Changes

Finally, waves of German peasants and farmers, of which the Volga Germans were part, began during Catherine II’s rule and continued throughout most of the nineteenth century. Besides the Volga settlements, Germans established colonies on the Black Sea and in the Caucus Mountains. In total, Russian records put the German population at about 1.8 million in 1897, which although less than 2%, made them one of Russia’s many ethnic minority groups at the time. <ref> Waters, p. 522</ref>

====The Origin of the Volga Colonies====

[[File: Catherine_II.jpg|300px|thumbnail|left|Catheriene the Great, Empress of Russia (1762-1796)]]

Despite the government’s attempts to micromanage the Volga German colonies, they, for the most part, left the people alone culturally. The cultural hands-off policy followed by the tsars of the eighteenth century and most of the nineteenth century came to an end, though, while the future Emperor Alexander III (reigned 1881-1894) was the crown prince. Alexander III believed strongly in the idea of Russification, forcing the non-Russian nationalities of the Russian Empire to become more Russian, and was allowed to pursue the policy under the rule of his father, Alexander II (ruled 1855-1881). Under the Russification policy, the Volga German schools were required to teach the virtues of absolute monarchy <ref> Kloberdanz, p. 211</ref> and by 1897 was mandated to teach Russian, <ref> Kohl, p. 145</ref> although many of the Volga German school had already taught Russian for some time and a large share of the Volga Germans, especially the younger generation, knew Russian by the turn of the century. Perhaps most importantly, Volga German men were no longer exempt from military service after 1871. <ref> Kohl, p. 198</ref> This final point of the Russification program probably did more to change the colonies than the others. Young Volga German men left their isolated colonies, lived in barracks with men from around the Empire, and often never came back, instead opting to marry Russian women and live as Russians in the cities.

====The End of the Volga German Colonies====