The economic context

Question 1

What countries were more industrially advanced than Russia? (4)

Answer 1

• Britain
• Belgium
• France
• ‘Germany’

Question 2

What was Russia’s village to town dweller ratio?

Answer 2

11:1

Question 3

What was Britain’s village to town dweller ratio?

Answer 3

1:1

Question 4

How big was Russia’s territory?

Answer 4

6000 miles east to west; 2000 miles north to south

Question 5

How much of Russia lay north of the 50th parallel North?

Answer 5

> 2/3

Question 6

What was Russia the main exporter of?

Answer 6

agricultural produce

Question 7

Which mountains split Russia into east and west?

Answer 7

Ural mountains

Question 8

What did Russia have large reserves of? (5)

Answer 8

• timber
• coal
• oil
• gold
• precious metals

Question 9

Why was Russia’s communication poor?

Answer 9

It crossed through multiple time zones

Question 10

Who were reliant on serfs? (3)

Answer 10

• landowning aristocracy
• the tsarist government
• the army

Question 11

Why did serfdom inhibit economic development? (3)

Answer 11

It limited:

• wage-earners
• markets
• entrepreneurs

Question 12

Why was serfdom a problem? (4)

Answer 12

• little opportunity or incentive to develop into wage-earners
• self-sufficiency meant that few goods were purchased in markets
• Money was not the usual payment for serfs, they exchanged instead
• There was no internal market demand

Question 13

What were mirs?

Answer 13

a traditional serf village community

Question 14

How did mirs affect serfs?

Answer 14

Individual families had to work scattered strips

Question 15

What percentage of the population were serfs?

Answer 15

85%

Question 16

How did the elite obtain what they needed? (2)

Answer 16

• serf’s service

- feudal dues

Question 17

Why was there no opportunity for capital accumulation?

Answer 17

income was generally falling

Question 18

Why was income falling? (2)

Answer 18

• population growth

- agricultural changes in the west that made the market more competitive