History Of Russia

A Brief History of Russian Dynasties. Mikhail Nokhov

Russian tradition places the beginning of Russia, Kievan Rus' as 862 AD. Oral traditions, and the Russian Primary Chronicle tells the story of Russia's emergence as a nation and how the house of Riurik became the rulers. This story tells how the Slavs, after driving out the Varangians and forcing them to return to Scandinavia, were faced with such disorder that they requested the return of the Varangians to rule them. At this request, three brothers returned, Riurik, Sineus and Truvor. Each took a different city to rule. Riurik became the prince of Novgorod and when the other two died he gained control of their cities also. Prince Riurik 862-879

Prince Riurik and Prince Oleg (879-912) When Riurik died, his son, Prince Igor, was recognized as the heir. However, he was too young to rule and a man named Oleg was chosen to rule instead until Prince Igor was old enough to rule. Oleg greatly expanded the borders of the fledgling country. One of the cities he conquered was Kiev, which became the control center. With this, Kievan Rus' began.

Monument to Prince Oleg in Novgorod.

Prince Oleg and Prince Igor Prince Oleg’s shield on gate of Tsargrad Prince Oleg’s warriors

Prince Oleg is talking to a magus. Prince Oleg is at the skeleton of his horse. Funeral of Prince Oleg. Prince Igor and princess Olga are sitting on the hill.

Prince Igor. (912- 945)

The battle between Prince Igor’s regiment and the Polovtsi.

The Battle field after the Bloody Battle

Russian epos teller Prince Igor in a hostile camp as a prisoner of war.

Prince Igor succeeded Oleg and continued to build up Kievan Rus'. His wife Olga succeeded him to the throne after he was murdered. She sought to avenge her husband's death and on three occasions slaughtered numerous Derevlians (the group responsible for his death). Olga converted to Christianity in about 954, although her son and successor Sviatoslav remained pagan. As the first Russian ruler to do so, she helped bring about the tradition of Christianity in Russia. Thirty years later in 988, under the rule of Vladimir, Christianity became the official state religion, and the Russians became tied to Byzantine and Constantinople.
Princess Olga (945-957)

Prince Svyatoslav (957- 972)

Prince Yaropolk (972-980)

These ties were furthered by Vladimir's marriage to the Byzantine emperor's sister. One of the results of this was that the Russians adopted the Cyrillic alphabet rather than the alphabet used by the rest of Europe. These religious ties helped separate Russia from the rest of Europe. The rivers that ran through Kievan Rus' led the Russians to still maintain contact with Europe. The Dnieper River, along with Kiev was an important trade route. The importance of this trade route is also one of the reasons that Kiev was chosen as the center for control.
Prince Vladimir (980-1015)

Prince Vladimir’s baptism Christian Icons in Kiev

Svyatopolk Damned (1015-1019)

Kievan Rus' continued to grow until, at its peak, it reached from the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains to the Oka river. At this time, Prince Yaroslav the Wise was the ruler. Yaroslav expanded economic relations with Europe and Asia, built schools and libraries and encouraged scholars and artists. He also implemented the first Russian laws, called The Russian Justice. However, the end of Yaroslav's reign brought disunity to Kievan Rus' as he divided the country among his sons, telling them to obey the eldest as the Grand Prince of Kiev. This did not work and political unity was weakened.
Yauroslav the Wise (1019-1054)

Monument to Prince Yaroslav the Wise in Kiev.

Prince Izyaslav I Yaroslavich (1054-1078)

Prince Vsevolod I (1078-1093)

Prince Svyatoslav II (1093-1113)

Prince Vladimir II Manomakh (1113- 1125)

Prince Mstislav I (1125-1132)

Prince Yaropolk II (1132-1139)

Prince Vsevolod II Olgovich (1139- 1146)

Prince Igor II Olgovich (1146)

Prince Izyaslav II Mstislavovich (1146-1154)

Prince Rostislav –Mikhail Mstislavovich (1154-1155)

Following Yaroslav 's reign, wars between the princes were common. An agreement among the princes to acknowledge the boundaries of each one's area coexisted with an agreement to unite in the face of outside invasion. This agreement indicated that the people thought of themselves as a nation but the plan didn't always work and Kievan Rus' was weakened by wars between the princes and raids from neighbors. Kievan Rus' was further weakened by Andrei Bogolyubsky's attack of Kiev in 1169. He plundered the city and assumed the title of Grand Prince. However, he did not rule from there. Kiev lost its position as capital. These events brought about the end of Kievan Rus'. With the loss of their capital, and weakened by wars between the princes, Kievan Rus was highly vulnerable to outside attack. They were threatened by many groups, and were finally overcome by the Tatars.

Tatar Overlordship
Russians lived under Tatar overlordship from 1236 until 1452. The Tatars invaded a Kievan Rus' that was being destroyed by internal warfare. The first attack against the Russians occurred in 1223. The Tatars swiftly defeated the combined forces of Russians and Polovtsy but then left, not to return for another fourteen years. At the time, the Tatars had been on a return trip from conquests in northern China and central Asia. In 1236 the Tatars began their attack on Russia in earnest. From 1236-1238 the Tatars gained many important Russian grounds, including Novgorod. While the majority of the cities were destroyed by the Tatars, Novgorod, which was surrounded by dense forest and bogs was only forced into paying tribute to the Tatars. In 1240 the Tatars renewed their attacks and conquered Kiev and Galicia and also Hungary and southern Poland in their attempts to conquer Europe. This westward assault on Europe only ended when the Great Khan Ogedei died and the campaign was called off. The Tatars divided their vast territory into khanates and Russia became part of the khanate known as the Golden Horde.

The Tatars did not directly rule the people of Russia. Instead, the princes maintained their ruling positions while paying tribute to Tatars. The khans granted official appointments to the princes. Initially, the tribute was collected by Tatars and all of the princes were of equal importance. However, Tatar rule eventually weakened and the prince of Moscow was put in charge of collecting the tribute. The prince of Moscow then became the Grand Prince, and Kiev was no longer be an important city in Russia. Other northern cities such as Novgorod and Tver also gained importance.
The Tatars destroyed many Russian cities and killed thousands of Russians. However, they left many of Russia's cultural elements. Russians were allowed to continue worship under the Russian Orthodox church, and the princes continued to rule. Also, by appointing a Grand Prince the Tatars reinforced the idea among the Russians that the Grand Prince held dominion over Russia and the rest of the princes. Despite not being a political entity, the Russian people continued to be bound together by the ideology of the Russian Orthodox church and by their cultural identity.

The northern princes of Russia attempted to act independently of the Tatars, and each had their own army, capital and form of government. These princes were all descendents of Riurik and so the Riurik dynasty remained intact. It is from these northern areas that the Russians began to regain their power and defeat the Tatars. The family of Yuri Dolgoruky, who was the Prince of Rostov until 1157 gained control over the rest of the princes.
Prince Yuri Dolgoruky (1155-1157)

Monument to Prince Yuri Dolgoruky in Moscow

His son, Andrei Bogolyubsky took Kiev, and with it the right to the title of Grand Prince. From then on all of his descendants would be Grand Princes.
Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky (1157-1159)

Prince
Rostislav-Mikhail
(1159-1167)

Prince Mstislav II (1167 – 1169)

Prince
Andrei Susdalsky
(1169-1174)

Prince Mikhail Yurevich (1174-1176)

Prince Vsevolod III A large Nest (1176-1212)

Prince Georgy II Vsevolodovich (1212 -1216)

Prince Konstantin 1 Wise (1216-1219)

Prince Yaroslav II (1238-1246)

Prince Andrei Yaroslavich (1249-1252).

Prince Alexander Nevsky, who ruled from Novgorod, was a famous prince of this family. He defeated a Swedish invasion along the Neva River, earning him the name Nevsky. He also began the consolidation of power for his family by cooperating with the Tatars, freeing himself to concentrate on gaining power in the north.
Prince Alexander Nevsky

Prince Yaroslav III (1263-1272)

Prince Vasily Yaroslavich (1272-1276)

Prince Dmitry Alexandrovich (1276-1294)

Prince Mikhail II Yaroslavich (1304-1319)

Prince Georgy III (1319-1322)

Prince Dmitry Mikhailovich Stern Eyes (1322-1326)

Prince Alexander II Mikhailovich (1326-1328)

Ivan I - Kalita

Prince Semeon Ioanovich Proud (1340-1353)

Prince Ivan II Meek

Prince Dmitry Konstantinovich (1359-1363)

Prince Dmitry Ioanovich Donskoy (1363-1389)

Prince Dmitry Donskoy and Sergey Radonezhsky before the Kulikov Battle

Prince Vasily I Dmitriyevich (1389- 1425)

Prince Vasily II Obscure (1425- 1462)

Map of the Golden Horde

Ivan III– the Great (1462- 1505) His descendants followed this practice and by the reign of Ivan the Great, a free Russia was beginning to form. By this time, the Grand Princes had moved to Moscow. Ivan the Great began what came to be known as "the gathering of the Russian land." He set out to conquer all of the lands that had been a part of Kievan Rus'. Ivan the Great gained control of Novgorod, Tver, and parts of Poland. He was however, still paying tribute to the Tatars. They could see that he was quickly gaining more power than them and sent troops to Moscow to take the city. Ivan the Great sent his troops to meet the Tatars, but a battle never happened.

The Mongols at the battle near the Kalka.
Instead, when the promised Lithuanian reinforcements didn't show up, the Tatars retreated after a seven month stand off. In 1480 the year of this stand off, Moscow and its territories ceased paying tribute and became officially free of Tatar overlordship.

How Moscow grew, 1300 - 1462

Prince Vasily III Ioanovich (1505-1533)

Ivan IV- the Terrible (1533-1584) With Feodor's death, Russia was, for the first time left without any legitimate heirs to the throne. A time of troubles hit Russia, as various princes and boyars fought to gain power and war and famine spread throughout Russia. Ivan IV‘ s reign had left Russia weak and without a strong ruler to maintain the country.

Ivan the Terrible and the Death of his Son.

Tsar Feodor I Iovanovich (1584-1598)

Tsarina Irina (1598)

Tsarevitch Dmitry I, killed in Uglich.

The country went through many rulers after Feodor's death until the beginning of the Romanov dynasty. The first was Boris Godunov, a boyar who had gained much power during Feodor's reign. Godunov had been elected by a zemskii sobor, however his reign was short, lasting only from 1598 to his death in 1605. His reign was not a peaceful one; the country was afflicted with Church and boyar opposition, peasants fleeing from the estates, and Cossack rebellions.
Tsar Boris Godunov (1598-1605)

At Boris Godunov's death, a man claiming to be Dmitri, a young son of Ivan IV‘ s who had died mysteriously, organized a group of rebels and took the throne. His reign lasted less than a year because he was murdered by dissatisfied boyars.
Pseudo Dmitri I (1605-1606)

Next, Prince Vasilii Shuiskii reigned from 1606-1610 as Vasilii IV but civil strife and foreign intervention continued to be a problem. His reign too was full of problems. Moscow suffered from a Cossack rebellion which was put down and a second fale Dmitrii, followed by two years of civil war.
Tsar Vasilii Shuiskii (1606-1613)

Finally, another zemskii sobor elected Mikhail Romanov to be tsar.
This was the beginning of the Romanov dynasty.
Tsar Mikhail Romanov (1613-1645)

The Romanov Dynasty began with the election of Mikhail Romanov, a 16 year old boyar, by the zemskii sobor. The Romanov family ruled Russia from 1613 to 1855 and during this time, Russia became a major European power. The first rulers of this dynasty struggled to end internal disorder, foreign invasion and financial collapse. Mikhail Romanov was a weak ruler, his father Metropolitan Filaret was the real power until his death in 1633. After Mikhail's death, his son Alexis ruled from 1645-1676. Mikhail and Alexis relied on the advice of the zemskii sobor, which grew in power.
Tsar Alexis I (1645-1676)

It passed some legislation and represented the gentry and merchants against the boyars. However, Alexis often deferred to his boyar advisors who usually did not work for the best of the country and peasant uprisings and Cossack revolts were common. Revolts occurred in 1648, 1662 and 1670-1671. The revolt from 1670-1671 is the most famous. It was led by a Don Cossack named Stepka Razin who become a hero for the common people. He was eventually executed. However, while the Cossacks rebelled, they also helped Russia by leading the way in expansion into Siberia.

Tsar Feodor III (1678-1682)

Peter the Great's reign transformed Russia. He strengthened the rule of the tsar and westernized Russia while at the same time making Russia a power in Europe and greatly expanding Russia's borders. During his reign, Russia became an empire and Peter became the first emperor of Russia. Peter became co-ruler with his half brother Ivan when Peter was ten. As both Peter and Ivan were young, Sofia , became regent. Peter was mostly ignored and so spent much time with the foreigners in Russia. He became very interested in western ways and in warfare. A favorite childhood activity involved directing troops he gathered and playing war games.
Tsar Peter the Great

Sofia – regent (1682-1689) Ivan V, Peter the Great’s Cousin (1689-1696)

The two troops he started as a child continued to exist and became the elite guard regiments the Preobrazhenskii and Semenovskii. Peter also made two tours of Europe. He was the first Russian ruler to travel outside of Russia. While on these tours he learned about European dress and culture and warfare, especially naval warfare. He learned to do many trades, from shipbuilding to shoemaking. Peter the Great wanted to make Russia more modern militarily, economically and socially, while strengthening the power of the state and of the tsar. One of his most famous measures towards westernization was the order for noble men to shave their beards. Further changes included abolishing hereditary positions with the creation of the Table of Ranks that gave people privileges based on their ability and position within the Table of Ranks. Peter required all men to serve the state
Emperor Peter the Great. (1696-1725)

Military campaigns were a large part of Peter's rule. He greatly improved the army and created a navy, even building a ship by himself. Some of Peter's earliest military victories came at the beginning of his reign when he overcame coup attempts staged by Sofia. He eventually had her confined to a convent and her followers executed or exiled. The navy Peter had built and the army he created were very effective and Russia's territory grew during his reign. The Great Northern War against Sweden was the longest lasting battle of Peter's reign. This war led to Peter's famous decision to melt the church bells to create cannonballs. These wars, while increasing Russia's size and power were very difficult for the people to support. They were very expensive and the people were forced to pay heavy taxes. In addition, so many people were forced to join the army that their homes often suffered. As part of his westward expansion, Peter had St. Petersburg built, and called it his Window to the West. This too was very costly.

Peter the Great made another major reform with the Russian Orthodox church. In the past, the church had acted as the moral conscience of the nation and a check on the tsar's power. However, Peter the Great made the church the servant of the state. The biggest change he made to the church was the creation of the Ecclesiastical College, a governing board of clerics, to replace the patriarchate. Along with changes to the church, Peter increased the education that Russians received. He created the first universities in Russia.

Another change made by Peter was his declaration that ascent to the throne would not be based on hereditary principles such as the rule of primogeniture. Instead, he said that the tsar would name his own successor. However, Peter died without naming someone to succeed him. There was no obvious choice either, as Peter had been married twice. His first wife, Evdokia was forced on him by his mother and he had had her sent to a convent. He later married a woman named Catherine, who he also made Empress and so many felt that Peter the Great meant for her to succeed him. However, Peter the Great also had a son by Evdokia named Alexis. Alexis did not support Peter the Great and when Alexis had a son, named Peter, Peter the Great told Alexis that he must support him. Alexis did not and eventually Peter the Great had him killed. Also both Peter the Great and his former co tsar Ivan V had daughters who could possibly rule.

This resulted in a quick succession of rulers, Catherine I ruled for less than two years.
Empress Katherine I (1725-1727)

Emperor Peter II ruled from
1727-1730

He was followed by Empress Anna I,
who ruled from 1730-1740

Empress Anna II,
ruled from
1740-1741

Empress Anna Leopoldovna with her son Ivan VI (1740-1741). ( killed in prison)

These rulers were followed by the relatively long reign of Elizabeth I, Peter the Great's daughter. She reigned from 1741-1762 and under her reign St. Petersburg became a beautiful city. She hired an Italian architect who built some of Russia's most well known buildings. These include The Catherine Palace and the fourth Winter Palace, which is now the Hermitage museum.
Empress Elisabeth I (1741-1761)

Empress Elisabeth I and the Prince Peter III

She was followed by Peter III, who lasted only a few months when, due to his unpopular actions and anti-Russian feelings, the military sponsored his wife in a coup that succeeded and Catherine the Great began her rule of Russia.
Emperor Peter III (1761-1762)

Catherine the Great was born Sophie Augusta Frederica. She was a German princess. She married Peter III at the invitation of Peter III‘ s mother, Elizabeth I. At the time of her marriage, she took the name Catherine and became a member of the Russian Orthodox church. Peter III and Catherine the Great were very different. Peter III idolized Frederick the Great of Prussia and ended a war Russia had been fighting with Prussia by conceding all of Russia's gains to Prussia.
Emperor Peter III and Empress Catherine II

Peter III did not particularly like Russia. Catherine however, sought to become more Russian. She learned the language and customs and learned about the court. Within a few months of Peter III coming to power, the royal guard deserted him and helped Catherine gain the throne. The coup that brought Catherine to power and saw her crowned Empress of all Russia was organized by Count Grigorii Orlov, one of Catherine's lovers.
Empress Catherine II (1762-1796)

Catherine the Great helped make her popularity grow by minimizing her European connections and focusing on her support of Russia. Yet, while Catherine the Great sought to minimize her connections to Europe, she also tried to continue westernizing Russia as Peter the Great had done. She wanted to bring the Enlightenment to Russia and admired the French philosophers. Catherine attempted to create a progressive law code and created the Great Instruction to work towards this goal. She presented the Great Instruction to a group called the Legislative Commission who were supposed to codify laws. However, the Legislative Commission was unsuccessful in creating laws and when war broke out in Turkey Catherine disbanded the group. She also read authors such as Voltaire, Diderot and Montesquieu and incorporated their theories into her ruling ideas. Catherine also encouraged the publishing of numerous books and periodicals, including satires on Russia court life and the nobility. Catherine was a patron of the arts. During her reign, Catherine the Great improved the lives of the nobility while decreasing the status and rights of the peasants and serfs. Catherine was dependent on the nobility for her power. She knew that they had helped her come to power and that if she didn't satisfy them they could plan a coup against her.

One of the first controversial things Catherine did was to secularize the church lands. The Metropolitan protested and excommunicated those involved with the process, however others in the church did not support the excommunication and the Metropolitan eventually lost his position. Catherine promoted local government and created governing districts. In 1785 the Charter to the Nobility was passed. This recognized the gentry of each province as a group with an elected leader that could directly petition Catherine. It also restored previous rights and privileges of the gentry. The gentry were free from obligations to the state and from taxation. They also gained greater property rights. They were the soul owners of their estates and gained much more control over the serfs. During this time, the poor and the serfs lost much of their privileges and revolts occurred. The most famous and largest of the revolts was led by the Cossack Emelian Pugachev and lasted from 1773-1775. It ended when Pugachev was captured and brought to Moscow where he was dismembered and burned. Catherine also helped spread the institution of serfdom by giving away large tracts of land and the people on the land as gifts and rewards thus increasing the number of serfs and the places where serfdom was common.

Catherine worked to increase education in Russia. She created elementary and secondary schools and universities. The elementary schools and secondary schools were supposed to be free to all but economics often kept the poor people out of the schools. Elementary schools were largely private schools that poor people could not afford to attend, and therefore they could get into the secondary schools. Catherine also established a medical commission in 1763 which helped to improve medical conditions in Russia. She led the way in vaccinating Russians by taking the first vaccine. She also wanted Russia to be able to produce its own medicines and surgical equipment. Catherine helped expand Russia through two Russo-Turkish wars, one in 1768-1774 and one from 1787-1792, through the addition of Ukraine from 1781-1786 and by gaining portions of Poland through paritions of Poland.

Catherine died in 1796 and was seceded by her son Paul I who ruled from 1796-1801. He was mentally unstable and in 1801 a group of conspirators killed him and his son Alexander I became the emperor.
Emperor Paul I (1796-1801)

Alexander I ruled from 1801-1825. Paul I had placed many restrictions of Russian life that Alexander I changed. He restored the rights of the nobles ended the ban on foreign study and the importation of foreign books, removed the restrictions on the private printing of books and released people who had been imprisoned for offending Paul. Alexander I‘ s first act as Emperor had been to announce that he would reign as Catherine the Great had done and his actions proved to the people that he wanted to serve them.
Emperor Alexander I (1801-1825)

Alexander ruled with the aid of four friends who became unofficially known as the Committee of Friends and as a result of their recommendations major administrative changes were made. Later in his reign, Mikhail Speransky served as advisor and his main job was to create a constitution. Speransky's plan was never fully carried out and Russia did not gain a constitution. While the first years of Alexander’s reign brought reforms and improvements, the second half was reactionary. Alexander became most interested in religion and began to follow an obscure form of Christianity
Russian Imperial Coat of Arms

Alexander also began to believe that Russia needed a larger army and that the best way to do this was to create military colonies. He had farming villages created that were staffed by military. The farmers/soldiers were thus to support themselves through farming and protect the country as soldiers. This system was not very effective. Alexander‘ s Minister of Education felt that the only useful knowledge was contained in the bible, and so education also suffered setbacks during Alexander I‘ s reign. When Alexander died in 1825 he left behind a troubled country for his brother Nicholas.
Emperor Nicholas I (1825-1855)

During Alexander I‘ s reign Napoleon invaded Russia. This event is one of the things Alexander I is most famous for. In 1812 Napoleon began his invasion of Russia. His troops were superior in skill and in numbers. So, Russia, rather than fighting began to retreat creating a path of destruction as they retreated. Napoleon followed and finally on September 7 in Borodino, a village west of Moscow a battle was fought. The Russians lost and further retreated leaving Moscow to be taken. However, by this time Moscow was deserted and Napoleon's armies were far from their supply lines. Also, the night Napoleon claimed Moscow fires broke out in the city leaving Napoleon's army without both food and adequate shelter. Napoleon finally decided to retreat. He left Moscow and was forced by Russian troops to follow the same route they had used when entering Russia. The area around this path had suffered heavy destruction when Napoleon entered Russia which left Napoleon's armies without adequate food and shelter on the return home. The effects of winter and gorilla warfare attacks on the retreating army significantly reduced its numbers and Napoleon lost his power. Russia had defeated the mighty Napoleon.

Nicholas I gained the throne of a troubled country in November 1825. He was not the person most of Russia expected to become emperor. His older brother Constantine was next in line but Constantine had earlier renounced his right to the throne and Alexander I and Constantine had named Nicholas I as the heir. Also, a group of young nobles launched a revolt on December 14, known as the Decembrist Revolt. The leaders planned to force Constantine to the throne. This revolt was easily defeated. Nicholas I‘ s motto became Russian Orthodoxy, autocracy and nationalism. This meant that he upheld the rights of the church, and of his own autocratic rule. By focusing on Russian Orthodoxy, he also felt that he had the God given right to rule. Nationalism favored ethnic Russians over other ethnic groups. Mikhail Speransky remained influential and worked to reform Russia's laws. He and others succeeded in publishing a Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire. These volumes were meant to make rulings through out Russia more uniform. The Soviet KGB has its beginnings in this time. One of the Departments Nicholas created was in charge of monitoring subversive groups. This department was the precursor to the KGB.

During Nicholas' reign and his successor Alexander II‘ s reign some of the most important Russian writers, artists and composers worked. Fyodor Dostoyevsky wrote Crime and Punishment, The Possessed, and The Brothers Karamazov. Alexsander Pushkin wrote, among other things, The Captive of the Caucasus, The Fountain of Bakhchissarai, Ruslan and Lyudmila, Boris Godunov, Eugene Onegin, and the Bronze Horseman. Nicholas Gogol was one of the best fiction writers. Tolstoy wrote War and Peace, and Anna Karenina. The musician Tchaikovsky wrote 1812 Overture, Nutcracker Suite, Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, Eugene Onegine, and Sleeping Beauty. One of the most famous paintings of this time is Ivan the Terrible and the Death of His Son by Ilya Repin.
Nicholas' reign was a very conservative one. He was confident in Russia's military and diplomatic capabilities. However, the Crimean war at the end of his reign made it obvious that reform was needed in Russia.

This task came to his son, Alexsander II. Alexsander ruled from 1855-1881. He became known as the Tsar Liberator because he freed the serfs. Alexsander II could see the forced labor by the serfs was a very uneconomical way for Russia to operate. Also, many of the nobles were beginning to think that serfdom should end. Serfs were beginning to be seen as people as a result of the popular Hunting Sketches done by Ivan Turgenev that portrayed rural life. Alexsander II freed the serfs with the Emancipation Act of February 18, 1861. 52 million serfs were freed, this was about 45% of the population.
Emperor Alexander II (1855-1881)

This emancipation did not solve Russia's problems of peasant unrest and may have made things worse immediately following the emancipation. Only serfs that had farmed were given land, house serfs were not given land. Also, serfs had to continue working for the estate owners two years after being freed and had to pay for the land they were given over a 49 year period. Peasants were still tied to the land because they lived in communes called a mir. However in the long run freeing the peasant was an important reform for Russia. Nicholas made other reforms and together these came to be known as the Great Reforms. Local governments were developed to replace the collapse of power of the wealthy land owners. The military was reformed and one of the most important changes made to it was to shorten the required time of service for peasants from 25 years to 6 years. The judicial system was also reformed.

This system badly needed reform. The legal profession was created, open trials and equal treatment under the law was instigated. However, the reforms to the legal system did not apply to the peasants. The education system also grew. The Ministry of Education created a national system of primary schools beginning in 1864. As people became better educated they became more critical of the government. University students especially began to question the regime. As people gained freedoms they began to want more changes and when Alexsander III, Alexsander II‘ s son, gained the throne he was forced to deal with this unrest.
Emperor Alexander III (1881-1894)

Alexsander III responded by tightening control of people and removing the political freedom they had been experiencing. Alexsander III renewed the policy of Russian Orthodoxy, autocracy and nationalism. Marxism began to grow during Alexsander III‘ s reign. The Bolshevik and Menshevik groups formed and revolutionary leaders such as Lenin, PLekhanov, Vera Zasulich, Paul Akselrod and Pavel Martov were emerging as revolutionaries. They originally were part of the Labor Party which split to form The Bolsheviks, led by Lenin and the Mensheviks led by Martov. Alexsander III‘ s son Nicholas II began ruling in 1894 when Alexsander III unexpectedly died.

Nicholas II was a weak ruler and could not successfully rule Russia. Industrialism was finally reaching Russia and a working middle class was emerging. Nicholas II however did not want to allow workers to unite and form unions as they were elsewhere in the world. He created state approved unions and a strike by one of these groups helped illustrate Nicholas II‘ s poor ruling ability. The people had long believed that the tsar was the protector of his people and so the group was peacefully marching to the tsar carrying icons and portraits of the tsar when Nicholas II refused to meet with them and ordered to have them fired upon.
Emperor Nicholas II (1894-1917)

This killed hundreds of innocent people and public opinion turned against the tsar. This event came to be known as Bloody Sunday and helped set off a revolt in 1905. To help calm the unrest in the country Nicholas II agreed to the October Manifest which gave people civil liberties and created the Duma .
Emperor Nicholas II

World War I began in 1914 when Austria declared war on Serbia. Russia went to war to defend the Serbs but was ill prepared for the battle. They had inadequate weapons and poor leadership. Nicholas II went to the lines to lead his armies but this proved to be a poor move. Problems increased and prices rose dramatically. Women organized themselves to protest high bread prices. Food and fuel shortages and outbreaks of diseases were a major problem. Also, many soldiers deserted. These soldiers were important in a final revolt in 1917 which brought about the end of the Romanov Dynasty. Nicholas II and his family were put under house arrest and in July of 1918 were murdered.

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History Of Russia

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