There were several factors that made it hard for Nicholas II to govern Russia during the 1900's.

Russia's lack of economic development was illustrated in the difference in size between the urban professionals and the working classes. The majority of Russia's population could be seen as peasants. The low numbers of the working class was an indication that Russia had not attained industrial growth on a large scale, which is a vital factor needed to produce an economically stable country. As Russia wasn't financially secure they couldn't give support in terms of housing and provisions to the people within their country. The lack of help that was awarded to the Russians, created deep animosity towards the government officials, the working class especially, because they were constantly working and not reaping any benefits.

The growing resentment amongst the working class with the government officials, lead to an increasing interest and desire for a democratic and representative government. Russia at this time was governed autocratically, which meant that the tsar had the ultimate power to rule. The Russian citizen's demands, opinions and concerns were not acknowledged.

Moreover another factor which made the Russia so difficult to govern was the population which almost reached one hundred million and this continued to increase into the 20thcentury. Ninety percent of this number is made up of peasants who worked in agriculture and industry, and who also had no power in society whatsoever. The other ten percent of the population were landowners and noblemen, who were to be respected and were valued more than the Serfs. The Tsars officials and governing body did not value the opinions of the peasants, as they were uneducated and classified as unworthy. Therefore due to such large population the Russian government struggled to govern the country.

The Russian Empire dominated Eastern Europe and covered a vast area of Asia as well. Tsarist Russia covered one sixth of the world’s surface, and was the largest continuous land empire in the 19thcentury. Because of its vastness, it could’ve taken at least a few months to travel from the city of St Petersburg, to Vladivostok in the South. The productive use of the Empire was limited due to the climate and geography. Parts of the Russian Empire were made up from impenetrable forests, deserts, tundra and grasslands. People tended to migrate to the cities at the time of the industrial revolution to find more jobs and because of the poor economy. The geography of the Empire made it difficult to govern because the cities were so densely populated, but would be hundreds or thousands of miles away from the next big settlement. This also links into problems with communication. There weren’t many methods of transport and communication between places in the Empire. Train journeys would often be uncomfortable, long, and unpleasant. But it was probably the best way of travelling greater distances. The River Volga is situated between the capital, Moscow and a place called Astrakhan in the south. Travelling on a passenger steamer on the River took even longer than the train journeys. For shorter distances there were the roads, but they were hard-paced mud roads and were often covered in wooden planks in the cities. This made it very difficult to spread news between settlements and to travel from one to another, in turn making it harder to enforce laws and regulations.

Autocracy was the governmental system in Russia. The leader of the system, the Tsar, had unlimited power and had only God to answer to. No one really questioned the Tsar as people believed that he was divinely appointed to carry out God’s will, and the majority of the population was very religious. The Tsar did not have to take the help from his advisors, but they were there to assist him if he wished so. The Tsarist system made Russia difficult to govern as the Tsar himself made all of the decisions. As no one could question his actions, the population of Russia did not have the chance to give their opinions.

Although there were many religions in 19thcentury Russia such as Catholicism, Islam and Animism, the Russian Orthodox Church was the official religion. The Russian Orthodox Church was a big supporter of the Tsar, and those who belonged to that Church would not go against the Tsar as it would be like going against God. There was conflict between the many religions; therefore the various faiths were spread out across the Empire. The other religions had varied opinions on the Autocracy, but none of them were as strong supporters and had fewer members in the Empire than the Russian Orthodox Church, so they weren’t classed as important.

Overall Russia became hard to govern for the underlying reasons of to high population to religion. These aspects therefore made Russia more difficult to govern due to lots of problems were occurring during the 19thcentury. All in all Russia became hard to govern because of the main factor its size, which limited the government to keep Russia under control.

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By Lewis Hales Page