Russia

• The world's largest nation
• Russia has a huge population of 160 million most of whom lived in the Western Part of the country
• Most Russians were members of the Russian Orthodox Church, but there were also around 5 million Jews and 23 million Muslims
• Sometimes violence erupted between different ethnic groups and many wanted to gain their independence
• Russia was a nation of great wealth for the ruling class and extreme poverty for the working class
• many continued to live in the countryside and confined farming for work even after the Industrial Revolution, in the three decades before WW1, when oil, coal, and steel production trebled
• Tsar Nicholas II took power in 1894.
• Tsar Nicholas was distantly related to Kaiser Wilhelm
• Nicholas had absolute control of Russia and believed that God put him in his role.
• Nicholas was not a good judge of character, often electing family members into positions of power
• Had no colonies, but aspired to annex Persia
• Living conditions in the countryside were harsh and much of the country lived in poverty.
• Working hours were much longer than that of Western Europe
• Stats in 1914:

  • population - 159 million
  • army - 1,200,000
  • battleships - 26
  • submarines - 29
  • air force - 360 fighter planes, 16 airships
  • coal - 36 million tonnes
  • steel - 4 million tonnes