The History Book

243

See also: The founding of St. Petersburg 196–97 ■ The 1848 revolutions 228–29 ■

The construction of the Suez Canal 230–35 ■ The Crimean War 265 ■

The October Revolution 276–79

A

lexander II’s emancipation

of Russia’s 20 million serfs

(unfree laborers) in 1861

was not a humanitarian act. Its

goal was a further attempt to

modernize a Russia that, regardless

of potential, was being left behind

by the industrializing nations of

the West. To take what it saw as

its rightful place in the world,

Russia adopted wide-ranging

reforms across political, social,

economic, and military areas.

The effects of these reforms

were mixed at best. Emancipation

did very little to improve the

serfs’ well-being or agricultural

productivity, and Alexander refused

to consider any real constitutional

reform: he remained an autocrat to

the last, convinced of his divine

right to rule as an absolute

monarch. However, his reforms

had raised hopes that a degree of

political liberalization might follow.

A police state

His assassination in 1881 provoked

a predictably reactionary backlash.

His successor, Alexander III,

showed greater willingness

to embrace industrial reform but

also created a kind of police state:

introducing strict censorship,

suppressing protest, and making

trade unions illegal.

Nonetheless, tsarist Russia was

emerging into the industrialized

world. The country could lay claim

to substantial, if not always efficient,

military means. Politically, however,

its unwillingness to reform would

ultimately ensure its complete

destruction in a Soviet revolution. ■

CHANGING SOCIETIES

BETTER TO ABOLISH

SERFDOM FROM ABOVE,

THAN TO WAIT FOR IT

TO ABOLISH ITSELF

FROM BELOW

RUSSIA EMANCIPATES THE SERFS (1861)

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

Tsarist Russia

BEFORE

1825 The Decembrist

revolt against tsarist rule

is suppressed.

1853–55 Russia’s defeat

by Britain and France in

the Crimea highlights its

military weaknesses.

AFTER

1881 Tsar Alexander II is

assassinated by the People’s

Will, an underground terrorist

movement.

1891 Work on the Trans-

Siberian railway begins,

leading to massive new

settlements in Siberia.

1894 The last tsar, Nicholas II,

allows finance minister Sergei

Witte to launch further

industrialization.

1905 Russian expansion

in East Asia is halted by a

humiliating defeat by Japan.

We must give the country

such industrial perfection as

has been reached by the

United States of America.

Sergei Witte

Russian minister

US_242-243_Lucknow_Serfs.indd 243 15/02/2016 16:44