RUSSIA

• In 1894, Imperial Russia covered over 22 million square kilometres
• Between 1815 and 1914, the population went from 40 to 165 million
• The population contained a wide variety of people of diéerent race, language, religion and culture
• Tsar


  The people of the Russian Empire were governed by one person, the tsar. There were no restrictions on his power and the people owed him complete obedience.
• Tsar's rule


  Exercised through the Imperial Council, The Cabinet of Ministers and the Senate. These bodies were appointed and only gave advice, the tsar's words were ênal.
• In 1881, it was a criminal oéence to oppose the tsar or his government
• There were many restrictions in Russia like government censorship
• These restrictions did not prevent liberal ideas from seeping into Russia
• Liberal groups


  Wanted political or social change by reforming, not destroying, the tsarist regime
• The denial of free speech tended to drive political activists towards extremism
• Tsar Alexander II was killed by a bomb detonated by a terrorist group known as 'The People's Will'
• Orthodox Church


  One of the great pillars of the tsarist system, a deeply conservative body, opposed to political change and determined to preserve the tsarist system in its reactionary form
• The Church did contain some priests who strongly sympathised with the political revolutionaries
• The Church taught the Russian people that it was their duty to be totally obedient to the tsar as God's anointed
• Social structure of Tsarist Russia

  • 82% peasants
  • 12% upper class
  • 4% working class
  • 1.5% commercial class
  • 0.5% ruling class
• Russia was slow in economic development
• The low number of urban workers was a sign that Russia had not achieved the major industrial growth that had taken place in the nineteenth century in countries like Germany, Britain and the USA
• Russia was not entirely without industry
• The Urals region produced considerable amounts of iron, and the chief western cities, Moscow and St Petersburg, had extensive textiles factories
• Most villages had smelting works, which enabled them to produce iron goods and most peasant homes produced wooden, ëaxen or woollen goods to supplement their incomes
• These activities were all small scale
• The sheer size of Russia and its undeveloped transport system had limited the chance for industrial expansion
• The absence of an eéective banking system had restricted Russia's ability to borrow and invest money, which explains why its expansion has been so slow
• Russia had an ineìcient pattern of agricultural production
• Most of Russia's land was too North to have suitable climates
• Arable farming was restricted to the Black Earth region and the area of European Russia stretching from Ukraine to Kazakhstan
• The great number of peasants added to the problem as there was not enough fertile land
• Under the terms of the Emancipation Decree of 1861, ex-serfs were entitled to buy land, but prices were too high
• This was caused by a shortage of suitable farming territory and the government's taxation of land sales
• Peasants could raise special loans from the government, but it would take decades to pay oé
• Over 80% of the population were peasants, yet Russia's governing class had a prejudice against them
• The peasants were predominantly illiterate and uneducated, known as the 'dark masses'
• Many in the upper class were afraid of educating the peasants as they may prove to be highly dangerous
• Russian army


  A key pillar of tsarism, the lower ranks were largely êlled by conscription which was also used as a form of punishment, notorious for the severity of discipline and the grimness of the living conditions
• Around 1.5 million men were in service, the cost to maintain this accounted on average for 45% of the government's annual expenditure
• Comparatively, only 4% of the budget was spent on education
• Higher ranks of the army

  • Reserved for the aristocracy, commissions were bought and sold so there was little room for promotion on merit
• The army's active service was essentially putting down national risings or serious disturbances within or along the borders
• Bureaucracy (Civil Service)


  Another pillar of tsarism, everything was in the hands of a set of men who êrst thought of their own convenience and advantage, ordinary civilians had no say since any challenges to the system were lost in bureaucratic procedures
• This was a major source of discontent