Starting point: Russia in 1645
Starting point: Russia in 1645

In 1645 Russia was a huge state ruled by the Tsar, who claimed autocratic power with few formal limits. Yet size did not mean easy control, because orders from Moscow had to travel across vast distances and depended on boyars, local officials, the Church and the army to be enforced.
Step-by-step lessons on OCR A Level History Russia 1645–1741. Each one builds up to exam-style questions. Build a secure grasp of the outline narrative for your breadth and depth periods first, since the source-evaluation and historical-interpretations questions that carry a large share of the marks depend on that contextual knowledge.