1. What was Imperial Russia like in 1914?
Lesson Objectives
To understand key aspects of Russian life in 1914.

2. What was Imperial Russia like in 1914?
ALL OF US will be able to describe life in Imperial Russia. (4B-5C)
EVEN BETTER IF you can use your learning to evaluate the accuracy of an historical interpretation of Russia. (5B-6C)
EXCELLENT IF you can make a judgement about the accuracy of the interpretation. (6B-7C)
CHALLENGE – CAN YOU COMPARE LIFE IN IMPERIAL RUSSIA TO A SIMILAR SOCIETY? (7B-7A)

3. True or false? In 1914... Russia was run by a government.
Russia had the largest army in the world.
Russia had a population of 10 Million people.
Everybody in Russia spoke the same language.
All people in Russia were treated equally.

4. In 1914 the Russia was the largest country in the world
In 1914 the Russia was the largest country in the world. Only China and the British Empire ruled over more people.
Your task for today is to find out what life was like within this Empire.

5. The Russia of 1914 ruled over 166 million people
The Russia of 1914 ruled over 166 million people. Many of these people were of different ethnicities and spoke different languages. To understand what it was like to be a Russian in 1914 we need to be able to empathise with the experiences of a variety of social groups.
Your task for today is to research what life was like for people in the three main social groups in Russia. You will read some information about life for these groups and then try to empathise with their experience.

6. WHAT WAS LIFE LIKE IN IMPERIAL RUSSIA?
Yuri, a rural peasant
Vlad, an urban peasant
Demitri, an aristocrat
For each of these people write an account explaining what their life was like. Include the following details:
At least three facts about my lifestyle.
Is my life good, if not how could my life be made better?
What is the biggest problem I face?
Do you think I am happy in Russia?

7. Russia – An
overview
End Show

8. As large as the surface of a moon that you can see at night.
Russia:
An overview
4,000 miles East to West
2,000 miles North to South
As large as the surface of a moon that you can see at night.
11 different time zones.
Beyond the Ural Mountains, Russia was a wild place with frontier settlements.
Picture courtesy of Keith McInnes

9. In the countryside there were very few paved roads
In the countryside there were very few paved roads. Outside main cities, roads would turn to mud in heavy rain. This made travel very slow.
Back to the
Russia map
Picture courtesy of Keith McInnes

11. Poland
130 million people lived in Russia, but over 50% weren’t Russian. The non-Russians were from all sorts of races, for example, Polish people from Poland.
Many of these non-Russians resented the fact that Russian officials controlled them.
The Russians made non-Russians speak Russian, wear Russian clothes and follow Russian customs. This policy was called “Russification”
In Poland it was forbidden to teach children in Polish. Russians, not Poles, had all the important jobs.
Back to the
Russia map

12. Photograph used with the kind permission of Keith McInnes

13. Petrograd / Moscow – the biggest cities

14. Petrograd / Moscow – the biggest cities
Petrograd was the capital of Russia. The Tsar and his Ministers ruled the country from there.
Around 1900, Russia experienced industrial growth and many factories were built in Petrograd and Moscow. These were owned by rich businessmen who dined on caviar and smoked salmon at beautiful restaurants, or visited the ballet and concerts. The profits they made went on their grand houses.
The factory workers lived in filthy, crowded, disease-ridden dormitories near the cities. There was little privacy. Sometimes beds were occupied 24 hours a day by 2 workers in turn. The workers were not content with low pay and long working hours!
Back to the
Russia map

16. The best farmland – the “black earth” region
Ural mountains

17. The best farmland
Only 25% of Russia was really good farmland. Most of this was in the South and West of the country, especially in the Ukraine, the “Bread basket” of Russia. The rest of Russia was either desert, arctic tundra, or taiga (woods).
4 out of 5 Russians were peasants. They had a hard life and there was often starvation and disease. Why?

18. Peasants used a strip method of farming, wooden tools, and had few animals. They ate rye bread and cabbage soup. Meat was rare. They lived in wood and straw houses, slept on beds of straw and wore coarse woollen shirts. The poorest had sandals made of tree bark.
Peasants were often in debt to their landlords, the nobles. Nobles made up 1% of the population but owned almost 25% of the land. They were very rich, with 2 houses, and enjoyed the ballet and other social events.
If peasants protested (for example during times of famine), the Tsar would use his feared Cossack soldiers against them.
Back to the
Russia map

19. Pictures courtesy of Keith McInnes

20. Siberia
Trans-Siberian railway

21. Picture courtesy of Keith McInnes
Travel in Siberia in the Summer today: Just imagine what it was like back then!

22. Siberia
Extremely cold (up to –60 degrees C). Very large. Huge natural resources but very small population. The rulers of Russia traditionally sent any person who opposed them to Siberia.
Most Russian railways were in European Russia apart from the Trans-Siberian Railway. To travel from one end to the other took a week, so communication was very difficult.
Civil Servants ran each part of Russia, including Siberia, carrying out the Tsar’s wishes. Since the wages of Civil Servants were low, and because they were far away from central government (especially in Siberia), there was a lot of corruption and bribery.
Back to the
Russia map

23. At least three facts about my lifestyle.
Yuri, a rural peasant
Vlad, an urban peasant
Demitri, an aristocrat
For each of these people write an account explaining what their life was like. Include the following details:
At least three facts about my lifestyle.
Is my life good, if not how could my life be made better?
What is the biggest problem I face?
Do you think I am happy in Russia?

24. What is this source suggesting about Russian society?
From what you have learned today how accurate is this source?
How reliable is this source? (discuss at least two aspects of PANDA)
HOW DOES IMPERIAL RUSSIA COMPARE TO INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION BRITAIN?
COULD YOU DRAW A SIMILAR DIAGRAM FOR INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION PERIOD ENGLAND?
DRAWN BY A RUSSIAN PEASANT, 1913

25. True or false? In 1914... Russia was run by a government.
Russia had the largest army in the world.
Russia had a population of 10 Million people.
Everybody in Russia spoke the same language.
All people in Russia were treated equally.