Russian Empire

The **Russian Empire** is a state spanning Europe and Asia. It is bordered by Song China too the South East, Wallachia to the west and Iran to the south.

## History

The House of Romanov ruled the Russian Empire from 1721 until 1762. Its matrilineal branch of patrilineal German descent, the House of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov, ruled from 1762 until the end of the empire. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Russian Empire extended from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Black Sea in the south, from the Baltic Sea on the west into Alaska and Northern California in America on the east. With 125.6 million subjects registered by the 1897 census, it had the third-largest population in the world at the time, after Qing China and India. Like all empires, it featured great diversity in terms of economies, ethnicities, languages, and religions. There were many dissident elements that launched numerous rebellions and assassinations over the centuries. In the 19th century, they were closely watched by the imperial secret police, and thousands were exiled to Siberia.

Economically, the empire was predominantly agricultural, with low productivity on large estates worked by Russian peasants, known as serfs, who were tied to the land in a feudal arrangement. The serfs were freed in 1861, but the landowning aristocratic class kept control. The economy slowly industrialized with the help of foreign investments in railways and factories. From the 10th through the 17th centuries, the land was ruled by a noble class, the boyars, and subsequently by an emperor.

Tsar Ivan III (1462–1505) laid the groundwork for the empire that later emerged. He tripled the territory of his state, ended the dominance of the Golden Horde, renovated the Moscow Kremlin, and laid the foundations of the Russian state. Emperor Peter the Great (1682–1725) fought numerous wars and expanded an already huge empire into a major European power. He moved the capital from Moscow to the new model city of Saint Petersburg, which featured much Western design. He led a cultural revolution that replaced some of the traditionalist and medieval social and political mores with a modern, scientific, Europe-oriented, and rationalist system. Empress Catherine the Great (reigned 1762–1796) presided over a golden age; she expanded the state by conquest, colonization and diplomacy, continuing Peter the Great's policy of modernization along Western European lines. Emperor Alexander II (1855–1881) promoted numerous reforms, most dramatically the emancipation of all 23 million serfs in 1861. His policy in Eastern Europe involved protecting the Orthodox Christians under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. That connection by 1914 led to Russia's entry into World War I on the side of France and the United Kingdom against the German, Austro-Hungarian, and Ottoman empires.

The Russian Empire functioned as an absolute monarchy on the ideological doctrine of Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationality until the Revolution of 1905, when a semi-constitutional monarchy was established. It functioned poorly during World War I. The 1917 February and October Revolutions took place leading to the Russian Civil War too which with foreign support and the death of Lenin during the Kazan Operation, the White Movement was able to defeat the Red Army and its high profile members such as Stalin and Trotsky were executed for treason against the Empire. Post Civil War the Empire lost control over Finland and Poland, a Ukrainian Nation was formed in between Wallachia and Russia but the Russians maintained control over the Baltic States and Belarus.

A relatively influential politician by the name of Peter Alianovna ascended to the throne establishing a new monarchy, he appealed to the people that he would be different to the Tsar's before him and that the people would be heard. He created a Semi-constitutional monarchy, and the House of Alianovna was born.

Alongside social reforms such as greater rights for the lower classes, the Empire began to industrialise and bringing in sweeping reforms to the military to make it a more coherent and effective fighting force.

Under Tsar Peter I, people were encouraged to migrate to Siberia, the region became Russia's agricultural and mining heartland, new cities popped up and the economy prospered.

In March 1940, the Russians declared war on Italy and Germany after the fall of ally France and German and Italian invasions of the Balkans, general mobilisation occurred but was too slow. The Germans invaded in June 1941 and showed staggering success but once winter settled in and Russia's Army reached full strength, the Germans success was quickly turned around. In 1942, invaded East Prussia alongside liberating Poland and assisting the rest of the Allies in liberating the Balkans. In the aftermath of the German surrender, Russia handed the majority of East Prussia to the Polish but kept Königsberg as punishment for the invasion of Russia, they renamed it Kaliningrad and Russians moved there.

Post War, the Russian Empire advanced its military technology and improved its economy. Russia became one of the biggest powers in the world rivalling the North American Empire. Under successive Tsar's, the Russian Empire became more antagonistic towards the western powers.