Imperial Russia in the First Half of the 19th Century
Overview
On the Cusp of a New World: Russia from Alexander I to Alexander II
Napoleon Bonaparte’s greatest adversary was a man who he, and much of Europe, greatly underestimated—Tsar Alexander I, the grandson of Catherine the Great of Russia. Alexander proved not only an excellent military strategist but also carried on the enlightened, domestic policies of his grandmother. He was a supreme autocrat, and truly acted as the “tsar of all the Russias,” as his title claimed. However, not all of the succeeding Romanov tsars would prove as capable a leader as Alexander I. Increasingly, a deep rift emerged between Russia’s outdated system of autocracy, and the growing desires of the people, who saw Western Europeans gaining rights and independence in ways that were impossible in Russia. As Russian territory expanded, so too did the discontent of its people.
Learning Objectives
- Evaluate the political, social, and economic challenges of Russia during the early-mid 1800s.
- Analyze the growing differences between Russia in the 1800s, and Western Europe.
Key Terms / Key Concepts
Alexander I: Tsar of Russia in the early 1800s who defeated Napoleon and also continued enlightened, domestic reforms
Alexander II: progressive tsar who liberated the Russian serfs
Crimean War: war for the possession of Crimea between Russia, and an allied group of forces including England, France, and the Ottoman Empire
Decembrist Uprising: event where part of the Russian military revolted against the ascension of the new tsar, Nicholas I
Emancipation Reform of 1861: Russian document that liberated the serfs under Tsar Alexander II
January Uprising: Polish revolt to reclaim independence that resulted in decades of Russian reprisals
Kingdom of Poland: semi-independent Polish state with a constitution, but ruled by Russia monarchs
Nicholas I: tsar of Russia during the Decembrist Uprising and the Crimean War
November Uprising: Polish revolt against Russian violations of their constitution in 1830 – 31
Russo-Polish War: war that arose out of the November Uprising and resulted in the loss of Polish independence
Alexander I and the Serfs
Alexander I wanted to resolve a crucial issue in Russia—the status of the serfs. He acknowledged that serfdom was a feudal concept that Western Europe had dissolved centuries before in favor of more democratic and capitalist systems of labor. The fact remained, though, that Alexander was an autocrat. He ruled supremely in Russia. Entirely dissolving serfdom stood in direct contrast with his principles as tsar. During the reign of Alexander I only about 7,300 male peasants (with families) or about 0.5% of serfs were freed.
While Alexander could not be so liberal in his thinking as to emancipate the serfs, he was still an enlightened tsar who believed in slow, progressive reform. He introduced new laws that allowed all classes except the serfs to own land, even small-time farmers; this was a privilege previously confined to the nobility.
Alexander I and Poland
After Napoleon’s final defeat and exile, Alexander I had two main goals: to gain control of Poland and promote the peaceful coexistence of European nations. For the Poles, Alexander created the “Congress Poland” (formerly the Duchy of Warsaw), and granted the state a constitution. Though officially known as the Kingdom of Poland, the state had considerable political autonomy guaranteed by a liberal constitution, its rulers, the Russian Emperors, generally disregarded any restrictions on their power. Effectively it was little more than a puppet state of the Russian Empire. Thus, Alexander I became the constitutional monarch of Poland while remaining the autocratic tsar of Russia. He was also the monarch of Finland, which had been annexed in 1809 and awarded autonomous status. The Congress finalized Russian control of Finland.
Alexander's Final Years
Despite the liberal, romantic inclinations of his youth, later in his rule Alexander I grew steadily more conservative, isolated from the day-to-day affairs of the state, and inclined to religious mysticism. Once a supporter of limited liberalism, at the end of 1818 Alexander’s views began to change. A revolutionary conspiracy among the officers of the guard and a foolish plot to kidnap him are said to have shaken the foundations of his liberalism. It was the increasing discontent in France, Germany, and among his own people, that completed Alexander’s conversion.
The lofty hopes that the tsar had once held for his country were frustrated by its immense size and backwardness. While vacationing in 1825, Alexander fell ill with typhus and died at only 47.
Mysteriously, stories circulated soon afterward that the tsar had not died but had merely faked his death. The rumors bespoke of a monk in Siberia who was unusually tall (like Alexander) whom no one seemed to know. The monk, Feodor Kuzmich, also had unusual mannerisms and a social awkwardness that people described as someone hiding from a previous life. Adding to the rumors were the fact that much later, Kuzmich would receive a visit from the tsarevich (crown prince), Alexander III. His grave would also be visited by Tsar Nicholas II.
While historians overwhelmingly dismiss the theory of Alexander I as nothing but popular legend, it is a legend with many twists and curiosities that has had popularity since the mid-1800s.
The Decembrist Revolt
When Alexander I died, he did not have a legitimate, direct heir. The imperial throne instead fell to one of his younger brothers—Nicholas or Constantine. Neither wanted the throne, or the responsibility of being the tsar. In secret, Constantine, Alexander’s heir apparent, had already renounced the throne. Fatefully, Nicholas, the youngest of the brothers, would become tsar. Although a capable man, Nicholas I was more conservative than Alexander. This, combined with the secret renunciation of the throne by Constantine, would set the new, young tsar on a collision course with his people.
The Decembrist Revolt took place in Imperial Russia on December 26, 1825. It was largely an aristocratic movement whose chief actors were army officers. A group of officers commanding about 3,000 men refused to swear allegiance to Nicholas, proclaiming instead their loyalty to the idea of a Russia that had a constitution. They realized, however, that they were soon outnumbered and outgunned. The majority of the tsar’s troops remained loyal. Skirmishes erupted between the two sides. At one point, Nicholas I sent out his personal messenger to call for an end to the fight. The messenger was killed, and the Decembrists were quickly overrun. The surviving rebels were exiled to Siberia.
Nicholas I defeated the Decembrists easily. Still, their discontent represented major, growing disparity between the government of Russia and its people. While most of Europe was enjoying increased rights and voices in government, Russia remained two-hundred-years behind the times. This point would haunt the Russian tsars, who intellectually understood the peoples’ frustration but still refused to give the people much power. This disparity would increase to such an extent that it would lead to the complete destruction of the tsarist government in 1917 and usher in communism.
Tsar Nicholas I
Nicholas I was the Emperor of Russia from 1825 until 1855, as well as King of Poland and Grand Duke of Finland. He is best-known as a political conservative whose reign was marked by geographical expansion, repression of dissent, economic stagnation, poor administrative policies, a corrupt bureaucracy, and frequent wars that culminated in Russia’s disastrous defeat in the Crimean War of 1853 – 56.
Nicholas was successful against Russia’s neighboring southern rivals. Through successfully ending the Russo-Persian War (1826 – 28), he seized the last territories in the Caucasus held by Persia (land comprising modern day Armenia and Azerbaijan). After gaining what is now Dagestan, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia from Persia, the clear geopolitical and territorial upper hand in the Caucasus was Russia’s. He ended the Russo-Turkish War (1828 – 29) successfully as well. Later, however, he led Russia into the Crimean War (1853 – 56) with disastrous results.
Historians emphasize that his micromanagement of the armies hindered his generals, as did his misguided strategy. Fuller notes that historians have frequently concluded that “the reign of Nicholas I was a catastrophic failure in both domestic and foreign policy.” On the eve of his death, the Russian Empire reached its geographical zenith, spanning over 7.7 million square miles but in desperate need of reform.
The November Uprising
Even though Alexander I had given the Kingdom of Poland a constitution, the Russian tsars and their inner circle violated the constitution by increasingly ignoring or stripping away Polish freedoms. By the late 1820s, the Kingdom of Poland was little more than a puppet state of the Russian empire.
In response to the violations of their liberties, Poles grew increasingly frustrated. In November 1830, a group of young men from the Warsaw Officer’s School attacked the Belweder Palace in Warsaw, where the tsar’s brother was living. Although he escaped, the Polish state rallied behind the movement. Soon, much of Warsaw, and Poland, was behind the movement to evict the Russian presence and establish independence. Across the Kingdom of Poland, Poles argued that they were a people entirely independent from the Russians. Their languages, though similar, were different. Poles were largely Catholic Christians, whereas Russians were Orthodox. Customs and traditions also differed. In short, the Poles argued they were their own people and worthy of complete independence.
Russia disagreed, most likely because Poland was a country of enormous agricultural and natural resources. The Uprising continued to gain support in Poland as the Russians sent reinforcements to end the rebellion. By February 1831, the November Uprising had transformed into a war.
The Russo-Polish War
In February 1831, war enveloped much of the Kingdom of Poland. Early in the conflict, the Poles won small victories. But their overall strategy and defense remained poorly organized. Russian troops were well-trained, whereas Polish troops were inexperienced and undisciplined. Outnumbered and outgunned, the Poles were forced to surrender to the Russians in October 1831 as the Russians encircled Warsaw. For the time being, the Russians had defeated the Poles. Warsaw was stripped of its university and reduced in status to a military town. Poland lost its constitution and its autonomy. It would be a key component of the Russian empire for the next eighty years. Still, the Poles would prove that although they had been defeated in the Russo-Polish War, they had not lost the will to fight.
The Crimean War
For much of Nicholas’s reign, Russia was seen as a major military power with considerable strength. The Crimean War at the end of his reign demonstrated to the world what no one had previously realized: Russia was militarily weak, technologically backward, and administratively incompetent. Despite his grand ambitions toward the south and Turkey, Russia had not built its railroad network in that direction, and communications were bad. The bureaucracy was riddled with corruption and inefficiency; and it was unprepared for war. The Navy was weak and technologically backward; the Army, although very large, was inadequate in a modern war. By war’s end, the Russian leadership was determined to reform the Army and the society.
In 1853, Russia looked to claim the island of Crimea in the Black Sea, so as to have access to an ice-free port, as well as better shipping and trade routes. Western Europeans perceived the Russians as exploitive of the weakening Ottoman Empire and a threat to their naval trade. Britain, France, the Kingdom of Sardinia, and the Ottoman Empire joined forces in the Crimean War against the Russians. In April 1854, Austria signed a defensive pact with Prussia. Thus, Russia found itself in a war with the majority of Europe.
The European allies landed in Crimea and laid siege to the well-fortified Russian base at Sevastopol. The Russians lost battles at Alma in September 1854, followed by lost battles at Balaklava and Inkerman. After the prolonged Siege of Sevastopol (1854 – 55) the base fell, exposing Russia’s inability to defend a major fortification on its own soil. The defeats humiliated Russia and the tsar.
In 1855, Nicholas I developed pneumonia. Rather than seeking medical treatment, he laid quietly at home, devastated by news of the Crimean War. He died in March 1855.
The new tsar, Alexander II, would prove the strongest of the Romanov tsars. However, his early years were also marked with defeat. On January 15, 1856, he pulled Russia out of the war on very unfavorable terms, which included the loss of a naval fleet on the Black Sea.
The Last Great Tsar: Alexander II
Alexander II was born into a world of excessive privilege. As such, he received a liberal education that immersed him in concepts of the Enlightenment. He understood better than any tsar of the modern era, the importance of increasing rights for the people. Embarrassed by the Russian defeat in Crimea, he decided to focus on domestic improvements and modernization for Russia. To modernize the country, he needed to start, quite literally, from the ground up.
The 1861 Emancipation of the Serfs
Six years into his reign, Alexander II undertook the most radical and progressive reform in Russian history. He freed all serfs (over 23 million people) in a major agrarian reform, stimulated in part by his view that “it is better to liberate the peasants from above” than to wait until they won their freedom by uprisings “from below.” The Emancipation Reform of 1861 in Russia was the first and most important of liberal reforms effected during Alexander II’s reign (1855 – 1881). The reform effectively abolished serfdom throughout the Russian Empire.
Serfs gained the full rights of free citizens, including rights to marry without having to gain consent, to own property, and to own a business. Moreover, the edict prescribed that peasants would be able to buy land from the landlords. In Georgia the emancipation took place later, in 1864, and on much better terms for the nobles than in Russia.
Effects of Emancipation
Although the emancipation reform led to Alexander II’s nickname, “Alexander the Liberator,” its results were far from ideal. Household serfs were the worst affected as they gained only their freedom and no land. In reality, the reforms created a new system in which the monarch had to coexist with an independent court, free press, and local governments that operated differently and more freely than in the past. This would further set the tsar and his people on a collision course in the succeeding years.
The reforms also transformed the Russian economy. The individuals who led the reform were in favor of an economic system similar to that of other European countries, which promoted the ideas of capitalism and free trade. The idea of the reformers was to promote development and encourage private property ownership, free competition, entrepreneurship, and hired labor. They hoped this would bring about an a more laissez-faire economic system with minimal regulations and tariffs. Soon after the reforms, there was a substantial rise in the amount of grain production for sale.
Alexander's Other Reforms
Alexander is remembered best for his liberation of Russia’s serfs but his reforms stretched far further. He was a relatively progressive tsar who was bent on modernizing Russia. During his twenty-five years as tsar, he passed many reforms that collectively are dubbed, “The Great Reforms.” He afforded Russian Jews greater status and protection. This measure was significant because many of his successors would implement pogroms. Alexander also reformed the Orthodox church, state education, and modernized infrastructure throughout Russia. Media restrictions were relaxed. Russian armies and navies were modernized along the lines of those in Western Europe, although never to the same extent. Very successfully, Alexander also reformed the Russian judiciary system. He removed the old, cumbersome system of the Russian legal courts, and streamlined how courts across Russia should operate. This new, unified, court system resulted in many significant improvements, including the right to jury trial.
The January Uprising
While Alexander enjoyed success at home in Russia, people were less content on the fringes of the Russian empire. In particular, the Poles and their allies, Lithuanians, detested Russian rule. A new generation of military and political leaders heard stories of the semi-independence their parents had enjoyed in the Kingdom of Poland, and in the 1860s, Poles yearned to have that independence restored.
In January 1863, the Poles launched a revolt against Russian rule. The uprising, despite lasting eighteen months, stood little chance of success. The Poles were motivated by their desire for restoration of even partial independence, but they were, again outgunned and outmanned by the Russian forces. Similarly, they were poorly organized. Rather than face the Russian armies head-on, the Poles resorted to guerilla warfare, which further enraged the Russians. This was, to them, a dishonorable way of fighting. Eventually, the Poles were captured. Hundreds were executed. Thousands more were deported to labor camps in Siberia. For decades, the tsar carried-out reprisals against the Poles. More than 15,000 were sent to labor camps in Siberia, and their homes or farms confiscated.
The January Uprising ended in a Polish defeat, just at the Russo-Polish war had. But it was not without a smaller victory for the Poles. In order to shatter the economic backbone of many of the Polish upper class (who had supported the uprising), Alexander II freed the serfs in Poland.
Death of Alexander II
Alexander II was a reformer and likely the best tsar of the modern era. He was, however, still an autocrat in an increasingly discontent Russia. Despite many reforms, he stopped short of giving the people direct power in government. This frustrated and enraged many Russians, especially the growing class of young intellectuals and political men and women.
On March 13, 1881, the tsar was returning from a review of the troops to the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg in his bullet-proof, closed carriage. All at once, a bomb was hurled beneath the carriage wheels. It killed one of Alexander’s Cossack guards, but the tsar exited the carriage, unhurt. According to some accounts, the tsar said, “Thank God I am unhurt.” From the crowd, a young man yelled, “Do not thank God, yet!”
A second assassin pushed through the audience and threw a bomb at the tsar’s feet. It exploded, killing the assassin, and mortally wounding the tsar. His legs were shattered, and blood gushed forth from them. His chest and face were likewise mangled. Desperate to reach the Winter Palace, his guards hurried with the dying tsar. Members of the Romanov family, including the future tsars, Alexander III and Nicholas II, watched as the great “liberator tsar” breathed his last. At 3:30 that afternoon, Alexander II died in his office—almost twenty years to the day after he had signed the document that liberated the serfs.
Legacy: Reactionaries and Reformers
The years after Napoleon’s defeat were peculiar in Russia. In many ways, Russia attempted to modernize, but only to the extent to which their tsars could also remain autocrats. A trend developed. A progressive tsar such as Alexander I would reign and deliver a few freedoms to peoples within the Russian Empire. Immediately, the succeeding tsar would react to these measures with more conservative measures that tightened their grip on Russia. Then the next tsar would try, once again, to launch reforms. A cycle of reactionaries and reformists trickled through Russia's tsars. And although the Russian tsars were capable in many ways, none of them ever acted on the imminent danger of a discontented and growing intellectual class. Even Alexander II could not be so progressive as to share power with a parliamentary system. By trying to maintain a supreme, autocratic government in the world’s largest empire, the Romanov tsars sowed the seeds of their own, ultimate destruction.
Attributions
Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Boundless World History
"Russia after Napoleon"
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-hccc-worldhistory2/chapter/russia-after-napoleon/
"Territorial Gains under Alexander I"
"Decembrist Revolt"
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-hccc-worldhistory2/chapter/the-decembrist-revolt/
"The Wars of Nicholas I"
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-hccc-worldhistory2/chapter/the-wars-of-nicholas-i/
"Emancipation of the Serfs"
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/