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Main characteristics of Russia between the XIXth and XXth century - Coggle…
Main characteristics of Russia between the XIXth and XXth century
Autocratic government
It was run as autocrats
Only Tsars governed Russia
They believed they had a divine right to rule. --> Given by God
The nobility
The nobility accounted for approximately 10 per cent of the population
Owned all the land and was dedenden from the Tsar
Dominated the army command and civil service
The civil service helped the Tsar run the Russian Empire
Administrators and officials carried out the instructions of the Tsar and his ministers
They were appointed and paid by the Tsar
They owed their position to the Tsar and were very loyal to him
Oppose to him would mean losing power and position
The law
The Tsarist legal system was designed to support
autocracy
and
Tsarist authority
.
Also intended to
suppress opposition
and
increase fear
among the population
No legal or constitutional methods
Tsarist power could
NOT
be challenged.
The Empire did not have an elected parliament
No elections for positions in the government
Standard punishment = Exile to the remote region of Siberia
The Okhrana
The Tsar's will was enforced by a large police system that would report suspicious behaviour and destroy subversive groups
The secret police had a vital role in identifying and spying on enemies
They had the power to arrest potential threats as required.
Agents of the Okhrana worked
undercover
, infiltrating groups that might present a danger to the Tsar
they acted on the Tsar’s behalf, treating citizens how they saw fit
Their methods included
torture
and
murder
The army
large army that became a very effective means of enforcing Tsars power
Tsar was the supreme commander
The Orthodox Church
Tsar was appointed by God
The Church was very influential among the largely peasant population.
Russian population had to rely on what it said.
Source of education
Later, it became less respected.
Methods of control - policies
Censorship
No freedom of speech or little
There were no newspapers and books so as to no influence with ideas to the people
Dangerous material --> banned
Russification
enforcing Russian culture
Russian only language allowed
Poles were banned from speaking or learning their language in many places.
Russian Orthodoxy was promoted and Catholic monasteries were closed.
Terror and exile
Fear of the Okhrana was widespread
Suppres any position of the Tsars
Political prisoners were often exiled to Siberia
The ones suspected of opposing or criticising
The size of the Russian Empire
The poor infrastructure and the nature of the population also made it difficult for opposition to the Tsar to grow
The amount of population were mostly illiterate peasant farmers
This made it difficult to spread liberal or revolutionary ideas using books or pamphlets
Peasants lived largely in remote, widely dispersed villages
The
poor state of the roads and railways
made it
difficult for ideas to spread
Revolutionary ideas