of country beautiful but little of it could be used for farmingMain ag. areas = European Russia.Beyond Ural mountains wild frontier settlements like wild west. Size & diversity of empire made it difficult to govern.

Geography & history Size & diversity of empire made it difficult to governCOPY ME DOWN

Social structure – 19th CPop. = 126 million people (1897) – 160 million (eve of WW1)Most in European Russia.Less than half pop. = Russians.Rest were people conquered by Russians. Empire built up over centuries.Many did not speak Russian & were illiterate. Many national groups resentful of Russian controlRussificationDiversity of cultures, languages & religions. Social classes:Peasants = 84%Urban workers = 4%Military = 5%Govt. officials = 4%Priests 1%Nobility 1.5%Merchants 0.5%70% of pop. Members of official Orthodox Church.9% Roman Catholic & 11% Muslim.COPY ME DOWNTURN TO PAGE 14 OF YOUR TEXT BOOK

Social structure – 19 th C

Most of pop .Life = hard.Main food = grain into rye bread or porridge & cabbage soup.Fish common, meat rare. Harvests good = food to go around.Harvests bad = starvation & disease. 400,000 died 1891 (crop failure + cholera).‘the revolutionary crisis really started…when the public’s reaction to the famine crisis set it for the first time on a collision course with the tsarist autocracy’ (Figes, p. xv)Ave. life expect. <40 years.Reg. epidemics (typhus, diphtheria, syphilis)Peasants

Peasants Agriculture methods backward & inefficient.Main problem = land = not enough. Until 1861 most peasants = serfs (owned by their masters).1861 serfs were freed, allocated a share of land they could buy from govt. Land often barely enough to survive + crippling debt to govt.Peasants angry landowners / nobles kept so much land after 1861.Situation getting worse by 1900 – boiled over 1905.Pop. Increased 50% bet. 1860 & 1897.

Nobility 1% of pop. owned nearly 25% of land.Some extremely rich, large estates, employed people to run.Spent most of year in Moscow / St Petersburg.

The Middle Classes By 1900, w devel. industry = new class of bankers, merchants, rich capitalists who owned industrial works.St Petersburg & Moscow = main centres commerce & textile ind. Link bet. rich businessman & govt. very strong.Govt. gave them big contracts & loans. Life very good.

Clergy Members of the Orthodox Churcch0.5% pop. but hugely influential. Orthodox Church closely aligned with (and, in fact, underpinned) tsarist system. Deeply conservative.

Orthodox Churchbranch of Christianitythe religion of the Tsars therefore the religion of Russia.closely linked to Tsar and supported his way of ruling.taught that Tsar undisputed leader of Russia, head of the Church & God’s chosen representative on Earth.Peasants thought of Tsar as ‘little father’.Only education peasants could receive via church - learnt what the church and the Tsar wanted them to learn.Church & Tsar controlled education - reading, writing and as a result knowledge.

The workers Life in St Petersburg, Moscow & other cities very different for people in new industries. Living & working conditions poor.Cheap wooden lodging houses or large tenement buildings.Food poor. Wages lowIn industrial centers away from cities, workers often in barracks next to factories. Many factories = 24hrs / day.Many workers = young male peasants forced off land. Large # women employed in textile factories Moscow & St Petersburg.Low level of industry @1900 but growing fast.

Glossary Autocracy: ...All power, whether political, military or religious lay in the hands of one person – The Tsar. Tsar Nicholas II tried to retain his autocratic power in the years before 1917. COPY ME DOWN

Political structure Tsarist Russia = Romanov dynasty = autocracyNicholas II became tsar in 1894.Autocrat – absolute power, not elected. Council of ministers to help rule but Tsar = important decisions. Russia = so large = thousands civil servants from top officials down to tax collectors. Bureaucracy = painfully slow. Civil servants wages so low = bribery & corruption. No parliament to represent people’s views (pre-1905)Newspaper & books censored. Opposition not tolerated. Okhrana / Secret Police Strikes, protests or riots (often took place in times of famine) = soldiers used to restore order. Stopped demonstrations with brutality. TsarGovt. departmentsCivil servants & officialsImperial CouncilSenateCabinet of ministers COPY ME DOWN Turn to p/.22

CLASS 1

Russia in 1914 19th cent. → 1914GeographySocial structure – class, nationalitiesPolitical institutions, structure and changesEconomic structure – agrarian society & Witte’s modernisationRole of the Orthodox ChurchKey events & figures

Political structure Article 1 of the Fundamental Laws, 1906: ‘The Emperor of all the Russians is an autocratic and unlimited monarch; God himself ordains that all must bow before his supreme power, not only out of fear but also out of conscience.’

The spirit of change: Russia in revolution p.13-14. Remained isolated & untouched by many events such as French Rev. & provocative ideas. Few people able to travel & therefore see inadequaciesAttempted coups/rev.s 1825, 1830-31 & 1863-64. Some inflow of Western ideas though, spread by Russian intellectuals / intelligentsia.To most Westerners Russia seemed last refuge of true autocracy in 19th C Europe. Change came slowly in latter half of 19th C.Structure of Tsarism attacked on many occasions, yet conserv. forces supporting Tsar & his govt. remained strong & in control.

Tsar’s - the rulers of Russia Romanov’s – rulers of Russia for many centuries. 1900 – Tsar Nicholas II ruler – Autocrat. Not elected but born into power. He, and most other Russians, believed that he had a divine right to rule - that he had been chosen by God. Did not need to consult with any one else to make decisions, new laws or initiate new programs of reform. Pre-1905 no parliament to represent the views of the people.Post-1905 no effective parliament – Tsar clung to autocracyTsar - power base 10% of people - aristocrats - church - military - bureaucracyBureaucracy - civil servants - was massive - Russia so large it was a massive task to collect taxes and run country. Tsar censored newspapers and books even after 1905Education was via churchOkhrana - secret police - used to stop protests or opposers to Tsar’s ruleSiberia - prison camps

Nicholas II - the last tsar Devoted family manRuled by his wife - the Tsarina - German women named AlexandraDeeply religiousKind to those around him yet ruthlessAnti-JewishGood intentions but not a born leaderNo idea what the majority of Russian’s lived likedHad no idea of the problems of his people or how to cope with them.

Economic structure – 19th CLargely agrarian society lagging behind Western contemporaries in industrial & technological capacity. Tsar & ruling elite wanted Russia to play major role on world stageHad to industrialise & modernize to do thisSergei Witte, Finance Minister from 1892 to 1903 = architect of Russian industrialization. Huge reserves (coal, iron, oil & timber), problem was how to exploit them Believed Russia so far behind other countries the state had to play a large role in stimulating industrial growth.He launched Russia into an age of heavy industry, using railways as springboard.COPY ME DOWN

Witte stimulates industrial growth Raised tax ratesStrong rouble, adopts gold standardHigh tariffs on foreign industrial goodsForeign loans, investment & expertiseState-sponsored development of heavy industryRailways

Contradictions / consequences of modernisation Dilemma for Tsar Nicholas II = modernization was desirable, but also posed a serious threat to the regime When millions moved from countryside to city to work in factories, bound to be increase in social tensions & instability. Working class living & working conditions could become volatile & discontented. Could be easier for them to take action because they were concentrated in large numbers in cities. A more educated workforce (Witte favoured spread of tech edu) would create more people more able to challenge the govt. Growth of middle class = pressure for political changeCOPY ME DOWN

Some of the key challenges & events facing tsarist Russia in the lead-up to WW1 The peasantsThe urban workersThe national minorities & Russification Political opposition & revolutionary ideasRising discontentThe Russo-Japanese WarBloody Sunday & the 1905 RevolutionReformContinued commitment to autocracyCOPY ME DOWN

Amazing Color Photos of Russia in the Early 1900′s http://www.vintag.es/2014/02/amazing-color-photos-of-russia-in-early.html The photographs of Russian chemist and photographer, Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii, show Russia on the eve of World War I and the coming of the revolution. From 1909-1912 and again in 1915, Prokudin-Gorskii travelled across the Russian Empire, documenting life, landscapes and the work of Russain people. His images were to be a photographic survey of the time.

Russia on the eve of WW1 Preconditions of a revolution?