«Chaos of aspirations and plans»: socioeconomic aspects of the baltic question in the second half of the XIX - early XX centuries

Kotov A.

During the years of the first Russian revolution, the Baltic question became particularly acute, however, all the problems of this period were discussed in the post-reform period. After Yu.F. Samarin criticism of the privileges of the Ostsee knighthood became a constant refrain of the press of the “Russian direction”. They were opposed by the ideologists of aristocratic conservatism. After the reforms of Alexander III, the government tried to solve the problem of securing the Baltic Empire to the Russian Empire in several ways at once: by solving the agrarian question; by strengthening economic ties between the region and the center; as well as by strengthening the political influence of the local Russian population. If the first of them turned out to be a dead end, then the last two required a long time and consistency in the actions of the central government.

Keywords:Baltic region, revolution, nationalism, agrarian question, Russification