In Russia historians have counted nearly 2,000 violent peasant disturbances between 1826 and 1840, with troops called out to restore order in 381 of these cases. The number of disturbances increased dramatically after the Crimean War (1854–6), as serfs began to anticipate a measure of emancipation, with riots spreading rapidly between 1857 and 1861, necessitating the use of troops on 903 occasions.
