Russian empire

The Russian Empire (Russian: ) was a political entity that existed from 1721 to . It consisted of most of northern Eurasia, succeedin the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad. 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. It also held colonies in Russian America between 1799 and 1.

## Reign of Alexander I (1801-1810)

Alexander I, after conspiring to bring down his father which eventually led to the latter’s demise, The Orthodox Church initially exercised little influence on Alexander's life. The young emperor was determined to reform the inefficient, highly centralised systems of government that Russia relied upon. While retaining for a time the old ministers, one of the first acts of his reign was to appoint the Private Committee, comprising young and enthusiastic friends of his own—Viktor Kochubey, Nikolay Novosiltsev, Pavel Stroganov and Adam Jerzy Czartoryski—to draw up a plan of domestic reform, which was supposed to result in the establishment of a constitutional monarchy in accordance with the teachings of the Age of Enlightenment.

A few years into his reign the liberal Mikhail Speransky became one of the emperor's closest advisors, and he drew up many plans for elaborate reforms. In the Government reform of Alexander I the old Collegia were abolished and new Ministries were created in their place, led by ministers responsible to the Crown. A Council of Ministers under the chairmanship of the Sovereign dealt with all interdepartmental matters. The State Council was created to improve the technique of legislation. It was intended to become the Second Chamber of representative legislature. The Governing Senate was reorganized as the Supreme Court of the Empire. The codification of the laws initiated in 1801 was never carried out during his reign.

Alexander wanted to resolve another crucial issue in Russia, the status of the serfs, although this was not archieved. His advisors quietly discussed the options at length. Cautiously, he extended the right to own land to most classes of subjects, including state-owned peasants, in 1801 and created a new social category of "free agriculturalist," for peasants voluntarily emancipated by their masters, in 1803. The great majority of serfs were not affected.

When Alexander's reign began, there were three universities in Russia, at Moscow, Vilna (Vilnius), and Dorpat (Tartu). These were strengthened, and three others were founded at St. Petersburg, Kharkiv, and Kazan. Literary and scientific bodies were established or encouraged, and his reign became noted for the aid lent to the sciences and arts by the Emperor and the wealthy nobility.

## Reign of Constantin I (1810-1831)

In the early morning of december 1st, 1810, Alexander suddenly appeared dead in his bed chamber. Although there were suspicions that Napoleonic agents were behind the death of the emperor, there hasn’t been a reached consensus. Alexander’s younger brother Grand Duke Constantin was unpopularfor his perceived liberalism and pro-Napoleonic stance, but he was the only available option at the time, as the other younger Grand Dukes were barely 14 and 12 at the time and thus considered way too young to rule. As such, he managed toremove any opposition against him and subsequently became Emperor Constantin I of Russia.

Constantin’s reign was a very pivotal moment for the modernization of Russia. Although the trends of Westernizers and Slavophiles became a thing after his reign, he was afterwards considered part of the early Westernizers. This in turn led to a romantization of his brother’s reign in the Slavophile imagination, painting the picture of a clearly slavic Alexander.

Constantin was determined to keep Russia’s gains, bt he also saw the need for the modernization of Russia. During the first decades of his reign, he relazed on the government persecution of pollitical dissidents, which in turn led to the creation of a plethora of political doctrines like the Union of Salvation. These quosi-revolutionary societies were looked down upon by many of the mre conservativdes members of government, which in turn led to the creation of aristocratic movements which wanted to return to a pollitical alliance with a conservative emperor. Again, although Alexander had been a liberal-esque politician, the conservative propaganda painted him as more conservative than what he actually was.

Politics back then were dominated by Mikhail Speransky. Having been an important figure during the reign of Alexander, he was nominally one of Russia’s most liberal politicians. Furthermore, Speranski had been trying to modernize Russia, and for that intent had created the Council of State in early 1810 However the emperor had altered the idea and changed the COuncil’s purpose to be little more than an advisory body to the Tsar. For that reason the many enemies of the politician soon pinned the sudden death of the emperor on him. Constantine decided to believe the count however, and soon enough Speranski was influencing the emperor even more profoundly than before.

As such soon enough Speranski was given full green light to carry out his reforms. He divided Russia into several districts, each with a duma or parliament. Each duma (with representatives elected form the cantonal assembly, would in turn send representatives to form a bigger Central Duma, or Russian Parliament. In order to secure the dumas after the death of Constantine, Speranski then envisioned a constitution. This among other things would guarantee the duma, and recognize and establish the limits for the monarchy’s power.

### Early Constitutional History

When the constitution was approved in late 1812, the first duma was consequently convened and soon enough the new Council of State started to function accordingly. The new Parliament found itself unpopular from the start. The first representatives that were to be sent by a democratic process from the landowning families servedd as their voice of disopinion, for most of the major families sent conservatives politicians with the intention of them voting to destroy or dismantle the Duma. The new president of which, Count Rumyantsev, however served as a measure against the former, for he was pro-Napoleonic and more liberal than the rest of the Duma. They created projects of laws that were then revisioned by the State Council, who was appointed by the emperor and confirmed by the Duma. Although there were many rumps and the process encountered many doubters, eventually through the triad of Constantine, Rumyantsev and Speranski the democracy came to Russia.

The Speranski cabinet lasted until the death of Constantine in 1831. During those last years, the democratic consolidation of Russia led to the formation of the first rudimentary political parties. Many of the conservatives gathered around Nikolay Karanzim, and were thus called Karanzimist. Then the liberal party started to from into to divergents, those who supported Speranski and considered that the measures had already gone far enough and then those who were set on expanding the Liberalist measures even if htey needed to coerce the emperor into doing so. These were the Sperankinians and Decembrist respectively. Many of the latter were even of a republican disposition and thus many called them the Russian Jacobins.

This early history thus coexisted with the democratization of Russian society, and many Russian young officers were prompted to getting into secret pollitical societies. Among others there was the recently mentioned Society of the Decembrists, who partook in political intrigues.

### Troubetzkoy ministry

The Decembrists decided to call for elections in late december 1825. Surprisingly, the managed to get a positive outcome and soon enough the managed to get enough seats that their representative Prince Troubetzkoy became Main Charimen of the Parliament. This led to a much more liberal Parliament with which the emperor could work with. There is debate as to why the outcome of the election was so positive for the liberals. There are many theories and many plausible reasons asto why it could have been so. One of these could have been that the traditionally conservative political elite of the provinces was starting to turn the more liberal with the younger generations as Romanticism started to take deep root in Russian society.

Either way, this new Parliament worried the Karamzists, which tried to conspire in order to depose emperor Konstantin and either establish a regency with Konstantin’s oldest son or make his younger brother Nicholas emperor. Mikhail Milodarovich and others were soon arrested under charges of treason and they were eventually executed. As some of the conspirators were somewhat close to Grand Duke Nicholas, he decided to exile himself for some years to Sweden and eventually Paris. Over time, he was eventually pardoned and came back into the Empire. It remains unclear how involved was Nicholas with the conspiration, but non the less he doesn’t seem to have been very much actively trying to go against his brother.

## Reign of Alexander II and Georgian Revolt

On June 1831, Emperor Constantine died at the age of 52, leaving as a legacy two children and a Russia in political turmoil. His elder son and successor was prince Aleksándr, who took the name Alexander II. Barely 19 and of profound