Ethnicities/Diversity:
- Many different nationalities
- Attempts to "Russify" other nationalities, make them give up their way of life for Russian way of life
- Polish, others could only use Russian language in schools, courts, etc.
- People were forced to dress like Russians, give up their customs for Russian customs
- This "Russification" caused violence, uprisings from those being oppressed
- huge government bureaucracy, made it hard to control
- a lot of corruption existed in government
- hard to spread information correctly from high levels of government to low levels
- low pay for government workers
- the wealthy had all the power, the Tsar was believed to have absolute power ordained by God
- no free speech, a lot of censorship
- people wanted more freedom
- Most of Russia was serfs/poor peasants
- Even when serfdom was eradicated in 1861, peasants were kept in constant debt
- extremely small middle class led to lack of industrialization
- small upper class had most power
- poor communication
- roads were dirt, made them impassible in winter
- underdeveloped railway system
- most of the transportation occurred in rivers
- Russia was a very large country
- covered 2 continents
- 6400 km by 3000 km
- northern part was a frozen tundra, so much of Russia was uninhabited
- sheer size of Russia made it difficult to rule
- Military was very large, but ineffective
- made up of largely conscripted serfs
- Crimean War revealed how Russian military was lacking
- Main religion was Orthodox Christian
- believed Tsar was ordained by God
- Russia was independent from the Pope
- involved mystics and superstition, and was deeply conservative
- Most of country was made up of illiterate, uneducated serfs
- lack of education prevented development of industry, modernization