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1721–1917 empire spanning Europe and Asia From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Russian Empire[lower-alpha 5][lower-alpha 6] was a vast empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its proclamation in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about 22,800,000 square kilometres (8,800,000 sq mi), roughly one-sixth of the world's landmass, making it the third-largest empire in history, behind only the British and Mongol empires. It also held colonies in North America between 1799 and 1867. The empire's 1897 census, the only one it conducted, found a population of 125.6 million with considerable ethnic, linguistic, religious, and socioeconomic diversity.
Russian Empire Россійская Имперія Российская Империя Rossiyskaya Imperiya | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1721–1917 | |||||||||||
| Motto: "S' nami Bog!" (God is with us!) | |||||||||||
| Anthem: "Боже, Царя храни!" Bozhe Tsarya khrani! (1833–1917) ("God Save the Tsar!") Other used anthems:
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| Capital | Saint Petersburg[lower-alpha 2] (1721–1728; 1730–1917) Moscow (1728–1730)[2] | ||||||||||
| Largest city | Saint Petersburg | ||||||||||
| Official languages | Russian | ||||||||||
| Recognised languages | Polish, German (in Baltic provinces), Finnish, Swedish, Chinese (in Dalian) | ||||||||||
| Religion (1897) |
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| Demonym(s) | Russian | ||||||||||
| Government | Unitary absolute monarchy (1721–1906) Unitary parliamentary semi-constitutional monarchy[4] (1906–1917) | ||||||||||
| Emperor | |||||||||||
• 1721–1725 (first) | Peter the Great | ||||||||||
• 1894–1917 (last) | Nicholas II | ||||||||||
• 1810–1812 (first) | Nikolai Rumyantsev[lower-alpha 3] | ||||||||||
• 1917 (last) | Nikolai Golitsyn[lower-alpha 4] | ||||||||||
| Legislature | Governing Senate[5] | ||||||||||
| State Council (1810–1917) | |||||||||||
| State Duma (1905–1917) | |||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||
| 10 September 1721 | |||||||||||
• Proclaimed | 2 November 1721 | ||||||||||
| 4 February 1722 | |||||||||||
| 26 December 1825 | |||||||||||
| 3 March 1861 | |||||||||||
| 18 October 1867 | |||||||||||
| Jan 1905 – Jul 1907 | |||||||||||
| 30 October 1905 | |||||||||||
• Constitution adopted | 6 May 1906 | ||||||||||
| 8–16 March 1917 | |||||||||||
• Proclamation of the Republic | 14 September 1917 | ||||||||||
| Area | |||||||||||
| 1895[6] | 22,800,000 km2 (8,800,000 sq mi) | ||||||||||
| Population | |||||||||||
• 1897 | 125,640,021 | ||||||||||
| 161,000,000 | |||||||||||
| Currency | Russian ruble | ||||||||||
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The rise of the Russian Empire coincided with the decline of neighbouring rival powers: the Swedish Empire, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Qajar Iran, the Ottoman Empire, and Qing China. From the 10th to 17th centuries, the Russians had been ruled by a noble class known as the boyars, above whom was an absolute monarch titled the tsar. The groundwork of the Russian Empire was laid by Ivan III (r. 1462–1505), who greatly expanded his domain, established a centralized Russian national state, and secured independence against the Tatars. His grandson, Ivan IV (r. 1533–1584), became in 1547 the first Russian monarch to be crowned "tsar of all Russia". Between 1550 and 1700, the Russian state grew by an average of 35,000 square kilometres (14,000 sq mi) per year. Major events during this period include the transition from the Rurik to the Romanov dynasties, the conquest of Siberia, and the reign of Peter the Great (r. 1682–1725).[10]
Peter transformed the tsardom into an empire, and fought numerous wars that turned a vast realm into a major European power. He moved the Russian capital from Moscow to the new model city of Saint Petersburg, which marked the birth of the imperial era, and led a cultural revolution that introduced a modern, scientific, rationalist, and Western-oriented system. Catherine the Great (r. 1762–1796) presided over further expansion of the Russian state by conquest, colonization, and diplomacy, while continuing Peter's policy of modernization towards a Western model. Alexander I (r. 1801–1825) helped defeat the militaristic ambitions of Napoleon and subsequently constituted the Holy Alliance, which aimed to restrain the rise of secularism and liberalism across Europe. Russia further expanded to the west, south, and east, strengthening its position as a European power. Its victories in the Russo-Turkish Wars were later checked by defeat in the Crimean War (1853–1856), leading to a period of reform and intensified expansion into Central Asia.[11] Alexander II (r. 1855–1881) initiated numerous reforms, most notably the 1861 emancipation of all 23 million serfs.
From 1721 until 1762, the Russian Empire was ruled by the House of Romanov; its matrilineal branch of patrilineal German descent, the House of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov, ruled from 1762 until 1917. By the start of the 19th century, Russian territory extended from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Black Sea in the south, and from the Baltic Sea in the west to Alaska, Hawaii, and California in the east. By the end of the 19th century, Russia had expanded its control over the Caucasus, most of Central Asia and parts of Northeast Asia. Notwithstanding its extensive territorial gains and great power status, the empire entered the 20th century in a perilous state. A devastating famine in 1891–1892 killed hundreds of thousands and led to popular discontent. As the last remaining absolute monarchy in Europe, the empire saw rapid political radicalization and the growing popularity of revolutionary ideas such as communism.[12] After the 1905 revolution, Nicholas II authorized the creation of a national parliament, the State Duma, although he still retained absolute political power.
When Russia entered the First World War on the side of the Allies, it suffered a series of defeats that further galvanized the population against the emperor. In 1917, mass unrest among the population and mutinies in the army culminated in the February Revolution, which led to the abdication of Nicholas II, the formation of the Russian Provisional Government, and the proclamation of the first Russian Republic. Political dysfunction, continued involvement in the widely unpopular war, and widespread food shortages resulted in mass demonstrations against the government in July. The republic was overthrown in the October Revolution by the Bolsheviks, who proclaimed the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and whose Treaty of Brest-Litovsk ended Russia's involvement in the war, but who nevertheless were opposed by various factions known collectively as the Whites.[13][14] During the resulting Russian Civil War, the Bolsheviks conducted the Red Terror. After emerging victorious in 1923, they established the Soviet Union across most of the Russian territory; it would be one of four continental empires to collapse after World War I, along with Germany, Austria–Hungary, and the Ottoman Empire.[15]
The foundations of a Russian national state were laid in the late 15th century during the reign of Ivan III.[16] By the early 16th century, all of the semi-independent and petty princedoms in Russia had been unified with Moscow.[17] During the reign of Ivan IV, the khanates of Kazan and Astrakhan were conquered by Russia in the mid-16th century, leading to the development of an increasingly multinational state.[18]
Much of Russia's expansion occurred in the 17th century, culminating in the first Russian colonization of the Pacific, the Russo-Polish War (1654–1667) which led to the incorporation of left-bank Ukraine, and the Russian conquest of Siberia. Poland was partitioned by its three neighbours in 1772–1815, with much of its land and population being taken under Russian rule. Most of the empire's growth in the 19th century came from gaining territory in central and eastern Asia south of Siberia.[19] By 1795, after the Partitions of Poland, Russia became the most populous state in Europe, ahead of France.
| Year | Population of Russia (millions)[20] | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 1720 | 15.5 | includes new Baltic & Polish territories |
| 1795 | 37.6 | includes part of Poland |
| 1812 | 42.8 | includes Grand Duchy of Finland |
| 1816 | 73.0 | includes Congress Poland, Bessarabia |
| 1897 | 125.6 | Russian Empire census,[lower-alpha 7] excludes Grand Duchy of Finland |
| 1914 | 164.0 | includes new Asian territories |
The foundations of the Russian Empire was laid during Peter I's reforms, which significantly altered Russia's political and social structure,[21] and as a result of the Great Northern War which strengthened Russia's standing on the world stage.[22] Internal transformations and military victories contributed to the transformation of Russia into a great power, playing a major role in European politics.[23] On the day of the announcement of the Treaty of Nystad, the 2 November [O.S. 22 October] 1721, the Governing Senate and Synod invested the tsar with the titles of Pater Patriae[lower-alpha 8] and Imperator of all Rusia.[lower-alpha 9][24] The adoption of the latter title by Peter I is usually seen as the beginning of the "imperial" period of Russia.[lower-alpha 10][27]
Following the reforms, the governance of Russia by an absolute monarch was enshrined. The Military Regulations made a note of the autocratic nature of the regime. [28] During the reign of Peter I, the last vestiges of the independence of the boyars were lost. He transformed them into the new nobility, who were obedient nobles that served the state for the rest of their lives. He also introduced the Table of Ranks and equated the votchina with an estate. Russia's modern fleet was built by Peter the Great, along with an army that was reformed in the manner of European style and educational institutions (the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences). Civil lettering was adopted during Peter I's reign, and the first Russian newspaper, Vedomosti, was published. Peter I promoted the advancement of science, particularly geography and geology, trade, and industry,[29] including shipbuilding, as well as the growth of the Russian educational system. Every tenth Russian acquired an education during Peter I's reign, when there were 15 million people in the country.[30] The city of Saint Petersburg, which was built in 1703 on territory along the Baltic coast that had been conquered during the Great Northern War, served as the state's capital.
This concept of the triune Russian people, composed of the Great Russians, the Little Russians, and the White Russians, was introduced during the reign of Peter I, and it was associated with the name of Archimandrite Zacharias Kopystensky (1621), the Archimandrite of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. Afterwards, the concept was developed in the writings of an associate of Peter I, Archbishop Professor Theophan Prokopovich. Several of Peter I's associates are well-known, including François Le Fort, Boris Sheremetev, Alexander Menshikov, Jacob Bruce, Mikhail Golitsyn, Anikita Repnin, and Alexey Kelin. During Peter's reign, the obligation of the nobility to serve was reinforced, and serf labour played a significant role in the growth of the industry; therefore, Peter's objectives required the preservation of antiquated traditions. The volume of the country's international trade turnover increased as a result of Peter I's industrial reforms. However, imports of goods overtook exports, strengthening the role of foreigners in Russian trade, particularly the British domination.[31]
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Peter I (r. 1682–1725), also known as Peter the Great, played a major role in introducing the European state system into Russia. While the empire's vast lands had a population of 14 million, grain yields trailed behind those in the West.[32] Nearly the entire population was devoted to agriculture, with only a small percentage living in towns. The class of kholops, whose status was close to that of slaves, remained a major institution in Russia until 1723, when Peter converted household kholops into house serfs, thus counting them for poll taxation. Russian agricultural kholops had been formally converted into serfs earlier in 1679. They were largely tied to the land, in a feudal sense, until the late 19th century.
Peter's first military efforts were directed against the Ottoman Empire. His attention then turned to the north. Russia lacked a secure northern seaport, except at Arkhangelsk on the White Sea, where the harbor was frozen for nine months a year. Access to the Baltic Sea was blocked by Sweden, whose territory enclosed it on three sides. Peter's ambitions for a "window to the sea" led him, in 1699, to make a secret alliance with Saxony, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and Denmark-Norway against Sweden; they conducted the Great Northern War, which ended in 1721 when an exhausted Sweden asked for peace with Russia.
As a result, Peter acquired four provinces situated south and east of the Gulf of Finland, securing access to the sea. There he built Russia's new capital, Saint Petersburg, on the Neva river, to replace Moscow, which had long been Russia's cultural center. This relocation expressed his intent to adopt European elements for his empire. Many of the government and other major buildings were designed under Italianate influence. In 1722, he turned his aspirations toward increasing Russian influence in the Caucasus and the Caspian Sea at the expense of the weakened Safavid Persians. He made Astrakhan the centre of military efforts against Persia, and waged the first full-scale war against them in 1722–23.[33] Peter the Great temporarily annexed several areas of Iran to Russia, which after the death of Peter were returned in the 1732 Treaty of Resht and 1735 Treaty of Ganja as a deal to oppose the Ottomans.[34]
Peter reorganized his government based on the latest political models of the time, molding Russia into an absolutist state. He replaced the old Boyar Duma (council of nobles) with a nine-member Senate, in effect a supreme council of state. The countryside was divided into new provinces and districts. Peter told the Senate that its mission was to collect taxes, and tax revenues tripled over the course of his reign. Meanwhile, all vestiges of local self-government were removed. Peter continued and intensified his predecessors' requirement of state service from all nobles, in the Table of Ranks.
As part of Peter's reorganisation, he also enacted a church reform. The Russian Orthodox Church was partially incorporated into the country's administrative structure, in effect making it a tool of the state. Peter abolished the patriarchate and replaced it with a collective body, the Most Holy Synod, which was led by a government official.[35]
Peter died in 1725, leaving an unsettled succession. After a short reign by his widow, Catherine I, the crown passed to Empress Anna. She slowed the reforms and led a successful war against the Ottoman Empire. This resulted in a significant weakening of the Crimean Khanate, an Ottoman vassal and long-term Russian adversary.
The discontent over the dominant positions of Baltic Germans in Russian politics resulted in Peter I's daughter Elizabeth being put on the Russian throne. Elizabeth supported the arts, architecture, and the sciences (for example, the founding of Moscow University). But she did not carry out significant structural reforms. Her reign, which lasted nearly 20 years, is also known for Russia's involvement in the Seven Years' War, where it was successful militarily, but gained little politically.[36]
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Catherine the Great was a German princess who married Peter III, the German heir to the Russian crown. After the death of Empress Elizabeth, Catherine came to power after she effected a coup d'état against her very unpopular husband. She contributed to the resurgence of the Russian nobility that began after the death of Peter the Great, abolishing State service and granting them control of most state functions in the provinces. She also removed the Beard tax instituted by Peter the Great.[37]
Catherine extended Russian political control over the lands of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, supporting the Targowica Confederation. However, the cost of these campaigns further burdened the already oppressive social system, under which serfs were required to spend almost all of their time laboring on their owners' land. A major peasant uprising took place in 1773, after Catherine legalised the selling of serfs separate from land. Inspired by a Cossack named Yemelyan Pugachev and proclaiming "Hang all the landlords!", the rebels threatened to take Moscow before they were ruthlessly suppressed. Instead of imposing the traditional punishment of drawing and quartering, Catherine issued secret instructions that the executioners should execute death sentences quickly and with minimal suffering, as part of her effort to introduce compassion into the law.[38]
She furthered these efforts by ordering the public trial of Darya Nikolayevna Saltykova, a high-ranking noblewoman, on charges of torturing and murdering serfs. Whilst these gestures garnered Catherine much positive attention from Europe during the Enlightenment, the specter of revolution and disorder continued to haunt her and her successors. Indeed, her son Paul introduced a number of increasingly erratic decrees in his short reign aimed directly against the spread of French culture in response to their revolution.
In order to ensure the continued support of the nobility, which was essential to her reign, Catherine was obliged to strengthen their authority and power at the expense of the serfs and other lower classes. Nevertheless, Catherine realized that serfdom must eventually be ended, going so far in her Nakaz ("Instruction") to say that serfs were "just as good as we are" – a comment received with disgust by the nobility. Catherine advanced Russia's southern and western frontiers, successfully waging war against the Ottoman Empire for territory near the Black Sea, and incorporating territories of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth during the Partitions of Poland, alongside Austria and Prussia. As part of the Treaty of Georgievsk, signed with the Georgian Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti, and her own political aspirations, Catherine waged a new war against Persia in 1796 after they had invaded eastern Georgia. Upon achieving victory, she established Russian rule over it and expelled the newly established Persian garrisons in the Caucasus.
Catherine's expansionist policy caused Russia to develop into a major European power,[39] as did the Enlightenment era and the Golden age in Russia. But after Catherine died in 1796, she was succeeded by her son, Paul. He brought Russia into a major coalition war against the new-revolutionary French Republic in 1798. Russian commander Field Marshal Suvorov led the Italian and Swiss expedition,—he inflicted a series of defeats on the French; in particular, the Battle of the Trebbia in 1799.
Nicholas II
Nicholas II, also known as Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov, was the final Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Poland, and Grand duke of Finland. His reign started on 1 November 1894 and ended with his abdication on 15 March 1917. Born on 18 May 1868 at Alexander Palace, Tsarskoye Selo, Russian Empire, he was the eldest son and successor of Aleksandr Aleksandrovich [40] (later known as Alexander III of Russia) and his wife Maria Fyodorovna (formerly Dagmar of Denmark).
During his rule, Nicholas II supported the economic and political reforms proposed by his prime ministers, Sergei Witte and Pyotr Stolypin. He favored modernization through foreign loans and strong ties with France, but was reluctant to give significant roles to the new parliament (the Duma).[41]He signed the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907 to counter Germany’s influence in the Middle East, ending the Great Game between Russia and the British Empire.
However, his reign was marked by criticism for the government’s suppression of political dissent and perceived failur
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