Russia: Pre 1905
OverviewRussia, before 1905 and after had been ruled by the Tsar and his family, a reign during the Ramonov Dynasty stretching back to 1613, a stetch of over 300 years it represented what had always been and what would ever be.
Size of the CountryRussian Acquisitions up to 1914
Russia was an even larger country in 1900 than today. Russia crosses two continents, 11 time zones and five vegetation zones. The sun sets in the west at the same time as it rises in the east. St Petersburg is closer to New York then it is to Vladivostok in the far Russian east. The weather of the country is varying, in some places lows can reach minus 60 degrees in Winter whilst still registering 40 plus degrees in Summer. Winter lasts for more then half the year. The major cities where the wealthier upperclasses established themselves is the West of Russia, close to Europe and as such is where the two major cities is located: Moscow and St Petersburg (later Petrograd). More importantly, the ability to rule over such a large country, which such diverse nationalities and vast expanses of land would become even more difficult when discontent grew.
Social StructureRussian Social Structure Cartoon
The Ruling Class
The ruling class was the Tsar, as well as the rest of his family together with members of the Government. This ruling class made up only a small fraction of the population, just 0.5%. The Upper Class The upper class of Russia included the hereditory land owning nobles, wealthy merchants, church leaders, leaders in the bureacracy as well as the higher ranks within the Russian army. This class was unified by their protection against the harsh reality of Russian life. Their incomes were disproportionately high from their workload, this population made up 12 percent of the total population. Commercial and professional middle class The middle grounds of Russian society is hard to catagorise because of its lack of unity or common function. It began to develop around the 1800's at the same time as the growth of heavy industries in the major cities as well as the light industries in the towns. This class is made up of professions such as small scale manufacturers, factory managers, techinical specialists, clerks and white-collar workers. This class also included the educational thinkers, writers and artists known as the intelligentsia, and together with all parties mentioned they made up only 1.5% of the total population of Russia. Industrial Working Class The growing industrial working class, referred to as the proletariat by Marxist revolutionary theory, made up 4% of the population.This working class was heavily suppressed and often lived in overcrowded workers flats operated the late industrial boom for Russia, with working conditions often just as bad or worse.This social group would continue to grow throughout the early 1900s. Peasants There were an estimated 90 million peasants in Russia (80% of the population) before 1905, but despite this the agrarian economy was still majorly underdeveloped. The most suitable land for growing crops was in Eastern European Russia. The remaining land was located far north and as such made them infertile due to the freezing conditions experienced by northern Russia. Because there was not enough productive land to go round, rather then benefiting the system, the huge peasant population created overcrowding and poor conditions. The cold climate meant there was only a short window to grow crops (4-6 in most areas as apposed to 8-9 months in warmer Western Europe). This, along with the ongoing use of outdated equipment, meant that a fuedal system such as Russia's could rarely meet the nations demands which lead to near constant food shortages in the country. Added to this the conservative nature of the rural population whose high illiteracy rate meant that many were resistant to any sort of change. The ruling class, however, was content with the backward nature of the peasant masses as there was widespread fear that educating them might be socially or politically dangerous. This population represented a massive 82% of the total population of Russia. |
Four Pillars of Tsarism
Sergei Witte's ReformsSergei Witte, at the time of his reforms was the Minister of Finance for Russia, had aims to modernise industry in Russia in order to improve Russia's military strength by attracting foreign capital to invest in Russian industry as well as expandind the railway system to improve exports and trade.
To do this he sought advice from experts in modernised countries such as Germany, Great Britain as well as America. He had much oppostion to the reforms to modernise industry. Russian industrial practises and equipment were backward as they were still in a feudal system, which is remarkably outdated. There was suspicion from the royal court and elements of government who were resistant to change, this is also attributed to the set in way of life of Russia. As well as the military often distrupted building of railway. Through this he: Stabilised the Russian economy, increased industrial production immensly as well as building the Trans-Siberian Railway from Moscow in the west to Vladivostok in the far east. This railway had major benifits for Russia as it increased trade, the desperately needed transport of goods and food as well as aiding in the movement of troops. However, there were some negatives that were caused due to Witte's reforms: poor working conditions in the cities and tows were created as there was little emphasis placed on the safety or health of workers. There was severe overcrowding in industrial dense secters and these were compounded by the poor conditioning of the houses of workers. As well as the imposition of heavy taxes with high interest. Population growth in cities, 1881-1910 St Petersburg Moscow 1890 1,033,600 1,038,600 1900 1,439,600 1,345,000 1910 1,905,600 1,617,700 |
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