The 1899 Russian student strike was a student movement with the aim of establishing a constitutional, liberal, or progressive government in Russia. Russia 's first ever student strike started at St Petersburg University .
116-484: Konstantin Petrovich Pobedonostsev (Russian: Константи́н Петро́вич Победоно́сцев , IPA: [kənstɐnʲˈtʲin pʲɪˈtrovʲɪtɕ pəbʲɪdɐˈnostsɨf] ; 30 November 1827 – 23 March 1907) was a Russian jurist and statesman who served as an adviser to three Russian emperors . During the reign of Alexander III of Russia , Pobedonostsev was considered the chief spokesman for reactionary positions and
232-453: A skhodka to decide if the strike should continue. It votes to halt the strike. March 5: Moscow University also votes to end the strike after their rector Tikhomirov promises to petition the police to release arrested students. March 8: Moscow's rector angers the students by banning student meetings without his permission. They vote 2–1 to resume the strike. March 16–17: The St Petersburg skhodka meets twice, voting 825–601 in favour of
348-563: A centralized Russian national state , and secured independence against the Tatars . His grandson, Ivan IV ( r. 1533–1584 ), became in 1547 the first Russian monarch to be crowned " tsar of all Russia ". Between 1550 and 1700, the Russian state grew by an average of 35,000 km (14,000 sq mi) per year. Major events during this period include the transition from the Rurik to
464-518: A few were introduced , no major changes were attempted. The liberal Alexander I was replaced by his younger brother Nicholas I (1825–1855), who at the beginning of his reign was confronted with an uprising. The background of this revolt lay in the Napoleonic Wars , when a number of well-educated Russian officers travelled in Europe in the course of military campaigns, where their exposure to
580-424: A gift, the freed peasants had to pay a special lifetime tax to the government, which in turn paid the landlords a generous price for the land that they had lost. In numerous cases the peasants ended up with relatively small amounts of the least productive land. All the property turned over to the peasants was owned collectively by the mir , the village community, which divided the land among the peasants and supervised
696-626: A great power, playing a major role in European politics. On 2 November [ O.S. 22 October] 1721, the day of the announcement of the Treaty of Nystad, the Governing Senate and Synod invested the tsar with the titles of Peter the Great, Pater Patriae (father of the fatherland), and Imperator of all Russia . The adoption of the title of imperator by Peter I
812-560: A major domestic factor with its support for liberating Balkan Christians from Ottoman rule and making Bulgaria and Serbia independent. In early 1877, Russia intervened on behalf of Serbian and Russian volunteer forces, leading to the Russo-Turkish War (1877–78) . Within one year, Russian troops were nearing Constantinople and the Ottomans surrendered. Russia's nationalist diplomats and generals persuaded Alexander II to force
928-499: A manifesto, with the approval of Alexander the Second , demanding the abolishment of the constitutional movement: "Amid our affliction, the voice of God orders us to vigorously take the ruling power in our own hands..." He was chosen as a firm, severe hand to take over the universities after the 1899 mass student strikes . Consequently, in progressive circles he was denounced as an obscurantist , pedant, and an enemy of progress. After
1044-406: A modern, scientific, rationalist, and Western-oriented system. Catherine the Great ( r. 1762–1796 ) presided over further expansion of the Russian state by conquest, colonization , and diplomacy, while continuing Peter's policy of modernization towards a Western model. Alexander I ( r. 1801–1825 ) helped defeat the militaristic ambitions of Napoleon and subsequently constituted
1160-597: A necessity. Pobedonostsev's father, Pyotr Vasilyevich Pobedonostsev, was a professor of literature at Moscow State University . In 1841, he sent his son, then aged 14, to the Imperial School of Jurisprudence in St. Petersburg , which had been established to prepare young men for civil service. After graduation, Konstantin Pobedonostsev entered the public service as an official in the eighth Moscow department of
1276-411: A new strike. March 18: The university is closed and all students suspended. They have five days to petition for reentry on condition that they stay out of the skhodka and other student groups. March 20–21: The Okhrana expel all Organization Committee members from St. Petersburg . Students are forced to take their oral exams at the end of March to disrupt the strike. Students make it impossible for
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#17327653798941392-530: A political protest. February 15: The strike spreads to Moscow University and Technological Institute. By now, 68 students had been arrested in St Petersburg. February 16: The faculty council calls for the release of the arrested students, withdrawal of police from university grounds and for a temporary closure of the university. February 20: Nicholas II called an investigatory commission on Witte's advice. March 1: The Organization Committee calls
1508-675: A protest and demand a meeting with the university rector, but only the Kiev Gendarme Chief, Vasily Fedorovich Novitsky , is able to forcibly make the rector meet with them. The meeting provides no substantial results. February 8, 1898: The students try the same thing, this time fighting the police who disperse them. The Ministry of Education decided to ban the street parties in 1899. The rector V I Sergeevich warned that partying students would be arrested for hooliganism. The students were appalled as they had already decided to be more restrained that year. They felt humiliated because
1624-436: A representative body in the empire. Pobedonostsev's ascension in the first days after the assassination of Alexander II resulted in the subsequent resignation of Loris-Melikov and other ministers eager for liberal reforms. He was an uncompromising conservative and never shrank from boldly expressing his staunch opinions. He also used his home as a meeting-place for monarchist terrorists who were conspiring, and where he issued
1740-407: A result, there was a slow improvement in the living standards of Russian peasants in the empire's last two decades before 1914. Recent research into the physical stature of Army recruits shows they were bigger and stronger. There were regional variations, with more poverty in the heavily populated central black earth region ; and there were temporary downturns in 1891–93 and 1905–1908. By the end of
1856-639: A series of defeats that further galvanized the population against the emperor. In 1917, mass unrest among the population and mutinies in the army culminated in the February Revolution , which led to the abdication of Nicholas II, the formation of the Russian Provisional Government , and the proclamation of the first Russian Republic . Political dysfunction, continued involvement in the widely unpopular war, and widespread food shortages resulted in mass demonstrations against
1972-561: A student body ( skhodka ) to discuss students' concerns, complete with an elected president. These institutions were illegal under the 1863 statute. Student radicalism was partly created by this and the even more repressive statute on August 23, 1884. The latter meant it was the minister of education, not the faculty council, who appointed the Rector and Curator . The Curator was the only one who could convene faculty council meetings and appoint department deacons. The council could communicate with
2088-564: A third dissolve tracelessly into the surrounding population" (Russian: "Одна треть вымрет, одна выселится, одна треть бесследно растворится в окружающем населении"). He was also a supporter of Baron Maurice de Hirsch 's efforts for Jewish colonization in Argentina. Pobedonostsev was not always a reactionary. He had originally welcomed the Great Reforms that Alexander II undertook in the 1860s-1870s. However, he soon became alarmed by
2204-503: A very large and complex bureaucracy, and a court that rivaled those of Versailles and London . But the government was living far beyond its means, and 18th-century Russia remained "a poor, backward, overwhelmingly agricultural, and illiterate country". In 1801, over four years after Paul became the emperor of Russia, he was killed in Saint Michael's Castle in a coup. Paul was succeeded by his 23-year-old son, Alexander . Russia
2320-878: A wasteland and useless, and saw the government wasting money, but later, much gold and petroleum were discovered. In the late 1870s, Russia and the Ottoman Empire again clashed in the Balkans. From 1875 to 1877, the Balkan crisis intensified, with rebellions against Ottoman rule by various Slavic nationalities, which the Ottoman Turks had dominated since the 15th century. This was seen as a political risk in Russia, which similarly suppressed its Muslims in Central Asia and Caucasia. Russian nationalist opinion became
2436-522: Is also known for Russia's involvement in the Seven Years' War , where it was successful militarily, but gained little politically. Catherine the Great was a German princess who married Peter III , the German heir to the Russian crown. After the death of Empress Elizabeth, Catherine came to power after she effected a coup d'état against her very unpopular husband. She contributed to the resurgence of
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#17327653798942552-416: Is usually seen as the beginning of the "imperial" period of Russia. Following the reforms, the governance of Russia by an absolute monarch was enshrined. The Military Regulations made a note of the autocratic nature of the regime. During the reign of Peter I, the last vestiges of the independence of the boyars were lost. He transformed them into the new nobility , who were obedient nobles that served
2668-511: The 1828–1829 Russo-Turkish War , Russia invaded northeastern Anatolia and occupied the strategic Ottoman towns of Karin and Gümüşhane (Argiroupoli) and, posing as protector of the Greek Orthodox population , received extensive support from the region's Pontic Greeks . Following a brief occupation, the Russian imperial army withdrew back into Georgia. Russian emperors quelled two uprisings in their newly acquired Polish territories:
2784-702: The 1861 emancipation of all 23 million serfs. From 1721 until 1762, the Russian Empire was ruled by the House of Romanov ; its matrilineal branch of patrilineal German descent, the House of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov , ruled from 1762 until 1917. By the start of the 19th century, Russian territory extended from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Black Sea in the south, and from the Baltic Sea in
2900-544: The Boxer Rebellion . Japan strongly opposed Russian expansion, and defeated Russia in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905. Japan took over Korea, and Manchuria remained a contested area. Meanwhile, France , looking for allies against Germany after 1871, formed a military alliance in 1894, with large-scale loans to Russia, sales of arms, and warships, as well as diplomatic support. Once Afghanistan
3016-535: The British domination. Peter I ( r. 1682–1725 ), also known as Peter the Great, played a major role in introducing the European state system into Russia. While the empire's vast lands had a population of 14 million, grain yields trailed behind those in the West. Nearly the entire population was devoted to agriculture, with only a small percentage living in towns. The class of kholops , whose status
3132-759: The Coalition and joined the Continental System . By 1812, Russia had occupied many territories in Eastern Europe, holding some of Eastern Galicia from Austria and Bessarabia from the Ottoman Empire ; from Northern Europe, it had gained Finland from the war against a weakened Sweden ; it also gained some territory in the Caucasus. Following a dispute with Emperor Alexander I, in 1812, Napoleon launched an invasion of Russia . It
3248-622: The Crimean War , which Russia lost. The war was fought primarily in the Crimean peninsula , and to a lesser extent in the Baltic during the related Åland War . Since playing a major role in the defeat of Napoleon, Russia had been regarded as militarily invincible, but against a coalition of the great powers of Europe, the reverses it suffered on land and sea exposed the weakness of Emperor Nicholas I's regime. When Emperor Alexander II ascended
3364-506: The Enlightenment , the specter of revolution and disorder continued to haunt her and her successors. Indeed, her son Paul introduced a number of increasingly erratic decrees in his short reign aimed directly against the spread of French culture in response to their revolution . In order to ensure the continued support of the nobility, which was essential to her reign, Catherine was obliged to strengthen their authority and power at
3480-560: The Franco-Russian Alliance , to contain the growing power of Germany; completed the conquest of Central Asia ; and demanded important territorial and commercial concessions from China. The emperor's most influential adviser was Konstantin Pobedonostsev , tutor to Alexander III and his son Nicholas, and procurator of the Holy Synod from 1880 to 1895. Pobedonostsev taught his imperial pupils to fear freedom of speech and
3596-621: The Great Northern War , which ended in 1721 when an exhausted Sweden asked for peace with Russia. As a result, Peter acquired four provinces situated south and east of the Gulf of Finland , securing access to the sea. There he built Russia's new capital, Saint Petersburg , on the Neva river, to replace Moscow, which had long been Russia's cultural center. This relocation expressed his intent to adopt European elements for his empire. Many of
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3712-596: The Holy Alliance , which aimed to restrain the rise of secularism and liberalism across Europe. Russia further expanded to the west, south, and east, strengthening its position as a European power. Its victories in the Russo-Turkish Wars were later checked by defeat in the Crimean War (1853–1856), leading to a period of reform and intensified expansion into Central Asia . Alexander II ( r. 1855–1881 ) initiated numerous reforms , most notably
3828-478: The Industrial Revolution , Russia began to lag ever farther behind, creating new weaknesses for the empire seeking to play a role as a great power. Russia's status as a great power concealed the inefficiency of its government, the isolation of its people, and its economic and social backwardness. Following the defeat of Napoleon, Alexander I had been ready to discuss constitutional reforms, but though
3944-675: The Italian and Swiss expedition ,—he inflicted a series of defeats on the French; in particular, the Battle of the Trebbia in 1799. Nicholas II Nicholas II, also known as Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov, was the final Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Poland, and Grand duke of Finland. His reign started on 1 November 1894 and ended with his abdication on 15 March 1917. Born on 18 May 1868 at Alexander Palace , Tsarskoye Selo, Russian Empire, he
4060-515: The Jewish population . He warned of the negative element in Russia, portraying democratic and liberal movements as enemies of the national and religious unity of the Russian people . He opined that the task of achieving a harmonious society meant there was a collective responsibility to uphold political and religious unity, which justified the close supervision of Russian behaviour and thinking as
4176-676: The Most Holy Synod . In the latter office, Pobedonostsev was operating head of the Russian Orthodox Church . During the reign of Alexander III, he was one of the most influential men in Imperial Russia. He was the mastermind of Manifesto on Unshakeable Autocracy of 29 April 1881, which proclaimed that the absolute power of the Tsar was unshakable, thus putting an end to Loris-Melikov 's endeavours to establish
4292-606: The November Uprising in 1830 and the January Uprising in 1863. In 1863, the Russian autocracy had given the Polish artisans and gentry reason to rebel, by assailing national core values of language, religion, and culture. France , Britain , and Austria tried to intervene in the crisis but were unable to do so. The Russian press and state propaganda used the Polish uprising to justify the need for unity in
4408-615: The Ottoman Empire . His attention then turned to the north. Russia lacked a secure northern seaport, except at Arkhangelsk on the White Sea , where the harbor was frozen for nine months a year. Access to the Baltic Sea was blocked by Sweden, whose territory enclosed it on three sides. Peter's ambitions for a "window to the sea" led him, in 1699, to make a secret alliance with Saxony , the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , and Denmark-Norway against Sweden ; they conducted
4524-654: The Pale of Settlement . The May Laws did not lapse; further policies led to deportations of Jews from large cities, enrollment quotas in public education, and a proscription against voting in local elections. His anti-Jewish measures, at least, may have stemmed from a personal motive. British author Arnold White, interested in Jewish agricultural colonisation in Argentina , visited Pobedonostsev with credentials from Baron de Hirsch ; Pobedonostsev said to him: "The characteristics of
4640-543: The Red Terror . After emerging victorious, they established the Soviet Union across most of the Russian territory; it would be one of four continental empires to collapse as a result of World War I , along with Germany , Austria–Hungary , and the Ottoman Empire . The foundations of a Russian national state were laid in the late 15th century during the reign of Ivan III . By the early 16th century, all of
4756-475: The Romanov dynasties, the conquest of Siberia , and the reign of Peter the Great ( r. 1682–1725 ). Peter transformed the tsardom into an empire, and fought numerous wars that turned a vast realm into a major European power. He moved the Russian capital from Moscow to the new model city of Saint Petersburg , which marked the birth of the imperial era, and led a cultural revolution that introduced
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4872-552: The Russian nobility that began after the death of Peter the Great, abolishing State service and granting them control of most state functions in the provinces. She also removed the Beard tax instituted by Peter the Great. Catherine extended Russian political control over the lands of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , supporting the Targowica Confederation . However, the cost of these campaigns further burdened
4988-661: The Russo-Persian War (1804–1813) , they clashed with Persia over control and consolidation of Georgia, and also became involved in the Caucasian War against the Caucasian Imamate . At the conclusion of the war, Persia irrevocably ceded what is now Dagestan , eastern Georgia, and most of Azerbaijan to Russia, under the Treaty of Gulistan . Russia attempted to expand to the southwest, at the expense of
5104-546: The Russo-Polish War (1654–1667) which led to the incorporation of left-bank Ukraine , and the Russian conquest of Siberia . Poland was partitioned by its rivals in 1772–1815;most of its land and population being taken under Russian rule. Most of the empire's growth in the 19th century came from gaining territory in central and eastern Asia south of Siberia. By 1795, after the Partitions of Poland , Russia became
5220-551: The collectivism of the medieval Russian obshchina or mir over the individualism of the West. More extreme social doctrines were elaborated by such Russian radicals on the left, such as Alexander Herzen , Mikhail Bakunin , and Peter Kropotkin . After Russian armies liberated the Eastern Georgian Kingdom (allied since the 1783 Treaty of Georgievsk ) from the Qajar dynasty 's occupation of 1802, during
5336-488: The liberalism of Western Europe encouraged them to seek change on their return to autocratic Russia . The result was the Decembrist revolt (December 1825), which was the work of a small circle of liberal nobles and army officers who wanted to install Nicholas' brother Constantine as a constitutional monarch. The revolt was easily crushed, but it caused Nicholas to turn away from the modernization program begun by Peter
5452-417: The éminence grise of imperial politics. Between 1880 and 1905, he served as Over-Procurator of the Most Holy Synod , making him the non-clerical Russian official who supervised the Russian Orthodox Church . His writings on politics, law, art, and culture emphasized the positive element of the spiritual and secular unification of Russia with the acceptance of Christianity , while simultaneously condemning
5568-436: The 19th century, the Russian Empire dominated its territorial extent, covering a surface area of 22,800,000 km , making it become the world's third-largest empire. 1899 Russian student strike Russia had no university until Moscow University was founded in 1755. It was shunned by the clergy (it was a secular institution) and the nobility (it didn't count towards finishing their service duty). There were no more before
5684-598: The Civil Board of the Senate. The author's profound knowledge of Russian civil law resulted in description of many previously insufficiently explored institutions such as communal land law. In addition, Pobedonostsev published in 1865 in Moskovskie Vedomosti several anonymous articles on the judicial reform of Alexander II . Defunct Pobedonostsev held the view that human nature is sinful, rejecting
5800-1076: The Great Northern War, served as the state's capital. This concept of the triune Russian people, composed of the Great Russians , the Little Russians , and the White Russians , was introduced during the reign of Peter I, and it was associated with the name of Archimandrite Zacharias Kopystensky (1621), the Archimandrite of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra and expanded upon in the writings of an associate of Peter I, Archbishop Professor Theophan Prokopovich . Several of Peter I's associates are well-known, including François Le Fort , Boris Sheremetev , Alexander Menshikov , Jacob Bruce , Mikhail Golitsyn , Anikita Repnin , and Alexey Kelin. During Peter's reign,
5916-445: The Great and champion the doctrine of Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationality . In order to repress further revolts, censorship was intensified, including the constant surveillance of schools and universities. Textbooks were strictly regulated by the government. Police spies were planted everywhere. Under Nicholas I, would-be revolutionaries were sent off to Siberia, with hundreds of thousands sent to katorga camps. The retaliation for
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#17327653798946032-407: The Jewish race are parasitic; for their sustenance they require the presence of another race as "host" although they remain aloof and self-contained. Take them from the living organism, put them on a rock, and they die. They cannot cultivate the soil." He was also by 1894 credited (dubiously) with illustrating the goal of his anti-Jewish measures as making "a third of Jews die out, a third move out, and
6148-511: The Ottoman Empire . This resulted in a significant weakening of the Crimean Khanate , an Ottoman vassal and long-term Russian adversary. The discontent over the dominant positions of Baltic Germans in Russian politics resulted in Peter I's daughter Elizabeth being put on the Russian throne. Elizabeth supported the arts, architecture, and the sciences (for example, the founding of Moscow University ). But she did not carry out significant structural reforms. Her reign, which lasted nearly 20 years,
6264-406: The Ottoman Empire, respectively. As a result, Pan-Slavists were left with a legacy of bitterness against Austria-Hungary and Germany for failing to back Russia. Disappointment at the results of the war stimulated revolutionary tensions, and helped Serbia, Romania , and Montenegro gain independence from, and strengthen themselves against, the Ottomans. Another significant result of the war
6380-453: The Ottoman Empire, using recently acquired Georgia at its base for its Caucasus and Anatolian front. The late 1820s were successful years militarily. Despite losing almost all recently consolidated territories in the first year of the Russo-Persian War of 1826–1828 , Russia managed to favorably bring an end to the war with the Treaty of Turkmenchay , including the formal acquisition of what are now Armenia , Azerbaijan, and Iğdır Province . In
6496-430: The Ottomans to sign the Treaty of San Stefano in March 1878, creating an enlarged, independent Bulgaria that stretched into the southwestern Balkans. When Britain threatened to declare war over the terms of the treaty, an exhausted Russia backed down. At the Congress of Berlin in July 1878, Russia agreed to the creation of a smaller Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia , as a vassal state and an autonomous principality inside
6612-399: The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth during the Partitions of Poland , alongside Austria and Prussia . As part of the Treaty of Georgievsk , signed with the Georgian Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti , and her own political aspirations, Catherine waged a new war against Persia in 1796 after they had invaded eastern Georgia . Upon achieving victory, she established Russian rule over it and expelled
6728-461: The Russian Empire coincided with the decline of its rivals: the Swedish Empire , the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , Qajar Iran , the Ottoman Empire , and Qing China . From the 10th to 17th centuries, the Russians had been ruled by a noble class known as the boyars , above whom was an absolute monarch titled the tsar . The groundwork of the Russian Empire was laid by Ivan III ( r. 1462–1505 ), who greatly expanded his domain, established
6844-459: The Russian Empire. Pobedonostsev did develop a social program for the Church while limiting its autonomy. He imposed repressive measures against the non-Orthodox. He carried out major Church reforms, but they resulted in a church that by 1900 was enmeshed in bureaucracy, alienated in many ways from society, resentful of secular authorities, and divided internally. Stagnation in church and state policies prevailed until Pobedonostsev retired in 1905. In
6960-422: The Senate that its mission was to collect taxes, and tax revenues tripled over the course of his reign. Meanwhile, all vestiges of local self-government were removed. Peter continued and intensified his predecessors' requirement of state service from all nobles, in the Table of Ranks . As part of Peter's reorganization, he also enacted a church reform . The Russian Orthodox Church was partially incorporated into
7076-402: The Senate. The task of the department was to resolve civil cases from guberniyas surrounding Moscow. He was promoted rapidly within the eighth department. From 1860 to 1865, he taught civil law at Moscow State University . In 1861, Tsar Alexander II invited him to instruct his son and heir, Nicholas , in the theory of law and administration. In 1865, young Nicholas died, and Pobedonostsev
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#17327653798947192-438: The already oppressive social system, under which serfs were required to spend almost all of their time laboring on their owners' land. A major peasant uprising took place in 1773, after Catherine legalized the selling of serfs separate from land. Inspired by a Cossack named Yemelyan Pugachev and proclaiming "Hang all the landlords!", the rebels threatened to take Moscow before they were ruthlessly suppressed. Instead of imposing
7308-410: The building of the Trans-Siberian Railway , 1890 to 1904. This opened up East Asia ; and Russian interests focused on Mongolia, Manchuria , and Korea . China was too weak to resist, and was pulled increasingly into the Russian sphere. Russia obtained treaty ports such as Dalian / Port Arthur . In 1900, the Russian Empire invaded Manchuria as part of the Eight-Nation Alliance 's intervention against
7424-418: The country's administrative structure, in effect making it a tool of the state. Peter abolished the patriarchate and replaced it with a collective body, the Most Holy Synod , which was led by a government official . Peter died in 1725, leaving an unsettled succession. After a short reign by his widow, Catherine I , the crown passed to Empress Anna . She slowed the reforms and led a successful war against
7540-445: The death of Alexander III, he lost much of his influence. Tsar Nicholas II adhered to his father's Russification policy and even extending it to Finland , but he generally disliked the idea of systematic religious persecution, and was not wholly averse to the partial emancipation of the Church from civil control. On March 8, 1901, Nikolai Lagovsky, a socialist civil servant and statistician, tried to kill Pobedonostsev, shooting through
7656-449: The death of Peter were returned in the 1732 Treaty of Resht and 1735 Treaty of Ganja as a deal to oppose the Ottomans. Peter reorganized his government based on the latest political models of the time, molding Russia into an absolutist state. He replaced the old Boyar Duma (council of nobles) with a nine-member Senate , in effect a supreme council of state. The countryside was divided into new provinces and districts . Peter told
7772-570: The early years of the reign of Alexander II, Pobedonostsev maintained, though keeping aloof from the Slavophiles , that Western institutions were radically bad in themselves and totally inapplicable to Russia, since they had no roots in Russian history and culture and did not correspond to the spirit of Russian people. In that period, he contributed several papers to Alexander Herzen 's radical periodical Voices from Russia . He denounced democracy as "the insupportable dictatorship of vulgar crowd". He argued that parliaments , trial by jury , freedom of
7888-414: The empire. The semi-autonomous polity of Congress Poland subsequently lost its distinctive political and judicial rights, with Russification being imposed on its schools and courts. However, Russification policies in Poland, Finland and among the Germans in the Baltics largely failed and only strengthened political opposition. In 1854–1855, Russia fought Britain , France and the Ottoman Empire in
8004-429: The end his dynasty was overthrown by the Russian Revolution . The Industrial Revolution began to show significant influence in Russia, but the country remained rural and poor. Economic conditions steadily improved after 1890, thanks to new crops such as sugar beets, and new access to railway transportation. Total grain production increased, as well as exports, even with rising domestic demand from population growth. As
8120-448: The expense of the serfs and other lower classes. Nevertheless, Catherine realized that serfdom must eventually be ended, going so far in her Nakaz ("Instruction") to say that serfs were "just as good as we are" – a comment received with disgust by the nobility. Catherine advanced Russia's southern and western frontiers, successfully waging war against the Ottoman Empire for territory near the Black Sea , and incorporating territories of
8236-457: The government and other major buildings were designed under Italianate influence. In 1722, he turned his aspirations toward increasing Russian influence in the Caucasus and the Caspian Sea at the expense of the weakened Safavid Persians . He made Astrakhan the base of military efforts against Persia, and waged the first full-scale war against them in 1722–23 . Peter the Great temporarily annexed several areas of Iran to Russia, which after
8352-792: The government in July . The republic was overthrown in the October Revolution by the Bolsheviks , who proclaimed the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and whose Treaty of Brest-Litovsk ended Russia's involvement in the war, but who nevertheless were opposed by various factions known collectively as the Whites . During the resulting Russian Civil War , the Bolsheviks conducted
8468-488: The ideals of freedom and independence as dangerous delusions of nihilistic youth. In his "Reflections of a Russian Statesman" (1896), he promoted autocracy and condemned elections, representation and democracy, the jury system, the press, free education, charities, and social reforms. He despised representative government, and denounced the notion of an all-Russian parliament. He also condemned Social Darwinism as an erroneous generalisation of Darwin's Theory of Evolution. In
8584-553: The implicit threat to India ; and decades of diplomatic maneuvering resulted, called the Great Game . That rivalry between the two empires has been considered to have included far-flung territories such as Outer Mongolia and Tibet . The maneuvering largely ended with the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907. Expansion into the vast stretches of Siberia was slow and expensive, but finally became possible with
8700-589: The last remaining absolute monarchy in Europe, the empire saw rapid political radicalization and the growing popularity of revolutionary ideas such as communism . After the 1905 revolution , Nicholas II authorized the creation of a national parliament, the State Duma , although he still retained absolute political power. When Russia entered the First World War on the side of the Allies , it suffered
8816-468: The late 19th century, it covered about 22,800,000 km (8,800,000 sq mi), roughly one-sixth of the world's landmass, making it the third-largest empire in history , behind only the British and Mongol empires. It also colonized North America between 1799 and 1867. The empire's 1897 census, the only one it conducted, found a population of 125.6 million with considerable ethnic, linguistic, religious, and socioeconomic diversity. The rise of
8932-606: The long run, argues Polunov, Pobedonostsev's attempts to impose safe conservative barriers to reform and his hostility toward innovation served only to weaken the autocratic state from within. Russian Empire The Russian Empire was a vast empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its proclamation in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in
9048-598: The military, 20 percent to government economic activities, 12 percent to administration, and nine percent for the Imperial Court in St. Petersburg. The deficit required borrowing, primarily from bankers in Amsterdam ; five percent of the budget was allocated to debt payments. Paper money was issued to pay for expensive wars, thus causing inflation. As a result of its spending, Russia developed a large and well-equipped army,
9164-591: The ministry only through him. The Curator appointed an inspector to discipline the students and decide who would get scholarships. St. Petersburg put up with student partying in Nevsky Prospekt every February 8. This was the anniversary of the founding of St. Petersburg University . Students would march through the city drinking, singing, and dancing. These marches became increasingly violent. February 8, 1895: Students and janitors brawl in front of Palkin restaurant. December 20, 1897: 500 students attend
9280-407: The most populous state in Europe, ahead of France . The foundations of the Russian Empire were laid during Peter I 's reforms , which significantly altered Russia's political and social structure, and as a result of the Great Northern War which strengthened Russia's standing on the world stage. Internal transformations and military victories contributed to the transformation of Russia into
9396-736: The new parliament (the Duma). He signed the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907 to counter Germany's influence in the Middle East, ending the Great Game between Russia and the British Empire . However, his reign was marked by criticism for the government's suppression of political dissent and perceived failures or inaction during events like the Khodynka Tragedy , anti-Jewish pogroms, Bloody Sunday (1905) , and
9512-481: The newly established Persian garrisons in the Caucasus. Catherine's expansionist policy caused Russia to develop into a major European power, as did the Enlightenment era and the Golden age in Russia. But after Catherine died in 1796, she was succeeded by her son, Paul . He brought Russia into a major coalition war against the new-revolutionary French Republic in 1798. Russian commander Field Marshal Suvorov led
9628-406: The nineteenth century. By 1914 there were ten universities, half in Russia proper ( Moscow , St Petersburg , Saratov , Kazan and Tomsk ) and the other half in minority regions ( Warsaw , Odessa , Kiev , Kharkov and Tartu ). Until Alexander II became tsar in 1855, Russian students tended to be politically apathetic. In 1850 Nicholas I , fearful of the 1848 revolutions spreading, limited
9744-539: The notice was published in the papers too. February 8, 1899: The students are blocked by the police at the Dvortsovyi bridge (connecting the university's Vasilevskii Island to the city centre), then turn towards Rumiantsev square where mounted police ambush them. They respond to the students' snowballs with whips. February 9: 3,000 students attend a skhodka . They call a student strike and elect an 11 strong Organization Committee. At this stage, few students wanted
9860-401: The obligation of the nobility to serve was reinforced, and serf labor played a significant role in the growth of the industry, reinforcing traditional socioeconomic structures. The volume of the country's international trade turnover increased as a result of Peter I's industrial reforms. However, imports of goods overtook exports, strengthening the role of foreigners in Russian trade, particularly
9976-419: The past centuries of national life. In his view, human society evolves naturally , just like a tree grows. The human mind is not able to perceive the logic of social development. Any attempt at reforming society is an act of violence and a crime. Among the practical deductions drawn from these premises is the necessity of preserving autocratic power, and of fostering among the people the traditional veneration for
10092-453: The press , and secular education were undesirable alien nostrums. He subjected all of them to a severe analysis in his Reflections of a Russian Statesman . He once stated that Russia should be "frozen in time", showing his undivided commitment to autocracy. To these dangerous products of Western thought he found a counterpoise in popular vis inertiae , and in the respect of the masses for institutions developed slowly and automatically during
10208-446: The press, as well as dislike democracy, constitutions, and the parliamentary system. Under Pobedonostsev, revolutionaries were persecuted—by the imperial secret police , with thousands being exiled to Siberia —and a policy of Russification was carried out throughout the empire. Russia had little difficulty expanding to the south, including conquering Turkestan , until Britain became alarmed when Russia threatened Afghanistan , with
10324-568: The redrawing of the map of Europe at the Congress of Vienna (1815), which ultimately made Alexander the monarch of Congress Poland . The " Holy Alliance " was proclaimed, linking the monarchist great powers of Austria, Prussia, and Russia. Although the Russian Empire played a leading political role in the next century, thanks to its role in defeating Napoleonic France, its retention of serfdom precluded economic progress to any significant degree. As Western European economic growth accelerated during
10440-488: The revolt made "December Fourteenth" a day long remembered by later revolutionary movements. The question of Russia's direction had been gaining attention ever since Peter the Great's program of modernization. Some favored imitating Western Europe while others were against this and called for a return to the traditions of the past. The latter path was advocated by Slavophiles , who held the "decadent" West in contempt. The Slavophiles were opponents of bureaucracy, who preferred
10556-491: The ritual of the national Church. In the sphere of practical politics Pobedonostsev exercised considerable influence in the Russification policy of Alexander III. This found expression in nationalist propaganda. Pobedonostsev particularly advised the anti-Jewish measures taken during Alexander III's administration. These began with the temporary " May Laws " that banned Jews from rural areas and shtetls even within
10672-414: The role of Protestant and other non-Orthodox religions. Pobedonostsev said Russia needed an Orthodox monopoly. However, he failed to win over the civil authorities, the judicial authorities, and the religious department in his struggle against the non-Orthodox. As a result, his policies, which were intended to unify, actually engendered dissension and violence and in the long run contributed to the collapse of
10788-454: The semi-independent and petty princedoms in Russia had been unified with Moscow. During the reign of Ivan IV , the khanates of Kazan and Astrakhan were conquered by Russia in the mid-16th century, leading to the development of an increasingly multinational state. Much of Russia's expansion occurred in the 17th century, culminating in the first Russian colonization of the Pacific ,
10904-461: The serfs, was the single most important event in 19th-century Russian history, and the beginning of the end of the landed aristocracy's monopoly on power. The 1860s saw further socioeconomic reforms to clarify the position of the Russian government with regard to property rights. Emancipation brought a supply of free labor to the cities, stimulating industry, while the middle class grew in number and influence. However, instead of receiving their lands as
11020-552: The state for the rest of their lives. He also introduced the Table of Ranks and equated the votchina with an estate . Russia's modern fleet was built by Peter the Great, along with an army that was reformed in the manner of European style and educational institutions (the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences ). Civil lettering was adopted during Peter I's reign, and the first Russian newspaper, Vedomosti ,
11136-402: The student population. Inspectors punished students for not wearing uniforms or having long hair or not attending military drills . These restrictions were removed after Alexander II's accession. From 1855 to 1858 the population of St. Petersburg University increased from 476 to 1,026. Its students set up a journal in 1856, then its editorial board created a friendly society ( kassa ) and
11252-422: The throne in 1855, the desire for reform was widespread. A growing humanitarian movement attacked serfdom as inefficient. In 1859, there were more than 23 million serfs in usually poor living conditions. Alexander II decided to abolish serfdom from above, with ample provision for the landowners, rather than wait for it to be abolished from below by revolution. The Emancipation Reform of 1861 , which freed
11368-489: The traditional punishment of drawing and quartering, Catherine issued secret instructions that the executioners should execute death sentences quickly and with minimal suffering, as part of her effort to introduce compassion into the law. She furthered these efforts by ordering the public trial of Darya Nikolayevna Saltykova , a high-ranking noblewoman, on charges of torturing and murdering serfs. Whilst these gestures garnered Catherine much positive attention from Europe during
11484-449: The various holdings. Although serfdom was abolished, its abolition was achieved on terms unfavorable to peasants; thus, revolutionary tensions remained. Revolutionaries believed that the newly freed serfs were merely being sold into wage slavery in the onset of the industrial revolution, and that the urban bourgeoisie had effectively replaced the landowners. Seeking more territories, Russia obtained Priamurye ( Russian Manchuria ) from
11600-679: The violent suppression of the 1905 Russian Revolution. The Russo-Japanese War , which resulted in the destruction of the Russian Baltic Fleet at the Battle of Tsushima , further eroded his popularity. By March 1917, public support for Nicholas II had dwindled, leading to his forced abdication and the end of the 304-year rule of the Romanov (dynasty) in Russia (1613–1917). Nicholas II was deeply devoted to his wife, Alexandra, whom he married on 26 November 1894. They had five children: Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, and Tsesarevich Alexei. The Russian Imperial Romanov family
11716-699: The weakened Manchu-ruled Qing China , which was occupied fighting against the Taiping Rebellion . In 1858, the Treaty of Aigun ceded much of the Manchu Homeland, and in 1860, the Treaty of Peking ceded the modern Primorsky Krai , also founded the outpost of future Vladivostok . Meanwhile, Russia decided to sell the indefensible Russian America to the United States for 11 million rubles (7.2 million dollars) in 1867. Initially, many Americans considered this newly gained territory to be
11832-407: The weakening of the rural estates and the tsarist bureaucracy. He decided that a deeper spiritual unity of the tsar and his people was needed to restore stability to Russia. When Alexander III ascended the throne in 1881, Pobedonostsev rapidly gained a powerful influence over the affairs of both church and state. To establish order he suppressed all reform efforts. The reforms of the 1860s had legalized
11948-424: The west to Alaska, Hawaii, and California in the east. By the end of the 19th century, Russia had expanded its control over the Caucasus , most of Central Asia and parts of Northeast Asia . Notwithstanding its extensive territorial gains and great power status, the empire entered the 20th century in a perilous state. A devastating famine in 1891–1892 killed hundreds of thousands and led to popular discontent. As
12064-562: The window of Pobedonostsev's office. He fired six times and all missed his target. Lagovsky said Pobedonostev, "spread superstition and ignorance among the people through church schools." Lagovski was sentenced to 6 years of katorga . Pobedonostsev ordered Tolstoy 's excommunication in 1901. During the Russian Revolution of 1905 which followed the disastrous war with Japan , Pobedonostsev, being nearly 80 years of age, retired from public affairs. He died on 23 March 1907. He
12180-486: Was assassinated by the Narodnaya Volya , a Nihilist terrorist organization . The throne passed to Alexander III (1881–1894), a reactionary who revived the maxim of "Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationality" of Nicholas I. A committed Slavophile, Alexander III believed that Russia could be saved from turmoil only by shutting itself off from the subversive influences of Western Europe. During his reign, Russia formed
12296-483: Was catastrophic for France, whose army was decimated during the Russian winter . Although Napoleon's Grande Armée reached Moscow, the Russians' scorched earth strategy prevented the invaders from living off the country. In the harsh and bitter winter, thousands of French troops were ambushed and killed by peasant guerrilla fighters. Russian troops then pursued Napoleon's troops to the gates of Paris, presiding over
12412-402: Was close to that of slaves , remained a major institution in Russia until 1723, when Peter converted household kholops into house serfs , thus counting them for poll taxation. Russian agricultural kholops had been formally converted into serfs earlier in 1679. They were largely tied to the land, in a feudal sense, until the late 19th century. Peter's first military efforts were directed against
12528-620: Was executed by who were believed to be drunken Bolshevik revolutionaries under Yakov Yurovsky, as ordered by the Ural Regional Soviet in Yekaterinburg on the night of 16–17 July 1918. This marked the end of the Russian Empire and Imperial Russia. Russia was in a continuous state of financial crisis. While revenue rose from 9 million rubles in 1724 to 40 million in 1794, expenses grew more rapidly, reaching 49 million in 1794. The budget allocated 46 percent to
12644-536: Was fictionalized as old senator Ableukhov in Andrey Bely 's novel Petersburg (1912). Arguably he was also depicted in Leo Tolstoy 's Anna Karenina as Alexei Alexandrovich Karenin. Though Pobedonostsev is mostly known as a statesman and thinker, his contribution to Russian civil law is significant. He is generally regarded as one of the most educated European jurists of the 19th century. His main work
12760-703: Was in a state of war with the French Republic under the leadership of the Corsica -born First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte . After he became the emperor , Napoleon defeated Russia at Austerlitz in 1805, Eylau and Friedland in 1807. After Alexander was defeated in Friedland, he agreed to negotiate and sued for peace with France; the Treaties of Tilsit led to the Franco-Russian alliance against
12876-583: Was informally partitioned by the Anglo-Russian Convention in 1907, Britain, France, and Russia came increasingly close together in opposition to Germany and Austria-Hungary. The three would later comprise the Triple Entente alliance in the First World War . In 1894, Alexander III was succeeded by his son, Nicholas II , who was committed to retaining the autocracy that his father had left him. Nicholas II proved as an ineffective ruler, and in
12992-510: Was invited to teach Nicholas's brother Alexander (the future Tsar Alexander III ). In 1866, Pobedonostsev moved to a permanent residence in St. Petersburg. Pobedonostsev and Tsarevich Alexander remained very close for almost thirty years, through Alexander's ascension as Tsar in 1881 and until his death in 1894. He became a member of the Council of the Empire , and in 1880, Chief Procurator of
13108-496: Was published. Peter I promoted the advancement of science, particularly geography and geology , trade, and industry, including shipbuilding, as well as the growth of the Russian educational system. Every tenth Russian acquired an education during Peter I's reign, when there were 15 million people in the country. The city of Saint Petersburg , which was built in 1703 on territory along the Baltic coast that had been conquered during
13224-701: Was the acquisition from the Ottomans of the provinces of Batumi , Ardahan , and Kars in Transcaucasia , which were transformed into the militarily administered regions of Batum Oblast and Kars Oblast . To replace Muslim refugees who had fled across the new frontier into Ottoman territory, the Russian authorities settled large numbers of Christians from ethnically diverse communities in Kars Oblast, particularly Georgians , Caucasus Greeks , and Armenians , each of whom hoped to achieve protection and advance their own regional ambitions. In 1881, Alexander II
13340-433: Was the eldest son and successor of Aleksandr Aleksandrovich (later known as Alexander III of Russia ) and his wife Maria Fyodorovna (formerly Dagmar of Denmark ). During his rule, Nicholas II supported the economic and political reforms proposed by his prime ministers, Sergei Witte and Pyotr Stolypin . He favored modernization through foreign loans and strong ties with France, but was reluctant to give significant roles to
13456-466: Was the three-volume "Course of Civil Law" (Курс гражданского права), published in 1868, 1871 and 1880, respectively. Before the " Russian Revolution of 1905 ", also known as The First Revolution, the Course was reprinted several times with minor changes. The Course was regarded as outstanding guide for practising lawyers. Quotations from the Course are reported to have been used as a ground for decisions of
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