Russian Empire: Quick Facts

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Facts

Date	November 2, 1721 - March 15, 1917

Photos and Videos

Tsar Michael Romanov

Historical map showing Russian expansion in Asia, with different colors representing territories acquired during specific periods and under various rulers from 1533 to 1894. The map highlights the original Russian territory in 1533 and subsequent acquisitions stretching eastward across Siberia to the Pacific Ocean, and southward toward Central Asia. Major cities, rivers, and neighboring countries are labeled for geographic context.

Oil painting of Peter the Great, emperor of Russia, shown from the waist up wearing armor and a sash, with one hand resting on a cane, against a dark background.

Map showing the territorial expansion of Russia from 1300 to 1796, with regions color-coded by the ruler or period of acquisition. The map highlights the principality of Moscow around 1300, its growth by 1462, and subsequent expansions under rulers such as Ivan III, Ivan IV, Peter the Great, and Catherine the Great, extending Russian territory across Eastern Europe and into Siberia. Major rivers, neighboring countries, and cities are labeled for geographic context.

St. Petersburg: Hermitage and Alexander Column

St. Petersburg, Russia

Aleksandr Danilovich Menshikov

Portrait of Peter II of Russia wearing a powdered wig, silver ceremonial robe with ermine trim, and jeweled regalia, set against an ornate interior background.

The rise and fall of the Russian tsars

The rise and reign of Catherine the Great

Who was Russia's last tsar?

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Topics

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Russian Provisional Government: Collapse of the Russian Empire

Major Events

Vladimir Lenin stands in the foreground, gesturing with his right arm and holding a cap, as he addresses a large crowd gathered outside a grand building during the Russian Revolution of 1917.

Russian Revolution

Japanese soldiers in uniform disembark from a boat onto a dock, with hilly terrain visible in the background during the Russo-Japanese War.

Russo-Japanese War

Ernest Meissonier: 1807, Friedland

Battle of Friedland

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Russo-Turkish wars

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Russian Revolution of 1905

Black and white photo by Roger Fenton showing soldiers gathered among rows of tents in a valley encampment during the Crimean War, with rocky hills in the background.

Crimean War

Napoleon on the Battlefield at Eylau, February 1807

Battle of Eylau

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Emancipation Manifesto

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Battle of Borodino

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Bloody Sunday

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Treaty of Edirne

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October Revolution

St. Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv

Kyiv

national capital, Ukraine

Moscow

Moscow

national capital, Russia

Russia

country, Europe and Asia

St. Petersburg, Russia

St. Petersburg

Russia

Key People

Oil painting of Peter the Great, emperor of Russia, shown from the waist up wearing armor and a sash, with one hand resting on a cane, against a dark background.

Peter I

emperor of Russia

Babel, Isaac

Isaac Babel

Russian author

Portrait of Catherine the Great of Russia by Richard Brompton, showing her in regal attire with a jeweled crown and fur-trimmed robe, set in an ornate oval frame.

Catherine the Great

empress of Russia

David Ben-Gurion

David Ben-Gurion

prime minister of Israel

Sergei Eisenstein

Sergei Eisenstein

Russian film director and theorist

Anna Akhmatova

Anna Akhmatova

Russian poet

Sergey Yulyevich Witte

Sergey Yulyevich, Count Witte

prime minister of Russia

Leonid Brezhnev

Leonid Brezhnev

president of Soviet Union

Karl Ernst von Baer

Karl Ernst von Baer

Prussian-Estonian embryologist

Rasputin and the Empress

Richard Boleslavsky

Polish-born director

Nijinsky in Paris

Vaslav Nijinsky

Russian dancer

Viktor Ambartsumian

Viktor Ambartsumian

Armenian astronomer

Konstantin Petrovich Pobedonostsev

Konstantin Petrovich Pobedonostsev

Russian statesman

Tsar Michael Romanov

Romanov dynasty

Russian dynasty

Portrait of Sholem Asch around 1957, showing him with gray hair, a mustache, and wearing a suit and bow tie.

Sholem Asch

American writer

Haim Naḥman Bialik.

Haim Naḥman Bialik

Russian-Jewish writer

Nikolay Pavlovich, Count Ignatyev

Nikolay Pavlovich, Count Ignatyev

Russian statesman

Paul, emperor of Russia

Paul

emperor of Russia

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Nikolay Aleksandrovich Berdyayev

Russian philosopher

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Jerzy Andrzejewski

Polish author