Why did Liberalism exercise so little influence in Russia in the period 1856 to 1956?

There are three main reasons why Liberalism did not take root in the period. Firstly the nature of Russia itself was unsuited to Liberalism's development. Secondly war often caused extremes that Liberal government wasn't capable of handling and lastly the personalities that ruled and had major influence in Russia chose an authoritarian route. Due to the way Russia was and is to this day, to rule Russia efficiently seems to require authoritarian rather than liberal …

…at the beginning of the essay, has a leaning towards authoritarianism, this was seized upon by leaders who chose authoritarianism or with the provisional government failed to suppress authoritarianism. Yet things could have been different if circumstances had been different but unfortunately for Russia a succession of wars from WW1 onwards created a crisis mentality that could only result in authoritarianism. Written in 1hr as a practice essay for the A level, OCR History Board.