History of Russia (1855–1894) facts for kids
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In 1855, Alexander II became the new Tsar (emperor) of Russia. He brought many big changes to the country. One of the most important was freeing the serfs (peasants tied to the land) in 1861. He also made it easier to publish books and newspapers by lifting censorship. After him, Alexander III (who ruled from 1881 to 1894) was stricter. He limited public spending but continued to make some reforms for land and workers. During this time, Russia's population grew a lot, and factories started to appear, even though most people still lived in the countryside.
Different groups had ideas about how Russia should be run. Some were called Populists, who wanted to help the peasants. There were also anarchists and Marxists, who had different ideas about society. A group called People's Will even assassinated Alexander II. Another group, the Slavophiles, believed Russia should stick to its old traditions and not copy Western countries.
Russia also kept growing its empire. It took control of areas like the Caucasus, Tashkent, and Samarkand. The period started after the Crimean War. Russia wanted to gain more influence over parts of the Ottoman Empire and get back its navy access to the Black Sea. This led to a successful war with the Ottoman Empire in 1877–1878. After this war, Bulgaria became an independent country, and Russia gained new lands in the South Caucasus. Russia tried to be friends with Germany and Austria-Hungary in the League of the Three Emperors, but they often disagreed, especially about Bulgaria. The alliance with Germany ended in 1890.
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How Russia Grew Its Economy
Russia's population grew very fast between 1850 and 1910, almost doubling. Only the United States grew faster. But even with this growth, most people in Russia still lived in rural areas, not cities, well into the 1900s.
The law in 1861 freed the peasants from being tied to landowners. It also gave them the land they had been working on for their own use. Most farming was done by peasants, who made up about 80% of the rural population. By the end of the 1800s, Russia was the biggest producer and exporter of grains in the world. Because farming grew so much, Russia became more important in global trade.
Factories and industries also grew a lot, though not always steadily. Russia's main industrial areas were around Moscow, Saint Petersburg, the Baltic cities, Russian Poland, and parts of the southern Ural Mountains. By 1890, Russia had about 32,000 kilometers of railroads. There were also 1.4 million factory workers, many of whom worked in making clothes. Between 1860 and 1890, coal production increased by 1,200 percent. Iron and steel production more than doubled. Even with this growth, the government's spending and debt also grew a lot.
Big Changes in Russia
Alexander II's Reforms
Tsar Alexander II became ruler in 1855 after his father, Nicholas I. Russia had just lost the Crimean War, which showed that the army, economy, and government needed big changes. Alexander II was open to new ideas and decided to make many reforms.
Freeing the Serfs
In 1861, Alexander II made a huge change: he freed 20 million serfs. These were people who were like property, tied to the land they worked. Local groups helped with this change, giving land and freedom to the serfs. The government helped the peasants buy this land from their former owners. They paid the owners and then collected payments from the peasants over many years. The government hoped that landowners would still be important leaders and that peasants would grow enough food for themselves and for export.
New Local Governments and Courts
After freeing the serfs, Alexander II also reformed local government. In 1864, most local areas in European Russia got elected councils called zemstvos. These councils had representatives from all social classes. They were in charge of local schools, public health, roads, and food supplies. In 1870, cities also got elected councils called duma. These councils could collect taxes and organize work for local projects.
In 1864, Alexander II also made big changes to the legal system. He set up courts with juries in major towns. This new system worked well in cities. The Russian legal system was based on French and German laws. Each case was judged on its own facts, not on past decisions.
Education and Money Changes
Alexander II also improved education and culture. He greatly reduced censorship, which meant people could express their opinions more freely. This helped the government fight corruption and inefficiency. Universities gained more freedom. The government also encouraged education for peasants on a large scale.
In terms of money, Russia created the State Bank in 1866. This helped make the country's money stronger. The Ministry of Finance supported building railroads, which helped with exports. They also created the Peasant Land Bank in 1882 to help farmers buy more land.
A Modern Army
The last major reform by Alexander II was changing the military service in 1874. The Franco-Prussian War showed that Russia needed a modern army. The old system, where a few men served for 25 years, was stopped. A new system was introduced where all young men at age 21 had to serve for a short time. After that, they would be in the reserve army for several years. This new system was fairer for everyone. It also helped teach many peasants to read and even offered medical education for women.
Even with all these big changes, Russia did not become completely peaceful. In 1881, revolutionaries assassinated Alexander II.
Alexander III's Rule: Turning Back the Clock?
His son, Alexander III (who ruled from 1881 to 1894), started a period of stricter control. He made the secret police, called the Okhrana, much stronger. This group had special powers and was part of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Alexander III's ministers also limited the power of the local zemstvos and dumas. They also brought back religious censorship and treated non-Orthodox and non-Russian people harshly. They also encouraged anti-Jewish feelings. These actions made many people unhappy. Different groups, like Poles, Finns, and Ukrainians, reacted by becoming even more proud of their own cultures. Many Jewish people left Russia or joined groups that wanted big changes.
Helping Farmers and Workers
Alexander III also focused on saving money. He cut down spending for the royal family, the army, and other government services. This allowed him to make financial changes that helped peasants. The poll tax (a tax on each person) was stopped in 1886. A law was passed to make it easier for peasants to get the land they were promised in 1861. The payments they owed for this land were greatly reduced. Also, government lands in Eastern Russia and Siberia were opened up for peasants to move to and buy cheaply.
New laws were also made to protect workers starting in 1882. These laws created factory inspectors to check on health and safety. They also set rules for working hours and limited how much women and young people could work.
Alexander III's money reforms helped prepare Russia to use the gold standard (a system where money is based on gold) later on. He also continued to build many railroads. The biggest project was starting the Trans-Siberian Railway in 1891.
The Slavophiles' Ideas
In the second half of the 1800s, a group called "Slavophiles" became popular among thinkers. They believed that Peter the Great had made a mistake by trying to make Russia more like Western Europe. They thought Russia should go back to its own traditions, focusing on a simple, peasant-based society and the Orthodox Christian faith. They felt that Western countries were too focused on science, atheism, and money. However, the government didn't agree with these ideas because they felt Russia needed to modernize quickly.
Challenges for Different Groups
Russia was a huge empire with many different nationalities and languages. But it wasn't always friendly to the different groups who wanted to keep their own cultures. Poles, for example, had a very hard time because they had been enemies with Russia for centuries and had revolted in 1830 and 1863. While some areas like Russian Poland grew with industry, other places like Ukraine stayed less developed. Jewish people in Russia faced increasing unfair treatment.
Even though Russia was industrializing, it was still mostly a rural and less developed country when World War I began. Only Moscow and Saint Petersburg had much industry. Many workers were new to city life and had little education. This meant that many ideas for big changes came from educated people who were frustrated with how inefficient Russian society was.
With help from other countries, Russia did manage to build some industries by 1914. But this also brought problems like child labor and unsafe working conditions, similar to what happened in Western countries. However, Russia found it harder to fix these problems because it didn't have good systems or enough honest, educated government workers. Towards the end of the 1800s, many revolutionary groups appeared. Some even wanted to go back to older ways of life.
Russia's Place in the World
After the Crimean War, Russia was careful with its foreign policy. The Treaty of Paris (1856) had hurt Russia by making the Black Sea a neutral zone and taking away some land. This meant Russia couldn't have a navy in the Black Sea. Russia's main goal was to get back its naval access to the Black Sea. Russia saw Britain and Austria-Hungary as obstacles, so it tried to have good relationships with France, Prussia, and the United States.
Russia also started expanding its empire again. Russian troops moved to control the Caucasus region, where Muslim tribes had been fighting for a long time. After capturing a rebel leader named Shamil in 1859, the army continued into Central Asia. They captured Tashkent in 1866 and formed a new territory called Turkestan. The Bukhara Khanate also lost the important area of Samarkand to Russia in 1868. To avoid upsetting Britain, which was worried about its nearby colony of India, Russia left some areas near Afghanistan and Persia independent.
Russia also made agreements with Japan and China. After the Second Opium War (1856–1860), China gave Russia important trading rights and land along the Amur and Ussuri rivers. This allowed Russia to build a port and naval base at Vladivostok.
In Europe, Russia first supported France against Austria. But this friendship ended when France supported a Polish uprising against Russian rule in 1863. Russia then became closer to Prussia. Russia agreed to Germany becoming a united country. In return, Russia was allowed to put its navy back in the Black Sea. This happened at a meeting in London in 1871, after France lost the Franco-Prussian War. After 1871, Germany, now united under Prussia, was the strongest country in Europe. In 1873, Germany, Russia, and Austria-Hungary formed the League of the Three Emperors to prevent them from joining forces with France. However, Russia and Austria-Hungary often disagreed about the Balkans, where different Slavic groups and anti-Ottoman feelings were strong.
In the 1870s, many Russian nationalists wanted to help Christian people in the Balkans who were under Ottoman rule. They wanted to make Bulgaria and Serbia like Russian protectorates. From 1875 to 1877, there were rebellions in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Bulgaria. The Ottoman Turks put down these rebellions very cruelly. Serbia declared war, and in early 1877, Russia joined the war to help Serbia. Within a year, Russian troops were close to Constantinople, and the Ottomans surrendered. Russia forced the Ottomans to sign the Treaty of San Stefano in March 1878. This created a much larger, independent Bulgaria. Russia also gained new lands in the South Caucasus.
Britain threatened to go to war over the terms of the treaty, so Russia backed down. At the Congress of Berlin in July 1878, Russia agreed to a smaller Bulgaria. Russian nationalists were angry with Austria-Hungary and Germany for not supporting Russia more. But the Tsar accepted a new League of the Three Emperors.
After this, Russia focused its attention on Central Asia. In the 1870s, Russia put down several uprisings there and added more independent areas to its empire. Britain became worried in 1881 when Russian troops took over lands near the Persian and Afghan borders. But Germany supported Russia's actions, and a war between Britain and Russia was avoided. Meanwhile, Russia's support for Bulgarian independence backfired. The Bulgarians became angry with Russia's interference and sought help from Austria-Hungary. This led to disagreements between Austria-Hungary and Russia. Germany sided with Russia by signing a defensive alliance called the Reinsurance Treaty in 1887. However, within a year, Russia and Germany became unfriendly. Germany stopped giving loans to Russia, and France became Russia's new financial partner. When the German leader Wilhelm II fired Bismarck in 1890, the alliance between Russia and Prussia ended. Three years later, Russia formed a military alliance with France, matching the alliance between Germany and Austria-Hungary.
Russia and the U.S Civil War
Russia Supports the United States
During the American Civil War, some European countries like Britain and France thought about getting involved to help the Southern states. However, Russia strongly supported the United States (the Union). In October 1862, the Russian Foreign Minister, Alexander Gorchakov, met with the US representative in St. Petersburg. He promised that Russia would never act against the US and would oppose any other country trying to do so. Gorchakov said, "We desire above all things the maintenance of the American Union as one indivisible nation."
The official Russian newspaper also spoke out against any plans by Britain and France to interfere in the US war. This helped prevent a wider war. The British government, knowing Russia's stance, decided not to get involved.
Russian Fleets Visit America
The most dramatic show of friendship between Russia and the United States happened in late 1863. The Russian Baltic fleet arrived in New York harbor in September, and the Russian Far East fleet arrived in San Francisco in October. Russia sent these ships because they thought they might go to war with Britain and France over a Polish uprising. They didn't want their ships trapped in their home ports.
The Russian admirals were told that if Russia and the US went to war with Britain and France, the Russian ships should work with the US Navy. This showed how strong the friendship was.
When news of the Russian fleet arrived, it brought great joy to the Northern states. Many Americans celebrated the Russian sailors. The Russian officers were treated like heroes. When it seemed like a Confederate ship might attack San Francisco, the Russian admiral there ordered his ships to defend the city if needed. There were no major US warships there, so Russia was ready to fight for the United States. The Confederate ship did not attack.
Soon after the war, Russia sold Alaska to the United States. This was partly because they thought many Americans would come looking for gold, and partly to prevent Britain from taking control of the vast region. The US Secretary of the Navy, Gideon Welles, wrote in his diary, "God bless the Russians!" This strong friendship between Russia and America was very important in the 1800s.
Revolutionary Movements
Alexander II's reforms, especially allowing more freedom of speech, led to many new political ideas. The government used newspapers to gain support, but writers also used them to criticize the Tsar and the government. Many educated people, peasants, and workers shared these opposing ideas. The government saw these publications and groups as dangerous. From the 1860s to the 1880s, Russian radicals were called "Populists". They focused on helping the peasants, whom they called "the people" (narod).
Leaders of the Populist movement included writers, idealists, and some who believed in using violence. In the 1860s, Nikolai Chernyshevsky, a very important radical writer, suggested that Russia could skip capitalism and go straight to socialism. His book, What Is to Be Done?, talked about a special person who would lead a new, revolutionary generation. Other radicals like the anarchist Mikhail Bakunin and his friend Sergey Nechayev urged direct action.
Another thinker, Petr Tkachev, argued that a small, strong revolutionary group should take power before capitalism fully developed. But Petr Lavrov disagreed. He called for people to go "to the people." Hundreds of idealists listened in 1873 and 1874, leaving their schools to go to the countryside. They tried to start a big movement among the peasants. However, the Populist campaign failed because the peasants were not always welcoming to these city idealists.
The radicals then changed their approach. In 1876, they formed a group called Land and Liberty (Zemlya i volya), which started to lean towards using violence. Three years later, this group renamed itself the People's Will (Narodnaya Volya). This was the group that assassinated Alexander II in 1881. In 1879, Georgi Plekhanov formed a group called Black Repartition (Черный передел). This group wanted to give all land to the peasants. They also studied Marxism, which focused on urban factory workers. The People's Will group continued to work in secret.
