OLD REGIME RUSSIA

Land of contradictions  Huge empire  Situated in both “West” & “East”

OLD REGIME RUSSIA Land of contradictions  Great power  Great poverty & underdevelopment

OLD REGIME RUSSIA Land of contradictions  Primarily agrarian society  Beginning to modernize & industrialize

OLD REGIME RUSSIA Land of contradictions  Elite 1%) controlled everything  Majority of population (over 80%) = peasants

OLD REGIME RUSSIA Land of contradictions  Elite lived in great wealth & opulence  Majority lived in poverty

OLD REGIME RUSSIA Land of contradictions  Great culture & thought  Produced some of world’s greatest artists, writers, thinkers, scientists LEV TOLSTOY ANNA PAVLOVA PETR TCHAIKOVSKY MARC CHAGALL IVAN PAVLOV

OLD REGIME RUSSIA  Began late, but steady growth  But still lagged behind West Industrialization & rise of capitalism

OLD REGIME RUSSIA Russia’s divergent path  Pervasive state control of economy  Strict autocratic control of political system

OLD REGIME RUSSIA Role of the Church  Propped up autocracy  Subordinate to government

OLD REGIME RUSSIA The Multi-National Empire  Hundreds of different ethnic groups  Often chafed under Russian control

OLD REGIME RUSSIA Communal Nature  Focus of life for most: Family Village Commune (OBSHCHINA or MIR)

OLD REGIME RUSSIA Great population growth  1861 = 73 million  1897 = 125 million  1917 = 170 million  Placed great strain on land/resources