Ryazan Governorate ( Russian : Рязанская губерния , romanized : Ryazanskaya guberniya ) was an administrative-territorial unit ( guberniya ) of the Russian Empire and the Russian SFSR , which existed from 1796 to 1929. Its capital was in Ryazan .
109-531: Ryazan Governorate consisted of the following uyezds (administrative centres in parentheses): 54°37′00″N 39°43′00″E / 54.6167°N 39.7167°E / 54.6167; 39.7167 This Russian history –related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . History of Russia The history of Russia begins with the histories of the East Slavs . The traditional start date of specifically Russian history
218-575: A Bolshevik who was a double agent for the secret police. In March 1913 the Octobrists , led by Alexander Guchkov , President of the Duma, commissioned an investigation on Grigori Rasputin to research the allegations being a Khlyst . The leading party of the Octobrists divided itself into three different sections. The Duma "met on 8 August for three hours to pass emergency war credits, [and] it
327-662: A vassal of Vladimir, but soon it absorbed its parent state. A major factor in the ascendancy of Moscow was the cooperation of its rulers with the Mongol overlords, who granted them the title of Grand Prince of Moscow and made them agents for collecting the Tatar tribute from the Russian principalities. The principality's prestige was further enhanced when it became the center of the Russian Orthodox Church . Its head,
436-583: A bone fragment found in Denisova Cave , belonging to a female who died about 90,000 years ago, shows that she was a hybrid of a Neanderthal mother and a Denisovan father . Russia was also home to some of the last surviving Neanderthals - the partial skeleton of a Neanderthal infant in Mezmaiskaya cave in Adygea showed a carbon-dated age of only 45,000 years. In 2008, Russian archaeologists from
545-480: A focal point of political resistance. On 3 September 1915 the Duma prorogued. On the eve of the war the government and the Duma were hovering round one another like indecisive wrestlers, neither side able to make a definite move. The war made the political parties more cooperative and practically formed into one party. When the tsar announced he would leave for the front at Mogilev , the Progressive Bloc
654-646: A huge (Europe's biggest) earth- and wood-fortified grad inhabited around 500 BC by Heloni and Budini . In 513 BC, the king of the Achaemenid Empire , Darius I , would launch a military campaign around the Black Sea into Scythia, modern-day Ukraine, eventually reaching the Tanais river (now known as the Don ). Greeks, mostly from the city-state of Miletus , would colonize large parts of modern-day Crimea and
763-702: A powerful, autocratic ruler, a tsar. The first Russian ruler to officially crown himself " Tsar " was Ivan IV . Ivan III tripled the territory of his state, ended the dominance of the Golden Horde over the Rus', renovated the Moscow Kremlin , and laid the foundations of the Russian state. Biographer Fennell concludes that his reign was "militarily glorious and economically sound," and especially points to his territorial annexations and his centralized control over local rulers. However, Fennell argues that his reign
872-530: A private meeting. According to Buchanan: "It was an act of madness to prorogue the Duma at a moment like the present." "The delegates decided to form a Provisional Committee of the State Duma . The Provisional Committee ordered the arrest of all the ex-ministers and senior officials." The Tauride Palace was occupied by the crowd and soldiers. "On the evening the Council of Ministers held its last meeting in
981-641: A result, the Grand Duchy of Moscow tripled in size under his rule. During his conflict with Pskov, a monk named Filofei (Philotheus of Pskov) composed a letter to Ivan III, with the prophecy that the latter's kingdom would be the Third Rome . The Fall of Constantinople and the death of the last Greek Orthodox Christian emperor contributed to this new idea of Moscow as New Rome and the seat of Orthodox Christianity, as did Ivan's 1472 marriage to Byzantine Princess Sophia Palaiologina . Under Ivan III,
1090-482: A significant portion of the members of the second Duma did not justify Our expectations. Many of those sent by the people to work [for them] did not go with a pure heart, with a desire to strengthen Russia and to improve its system, but [went rather] with an explicit intention to increase unrest and to promote the disintegration of the state.” The new Duma, according to the Tsar (and Stolypin), “must be Russian in spirit,” and
1199-732: A single state. Between 1922 and 1991 the history of Russia essentially became the history of the Soviet Union . During this period, the Soviet Union was one of the victors in World War II after recovering from a surprise invasion in 1941 by Nazi Germany and its collaborators , which had previously signed a non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union's network of satellite states in Eastern Europe, which were brought into its sphere of influence in
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#17327796804631308-581: A vassal to the Golden Horde, not having the strength to resist its power. Daniil Aleksandrovich , the youngest son of Alexander Nevsky, founded the principality of Moscow (known as Muscovy in English), which first cooperated with and ultimately expelled the Tatars from Russia. Well-situated in the central river system of Russia and surrounded by protective forests and marshes, Moscow was at first only
1417-470: Is important for its introduction of a Slavic variant of the Eastern Orthodox religion, dramatically deepening a synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next thousand years. The region adopted Christianity in 988 by the official act of public baptism of Kiev inhabitants by Prince Vladimir I . Some years later the first code of laws, Russkaya Pravda ,
1526-597: Is rated as the worst in Europe, and Russia's human rights situation has been increasingly criticized by international observers. The first human settlement on the territory of Russia dates back to the Oldowan period in the early Lower Paleolithic . About 2 million years ago, representatives of Homo erectus migrated from Western Asia to the North Caucasus (archaeological site of Kermek [ ru ] on
1635-530: Is the establishment of the Rus' state in the north in the year 862, ruled by Varangians . In 882, Prince Oleg of Novgorod seized Kiev , uniting the northern and southern lands of the Eastern Slavs under one authority, moving the governance center to Kiev by the end of the 10th century, and maintaining northern and southern parts with significant autonomy from each other. The state adopted Christianity from
1744-722: The Arab Caliphates . In the 8th century, the Khazars embraced Judaism. Some of the ancestors of the modern Russians were the Slavic tribes , whose original home is thought by some scholars to have been the Pripet Marshes . The Early East Slavs gradually settled Western Russia in two waves: one moving from Kiev (present-day Ukraine ) towards present-day Suzdal and Murom and another from Polotsk (present-day Belarus ) towards Novgorod and Rostov . From
1853-644: The Cossack leader Stenka Razin , who led a revolt in 1670–1671. In 1721, in the wake of the Great Northern War , Tsar Peter the Great renamed the state as the Russian Empire ; he is also noted for establishing St. Petersburg as the new capital of his Empire, and for his introducing Western European culture to Russia. In 1762, Russia came under the control of Catherine the Great , who continued
1962-749: The Imperial Duma , was the lower house of the legislature in the Russian Empire , while the upper house was the State Council . It held its meetings in the Tauride Palace in Saint Petersburg . It convened four times between 27 April 1906 and the collapse of the empire in February 1917. The first and the second dumas were more democratic and represented a greater number of national types than their successors. The third duma
2071-749: The Khazars , ruled the lower Volga basin steppes between the Caspian and Black Seas through to the 8th century. Noted for their laws, tolerance, and cosmopolitanism, the Khazars were the main commercial link between the Baltic and the Muslim Abbasid empire centered in Baghdad . They were important allies of the Eastern Roman Empire , and waged a series of successful wars against
2180-559: The Marinsky Palace and formally submitted its resignation to the tsar when they were cut off from the telephone. Guchkov, along with Vasily Shulgin , came to the army headquarters near Pskov to persuade the tsar to abdicate. The committee sent commissars to take over ministries and other government institutions, dismissing Tsar-appointed ministers and formed the Provisional Government under Georgi Lvov . In
2289-905: The Metropolitan , fled from Kiev to Vladimir in 1299 and a few years later established the permanent headquarters of the Church in Moscow under the original title of Kiev Metropolitan. By the middle of the 14th century, the power of the Mongols was declining, and the Grand Princes felt able to openly oppose the Mongol yoke . In 1380, at Battle of Kulikovo on the Don River , the Mongols were defeated, and although this hard-fought victory did not end Tatar rule of Russia, it did bring great fame to
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#17327796804632398-515: The Pontic Steppe was known as " Scythia ". ) Remnants of these long-gone steppe cultures were discovered in the course of the 20th century in such places as Ipatovo , Sintashta , Arkaim , and Pazyryk . In the later part of the 8th century BCE, Greek merchants brought classical civilization to the trade emporiums in Tanais and Phanagoria . Gelonus was described by Herodotus as
2507-563: The Russian Constitution of 1906 as a mock-constitution, and approximately 200 deputies mostly from the liberal Kadets party decamped to Vyborg , then part of Russian Finland , to discuss the way forward. From there, they issued the Vyborg Appeal , which called for civil disobedience and a revolution. Largely ignored, it ended in their arrest and the closure of Kadet Party offices. This, among other things, helped pave
2616-773: The Russian Revolution in 1917. The end of the monarchy initially brought into office a coalition of liberals and moderate socialists, but their failed policies led to the October Revolution . In 1922, Soviet Russia , along with the Ukrainian SSR , Byelorussian SSR , and Transcaucasian SFSR signed the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR , officially merging all four republics to form the Soviet Union as
2725-638: The Russian famine of 1601–1603 and increased the social disorganization. Boris Godunov 's reign ended in chaos, civil war combined with foreign intrusion, devastation of many cities and depopulation of the rural regions. The country rocked by internal chaos also attracted several waves of interventions by the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth . During the Polish–Muscovite War (1605–1618) , Polish–Lithuanian forces reached Moscow and installed
2834-570: The Russian language was little influenced by the Greek and Latin of early Christian writings. This was because Church Slavonic was used directly in liturgy instead. A nomadic Turkic people, the Kipchaks (also known as the Cumans), replaced the earlier Pechenegs as the dominant force in the south steppe regions neighbouring to Rus' at the end of the 11th century and founded a nomadic state in
2943-763: The Sea of Azov during the seventh and sixth centuries BC, eventually unifying into the Bosporan Kingdom by 480 BC, and would be incorporated into the large Kingdom of Pontus in 107 BC. The Kingdom would eventually be conquered by the Roman Republic , and the Bosporan Kingdom would become a client state of the Roman Empire . At about the 2nd century AD Goths migrated to the Black Sea, and in
3052-586: The Stolypin reforms of 1906–1914, the constitution of 1906 , and the State Duma (1906–1917) attempted to open and liberalize the economy and political system, but the emperors refused to relinquish autocratic rule and resisted sharing their power. A combination of economic breakdown, mismanagement over Russia's involvement in World War I , and discontent with the autocratic system of government triggered
3161-646: The Taman Peninsula ). At Bogatyri/Sinyaya balka [ ru ] , in a skull of Elasmotherium caucasicum , which lived 1.5–1.2 million years ago, a stone tool was found. 1.5-million-year-old Oldowan flint tools have been discovered in the Dagestan Akusha region of the north Caucasus, demonstrating the presence of early humans in the territory of present-day Russia. Fossils of Denisovans in Russia date to about 110,000 years ago. DNA from
3270-580: The Time of Troubles , ending with the coronation of Michael Romanov as the first Tsar of the Romanov dynasty in 1613. During the rest of the seventeenth century, Russia completed the exploration and conquest of Siberia , claiming lands as far as the Pacific Ocean by the end of the century. Domestically, Russia faced numerous uprisings of the various ethnic groups under their control, as exemplified by
3379-605: The Treaty of Pereyaslav between Russia and the Ukrainian Cossacks . In the treaty, Russia granted protection to the Cossacks state in Left-bank Ukraine , formerly under Polish control. This triggered a prolonged Russo-Polish War (1654–1667) , which ended with the Treaty of Andrusovo , where Poland accepted the loss of Left-bank Ukraine, Kiev and Smolensk . The Russian conquest of Siberia , begun at
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3488-579: The petty principalities around Moscow had been united with the Grand Duchy of Moscow , which took full control of its own sovereignty under Ivan the Great . Ivan the Terrible transformed the Grand Duchy into the Tsardom of Russia in 1547. However, the death of Ivan's son Feodor I without issue in 1598 created a succession crisis and led Russia into a period of chaos and civil war known as
3597-431: The upper house . However, Nicholas II was determined to retain his autocratic power (in which he succeeded). On April 23, 1906 ( O.S. ), he issued the Fundamental Laws , which gave him the title of "supreme autocrat". Although no law could be made without the Duma's assent, neither could the Duma pass laws without the approval of the noble-dominated State Council (half of which was to be appointed directly by emperor), and
3706-469: The 17th century, culminating in the first Russian colonisation of the Pacific in the mid-17th century, the Russo-Polish War (1654–1667) that incorporated left-bank Ukraine, and the Russian conquest of Siberia . Poland was divided in the 1790–1815 era, with much of the land and population going to Russia. Most of the 19th century growth came from adding territory in Asia, south of Siberia. State Duma (Russian Empire) The State Duma , also known as
3815-420: The 3rd and 4th centuries AD, a semi-legendary Gothic kingdom of Oium existed in Southern Russia until it was overrun by Huns . Between the 3rd and 6th centuries AD, the Bosporan Kingdom was also overwhelmed by successive waves of nomadic invasions, led by warlike tribes which would often move on to Europe, as was the case with the Huns and Turkish Avars . In the second millennium BC, the territories between
3924-436: The 7th century onwards, East Slavs constituted the bulk of the population in Western Russia and slowly conquered and assimilated the native Finnic and Baltic tribes , such as the Merya , the Muromians , and the Meshchera . Scandinavian Norsemen, known as Vikings in Western Europe and Varangians in the East, combined piracy and trade throughout Northern Europe. In the mid-9th century, they began to venture along
4033-419: The Byzantine Empire in 988, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium. Kievan Rus' ultimately disintegrated as a state due to the Mongol invasions in 1237–1240. After the 13th century, Moscow emerged as a significant political and cultural force, driving the unification of Russian territories . By the end of the 15th century, many of
4142-507: The Duma could not build a working relationship, being divided on the issues of land confiscation (which the socialists and, to a lesser extent, the Kadets, supported but the tsar and Stolypin vehemently opposed) and Stolypin's brutal attitude towards law and order. On 1 June 1907, prime minister Stolypin accused Social Democrats of preparing an armed uprising and demanded that the Duma exclude 55 Social Democrats from Duma sessions and strip 16 of their parliamentary immunity . When this ultimatum
4251-441: The Duma, and consequently won a number of seats. The election was an overall success for Russian left-wing parties: the Trudoviks won 104 seats, the Social Democrats 65 (47 Mensheviks and 18 Bolsheviks), the Socialist Revolutionaries 37 and the Popular Socialists 16. The Kadets (by this point the most moderate and centrist party), found themselves outnumbered two-to-one by their more radical counterparts. Even so, Stolypin and
4360-436: The Duma: "maybe [we will be] dismissed to 9 January, maybe until February", but in the evening the Duma was closed until 12 January, by a decree prepared on the day before. A military guard had been on duty at the building. The February Revolution began on 22 February when the tsar had left for the front, and strikes broke out in the Putilov workshops. On 23 February ( International Women's Day ), women in Petrograd joined
4469-475: The Government and the Duma; consequently, the Duma lasted a full five-year term, and succeeded in 200 pieces of legislation and voting on some 2500 bills. Due to its more noble, and Great Russian composition, the third Duma, like the first, was also given a nickname, "The Duma of the Lords and Lackeys" or "The Master's Duma". The Octobrist party were the largest, with around one-third of all the deputies. This Duma, less radical and more conservative, left clear that
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4578-437: The Government of Russia continued to be a non-official absolute monarchy . It was in this context that the first Duma opened four days later, on April 27, 1906. The first Duma was established with around 500 deputies; most radical left parties, such as the Party of Socialist-Revolutionaries and the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party had boycotted the election, leaving the moderate Constitutional Democrats (Kadets) with
4687-400: The Grand Prince Dmitry Donskoy . Moscow's leadership in Russia was now firmly based and by the middle of the 14th century its territory had greatly expanded through purchase, war, and marriage. In the 15th century, the grand princes of Moscow continued to consolidate Russian land to increase their population and wealth. The most successful practitioner of this process was Ivan III , who laid
4796-517: The Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of Novosibirsk , working at the site of Denisova Cave in the Altai Mountains of Siberia , uncovered a 40,000-year-old small bone fragment from the fifth finger of a juvenile hominin , which DNA analysis revealed to be a previously unknown species of human, which was named the Denisova hominin . The first trace of Homo sapiens on the large expanse of Russian territory dates back to 45,000 years, in central Siberia ( Ust'-Ishim man ). The discovery of some of
4905-405: The Kama and the Irtysh Rivers were the home of a Proto-Uralic-speaking population that had contacts with Proto-Indo-European speakers from the south. The woodland population is the ancestor of the modern Ugrian inhabitants of Trans-Uralia. Other researchers say that the Khanty people originated in the south Ural steppe and moved northwards into their current location about 500 AD. A Turkic people,
5014-416: The Khazars. Thus, the first East Slavic state, Rus' , emerged in the 9th century along the Dnieper River valley. A coordinated group of princely states with a common interest in maintaining trade along the river routes, Kievan Rus' controlled the trade route for furs, wax, and slaves between Scandinavia and the Byzantine Empire along the Volkhov and Dnieper Rivers. By the end of the 10th century,
5123-490: The Ministers! Down with Protopopov!" The prime minister was not allowed to speak and had to leave the rostrum three times. Trepov threatened to shut the troublesome Duma completely in its attempt to control the tsar. The tsar, his cabinet, Alexandra, and Rasputin discussed when to open the Duma, on 12 or 19 January, 1 or 14 February, or never. Rasputin suggested to keep the Duma closed until February; Alexandra and Protopopov supported him. On Friday, 16 December Milyukov stated in
5232-423: The Polish prince Władysław IV Vasa as the Tsar of Russia on 6 September [ O.S. 27 August] 1610. The Poles occupied Moscow on 21 September [ O.S. 11 September] 1610. Moscow revolted but riots there were brutally suppressed and the city was set on fire. The crisis provoked a patriotic national uprising against the invasion , both in 1611 and 1612. A volunteer army, led by
5341-433: The Rus' principalities, along with tax collection by various overlords such as the Crimean Khans , continued into the early 16th century, despite later claims of Muscovite bookmen that the indecisive standoff at the Ugra in 1480 had signified "the end of the Tatar yoke" and the "liberation of Russia". The Mongols dominated the lower reaches of the Volga and held Russia in sway from their western capital at Sarai , one of
5450-400: The Russian people, the navy , and the army ; the war could be won. For the Octobrists and the Kadets, who were the liberals in the parliament, Rasputin, and his support of autocracy and absolute monarchy, was one of their main obstacles. The politicians tried to bring the government under control of the Duma. "To the Okhrana it was obvious by the end of 1916 that the liberal Duma project
5559-495: The Russians defeated the Crimean Tatar army at the Battle of Molodi and Ivan abandoned the oprichnina . At the end of Ivan IV's reign the Polish–Lithuanian and Swedish armies carried out a powerful intervention in Russia, devastating its northern and northwest regions. The death of Ivan's childless son Feodor was followed by a period of civil wars and foreign intervention known as the Time of Troubles (1606–13). Extremely cold summers (1601–1603) wrecked crops, which led to
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#17327796804635668-412: The Russians in such areas as military tactics and transportation. Under Mongol occupation, Muscovy also developed its postal road network, census, fiscal system, and military organization. At the same time, Prince of Novgorod, Alexander Nevsky , managed to repel the offensive of the Northern Crusades against Novgorod from the West. Despite this, becoming the Grand Prince, Alexander declared himself
5777-450: The Sit' River , and then moved west into Poland and Hungary . By then they had conquered most of the Russian principalities. Only the Novgorod Republic escaped occupation and continued to flourish in the orbit of the Hanseatic League . The impact of the Mongol invasion on the territories of Kievan Rus' was uneven. The advanced city culture was almost completely destroyed. As older centers such as Kiev and Vladimir never recovered from
5886-407: The Soviet Union , leaving Russia again on its own and marking the start of the history of post-Soviet Russia . The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic renamed itself as the Russian Federation and became the primary successor state to the Soviet Union . Russia retained its nuclear arsenal but lost its superpower status. Scrapping the central planning and state-ownership of property of
5995-527: The Soviet era in the 1990s, new leaders, led by President Vladimir Putin , took political and economic power after 2000 and engaged in an assertive foreign policy . Coupled with economic growth, Russia has since regained significant global status as a world power. Russia's 2014 annexation of the Crimean Peninsula led to economic sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union . Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine led to significantly expanded sanctions . Under Putin's leadership, corruption in Russia
6104-446: The attention of rural communities who were instead committed to other parties. The Duma ran for 73 days until 8 July 1906, with little success. The emperor and his loyal prime minister Ivan Goremykin were keen to keep it in check, and reluctant to share power; the Duma, on the other hand, wanted continuing reform, including electoral reform, and, most prominently, land reform. Sergei Muromtsev , Professor of Law at Moscow University,
6213-424: The boyars cooperated with the first Romanovs, enabling them to finish the work of bureaucratic centralization. Thus, the state required service from both the old and the new nobility, primarily in the military. In return, the tsars allowed the boyars to complete the process of enserfing the peasants. In the preceding century, the state had gradually curtailed peasants' rights to move from one landlord to another. With
6322-406: The closing stages of World War II, helped the country become a superpower competing with fellow superpower the United States and other Western countries in the Cold War . By the mid-1980s, with the weaknesses of Soviet economic and political structures becoming acute, Mikhail Gorbachev embarked on major reforms, which eventually led to the weakening of the communist party and dissolution of
6431-422: The convocation of the Duma, initially thought to be a purely advisory body, the so-called Bulygin -Duma. In the subsequent October Manifesto , the emperor promised to introduce further civil liberties , provide for broad participation in a new "State Duma", and endow the Duma with legislative and oversight powers. The State Duma was to be the lower house of a parliament, and the State Council of Imperial Russia
6540-512: The declining Golden Horde , now divided into several Khanates and hordes. Ivan and his successors sought to protect the southern boundaries of their domain against attacks of the Crimean Tatars and other hordes. To achieve this aim, they sponsored the construction of the Great Abatis Belt and granted manors to nobles, who were obliged to serve in the military. The manor system provided a basis for an emerging cavalry-based army. In this way, internal consolidation accompanied outward expansion of
6649-494: The devastation of the initial attack, the new cities of Moscow, Tver and Nizhny Novgorod began to compete for hegemony in the Mongol-dominated Rus' principalities under the suzerainty of the Golden Horde . Although a coalition of Rus' princes led by Dmitry Donskoy defeated Mongol warlord Mamai at Kulikovo in 1380, forces of the new khan Tokhtamysh and his Rus' allies immediately sacked Moscow in 1382 as punishment for resisting Mongol authority. Mongol domination of
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#17327796804636758-522: The dissolution of the Second Duma, to the funeral of the Speaker of the First Duma, Muromtsev, and the funeral of Leo Tolstoy , to the fanatical [right-wing] monk Iliodor , or to the notorious agent provocateur , Yevno Azef . Stolypin was assassinated in September 1911 and replaced by his finance minister Vladimir Kokovtsov . It enabled Count Kokovtsov to balance the budget regularly and even to spend on productive purposes. The Fourth Duma of 15 November 1912 – 6 October 1917, elected in September/October,
6867-475: The earliest evidence for the presence of anatomically modern humans found anywhere in Europe was reported in 2007 from the Kostenki archaeological site near the Don River in Russia (dated to at least 40,000 years ago ) and at Sungir (34,600 years ago). Humans reached Arctic Russia ( Mamontovaya Kurya ) by 40,000 years ago. During the prehistoric eras the vast steppes of Southern Russia were home to tribes of nomadic pastoralists . (In classical antiquity,
6976-401: The electoral law for the Third Duma reduced the size of the assembly, cutting the representatives in non-Russian regions and cities to prevent the election of Liberals, Socialists, and local Nationalists. The tsar was unwilling to be rid of the State Duma, despite these problems. Instead, using emergency powers, Stolypin and the tsar changed the electoral law and gave greater electoral value to
7085-438: The emperor himself retained a veto. The laws stipulated that ministers could not be appointed by, and were not responsible to, the Duma, thus denying responsible government at the executive level. Furthermore, Nicholas II had the power to dismiss the Duma and announce new elections whenever he wished; article 87 allowed him to pass temporary (emergency) laws by decrees. All these powers and prerogatives assured that, in practice,
7194-458: The end of the 16th century, continued in the 17th century. By the end of the 1640s, the Russians reached the Pacific Ocean, the Russian explorer Semyon Dezhnev , discovered the strait between Asia and America. Russian expansion in the Far East faced resistance from Qing China . After the war between Russia and China, the Treaty of Nerchinsk was signed, delimiting the territories in the Amur region. Rather than risk their estates in more civil war,
7303-473: The faction controlling the throne. However, the Time of Troubles caused the loss of much territory to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the Russo-Polish war , as well as to the Swedish Empire in the Ingrian War . In February 1613, after the chaos and expulsion of the Poles from Moscow, a national assembly elected Michael Romanov , the young son of Patriarch Filaret , to the throne. The Romanov dynasty ruled Russia until 1917. The immediate task of
7412-426: The famous question "Is this stupidity or treason?" Alexander Kerensky called the ministers "hired assassins" and "cowards" and said they were "guided by the contemptible Grishka Rasputin!" Stürmer and Alexander Protopopov asked in vain for the dissolution of the Duma. Stürmer's resignation looked like a concession to the Duma. Ivan Grigorovich and Dmitry Shuvayev declared in the Duma that they had confidence in
7521-458: The first Russian feudal representative body ( Zemsky Sobor ), curbed the influence of the clergy, and introduced local self-management in rural regions. Tsar also created the first regular army in Russia: Streltsy . His long Livonian War (1558–1583) for control of the Baltic coast and access to the sea trade ultimately proved a costly failure. Ivan managed to annex the Khanates of Kazan , Astrakhan , and Siberia . These conquests complicated
7630-414: The first central government bodies were created in Russia: Prikaz . The Sudebnik was adopted, the first set of laws since the 11th century. The double-headed eagle was adopted as the coat of arms of Russia . Ivan proclaimed his absolute sovereignty over all Russian princes and nobles. Refusing further tribute to the Tatars, Ivan initiated a series of attacks that opened the way for the complete defeat of
7739-416: The first time in his life, the tsar made a visit to the Tauride Palace , which made it practically impossible to hiss at the new prime minister. On 1 November 1916 ( Old Style ) the Duma reconvened and the government under Boris Stürmer was attacked by Pavel Milyukov in the State Duma, not assembled since February. In his speech he spoke of "Dark Forces", and highlighted numerous governmental failures with
7848-469: The foundations for a Russian national state. Ivan competed with his powerful northwestern rival, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania , for control over some of the semi-independent Upper Principalities in the upper Dnieper and Oka River basins. Through the defections of some princes, border skirmishes, and a long war with the Novgorod Republic, Ivan III was able to annex Novgorod and Tver. As
7957-474: The fourth from 19 July 1915 to 3 September, the fifth from 9 February to 20 June 1916, and the sixth from 1 November to 16 December 1916. No one exactly knew when they would resume their deliberations. It seems the last session was never opened (on 14 February), but kept closed on 27 February 1917. There was one promising new member in Alexander Kerensky , a Trudovik , but also Roman Malinovsky ,
8066-634: The impostor False Dmitriy I in 1605, then supported False Dmitry II in 1607. The decisive moment came when a combined Russian-Swedish army was routed by the Polish forces under hetman Stanisław Żółkiewski at the Battle of Klushino on 4 July [ O.S. 24 June] 1610. As the result of the battle, the Seven Boyars , a group of Russian nobles, deposed the tsar Vasily Shuysky on 27 July [ O.S. 17 July] 1610, and recognized
8175-414: The largest cities of the medieval world. The princes had to pay tribute to the Mongols of the Golden Horde, commonly called Tatars ; but in return they received charters authorizing them to act as deputies to the khans. In general, the princes were allowed considerable freedom to rule as they wished, while the Russian Orthodox Church even experienced a spiritual revival. The Mongols left their impact on
8284-407: The merchant Kuzma Minin and prince Dmitry Pozharsky , expelled the foreign forces from the capital on 4 November [ O.S. 22 October] 1612. The Russian statehood survived the "Time of Troubles" and the rule of weak or corrupt Tsars because of the strength of the government's central bureaucracy. Government functionaries continued to serve, regardless of the ruler's legitimacy or
8393-557: The migration of aggressive nomadic hordes from Asia to Europe via the Volga and Urals . Through these conquests, Russia acquired a significant Muslim Tatar population and emerged as a multiethnic and multiconfessional state. Also around this period, the mercantile Stroganov family established a firm foothold in the Urals and recruited Russian Cossacks to colonise Siberia. In the later part of his reign, Ivan divided his realm in two. In
8502-406: The minority Norse military aristocracy had merged with the native Slavic population, which also absorbed Greek Christian influences in the course of the multiple campaigns to loot Tsargrad , or Constantinople . One such campaign claimed the life of the foremost Slavic druzhina leader, Svyatoslav I , who was renowned for having crushed the power of the Khazars on the Volga. Kievan Rus'
8611-602: The most deputies (around 184). Second came an alliance of slightly more radical leftists, the Trudoviks (Laborites) with around 100 deputies. To the right of both were a number of smaller parties, including the Octobrists . Together, they had around 45 deputies. Other deputies, mainly from peasant groups, were unaffiliated. The Kadets were among the only political parties capable of consistently drawing voters due to their relatively moderate political stance. The Kadets drew from an especially urban population, often failing to draw
8720-435: The new electoral system would always generate a landowners-controlled Duma in which the tsar would have vast amounts of influence over, which in turn would be under complete submission to the Tsar, unlike the first two Dumas. In terms of legislation, the Duma supported an improvement in Russia's military capabilities, Stolypin's plans for land reform, and basic social welfare measures. The power of Nicholas' hated land captains
8829-673: The new monarch was to restore peace. Fortunately for Moscow, its major enemies, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Sweden , were engaged in a bitter conflict with each other, which provided Russia the opportunity to make peace with Sweden in 1617 and to sign a truce with the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1619. Recovery of lost territories began in the mid-17th century, when the Khmelnitsky Uprising (1648–1657) in Ukraine against Polish rule brought about
8938-529: The periphery of Kiev, would establish the basis for the modern Russian nation. The invading Mongols accelerated the fragmentation of the Rus '. In 1223, the disunited southern princes faced a Mongol raiding party at the Kalka River and were soundly defeated. In 1237–1238 the Mongols burnt down the city of Vladimir (4 February 1238) and other major cities of northeast Russia, routed the Russians at
9047-529: The population were subject to military levy and special taxes. Riots among peasants and citizens of Moscow at this time were endemic and included the Salt Riot (1648), Copper Riot (1662), and the Moscow Uprising (1682). By far the greatest peasant uprising in 17th-century Europe erupted in 1667. As the free settlers of South Russia, the Cossacks , reacted against the growing centralization of
9156-635: The princely family that ruled it collectively. Kiev's dominance waned, to the benefit of Vladimir-Suzdal in the north-east, Novgorod in the north, and Halych-Volhynia in the south-west. Conquest by the Mongol Golden Horde in the 13th century was the final blow. Kiev was destroyed. Halych-Volhynia would eventually be absorbed into the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , while the Mongol-dominated Vladimir-Suzdal and independent Novgorod Republic , two regions on
9265-401: The reign of Ivan IV (1547–1584), known as "Ivan the Terrible". He strengthened the position of the monarch to an unprecedented degree, as he ruthlessly subordinated the nobles to his will, exiling or executing many on the slightest provocation. Nevertheless, Ivan is often seen as a farsighted statesman who reformed Russia as he promulgated a new code of laws ( Sudebnik of 1550 ), established
9374-695: The resignation of all members of the Council of Ministers was needed, "to make it clear that they want to go in a new way." On Monday soldiers of the Volhynian Life Guards Regiment brought the Litovsky, Preobrazhensky , and Moskovsky Regiments out on the street to join the rebellion. On the 27th the Duma delegates received an order from his Majesty that he had decided to prorogue the Duma until April, leaving it with no legal authority to act. The Duma refused to obey, and gathered in
9483-494: The rioting by force. Mutinous soldiers of the fourth company of the Pavlovsky Life Guards Regiment refused to fall in on parade when commanded, shot two officers, and joined the protesters on the streets. Nikolai Pokrovsky believed that "no one neither the Duma, nor the government cannot do anything one without the other one." The liberal Vasily Maklakov and Bloc spokesman, expressed his opinion that
9592-553: The seventeen months of the "Tsarina's rule", from September 1915 to February 1917, Russia had four Prime Ministers, five Ministers of the Interior, three Foreign Ministers, three War Ministers, three Ministers of Transport and four Ministers of Agriculture. This "ministerial leapfrog", as it came to be known, not only removed competent men from power, but also disorganized the work of government since no one remained long enough in office to master their responsibilities. On 2 March 1917
9701-502: The state now fully sanctioning serfdom , runaway peasants became state fugitives, and the power of the landlords over the peasants "attached" to their land had become almost complete. Together, the state and the nobles placed an overwhelming burden of taxation on the peasants, whose rate was 100 times greater in the mid-17th century than it had been a century earlier. Likewise, middle-class urban tradesmen and craftsmen were assessed taxes, and were forbidden to change residence. All segments of
9810-609: The state, serfs escaped from their landlords and joined the rebels. The Cossack leader Stenka Razin led his followers up the Volga River, inciting peasant uprisings and replacing local governments with Cossack rule. The tsar's army finally crushed his forces in 1670; a year later Stenka was captured and beheaded. Yet, less than half a century later, the strains of military expeditions produced another revolt in Astrakhan , ultimately subdued. Much of Russia's expansion occurred in
9919-412: The state. By the 16th century, the rulers of Moscow considered the entire Russian territory their collective property. Various semi-independent princes still claimed specific territories, but Ivan III forced the lesser princes to acknowledge the grand prince of Moscow and his descendants as unquestioned rulers with control over military, judicial, and foreign affairs. Gradually, the Russian ruler emerged as
10028-452: The steppes along the Black Sea (Desht-e-Kipchak). Repelling their regular attacks, especially in Kiev, was a heavy burden for the southern areas of Rus'. The nomadic incursions caused a massive influx of Slavs to the safer, heavily forested regions of the north, particularly to the area known as Zalesye . Kievan Rus' ultimately disintegrated as a state because of in-fighting between members of
10137-458: The strike, demanding woman suffrage , an end to Russian food shortages, and the end of World War I. Although all gathering on the streets were absolutely forbidden, on 25 February, some 250,000 people were on strike. The tsar ordered Sergey Semyonovich Khabalov , an inexperienced and extremely indecisive commander of the Petrograd military district (and Nikolay Iudovich Ivanov ) to suppress
10246-418: The tsarist government. On 17 July 1915 the Duma reconvened for six weeks. Its former members became increasingly displeased with Tsarist control of military and governmental affairs and demanded its own reinstatement. When the tsar refused its call for the replacement of his cabinet on 21 August with a "Ministry of National Confidence", roughly half of the deputies formed a "Progressive Bloc", which in 1917 became
10355-452: The votes of landowners and owners of city properties, and less value to the votes of the peasantry, whom he accused of being "misled", and, in the process, breaking his own Fundamental Laws. This ensured the third Duma (7 November 1907 – 3 June 1912) would be dominated by gentry, landowners and businessmen. The number of deputies from non-Russian regions was greatly reduced. The system facilitated better, if hardly ideal, cooperation between
10464-883: The waterways from the eastern Baltic to the Black and Caspian Seas . According to the legendary Calling of the Varangians , recorded in several Rus' chronicles such as the Novgorod First Chronicle and Primary Chronicle , the Varangians Rurik , Sineus and Truvor were invited in the 860s to restore order in three towns – either Novgorod (most texts) or Staraya Ladoga ( Hypatian Codex ); Beloozero ; and Izborsk (most texts) or "Slovensk" ( Pskov Third Chronicle ), respectively. Their successors allegedly moved south and extended their authority to Kiev , which had been previously dominated by
10573-664: The way for an alternative makeup for the second Duma. The Second Duma (from 20 February 1907 to 3 June 1907) lasted 103 days. One of the new members was Vladimir Purishkevich , strongly opposed to the October Manifesto . The Bolsheviks and Mensheviks (that is, both factions of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party ) and the Socialist Revolutionaries all abandoned their policies of boycotting elections to
10682-585: The westernizing policies of Peter the Great, and ushered in the era of the Russian Enlightenment . Catherine's grandson, Alexander I , repulsed an invasion by the French Emperor Napoleon , leading Russia into the status of one of the great powers . Peasant revolts intensified during the nineteenth century, culminating with Alexander II abolishing Russian serfdom in 1861. In the following decades, reform efforts such as
10791-568: The zone known as the oprichnina , Ivan's followers carried out a series of bloody purges of the feudal aristocracy (whom he suspected of treachery after prince Andrey Kurbsky 's betrayal), culminating in the Massacre of Novgorod in 1570. This combined with the military losses, epidemics, and poor harvests so weakened Russia that the Crimean Tatars were able to sack central Russian regions and burn down Moscow in 1571 . However, in 1572
10900-401: Was also "a period of cultural depression and spiritual barrenness. Freedom was stamped out within the Russian lands. By his bigoted anti-Catholicism Ivan brought down the curtain between Russia and the west. For the sake of territorial aggrandizement he deprived his country of the fruits of Western learning and civilization." The development of the Tsar's autocratic powers reached a peak during
11009-458: Was also of limited political influence. The first session was held from 15 November 1912 to 25 June 1913, and the second session from 15 October 1913 to 14 June 1914. On 1 July 1914 the tsar suggested that the Duma should be reduced to merely a consultative body, but an extraordinary session was held on 26 July 1914 during the July Crisis . The third session gathered from 27 to 29 January 1915,
11118-497: Was consistently reduced. It also supported more regressive laws, however, such as on the question of Finnish autonomy and Russification , with a fear of the empire breaking up being prevalent. Since the dissolution of the Second Duma a very large proportion of the empire was either under martial law, or one of the milder forms of the state of siege. It was forbidden, for instance, at various times and in various places, to refer to
11227-478: Was dominated by gentry, landowners, and businessmen. The fourth duma held five sessions; it existed until 2 March 1917, and was formally dissolved on 6 October 1917. Coming under pressure from the Russian Revolution of 1905 , on August 6, 1905 (O.S.), Sergei Witte (appointed by Nicholas II to manage peace negotiations with Japan after the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905) issued a manifesto about
11336-415: Was elected Chairman. Lev Urusov held a famous speech. Scared by this liberalism, emperor dissolved the parliament, reportedly saying "Curse the Duma. It is all Witte's doing". The same day, Pyotr Stolypin was named as the new prime minister who promoted a coalition cabinet , as did Vasily Maklakov , Alexander Izvolsky , Dmitri Trepov and the emperor. In frustration, Pavel Milyukov , who regarded
11445-403: Was formed, fearing Rasputin's influence over Tsarina Alexandra would increase. The Duma gathered on 9 February 1916 after the 76-year-old Ivan Goremykin had been replaced by Boris Stürmer as prime minister and on the condition not to mention Rasputin. The deputies were disappointed when Stürmer held his speech. Because of the war, he said, it was not the time for constitutional reforms. For
11554-592: Was introduced by Yaroslav the Wise . From the onset, the Kievan princes followed the Byzantine example and kept the Church dependent on them. By the 11th century, particularly during the reign of Yaroslav the Wise , Kievan Rus' displayed an economy and achievements in architecture and literature superior to those that then existed in the western part of the continent. Compared with the languages of European Christendom,
11663-711: Was not asked to remain in session because it would only be in the way." The Duma volunteered its own dissolution until 14 February 1915. A serious conflict arose in January as the government kept information on the battlefield (in April at Gorlice ) secret to the Duma. In May Guchkov initiated the War Industries Committees in order to unite industrialists who were supplying the army with ammunition and military equipment, to mobilize industry for war needs and prolonged military action, to put political pressure on
11772-470: Was rejected by Duma, it was dissolved on 3 June by an ukase (imperial decree) in what became known as the Coup of June 1907 . On June 3, 1907, the Second Duma was dissolved. The reason was an alleged insurrection attempt planned by Social Democrat members of the Duma based on dubious evidence. In the manifesto dissolving the Duma, Nicholas II went into considerable detail to explain his action: “To Our regret,
11881-510: Was superfluous, and that the only two options left were repression or a social revolution." On 19 November Vladimir Purishkevich , one of the founders of the Black Hundreds , gave a speech in the Duma. He declared the monarchy had become discredited because of what he called the "ministerial leapfrog". On 2 December, Alexander Trepov ascended the tribune in the Duma to read the government programme. The deputies shouted "down with
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