Book Description

The last sixty years of Imperial Russia are not only of great historical interest, but are significant for other countries and other periods. The social, economic, and political conditions which gave Lenin his opportunity were similar to those now giving birth to various types of revolutionary movements in many parts of the world. Dr. Seton-Watson’s penetrating analysis of the mainstreams of the declining decades of pre-Revolutionary Russia establishes clearly that the nation as a whole was trying to catch up with the advances made by Western Europe. But these attempts at social and economic change were nullified by one immutable and decisive factor—the dogma of autocracy. The tragedy of Russia was caused by the Czars’ insistence on absolute powers which they were incompetent to wield. The history of these years throws light on some of the problems that most urgently beset the statesmen of our own day and provides an impressive array of mistakes which they would do well to avoid in order to safeguard the survival of the free world. Illustrated with 8 maps. “First-rate history...clear and readable...an admirable survey of Russian development from the reign of Alexander II to the outbreak of the First World War.”—The New Leader.