Knowing the history of your country makes it possible to better understand the reasons for its current successes and problems. Pre-revolutionary Russia in the minds of a modern person is largely surrounded by myths, which often have no factual basis. Therefore, in order to better understand what Russia was like before the era of socialism, you need to form in your mind a certain general historical picture of this period.
The Russian Empire existed for about two centuries, and during this time it has undergone significant changes both politically, economically and culturally. Therefore, when describing pre-revolutionary Russia, it is best to restrict ourselves to the latest period of its history - from the abolition of serfdom in 1861 to the February Revolution itself.
In terms of the political structure, the Russian Empire for most of its history was an absolute monarchy. But the idea of the need for parliamentarism and a constitution occupied the minds of people throughout the 19th century. Alexander II instructed his advisers to create a project of deliberative bodies of state administration, which were supposed to become a prototype of a parliament with limited powers, but this process was interrupted after the assassination of the tsar. His son Alexander III adhered to a much more conservative view, and did not continue his father's business.
Subsequently, the problem of sharing power with the people had to be solved by Nicholas II. Due to the outbreak of popular unrest in 1905, on October 17, the authorities were forced to issue a manifesto, which guaranteed the creation of a new elected legislative body - the State Duma. Thus, the Russian Empire actually and legally turned into a limited monarchy, which it remained until the emperor's abdication and revolution.
The structure of the economy of pre-revolutionary Russia was very different from the current situation in the country. Until 1861, the country's development was hampered by the remaining serfdom. It did not give an opportunity to develop not only agriculture, but also industry - the influx of people into the cities was limited due to the will of the landowners. After the abolition of personal dependence in the country, a sufficient basis appeared for the development of the economy along the path of industrialization. However, the agricultural sector retained its leading position in the economy until the revolution.
The abolition of serfdom, having solved some problems, created others. Of course, and free of charge, the peasant received only personal freedom, but he had to redeem the land. A significant mass of the population was dissatisfied with both the size of payments and the area of allotments. The situation was aggravated by population growth in the second half of the 19th century. By the 20th century, the problem of landlessness of peasants was very acute. One of the ways to solve it was the Stolypin reform. It was aimed at the destruction of the peasant community and the creation of independent farms, according to the principle of organization similar to modern farms. Also, people got the opportunity to move to empty lands in Siberia, and the state organized transport and material support for them. Stolypin's actions were able to alleviate the severity of the problem, but the land issue was never finally resolved.
Transport was actively developing, since interregional communication remained a problem. The development of the railway network was a major step forward. In about 20 years, the Trans-Siberian Railway was built, which connected the west and east of the empire. This gave impetus to the economic development of remote Russian regions.
In the cultural sphere, it is necessary to take into account the significant role of the religious component. Orthodoxy was the official religion, but the interests of other confessions were also taken into account. On the whole, in comparison with the neighboring countries, the Russian Empire was a fairly tolerant state. On its territory, Orthodox, Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, Buddhists coexisted. Some aggravation in the national-religious issue arose at the beginning of the 20th century, with the spread of Jewish pogroms. These tendencies in a certain sense corresponded to the global ones - with the collapse of empires into national states, nationalism also intensified.
