Russian Empire
| Russian Empire Россійская Имперія | |
|---|---|
 Flag
 Coat of arms
| |
|
Motto: Съ Нами Богъ! ('God is with us!') | |
|
Anthem: «Боже, Царя храни!» "God Save the Tsar!"; 1833–1917 | |
 The Russian Empire in 1900. | |
| Capital | Saint Petersburg[a] |
| Largest city | Saint Petersburg |
| Official languages | Russian |
| Mode of production | Feudalism |
| Government | Absolute monarchy[b] |
• Tsar |
Peter I (first) Nicholas II (last) |
The Russian Empire,[c] also known as Tsarist Russia, was a semi-feudal autocratic monarchy located in Europe and Asia which began with its proclamation by Peter Romanov in 1721 to its overthrow and dissolution during the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution in 1917. The Russian Empire formally ended on September 14, 1917 when the Provisional Government proclaimed the Russian Republic, although it had effectively ceased to exist when Tsar Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov abdicated on March 15, 1917. The Russian Republic itself would be succeeded by the socialist Russian Soviet Republic, and the Romanov dynasty would be executed in July 1918.[1]
For much of its existence and particularly in its final decades, the Russian Empire represented a fortress and reserve for reaction and imperialism in Europe, with the tsarist autocracy maintaining a repressive police state with little political freedoms. The Russian Empire also functioned as "prison house of nations", oppressing minority nationalities within its borders.[2]
See also
References
- ↑ "Russian Empire". Great Soviet Encyclopedia.
- ↑ Vladimir Lenin (1914). On the National Pride of the Great Russians.
Notes
- ↑ 1721–1728; 1730–1917.
- ↑ The autocracy adopted certain nominal elements of parliamentarism after the 1905 revolution, namely a Duma, although it remained virtually powerless.
- ↑ Russian: Россійская Имперія; modern spelling: Российская Империя