Web Wiz/History/Modern History/Preliminary Units of work/Decline of the Romanovs

Lesson plan

Week 1
Overview
Introduction
About Russia
Government
of the Tsars
Background
Alexander 1
Decembrist Revolt

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Web Wiz

Alexander I (1801-1825)

In some ways the key problems which faced the Tsars of the nineteenth century arose during the reign of Alexander I. These were the need to modernise the social and economic structure of Russia and the reluctance of the Tsars to lose autocratic control over the people. The backwardness of Russian industry was due to an absence of a banking system, a lack of capital [money] and the problems in obtaining labour. The Russian economy was:

wholly agricultural
commercial activity was underdeveloped
communications were rudimentary
in 1825 there were only 200,000 industrial workers in Russia and most of industry was foreign owned.

The youthful Alexander I was at first seen a liberal reformer. When he came to the throne he criticised the system of serfdom and autocracy and declared that he wanted to transform Russia into a modern, efficient country similar to the West. He ended the ban on foreign travel and literature, and encouraged the funding of more universities and schools. In the early years of his reign, Alexander was influenced by his liberal adviser, Mikhail Speransky, who advised him to introduce a Duma (parliament). This upset the nobility, who in 1812 persuaded Alexander to sack Speransky. After this, between 1812 and 1815, Alexander was preoccupied with the threat from France and the peace negotiations in Europe which followed the Napoleonic Wars. He left the job of running his government to the arch-conservative Count Aracheyev who reversed many of the early reforms.

In 1812 the French emperor, Napoleon, whose armies were spreading the ideas of the French Revolution across Europe invaded Russia. Russia defeated Napoleon in 1812 and this seemed to demonstrate to the rest of the world her status as a Great Power. However, when the Russian armies followed Napoleon to Paris, its officers (all young nobles) came into contact with a truly modern state for the first time. They were shocked by the contrast between life in France and life in Russia.

The defeat of Napoleon marked a turning point in Alexander's reign. While in Europe for the Congress of Vienna in 1815 he came under the influence of the conservative leaders of Western Europe who were determined to prevent revolutions in their countries. As a result the last ten years of his reign were marked by a return to repression and conservative ideas. Censorship was reintroduced, foreign travel and literature were banned and the growth of education was checked. By the end of his reign Russia was in much the same condition as she had been at the beginning. Absolute rule of the Tsar, economic backwardness and social discontent remained.

The contradiction between his liberal reforms and his return to repression has been explained in various ways. The first was his personality. Alexander I was intelligent and charming but too easily influenced by his advisers therefore he held liberal ideas only when his advisers were liberals. He was unable to formulate clear policies. Another reason for the return to repression was the forces against change in Russia such as, illiteracy, the shortage of trained, honest administrators and the reluctance to change amongst much of the nobility and many of the peasants.

Assessment:
A reign of contradictions in regards to his policies. He began as a liberal but became a reactionary after the defeat of Napoleon. He missed the opportunity to make major reforms to modernise Russia.


	Exercise 1.4: Cloze exercise (interactive) Read the information in this lesson carefully and do the cloze exercise.

Top