The difference between the czar and Putin is that many people in Russia are (or were, before the war) living a decently good life. But back in the days if you were not an aristocrat, you were pretty much a slave living in utterly horrible conditions. Wikipedia can give you a quick overview of 19th century - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Russia

In short: non stop wars with everyone (over 1m civilian peasants died in just 1812 alone), serfdom (literally slavery in the case of the Russian Empire) was only abolished in 1861, Russians endured SIX cholera pandemics during the century before the revolution with millions dead, there was a massive famine at the turn of the century, and lack of industrialisation meant that the economy of Russian Empire was dying. The late Russian Empire was a meat grinder, people had nothing to lose. And they knew that they will die soon anyways, either from famine, physical abuse or an illness.