"slavophiles" - 1 õppematerjal

English portfolio

national consciousness. The russification period The systematic Russification of the empire's western border territories started in Poland and Lithuania during the first half of the 19th century and intensified in the 1860s after another Polish uprising. The worst Russification period in Estonia and Latvia occurred between 1880 and 1890. The Russian press took up the topic of German influence in the Baltic provinces. As early as the 1860s, the Slavophiles demanded the end of the autonomy in the Baltic provinces and a standardised administration. The unification of Germany (1871) and its subsequent development into a Great Power during the reign of Wilhelm II considerably increased the military-strategic importance of the Estonian and Latvian territories which bordered the Baltic Sea, between the extensively autonomous Finland and the rebellious Poland-Lithuania. The security of the capital St Petersburg became a serious issue for Russian