ABSTRACT
The amazing thing about nineteenth-century Russia is that the country changed so much while remaining fundamentally the same, with old problems left unresolved. Economic development would make the empire the world’s fifth-largest industrial power. The traditional chasm between the illiterate masses and the educated elite widened rather than shrank, Westernization having created in Russia two separate cultures and societies. Russia moved forward in spite of an autocracy that expended most of its strength in a quixotic effort to contain the winds of change blowing in from all sides. Nicholas Werth gave Russia a model for the modern secret police that became a fundamental fixture of Russian life until the last decade of the twentieth century. Nationality stressed the special nature of the Russian people and devotion to the nation’s traditions and the status quo. Alexander Rabinowitch III illustrated his attitude toward political reform when he issued a manifesto declaring he would discuss his empire’s destiny only with God.
