So as the nineteenth century drew to a close and the twentieth century loomed, Russia was still functioning as it did a century ago. Proto-nationalism had a minor existence and frankly had little to no appearances of changing. However, coupled with strides in industrialization, and a slackening of restrictions on the print, Russia was moving towards nationalism. The closest Russia came to something like nationalistic sentiment was during World War I. People did rally around Great Russia to defend the empire. However, I would retort that this sentiment was more like classic monarchism than nationalism. The fact that it was the loss of the war, coupled with the appearance of moral depravity on the part of that tsar, and more importantly the tzarina,