This resource includes judgments from every points in the spec alongside corresponding evidence . Please note this resource does not include the Khrushcev era.
Social Change in Tsarist and Communist Russia 1855-1964 (AQA ALevel)
Political Change in Tsarist and Communist Russia 1855-1964 (AQA A level)
Essay plans for 'Preserve autocracy' History AQA A level 1H
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History
Tsarist and Communist Russia 1855-1964
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Russia Last Min revision
Central concerns:
How was Russia governed and how did political authority change
and develop?
Why did opposition develop and how effective was it?
How and with what results did the economy develop and change?
What was the extent of social and cultural change?
How important were ideas and ideology?
How important was the role of individuals and groups and how
were they affected by developments?
,How to split up 25 markers thematically:
Society: Living+ Working conditions, education, religion, women, youth, national minorities,
class/social structure, censorship, freedoms, repression, cultural expression
Opposition: Political opposition, minority groups, trade unions, uprising of citizens,
radical/liberal, group by group, in party/outside, Tsars/communist leaders reactions –
repression, reform and concessions
Political authority: Repression, censorship and propaganda, terror, ideology, structure of gov
Culture: Freedoms of normal people, restrictions of cultural expression, art, music,
literature, religion, women
Economy: Agriculture, industry, transport/communications, foreign relations/trade, policy
by policy
Repression: Secret police, purges, ethnic minorities, group by group, censorship, ideological
based restrictions
Life of peasantry: Living conditions, working conditions, local government, famine,
repression vs freedom, reform
People: War, peasantry, working class, living and working conditions, propaganda and
freedoms
, Trying to preserve autocracy, 1855–1894
The Russian Autocracy in 1855
- Political context: The Russian state was comparatively unmodernised and this in of it self posed a
threat to existence e.g. Autocracy not a constitutional monarchy, edicts were law of the land so no
scrutiny of legislation, the tsar appointing civil service lead to a beau acracy which was corrupt and
incompetent (all from nobility there was no meritocracy), police state posed an existential threat as
intelligentsia was calling for reform
- Economic context: The choice of a continuation of a serf based economy, held Russia back and
prevented her from industrialising e.g. ratio of villagers to town dwellers was 11:1 in the UK it was
2:1, serf based economy caused idleness and complacency as there was lack of incentives, there
was no internal market due to poverty which prevented capital accumulation, there was no social
mobility, 45% of government spending on army instead of infrastructure to tap into Russia’s raw
materials.
- Social context: Russia appeared to be a feudal society in a times when countries were becoming
more socially mobile e.g. Absence of any middle class only small number of intelligentsia who were
often sons of nobles, Russia very diverse e.g. 22.4% Ukrainians, 7.9% polish, 5% jews
- Impact of Crimean War: Though damaging to the Russian state the loss of the Crimean war was a
consequence of political failure and served as a wake up call to Alexander II e.g. loss Caused by
outdated tech, inadequate leadership and poor transport which led to Treaty of Paris which
weakened the state by banning access to Black sea, context war against turkey began in 1853 it
disrupted trade peasant uprisings escalated and renewed cried of reform by intelligentsia
Alexander II, the Tsar ‘reformer’
- Emancipation of the serfs: Emancipation of the serfs in 1861 was a necessary step to economic
growth and political change however its potential was not fully exploited due to a number of
drawbacks such as redemption payments and the motivation behind the emancipation was the
survival of tsardom not the elevation of society e.g., ‘it is far better to abolish tsardom from above,
rather than wait until it abolishes itself from below’- Alexander II, there were ‘temporary
obligations’ in which former serfs remained attached to their landowners until a mutually agreeable
settlement had come about (15% remained temporary obligated by 1881), redemption payments
were to be paid for over 49 years, new kulak class emerged however less than 1% of population,
isolated nobility, 2/3 of former serfs in Tambov region were unable to feed the household without
falling into debt in census , in 1878 only 50% of peasantry was capable of producing a surplus, loss
of former benefits , restrictions of travel
- Other Domestic reforms: Though concessions may have been half hearted as they were designed to
solely to preserve the autocracy, they did bring legitimate change and were comparatively modern
thus giving the tsar the title ‘tsar reformer’ , though they often had the effect of weaking tsardom
e.g. Legal system overhauled (trial by jury introduced , though not introduced in Poland, innocent
until proven guilty, lawyers often used closing arguments as a means to gain fame and criticise
system, juries acquitted guilty due to sympathy too) , zemstvo introduced elected local government
for first time (extended to towns in 1870’s and took control of welfare implementation education
etc, improvement as local people know local needs however power restricted by provincial
governors who could overturn decisions, furthermore at zemstvo meetings officials often criticised
tsar system), Education reform (Unis open to all , opportunity to govern themselves, new modern
schools introduced and could progress to university not just gimnaziya (so successful encouraged
formation of student opposition groups, government reassertion was needed as soon as 1866),
censorship reforms (restrictions on publishers reduced ; foreign publications were permitted with
government approval led to number of books published to grow from 1055 in 1855 to 1855 in 1864)
The autocracy of Alexander II and Alexander III
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