Editing History of Russia (section)

===Russian society in the second half of 19th century===
{{See also|Russian nihilist movement}}
[[File:Russian writers by Levitsky 1856.jpg|thumb|Russian writers of the second half of the 19th century: [[Leo Tolstoy]], [[Dmitry Grigorovich (writer)|Dmitry Grigorovich]], [[Ivan Goncharov]], [[Ivan Turgenev]], [[Alexander Druzhinin]], and [[Alexander Ostrovsky]]]]
[[File:Russa literacy 1897.jpg|thumb|By the end of 19th century, the majority of the Russian population were unable to read and write (map of [[Russian Empire census|1897 census]] literacy data)]]
In the 1860s, a movement known as [[Nihilism]] developed in Russia. A term originally coined by [[Ivan Turgenev]] in his 1862 novel ''[[Fathers and Sons (novel)|Fathers and Sons]]'', Nihilists favoured the destruction of human institutions and laws, based on the assumption that they are artificial and corrupt. At its core, Russian nihilism was characterized by the belief that the world lacks comprehensible meaning, objective truth, or value. For some time, many Russian liberals had been dissatisfied by what they regarded as the empty discussions of the [[intelligentsia]]. The Nihilists questioned all old values and shocked the Russian establishment.<ref>Riasonovsky pp. 381–382, 447–448</ref> They became involved in the cause of reform and became major political forces. Their path was facilitated by the previous actions of the Decembrists, who revolted in 1825, and the financial and political hardship caused by the Crimean War, which caused many Russians to lose faith in political institutions.<ref>{{cite book|author=I. K. Shakhnovskiĭ|title=A Short History of Russian Literature|publisher=K. Paul, Trench, Trubner|url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924026645790|year=1921|page=[https://archive.org/details/cu31924026645790/page/n156 147]}}</ref> Russian nihilists created the manifesto ''[[Catechism of a Revolutionary]]''.

After the Nihilists failed to convert the aristocracy and landed gentry to the cause of reform, they turned to the peasants.<ref>{{cite book|author=E. Heier|title=Religious Schism in the Russian Aristocracy 1860–1900: Radstockism and Pashkovism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tuvVBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA6|year=2012|pages=5–7|publisher=Springer|isbn=9789401032285|access-date=19 September 2019|archive-date=22 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230122071933/https://books.google.com/books?id=tuvVBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA6|url-status=live}}</ref> Their campaign became known as the [[Narodnik|''Narodnk'' ("Populist") movement]]. It was based on the belief that the common people had the wisdom and peaceful ability to lead the nation.<ref name=CurtisT>[http://countrystudies.us/russia/6.htm Transformation of Russia in the Nineteenth Century] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161103012030/http://countrystudies.us/russia/6.htm |date=3 November 2016 }}, excerpted from Glenn E. Curtis (ed.), ''Russia: A Country Study'', Department of the Army, 1998. {{ISBN|0-16-061212-8}}.</ref>
As the ''Narodnik'' movement gained momentum, the government moved to extirpate it. In response to the growing reaction of the government, a radical branch of the Narodniks advocated and practiced terrorism.<ref name=CurtisT/> One after another, prominent officials were shot or killed by bombs. This represented the ascendancy of [[anarchism in Russia]] as a powerful revolutionary force. Finally, after several attempts, Alexander II was assassinated by anarchists in 1881, on the very day he had approved a proposal to call a representative assembly to consider new reforms in addition to the abolition of serfdom designed to ameliorate revolutionary demands.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Waldron|first=Peter|year=2006|title=Alexander II|url=http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/CX3446900026/WHIC?xid=d0bae6e0|journal=Europe 1789–1914: Encyclopedia of the Age of Industry and Empire|volume=1|page=40|via=GALE World History in Context|access-date=23 July 2019|archive-date=12 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220112083436/https://galeapps.gale.com/apps/auth?userGroupName=&origURL=https%3A%2F%2Fgo.gale.com%2Fps%2Fi.do%3Fp%3DWHIC%26u%3D%26id%3DGALE%7CCX3446900026%26v%3D2.1%26it%3Dr%26asid%3Dd0bae6e0&prodId=WHIC|url-status=live}}</ref>

The end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th is known as the [[Silver Age of Russian Poetry|Silver Age of Russian culture]]. The Silver Age was dominated by the artistic movements of [[Russian Symbolism]], [[Acmeism]], and [[Russian Futurism]], many poetic schools flourished, including the [[Mystical Anarchism]] tendency within the Symbolist movement. The [[Russian avant-garde]] was a large, influential wave of modern art that flourished in [[Russian Empire]] and [[Soviet Union]], approximately from 1890 to 1930—although some have placed its beginning as early as 1850 and its end as late as 1960.