This document provides an overview of Russian history from Catherine I to Nicholas II, including key events and figures. It discusses Karl Marx and his ideas of class struggle. It describes Nicholas I's authoritarian rule after crushing the Decembrist Revolt. It summarizes the emancipation of serfs by Alexander II in 1861 and the remaining revolutionary tensions. It also briefly mentions education and demographics in late 19th century Russia.

1. Russian History Gulf Coast Community College - Class 4 Spring 2010 From Catherine 1st to Nicholas 2nd The People – Their Causes Gulf Coast Community College Instructor Joe Boisvert GCCC Encore

2. Karl Heinrich Marx (May 5, 1818 – March 14, 1883) Was a German[1] philosopher, political economist, historian, political theorist, sociologist, communist and revolutionary, whose ideas are credited as the foundation of modern communism. Marx summarized his approach in the first line of the first chapter of The Communist Manifesto, published in 1848: “The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.”

3. Marx

4. Nicholas 1st (1825–1855) The result was the Decembrist Revolt (December 1825), the work of a small circle of liberal nobles and army officers who wanted to install Nicholas' brother as a constitutional monarch. But the revolt was easily crushed, leading Nicholas to turn away from the Westernization program begun by Peter the Great and champion the doctrine "Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationality."[83]

6. (Чтение Положения 19 февраля 1861 года). - Reading of the manifesto of February 19, 1861 (on abolition of serfdom in Russia)

7. The emancipation of the serfs in 1861 was the single most important event in 19th century Russian history. It was the beginning of the end for the landed aristocracy's monopoly of power. Alexander 2nd Freed the Serfs like Abraham Lincoln freed the Saves

8. Although serfdom was abolished, since its abolition was achieved on terms unfavorable to the peasants, revolutionary tensions were not abated, despite Alexander II's positive intentions. Revolution was still on the minds of common people

9. Serfs of Asian Origins

10. Trotsky’s Original Mission was to the Workers 1897 Not to the Overthrow of the Government

11. Old Photo Russian Peasants (Serfs)

12. Vasily Polenov (Russian, 1844-1927) The Crippled Serf (c. 1878) Oil on canvas.

13. Serfs Worked in all Areas Requiring Labor, in the Fields, Households, Army, Manufacturing, etc.

14. Typical “Serf” Family – Turn of the 20th Century – Peasants??

15. EducationThe German Colonies on the Volga: The Second Half of the Eighteenth Century, schools arose in the first year the colonists arrived on the Volga. I, Jacob Miller, as the second to the oldest son of my parents, Johannes Peter and Elisabeth Miller, was born on the 2nd day of July, 1871, in the colony of Norka, State Saratov, Russia, a colony of about 11,000 people at that time. My father was a well-to-do farmer and was able to give his children an education. There were three large school houses in this colony in which was taught mostly religion and reading, writing and arithmetic.

16. Schooling was not Universal The teachers were all German teachers. Only about 75 children, all boys, had a separate schoolroom and were taught history and geography, in the Russian language, and grammar in both German and Russian. I and my four brothers were privileged to attend this school. The rest of the children did not know anything about the outside world, only what someone had told them.

17. The German schools made it compulsory to start classes at the age of six and they were permitted to leave at the age of fifteen. (1861)

18. German School in Volga Region Mid 19th Century Example

19. Before serfdom was abolished by the reform act of 1861, peasants had belonged to a landlord.

20. End of the 19th Century Rose – Russians Rouge – Lithuanians Orange – Polish Grey – Finnish Yellow – Mongols, Muslims

21. Autocracy and reaction under Alexander III Unlike his father, the new tsar Alexander III (1881–1894) was throughout his reign a staunch reactionary who revived the maxim of "Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and National Character". Alexander III believed that Russia could be saved from chaos only by shutting itself off from the subversive influences of Western Europe

22. Population of Russian and Soviet Union in Millions

23. The End class 4- Russian Flag 1900