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Imperial Russia

I'm doing Imperial Russia and how backward Russia was in 1881. I've got some headings:

economic backwardness
lack of towns
size of middle class
availablity of capital and banking system
communication system

which are all of the problems the Russian economy had at that point, but i can't find any information to expand on those headings and pad them out :frown:

Any help?

Reply 1

Sagittarius_GBR

Economic backwardness - Russia had been a feudal society for centuries, and had maintained its traditionalism long after the development of British and French societies with their liberalistic and nationalistic movements. As such, the fluency of the economy lay in the hands of a few, privileged aristocrats who owned large estates selling grain and other produce. Russia was also roughly 90% rural at this time and the lack of any real industry meant that the economy was lacklustre. With the emancipations of the serfs however, the economy was able to improve, with foreign investment and the reforms of the banking system contributing to an influx of capital. Many peasants were only just above subsistence level, so the capacity for making a profit was very low and as a result consumer industries had very little money powering them. After the emancipation the serfs were stuck with redemption payments, many being too much for the peasants to afford and sinking into debt.

The lack of urban areas - meant that there was a lack of industry and therefore contributes to
Russia's retarded development. The population was mainly rooted in the countryside, with peasants previously tied to landlords wishes, and then after the emancipation, the zemstva - local councils which controlled the villages. This lack of industry, and the lack of a workforce for that industry made Russia backward for its time. Britain and France had been able to industrialise with the exploitation of raw materials and a workforce emigrating to the towns to provide labour. Introductions of the railways in these countries aided development where it didn't in Russia.

The size of the middle class - the 'intelligentsia' was extremely small as Russia had traditionally been autocratic. This meant that censorship was a common feature and books about foreign politics and philosophy were banned, up until Alexander IIs reforms. There was an increase in the number of students, and women were first allowed to study at St. Petersburg medical school. The level of education was still much lower than its European counterparts, with Prussia having had 75% literacy in 1850. Alexander III, a much more raditiona and autocratic ruler increased the levels of censorship and gave the secret police more power in dealing with the spread of liberal ideas. There was also a certain arrogance about the superiority of Russian and Slav traditions and that the West was inferior, even though in fact, the refusal to adopt Western features was the reason behind Russia's late development.

Capital and banking - ive mentioned above - But the main reforms was a reorganisation of budgets and administration leading to better banking. Restrictions on trade by Jews were also lifted, allowing more capital to be injected into the economy. These reforms were taken in Alexander IIs time.

Communication - as the defeat in the Crimean war showed, the Russian military was severly hindered by its lack of conveyance and ability to mobilise soldiers because of an inefficient and small railway. Alexander II did inject a lot of money into improving the railways, with a line stretching all the way across Russia to Vladivostok, although it wasn't as developed as its European counterparts again. This was once agin demonstrated by the 1905 defeat by Japan which showed the Russian conveyance of it's military still needed improvement.

Hope this helps :smile:

Edit: If you read this when I first posted, there are some additional points.

Reply 2

sak-y

ahhh thank youu! you're such a starr! Just had a look at your profile, I'm doing HL History too! =D you don't happen to have any good notes you could send me do you?! :p:

ANDD i *might* be going to Birmingham too! haha

Reply 3

Sagittarius_GBR

No problems, I'm sure you know how tough IB can be. :smile:

Most of my notes are hand-written with various sheets so there's not much I can send you.

I can always post more details here if you wish. Or you can PM me for information.

Good luck with your application. :smile:

Reply 4

sak-y

haha aww thanks! I've already been accepted by Birmingham, just need to decide if i want to go theree!

Do you go to NKS?

Reply 5

diorbaby1687

is that alexander III?

Reply 6

Sagittarius_GBR

sak-y

haha aww thanks! I've already been accepted by Birmingham, just need to decide if i want to go theree!

Do you go to NKS?

I don't know what NKS is, so I'm assuming I don't go there. :wink:

It's great you have an offer from B'ham, if you haven't seen the univeristy yet I strongly reccomend it. Are you in Yr 13 at the moment?

diorbaby1687

is that alexander III?

Most of what I've written is what Alexander II did in his reign and how it affected Russia later. Alexander III basically tried to reverse his father's implementations to try and conserve autocracy. Then Nikolas II came along and was stuck between having autocracy and a constitution with a Duma... the rest is history. :wink:

Reply 7

sak-y

diorbaby1687

is that alexander III?

It's both Alexander III and Nicholas II, I think.

Correct me if i'm wrong Sagittarius.

Reply 8

sak-y

Sagittarius_GBR

I don't know what NKS is, so I'm assuming I don't go there. :wink:

It's great you have an offer from B'ham, if you haven't seen the univeristy yet I strongly reccomend it. Are you in Yr 13 at the moment?

haha, well I'm just trying to guess which school you go to :p:

There are only four IB schools in Kent, i think, and i'm assuming you don't go to mine, so that leaves three others :p:

and yep, I'm in Year 13 atm :smile:

I have visited and it was lurrvelyy but it's still a hard decisionn.

Reply 9

Sagittarius_GBR

sak-y

haha, well I'm just trying to guess which school you go to :p:

There are only four IB schools in Kent, i think, and i'm assuming you don't go to mine, so that leaves three others :p:

and yep, I'm in Year 13 atm :smile:

I have visited and it was lurrvelyy but it's still a hard decisionn.

Somebody is globally aware. The IB would like that. :wink:

That's exactly what I thought. What are your other offers to consider then? I was stuck between Leicester and B'ham and on visiting it again, I realised the place 'clicked' much more than Leicester did although Leicester is still a fantastic uni. :smile:

Reply 10

sak-y

wow! I applied to Leicester as well! I'm definitely making KCL my firm, but Birmingham or Leicester will be my insurance. They were both really nice, but yeh, I'm leaning towards Brum!

Sevenoaks?! :p:

Not exactly globally aware, It is the county i live in! haha

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