---
title: "Mikhail Bakunin — AP Euro Definition & Exam Guide"
description: "Mikhail Bakunin was the Russian anarchist who demanded the destruction of all state power. Key for AP Euro Topic 6.7 and contrasting anarchism with Marxism."
canonical: "https://fiveable.me/ap-euro/key-terms/mikhail-bakunin"
type: "key-term"
subject: "AP European History"
unit: "Unit 6"
---

# Mikhail Bakunin — AP Euro Definition & Exam Guide

## Definition

Mikhail Bakunin (1814-1876) was a Russian anarchist theorist who called for the immediate, revolutionary destruction of all state authority, replacing government with voluntary cooperation among free communities. In AP Euro, he anchors anarchism among the radical ideologies of Topic 6.7 (1815-1914).

## What It Is

Mikhail Bakunin was the loudest voice of 19th-century [anarchism](/ap-euro/key-terms/anarchism "fv-autolink"), an ideology that saw the state itself, not just kings or [capitalists](/ap-euro/unit-6/spread-industry-throughout-europe/study-guide/9XvEEuwFGyxPgTgPtovW "fv-autolink"), as the root of oppression. Where liberals wanted to limit government and socialists wanted to use government to redistribute wealth, Bakunin wanted to abolish government entirely and replace it with voluntary associations of workers and communities. He believed real freedom and real equality were impossible as long as any centralized authority existed, no matter who ran it.

That last point is what made him famous on the [AP Euro](/ap-euro "fv-autolink") timeline. Bakunin clashed bitterly with Karl Marx inside the First International (the international workers' organization), arguing that Marx's plan for a workers' state would just create a new tyranny with new bosses. The fight got so heated that Bakunin and his followers were expelled from the First International in 1872, permanently splitting the European left into Marxist and anarchist camps. His Russian background mattered too. He came out of a society with an autocratic tsar and no real parliamentary tradition, which pushed him toward total revolution rather than gradual reform.

## Why It Matters

Bakunin lives in [Unit 6](/ap-euro/unit-6 "fv-autolink") (Industrialization and Its Effects), specifically Topic 6.7, Intellectual Developments from 1815-1914. He directly supports learning objective 6.7.A, which asks you to explain how and why different intellectual developments challenged the political and social order from 1815 to 1914. The CED's essential knowledge lays out a spectrum of ideologies, with liberals debating who gets to participate (KC-3.3.I.A), radicals demanding [universal male suffrage](/ap-euro/key-terms/universal-male-suffrage "fv-autolink") (KC-3.3.I.B), and socialists evolving from utopian dreams to Marx's scientific critique of capitalism (KC-3.3.I.D). Bakunin sits at the far end of that spectrum. Knowing where anarchism falls relative to liberalism, radicalism, and Marxist socialism is exactly the kind of compare-and-contrast skill the exam tests for this period.

## Connections

### [Anarchism (Unit 6)](/ap-euro/key-terms/anarchism)

Bakunin is the name you attach to anarchism on the exam. If a question asks who theorized the abolition of the state in the 19th century, Bakunin (alongside Peter Kropotkin) is your answer.

### [Communist Manifesto (Unit 6)](/ap-euro/key-terms/communist-manifesto)

Marx and Bakunin agreed [capitalism](/ap-euro/key-terms/capitalism "fv-autolink") was the enemy but split over the cure. Marx wanted workers to seize state power; Bakunin said any state, even a workers' state, would become a new dictatorship. That argument got him expelled from the First International in 1872.

### [Charles Fourier (Unit 6)](/ap-euro/key-terms/charles-fourier)

Fourier's [utopian socialism](/ap-euro/key-terms/utopian-socialism "fv-autolink") shows the 'before' picture. The CED traces socialism evolving from utopian visions to Marxist scientific critique, and Bakunin's anarchism is a third branch that rejected both gradual utopias and state-led communism.

### [Chartists (Unit 6)](/ap-euro/key-terms/chartists)

[Chartists](/ap-euro/key-terms/chartists "fv-autolink") wanted to fix the system from inside by winning universal male suffrage through petitions and Parliament. Bakunin thought voting was pointless because the system itself was the problem. Comparing the two shows you the full range from reform to revolution.

## On the AP Exam

Bakunin shows up almost entirely in compare-and-contrast questions. Multiple-choice stems ask how anarchist thought from Bakunin and Kropotkin differed from other radical ideologies, how Bakunin's philosophy fundamentally differed from Marx's communism, why his Russian background shaped his anarchism, and why he was expelled from the First International in 1872. The skill being tested is placing anarchism correctly on the ideological spectrum of Topic 6.7. No released FRQ has used Bakunin's name verbatim, but he's strong evidence for an LEQ or DBQ on ideological responses to industrialization. If you can write one clean sentence on why Bakunin rejected both liberal reform and Marxist state socialism, you can earn complexity-style analysis in an essay on 19th-century ideologies.

## Mikhail Bakunin vs Karl Marx

Both were revolutionary critics of capitalism, so it's easy to lump them together. The difference is the state. Marx wanted the working class to capture state power and use it to build communism (a 'dictatorship of the proletariat' as a transition). Bakunin argued that any state, including a workers' state, would inevitably oppress people, so revolution had to destroy government immediately and replace it with voluntary cooperation. Shortcut for the exam: Marx says use the state, Bakunin says smash the state.

## Key Takeaways

- Mikhail Bakunin was a Russian anarchist who argued that all government authority, not just monarchy or capitalism, must be destroyed and replaced with voluntary cooperation.
- Bakunin's core split with Marx was over the state itself; Marx wanted workers to seize it, while Bakunin predicted a workers' state would become a new tyranny.
- Bakunin and his anarchist followers were expelled from the First International in 1872, splitting the European left into Marxist and anarchist wings.
- His Russian background, growing up under tsarist autocracy with no parliamentary tradition, pushed him toward total revolution instead of gradual reform.
- On the AP Euro exam, Bakunin belongs to Topic 6.7 and supports LO 6.7.A, so place anarchism at the revolutionary extreme of the 19th-century ideological spectrum, beyond liberalism, radicalism, and socialism.

## FAQs

### What did Mikhail Bakunin believe?

Bakunin believed all state authority was inherently oppressive and had to be abolished through revolution, with society reorganized around voluntary cooperation among free communities. This made him the leading anarchist theorist of the 19th century.

### Was Bakunin a communist like Marx?

No. Both opposed capitalism, but Bakunin rejected Marx's plan for a workers' state, arguing that any government would become a new form of tyranny. Their conflict ended with Bakunin's expulsion from the First International in 1872.

### How is Bakunin's anarchism different from socialism in AP Euro?

Socialists (per KC-3.3.I.D) wanted to redistribute society's wealth, often by using or capturing the state. Anarchists like Bakunin wanted to abolish the state entirely, trusting voluntary cooperation rather than any centralized authority to organize society.

### Why was Bakunin expelled from the First International?

His feud with Marx over strategy and the role of the state split the organization, and the Marxist faction expelled Bakunin and his followers in 1872. The expulsion permanently divided the European revolutionary left into Marxist and anarchist camps.

### Is Mikhail Bakunin on the AP Euro exam?

Yes, he falls under Topic 6.7 (Intellectual Developments from 1815-1914) in Unit 6. He appears most often in multiple-choice questions asking you to contrast anarchism with Marxism and other radical ideologies of the period.

## Related Study Guides

- [6.7 Ideologies of Change and Reform Movements](/ap-euro/unit-6/ideologies-change-reform-movements/study-guide/hm63ZIlczSBDjOhaPDen)

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