Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was an empire that extended across Eurasia and North America from 1721, following the end of the Great Northern War, until the Republic was proclaimed by the Provisional Government that took power after the February Revolution of 1917.

An empire can be made solely of contiguous territories, such as the Austro-Hungarian Empire or the Russian Empire, or of territories far remote from the homeland, such as a colonial empire.

The third-largest empire in world history, at its greatest extent stretching over three continents, Europe, Asia, and North America, the Russian Empire was surpassed in size only by the British and Mongol empires.

The Russian Empire was an empire that extended across Eurasia and North America from 1721, following the end of the Great Northern War, until the Republic was proclaimed by the Provisional Government that took power after the February Revolution of 1917.

The Russian Republic was a short-lived state which controlled, de jure, the territory of the former Russian Empire after its proclamation by the Russian Provisional Government on 1 September (14 September, N.S.) 1917 in a decree signed by Alexander Kerensky as Minister-President and Alexander Zarudny as Minister of Justice.

It played a major role in 1812–1814 in defeating Napoleon's ambitions to control Europe and expanded to the west and south.

Napoleon shattered this coalition with decisive victories in the Ulm Campaign and a historic triumph over the Russian Empire and Austrian Empire at the Battle of Austerlitz which led to the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire.

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.

The Russian Imperial Census of 1897 was first and only census carried out in the Russian Empire (Finland was excluded).

The rise of the Russian Empire coincided with the decline of neighboring rival powers: the Swedish Empire, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Persia and the Ottoman Empire.

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

The Russian Empire was an empire that extended across Eurasia and North America from 1721, following the end of the Great Northern War, until the Republic was proclaimed by the Provisional Government that took power after the February Revolution of 1917.

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

The rise of the Russian Empire coincided with the decline of neighboring rival powers: the Swedish Empire, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Persia and the Ottoman Empire.

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

In the 19th century, they were closely watched by the imperial secret police, and thousands were exiled to Siberia.

The Department for Protecting the Public Security and Order, usually called "guard department" and commonly abbreviated in modern sources as Okhrana was a secret-police force of the Russian Empire and part of the police department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) in the late 19th century, aided by the Special Corps of Gendarmes.

Emperor Peter the Great (1682–1725) fought numerous wars and expanded an already huge empire into a major European power.

Peter the Great, Peter I or Peter Alexeyevich (9 June 1672 – 8 February 1725) ruled 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.

The House of Romanov ruled the Russian Empire from 1721 until 1762.

Michael's grandson Peter I established the Russian Empire in 1721, transforming the country into a great power through a series of wars and reforms.

From the 10th through the 17th centuries, the land was ruled by a noble class, the boyars, and subsequently by an emperor.

The Emperor or Empress of All Russia ((pre 1918 orthography) Императоръ Всероссійскій, Императрица Всероссійская, (modern orthography) Император Всероссийский, Императрица всероссийская, Imperator Vserossiyskiy, Imperatritsa Vserossiyskaya) was the absolute and later the constitutional monarch of the Russian Empire.

That connection by 1914 led to Russia's entry into the First World War on the side of France, the United Kingdom, and Serbia, against the German, Austria-Hungary, and Ottoman empires.

By July 1914, the great powers of Europe were divided into two coalitions: the Triple Entente—consisting of France, Russia, and Britain—and the Triple Alliance of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy (the Triple Alliance was only defensive in nature, allowing Italy to stay out of the war until April 1915, when it joined the Allied Powers after its relations with Austria-Hungary deteriorated).

He moved the capital from Moscow to the new model city of St. Petersburg, which featured much European design.

The city has served as the capital of a progression of states, from the medieval Grand Duchy of Moscow and the subsequent Tsardom of Russia to the Russian Empire (for the short period of time taking that title from Saint Petersburg in 1728–1730) to the Soviet Union and the contemporary Russian Federation.

The rise of the Russian Empire coincided with the decline of neighboring rival powers: the Swedish Empire, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Persia and the Ottoman Empire.

In the Caucasus, the Qajar dynasty permanently lost many of Iran's integral areas to the Russians over the course of the 19th century, comprising modern-day Georgia, Dagestan, Azerbaijan and Armenia.

The class of kholops, close in status to slavery, remained a major institution in Russia until 1723, when Peter converted household kholops into house serfs, thus including them in poll taxation.

The term "serf", in the sense of an unfree peasant of the Russian Empire, is the usual translation of krepostnoi krestyanin which meant an unfree person who, unlike a slave, could be sold only with the land he or she was "attached" to.

Much of Russia's expansion occurred in the 17th century, culminating in the first Russian colonization of the Pacific in the mid-17th century, the Russo-Polish War (1654–67) that incorporated left-bank Ukraine, and the Russian conquest of Siberia.

During the Russian Empire, Siberia was chiefly developed as an agricultural province.

Emperor Alexander II (1855–1881) promoted numerous reforms, most dramatically the emancipation of all 23 million serfs in 1861.

The reform effectively abolished serfdom throughout the Russian Empire.

He moved the capital from Moscow to the new model city of St. Petersburg, which featured much European design.

It was founded by Tsar Peter the Great on 27 May 1703 and served as a capital of Russian Tsardom and subsequent Russian Empire in 1713-1918 (being replaced by Moscow for a short period of time in 1728-1730).

Access to the Baltic Sea was blocked by Sweden, whose territory enclosed it on three sides.

Swedish territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were gradually lost during the 18th and 19th centuries, ending with the annexation of present-day Finland by Russia in 1809.

He made Astrakhan the centre of military efforts against Persia, and waged the first full-scale war against them in 1722–23.

The Russo-Persian War of 1722–1723, known in Russian historiography as the Persian campaign of Peter the Great, was a war between the Russian Empire and Safavid Iran, triggered by the tsar's attempt to expand Russian influence in the Caspian and Caucasus regions and to prevent its rival, the Ottoman Empire, from territorial gains in the region at the expense of declining Safavid Iran.

The Russian Empire was an empire that extended across Eurasia and North America from 1721, following the end of the Great Northern War, until the Republic was proclaimed by the Provisional Government that took power after the February Revolution of 1917.

The Russian concept of “Eurasia” corresponded initially more or less to the land area of Imperial Russia in 1914, including parts of Eastern Europe.

Her reign, which lasted nearly 20 years, is also known for her involvement in the Seven Years' War.

The conflict split Europe into two coalitions: one was led by the Kingdom of Great Britain and included the Kingdom of Prussia, the Kingdom of Portugal, the Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg (also named Hanover), and a few other small German states; while the other was led by the Kingdom of France and included the Austrian-led Holy Roman Empire, including the Electorate of Saxony and most of the smaller German states, the Russian Empire (until 1762), the Kingdom of Spain, and Sweden.

That connection by 1914 led to Russia's entry into the First World War on the side of France, the United Kingdom, and Serbia, against the German, Austria-Hungary, and Ottoman empires.

Local war escalated, when Germany declared war on Russia, and invaded France and Belgium, thus drawing Great Britain into the conflict, that became the First World War.

Russia had signed the Treaty of Georgievsk with the Georgians to protect them against any new invasion of their Persian suzerains.

The Treaty of Georgievsk (Георгиевский трактат, Georgievskiy traktat; გეორგიევსკის ტრაქტატი, georgievskis trakt'at'i) was a bilateral treaty concluded between the Russian Empire and the east Georgian kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti on July 24, 1783.