Russian Empire: The State the Romanovs Ruled, 1721-1917

Contents16

• Basic facts
• How the government worked
• How the Russian Empire ended
• Society and economy
• Record detail: the empire's end date, a naming point
• Culture and religion
• Neighbors and wars
• Administrative structure
• Population and economy
• Timeline of the Russian Empire
• The 1897 census
• Reform and reaction in the 19th century
• Verdict: the Russian Empire in brief
• Further reading
• Kazan before Romanov rule
• Steppe rulers and the name Altan Khan

The House of Romanov ruled the Russian Empire from 1721 to 1917. Peter I took the title Emperor in 1721. Nicholas II gave up the throne in 1917. This page covers what the empire was, how it was run, and how it ended.

TL;DR: The Russian Empire lasted from 1721, when Peter I took the title emperor, to 1917. The emperor held total power until the Duma was set up in 1906. Alexander II freed the serfs in 1861. War, hunger and revolution led Nicholas II to give up the throne on 15 March 1917. Russia was declared a republic that September.

Basic facts

How the government worked

For most of the empire's life, the emperor held total power. He answered to no elected parliament. Ministries and a Senate ran day-to-day affairs, but the emperor chose their members himself.

That changed only after the 1905 Revolution. Unrest and a wave of strikes forced Nicholas II to allow a Duma, an elected parliament, in 1906. Even then, the emperor could close it and rule by decree between sessions.

How the Russian Empire ended

Army defeats, food shortages and years of wartime unrest led to the February Revolution of 1917. Nicholas II gave up the throne on 15 March 1917. That ended Romanov rule.

A provisional government held power through 1917. Then a second revolution in October brought the Bolsheviks to power. A civil war followed for several years. The winners founded the Soviet Union in 1922.

Society and economy

For much of the empire's history, serfdom tied most country people to landowners' estates. The system went back to Tsar Alexis I's law code of 1649. Alexander II ended it in 1861.

The emancipation freed an estimated 23 million people from serfdom, though many still faced years of land payments. Industrial growth created a larger working class in the empire's final decades. Its grievances contributed to the unrest of 1905 and 1917.

Record detail: the empire's end date, a naming point

When the empire "ended".

Status: Disputed.

Note: Sources broadly agree that Nicholas II's fall in March 1917 ended Romanov rule. But some date the empire's formal end to September 1917. That month the provisional government declared Russia a republic. No monarch reigned in between. This page treats March 1917 as the practical end.

Sources: Britannica, "Russian Empire"; Britannica, "February Revolution".

Culture and religion

The Russian Orthodox Church was the state church for the empire's whole life. Peter I abolished the church's own patriarch in 1721. After that the emperor served as its head in practice.

The empire also ruled many peoples besides Russians. They included Poles and Ukrainians, Baltic peoples and Muslims of Central Asia. Jewish communities lived under strict rules on where they could settle, known as the Pale of Settlement.

Neighbors and wars

The Russian Empire fought wars again and again. It fought the Ottoman Empire over the Black Sea. It fought Sweden, and later Napoleon's France, over its western borders.

In the Caucasus and Central Asia, its foes were Persia and the Central Asian states. Napoleon's invasion of 1812 reached Moscow. Then came a disastrous French retreat.

In its last years, ties to France and Britain drew the empire into the First World War. That strain fed straight into the revolutions of 1917.

Administrative structure

The empire split its land into provinces called guberniyas. A governor ran each one. He was appointed from the centre and answered to it, not to local voters. A limited system of local councils, called zemstvos, came only after a reform in 1864. Even then they handled roads and schools, not national policy.

Population and economy

By the early 1900s, the empire had more than 100 million people. Most still lived on the land and farmed. Before the First World War, Russia was one of the world's largest grain exporters. Yet many country people lived on the edge of hunger.

Timeline of the Russian Empire

The 1897 census

The empire held its first general census in 1897. It counted about 125 million people. Most lived in the countryside and worked the land.

Only a minority could read. The census also showed how mixed the empire was. It recorded many languages and religions across its provinces.

Reform and reaction in the 19th century

In the 1800s the empire swung between reform and repression. Alexander I thought about a constitution but did not bring one in. Nicholas I crushed the Decembrist revolt of 1825. He ruled through censorship and a political police.

After defeat in the Crimean War, Alexander II began the "Great Reforms". They freed the serfs in 1861. They set up elected local councils in 1864. They also brought new courts with juries, and army reform.

Alexander II was murdered in 1881. His son, Alexander III, reversed much of this course. Nicholas II took over a state under growing pressure. Workers, peasants, national minorities and liberal reformers all pushed for change.

To read more, see our guide to the best books about the Romanovs. It runs from Peter the Great to the fall of the empire.

Verdict: the Russian Empire in brief

The Russian Empire lasted from 1721 to 1917 under unbroken Romanov rule. The emperor held total power for most of its history. It freed its serfs in 1861 and gained an elected Duma only in 1906.

It ended in revolution. Nicholas II gave up the throne in March 1917. The Provisional Government declared a republic that September.

That is why this page marks the formal end date as disputed. For the rulers, see the Russian czars page.

For the full line from Michael in 1613 to Nicholas II, see the Romanov dynasty page.

Sources checked for this page

• Britannica, "Russian Empire"
• Britannica, "Russia from 1801 to 1917"
• Britannica, "February Revolution"
• Encyclopedia.com, "Russian Empire"
• University of Oxford Research Archive, study of the Russian Empire

Further reading

The Belarusian principalities reference distinguishes medieval Polotsk, Turov, Pinsk and Drutsk from the later Russian Empire.

Kazan before Romanov rule

The Kazan Khanate preceded the Romanov dynasty. UNESCO's Kazan Kremlin account describes the site's links with Volga Bulgaria, the Golden Horde and the khanate, and records its conquest by Ivan IV in 1552. The conquest date is not the start of a Romanov reign.

A khanate's own succession and a later Russian list answer different questions. Preserve the local office and territory in a record instead of listing every ruler under a later imperial name. The glossary of historical ruler titles explains why khan and emperor cannot always be exchanged.

Steppe rulers and the name Altan Khan

Siberia's incorporation into Russian territory formed part of the expansion described in the Britannica history of the Russian Empire. Mongol rulers elsewhere in the Eurasian steppe held separate authority.

Altan Khan ruled the Tumed Mongols. Research hosted by the University of Cambridge examines his meeting with the Third Dalai Lama in 1578. This was a Mongol political and religious relationship; Altan Khan was not a Russian ruler of Siberia. The meeting supplies an event date, rather than an accession date. Compare how empire sizes are measured for the distinction between a ruler's title and territorial reach.

Questions people also ask

When was the Russian Empire founded?

In 1721, when Peter I took the title Emperor of All Russia after Russia's victory over Sweden in the Great Northern War.

How did the Russian Empire end?

Nicholas II abdicated on 15 March 1917 during the February Revolution. A provisional government held power through 1917, then the Bolsheviks took power in October, followed by a civil war and the founding of the Soviet Union in 1922.

Was the Russian Empire a democracy?

No. The emperor held autocratic power for most of its history. An elected parliament, the Duma, existed only from 1906, and the emperor kept broad powers to dissolve it and rule by decree between sessions.

What was the capital of the Russian Empire?

Saint Petersburg, founded by Peter I in 1703, apart from a brief return to Moscow under Peter II. The capital moved back to Moscow in 1918, after the empire had ended.

Who was the first emperor of the Russian Empire?

Peter I, the Great, who took the title Emperor of All Russia in 1721 after victory over Sweden in the Great Northern War.

When did the Russian Empire end?

Nicholas II's abdication on 15 March 1917 ended Romanov rule. The Provisional Government declared Russia a republic on 14 September 1917, and some sources date the formal end of the empire from then.