Catherine had to keep the nobility pleased at all times because if she didn't she could be dethroned easily. Because of this she carried out very few social reforms. Russia continued to follow an economic growth that Peter that Great had started. She tried to remove trade barriers, and assisted in expanding the middle class, which helped trade. Catherine II's great addition to Russia was the land she gained, she was able to add more territory to Russia than had been in nearly a century before her.

While nothing very important was achieved during Catherine's rule, she acquired valuable friends that proved to be useful in the future of Russia.

Alexander I. The successor of Paul I and the grandson of Catherine the Great, Alexander I spent the early part of his rule attempting to reform the administering body of the government. The reforms he initiated here brought about a much better trained group of officials.

After the Napoleonic Wars, Alexander I was in charge

In January several hundred workers went to the tsar with a petition to improve industrial conditions. But as they came to the palace the guards opened fire on them, almost 100 innocent protesters were killed in cold blood. Over the next year many other disturbances plagued Russia including: peasant revolts, mutinies, assassinations, and strikes.

When an election decreed for a Constituent Assembly by the provisional

6) The March Revolution: Food riots broke out in Petrograd, and when the Czar ordered the Duma to dissolve and they did not obey. Soldiers were not able to stop rioting in the cities. Workers and soldiers in Petrograd organized radical legislative bodies called Soviets. The rebellion spread throughout the country and to the troops, who deserted by tens of thousands.

The October Revolution: Kerensky's government failed to win the support of the people because of continued shortages, and Russia stayed in the war against the Central Powers. Lenin returned to Petrograd with the cry of "Peace, land, bread." On October 6 and 7 the Bolsheviks stormed the Winter Palace, headquarters of Kerensky's government, and seized other key centers in Petrograd. Kerensky's provisional government fled. The congress of Soviets, established a Council of People's Commissars with Lenin as head, Trotsky as a foreign minister and Stalin as nationalities minister. Over the next months, the government abolished the freely elected legislative assembly and established a secret police organization, the Cheka.

10) The fall of the Soviet Union had economic, political, and military repercussions on the state of Russia. When the Soviet Union ceased to exist in December 1991, revolutions broke out all throughout the former communist countries, these revolutions became more prevalent especially when Gorbachev renounced the Brezhnev Doctrine, saying that Russia would not come to the aid of troubled communist countries. These revolutions created great instability in these newly democratized nations, economically, politically, and militarily.

The philosophy Herzen presents is a very contradictory "blend," of and radical thought. The radical strain of his writing can be seen very clearly in his attack on the middle classes, which he thought were overly orthodox in their views. Herzen approved of Russian communal organization, yet contested . He thought that in a communist state the power of the mass majority would be overwhelming and something to be feared; in addition, the willingness of revolutionaries to destroy freedom raised Herzen's ideas towards them. He opposed any such ideology calling for absolute sacrifice in the name of an abstract principle, utopian concept, or historical destiny. Men were essentially free within certain limits, and life was generally open. In the case of morality, Herzen believed in the free will of men to make decisions as to what moral law was to be followed. In the least, men who are involved in some supposed "higher cause" should not make such judgments. He was also skeptical of idealism, believing that there could be some dangers in that as well. To Herzen, civilized values and individual liberties were of great significance.

The main tenants of Narodnichesto are one, the existing order is doomed and must be overthrown by a socialist revolution, two, the historical development of Russia is different from other countries. This makes it possible to have a direct transition to socialism without the intermediate state of capitalism. Three, communal land tenure and the associations of workingmen and craftsmen are compatibe with socialism, and four, the peasants are communist by instinct and tradition. This makes them the real force behind the revolution. One radical Russian activist who made a contribution to the development of Russian populism, the Narodnichesto, in the 1870's. As a contemporary of Marx he played an almost independent role in the early development of European Marxism. B

Some common words found in the essay are:
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