You are really robbing yourself. This is a great opportunity to read something that will help give you understanding. You should try a history book. I've been reading a history book written in 1915 it was supposed to short stories, one of them about what they called the Russian "Revolution" in 1905 where the tsar was beset by organized labor, the tsar went hard against them but it only increased the strikes across the empire, long story short they made a constitutional monarchy but the first Duma, Congress of sorts, was liquidated by the tsar for insolence, naturally grabbed and sent the gulags for the rest of their lives and or murdered.
But the author, Tolstoy I believe, he was like a hopeful and shit, haha, in a sad way. It's not very often you find a hopeful Russian either.
But they did make a few advancements, obviously World War I changed everything, what with what was it 6 million dead Russians in World War 1, the tsar really sucked at War apparently.
