Crimean War and its consequences for Russia The Crimean War (1853-1856) is a war in which Russia was opposed by a coalition of countries: Great Britain, France, the Ottoman Empire, the Kingdom of Sardinia. The reasons for the war: - the confrontation between Russia and Turkey for control over

Chapter 50 The Crimean War We have already seen how conflicting could be the problems associated with the right to supervise Christian shrines in Turkish-owned Palestine - the Holy Land. After in 1808 in the Jerusalem Church of the Holy Sepulcher

Crimean War (1853-1856) The conflict between the Catholic and Orthodox churches was the cause of the war: who should own the keys to the Bethlehem Church and repair the dome of the Cathedral of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. French diplomacy contributed to the aggravation of the situation.

• the aggravation of the "Eastern Question", i.e., the struggle of the leading countries for the division of the "Turkish heritage";
• the growth of the national liberation movement in the Balkans, the acute internal crisis in Turkey and the conviction of Nicholas I of the inevitability of the collapse of the Ottoman Empire;
• the miscalculations of the diplomacy of Nicholas 1, which manifested itself in the hope that Austria, in gratitude for its salvation in 1848-1849, would support Russia, it would be possible to agree with England on the division of Turkey; as well as disbelief in the possibility of an agreement between the eternal enemies - England and France, directed against Russia, "
• the desire of England, France, Austria and Prussia to oust Russia from the East, the desire to prevent its penetration into the Balkans

The reason for the Crimean war of 1853-1856:

dispute between Orthodox and Catholic churches for the right to control Christian shrines in Palestine. Per Orthodox Church was Russia, and behind the Catholic - France.

Stages of military operations of the Crimean War:

1. Russo-Turkish War(May - December 1853). After the Turkish Sultan rejected the ultimatum on granting the Russian Tsar the right to patronize the Orthodox subjects of the Ottoman Empire, the Russian army occupied Moldavia, Wallachia and up to the Danube. The Caucasian Corps went on the offensive. The Black Sea squadron achieved great success, which in November 1853 under the command of Pavel Nakhimov destroyed the Turkish fleet in the battle of Sinop.

2. The beginning of the war between Russia and a coalition of European countries (spring - summer 1854). the threat of defeat looming over Turkey prompted European countries to take active anti-Russian actions, which led from a local war to a pan-European war.

March. England and France took the side of Turkey (Sardinian). Allied squadrons fired on Russian troops; fortification on the Alan Islands in the Baltic, on the Solovki, in the White Sea, on the Kola Peninsula, in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Odessa, Nikolaev, Kerch. Austria, threatening Russia with war, moved troops to the borders of the Danubian principalities, which forced the Russian armies to leave Moldavia and Wallachia.

3. Defense of Sevastopol and the end of the war. In September 1854, the Anglo-French The army landed in the Crimea, which turned into the main "theater" of the war. This is the last stage of the Crimean War of 1853-1856.

The Russian army led by Menshikov was defeated on the river. Alma left Sevastopol defenseless. The defense of the sea fortress, after the flooding of the sailing fleet in the Sevastopol bay, was taken over by sailors led by Admirals Kornilov, Nakhimov Istomin (all died). In the first days of October 1854, the defense of the city began and was taken only on August 27, 1855.

In the Caucasus, successful actions in November 1855, the capture of the fortress of Kars. However, with the fall of Sevastopol, the outcome of the war was predetermined: March 1856. peace talks in Paris.

Terms of the Paris Peace Treaty (1856)

Russia was losing Southern Bessarabia with the mouth of the Danube, and Kars was returning to Turkey in exchange for Sevastopol.

• Russia was deprived of the right to protect the Christians of the Ottoman Empire
• The Black Sea was declared neutral and Russia lost the right to have a navy and fortifications there.
• Established freedom of navigation on the Danube, which opened the Baltic Peninsula for Western powers

Causes of Russia's defeat in the Crimean War.

• Economic and technical backwardness (weapons and transport support of the Russian armies)
• The mediocrity of the Russian high ground command, which achieved ranks and titles through intrigue, flattery
• Diplomatic miscalculations that led Russia to isolation in the war with the coalition of England, France, Turkey, with the hostile attitude of Austria, Prussia.
• The apparent disparity of forces

Thus, the Crimean War of 1853-1856,

1) at the beginning of the reign of Nicholas 1, Russia managed to acquire a number of territories in the East and expand its spheres of influence

2) the suppression of the revolutionary movement in the West brought Russia the title of "gendarme of Europe", but did not meet its nat. interests

3) the defeat in the Crimean War revealed the backwardness of Russia; the rottenness of its autocratic-serf system. Found errors in foreign policy, the goals of which did not correspond to the capabilities of the country

4) this defeat became a decisive and direct factor in the preparation and implementation of the abolition of serfdom in Russia

5) the heroism and selflessness of Russian soldiers during the Crimean War remained in the memory of the people and influenced the development of the spiritual life of the country.

Causes of the Crimean War.

During the reign of Nicholas I, and this is almost three decades, the Russian state has reached great power, both in economic and political development. Nicholas began to realize that it would be nice to continue to expand the territorial boundaries of the Russian Empire. As a real military man, Nicholas I could not be content with only what he had. This was the main reason for the Crimean War of 1853-1856..

The keen eye of the emperor was directed to the East, in addition to this, his plans included strengthening his influence in the Balkans, the reason for this was living there Orthodox people. However, the weakening of Turkey did not suit such states as France and England. And they decide to declare war on Russia in 1854. And before that, in 1853, Turkey declared war on Russia.

The course of the Crimean War: the Crimean peninsula and beyond.

The main part of the fighting was carried out on the Crimean peninsula. But besides this, a bloody war was fought in Kamchatka, and in the Caucasus, and even on the coasts of the Baltic and Barents Seas. At the very beginning of the war, the siege of Sevastopol was carried out by the airborne assault of England and France, during which famous military leaders died - Kornilov, Istomin,.

The siege lasted exactly one year, after which Sevastopol was irrevocably captured by the Anglo-French troops. Along with the defeats in the Crimea, our troops won a victory in the Caucasus, destroying the Turkish squadron and capturing the fortress of Kars. This large-scale war required numerous material and human resources from the Russian Empire, which were devastated by 1856.

In addition, Nicholas I was afraid to fight with all of Europe, since Prussia was already on the verge of entering the war. The emperor had to give up his positions and sign a peace treaty. Some historians argue that after the defeat in the Crimean War, Nikolai committed suicide by taking poison, because the honor and dignity of his uniform were in the first place.

Results of the Crimean War of 1853-1856

After the signing of the peace agreement in Paris, Russia lost power over the Black Sea, patronage over such states as Serbia, Wallachia and Moldova. Russia was forbidden military construction in the Baltic. However, thanks to domestic diplomacy, after the end of the Crimean War, Russia did not suffer large territorial losses.

Crimean War.

Causes of the war: in 1850, a conflict began between France, Ottoman Empire and Russia, the reason for which was the disputes between the Catholic and Orthodox clergy regarding the rights to the Holy places in Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Nicholas I counted on the support of England and Austria, but miscalculated.

The course of the war: in 1853, Russian troops were introduced into Moldova and Wallachia, met with a negative reaction from Austria, which took a position of unfriendly neutrality, demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops and moved its army to the border with Russia. In October 1853, the Turkish Sultan declared war on Russia.

The first stage of the war - November 1853 - April 1854: Russian-Turkish campaign. November 1853 - Battle of Sinop. Admiral Nakhimov defeated the Turkish fleet, Russian actions in the Caucasus were going on in parallel. England and France declared war on Russia. Anglo-French squadron bombarded Russian territories (Kronstadt, Sveaborg, the Solovetsky Monastery, Kamchatka).

Second stage: April 1854 - February 1856 Russia against a coalition of European powers. September 1854 - the allies began landing in the Evpatoria region. Battles on the river Alma in September 1854, the Russians lost. Under the command of Menshikov, the Russians to Bakhchisaray. Sevastopol (Kornilov and Nakhimov) was preparing for defense. October 1854 - the defense of Sevastopol began. The main part of the Russian army undertook distracting operations (the battle of Inkerman in November 1854, the offensive of Evpatoria in February 1855, the battle on the Black River in August 1855), but they were not successful. August 1855 - Sevastopol is taken. At the same time, in Transcaucasia, Russian troops managed to take the strong Turkish fortress of Kars. Negotiations began. March 1856 - Peace of Paris. Part of Bessarabia was torn away from Russia, it lost the right to patronize Serbia, Moldavia and Wallachia. The most important thing is the neutralization of the Black Sea: both Russia and Turkey were forbidden to keep a navy in the Black Sea.

There is an acute internal political crisis in Russia, because of which reforms began.

39. Economic, socio-political development of Russia at the turn of the 50-60s. 19th century Peasant reform of 1861, its content and significance.

In the 50s, the needs and hardships of the masses noticeably worsened, this happened under the influence of the consequences of the Crimean War, the increasing frequency of natural disasters (epidemics, crop failures and, as a result, famine), as well as the oppression from the landowners and the state that increased in the pre-reform period. Recruitment kits, which reduced the number of workers by 10%, requisitions of food, horses and fodder had a particularly severe effect on the economy of the Russian countryside. He exacerbated the position and arbitrariness of the landowners, who systematically reduced the size of peasant allotments, transferred peasants to courtyards (and thus deprived them of land), and resettled serfs on worse lands. These acts took on such a scale that shortly before the reform, the government was forced by special decrees to impose a ban on such actions.

The response to the deteriorating situation of the masses was the peasant movement, which, in its intensity, scale and forms, differed markedly from the performances of previous decades and caused great concern in St. Petersburg.

This period is characterized by mass escapes of landlord peasants who wanted to join the militia and hoped to gain freedom in this way (1854-1855), unauthorized resettlements in the Crimea devastated by the war (1856), a “sober” movement directed against the feudal system of wine farming (1858-1859 ), unrest and escapes of workers on the construction of railways (Moscow-Nizhny Novgorod, Volga-Don, 1859-1860). It was also restless on the outskirts of the empire. In 1858, Estonian peasants came out with weapons in their hands (the “war in Makhtra”). Large peasant unrest broke out in 1857 in Western Georgia.

After the defeat in the Crimean War, in the context of a growing revolutionary upsurge, the crisis of the top escalated, which manifested itself, in particular, in the activation of the liberal opposition movement among part of the nobility, dissatisfied with military failures, Russia's backwardness, which understood the need for political and social changes. “Sevastopol hit stagnant minds,” wrote the famous Russian historian V.O. Klyuchevsky about this time. The “censorship terror” introduced by Emperor Nicholas I after his death in February 1855 was actually swept away by a wave of publicity, which made it possible to openly discuss the most pressing problems facing the country.

There was no unity in government circles on the question of the future fate of Russia. Two opposing groups formed here: the old conservative bureaucratic elite (Head of the III Department V.A. Dolgorukov, Minister of State Property M.N. Muravyov, etc.), who actively opposed the implementation of bourgeois reforms, and supporters of reforms (Minister of Internal Affairs S.S. Lanskoy, Ya.I. Rostovtsev, brothers N.A. and D.A. Milyutins).

The interests of the Russian peasantry were reflected in the ideology of the new generation of revolutionary intelligentsia.

In the 1950s, two centers were formed that led the revolutionary democratic movement in the country. The first (emigrant) was headed by A.I. Herzen, who founded the “Free Russian Printing House” in London (1853). Since 1855, he began to publish the non-periodic collection "Polar Star", and since 1857 - together with N.P. Ogarev - the newspaper "Kolokol", which was very popular. In the publications of Herzen, a program of social transformations in Russia was formulated, which included the liberation of the peasants from serfdom with land and for ransom. Initially, the publishers of Kolokol believed in the liberal intentions of the new Emperor Alexander II (1855-1881) and pinned certain hopes on reasonable reforms “from above”. However, as projects for the abolition of serfdom were being prepared, the illusions dissipated, and on the pages of London publications a call for a struggle for land and democracy sounded in full voice.

The second center arose in St. Petersburg. It was headed by the leading employees of the Sovremennik magazine, N.G. Chernyshevsky and N.A. Shelgunov and others). The censored articles of N.G. Chernyshevsky were not as frank as the publications of A.I. Herzen, but differed in their consistency. N.G. Chernyshevsky believed that when the peasants were freed, the land should be transferred to them without redemption, the liquidation of the autocracy in Russia would take place in a revolutionary way.

On the eve of the abolition of serfdom, a demarcation of the revolutionary-democratic and liberal camps was outlined. The liberals, who recognized the need for reforms "from above", saw in them, first of all, an opportunity to prevent a revolutionary explosion in the country.

The Crimean War put the government before a choice: either to preserve the feudal order that existed in the country and, as a result of this, ultimately, as a result of a political and financial and economic catastrophe, not only lose the prestige and position of a great power, but also jeopardize the existence of autocracy in Russia, or proceed to carry out bourgeois reforms, the most important of which was the abolition of serfdom.

Choosing the second path, the government of Alexander II in January 1857 created a Secret Committee "to discuss measures to arrange the life of the landlord peasants." Somewhat earlier, in the summer of 1856, in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Comrade (Deputy) Minister A.I. Levshin developed a government program of peasant reform, which, although it gave civil rights to serfs, kept all the land in the ownership of the landowner and provided the latter with patrimonial power in the estate. In this case, the peasants would receive allotment land for use, for which they would have to perform fixed duties. This program was set out in imperial rescripts (instructions), first addressed to the Vilna and St. Petersburg governors-general, and then sent to other provinces. In accordance with the rescripts, special committees began to be created in the provinces to consider the case locally, and the preparation of the reform received publicity. The Secret Committee was renamed the Main Committee for Peasant Affairs. A significant role in the preparation of the reform began to play the Zemsky Department under the Ministry of Internal Affairs (N.A. Milyutin).

Within the provincial committees there was a struggle between liberals and conservatives over the form and degree of concessions to the peasantry. Reform projects prepared by K.D. Kavelin, A.I. Koshelev, M.P. Posen. Yu.F. Samarin, A.M. Unkovsky, were distinguished by the political views of the authors and economic conditions. Thus, the landlords of the black earth provinces, who owned expensive land and kept the peasants on corvee, wanted to retain the maximum possible amount of land and keep the hands of workers. In the industrial non-chernozem quitrent provinces, in the course of the reform, the landowners wanted to receive significant funds for restructuring their farms in a bourgeois way.

Prepared proposals and programs were submitted for discussion to the so-called Editorial Committees. The struggle around these proposals was carried on both in these commissions and during the consideration of the draft in the Main Committee and in the State Council. But, despite the differences in opinion, in all these projects it was about carrying out a peasant reform in the interests of the landowners by maintaining landownership and political dominance in the hands of the Russian nobility, “Everything that could be done to protect the benefits of the landowners has been done,” - Alexander II declared in the State Council. The final version of the reform project, which underwent a number of changes, was signed by the emperor on February 19, 1861, and on March 5, the most important documents regulating the implementation of the reform were published: the “Manifesto” and “General Provisions on Peasants who Abandoned Serfdom”.

In accordance with these documents, the peasants received personal freedom and could now freely dispose of their property, engage in commercial and industrial activities, buy and lease real estate, enter the service, receive an education, and conduct their family affairs.

All the land remained in the ownership of the landowner, but part of it, usually a reduced allotment of land and the so-called “estate residence” (a plot with a hut, outbuildings, vegetable gardens, etc.), he was obliged to transfer to the peasants for use. Thus, the Russian peasants were released with land, but they could use this land for a certain fixed dues or serving corvee. The peasants could not give up these allotments for 9 years. For complete liberation, they could buy out the estate and, by agreement with the landowner, put it on, after which they became peasant owners. Until that time, a “temporarily liable position” had been established.

The new sizes of allotments and payments of peasants were fixed in special documents, "statutory charters". which were drawn up for each village over a two-year period. The size of these duties and allotment land was determined by the “Local Regulations”. So, according to the “Great Russian” local position, the territory of 35 provinces was distributed into 3 bands: non-chernozem, chernozem and steppe, which were divided into “localities”. In the first two lanes, depending on local conditions, the “higher” and “lower” (1/3 of the “highest”) sizes of the allotment were established, and in the steppe strip - one “decree” allotment. If the pre-reform size of the allotment exceeded the “highest”, then pieces of land could be produced, but if the allotment was less than the “lower”, then the landowner had to either cut the land or reduce the duties. Cuts were also made in some other cases, for example, when the owner, as a result of allocating land to the peasants, had less than 1/3 of the entire land of the estate. Among the cut off lands, the most valuable plots (forest, meadows, arable land) often turned out to be, in some cases the landlords could demand the transfer of peasant estates to new places. As a result of the post-reform land management, the Russian village became characterized by striped stripes.

Statutory letters were usually concluded with the whole rural society, the "world" (community), which was supposed to provide mutual responsibility in paying duties.

The “temporarily liable” position of the peasants ceased after the transfer to redemption, which became mandatory only 20 years later (since 1883). The ransom was carried out with the assistance of the government. The basis for calculating redemption payments was not the market price of land, but the assessment of duties that were feudal in nature. At the conclusion of the deal, the peasants paid 20% of the amount, and the state paid the remaining 80% to the landowners. The peasants had to repay the loan provided by the state annually in the form of redemption payments for 49 years, while, of course, accrued interest was taken into account. Redemption payments were a heavy burden on the peasant farms. The value of the purchased land significantly exceeded its market price. During the redemption operation, the government also tried to get back the huge sums that were provided to the landowners in the pre-reform years on the security of land. If the estate was mortgaged, then the amount of the debt was deducted from the amounts provided to the landowner. The landlords received only a small part of the redemption amount in cash, and special interest tickets were issued for the rest.

It should be borne in mind that in modern historical literature, issues related to the implementation of the reform have not been fully developed. There are different points of view on the degree of transformation in the course of the reform of the system of peasant allotments and payments (at present, these studies are being carried out on a large scale using computers).

The reform of 1861 in the inner provinces was followed by the abolition of serfdom on the outskirts of the empire - in Georgia (1864-1871), Armenia and Azerbaijan (1870-1883), which was often carried out with even less consistency and with greater preservation of feudal vestiges. Specific peasants (belonging to royal family) received personal freedom on the basis of decrees of 1858 and 1859. “Regulations June 26, 1863.” the land arrangement and conditions for the transition to redemption in the specific village were determined, which was carried out during 1863-1865. In 1866, a reform was carried out in the state village. The redemption of land by state peasants was completed only in 1886.

Thus, the peasant reforms in Russia actually abolished serfdom and marked the beginning of the development of the capitalist formation in Russia. However, while retaining landownership and feudal remnants in the countryside, they were unable to resolve all the contradictions, which ultimately led to further aggravation of the class struggle.

The response of the peasantry to the publication of the "Manifesto" was a massive explosion of discontent in the spring of 1861. The peasants protested against the preservation of corvee and payment of dues, cuts of land. The peasant movement acquired a particularly large scale in the Volga region, in the Ukraine and in the central black earth provinces.

Russian society was shocked by the events in the villages of Bezdna (Kazan province) and Kandeevka (Penza province), which took place in April 1863. The peasants, outraged by the reform, were shot there by military teams. In total, in 1861, more than 1,100 peasant unrest took place. Only by drowning the demonstrations in blood did the government manage to bring down the intensity of the struggle. Disunited, spontaneous and devoid of political consciousness, the protest of the peasants was doomed to failure. Already in 1862-1863. the range of motion has been significantly reduced. In the following years, it declined sharply (in 1864 there were less than 100 performances).

In 1861-1863. during the period of exacerbation of the class struggle in the countryside, the activity of democratic forces in the country intensified. After the suppression of peasant uprisings, the government, feeling more confident, attacked the democratic camp with repressions.

Peasant reform of 1861, its content and significance.

The peasant reform of 1861, which abolished serfdom, marked the beginning of the capitalist formation in the country.

main reason Peasant reform was the crisis of the feudal-serf system. Crimean War 1853–1856 revealed the rottenness and impotence of serf Russia. In the context of peasant unrest, especially intensified during the war, tsarism went to the abolition of serfdom.

In January 1857 A secret committee was formed under the chairmanship of Emperor Alexander II "to discuss measures to arrange the life of the landlord peasants", which at the beginning of 1858. was reorganized into the Main Committee for Peasant Affairs. At the same time, provincial committees were formed, which were engaged in the development of draft peasant reforms, considered by the Editorial Commissions.

February 19, 1861 in St. Petersburg, Alexander II signed the Manifesto on the abolition of serfdom and the "Regulations on peasants emerging from serfdom", consisting of 17 legislative acts.

The main act - "The General Regulations on Peasants Who Have Emerged from Serfdom" - contained the main conditions for the peasant reform:

1. peasants received personal freedom and the right to dispose of their property;

2. The landowners retained ownership of all the lands belonging to them, but were obliged to provide the peasants with "estate settlement" and a field allotment for use "to ensure their life and to fulfill their duties to the government and the landowner";

3. peasants for the use of allotment land had to serve corvee or pay dues and did not have the right to refuse it for 9 years. The size of the field allotment and duties had to be fixed in the statutory charters of 1861, which were drawn up by the landowners for each estate and checked by peace mediators;

- the peasants were given the right to buy out the estate and, by agreement with the landowner, the field plot, before this they were called temporarily liable peasants.

The "general provision" determined the structure, rights and obligations of the bodies of peasant public (village and volost) administration and courts.

Four "Local Regulations" determined the size of land allotments and duties of peasants for their use in 44 provinces of European Russia. The first of them is "Great Russian", for 29 Great Russian, 3 Novorossiysk (Ekaterinoslav, Tauride and Kherson), 2 Belarusian (Mogilev and part of Vitebsk) and parts of Kharkov provinces. All this territory was divided into three bands (non-chernozem, chernozem and steppe), each of which consisted of "localities".

In the first two bands, depending on the "locality", the highest (from 3 to 7 acres; from 2 from 3/4 to 6 acres) and the lowest (1/3 of the highest) sizes of soul taxes were established. For the steppe, one "decree" allotment was determined (in the Great Russian provinces from 6 to 12 acres; in Novorossiysk, from 3 to 6 1/5 acres). The size of the state tithe was determined to be 1.09 hectares.

Allotment land was provided to the "rural society", i.e. community, according to the number of souls (only male) by the time the charters were drawn up, who had the right to put on.

From the land that was in the use of the peasants before February 19, 1861, cuts could be made if the per capita allotments of the peasants exceeded the highest size established for this "locality", or if the landowners, while maintaining the existing peasant allotment, had less than 1/3 of the land of the estate. Allotments could be reduced under special agreements between peasants and landowners, as well as upon receipt of a donation allotment.

If the peasants had plots of less than the lowest size in use, the landowner was obliged to cut the missing land or reduce duties. For the highest spiritual allotment, a quitrent was set from 8 to 12 rubles per year or corvée - 40 male and 30 female working days per year. If the allotment was less than the highest, then the duties decreased, but not proportionally.

The rest of the "Local provisions" basically repeated the "Great Russian", but taking into account the specifics of their regions.

Features of the peasant reform for certain categories of peasants and specific areas were determined by 8 "Additional rules": "Arrangement of peasants settled in the estates of small landowners, and on benefits to these owners"; "People assigned to private mining plants of the department of the Ministry of Finance"; "Peasants and workers serving work at Perm private mining plants and salt mines"; "Peasants serving work in the landowner's factories"; "Peasants and yard people in the Land of the Don Cossacks"; "Peasants and yard people in the Stavropol province"; "Peasants and yard people in Siberia"; "Olyudyakh, who came out of serfdom in the Bessarabian region".

The Manifesto and "Regulations" were promulgated on March 5 in Moscow and from March 7 to April 2 in St. Petersburg. Fearing the dissatisfaction of the peasants with the conditions of the reform, the government took a number of precautionary measures: it redeployed troops, sent members of the imperial retinue to the places, issued an appeal by the Synod, and so on. However, the peasants, dissatisfied with the enslaving conditions of the reform, responded to it with mass unrest. The largest of them were the Bezdnensky and Kandeevsky speeches of the peasants in 1861.

On January 1, 1863, the peasants refused to sign about 60% of the letters. The purchase price of the land significantly exceeded its market value at that time, in some areas -

2-3 times. In many districts, peasants sought to receive donation plots, thereby reducing allotment land use: in Saratov province by 42.4%, Samara province by 41.3%, Poltava province by 37.4%, Yekaterinoslav province by 37.3%, etc. The lands cut off by the landlords were a means of enslaving the peasants, since they were vital to the peasant economy: watering, pasture, haymaking, etc.

The transition of the peasants to ransom lasted for several decades, on December 28, 1881. a law on compulsory redemption was issued on January 1, 1883, the transfer to which was completed by 1895. In total, by January 1, 1895, 124,000 redemption transactions were approved, according to which 9,159 thousand souls in areas with communal farming and 110,000 households in areas with household farming were transferred to the redemption. About 80% of buyout transactions were mandatory.

As a result of the peasant reform (according to the information of 1878) in the provinces of European Russia, 9860 thousand souls of peasants received 33728 thousand acres of land (an average of 3.4 acres per capita). U115 thousand landlords left 69 million dessiatines (an average of 600 dessiatins per owner).

What did these "average" indicators look like after 3.5 decades? The political and economic power of the tsar rested on the nobles and landowners. According to the 1897 census in Russia there were 1 million 220 thousand hereditary nobles and more than 600 thousand personal nobles, to whom the noble title was given, but not inherited. All of them were landowners.

Of these: about 60 thousand - small estate nobles, had 100 acres each; 25.5 thousand - average local, had from 100 to 500 acres; 8 thousand large nobles who had from 500 to 1000 acres: 6.5 thousand - the largest nobles who had from 1000 to 5000 acres.

At the same time, there were 102 families in Russia: the princes Yusupovs, Golitsyns, Dolgorukovs, counts Bobrinskys, Orlovs, and others, whose possessions amounted to more than 50 thousand acres, that is, about 30% of the landed estates of Russia.

The largest owner in Russia was Tsar Nicholas I. He owned vast tracts of so-called cabinet and specific lands. Gold, silver, lead, copper, timber were mined there. He leased out much of the land. The property of the king was managed by a special ministry of the imperial court.

Filling out the questionnaire for the census, Nicholas II wrote in the column about the profession: "The owner of the Russian land."

As for the peasants, the average allotment of a peasant family, according to the census, was 7.5 acres.

The significance of the peasant reform of 1861 was that it abolished feudal ownership of workers and created a market for cheap labor. The peasants were declared personally free, that is, they had the right to buy land and houses in their name, to conclude various transactions. The reform was based on the principle of gradualness: within two years, statutory letters were to be drawn up that determined the specific conditions for the liberation of the peasants, then the peasants were transferred to the position of "temporarily liable" until the transition to redemption and in the subsequent 49-year period, paying the debt to the state that bought the land for peasants from landlords. Only after that the land allotments should become the full property of the peasants.

For the liberation of the peasants from serfdom, Emperor Alexander II was called by the people the "LIBERATOR". Judge for yourself what was more here - truth or hypocrisy? It should be noted that out of the total number of peasant unrest that occurred throughout the country in 1857-1861, 1340 out of 2165 (62%) speeches occurred after the announcement of the 1861 reform.

Thus, the peasant reform of 1861. was a bourgeois reform carried out by the feudal lords. This was a step towards the transformation of Russia into a bourgeois monarchy. However, the peasant reform did not resolve the socio-economic contradictions in Russia, retained landownership and a number of other feudal-serf remnants, led to a further aggravation of the class struggle, and served as one of the main causes of the social explosion of 1905–1907. XX century.

Crimean War 1853 - 1856 - one of the largest events of the XIX century, which marked a sharp turn in the history of Europe. The immediate cause for the Crimean War was the events around Turkey, but its true causes were much more complex and deeper. They were rooted primarily in the struggle between liberal and conservative principles.

V early XIX century, the indisputable triumph of conservative elements over the revolutionary predatory elements ended at the end of the Napoleonic wars with the Congress of Vienna in 1815, which established the political structure of Europe for a long time. Conservative-protective "System Metternich" prevailed throughout the European continent and received its expression in the Holy Alliance, which at first embraced all the governments of continental Europe and represented, as it were, their mutual insurance against attempts to renew the bloody Jacobin terror anywhere. Attempts at new ("southern Romanesque") revolutions made in Italy and Spain in the early 1820s were suppressed by decisions of the congresses of the Holy Alliance. However, the situation began to change after the French Revolution of 1830, which was successful and changed towards greater liberalism internal orders France. The July coup of 1830 caused revolutionary events in Belgium and Poland. The system of the Congress of Vienna crackled. A split was brewing in Europe. The liberal governments of England and France began to draw closer against the conservative powers - Russia, Austria and Prussia. Then an even more serious revolution broke out in 1848, which, however, was defeated in Italy and Germany. At the same time, the Berlin and Vienna governments received moral support from St. Petersburg, and the Russian army directly helped the Austrian Habsburgs to suppress the uprising in Hungary. Shortly before the Crimean War, the conservative group of powers, with the most powerful of them, Russia, at the head, seemed to be even more united, restoring their hegemony in Europe.

This forty-year hegemony (1815 - 1853) aroused hatred on the part of European liberals, which was directed with particular force against "backward", "Asiatic" Russia as the main stronghold of the Holy Alliance. Meanwhile international position brought to the fore the events that helped unite the western group of liberal powers and divided the eastern, conservative one. These events were complications in the East. The interests of England and France, in many respects dissimilar, converged on the protection of Turkey from absorption by Russia. On the contrary, Austria could not be a sincere ally of Russia in this matter, for she, like the British and French, most of all feared the absorption of the Turkish East by the Russian Empire. Thus, Russia was isolated. Although the main historical interest of the struggle was the task of eliminating the protective hegemony of Russia, which had towered over Europe for 40 years, the conservative monarchies left Russia alone and thus prepared the triumph of liberal powers and liberal principles. In England and France, the war with the northern conservative colossus was popular. If it were caused by a clash over some Western issue (Italian, Hungarian, Polish), then it would rally the conservative powers of Russia, Austria and Prussia. However, the eastern, Turkish question, on the contrary, separated them. He served as the external cause of the Crimean War of 1853-1856.

Crimean War 1853-1856. Map

The pretext for the Crimean War was the bickering over the holy places in Palestine, which began as early as 1850 between the Orthodox clergy and the Catholic, who was under the patronage of France. To resolve the issue, Emperor Nicholas I sent (1853) to Constantinople an extraordinary envoy, Prince Menshikov, who demanded that the Porte confirm the protectorate of Russia over the entire Orthodox population of the Turkish Empire, established by previous treaties. The Ottomans were supported by England and France. After almost three months of negotiations, Menshikov received a decisive refusal from the Sultan to accept the note presented by him and on May 9, 1853 returned to Russia.

Then Emperor Nicholas, without declaring war, brought the Russian army of Prince Gorchakov into the Danube principalities (Moldavia and Wallachia), “until Turkey satisfies the just demands of Russia” (manifesto of June 14, 1853). The conference of representatives of Russia, England, France, Austria and Prussia, which met in Vienna to remove the causes of disagreement by peaceful means, did not achieve its goal. At the end of September, Turkey, under the threat of war, demanded that the Russians clear the principalities within two weeks. On October 8, 1853, the English and French fleets entered the Bosphorus, thereby violating the convention of 1841, which declared the Bosphorus closed to warships of all powers.