2. largest, most populous European nation by 1815
a great world power because of its size and location
controlled a huge multinational empire
had immense natural resources
disliked by W. Europe for its autocratic rule by czars
feared by W. Europe for its goals to expand
economically undeveloped
rigid social class consisting of (landowning nobility),
boyars a small, ineffectual middle class, and serfdom
caused economy to remain backward

3. attempted liberal reforms, easing censorship / promoting education / possible freedom for serfs
At Congress of Vienna in 1815, he joined conservatives instead
At his death, the “Decembrist Revolt,” consisting of army officers, broke out, with a demand for a written constitution

4. Czar Nicholas I, playing a church organ, as he accused the Turks of mistreating Orthodox Christians in the Ottoman Empire
The Crimean War: The czar trampling on France with a Cossack dancing & pointing a dagger toward France

5. Cracked down on all dissenters, using secret police forces to spy on critics, banned all books with liberal ideas, exiled 150,000 liberals to Siberia
Reinforced “Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationalism” (Pan-Slavism – a movement to lead and protect all Slavs
across Europe)

6. Came to throne during the Crimean War
(Russia defeated by Britain and France when Russia tried to seize Ottoman lands along the Danube River): defeat led to reforms:
emancipation for serfs > still too poor to
buy own land > many moved to cities, helping to build Russian industry
zemstvos (elected assemblies) made
responsible for local matters, supporting
some self-government
trial by jury
encouraged growth of industry

7. Members of the People’s Will are executed
women left to study abroad, many will support liberal goals
assassinated by a revolutionary terrorist group called the People’s Will
Members of the People’s Will are executed

9. Increased power of secret police; restored strict censorship, exiled critics to Siberia
Launched program called Russification – suppressing all cultures of non-Russian peoples within empire
Especially increased persecution of Jews – forced them into ghettos; encouraged pogroms – official violent mob attacks
Jews became refugees; many moved to the U.S. and still faced prejudice here

11. Focused on industrial development
Built Trans-Siberian Railroad
Industrialization brought urbanization - working conditions deplorable
Socialists gained support from urban working class
One humiliating defeat after another in the Russo-Japanese War (1904) brought crisis and dissent that led to
“Bloody Sunday” of 1905 – a peaceful march on the czar’s Winter Palace that left hundreds massacred

13. October Manifesto is decreed by czar: agreed to call an elected national legislature called the Duma to decide national issues but dismissed it whenever its members criticized czarist policies
Nicholas II of the Romanov dynasty is faced with a world war and simmering unrest by 1914