Russian Empire Worksheets
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Summary
- Foundation of the Russian Empire
- House of Romanov
- The last tsar and the end of the Russian Empire
- Legacy of the Russian Empire
Key Facts And Information
Let’s know more about the Russian Empire!
The Russian Empire, or Imperial Russia, covered the majority of northern Eurasia from its proclamation in 1721 until the republic in 1917. By landmass, the Russian Empire was the third-largest empire in history during its height. In 1897, the empire was inhabited by about 125.6 million people of different ethnolinguistic backgrounds. Its notable rulers were Peter the Great, Catherine the Great and Nicholas II.
The tsardom in Russia ended with the empire’s defeat during the First World War, Nicholas II’s abdication and, ultimately, the formation of the first Russian Republic under the Provisional Government in 1917.
Globe showing the Russian Empire’s territories and sphere of influence until 1914
Foundation of the Russian Empire
- Also known as Ivan the Great, Ivan III Vasilyevich was the Grand Prince of Moscow and all of Russia from 1462 until 1505. Before ascending the throne, Ivan co-ruled and served as regent to his father, Vasily II. Ivan III expanded the Russian territory through conquest, inheritance, seizure and purchase.
- Following the collapse of the Byzantine Empire in 1453, the Muscovite rulers became the remaining independent Orthodox powers. Ivan III married the Byzantine Princess Sophia Palaiologina.
- With the idea that Moscow was the third Rome, Ivan III adopted the title ‘tsar’ (caesar) and incorporated the double-headed eagle into Russia’s coat of arms.
- Ivan III’s rule ended the Tatars’ dominance in Russia. By the time his grandson, Ivan IV, ruled, Russia had conquered the khanates of Kazan and Astrakhan.
- Known as Ivan the Terrible, Ivan IV was the eldest son of Vasili III. Young Ivan IV ruled with the Chosen Council and created the Zemsky Sobor, an assembly convened by the tsar, and the streltsy, the first Russian standing army. Furthermore, he introduced reforms, including revising the legal code and introducing local self-government.
- However, the purging of oprichniki, Russia’s first political police, dissolution of the Chosen Council and autocratic control over the nobility also marked Ivan IV’s rule.
- In addition to the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates, Ivan IV saw the conquest of Siberia.
- After the death of Ivan IV’s second son and heir apparent, Feodor I, in 1598, the Time of Troubles began, leading to the accession of the House of Romanov, with Michael I as Tsar of all Russia from 1613 to 1645.
House of Romanov
- From 1613 to 1917, the House of Romanov ruled Imperial Russia. Following the extinction of the Rurik dynasty with the death of Feodor I, Michael Romanov won the succession crisis after his election by the Zemsky Sobor, or Russian Parliament.
- In 1721, Peter I, Michael’s grandson, formally proclaimed the Russian Empire. Also known as Peter the Great, Peter I was the tsar of all Russia from 1682 and the first emperor of all Russia from 1721 until 1725.
- First co-ruling with his half-brother Ivan V, Peter I became an absolute monarch from 1696 until his death. At that time, the Russian Empire had a population of 14 million, with most devoted to agriculture. Despite this, grain yields in the empire were behind those in the West. Until 1732, the majority were kholops or feudal serfs.
- Much of Peter’s rule was consumed by lengthy wars against the Ottoman and Swedish empires. In 1699, Peter made a secret alliance, which later won the Great Northern War in 1721. As a result of the Treaty of Nystad, Russia acquired the provinces surrounding the Gulf of Finland, which secured the empire’s access to the Baltic Sea.
Portrait of Peter I
- With the decline of the Swedish empire, Russia became a new dominant power in the Baltic region and European politics in general.
- Known as one of the Enlightened despots, Peter I was known to have Westernised and modernised Russia.
- In the 17th century, while Western Europe colonised the Americas, Russia expanded overland. Many of Russia’s institutions can be traced to Peter I’s reign.
- In 1727, Peter I was briefly succeeded by his wife and then by his grandson Peter II, who became the last direct male Romanov line.
- Between 1730 and 1740, Russia was ruled by Anna Ioannovna, niece of Peter I, known for her authoritarian rule and the high influence of her German advisors. Her nephew Ivan VI, the infant ruler Elizabeth of Russia deposed, succeeded her.
- From 1741 until 1762, Elizabeth Petrovna, the second-eldest daughter of Peter I, restored culture and arts. Furthermore, she expanded the empire through Russia’s participation in the War of the Austrian Succession and the Seven Years’ War.
- In 1762, Peter III, grandson of Peter I, was overthrown by his wife, Catherine II, also known as Catherine the Great. Catherine was a German princess who effected a coup d’état against her unpopular husband.
- While she introduced several reforms, including removing the Beard tax, reorganising provinces, codifying laws, promoting free trade and establishing schools, Catherine’s rule saw the resurgence of the Russian nobility at the expense of the serfs. With the continued support of the nobility, Catherine issued the Charter to the Nobility in 1785, which granted the nobles significant rights, including tax exemptions.
- Catherine the Great’s expansionist policy also strengthened the Russian army and navy. During her reign, Russia conquered Crimea, parts of Poland and territories in the Black Sea region. Some historians viewed her rule as the Golden Age of Russia.
- In 1796, Catherine was succeeded by her son, Paul I, who was assassinated in 1801 following the introduction of strict succession laws. The 1797 Pauline Laws of Succession established a system of male primogeniture and restricted the possibility of a woman ascending the throne unless no male heirs existed. It also prohibited the adoption of heirs or the election of monarchs. Moreover, the laws mandated that the Romanov family members must only marry within their equal-ranking royal or noble families.
- Following the assassination, Alexander I succeeded his father as Emperor of Russia in 1801, a position he held until 1825. Known for his liberal rhetoric, Alexander I implemented building more universities. However, in contrast with Peter the Great, Alexander I believed in the development of Russia based on its culture rather than the West.
- At the end of Alexander I’s reign, the Russian Empire remained under autocracy and was the largest in the world, with over 20 million square kilometres following the acquisition of Finland (Grand Duchy), the Caucasus (parts of present-day Georgia and Azerbaijan) and Poland (Duchy of Warsaw).
- Brother of Alexander I, Nicholas I, became Emperor of Russia from 1825 until 1855. Known for his strict autocracy, Nicholas II suppressed the Decembrist revolt, aided Austria during the 1848 Revolution and led Russia through the Crimean War. Amidst reaching its geographical zenith, Russia needed reform, according to historians.
- Known as Alexander the Liberator, Alexander II ruled Russia, Poland and Finland from 1855 until his assassination in 1881. The eldest son of Nicholas I and Charlotte of Prussia (the eldest daughter of Frederick William of Prussia), Alexander II had a reputation for introducing liberal reforms in Russia. Under his rule, he reorganised the judicial system, abolished corporal punishment, promoted local self-government, ended some privileges of the nobility and promoted university education.
- His most popular policy was the Emancipation Reform of 1861, which abolished serfdom on private estates throughout the Russian Empire. In addition to liberating more than 23 million people, serfs were granted the right to marry without having to gain consent, and the right to own property and business.
- Alexander II faced several assassination attempts despite his reforms in 1866, 1879 and 1880. On 13 March 1881, a bomb deployed by the People’s Will (Narodnaya Volya) killed him.
- From 1881 until 1894, Alexander III, the third child of Alexander II, ruled as Emperor of Russia. While Russia fought no battle under his reign, Alexander III became known for reversing some of his father’s liberal reforms, including the reduction of the autonomy of zemstvos and dumas, reinstitution of strict censorship, limitation on liberal ideas, particularly in universities, increased taxes on peasants and implementation of Russification.
- Before Alexander III, Russia defeated the Turks in two wars. The first Russo–Turkish War (1828–1829) gained Russia the territories of Anapa and Poti on the eastern coast of the Black Sea and expanded its influence in the Danubian Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia.
- The second Russo–Turkish War (1877–1878), concluded through the Treaty of San Stefano and revised by the Congress of Berlin, granted Russia the territories of Kars, Batumi, Ardahan and parts of present-day northeastern Turkey. It also liberated Bulgaria, Serbia, Montenegro and Romania from the Ottomans, expanding Russia’s influence in the Balkans.
NIcholas II
The last tsar and end of the Russian Empire
- Nicholas II was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Poland and Grand Duke of Finland. Succeeding his father, Nicholas II ruled Russia from 1894 until his abdication in 1917.
- When Nicholas ascended to the throne, the Russian Empire was vast, covering Europe and Asia, including Poland, the Baltic states west to the Ural Mountains, and the present-day countries of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus and Ukraine. In the Caucasus, the empire’s reach included Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and parts of the northern Caucasus region, such as Chechnya and Dagestan. In Central Asia, the present-day countries of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, plus the Emirate of Bukhara and the Khanate of Khiva, were under the Russians.
- During his rule, Nicholas II struggled to maintain autocracy. While the tsar still held overall power and authority in the state, military and religious affairs, revolutions challenged Nicolas II. In an attempt to appease the calls for political reforms, Nicholas II issued the October Manifesto in 1905, convening the Duma.
- However, it was followed by the issuance of the Fundamental Laws, which strengthened autocracy and limited the power of the new parliament. Nicholas II’s unpopularity was also linked to Russia’s defeat in the Russo-Japanese War, which not only destroyed the Russian Baltic Fleet but decreased Russia’s political status in Europe. The Romanovs’ unpopularity further dwindled with the impacts of the First World War, which was blamed on the tsar’s ineffective military leadership and the influence and unpopularity of Tsarina Alexandra.
Image Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_Empire#/media/File:Russian_Empire_(orthographic_projection).svg
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_the_Great#/media/File:Peter_I._%D0%9F%D0%BE%D1%80%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B5%D1%82_%D1%86%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%8F_%D0%9F%D0%B5%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B0_I_(%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%B6%D0%B8%D0%B7%D0%BD%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%8B%D0%B9)._%D1%85%D1%83%D0%B4.Moor_v1(b).jpg
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mikola_II_(cropped)-2.jpg
Frequently Asked Questions About The Russian Empire
- What was the Russian Empire?
The Russian Empire (1721–1917) was a monarchy ruled by the Romanov dynasty. It was one of the largest empires in history, stretching across Europe, Asia, and parts of North America at its peak.
- What were the key territories of the Russian Empire?
The empire included modern-day Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania), parts of Poland, Finland, the Caucasus region, Central Asia, and Siberia. It also had settlements in Alaska and California.
- What happened after the fall of the Russian Empire?
After the Russian Revolution in 1917, the empire was replaced by a provisional government, which the Bolsheviks soon overthrew. This led to the creation of the Soviet Union in 1922.