how successful were Alexander reforms in transforming the russian soicety
How successful were Alexander reforms in transforming Russian Society by 1881?
24 marks
Alexander came to power in 1855, but before he became Tsar Alexander witnessed the shameful defeat against Britain, France and Turkey in the Crimean War in 1854 This had given him the opportunity to observe some of the problems which Russia faced; Alexander believed that changes had to be made towards modernisation. The population of the Russian Empire was 74 million and 22.5 million were serfs. The emancipation of the serfs transformed the Russian society because, it gave the serfs more legal rights such as owning property and land, the serfs were granted with more personal freedom in making decisions who they married without interference. Nevertheless this reform was unsuccessful because the serfs still had to pay redemption payments which was 15 to 20% above the market value of the land they received, this not only changed the Russian society but also confused them because, the peasants could not understand why they were being asked to pay for land which their families had farmed on for generations. Showing that this reform was not successful as serfs had the ability to buy and sell land which had serious implications consequently, it led to a raise in the number of landless peasants who found it difficult to find alternative employment. The nobility also suffered because they were totally unprepared without having to reply on the serfs. This changed the nobility in the Russian society because the position and power of the nobility was based upon serfdom. Furthermore the military also heavily depended upon the serfs to fight in the Crimean War. This leads to one of Alexander’s successful reform which was the military reform in 1874-75 this was a priority because the defeat highlighted the backwardness
24 marks
Alexander came to power in 1855, but before he became Tsar Alexander witnessed the shameful defeat against Britain, France and Turkey in the Crimean War in 1854 This had given him the opportunity to observe some of the problems which Russia faced; Alexander believed that changes had to be made towards modernisation. The population of the Russian Empire was 74 million and 22.5 million were serfs. The emancipation of the serfs transformed the Russian society because, it gave the serfs more legal rights such as owning property and land, the serfs were granted with more personal freedom in making decisions who they married without interference. Nevertheless this reform was unsuccessful because the serfs still had to pay redemption payments which was 15 to 20% above the market value of the land they received, this not only changed the Russian society but also confused them because, the peasants could not understand why they were being asked to pay for land which their families had farmed on for generations. Showing that this reform was not successful as serfs had the ability to buy and sell land which had serious implications consequently, it led to a raise in the number of landless peasants who found it difficult to find alternative employment. The nobility also suffered because they were totally unprepared without having to reply on the serfs. This changed the nobility in the Russian society because the position and power of the nobility was based upon serfdom. Furthermore the military also heavily depended upon the serfs to fight in the Crimean War. This leads to one of Alexander’s successful reform which was the military reform in 1874-75 this was a priority because the defeat highlighted the backwardness