How was life in the countryside changing in this period, and why?
More trade links because transport via roads, railways etc was improving. Greater presence
of political life as newspapers became more available through improved transport links. In
Prussia, transport networks created more secure jobs. More food variety, more luxuries
from cities. As industrialisation in the cities increased, rural industries collapsed and rural
agriculture increased.
What variations can we see across Europe?
Levels of prosperity of the land. Rich areas- England, france, western germany, scandanavia.
How and why did the Russian experience differ from other European countries?
Russian peasants, after their emancipation, had no guarantee that their land would be
passed on to their children. Land was instead allocated to the people available to work it.
So, peasants did not focus on cultivating their land, and their was a boom in the birth rate.
In germany and Austria, land was passed on to peasants’ children, so peasants often
cultivated their land.
More trade links because transport via roads, railways etc was improving. Greater presence
of political life as newspapers became more available through improved transport links. In
Prussia, transport networks created more secure jobs. More food variety, more luxuries
from cities. As industrialisation in the cities increased, rural industries collapsed and rural
agriculture increased.
What variations can we see across Europe?
Levels of prosperity of the land. Rich areas- England, france, western germany, scandanavia.
How and why did the Russian experience differ from other European countries?
Russian peasants, after their emancipation, had no guarantee that their land would be
passed on to their children. Land was instead allocated to the people available to work it.
So, peasants did not focus on cultivating their land, and their was a boom in the birth rate.
In germany and Austria, land was passed on to peasants’ children, so peasants often
cultivated their land.
