Revolutions do not happen unexpectedly, empires do not perish out of the blue. The main lesson that we can learn from the revolution of 1917 is an understanding of why the emperor and his entourage, in a situation that required radical internal reforms, not only did not dare to undertake these reforms, but, on the contrary, tried with all their might to reverse the development of the country. strengthening the reliance on “traditional values,” Orthodoxy and the army. Chapter by chapter, through living stories of people, Mikhail Zygar shows how the empire is steadily moving towards disaster and why nothing can save it. The main character of this book is Russian civil society. It originates in the first years of the twentieth century, develops before the reader’s eyes, and disappears before his very eyes shortly after 1917. By learning the chronicle of events a century ago, the reader can understand what is happening today and try to look into the future.