MR. WHITE’S WORLD HISTORY

Russian and Austrian Tensions

Russia

The Romanov dynasty had ruled Russia for many hundreds of years into the 1800s

Some czars had worked hard to modernize Russia, while others were distrustful of outside, western ideas – latinstvo

This struggle would finally start to come to a climax in the late 19th and early 20th centuries

Western Ideas

The Russian officers who fought Napoleon in the Napoleonic Wars were exposed to the ideas and technology of western Europe

They formed secret societies with the goals of making Russia more modern by adopting these ideas

This eventually results in the Decembrist Revolt, an attempt to modernize Russia through a military revolt

Decembrist Revolt

The Decembrist Revolt took place when Alexander I died, and his son Nicholas I took the throne

The revolt was defeated, but had two results: Leaders of the revolt were seen as martyrs to a cause,

and inspiration to others The czars also constantly ruled with the threat of an

uprising

Defeat and Resolve

Russia’s defeat by France and the Ottoman Empire in the Crimean War showed to many Russians how technologically backwards Russia was

Czar Alexander II believed that Russia needed to industrialize to become a major power and compete with other nations

The Serfs

Russia still relied on peasant labor for its agriculture

Serfs were peasants who were tied to the land that they worked – basically a more restrictive form of feudalism

For Russia to industrialize, it needed available labor

To get this labor, Alexander II freed the serfs in 1861

The Plight of the Serfs

The serfs obtained legal freedom, and were given land, but had to pay back the landholders for the land they were given

This kept many of them tied to the land stillSome peasants gave up farming and moved

to the cities to become unskilled urban workers

Some Modernization

Alexander did other things to modernize and liberalize Russia: Limited the use of Russian secret police Eased restrictions on the press Modernized the judicial system Shortened mandatory military service, from 25 years

to 6

Still, these reforms would not satisfy the people – encouraged them

Radical Movements

Radical reformers, many who were upper or middle class intellectuals, continued to criticize the czar and the government

Many advocated the ending of the currently political, economic, and or social structure, for a complete re-making of society in some other form

Some groups turned to violence, assassinations, etc., to get their point across

Alexander II tries to crush these radicals – was assassinated in 1881

Alexander III

Alexander III takes back many of his father’s reforms – if you can’t appease them, crush them Restored censorship of the press Extended powers of the secret police

Alexander also encouraged the Russification of the country Used nationalism to impose a Russian identity on

people Repressed many non-Russian ethnic, language, and

religious groups

Nicholas II

When Nicholas II took over in 1894, many problems continued, and he wasn’t strong willed enough to stop them Peasants still unhappy Middle-class reformers pushed for a constitutional

monarchy

Most importantly, the Russian working class had increased in size dramatically, and were working and living in poor conditions

Revolutionary Groups

Several revolutionary groups had developed in Russia – most followed the teachings of Karl Marx Mensheviks – Russia should develop into an

industrialized nation and then a socialist revolution could occur

Bolsheviks – Professional revolutionaries could use force to bring about a revolution

Russian Tension

Russia’s poor showing in the Russo-Japanese war reinforced that Russia was not a modern nation

Many people began to oppose the czarist government

Bloody Sunday – a peaceful demonstration of about 200,000 workers resulted in Russian soldiers firing on the demonstrators

The Russian Situation

Soviets, or workers’ councils began to form to voice workers’ grievances

All revolutionary groups called for representative government and universal suffrage

General strikes resulted in Nicholas allowing the formation of a duma to give the people representation – he later dissolves it

These events will combine with Russia’s experience in World War I to bring revolution

Austria-Hungary

Klemens von Metternich, in Austria, had worked to keep liberal and nationalist forces from threatening Austria

In 1848, the revolutions that swept through France and other places in Europe came to Austria

After a revolution, the Austrian monarchy was able to re-establish itself and put down the liberal rebellion

The Dual Monarch

To keep the empire from being destabilized by Hungarian Magyars, Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph split Austria-Hungary into a dual monarchy Both Austria and Hungary would operate basically

independently, for internal matters The Emperor of Austria would politically rule both

monarchies

Nationalism

Nationalist tensions in the Balkans began to create divisive pressures in the Austro-Hungarian empire

The decline of the Ottoman empire in this area allowed many nationalist groups to speak out for independence Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania – revolts, which the

Ottomans suppressed

Bulgaria

Russia had controlled Bulgaria as an expansion of its empire

At the Congress of Berlin, the European powers stripped Russia of Bulgaria and divided the parts of it into independent nations, or holdings of other nations

These divisions created small nations and other divisive tensions within the larger empires, like the Ottomans and Austria-Hungary

Balkan League

The Balkan League was a political alliance of many of the now-free Balkan states

These nations helped many other Balkan independence movements separate from the Ottoman Empire

But as these wars went on, the Balkan nations began to have conflicts with each other, as well

End Results

Serbia, a Slavic nation, gained more power and would exert its influence on other independence movements

Russia supported these Slavic movements to gain power in the region

French, British, and German governments worked to maintain a balance of power in that region

With these increased tensions, writers called the Balkans the “powder keg of Europe”