1. Source analysis: On the Emancipation of the Russian Serfs

1907 painting by Boris Kustodiev depicting Russian serfs listening to the proclamation of the Emancipation Manifesto in 1861 by Boris Kustodiev, Public Domain

Activity

Over the course of this task, you will be exposed to different sources on the Emancipation of the Russian Serfs. When historians are researching history, they consider different articles such as images and reports (such as newspaper articles) from the time-period they are studying alongside the works of other historians. (This activity has been adapted from Facing History and Ourselves: Gallery Walk)

Around the classroom, several sources concerning the Emancipation of the Russian Serfs are going to be available for you to consider. These include images and newspaper articles which were published about this event in English language newspapers of the time. While you are viewing these sources, you should consider the three following questions:

1. When was this source made?
2. Who was it made/published by?
3. Where was this source published (remember: the newspapers are all English language)? If you don’t know, how can you find this out? (Please note down any words you are unfamiliar with – you can look these up either online or in a dictionary)

After viewing all the sources, in pairs you are to choose two to analyse in further detail and answer the following questions:

4. (For the newspaper articles)
   1. What was considered the most important information for readers?
   2. Who was the audience?
   3. Why do you think English language publications were chosen?
5. (For the images)
   1. What is something you see?
   2. Why do you think this is important?
   3. How does this depiction position the viewer?
6. How do these sources position Czar Alexander II of Russia? Is he depicted/noted in each source?
7. Why do you think the source was created?
8. What similarities/differences are there in your chosen objects?
9. Was there any change in the Russian Empire between the creation of your sources? If not, how can you determine this?
10. Do you think that this was a historically significant event? Write a paragraph each and use evidence from your chosen sources to explain your position on the significance of this event on the Russian Empire.

2. Source analysis: On the Assassination of Alexander II

Broling, G. (1881). The assassination of Alexander II of Russia 1881/ Das Attentat auf den Kaiser Alexander II. in St. Petersburg [drawing]. WikiMedia Commons, Public Domain

Activity

In the scope of this activity, you will be presented with sources that revolve around the same event: the Assassination of Czar Alexander II in March 1881. These sources include an image, a newspaper article from The Sydney Morning Herald and English versions of the Manifestos of the Narodnaya Volya (People’s Will) and of Alexander III. We will also watch a YouTube video by HistoryPod as a whole class – this provides an overview of the assassination of Alexander III. The links to the newspaper article and the Manifestos, along with the image, are available below:

HistoryPod

Manifestos:

Narodnaya Volya:

Alexander III

Newspaper Article: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/13473125

Image: The assassination of Alexander II of Russia 1881– Gustav Broling 1881 [drawing]

After viewing the video as a class, you will be split into four groups. Each group will be given one of the four other sources to analyse and consider in relation to the following:

1. What can you see/read in the source?
2. Why do you think this is important?
3. What do you think this source contributes understanding the cause and consequences of the assassination of Alexander III? Does it contribute to understanding the effects of the assassination?
4. Connecting this source with the information from the YouTube video, does it provide an insight into the ramifications of the assassination?
5. How does your source connect to the assassination?
   1. How did the information it contains reach its’ creator?
   2. Was its creator impacted by the assassination? How?
   3. Would you consider this source to be a primary or secondary source?

You will be given a set period of time in which to complete this task, before group members are rotated to other groups to act as “experts” on their given source. Each expert will have time to introduce their source to other members of their new group, before they present their group’s findings on the above questions to their new group.

After you have all had a chance to introduce and present your source to your new group, you should choose two of the sources consider as you each write a response on the cause and consequences of the assassination of Alexander II. These sources must be referenced in your passage.