- On November 2, 1721, Russia became an empire, and Peter I was proclaimed the first emperor. We know a lot about Peter as a ruler. What kind of person was he?

- Like many talented and brilliant people, Peter was a very difficult person. During the war with Sweden, one of Peter's generals, Vasily Dolgorukov, said: “If not for Catherine ( wife of Peter I - Catherine I -RT), I would go to the Swedes." It was so hard to deal with Peter. According to letters and many other testimonies of that era, it is clear how people around were afraid of Peter. He behaved very cruelly towards everyone. Peter believed that this was the only way to get people around him to do something. This style of Peter's communication with people also affected the government of the country.

On the other hand, Peter was in his own way a very touching person, even defenseless somewhere, especially when it came to his personal life. He often wrote some kind words to his subjects, whose wife or children, for example, had died. Peter often used folk expressions and proverbs in his letters and speeches. It is worth noting that Peter had a good sense of humor, but in some places it was very tough.

Peter often experienced warm and friendly feelings for his entourage. He was indulgent to the mistakes of his friends, which they actively used. Peter immensely loved the statesman Alexander Menshikov, but by the end of his life he was disappointed in him. In general, Peter is a fanatic of his work. He gave his all to the service of the state.

— Under what circumstances was Russia proclaimed an empire?

- The Empire was a prize to the winner in the Northern War, which Russia fought with Sweden from 1700 to 1721. This victory was highly valued by Peter. He believed that for Russia it was a serious challenge, which she coped with. Enormous funds and resources were spent to win the war. As a result, in 1721 Russia reached the Baltic Sea, seized many territories that belonged to Sweden, and began to dominate Eastern Europe. Based on these achievements, the idea of ​​declaring Russia an empire arose. At that time, there was only one empire in Europe - the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation. Thanks to the victory in the Northern War, Russia, led by Peter, reached unprecedented heights, approaching in its power the Holy Roman Empire.

From October-November 1721, Peter began to position himself as a European ruler, and Russians as Europeans. This was a curiosity for everyone, since before that the “Russian world” was in isolation, considering itself the heir to the Byzantine Empire. But Peter did not want this to continue. Byzantium - an ancient state that separated from the Roman Empire, existed for more than 1000 years and collapsed under the onslaught of the Ottoman Empire. For Peter, the example of Byzantium was instructive. He believed that Russia should not repeat the fate of Byzantium. Peter believed that Russia should be feared, respected, that it should have a strong army and navy.

On the other hand, the recognition of Russia as a European country led to the fact that Peter borrowed many symbols of the European empire for himself. Actually, the proclamation of an empire and the adoption of the title of emperor were the symbols that allowed Russia to embark on the path of Europeanization in international relations. For Peter, the empire meant joining the community of powerful European powers. Peter was guided by many Roman imperial symbols. This was traced in the name of the city - St. Petersburg (Saint Peter), in coins with the image of a Roman profile. Byzantine symbols, which underlay pre-Petrine Russia, did not satisfy Peter. He did not like the Golden Horde, Asian heritage. Peter sought to achieve the reputation of Russia in the international arena through the use of imperial symbols and a powerful armed force.

Why didn't this happen before?

— In the middle of the 17th century, after the end of the Time of Troubles, the Russian state was gradually restored. This process took place against the backdrop of domination among the upper and lower classes of the population of medieval consciousness. Therefore, before Peter, the consciousness and ideas that were still under Ivan the Terrible and earlier dominated. It was Peter who completely abandoned such thinking and embarked on the path of searching for a new ideology. It was based on the imperial idea.

What did the title of emperor mean?

- For Peter, it meant the establishment of a new succession from Ancient Rome, and not from Byzantium. The title placed him at the level of the Holy Roman Emperor. Before Peter, no one in Europe received such a title. Only later did the British Empire, the German Empire appear. The title of emperor meant the establishment of a new ritual order.

- What has changed in the lives of ordinary people after Russia became an empire?

- In general, nothing, but in the mental and spiritual sense, the transformation of Russia into an empire, into a European state, led to a close rapprochement with Europe. Russian newspapers of the 18th century were filled with news from Western countries! This world became their own for the Russian people, their everyday and universal interests began to coincide.

On the other hand, Russia, after becoming an empire, switched to an active foreign policy built on the principles of domination. A huge number of people began to get involved in this policy. Many people fought not to defend their country, but to conquer new territories for the empire.

- How to explain the fact that the anthem of the Russian Empire was called "God Save the Tsar"? Why not "emperor"?

- In the title of the emperor, the word king was repeated several times. These are synonymous names for a monarch. It is more important to note the fact that this anthem repeated the anthem of the British Empire, and this was no accident. The anthem supported the symbolism of the imperial spirit. Despite the fact that Peter refused to follow the European canons, many ties with Ancient Russia remained, in particular, in the rituals of the coronation and in the preservation of the title of king.

Edward Epstein

I WILL START WITH THE TERRITORIES.
The Russian Empire was much larger than Bolshevik Russia, remained larger even after all Stalin's acquisitions, at the cost of millions of lives, and of course incomparably larger compared to the Russian Federation.
But the main thing, of course, is not the territory - a kilometer or a kilometer is different.
The Russian Empire was not just larger than the USSR and the Russian Federation, it surpassed the USSR and the Russian Federation in the quality of many, then lost, lands: Poland, Finland, and later Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic states.
So - the USSR and the Russian Federation are smaller than the Russian Empire, and these empires have become more Asian and less European.

LEVEL OF FREEDOM.
In the Russian Empire there was a free sale of all types of weapons. Before the revolution of 1917, weapons were freely sold and their free carrying was allowed. Which indicates the level of freedom and trust, not in the USSR, not in the Russian Federation, the authorities did not allow this.
In the Russian Empire, there was a free sale of all types of weapons, including models for concealed carry.
Moreover, anticipating the cries of the Soviets about the favorite stamps of Soviet propaganda "serfdom", I will add that in 1861 serfdom was abolished in Russia by the sovereign emperor, and not by Lenin, and the serfs also had weapons, a hut without at least a hunting rifle - a poor hut.
When Questions arose, the serfs could easily assemble an armed detachment.
Now answer, were the serfs slaves?
Or are today's peasants more likely to be slaves, paying much more "tithes"?
With the scoop, the peasants were completely driven into the bondage of collective farms with the confiscation of private property, where they worked for sticks (workdays), often starving and receiving up to 10 years for stealing spikelets.
During the years of the Bolshevik paradise in some families, most of the children died of starvation. Prodrazverstki, terror and decossackization with dispossession completed the whole tragedy.

A favorite myth of the Bolsheviks is that Russian peasants were always the poorest in Europe.
This is a very common idea in our society, while the Europeans themselves, who have lived in Russia for a long time and had the opportunity to compare the standard of living of Russians with the peoples of Europe, give completely different information about the life of the Russian people. Croat and Catholic Yuri Krizhanich (1618 - 1683), who lived in Russia for more than 15 years and studied the Russian life of that time well, noted the greater wealth and higher standard of living of the population of Moscow Russia in the 17th century. compared to its closest neighbors - "Russian land is richer and better than Lithuanian, Polish and Swedish."
At the same time, according to sources, the states of Western and Southern Europe - Spain, Italy, France, England at that time surpassed Russia in wealth and standard of living of the upper classes.
However, at the same time, the lower classes - peasants and townspeople, "live in Russia much better and more conveniently than in those rich countries." It is interesting that even peasants and serfs in Russia at that time wore shirts decorated with gold and pearls. Krizhanich, being critical of many Russian traditions, at the same time writes that both poor and rich people in Russia, unlike Western Europe, do not differ much in their table "they eat rye bread, and fish and meat." As a result, Krizhanich concludes - "in no other kingdom do ordinary people live so well, and nowhere do they have such rights as here."

The myth and the fact that the serfs did not have any rights, the landowners tortured and killed the peasants with impunity.
The rights of serfs were limited in comparison with other groups of the population, however, a serf could be a plaintiff and a witness in court, swore allegiance to the king, had the right, with the consent of the landowner, to move to other estates. According to one of the greatest contemporary historians, B. N. Mironov, “contrary to the popular opinion in the literature, the peasants both legally and in fact up to 1861 had the right to complain about their landowners and actively used it” (1). In 1767, Catherine II forbade filing complaints to her personally, "past the governments established for that."
Unlike many European countries (for example, Poland, where the murder of a serf was not considered a state crime at all and was subject only to church punishment), the laws of Russia protected the life and property of peasants from landowners. "Killing a serf was treated as a serious criminal offence." The Cathedral Code of 1649 shares the responsibility of the landowner for the unintentional and premeditated murder of a peasant. In the event of an unintentional murder (in a fight), the nobleman was imprisoned until the special order of the king. In the premeditated murder of a peasant, the guilty person was executed, regardless of social origin. During the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna, when the death penalty in Russia was actually abolished, nobles guilty of the death of their peasants were usually sent to hard labor.

All current bans on weapons are a purely Soviet invention; there was no such garbage under the tsar-father. Even after the revolution of 1905, with street fighting, only military and especially powerful pistols were seized from the population, and most of the arsenal (quite suitable to make a hole in the forehead of a forgotten worker) remained in their hands.
Hunting weapons were not limited at all and were sold almost by weight. The right of a citizen to have a trunk was regarded as natural and inalienable.

At the same time, the armament of certain groups of the population (for example, coachmen) reached 100%. In other words, if today’s particularly violent people from the Caucasus fell into Imperial Russia at the beginning of the 20th century and started doing what they are doing now, passers-by would simply shoot them without further ado, and that’s it.
At the same time, the concept of "Exceeding the limits of self-defense" did not exist then, so the firing squad would not even be judged.
In summary: in 100 years, the Russians have gone from free armed people ("Tsar's serfs" with entire household arsenals? Seriously?) to downtrodden unarmed slaves, forced to gather rallies against another bloody rafik, whom the old Russians would simply shoot.
Progress! It goes without saying that the discussion "is it possible to allow weapons to the population?" possible only in the Soviet world among the Soviet people. For Russians from Historical Russia, such a question, in principle, did not arise.

DEGRADATION AND ALCOHOL.
Before the revolution, Russia (Russian Empire) was the most teetotal country in Europe Russia has traditionally been one of the most sober countries in Europe. Only Norway drank less than us in Europe. We stood at the penultimate place in the world in terms of per capita alcohol consumption for three centuries from the 17th to the beginning of the 20th century.
Not the USSR, let alone the Russian Federation, this cannot be boasted of, as well as moral principles, family values ​​and traditions. All this is flushed down the toilet and forgotten.
For that Russian Empire, the Russian Federation is much worse than today's Gay Europe is for us.
And I almost forgot, the Russian Federation ranks 4th in the world in eating honey, after Moldova ...

INDUSTRY AND INCOME.
The Russian Empire entered the 20th century with the largest and best oil producing and refining industry in the world: 94% of all oil was processed domestically.
In 1904, there were 21 million horses in Russia (around 75 million worldwide): 60% of Russian peasant farms had 3 or more horses!
In terms of the pace of industrial production, the Russian Empire by 1914 took the 1st place.
In 1913, Russia earned as much from the sale of butter abroad as from gold mining.
The largest estate in the Russian Empire was the peasantry.
Before the First World War, Russia produced about the same amount of bread as the United States, Canada and Argentina combined, and they themselves were leaders in this industry.
THE BOLSHEVIKS DID NOT HAVE TO DREAM ABOUT THIS, AS TODAY'S RF.
Where a poor village lies in ruins, under the general alcoholism of the population of the middle zone, and agriculture suddenly died.
Especially Soviet myths collapse well when you read the memoirs of some prominent figures of the USSR.

For example, from the memoirs of the First Secretary N.S. Khrushchev ....

By the 20th century a fairly high standard of living was also characteristic of the workers' provinces. N. S. Khrushchev recalled that until 1917, working as a mechanic at a Donetsk mine, he lived better financially than in the 1930s, when he was a high-ranking party official in Moscow “... working as a simple mechanic, he earned 45 rubles. at prices for black bread of 2 kopecks, for white bread - 4 kopecks, a pound of fat - 22 kopecks, an egg cost a kopeck, boots, the best "Skorokhodovskie" - 7 rubles. What is there to compare. When I did party work in Moscow, I didn’t even have half of it, although I occupied a rather high place. Then Khrushchev honestly admits that in the 1930s. "Other people were even worse off than I was." It is clear that ordinary workers and employees received much less than the secretary of the Moscow City Party Committee.
But, perhaps, N. S. Khrushchev belonged to a highly skilled labor aristocracy and his standard of living differed sharply from the majority of workers? By 1917, Khrushchev was only 22 years old and he simply did not have time to get such a qualification. In 1909, a contemporary, demanding to increase the salary of young scientists, reports - “only a bad locksmith receives 50 rubles. per month - the salary of a candidate for professor - and a good locksmith receives 80 - 90 rubles. per month". Consequently, the young N. S. Khrushchev received not as a representative of the labor aristocracy, but as a "bad locksmith". His standard of living was typical.
In 1917 there was a rupture of national self-consciousness. The main business of the cultural policy of the Bolsheviks was the creation of the Soviet myth, part of which was the formation of the negative image of pre-revolutionary Russia.

Unlike the scientific world, the mass public consciousness lives on myths. Every society has its own national historical myth, which plays a central role in national identity. A society that has lost this national myth is doomed to collapse sooner or later. Everywhere in the world, the national myth is inclined to see the history of its people better than it is - to remember the heroic eras and forget about the facts that are unpleasant for society. A feature of modern Russia is that here, on the contrary, the historical myth represents the past of our country in many ways worse than it was in reality.

P.S. Incidentally, the first head of state to officially announce the idea of ​​world disarmament was the Russian Emperor Nicholas II: he proposed this to the heads of European states in 1898 in The Hague.

Twilight of the Russian Empire Lyskov Dmitry Yurievich

Chapter 4. Demographics. Why did the Russian people die in the Orthodox empire?

[In the original version, the title of the chapter looked like "Why did the Russian people die in the Orthodox Empire?". Readers correctly pointed out that it is not correct to speak of "extinction" in this case - there has been a change in the proportion of Russian and non-Russian peoples of European Russia.]

The rapid growth of the population of the Russian Empire in the second half of the 19th century is usually presented as an unambiguously positive fact, evidence of an improvement in the quality of life against the background of general economic growth in the country. A closer look at the problem leads, however, to disappointing conclusions: along with the overall growth, the share of the Russian, and more broadly, the Orthodox population of Russia has been declining.

For a country whose state ideology was the triad "Autocracy, Orthodoxy, Nationality", one of the important aspects of foreign policy - the protection of the Slavs and Orthodox around the world, this state of affairs looks unthinkable. However, the data show that in Russia itself, the Orthodox were the most disadvantaged part of society, the share of the Russian population, in comparison with other peoples, did not grow, but decreased.

A.Kh. Benkendorf, head of the III department of the Imperial Chancellery, in a report on the mood of the peasants (1839) noted: “The people constantly talk about the fact that all foreigners in Russia, Chukhnas, Mordovians, Chuvashs, Samoyeds, Tatars, etc. are free , and some Russians, Orthodox - slaves, contrary to the Holy Scriptures.

The abolition of serfdom in 1861 only formally improved the situation. “By the end of the 70s, the peasants were driven to despair,” notes the historian N.A. Troitsky. They suffered from landlessness, extortions and duties. peasant - 5.2 acres, and the amount of taxes from the peasants was more than twice the profitability of peasant farms.Temporary disasters were added to the permanent disasters: crop failure in 1879 and famine in 1880, the ruinous consequences of the Russian-Turkish war.Here is how he painted the hopelessness of the fate of the Russian post-reform peasant poet ... P.F. Yakubovich:

And the plowman, discouraged,

He stands over the dead nag with a tear in his eyes.

And he sees in the distance a bent hut,

Sick faces of half-naked children

And he knows every day promises him loss,

I will resent a new one, poison the silent tears.

The data of a study of the level of infant mortality in Russia among representatives of different religions are indicative: "... in the Saratov province, the mortality rate of children in the first year of life (per 1000 births) was 270.2 cases, among the Orthodox - 286.8, among schismatics - 241, 8, Lutherans and Catholics - 163.5, Mohammedans - 118.4 ".

Statistical analysis of the question is given by B.N. Mironov: “The 1897 census contains information on the distribution of the population by age and native language, which allows answering the question: did the proportion of people who considered Russian as their native language change in the post-reform period (Russian was also Ukrainian and Belarusian languages).

Using a mathematical model to analyze the statistics of the 1897 census, he comes to the following conclusions:

"The percentage of the Russian population [in European Russia] from 1857 to 1897 not only did not increase, but even decreased from 83.6 to 79.8 ... Perhaps the decrease in the share of Russians in the European part of the country was due to their migration to Siberia, Central Asia and other regions of Russia?

Thus, due to the over-exploitation to which the predominantly Russian, Orthodox population of European Russia was subjected (serfdom and its remnants did not apply to other peoples), the Russian Empire was in the process of reducing the share of Russians (which also included Ukrainians and Belarusians) - against the backdrop of a rapid population growth at the turn of the XIX - XX centuries.

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The formation of the Russian Empire happened on October 22, 1721, according to the old style, or on November 2. It was on this day that the last Russian tsar, Peter the Great, declared himself emperor of Russia. This happened as one of the consequences of the northern war, after which the Senate asked Peter 1 to accept the title of Emperor of the country. The state received the name "Russian Empire". Its capital was the city of St. Petersburg. For all the time, the capital was transferred to Moscow only for 2 years (from 1728 to 1730).

Territory of the Russian Empire

Considering the history of Russia of that era, it must be remembered that at the time of the formation of the empire, large territories were annexed to the country. This became possible thanks to the successful foreign policy of the country, which was led by Peter 1. He created a new history, a history that returned Russia to the ranks of world leaders and powers whose opinion should be reckoned with.

The territory of the Russian Empire was 21.8 million km2. It was the second largest country in the world. In the first place was the British Empire with its numerous colonies. Most of them have retained their status to this day. The first laws of the country divided its territory into 8 provinces, each of which was controlled by a governor. He had full local authority, including the judiciary. Later, Catherine 2 increased the number of provinces to 50. Of course, this was done not by annexing new lands, but by crushing them. This greatly increased the state apparatus and rather significantly reduced the effectiveness of local government in the country. We will talk about this in more detail in the corresponding article. It should be noted that at the time of the collapse of the Russian Empire, its territory consisted of 78 provinces. The largest cities in the country were:

1. St. Petersburg.
2. Moscow.
3. Warsaw.
4. Odessa.
5. Lodz.
6. Riga.
7. Kyiv.
8. Kharkov.
9. Tiflis.
10. Tashkent.

The history of the Russian Empire is full of both bright and negative moments. In this time period, which lasted less than two centuries, a huge number of fateful moments were invested in the fate of our country. It was during the period of the Russian Empire that the Patriotic War, campaigns in the Caucasus, campaigns in India, European campaigns took place. The country developed dynamically. The reforms affected absolutely all aspects of life. It was the history of the Russian Empire that gave our country great commanders, whose names are on the lips to this day not only in Russia, but throughout Europe - Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov and Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov. These illustrious generals forever inscribed their names in the history of our country and covered Russian weapons with eternal glory.

Map

We present a map of the Russian Empire, a brief history of which we are considering, which shows the European part of the country with all the changes that have occurred in terms of territories over the years of the existence of the state.

Population

By the end of the 18th century, the Russian Empire was the largest country in the world in terms of area. Its scale was such that the messenger, who was sent to all corners of the country to report the death of Catherine 2, arrived in Kamchatka after 3 months! And this despite the fact that the messenger rode almost 200 km daily.

Russia was also the most populous country. In 1800, about 40 million people lived in the Russian Empire, most of them in the European part of the country. A little less than 3 million lived beyond the Urals. The national composition of the country was motley:

• East Slavs. Russians (Great Russians), Ukrainians (Little Russians), Belarusians. For a long time, almost until the very end of the Empire, it was considered a single people.
• Estonians, Latvians, Latvians and Germans lived in the Baltics.
• Finno-Ugric (Mordovians, Karelians, Udmurts, etc.), Altai (Kalmyks) and Turkic (Bashkirs, Tatars, etc.) peoples.
• The peoples of Siberia and the Far East (Yakuts, Evens, Buryats, Chukchi, etc.).

In the course of the formation of the country, part of the Kazakhs and Jews who lived on the territory of Poland, who, after its collapse, went to Russia, turned out to be its citizenship.

The main class in the country were peasants (about 90%). Other classes: philistinism (4%), merchants (1%), and the remaining 5% of the population were distributed among the Cossacks, the clergy and the nobility. This is the classic structure of an agrarian society. Indeed, the main occupation of the Russian Empire was agriculture. It is no coincidence that all the indicators that lovers of the tsarist regime are so proud of today are related to agriculture (we are talking about the import of grain and butter).

By the end of the 19th century, 128.9 million people lived in Russia, of which 16 million lived in cities, and the rest in villages.

Political system

The Russian Empire was autocratic in the form of its government, where all power was concentrated in the hands of one person - the emperor, who was often called, in the old manner, the king. Peter 1 laid down in the laws of Russia precisely the unlimited power of the monarch, which ensured the autocracy. Simultaneously with the state, the autocrat actually controlled the church.

An important point - after the reign of Paul 1, autocracy in Russia could no longer be called absolute. This happened due to the fact that Paul 1 issued a decree that canceled the system for the transfer of the throne, established by Peter 1. Peter Alekseevich Romanov, let me remind you, decided that the ruler himself determines his successor. Some historians today speak of the negative of this document, but this is precisely the essence of autocracy - the ruler makes all decisions, including about his successor. After Paul 1, the system returned, in which the son inherits the throne after his father.

Rulers of the country

Below is a list of all the rulers of the Russian Empire during the period of its existence (1721-1917).

Rulers of the Russian Empire

Emperor	Years of government
Peter 1	1721-1725
Catherine 1	1725-1727
Peter 2	1727-1730
Anna Ioannovna	1730-1740
Ivan 6	1740-1741
Elizabeth 1	1741-1762
Peter 3	1762
Catherine 2	1762-1796
Pavel 1	1796-1801
Alexander 1	1801-1825
Nicholas 1	1825-1855
Alexander 2	1855-1881
Alexander 3	1881-1894
Nicholas 2	1894-1917

All the rulers were from the Romanov dynasty, and after the overthrow of Nicholas 2 and the murder of himself and his family by the Bolsheviks, the dynasty was interrupted, and the Russian Empire ceased to exist, changing the form of statehood to the USSR.

Main dates

During its existence, and this is almost 200 years, the Russian Empire has experienced many important moments and events that have had an impact on the state and people.

• 1722 - Table of ranks
• 1799 - Suvorov's foreign campaigns in Italy and Switzerland
• 1809 - Accession of Finland
• 1812 - Patriotic War
• 1817-1864 - Caucasian War
• 1825 (December 14) - Decembrist uprising
• 1867 Sale of Alaska
• 1881 (March 1) the murder of Alexander 2
• 1905 (January 9) - Bloody Sunday
• 1914-1918 - World War I
• 1917 - February and October revolutions

End of the Empire

The history of the Russian Empire ended on September 1, 1917, according to the old style. It was on this day that the Republic was proclaimed. This was proclaimed by Kerensky, who by law did not have the right to do so, so declaring Russia a Republic can safely be called illegal. Only the Constituent Assembly had the authority to make such a declaration. The fall of the Russian Empire is closely connected with the history of its last emperor, Nicholas 2. This emperor had all the qualities of a worthy person, but had an indecisive character. It was because of this that the riots occurred in the country that cost Nicholas himself 2 lives, and the Russian Empire - existence. Nicholas 2 failed to severely suppress the revolutionary and terrorist activities of the Bolsheviks in the country. True, there were objective reasons for this. Chief among which, the First World War, in which the Russian Empire was involved and exhausted in it. The Russian Empire was replaced by a new type of state structure of the country - the USSR.