Before you answer read the sources and their labels carefully.
- Use Sources 2 and 3: List six problems facing peasants in Russia in 1905.
- Use Sources 1 and 4: List 4 features of the living conditions of peasants and the end of the 19th Century.
- Using your own knowledge and all of the sources write a description of peasant life in Russia in the 19th Century.
Guidelines:
Your answer should include information from the sources and:
- agricultural method throughout the century. Did they change?
- Emancipation of the serfs
- Results of the emancipation of the serfs
11 responses so far ↓
Six problems facing peasants in 1905:
1. The peasants could not feed themselves, or clothe themselves properly.
2. Their allotment of land had become smaller because of the growing population of Russia, thus forcing them to grow more food more efficiently.
3. The peasants did not have enough stable income to adequately pay their taxes. So that government funded improvements on lifestyle were not a reality.
4. The living conditions of most peasants were not up to scratch with the rest of the world.
5. Disease and death were rife in the peasant population. As were less important things such as unemployment.
The living conditions of peasants:
1. The living conditions were bad for Russian peasants in the 19th century.
2. Most peasants lived in small huts with the rest of their family and some of their more important livestock, especially in winter.
3. Conditions for peasants did not match the conditions of the upper class in Russia; this was a gross class inequity.
4. The problems facing the serfs, before and after Alexander emancipation were relatively the same.
Description of peasant life:
Peasant life in the 19th was what could be described as depressing. Their living conditions were appalling and their livelihoods were always in danger. This could only lead to widespread problems across the country.
Q1) Problems facing peasants in Russia in 1905
ÿ Were not portioned enough land
ÿ Could not pay taxes
ÿ Could not afford good farming tools
ÿ Could not feed or clothe themselves
ÿ Could not keep their tools and livestock secure
ÿ Were portioned poor farming land
Q2) Features of living conditions of peasants
ÿ Lived in same facility as they kept there cattle
ÿ Lots of people cramped into one small area
ÿ Made houses of insufficient material
ÿ No place to bed
Q3) life in Russia at the time for peasants were extremely hard, they were equipped with little more then their own family to help them along. They were extremely poor and had no modern tools to help farm or to help live a better life. The peasants at this time in the early twentieth century we assigned bad land on which to farm and live on and the land that was assigned was on a very minor scale.
Source 2 and 3: This police report indicates that peasants in the early 1900’s in Russia faced numerous difficulties. These included inadequate allotment of land, which in turn meant that they couldn’t feed their families or pay their taxes. The peasants are also said to have been incapable of heating their homes, clothing themselves and looking after the tools and seeds etc. that they needed for farming. The tools used by the peasants were primitive and incapable of providing the return the farmers needed.
Source 1 and 4: These sources show that the living conditions of peasants during this period were particularly low. The people in source 1 appear to be living in slum like villages. The houses are poorly made and source 4 indicates they were often extremely small and provided little comfort for the occupants. The floor is made of earth and the house itself is made of thin wood. By these accounts it seems the living conditions of peasants during this time was very poor.
Peasant Life in the Early 1900’s:
From each of the 4 sources it seems obvious that life in the early 1900’s was extremely difficult for peasants. The emancipation of the serfs had released them from slavery however it failed to free them totally. They were now tied to the land they had bought with debts sometimes in excess of 49 years. The living conditions had not improved with the emancipation or modernisation, as the majority of the peasant population were still living in dirty and primitive villages and huts. The farming methods had seen no improvement with industrialisation and farmers continued using the same inefficient methods that had been used for centuries before them. Despite the fact Russia was experiencing an economic boom period the quality of life for the majority of its population remained as it had for centuries beforehand.
Use Sources 2 and 3: List six problems facing peasants in Russia in 1905.
Peasants in 1905 were faced with many problems
• They did not have enough land that they owned themselves
• They weren’t able to feed themselves throughout the year
• They didn’t have enough funds to buy clothes
• They weren’t able to heat their homes
• They weren’t able to manage their tools and livestock in a way that benefited them
• They weren’t able to pay off there debts and taxes
Use Sources 1 and 4: List 4 features of the living conditions of peasants and the end of the 19th Century.
• They had to live in small huts with the space of about 3.6 metres squared
• The ceilings were so low a grown man couldn’t stand upright
• Tiny front doors not allowing full grown men in without discomfort
• Men, women, children and livestock slept together in a tiny dirt floored room.
Using your own knowledge and all of the sources write a description of peasant life in Russia in the 19th Century.
By looking at the sources of peasant life in Russia during the 19 century I am able to distinguish that they were treated with much disrespect. Their conditions that they lived in compared to today standards are unheard of, they were living in houses that were 3.6 metres squared in size with a mineral earth floor. It was common for many families to house large families in these small areas. The peasant way of life was very primitive as most of the time they couldn’t afford to food and water themselves. Before the emancipation of the surfs, peasants were not free but this reform didn’t directly help the peasants. They were freed from slavary but with the growing population, land had to be divided by more and more people. This meant in times off crop failure a vast population of Russia starved.
1.Cannot feed themselves during the year
Cannot clothe themselves
Cannot heat their homes
Cannot keep their tools and livestock
Cannot secure seed for sowing
Cannot pay all their taxes and debts
2.slept on the ground in the dirt
Have to sleep with their livestock (cattle)
Cannot barely stand up in their home
The huts were made of very thin wood
3. The peasants do not have enough allotment land and cannot feed themselves during the year. They cannot even clothe themselves or heat their homes, keep their tools and livestock, secure seed for sowing and lastly they cannot pay all their taxes and debts. They lived in small huts about 3.6m square with a door through which a medium sized man can only go through while stooping. The floor was just dirt, the ceiling was so low that a tall man cannot stand upright, tiny windows letting in such little light, the whole building made of thin wood, the entire family lives in one room sleeping on benches and the ground and they usually sleep and live with their cattle. They used out of date methods for farming such as wooden ploughs. Until 1861 peasants ha not even been free. Their conditions had not improved much with the emancipation of the serfs. About fifty million serfs were emancipated in 1861 and the granting of freedom clearly meant a lot to the peasants. The riots that broke out when emancipation was introduced died away after 1862. There were some economic benefits for Russia as a result of the reforms. Emancipation was seen as an essential transition to a capitalist, industrialised economy. Many serfs did move to the cities and industrial centres and took work in the factories and mines. Russia was not an industrialised nation yet but by the 1890’s the Russian industrial economy was growing at a faster rate than the rest of Europe.
Source study on Peasants
Before you answer read the sources and their labels carefully.
Use Sources 2 and 3: List six problems facing peasants in Russia in 1905.
Peasants did not have enough land to be able to support themselves. They were not able to feed themselves, clothe themselves, heat there homes, maintain there tools and livestock and secure seed for sowing. This also meant they could not pay there taxes and debts that they owed.
Use Sources 1 and 4: List 4 features of the living conditions of peasants and the end of the 19th Century.
Living conditions for peasants towards the end of the 19th century were extremely poor. Source 1 displays a dirty run down village that the peasants called home. Source 4 describes how pitiful the living condition are. There houses are to small for a man to stand up in and are made of thin flimsy wood. There houses have an earth floor and consist of one communal room where everyone sleeps, women, children, men and animals. The conditions are unhygienic and very close contact with neighbors use the same facilities making disease spread easily.
Using your own knowledge and all of the sources write a description of peasant life in Russia in the 19th Century.
The standard of peasant life in Russia during the 19th century was of a poor standard. There ability to make money was not satisfactory, no matter how hard they worked. The agricultural method throughout out the century was very unadvanced. Even for people who had money there was not the technology available in Russia. Russia’s agricultural standard was far below the rest of civilization.
The emancipation of the serfs was foreseen by the serfs as a great improvement to their life, and something that had been needed years before. Instead of providing the pure freedom they had longed for it only provided them with less than they had before. The land they had considered theirs had to be bought back from the landlords for inflated prices, and the land was cut in size, often not enough to sustain their family.
To sum up the life of the serfs I could use a very simple four letter word, it was ….
Problems peasants faced:
• Peasants did not have a stable income to pay taxes.
• Living conditions were very poor.
• Disease and death.
• Could not feed themselves.
• Could not clothe themselves.
• Could not keep there live stock secure.
The living conditions of peasants:
• Most peasants lived in small huts with the rest of their family and some of their more important livestock, especially in winter.
• The problems facing the serfs, before and after Alexander emancipation were relatively the same.
• Conditions for peasants did not match the conditions of the upper class in Russia; this was a gross class inequity.
• The living conditions were bad for Russian peasants in the 19th century.
Life of a peasant would be hard and depressing. The living conditions were dreadful and there work was always in jeopardy. This later lead to more problems for the country.
1. Use Sources 2 and 3: List six problems facing peasants in Russia in 1905?
A police report states that peasants:
• could not feed themselves throughout the year
• heat their homes
• clothe themselves
• keep tools and livestock
• keep seeds and for sowing
• pay debts and taxes
2. Use Sources 1 and 4: List 4 features of the living conditions of peasants and the end of the 19th Century.
Living conditions for the peasants were poor. A small hut 3.6m square, a low ceiling, thin timber walls was what peasants lived in. The whole family slept in this one room on the floor and benches, men, women, children and cattle.
3. Using your own knowledge and all of the sources write a description of peasant life in Russia in the 19th Century.
Life for the peasants in Russia during the 19th century was terrible. They worked very hard for next to nothing and as the sources have proved they had poor living conditions. Many peasants and even animals lived in one hut, 3.6m square with thin timber walls and a low ceiling which you couldn’t even stand up in. This poor style of living also meant that they couldn’t feed themselves throughout the year, heat their homes, clothe themselves and keep equipment which was needed to work. Before the emancipation, peasants weren’t free at all but while they were supposed to be after the emancipation, they were tied to the land they know owned. Emancipation and modernisation in this case has not met the needs of the peasants.
1)
Peasants could not pay their taxes and other debts.
Could not feed themselves throughout the year.
They could not clothe themselves.
Could not afford proper farming tools.
They were given poor land to farm.
They weren’t given enough land to farm.
2)
The peasants lived in small huts, sometimes with their more important livestock.
The huts were made of poor materials that were not providing sufficient protection from the weather, especially the cold.
Lots of peasants living in a small area.
Ceilings were not high enough for a man to stand up.
3)
The life of the peasants in Russia was depressing in the 19th century. Their life was not valued and this reflected by the conditions they lived in, the conditions of their work and the general respect they were given by the upper classes in the Russian Empire. They were given next to nothing to help them with their farming and the land was poor they they had to farm. This eventually lead to larger problems for the Russian Empire.
1) Peasants could not feed themselves, clothe themselves, heat their homes, keep their tools and livestock, get seed for sowing land or pay taxes.
2) Features of the living conditions of peasants at the end of the 19th century included crowded housing, small, bare housing, dirt floors and livestock sleeping with the family.
3) By the turn of the century Russia’s economy had grown to be the fifth largest in the world. However, peasant life was hard, brutal and often brief. Eighty percent of the population still lived in villages and farmed using primitive techniques and tools such as the wooden plough. About half of the peasants were illiterate.
Emancipation had done little to ease the burden or improve the conditions of the peasantry. Increasing population meant less land per family and this coupled with low agricultural productivity meant many families could not support themselves. The majority of peasants were in debt to their landlords, and taxes were applied to good not income, meaning peasants had very little. As a result of these desperate conditions many people moved to the cities to find work.
1. Use Sources 2 and 3: List six problems facing peasants in Russia in 1905? A police report states that peasants:
• could not feed themselves throughout the year
• heat their homes
• clothe themselves
• keep tools and livestock
• keep seeds and for sowing
• pay debts and taxes
2. Aspects of the living conditions of peasants approaching the end of the 19th century included crowded housing, small, bare housing, dirt floors and livestock sleeping with the family. Very poor and unfavorable living conditions.
3. Peasant life in Russia was very poor, depressing in the 19th century. Their life was placed on a level of insignificance-valued little and this reflected by the conditions they lived in, the conditions of their work and the general respect they were given by the upper classes in the Russian Empire. Were given next to nothing to help them with their farming and the land was poor they they had to farm. This eventually lead to larger problems for the Russian Empire.
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