The Russian Landed Gentry and the Peasant Emancipation of 1861 [Paperback]

This books is concerned with the emancipation of the Russian serfs in 1861.This books is concerned with the emancipation of the Russian serfs in 1861, the most important event in Russian history between the reign of Peter the Great (16821725) and the Revolution of 1905. It is a social history of the emancipation.This books is concerned with the emancipation of the Russian serfs in 1861, the most important event in Russian history between the reign of Peter the Great (16821725) and the Revolution of 1905. It is a social history of the emancipation.This books is concerned with the emancipation of the Russian serfs in 1861, the most important event in Russian history between the reign of Peter the Great (16821725) and the Revolution of 1905. It is a social history of the emancipation. The attitudes of the landowning gentry toward emancipation: their part in its preparation and their conflict with the government over the terms of emancipation and related reforms, are the major subjects treated. The book shows in what circumstances the emancipation took place, and how the gentry were involved in the process. The undertaking of emancipation produced a political and social crisis which involved a serious threat to the autocratic regime, laid the foundations for the rise of constitutional liberalism in Russia, but destroyed the foundations of the gentry class.Part I. The Landed Gentry, Serfdom and First Steps Towards Emancipation: 1. Introduction: some social and institutional characteristics of the landed gentry before 1861; 2. The gentry as serf-owners and first steps toward emancipation; 3. The government's first steps and the gentry; Part II. The Provincial Gentry Committees, 18589: 4. The Tver landed gentry prepare for peasant emancipation; 5. The liberal program elsewhere in Russia; Part III. The Gentry Versus the Bureaucracy, 185861: 6. The government and the gentry, April 1858November 1859; 7. The provincial gentry assembled and the Second Convocation of gentrlÓß