Essay On Alexander II And The Failure Of The Serfs

Alexander The Great was one of the greatest emperors and leaders of the world. In fact, he was the only emperor to be called, "The Great." He had studied under a great Greek Philosopher, Aristotle, who taught Alexander literature, science, medicine, philosophy and to speak and write well. Alexander was the son of Philip of Macedonia. Philip became king of Macedonia in 359 B.C., but died in 336 B.C. He left his kingdom to Alexander.

The system of serfdom is where an agricultural worker in feudal Russia who cultivates land and belongs to a landowner. The emancipation of the serfs happened for a mired of reasons. Most of which are tied to Russia as a nation. The defeat in the Crimean war for example was a huge blow to Russia as a world power. The national prestige was lost as Russia lost the Crimean war to the allied powers of Britain, France, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The humiliation that was felt through losing this war was based off of Alexander II’s viewing

In the late 19th century Russia had been notably behind Europe economically, they weren’t in possession of the modern farming technologies that could efficiently provide for a large country. As a result 90% of the Russian population were peasants (Massey, 4). The serfs lived in deep poverty; they didn’t have the appropriate apparatus to produce enough crops and most of their landlords had unbelievably high demands. In an effort to reform the economy’s recession tsar Alexander II liberated the serfs. However this created more bad for both the serfs and the nobles. In the beginning the serfs saw this is a great victory and another reason to be thankful for their tsar. But as timed pass by the peasants saw this life of liberty and freedom to

The turn of the century illuminated Russia, commonly labeled as “backwards” by the other European powers, as the last remaining European autocracy. Russian society still operated on the estate system, which was characterized by an enormous gap between the upper class nobility and the lower class peasantry. Peasants comprised eighty percent of the population and only a fraction were educated. They had little understanding of government and were highly patriarchal. Many served as serfs. It was not until the 1860s that these serfs were freed from legal bondage by Nicholas’ grandfather, Alexander II. However, this was not enough to satisfy Russian citizens’ newfound taste of freedom. In the years following, they demanded he establish an elected parliament,

Another major cause of serfdom being abolished was because of the defeat in the Crimea and the diminishing strength of the military. The defeat of the army in the Crimean war (1856) was seen as humiliating, as Russian sense of pride was strongly based on its military, and it showed Russia’s backwardness as a nation. The structure of the army was impossible to utilise; mainly composed of conscripted illiterate peasants, who were poorly trained and ‘sentenced’ to a life in the army. They were difficult to control, and torture methods like flogging (where all the skin was whipped off the back) were commonplace. Because of this, the army fought with brute strength, rather than skilled precision, and was becoming less and less effective as morale was low. The equipment provided was also of very low quality. The view that emancipation had to happen to make the military stronger was supported by many high profile people, such as War minister (D. Milyutin). Under the current system it couldn’t be reorganised, as it would have meant trained ex-soldiers and reservists going back to villages with guns, which would’ve been risked uprisings. Railways were also needed to increase mobility, impossible without industry. In order to become more effective, they also needed to reduce the size of the military to

In the 1800's had yet to spring into the modern industrialized world. Under Russia's feudal system, serfs were trussed to the novels who's property and land they worked. Nobles enjoyed almost unlimited power over them.by the 1820's most and many Russians trusted that seldom would and must end. In the Russians eyes, the system was wrong morally because it prevented and stopped the empire from advancing economically. The czars however, were reluctant to let the serfs free. But if they chose to free the serfs that would anger the landowners, who's support and substance which the czars needed to stay in power.

There are many great conquers in the history of this world. Augustus Caesar, Atilla the Hun, Charlemagne, to name a few. But none of these quite measure up to Alexander III of Macedonia. Or, his more common title: Alexander the Great. He conquered much of Asia and the Persian Empire, and left a legacy that will not be forgotten.

Despite the evidence that shows that the leadership during WWI was the main cause of the Revolution, some historians argue that the peasants freedom from serfdom was the primary cause of the Russian Revolution.Moreover, they claim that even though serfs were freed from serfdom but they were not given a sufficient amount of rights or opportunity to improve the circumstances that they were faced with during serfdom thus leading in their revolt against the government.Although not all opportunities were given to the ex-serfs immediately they were given a substantial amount of leeway and opportunity”. “the introduction of representative institutions and the conferral of civil rights on the entire population in 1905),.... Vertical social mobility

Individuals played a role in the social modernisation of Russia, in particular, Alexander II and Khrushchev. According to Hosking, Alexander II’s emancipation of 23 million serfs , ‘went a long way towards erecting the framework of a civil society’ . Peasants were no longer owned by landlords, but rather free to marry and trade, and allowing for growth in the Russian coal production and industrial output. However, the terms of emancipation didn’t go far enough, as the lack of land (peasant farmers now farmed 20% less), the 49 years redemption payments and the

The outcomes of the reforms were not considered in as black-and-white terms as previously. Russia: People and Empire by Geoffrey Hosking we might say was a transitional textbook on the topic. Hosking’s book looks at Russian history through the lens of Russia’s failure to develop nationally. Hosking states it was both the conviction that serfdom was immoral and the belief that it was harming Russia economically that caused the tsar and several of the elites to call for reform. This discussion shows the importance that theories concerning the dynamic relationship between the tsar and other elements of society now hold in academia. The reforms, he argues, fell flat in transforming Russian society, but did have positive effects through the zemstvo social programs, judicial reforms, and economic results. This is a pattern of historical analysis continues today. The dynamic relationship of the enlightened bureaucrats and the reforming tsar is one of the most important elements in the modern discussion. As well as the reforms having success in their individual areas (judicial, local government ect), but not transforming Russia and thus being a failure in greater Russian

They suffered low wages, poor housing, and many work related accidents. They government attempted to regulate factories by passing acts to restrict the amount of hours one could work, but their efforts were insignificant and led to many strikes and constant conflict between the workers and the police. Before the Crimean War, Russia had very little industrialization compared to Western European powers. This was partly due to a greedy upper class and serfdom, which is a system in which peasants provide feudal agricultural labor in exchange for the use of part of their master’s land in order to cultivate their own food. However, after the Crimean War, the tsar Alexander II enacted various reforms, one of which included the end of serfdom, this paved the way for Russia to begin industrializing. Between 1890-1910, Russia’s economy increased, due in part to the expansion of the Trans-Siberian Railway and a higher exportation of natural resources. A consequence of Russia’s industrialization was an influx of population in cities. Unlike other industrialized nations, Russia’s cities didn’t expand to accommodate their population growth, so workers in the cities were forced to endure poor and unsanitary living conditions as well as work days with little pay. Due to Russia’s long history of serfdom, there was little technological advancements and people skilled in

Revolution was part of Russian life. There had been uprisings and revolutions throughout its history. The 18th and 19th centuries saw a big push toward “Westernizing” the country but as long as there were serfs; Russia could never truly be Western. The serfs were the biggest dilemma that the Tsars faced. The happiness of a people can gauge whether a ruler stays in power or not. The majority of Russians were serf peasants, dependent on their overlords for their bread and board. Their overlord was dependent on the serfs, the Tsar dependent on the nobles for their devotion and taxes.

Moreover on a moral level, serfdom was inhumane. Serfs had to work long grueling hours often without breaks or rest. Serfdom was also inefficient on an a economic level. Since the serfs only worked strictly on the premise and motivation of survival, they had no real or moral incentive to contribute to Russia's overall economy in any way. Additionally since the serfs had no property of their own, there was no objective motivation for the serfs to take pride in their work. Without any material gain from their labor short of subsistence, serfs did not care about the long term consequences to society for any lack of productivity or conversely to the benefits to society of the opposite. Rather they were solely preoccupied with the day to day requirements of survival. Ultimately due to the economic inefficiency of serfdom Russia began to suffer economically. Unlike other western countries that were beginning to industrialize, Russia was stuck in a largely agricultural based economy. Russia now under the rule of Tsar Alexander II realized Russia “ would not be able to compete with the west” unless the serf based economy was improved. Tsar Alexander initiated a campaign to emancipate the serfs. Serfs were given their own land in exchange for waged labor. By owning their own land serfs began to have more pride in their work, working not just to survive but also to benefit the economy as a

Alexander was born in 356 B.C. as the son of King Philip II. Through his life, he was taught by Aristotle, or the first Greek philosopher. Since he was the son of the king and had a good education, many believed that he will do great things and had high expectations for him. After his father died from a stab wound, Alexander proclaimed himself as king of Macedonia at age 20. In addition, it turns out that he will be the one that will lead the Macedonian Empire into greatness and accomplish numerous tasks.

In the 1800’s Russia was facing a very difficult time. Russia’s recent defeat in the Crimean war was a wake up call to the autocracy. This defeat proved to the autocracy that Russia had fallen dangerously behind their western neighbors, ultimately making it easy for other countries to attach and invade. At that point, Russia knew it was time for a change and it started with Tsar Alexander II. Alexander II took over as emperor due to his fathers (Nicholas I) death in St. Petersburg. Some say the reason for Russia’s backward spiral was because of him. However, in 1855 the reign of Alexander II in Russia began and during his time he directed a period of political and social reforms. Some of the reforms Alexander II thought had to be changed included: education, military, government, and judicial. Even after trying to make multiple changes and reforms to better the government, someone was still not clicking in the Russian government. The main reason the society had so many problems dealt with the peasants. As many soviet historians have claimed, these reforms were put in place to pacify the peasantry in order to ward off revolution. During this time the peasants had to work on their lord owners land and didn’t have many other options. While under the new Tsar Alexander II the government ran into a dry wall and needed a way out. Alexander II did something that to this day goes down as two perspectives. The first one can be seen as a charter of freedom