Russian Empire

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The subject of this article was previously also known as Russia. For other uses, see Russia (disambiguation).

Pоссийская Империя (ru–Cyrl)
Rossiyskaya Imperiya (translit)
Russian Empire
←

1721–1917

→

Flag of the Russian Empire (1914–1917) Coat of Arms
Motto
Съ нами Богъ!
(God is with us!)
Anthem
"God Save The Tsar!"

The Russian Empire in 1866 [1]
Capital Saint Petersburg (1721–28)
Moscow (1728–30)
Saint Petersburg/Petrograd (1730–1918)
Language(s) Official: Russian
Recognised regional languages: Finnish, Swedish, Polish
Second language: French
Religion State Church: Russian Orthodox
Minorities:Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Old Believers, Muslims, Buddhists
Government Absolute monarchy/
Tsarist autocracy
Emperor
- 1721–1725 Peter I
- 1894–1917 Nicholas II
Legislature State Duma
History
- Accession of Peter I 7 May 1682 NS,
27 April 1682 OS¹
- Empire proclaimed 22 October 1721 NS,
11 October 1721 OS 1721
- Decembrist revolt 26 December 1825 NS,
14 December 1825 OS
- Abolition of feudalism 3 March 1861 NS,
19 February 1861 OS
- Revolution of 1905 January–December 1905
- Constitution 6 May 1906 NS,
23 April 1906 OS
- February Revolution 15 March 1917 NS,
2 March 1917 OS 1917
- October Revolution 7 November 1917 NS,
25 October 1917 OS
Area
- 1916 21,799,825 km² (8,416,959 sq mi)
Population
- 1916 est. 181,537,800
Density 8.3 /km² (21.6 /sq mi)
Currency Ruble
Today part of

Russia

United States

Poland

Finland

Estonia

Latvia

Lithuania

Belarus

Moldova

Ukraine

Georgia

Armenia

Azerbaijan

Kazakhstan

Uzbekistan

Turkmenistan

Kyrgyzstan

Tajikistan
1: Russia continued to use the Julian calendar until after the collapse of the empire; see Old Style and New Style dates.

The Romanov double-headed eagle was the Emperor's standard, used as the flag of the Empire before 1858.[2]

The "Imperial flag", the official flag of the Russian Empire from 1858 to 1914.[3][4][5][6][7] However, it was not as popular as the white-blue-red civil ensign, which was adopted in 1883 for land use.

In 1883, the white-blue-red tricolor became an alternative civil flag.[3][4][5][6][7] However, it has been used as the civil ensign for use at sea from the time of Peter the Great until the Russian Revolution.

In 1914, the white-blue-red tricolor with a canton of the imperial arms was introduced by imperial decree on 19 November 1914. It replaced the black-orange-white tricolor, which had been the civil flag since 1858, and also the plain white-blue-red tricolor.[3][4][5][6][7]

The capital of Imperial Russia was Saint Petersburg.

Russian-French wars.

The Russian Empire (Pre-reform Russian: Россійская Имперія, Modern Russian: Российская Империя, translit: Rossiyskaya Imperiya) was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia, and the predecessor of the Soviet Union. It was the second largest contiguous empire the world has ever seen, surpassed only by the Mongol Empire, and the third largest empire the world has ever seen, surpassed only by the British Empire and the Mongol Empire . At one point in 1866, it stretched from eastern Europe, across Asia, and into North America.

At the beginning of the 19th century, Russia was the largest country in the world, extending from the Arctic Ocean to the north to the Black Sea on the south, from the Baltic Sea on the west to the Pacific Ocean on the east. With 176.4 million subjects, it had the third largest population of the world at the time, after Qing China and the British Empire. It represented a great disparity in economic, ethnic, and religious positions. Its government, ruled by the Emperor, was one of the last absolute monarchies left in Europe. Prior to the outbreak of World War I in August 1914 Russia was one of the five major Great Powers of Europe.

History

Main article: History of Russia

The Russian Empire was a natural successor to the Tsardom of Muscovy. Though the empire was only officially proclaimed by Tsar Peter I following the Treaty of Nystad (1721), some historians^[who?] would argue that it was truly born when Peter acceded to the throne in early 1682.

Contents

Russian Empire

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

History