Nicholas I (1825-1855)

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Nicholas I (1825-1855)

• Russia in the deep freeze

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The Holy Alliance

• 1812 Napoleon invades Russia.
• 30 March 1814 Russian troops enter Paris.
• 1814-15 Congress of Vienna victorious allies
  divide up Europe,
• Russia gained Duchy of Warsaw and Finland.
• Europe divided among great Empires Russia,
  Austria, Prussia.

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Nicholas and the Decembrists

• Seeds of revolution left smouldering in Europe
  Greece, Italy.
• Russian officers form secret societies with the
  goal of overthrowing the Russian autocracy.
• December 14, 1825, on the death of Alexander I, a
  coup is attempted.
• Nicholas faces down the revolutionaries and they
  are arrested.

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Consequences of Decembrist revolt

• Five ringleaders were hanged (Ryleev, Kakhovsky,
  Muravov-Apostol, Pestel, Bestuzhev-Riumin).
• Many noble conspirators sent to Siberia.
• Famous Decembrists wives followed them into
  exile.
• Decembrist uprising becomes a non-event, not to
  be mentioned.
• Decembrists became the forerunners of revolution
  in Russia.

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The five who were hanged
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Listopad

• In November (Polish listopad) 1830 the Poles rise
  up against Russian rule.
• The revolt is viciously suppressed and Poland
  ceases to exist as an entity.

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Battle of Stoczek, 1831
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Result of November uprising

• Many Poles exiled inside Russia, esp. Siberia.
• Polish exiles gather in Paris around the poet
  Adam Mickiewicz.
• The image of Nicholass Russia suffers greatly.

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Nicholas takes control

• Emperor creates a vast network of spies.
• All signs of dissent suppressed.
• Strict censorship imposed.
• Universities tightly controlled.
• Philosopher Alexander Chaadaev declared insane.
• Official doctrine is Orthodoxy, Autocracy,
  Nationalism.

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Russian Society under Nicholas

• Noblemen (???????) small, landowning class...

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Pavel FedotovAn Aristocrats Breakfast, 1849
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Courtship of a Major, 1848
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Nicholass Russia

• Bureaucrats

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Newly awarded morning of an official who has
just been awarded his first medal
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Russian Society under Nicholas

• Peasants (?????????) the vast majority

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Peasants eating dinner
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Russian Society under Nicholas

• The clergy (???????????)

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Religious procession, Kursk province, 1880-1883
Ilya Repin
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Russian Society under Nicholas

• Town-dwellers (??????) and Merchants (?????)

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The Intelligentsia (????????????)

• Raznochintsy (individuals of no particular
  class).
• Selflessly devoted to ideas, idealistic.
• Fantastic projects for the future of Russia.
• Grew into the revolutionary class that created
  the Bolshevik revolution.
• Not to be thought democratic or freedom-loving.

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Vissarion Belinsky(1811-1848)

• Critic, thinker, demanded that
• literature be a truthful
• representation of life.
• The fate of the individual, of
• the person, is more important
• than the fate of the whole
• world.
• Died of tuberculosis.

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Seeds of dissent

• Small but influential class of the intelligentsia
  discuss endlessly the situation.
• Dissenters gather abroad Alexander Herzen in
  Paris, then London, Mikhail Bakunin (anarchist)
  and Peter Kropotkin.
• Berlin, where Hegel was professor of philosophy,
  becomes a magnet.

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Whither Russia?

• The issue in Russia in the 19th century was
  progress and change evolution or revolution.
• Russia was seen as a backward, corrupt and unjust
  society.

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The Westernizers(?????????)

• Westernizer camp promoted change along western
  lines Russia should follow in the footsteps of
  the West.
• Tended to be atheist believed in socialism,
  progress, womens rights demanded the liberation
  of the serfs.

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Slavophiles(???????????)

• Believed Russia should follow a distinct path as
  opposed to the corrupt West.
• Proponents of Orthodox religion.
• Believed in sobornost the collectivist idea as
  practised in the peasant commune.
• Saw the role of Russia as protector of brother
  Slavs.

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1848

• The year of revolution in Europe France,
  Germany, Hungary and Italy.
• Nicholas sends troops to put down the Hungarian
  revolutionary forces.
• Pan Slavic conference in Prague.
• Communist manifesto published.

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An empire in need of change

• Crimean war of 1853-1856.
• France and England invade the Crimea in the South
  of Russia.
• The war arises over growing Russian presence in
  the Black Sea, threatening the Ottoman (Turkish)
  Empire.

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The End of Nicholas

• Nicholas dies 2 March 1855.
• He leaves the Empire frozen in time.
• The failure of the Crimean war shows Russias
  technological backwardness the need for modern
  weaponry and railroads to transport troops and
  materiel.
• His son Alexander II ends the war and begins a
  program of dramatic reforms in Russia.