19th Century Eastern Europe

The Austrian Empire• Austria controlled much of Central,

Southern, and Eastern Europe• The Habsburg emperors resisted

Enlightenment ideals and any talk about writing a constitution

• They also tried to limit industrialization because it threatened traditional values

• Austria put down numerous revolts during the 1840s and 1850s

• They slowly began to lose power and territory – first to a unified Germany and then to a unified Italy, but a weakened Empire survived until WWI

The Ottoman Empire• Had grown to control all of the

Balkan Peninsula and Middle East since conquering the Byzantines in the 1400s

• Began to disintegrate in the 1800s– 1817: Serbia won independence– 1830s: Greece won independence

• As other ethnic groups revolted, the other European powers reacted by carving off chunks of the (Islamic) Ottoman Empire for themselves

• The Ottomans also survived until WWI, growing steadily weaker and weaker

The Russian Empire• Massive empire was part

European, part Asian• Feared and respected by the rest

of Europe simply for its sheer size• After Peter the Great, however,

the czars were reluctant to modernize Russia because they feared change

• Absolute monarchy and feudalism continued to survive in Russia long after it had disappeared in the rest of Europe, meaning most Russians were still serfs

Katerina the Great• 1762 - 1796• Prussian princess who had

married the Russian czar Peter III• In 1762, Peter III was murdered

by a group of military officers who then made Katerina czarina

• Katerina was one of the “Enlightened Despots” and made many social and political reforms:– Increased government

efficiency– opened many public schools– freed the nobles from paying

taxes (a move which only served to further strengthen serfdom, because then the serfs had to pay the taxes)

Katerina the Great• Expanded the Empire:– defeated the Ottomans

and seized valuable warm-water ports on the Black Sea

– made a series of agreements with Prussia and Austria to completely divide Poland up between the three of nations

Pavel I• 1796 – 1801• Was raised by his great-aunt

and had a strained relationship with his mother, Katerina

• Pavel attempted to force the military and the nobility (both of whom had been strong allies of Katerina’s) to make major reforms, which they resented

• After a short reign, Pavel was assassinated by disgruntled army officers who favored his son Aleksandr as czar

Aleksandr I• 1801 – 1825• Raised by Katerina the Great,

who had intended him as her heir

• Started reign as a reformer– Eased censorship– Planned to free the serfs

• After Napoleon invaded in 1812, however, Aleksandr abandoned his reforms out of fear of the kinds of changes that had occurred elsewhere in Europe

Aleksandr I• After the Napoleonic wars,

Alexander became very conservative and deeply religious

• Aleksandr died while touring the southern part of his empire, but there were some who suspected that he had faked his own death so as to live out his remaining days as a monk

• With no surviving children, Aleksandr’s brother Constantine became czar

Nikolai I• 1825 – 1855• When Aleksandr’s brother

Constantine refused to serve as czar, their younger brother Nikolai took the throne

• The Russian military had preferred Constantine to Nikolai, and attempted to overthrow Nikolai on the very day he was crowned, which would have forced Constantine to become czar

• Nikolai suppressed this “Decembrist Revolt,” but it only reinforced his autocratic tendencies

Nikolai I• Autocratic leadership

– Used spies to root out his political enemies

– Banned many books, limited access to education

– Exiled thousands of liberals to Siberia (the far east)

– Controlled the Russian Orthodox Church

– Re-centralized the government

– Oppressed non-Russians in his empire

Nikolai I• Understood that Russia

needed serious economic reforms

• Wanted to industrialize and build railroads, but lacked the resources

• Wanted to free the serfs, but could not figure out how to do so without sacrificing power to the nobility

The Crimean War• 1853 – 1856• War fought by Russia against Britain,

France, Sardinia, and the Ottomans• The first “modern” war

– Photographed– New weapons used like artillery and

the rifle– Railroads and the telegraph were

used to aid military planning for first time

• Russia lost, largely due to poor military leadership, but was able to sue for peace thanks to Nikolai’s death from pneumonia, which allowed his son to get a fresh start with Russia’s enemies

Aleksandr II• 1855 – 1881• Having witnessed the failure

of Russia’s serf armies during the Crimean War, Aleksandr II freed the serfs in 1861

• Sadly, this actually hurt the serfs:– Too poor to buy good land– Land they could get was too

small and poor for productive farming

Aleksandr II• Decentralized the

government– Made local assemblies

responsible for decisions about roads, schools, and agriculture

• Made legal reforms– Trial by jury introduced– Reduced capital offenses

• Made military reforms– Reduced mandatory service– Eased military punishments

• Promoted industrialization

Aleksandr II• Still, many Russians

remained unhappy:– Peasants wanted land– Liberals wanted

democratic government

• In March 1881, having already survived three previous assassination attempts, Aleksandr was blown up by anarchist “nihilists”

Aleksandr III• 1881 – 1894• Responded to his father’s

death by cracking down– Re-established secret

police– Re-enacted censorship– Made the Russian language

mandatory– Made Russian Orthodox

Christianity mandatory– Persecuted Jews and

Muslims

Nikolai II• 1894 – 1917• Desperately tried to build up

Russian industry in order to catch up with Western powers

• Made efforts to modernize Russia’s obsolete military

• Built the Trans-Siberian Railroad, the longest in the world, stretching from Moscow to Vladivostok

• Despite his efforts, the extreme poverty suffered by most Russians led many to take an interest in socialism

Nikolai II• The czar’s popularity

(and the Russian economy) was badly damaged by Russia’s humiliating defeat by Japan in the 1904 Russo-Japanese War

• Russia was supposed to win, but instead lost their entire navy

Nikolai II• In 1905, factory workers marched

to the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg to petition the czar for a constitution, but were fired upon by the palace guards

• This led to a general workers’ strike in protest to the “Bloody Sunday” killings

• Additionally, with the Russo-Japanese War going badly, there was unrest within the military and an open mutiny aboard the battleship Potemkin in the Black Sea

Nikolai II• In an effort to make amends and

end the conflicts, Nicholas promised to make sweeping reforms:– Promised freedom of speech,

press, religion, and assembly– Promised to create an elected

legislature (the Duma) , which would have the final say on laws

• While the promises brought temporary peace, Nikolai failed to live up to his promises, leaving many still dissatisfied with his rule