Monumental change came to Russia when Tsar Alexander II launched a series of reforms that stretched from the 1860s and the early 1900s and included emancipating Russian serfs and industrializing the nation’s economy. Previously, serfs tilled and cultivated the land of a lord without pay, as is common in feudal societies. While they were permitted to have farms of their own, serfs had to work the lord’s land whenever called upon, usually during the time of harvest, regardless of their own farm’s needs. Once emancipated, serfs fled to either large cities to find work or the countryside to find land. Change also came through Russian industrialization. Railroads, factories, and other infrastructure expanded, and the steel, coal, and petroleum industries
