Paper 3 – Russia 1853-1924
Lesson 2a – Emancipation of the Serfs
Essential Question
“Considering the difficulties he inherited, Alexander II
should be praised, not criticized for his bold decision
to emancipate the serfs.” To what extent do you
agree?
Learning Outcomes - Students will:
 Preview – Why Slavery?
 Learn about the problems of Serfdom
 Break down the question
Success Criteria
I can begin an outline to answer my essential
question
Preview
 Slavery
 Why do you think slavery
is used?
 What type of economy
requires this type of
labour?
 Why do you believe
slavery has been
abolished, besides the
fact that it is wrong?
Vocab
 Serf
What is Serfdom?
 Serfs were Russian peasants
who were forced to work the
land of rich aristocracy
 Began in the 11th Century
and slowly grew from
there
 Serfs were punished if they
left
 Owners were able to
punish them as they
wished
Problems with Serfdom
 Military Argument
 Serfs made poor army recruits
 Crimean War showed the need
for change
 Convert from a 25-year
conscription during peacetime, to
short-term service
 Serf rebellions rose
 1825 – 20
 1848 – 60
 Fear that if sent back to the
countryside, they would lead
revolts
Problems with Serfdom
 Economic Argument
 Agricultural economy
 No desire to increase profit
 Due to lack of profits, serfs
unable to pay taxes to the state
 For Russia to transfer into an
Industrial economy it needed
 Labour
 Urban population
 Domestic market to buy goods
Problems with Serfdom
 Moral Argument
 Slavery is bad
 Ivan Turgenev – wrote that serfs
were just as deserving of respect as
the nobility
 Practical Argument
 Fear that this will eventually result
in a rebellion
 Leo Tolstoy – “If the serfs are not
freed in 6 months, we are in a
holocaust. Everything is ripe for it”
Alexander II (1855-81)
 1856 - ‘the existing
condition of owning
souls cannot remained
unchanged. It is better
to begin to destroy
serfdom from above
than to wait until that
time when it begins to
destroy itself from
below’.
“Considering the difficulties he inherited, Alexander II should be
praised, not criticized for his bold decision to emancipate the
serfs.” To what extent do you agree?
 Break down the question
 What are some of the key clarifying terms?
 Hint: Look for the strong adjectives
praise
Difficulties inherited
1. Crimean War
2. ????
•
What are the arguments for
emancipation?
Bold Decision
•
Why was this a bold
decision?
• Compare with Nicholas
criticized
•
Quote?
Lesson 2b – Emancipation of the Serfs
Essential Question
“Considering the difficulties he inherited, Alexander II
should be praised, not criticized for his bold decision
to emancipate the serfs.” To what extent do you
agree?
Learning Outcomes - Students will:
 Preview – Who benefited from the emancipation?
 Learn about the success and failures of emancipation
 Compare different historical perspectives
Success Criteria
I can complete my outline answering the
essential question
Preview
 Who do you think would
benefit more from the
ending of Serfdom
 Landowners
 Peasants
 What to think about?
 Which group makes the
rules?
 How could this benefit the
landowners?
Vocab
 Emancipation Edict
 Mir
 Volosts
 Kulaks
 Redemption Payments
 Land Hunger
 Bezdna massacre
Two Perspectives
 T. Emmons - “The
greatest piece of statedirected engineering in
Modern European
history before the 20th
Century”
 J. Greenville – the
Emancipation Edict was
“a cruel joke”
Emancipation
Which side does
this picture
support?
 1861 – Emancipation Edict – Serfs made legally free of their
landlords
 Later, allowed
 To own property
 Marry according to their choice
 Trade freely
 Vote in local elections
 To sue in courts
A. Chubarov - ‘the [Russian] emancipation
was carried out on an infinitely larger
scale, and was achieved without civil war
and without devastation or armed
coercion’.
Which side does
this quote
support?
Land Settlement – Plan
 Alexander II – “‘I ask you,
gentlemen, to figure out how all
this can be carried out to
completion.’
 50% the land that was tilled
should be given
 Pauper’s Allotment – ¼ of the
land was free
 The serf must repay the landlord,
which was originally paid by the
state
 Mir – gov’t administration that
distribute land to the Serfs and
collected taxes
Which side does
this quote
support?
Impact of Emancipation - Landowners
 What are landowners worried about?
 Peasant violence – 1825~1854 0 712
peasant uprisings
 Kept the best land and sold the worse
land high above market value
 Landowners kept 2/3 of land
 Some set rents so high that former serfs
continued to work the land
 Peasant revolts continued, due to these
factors
 Ex. 1861 – Russian troops kill 500
peasants in the Bezdna massacre
Which side does
this event
support?
Impact of Emancipation - Peasants
 Didn’t initially believe it
 Eric Wolf - "In many localities the peasants
refused to believe that the manifesto was
genuine. There were troubles, and troops had
to be called in to disperse the angry crowds.”
 Rise of the Kulaks – some peasants were able
to buy the land of other serfs who moved to
the cities
 Redemption Payments
 State paid 80%, Landlord 20%
 Debt was passed on to children if not paid
 Land Hunger - Average peasant received 9
acres, not enough to make a profit
 By 1875, 50% peasants produced enough to
sell
Which side does
this info
support?
“Considering the difficulties he inherited, Alexander II should be
praised, not criticized for his bold decision to emancipate the
serfs.” To what extent do you agree?
 T. Emmons - “The greatest piece of
 J. Greenville – the
state-directed engineering in
Modern European history before the
20th Century”
Emancipation Edict was
“a cruel joke”
praise
Difficulties inherited
1. Crimean War
2. ????
Bold Decision
•
Why was this a bold
decision?
• Compare with Nicholas
•
What are the arguments for
emancipation?
• Successes of Emancipation?
• Historian?
criticized
•
•
•
What were the problems created?
Did Alexander really want to help
or control the peasants? (Mir)
Did peasants have more power?
Works Cited
1.
Lynch, Michael, “The Emancipation of the Russian Serfs,
1861,” History Review Issue 47 December 2003. Web. 22 Dec
2015
2.
Young, Andy, Russian Serfdom, 24 Nov 2011. Web. 22 Dec
2015