Featuring: Philip Brooks and Gerardo Duran
Editor: Sofia Mona Holzer
Introductions: In this episode of The Miami Dialogue’s European history series, Phil and Gerardo discuss the decline of Czarist Russia.
Phil: Okay, so, today we are going to discuss the decline of Czarist Russia. I'm going to preface this with a few things. So, I'd like to briefly mention Czar Alexander I, who dealt with Russian involvement in the Napoleonic Wars. He had a complicated relationship with the French dictator, as they became very close after the Battle of Austerlitz and even declared an alliance. Not only was there a political relationship, but they also had a very unique bond with a mutual respect.
Phil: Napoleon's betrayal of Alexander was not unexpected, however, as his invasion of Russia was predicted by Russian military tacticians. Napoleon's invasion of Russia was the beginning of the end of his campaign throughout Europe, as many of his men were unable to withstand the Russian winters—but we discussed that more thoroughly in the Napoleon episode.
Phil: The next thing I'd like to discuss is the Decemberists Revolt against Czar Nicholas I. This was a pushback against Russian authoritarianism with the revival of Western revolutionary ideals, as many military officers had been exposed to such beliefs in their campaigns against Napoleon in the West. The revolt was suppressed, but it showed the beginning of unrest in Russia over the next century. I'd like to officially start this episode in 1855, with Czar Alexander II taking the throne. The biggest problem in Russia was the serfdom that oppressed much of the population, in turn causing many small riots and revolts as a result of the new liberal ideas seeping in from the West. By 1861, Czar Alexander II emancipated all the serfs, but forced them to pay a peasant tax called mir in order to repay landowners for their losses. He became a close ally of the Union in the American Civil War and eventually sold Alaska to the United States under President Andrew Johnson, showing his trust of the Americans. He also abolished capital punishment and created an election system for the judiciary. Near the end of his reign, he involved Russia in another Russo-Turkish War to free the Balkans, who wished to worship the Russian Orthodox Church. This was popular among religious conservatives, but radicals were angered at his lack of attention to further domestic reforms, which caused riots. To punish the rioters, he sent them to prisons in Siberia until he was killed in 1881.
Phil: Alexander III took power after his father's death in 1881, and he really only cared about Russification, which would ensure the dominance of Russian culture. Again, this angered many radicals with Marxist and anarchist views who continued to riot.
Nonetheless, Czar Alexander III focused on military campaigns in Central Asia until he finalized Russian control in the steppes. His administration also reversed local elections and began hostilities with some minorities in the country, such as the Jewish people. He eventually died in 1894. So, before I continue, Gerardo, could you please discuss some of the advancements in Russian culture and literature?
Gerardo: Yeah, so, during this period, you really see that people, especially the serfs, are still not educated enough; the overall culture in Russia is the “haves” and the “have nots”, and that really angers a lot of the peasantry. The development of education comes a little later, but it's still very, very small; there was a small percentage of the population going to university and there was 1% of the population in actual “high-school-level classes.” This overall feeling of economic and social divides keeps going through this entire period, and you see widespread poverty because the government just didn't care about the agricultural peasants. All the money was made from the export of raw materials and taxes paid by peasants, so the government really didn't care that much about its people.
Phil: We also saw the rise in certain forms of literature, especially with Leo Tolstoy, who was probably one of the most well-known at the time period. He wrote War and Peace, where he used the sentiments of Russia and the effect that war had on the citizens, the serfs, the impoverished, etc, etc.
Phil: That's an interesting thing to keep in mind. So, once his father died, Nicholas II became czar. He had a certain disdain for the Japanese, as he visited the island in 1891 and was attacked by Japanese spies, who suspected that he was gaining intel on the Japanese government to launch an attack.
He had no such plans, but in 1904, he declared the Russo-Japanese War in which the Russian forces were annihilated by 1905. This loss was the first major loss of western power to a non-western power in recent history and was an indication that Russia was on the decline. After this, the Communist Revolution under the Bolsheviks began to tear the country apart, but we'll discuss that in the next episode.
Fin~
Editor’s Note: Thank you so much for reading! We hope you enjoyed the episode.
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