Source 1Fiehn, Terry, and Chris Corin. "Why Were the Bolsheviks Successful in October 1917?" Communist Russia under Lenin and Stalin. London: John Murray, 2002. N. pag. Print.

“The size and diversity of the empire made it extremely difficult to govern. Many of the different minority groups resented Russian control, particularly the policy of Russification (making empire more “Russian”). This involved making non-Russians use the Russian language instead of their own, wear Russian-style clothes and adopt Russian customs. Russian officials were put in to run regional government in non-Russian parts of the empire like Poland, Latvia and Finland.”

Source 2

Comparison images of the lives of Russian peasants and the gold-coated throne room of one of the Tsar’s palaces.

Source 3A modern historian gives his view on imperial Russia.

“Russia was completely autocratic in its ruling system - The Tsar was the government. This meant that the quality of government relied on the quality of the Tsar...and there were some very poor quality Tsar’s. Any unrest or protest was met with swift and brutal consequences. There was no democracy of any kind (indeed, many Tsar’s saw democracy as a force that could destroy Russia). In a nation as diverse and large and Russia, all laws and policies were decided upon by one man. How could anyone expect this system to work forever?”

Source 4A breakdown of Russia by class in 1900, based on the census of 1897

Source 5A modern Historian in Russian Industry

“Economically speaking, Russia can only be really described as backwards in the 19th Century. The benefits of industrialisation that so benefited Western Europe had mostly passed Russia by. The nation was populated primarily by agricultural peasants living in a way that was not so dissimilar to their ancestors in the middle ages. The economy had a long way to go before it could be considered modern”

Source 6

Anonymous cartoon, published by Russian socialists 1910

Source 7Map showing ethnic groups in Russia, 1916

Source 8

Coronation of Tsar Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna in 1896.

Source 9

Russian revolution poster “Clean the world of Filth”