Russia at the start of the twentieth century
GEOGRAPHY, POLITICS, ECONOMY AND SOCIETY
Background - geography
 1894 imperial Russia covered 8 million square miles
(two and a half times the size of the US today)
 Covered a large part of two continents
 Most of the population was concentrated in
European Russia
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It was this part that Russia’s major historical developments
had occurred
Moscow and St Petersburg (capital) were situated here
 Between 1815 and 1914 the population quadrupled
from 40 million to 165 million
 Contained a wide variety of people of different race,
language, religion and culture.
The system of government
 The Emperor of all the Russians is an autocratic
and unlimited monarch; God himself ordains that
all must bow to his supreme power; not only out
of fear but also out of conscience.’
Article 1, Fundamental Laws of the Empire, 1832
 Russia was an autocracy governed by an absolute
ruler called the tsar (emperor)
 Since 1613 Russian tsars had been members of the
Romanov dynasty
Reform and Reaction
 In 1861 Tsar Alexander II
emancipated Russia’s 25 million
serfs and placed them in Mirs
 On 13 March 1881 Alexander II, the
‘Tsar Liberator’ was assassinated by
a terrorist group called The People’s
Will.
 Alexander III became Tsar. He
ended any further political reform
and introduced repressive policies
(Okhrana).
 From 1894 Tsar Nicholas II ruled the Russian Empire
“Nicholas had no knowledge of the world
or of men, of politics or government to
help him make the difficult and weighty
decisions that the Tsar alone must make.
The only guiding stars that he
recognized were the inherited belief in
the moral rightness of autocracy, and a
religious faith that he was in God’s
hands and his actions were divinely
inspired.”
Hans Rogger, Russia in the Age of
Modernization and Revolution, 1983
A) Inference Questions
 You are being asked to give the message of the source, to
read between the lines of what is written. You could begin
your answer ‘This source suggests that…’. This should help
you to get a message or messages from the sources.
Tips
 Avoid repeating the content.
 Look for key words in the source that might lead to
inferences.
 Avoid using phrases such as ‘This source shows/tells….’
Society
 A cartoon published by
Russian socialists in
1900 showing their
interpretation of Russian
society under the Tsars.
 What can we infer from
this source about Russia
at the start of the
twentieth century? (3
marks)
Review
 Write down definitions of the following key terms from the lesson today:
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Autocracy
 A government in which one person has unrestricted control over others.
Emancipation of the serfs
 Issued in 1861 by Alexander II. This abolished serfdom in the Russian empire and
gave landless peasants the full rights of free citizens.
Mir
 A village commune where land was owned collectively. After 1861 serfs were forced
to live in Mirs
Russification
 The adoption of the Russian language or some other Russian attributes (whether
voluntarily or not) by non-Russian communities. This was a policy followed by
Alexander III
Okhrana
 The secret police force used by the Tsars for repression
Censorship
 To ban or cut parts of a newspaper, book, film etc which the government does not
like