110-618: The Fourth (Unity) Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party ( Russian : IV (объединительный) съезд Росси́йской социа́л-демократи́ческой рабо́чей па́ртии ) took place in the (old) Folkets hus in Stockholm , Sweden , from 23 April to 8 May ( O.S. 10-25 April) 1906. This Congress seen the formal, albeit short-living, reconciliation between the Bolshevik and Menshevik factions, hence
220-544: A Western model. Alexander I ( r. 1801–1825 ) helped defeat the militaristic ambitions of Napoleon and subsequently constituted the Holy Alliance , which aimed to restrain the rise of secularism and liberalism across Europe. Russia further expanded to the west, south, and east, strengthening its position as a European power. Its victories in the Russo-Turkish Wars were later checked by defeat in
330-582: A conference in Prague and expelled the liquidators, ultimatists and recallists from the RSDLP, which officially led to the creation of a separate party, known as the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (Bolsheviks) , while the Mensheviks continued their activities establishing the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (Mensheviks) . In August 1912, Trotsky's group tried to reunite all the RSDLP factions into
440-518: A few were introduced , no major changes were attempted. The liberal Alexander I was replaced by his younger brother Nicholas I (1825–1855), who at the beginning of his reign was confronted with an uprising. The background of this revolt lay in the Napoleonic Wars , when a number of well-educated Russian officers travelled in Europe in the course of military campaigns, where their exposure to
550-424: A gift, the freed peasants had to pay a special lifetime tax to the government, which in turn paid the landlords a generous price for the land that they had lost. In numerous cases the peasants ended up with relatively small amounts of the least productive land. All the property turned over to the peasants was owned collectively by the mir , the village community, which divided the land among the peasants and supervised
660-560: A major domestic factor with its support for liberating Balkan Christians from Ottoman rule and making Bulgaria and Serbia independent. In early 1877, Russia intervened on behalf of Serbian and Russian volunteer forces, leading to the Russo-Turkish War (1877–78) . Within one year, Russian troops were nearing Constantinople and the Ottomans surrendered. Russia's nationalist diplomats and generals persuaded Alexander II to force
770-726: A population of 125.6 million with considerable ethnic, linguistic, religious, and socioeconomic diversity. The rise of the Russian Empire coincided with the decline of its rivals: the Swedish Empire , the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , Qajar Iran , the Ottoman Empire , and Qing China . From the 10th to 17th centuries, the Russians had been ruled by a noble class known as the boyars , above whom
880-407: A result, there was a slow improvement in the living standards of Russian peasants in the empire's last two decades before 1914. Recent research into the physical stature of Army recruits shows they were bigger and stronger. There were regional variations, with more poverty in the heavily populated central black earth region ; and there were temporary downturns in 1891–93 and 1905–1908. By the end of
990-503: A very large and complex bureaucracy, and a court that rivaled those of Versailles and London . But the government was living far beyond its means, and 18th-century Russia remained "a poor, backward, overwhelmingly agricultural, and illiterate country". In 1801, over four years after Paul became the emperor of Russia, he was killed in Saint Michael's Castle in a coup. Paul was succeeded by his 23-year-old son, Alexander . Russia
1100-878: A wasteland and useless, and saw the government wasting money, but later, much gold and petroleum were discovered. In the late 1870s, Russia and the Ottoman Empire again clashed in the Balkans. From 1875 to 1877, the Balkan crisis intensified, with rebellions against Ottoman rule by various Slavic nationalities, which the Ottoman Turks had dominated since the 15th century. This was seen as a political risk in Russia, which similarly suppressed its Muslims in Central Asia and Caucasia. Russian nationalist opinion became
1210-629: Is also known for Russia's involvement in the Seven Years' War , where it was successful militarily, but gained little politically. Catherine the Great was a German princess who married Peter III , the German heir to the Russian crown. After the death of Empress Elizabeth, Catherine came to power after she effected a coup d'état against her very unpopular husband. She contributed to the resurgence of
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#17327718343231320-654: Is one who accepts its programme and who supports the Party both financially and by personal participation in one of the Party organizations". Martov's big tent definition of party membership initially won the vote 28–23. However, his majority was short-lived, given the exit from the party, for separate reasons, of its Bundist and Economist members who had supported his definition. That left in the majority those in favour of Lenin's definition of party members as, in effect, professional revolutionaries- centrally directed, tightly disciplined, and therefore capable of operating effectively in
1430-416: Is usually seen as the beginning of the "imperial" period of Russia. Following the reforms, the governance of Russia by an absolute monarch was enshrined. The Military Regulations made a note of the autocratic nature of the regime. During the reign of Peter I, the last vestiges of the independence of the boyars were lost. He transformed them into the new nobility , who were obedient nobles that served
1540-500: The Okhrana (imperial secret police). Before the 2nd Party Congress in 1903, a young intellectual named Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov (better known by his pseudonym, Vladimir Lenin ) joined the party. In 1902, he had published What Is To Be Done? , outlining his view of the party's proper task and methodology: to form "the vanguard of the proletariat ". He advocated a disciplined, centralized party of committed activists who would fuse
1650-511: The 1828–1829 Russo-Turkish War , Russia invaded northeastern Anatolia and occupied the strategic Ottoman towns of Karin and Gümüşhane (Argiroupoli) and, posing as protector of the Greek Orthodox population , received extensive support from the region's Pontic Greeks . Following a brief occupation, the Russian imperial army withdrew back into Georgia. Russian emperors quelled two uprisings in their newly acquired Polish territories:
1760-524: The Bolsheviks (derived from bolshinstvo —Russian for "majority"), headed by Lenin; and the Mensheviks (from menshinstvo —Russian for "minority"), headed by Julius Martov . Confusingly, the Mensheviks were actually the larger faction, but the names Menshevik and Bolshevik were taken from a vote held at the 1903 Party Congress for the editorial board of the party newspaper, Iskra ( Spark ), with
1870-544: The Boxer Rebellion . Japan strongly opposed Russian expansion, and defeated Russia in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905. Japan took over Korea, and Manchuria remained a contested area. Meanwhile, France , looking for allies against Germany after 1871, formed a military alliance in 1894, with large-scale loans to Russia, sales of arms, and warships, as well as diplomatic support. Once Afghanistan
1980-591: The British domination. Peter I ( r. 1682–1725 ), also known as Peter the Great, played a major role in introducing the European state system into Russia. While the empire's vast lands had a population of 14 million, grain yields trailed behind those in the West. Nearly the entire population was devoted to agriculture, with only a small percentage living in towns. The class of kholops , whose status
2090-696: The Coalition and joined the Continental System . By 1812, Russia had occupied many territories in Eastern Europe, holding some of Eastern Galicia from Austria and Bessarabia from the Ottoman Empire ; from Northern Europe, it had gained Finland from the war against a weakened Sweden ; it also gained some territory in the Caucasus. Following a dispute with Emperor Alexander I, in 1812, Napoleon launched an invasion of Russia . It
2200-559: The Crimean War (1853–1856), leading to a period of reform and intensified expansion into Central Asia . Alexander II ( r. 1855–1881 ) initiated numerous reforms , most notably the 1861 emancipation of all 23 million serfs. From 1721 until 1762, the Russian Empire was ruled by the House of Romanov ; its matrilineal branch of patrilineal German descent, the House of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov , ruled from 1762 until 1917. By
2310-563: The Crimean War , which Russia lost. The war was fought primarily in the Crimean peninsula , and to a lesser extent in the Baltic during the related Åland War . Since playing a major role in the defeat of Napoleon, Russia had been regarded as militarily invincible, but against a coalition of the great powers of Europe, the reverses it suffered on land and sea exposed the weakness of Emperor Nicholas I's regime. When Emperor Alexander II ascended
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#17327718343232420-506: The Enlightenment , the specter of revolution and disorder continued to haunt her and her successors. Indeed, her son Paul introduced a number of increasingly erratic decrees in his short reign aimed directly against the spread of French culture in response to their revolution . In order to ensure the continued support of the nobility, which was essential to her reign, Catherine was obliged to strengthen their authority and power at
2530-623: The Franco-Russian Alliance , to contain the growing power of Germany; completed the conquest of Central Asia ; and demanded important territorial and commercial concessions from China. The emperor's most influential adviser was Konstantin Pobedonostsev , tutor to Alexander III and his son Nicholas, and procurator of the Holy Synod from 1880 to 1895. Pobedonostsev taught his imperial pupils to fear freedom of speech and
2640-621: The Great Northern War , which ended in 1721 when an exhausted Sweden asked for peace with Russia. As a result, Peter acquired four provinces situated south and east of the Gulf of Finland , securing access to the sea. There he built Russia's new capital, Saint Petersburg , on the Neva river, to replace Moscow, which had long been Russia's cultural center. This relocation expressed his intent to adopt European elements for his empire. Many of
2750-478: The Industrial Revolution , Russia began to lag ever farther behind, creating new weaknesses for the empire seeking to play a role as a great power. Russia's status as a great power concealed the inefficiency of its government, the isolation of its people, and its economic and social backwardness. Following the defeat of Napoleon, Alexander I had been ready to discuss constitutional reforms, but though
2860-675: The Italian and Swiss expedition ,—he inflicted a series of defeats on the French; in particular, the Battle of the Trebbia in 1799. Nicholas II Nicholas II, also known as Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov, was the final Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Poland, and Grand duke of Finland. His reign started on 1 November 1894 and ended with his abdication on 15 March 1917. Born on 18 May 1868 at Alexander Palace , Tsarskoye Selo, Russian Empire, he
2970-606: The November Uprising in 1830 and the January Uprising in 1863. In 1863, the Russian autocracy had given the Polish artisans and gentry reason to rebel, by assailing national core values of language, religion, and culture. France , Britain , and Austria tried to intervene in the crisis but were unable to do so. The Russian press and state propaganda used the Polish uprising to justify the need for unity in
3080-493: The Ottoman Empire . The foundations of a Russian national state were laid in the late 15th century during the reign of Ivan III . By the early 16th century, all of the semi-independent and petty princedoms in Russia had been unified with Moscow. During the reign of Ivan IV , the khanates of Kazan and Astrakhan were conquered by Russia in the mid-16th century, leading to the development of an increasingly multinational state. Much of Russia's expansion occurred in
3190-601: The Ottoman Empire . His attention then turned to the north. Russia lacked a secure northern seaport, except at Arkhangelsk on the White Sea , where the harbor was frozen for nine months a year. Access to the Baltic Sea was blocked by Sweden, whose territory enclosed it on three sides. Peter's ambitions for a "window to the sea" led him, in 1699, to make a secret alliance with Saxony , the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , and Denmark-Norway against Sweden ; they conducted
3300-473: The Partitions of Poland , Russia became the most populous state in Europe, ahead of France . The foundations of the Russian Empire were laid during Peter I 's reforms , which significantly altered Russia's political and social structure, and as a result of the Great Northern War which strengthened Russia's standing on the world stage. Internal transformations and military victories contributed to
3410-780: The Russian Empire into one party, the RSDLP split in 1903 into Bolshevik ("majority") and Menshevik ("minority") factions, with the Bolshevik faction eventually becoming the Communist Party of the Soviet Union . The RSDLP was not the first Russian Marxist group; the Emancipation of Labour group had been formed in 1883. The RSDLP was created to oppose the revolutionary populism of the Narodniks , which
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3520-776: The Russian Provisional Government , and the proclamation of the first Russian Republic . Political dysfunction, continued involvement in the widely unpopular war, and widespread food shortages resulted in mass demonstrations against the government in July . The republic was overthrown in the October Revolution by the Bolsheviks , who proclaimed the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and whose Treaty of Brest-Litovsk ended Russia's involvement in
3630-606: The Russian nobility that began after the death of Peter the Great, abolishing State service and granting them control of most state functions in the provinces. She also removed the Beard tax instituted by Peter the Great. Catherine extended Russian political control over the lands of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , supporting the Targowica Confederation . However, the cost of these campaigns further burdened
3740-661: The Russo-Persian War (1804–1813) , they clashed with Persia over control and consolidation of Georgia, and also became involved in the Caucasian War against the Caucasian Imamate . At the conclusion of the war, Persia irrevocably ceded what is now Dagestan , eastern Georgia, and most of Azerbaijan to Russia, under the Treaty of Gulistan . Russia attempted to expand to the southwest, at the expense of
3850-647: The State Duma , although he still retained absolute political power. When Russia entered the First World War on the side of the Allies , it suffered a series of defeats that further galvanized the population against the emperor. In 1917, mass unrest among the population and mutinies in the army culminated in the February Revolution , which led to the abdication of Nicholas II, the formation of
3960-766: The Ukrainian Social-Democratic Labour Party and the Finnish Labour Party , and also a representative of the Bulgarian Social Democratic Workers' Party . Among the Bolshevik delegates were Vladimir Lenin , Alexander Bogdanov , Leonid Krasin , Mikhail Frunze , Mikhail Kalinin , Nadezhda Krupskaya , Anatoly Lunacharsky , Fyodor Sergeyev (Artyom), Stepan Shahumyan , Ivan Skvortsov-Stepanov , Joseph Stalin , Kliment Voroshilov , Maxim Litvinov and V. V. Vorovsky . The main items on
4070-551: The collectivism of the medieval Russian obshchina or mir over the individualism of the West. More extreme social doctrines were elaborated by such Russian radicals on the left, such as Alexander Herzen , Mikhail Bakunin , and Peter Kropotkin . After Russian armies liberated the Eastern Georgian Kingdom (allied since the 1783 Treaty of Georgievsk ) from the Qajar dynasty 's occupation of 1802, during
4180-488: The liberalism of Western Europe encouraged them to seek change on their return to autocratic Russia . The result was the Decembrist revolt (December 1825), which was the work of a small circle of liberal nobles and army officers who wanted to install Nicholas' brother Constantine as a constitutional monarch. The revolt was easily crushed, but it caused Nicholas to turn away from the modernization program begun by Peter
4290-444: The "Liquidators", whose most prominent advocates were Pavel Axelrod , Fyodor Dan , Nikolai Aleksandrovich Rozhkov and Nikolay Chkheidze , who wished to pursue purely legal activities and who now repudiated illegal and underground work. The Menshevik Julius Martov was formally also considered a liquidator, partly because most of his closest political allies were part of the liquidator subfaction. The Bolsheviks split threeways into
4400-583: The 17th century, culminating in the first Russian colonization of the Pacific , the Russo-Polish War (1654–1667) which led to the incorporation of left-bank Ukraine , and the Russian conquest of Siberia . Poland was partitioned by its rivals in 1772–1815;most of its land and population being taken under Russian rule. Most of the empire's growth in the 19th century came from gaining territory in central and eastern Asia south of Siberia. By 1795, after
4510-734: The Bolshevik supporters came into serious conflict with the Mensheviks. At the 4th (Unity) Congress of the RSDLP in 1906, the Latvian Social Democratic Workers Party entered the RSDLP as a territorial organisation. After the Congress, its name was changed Social-Democracy of the Latvian Territory. Russian Empire The Russian Empire was a vast empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its proclamation in November 1721 until
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4620-526: The Bolsheviks being the majority and the Mensheviks being the minority. These were the names used by the factions for the rest of the party Congress and these are the names retained after the split at the 1903 Congress. Lenin's faction later ended up in the minority and remained smaller than the Mensheviks until the Russian Revolution . A central issue at the Congress was the question of
4730-569: The Congress agenda were the agrarian question, an appraisal of the current situation and the class tasks of the proletariat , the attitude to the Duma , and organisational matters. There was a bitter controversy between the Bolsheviks and Mensheviks over every item. Lenin made reports and speeches on the agrarian question, the current situation, and tactics regarding the Duma elections, the armed uprising, and other questions. The preponderance of Mensheviks at
4840-420: The Congress, while slight, determined its character; the Congress adopted Menshevik resolutions on a number of questions (the agrarian programme, the attitude to the Duma, etc.). The Congress approved the first clause of the Rules concerning Party membership in the wording proposed by Lenin. It admitted the Social Democracy of the Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania, and the Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party into
4950-684: The Great Northern War, served as the state's capital. This concept of the triune Russian people, composed of the Great Russians , the Little Russians , and the White Russians , was introduced during the reign of Peter I, and it was associated with the name of Archimandrite Zacharias Kopystensky (1621), the Archimandrite of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra and expanded upon in the writings of an associate of Peter I, Archbishop Professor Theophan Prokopovich . Several of Peter I's associates are well-known, including François Le Fort , Boris Sheremetev , Alexander Menshikov , Jacob Bruce , Mikhail Golitsyn , Anikita Repnin , and Alexey Kelin. During Peter's reign,
5060-445: The Great and champion the doctrine of Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationality . In order to repress further revolts, censorship was intensified, including the constant surveillance of schools and universities. Textbooks were strictly regulated by the government. Police spies were planted everywhere. Under Nicholas I, would-be revolutionaries were sent off to Siberia, with hundreds of thousands sent to katorga camps. The retaliation for
5170-511: The Ottoman Empire . This resulted in a significant weakening of the Crimean Khanate , an Ottoman vassal and long-term Russian adversary. The discontent over the dominant positions of Baltic Germans in Russian politics resulted in Peter I's daughter Elizabeth being put on the Russian throne. Elizabeth supported the arts, architecture, and the sciences (for example, the founding of Moscow University ). But she did not carry out significant structural reforms. Her reign, which lasted nearly 20 years,
5280-406: The Ottoman Empire, respectively. As a result, Pan-Slavists were left with a legacy of bitterness against Austria-Hungary and Germany for failing to back Russia. Disappointment at the results of the war stimulated revolutionary tensions, and helped Serbia, Romania , and Montenegro gain independence from, and strengthen themselves against, the Ottomans. Another significant result of the war
5390-453: The Ottoman Empire, using recently acquired Georgia at its base for its Caucasus and Anatolian front. The late 1820s were successful years militarily. Despite losing almost all recently consolidated territories in the first year of the Russo-Persian War of 1826–1828 , Russia managed to favorably bring an end to the war with the Treaty of Turkmenchay , including the formal acquisition of what are now Armenia , Azerbaijan, and Iğdır Province . In
5500-430: The Ottomans to sign the Treaty of San Stefano in March 1878, creating an enlarged, independent Bulgaria that stretched into the southwestern Balkans. When Britain threatened to declare war over the terms of the treaty, an exhausted Russia backed down. At the Congress of Berlin in July 1878, Russia agreed to the creation of a smaller Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia , as a vassal state and an autonomous principality inside
5610-399: The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth during the Partitions of Poland , alongside Austria and Prussia . As part of the Treaty of Georgievsk , signed with the Georgian Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti , and her own political aspirations, Catherine waged a new war against Persia in 1796 after they had invaded eastern Georgia . Upon achieving victory, she established Russian rule over it and expelled
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#17327718343235720-436: The Proletary group led by Lenin, Grigory Zinoviev and Lev Kamenev , who waged a fierce struggle against the liquidators, ultimatists and recallists; the Ultimatist group led by Grigory Aleksinsky , who wished to issue ultimatums to the RSDLP Duma deputies to follow the party line or to resign immediately; and the Recallist group led by Alexander Bogdanov and Anatoly Lunacharsky and supported by Maxim Gorky , who called for
5830-419: The RSDLP, and predetermined the admission of the Bund. The Congress elected the 4th Central Committee made up of three Bolsheviks and seven Mensheviks, and a Menshevik editorial board of Central Body. Russian Social Democratic Labour Party The Russian Social Democratic Labour Party ( RSDLP ), also known as the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party or as the Russian Social Democratic Party ,
5940-425: The RSDLP. In 1902, the Tallinn organization of the RSDLP was founded, which in 1904 was converted into the Tallinn Committee of the party. In November, a parallel (that is, also directly under the CC of RSDLP) Narva Committee was created. Amongst other radicals, the Estonian RSDLP cadres were active in the 1905 Revolution. At the conference of the Estonian RSDLP organizations in Terijoki , Finland in March 1907,
6050-434: The Russian capital from Moscow to the new model city of Saint Petersburg , which marked the birth of the imperial era, and led a cultural revolution that introduced a modern, scientific, rationalist, and Western-oriented system. Catherine the Great ( r. 1762–1796 ) presided over further expansion of the Russian state by conquest, colonization , and diplomacy, while continuing Peter's policy of modernization towards
6160-418: The Russian state grew by an average of 35,000 km (14,000 sq mi) per year. Major events during this period include the transition from the Rurik to the Romanov dynasties, the conquest of Siberia , and the reign of Peter the Great ( r. 1682–1725 ). Peter transformed the tsardom into an empire, and fought numerous wars that turned a vast realm into a major European power. He moved
6270-422: The Senate that its mission was to collect taxes, and tax revenues tripled over the course of his reign. Meanwhile, all vestiges of local self-government were removed. Peter continued and intensified his predecessors' requirement of state service from all nobles, in the Table of Ranks . As part of Peter's reorganization, he also enacted a church reform . The Russian Orthodox Church was partially incorporated into
6380-438: The already oppressive social system, under which serfs were required to spend almost all of their time laboring on their owners' land. A major peasant uprising took place in 1773, after Catherine legalized the selling of serfs separate from land. Inspired by a Cossack named Yemelyan Pugachev and proclaiming "Hang all the landlords!", the rebels threatened to take Moscow before they were ruthlessly suppressed. Instead of imposing
6490-410: The building of the Trans-Siberian Railway , 1890 to 1904. This opened up East Asia ; and Russian interests focused on Mongolia, Manchuria , and Korea . China was too weak to resist, and was pulled increasingly into the Russian sphere. Russia obtained treaty ports such as Dalian / Port Arthur . In 1900, the Russian Empire invaded Manchuria as part of the Eight-Nation Alliance 's intervention against
6600-404: The coming revolution would be "bourgeois-democratic" within Russia, but while the Mensheviks viewed the liberals as the main ally in this task, the Bolsheviks opted for an alliance with the peasantry as the only way to carry out the bourgeois-democratic revolutionary tasks while defending the interests of the working class. Essentially, the difference was that the Bolsheviks considered that in Russia
6710-418: The country's administrative structure, in effect making it a tool of the state. Peter abolished the patriarchate and replaced it with a collective body, the Most Holy Synod , which was led by a government official . Peter died in 1725, leaving an unsettled succession. After a short reign by his widow, Catherine I , the crown passed to Empress Anna . She slowed the reforms and led a successful war against
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#17327718343236820-449: The death of Peter were returned in the 1732 Treaty of Resht and 1735 Treaty of Ganja as a deal to oppose the Ottomans. Peter reorganized his government based on the latest political models of the time, molding Russia into an absolutist state. He replaced the old Boyar Duma (council of nobles) with a nine-member Senate , in effect a supreme council of state. The countryside was divided into new provinces and districts . Peter told
6930-418: The definition of party membership. Martov proposed the following formulation: "A member of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party is one who accepts the Party's programme, supports the Party financially, and renders it regular personal assistance under the direction of one of its organizations". On the other hand, Lenin proposed a more strict definition: "A member of the Russian Social-Democratic Labour Party
7040-416: The empire entered the 20th century in a perilous state. A devastating famine in 1891–1892 killed hundreds of thousands and led to popular discontent. As the last remaining absolute monarchy in Europe, the empire saw rapid political radicalization and the growing popularity of revolutionary ideas such as communism . After the 1905 revolution , Nicholas II authorized the creation of a national parliament,
7150-414: The empire. The semi-autonomous polity of Congress Poland subsequently lost its distinctive political and judicial rights, with Russification being imposed on its schools and courts. However, Russification policies in Poland, Finland and among the Germans in the Baltics largely failed and only strengthened political opposition. In 1854–1855, Russia fought Britain , France and the Ottoman Empire in
7260-429: The end his dynasty was overthrown by the Russian Revolution . The Industrial Revolution began to show significant influence in Russia, but the country remained rural and poor. Economic conditions steadily improved after 1890, thanks to new crops such as sugar beets, and new access to railway transportation. Total grain production increased, as well as exports, even with rising domestic demand from population growth. As
7370-448: The expense of the serfs and other lower classes. Nevertheless, Catherine realized that serfdom must eventually be ended, going so far in her Nakaz ("Instruction") to say that serfs were "just as good as we are" – a comment received with disgust by the nobility. Catherine advanced Russia's southern and western frontiers, successfully waging war against the Ottoman Empire for territory near the Black Sea , and incorporating territories of
7480-457: The government and other major buildings were designed under Italianate influence. In 1722, he turned his aspirations toward increasing Russian influence in the Caucasus and the Caspian Sea at the expense of the weakened Safavid Persians . He made Astrakhan the base of military efforts against Persia, and waged the first full-scale war against them in 1722–23 . Peter the Great temporarily annexed several areas of Iran to Russia, which after
7590-447: The immediate recall of all RSDLP Duma deputies and a boycott of all legal work by the RSDLP, in favour of increased radical underground and illegal work. There was also a non-faction group led by Leon Trotsky , who denounced all the "factionalism" in the RSDLP, pushed for "unity" in the party and focused more strongly on the problems of Russian workers and peasants on the ground. In January 1912, Lenin's Proletary Bolshevik group called
7700-419: The implicit threat to India ; and decades of diplomatic maneuvering resulted, called the Great Game . That rivalry between the two empires has been considered to have included far-flung territories such as Outer Mongolia and Tibet . The maneuvering largely ended with the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907. Expansion into the vast stretches of Siberia was slow and expensive, but finally became possible with
7810-430: The military, 20 percent to government economic activities, 12 percent to administration, and nine percent for the Imperial Court in St. Petersburg. The deficit required borrowing, primarily from bankers in Amsterdam ; five percent of the budget was allocated to debt payments. Paper money was issued to pay for expensive wars, thus causing inflation. As a result of its spending, Russia developed a large and well-equipped army,
7920-794: The new parliament (the Duma). He signed the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907 to counter Germany's influence in the Middle East, ending the Great Game between Russia and the British Empire . However, his reign was marked by criticism for the government's suppression of political dissent and perceived failures or inaction during events like the Khodynka Tragedy , anti-Jewish pogroms, Bloody Sunday (1905) , and
8030-481: The newly established Persian garrisons in the Caucasus. Catherine's expansionist policy caused Russia to develop into a major European power, as did the Enlightenment era and the Golden age in Russia. But after Catherine died in 1796, she was succeeded by her son, Paul . He brought Russia into a major coalition war against the new-revolutionary French Republic in 1798. Russian commander Field Marshal Suvorov led
8140-401: The obligation of the nobility to serve was reinforced, and serf labor played a significant role in the growth of the industry, reinforcing traditional socioeconomic structures. The volume of the country's international trade turnover increased as a result of Peter I's industrial reforms. However, imports of goods overtook exports, strengthening the role of foreigners in Russian trade, particularly
8250-446: The press, as well as dislike democracy, constitutions, and the parliamentary system. Under Pobedonostsev, revolutionaries were persecuted—by the imperial secret police , with thousands being exiled to Siberia —and a policy of Russification was carried out throughout the empire. Russia had little difficulty expanding to the south, including conquering Turkestan , until Britain became alarmed when Russia threatened Afghanistan , with
8360-619: The proceedings. The 5th Party Congress was held in London, England, in 1907. It consolidated the supremacy of the Bolshevik faction and debated strategy for communist revolution in Russia. The Social Democrats (SDs) boycotted elections to the First Duma (April–July 1906), but they were represented in the Second Duma (February–June 1907). With the SRs, they held 83 seats. The Second Duma
8470-548: The proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about 22,800,000 km (8,800,000 sq mi), roughly one-sixth of the world's landmass, making it the third-largest empire in history , behind only the British and Mongol empires. It also colonized North America between 1799 and 1867. The empire's 1897 census, the only one it conducted, found
8580-568: The redrawing of the map of Europe at the Congress of Vienna (1815), which ultimately made Alexander the monarch of Congress Poland . The " Holy Alliance " was proclaimed, linking the monarchist great powers of Austria, Prussia, and Russia. Although the Russian Empire played a leading political role in the next century, thanks to its role in defeating Napoleonic France, its retention of serfdom precluded economic progress to any significant degree. As Western European economic growth accelerated during
8690-488: The revolt made "December Fourteenth" a day long remembered by later revolutionary movements. The question of Russia's direction had been gaining attention ever since Peter the Great's program of modernization. Some favored imitating Western Europe while others were against this and called for a return to the traditions of the past. The latter path was advocated by Slavophiles , who held the "decadent" West in contempt. The Slavophiles were opponents of bureaucracy, who preferred
8800-798: The same party at a conference in Vienna, but he was largely rebuffed by the Bolsheviks. The Bolsheviks seized power during the October Revolution in 1917 when all political power was transferred to the soviets and in 1918 changed their name to the All-Russian Communist Party . They later banned the Mensheviks after the Kronstadt rebellion of 1921. The Interdistrictites , known as the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (Internationalists), emerged in 1913 as another faction originating from
8910-461: The serfs, was the single most important event in 19th-century Russian history, and the beginning of the end of the landed aristocracy's monopoly on power. The 1860s saw further socioeconomic reforms to clarify the position of the Russian government with regard to property rights. Emancipation brought a supply of free labor to the cities, stimulating industry, while the middle class grew in number and influence. However, instead of receiving their lands as
9020-541: The start of the 19th century, Russian territory extended from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Black Sea in the south, and from the Baltic Sea in the west to Alaska, Hawaii, and California in the east. By the end of the 19th century, Russia had expanded its control over the Caucasus , most of Central Asia and parts of Northeast Asia . Notwithstanding its extensive territorial gains and great power status,
9130-552: The state for the rest of their lives. He also introduced the Table of Ranks and equated the votchina with an estate . Russia's modern fleet was built by Peter the Great, along with an army that was reformed in the manner of European style and educational institutions (the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences ). Civil lettering was adopted during Peter I's reign, and the first Russian newspaper, Vedomosti ,
9240-431: The tasks of the bourgeois democratic revolution would have to be carried out without the participation of the bourgeoisie . The 3rd Party Congress was held separately by the Bolsheviks. The 4th Party Congress was held in Stockholm , Sweden and saw a formal reunification of the two factions (with the Mensheviks in the majority), but the discrepancies between Bolshevik and Menshevik views became particularly clear during
9350-422: The throne in 1855, the desire for reform was widespread. A growing humanitarian movement attacked serfdom as inefficient. In 1859, there were more than 23 million serfs in usually poor living conditions. Alexander II decided to abolish serfdom from above, with ample provision for the landowners, rather than wait for it to be abolished from below by revolution. The Emancipation Reform of 1861 , which freed
9460-489: The traditional punishment of drawing and quartering, Catherine issued secret instructions that the executioners should execute death sentences quickly and with minimal suffering, as part of her effort to introduce compassion into the law. She furthered these efforts by ordering the public trial of Darya Nikolayevna Saltykova , a high-ranking noblewoman, on charges of torturing and murdering serfs. Whilst these gestures garnered Catherine much positive attention from Europe during
9570-552: The transformation of Russia into a great power, playing a major role in European politics. On 2 November [ O.S. 22 October] 1721, the day of the announcement of the Treaty of Nystad, the Governing Senate and Synod invested the tsar with the titles of Peter the Great, Pater Patriae (father of the fatherland), and Imperator of all Russia . The adoption of the title of imperator by Peter I
9680-402: The tsarist police state. From this was derived the faction names: "Majority" ("Bolshevik") and "Minority" ("Menshevik"). Despite a number of attempts at reunification, the split proved permanent. As time passed, ideological differences emerged in addition to the original organizational differences. The main difference that emerged in the years after 1903 was that the Bolsheviks believed that only
9790-592: The underground struggle for political freedom with the class struggle of the proletariat. In 1903, the 2nd Party Congress met in exile in Brussels to attempt to create a united force. However, after unprecedented attention from the Belgian authorities the Congress moved to London, meeting on 11 August in Charlotte Street . At the Congress, the party split into two irreconcilable factions on 17 November:
9900-449: The various holdings. Although serfdom was abolished, its abolition was achieved on terms unfavorable to peasants; thus, revolutionary tensions remained. Revolutionaries believed that the newly freed serfs were merely being sold into wage slavery in the onset of the industrial revolution, and that the urban bourgeoisie had effectively replaced the landowners. Seeking more territories, Russia obtained Priamurye ( Russian Manchuria ) from
10010-733: The violent suppression of the 1905 Russian Revolution. The Russo-Japanese War , which resulted in the destruction of the Russian Baltic Fleet at the Battle of Tsushima , further eroded his popularity. By March 1917, public support for Nicholas II had dwindled, leading to his forced abdication and the end of the 304-year rule of the Romanov (dynasty) in Russia (1613–1917). Nicholas II was deeply devoted to his wife, Alexandra, whom he married on 26 November 1894. They had five children: Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, and Tsesarevich Alexei. The Russian Imperial Romanov family
10120-587: The war, but who nevertheless were opposed by various factions known collectively as the Whites . During the resulting Russian Civil War , the Bolsheviks conducted the Red Terror . After emerging victorious, they established the Soviet Union across most of the Russian territory; it would be one of four continental empires to collapse as a result of World War I , along with Germany , Austria–Hungary , and
10230-699: The weakened Manchu-ruled Qing China , which was occupied fighting against the Taiping Rebellion . In 1858, the Treaty of Aigun ceded much of the Manchu Homeland, and in 1860, the Treaty of Peking ceded the modern Primorsky Krai , also founded the outpost of future Vladivostok . Meanwhile, Russia decided to sell the indefensible Russian America to the United States for 11 million rubles (7.2 million dollars) in 1867. Initially, many Americans considered this newly gained territory to be
10340-625: The word "Unity" in the Congress' name. The Congress was attended by 112 delegates with the right to vote, who represented 57 local Party organisations, and 22 delegates with voice but no vote. Other participants were delegates from various national Social-Democratic parties: three each from the Social-Democrats of Poland and Lithuania , the Bund , and the Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party , one each from
10450-491: The workers, backed up by the peasantry, could carry out the bourgeois-democratic revolutionary tasks in Russia, which would then provide incentive to socialist revolution in Germany, France and Britain, while the Mensheviks believed that the workers and peasants must seek out enlightened people from the liberal bourgeoisie to carry out the bourgeois-democratic revolutionary tasks in Russia. The two warring factions both agreed that
10560-418: The years of Tsarist repression that followed the defeat of the 1905 Russian Revolution , both the Bolshevik and Menshevik factions faced splits, causing further splits in the RSDLP, which manifested themselves from late 1908 and the years immediately following. The Mensheviks split into the "Pro-Party Mensheviks" led by Georgi Plekhanov , who wished to maintain illegal underground work as well as legal work; and
10670-595: Was a socialist political party founded in 1898 in Minsk . Members of the RSDLP became popularly labelled as esdeki ( Russian : эсдеки , singular: Russian : эсдек , romanized : esdek ) - from the Russian-language names of the initial letters S ( Russian : С ) and D ( Russian : Д ) standing for "Social Democrats" ( Russian : социал-демократы , romanized : sotsial-demokraty ). Formed to unite various revolutionary organizations of
10780-466: Was an absolute monarch titled the tsar . The groundwork of the Russian Empire was laid by Ivan III ( r. 1462–1505 ), who greatly expanded his domain, established a centralized Russian national state , and secured independence against the Tatars . His grandson, Ivan IV ( r. 1533–1584 ), became in 1547 the first Russian monarch to be crowned " tsar of all Russia ". Between 1550 and 1700,
10890-486: Was assassinated by the Narodnaya Volya , a Nihilist terrorist organization . The throne passed to Alexander III (1881–1894), a reactionary who revived the maxim of "Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationality" of Nicholas I. A committed Slavophile, Alexander III believed that Russia could be saved from turmoil only by shutting itself off from the subversive influences of Western Europe. During his reign, Russia formed
11000-433: Was based strictly on the theories of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels . Specifically, that despite Russia's agrarian nature at the time, the true revolutionary potential lay with the industrial working class. At this time, there were three million Russian industrial workers, just 3% of the population. The RSDLP was illegal for most of its existence. Within a month after the Congress, five of the nine delegates were arrested by
11110-427: Was catastrophic for France, whose army was decimated during the Russian winter . Although Napoleon's Grande Armée reached Moscow, the Russians' scorched earth strategy prevented the invaders from living off the country. In the harsh and bitter winter, thousands of French troops were ambushed and killed by peasant guerrilla fighters. Russian troops then pursued Napoleon's troops to the gates of Paris, presiding over
11220-402: Was close to that of slaves , remained a major institution in Russia until 1723, when Peter converted household kholops into house serfs , thus counting them for poll taxation. Russian agricultural kholops had been formally converted into serfs earlier in 1679. They were largely tied to the land, in a feudal sense, until the late 19th century. Peter's first military efforts were directed against
11330-623: Was dissolved on the pretext of the discovery of an SD conspiracy to subvert the army. Under new electoral laws, the SD presence in the Third Duma (1907–1912) was reduced to 19. From the Fourth Duma (1912–1917), the SDs were finally and fully split. The Mensheviks had seven members in the Duma and the Bolsheviks had six, including Roman Malinovsky , who was later uncovered as an Okhrana agent. In
11440-620: Was executed by who were believed to be drunken Bolshevik revolutionaries under Yakov Yurovsky, as ordered by the Ural Regional Soviet in Yekaterinburg on the night of 16–17 July 1918. This marked the end of the Russian Empire and Imperial Russia. Russia was in a continuous state of financial crisis. While revenue rose from 9 million rubles in 1724 to 40 million in 1794, expenses grew more rapidly, reaching 49 million in 1794. The budget allocated 46 percent to
11550-703: Was in a state of war with the French Republic under the leadership of the Corsica -born First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte . After he became the emperor , Napoleon defeated Russia at Austerlitz in 1805, Eylau and Friedland in 1807. After Alexander was defeated in Friedland, he agreed to negotiate and sued for peace with France; the Treaties of Tilsit led to the Franco-Russian alliance against
11660-659: Was informally partitioned by the Anglo-Russian Convention in 1907, Britain, France, and Russia came increasingly close together in opposition to Germany and Austria-Hungary. The three would later comprise the Triple Entente alliance in the First World War . In 1894, Alexander III was succeeded by his son, Nicholas II , who was committed to retaining the autocracy that his father had left him. Nicholas II proved as an ineffective ruler, and in
11770-1109: Was later represented by the Socialist Revolutionary Party (SRs). The RSDLP was formed at an underground conference in Minsk in March 1898 . There were nine delegates: from the Jewish Labour Bund , and from the Robochaya Gazeta ("Workers' Newspaper") in Kiev , both formed a year earlier in 1897; and the League of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class in Saint Petersburg . Some additional social democrats from Moscow and Yekaterinburg also attended. The RSDLP program
11880-496: Was published. Peter I promoted the advancement of science, particularly geography and geology , trade, and industry, including shipbuilding, as well as the growth of the Russian educational system. Every tenth Russian acquired an education during Peter I's reign, when there were 15 million people in the country. The city of Saint Petersburg , which was built in 1703 on territory along the Baltic coast that had been conquered during
11990-701: Was the acquisition from the Ottomans of the provinces of Batumi , Ardahan , and Kars in Transcaucasia , which were transformed into the militarily administered regions of Batum Oblast and Kars Oblast . To replace Muslim refugees who had fled across the new frontier into Ottoman territory, the Russian authorities settled large numbers of Christians from ethnically diverse communities in Kars Oblast, particularly Georgians , Caucasus Greeks , and Armenians , each of whom hoped to achieve protection and advance their own regional ambitions. In 1881, Alexander II
12100-433: Was the eldest son and successor of Aleksandr Aleksandrovich (later known as Alexander III of Russia ) and his wife Maria Fyodorovna (formerly Dagmar of Denmark ). During his rule, Nicholas II supported the economic and political reforms proposed by his prime ministers, Sergei Witte and Pyotr Stolypin . He favored modernization through foreign loans and strong ties with France, but was reluctant to give significant roles to
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