Late Tsarist RussiaIntroductionThe late Tsarist period in Russia is popular in the history of the state in that it was during this time that serfdom was abolished, that is, around the beginning of the 1860s. Before this time, serfdom was legal and practiced in traditional Russian systems. Serfdom was an ideology of the late 1640s that gave landowners the power to override the lives of their peasant serfs (workers) as long as they lived on their land. The legal powers of serfdom included refusal to leave the owner's home and freedom to acquire as many services as an owner could demand. Thus defined, we can conclude that it was a form of slavery. It is for these reasons that the following study text will evaluate the after-effects of the emancipation of 1861 and what became of Russia after it. Serfdom ended after it became clear that it was contributing to Russia's backwardness in the broader European shift toward industrial and commercial eras. This was attributed to Russia's social and economic backwardness, as it viewed Western changes as "unacceptable" ideologies. It was later in the decade that Russia realized that serfdom was responsible for its civil unrest, industrial poverty, overpopulation, food inadequacy, and military incompetence. It was for these reasons that Tsar Alexander II called for the abolition of this law in order to strengthen Russia. This was, for example, motivated by the need to have a stronger and more numerous army to fight in the Crimean War, unlike the previous one which had only serfs as soldiers. As expected, the peasant population was apparently the biggest winner from the emancipation they had achieved. could enjoy equal freedoms for all in Russia, including freedom ...... middle of paper ......r but it later emerged that there was a hidden trick in emancipation that sought to continue serfdom. Although these and other minor negative aspects of emancipation exist, it is evident that emancipation was more beneficial to Russia. The reasons lie in the fact that political, economic, technological and industrial growth was achieved through the effects of emancipation.BibliographyLynch, Michael. “The emancipation of Russian serfs, 1861: a charter of freedom or an act of treason? History Today (2003), http://www.historytoday.com/michael-lynch/emancipation-russian-serfs-1861-charter-freedom-or-act-betrayal (accessed May 21, 2014). Moon, David, The Abolition of Serfdom in Russia, 1762-1907, (Longman, 2001). Sylla, Richard and Toniolo, Gianni, Models of European industrialization: the nineteenth century, (Routledge, 2002).