Life in Russia Before the Great War
Alexander II was the reform minded Russian Czar who gave Serfs more civil rights. Alexander the third, also known as the "Iron First Czar", reversed the reforms of Alexander II and established Pogroms which is organized violence against Jewish people. The last of the Romanov Czars was Nicholas II who demanded autocracy, orthodoxy, and nationality. Autocracy is a government with one powerful leader in charge. Orthodoxy was a government with only one Christian religion allowed which was the Russian Orthodoxy. Nationality is to only speak the Russian language. Serfs were the largest group of the Russian population. They were extremely poor and were known as Russian peasants. Serfs were treated like slaves and as if they were sub-human. Czar Alexander III encouraged Pogrom. After he died, his son, Nicholas II, became the Czar of Russia.