Quick quiz - Russia in 1900

Question 1

How far does Russia stretch East to West?

Answer 1

5000 miles

Question 2

What does autocracy mean?

Answer 2

There is one ruler that has total power

Question 3

What was the dominant religion within the Russian Empire?

Answer 3

Christianity (Russian Orthodoxy)

Question 4

Name the three bodies or instruments of government that assisted the Tsar in governing Russia?

Answer 4

Imperial Council, Senate and the Cabinet of Ministers

Question 5

What percentage of the population was made up by the nobility?

Answer 5

1%

Question 6

What percentage of land did the nobility own?

Answer 6

Over 25% of land in Russia

Question 7

Approximately, what proportion of the population were middle class?

Answer 7

0.5%

Question 8

What were Russia’s two largest cities?

Answer 8

St Petersburg and Moscow

Question 9

Give two reasons why conditions for the urban working class were poor.

Answer 9

Low wages, lack of sanitation, high rate of accidents in work places

Question 10

What was the status/position of Russian peasants before 1861?

Answer 10

They were serfs, so they were bound to plots of land and their land owners.

Question 11

Even after “emancipation”, peasant life was often hard. Give two reasons for this continuing hardship.

Answer 11

Redemption taxes, lack of education, widespread disease.

Question 12

What was the name given to the peasant commune?

Answer 12

Mir

Question 13

What was the name given to wealthier peasants?

Answer 13

Kulaks (kulaki)

Question 14

Approximately how many peasants died in the famine of 1891?

Answer 14

400,000