In the first half of the XIX century. The Russian Empire included the peoples of Siberia, the Volga region, Kazakhs, Bashkirs, Armenians, Azerbaijanis, Georgians, Dagestanis, Jews, peoples of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine. Each nation had its own original culture and was part of a single multinational state. Relations with Russia developed in different ways: tension remained in the Caucasus, Orthodoxy was implanted in the western regions of Ukraine and Belarus, control over Moldova was carried out through the support of the old political regime. Tsarist power in the localities was established through the feudal lords, however, within the states, popular unrest grew and peasant uprisings broke out.

• - The Armenians considered their transition to Russian citizenship as a liberation. It delivered the Armenian people from feudal fragmentation and Muslim threats. At the same time, modern Armenian literature was born. Its founder H. Abovyan vividly described the Russian-Persian war and the participation of his people in it.
• - Siberia is a huge region with the richest natural resources and no less great human potential. However, at the beginning of the 19th century, it was perceived only as a kind of raw material appendage of the Russian Empire, and remained far away from the main development.
• - It so happened that the tsarist power mainly concerned only the central part of Russia, and its Siberian expanses were not particularly controlled. The peoples led an ancient way of life, and their way of life did not fit into the overall picture of the country's development. This needed to be changed.
• - Kazakhstan has never developed in isolation from Russian culture. It so happened that it was there that objectionable Russian figures (in particular, writers and poets) were most often exiled. Therefore, his original folklore was closely intertwined with Russian literary traditions.
• - Russia treated Kazakhstan only as a supplier of various raw materials. Actively supported the power of local feudal lords. All this oppressed and revolted the people, caused discontent, which, in the end, resulted in the armed uprising of Isatai Taimanov in the 19th century.
• - Largely due to the connivance of tsarist Russia, the people of Kazakhstan in the first half of the 19th century began to sharply stratify into rich and poor. This not only did not contribute to development, but also threw it back. This state of affairs needed to be changed urgently.
• - The tsarist government is trying to forcibly educate and cultivate the population of Bashkiria, however, these attempts are not successful. The lack of written language and educational institutions is successfully replaced by local theological schools and the work of local satirical poets.
• - The position of the poor strata of the Bashkir population turns out to be worse than the Russian serfs. The situation is aggravated by the system of cantonal government, which imposes on people additional responsibilities and expenses for military service and public works.
• - The idea of ​​the need for universal literacy was born at the beginning of the 19th century, along with the appearance of the first prototype of the primer. At the same time, the first prominent Tatar figures, including scientists, became known. They advocate the rapprochement of Russian and Tatar cultures.
• - The situation of the peasants is becoming more and more deplorable every year. The tsarist elite and those in power are actively exploiting the working class in their own interests. The poor strata of the population, in addition to their main activities, are forced to look for additional sources of income.
• - The ideology of Muridism is turning into a religious justification for the unnatural cooperation between the Caucasus and Russia. Imam Shamil becomes the head of a whole movement, establishes international relations with allies, but by the mid-70s of the XIX century, his ideas collapse.
• - The Ottoman Empire, like Russia, sought to expand its possessions at the expense of the Western Caucasus. In the fight against Russia, the jihadist ideology of fighting the infidels was used. England was also afraid of the strengthening of Russia and supported the desire of the Caucasian peoples for independence.
• - At the time of joining Russia, the Dagestan tribes were at the stage of decomposition of feudal society. The presence of a large Russian military corps and the influence of neighboring Muslim states contributed to tensions in the region. In general, the attitude towards Russians in the region was not hostile.
• - Writers and educators Abbas-kuli Bakikhanov and Mirza Fatali Akhundov created a new Azerbaijani literature in the living folk language. Their work is distinguished by a variety of themes and genres: from comedies on everyday topics to topical journalism and philosophical treatises.
• - In the first decade of the nineteenth century. Russia took control of most of modern Azerbaijan. The rule of local khans was gradually replaced by sent Russian military and civilian rulers. This made it possible to overcome the decline in which Azerbaijan was at the turn of the century.
• - After the accession of Georgia to Russia, a strong interaction between the two cultures began. The work of Pushkin, Griboedov, Lermontov, Shevchenko and others is closely connected with Georgia. Georgian poets, in turn, felt the influence of Russian and European cultural trends.
• - Starting with the annexation of the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti, Russia first subjugated the state formations of the Caucasus, and then included them in its composition. Some peoples (Kabards, Chechens, Circassians, Lezgins) offered armed resistance to Russian expansion.
• - In 1817-1838 societies for the study of Baltic cultures appeared. They became an alternative to the University of Tartu, where the Balt students were Germanised. In the 1940s, the national awakening of the Baltics began, associated with the names of J. Sommer and K. Peterson.
• - The “Regulations” of 1804 did not give the Ostezey (Baltic) peasants new rights, but clearly normalized relations between the landowner and the peasant. In 1819, the peasants of the Baltic provinces were freed from personal dependence, but the land remained in the ownership of the landowners.
• - In the administration of the Baltic provinces, tsarism relied on a privileged German minority. It retained the rights of broad self-government. Only peasant unrest at the end of the eighteenth century forced the government to ease the oppression of the peasantry and start reforms.
• - The Jewish population could only settle within the boundaries of the Pale of Settlement, held under Catherine II. Recruitment among the Jews was subject to 12-year-old children. The educational and fiscal systems of the Russian Empire were directed towards the assimilation of the Jews.
• - The most famous native of Lithuania at the beginning of the 19th century. considered Adam Mickiewicz, who considered himself both a Lithuanian and a Pole. The most famous Lithuanian poets of that time were Dionizas Poshka and Antanas Strazdas. Their poetry was based on folklore traditions.
• - The Belarusian language was considered a muzhik dialect and met with the neglect of Polish and Russian landowners. Publications in the Belarusian language were banned. In the fight against revolutionary sentiments, Nicholas I liquidated the Vilna University, and later banned the use of the words "Lithuania" and "Belarus".
• - In the first three decades of the nineteenth century. the landlords gradually increased their oppression, increasing the dues and the number of days of corvée. Rumors of unrest in Poland and Galicia pushed the Belarusian peasantry to resist the oppression of the landlords. Sometimes the peasants managed to drive the landowners away for a short time.
• - Russification policy was carried out on the Belarusian lands. Catholic and Uniate educational institutions were closed. The petty gentry were deprived of their privileges. The peasantry suffered the most from national oppression, on which the bulk of taxes and duties were also assigned.
• - Manufactories, which were based on the labor of serfs, gradually fell into decay, while the productivity of enterprises that used civilian workers increased. Belarusian and Lithuanian goods were exported to Western Europe and the Russian market.
• - The influence of Russian literary figures contributed to the formation of outstanding Moldovan writers. In the work of Pushkin, who lived for three years in Bessarabia, notes of local folklore can be traced. In the Bulgarian colonies, the level of national self-consciousness increased.
• - After accession, Moldova exported grain, livestock, horses, sheep wool, tobacco, took first place in the production of wine in Russia. However, the country remained backward due to the policy of tsarism, which used Moldova as a source of raw materials.
• - Left-bank Moldavia, a significant part of the population of which were fugitive peasants, became part of Russia at the end of the 18th century, and in 1812 Bessarabia was annexed. Although formally the bulk of the population was free, it became dependent on the feudal lords who took possession of the land.
• - For Ukrainian literature in this period was characterized by the theme of the hard fate of the enslaved people. Taras Shevchenko, who became the most prominent figure in Ukrainian art, is still considered a symbol of the struggle for freedom. His works, written in the folk language, are a reflection of the realities of the 19th century.
• - The organization of secret societies is one of the characteristic phenomena of the middle of the 19th century. In Ukraine, the Cyril and Methodius Society set as its goal the unification of all Slavic peoples and the deliverance of the peasants from heavy feudal dependence. But the society was exposed and all its members were arrested.
• - In the middle of the 19th century, the peasant movement in Ukraine became more and more large-scale. Mass demonstrations and cases of peasants fleeing from the landowners were observed more often. The government took appropriate measures to strengthen the oppression of serfs in order to stop the riots that were starting.
• - The tightening of serfdom in Ukraine was manifested in the establishment of military settlements and in attaching peasants to the land. The peasants put up significant resistance to the new rules by mass armed uprisings. The Decembrist Society was also called upon to change the current situation.
• - The policy of serfdom in the middle of the 19th century in Ukraine acquired more and more large-scale dimensions. Polish landowners were endowed with significant privileges, which had a negative effect on the position of the peasants. The new inventory rules also supported the feudal system.
• - The discovery of new deposits in Ukraine has become an impetus for the development of light and heavy industry. To advance this sphere, it was necessary to develop free labor and capitalist relations. Grain exports also continued and accounted for one of the main income items.

Despite the emerging trend of Europeanization of Russia in the 17th century, in general, it lagged significantly behind the level of development of European states. The archaic political, financial and military system of the Russian state did not allow achieving tangible results. In order to fight on equal terms with the European powers and the Ottoman Empire for access to the seas, it was necessary to borrow some of the achievements of Europe. Under these conditions, only the modernization of Russia's life would help to enter the circle of European states. The first attempt to modernize Russia, associated with the decomposition of feudalism, was the reforms of Peter I.

In the history of the Petrine reforms, researchers distinguish two stages: before and after 1715 (V.I. Rodenko, A.B. Kamensky): at the first stage, the reforms were chaotic and were caused primarily by the military needs of the state associated with the conduct of the Northern war. They were carried out mainly by violent methods and were accompanied by active state intervention in the affairs of the economy (regulation of trade, industry, tax, financial and labor activities). Many reforms were ill-conceived, hasty in nature, which was caused both by failures in the war and by the lack of personnel, experience, and pressure from the old conservative apparatus; at the second stage, when hostilities had already been transferred to enemy territory, the transformations became more systematic. There was a further strengthening of the apparatus of power, manufactories no longer only served military needs, but also produced consumer goods for the population; state regulation of the economy was somewhat weakened, merchants and entrepreneurs were given a certain freedom of action.

The most important direction of the transformations of Peter I was the reform of the state-administrative system of the country: a) instead of the Boyar Duma, the Senate was established - the highest administrative body for judicial, financial and military affairs. It consisted of nobles close to the king;

the system of orders was replaced by 11 boards with a clear division of functions and a collective decision-making principle; c) to control the activities of state bodies, a prosecutor's office headed by a chief prosecutor was created; d) the system of local government was reorganized. The country is divided into 8 provinces headed by governors. Provinces were divided into provinces, provinces into counties. City government was transferred to city magistrates, whose members were elected from merchants for life; d0 the patriarchate was abolished and state administration of the Orthodox Church was introduced through a new body - the Holy Synod, consisting of representatives of the clergy appointed by the king; f) the system of succession to the throne has changed (Decree of 1722), now the monarch himself appointed his successor; g) in 1721 Russia was proclaimed an empire.

During the implementation of Peter the Great's reforms, changes occurred in the position of social groups in the social estate structure of society: a) the process of formation of the nobility was completed; b) a decree on uniform inheritance was issued, which legally equalized patrimonial and estate property. Only one of the heirs could become the heir to real estate, and the rest got movable property (a de facto ban on splitting estates during inheritance);

the introduction of compulsory service for the nobility, in which the principle of passage ("breed") is replaced by the principle of length of service;

the publication in 1722 of the Table of Ranks, which divided all military and civil positions into 14 ranks, now the passage from rank to rank depended not on the nobility of the family, but on the personal merits of the nobles.

The essence of the military reform of Peter I was the elimination of the noble militia and the organization of a permanent regular army with a uniform structure, weapons, uniforms and charter. A recruiting system based on the estate-serf principle was introduced. The navy was created.

In the field of economics, the main direction was the creation of manufactories, first by the treasury, and then by private individuals. The owners of manufactories received the right to buy peasants, but not for personal property, but only for work at a given enterprise (possession peasants). New industries arose: shipbuilding, glass and earthenware, silk spinning, and paper production. In the field of domestic and foreign trade, the policy of mercantilism and protectionism dominated.

The reforms of Peter I in the field of education and culture were aimed at enlightening society, reorganizing the education system: a) a network of elementary schools (digital schools) was created; b) special schools with vocational training have been created: mining, stationery, school of translators; c) special technical educational institutions were organized: navigation, artillery, engineering, medical schools; d) in 1725, the Academy of Sciences was opened in St. Petersburg. Of great importance was the reform of the civil type, which contributed to a more massive consumption of book products; the publication of the Vedomosti newspaper began. The life of the ruling class was reformed according to the Western model: shaving beards, wearing dresses according to foreign models. Simplified palace life. It became more dynamic: the famous assemblies not only drank and danced, but also resolved business issues. All cultural transformations concerned only the tops of society.

All the reforming activities of Peter I were closely connected with an active foreign policy, the struggle for access to the Baltic, Black and Caspian Seas.

The first Azov campaigns were made at the end of the 17th century: in 1695, the siege of the Turkish fortress of Azov was unsuccessful, since there was no fleet. After the construction of 30 ships in 1696, Azov was taken and the fortress of Taganrog was founded, but in 1710 these conquests had to be given up. It was not possible to reach the Black Sea.

Peter I conducted the main military operations with Sweden during the Northern War (1700-1721), there was a war for the Baltic. On August 30, 1721, the Treaty of Nishtad was concluded: Estland, Livonia, Ingria with St. Petersburg and part of Karelia were annexed to Russia. It was an outlet to the Baltic Sea. Russia

became a great maritime power. There was also the Persian campaign (1722-1723), as a result of which they managed to get the western coast of the Caspian, but soon had to give it up again.

The assessment of the reforming activity of Peter I is far from unambiguous. It was a vivid example of reforms "from above": a) a huge contribution was made to the transformation of Russia into an empire with a powerful army and navy. At the end of his life, Peter 1 called Russia an empire, although this did not correspond to reality; b) the creation of industrial production contributed to a gigantic leap in the productive forces. However, the forced construction was done according to the Western model and was carried out by harsh methods, which led to a cruder exploitation than even the harshest forms of feudal dependence. There was a nationalization of the economy and a further strengthening of serfdom; c) the ongoing reforms in the field of culture led to the mechanical transfer of Western cultural stereotypes to Russian soil, which contributed to the emergence of a tendency to suppress national culture.

The death of Peter I in 1725 led to a long crisis of power. This period in our history is called "palace coups". For 37 years from the death of Peter I to the accession of Catherine II, the throne was occupied by six royal persons who received the throne as a result of complex palace intrigues or coups.

Palace coups were associated with three points: 1) the decree on the succession to the throne of 1722, which gave the monarch the right to appoint an heir, and with each new reign, the question of a successor to the throne arose; 2) the immaturity of Russian society, which was a consequence of Peter's reforms, contributed to the coups; 3) after the death of Peter I, not a single palace coup was complete without the intervention of the guards. It was the military and political force closest to power, clearly aware of its interests in this or that coup. It consisted mainly of nobles, so the guard reflected the interests of a significant part of its class.

After the death of Peter I, his wife Catherine I (1725-1727) was elevated to the throne by the guardsmen. Under her, the Supreme Privy Council was created (A.D. Menshikov, D.M. Golitsyn and others). The Soviet also held power under the grandson of Peter I - Peter II (1727-1730) until Menshikov's exile in 1727.

The Council turned into an organ of the old well-born nobility and after the death of Peter II elevated the niece of Peter I, the Dowager Duchess of Courland Anna Ioannovna (1730-1740), to the throne, with the conditions of her puppet power. But having arrived in Moscow, having received petitions from the nobility, she defiantly broke the agreement with the Supreme Privy Council, abolished it, and transferred control to the Cabinet of Ministers. But the power largely belonged to the favorite of the Empress Biron and those close to the Baltic Germans. Anna Ioannovna strengthens noble privileges: reduces the term of service of nobles in the army to 25 years, abolishes compulsory single inheritance, creates privileged educational institutions for nobles, issues decrees on the exclusive right of nobles to own land and serfs and the right of nobles to exile peasants to Siberia. After the death of the empress, the throne was taken by her niece's son Ivan Antonovich (under the regency of his mother Anna Leonidovna).

In 1741, the guards, outraged by the dominance of the Germans, elevated the daughter of Peter I, Elizabeth Petrovna (1741 - 1761), to the throne. Under her, an attempt was made to restore the role of the governing bodies created by Peter I, his policy for the development of Russian industry was continued; there was a tightening of religious policy (decrees were adopted on the eviction from Russia of persons of the Jewish faith, on the restructuring of Lutheran churches into Orthodox ones; there was a significant expansion of noble benefits (the establishment of noble loan banks, the provision of cheap credit, a monopoly on distillation, etc.).

After the death of Elizabeth Petrovna, her nephew Peter III ascended the throne. During the six-month reign, Peter III adopted 192 decrees. The most important was the "Manifesto on Liberty to the Nobility" (1762), by which the nobles were exempted from compulsory service to the state, were given the opportunity to live on their estates, freely travel abroad, and even enter the service of foreign sovereigns. The golden age of the nobility began. The secularization of church lands in favor of the state was announced, which strengthened the state treasury (the decree was finally implemented by Catherine II in 1764); the secret office was liquidated, trade monopolies were abolished, which hampered the development of entrepreneurship, and freedom of foreign trade was proclaimed. One of these measures were conceived in the previous reign and carried out on the initiative of dignitaries close to the emperor. Peter III had a negative attitude towards everything Russian, the redrawing of many orders according to the Western model offended the national feelings of the Russian people. As a result, on June 28, 1762, a palace coup took place and the wife of Peter III Catherine II was elevated to the throne, and a few days later he was killed.

16. The foreign policy of the Russian emperors during the period of palace coups was determined by access to the seas. The war with Turkey (1735-1739) gave Russia the mouth of the Don with Azov. The war with Sweden (1741-1743) confirmed Russia's acquisitions in the Baltics. In 1756-1763. there was a Seven-Year War of Russia in alliance with Austria, France, Sweden against Prussia, during which the Russian army occupied Berlin in 1760 and Frederick II was ready to sign a peace treaty on any terms, but Peter III, who became emperor after the death of Elizabeth Petrovna, concluded in 1762 peace with Prussia, renouncing all conquests.

Catherine II, brought up on the ideas of the French Enlightenment, in the first period of her reign tried to soften the morals of Russian society, streamline public legislation, and limit serfdom. She wrote "Instruction", which was supposed to serve as a guide for the future legislative assembly. On the one hand, this document carried the idea of ​​the separation of powers and the creation of elements of a rule-of-law state, on the other hand, it did not even mention the elimination of the autocracy, it timidly spoke about the easing of serfdom. Since ideologically this program, and consequently Catherine's internal policy, was based on the principles of enlightenment, this period in Russian history itself was called "enlightened absolutism."

Russian enlightened absolutism is characterized by such events in which the nobles and the state were interested, but which at the same time contributed to the development of a new capitalist order. An important feature of the policy of enlightened absolutism was the desire of the monarchs to ease the sharpness of social contradictions by improving the political superstructure.

The largest event of enlightened absolutism was the convening of the Legislative Commission in 1767 with the aim of revising Russian legislation. But the commission was unable to develop new legislation for the Russian Empire, since it was impossible to combine the liberal ideas of Nakaz with the reality of Russian life, the conflicting needs and wishes of various groups of the population. Two events of the 18th century influenced the curtailment of the policy of enlightened absolutism: the Peasant War led by E. Pugachev in Russia and the Great French Revolution in Europe.

Despite the failure to draw up Russian legislation, Catherine II nevertheless carried out a number of reforms in the spirit of enlightened absolutism, especially in the period before 1775: 1) the senate was divided into 6 departments with strictly defined functions for each. They were headed by chief prosecutors, who were subordinate to the prosecutor general; 2) an imperial council was created under the empress from the closest and most influential dignitaries; 3) in the 80s. 18th century collegiums were liquidated (except for four), replaced by the provincial board; 4) all monastic lands were transferred to the state; 5) in 1775 a provincial reform was carried out. It became an important stage in the transformation of Russia into a unitary state by creating a uniform system of government throughout the empire; 6) in 1785, the "Letter of Letters to the Nobility" was published, which determined the status of the nobility and secured all its rights and privileges received by that time; 7) in 1785, the "Charter on the Rights and Benefits of the Cities of the Russian Empire" was issued, according to which the entire urban population was divided into six categories, merchants were divided into three guilds; 8) in Russia, for the first time, paper money circulation was introduced, which at first led to inflation and caused discontent among the majority of the population.

By the end of the XVIII century. in the socio-economic development of Russia, it is observed that, on the one hand, the process of the formation of capitalist relations has become irreversible: there is an increase in commodity-money relations and the natural isolation of landlord and peasant farms is destroyed; the number of manufactories based on the use of hired labor increases; fishing activity develops; on the other hand, there is an increase in feudal oppression, which is characterized by an increase in lordly and a decrease in peasant plowing, an increase in corvee and dues, the right of the landowner to exile guilty peasants to Siberia for settlement and hard labor, the spread of serfdom to the Left-Bank Ukraine; as a result of the crisis of the feudal-serf system, the Peasant War took place under the leadership of E. Pugachev (1773-1775).

In historical studies there is no unity in assessing the activities of Pavel G. Some historians call the time of his reign "unenlightened absolutism", others - "military-political dictatorship." His reforms were controversial. There was an increase in the centralization of state administration and the abolition of elements of self-government in the provinces and cities (a number of collegiums were restored, councils and city dumas were liquidated); the system of succession to the throne has changed (a return to pre-Petrine principles); the privileges of the nobility were limited (calls for compulsory service, the establishment of a tax on nobles, the introduction of corporal punishment); serf oppression was weakened (limitation of corvée to three days, a ban on the sale of peasants without land, mass distribution of state lands with peasants as awards); implementation of financial stabilization (withdrawal of paper banknotes from circulation); regulation and unification of the aspects of the life of society (a ban on wearing hats, etc., a ban on the import of foreign books). The consequence of the unpredictability of the emperor's policy and its danger to the noble elite will be the last palace coup and the assassination of Paul I on March 12, 1801.

Tasks in foreign policy of the second half of the XVIII century. were: firstly, the struggle for access to the Black Sea; secondly, the liberation from foreign domination of the lands of Ukraine and Belarus and the unification in one state of all the Eastern Slavs; thirdly, the struggle with revolutionary France in connection with the Great French Revolution that began in 1789; fourthly, asserting its interests in European politics, Russia sought to play the role of a guarantor of the independence of the English colonies in North America; observance of Russia's interests in this region - participation in the colonization of North America. As a result: 1) during the two Russian-Turkish wars (1768-1774 and 1787-1791), Russia received territories in the Northern Black Sea region, Kabarda, territories between the Bug and the Dniester, Ochakov and Crimea - this was access to the Black Sea; 2) as a result of the three divisions of the Commonwealth (1772, 1793, 1795), Belarus, Right-Bank Ukraine, Lithuania and the Duchy of Courland were ceded to Russia. The situation on the western borders was stabilized, direct access to the countries of Central Europe was obtained; 3) joining the anti-Napoleonic union of European monarchs, where Russia's main partner was England, the Russian army under the leadership of A.V. Suvorov, together with the Austrians, defeated the French troops in three battles in Northern Italy in 1799, crossed the Alps to Switzerland, but in 1800 Paul 1 entered into an alliance with Napoleon and severed relations with England, recalling the Russian army to Russia; 4) in 1780, during the war of the North American colonies for independence, Russia issued a Declaration of Armed Neutrality, which limited the actions of the British fleet. Other European countries also joined the Declaration, effectively supporting the North American colonies and raising Russia's international prestige. Thus, thanks to the active foreign policy of Russia in the second half of the XVIII century. became a great European power. But in socio-economic terms, Russia remained a backward country, which made its position in the system of European civilization unstable and contradictory.

1800-978 mil people Of these, mil in France, 10 mil in Britain, 3.9 mil in the USA, 37 mil in Russia. In China, about 300 mil. The territory of the Russian Empire at the beginning of 19 19.5 mil kV km.

Despite all the efforts of Peter 1 and Catherine 2, Russia entered the 19 traditional society L. Its main features:

I. The predominant development of agriculture, the public sector in industry, the weak development of financial institutions.

II. Rigid social structure.

III. Hypertrophied development of both individual state institutions, such as the state as a whole.

IV. A special type of worldview that dominates the public mind.

a) Mythological

b) Monologism "there is only one truth"

c) The cult of power.

The 19th century became for Russia the century of transition from a traditional to an industrial society. y. Its characteristic features:

I. Primary development of industry, transport, financial institutions. Emergence of an influential private sector in the economy.

II. The social structure of society is more mobile (social elevators open)

III. Civil society (system of self-government bodies) + mass media

IV. Independent judiciary.

V. Rational type of worldview (willingness to explain and change everything).

Western European countries began the transition from a traditional industrial society in the 17-18 centuries. According to the English historian Toynbee, the main driving forces of this process were:

1. Industrial revolution (1775 Watt steam engine).

2. Nationalism.

3. Revolutionary movements.

In Russia, not one of these forces did not work in full.

a. The industrial revolution began only in 30 g of the 19th century.

b. nationalism did not show itself in the conditions of the empire.

c. There was simply no revolutionary tradition in Russia.

Causes:

1. The special character of the state

3. The imperialism of public consciousness, which is based on the ideas of a special god of the chosenness of the people professing the true faith.

The result of this peculiar situation was unexpected. . In Russia in the 19th century, during the collision of the foundations of traditional society and the most important institutions of industrial society, they were combined.

19 in the focus of attention of most Russian reformers were 2 main issues: 1) serfdom and the agrarian issue in general. 2) an effective form of government. (constitution)

The first serious attempt to resolve these issues was made by the Russian Emperor Alexander 1 (1801-1825). It was he who, in his reforms, faced a whole range of problems that all Russian reformers faced in the future. The most important of them:

I. Social base of reforms.

II. Reform strategy (liberation of peasants with or without land, liberalization of the state system

III. Reform Tactics. (Sequence of reforms and pace of reforms)

1801 - amnesty for the repressed under Paul 1. Permission to create private printing houses; permission to travel abroad. Permission to import books from abroad. Restoration in full of the charter to the nobility. Decree allowing non-nobles to buy uninhabited lands.

1802- ministerial reform. 8 ministries.

1803 - the law on free cultivators, the law allows the peasants to be released into the wild. for 25 years of the law, 47 thousand peasants received freedom.

1804 - the abolition of serfdom in the Baltic provinces. The decision to open new universities. Kazan, Kharkov. Adoption of a university charter (election of the rector, own court, non-interference of state officials in the affairs of universities).

In the second half of the century the theme of reforms dropped markedly. scientists believe that this was due to 3 main circumstances: 1) the ambiguous reaction of society and the emperor's inner circle to the first results of the reforms. 2) problems in the personal life of the sovereign. 3) a sharp change in the situation in the international arena.

2 wars with France (1805, 1806-1807) ended in defeat for Russia. The Treaty of Tilsit hit the economic interests of the Russian nobility and national pride very painfully.

New stage of reforms. These reforms were associated with the name of Mikhail Mikhailovich Speransky. son of a priest in the Vladimir province. He graduated from the theological seminary in St. Petersburg and was left as a teacher of eloquence, physics and philosophy. Independently studied political literature in English, German, French.

He quickly made a career in the Ministry of the Interior. 1807 advisor to the emperor on management issues. With his active participation, decrees were prepared: a) forbidding landlords to exile peasants to Siberia, b) obliging all persons who had a court rank to find a real public service, c) leading a mandatory exam for the rank.

In October 1810, Speransky prepared a draft Introduction to the Code of State Laws, which provided for a radical reform of the entire system of administration of the empire. As part of this reform, in 1810 a state council appeared in Russia, the highest legislative body of 35 people. A year later, the convocation of the State Duma was supposed. Already at the end of 1810 Speransky fell into disgrace and the curtailment of reforms. Speransky's resignation.

War of 1812 and European campaigns of the Russian army again forced Emperor Alexander 1 to return to the reforms. But these were completely different reforms. They took place within the framework of the new European policy of Alexander 1.

1815 Alexander 1 granted the constitution of Poland.

1816 - the first military settlements, within which another attempt was made to solve the problem of serfdom.

1818 - at the request of the emperor, Nikolai Novosiltsev began the development of the installation of a charter of the Russian Empire, which was based on the idea of ​​a compromise. The monarch is ready to limit his power if the nobility agrees to the abolition of serfdom.

As social tensions grew within the country and political conflicts in the international arena, Alexander 1 became more and more distant from public affairs.

The discrepancy between the reforms of Alexander 1 and the expectations of society gave rise to the Decembrist movement. December 14, 1825 put the new Russian Emperor Nicholas 1 in a very difficult position.

The measures taken by the official authorities to suppress the movement were seen by many as inadequate.

Liberal public opinion turned out to be negatively disposed towards everything that the new emperor did. Nicholas 1 was in a state of political isolation. It intensified even more after he took a number of measures to stabilize the situation in the country. A new censorship charter was adopted, the autonomy of universities was eliminated, the rights of special services were expanded, 11 secret committees were created that dealt with peasant problems.

Without the support of society, Nicholas 1 relied on Russian officials. 100 thousand army of Russian officials was under the personal control of the sovereign and was actually taken out of the control of society

Corruption. According to intelligence services, out of 45 governors of the Russian Empire, 3 did not take bribes.

1853-56 Russia shamefully lost the Crimean War. The situation in the country has deteriorated sharply. 1855 Nicholas 1 died.

Alexander 2 (1855-1881) - the time of his reign is usually called the era of great reforms. The most important reform of this era is considered to be the abolition of serfdom. This reform was being prepared for almost 5 years, it began on February 19, 1861 and affected almost 22.5 million serfs. The basic reform formula is land in exchange for money. Among other reforms, a special place was occupied by judicial, zemstvo, military reforms, which were supposed to help millions of former serfs in social adaptation.

The main outcome of the reforms is difficult to assess unambiguously. On the one hand, the reforms created favorable conditions for the rapid development of new elements of the country's economic life (capitalist elements), as a result, there was a rapid growth of all the most important economic indicators. 1877 Russia's foreign trade balance became positive. The length of the railway for 20 years has increased from 2,000 km to 22,000 thousand km. But in other way there was a sharp impoverishment of the village, a drop in the standard of living of many strata of society, which led to an increase in radical sentiments (Earth and Freedom, Black Redistribution, Narodna Volya). The state was unable to find adequate countermeasures against numerous manifestations of extremism. The state was unable to reverse the negative attitude of the majority of Russian society towards such categories as business, capital, and trade. This was largely due to the position of the Russian intelligentsia, which actively criticized the shortcomings of the Russian state.

P/S March 1, 1881 Alexander 2 was killed as a result of a terrorist act. The new Russian emperor Alexander 3 went to a radical change in political course. The reforms were replaced by counter-reforms. the essence of this new policy expresses most clearly the formulas of Orthodoxy, autocracy, and the spirit of humility. The result of the new policy is a new stabilization of the situation in politics.

PS In the scientific literature, there have been disputes for many years about the reasons for the failures of the Russian reformers of the 19th century, among the main reasons I usually name:

I. Chronic budget deficit

II. Underdevelopment of civil society

III. Personal qualities, both reformers and opponents

17.04.12

In the history of Russia

One of the main events of 1917 and the 20th century as a whole was the February Revolution in Russia. The reason has been debated for many years. The most important reasons are usually listed as:

I. The presence of a number of acute objective contradictions and conflicts. Issues not resolved by the first Russian revolution

AND) agrarian question (at the heart of this issue, the problem of land distribution) B) A work question is a question about the length of the working day. This is a question about the level of wages, about social guarantees of freedom. AT) national question. (problem of language, religion, culture)

II. Lack of an effective mechanism for resolving conflict situations, disputes and contradictions. A full-fledged constitution, a full-fledged parliament, and full-fledged political parties never appeared in Russia in 1917.

III. Mistakes in the conduct of domestic and foreign policy made by the government and personally by Emperor Nicholas 2. (Grigory Rasputin, P.A. Stolypin, the emperor's relationship with the State Duma)

IV. Historical traditions of conflicts between the Russian state and society.

V. The activities of radical political organizations, guarded by the principle the worse the better

VI. The activities of foreign states that tried to weaken the authority of Russia and its position in the world market.

VII. The moral crisis of Russian society (largely associated with the crisis of the Russian Orthodox Church)

At the same time, none of these reasons in itself has yet guaranteed the onset of the revolution. The main factor that accelerated the revolutionary processes in Russia was the First World War.

38 states took part in it: divided into 2 unions, the basis of the first was Germany, Austria-Hungary, Turkey. Block 2 England, France, Russia. The reason for the start of the war was the assassination of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Prince Franz Ferdenant.

Causes of the war: the struggle for spheres of influence between the leading world powers. the war began extremely unsuccessfully for Russia, heavy defeats in Prussia led to the death of 1000 soldiers and officers and great moral losses. 1915 the situation worsened even more. 150 thousand killed, 700 wounded, 900 captured. Trying to turn the tide, Nikolai carried out serious personnel changes in the army. Mikhail Alekseev became the chief of the general staff, the emperor himself became the supreme commander. In 1916 the war acquired a pronounced positional character. 1917 leaders of the Entente decided on a joint offensive operation against Germany. In the spring of 1917, which was supposed to lead to the end of the war, but the situation in Russia in the winter of 1918 was rapidly deteriorating.

World War I exacerbated old Russian problems and gave rise to new ones:

1) Financial problem - Russia's total expenses for the war exceeded 30 billion rubles. 1/3 was covered by external loans. 2/3 by internal loans and money issues. Russia's public debt rose 9 billion -24 billion. hyper inflation

2) Transport problem. In the winter of 1916, there were serious interruptions in the work of the railway, through which fuel and food were delivered to Moscow and Petrograd.

3) The problem of discipline and law and order. In 1916, more than one million people took part in strikes in Russia. And the Russian army left 1.5 million deserters.

Scholars continue to argue about when the February Revolution began. Most researchers believe that this happened February 17, 1917 when the strike of workers of one of the workshops of the Putilov factory began . February 22 unable to cope with the strike , government closed the Putilov plant under the pretext of a shortage of raw materials and fuel. 30,000 workers lost their jobs. The situation began to escalate rapidly. On the same day, Nicholas 2 left Petrograd . February 23- 120 thousand workers went on strike in Petrograd. Bread shortages began to be felt in the city. Spontaneous demonstrations of "Bread!", "Down with the War" began in the city. ". 24 February demonstrations resumed "Down with the war, down with the tsar". Workers clash with police for the first time . 25 February the strike in Petrograd became general and political. Nearly 700 people were injured in clashes with police. Nicholas 2 demanded an end to the unrest. February 26 during new street demonstrations, the police used force. Nearly 200 killed. === > soldiers of the Petrograd garrison go over to the side of the rebels steel . February 27 barricades arose on the streets of Petrograd, the rebels seized prisons, an arsenal, part of government institutions ====è the government turned the work . 28th of February units loyal to the emperor began to leave the city.

The main outcome of the February events in Petrograd was the solution of the question of power. The deputies of the State Duma created a provisional committee of the State Duma, the insurgent workers and leaders of radical parties announced the creation of a provisional executive committee of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' Deputies. To the first of March these bodies agreed on the composition of the provisional government. It was supposed to include representatives of the parties of the Cadets, Octobrists, Progressives, several non-party politicians. Contemporaries drew attention to the fact that among the new ministers there were several well-known Masons. Prince Lvov was to become the Prime Minister . 2nd of March The Izvestia newspaper published Order No. 1 of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' Deputies. The order legalized the activities of the soldiers' committees and reassigned the troops of the Petrograd garrison directly to the Petrograd Soviet. the collapse of the command and control system of the Russian army began. At night from March 2-3, 1917 Nicholas 2 signed a decree on the appointment of the chairman of the Council of Ministers, Prince Lvov, and a manifesto on abdication, in favor of Mikhail Alexandrovich Romanov. March, 3rd Mikhail Romanov refused to take the throne and promised to obey any decision constituent assembly.March 8, 1917 By decision of the provisional government, Nikolai Romanov was arrested. The country began the disintegration of the former state apparatus and the formation of a new one, which took place in conditions of dual power.

The Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet quickly agreed on a program for the first joint actions.

amnesty for political prisoners.

· Introduction to countries civil rights and freedoms.

· Cancellation of estates of national religious restrictions ==== preparation for the convocation of a constituent assembly.

April 3, 1917 Bolshevik leader Lenin returned to Russia from immigration . April, 4 expressed his April theses. Main Ideas no support for the interim government. Already at the end April 1917 it became obvious that the interim government could not solve the problems that had accumulated in the country (this is the agrarian question, the labor and national question), the main obstacle to solving these problems was the First World War. On April 1, 1917, Minister of Foreign Affairs Milyukov sent an official declaration of the provisional government (they needed to end the war as soon as possible) to the Allied countries in the Entente bloc. On April 20, the text of the accompanying note by Pavel Milyukov was published in the Russian press. ===è thousands of demonstrations in Petrograd "Down with Milyukov, down with the provisional government." At the same time, counter-demonstrations were organized in the city. "Down with Lenin, down with the Bolsheviks." Miliukov resigned. First crisis of time The government ended with the resignations of a number of ministers and the formation of a new coalition government, which included 7 representatives of the socialist parties, there were no Bolsheviks among them. Second crisis occurred on June 18, 1917, when, at the height of the first All-Russian Congress of Soviets, the Bolsheviks brought almost 200,000 demonstrators to the streets of Petrograd under the slogan All Power to the Soviets. this crisis was resolved by the offensive of Russian troops in the southwestern front June 19, 1917 The third crisis of the provisional government July 3-4, 1917 and was associated with the failure of the offensive on the southwestern front, the crisis was associated with the resignation of Lvov, the arrest of Bolshevik leaders, and the closing of Bolshevik newspapers. The new composition of the provisional government was formed by Alexander Kerensky. Fourth crisis with the provisional government was associated with Kornilov's speech in August 1917. The Supreme Commander of the Russian Army tried to unite the forces that advocated the formation of a tough political power in Russia capable of ensuring Russia's victory in the war . August 27 Kornilov gave the order to attack Petrograd, Kerensky's government resigned, and he himself received special powers to fight the rebels and turned to the left radicals for help. the rebellion was crushed by the efforts of the Bolsheviks. September 1, 1917 Kornilov was arrested, and Russia was proclaimed a republic. Kerensky wrote "Without Kornilov, there would never have been Lenin in Russia." Fifth crisis of the provisional government in October 1917 and was associated with the 2nd All-Russian Congress of Soviets ( October 25-26, 1917). within the framework of this congress, it was supposed to resolve the main issue of convening a constituent assembly, but on the eve of the Bolshevik party organized the October coup and literally forced the congress to form new authorities. The Council of People's Commissars - Chairman V. Lenin and the All-Russian Central Executive Committee - L. Kamenev.

PS The debate about why in 1917 it was the Bolsheviks who won the struggle for power has been going on for many years, both in our country and abroad. Perhaps this was due to the fact that the Bolsheviks were able to accurately capture, express and preserve the radical mood that arose in Russian society during the crisis. Perhaps these are the mistakes of the opponents of the Bolsheviks. Perhaps this is due to the special political talents of the Bolshevik leader. (Lenin and Trotsky)

Administrative unit

Russian Empire at the beginning of the $19th century. was the largest European state. Through the efforts of the rulers for $XVIII$ c. The country has greatly expanded its borders. At the beginning of the $19th century. with the end of the Patriotic War of $ 1812, the western border of the state was settled.

By $1861$, the size of the Russian Empire was $19.6$ million square meters. km.

Under Nicholas I, the system of administrative-territorial division was changed. As a result, in the $1850$-ies. on the European territory of Russia, the number of provinces was 51. The provinces of Finland and Poland had certain privileges and, in general, a special position. In $1822$, Siberia was divided into the West Siberian and East Siberian Governor Generals.

The provinces were mainly divided into counties, however, in remote territories, the administrative division could be different.

Note that the administrative division was not always equal to ethnic and economic.

Remark 1

In general, the existing system worked quite successfully and met its requirements, first of all, political security and stability.

Population

The number of people living in Russia was measured using audits. However, according to the revisions, it was possible to calculate only the number of male taxable souls, which, of course, was not a complete picture. According to the $1795 revision, the population was more than 37 million people. The last revision was carried out in $1857, it became the tenth one, and the population increased to $75 million people. (taking into account the North Caucasus, Transcaucasia, Finland and Poland).

Population growth is due to natural growth due to the relative stability of the country in economic terms, as well as the absence of serious wars and epidemics of devastating diseases.

The predominance of the rural population determined the agrarian nature of the country's economy. So, at the beginning of the XIX century. peasants made up $90% of the population. By the middle of the century, the share of rural residents was $84$%.

The urban population was difficult to calculate because many peasants were engaged in otkhodnichestvo - during the period of the year free from work on the land, they went to the city to earn money, occupying up to 20% of the total number of urban residents. In general, we note that in large cities the number of male residents prevailed.

For $1811, there were $630$ cities in the Russian Empire and $3 million inhabitants in them. In all cities, full-fledged citizens (ie philistines, merchants) accounted for about $40$%.

Most of the cities were very small, sometimes large industrial villages (for example, Ivanovo, Kimry) exceeded them in size. The life of such small towns differed little from the rural one. In Russia $XIX$ c. more than $50 thousand people lived in $5$ cities alone:

• the population of St. Petersburg was $336$ thousand,
• in the middle of the century $500$ thousand,
• Moscow - $ 270 $ thousand,
• and in the middle of the century - $352$ thousand people.

The number of urban residents grew unevenly, the southern cities, as well as the cities of the Volga region, filled the fastest. In relation to the entire population of Russia, the proportion of city dwellers at the beginning of the $19th century. was modest - less than $5$%.

Social composition

Russia remained strictly divided in the social sense, there were many different classes. As a rule, it was extremely difficult to change the class. $10$% of the total population belonged to the exempt estates, i.e. nobility, bureaucracy, clergy, army. The number of nobles in $1,795 was $122,000, and in the middle of the century, it was $462,000. The nobility never exceeded $1$% of the total population.

Remark 2

It is difficult to characterize the ethnicity of the population of the Russian Empire, because It was not the nationality that was taken into account, but the professed religion. Let us only note that the Orthodox constituted $2/3$ of the population of Russia.

Plan

1. Socio-economic development of Russia (the population and its social structure, the crisis of serfdom, the beginning of the industrial revolution).

2. Domestic policy under Alexander I.

3.Foreign policy of Russia in the first half of the XIX century.

4. Domestic policy under Nicholas I.

5. Liberation movement and socio-political thought.

5.1. Socio-economic development of Russia (the population and its social structure, the crisis of serfdom, the beginning of the industrial revolution)

By the beginning of the XIX century. Russia was a huge power, spread over 17 million square meters. km. 37.4 million people lived in this territory in 1795, and 59.3 million in 1857 (excluding Finland and Poland). In 1811, the urban population numbered 2765 thousand people, and in 1863 - 6105 thousand; the proportion of the urban population increased from 6.5% to 8%.

As a feudal society, Russia was characterized by division into estates. The highest privileged estate was the nobility, which consisted of two categories - "hereditary nobility" and "personal nobility". By the middle of the XIX century. there were 887 thousand nobles of both sexes, of which 610 thousand were hereditary. The clergy was also a privileged class, freed from all taxes, recruitment duty and corporal punishment. The number of parish clergy (excluding families) in 1825 was 102 thousand people, and in 1860 - 126 thousand. In 1808 there were 447 Orthodox monasteries, including 353 men's; there were about 5 thousand monks and 6 thousand novices in them. In 1860 the number of monasteries increased to 614, monastics to 8579 and novices to 13223.

Another privileged estate was the merchant class, which consisted of three guilds. It was exempt from the poll tax (instead it paid a guild contribution of 1% of the capital) and corporal punishment, and the merchants of the 1st and 2nd guilds were also exempted from recruitment. The number of merchants for 1801-1851 increased from 125 thousand to 180 thousand male souls.

In 1832, a new privileged estate category was formed - honorary citizens (hereditary and personal), who were exempted from recruitment, corporal punishment, poll tax and other duties. Scientists, artists, children of personal nobles and clergy, etc. fell into the category of honorary citizens.

The bulk of the taxable estates were state, landlord and specific peasants. Before the abolition of serfdom, there were 23.1 million landlord peasants of both sexes, including 1,467,000 yards and 543,000 ascribed. The proportion of serfs was at the end of the XVIII century. 45%, and in 1858 - 37%. Serfdom was not much different from slavery.

The position of the state peasants was somewhat better than that of the landlords. In 1857 they numbered about 19 million people of both sexes. Specific (former palace) peasants, in addition to paying the poll tax, serving recruitment and other state duties, paid dues in favor of the imperial family. From 1800 to 1858, the number of specific peasants increased from 467 thousand to 838 thousand.

The other taxable estate was the philistines - the personally free population of cities. In 1811 there were 703 thousand of them, and in 1858 - 1890 thousand of both sexes. A significant place in the estate structure was occupied by the Cossacks - a paramilitary category of the population. Military service freed the Cossacks from recruitment, poll tax and other duties. According to the law, each audit soul was entitled to an allotment in the amount of 30 acres. In the middle of the XIX century. there were 9 Cossack troops. The number of the Cossacks was approximately 1.5 million people.

Since the 18th century there was a special service group of the population "raznochintsy" - personally free, but not belonging to either privileged or taxable estates. Raznochintsy are, first of all, intellectuals, figures of science, literature, and art. By the middle of the XIX century. raznochintsev, there were 24 thousand d.m.p.

The estate system gradually became obsolete. The merchant class did not control all trade. Merchants of the 3rd guild in large cities dissolved among the trading burghers and peasants, the philistinism mixed with the newcomer peasantry. New classes were formed - the bourgeoisie and the proletariat. They were formed not on a legal, but on an economic basis. The ranks of the bourgeoisie included nobles, merchants, wealthy peasants and philistines. The workers were dominated by peasants and the urban poor.

In the first half of the XIX century. Russia remained a predominantly agrarian country with an extensive character of the development of agriculture. From 1802 to 1860, the sown area increased from 38 to 58 million acres, and the gross harvest of grain - from 155 to 220 million quarters (in one quarter from 7 to 10 pounds). The dominant system of agriculture was the three-field system. Animal husbandry was predominantly subsistence. At the same time, in the first half of the century, the sowing of industrial crops expanded, complex crop rotations were introduced, technically more advanced tools and mechanisms were introduced, the use of hired labor, the rent and purchase of land by peasants increased.

The landed estates, being drawn into commodity-money relations, lose their natural character. The proportion of corvee peasants is growing - from 56 to 71%. However, crisis phenomena intensified in the serf economy, which was reflected in the fall in the productivity of corvee labor. As the peasant economy turned into a small-scale commodity economy, the peasant became more and more weary of the master's work and sabotaged it. Many landowners saw the negative aspects of forced labor, but in the conditions of the narrowness of the wage labor market, it was beneficial for them to use free labor. The means of intensifying the corvée (determination of production rates, partial payment for corvee work, etc.) could not compensate for the growing losses from the fall in labor productivity.

Serious difficulties were also experienced by quitrent landowners' estates. The development of peasant crafts, which gave rise to competition between artisans, as well as the growth of the factory industry, which undermined many peasant crafts, led to a reduction in the earnings of the peasants, and, consequently, the profitability of landlord estates. Under these conditions, the landowners increased the dues. If at the end of the XVIII century. the average amount of dues was 7 rubles. 50 kop. from the heart, then by the end of the 50s. 19th century it rose in the non-chernozem provinces to 17-27 rubles. As a result, since the 1920s arrears in the payment of dues are growing everywhere. Growing duties in kind and state taxes undermined the possibilities of reproduction in peasant farms, which predetermined the slowness of the socio-economic development of Russia.

Some landlords, in the conditions of the crisis of serf economy, introduced multi-field crop rotation, ordered agricultural machines, fertilizers, new varieties of seeds, improved breeds of livestock, etc. But the number of such landlords did not exceed 3-4%, and they failed. The attempt of the landowners to introduce new agricultural techniques while maintaining the feudal foundations was futile, and for the peasants it resulted in increased exploitation, which aggravated social relations in the countryside.

An indicator of the crisis state of the landowners' farms was the increase in the debt of the estates. If by the beginning of the XIX century. no more than 5% of serfs were pledged, then by the 30s - 42%, and by 1859 - 65%. This meant that more than 7 million peasants were listed as mortgaged. Another indicator of the crisis was the fact that in the competition with the bread of American farmers on the European market, Russian bread was rapidly losing ground.

The backwardness of agriculture, low productivity and labor productivity on estates and peasant farms required a large number of workers, which prevented the flow of labor into industry. This slowed down the economic development of the country.

The most important feature of the socio-economic development of Russia was the growing process of decomposition of the feudal-serf system. In the 30s-50s. the contradictions between feudal relations of production and the developing productive forces of society grow into a crisis of the feudal mode of production. In the depths of the feudal system, new capitalist relations developed.

Modern Russian historiography rejects the earlier interpretation of the crisis of the feudal-serf system as a state of complete decline. Along with the crisis phenomena that took place in the landowner's village, there was a noticeable development of the productive forces. The new capitalist mode of production was formed, first of all, in industry. Large-scale industry grew due to the spread of capitalist manufacture. The number of enterprises in the manufacturing industry increased from 2094 in 1799 to 5261 in 1825 and 15338 in 1860. The share of hired workers increased from 1799 to 1860 from 41 to 82%. True, serf labor in manufacturing enterprises increased by 2.5 times, and the vast majority of civilian employees were not free proletarians, but peasants released to work.

A noticeable phenomenon in the development of industry was the beginning of the industrial revolution. In technical terms, it was expressed in the transition from manufactory to factory, in social terms, in the formation of classes in capitalist society: the industrial proletariat and the bourgeoisie. Most historians attribute the beginning of the industrial revolution to the 1930s and 1940s, linking it to the spread of steam engines, and its completion to the turn of the 1980s and 1990s. At the turn of the 50-60s. factories accounted for about 18% of the number of large industrial enterprises, they employed about 45% of all workers (almost 300 thousand people).

The feudal system hindered the growth of productive forces. First, under serfdom, a free market for hired labor could not arise. Secondly, the initial accumulation of capital was delayed and the process of formation of the bourgeoisie was deformed. Thirdly, the purchasing power of the population, which did not have sufficient funds for the development of market relations, was extremely low.

So, in the first half of the XIX century. there was an increase in the crisis of the serf system. Of course, this did not mean absolute decline and regression. Progressive shifts were also observed in the socio-economic sphere, but they did not take place on a feudal basis, but on a small-scale and capitalist basis. The possibilities for further progress on the former feudal-serf basis were exhausted.