Autocracy
What Autocracy means in History A-Level, as defined for AQA, Pearson Edexcel.
Definitions of Autocracy
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Reference: AQA
Absolute rule by the Tsar, supported by the Orthodox Church and a vast bureaucracy, with democratic institutions absent and opposition suppressed by the secret police.
The form of unchallenged rule that Peter sought to establish by suppressing the Streltsy and subordinating the Church to the state.
The Tsarist principle of absolute power, resting on the Tsar's unrestricted authority as one of the three pillars of Tsarist rule.
An absolute system of government that Nicholas II inherited in 1894, believing his political authority was divinely ordained.
A Tsarist ideology, underpinned by Orthodoxy and Official Nationality, that justified resistance to democratic reform.
A system of absolute power in which Russian monarchs sought to establish and maintain authority over the state.
Topics that use Autocracy
- 1E Russia in the Age of Absolutism and Enlightenment, 1682–1796 (A-level only) – consequence in this period through the following key questions: (AQA A-Level)
- 1E Russia in the Age of Absolutism and Enlightenment, 1682–1796 (A-level only) – Establishing authority, 1682–1707 (AQA A-Level)
- 1H Tsarist and Communist Russia, 1855–1964 – consequence in this period through the following key questions: (AQA A-Level)
- 1H Tsarist and Communist Russia, 1855–1964 – The collapse of autocracy, 1894–1917 (AQA A-Level)
- 1H Tsarist and Communist Russia, 1855–1964 – Trying to preserve autocracy, 1855–1894 (AQA A-Level)
- The rule of Nicholas II, 1894–1905 (Pearson Edexcel A-Level)
Related terms
- Autocracy and Dictatorship
- Social stratification and serfdom
- Agricultural reform and collectivisation
- Autocracy and dissent
- Autocracy and repression
- Bloody Sunday
- Centralisation of the State
- Collapse of autocratic authority
Using Autocracy in the exam
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