Cultural Changes in Russia by 1914: Women, Education and the Arts (AQA A Level History: Component 1: Breadth study): Revision Note

Summary

• After 1900, Russian culture broadened to reach far beyond the educated elite

• Primary education expanded quickly, but secondary and higher education remained elitist

• Women gained new openings in education and professional employment, yet remained legally subordinate

• The post-1905 Silver Age gave Russian arts genuine international significance

• The 1913 Romanov Tercentenary projected an image of traditional autocratic and Orthodox strength

• Historians debate whether Russian culture by 1914 had changed fundamentally or remained anchored in tradition

  • Christian argues that modernisation reshaped Russian society between 1850 and 1914

  • The continuity case stresses patriarchal family structures, mass illiteracy and Orthodox tradition

Illustration – change and continuity mind map (new)

The lives of women in Russia by 1914

New opportunities for women

• Educational and professional openings for women grew after 1900

  • Zemstvo work created posts for women as teachers and nurses

  • The Women's Medical Courses had trained women since 1872

• Higher education increasingly admitted women by 1914

  • By 1914, Russia had around 69,000 university students, showing the growth of higher education

  • Women’s access to higher education had expanded sharply, with women making up around 45% of students in some forms of higher education

  • However, women’s options remained restricted, as they were often channelled into separate women’s courses rather than admitted on equal terms to all university courses

• Organised campaigning for women's rights began to take shape

  • The First All-Russian Congress of Women met in December 1908

    • Its 1,035 delegates called for the women's right to vote

The limits of change for women

• The patriarchal family structure kept women legally subordinate

  • The male household head held almost unlimited authority over the family

• Both Alexander III and Nicholas II tried to restrict women's education

  • Gains for women came despite official resistance, not because of it

• These changes touched urban women far more than peasants

  • Most peasant women's lives stayed bound to the household and the field

Education in Russia by 1914

The expansion of primary education

• The state invested heavily in primary schooling after the 1890s

  • Spending rose from 5 million roubles in 1896 to over 82 million by 1914

• Primary enrolment reached a large minority of children by 1911

  • 6.5 million children aged 8 to 11 attended, 44% of that age group

    • Only 1/3 of these pupils were girls

Literacy and the popular press

• Rising literacy created a mass reading public for the first time

  • The popular press boomed once censorship eased after 1905

  • By 1914, around 1,757 newspapers appeared at least weekly

• Widespread illiteracy still left much of the population outside print culture

  • Around 60% of Russians remained illiterate in 1914

The limits at the secondary and higher levels

• Secondary and higher education stayed narrow and elitist

  • University students grew from 5,000 in 1860 to 69,000 by 1914

    • These totals stayed tiny against a population of around 170 million

Russian arts & culture by 1914: literature, music, ballet & art

The Silver Age

• The relaxation of censorship in 1905 opened what is called a cultural 'Silver Age'

  • Artists and writers expressed their creativity to address and comment on problems in Russian society

• Realist writing continued the tradition of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky

  • Anton Chekhov produced stories and plays from the 1880s until 1904, continuing their style

Modernism and international recognition

• Modernist artists challenged conventions and gained global recognition

  • Diaghilev's Ballets Russes carried Russian dance to Europe

  • Stravinsky's music and Malevich's and Chagall's art shocked audiences

• The 19th-century Russian literary classics were produced cheaply for the newly literate

The Romanov Tercentenary, 1913: celebration or illusion?

The celebration of autocracy

• The 1913 jubilee marked 300 years of Romanov rule

  • Nicholas and Alexandra revived the Muscovite costume and the Orthodox ritual

• The dynasty toured the empire to large, cheering crowds

  • A three-month tour of 'old Muscovy' ended with a triumphal entry into Moscow

    • Nicholas led the way into the city on a white horse

Surface loyalty or genuine strength?

• The crowds left Nicholas convinced of his people's devotion

• However, the display masked deep political and social strains

  • Within four years, revolution would sweep the dynasty away

How much had Russian culture changed by 1914?

• By 1914, Russia could look both strikingly modern and stubbornly traditional

  • Historians disagree over how far its culture had really changed

Russian culture had changed significantly

• Culture reached a far wider public than ever before

  • The popular press, cheap classics and reading rooms spread literacy

• Russian arts achieved genuine international standing

  • The Silver Age and the Ballets Russes drew European attention

• Education and the professions opened new paths, including for women

Key historian

• Christian sees deep, accelerating modernisation across the whole period, with social and cultural change feeding directly into the instability of 1905

  • This supports the view that change by 1914 was real and far-reaching

Russian culture had changed little

• The patriarchal family structure remained essentially untouched

  • Male authority still governed the household and its property

• Mass illiteracy kept print culture out of most lives

  • Around 60% of Russians still could not read by 1914

• Tradition and Orthodoxy still framed everyday culture

  • The 1913 Tercentenary revived Muscovite and religious culture