Russian Empire (A Free Russia)

The Russian Empire (Pre-reform Russian orthography: Россійская Имперія, Modern Russian: Российская Империя, translit: Rossiyskaya Imperiya) was a state that existed from 1721 until the Great Reformation of 1905 to 1909. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the modern-day Russian Federation. It was one of the largest empires in world history, surpassed in landmass only by the British and Mongol empires. At one point in 1866, it stretched from the Black Sea across the Asian continent and into North America. At the beginning of the 19th century the Russian Empire extended from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Black Sea on the south, from the Baltic Sea on the west to the Pacific Ocean on the east. With 125.6 million subjects registered by the 1897 census, it had the third largest population of the world at the time, after Qing China and the British Empire. Like all empires it represented a large disparity in economic, ethnic, and religious positions. Its government, ruled by the Emperor, was the last absolute monarchy in Europe at the time of its demise.

Absolute Monarchy came to an end during the early twentieth century. The reign of Nicholas II almost saw the fall of the Russian Empire from being one of the foremost great powers of the world to economic and military collapse. In 1905, Russia finally fell to revolution. Much of the population protested against the Tsar and the aristocracy, workers went on strike and political figures were assassinated. When Nicholas ordered the revolt to be put down by force, the revolution became worse and Russian came close to becoming a socialist republic. In November, Nicholas abdicated in favor of his brother, Michael. Michael asked Viktor Chernov to form a new government and enact reform within the empire.

During the leadership of Chernov, Russia recovered from the plagues of Nicholas' reign, however, some were still dissatisfied. Bolsheviks, lead by Leon Trotsky and Vladimir Lenin, staged a massive uprising. The uprising failed and the two men were exiled to the United States. From 1906 to 1909, states in the Baltic region gained independence and the empire was reconstituted into the Russian Federation.