“These romantic visions of the peasantry were constantly undone by contact with reality, often with devastating consequences for their bearers. The populists, who invested much of themselves in their conception of the peasants, suffered the most in this respect, since… — Orlando Figes Copy Share Image
On the news that the Tsar had sent the troops icons to boost their morals, General Dragomirov quipped: 'The Japanese are beating us with… — Orlando Figes Copy Share Image
“For the Romanov regime fell under the weight of its own internal contradictions. It was not overthrown.” — Orlando Figes Copy Share Image
“The only way, they argued, to prevent a revolution was to rule Russia with an iron hand. This meant defending the autocratic principle, the… — Orlando Figes Copy Share Image
“This was a cruelty made by history. Long after serfdom had been abolished the land captains exercised their right to flog the peasants for… — Orlando Figes Copy Share Image
“Whereas in Europe new ideas were forced to compete against other doctrines and attitudes, with the results that people tended towards healthy skepticism about… — Orlando Figes Copy Share Image
Time and time again, the obstinate refusal of the tsarist regime to concede reforms turned what should have been a political problem into a… — Orlando Figes Copy Share Image
The link between literacy and revolutions is a well-known historical phenomenon. The three great revolutions of modern European history -- the English, the French… — Orlando Figes Copy Share Image
“For all too many of these high-born revolutionaries, the main attraction of 'the cause' lay not so much in the satisfaction which they might… — Orlando Figes Copy Share Image
Their notion of training was to march the men up and down in parades and reviews: these were nice to look at and gave… — Orlando Figes Copy Share Image
“Gorky called for the building of a monument to the young martyr, who, the writer said, had ‘understood that a relative by blood may… — Orlando Figes Copy Share Image
“As in 1917, the drift towards authoritarian government under Putin was enabled by the weakness of the middle classes and public institutions in post-Soviet… — Orlando Figes Copy Share Image
It was ironic but somehow fitting that the 1905 Revolution should have been started by an organisation dreamed up by the tsarist regime itself.… — Orlando Figes Copy Share Image
