It was ironic but somehow fitting that the 1905 Revolution should have been started by an organisation dreamed up by the tsarist regime itself. No-on…

- Orlando Figes

The link between literacy and revolutions is a well-known historical phenomenon. The three great revolutions of modern European history -- the Englis…

- Orlando Figes

Time and time again, the obstinate refusal of the tsarist regime to concede reforms turned what should have been a political problem into a revolutio…

- Orlando Figes

We, the workers and inhabitants of St Petersburg, of various estates, our wives, our children, and our aged, helpless parents, come to THEE, O SIRE t…

- Orlando Figes

Their notion of training was to march the men up and down in parades and reviews: these were nice to look at and gave them the impression of military…

- Orlando Figes

On the news that the Tsar had sent the troops icons to boost their morals, General Dragomirov quipped: 'The Japanese are beating us with machine-guns…

- Orlando Figes