MICHAEL (1596-1645)
Tsar of Russia (1613-45)
and founder of the Romanov dynasty
A young nobleman elected as tsar after the chaotic Time of Troubles, Michael allowed his mother's relatives to direct the government early in his reign. They restored order to Russia and made peace with Sweden (1617) and Poland (1618). In 1619 his father, Philaret, released from captivity in Poland, returned to Russia and became co-ruler and Russian Orthodox patriarch of Moscow. Michael's father dominated the government, increasing contact with western Europe and strengthening central authority and serfdom. After his death in 1633, Michael's maternal relatives once again held sway.
PETER I, KNOWN AS PETER THE GREAT (1672-1725)
Tsar of Russia (1682-1725)
Peter reigned jointly (1682-96) with his half-brother Ivan V and alone from 1696. Interested in progressive influences from western Europe, he visited several countries there (1697-8). After returning to Russia, he introduced western technology, modernized the government and military system, and transferred the capital to the new city of St Petersburg (1703), He further increased the power of the monarchy at the expense of the nobfes and the Orthodox Church, Some of his reforms were implemented brutally, with considerable loss of life. Suspecting that his son, Alexis, was conspiring against him, he had Alexis tortured to death in 17!8. He pursued foreign policies to give Russia access to the Baltic and Black seas, engaging in war with the Ottoman empire (1695-96) and with Sweden in the Second Northern War (1700-21). His campaign against Persia (1722—3) secured for Russia the southern and western shores of the Caspian Sea.
In 1721 Peter was proclaimed emperor; his wife succeeded him as the empress Catherine I. For raising Russia to a recognized place among the great European powers, Peter is widely considered one of the outstanding rulers and reformers in Russian history, but he has also been decried by nationalists for discarding much of what was unique in Russian culture, and his legacy has been seen as a model for Soviet leader Joseph Stalin's brutal transformation of Russian life.
CATHERINE II, KNOWN AS CATHERINE THE GREAT (1729-96)
German-born empress of Russia (1762-96)
The daughter of an obscure German prince, Catherine {born Sophie Friederike Auguste) was chosen at the age of 14 to be the wife of the future Peter III. The marriage was a complete failure. Because her neurotic husband was incapable of ruling, the ambitious Catherine saw the possibility of eliminating him and governing Russia herself. After Peter became emperor in 1762, she conspired with her lover Grigory Orlov to force Peter to abdicate (he was murdered soon after) and have herself proclaimed empress. In her 34-year reign she led Russia into full participation in European political and cultural life. With her ministers she reorganized the administration and law of the Russian empire and extended Russian territory, adding Crimea and much of Poland. Though she had once intended to emancipate the serfs, she instead strengthened the system she had once condemned as inhuman.
Yet while tsarist Russia was absolutist, to maintain its status as a great power it promoted industrial development and higher education, which were inherently dynamic. The result was perpetual tension between government and society, especially its educated element, known as the intelligentsia, which was unalterably opposed to the status quo. Radical intellectuals tried in the 1860s and 1870s to stir the peasants and workers to rebellion. Having met with no response, they adopted methods of terror, which culminated in 1881 in the assassination of Alexander ii. The government reacted with repressive measures, which kept unrest at bay in the short term.
NICHOLAS I (1796-1855) Tsar of Russia (1825-55)
Nicholas, the son of Tsar Paul I, was trained as an army officer. !n 1825 he succeeded his brother Alexander I as emperor and suppressed the Decembrist revolt. His reign came to represent autocracy, militarism, and bureaucracy. To enforce his policies, he created such agencies as the Third Section (political police). In foreign policy, Nicholas quelled an uprising in Poland (1830-1) and aided Austria against a Hungarian uprising (1849). His designs on Constantinople led to war with Turkey (1853) and drew other European powers into the Crimean War. He was succeeded by his son Alexander II.
ALEXANDER II (1818-1881) Tsar of Russia (1855-81)
Alexander succeeded to the throne at the height of the Crimean War, which revealed Russia's backwardness on the world stage. In response, he undertook drastic reform, improving communications, government, and education, and, most importantly, emancipating the serfs (1861). His reforms reduced class privilege and fostered humanitarian progress and economic development. Though sometimes described as a liberal, Alexander was in reality a firm upholder of autocratic principles, and an assassination attempt in 1866 strengthened his commitment to conservatism. A period of repression after 1866 led to a resurgence of revolutionary terrorism, and in 1881 he was killed in a plot sponsored by the terrorist organization People's Will.
ALEXANDER Ml (1845-94) Tsar of Russia (1881-94)
Alexander assumed the throne after the assassination of his father, Alexander II. The internal reforms he instituted were designed to correct what he saw as the too-liberal tendencies of his father's reign. He thus opposed representative government and ardentiy supported Russian nationalism. His political ideal was a nation containing a single nationality, language, religion, and form of administration, and accordingly he instituted programmes such as the Russification of national minorities in the Russian empire and the persecution of non-Orthodox religious groups.
Growing discontent exploded in the Russian Revolution of 1905, an uprising that was instrumental in convincing Nicholas 11 to attempt the transformation of the Russian government into a constitutional monarchy. Despite concessions made by Nicholas to cede some of his authority (in Н906 his October Manifesto promised the country a legislative parliament), the prestige of the tsar was weakened further by the First World War and the humiliating defeats that the Russian army suffered at the hands of the Germans. On the home front, economic mismanagement led to food shortages - although Russia produced more than enough to feed itself - while the exceptionally severe winter of 1916-17 only added to the misery of the populace.
The I9!7 Revolution
The Russian Revolution of 1917 actually comprised two revolutions: the first, in February (March, New Style), overthrew
NICHOLAS П (1868-1918) Tsar of Russia (1894-1917)