Russian Empire (Cherry, Plum, and Chrysanthemum)

The Russian Empire (Pre-reform Russian orthography: Россійская Имперія; Modern Russian: Российская империя, Rossiyskaya Imperiya) was an absolute monarchy (later with a constitution one) that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the short-lived Russian Republic, which was in turn succeeded by the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. One of the largest empires in world history, the Russian Empire was surpassed in landmass only by the British and Mongol empires. At one point in 1866, it stretched from eastern Europe across Asia and into North America.