Populism in Russia in the second half of the 19th century. Reforms of Alexander II

In the 60s of the XIX century, a new trend of the revolutionary movement called populists was formed. It includes progressive youth and representatives of the Raznochinsk intelligentsia. They were inherent in the belief in the original development of Russia, since it is the closest, in their opinion, to a socialist society. They saw the basis of the new society in the rural community.

Three stages of the populist movement are known:
1. (1859-1861) - Held under the slogan "going to the people";
2. (1870s) - propaganda work among the population, mass "going to the people" (since 1874)
3. (1880s) - political struggle against elements of terror.

Within the framework of the populist movement, there were two main currents - moderate (liberal ) and radical (revolutionary ). Representatives of the moderate movement sought non-violent social, political and economic transformation. Representatives of the radical movement, who considered themselves followers of Chernyshevsky, strove for the rapid violent overthrow of the existing regime and the immediate implementation of the ideals of socialism.

General principles:

1) Faith in the people. It was characteristic of the consciousness of the educated strata of Russian society. The people were seen as the bearer of a certain ideal. But the ideal was perceived in different ways.

Conservative monarchists saw in the people the bearer of the religious idea.

The left-wing intelligentsia saw in the people the bearer of the idea of ​​social justice.

This conviction was the result of a separation from the people, a vague consciousness of what the peasantry really was.

2) It was characteristic of the Narodniks to be extremely negative attitude towards the development of capitalism in Russia. They considered capitalism to be a bad system, and in Russia also artificial. They believed that capitalism in Russia was implanted exclusively from above by the state and had no roots.

3) It was typical for populists priority attention to social problems. They seemed to be more significant than the problems of a political nature. Political problems seemed derivative, secondary to social ones.

4) For populists was characteristic historical individualism. They believed that with the right energy it was possible to turn the tide of social development.

The largest revolutionary organization of this period was "Land and freedom" (1861 - 1864). In 1879 in connection with the strengthening of the radical wing of the organization, which demanded violent methods of combating the tsarist regime, "Land and Freedom" broke up into two organizations - "People's Will", embarked on the path of terror and direct seizure of power, and "Black Repartition" retained the old methods of revolutionary propaganda.

After the assassination of Alexander II in 1881. members of the organization "Narodnaya Volya" (V. Figner, S. Perovskaya, A. Ulyanov, I. I. Grinevitsky).

After the assassination of Alexander II by Narodnaya Volya (1881), the organization was crushed by the police, and by the end of the 1880s. ceased its activities. In the early 1880s. disintegrated "Black Repartition".

Social movement.

The Peasant Reform of 1861 became a "finest hour" for figures from the liberal camp, both Westerners and Slavophiles, who were given the opportunity to put their ideas into practice. The liberal movement in the 1860s and 1870s, headed by university professors K. D. Kavelin and B. N. Chicherin, put forward a rather moderate program on the whole, did not demand the convocation of parliament, considered it untimely and pinned all hopes on the continuation and development of liberal reforms "from above", at the will of the emperor. The liberals actively participated in the implementation of the zemstvo, city and judicial reform, in the activities of the new court and new local governments. By the end of the 1870s. a certain radicalization is observed in their midst, the slogan “crowning the building” is put forward (the creation, in addition to local zemstvos, of an all-Russian zemstvo, that is, a parliament), individual representatives of the liberals (I. I. Petrunkevich) are looking for contacts with the revolutionary movement.

The reforms of the 1860s and 1870s, although they introduced significant changes in the life of Russia, nevertheless had an incomplete and largely inconsistent character, retaining many of the vestiges of the past. The most important of the reforms, the peasant reform, gave the peasants personal freedom and further increased their economic dependence on both the landowner and the state. The feeling of disappointment, deceived hopes led to the growth of radical sentiments among the intelligentsia and young students, among which the proportion of raznochintsy - people from the middle and lower classes who received an education - increased. The ranks of the raznochintsy were also replenished at the expense of the ruined, impoverished nobles. It was this layer of people, deprived of a certain place in the class structure of society, that became the breeding ground for the revolutionary movement, which gained considerable strength during the reign of Alexander II.

• 1861 - the first revolutionary organization "Land and Freedom" appears, headed by N. G. Chernyshevsky, editor of the Sovremennik magazine. The name of the organization contained its main ideas - the transfer to the peasants without redemption of all landowners' land and the liquidation of the autocracy, replacing it with a democratic republic. The leaders of "Land and Freedom" were quickly arrested (Chernyshevsky in 1862), not having time to launch active activities, and by 1864 the organization ceased to exist. From the beginning of the 1860s. in many cities of Russia, primarily university ones, youth anti-government circles are springing up. Members of the youth movement, protesting against the noble manners and customs, began to be called nihilists.
• 1866 - D. V. Karakozov, a member of the Ishutin circle, makes an unsuccessful attempt on the tsar in protest against the "fraudulent" peasant reform. Karakozov was hanged, his assassination attempt led to a tightening of the political regime and increased police persecution of nihilists.
• 1874 - the beginning of "going to the people" and the formation of the populist movement among the revolutionaries. The populists, based on the ideas of A. I. Herzen and N. G. Chernyshevsky, were convinced that the basis of socialism in Russia was the peasant community.

Many of them went to live and work in the countryside, finding jobs as zemstvo teachers and doctors. Among the populists, three directions stood out:

• propaganda (P. L. Lavrov) - they believed that it was necessary to go to the people to propagate socialist ideas, that the revolution required a long preparation;
• rebellious, or anarchist (M. A. Bakunin), they believed that the peasants were ready for a rebellion at any moment, and the task of the revolutionary intelligentsia was to help them organize an all-Russian uprising;
• conspiratorial (P.N. Tkachev) - in their opinion, the most effective way of revolution was the seizure of power by an organized revolutionary party, which, having come to power, would carry out all the transformations necessary for the people.

At first, representatives of the propagandistic, to a lesser extent rebellious trends prevailed. However, "going to the people" ended in failure - most of the populists were arrested by the police, including at the initiative of the peasants themselves, who were suspicious of city dwellers with "lordly" habits. At trials, they were sentenced to long prison terms. Among the populists, the idea was born of the need to create a centralized, unified, all-Russian organization.

• 1876 ​​- the Land and Freedom party appears, taking the name of the first revolutionary organization of the 1860s. Its leaders are V. N. Figner, N. A. Morozov, A. D. Mikhailov. The landowners tried to move on to establishing systematic propaganda in the countryside, and also began to establish contacts with urban workers. They began to respond to police persecution with terrorist acts. In 1878

V. I. Zasulich, who was a member of the "Land and Freedom", seriously wounded the St. Petersburg Governor-General F. F. Trepov in protest against corporal punishment for political prisoners, applied on his orders. The jury acquitted Zasulich.

• 1879 - the split of "Land and Freedom" into "Narodnaya Volya" and "Black Repartition". The Chernoperedeltsy (G.V. Plekhanov) advocated the continuation of the old tactics of working in the countryside and agitation for a "black redistribution", that is, the division of the landlords' land among the peasants. The Narodnaya Volya (A. I. Zhelyabov, S. L. Perovskaya) were supporters of terror and the promotion of political tasks - the destruction of the autocracy and the establishment of political freedoms. "Narodnaya Volya" turned into a strong, conspiratorial, ramified organization that had connections among the intelligentsia, workers, officers, and its agents in the ranks of the police. The Narodnaya Volya made a number of assassination attempts on top officials and the emperor himself. In 1880, Alexander II granted the Minister of Internal Affairs M.T. Loris-Melikov emergency powers to fight terrorists and at the same time entrusted him with the development of a project for further reforms. Loris-Melikov proposed to the tsar to create a legislative body of power from among the representatives of the zemstvos appointed by the emperor. On March 1, 1881, Alexander II approved this project, but on the same day he was killed by the Narodnaya Volya.

The purpose of the lesson:

• Find out the causes of the Decembrists' movement; goals of members of secret organizations; the significance of the uprising on Senate Square;
• Develop skills in filling out tables, learn to highlight the main thing, define and explain concepts.

New terms and dates: Union of Salvation (1816-1817), Union of Prosperity (1818-1820), Northern and Southern Society (1821-1825), Decembrists, Decembrist uprising on Senate Square on December 14, 1825, dynastic crisis.

Equipment: portraits of the Decembrists, Alexander I, Nicholas I.

Lesson plan:

1. The birth of an organized social movement and the spread of liberal ideas

2. Secret societies

3. Southern society

4. Northern society

5. Power and secret societies

6. Dynastic crisis

During the classes

1. The birth of an organized social movement and the spread of liberal ideas.

• Stage 1. 18th century Catherine II, ideas of Rousseau, Voltaire.
• Stage 2. After the Patriotic War of 1812, due to the inaction of the government, secret societies and circles were created.

2. Secret societies

Salvation Union (1816-1817)

Welfare Union (1818-1821)

3. Southern society

4. Northern society

Textbook pp. 54-55, filling in the table.

Results of work with points 2, 3, 4.

5. Power and secret societies

1822 A special decree is passed banning all secret societies

1823 Persecution of members of secret societies

6. Dynastic crisis

Nicholas I
Declared his rights to the throne.

Konstantin Pavlovich Romanov
Relinquished the throne.

December 14, 1825
11 am on the Senate Square:
Life Guards Moscow Regiment.

13:00 on Senate Square Guards naval crew and grenadier regiment.

Only 3 thousand soldiers and 30 officers.

Dictator S.P. Trubitskoy did not appear; Yakubovich refused to take over the Winter Palace; Bulatov refused to take possession of the Peter and Paul Fortress; Kakhovsky did not dare to encroach on the life of Nicholas I

By 6 p.m., the uprising was crushed by regular troops.

"Manifesto to the Russian people" Decembrists textbook p.62.

8. Investigation and trial of the Decembrists

Pestel, Releev, Bestuzhev-Ryumin, S. Muravyov-Apostol, Kakhovsky - hanged in the Peter and Paul Fortress. More than 100 people were exiled to hard labor. Many officers were demoted to soldiers and exiled to the Caucasus. A total of 579 people were brought to justice.

9. Historical significance and consequences of the Decembrist uprising.

As soon as the ruling bureaucracy felt the slightest threat to its power, it stepped up pressure on the tsar to roll back reforms and reanimate repressive methods of government. Any manifestations of the revolutionary and national liberation movement were used as pretexts.

On April 4, 1866, at the gates of the Winter Garden in St. Petersburg, D. V. Karakozov opened an account of the revolutionaries' attempts on Alexander P. The unsteady balance between the reformist and conservative forces in the royal environment was violated. In fact, the chief of the gendarmes P. A. Shuvalov became the head of the government. The strengthening of protective tendencies was also manifested in the closure of the journal Otechestvennye Zapiski.

On the crest of the student unrest of 1868-1869. an extremely extremist direction of total destruction arose in the revolutionary environment. S. G. Nechaev, a volunteer at St. Petersburg University, in his ultra-revolutionary activities deliberately applied the methods of mystification and provocation. The "Catechism of the Revolutionary" he wrote was based on the principle "the end justifies the means." Having conceived the creation of the All-Russian organization "People's Reprisal" on the basis of his own personal dictatorship, Nechaev set about creating its cells in both capitals and even went to the cold-blooded murder of a student I.I. Ivanov, who refused to obey him.

Ideology and practice of revolutionary populism. From the beginning of the 70s. among the raznochintsy intelligentsia, the ideology of revolutionary populism is spreading. Its beginnings can be found in the works of A. I. Herzen and N. G. Chernyshevsky, and it acquired its complete expression in the works of P. L. Lavrov, M. A. Bakunin, P. N. Tkachev. Their programs pursued the same goal - the establishment of a socially just social order (socialism), bypassing capitalism. Lavrov, the founder of the tactical propaganda trend in populism, believed that it was possible to awaken the people to struggle only as a result of lengthy educational work. Bakunin, the ideologist of the rebellious trend, argued that the peasants were ready for an all-Russian revolt and were only waiting for the impetus that the revolutionary intelligentsia should give them. The ideologist of conspiratorial tactics, Tkachev, believed that the people were crushed, unable to fight. Following the French revolutionary Auguste Blanqui, he argued that a rigidly organized party of conspirators should seize power and ensure the implementation of socialist transformations in the country.

In 1874, the revolutionary youth undertook a massive "going to the people" under the Bakuninist slogan. However, the "rebels" failed to raise the peasants to the revolution; all their appeals were met with the most distrustful, and often hostile, attitude among the peasantry. This forced the populists to reconsider their tactics and move on to systematic propaganda in the countryside by organizing long-term settlements there.
In 1876, the Narodniks created a centralized, strictly conspiratorial organization, Land and Freedom. The program of the landowners declared the ultimate political and economic ideal (“anarchy and collectivism”), put forward specific demands: the transfer of all land into the hands of the peasants, complete communal self-government, etc. The means to achieve the goals were divided into two parts: organizational (propaganda) and disorganization ( terrorist work.

The failure of long-term settlements in the countryside strengthened the position of the "disorganizers". The revolutionary terror unfolded by them initially had the character of revenge and self-defence. In 1878, the teacher Vera Zasulich shot the St. Petersburg mayor F. F. Trepov, who ordered that a political prisoner be subjected to corporal punishment.

In 1879 there was a split in the Land and Freedom. "Villagers" (adherents of the continuation of propaganda work), headed by G. V. Plekhanov, formed the organization "Black Redistribution". Most of the landowners (A. I. Zhelyabov, S. L. Perovskaya and others) united in the "Narodnaya Volya", which brought to the fore the political struggle - the struggle for the transformation of the state. The Narodnaya Volya concentrated all their forces on the main, from their point of view, task - the assassination of the tsar.
"Dictatorship" Loris-Melikov. Regicide. In February 1880, the tsar established the Supreme Administrative Commission. The head of the new body, Count M. T. Loris-Melikov, endowed with almost unlimited powers, thanks to the reform of political investigation, achieved some success in the fight against the revolutionary underground. At the same time, the "dictator" considered it necessary to make some concessions to the "well-meaning" part of society. He prepared a draft, which provided for the creation in the person of "preparatory commissions" of officials and elected from zemstvos of a legislative body under the State Council. On March 1, 1881, Alexander II appointed a day for discussing the forthcoming reform. However, a few hours later the tsar-liberator was killed. I. Grinevitsky's bomb put an end to the history of the era of the Great Reforms, but did not cause a peasant revolution, which the Narodnaya Volya people were counting on.

Detailed solution paragraph § 19–20 on history for students in grade 9, authors Arsentiev N.M., Danilov A.A., Levandovsky A.A. 2016

Question for point II. Remember when and why the institution of peace mediators was created.

This institution was created during the peasant reform of 1861. Peace mediators were elected from among the most respected landowners to help the landowners and peasants in the preparation of charters. As a rule, in conflicts they took the side of the landowners.

Question for working with the text of paragraph No. 1. Who are the raznochintsy? How did the formation of this stratum of the intelligentsia influence the development of the social movement in the 1860s and 1870s?

Raznochintsy are people who have received education and left the former social environment, usually were petty employees of the state apparatus, in the second half of the 19th century they made up the main part of the intelligentsia. These were people who were accustomed to achieve everything only with their minds. In addition, they often felt that they had no prospects in the official civil service without family connections. Therefore, it was precisely from the raznochintsy that the bulk of public figures and especially the revolutionaries of post-reform Russia came from.

Question for working with the text of paragraph No. 2. What ideas were defended by representatives of the conservative direction of social thought? What interests did they primarily represent?

The conservatives defended the old order and the interests of the nobility as the class that ruled under these old orders. Their ideas have not changed much since the time of Nicholas I:

Support for autocracy and other foundations of the state system;

Strengthening religiosity;

Maintenance of community institutions;

Upholding a patriarchal way of life;

Promotion of traditional values;

Pan-Slavism is the desire to unite all Slavs under the rule of the Russian Tsar.

Question for working with the text of paragraph No. 3. What is the main difference between the radical direction from the conservative and liberal.

The main difference was the readiness of the radicals to violence. At first they called for an uprising, and then they turned to individual terror.

Question for working with the text of paragraph No. 4. What did the Land and Freedom organization do in the 1860s?

This organization printed and distributed calls for a peasant uprising to change government conditions for the abolition of serfdom.

Question for working with the text of paragraph No. 5. What was the aim of the populists? On what basis did the three directions in populism stand out? What were they?

The Narodniks sought to build socialism on the basis of a peasant community, bypassing the stage of capitalism.

The rebellious direction was made up of followers of M.A. Bakunin. They sought to raise a peasant uprising, believing that it was already overdue and being convinced that if the peasants were given all the land and freed from the oppression of the state machine, they would build socialism themselves.

The propaganda direction believed that before the uprising, long preparatory work should be carried out - propaganda in order to bring together the position of the peasants (the bulk of the alleged uprising) and the intelligentsia (its leaders). The ideological inspirer of the direction was P.L. Lavrov.

P.N. Tkachev was the ideologist of the conspiratorial trend. His followers considered the uprising of the broad masses unrealistic and sought to seize power through a conspiracy - well-organized actions by a relatively small group of revolutionaries, as a result of which they could carry out the necessary reforms from above.

Question for working with the text of paragraph No. 6. What is the tax "going to the people"? What were the members striving for?

"Going to the people" is an attempt by revolutionaries to raise the peasants to revolt with the help of propaganda among them. That is, its participants really came from cities to villages and called for an uprising there: during the first walk, they agitated the first people they met, during the second, they first gained authority among the people as doctors, teachers, etc.

Question for working with the text of paragraph No. 7. What measures did M.T. Loris-Melikov take to normalize the situation in the country? What was the essence of his project?

Loris-Melikov applied the method of a stick and a carrot, tested for centuries. On the one hand, he advocated softening censorship and the policy of the authorities in relation to the zemstvos and society as a whole. He also proposed to create preparatory commissions to develop laws from representatives of both bureaucracy and zemstvos and introduce representatives of zemstvos and city dumas into the State Council. Thus, the development of further reforms had to become all-class and, to a certain extent, all-people. On the other hand, Loris-Melikov improved the work of the police, making it more professional, and the fight against terrorists - more targeted and targeted.

We think, compare, reflect: question number 1. How did the Land and Liberty organization that operated in the 1860s differ from the Land and Liberty organization that existed in the 1870s?

The organization of the 1860s called for a peasant uprising, its activity was limited to the issuance of proclamations. The organization of the 1870s did not hope for an uprising, but sought to destroy the existing state system by killing the most prominent representatives of power, including the emperor. In the 1870s, individual terror became the main tactic of the organization.

We think, compare, reflect: question number 2. Why did the participants of the "going to the people" fail to achieve their goals?

The peasants were not ready for an uprising. They valued their property and did not want to lose it. In addition, they believed in a good king and did not think to rebel against him. To top it all, they did not trust strangers from the city - and even teachers with paramedics, who were respected, still remained strangers.

We think, compare, reflect: question number 3. What tactics did Narodnaya Volya follow? Give a moral and ethical assessment of the activities of the Narodnaya Volya in the late 1870s.

Narodnaya Volya turned to the tactics of individual terror. At the same time, many strangers died - guard soldiers, courtiers, and sometimes just passers-by. In my opinion, it is unacceptable to achieve one's goals by killing even representatives of state power, all the more immoral was the inattention to random victims.

But most importantly, all these deaths were initially meaningless. The state system, as a rule, is built in such a way as to survive even in the event of the death of a significant part of its representatives. Such situations were possible, for example, during wars, and it was wars that largely forged the existing system of power. Others inevitably took the place of the killed officials. The imperial family tree, in contrast to the era of palace coups, was branched, so there was little hope of causing a serious crisis of power.

We think, compare, reflect: question number 4. Highlight the main ideas of the Loris-Melikov project. Determine the meaning of the project.

The implementation of the project gradually changed the attitude in society towards revolutionaries and official authorities, therefore it could make terrorists outcasts. In addition, the project paved the way for the continuation of reforms, which in the future could lead to the transformation of the political system and the economic situation of the majority of the population. This, in turn, under the most fortunate combination of circumstances, could prevent the emergence of a revolutionary situation at the beginning of the twentieth century.

The main ideas of the project were:

Relaxation of censorship;

More loyal to the zemstvos and the general population policy on the ground;

Creation of preparatory commissions from representatives of both bureaucracy and zemstvos;

Introduction to the State Council of representatives of zemstvos and city dumas;

Improving the efficiency of police work.

We think, compare, reflect: question number 5. Among the liberal figures of the 1860-1870s. there were those who, having started working in the zemstvos, soon became disillusioned with the reforms and joined the radical camp, and those who continued to work despite the obstacles. Guess what guided the first and second. Whose position do you think is more correct? Explain why.

Those who turned to the radical direction are tired of the routine and the feeling of the futility of their actions. They saw that the small things they did did not lead to big changes. For example, all their good undertakings could be destroyed with one stroke of the governor's pen. I can understand them, but not accept their position. Because radicalism in the conditions of that time also did not lead to changes, because the radicals were defeated, but it deprived them of the opportunity to do those small good deeds with which they started.

Those who continued to work in zemstvos and similar bodies either hoped that “a drop wears away a stone”, or stopped thinking about all-Russian issues and focused on current affairs, on being useful to people in specific issues. This position seems to be more attractive because in the end it brought more benefits to specific people.

We think, compare, reflect: question number 6. Prepare a report on how the members of the "Narodnaya Volya" organized an assassination attempt on the emperor. Please rate their performance. Can political assassinations lead to positive results? Explain your opinion.

Several assassination attempts were organized on the emperor in a short time. It all started with the shots of a loner Dmitry Karakozov from a revolver. But gradually the ideas became more ambitious, including the explosion of the imperial train. Compared to them, the really successful assassination attempt went according to a relatively modest plan.

In December 1880, Yuri Bogdanovich and Anna Yakimova rented a cheese shop under the name of the Kobozevs in the basement of house number 8 on Malaya Sadovaya Street. From it they began to dig under the street along which the route of the imperial cartage passed. It was supposed to lay a mine in the dig. The excavated earth was hidden in tubs, covering with literally a couple of layers of cheese heads.

The policemen were checking the cheese shop, one of them even went up to the tub and stirred up the cheese heads. This and some other facts brought to life today a controversial version, as if the police knew about the impending assassination attempt, but did not prevent it. This is also evidenced by the fact that all participants in the terrorist attack were taken immediately after it, as if according to pre-prepared lists. Allegedly, some conservative guards wanted to use terrorists to remove the objectionable emperor, believing that his son would untie their hands and allow them to really take on the revolutionaries. Under Alexander III, the Narodnaya Volya organizations were indeed quite quickly defeated.

On February 27 (March 11), 1881, the police arrested the head of the group, Andrei Zhelyabov - if among the law enforcement officers there were those interested in the death of the emperor, the circle of such persons would be clearly narrow. Sofya Perovskaya (Zhelyabov's common-law wife) took over the leadership of the assassination attempt.

On the day of the assassination attempt, the emperor went the other way, so they used a backup plan - they placed the bombers along the route.

The first bomb thrown by Nikolai Rysakov killed several guards, damaged the crew, but did not touch the emperor. Despite all the persuasion, Alexander II did not immediately go to the palace, but left the carriage and asked the bomber something and, apparently, wanted to encourage the wounded Circassians from the escort. Then Ignatius Grinevitsky, who was standing nearby, threw a second bomb, which inflicted a mortal wound on the emperor. Today, Grinevitsky, like all outsiders, would immediately be taken away from the cordoned off site of the first explosion, but then the guards did not have such instructions.

Political assassinations usually don't work. There are exceptions. For example, the removal of Adolf Hitler in 1932 could have prevented the rise of the Nazis to power and possibly World War II. Therefore, murder is always immoral, but in politics it is also necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of the case.

The assassination of Alexander II did not and could not bring the desired result by the revolutionaries. The emperor had sons, as well as brothers and nephews, whose order of succession to the throne was predetermined. In such a situation, the death of the monarch cannot cause a dynastic crisis, and hence a crisis of power. The actions of the terrorists were initially meaningless and, if only for this reason, reprehensible.

NATIONAL AND RELIGIOUS POLICY OF ALEXANDER II. THE NATIONAL QUESTION IN EUROPE AND IN RUSSIA

(Material for independent work and project activities)

Question to point IV. Remember when and under what circumstances the Caucasian war began.

The Caucasian war began in 1817 with the spread of the religious trend of Muridism in these lands, and local preachers placed particular emphasis on the war with the infidels (that is, with the Orthodox Russian authorities). Under the influence of this propaganda, the population often spontaneously rose to fight, and only in 1829 was an imamate formed.

Question to point VII. Remember who the Old Believers are.

Old Believers were those Orthodox who did not accept the church reforms of Patriarch Nikon in the middle of the 17th century.

Question for working with the text of paragraph No. 1. What was the national question in Europe in the second half of the 19th century?

The national question in Europe was the struggle of nations for self-determination, sometimes demanding liberation from foreign domination (in the case of Hungary, Ireland, Serbia, the Czech Republic, Brittany, etc.), or the unification of the nation within a single state (in the case of Italy, Germany, the Iberian Peninsula and etc.).

Question for working with the text of paragraph No. 2. What were the goals of the Polish Uprising of 1863-1864? Have you been able to achieve them? How did the uprising end?

Basic goals:

Restoration of an independent Commonwealth within the borders of 1772 (the goal was supported by both "whites" and "reds");

The liberation of peasants with land without a ransom (supported only by the "reds").

Independence was not achieved, but the peasant reform was carried out almost on the terms of the rebels, however, by the Russian government. As a result of the uprising, the remnants of the autonomy of the Polish lands were liquidated, an active policy of Russification began to be carried out there, and subsequently part of the reforms of Alexander II were not extended to them.

Question for working with the text of paragraph No. 3. Why were Cossack troops formed on the Caucasian border lands?

The Cossack troops were created as a counterbalance to the local highlanders, the backbone of the central government. In addition, the Cossacks were a military class, and the government probably expected that they would be the first line of defense in the event of a new uprising against Russia.

Question for working with the text of paragraph No. 4. What are western provinces? Name their main centers. What were the features of government policy in this region in the 1860s-1870s?

Western provinces were called the lands of the former Commonwealth, which were not part of the Kingdom of Poland, today these are the territories of Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine. The main centers there were Vilna (modern Vilnius) and Kyiv. There, the policy of the authorities was aimed at the Russification of the common people and against the Catholic landlords. Therefore, after the uprising of 1863, which spread to these lands, measures similar to Poland proper were taken there, in particular, to revise the peasant reform in favor of the peasants.

We think, compare, reflect: question number 1. How did the uprising of the Poles in the Russian Empire affect the policy of the central government in the territory of the former Kingdom of Poland?

Active Russification began on these lands (printing in the Latin alphabet was prohibited, the government changed the teaching program in all educational institutions, etc.), a number of measures were also taken against the Catholic Church and the Catholic nobility.

We think, compare, reflect: question number 2. Prepare a presentation on the topic "Nationalities in Russia in the second half of the 19th century." using photographs from the 19th century.

Title: Nationalities in Russia in the second half of the 19th century.

Title: Russians

Image: Russian peasant

Text: Russians were the titular nation, they made up the majority of the population of the empire and lived in most provinces. In addition, it was in the second half of the 19th century that they settled in new territories. Many non-Russian nationalities tried to Russify.

Title: Peoples of the Far North and Far East

Image: northern hunter in winter outfit

Text: The lands near the Arctic Circle were of little interest to the empire because of their too harsh climate, and the Far East was too difficult to access before the construction of the Chinese Eastern Railway. Therefore, the peoples in these lands lived in the same way as thousands of years before.

Title: Small Peoples of the Interior

Image: image of a Kazan Tatar in national costume

Text: Many non-Russian peoples of the Volga, Urals, Siberia and other regions have been under Russian rule since the 16th-17th centuries. By the second half of the 19th century, they were integrated into the empire and largely assimilated, although the larger ones, such as the Tatars, retained their national identity.

Title: Steppe nomads

Image: steppe equestrian nomad in national costume.

Text: Numerous nomadic peoples lived in the steppes. Many of them were annexed to Russia only in the 19th century. For the most part, they continued to live, as they had centuries before. But more and more alien farmers from other provinces (mostly Russians) appeared on their lands, who were intentionally resettled there by the Russian government.

Title: West End

Image: Ukrainian in national costume.

Text: On the lands of modern Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine, a policy of Russification was carried out, their peasants were considered Russian. But at the same time, their own national identity was formed there, which will play an important role in the twentieth century.

Title: Poles

Image: Yasnogorsk Monastery

Text: The Poles retained their national identity and their culture, not only peasant, but also elitist. They were considered the most recalcitrant people in the empire, incorrigible rebels. And they justified this title, not only by raising uprisings. Volunteer Poles fought on the side of the Turks in several wars against Russia: the Catholics even agreed to support the Muslims in order to harm the Russians.

Title: Peoples of the Baltic

Image: Latvian in national costume

Text: For centuries, the urban population and the elite in the Baltics were Germans. They were the bearers of culture. But in the 19th century, the actual Latvian and Estonian national identity awakened, which in the next century allowed these people to form their own states.

Name: Germans

Image: Protestant church

Text: Among the Germans of the Russian Empire were both residents of the Baltic states and immigrants from other principalities of Germany. Especially a lot of them came during the reign of Catherine II, because the empress created the necessary conditions for this, hoping to populate the Black Sea steppes. They served the empire, but for the most part they retained their language and culture, and not folk, but elitist, not inferior in development to Russian.

Title: Finns

Image: Finn in national costume

Text: The Finns actually had their own state with all institutions, simply subordinate to Russia. At the time of formation, the Grand Duchy of Finland was rather a fragment of Sweden. But during the 19th century, national consciousness awakened there and the principality became Finnish.

We think, compare, reflect: question number 3. What was the difficulty in managing the Caucasian lands?

When managing the North Caucasus, it was necessary to take into account the religion and national characteristics of the local population, the government tried not to interfere in the customs and lifestyle of the highlanders, demanding only loyalty from them. They were not subject to conscription into the army, but the service was considered as a privilege that was granted to the elect, and Caucasians served in special combat units, where there were people only from this region (as an example, we can name the Life Guards of the Caucasian-Mountains half-squadron as part of His Own Imperial Majesty the Convoy, during the First World War, the Caucasian native cavalry division, better known as the "Wild Division", became famous).

We think, compare, reflect: question number 4. How did the Caucasian war end?

The Caucasian war ended with the pacification of the rebellious regions. At the same time, the government made significant concessions, demanding almost nothing from the mountaineers except loyalty. The leader of the uprising, Imam Shamil, was not even punished. He was raised to the hereditary nobility and settled with a decent content in Kaluga, later in Kyiv, he personally met with the emperor several times.

We think, compare, reflect: question number 5. What is the Synodal Translation of the Bible? What was the significance of translating the Bible into the common language?

Synodal translation into modern Russian at that time was the one that was carried out under the control of the Holy Governing Synod.

Such a translation made the Bible accessible to the understanding of a wider range of people. However, it did not cause major changes in society, partly because people were already accustomed to living according to the prescriptions of the church and were not inclined to analyze them, comparing them with the text of Holy Scripture, and partly because secularization was spreading in society (a departure from religious prescriptions towards secular outlook).

We think, compare, reflect: question number 6. Using additional literature and the Internet, collect information about one of the historical figures mentioned in the paragraph.

Alexander Ignacy Velopolsky was born in 1803. The Velopolskys were a magnate family. In the 17th-18th centuries, it was precisely such clans that ruled the Commonwealth, all of their representatives, simply by the position of the family in society, could not help but receive one or another post, and the majority replaced many of them during their life. With the accession to the Russian Empire, their position has changed somewhat, but still, for the most part, the magnates ruled the Kingdom of Poland, especially since the Russian authorities tried to rely on local natives here. Therefore, the offspring of magnate families from childhood were prepared for state activity.

Alexander Ignacy lost his father at the age of 12, but this did not make him an orphan - mutual assistance existed even in the families of the middle gentry, especially in magnates. The young man was educated at the universities of Warsaw, Paris and Göttingen. He entered the service of the Russian Empire, but he hardly even knew the Russian language - French was quite enough in a noble society.

In 1830, Wielopolsky became a deputy of the Sejm of the Kingdom of Poland, and was in the camp of conservatives. Polish conservatives should not be confused with Russians - the former sought to maintain the old ways of the Commonwealth, including its independence, and were sharply opposed to the empire. Therefore, it is not surprising that Alexander Ignacy supported the uprising of 1830. However, he did not participate in the battles: Velopolsky, who was educated in a European way and knew the high society, was sent to London for help to the rebels. The mission ended in vain, but lasted all the months of the uprising.

Velopolsky did not hide his own participation in anti-Russian activities, even published in 1831 a pamphlet about his mission in London. But formally, he did not oppose the Russian Empire with weapons in his hands, therefore he did not suffer punishment and calmly returned to the estate, where he was engaged in farming and periodically published articles. He always considered himself not a subject of the Russian Empire, but a citizen of the Commonwealth, albeit divided among other states, therefore, for example, he vividly reacted to the uprising of peasants in Galicia (on the territory of the Austrian Empire) in 1846, writing a pamphlet Lettre d'un gentilhomme polonais au prince de Metternich (Letter from a Polish nobleman to Prince Metternich).

In 1861, Velepolsky was appointed chairman of the commission of religious affairs and public education, soon visited St. Petersburg and was able to achieve the support of the court, as a result of which he was appointed assistant to the governor Konstantin Nikolayevich for the civil part and vice-chairman of the state council. The governor of the Kingdom of Poland, the emperor's brother Konstantin Nikolaevich, had previously been a naval officer and did a lot to reform the fleet after the Crimean War, being a liberal more than Alexander II, he actively participated in the preparation of the peasant reform, but understood little about Polish affairs, therefore he relied heavily on his assistant.

Velepolsky, with the support of Konstantin Nikolaevich, carried out liberal reforms. He replaced the corvée with dues for temporarily liable peasants, equalized the rights of the Jews with other peoples, reformed the education system; it was he who founded the Warsaw Main School - the first institution of higher education in the Kingdom of Poland since the 1830s (instead, there were 8-grade gymnasiums with a partially university program for the last years of study).

Meanwhile, in the lands of the former Commonwealth (not only in the Kingdom of Poland), an uprising was actively preparing. Radical revolutionaries (the so-called "Reds") were unfavorable to liberal reforms - such alleged half-measures could satisfy the majority of the population and turn away from the idea of ​​\u200b\u200buprising. Wiełopolski sought contacts with the more moderate wing (the so-called "whites"), urging them to abandon their plans and take part in peaceful reforms.

On June 21, 1862, an attempt was made on Konstantin Nikolaevich, but despite a pistol shot at point-blank range, he was only slightly wounded. On July 26 and August 3, assassination attempts on Velopolsky followed, which he successfully survived. In response, the authorities did not apply mass repressions, they compiled lists of the most active revolutionaries with the help of undercover work - they conspired much worse than the later Russian Narodnaya Volya. At the beginning of 1863, Velepolsky initiated a recruitment, in the lists of which he included the identified people.

It was this recruitment that became the catalyst: the members of the secret committees decided to strike before the recruits were taken to Russia and revolted. Velopolsky went abroad. He was objectionable neither to the rebels, who accused him of collaborating with Russia, nor to the emperor, who dismissed him from all posts. The revolutionaries wanted a completely independent republic instead of half-measures in the form of liberal reforms, and St. Petersburg decided to speak the language of force with Poland and did not even carry out many of the reforms carried out in other provinces of the empire there. Supporters of gradual liberalization without open resistance to the empire were not needed by any of the camps.

Velopolsky never returned from emigration. He lived in Dresden, where he died in 1877.