1.1 THE RUSSIAN AUTOCRACY IN 1855
• 1855 - Russia was an autocratic empire following Eastern Orthodoxy = 87 million followers (69.3%).
• Tsar took the title ‘Emperor and Autocrat of Russia’ -> was in name only the head of the Church.
• ‘God himself ordains that all must bow to his supreme power, not only out of fear but also out of
conscience’
• The vast Russian lands were his private property & the people his children
• Russians were taught to show devotion to Tsar & accept their conditions on Earth as the will
of God
• The Tsar’s edicts were the Law of the Land
• CHANCELLERY: 35-50 nobles that advised the Tsar, but no one could do anything w/out the Tsar’s
approval
• COUNCIL OF MINISTERS 8-14 in charge of different Gov departments & the Senate who
were supposed to oversee the Government were largely redundant by 1856
• Tsar depended on provincial nobility to govern areas outside the capital
• Civil servants who made up bureaucracy were paid nobles
• 14 levels, 1 is top, 14 is lowest, information was sent down the ranks but never up, if you
were at the bottom you couldn’t get to the top
• Bureaucracy was riddled w/ corruption
• World’s largest army (1.5 million conscripted serfs) - 25 years of service & made to live in military
colony
• 45% of annual spending went towards the army & navy
• Higher ranks were reserved for the noble who bought & sold positions
• Lower ranks: discipline was harsh & life was tough
• COSSACKS: special & prestigious military class serving the Tsar = provided with arms & supplies by
the tsarist government - rode horses
• POLICE STATE: prevented freedom of speech, press & to travel abroad, meetings & strikes were
forbidden, censorship existed at every level of Government & exercised by the church and the
state
• Third section agents kept strict surveillance over the population & had unlimited powers to carry
out raids, arrest imprison or exile anyone suspected anti-tsarist behaviour
ECONOMIC & SOCIAL CONTEXT
• 1855 - Britain, Belgium, France and German states were already well advanced industrially (mills,
factories, coal pits, quarries & railways transforming landscape)
• Russian economy remained rural , 11:1 village to town dwellers (2:1 in England)
• Inhospitable land - climate placed severe strains on economic development
• Mid 19th cent: Russia was Europe’s main exporter of agricultural produce & had reserves of timber,
coal, oil & gold & other precious metals but remained untapped
• Communications between different parts of the Empire were poor
• Most important was Russian commitment to serf-based economy.
• Landowning aristocracy, Tsarist government and army reliant on the serfs = REALLY BACKWARDS
• Inhibited economic development (no wage earners, markets or entrepreneurs)
• 1894 – 55 million Russians (44.3%) ruled 100% of the land -> extreme inequality.
• Serfs were poor & many only survived by the produce they grew on the land the landlord gave to
them
• Often suffered w/ starvation in the winter - little incentive to become wage earners
• Self-sufficiency meant that few goods were actually purchased money was not usual form of
payment, payment in kind (markets did exist but small scale, mainly sold vodka, metal tools and
salt)
• Land-owning elite - obtained what they needed from serfs in the form of service & feudal dues
(uninterested in how the estate operated)
• 1855 - Russia was an autocratic empire following Eastern Orthodoxy = 87 million followers (69.3%).
• Tsar took the title ‘Emperor and Autocrat of Russia’ -> was in name only the head of the Church.
• ‘God himself ordains that all must bow to his supreme power, not only out of fear but also out of
conscience’
• The vast Russian lands were his private property & the people his children
• Russians were taught to show devotion to Tsar & accept their conditions on Earth as the will
of God
• The Tsar’s edicts were the Law of the Land
• CHANCELLERY: 35-50 nobles that advised the Tsar, but no one could do anything w/out the Tsar’s
approval
• COUNCIL OF MINISTERS 8-14 in charge of different Gov departments & the Senate who
were supposed to oversee the Government were largely redundant by 1856
• Tsar depended on provincial nobility to govern areas outside the capital
• Civil servants who made up bureaucracy were paid nobles
• 14 levels, 1 is top, 14 is lowest, information was sent down the ranks but never up, if you
were at the bottom you couldn’t get to the top
• Bureaucracy was riddled w/ corruption
• World’s largest army (1.5 million conscripted serfs) - 25 years of service & made to live in military
colony
• 45% of annual spending went towards the army & navy
• Higher ranks were reserved for the noble who bought & sold positions
• Lower ranks: discipline was harsh & life was tough
• COSSACKS: special & prestigious military class serving the Tsar = provided with arms & supplies by
the tsarist government - rode horses
• POLICE STATE: prevented freedom of speech, press & to travel abroad, meetings & strikes were
forbidden, censorship existed at every level of Government & exercised by the church and the
state
• Third section agents kept strict surveillance over the population & had unlimited powers to carry
out raids, arrest imprison or exile anyone suspected anti-tsarist behaviour
ECONOMIC & SOCIAL CONTEXT
• 1855 - Britain, Belgium, France and German states were already well advanced industrially (mills,
factories, coal pits, quarries & railways transforming landscape)
• Russian economy remained rural , 11:1 village to town dwellers (2:1 in England)
• Inhospitable land - climate placed severe strains on economic development
• Mid 19th cent: Russia was Europe’s main exporter of agricultural produce & had reserves of timber,
coal, oil & gold & other precious metals but remained untapped
• Communications between different parts of the Empire were poor
• Most important was Russian commitment to serf-based economy.
• Landowning aristocracy, Tsarist government and army reliant on the serfs = REALLY BACKWARDS
• Inhibited economic development (no wage earners, markets or entrepreneurs)
• 1894 – 55 million Russians (44.3%) ruled 100% of the land -> extreme inequality.
• Serfs were poor & many only survived by the produce they grew on the land the landlord gave to
them
• Often suffered w/ starvation in the winter - little incentive to become wage earners
• Self-sufficiency meant that few goods were actually purchased money was not usual form of
payment, payment in kind (markets did exist but small scale, mainly sold vodka, metal tools and
salt)
• Land-owning elite - obtained what they needed from serfs in the form of service & feudal dues
(uninterested in how the estate operated)
