Ivan III of Russia

Alexander II is known today as the “Tsar Liberator. He held a vision of Russia as a major world power, a Russia that was westernized, industrialized, and educated. However, his reforms did not go so smoothly. With many attempts to take his life were made throughout his reign, he was finally assassinated before the completion of his reforms in March 1881. Was the reforms he made deemed a success? The humiliation of the Crimean War had greatly exposed Russia's main problems, involving its lack…

In 1917, Russia went through the most drastic political change in the country’s history. The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, over threw Czar Nicholas II, whose family had been in control of Russia for over 300 years. After the Bolsheviks took power, Vladimir Lenin began to rebuild Russia. His focus was primarily in the political and economic spheres of Russian Life. Lenin did not place much of an importance on the cultural sphere of Russian life. This led to a period of tolerance in which…

At the end of the nineteenth century, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia reluctantly took command of an empire overflowing with revolutionaries seeking change in response to hardships. His shy personality, coupled with his lack of political education, made him unfit to handle the war-torn chaos that would soon darken Russian skies. Nicholas’ series of unfortunate, unprepared and uninformed decisions began with his marriage and would ultimately lead to the demise of his imperial family’s…

Although many of Alexander II’s reforms appeared liberal in nature, most of them did not turn out so in practice and were simply initiated to promote stability in the Russian Empire. Furthermore, Alexander II was reluctant to relinquish his absolute power. Combined with the fact that he displayed traits of an autocrat from time to time, particularly after an assassination attempt in 1866, these reasons make ‘Tsar Liberator’ an unsuitable title for him. Instead, a better term to describe…

I of Tver. Later generations assigned other more illustrious pedigrees to Kobyla, however, they are highly unlikely to be true. An 18th century genealogy chart even claimed that Kobyla was the son of the Prussian prince Glanda Kambila, who came to Russia in the second half of the 13th century, fleeing the invading Germans. Indeed, one of the leaders of the Prussian rebellion…

Nicholas Romanov II’s Failures as a Leader Introduction For over three hundred years, Russia was ruled by the Romanov dynasty. In 1917, that monarchy ended with Nicholas II, the last tsar. Nicholas II’s father, Tsar Alexander III died in 1894 when Nicholas II was only twenty-six years old. Nicholas inherited the role as supreme autocrat of Russia, which contained one sixth of the world’s land mass and over a hundred and thirty million people (Nilsen). When Nicholas II’s reign started, millions…

manifested themselves were especially apparent in Russia. For much of the century, the name Russia was obsolete; in its place, the communist Soviet Union took root. Prior to the communist takeover, Russia was under the control of the Romanov dynasty. This particular family was in power for nearly three centuries. However, as time pressed onward, the bloodline and ruling capabilities grew weak and were unable to withstand the ongoing problems that occurred in Russia. The curious and calamitous…

freed the serf’s. Freed serfs could now purchase land from their former landowner with money that was borrowed from the government. This loan had to be paid back in annual redemption payments, which place a burden of the serfs and their families. Russia economic and social stability was supposed to improve and make a way for industrial and commercial growth, but at the end Emancipation failure. It was not until many years later that the serfdom dream of being free was final…

the state of Russia’s economic backwardness as well as the struggle of Slavophile vs Western ideas. One reason Alexander II would have decided on a policy of reform in Russia would be the impact of the Crimean war. The war and namely the humiliating defeat upon Russia will have been a real turning point for those living in Russia. It brought to light the horrific failings of Russian society, for example the serfs being used as unwilling conscripts which would result in a lack of war effort and…

This is the last entry from the diary of Tsarina Alexandra, the wife of Nicholas II, written just before she was executed by the Bolsheviks along with the rest of the royal family. The royal family was not always regarded with such disdain, and in fact, many Russian citizens once saw the Tsar, Nicholas II, as a paternal figure, appointed by God himself to lead the nation. The Tsar himself however, was indifferent to politics. In a private conversation with a friend he even said, “I am not…