THE GATHERING STORM

By the end of the 19th century, Russia was the largest contiguous land empire in the world – stretching from the Black Sea to the Bering Strait. This vast empire had many nationalities within its 125 million-strong population, many of whom followed different religions and spoke different languages – yet it fell to one ruler to keep it under control.

The agricultural system of Russia had changed little for centuries. Unlike the British empire – Russia’s rival in terms of influence and control over Central Asia – Russia had not experienced a major industrial revolution. Much of the population were peasant farmers. Serfdom – which gave total authority to the landowner to control the life and work of the peasant serfs residing on his land – wasn’t abolished until 1861, making Russia almost the last country in Europe to end the system. But although liberation from serfdom meant Russia’s poor were no longer formally tied to landowners and could legally own land without consent, it wasn’t the freedom they had hoped for. Landowners often kept the best land for themselves, leaving their former