In
the late 19th century the Russian people were ruled by the Romanov
Dynasty. The Tsar (Czar) took the title 'Emperor and Autocrat
of all Russia' and imposed autocratic rule - government by one man.
Unlike in most other European countries, power had not passed from
the monarchy to the people. The Tsars of Russia did not take advice
from an elected parliament. Instead, the country was run by a ten
man ministerial council. Each minister was both appointed and dismissed
by the Tsar.
The Tsar
also appointed the Chief Procurator of the Russian
Orthodox Church. In fact, since 1721, the Orthodox Church had
been run as a government department.
The Tsar
also had the power to grant hereditary titles. These usually went
to men who had achieved high rank in the armed forces and the civil
service. It 1900 it was estimated that there were about 1.8 million
members of the nobility in Russia.
Alexander
II became the sixteenth Romanov tsar in 1855. He attempted to
bring in some political reforms. This included permitting each district
to set up a Zemstvo. These were local
councils with powers to provide roads, schools and medical services.
However, the right to elect members was restricted to the wealthy.
Russia
was divided into fifty provinces. Each province had a governor and
below him were governors of districts and the commandants of towns.
At the
end of the 19th century there were 128 million people living in Russia.
To help the Tsar and the provincial governors to rule the people,
the government employed a large number of civil servants. They were
graded into fourteen different ranks with the Tsar's ministers at
the top. Each rank had his own uniform and those that reached the
fourth grade and above became members of the nobility.
Civil
servants in Russia in uniform.
Available
from Amazon Books (order below)
