1. Russia overturned its conservative policies in many ways. Alexander II removed the serfdom. Cultural nationalism led to political demands and worried the state. Their lust to become as successful as the west led them to industrialize. The lower classes suffered greatly in this time period, and they demanded better living conditions. Since the serfdom was disestablished, the government gave them land, but they would only be able to leave if they paid off the debt on the land. Many things changed once communism took hold.…
An aspect of the Soviet Union that changed between 1801 and 1939 was the shift of the government from a czar ruled totalitarian government to a more distributed communist government. In March of 1801, Paul I was killed and his son Alexander I of Russia was appointed the ruler. Czar Alexander I was not too harsh of a leader. He led a government that was not too strict upon its people unlike his father. But this changed when the next czar came into power, Nicholas I in 1825. Anybody who was leading or supporting the Decembrist Revolt was executed. Nicholas I undid everything that Alexander I did. He censored media, ran secret police, and exiled 150,000 people. Alexander II was the next one in power who was extremely different from Nicholas I. He freed the serfs but did not let them leave. But he did allot power to the people by creating local councils called Zemstvos to give them control of their land and women the right to vote. Alexander III went back into a strict totalitarian government, censoring media and deploying secret police. Alexander III also wanted all Russian minorities to speak Russian and convert to Russian Orthodox. Russian Jews were specifically targeted; they had to live in ghettos and eventually many Jews fled to the United States. The last of the czars in this time period, Nicholas II, came into power in 1894. A decade after his appointment, over three thousand workers grouped outside the czar’s palace asking for reforms. The czar was not home, but he still did not approve the order to fire at the protestors. In order to bring back his name, he enabled a national assembly called Duma that would allow the people of Russia to elect. As one of his reforms, he gave more land to…
The reforms and policies made during the last Tsarist years were not in the interests of the people but were made simply to maintain the power of the Tsar and his nobles. Most people would argue that during the years 1917-1964 there was more political freedom and less repression than in the Tsarist years. The provisional government did not meet the needs of the Russian people. They were an unstable and temporary government, and many people on the furthest parts of the Russian empire did not know about their existence. This provided them with many issues, such as trying to enforce democracy onto people they did not understand what democracy actually was. Many historians believe that at this point the people of Russia did not know themselves what form of government they wanted and due to the lack of education they did not know what form was best for them. In October 1917 came the Bolshevik revolutions. With their leader, Lenin, the Bolsheviks overthrew the provisional government and came into power. The leadership of Lenin was met with great approval from the people. Lenin promised political freedom unknown to them under the Tsars and Provisional government. In his rule…
The advent of Gorbachev to power marked the beginning of the reconstruction. His first step on his rise to power was the partial liberation of the press, also known as glasnost. The first free newspapers emerged and some major newspapers such as “Novii Mir (New World),” Argumenti i Fakti “(Arguments and Facts) or” Moskovskie Novosti (Moscow News) changed editors. Books banned by the Soviet censorship began to appear in stores. Also, films which had been censored until this time were finally appearing on the screen. The policy change was also considerable. Under Gorbachev, 140 dissidents, victims of Stalinist repression, were honored and rehabilitated. From exile in Gorky, Sakharov, who condemned the war in Afghanistan – was released. Several opposition political organizations emerged as a Democratic…
Khrushchev had a lot of good ideas that he wanted to implement but due to the bureaucratic nature of the Soviet party officials weren’t keen on implementing certain reforms which offered no benefits to them despite being good for the population…
Due to problems in Russia originating from the slow recovery from WWII, Gorbachev made changes and saw how the country was falling. Citizens were in desperate need for supplies, shelter, and allies. United States President at the time, Ronald Reagan, demanded that Gorbachev tear down the Berlin Wall which divided Germany in two for both the U.S. and Russia. Gorbachev knew his country wouldn't be able to survive the war so he tore down the wall and the peace between Russia and the rest of the world slowly started to build. The Russians were able to become friendly with citizens from other countries which enabled the country to flourish.…
So the two new programs he implemented are as follows: Perestroika: economic reform that included removing restrictions on private ownership, reducing government oversight on trade, and allowing for foreign investment in Soviet industry and Glasnost: political reform targeting…
Mikhail Gorbachev took control of the Soviet Union. He believed that the future of the Soviet Union depended on important reforms and began to implement two programs.…
Russia was making attempts to strengthen its status on a world wide level, however, it was struggling to make transition from communism to democracy and to catch up with its European neighbors. It is hard to say whether the Great Reforms were successful and had a positive impact on Russia in general or not. In order to understand all benefits and drawbacks it is important to analyze the crucial events that…
As de facto ruler of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev tried to reform the stagnating Party and the state economy by introducing glasnost ("openness"), perestroika ("restructuring"), demokratizatsiya ("democratization"), and uskoreniye ("acceleration" of economic development), which were launched at the 27th Congress of the CPSU in February 1986.…
While in theory , the manner in which Russia was ruled undertook a considerable overhaul following the 1917 revolution . In reality the Country was governed with the Tsar and general security remaining as the ultimate authority with no real development occurring. Methods of oppression , propaganda and abusing civil rights were paramount in the rulings of all of the leaders be it Tsar or Communist. The largest change in the way in which Russia was ruled can be seen in the changing economy moving from open trade in the 1800's to the strict state capitalism of the 1900's. However few reforms had a direct impact in the way Russia was ruled thus meaning there was more continuity than change in the period 1855 to 1964.…
Repressed Free Thinking In Between 1960 and 1980 most of Europe and Russia wasn’t a good place to be. There were tensions and fears brought on by the Cold War. People were not allowed to freely think and express their opinions from behind the Iron Curtain. There was also an extreme lack of Human Civil Rights under Joseph Stalin’s rule and several years after.…
The Tsarist system of government underwent many changes throughout the years of 1881-1914. Both Alexander III and Nicholas II created several modifications, being both good and bad, to the government during these years. Alexander III created mostly negative changes, due to him being seen as a reactionary, whereas Nicholas II created mainly positive changes to the government as a result of the 1905 revolution. These changes can be categorised into political, economic and social modifications.…
The fall of the Provisional government and the Bolshevik Revolution sparked many changes for Russia in 1917. It changed Russia for always. The economic system changed from a capitalist system to a socialist economy, peasants were granted the land that they already took in the February/March revolution and it ended the war and made peace in Russia. The lead up to the revolution can be traced back as far as March during the February/March revolution of 1917.…
Change is defined as "the process of alteration or transformation of individuals, groups, and organization undergo in response to internal factors."…