About the lecture

In this module, we think about the events and circumstances around the unstable final years of Tsar Nicholas II’s rule of Imperial Russia, focusing on: (i) the major events that defined Tsar Nicolas II’s rule as one of instability and challenge, particularly the Khodynka Tragedy, the impact of the Russo-Japanese War and the 1905 Russian Revolution; (ii) political developments, such as the establishment of the State Duma in 1906, which represented the first move toward a constitutional government in Russia, and how the autocracy resisted and ultimately fell apart in the face of these changes; (iii) the historiographical debate over the viability of the Russian Empire at the turn of the century, questioning whether its demise was inevitable or the result of factors out of the empire’s control.

About the lecturer

George Gilbert is a Lecturer in Modern European History at the University of Southampton. His research focuses on the radical right in late imperial Russia and the social, political and religious history of late imperial and revolutionary Russia. He is currently chair of the British Association for Slavonic and East European Studies (BASEES).