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Revolution and New Ideas in Europe c.1780-1881

Alexander II and the emancipation of the serfs

  • 3 things to know
  • AS Unit 1

Overview

Redemption payments, temporary obligation and strongest defence of the emancipation settlement.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started
Numbers

When did Alexander II come to the throne, and in what circumstances?

Evaluation

Give three arguments for emancipation that weighed with the government.

Key term

What were the redemption payments?

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    When did Alexander II come to the throne, and in what circumstances?

    Model answer

    In 1855, during the Crimean War, inheriting a losing war and an administration whose failings the war had exposed.

  2. 2

    What did Alexander II tell the Moscow nobility in 1856?

    Model answer

    That it was better to abolish serfdom from above than to wait for it to abolish itself from below.

  3. 3

    Roughly how many people were freed by the emancipation?

    Model answer

    Over twenty million serfs of private landowners, with the state peasants freed on separate and rather better terms a few years later.

  4. 4

    Give three arguments for emancipation that weighed with the government.

    Model answer

    Serf labour was inefficient and blocked economic growth, conscription for a modern army required free recruits, and peasant disturbances were increasing.

  5. 5

    When was the emancipation edict issued?

    Model answer

    In February 1861 by the Julian calendar then used in Russia, published in the following weeks across the empire.

  6. 6

    What personal rights did the freed serfs receive?

    Model answer

    They could marry, own property, trade and go to law in their own name, and could no longer be sold, mortgaged or physically punished by a landlord.

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AUniversal male suffrage was kept.
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Wilhelm II succeeded in 1888 and dismissed Bismarck in 1890.
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