Definition of Russian Empire

From the end of the 17th century Russia was ruled by the Romanov dynasty and Peter the Great is considered the founder of the Russian Empire. With the triumph of the Revolution communist of 1917 the government of the Tsars ended tragically (Tsar Nicholas II, Tsarina Alejandra, and her five children were brutally murdered by a group of Bolsheviks in July 1918). The vast empire encompassed territories in North America, Central Asia, Ukraine, Poland, Finland, Siberia, and the current Russian Federation.

The tsars concentrated all the powers: they decided on peace and war, they had the maximum authority religious and enacted laws as they pleased. In this sense, they were not like European monarchs subjected to the power of a sovereign parliament.

In the nineteenth century the Russian Empire was decomposing

The middle class it was practically non-existent. Society was divided between a minority of nobles and peasant serfdom. The country found itself with a weak industry and instead of large factories there were small artisans

scale. The railway lines were insufficient and this circumstance made trade difficult throughout the country.

The peasants were serfs totally subjugated by their masters and some of them were forced to work without any remuneration. The illiteracy was spread throughout the territory Russian.

Tsar Alexander ll introduced some measures to change the course of the Empire

Justice was reformed and corporal punishment was abolished. To solve the unrest among the peasants, in 1861 Alejadro ll abolished serfdom, which is equivalent to the outlawing of slavery. However, after an attack in 1866 the Tsar decided to stop the reform projects and strict control measures were adopted.

Students and intellectuals led the social unrest and in 1881 the Tsar was assassinated. His successor, Alexander III, reacted firmly and a harsh repression was imposed on all levels: against the intellectuals, against the different ethnic groups integrated into the Empire, against the Catholicism and against the Jews (many Jews were confined in ghettos).

The reaction against the tsars

At the end of the 19th century, different opposition movements emerged. Among them, some liberal currents, peasant movements and, very especially, revolutionary groups with Marxist and anarchist ideals stand out. These movements led to the 1917 revolution that dethroned Nicholas II, the last of the tsars.

Photos: Fotolia - Aapsky - Massaget

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