Russia at the turn of the century: territory, population, economic development. By the beginning of the 19th century. Russia has also become one of the largest and most powerful states in Europe. For several decades it had the status of a sh'lic European power.
The borders of Russia stretched from the foothills of the Carpathians to the shores of the Pacific Ocean, from the White Sea and the Arctic Ocean to the Crimea and the Caucasus Mountains.
In terms of population, Russia was in one of the first places in Europe. Almost 44 million people lived within its new borders. A unique feature of Russia was its multinational population. Coming from the depths of centuries, to the beginning of the XIX century. it has become even more diverse. The peoples of the Volga region, the Urals, the North, Siberia, the Far East were joined by the inhabitants of the western Russian provinces, as well as foreign, primarily German, colonists resettled in Novorossiya and the Volga. At the same time, Russia was increasingly turning into a multi-confessional state in which Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Protestantism, Islam, Buddhism and paganism coexisted peacefully. All this made the country surprisingly diverse in its economic, spiritual and cultural characteristics.
Russia was distinguished by large cities with a population of tens of thousands of people. These were St. Petersburg, Moscow, Vilno, Riga, Nizhny Novgorod, Yaroslavl, Tobolsk and others. They, especially the two Russian capitals, were distinguished by the scale, beauty of private and public buildings and churches.
St. Petersburg with its granite-clad embankments, magnificent palaces, gardens and canals, with wonderful architectural ensembles both in the city itself and in the suburbs - in Tsarskoe Selo, Pavlovsk, Peterhof, Gatchina, Oranienbaum, became truly the pearl of Europe, did not yield the beauty and splendor of Paris, Vienna, London, the famous Italian cities.
By the turn of the 18th - 19th centuries. Russia has become one of the largest industrial and commercial countries.
As before, the metallurgical, mining Urals, and the metallurgical region of Tula remained a powerful industrial center. Large manufactories of various profiles worked in the leading cities of the country. Noble manufactories made a general contribution to the industrial state of the empire.
By the beginning of the 19th century. the free-wage labor of workers and foremen, that is, the labor of free workers most interested in production, on which the country's industrial progress was based, constituted a significant and integral part of Russian industry.
By the beginning of the new century, Russian trade was on a solid European track. Russian products were actively exported through the Baltic and Black Sea ports, and foreign goods were imported. A role in this process was played by the cities facing the east with their connections - Astrakhan, Orenburg, Tobolsk.
The transformation of Russia into a huge empire led to the further development of the country's internal market. The diversity and economic peculiarity of the regions imperiously demanded the strengthening of trade exchange between them. New regions have been added to the agricultural South and the industrial and commercial North of the country - Novorossiya and Crimea, Siberia and the North Caucasus, the Baltic states.
Every year the volume of transactions at Russian fairs expanded, among which the Makarievskaya fair, which was moved to Nizhny Novgorod, took the leading place.
At the beginning of the XIX century. the Mariinsky and Tikhvin water systems with newly built canals and locks were put into operation in the country. They connected even more firmly the southern regions of the country, the Volga-Oka basin with the North, with the Baltic coast.
State. The power of the state was determined not only by the vastness of the territory, the number of population, economic development, but also by the strength of the state structure, as well as by military force.
By the beginning of the 19th century. The Russian state has acquired a solid absolutist framework. Relying primarily on the nobility, as well as on the rising bourgeoisie - large businessmen and merchants, the monarchy managed to normalize the situation in the country, carry out important reforms of central and local government, and take significant steps in the field of culture and education.
In the management system, in the leadership of the army, a layer of enlightened administrators, patriotic commanders who have been educated for decades, who put the interests of the Motherland and Russia in the foreground in their lives, has formed. By the beginning of the 19th century. behind the shoulders of the Russian army were brilliant victories over the Turks and the Crimea, over the army of the Prussian king Frederick the Great, over the Swedes and the French. It was the army of Saltykov and Rumyantsev, Potemkin and Suvorov, the Baltic and Black Sea fleets by this time also did not know defeat and glorified themselves in battles with the Swedes, Turks, and French. The names of Spiridov and Ushakov became the pride of the Russian fleet.
But at the beginning of the XIX century. marked the onset of the New Time. The empire of Napoleon grew up in western Europe. The European world was becoming bipolar, that is, the two most powerful powers in Europe - France and Russia - claimed a dominant position on the continent, and therefore sooner or later had to collide
each other.
However, Russia, as a great power at the turn of the 18th-19th centuries, possessed primarily only strength and quantitative indicators. But these indicators, with the development of European civilization, became more and more definitely the qualities of yesterday. The advanced countries of Europe, and primarily England and France, ensured their status as great powers at the expense of completely different properties.
The economic and military power of these countries was based on the development of civil society, the rights and freedoms of the human person, on modern political, primarily constitutional institutions of parliamentarism. It was its contours that were largely determined already at the beginning of the 19th century. the greatness of this or that country.
In Russia, on the other hand, the general system of life remained largely turned not into the future, but into the past. The absolute monarchy remained unshakable. The democratic principle of separation of powers for Russia at the beginning of the 19th century. proved to be unattainable, although at the top of Russian society he was well known and had his adherents even in the imperial family. So, the heir to the throne, Alexander Pavlovich, seriously thought about this at the time of his youthful passion for the ideals of enlightenment and constitutionalism.
The Russian bureaucracy, which took shape during the 18th century, had become a colossal self-sufficient force by the turn of the new century. And it became a powerful pillar of the absolutist power, thereby determining the civilizational level of Russian statehood. Gogol's characters in The Inspector General gave a brilliant artistic embodiment of its characteristic features.
People's life. In accordance with medieval canons, the estate system continued to exist in Russia. True, its outlines since the time of Peter I have significantly blurred. A middle class was formed, which absorbed representatives of different classes. The composition of the civilian workers that was formed was just as numerous.
The nobility, in accordance with the "Table of welts", has noticeably lost its exclusive, separate features.
And yet the nobility, the merchants, the clergy, and the peasantry were largely closed, separate corporations with their own rights for some and obligations (with minimal rights) for others. As before, the nobility, clergy, to a large extent entrepreneurs, large merchants remained outside the tax press of the state. All state structures were formed from representatives of these estates, the cultural, intellectual elite of society crystallized.
The open competition of minds and talents representing the people as a whole remained sealed for Russia. This in no way could characterize Russia as a great power.
The country was still dominated by the serf system. Despite Paul I's timid attempts to restrict serf labor, the nobility of the black earth zone sabotaged a government decree on three-day corvee per week, and peasants were forced to work on the master's farm up to five days a week. And this meant that the country's agricultural sector was mainly based on bonded labor. And the power of Russian heavy industry rested on the bonded labor of assigned and possessory peasants. Noble manufactories and distilleries also used the labor of their serfs.
The whole life of both serfs and state, as well as other categories of peasants was governed by the rules, traditions, customs of the peasant community, which came down from ancient times and almost disappeared in Western countries. The presence fully corresponded to the general political and economic level of Russia, was an integral and integral part of Russian life. The communal origins with tentacles stretched to the cities, to manufactories and factories together with the migrant workers who came here, creating here a village-communal background.
Under such conditions, the Russian economy was doomed to lag behind the countries that had passed to the bourgeois system. Thus, in this area of \u200b\u200bthe country's life, the greatness and signs of a great power were very problematic for Russia.
The situation with the territorial characteristics of Russia was also difficult. One of the indicators of the country's civilizational development is population density. In Russia, it was the lowest in Europe. If in the central provinces it was 8 people per 1 sq. verst (in Europe this figure reached 40-50 people), then in most provinces of the south, northeast and east it was equal to 7 people per 1 sq. a verst or even less. The vast territories of Siberia and the Far East were generally sparsely populated.
The entry into Russia of the territories of the North Caucasus, Kazakhstan, the nomadic spaces of the Lower Volga region, Siberia (in contrast to the highly developed for that time regions of the Baltic, Western Ukraine and Western Belarus) not only did not contribute to the general civilizational development of the country, but, on the contrary, threw Russia back, since most of the inhabitants of these spaces lived at the level of tribal relations, and the main occupation of many of them remained hunting or nomadic cattle breeding.
The outstanding civilizing role of Russia in these areas turned into huge losses for the country, despite the increase in territories, population, increased taxes in the form of yasak and the appearance in the Russian army of paramilitary equestrian formations of a number of Eastern and North Caucasian peoples. Thanks to this, the Eurasian axis of Russia deviated more and more to the east.
The same applies to the development of the newly annexed territories in the south. The construction of new cities and ports here, the creation of the Black Sea Fleet demanded enormous costs and efforts of the state.
The development of new Russian territories was fundamentally different from the seemingly similar processes in the West. There the seizure of the colonies and their development by England, France, Holland proceeded outside the territory of the metropolises. In Russia, such territories were not colonies: they became an organic part of the country with all the pluses and minuses of such a state. All this did not contribute to the prosperity of the country by the beginning of the 19th century.
The beginning of fundamental transformations in Russia is firmly connected with the name of Tsar Peter I, who understood that in order to maintain independence and ensure a worthy place among the European powers that had pulled ahead, the Moscow state needed modernization.
Peter was born in Moscow on May 30, 1672 from the marriage of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich with his second wife, Natalia Kirillovna Naryshkina. After the death of Alexei Mikhailovich in 1676, his son ascended to the throne from his first wife, Maria Ilyinichna Miloslavskaya, a minor Fyodor, who died in 1682, leaving no heirs. In Moscow, the struggle for the throne between the Miloslavskys and the Naryshkins immediately began. Princess Sophia, a daughter from her first marriage, provoked a streltsy revolt, as a result of which several relatives and supporters of the Naryshkins were killed in the Kremlin. After this riot, two tsars were sworn in at once, two half-brothers: 16-year-old Ivan V from the Miloslavskys and 10-year-old Peter from the Naryshkins. The ruler Sophia was with them, since Ivan was a sick person, and Peter was still quite a child. With her coming to power, the country's orientation in foreign policy has radically changed. In 1689 Russia joined the Holy League of Austria, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Venice and the Order of Malta - the country was drawn into a war with Turkey and its vassal, the Crimean Khanate. Russia's military campaigns were unsuccessful, and Sofia, with her pro-Western orientation, caused discontent in the upper strata of society. In 1689, a new Strelets riot broke out in Moscow. After the suppression of this rebellion, Sophia was imprisoned in the Novodevichy Convent, and Peter stood at the head of the country (formally, until 1696, together with Ivan V, who almost did not interfere in state affairs).
Only after the death of his mother did Peter become a sovereign ruler. As a legacy from previous times, he inherited the Tatar-Turkish problem, traditional for Russia, and first of all, Peter takes on its solution. In 1695 he made a campaign against the Turkish fortress of Azov at the mouth of the Don. But the uncoordinated actions of the Russian troops, poor engineering training, the lack of skilled specialists among the hired foreigners led to the fact that on October 20, 1695, the siege of Azov had to be lifted. But Peter did not abandon his attempt to capture Azov. A shipyard was established in Voronezh, and by the spring 20 galleys and a large 36-gun ship "Apostle Peter" were built. In April 1696, Azov was taken. The world learned about the birth of the Russian fleet. But the capture of Azov did not matter much. In the hands of the Turks remained the exit from the Azov Sea to the Black, and even more so from the Black to the Aegean. For the big war with Turkey, allies were needed.
In search of allies went to the West Great embassy (1697-1698) headed by the boyar Fyodor Golovin, clerk P. Voznitsyn, Swiss F. Lefort. Together with the ambassadors, dozens of young noblemen rode to study the sciences and study the achievements of the West. Peter planned to recruit Western masters, military men, and scientists to work in Russia. Peter himself rode under the name of Peter Mikhailov. The embassy has visited Prussia, Holland, England and other countries. Peter was shocked by the level of development of Europe and clearly realized that Russia could not be on an equal footing with the West if it did not close the development gap. However, the main goal was not achieved by the embassy. No country wanted to fight the Turks. On the way home, Peter met with the King of Poland and Saxony August II. He did not renounce an alliance with Russia, but not against the Turks, but against the Swedes, who took the lands from Poland on the southern coast of the Baltic.
In August 1698, the tsar returned to Moscow and went to the village of Preobrazhenskoye. There, at a reception, he began to cut the beards of the boyars, thus starting the Europeanization of Russia. While in the Grand Embassy, \u200b\u200bPeter received a message about a new revolt of the archers. Although after his return to his homeland the revolt was suppressed, Peter strengthened his plans to disband the rifle army and create a regular army. She was needed in connection with the impending war with Sweden.
After an unsuccessful attempt to create an alliance of states against Turkey, Peter made access to the Baltic as his main task. Sweden was then at the zenith of power, the Baltic Sea was called "the Swedish lake". Peter began to strengthen the "Northern Alliance" with Poland and attracted Denmark to it. In 1699, he introduced recruitment to the new, regular army. In 1700, Peter signed a 30-year truce with Turkey and declared war on the Swedes (although preparations for war were clearly insufficient). North War lasted 21 years and ended with the signing Nishtad peace according to which Russia received Estonia, Livonia with Riga, Ingrib (the Neva basin), Vyborg, a number of islands, but returned Finland to the Swedes. "Window" to Europe was cut through. Peter was declared emperor and Father of the Fatherland.
Since most of Peter's reign took place in a war environment, this could not but affect the nature of his reforms. Peter did not have a clear plan of reforms, except for the general idea of \u200b\u200bturning Russia into a great power.
Starting from January 1, 1700, a new calendar was introduced in the country, which symbolized the transition of Russia to reforming all aspects of the life of a huge state. It was ordered to make chronology not from the Creation of the world, but from the Nativity of Christ, the New Year should not start from September 1, but from January 1. Thus, Russia began to live in the same time space with Europe.
Undoubtedly, the determination of the young tsar to start cardinal reforms was influenced by the failure of the initial stage of the war with Sweden and, in general, with Turkey for access to the Baltic and Black Seas. Therefore, an important place among the reforms carried out by him took military reform... On November 8, 1699, recruitment kits were introduced, and in 1705 - recruitment... One recruit from 20 peasant and township households was called up for lifelong service. With regard to recruits, the following rule was established: if the recruit was from serfs, he automatically became free, and then his children, born after liberation, also became free.
The nobles went to the army almost without exception. The rifle army and the noble militia were replaced by a regular army. Peter created not very well trained, but the largest army in the world. Already in the mid-1720s, the number of the regular ground forces was about 200 thousand people. The newborn fleet declared itself with resounding victories. It consisted of 48 battleships and about 800 galleys and other ships, on which about 28 thousand crew members served.
For a more effective conduct of military operations, Russia needed to create its own military base and, first of all, develop industry, especially metallurgy. The government made great efforts to build iron-making factories at the expense of the treasury in the Urals and in the Olonets Territory. The first decade of the 18th century can be characterized as a period of active government intervention in the economy and encouragement of private entrepreneurship. As mentioned earlier, the first manufactories appeared in Russia in the 17th century, but they did not play a significant role in the economy at that time. It was from the 15th century that the manufacturing period began in the national economy; the manufacturing system became predominant in comparison with handicraft production. Besides state and patrimonial so-called possessory or conditional manufactories (from the Latin word "possession" - conditional ownership). According to the decree of Peter 1, from 1721 it was allowed to buy serfs and non-nobles (merchants, rich townspeople from among artisans). The peasants were assigned to the enterprise and formed a single whole with it. Continued to develop and scatteredmanufactories, which arose on the basis of merchant capital and tied domestic peasant production to commercial and industrial capital.
In the first quarter of the 18th century, there was a noticeable increase in manufacturing production. So, if at the end of the 17th century there were about 20 manufactories in the country, then in the middle of the 1720s there were already 205 manufactories and large craft enterprises. The Urals became the world's largest metallurgical center, which was a notable economic event in Russia at that time. The products of metallurgical plants were of high quality, they began to export them to Europe, and soon Russia took first place in Europe in the production of pig iron.
Central to Peter's reforms are reformin the region of government controlled... As the scale of transformations expands, it becomes clear that the old command system will not be able to serve as a tool for their implementation. Dealing with military and diplomatic problems, he constantly solved a lot of matters of Russian state administration. For 25 years of his reign - from 1700 to 1725 - he adopted almost three thousand different laws and decrees.
First of all, it was necessary to create a harmonious administrative vertical, completely subordinate to the supreme power. This was aimed at a radical reorganization of the entire building of state administration from top to bottom. The main object of the reorganization was the Boyar Duma, which, with its interference in state affairs, did not correspond to the regime of the absolute monarchy. In 1699, instead of the Boyar Duma, Peter established the so-called Nearest Chancellery of eight confidants to help solve state affairs, which he called the Council of Ministers. In 1711, he abolished this structure too, creating a governing Senateof nine people appointed by him. It was the highest state body with legislative, administrative and judicial power. The emperor towered at the head of state power. Power under Peter wore paternalistic character... The power of a king was like the power of a just and strict father, who knows what the good of his people is. Obedience and loyalty were required in return for caring from subjects. This approach formed obedient and passive citizens, fettering initiative and enterprise.
In 1717-1718, almost all of the numerous, complex, confusing, unsystematic "crowd" of orders was replaced collegia - new governing bodies. Unlike orders, which, as a rule, had regional competence, the collegiums had national powers, which in itself created a higher level of centralization. In total, 11 collegia were created: the Military Collegium was in charge of the army, the Admiralty collegium - the fleet, the Justitz Collegium - legislation, the Manufacturing Collegium - industry, etc. The collegia were created according to the Swedish model, but taking into account Russian conditions. Thus, Russia received a large ramified bureaucratic and police apparatus.
In the years 1708-1710 was carried out provincial reform, according to which the whole country was divided into eight provinces: Moscow, Ingermanland (St. Petersburg), Kiev, Smolensk, Kazan, Azov, Arkhangelsk, Siberian. Provinces, in turn, were divided into counties. In the hands of the governor were concentrated administrative, judicial, police, financial functions, in accordance with which taxes were collected, recruited, search for runaway peasants, court cases were considered, and the troops were provided with food. Subsequently, Peter repeatedly returned to the problem of reorganizing local government. In 1719, the second provincial reform was carried out, the number of provinces increased to 11, and the provinces were divided into 50 provinces.
Simultaneously with the provincial, it was supposed to conduct and urban reform... Peter wanted to give the cities full self-government so that burgomasters could be elected there. However, in contrast to Western Europe, a rich and influential bourgeoisie had not yet emerged in Russian cities at the beginning of the 18th century, which could take over urban management. Nevertheless, urban self-government of the European type was introduced in the cities - magistrateswho were in charge of urban economy, trade and crafts. In 1720, the Chief Magistrate was established in St. Petersburg, who was supposed to lead the urban estates in Russia. The administrative system created during the Petrine reforms proved to be very strong. In its main features, it remained (with some changes) throughout the pre-revolutionary period. The structure of government, the mechanism of power and its functions remained unshakable for almost two centuries. As a result of the administrative reforms carried out, serious changes took place in the nature of Russian statehood, the process of transition from the estate-representative to absolute monarchy.
In his work, Peter relied on the local nobility, which, being a more progressive young estate, supported the course towards strengthening the absolute monarchy. In order to support the nobility economically, Peter issued in 1714 The decree of inheritance, according to which there was a final merger of two forms of feudal land ownership - estates and estates into a single legal concept - "immovable property". Both types of farms were equal in all respects, the estate also became hereditary, and not a conditional farm, they could not be split between the heirs. The estates were inherited only by one of the sons, usually the eldest. The rest received an inheritance with money and other property, they were required to enter military or civilian (civilian) service. This ensured an influx of people into the civil service. This Decree was closely related to the introduction in 1722 "Table of Ranks"... According to this document, all the posts of state and military service were divided into 14 grades from the lowest - fourteenth to the highest - first. In accordance with the "Report Card" employees from among the nobility or bourgeois were obliged to go through these steps to be promoted. This document introduced the principle of service and finally eliminated the previously abolished principle of parochialism, which still existed behind the scenes. Particularly interested in this order were the nobles, who could now rise to the highest state ranks, really join the government.
A distinctive feature of the Russian autocracy in pre-Petrine times was the complete merger of the church and the state. While in Western Europe the church moved further and further away from state administration, in Russia in the 17th century there was a so-called churchly state. The king himself acted simultaneously as the supreme ruler of the church and as the head of state, religious ideas were the main ones in secular life. Peter I destroyed this tradition and spent church reformcompletely subordinating the church to the state. After the death of the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Hadrian in 1700, the patriarchate was abolished (restored later only after the February Revolution of 1917). In 1721 was established Holy Synod - A special “spiritual collegium” - for the management of church affairs. At the head of the Holy Synod was the chief prosecutor, a secular man, as a rule, from among the officers of the Guards. All members of the Synod were appointed by the tsar himself. The economic rights of the church were noticeably limited, its huge land allotments were cut down, part of its income began to go into the state budget. The church was henceforth obliged in all worldly affairs to obey the orders of the secular authorities.
Under Peter, considerable importance was attached to trade relations within and outside Russia. In order to improve trade routes, the government for the first time in the history of the country began to build channels. So, in 1703-1709, the Vyshnevolotsky canal was built, connecting St. Petersburg with the Volga, the construction of the Mariinsky water system, etc. It should be noted that the development of domestic trade was restrained by the "money hunger", the country was still experiencing an acute shortage of money metals. In 1704, Peter 1 began monetary reform... Silver ruble coins began to be issued, or simply rubles, which before Peter remained only a conventional counting unit, that is, the ruble, like a coin, did not exist. The silver thaler was taken as the weight unit of the ruble, although the silver content in the ruble was less than in the thaler. Coinage has become a strict and unconditional state monopoly. Under Peter, gold coins were also issued: "Caesar" rubles and "chervontsy".
The Petrine reforms also affected foreign trade, which began to develop actively thanks, first of all, to the access to the Baltic Sea. Strengthened foreign trade orientation of the Russian economy contributed to a focused policy mercantilismheld by the government. One of the ideologists of mercantilism was the Russian thinker-economist I.T. Pososhkov, who published in 1724 the "Book of Poverty and Wealth." In it, he emphasized that the country needs to create technically advanced enterprises based on domestic raw materials so that it can confidently enter the foreign market.
An obligatory element of mercantilism is the establishment of strict customs tariffs to protect domestic producers from foreign competitors. So, in 1724, a customs tariff was established, according to which foreign goods competing with domestic ones (wax, canvas) were charged a duty of 75%. As a result, in 1726, exports exceeded imports by two times. Thanks to the energetic actions of Peter, Russia from 1712 for the first time stopped buying weapons in Europe.
Practically incessant hostilities and reforms demanded huge government spending. Russia's budget was in critical condition. There was a need for tax reform... The task was to find all new tax revenues. Beginning in 1704, one after another an endless series of new taxes was established: mill, bee, cellar, bath, pipe, with schismatics. To the new taxes state monopolies were added. Among the monopoly goods, in addition to tar, potash, rhubarb, new ones were added: salt, tobacco, chalk, tar, fish oil, lard, oak coffins. The main income came from direct taxes, which were imposed only on the "vile" estates. At the end of Peter's reign, many petty fees were canceled. And to increase state revenues, instead of the household taxation that had existed since 1679, in 1718-1724, capitation submit with a "revision soul", which was imposed on not only able-bodied men, but also boys, and the elderly, and even the dead, but who were still on the revision lists.
For a more accurate record of the country, censuses of the male population began to be carried out every 20 years. Based on the results of the censuses, the so-called "Audit tales" (lists). Various estates sought all sorts of privileges to be exempt from paying taxes. Tax collection was always carried out with great difficulty, with huge arrears, since the population's ability to pay was very low. The main revenue item of the state budget, as already mentioned, was composed of direct taxes on the population - up to 55.5% in 1724. In addition, as in the 17th century, an important role was played by indirect taxes and the system of leases for the sale of monopoly goods, as well as leases for the construction of mills, bridges, etc. Various in-kind duties became widespread, such as recruiting, stationary (apartment) and underwater, in accordance with which the peasants had to provide the military units that were on the stand with food and fodder grain. The main budget item was military spending. For example, the military campaigns of Peter I absorbed about 80-85% of all Russia's income, and in 1705 they cost 96%. The constantly growing budget deficit in the eighteenth century began to be increasingly covered by inflation, as well as government loans, especially after Peter I.
It is very difficult to evaluate all the transformations of Peter I. His reforms are very controversial, they cannot be given an unambiguous assessment. Peter I made an energetic attempt to bring the country closer to European civilization. Peter constantly stressed that Russia should no longer remain closed from world economic processes if it does not want to lag further in socio-economic development and gradually fall into heavy colonial dependence on advanced Western countries, as happened with many Asian states that failed do away with traditionalism. As a result of Peter's reforms, Russia managed to take its rightful place in the system of European states. It has turned into a great power with an efficient economy, a powerful army and a modern navy.
Since Russia belonged to the countries of "catching up development", by the beginning of the 18th century the prerequisites for modernization on its own cultural basis were not yet ripe. Therefore, Russian modernization has acquired the character of radical reforms carried out from above. Society was not ready for such changes. As a result, the socio-cultural split in society has deepened. The fragmentation of Russian society is one of the important factors that determined the development of the country over three centuries.
The need for rapid reform predetermined the violent nature of the reforms, which led to an even greater strengthening of serfdom. The hardships of the reforms, which fell on the shoulders of the peasant and urban population, were more than once the cause of major popular uprisings in Central Russia, the Volga region, Ukraine and the Don, for example, the uprising of the Cossacks led by K. Bulavin in 1707-1708, brutally suppressed by the tsarist government ...
The country's population decreased by almost 20% as a result of numerous wars and repressions, the construction of new enterprises, the relocation of people to new places.
It should also be emphasized that in attempts to get closer to Western European civilization, adopting from there everything that was advanced and useful, Peter forgot about the originality of Russia, about its dual Eurasian essence. He believed that all the origins of her backwardness lie in Asian roots. Striving for Europe, Peter often took from there only external forms, without changing the inner essence of age-old traditions. So, while representative power quickly developed in Western Europe of the 17th-18th centuries, the foundations of parliamentarism strengthened, in Russia during the years of Peter's rule, on the contrary, strict centralization and absolutization of state power intensified, which was a direct continuation of the despotism and autocracy inherent in Moscow Russia.
Carrying out reforms in Russia, Peter strove for an ideal state based on fair and rational laws, but this turned out to be a utopia. In practice, a police state was created in the country without any institutions of social control.
While adopting advanced technologies, scientific, military and other achievements in the West, Peter did not seem to notice the development of the ideas of humanism there, all the more unwilling to bring them to Russian soil. And yet, the significance of the great changes in the life of Russia, carried out in the era of Peter, can hardly be overestimated.
The continuation of Peter's policy is the reign of Empress Catherine II. Having gained power illegally, having no rights to the Russian throne, she stayed on it for a long 34 years, ending the era of female rule in Russia.
It should be noted that for the 37 years that separated her reign from the reign of Peter the Great, Russia went through an era of extreme instability of government, a period of palace coups. The prevailing system of favoritism economically and politically undermined the foundations of the country. Reforms, if carried out, were not of a systemic and complete nature. Catherine sincerely wanted to carry out deep reforms while maintaining an unlimited autocracy.
The model was chosen as the basis of state transformations by Catherine II enlightened absolutism, which existed in Russia until 1815. And Catherine drew ideas on issues of state structure from European educators (Voltaire, Diderot, Montesquieu). In the policy of enlightened absolutism, the focus was on the desire to create a new system for regulating social relations on the basis of streamlining existing laws and creating new, more perfect laws. It was believed that it was possible to eliminate social conflicts between society and the state with the help of a social contract. At the same time, it was assumed that society delegates authority to one person, a group of persons, or an estate representative body. The era of the reign of Catherine II served as a clear example of the application of this theory in practice.
The educated part of the nobility was also fond of the ideas of enlightenment, as a result of which three directions of social thought in Russia in the second half of the 18th century were formed. First direction conservative- which represented the aristocratic part of the nobility. Prince Shcherbatov expressed the main ideas of this direction - the preservation of serfdom, autocracy in a partially modernized form. The rule of the monarch must be enlightened, freedom of property and equality must be ensured for the nobles, but not for the serfs and commoners. The second direction is liberal(N.I. Panin, D.I. Fonvizin, etc.), whose representatives proposed to limit the autocracy in favor of the nobility. They demanded a softening of the mores of landowners in relation to serfs. The third direction is radical(N.I. Novikov, A.N. Radishchev). They insisted on the submission of the monarch to the laws established by agreement with the people, the destruction of serfdom. Radishchev admitted the possibility of establishing a republic through revolution. For her views, Catherine considered the author "a rebel worse than Pugachev." Many of the representatives who expressed various sociopolitical views were Masons, who strove primarily to move Russia to the European tradition. Public opinion is beginning to form in Russia. Despite the fact that this opinion was represented by the elite, the enlightened sections of society, an important step towards progress.
At the very beginning of her reign, in 1764, Catherine sharply limited the economic power of the church. She carried out secularizationchurch lands, as a result of which the number of monasteries in Russia was reduced from 881 to 385. The proceeds from this process went to the state budget.
One of the most important problems in the first years of the reign of Catherine II was the need to streamline and update the entire system of legislation of the Russian Empire. It should be said that the old code of laws ("Council Code") was adopted back in 1649 and since then has not been radically revised, although this was demanded by the nobles and the emerging business. The “Punishment of Empress Catherine II given to the Commission on the compilation of the draft new Code” was published as a guide for the deputies of the future Commission in their legislative work. “Punishment” was an extensive document of 22 chapters, which enlightened ideas of enlightened absolutism. The main idea of \u200b\u200bthe "Order" was that in Russia any other power, except autocracy, is not only harmful, but also ruinous for citizens. Catherine called for moderation in the laws and policies of the government, the inadmissibility of tyranny.
On July 30, 1767, in the Palace of the Facets of the Moscow Kremlin, a Commission was convened to compose a draft of a new Code ( Stacked commission), which included representatives of different classes to develop a common code of laws of the Russian Empire. During the development of the code of laws, orders were applied to deputies from various groups of the population. So, the nobles complained about the mass escapes of the peasants and the routine legal proceedings, demanded the abolition of Peter's "Table of Ranks" in order to prevent access to the nobility for representatives of the "vile estates" who rose to the rank of officer. The merchants insisted on giving them the right to own serfs, on releasing them from recruiting duties and standing troops, on streamlining merchant activities, on opening banks, etc. The peasants offered to strictly regulate the size of corvee and quitrents in the Code, as well as provide them with the right of ownership of movable property. But against this sharply opposed the majority of deputies from the nobility.
Since the debate was long and sharp, Catherine II was about to dissolve the Commission, but in December 1768 a war with Turkey began and the Commission virtually ceased to exist without accepting a new code. The commission was unable to solve the main task of establishing a balance of interests of various classes of society. Later, Catherine used many of the prepared materials in legislative and administrative work. In particular, on their basis in the 1770-1780s, some reforms were carried out that logically flowed from the 1767 Order.
After the dissolution of the commission in the activities of Catherine in reforming society, two stages can be traced: in the field of public administration, the strengthening of centralism and military-bureaucratic principles, in social policy reliance on the nobility.
The course of the reforms was undoubtedly affected by the peasant war (1773-1775) led by E.I. Pugacheva. Catherine tried first of all to suppress the hotbeds of tension in the regions inhabited by the Cossacks, where the disaffected masses flocked, poorly controlled by the government. She liquidated the Cossack self-government on the Don, abolished the Zaporozhye Sich and resettled the Cossacks to the Kuban, renamed the Yaik Cossacks into the Ural Cossacks and placed them under police supervision, and the power of local feudal lords was strengthened in Bashkiria.
In 1775, the system of local self-government was reorganized, primarily in order to strengthen law and order in the localities, as well as to prevent anti-government protests. Instead of a three-tier administrative division - a province, a province, a district, a two-tier division was introduced - a province, a district. 50 provinces were established (instead of the previous 23) with different territories, but with an approximately equal number of male souls (200-300 thousand). Provinces were divided into 10-12 counties, each with 20-30 thousand male souls.
At the head of each province, the emperor appointed a governor, and if two or three provinces were united - a governor-general with extensive administrative, financial and judicial powers, all military units and teams located in this territory were also subordinate to him. The district was headed by a police captain, elected by the nobility for three years. An order for public charity was also established, which oversaw schools, hospitals, almshouses and orphanages. At the same time, Catherine II signed "Charter to cities" (1785), which determined the estate structure of the urban population. But, despite Catherine's desire to develop the "middle race of people", that is, the townspeople, they in Russia, even in the XIX-XX centuries, did not reach the position that the bourgeoisie had in Western Europe by the end of the XVIII century. And although urban self-government remained undeveloped until the reforms of the 1860-1870s, on the whole, this entire administrative system in a huge multinational country was quite strong and effective, given that it existed until 1917 almost unchanged.
Catherine II paid much attention to the education of the people, since the literacy level in those years was low even among the nobles, not to mention the townspeople and peasants. The country needed competent educated personnel, therefore, in 1786 the “Charter for Public Schools in the Russian Empire” was published, according to which four-class public schools were opened in every provincial city, and small public schools working in unified state programs were opened in county towns.
Catherine sought to provide special privileges to the nobility as the main force ensuring the government of the country. In 1785, she signed the "Diploma on the Rights, Liberties and Benefits of the Noble Russian Nobility", better known as "Certificate of honor to the nobility"... All the estate rights and privileges of the nobility were enshrined in it. They received the exclusive right to own serfs and land, pass them on by inheritance, buy villages, etc. It was forbidden to confiscate the noble estates for criminal offenses, in this case the estates passed to the heirs. The nobles were exempted from corporal punishment, they could only be stripped of their nobility by court. They were exempted from personal taxes and various duties, for example, from the presence of troops in their homes. Locally - in provinces and counties - all administrative power was in the hands of the nobles.
In the second half of the eighteenth century, the feudal economy came face to face with developing market relations. The creation of an all-Russian market, the country's active participation in international trade led to the fact that agriculture was increasingly drawn into the market. The most advanced and educated landowners strove to use new technology, to introduce the achievements of agronomy into production. This was facilitated by the establishment in 1765 of the Free Economic Society for the Encouragement of Agriculture and House-Building in Russia. Russian technical thought was one of the foremost in the world. 20 years before D. Watt, the world's first universal steam engine, I. Polzunov, was invented. A. Nartov invented the lathe even under Peter 1, while in England he appeared only in 1797. However, these inventions were not widely used in practice. The general routine of the economy, the disinterest of the state in introducing technical innovations into production led to the fact that at the end of the 18th century Russia began to gradually lag behind the advanced states that had already completed an industrial revolution (such as England, Holland).
The introduction of new achievements into production gradually led to an increase in labor productivity, to an increase in the level of marketability of products, that is, their entry into the market, but in no way weakening the serfdom of peasants. Under Catherine II, serfdom spread to those territories of Ukraine, where until that time the Cossack freemen still remained. The personal dependence of the peasants on the landlords increased. Since 1765, landowners were allowed to hand over guilty peasants to hard labor, and in 1767, Catherine II forbade peasants to file complaints with state bodies against their landowners.
During the reign of Catherine, a layer of so-called "capitalist muzhiks" appeared. Active and energetic peasants were engaged in trade, crafts, rented land and even managed to buy serfs for themselves, although this was prohibited by law. Thus, under Catherine, peasant entrepreneurship was developed.
The market economy largely penetrated into industry, which developed at a fairly rapid pace and where in the second half of the century the labor market was gradually formed. The growth of merchant and peasant manufactories was facilitated by the fact that in 1775 was published Free Enterprise Manifesto, according to which Catherine II allowed everyone to engage in industrial activities. This noticeably accelerated the development of the so-called "non-specified" factories and plants, that is, those established without special permission and based on hired labor. By the end of the century, Russia had a wide variety of industries that met almost entirely the country's most important needs.
To revive and develop the country's economy in 1762 and 1763, Catherine made an appeal to foreigners to come to settle in Russia. They were promised tax breaks, religious freedom, preservation of language and culture. Especially many colonists came from Germany.
Maintaining the status of a great power, participating in European affairs are such areas of Catherine II’s foreign policy. This was manifested in military operations against Turkey, Russia's participation in the division of Poland and the fight against the revolution in France. As a result of two wars with Turkey in 1768-1774 and 1787-1791. Over the years, the Crimea, the southern Ukrainian lands along the coast of the Azov and Black Seas, were annexed to Russia, where new cities and fortresses were founded: Sevastopol, Odessa, Kherson and others. The Russian fleet received the right to freely navigate the Black Sea, as well as to enter the Mediterranean Sea.
As a result of the three partitions of Poland between Prussia, Austria and Russia, this shameful page of European diplomacy, Right-Bank Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic States, Lithuania and Courland were ceded to Russia. Having annexed Belarus and part of Ukraine, Russia returned the lands of Ancient Rus. Russian pioneers reached the Pacific Ocean, founded the first settlements in Alaska, the Kuril and Aleutian Islands. Due to natural growth and associated territories, the country's population has grown significantly: from 13 million people at the end of the first quarter of the 18th century to 40 million people at the beginning of the 19th century.
From 1789 onward, Catherine's attention was drawn to the revolutionary events in France. She encourages Austria and Prussia to intervene. After the execution of Louis XVI, Russia broke off diplomatic relations with France. In 1796, she equipped Suvorov's 60,000th corps against France. But the death of Catherine prevented the implementation of her plans.
Catherine II most consistently continued Peter's reforms. Russia was becoming an increasingly powerful state, which the European powers had to reckon with. She created in Russia an advanced system of government for her time, an efficient economy, but she did not dare to implement the principle of separation of powers, since she understood that there was no civil society in the country ready for a constitutional monarchy.
Russia in the 1st quarter of the 19th century
LESSON No. 1. The Russian Empire at the Turn of the 18th - 19th Centuries ..
Lesson Objectives:
Educational: to consider the geographical, economic, political and social situation of Russia at the beginning of the 19th century, the composition of the population, everyday life and life of the classes.
Developing: develop the conceptual apparatus, skills in working with documents and their interpretation, skills in drawing up tables and diagrams.
Educational: purposefulness in obtaining knowledge, conviction in the value of each human person, regardless of his social status.
Lesson type: learning new material.
Teaching methods: reproductive and b / n
Forms of work: teacher lecture,
Organizing time.
Updating knowledge on the topic:
19th century - a very important century in the history of not only Western Europe, but also Russia, this is the century of its greatest victories and bitter defeats, a century when new trends in social life come to the fore, the most famous rulers rule, the greatest writers and poets create. We consider the history of the 19th century. before the end of the year. A necessary condition is the attraction of additional literature, reference manuals.
Learning new material.
The territory of Russia.
At the beginning of the 19th century. Russia occupied1/6 of sushi .
By 1850 the territory had reached18 million km2 ... The following were annexed to the Russian empire: Finland - 1809, the Kingdom of Poland with Warsaw - 1815, Bessarabia with Chisinau - 1812, Georgia - 1813, 1828, Northern Caucasus - 1817 - 1864, Kyrgyz steppes east of Orenburg in 1811.
The country was divided into69 provinces, 3 regions : Astrakhan, Tavricheskaya, Caucasian.
On average, one province consisted of 10 - 12 counties.
Land was allocated - the Don troops, the Black Sea troops.
CITIES: at the beginning of the 19th century. there were 634 cities in Russia.
Capital Cities:St. Petersburg - 330 thousand inhabitants; Moscow - 200 thousand inhabitants.
CITIES:
1st class (from 70 to 30 thousand inhabitants) - 5
2 classes (from 30 to 10 thousand inhabitants) - 30
3 classes (from 10 to 5 thousand) - 85
4 classes (from 5 to 2 thousand) - 214
5th grade (from 2 to 1 thousand) - 129
Grade 6 (less than 1 thousand) - 113.
Population
Population of Russia (without Poland, Finland, Transcaucasia) was:
1811 - 42.7 million people
1816 – 43,9
1833 – 51,9
1851 – 56,9
1857 - 59.3 million people:
National composition
1820s
1860s
Religious composition
Russians
3 million
48 million
orthodox
51 million (84%)
Poles
0,7
0,9
catholics
2 million (3.4%)
Jews
0,5
1,6
protestants
2 million (3.4%)
Finns
2,5
jews
1.6 million (2.6%)
Tatars
0,55
muslims
0.2 million (3.4%)
The social composition of the population (1836)
Nobility - 640 thousand (1.2%)
Clergy - 538 thousand (1%)
Merchants 1,2, 3, guilds - 250 thousand (0.5%)
Petty bourgeoisie and artisans - 2 million 775 thousand (4%)
Peasantry - 30 million people (94%)
landlords - 14 million
state (state) - 15 million
specific (property of the imperial family) - 1 million
Most of the serfs lived in the central provinces. In Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine, they made up 50–70% of the population, in the northern and southern provinces - 2–12%, in Siberia there were only 4.3 thousand people, in the Arkhangelsk province they were not at all.
Cossacks 9 troops (Don, Black Sea, Tersk, Astrakhan, Orenburg, Ural, Siberian, Transbaikal, Amur) - 1.5 million.
To D / s. - find material for the characterization of each estate, its features in position.!
Politic system.
POWER: “The All-Russian Emperor is an autocratic monarch, unlimited. The throne of the empire and the thrones of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Finland inseparably connected with it are inherited. The activity of the monarch manifests itself in two forms: in the legislative and administrative power. The legislative power belongs to one sovereign in its entirety, so that no one can decide any law. "
Give a description of the form of government in Russia ??? - preservation of the autocratic monarchy.
Economic development in the 1st half. 19th century
In the 1st half. 19th century Russia remained an agrarian country. The main branch of the economy was agriculture. It developed in an extensive way.
What does the concept of an extensive development path mean?
With the extensive development path, the increase in agricultural production occurred not due to the improvement of land cultivation, the introduction of new agrotechnical methods, but due to the expansion of sown areas. For the 1st half of the 19th century. the sown area has increased by about 1.5 times, the gross grain harvest has increased by about the same.
LESSON # 2. Domestic policy of Alexander I 1801 - 18011
Lesson objectives :
Educational creating conditions for the assimilation of historical facts by students related to the attempt to implement liberal reforms in the country at the beginning of the reign of Alexander I; clarification of the cause-and-effect relationship between the socio-political situation in the country with the failures of these undertakings.
Developing : development of communication skills, the ability to work with various types of sources, skills of historical analysis.
Educational : creating conditions for students' awareness and acceptance of liberal values, respect for the country's historical past, the formation of an active life position.
On the blackboard, under the portrait of Alexander I - the epigraphs of the lesson:
“In politics, Alexander is thin as the tip of a pin, sharp as a razor, fake, like sea foam ” . Swedish diplomat Lagerbilke
“He is a human! It is ruled by the moment.
He is a slave to word of mouth, doubt and passion;
Forgive him the wrong persecution:
He took Paris, he founded the Lyceum ”
A.S. Pushkin
Lesson type: study of new material, with elements of laboratory work in groups
Teaching methods: reproductive, b / n, problematic, situational.
Forms of work: a teacher’s story, organization of a problem situation, group work with sources and documents, group representatives' speeches, student messages about personalities.
Organizing time.
Learning new material.
Alexander's personality.
In 1801, Alexander I, the son of Paul I, became a Russian king, voluntarily or involuntarily participating in a conspiracy against his father, which ended in the assassination of Paul.
MESSAGE of the student about the personality of Alexander
Alexander I: character traits.
The eldest son of Emperor Paul, Alexander was a man of the new century. In any case, he was keenly interested in the ideas of his time, trying them on to Russian reality. These ideas were, on the one hand, the inheritance of his grandmother Catherine II, on the other, he absorbed them during classes with his teacher F. Lagarpe. Studying with the famous Swiss made the grand duke relate to serfdom and rude despotism with the squeamishness of an enlightened European. That is why Alexander I tried to fight them throughout almost his entire reign. True, it is very difficult to judge the true intentions of the emperor, since from childhood he was distinguished by excellent acting skills, mixed with a fair amount of hypocrisy.
It was difficult to expect any other behavior from him, since from an early age Alexander rotated between Catherine II, Pavel Petrovich and Laharpe, nowhere daring to be himself, or never choosing someone with whom he could talk frankly. After the accession of his father, he was forced to hypocrite even more, pretending to completely share the ideas and methods of the emperor.
Alexander was drawn into the plot against Paul by circumstances - the emperor's suspicion led to the fact that his elder sons were really threatened by prison or Siberia. What shocked Alexander most was not the murder itself, but the ease with which it was committed.
From that time on, he felt free only outside the capital, and even better, outside Russia.
Alexander was well versed in people, but saw in them only a tool for achieving the goals set by himself. The desire to leave his mark on history, suspicion, acting, perhaps necessary for a politician, at times took on the emperor such proportions that repelled serious reformers from him. Moreover, throughout the reign, Alexander did not show a program of transformations.
P.A. Stroganov noted: “The emperor ascended the throne with the best intentions - to establish order on the best possible basis; but personal inexperience and a languid, lazy nature bind him ... ”
A. Czartoryski, a friend of the tsar, wrote: “The emperor loved the external forms of freedom, how can one love a performance ... He would willingly agree that everyone was free, if only everyone voluntarily performedhis the will. "
Over time, Alexander increasingly became a taste of autocratic rule. Once he shouted at G.R. Derzhavin: “You want to teach everything, but I am an autocratic tsar and I want it to be this way and not otherwise”
In his work, beautiful words always prevailed, for which it is difficult to discern real affairs. Contemporaries called him the Sphinx, unsolved to the grave.
After getting acquainted with the proposed characteristic, students conclude that many of the personal qualities of Alexander I were an obstacle to the implementation of the proposed projects -there is no experience, there is no perseverance, the duality of nature, the desire to impress, secrecy, the desire to maintain power, the king is only a republican in words, but in practice an autocrat, etc.
All students present their versions of the statements of contemporaries about Alexander I
Sayings about Alexander I
"He does everything in half." (M.M.Speransky)
"Crowned Hamlet, who was haunted all his life by the shadow of his murdered father." (A.I. Herzen)
"Republican in words and autocrat in deeds." (A.I. Turgenev)
"He was able to conquer his minds and penetrate into the souls of others, hiding his own feelings and thoughts." (M.A.Korf)
"In politics, Alexander is thin as the tip of a pin, sharp as a razor, fake, like sea foam." (Swedish diplomat Lagerbilke)
"From some of his actions, one could see the spirit of unlimited autocracy, revenge, vindictiveness, incredulity, inconstancy and deception." (P.A. Tuchkov)
"The emperor loved the external forms of freedom, as one can love the performance ... but apart from the forms and appearance, he did not want anything and was not at all inclined to endure them to turn into reality." (A. Chartorysky)
The ruler is weak and crafty,
Bald dandy, the enemy of labor,
Accidentally warmed by glory
We reigned then. (A.S. Pushkin)
Alexander was a task for contemporaries, he is unlikely to be unraveled by offspring. (N.I. Grech)
It also represented liberal aspirations for enlightenment and social life, and it also represented the most stubborn reaction. (A.N. Pypin)
Sphinx unsolved to the grave - P.A. Vyazemsky
TASK FOR ALL: Try to suggest how the personal qualities of the new emperor will affect life in Russia, whether Alexander is capable of managing the empire, prove the conclusion.
All these statements obviously differ in time. It is possible that they reflected the changes in both Alexander himself and his domestic political course.
2) The tasks of the reign.
He came to the throne with clear intentions to make the country happy. But what did he mean by these words - a happy country? What problems should be solved by Alexander so that he can realize this goal?
Students first individually, then in pairs, formulate the most important problems of Russia in the form of a cluster.
The result of the work is a class-wide cluster on the blackboard. Among the distinguished goals of Alexander’s reign are sure to sound such as:
- elimination of the consequences of the reign of Paul I;
- abolition of serfdom;
- introduction of the constitution;
- improvement of the state apparatus, creation of parliament;
- development of education in the country .
From the very first days, the young emperor took up state affairs. Plans are huge.
Back in 1797, he wrote: “When my turn comes, then I will have to work on ... to create a popular representation, which ... would constitute a free constitution, after which my power would completely cease, and I ... would retire to some corner and live there happy and pleased to see the prosperity of his homeland. And I would enjoy it ”
A.S. Pushkin spoke about this time like this: “The Aleksandrovs' days are a great start ”.
3) The domestic policy of Alexander before World War II.
Organized work in a group with materials
1st group I. Governance Reforms
To implement liberal reform plans, the emperor had to rely on a circle of close associates. Those could not be the participants in the conspiracy against his father. On the contrary, soon they were all removed from power. The emperor's companions were peers of the young king, with whom he was brought up and studied. Among them were Count P.A. Stroganov, his cousin N.N. Novosiltsev, Prince A. Czartorysky, Count V.P. Kochubey. These statesmen formed the Secret Committee - an unofficial advisory body under the king. Being in a trusting relationship with Alexander, they discussed plans for transformations with him, expressed their wishes and advice. They initiated the first reforms.
Later, an advisory Indispensable Council of 12 people was created, which developed and passed the most important bills.
Questions and Tasks
Name the reasons for the creation, functions of the Permanent Council and describe the degree of its influence on public affairs
2. Analyze the documents.
Document 1 Unspoken committee
"Is he (Alexander I)he realized that it was impossible for him to express his feelings frankly and show them in front of a society so little prepared for the perception of these ideas and which would meet them with bewilderment and even with some fear. That is why the government machine continued to function on the same basis ... and Alexander, willy-nilly, was forced to reckon with the old trends.
To ... mitigate this sad contradiction with himself, Alexander formed a kind of secret council, made up of persons whom he considered his personal friends, who shared his views and beliefs ... All of us were especially drawn together by the consciousness of the need to group around the Emperor and support with all our might it has a sincere desire for reform. "
From the "Notes" of the princeA.A. Czartoryski
Assignment to the document. Explain why the Secret Committee was created. Why didn't it become an official body?
Document 2
Characteristics of the activities of the Secret Committee
Alexander I dreamed"Curb the despotism of our government." According to the historian V.F. Khodasevich, members of the Secret Committee would be“They were surprised and even offended if they were told that the informal and unspoken committee they formed was the real brainchild of hateful despotism, because it was created solely at the arbitrariness of the monarch and intends to decide the fate of Russia unofficially, secretly, that is, irresponsibly, through the head of the highest state institutions ".
Assignment to the document. Do you agree with the historian's opinion that the Tacit Committee is "the brainchild of despotism"? Explain your answer.
Make a diagram "The central government system of the Russian Empire in the first half of the XIX century." What are the functions of each of the authorities?
Tell us about the management system in Russia under Alexander I.
On September 8, 1802, a decree on the rights of the Senate was promulgated. He was recognized as the supreme body of power, combining administrative, judicial and control functions, but his activities were completely dependent on the emperor. It was envisaged that the Senate could object to the tsar against decrees "not agreeing with other legalizations." But as soon as the Senate objected to the tsar’s decree on a 12-year term of compulsory service for nobles, which contradicted the laws of Peter III and Catherine II, who generally freed the nobles from service, an explanation of Alexander I followed, according to which the Senate could object only to previously issued ones, not newly issued laws. This episode clearly showed the autocratic disposition of Alexander I, his dislike of dissent.
On the same day, September 8, 1802, a manifesto on ministerial reform was published. Ministries replaced colleges. The aim of the reform was to strengthen one-man management and minimize collegiality in government. Eight ministries were formed: military, maritime, foreign affairs, internal affairs, finance, justice, commerce, and public education.
A committee of ministers was established to discuss public administration affairs jointly. It was first chaired by the emperor, and at the end of the reign, Alexander began to transfer the functions of chairman to A.A. Arakcheev. The power of the ministry extended to the entire territory of the empire, but no local authorities were created. Ministries, unlike the collegia, did not receive judicial functions either. The new system had its drawbacks. The functions of the ministries, the limits of power of the ministers, the nature of their responsibility were not clearly defined. With the creation of ministries, bureaucracy intensified, and the staff of officials increased. Alexander I appointed ministers of eminent, but mostly incompetent, which, in general, suited the emperor, as it allowed him to more actively influence the activities of the ministries.
Group 2. Public administration reforms
Questions and Tasks
In 1810, also on the proposal of Speransky, instead of the Indispensable Council, the State Council was created, consisting of 35 people appointed by the emperor. He had strictly defined legislative functions.
1. Read the characteristics of the first ministers given by the French commercial agent in St. Petersburg, Baron Zh.B. Lesseps. Explain the reasons for the appointment of these people as ministers. In your opinion, is the opinion of the foreigner about the first ministers Aleknmi I fair?
Minister of Foreign Affairs, State ChancellorA.R. Vorontsov - "The person about whom they pretend to be consulted most of all, and who, in essence, is the least listened to."
Minister of the Interior V.P. Kochubey -"He lacks even the sign of those abilities that the significance of his position requires."
Minister of WarS.K. Vyazmitinov - "Nothingness."
Minister of the NavyP.V. Chichagov - "Smart, but totally despised by his associates."
Minister of FinanceA.I. Vasiliev - "Manages his affairs much better than state affairs."
Minister of CommerceN.P. Rumyantsev - "Funny and limited creation."
Minister of Justice, poetG.R. Derzhavin - “The dog of Themis, who is cherished in order to be lowered against the first comer that the ministerial gang did not like. But he is little trained and often bites even his comrades, who would give a lot to destroy him. " (October 7, 1803 G.R.Derzhavin was replacedP.V. Lopukhin.)
Minister of EducationP.V. Zavadovsky refers to those employees of Alexander I who"Do not deserve the honor of being named." According to P.A. Stroganova, Zavadovsky as a minister "did nothing six days a week, and rested on the seventh."
In general, Lesseps spoke of all the ministers that they"They cannot overturn each other, but mutually harm each other."
Document 3
From the Manifesto on the Formation of the Council of State January 1, 1810 g.
“Towards the establishment and dissemination of uniformity and order in State administration, We have recognized the need for the establishment of the State Council to give the education inherent in the space and greatness of Our Empire ...
In the order of State Institutions, the Council constitutes an estate in which all parts of government in their main relations to Legislation are considered and through it ascend to the Supreme Imperial Power.
II. Accordingly, all the Laws, Statutes and Institutions in their primitive styles are proposed and considered in the State Council and then, by the action of the Sovereign Authority, they are delivered to their intended commission.
III. No Law, Charter and Establishment proceeds from the Council and cannot be implemented without the approval of the Sovereign Power.
IV. The Council is composed of persons, by power of attorney to Ours in the class of those called.
Ministers are Members of the Council, according to their rank.
Vi. The Council is chaired by We Ourselves.
In the absence, Our Chairperson is taken by one of the Members, at Our appointment. ”
Assignment to the document. How does the document explain the reasons for the creation of the State Council? How was the composition of the State Council formed? What are the powers of the Council of State? Why did the creation of this body not shake the foundations of autocracy?
Group 3. Peasant Question
Questions and Tasks
Determine the attitude of the nobility to the abolition of serfdom.
Document 1The attitude of the nobility to the abolition of serfdom
“The opinion about the emancipation of the peasants by different circumstances has so intensified in the minds that the slightest excuse and touch on this subject can produce dangerous misconceptions. The examples of disobediences initiated in cases of less seriousness prove clearly how much the people are disposed to news of this kind and how easily they indulge in all rumors about a change in their condition. With this disposition of minds, the publication of the general law on the liberation of peasants under the terms may produce misunderstandings, and instead of seeing it based on the previous laws and on mutual benefit, many landowners, struck by rumors, will see in it the first shock of their property, and the peasants will dream of unlimited freedom ... "
From the magazines of the Indispensable Advice
Document 2
"What does it mean to free our peasants? To give them the will to live anywhere, to take away from the masters all power over them, to subordinate them to the one power of the government." Good. But these farmers will not have land, which, in which there can be no dispute, - there is noble property. They will either stay with the landowners with the condition to pay them a quitrent, cultivate the landlord's fields, deliver grain where necessary, in a word, work for them, as before, or dissatisfied with the conditions, they will go to another, moderate in demands, owner. In the first case, hoping for a man’s natural love for his homeland, gentlemen will they not prescribe the most painful conditions to them? In the second case, if the peasant is here now, and tomorrow there, the treasury will not suffer a loss in the collection of capitation money and other taxes, will it not suffer agriculture? Will not many fields remain uncultivated, many granaries empty? It is not free farmers, but the nobles who supply the markets with bread most of all. Another evil: not depending on the judgment of the landlords, decisive, hopeless, the peasants will begin to quarrel among themselves and sue in the city — what a ruin! Exemption from the supervision of gentlemen who had their own Zemstvo corps or police, much more active than all Zemstvo courts, will begin to get drunk, villain, - what a rich harvest for taverns and bribery police officers, but how bad for morals and state security! The fall is terrible !! "
N.M. Karamzin. From "Notes on Ancient and New Russia"
Assignment to documents.
1. What arguments were put forward against the abolition of serfdom? Do you agree with them? Explain your answer.
2. Explain why members of the Tacit Committee considered the abolition of serfdom a premature measure?
3. On December 12, 1801, a decree was issued allowing merchants, bourgeois and state-owned peasants to buy unpopulated state lands. Think about what goals this decree pursued, what will be its results?
4. The most important of the legislation on the peasant question was the Decree on free cultivators of February 20, 1803. Read the text of the decree.
Document 3 Decree on free farmers
“If one of the landowners wishes to release his acquired or clan peasants one at a time or as a whole village at liberty and at the same time to approve a plot of land or a whole cottage for them, then having made conditions with them, which by mutual consent are recognized as arches, he has to submit them upon request his through the provincial noble leader to the Minister of Internal Affairs for consideration and presentation to us (to the emperor. -A.V.); and if a decision follows from us that agrees with his desire: then these conditions will be presented in the Civil Chamber and recorded at serfdom with a payment of legalized duties. If the peasant or even the whole village does not fulfill his obligations: then he returns to the landowner with the land and his family in possession as before. The peasants, released from the landlords to freedom and owning the land in property, bear a capitation state salary on a par with the landlords, send the recruiting service in kind and, correcting the zemstvo duties along with other state peasants, do not pay duty money to the treasury. They are being conducted by court and reprisals in the same places as the state peasants. As soon as the fulfillment of the conditions, the peasants will receive land ownership, they will have the right to sell it, mortgage and leave it as a legacy, without splitting, however, plots less than 8 acres; they have exactly the right to buy land again. ”
Assignment to the document. What are the main provisions of the decree on free cultivators. What condition was necessary for the liberation of the peasants? Why couldn't the decree give serious practical results?
Group 4. Reforms in Public Education
Questions and Tasks for Students
1. Read the numbers. According to the data of 1810, only 13% of officials had higher education, 22.2% had lower and secondary education, and 31% had home education, the level of which was very low. Why were public education reforms more decisive and consistent?
2. Tell us about the changes that have taken place in the education system. Make a diagram of educational institutions in Russia in the 18th century.
Reforms in the field of education were carried out in 1802 - 1804. On the territory of Russia, 6 educational districts were created, in which there were 4 categories of educational institutions: parish, district schools, provincial gymnasiums and universities.
3. In order to encourage officials to study, on January 24, 1803, a decree "On the organization of schools" was issued, which warned that in five years, persons who did not submit certificates of graduation from an educational institution would not be transferred to a higher position. And according to the Decree of August 6, 1809, each official, in order to receive the next rank, had to pass a special exam.
Check out the document.
Document
From the Decree of August 6, 1809 "On the rules of production for civil service ranks and on tests in the sciences"
“With the exception of the universities of Derpt and Vilensky, all other educational institutions that have been open so far, according to a small number of students, are not commensurate with the methods of their establishment ... Meanwhile, all parts of the State Ministry require knowledgeable performers, and the further postponed will be a solid and domestic education youth, the lack will subsequently be more noticeable. Going back to the reasons for such an important inconvenience, we find, among other things, that the main reason for this is the convenience to achieve ranks not with merit and excellent knowledge, but with one stay and reckoning of years of service. In disgust of this and in order to finally put an obstacle to the search for ranks without merit, and to give true merit new evidence of our respect, we found it necessary to decide the following: in titular advisers, if, in addition to the excellent approvals of his superiors, he does not show evidence from one of the empire-based universities that he studied with success in the sciences, civil service, or that, having submitted to the test, he earned approval in his knowledge. The order and manner of these tests has to be immediately determined and promulgated from the Main Administration Schools. 2. The order of production to the rank of college assessors is left on the same basis ...
Test image. Each university should have a special Committee of the rector and three professors for testing. Anyone who wants to come to this Committee, presents certificates of the place where he studied, if he has them ... Candidates who find themselves without the necessary knowledge are rejected ... Candidates who have shown success in science are given a certificate from the University Board, according to the Committee's report in proper shape. The candidate presents this certificate to his superiors, which adds it to the track record, and every time later the case insists on his promotion to the eighth grade, he also presents this certificate ... "
Assignment to the document. What are the reasons for the change in the order of production in ranks. What were these changes? Why did the decree cause discontent among officials?
4. What are the results of public education reforms? Have these reforms brought real results? Has education become more accessible to the general population of Russia? Why? Support your answer with facts.
Group 5. Project of transformations M.M. Speransky
Questions and Tasks for Students
1. One of his contemporaries recalled: "This man quickly arose out of nothingness." What explains the rapid advancement of Speransky up the career ladder?
2. List the personal qualities of M.M. Speransky.
Document Contemporaries about M.M. Speransky
“Possessing very happy talents, attractive appearance and, at the same time, to the highest degree of art, flattery, and compliance to agree with all the opinions of higher persons who were inferior to him in talents, he managed to quickly climb the first steps of the career ladder, pushing his colleagues aside, and there was no shortage on his part in all sorts of intrigues ... In his power it was, if not completely to achieve the desired goal, then at least put a solid foundation for that, precisely in order to thoroughly and correctly comprehend the significance of public institutions. Speransky would have been able to do this if he had not sacrificed this great merit to his desire for innovations, his empty vanity, to redo everything. ”
From the "Notes" of the baronT.A. Rosenkampf
“A strange personality who sometimes elevates us, and sometimes makes us feel our dependence ... Speransky has tremendous power; he is surprisingly clever and cunning, but as proud as he is ignorant; longing for what gives only the appearance of happiness, he is not able to comprehend the good that leads to peace of mind. He is afraid to be understood and therefore puts on a thousand masks: sometimes he is a citizen and a good subject, sometimes an ardent fronder, making every effort to convince the public of his talents and not showing his strength ... "
Baron Gustav Armfeld
The task todocuments. What qualities of Speransky are distinguished by the authors of the statements? When answering, keep in mind that G.A. Rosenkampf, and G. Armfeld were the bitterest enemies of M.M. Speransky.
3. Alexander I instructs Speransky to prepare a draft transformation. By the end of 1809, he drew up a document called "Introduction to the Code of State Laws." What task did Speransky set when creating this document?
Speransky argued that in order to prevent a revolution, it was necessary to give the country a constitution that, without affecting of autocratic rule, would introduce elective legislative bodies and the principle of separation of powers in the organization of state power, would expand the rights of certain classes, establish the election of some officials and their responsibility.
4. Draw up a scheme of public authorities for the project Speransky and give her an explanation.
At the head of the state is the monarch, who has all the power.
The State Council is an advisory body appointed by the emperor. It converges all branches of government.
The executive power belongs to the ministries.
Legislative power belongs to representative assemblies at all levels. The rural municipality council is elected by persons who have the right to vote and decides issues of local importance. She elects deputies to the district Duma, and that to the provincial. State Duma deputies are elected by provincial dumas from among their members. Thus, the elections were supposed to be multi-stage. The State Duma was supposed to discuss the bills submitted to it from above, which are then submitted to the State Council and the emperor for approval.
Judicial power belongs to the Senate, whose members are appointed by the emperor for life. Subordinate courts must be elected.
5. What was the expected social structure of the population of Russia according to Speransky's project. What rights did the estates receive?
The population was divided into three classes:
the nobility, possessing all civil and political rights;
“Average state” (merchants, burghers, state peasants);
"Working people" (landlord peasants, artisans, servants).
The first two estates received the right to vote. For the "third estate" the serfdom remained, but some civil rights were provided and the opportunity in the future to move to the "average state" by acquiring property.
6. Project M.M. Speransky caused sharp discontent from the nobility. Explain where, in your opinion, the project infringed upon the interests of the nobility. Why Alexander I could not go on the project?
7. After reading the document, what are the reasons for the resignation and linksM.M ... Speransky.
Document
From the "Report in the Cases of 1810" presented by M.M. Speransky to Emperor Alexander 111 February 1811 g.
“... I too often and on almost all paths meet with passions, and with pride, and with envy, and even more with folly. ... a crowd of nobles ... whole families are persecuted as a dangerous master. ... hiding their own passions under the guise of public benefit, they try to decorate their personal enmity with the name of state enmity; I know that the very same people exalted me and ruled mine to heaven when they assumed that I would agree with them in everything, when the benefits of their passions demanded that I oppose me to another. I was then one of the best and most reliable performers; but as soon as the movement of affairs brought me into opposition to them and into dissent, so soon I turned into a dangerous man ... "
Assignment to the document. Explain whom Speransky accuses of persecution? For what, in his opinion, is he being persecuted?
8. “Could at the beginning of the XIX century. realize the plans of M.M. Speransky? " Justify your answer.
Speeches by participants in group work on issues. The rest should ask questions.
Upon completion of the consideration of the topic - answer the question
Compare the plans and their specific implementation. What conclusion suggests itself from this comparison?
Students conclude that it was not possible to implement the abolition of serfdom, the introduction of a constitution and parliament.
The question arises: why did the tsar, the Russian autocrat, fail to carry out his plans?
Anchoring.
Compilation of the reference abstract
Reforms of Alexander I early reign
The elimination of the consequences of the reign of Paul I
Performed:
Return of the repressed
Paul I -amnesty 12 thousand people
Borders are open.
It is allowed to import goods and books from Western Europe.
Restoration of Charters to the Nobility and Cities.
The Secret Chancellery has been abolished.
Solution of the "peasant" question
Performed:
1803 - Decree on free farmers (landowners can release peasants with land for a ransom (47 thousand peasants were freed in 25 years of Alexander's reign)
1808, 1809 Decrees limiting the arbitrariness of landowners: a ban on selling peasants at fairs, etc., publishing advertisements for the sale of peasants in newspapers
1801 - the right to bourgeois and peasants to buy unpopulated land
Improving the Russian government
Performed:
1802 - Senate - the highest judicial body.
Ministries established
Reform of state power was carried out:
1802-1811 - ministries were created to replace the collegiums. One-man command was established. General issues were decided by the Committee of Ministers.
1810 - Creation of the State Council
Education Reforms were carried out in 1802 - 1804. On the territory of Russia, 6 educational districts were created, in which there were 4 categories of educational institutions: parish, district schools, provincial gymnasiums and universities.
New universities were opened in Dorpat (1802), Vilno (1803), Kazan and Kharkov (1804), the Main Pedagogical Institute in St. Petersburg (1804), which was transformed in 1819 into a university.
Privileged lyceums were created (Demidovsky in Yaroslavl, and Tsarskoselsky)
Speransky's reforms. Based on materials from work in groups - 2 schemes.
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COURSE WORK
RUSSIAN EMPIRE AT THE BORDER OF THE XVIII-XIX CENTURIES
At the turn of the 18th-19th centuries, Emperor Paul I (1796-1801), the son of Catherine the Great, reigns in the Russian Empire, who succeeded to ascend the throne only at the age of 42
Offended by his mother for not wanting to surrender the crown to him, Pavel conducts his policy in such a way that she completely rereads Catherine's policy. Firstly, many grandees of Catherine fall into disgrace. And the political criminals whom she condemned, on the contrary, are released (for example, Radishchev).
Paul's Liberal Decrees
Paul issues several decrees on the peasant question: in 1796, peasants were given the right to complain or oath to the emperor; 1797-98 - it is forbidden to sell peasants without land.
Corvee is prohibited on Sundays (and is limited to only three days a week). Physical punishment for nobles was also restored, noble gatherings and an elective court were banned. The officers were subject to audit.
As a result of this decree, uprisings began in twelve provinces, since the nobles did not want to obey him.
In 1798, merchants obtained the right to buy peasants to work in manufactories. Employees are now required to start work at 8:00 and finish at 22:00. There are also restrictions on the suit - clothes are also regulated by the state. Censorship is tightened: all private printing houses are closed, travel abroad is forbidden even to study.
Military reform of Paul I
In 1797, Paul carried out a military reform, as a result of which a Prussian military uniform and wigs were introduced into the army, and the practice of holding watch parades appeared. In the military sphere, he fully follows the traditions of his father, Emperor Peter III, who idolized the Prussian military system and dreamed of introducing the same in Russia.
Of particular note is the fact that Paul repealed the decree of Peter that the emperor was free to choose his own heir, and established a clear system of inheritance only on the male line. Also, Paul restored the collegium system.
Foreign policy
In foreign policy, changes are also observed: Paul refuses to participate in the struggle against revolutionary France and in November 1798 joins the coalition against Napoleon (since before that Paul joins the Order of Malta, and Napoleon captures Malta). In 1799, Suvorov returned from disgrace, he was sent to the war in Italy.
However, in 1800, when the British captured Malta, they refused to return to Pavel his share of the agreement. Paul leaves the coalition and makes an alliance with Napoleon.
The nobility did not approve of Paul's policies, and in 1801 he was assassinated in a conspiracy to elevate his son, the future Emperor Alexander I, to the throne. 1). The territory of Russia.
2). The population of Russia: a). Multinational
b). Multi-religious
in). Classification of the population
d). Class division of the population
3). The political structure of Russia in the late 18th - early 19th centuries.
III. Kuban at the turn of the XVIII - XIX centuries.
The first point of our plan requires working with a map. Pay attention to the question (Slide No. 4 of the Appendix) and on the map (Slide No. 5 of the Appendix) determine the geographical position of Russia at the turn of the XVIII-XIX centuries. ( Russia is located in Europe and Of Asia. Border between European and Asian Russia runs through the Ural Mountains.
The land border of Russia with Sweden, Germany, Austria - Hungary, Iran, Afghanistan, India, China.
Only the maritime border is with Japan and the United States.
Land and sea border of Russia with the Ottoman Empire).
Right. We turn to the characteristic of the second paragraph of the plan.
1). At the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries, the territory of Russia was 18 million km (increased due to the annexation of the Caucasus, Finland, Bessarabia). (Slide No. 6 of the Appendix)
2). "The population of Russia at the turn of the XVIII - XIX centuries."
By its national composition, the population of Russia was very heterogeneous.
and). Multinational - More than 200 peoples and nationalities lived on the territory of Russia.
Let's turn to the map "Russian Empire at the beginning of the XIX century".
Let's define what peoples lived on the territory of Russia in the late 18th - early 19th centuries? - (Slide No. 7 of the application)
Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians lived in the south and west of the European part of the country.
In the Baltic States - Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, Germans.
In the north of European Russia and in the Volga region - Mordovians, Mari, Udmurts, Karelians, Tatars, Bashkirs, Chuvashs, Kalmyks ...
In Siberia and the Far East - Tatars, Yakuts, Evens, Yukagirs, Buryats, Chukchi, Nanai ...
The basis of the population of Russia was Russian. (Slide number 8 Appendices )
b). Multi-religious - the peoples of Russia professed practically all major world religions.
The state religion was Orthodoxy, which was adhered to by Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, representatives of other peoples (only 87% of the population).Slide number 9 Appendices )
Catholicism (Lithuanians, Poles) and Protestantism (Latvians, Estonians, Germans) were widespread in the western regions .- (Slide No. 10 of the Appendix)
Turkic-speaking peoples (Tatars, Bashkirs) professed Islam. - (Slide number 11 Appendices )
Kalmyks and Buryats - Buddhism. - (Slide number 12 Appendices )
Jews - Judaism .- (Slide No. 13 Appendix)
The peoples of Siberia, the Far North retained pagan beliefs (Mordovians, Mari ...) - (Slide No. 14 of the Appendix)
in). Classical division of the population.
Estates are large groups of people with certain rights and obligations inherited. ( A brief description of the class division of the country will give Saiko Elizabeth).
The main estates of the country were:
Nobility - up to 400 thousand people, large landowners.
The nobility, clergy and merchants were the privileged estate — they were not subjected to corporal punishment, they did not pay tax in favor of the state. - (Slide No. 16, 17, 18 of the Appendix)
Non-privileged estates:
Philistines - up to 4% of the population.
The peasantry is over 90% of the population.
Cossacks - 1.5 million people.
The petty bourgeoisie, the peasantry, the Cossacks carried military service, paid tax in favor of the state. - (Slide No. 19, 20 of the Appendix)
We will characterize in more detail the position of the main strata of society later, when studying certain topics, and today I propose to solve several cognitive problems for you.
Patriotic War of 1812 in brief
Announcement: how Napoleon's army of 600 thousand people in six months was able to defeat the Russian army of 160 thousand people?
Napoleon with his army conquered almost all of Europe. He sought to capture India - the richest colony in England. For this it was necessary to conquer Russia. All the peoples of Russia participated in the Patriotic War.
June 12, 1812 - the invasion of Napoleon's army into Russia across the Neman River. 3 Russian armies were at a great distance from each other. Army Tormasov, being in Ukraine, could not participate in the war. It turned out that only 2 armies took the blow. But they had to retreat in order to connect.
August 3rd - connection of armies Bagration and Barclay de Tolly near Smolensk. Enemies lost about 20 thousand, and ours about 6 thousand, but Smolensk had to be left. Even the combined armies were 4 times less enemy!
8 August - Kutuzov appointed commander-in-chief. An experienced strategist, many times wounded in battles, a student of Suvorov fell in love with the people.
August, 26th - The Battle of Borodino lasted over 12 hours. She is considered a general battle. On the outskirts of Moscow, Russians displayed massive heroism. Losses of enemies were greater, but our army could not go on the offensive. The numerical superiority of the enemies was still great. Reluctantly, they decided to surrender Moscow in order to save the army.
September October - sitting of Napoleon's army in Moscow. His expectations were not met. They failed to win. Kutuzov rejected requests for peace. The attempt to go south failed.
October December - the expulsion of Napoleon's army from Russia along the destroyed Smolensk road. From 600 thousand enemies left about 30 thousand!
December 25, 1812 - Emperor Alexander I issued a manifesto on the victory of Russia. But the war had to continue. Napoleon had armies in Europe. If they are not defeated, he will attack Russia again. The foreign campaign of the Russian army lasted until the victory in 1814.
The Patriotic War of 1812 became a nationwide war. Each citizen contributed to the victory. Someone gave money to create armed units, many participated in the partisan movement, exhausting the enemy with frequent attacks. The owners set fire to their houses so that they would not go to the enemies. If the people and the army are one, then such a force cannot be defeated. To be continued.
2) Internal politics of NikolaiI
Nicholas I ruled in Russia in 1825-1855. He considered his main task to strengthen the power of the nobles with reliance on the army and the bureaucratic apparatus. The II department of His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery was created. By order of the tsar, a systematization of all laws existing in Russia was undertaken. This work was entrusted to M. M. Speransky. In 1832, the Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire was published, in 1833 the Code of Effective Laws of the Russian Empire was issued. In 1826, the III department col1_2 of the chancellery was established, headed by Count A. H. Benckendorff. In addition to the police, a corps of gendarmes was introduced - in fact, a political police.
In 1837-1842. a number of reforms were carried out in the field of the peasant question. According to the project of the Minister of State Property P. D. Kiselev, the reform of the state peasants was carried out. This category of peasants was given partial self-government, the procedure for allotting land to peasants and levying taxes was revised. Schools and hospitals were opened. According to the decree on "obliged peasants" (1842), landowners could give the peasants personal freedom, and for the use of land the latter were obliged to fulfill the obligations specified in the contract.
Minister of Finance E.F. Kankrin in 1839-1841 He carried out a financial reform, introducing the silver ruble as the basis of monetary circulation and establishing a mandatory rate of banknotes, thereby strengthening the country's financial situation.
In the 30's. XIX century. in Russia, an industrial revolution begins, that is, the transition from manual labor to machine labor, from manufacture to a factory. The specialization of the regions increased, the urban population increased, and transport developed.
In 1837 the first railway St. Petersburg - Tsarskoe Selo was built, in 1851 the Nikolaev railway Moscow - Petersburg was opened.
The feudal system became a brake on economic development. The corvée system of agriculture did not meet the requirements of the time; hired labor was increasingly introduced. Further development of the country required the abolition of serfdom.
Internal policy of Alexander I Already on the day of accession to the throne, the young emperor announced that he intends to govern the state according to the principles that his late grandmother brought up in him, Catherine the Great... Both in official papers and in private conversations, he constantly stressed that he was going to replace personal arbitrariness in all spheres of state life with strict legality, since he considered the arbitrariness of those in power to be the main drawback of state order in the empire.
Based on these intentions, from the very beginning of the reign Alexandertook a course on liberal reforms and the development of fundamental laws. Literally during the month of his reign, he allowed everyone who was dismissed by his father to return to the service, lifted the ban on the import of many goods, including those that had been banned by strict censorship - music and books, and also re-introduced noble elections.
Reform of governing bodies.
From the very beginning, the young emperor was surrounded by a group of comrades who, at his request, helped him to carry out reforms. It was V.P. Kochubei, P.A. Stroganov, N.N. Novosiltsev, A. Czartoryskiy. From 1801 to 1803 this so-called "Secret Committee" developed projects of reforms in the state.
It was decided to start from the central office. In the spring of 1801, the permanent “Permanent Council” began to operate, whose task was to discuss decisions and state affairs. It consisted of 12 dignitaries of the highest rank. Later, in 1810, it was transformed into the State Council, and also revised its structure: it included a General Assembly and four departments - military, laws, state economy and civil and spiritual affairs. The head of the State Council was either the emperor himself or one of its members, who was appointed by the will of the monarch. The Council was a deliberative body whose task was to centralize legislative procedures, ensure legal norms and prevent contradictions in laws.
In February 1802, the emperor signed a decree that declared the Senate the supreme governing body in Russia, in whose hands the administrative, controlling and judicial powers were concentrated. However, the first dignitaries of the empire were not represented in it, and the Senate did not have the opportunity to directly communicate with the supreme power, therefore, even taking into account the expansion of powers, the importance of this body did not increase.
At the beginning of 1802, Alexander I carried out a ministerial reform, according to which the collegiums were replaced by 8 ministries, which consisted of a minister, his deputy and the office. The minister was in charge of the affairs of his ministry and was personally accountable to the emperor. In order to organize a joint discussion, a Committee of Ministers was established. In 1810, M.M. Speransky prepared a manifesto, according to which all state affairs were divided into 5 main parts, and new departments were proclaimed - the Ministry of Police and the Main Directorate of Spiritual Affairs.
Speranskyalso prepared a draft reformgovernment, whose goal was the modernization and Europeanization of government through the introduction of bourgeois norms in order to strengthen the autocracy and maintain the estate system, however, the highest dignitaries did not support the idea of \u200b\u200btransformation. At the insistence of the emperor, however, the legislative and executive bodies were reformed.
Education reform.
In 1803, the imperial decree proclaimed the new principles of the education system in Russia: wordlessness, free lower levels of education, as well as the continuity of training programs. The education system was administered by the General Directorate of Schools. During the years of the emperor's reign, 5 universities were founded, which were then given considerable independence. Lyceums - secondary schools were also created.
Projects for solving the peasant question.
Immediately after accession to the throne, Alexander I announced his intention to stop distributing state peasants. During the first nine years of his reign, he issued decrees allowing state peasants to buy land, as well as forbidding landowners to exile serfs to Siberia. In the years of famine, the landowner was obliged to supply his peasants with food.
With the deterioration of the economic situation in the state, however, some paragraphs of the laws on the peasantry were revised: for example, in 1810-11. more than 10,000 state peasants were sold, and in 1822 the landowners were given back the right to exile peasants to Siberia. At the same time, Arakcheev, Guryev and Mordvinov developed projects for the liberation of the peasants, which were never implemented.
Military settlements.
The first experience of introducing such settlements was in 1810 - 12, but this phenomenon became widespread in late 1815. The purpose of creating military settlements was to free the population from the need to provide an army by creating a military agricultural estate that would support and equip itself standing army. Thus, it was supposed to maintain the number of troops at the level of wartime. The reform was met with hostility by both peasants and Cossacks: they reacted with numerous riots. The military settlements were abolished only in 1857.
Results.
If at the beginning of the reign of Emperor Alexander his power was seen as a real opportunity to improve the life of all classes of the empire, then by the middle many were disillusioned with him, almost publicly claiming that the ruler simply did not have enough spirit to follow those liberal principles about which he so much and enthusiastically is talking. Many researchers are inclined to believe that the main reason for the failure of the reforms of Alexander I was not corruption and the people's inclination to conservatism, but the personal qualities of the sovereign.
Ideological struggle and social movement in Russia in the first half of the 19th century.
Reasons for the rise of social movement
The main one is the preservation of the old socio-political system and, first of all, the autocratic system with its police apparatus, the privileged position of the nobility, and the absence of democratic freedoms. An equally significant reason is the unresolved agrarian-peasant issue, which remained central in the country's social life. To the former social contradictions (between peasants and landowners), new ones were added, caused by the development of capitalism, between workers and entrepreneurs, the liberal bourgeoisie and the conservative nobility, between the autocracy and the peoples that were part of the Russian Empire. The half-heartedness of the reforms of the 60-70s and fluctuations in the government course (either measures towards liberalization, or intensified repression) also intensified the social movement.
A distinctive feature of the social life of Russia in the second half of the XIX century. there was the political inertia of the broad masses of the people. The peasant unrest that erupted after 1861 quickly subsided, the labor movement was in its infancy. The people retained tsarist illusions. The bourgeoisie also displayed political inertia. This provided the basis for the triumph of militant conservatism and determined an extremely narrow social basis for the activities of revolutionaries.
In the post-reform period, three directions in the social movement finally took shape - conservatives, liberals and radicals. They had different political goals, organizational forms and methods of struggle, spiritual and moral and ethical positions.
DECEMBERISTS The origin of the movement of the noble revolutionaries was determined by both the internal processes taking place in Russia and the international events of the first quarter of the 19th century. The main reason for the understanding by the best representatives of the nobility that the maintenance of serfdom and autocracy is disastrous for the further fate of the country. Secret societies in Russia appeared at the turn of the 18th-19th centuries. After the end of the Patriotic War of 1812, secret organizations existed in the form of officer associations, circles of young people connected by kinship and friendship. The first political organizations. In February 1816, after the return of most of the Russian army from Europe, a secret society of future Decembrists, the Union of Salvation, arose in St. Petersburg. Since February 1817, it has been called the "Society of True and Faithful Sons of the Fatherland." It was founded by P.I. Pestel, A.N. Muravyov, S.P. Trubetskoy. "Union of Salvation" - it contained two main ideas for the reorganization of Russian society, the elimination of serfdom and the destruction of autocracy. Serfdom was seen as a shame and the main brake on the progressive development of Russia, autocracy as an outdated political system. The document spoke about the need to introduce a constitution that would limit the rights of absolute power. In January 1818, the "Union of Welfare" was created. Its composition remained mainly noble. The organizers and leaders were A.N. and N.M. Muravyov, S.I. and M.I. Muravyov-Apostles, P.I. Pestel and others. The organization received a fairly clear structure. A general governing body was elected by the Root Council, and the Council (Duma), which had executive power. In March 1821, the Southern Society was formed in Ukraine. Its creator and leader was P.I. Pestel, a staunch republican with some dictatorial habits. In 1822 the Northern Society was formed in St. Petersburg. Its recognized leaders were N.M. Muravyov, K.F. Ryleev, S.P. Trubetskoy, M.S. Lunin. Both societies "thought differently of how to act together." These were large political organizations for that time, possessing well-theoretically developed program documents Constitutional projects. The main projects discussed were the "Constitution" N.M. Muravyova and "Russian Truth" P.I. Pestel. The "Constitution" reflected the views of the moderate part of the Decembrists, the "Russian Truth" radical. The focus was on the future state structure of Russia. N.M. Muravyov advocated a constitutional monarchy, a political system in which executive power belonged to the emperor (the hereditary power of the tsar was preserved for succession), and legislative power to parliament ("People’s Chamber"). P.I. Pestel unconditionally spoke out for the republican state system. In his draft, the unicameral parliament had legislative power, and the executive “Sovereign Duma” consisted of five people. Every year one of the members of the "Sovereign Duma" became the president of the republic. P.I. Pestel proclaimed the principle of universal suffrage. In accordance with the ideas of P.I. Pestel in Russia, a parliamentary republic with a presidential form of government was to be established. It was one of the most progressive political projects of the state system of that time. In solving the agrarian and peasant issue, which is most important for Russia, P.I. Pestel and N.M. Muravyov unanimously recognized the need for the complete abolition of serfdom and the personal emancipation of the peasants. The uprising in St. Petersburg. After the death of Tsar Alexander I, an extraordinary interregnum situation developed in the country. The leaders of the Northern Society decided that the change of emperors created a favorable moment for the performance. They developed a plan for the uprising and appointed it for December 14 - the day the Senate took the oath to Nicholas. The conspirators wanted to force the Senate to adopt their new program document, “The Manifesto to the Russian People,” and instead of swearing allegiance to the emperor to proclaim a transition to constitutional rule. In the "Manifesto" the basic requirements of the Decembrists were formulated: the destruction of the previous government, i.e. autocracy; abolition of serfdom and the introduction of democratic freedoms. Much attention was paid to improving the situation of the soldiers: the elimination of recruitment, corporal punishment, and the system of military settlements was proclaimed. In the early morning of December 14, 1825, the most active members of the Northern Society began agitation among the troops of St. Petersburg. They intended to bring them to the Senate Square and thereby influence the senators. At one o'clock in the afternoon, the insurgents were joined by the sailors of the guards naval crew and some other units of the St. Petersburg garrison, about 3 thousand soldiers and sailors led by Decembrist officers .. It turned out that the Senate had already sworn allegiance to Emperor Nicholas I and the senators had gone home. There was no one to present the "Manifesto". S.P. Trubetskoy, who was appointed dictator of the uprising, did not appear on the square. In the meantime, Nikolai gathered the units loyal to him on the square and resolutely used them. Artillery canister shot scattered the ranks of the rebels, who in a disorderly flight tried to escape on the ice of the Neva. The uprising in St. Petersburg was defeated. Arrests of members of the society began. Uprising in the south. Despite the arrests of some leaders of the Southern Society and news of the defeat of the uprising in St. Petersburg, those who remained at large decided to support their comrades. December 29, 1825 S.I. Muravyov-Apostol and M.P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin raised the uprising of the Chernigov regiment. It was originally doomed to fail. On January 3, 1826, the regiment was surrounded by government troops and shot by buckshot. The stake on a conspiracy and a military coup, weak propaganda, insufficient preparedness of society for transformations, inconsistency of actions, expectant tactics at the time of the uprising are the main reasons for the defeat of the Decembrists. However, their performance was a significant event in Russian history. The Decembrists developed the first revolutionary program and plan for the future structure of the country. For the first time, a practical attempt was made to change the socio-political system of Russia. The ideas and activities of the Decembrists had a significant impact on the further development of social thought.
3apadadism and slavophilismEspecially sharply the Slavophiles and Westerners spoke against serfdom. Slavophiles defended historical identity Russia and singled it out into a separate world opposed to the West due to the peculiarities of Russian history, religiosity, and the Russian stereotype of behavior. The greatest value was considered by the Slavophils to be the Orthodox religion, which is opposed to rationalistic Catholicism. Slavophiles argued that the Russians had a special attitude towards the authorities. The people lived as if in a “contract” with the civil system: we are community members, we have our own life, you are the power, you have our own life. K. Aksakov wrote that the country has an advisory voice, the power of public opinion, but the right to make final decisions belongs to the monarch. An example of this kind of relationship can be the relationship between the Zemsky Sobor and the Tsar during the period of the Moscow state, which allowed Russia to live in a world without upheavals and revolutionary coups, such as the French Revolution. Slavophiles associated the “distortions” in Russian history with the activities of Peter the Great, who “cut a window into Europe,” violated the treaty, the balance in the life of the country, and knocked it off the path drawn by God.
Slavyanophilov often referred to as a political reaction due to the fact that their teaching contains three principles of "official nationality": Orthodoxy, autocracy, nationality. However, it should be noted that the Slavophiles of the older generation interpreted these principles in a peculiar sense: by Orthodoxy they understood the free community of believing Christians, and the autocratic state was seen as an external form that enables the people to devote themselves to the search for “inner truth”. At the same time, the Slavophils defended the autocracy and did not attach much importance to the cause of political freedom. At the same time, they were convinced democrats, supporters of the spiritual freedom of the individual. When Alexander II ascended the throne in 1855, K. Aksakov presented him with a "Note on the Internal State of Russia." In the "Note" Aksakov reproached the government for suppressing moral freedom, which led to the degradation of the nation; he pointed out that extreme measures can only make the idea of \u200b\u200bpolitical freedom popular among the people and generate a desire to achieve it in a revolutionary way. In order to prevent such a danger, Aksakov advised the tsar to grant freedom of thought and speech, as well as to return to life the practice of convening Zemsky Sobors. The ideas of granting the people civil liberties and abolishing serfdom occupied an important place in the works of the Slavophiles. It is not surprising, therefore, that the censorship often persecuted them and prevented them from freely expressing their thoughts.
Westerners, in contrast to the Slavophiles, Russian originality was assessed as backwardness. From the point of view of Westerners, Russia, like most other Slavic peoples, has been, as it were, outside of history for a long time. They saw the main merit of Peter I in the fact that he accelerated the process of transition from backwardness to civilization. Peter's reforms for the Westerners are the beginning of Russia's movement into world history.
At the same time, they understood that Peter's reforms were accompanied by many bloody costs. Herzen saw the origins of most of the most disgusting features of contemporary despotism in the bloody violence that accompanied Peter's reforms. Westerners stressed that Russia and Western Europe follow the same historical path, so Russia should borrow the experience of Europe. They saw the most important task in achieving the liberation of the individual and creating a state and society that ensure this freedom. The Westerners considered the “educated minority” a force capable of becoming the engine of progress. reform pavel politics
With all the differences in assessing the prospects for the development of Russia, Westerners and Slavophiles had similar positions. Both those and others opposed serfdom, for the emancipation of the peasants from the land, for the introduction of political freedoms in the country, the limitation of autocratic power. The negative attitude towards the revolution also united them; they performed for the reformist path solving the main social issues of Russia. In the process of preparing the peasant reform of 1861, the Slavophiles and Westernizers entered a single camp liberalism... The disputes of Westerners and Slavophiles were of great importance for the development of socio-political thought. They were representatives of the liberal-bourgeois ideology that arose among the nobility under the influence of the crisis of the feudal-serf system. Herzen emphasized the general thing that united Westerners and Slavophiles - “a physiological, unaccountable, passionate feeling for the Russian people” (“Past and Thoughts”).
The liberal ideas of Westernizers and Slavophiles took deep roots in Russian society and had a serious impact on the next generations of people who were looking for a path to the future for Russia. In the disputes about the ways of the country's development, we hear the echo of the dispute between Westernizers and Slavophiles on the question of how the special and universal human relations relate in the history of the country, what Russia is - a country that is destined for the messianic role of the center of Christianity, the third Rome, or a country that is part of all mankind, part of Europe, following the path of world-historical development.
Alexander's foreign policyI
Its main directions are European and Middle Eastern. The war with France (1805-1807) was fought by Russia as part of the III anti-French coalition (allies Great Britain, Austria, Sweden), which disintegrated in 1805, and the IV anti-Napoleonic coalition in alliance with England, Prussia and Sweden. During the war, battles took place at Austerlitz (1805), at Preussisch_Eylau, at Friedland (1807). Following the war, the Tilsit Peace was signed, according to which Russia was forced to join the continental blockade (trade blockade) of England, which did not meet Russia's economic interests.
The war with Persia (Iran) (1804-1813) ended with the defeat of Persia. Under the Gulistan Peace Treaty, Russia received the lands of Northern Azerbaijan and part of Dagestan.
The war between Russia and Turkey (1806-1812), caused by the closure of the Black Sea straits by the Turks for Russian ships, ended in the defeat of the Ottoman Empire. M.I. Kutuzov forced Turkey to sign the Bucharest peace, according to which Russia received the territory of Bessarabia (the eastern part of Moldova).
As a result of the war with Sweden (1808-1809), Russia received the territory of Finland. Alexander I introduced a constitution in Finland, giving it autonomy.
In 1801, Eastern Georgia voluntarily became part of Russia. In 1803 Mingrelia was conquered. In 1804, Imereti, Guria and Ganja became Russian possessions. During the Russian-Iranian war of 1805, Karabakh and Shirvan were conquered. In 1806 Ossetia was voluntarily annexed
Foreign policy of Nicholas I the First
The main directions of the foreign policy of the government of Nicholas I were: the fight against the revolutionary movement in Europe, the desire to seize the Middle Eastern markets, the annexation of the Caspian coast to Russia and the solution of the eastern question, which meant predominance in Turkish affairs, the establishment of control in the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits and influence in the Balkans.
Russian-Iranian war of 1826-1828 culminated in the Turkmanchay peace, according to which eastern Armenia joined Russia. Russia also won the war with Turkey in 1828-1829, and according to the Adrianople peace, Anapa, Poti, Akhaltsikh and Alkhalkalaki went to her. In this situation, it became possible and inevitable for Russia to subjugate the entire Caucasus.
The beginning of the movement of murids1 in the 30s. headed by Imam Shamil, who won a number of victories over the Russian troops. In the territories of Dagestan and Chechnya, he created a state system - the imamate - with a large army. But already at the end of the 40s. in the state system of Shamil began to show signs of crisis. Tsarism took advantage of the economic and military weakening of the Imamate. The rearmed and increased numbers of the Russian army went on the offensive. In 1859, the remnants of Shamil's army were finally defeated.
The annexation of the Caucasus to Russia was completed in 1864.
The contradictions between Russia and European countries became much more acute after the signing in 1833 of Turkey and Russia by the Unkiyar-Isklessia agreement, which established a defensive military alliance with the obligation of mutual military protection.
By the middle of the XIX century. the eastern question in the foreign policy of European countries has taken the most important place. France and England sought military and trade priority in the Mediterranean; Austria - to the expansion of the territory of the Ottoman Empire; Russia - to the complete defeat of Turkey alone, access to the Mediterranean Sea, closing the entrance to the Black Sea to a foreign fleet and increasing influence on the Slavic peoples of the Balkans. All this led to the Crimean War (1853-1856), which began with the crossing of the river by Russian troops. Rod and occupation of the territory of Moldova and Wallachia. In the fall of 1853, the Russian squadron under the command of Admiral P.S. Nakhimova (1802-1855) defeated the Turkish fleet in the Sinop Bay. But the European powers did not intend to allow Russia to win over Turkey. English and French military squadrons entered the Golden Horn. Russia was now forced to fight against England, France, the Italian states - Piedmont and Sardinia. The hostilities were moved to Crimea. The main naval base of Russia on the Black Sea - Sevastopol was under siege. After 11 months of defense, Sevastopol fell.
On March 18, 1856, a peace was signed in Paris, according to which Russia ceded part of Bessarabia to Turkey and returned the Kars fortress. Russia was forbidden to have a navy on the Black Sea and to restore Sevastopol as a fortress.
The defeat of Russia showed a deep crisis of the autocratic and feudal system, its backwardness from the advanced countries of Europe, strongly dictated the need for radical transformations in all areas of life, brought the country out of a state of political immobility, provoked a protest of wide layers of society against the existing order, and led to an increase in peasant uprisings. The autocracy was forced to begin self-improvement and self-regulation based on market relations and the freedom of citizens.
Crimean War of 1853-1856 (briefly)
The reason for the Crimean War was a clash of interests between Russia, England, France and Austria in the Middle East and the Balkans. Leading European countries sought to divide Turkish possessions in order to expand their spheres of influence and sales markets. Turkey sought revenge for previous defeats in the wars with Russia.
One of the main reasons for the emergence of military confrontation was the problem of reviewing the legal regime of the passage by the Russian fleet of the Mediterranean Bosphorus and Dardanelles, recorded in the London Convention of 1840-1841.
The reason for the start of the war was a dispute between the Orthodox and Catholic clergy about the ownership of the "Palestinian shrines" (the Bethlehem Temple and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher), which were located on the territory of the Ottoman Empire.
In 1851, the Turkish Sultan, incited by France, ordered that the keys to the Bethlehem Temple be taken from Orthodox priests and given to Catholics. In 1853 Nicholas I put forward an ultimatum with initially impracticable demands, which ruled out a peaceful resolution of the conflict. Russia, breaking diplomatic relations with Turkey, occupied the Danube principalities, and as a result, Turkey declared war on October 4, 1853.
Fearing the growing influence of Russia in the Balkans, England and France in 1853 concluded a secret agreement on a policy of opposing Russia's interests and began a diplomatic blockade.
The first period of the war: October 1853 - March 1854 The Black Sea squadron under the command of Admiral Nakhimov in November 1853 completely destroyed the Turkish fleet in the bay of Sinop, capturing the commander in chief. In the ground operation, the Russian army achieved significant victories in December 1853 - crossing the Danube and dropping off Turkish troops, it under the command of General I.F. Paskevich besieged Silistria. In the Caucasus, Russian troops won a major victory near Bashkadylklar, foiling the Turks' plans for the capture of Transcaucasia.
England and France, fearing the defeat of the Ottoman Empire, in March 1854 declared war on Russia. From March to August 1854, they launched attacks from the sea against the Russian ports on the Addan Islands, Odessa, the Solovetsky Monastery, Petropavlovsk-on-Kamchatka. Attempts at a naval blockade were unsuccessful.
In September 1854, a 60,000th landing was landed on the Crimean peninsula with the aim of capturing the main base of the Black Sea Fleet - Sevastopol.
The first battle on the Alma River in September 1854 ended in failure for the Russian troops.
On September 13, 1854, the heroic defense of Sevastopol began, which lasted 11 months. By order of Nakhimov, the Russian sailing fleet, which could not resist the enemy's steam ships, was sunk at the entrance to the Sevastopol Bay.
The defense was led by admirals V.A.Kornilov, P.S.Nakhimov, V.I. Istomin, who died heroically during the assaults. The defenders of Sevastopol were L.N. Tolstoy, surgeon N.I. Pirogov.
Many participants in these battles gained fame as national heroes: military engineer E.I. Totleben, General S.A. Khrulev, sailors P.Koshka, I. Shevchenko, soldier A. Eliseev.
Russian troops suffered a number of failures in the battles near Inkerman in Yevpatoria and on the Black River. On August 27, after a 22-day bombardment, an assault on Sevastopol was launched, after which Russian troops were forced to leave the city.
On March 18, 1856, the Paris Peace Treaty was signed between Russia, Turkey, France, England, Austria, Prussia and Sardinia. Russia lost bases and part of the fleet, the Black Sea was declared neutral. Russia lost its influence in the Balkans, military power in the Black Sea basin was undermined.
At the heart of this defeat was the political miscalculation of Nicholas I, which pushed the economically backward, feudal-feudal serfdom into conflict with strong European powers. This defeat prompted Alexander II to carry out a number of fundamental reforms.
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