ABSTRACT
The chief factor which retarded the development of Russia was the Tartar invasion. When the Tartar rule had finally been shaken off, and the Tsars of Moscow had united the many small Russian principalities under their sceptre, Russia began to form the acquaintance of her Western neighbours, and to acquire mutual interests through the development of commerce. During the last few years before the war, the vodka tax was yielding the Government a billion roubles yearly, at the expense of the moral and physical development of the population. The greatest effort to model Russia upon more advanced countries was made by Peter the Great. The landowners of Russia possessed much less land than the peasants, yet they produced more than all the peasants put together. Nevertheless, Russia has in many respects remained far behind Western Europe. The land problem exists in all European countries, but in no country have the peasants been provided for by the State as in Russia.
