Tsarist Russia

Russian Empire
Pre-reformed Russian  Россійская Имперія                     Russian  Российская империя               transliteration  Rossiyskaya imperiya
1721–1917
Flag Coat of arms
Motto "S nami Bog!" Съ нами Богъ! "God is with us!"
Anthem Bozhe, Tsarya khrani! Боже, Царя храни! "God Save the Tsar!"
All territories that were ever part of the Russian Empire or in its sphere of influence.   Territory[a]   Protectorates, overseas territories, occupied territories and sphere of influence
Capital		St. Petersburg (1721–1728, 1730–1917) Moscow (1728–1730)
Languages		Official Russian Regional  Polish (Congress Poland) Finnish and Swedish (Grand Duchy of Finland)
Religion		Official Russian Orthodox Minority  Roman Catholicism Protestantism Judaism Hinduism Islam Old Believers Buddhism Paganism
Government		Absolute monarchy (1721–1906) Constitutional monarchy (1906–1917) (de jure)
Emperor
•	1721–1725 (first)	Peter the Great
•	1894–1917 (last)	Nicholas II
Chairman of the Council of Ministers
•	1905–1906 (first)	Sergei Witte
•	1917 (last)	Nikolai Golitsyn
Legislature		Emperor exercised legislative power in conjunction with the State Council and State Duma
•	Upper house	State Council
•	Lower house	State Duma
History
•	Accession of Peter I	7 May [O.S. 27 Apr] 1682[c]
•	Empire proclaimed	22 Oct [O.S. 11 Oct] 1721
•	Decembrist revolt	26 Dec [O.S. 14 Dec] 1825
•	Feudalism abolished	3 Mar [O.S. 19 Feb] 1861
•	1905 Revolution	Jan–Dec 1905
•	Constitution adopted	6 May [O.S. 23 Apr] 1906
•	February Revolution	15 Mar [O.S. 2 Mar] 1917
•	October Revolution	7 Nov [O.S. 25 Oct] 1917
Area
•	1895	22,800,000 km² (8,803,129 sq mi)
Population
•	1916 est.	181,537,800
Currency		Ruble
Preceded by Succeeded by Tsardom of Russia Russian Republic
a. ^ After 1866, Alaska was sold to the United States, but Batumi, Kars, Pamir and Transcaspia were acquired. b. ^ Renamed Petrograd in 1914. c. ^ Russia continued to use the Julian calendar until after the collapse of the empire (see Old Style and New Style dates).
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Russia, officially known as the Russian Empire, was a state that existed from 1721 until it was overthrown by the short-lived liberal February Revolution in 1917. One of the largest empires in world history, stretching over three continents, the Russian Empire was surpassed in landmass only by the British and Mongol empires. The rise of the Russian Empire happened in association with the decline of neighboring rival powers: the Swedish Empire, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Persia and the Ottoman Empire. It played a major role in 1812–14 in defeating Napoleon's ambitions to control Europe, and expanded to the west and south.

The House of Romanov ruled the Russian Empire from 1721 until 1762, and its German-descended cadet branch, the House of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov, ruled from 1762.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the Russian Empire extended from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Black Sea in the south, from the Baltic Sea on the west to the Pacific Ocean, and (until 1867) into Alaska in North America on the east. With 125.6 million subjects registered by the 1897 census, it had the third-largest population in the world at the time, after Qing China and India. Like all empires, it included a large disparity in terms of economics, ethnicity, and religion. There were numerous dissident elements, who launched numerous rebellions and assassination attempts; they were closely watched by the secret police, with thousands exiled to Siberia.