Russian Empire

The **Russian Empire** was a state that existed from 1721 to 1917, ruling over lands on three continents: Europe, Asia, and North America. The empire, ruled by the House of Romanov throughout its existence, was centered at the cities of Moscow and St. Petersburg in Russia in Eastern Europe, and it would expand into the Baltics and Eastern Europe in the 18th century and into Central Asia during the 19th century. Russia quickly overtook the Ottoman Empire as the dominant power in Eastern Europe, leading to the Crimean War with the United Kingdom and France in the 1850s and the "Great Game" competition with the British in Afghanistan. Russia was infamous for its pogroms against Jews and its mistreatment of its serfs, and in 1917 the Russian Empire was overthrown in the February Revolution, leading to the peasants taking power as the "Soviet Union".

## Culture

### 1830s

As an empire, Russia had a very large and diverse population, although the Russification policies of the czars (especially under Alexander II of Russia and his successors) led to many people being assimilated into the Orthodox Christian Russian culture. On 15 March 1837, Russia had a population of 15,480,000 people. 47.7% were Russians, 17.3% Ukrainians, 7.3% Poles, 6.3% others, 5.9% Belarusians, 3.5% Ashkenazim, 2.5% Tatars, 2.2% Finns, 1.7% Latvians, 1.7% Lithuanians, 1.5% North Caucasians, 1.4% Romanians, and 1% Estonians. 74.6% were Orthodox Christians, 9.4% Catholics, 5.8% Protestants, 5.1% Sunni Muslims, and 3.5% Jews. Russia's territorial expansion and the development of the empire's rail links and infrastructure led to major ethnic groups spreading out throughout the empire, with Belarusians, Poles, and Ukrainians being spread out from Poland in Eastern Europe to Kamchatka in East Asia. Russians would colonize Central Asia and settle there in addition to other parts of the empire.

### 1850s

By 1859, Russia had expanded its empire to include much of Central Asia and the Kars Region of eastern Asia Minor, and its population grew to 17,910,000 people. 47.5% were Russians, 16.7% Ukrainians, 10.2% others, 5.9% Belarusians, 5.9% Poles, 4.3% Uzbeks, 2.3% Ashkenazim, 2.1% Tatars, 1.4% North Caucasians, 1.4% Finns, 1.2% Lithuanians, and 1% Kazakhs; 73.6% of the population was Orthodox Christian, 11.6% Sunni Muslim, 7.5% Catholic, 3.5% Protestant, and 2.4% Jewish. The addition of roughly 2,500,000 people to the empire was a result of the conquest of Central Asia and Kars (which also increased the percentage of Muslims in the empire) as well as the industrialization of Russia and the ensuing population boom. Russia's people became even more liberal than they had been under the regime of 1836; the percentage of liberals increased to 27.3% in 1859 from a mere 3.5% in 1836. The popularity of the Slavophiles dropped from 93.8% in 1836 to 65.2% in 1859, and 3% of the population was socialist, a new ideology that had been introduced to the world in 1848. Russia dealt with ethnic tensions during the 1850s, crushing uprisings in Derbent, Simferopol, and Kielce in 1847, 1851, and 1853, respectively, and persecuting the rebellious minority groups of the nation.

## Gallery

The Russian Empire and its sphere of influence at its height, 1868