The government of the Tsars

Outcomes: You'll learn to

• identify the forces for change and continuity in the 19th Century
• identify the roles of key groups in the period.

A major force for change in the late 18th Century and during the 19th Century was the change to the economic structures of the countries of Western Europe. These economic changes caused social changes as they affected the way people lived and worked. Before 1900 the following economic and social changes had taken place in Western Europe.

• The Economic revolution changed the basis for economic wealth from agriculture to industry, commerce and trade.
• Agriculture was modernised and mechanised to ensure efficient production
• A wealthy educated middle class emerged.

To accommodate these changes large numbers of people changed:

• where they lived, from rural villages to towns and new cities
• the work they did from farming and agricultural labour to factory jobs, mining, clerical work and domestic service.

Industrialisation led to changes in the class structure including:

• the rise of the bourgeoisie (commercial and intellectual middle class) and the decline of the aristocracy
• the rise of the proletariat (industrial working class)
• the need for an educated workforce.

These changes were accompanied by a gradual expansion of political rights first to the middle class and later to the working class in Western Europe.

In order to maintain her status as a great power Russia also needed to make these changes to her economic and social structure. The Tsarist governments faced many problems as they attempted to modernise Russia's backward economic and social structure as such changes had the potential to affect the position of the Tsar. Let us look more closely at the system which ensured the Tsars' total control over Russia.

The System of the Tsars
The system of the Tsars was called Autocracy. This meant that the Tsar had no legal restrictions on his power. Here are some of the ways used by the Tsars to maintain autocratic control:

In Russia the Tsar held absolute power.

Serfdom	The social system under which people were the property of the nobles or the Tsar to whom they owed labour in exchange for the use of land. They had no personal freedoms. This system had died out in most of Europe by the late 17th century.
The Russian Orthodox Church	Close links between the Church and the government. The Tsar was the head of the Church and the Church taught that 'God commands us to love and obey the Tsar'.
Censorship	No freedom of press or speech. Strict censorship of books allowed into Russia. Education was censored and Western ideas were banned.
The Army	The Tsar was head of the army which was used to put down any rebellions against the government
Political Oppression	No political parties were allowed. No-one could openly express opposition to the Tsar or his policies.
Secret Police	They were used to check on political opponents and revolutionaries.
The Bureaucracy	The Tsar maintained a huge public service to carry out his policies. Most of these bureaucrats came from the nobilitiy. Notorious for corruption, delays and inefficiency.

Autocracy developed to prevent the huge empire from breaking up and serfdom was a means of controlling the supply of labour for the landowners. But by the beginning of the 19th Century it was obvious that Russia lagged behind Western Europe and, for each Tsar, modernisation became an issue. The century began with the young 'liberal' Tsar Alexander I who was followed by a bleak period of repression under Nicholas I. In the middle of the 19th century the 'Tsar liberator' Alexander II introduced sweeping but limited reforms. His assassination in 1881 led to a further period of repression under Alexander III. His son Nicholas II tried to continue this policy but was forced by the outbreak of revolution in 1905, to make some concessions. The forces at work throughout the period were:

• the need to make changes to modernise the economy
• the reluctance of the Tsars to share power with their people.

Exercise 1.2: Comprehension - short answers
	Read the information in this lesson carefully and answer the questions linked here in full sentences, using your own words. Download questions
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