The Black Sea was essential to Russia’s trading as it gave them access to Europe to trade. It was essential for Russia to trade as they had few towns and could not produce much of the materials they required. The Black Sea was controlled by Turkey which could hinder this trading. This is not really a proper argument to say Russia was backward as they could not help what another country did, but it was considered backward to not have many towns and rely on other countries for so much produce. Britain was encountering the Industrial Revolution and revolutions were occurring in America and France.
Russia was very much still made up of villages and farms that had to be practically self-sufficient. There were minimal towns and as so little could be made the work carried out was considered to be minimal and insignificant as Russia was so large. The people found it hard to make enough food and materials and much of the population lived in poverty practically starving while a small percentage of the country live in luxury. Although Britain still had very different scales of wealth, most people had jobs in towns and houses though not all were very safe or clean. The situation in Russia meant its economy was weak unlike Britain’s and America’s. Had Russia experienced an Industrial Revolution similar to Britain’s it would have been one of the most powerful countries in the world but it was held back due to lack of industry.
Russia was agriculturally based as there were no towns therefore no working class so there could not be a revolution such as in France or America. The country was run on Serfdom, nobles owned the peasant who worked their land. The peasants were practically slaves; they could be bought, sold, separated from families and punished severely. Slavery was not so widely used around the world and there were moves towards abolishing it, though it did not end in the early 19th century. However, even though Russia was not the only country to have slavery, it was also not trying to move away from this system.
The serfs also had no means of bettering themselves and moving up the social ladder. Only 4% of the expenditure was spent on education, so only the rich could afford education so the rich stayed rich and the poor stayed poor. There was no compulsory education in Britain at this time, but the National Society for Promoting the Education of the Poor was set up in 1811 and by 1870 the Education Act provided free education to all primary school children. Russia did not recognise the importance of educating its entire people as those in control were rich and comfortable.
The social boundaries were also much stronger than most other countries, there were the rich and poor and they did not mix. Though other countries still had extremes of wealth the classes did mix in a way. For example, in Britain the railways were used by all classes and on platforms it was possible to “see how the other half lived”. Countries were moving toward accepting all classes but Russia seemed adamant the rich and poor should remain separate. It was also as if they were different species, a very backward idea similar to the notion white people were superior to black people.
Furthermore, at this time there were no proper roads, they were built in 1850 and only one railway making it very hard to travel the country, transport goods and also communicate. For example, when reforms were made or new laws put in place parts of the country would not hear about it until much later. The railways were such an important part of other countries and were a sign that country was moving forward as it provided a fast, safe and cheap means of transportation for all classes. It was backward that Russia did not have the railways as they were moving from Britain to other countries and kept them at the top of power in the world.
The punishments in Russia were also very brutal; criminals were flogged, tortured and executed in public. The bodies were left in public for weeks after to set an example to others. Countries like Britain also had hangings and were not stopped until 1964, but they were carried out in private and weren’t for all the public to see. Executions to this day occur in some states of America, but they are not as brutal as those carried out in Russia. Peter the Great had tried to modernise the way the people of Russia dressed but although they may have looked different the same principles and thoughts were still in those people so were still backward compared to the rest of the civilised world.
Russia was very obviously different to countries such as France, Britain and America. This was partly due to their hold onto tradition and wanting to keep their culture rather than changing completely to Western ideals. However, they could still have kept aspects of their culture and took on some of the things that made other countries modern such as the railways. Had they made some changes it would have helped their politics, economy and society, but those in power were comfortable and felt no need to help all their people so in this sense Russia was very backward.