This video explores what life was actually like in Imperial Russia before 1917. We examine the rigid class system: the tiny aristocracy living in luxury, the growing middle class in cities, and the vast majority—peasants who had only been freed from serfdom in 1861 but still lived in poverty, illiteracy, and desperation. We look at Tsar Nicholas II's autocratic rule, the brutal secret police (Okhrana), and a government that violently suppressed dissent while refusing meaningful reform.
We explore the industrialization that was transforming cities like St. Petersburg and Moscow, creating a new working class crammed into slums, working 12-hour shifts in dangerous factories for barely enough to survive. We examine the growing revolutionary movements—Social Democrats, Social Revolutionaries, anarchists—who debated how to overthrow the system, and the 1905 Revolution that nearly succeeded before being crushed.
We also look at World War I's catastrophic impact: millions of Russian soldiers killed or wounded, food shortages in cities, inflation destroying what little wealth people had, and a government completely unprepared for modern war. By early 1917, Russia was collapsing—and the revolution became inevitable.
This is about understanding the powder keg that exploded into revolution, the old world that was dying, and why so many Russians were ready to tear it all down.
