:01:03
A land of 170 million inhabitants,
the largest monarchy in the world.
:01:10
An agricultural country, with
industry only moderately developed.
:01:15
A country of great poets, writers,
:01:18
thinkers, and revolutionaries.
:01:22
A country where two-thirds of
the population is illiterate.
:01:27
A country of enormous
social contrasts,
:01:31
where bureaucracy and censorship
are omnipresent,
:01:33
where the authorities
stifle human rights.
:01:40
The First World War has revealed
:01:42
the patent bankruptcy
of government
:01:46
and accentuated its weaknesses
and internal contradictions.
:01:50
Crushing military defeats have
caused the loss of Poland,
:01:55
Lithuania, parts of Latvia
and Byelorussia.
:01:57
The army was almost out of
ammunition.
:02:02
A severe fuel shortage
paralyzed transport.
:02:05
All attempts to solve
the food crisis
:02:08
came to nothing.
:02:10
The black market flourished.
Speculation, corruption,
:02:14
wasting of public funds
were rampant.
:02:18
The foreign debt climbed
to 51 billion gold rubles.
:02:24
Russia owed money
to France, England,
:02:26
the United States, Belgium,
and many other countries.
:02:29
Russia's economic independence
was at stake
:02:31
and her political independence
seriously compromised.
:02:38
The situation was critical.
:02:41
Russia was about to experience
an upheaval that would affect
:02:45
not only her history,
but that of the entire world.