Foreign policy of the Russian Empire

The Foreign policy of the Russian Empire covers Russian foreign relations down to 1917. All the main decisions in the Russian Empire were made by the tsar (), so there was a uniformity of policy and a forcefulness during the long regimes of powerful leaders such as Peter the Great and Catherine the Great. However, there were numerous weak tsars--such as children with a regent in control--as well as numerous plots and assassinations. With weak tsars or rapid turnover there was unpredictability and even chaos.

Russia played a small role in the Napoleonic Wars until 1812, when Napoleon's huge army was destroyed in the French invasion of Russia. Russia played a major role in defeating Napoleon and in setting conservative terms for the restoration of aristocratic Europe during the period of 1815 to 1848. There were several wars with the Ottoman Empire, and in 1856 Russia lost the Crimean War to a coalition of the Great Britain, the France and the Ottoman Empire. More small wars followed in the late 19th century.

For three centuries, from the days of Ivan the Terrible (ruled 1547 to 1584), Russia expanded in all directions at 18,000 square miles per year, becoming by far the largest power. (China had more people but far less military or economic or diplomatic power.) The expansion brought in many minorities who had their own religions and languages. The political system was an ; in its later days it was challenged by various revolutionary groups who were rendered ineffective by a tough police state that sent many thousands to exile in remote Siberia. Expansion had largely ended by the 1850s, but there was some movement south toward Afghanistan and India, which greatly annoyed Britain, which controlled India. Russia's main historic enemy was the Ottoman Empire, which controlled Russia's access to the Mediterranean Sea. The tsar's solution was to sponsor Slavic insurgents in the Balkans against the Ottomans. Serbia supported insurgents against Austria, and Russia stood behind Serbia, which was Greek Orthodox in religion and Slavic in culture. Russia's main ally was France, which needed its size and power to counter the increasingly powerful German Empire.

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