Fact Sheet on Imperial Russia in 1914 :: Russian History

Landformsthe European side is intimatelyly flat plainsthe Ural Mountain and several large rivers (Volga, Ob, Yenisey, Lena) run in a south-north directionmuch of the Asian side (west of the Ural) is in the tundra zonehigh mountain ranges along the Mongolian border and in the far east of the orbitClimatethe largest plain in the world.extreme temperate conditions temperatures below freezing for several months, although it can get very hot in the pass around of the ports freeze in wintertime, living the country with only limited year-round access to important sea routesResources rich soil and grazing land in most places in the European sidecoal and iron accessible in the European part large mineral wealth in the Asian part (gold, diamond, oil, iron and heavy metals, etc.) hard to accessPeople nation is about 174 million, the second largest in the world after China, with a 50% population rise between 1860 and 1914about four fifth of the population lived in the European part, about 8 0% of them peasants, had been owning small pieces of land since 1861the Tsar, Nicholas the II, was an autocratic ruler most of the population lived in poverty.most of the land was owned by the church and a few noble families, the nobility accounting for 1% of the population owned 25% of the landpoor education system, only a selected few could read and writedisease and starvation was commononly 40% of the pile are Russian-speakingComment Russia, the worlds largest country, covered one sixth of the planets total landmass (Warnes, 1999), excluding Antarctica. The country had a huge wealth of resources, most located in hardly accessible or completely inaccessible parts of Siberia. The European coal and iron mines supported and progressively powerful iron industry. The Trans-Siberian Railway completed in 1904 did not make mining of these resources much easier. The roads in Siberia were muddy and impassable for most of the summer season. The flooding rivers made east-west travels and t ransportation very difficult. Most routes were open only in the winter, when the harsh conditions made movement of people and goods tough. As a result, the country could not enjoy the benefits of the available mineral resources.Although home to the worlds second largest population, the 174 million people were not united. Only 40% belonged to the motherland, the stop was made up almost 20 different other nationalities and several other smaller groups. Most people lived below the standards of other European nations.