Russian Empire

A painting depicting the Battle of Narva (1700) in the Great Northern War

Peter the Great officially renamed the Tsardom of Russia as the Russian Empire in 1721 and became its first emperor. He instituted sweeping reforms and oversaw the transformation of Russia into a major European power. (Painting made after 1717.)

Empress Catherine the Great, who reigned from 1762 to 1796, continued the empire's expansion and modernization. Considering herself an enlightened absolutist, she played a key role in the Russian Enlightenment. (Painted in the 1780s.)

Catherine II Sestroretsk Rouble (1771) is made of solid copper measuring 77 mm (diameter), 26 mm (thickness), and weighs 1.022 kg.

An 1843 painting imagining Russian general Pyotr Bagration, giving orders during the Battle of Borodino (1812) while wounded

The Imperial Standard of the Tsar between from 1858 to 1917. Previous variations of the black eagle on gold background were used as far back as Peter the Great's time.

Franz Roubaud's 1893 painting of the Erivan Fortress siege in 1827 by the Russian forces under leadership of Ivan Paskevich during the Russo-Persian War (1826–28)

The eleven-month siege of a Russian naval base at Sevastopol during the Crimean War

Russian troops taking Samarkand (8 June 1868)

Capturing of the Ottoman Turkish redoubt during the Siege of Plevna (1877)

Russian troops fighting against Ottoman troops at the Battle of Shipka Pass (1877)

A scene from the First Russian Revolution, by Ilya Repin

Russian soldiers in combat against Japanese at Mukden (inside China), during the Russo-Japanese War (1904–1905)

Ethnic map of European Russia before World War I

Map of governorates of the western Russian Empire in 1910

Map showing subdivisions of the Russian Empire in 1914

1814 artwork depicting the Russian warship Neva and the Russian settlement of St. Paul's Harbor (present-day Kodiak town), Kodiak Island

Nicholas II was the last Emperor of Russia, reigning from 1894 to 1917.

This painting from circa 1847 depicts the building on Palace Square opposite the Winter Palace, which was the headquarters of the Army General Staff. Today, it houses the headquarters of the Western Military District/Joint Strategic Command West.

The Catherine Palace, located at Tsarskoe Selo, was the summer residence of the imperial family. It is named after Empress Catherine I, who reigned from 1725 to 1727. (Watercolor painting from the 19th century.)

The Senate and Synod headquarters – today the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation on Senate Square in Saint Petersburg

Residence of the Governor of Moscow (1778–82) as seen in 2015

The Moscow City Duma circa 1900 (colorized photograph)

Watercolor-tinted lithgraph, from the 1840s, depicting the arrival of the first Tsarskoye Selo Railway train at Tsarskoye Selo from St. Petersburg on 30 October 1837.

The Kazan Cathedral in Saint Petersburg was constructed between 1801 and 1811, and prior to the construction of Saint Isaac's Cathedral was the main Orthodox Church in Imperial Russia.

Map of subdivisions of the Russian Empire by largest ethnolinguistic group (1897)

Contemporary painting of the procession of Emperor Alexander II into Dormition Cathedral in Moscow during his coronation in 1856

This 1892 painting imagines a scene of Russian troops forming a bridge with their bodies, moving equipment to prepare for invading Persian forces during the Russo-Persian War (1804–13), which occurred contemporaneously with the French invasion of Russia.

1892 painting depicting Imperial Russian Navy Brig "Mercury" Attacked by Two Turkish Ships in a scene from the Russo-Turkish War (1828–29), by Ivan Aivazovsky

1856 painting imagining the announcement of the coronation of Alexander II that year.

The 1916 painting Maslenitsa by Boris Kustodiev, depicting a Russian city in winter

Young Russian peasant women in front of a traditional wooden house (c. 1909 to 1915), photograph taken by Prokudin-Gorskii

Peasants in Russia (photograph taken by Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky in 1909)

Empire that extended across Eurasia from 1721, succeeding the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad that ended the Great Northern War.

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February Revolution

The first of two revolutions which took place in Russia in 1917.

Students and soldiers firing across the Moyka at the police

The abdication of Nicholas II on 2 March 1917 O.S. In the royal train: Minister of the Court Baron Fredericks, General N. Ruzsky, V. V. Shulgin, A. I. Guchkov, Nicholas II. (State Historical Museum)

Revolutionaries during the first days of the revolution

Burning of monarchistic symbols on 27 February (O.S.)

Protesters on Znamensky Square in front of the statue of Alexander III

The provisional government early March, 1917

Prince Georgy Lvov, first head of the Provisional Government

Nikolay Chkheidze, first Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Petrograd Soviet

A scene from the July Days. The army had just opened fire on street protesters.

The queue at the grocery store in Petrograd. 1917

A revolutionary meeting of Russian soldiers in March 1917 in Dalkarby of Jomala, Åland

Three days later Tsar Nicholas II abdicated, ending Romanov dynastic rule and the Russian Empire.

Last to reign: Nicholas II 1 November 1894 – 15 March 1917

Emperor of all the Russias

The emperor or empress of all the Russias or All Russia (often titled Tsar or Tsarina/Tsaritsa) was the monarch of the Russian Empire.

Russian America

The Bering Strait, where Russia's east coast lies closest to Alaska's west coast. Early Russian colonization occurred well south of the strait, in the Aleutian Islands.

Alexander Andreyevich Baranov, called "Lord of Alaska" by Hector Chevigny, played an active role in the Russian–American Company and was the first governor of Russian America.

New Archangel (present-day Sitka, Alaska), the capital of Russian America, in 1837

Russian Orthodox church in present-day Sitka

Russian America (Русская Америка) was the name for the Russian Empire's colonial possessions in North America from 1799 to 1867.

Ottoman Empire

Empire that controlled much of Southeast Europe, Western Asia, and Northern Africa between the 14th and early 20th centuries.

The Battle of Nicopolis in 1396, depicted in an Ottoman miniature from 1523

Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror's entry into Constantinople; painting by Fausto Zonaro (1854–1929)

An Ottoman miniature of the Battle of Mohács in 1526

Map of Ottoman territorial acquisitions up to 1683

The Second Siege of Vienna in 1683, by Frans Geffels (1624–1694).

Austrian troops led by Prince Eugene of Savoy captured Belgrade in 1717. Austrian control in Serbia lasted until the Turkish victory in the Austro-Russian–Turkish War (1735–1739). With the 1739 Treaty of Belgrade, the Ottoman Empire regained northern Bosnia, Habsburg Serbia (including Belgrade), Oltenia and the southern parts of the Banat of Temeswar.

Ottoman troops attempting to halt the advancing Russians during the Siege of Ochakov in 1788

Selim III receiving dignitaries during an audience at the Gate of Felicity, Topkapı Palace. Painting by Konstantin Kapıdağlı.

The siege of the Acropolis in 1826–1827 during the Greek War of Independence

Opening ceremony of the First Ottoman Parliament at the Dolmabahçe Palace in 1876. The First Constitutional Era lasted only two years until 1878. The Ottoman Constitution and Parliament were restored 30 years later with the Young Turk Revolution in 1908.

Ottoman troops storming Fort Shefketil during the Crimean War of 1853–1856

The Empire in 1875 under sultan Abdul-Aziz

Declaration of the Young Turk Revolution by the leaders of the Ottoman millets in 1908

Admiral Wilhelm Souchon, who commanded the Black Sea Raid on 29 October 1914, and his officers in Ottoman naval uniforms

The Armenian genocide was the result of the Ottoman government's deportation and ethnic cleansing policies regarding its Armenian citizens after the Battle of Sarikamish (1914–1915) and the collapse of the Caucasus Front against the Imperial Russian Army and Armenian volunteer units during World War I. An estimated 600,000 to more than 1 million, or up to 1.5 million people were killed.

Mehmed VI, the last Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, leaving the country after the abolition of the Ottoman sultanate, 17 November 1922

Inside Harem, the private residence of the sultan in Topkapı Palace

Yusuf Ziya Pasha, Ottoman ambassador to the United States, in Washington, 1913

An unhappy wife complains to the Qadi about her husband's impotence as depicted in an Ottoman miniature.

Ottoman sipahis in battle, holding the crescent banner (by Józef Brandt)

Selim III watching the parade of his new army, the Nizam-ı Cedid (New Order) troops, in 1793

A German postcard depicting the Ottoman Navy at the Golden Horn in the early stages of World War I. At top left is a portrait of Sultan Mehmed V.

Administrative divisions in 1899 (year 1317 Hijri)

A European bronze medal from the period of Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror, 1481

The Ottoman Bank was founded in 1856 in Constantinople. On 26 August 1896, the bank was occupied by members of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation.

View of Galata (Karaköy) and the Galata Bridge on the Golden Horn, c. 1880–1893

1911 Ottoman calendar shown in several different languages such as: Ottoman Turkish, Greek, Armenian, Hebrew, Bulgarian and French.

Abdülmecid II was the last caliph of Islam and a member of the Ottoman dynasty.

Mehmed the Conqueror and Patriarch Gennadius II

The original Church of St. Anthony of Padua, Istanbul was built in 1725 by the local Italian community of Istanbul.

Depiction of a hookah shop in Lebanon, Ottoman Empire

Beyazıt State Library was founded in 1884.

Ahmet Nedîm Efendi, one of the most celebrated Ottoman poets

Süleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul, designed by Sinan in the 16th century and a major example of the Classical Ottoman style

Ottoman miniature lost its function with the Westernization of Ottoman culture.

Girl Reciting the Qurān (Kuran Okuyan Kız), an 1880 painting by the Ottoman polymath Osman Hamdi Bey, whose works often showed women engaged in educational activities.

Members of Galatasaray S.K. (football) in 1905

Miniature from Surname-i Vehbi showing the Mehteran, the music band of the Janissaries

The shadow play Karagöz and Hacivat was widespread throughout the Ottoman Empire.

Musicians and dancers entertain the crowds, from Surname-i Hümayun, 1720.

However, during a long period of peace from 1740 to 1768, the Ottoman military system fell behind that of its European rivals, the Habsburg and Russian empires.

Portrait by Jean-Marc Nattier, after 1717

Peter the Great, Peter I or Pyotr Alekséyevich (9 June 1672 – 8 February 1725) was a monarch of the Tsardom of Russia and later the Russian Empire from 7 May 1682 until his death in 1725, jointly ruling before 1696 with his elder half-brother, Ivan V.

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth

Country and federation of Poland and Lithuania ruled by a common monarch in real union, who was both King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania.

The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (green) with vassal states (light green) at their peak in 1619

The Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1526.

The Union of Lublin joined the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1569.

The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth at its greatest extent in 1619.

Sigismund III Vasa was a religious zealot and an enlightened despot who presided over an era of prosperity and achievement. His reign also marked the Commonwealth's largest territorial expansion.

Sejm of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (parliment) in the early 17th century

John III Sobieski, victor over the Ottoman Turks at the Battle of Vienna in 1683.

Augustus II the Strong, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, wearing the Order of the White Eagle which he established in 1705.

Partitions of Poland in 1772, 1793 and 1795.

Royal Castle in Warsaw was the formal residence of Polish kings after the capital was moved from Kraków in 1596

Crown Tribunal in Lublin was the highest court of appeals in the Kingdom of Poland

Palace of the Lithuanian Tribunal in Vilnius, which exclusively was the highest appeal court for the Lithuanian nobility in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania

The Republic at the Zenith of Its Power, the Royal Election of 1573

The Constitution of 3 May adopted in 1791 was the first modern constitution in Europe.

Cereals exports in the years 1619–1799. Agriculture, once extremely profitable to the nobility, became much less so after the mid-17th century.

A historical re-enactor dressed in the Polish Winged Hussars armour

Multi-stage rocket from Artis Magnæ Artilleriæ pars prima by Kazimierz Siemienowicz

Krasiczyn Castle was built between 1580-1631 in the mannerist style.

Wilanów Palace, completed in 1696, exemplifies the opulence of royal and noble residences in the Commonwealth.

Nieborów Palace designed by Dutch architect Tylman van Gameren and built in 1697

Social strata in the Commonwealth's society in 1655. From left: Jew, barber surgeon, painter, butcher, musician, tailor, barmaid, pharmacist, shoemaker, goldsmith, merchant and Armenian

Population density of the Commonwealth per each voivodeship in 1650

Saints Peter and Paul Church in Kraków was built between 1597-1619 by the Jesuit order

Original act of the Warsaw Confederation in 1573, the first act of religious freedom in Europe

First anniversary anthem of the Constitution of 3 May 1791 (1792) in Hebrew, Polish, German and French

Topographical map of the Commonwealth in 1764

Statuta Regni Poloniae in ordinem alphabeti digesta (Statutes of the Polish Kingdom, Arranged in Alphabetical Order), 1563

Grand Marshal of the Crown Łukasz Opaliński portraited with the insignium of his power in the parliament - the Marshal's cane, 1640

Rococo iconostasis in the Orthodox Church of the Holy Spirit in Vilnius, designed by Johann Christoph Glaubitz, 1753–1756

$18th century amber casket. Gdańsk patronized by the Polish court flourished as the center for amber working in the 17th century.<ref name="gordon_campbell">{{cite book |author=Gordon Campbell |title=The Grove encyclopedia of decorative arts |year=2006 |page=13 |publisher=Oxford University Press US |isbn=01-95189-48-5}}</ref>$

Stanisław Poniatowski, Commander of the Royal Guards and Grand Treasurer. Painted by Angelika Kauffmann in 1786.

Equestrian portrait of King Sigismund III of Poland, by Peter Paul Rubens, 1624

Tapestry with the arms of Michał Kazimierz Pac, Jan Leyniers, Brussels, 1667–1669

Silver tankard by Józef Ceypler, Kraków, 1739–1745

Example of the merchant architecture: Konopnica's tenement house in Lublin, 1575

Hussars' armours, first half of the 17th century

De republica emendanda (1554) by Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski, proposed a deep programme of reforms of the state, society and church.

Merkuriusz Polski Ordynaryjny, the first Polish newspaper published on the orders of Queen Marie Louise Gonzaga in 1661

Title page of Treny (1580) by Jan Kochanowski, a series of elegies upon the death of his beloved daughter, is an acknowledged masterpiece.

A plate from Michał Boym's Flora Sinensis (1656), the first description of an ecosystem of the Far East published in Europe<ref>{{cite book |author1=Gwei-Djen Lu |author2=Joseph Needham |author3=Vivienne Lo |title=Celestial lancets: a history and rationale of acupuncture and moxa |year=2002 |page=284 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=07-00714-58-8}}</ref>

Taurus Poniatovii, constellation originated by Marcin Poczobutt in 1777 to honor the king Stanisław II Augustus<ref>{{cite web |author=Ian Ridpath |url=http://www.ianridpath.com/startales/poniatowski.htm |title=Taurus Poniatovii - Poniatowski's bull |work=www.ianridpath.com |access-date=2009-05-18}}</ref>

Branicki Palace in Białystok, designed by Tylman van Gameren, is sometimes referred to as the "Polish Versailles."

Pažaislis Monastery in Kaunas, Pietro Puttini, built 1674–1712

Zamość City Hall, designed by Bernardo Morando, is a unique example of Renaissance architecture in Europe, consistently built in accordance with the Italian theories of an "ideal town."<ref name="unesco.org">{{cite web |url=http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/564 |title=Old City of Zamość |publisher=UNESCO World Heritage Centre |date=2009-09-23 |access-date=2011-09-15}}</ref>

Plafond Allegory of Spring, Jerzy Siemiginowski, 1680s, Wilanów Palace

Łańcut Synagogue was established by Stanisław Lubomirski, 1733.<ref>After a fire had destroyed a wooden synagogue in 1733 Stanislaw Lubomirski decided to found a new bricked synagogue building. {{cite web |author=Polin Travel |url=http://www.jewish-guide.pl/sites/lancut |title=Lancut |work=www.jewish-guide.pl|access-date=2010-09-02}}</ref>

Its growing weakness led to its partitioning among its neighbors (Austria, Prussia, and Russia) during the late 18th century.

Treaty effects: pre-war Sweden in yellow, Russia in green, Russian gains indicated by lines.

Treaty of Nystad

The last peace treaty of the Great Northern War of 1700–1721.

The obverse of an Fe- medal 1721 by the Danish medallist Anton Schultz. Treaty of Nystad to end the Great Northern War by Peter the Great.

Nystad manifested the decisive shift in the European balance of power which the war had brought about: the Swedish imperial era had ended; Sweden entered the Age of Liberty, while Russia had emerged as a new empire.

Tsar

Title used to designate East and South Slavic monarchs.

Reception of the tsar of Russia in the Moscow Kremlin, by Ivan Makarov

Crowning of Stefan Dušan, Emperor of the Serbs, as tsar, by Paja Jovanović

Mostich's epitaph uses the title tsar (outlined): "Here lies Mostich who was ichirgu-boil during the reigns of Tsar Simeon and Tsar Peter. At the age of eighty he forsook the rank of ichirgu boila and all of his possessions and became a monk. And so ended his life." (Museum of Preslav)

Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha is the only living person who (as Simeon II) has borne the title "tsar".

Nicholas II, the last Emperor of Russia.

Tsardom of Russia, in 1547–1721 (replaced in 1721 by imperator in Russian Empire, but still remaining in use, also officially in relation to several regions until 1917)

Tsardom of Russia

Territory of Russia in
1500, 1600 and 1689

Ivan the Great Bell Tower, raised to the present height during the reign of Boris Godunov

The Apostle (1564) by Ivan Fyodorov and Pyotr Mstislavets, one of the first Russian printed books

The Poles surrender the Moscow Kremlin to Prince Pozharsky in 1612. Painting by Ernst Lissner

Andrei Ryabushkin: Tsar Michael at the Session of the Boyar Duma (1893)

Portrait of Russian diplomat and voivode Pyotr Potemkin by Godfrey Kneller

A warrior of the Russian noble cavalry (поместная конница) during the Russo-Polish War of 1654–1667. The drawing is based on the pieces preserved in the Kremlin Armoury.

Patriarch Nikon and Tsar Alexis in the Cathedral of the Archangel. Painting by Alexander Litovchenko

Vasily Surikov: Yermak's Conquest of Siberia (1895)

Nativity Church at Putinki, an example of the 17th-century Russian uzorochye style

Russia vulgo Moscovia, Atlas Maior, 1645

Standard of the Tsar of Russia (1693–1700)

Naval ensign of the Imperial Russian Navy (1697–1699)<ref name="Vex">vexillographia.ru</ref> and civil ensign of Russia (from 1705)

Naval ensign of the Imperial Russian Navy (1699–1700), a transitional variant between the 1697–1699 ensign and the Andreevsky Flag of 1712

Naval jack of the Imperial Russian Navy (from 1700)<ref>www.crwflags.com</ref>

Naval ensign of the Imperial Russian Navy (from 1712)

The Tsardom of Russia or Tsardom of Rus' (Русское царство, later changed to: Российское царство), also externally referenced as the Tsardom of Muscovy, was the centralized Russian state from the assumption of the title of Tsar by Ivan IV in 1547 until the foundation of the Russian Empire by Peter I in 1721.

Empire

About the political and historical term.

Diachronic map of the main empires of the modern era (1492–1945).

Map showing the four empires of Eurasia in the 2nd century AD

All areas of the world that were once part of the Portuguese Empire. The Portuguese established in the early 16th century together with the Spanish Empire the first global empire and trade network.

An important distinction has been between land empires made up solely of contiguous territories, such as the Austro-Hungarian Empire or the Russian Empire; and those created by sea-power, include territories which are far remote from the 'home' country of the empire, such as the British Empire.