Why Russia Was a Difficult Country to Govern Before 1905

Why Russia was a difficult country to govern before 1905

• Large parts were either uninhabited or sparsely populated. • Communications across this huge area were poor. • Most of the roads were hard-packed earth which turned to mud in heavy rain and became impassable in winter. • By the beginning of the twentieth century, Russia was a vast sprawling empire that contained a large number of different national groups. • The diversity of culture, religion and language throughout the empire ranged from European Russians living in St. Petersburg, to nomadic Muslim peoples in the desert areas of the south. • The size and diversity of the empire made it extremely difficult to govern. • Many of the national minorities resented Russian control. • Russian officials were put in to run regional government in non-Russian parts of the empire, like Poland. • During the nineteenth century there were a number of uprisings and protests from national groups. • As far as the tsar’s were concerned, he had been appointed by God to lead and guide the people • The tsar had an imperial council to advise him and a cabinet of ministers who ran the various government departments. • They were responsible to him alone, not to a parliament or a prime minister. • The tsar was the pivot on which the system rested. • There was a huge bureaucracy of civil servants and officials. • It was a rigid hierarchy marked by it’s inefficiency. • Opposition was not tolerated. • Political parties were illegal and newspapers and books were censored. • The population in the nineteenth century was mainly made up of peasants. • The tsar’s didn’t value the opinion of peasants as they were uneducated and classified as unworthy. • The economy was poor. • The productive use of empire was limited due to climate. • The cities were so densely populated. • Because no one could question the tsar’s actions, the general public of Russia didn’t get to give their opinions. • Russia resides with 2 continents and so there were cultural differences between the people of Russia. • There were terrorist groups such as the ‘People’s Will.’ • There was no middle ground for debate so there was often extremist political action. • Because Russia is so big, it would be hard to get to places to keep the general public under control if something had gone wrong. • Not everybody spoke Russian. • People would start conflicts between religions.