Russian Empire: A History from Beginning to End (History of Russia), by Hourly History.

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RUSSIAN EMPIRE: A HISTORY

FROM BEGINNING TO END

(History of Russia),

by Hourly History.

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"The revolution that precipitated the end of the Russian Empire caused shockwaves that reverberated around the world for generations to come. Germany came close to revolution in the immediate aftermath of World War I, and communist and socialist movements grew in many other European countries. This growth led to a reaction in an equal growth of right-wing nationalist movements, which were appalled at what happened to the Russian Empire and determined to avoid the same situation in their own countries. In Italy and Germany, right-wing movements would take control and eventually lead to the fascist governments of Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler. As far away as China, the country was divided between the right-wing followers of General Chiang Kai-shek and the communist followers of Mao Zedong.

"The sudden disintegration of the Russian Empire was a stunning shock, but in retrospect, it is easy to discern its roots. For over one hundred years and particularly under the rule of Peter the Great and Catherine the Great, Russia carved out a place for itself as one of the great powers. The final victory over Napoleon in 1812 was a critical milestone and one that assured the Russian Empire of its place in world affairs. From the outside, Russia looked massively powerful, and its army was one of the largest and most feared in the world. On the inside, things looked very different."

Hereon author discourses on flaws of Russia and heads blame on system, tsars, etc.

Fact is most peasants of European nations, even those of Germany and Britain, fared no better, except the latter had colonies to use for either migration or looting, which nevertheless kept say, East End, in abject poverty in any case. Similarly the peasants of Eastern parts of Germany who were Polish, who really were no better off than their neighbour's east.

And moreover, climate and land of Russia does not make for easy prosperity of agriculture, whatever the system of government.

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"“Beggars in the streets of London were at that time leading the lives of princes, compared to the life of our soldiers in the Crimea.”

"—Florence Nightingale"

This was the root of the menace that has terrorized the world today - this unreasonable bias against Russia on part of West.

And this bias was despite all the royal intermarriages between Romanov clan and royals of other European countries, of England and Denmark, and various royals of Germany, too.

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"“Tsar of the land of Russia, if you hear the sound of the bell which will tell you that Grigori has been killed, you must know this: if it was your relations who have wrought my death then no one of your family. . . will remain alive for more than two years. They will be killed by the Russian people.”

"—Grigori Rasputin"

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"While the tsar might have been happy, for the vast majority of Russian people, the new legislative assembly was a huge disappointment. Stolypin was able to introduce land reforms that transformed Russian agricultural efficiency. Russian industry also began to improve, but for the vast majority of Russian people, the existence of the Duma made little practical difference. Nevertheless, Stolypin’s eventual fall from grace with the tsar came not through political differences but due to disagreements about an enigmatic and charismatic holy man: the illiterate Siberian Grigori Rasputin.

"Rasputin first met the tsar and his family in 1905, and some years later, he allegedly saved the life of the tsarevich using mystical powers. The empress, Alexandra, seemed totally convinced of Rasputin’s powers and insisted on keeping him in the royal court, despite the fact that he was disheveled, filthy (he refused to bathe or even wash), and attempted to seduce virtually every woman he encountered. By 1911, Rasputin’s influence on the tsar and his family was common knowledge, and this caused a scandal that further undermined confidence in the authority of the tsar."

Again, a single word - "allegedly" - exposes the bias of the author and publishers, and its safe to bet that the bias comes from church, whether as an institution or as from followers.

But facts thst can't be denied are that the Tsarevich Alexei was in not only great pain but risk of life, and that his parents had tried everything else, none of which had helped; and when Rasputin helped by not only removing pain but beginning healing, that was indubitably the only relief found until then by the royal family for their only son and heir.

Obviously under such circumstances they weren't finicky about his personal habits, especially in Europe where most Indians found their landladies being vigilant lest the Indian bathe daily as per his habits back home!

Or does the author imply that Russians, every one of them, bathed then - before central heating and hot water, in a climate more artic and colder than England and Germany - more regularly than Brits who did so at most once a week, and Germans who, reportedly in 1980s, did so no more than once a month? This incidentally was from their own respective bragging, not as per report by others.

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"On October 19, Napoleon ordered his forces to retreat from Moscow. When it invaded Russia, the French Army had numbered around 600,000. Constant attacks by the Russian Army, bitter winter weather, and a lack of food and supplies meant that only a little over 100,000 lived to leave Russia. Napoleon’s Grand Army was destroyed and with it, his reputation as an invincible military leader. Russian losses were also severe: more than 40,000 thousand troops were lost during the campaign, which also left the city of Moscow destroyed."

Surely it wasn't "40,000 thousand troops"? That'd make it 40 million troops!

Or is the author Australian?

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"“Patriotism is slavery.”

"—Leo Tolstoy"

Is the supposedly great writer telling readers, indirectly, that he was ordered to write a patriotic paen to Alexander?

War And Peace is just that, however couched in indirect paens and however stuffed with multiple love stories, as Tolstoy in trying to make Napoleon look like a loser makes one wonder if Alexander was really a hero no one has ever heard about since for some reason.

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"As a direct result of this revolt, Nicholas introduced new controls over education and censorship of newspapers. The Third Section of the Imperial Chancellery became the controlling agency for a vast network of spies and informers organized by Alexander von Benckendorff. Any liberal movements were ruthlessly suppressed, and even independent writers and poets such as Alexander Pushkin were constantly watched."

Hence lionisation of Pushkin by Soviet Union?

Also, why isn't it widely allowed to be known that roots of repressive regime and lack of freedoms, spying on citizens and institutions such as KGB, all go so far back, whatever the official name? Why the pretense by West that it's all due to leftism?

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"“Beggars in the streets of London were at that time leading the lives of princes, compared to the life of our soldiers in the Crimea.”

"—Florence Nightingale"

This was the root of the menace that has terrorized the world today - this unreasonable bias against Russia on part of West.

And this bias was despite all the royal intermarriages between Romanov clan and royals of other European countries, of England and Denmark, and various royals of Germany, too.

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"This war was characterized by bungling and ineptitude on both sides. The Charge of the Light Brigade, a futile attempt to use cavalry to directly attack Russian artillery positions, was perhaps the best-known event, but it was only one of many. The war lasted less than three years but caused an estimated 250,000 casualties on both sides. In Britain, there were anti-war riots, and the prime minister, Lord Aberdeen, lost a confidence vote and was forced to resign."

And the event has since been taught as romantic tale of valour in schools through a poem, Charge of the Light Brigade, in most English medium curriculums, especially in the then colonies.

Is that where George Bernard Shaw got inspiration for his Arms And The Man?

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"Before the assassins could prepare a new plot, the tsar died in November 1894 at the age of just 49. His eldest son, Nicholas, found himself unexpectedly ruling the Russian Empire. Initially, Nicholas II was a reluctant tsar. On learning of the death of his father, he responded, “What is going to happen to me and all of Russia? I am not prepared to be a Tsar. I never wanted to become one. I know nothing of the business of ruling.”"

That was fact, not reluctance.

"Nevertheless, he soon showed that he had no intention of reducing the power of his position. Soon after his coronation, Nicholas was visited by a delegation from a group of local councils (zemstvos) who had come to ask the new tsar to consider adopting some form of constitutional monarchy. Nicholas replied angrily that he was not prepared to listen to “those who have indulged in a senseless dream that the zemstvos be called upon to participate in the government of the country.”"

That represents more the reality of his statement regarding being not ready to govern than anything else.

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"Calling the desire for reforms a “senseless dream” set Nicholas II against a growing part of the population of the Russian Empire. There were protests, and the Okhrana warned that radicals and agitators were growing in influence. Nicholas became convinced that a war with a foreign power was the only way to unite Russia. Of course, this would have to be a successful war; a repeat of the catastrophic Crimean War would simply undermine the power of the tsar and of the Russian Empire even further. There was one place where Nicholas and members of his court believed that such a war could be fought: the Far East.

"Initially, Russian territorial expansion under the reign of Nicholas had been achieved peacefully and principally through the building of railways. The building of the Trans-Siberian Railway, completed in 1904, was particularly significant. Not only did this give access to Siberia but also to Manchuria, parts of which had been annexed from China during the Boxer Rebellion.

"However, Nicholas had a visceral loathing for Japanese people. This dated to an attempted assassination while he was on a visit to Japan as tsarevich in 1890. Nicholas derisively referred to Japanese people as “yellow monkeys” even in official correspondence. Russian expansion in the Far East, and in particular into territory seized from the Chinese, meant that a military clash with the growing Japanese Empire was virtually certain. Nicholas seemed to view this as an opportunity to build his own personal popularity and the authority of the tsar. In February 1904, when the Japanese attacked the Russian fleet in Port Arthur, Nicholas II had the war that he sought."

Clearly this book is written from a bias or a bunch of them bound together, whether that stemming from West warring against USSR or against Russia - or the leftists conveniently throwing muck at an assassinated monarch, or all of the above.

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"—Grigori Rasputin"

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Again, a single word - "allegedly" - exposes the bias of the author and publishers, and its safe to bet that the bias comes from church, whether as an institution or as from followers.

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"This system of dual power was beset with problems from its beginning. While the Russian people expected the provisional government to quickly end the war, the Allies exerted considerable pressure to keep the Russian Empire in the war. Meanwhile, Vladimir Lenin, now the leader of the Bolshevik Party, began to lead protests against the government with popular slogans such as “Peace, bread and land” and “End the war without annexations or indemnities.” These struck a chord with people disappointed and frustrated by the inability of the new government to bring the war to an end or to meaningfully improve the lot of ordinary Russian people.

"During July, up to half a million protestors, many of them armed, took to the streets of Petrograd. Chaos and anarchy threatened, and both the provisional government and the Petrograd soviet blamed Lenin and the Bolsheviks. Many leading Bolsheviks were arrested, and Lenin was forced to flee to Finland."

Something most accounts do not care to mention.

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"During the eighth and ninth centuries, Norse colonists, or Vikings, began to spread from Scandinavia across Europe. These were feared warriors, but they were also adept at trade and creating settlements. Many nations were forced to pay tribute to the Vikings in order to avoid raids or even invasion; England began paying the Danegeld, a tax that guaranteed freedom from Norse raids, in 865.

"Many Vikings also began to migrate to the south and east, using rivers to travel from the Baltic to the Caspian and Black Sea and creating outposts and settlements along the way. These groups, referred to as the Varangians, came mainly from present-day Sweden. Varangian runestones have been found in areas as widely separated as present-day Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Greece, and Italy."

Surely history of Russia goes further back?

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"In the late eighth century, a group of Norse settlers seem to have created a state (or a group of associated states) in western Russia. A lack of records makes it difficult to be certain, but it seems that these Norse incomers set up large settlements and established some form of control over the indigenous Slavic, Turkic, Baltic, and Finnic people.

"One Varangian leader, Rurik, conquered what is now the city of Novgorod in Russia in 862, and 20 years later, another Varangian ruler, Oleg, captured Kyiv in modern-day Ukraine. The descendants of these rulers would control these cities and adjoining territory from that time on. The local people called these new rulers the Rus (likely from the Finnic word Ruotsi, meaning Sweden). The territory controlled by the Varangians became known as Kievan Rus and the people who lived there as the Rus."

Who were the "local people"?

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"Under Vladimir the Great (who ruled from 980-1015), Kievan Rus converted from paganism to Christianity and became a major trading partner of the Byzantine Empire. The state achieved its greatest power and extent under Yaroslav the Wise (who ruled from 1019-1054) but thereafter began to decline as rival factions fought for succession. Kievan Rus was finally conquered by the Mongols in the thirteenth century, but Christian rulers claiming descent from the Varangian kings continued to rule city-states and small polities in the region.

"One of the most significant of these polities was the Grand Duchy of Moscow, which rose to prominence in the late fifteenth century. For the first time, documents from this area began to refer not just to the people in this region as the Rus but to call the lands they controlled “Russia.” In 1547, the ruler of the grand duchy, Ivan IV, was crowned with a new title: tsar of all Rus. From this time on, this territory was known as the Tsardom of Russia."

Was there no other name, before?

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"In 1598, Tsar Feodor I, the last living relative of the Varangian ruler Rurik, died without a successor, spurring Russia’s descent into a period of turmoil known as the “Time of Troubles.” During this time, there were internal conflicts over the succession as well as continuing wars with Poland and Sweden. It wasn’t until 1613 and the crowning of a new tsar, Mikhail Romanov (Michael I), that relative stability returned. The Romanov family would go on to rule Russia for the remainder of its imperial history.

"Over the next hundred years, Russia continued to expand, conquering territory in present-day Ukraine and Siberia. Still, it remained separate from Europe, and there was relatively little contact with the countries of western Europe. It would take a new tsar to change that and to build what would become the Russian Empire."

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"“Where the Russian flag was raised once, it should never be taken down.”

"—Tsar Nicholas I"

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"Pyotr Alekséyevich was born in 1672, the son of Tsar Alexis of Russia. Under Alexis, the area controlled by Russia grew to cover over three million square miles (eight million square kilometers).

"Alexis reformed the Russian Army, recruiting large numbers of military advisors from western Europe as the end of the Thirty Years’ War in 1648 had left a great many experienced soldiers out of work. With his modernized army, Alexis fought successful wars against Sweden, Poland, and Safavid Iran, all of which brought new territory under Russian control. Alexis also used the army to crush more than one revolt during his reign, including an uprising in 1669 by Don Cossacks, which saw several towns on the Volga River lost and then re-captured.

"Alexis ruled for more than thirty years, and he proved an able military leader and politician. He was married twice: first to Maria Miloslavskaya, who bore him thirteen children, and then, after her death, to Natalya Naryshkina, a woman of Tatar descent, who bore three children. Pyotr (better known as Peter) was the first son born to Alexis’ second wife.

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"Alexis’ death in 1676 plunged Russia into a period of chaos. His successor was his eldest surviving son from his first marriage, Fyodor Alekséyevich, who was crowned Feodor III upon his father’s death. Although Feodor was just fifteen when he became tsar, he was known to be intelligent and learned. Sadly, he had suffered from a debilitating and disfiguring disease for most of his life (now thought perhaps to have been a form of scurvy) which meant that he was partially paralyzed. Feodor had been married in 1680, but his wife and child died in childbirth. He married again in February 1682, by which time he was unable even to stand. He died three months later.

"Feodor’s death sparked an uprising in Moscow by units of the Russian Army. The point of contention was competition for the succession between the surviving children of Alexis’ first wife and those of his second wife. In theory, the successor should have been Alexis’ next oldest surviving son by his first wife, Ivan.

"However, Ivan seems to have had serious mental and physical issues (foreign visitors to the Russian court described him as “senile, paralytic, and almost blind” by his mid-20s). A compromise was agreed: Ivan and Peter would be crowned as co-tsars. Because Peter was just ten years old, it was agreed that his half-sister, Sophia, would act as regent on his behalf until he was old enough to rule alone. As Ivan was unable to take any effective part in ruling Russia, the autocratic Sophia effectively became the ruler of the nation.

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"Sophia’s rule was undermined by a series of unsuccessful wars, especially against the Crimean Tartars, who undertook a number of destructive raids on Russian territory. By the summer of 1689, Peter, encouraged by his mother, was planning to take control from Sophia. When his half-sister learned of this, Peter was forced to flee from Moscow to take refuge in a remote monastery in Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra. Even in exile, he was able to gather followers and eventually forced Sophia to leave Moscow and enter a convent.

"When Peter returned to the capital, he had to accept his mother, Natalya, acting as regent on his behalf since he was still just 17. It was only when Natalya died in 1694 that Peter ruled directly and on his own behalf, and even then, he was still officially co-tsar with his half-brother Ivan. When Ivan died two years later without leaving any children, Peter finally became the undisputed tsar of Russia.

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"Peter immediately began reforms that would transform the Russian Army and create for the first time a Russian Navy. He began by traveling to Europe as part of a Russian Grand Embassy. To escape spending all his time on diplomatic functions, Peter used a false name, but given that he was extraordinarily tall (some accounts claim that he was 6 foot 8 inches, or 203 centimeters!), it seems likely that many people were not fooled by this deception.

"At any rate, Peter spent his time collecting the latest ideas on military technology and tactics, and when he returned to Moscow in 1698, he began a series of reforms that would change Russia. Some were social and domestic; for example, he ordered that all his officials should start adopting European customs and clothing, and the nobles had to shave their long beards or pay a beard tax. He abolished arranged marriages because he felt that these led to dissatisfaction and domestic violence. He also responded brutally to a small-scale rebellion that had taken place during his absence: over 2,000 people were tortured and executed, their bodies publicly displayed in Moscow.

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"Peter also continued to expand the Russian Navy. Before his reign, Russia possessed no warships at all. In the Sea of Azov, the navy of the Ottoman Empire was in control; in the Baltic, Sweden was dominant. Peter was determined to change this. He began with a campaign in the Sea of Azov against the Ottoman Empire. This was temporarily successful, and Peter was able to create the first base for the Russian Navy at the port city of Taganrog in 1698."

Far too recent!

"Then, for the next two decades, Peter led Russian forces in the Great Northern War (1700-1721) against the Swedish Empire. During this war, the Russian fleet won its first major action in the Battle of Gangut in 1714, and in 1718, the Swedish king, Charles XII, was killed in battle. When the war finally ended in 1721, Russia had acquired new territory in Ingria, Estonia, Livonia, and Karelia. Peter had also established a new capital, St. Petersburg, in Ingria, close to the border with Finland.

"In October 1721, soon after the conclusion of the Great Northern War, Peter officially took on a new title: Emperor of All Russia. He also became widely known as Peter the Great. Under Peter’s leadership, the Russian Empire had been created."

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"“I have conquered an empire but I have not been able to conquer myself.”

"—Peter the Great"

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"For the remainder of his life, Peter focused on internal reforms in Russia. Compulsory education was introduced for children from the age of 10 to 15, though this only applied to the children of nobles and officials in the Russian government. New taxes were also introduced to fund a program of construction in St. Petersburg. Previously, only those who owned land were liable for taxes, but under Peter’s reforms, everyone who lived within the empire was required to pay tax. He also reformed the way in which Russian nobles were given precedence within the imperial court. Previously, this had been based solely on hereditary precedence, but under Peter, this was revised to be based on ability and service to the crown.

"In early 1725, less than four years after assuming the role of emperor, Peter became gravely ill. Although he had fathered fourteen legitimate children with two wives (and a number of illegitimate children), only three had survived to adulthood, all female. Thus, Peter died on February 8, 1725, without naming a successor. His second wife, Marta Skavronskaya, became empress regent until her death in 1727. She named Peter’s grandson, also Peter, as her successor.

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"Peter II was just eleven when he became emperor, and he died three years later at the age of fourteen. With Peter II’s death, the male line of descent from the Romanov family ended. There were five possible successors, all female. After a great deal of debate, the rule of the new empire passed to Anna, regent of the duchy of Courland and the daughter of Peter the Great’s half-brother Ivan.

"For the ten years that she ruled as empress of Russia, Anna continued many of the policies started by Peter. In 1731, she ordered the formation of the Cadet Corps of the Russian Army. This was a program of education for boys as young as eight years old who intended to become officers. It covered not only military topics but also science and technology. The intention was to create a professional army led by officers with a broad understanding of all the subjects needed to become effective military leaders. At the time that it was created, this program was virtually unique; in most countries, armies were led by officers who received no formal training.

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"It wasn’t long before Anna needed the Russian Army. The War of the Polish Succession was initiated in 1733 by a civil war in Poland and saw Russia acquire more territory. At its conclusion in 1735, Russia immediately became involved in a major war with the Ottoman Empire. This war would last for four years and cost millions of rubles. It ended with Russians in control of the port of Azov for the first time but, critically, it was the first war between Russia and the Ottoman Empire in which Russian forces were ultimately successful.

"Anna was given little time to appreciate this significant victory, as in 1739, her health began to fail. In October 1740, she died, leaving utter confusion about who should succeed her as the new ruler of Russia. In the event, the son of Anna’s only surviving relative, her niece, was crowned as Tsar Ivan VI. Ivan was just two months old when he became emperor, and his reign lasted just over a year before a coup saw Elizabeth Petrovna, the daughter of Peter the Great, installed as empress in November 1741.

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"Elizabeth would rule for more than 20 years and was a capable and popular monarch (while she ruled, not a single person was executed for opposition to the crown). She instituted a number of educational reforms, continued the work of her father on improving the Russian Army, and ordered construction projects that further enhanced St. Petersburg. However, the issue that dominated her reign was the growing power of Prussia under the rule of Frederick the Great.

"In 1756, Britain and Prussia formed an alliance that many other European nations saw as a threat. Elizabeth (who had an intense and personal dislike of Frederick) responded with an alliance with France and Austria against Britain and Prussia. The Seven Years’ War, which began in 1756, was primarily a conflict between Britain and France, but due to these alliances, it also involved Russia, Austria, Prussia, and Spain, amongst others."

WW000?

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"Elizabeth became a major factor in keeping the French side together, and by 1761, it seemed that Frederick and Prussia were on the brink of complete defeat. Then, on Christmas Day 1761, Elizabeth died. Strangely, she named as her successor Karl Peter Ulrich, a German-born grandson of Peter the Great who was strongly pro-Prussian and who barely spoke Russian.

"Peter III was crowned Russian emperor on January 5, 1762. Seldom can a new ruler have been more unpopular with his subjects. One description of him noted, “Nature had made him mean, the smallpox had made him hideous, and his degraded habits made him loathsome. And Peter had all the sentiments of the worst kind of a small German prince of the time.”

"Almost as soon as he became emperor, Peter began to reduce the scale of Russian attacks on Prussia. At the time of Elizabeth’s death, Prussia had seemed to be on the brink of collapse, but Peter’s intervention allowed it to survive, which only served to increase his unpopularity in Russia. Peter III’s reign would last just 186 days, at which point he was overthrown in a coup that saw his wife established as the new empress."

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"“I shall be an autocrat: that’s my trade. And the good Lord will forgive me: that’s his.”

"—Catherine the Great"

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"Sophie von Anhalt-Zerbst was the daughter of a Prussian prince. She had married Peter III in 1745, though rumors suggested that the marriage was never consummated. Sophie converted to Orthodox Christianity at the same time and took a new name: Ekaterina (Catherine). She was crowned Empress Catherine on September 22, 1762, in the Assumption Cathedral in Moscow.

"Although she was not descended directly from the Romanov dynasty, Catherine could trace her ancestry back to the Rurik dynasty that had preceded it. She would become the longest-reigning empress of Russia as well as one of the most effective and best-remembered. Her husband Peter did not live to see her coronation. Following the coup, he was imprisoned at a fortress at Ropsha, near St. Petersburg. He died in mysterious circumstances on July 17, 1762, less than two weeks after the coup. Officially, he was said to have died of a stroke, but many suspected that Catherine had him killed. Nevertheless, few in Russia mourned his death.

"The most pressing issue for the new empress was a lack of funds. The war with Prussia had left the state treasury virtually empty. Catherine responded with a bold approach: all property owned by the Russian Orthodox Church would become the property of the empire. This was a significant move; previously, almost one-third of all land in Russia had been owned by the church. Church leaders, who had previously been wealthy landowners, were now transformed into functionaries paid by the state.

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"In terms of foreign policy, Catherine focused first on Poland. Before long, she was able to have Stanisław Poniatowski, one of her former lovers who was slavishly devoted to her, installed as the new king of Poland. However, a revolt by Polish nobles in 1768 saw the Russian Empire involved in a new war in the region. Even as the Russian Army was preparing to deal with this threat, the Ottoman Empire launched a surprise attack on Russian-controlled territory in the Caucasus and the Crimea. Russia found itself fighting a completely unexpected war on two fronts.

"Under Catherine’s determined leadership, the revolt in Poland was quickly crushed, and the Russians were able to turn their full might against the Ottoman Empire. The war would continue for six years until the signing of the Treaty of Kuchuk Kainarji in 1774. This treaty gave control of the Crimea back to Russia and, crucially, granted Russian control over the Kerch Strait, which would allow Russian ships to have access to the Black Sea.

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"The peace with the Ottoman Empire would not last long. In 1787, a new war broke out between Russia and the Ottoman Empire, and this time, the situation was even more serious. Sweden took advantage of this new war to launch a naval assault on Russian territory in the Baltic. At the same time, the King of Prussia, Frederick William II, also began preparations for an attack on Russian territory. Now, Russia faced war on three fronts.

"Once again, Catherine’s determined leadership proved decisive. The Russian Navy was able to defeat Swedish forces and to establish Russian control over large areas of the Baltic. Prussia failed to gain any territory and sued for peace in 1791. The war with the Ottoman Empire continued until 1792, but it too ended with a decisive victory for Russia.

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"The latter part of Catherine’s reign was influenced by events in western Europe, and in particular by the French Revolution, which began in 1789. Like all the ruling monarchs in Europe, Catherine was worried by a movement that seemed to question the divine right of kings and emperors to rule. When Poland began to try to install some form of democratic government, Catherine ordered Russian troops to invade on the pretext of preventing revolution. After an uprising in 1795, Poland effectively ceased to exist, with its territory being taken by Russia, Prussia, and Austria.

"The Russian Empire under Catherine expanded its borders to the west and south by over 200,000 square miles (500,000 square kilometers), including the acquisition of the rich agricultural land of Ukraine. It is little wonder that this powerful and charismatic woman became known in Russia and elsewhere as Catherine the Great. Still, all things must come to an end, and on November 16, 1796, Catherine collapsed. The court physician diagnosed a stroke, and on the following day, she died. She was succeeded by her eldest son, Paul, who was crowned as Emperor Paul I on April 5, 1797.

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"Paul quickly proved to be eccentric and heartily disliked by many of his subjects for his positive attitude towards Prussia. His reforms of the Russian Army included the introduction of a much plainer (and cheaper) uniform as well as the creation of new parades and exercises; Paul seemed to love pomp and often attended these in person. He was also very unforgiving of errors; soldiers who made mistakes were regularly flogged on his orders, and on one occasion, a Guards Regiment which had become lost during maneuvers was ordered by the tsar to march to Siberia, though the order was rescinded before they had gone too far.

"In March 1801, Emperor Paul was assassinated by a group of officers in the royal court. His son and successor, Alexander, apparently approved of the coup but was not personally involved in the killing. The new emperor would reign over one of the most difficult periods for the Russian Empire, which almost saw it destroyed by a new leader who emerged from revolutionary France."

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"“My regiments were amazed that after so many hard and deadly marches, the results of their endeavors constantly were further away, and they started to worry about the distance separating them from France.”

"—Napoleon Bonaparte"

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"When the French Revolution began in 1789, Corsican Napoleon Bonaparte was a second lieutenant in an artillery regiment of the French Army. Six years later, he was the commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary Army. By 1799, he was effectively the dictator of France, and in 1804, a new French Empire was declared with Napoleon as its emperor. He then embarked on a series of military campaigns that would see France become the most powerful nation in Europe.

"In 1805, the Russian Empire entered an alliance with Britain and Austria in an effort to limit the growth of French power. The first real test of the new alliance came soon after when the French and Austrian armies met at the Battle of Ulm. The Austrians suffered a devastating defeat and called on the Russian emperor to give them support. Then, in December 1805, the combined Russian and Austrian armies faced Napoleon in battle near the small Austrian town of Austerlitz. The French were outnumbered: Napoleon had an army of around 66,000 men to face a combined Allied army of over 85,000.

"The Battle of Austerlitz has been called Napoleon’s greatest victory. By the use of brilliant tactics, he was able to cause more than 36,000 casualties to his enemies while losing less than 9,000 of his own troops. The Russian and Austrian armies were shattered and forced to flee. On hearing of the outcome of the battle, Tsar Alexander noted, “We are babies in the hands of a giant.”

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"Victory gave France power over a great deal of continental Europe. Meanwhile, the remains of the Russian Army were allowed to return to their homeland, and an uneasy peace began with the signature of the Treaty of Pressburg.

"In 1807, Russia once again found itself at war with France, this time in Poland. Another catastrophic defeat, this time at the Battle of Friedland in which Russia suffered more than 20,000 casualties, led to the Treaty of Tilsit. Negotiated personally between Tsar Alexander and Napoleon, this brought another brief period of peace.

"One of the clauses of the treaty was an agreement that Russia would not trade with Britain as Napoleon was seeking to weaken the British Empire by excluding it from European trade. However, this led to scarcity of some items and price rises in Russia. Alexander was forced by internal pressure to resume trade with Britain in 1811, and on June 22, 1812, Napoleon responded by launching an invasion of Russia.

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"At first, the French Army made good progress; by September 14, they had occupied Moscow, though fires, deliberately started by the Russians, destroyed much of the city. The French Army, far from sources of supply, was running short of food and ammunition, and its numbers were weakened by disease and hunger. Napoleon offered to make peace, but Alexander refused.

Surely it wasn't "40,000 thousand troops"? That'd make it 40 million troops!

Or is the author Australian?

................................................................................................

"Fortunately, Russia still had large reserves of manpower. France did not, and Napoleon found himself critically short of both men and horses. When Russian troops led an Allied army to Paris in 1814, Napoleon was deposed and exiled to the island of Elba in the Mediterranean Sea. He did return again in 1815, only to meet final defeat in the Battle of Waterloo; he would never again threaten Russia.

"The remainder of Alexander’s reign was relatively quiet after the tumult of the Napoleonic Wars. The most significant event was a revolt against the Ottoman Empire by the Greeks. Alexander favored supporting the Greeks, but he was persuaded by his European allies to remain neutral. In his final years, Alexander seemed to suffer from mental health problems that left him confused, irritable, and suspicious. In the autumn of 1825, he undertook a voyage to the south of Russia, where he caught typhus and died on November 19.

"Alexander was succeeded by a man who would lead the Russian Empire for the next tumultuous 30 years, his younger brother Nicholas."

................................................................................................

"“Patriotism is slavery.”

"—Leo Tolstoy"

Is the supposedly great writer telling readers, indirectly, that he was ordered to write a patriotic paen to Alexander? War And Peace is just that, however couched in indirect paens and however stuffed with multiple love stories, as Tolstoy in trying to make Napoleon look like a loser makes one wonder if Alexander was really a hero no one has ever heard about since for some reason.

................................................................................................

"While Tsar Alexander had spent most of his reign dealing with external threats, Nicholas quickly found himself faced with revolt and insurrection from within the Russian Empire. The French and American Revolutions of the late eighteenth century had a profound effect on politics and society across Europe and Russia. By 1819, Tsar Alexander had abolished serfdom in the Baltic States, though it still remained across most of Russia. Internal unrest followed, and both Alexander and his successor became convinced that liberal policies simply encouraged more calls for change. Thus, after a brief flirtation with liberalism during the Napoleonic Wars, the Russian government reverted to being a repressive and conservative administration.

"Calls for reform came even from the Russian Army. A number of secret societies were formed by army officers in the early years of the nineteenth century. These ranged from the relatively moderate Northern Society, which looked for the abolition of serfdom and the introduction of some form of constitutional democracy, to the Union of Salvation (also known as the Faithful and True Sons of the Fatherland), which sought nothing less than revolution and the execution of the tsar. The first rebellion by officers of the Russian Army took place while Nicholas I was still waiting for his coronation.

................................................................................................

"Nicholas had an older brother named Constantine, and many people had assumed that he and not Nicholas would succeed Alexander as tsar. However, because Constantine had no children and Nicholas did, the brothers privately agreed that Nicholas would become emperor. When Alexander died suddenly, the Royal Guards immediately swore an oath to Constantine, assuming that he would be the next tsar. When Constantine made public his renunciation, many of these officers refused to swear a new oath to Nicholas.

"Encouraged by members of the Northern Society, around 3,000 soldiers assembled in Senate Square in St. Petersburg where they made public their refusal to swear allegiance to Nicholas. Nicholas sent Count Mikhail Miloradovich, a loyalist general, to reason with the rebel troops, but he was shot and killed while addressing the crowd. Nicholas then dispatched artillery, which opened fire on the crowd. Many rebels were killed and many more arrested. Five were executed, and others were sent to exile in Siberia or the Far East. This action, which became known as the Decembrist Revolt, was the first open rebellion against the rule of the tsar within the Russian Empire. It would not be the last.

................................................................................................

Hence lionisation of Pushkin by Soviet Union?

................................................................................................

"Despite the Decemberist Revolt, Nicholas was deeply committed to the Russian Army. Under his rule, it grew to include more than one million men (out of a total population of seventy million) and became the largest army in the world. Nicholas said of the Russian Army, “No one here commands without first learning to obey. No one rises above anyone else except through a clearly defined system. Everything is subordinated to a single, defined goal, and everything has its precise designations. That is why I shall always hold the title of soldier in the highest esteem.”

"Under Nicholas’ rule, the Russian Army conducted successful campaigns in the Russo-Persian War in 1826-1828 and yet another war against the Ottoman Empire in 1828-1829. Although these ceded new territory to the Russian Empire, both were extremely costly. The Russian economy was further impacted by a series of poor harvests that peaked in 1848 and which were accompanied by a number of major fires caused by unusually dry weather as well as a cholera epidemic that affected many Russian cities. In addition, Europe was once again rocked by revolutionary movements.

................................................................................................

"In France, King Louis Philippe was deposed, and a republic proclaimed. The Hapsburg monarchy in Austria also seemed to be in danger of collapse, mainly due to revolts in territories it controlled in Hungary. In June 1848, with the agreement of the Hapsburg emperor, Nicholas sent an army of almost 200,000 Russian troops into northern Hungary. The revolt was crushed, and the Hapsburg dynasty reinstated.

"Encouraged by this success, Nicholas began to look again toward the Ottoman Empire, which was at this point growing weaker (Nicholas famously described it as the “Sick Man of Europe”). The Ottoman capital of Constantinople controlled the Dardanelles Strait, the only access from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. If Nicholas could take control of Constantinople and the Dardanelles, Russia would for the first time have unrestricted access to the Mediterranean Sea.

"Nicholas sent Russian troops into Ottoman territory in the Danubian principalities (present-day Romania) in July 1853. The Ottoman Empire, having received assurances of support from both Britain and France, declared war on Russia on October 8, 1853. Less than two months later, the Ottoman fleet was utterly destroyed by Russian warships while in harbor at Sinope. It seemed that nothing could prevent the final Russian destruction of the Ottoman Empire."

................................................................................................

"“Beggars in the streets of London were at that time leading the lives of princes, compared to the life of our soldiers in the Crimea.”

"—Florence Nightingale"

This was the root of the menace that has terrorized the world today - this unreasonable bias against Russia on part of West.

And this bias was despite all the royal intermarriages between Romanov clan and royals of other European countries, of England and Denmark, and various royals of Germany, too.

................................................................................................

"Both Britain and France were extremely concerned at the prospect of Russian access to the Mediterranean Sea. Thus, in January 1854, British and French warships entered the Black Sea to protect Ottoman transport ships, and on March 28, Britain and France declared war on Russia. The conflict that would become known as the Crimean War had begun.

"On paper, the prospects of a British/French victory over the Russian Army looked poor. The Russian Army was vastly larger than the combined army that it faced, and Allied troops would have to be landed by sea in order to fight the Russians.

"In September, British and French troops reached the Crimean peninsula, which would become the main theater of this war. Here, the Allies besieged the city of Sevastopol. After almost one year, the city was finally taken, but at massive cost. Not just combat but bitter winter weather and disease took their toll on both sides. Secondary actions took place in the Caucasus, the Baltic Sea, and the Pacific Ocean, but most fighting on land was confined to the Crimea."

Pacific Ocean?

................................................................................................

And the event has since been taught as romantic tale of valour in schools through a poem, Charge of the Light Brigade, in most English medium curriculums, especially in the then colonies.

Is that where George Bernard Shaw got inspiration for his Arms And The Man?

................................................................................................

"Despite this, Russia was forced to accept harsh peace terms in February 1856. The Russian Army, which had looked so powerful, had proved to be ineffective when facing well-trained troops from other European nations. By the time that the war came to an end, Tsar Nicholas I was dead. He had caught a chill in early 1855 and refused all medical treatment as a way of expressing his dissatisfaction with the conduct of the Russian Army in the Crimea. His illness became pneumonia, and he died on March 2. He was succeeded by his son, Alexander II.

"Unlike his father, Alexander had little interest in military affairs. He inherited control of a nation impoverished, exhausted, humiliated, and depleted by defeat in the Crimean War. Although he utterly rejected the adoption of any form of democracy that might undermine the power of the tsar, Alexander II did institute significant reforms. The most significant of these was the Emancipation Reform of 1861, which abolished serfdom throughout private estates within the Russian Empire. For the first time, those who had formerly been serfs would enjoy the same privileges as other free men, including the right to marry without permission from their employer and the right to own property.

"Alexander also instituted important reforms within the Russian Army, including the introduction of compulsory conscription for people of all social classes. Before this, only peasants and serfs had been subject to compulsory service in the Russian armed forces. However, Alexander’s inclination to liberalism was curtailed by the first of a number of attempts on his life in 1866. In April of that year, a political activist named Dmitry Karakozov attempted to shoot the tsar as he rode in a carriage through the gates of the Summer Garden in St. Petersburg. Karakozov missed his target and was quickly arrested, tried, and executed. Nevertheless, this was a significant precedent, as it was the first time that a politically motivated assassin had tried to kill a Russian emperor.

................................................................................................

"Alexander responded by becoming more reactionary, replacing liberal politicians with hard-line alternatives. Like many tsars before and after, Alexander now believed that granting reforms simply encouraged more activism. Radicals reacted by becoming even more vehement in their calls for change, and others decided to follow Karakozov’s example. In April 1879, Alexander was taking his usual walk on the grounds of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg when a man named Alexander Soloviev rushed up to him and fired five shots. All missed, and Soloviev was arrested, tried, and executed.

"In November 1879, the tsar and his family were traveling by rail, returning to St. Petersburg from a vacation in the Crimea. A bomb laid on the track exploded under a train as it approached Moscow. It was the wrong train; the royal train had already passed, and all that was damaged was a wagonload of fruit. In February 1880, a massive explosion ripped through the Winter Palace, killing 11 palace guards and injuring more than 50 people. The explosion was detonated under a dining room in which the tsar was expected to be, but he was late and thus uninjured.

"Before 1866, there had been no attempts by political radicals to assassinate a tsar. Between 1866 and 1880, there were four serious attempts to kill the tsar. The Russian Empire was changing, but its leadership seemed unwilling, or unable, to compromise. In March 1881, Alexander II was traveling in his carriage when assassins finally succeeded; a bomb hurled under the carriage fatally wounded the tsar, who died a few hours later. He was succeeded by his son, Alexander III, who would react to his father’s death and growing calls for reform with more brutal repression.

................................................................................................

"“We will smash the Japanese and drive them from Korea and I do not care what the cost will be!”

"—Tsar Nicholas II"

................................................................................................

"On the morning that he was assassinated, Alexander II had signed an order agreeing to the establishment of some form of consultative body to assist in the governance of the Russian Empire. This was far from the dramatic constitutional reforms that many Russians were calling for, but it was a first step in that direction. Virtually the first thing that Alexander III did on assuming power was to cancel this order. During his reign, all the reforms that the new tsar introduced were intended to reverse the process of liberalization that his father had instituted.

"Soon, the Narodnaya Volya, a secret revolutionary group dedicated to establishing democracy in Russia, began planning the assassination of the new tsar. The secret police, the Okhrana, uncovered an assassination plot in 1887, and five conspirators were arrested, convicted, and executed. One of them was Aleksandr Ulyanov. His execution would spur his younger brother to even more radical political agitation. This man was Vladimir Lenin.

................................................................................................

That was fact, not reluctance.

That represents more the reality of his statement regarding being not ready to govern than anything else.

................................................................................................

"But rather than reinforcing the authority of the tsar and the Russian Empire, this short war pushed it even closer to the brink of destruction. On land, the Russian Army was defeated in a number of significant battles. Meanwhile, Russian fleets were destroyed by superior Japanese technology and tactics. In May 1905, Nicholas was forced to accept a humiliating peace settlement that established Japan as a significant power in the Far East and formerly renounced Russian territorial claims in the region. Instead of strengthening his position, the Russo-Japanese War left Russia short of money and food and exposed the leaders of its armed forces as inept.

"In January 1905, a crowd estimated at over 100,000 people marched in St. Petersburg. The march was peaceful and was intended as a prelude to handing a workers’ petition to the tsar calling for constitutional reform. Troops and police opened fire on the marchers, killing almost one hundred and injuring many more.

"In October, a railway strike became a national strike affecting large areas of Russia. Workers’ councils (soviets) appeared in most major Russian cities and directed strikes and protests. Left with no alternative, Nicholas was forced to sign an order that agreed to the establishment of an Imperial Duma, a legislative assembly that would adopt part of the formerly unlimited authority of the tsar. For a time, it seemed that the radicals were satisfied and that the Russian Empire might be able to survive."

................................................................................................

"—Grigori Rasputin"

................................................................................................

"Almost as soon as the first Duma was convened, it became clear that Nicholas had no intention of allowing this curb on his imperial authority. The first Duma called for universal suffrage, land reforms, and the release of all prisoners held on political charges. In response, Nicholas dissolved the Duma.

"A second Duma was convened in February 1907. It, too, called for radical reform, but Nicholas again refused to accept its recommendations. The second Duma dissolved itself when it failed to make any progress. The third Duma lasted longer, mainly because it was led by Prime Minister Pyotr Stolypin, who changed electoral laws to ensure that votes of the nobility and the wealthy carried more weight than the votes of people of lower classes. In that way, the third Duma would be dominated by conservatives loyal to the tsar.

"Nicholas was happier with the new Duma, mainly because it did not seem to present any threat to his authority as tsar. He wrote to Stolypin, “This Duma cannot be reproached with an attempt to seize power and there is no need at all to quarrel with it.”

................................................................................................

Again, a single word - "allegedly" - exposes the bias of the author and publishers, and its safe to bet that the bias comes from church, whether as an institution or as from followers.

................................................................................................

"In early 1911, Prime Minster Pyotr Stolypin wrote to the tsar with a detailed account of Rasputin’s bizarre behavior. When Nicholas expelled Rasputin from the royal court, Alexandra intervened and brought him back. Unwilling to upset his wife, Nicholas simply ignored all subsequent reports of Rasputin’s behavior."

Obviously the distraught mother couldn't care more about court than about her son's health and life.

"Realizing that he no longer enjoyed the confidence of the tsar, Stolypin offered his resignation as prime minister in September 1911. The tsar refused to accept. A few days later, Stolypin was assassinated in Kyiv by a member of a secret revolutionary group. Stolypin had somehow managed to keep the Duma together, achieving limited reforms while appeasing the tsar. With his death, the Duma stumbled on, but it failed to deliver the reforms that the vast majority of Russians expected and were increasingly beginning to demand.

"By this time, the Russian Empire had achieved staggering size; it covered over 8.5 million square miles (22 million square kilometers), one-sixth of the entire landmass on planet Earth. To most observers, the Russian Empire was still one of the most powerful nations in the world. Yet even while the internal situation of the Russian Empire was being undermined by those who sought radical change, international events were moving toward a new external conflict that would indirectly lead to its final destruction."

................................................................................................

"“In a year of the war the regular army had vanished. It was replaced by an army of ignoramuses.”

"—General Aleksei Brusilov"

................................................................................................

"By the beginning of the twentieth century, the German Empire under the autocratic rule of Kaiser Wilhelm II was rapidly becoming one of the most powerful nations in Europe. German industrialization provided arms and technology to a rapidly growing German Army. The German Navy was expanding to compete with the British Royal Navy for domination of the seas. However, for Russia, it was one particular element of German foreign policy that caused extreme concern. Although Russia’s traditional enemy, the Ottoman Empire, was a shadow of its former power, Germany actively sought closer ties with this empire. For Russia, this was a direct threat and led to a gradual cooling of relations between Germany and the Russian Empire.

"European politics in this period was virtually defined by how states aligned themselves or stood in opposition to the German Empire. A series of alliances were formed that turned Europe into two armed camps. Germany allied with the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the Dual Alliance. Meanwhile, the Triple Entente was an informal understanding between Russia, Great Britain, and France intended to limit German expansion. Other nations in Europe either tried to remain neutral or to align themselves with one or the other of these two power blocs. This complex web of interconnected alliances was intended to preserve peace in Europe; instead, it would lead to the most destructive war the world had yet seen.

................................................................................................

"On June 28, 1914, the heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, was assassinated in Sarajevo by a member of a Serbian nationalist group. One month later, Austria-Hungary, backed by its ally the German Empire, declared war on Serbia. Since Russia had an alliance with Serbia, they began mobilization for war three days later, on July 31. The following day, Germany declared war on the Russian Empire. By August 4, Russia’s allies Britain and France had also declared war on Germany and Austria-Hungary. World War I had begun.

"Germany’s initial strategy was to focus its efforts in the west against Britain and France. In the east, Germany initially deployed relatively few troops to oppose Russia. On August 18, two large Russian armies attacked East Prussia. Less than two weeks later, at the Battle of Tannenberg, one of those Russian armies was utterly destroyed, and its commander committed suicide. By the middle of 1915, Russian forces had been driven out of Russian Poland and were hundreds of miles from German territory.

"In 1916, Russian forces mounted a massive offensive against Austro-Hungarian forces in Galicia. This was successful at first, but it caused huge numbers of Russian casualties and exposed a lack of basic equipment, including rifles and ammunition. By the end of 1916, the Russian general staff admitted to having suffered over five million casualties and to more than half a million men missing.

................................................................................................

"In Russia, there had initially been enthusiasm for the war, and the tsar and his regime received a brief but welcome boost in popularity as people rallied to support the nation. Yet as the war dragged on and casualties mounted, that initial support began to drain away. When it became apparent that many Russian senior officers were inept and that large numbers of Russian conscripts were sent into battle without weapons or even boots, the war—and the tsar—became increasingly unpopular. Partly, this was because, as soon as the war had begun, the Duma had been suspended, and from the middle of 1915, the tsar took personal control over running both the country and the war.

"The situation was made even worse because the lack of men available to work in agriculture and industry caused rampant inflation at home and shortages of many essential foodstuffs, including bread. As head of state and commander-in-chief of the armed forces, the tsar was inevitably blamed for both Russia’s poor performance in the war and for the food crisis affecting much of the empire. In the Russian Army, mutiny and refusal to obey orders began to spread. In the early months of 1917, around 35,000 Russian soldiers were deserting their units each month."

................................................................................................

"By early 1917, the threat of famine in Russia was growing. Millions of refugees were streaming east from territories occupied by Germany. International trade was impossible due to the war that also occupied much of the rail network which might otherwise have been used to transport food and resources within Russia. Unchecked inflation meant that the poor could not afford to buy basic foods and fuel, though in many cases these were not available anyway.

"Liberal former members of the Duma advised Tsar Nicholas to urgently consider forming some type of constitutional government, but he refused to consider any change that might undermine his complete authority. The Duma was scheduled to reconvene on February 14. One week before that, the tsar issued an edict permanently dissolving the government and leaving all power and authority in his hands.

................................................................................................

"In Petrograd (as St. Petersburg had been re-named at the beginning of the war because its existing name was felt to be “too German”), strikes began on February 18. Due to heavy snowstorms, thousands of railcars bound for the city and carrying food and fuel were stranded. Shortages became critical. On February 23, International Women’s Day, over 50,000 women took to the streets to protest against the shortages. By the following day, an estimated 200,000 protestors were on the streets calling not just for the end of food shortages but for an end to the war and to the rule of the tsar.

"On February 25, Tsar Nicholas reacted with a characteristic lack of appreciation for how serious the situation had become and ordered the military commander of Petrograd to open fire on the protestors. On the 26th, many troops, instead of firing on the protestors, joined them. Witnessing this, Mikhail Rodzianko, chairman of the Duma, sent the tsar a message that was close to panic: “The situation is serious. The capital is in a state of anarchy. The government is paralyzed. Transport service and the supply of food and fuel have become completely disrupted. General discontent is growing.”

"The tsar noted in his diary his characteristically out-of-touch response to this and other messages from the capital: “This fat Rodzianko has written me lots of nonsense, to which I shall not even deign to reply.”

................................................................................................

"By February 27, most of the troops stationed in and around Petrograd had joined the protestors. Police units were overwhelmed as rioting spread across the city. Although they had no legal or constitutional right to do so, members of the Duma formed a Provisional Committee and declared themselves to be the new governing body of the Russian Empire. Their principal aims were to restore order in the capital and to bring the war to an end.

"The tsar returned to Petrograd on March 1 to discover that support from the army, the Duma, and the people of Russia had disappeared. On March 2, he abdicated, nominating his brother, Grand Duke Michael, to succeed him as tsar. The grand duke declined, saying that he would only accept the role of tsar if that was approved by a constituent assembly.

"The following day, the provisional government published a manifesto proposing a review of civic and political rights and the installation of a democratically elected Russian constituent assembly. However, this government was seen by many Russians as representing the views and needs of the middle and wealthy classes, the bourgeoisie. The vast mass of the Russian people still did not feel that they were adequately represented. The Petrograd soviet (workers’ council) was seen as the body representing the rights of the poorest people, and in an effort to stop further strikes and protests, the provisional government announced that henceforth, authority over Russia would be shared by the government and the soviet.

................................................................................................

Something most accounts do not care to mention.

................................................................................................

"Briefly, calm returned to the capital. A socialist revolutionary, Alexander Kerensky, was appointed head of the provisional government. Kerensky introduced a number of significant reforms, including the restitution of free speech and the abolition of the death penalty. He also ordered the release of thousands of political prisoners convicted under the rule of the tsar. Yet the one thing that Kerensky could not deliver was an end to the war. Losses of troops remained consistently high, and desertions reached epidemic levels. Other political groups began to attack Kerensky, demanding that he end the war immediately. Fearing a coup, Kerensky attempted to bring troops into the city, but these were met by members of the soviet, who persuaded them to stay outside.

"The formal end of the Russian Empire came about as Kerensky and the provisional government and the Petrograd soviet were still struggling to exert their authority. On September 1, 1917, Kerensky announced that the Russian Empire was no more. The monarchy was abolished, and from that moment, Russia would become the Russian Democratic Federal Republic, ruled not by a tsar but by an elected assembly. Up to that moment, it seemed possible that the empire might survive, perhaps with a new tsar serving as a constitutional monarch. Instead, the 200-year history of the Russian Empire was ended with a single stroke and seemingly as an afterthought.

"The new republic would last less than two months, replaced by the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic after another revolution led by Lenin and the Bolsheviks in October 1917."

................................................................................................

"The Bolshevik Revolution brought fundamental change to Russia. First of all, the new communist regime was able to pull Russia out of World War I with the signing of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March 1918. This treaty gave up almost 20% of the territory formerly controlled by the Russian Empire.

"Although it was no longer fighting Germany and Austria-Hungary, Russia quickly found itself involved in a brutal and costly civil war as supporters of the Bolsheviks (the Reds) fought with those who sought the return of a constitutional government or perhaps even a tsar (the Whites). The Russian Civil War lasted for five years and took the lives of up to eight million people before the Reds were victorious and the former Russian Empire became the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). By that time, Tsar Nicholas II, the last vestige of the old empire, had been executed with his family by the Reds.

................................................................................................

Hereon author discourses on flaws of Russia and heads blame on system, tsars, etc.

And moreover, climate and land of Russia does not make for easy prosperity of agriculture, whatever the system of government.

................................................................................................

Table of Contents

................................................................................................

Introduction

Peter the Great and the Beginning of the Russian Empire

A New Dynasty

Catherine the Great

War with Napoleon

The Decembrist Revolt

The Crimean War and Assassination Attempts

The Russo-Japanese War

Reform and Rasputin

World War One: The Beginning of the End

Revolution: Fall of the Russian Empire

Conclusion

Bibliography

................................................................................................

REVIEW

................................................................................................

Introduction

................................................................................................

Surely history of Russia goes further back?

................................................................................................

Who were the "local people"?

................................................................................................

Was there no other name, before?

................................................................................................

................................................

November 17, 2022 - November 17, 2022.

................................................

................................................................................................

Chapter 1. Peter the Great and the Beginning of the Russian Empire

................................................................................................

"“Where the Russian flag was raised once, it should never be taken down.”

"—Tsar Nicholas I"

................................................................................................

"Pyotr Alekséyevich was born in 1672, the son of Tsar Alexis of Russia. Under Alexis, the area controlled by Russia grew to cover over three million square miles (eight million square kilometers).

................................................................................................

Far too recent!

................................................................................................

................................................

November 17, 2022 - November 17, 2022.

................................................

................................................................................................

Chapter 2. A New Dynasty

................................................................................................

"“I have conquered an empire but I have not been able to conquer myself.”

"—Peter the Great"

................................................................................................

WW000?

................................................................................................

................................................

November 17, 2022 - November 17, 2022.

................................................

................................................................................................

Chapter 3. Catherine the Great

................................................................................................

"“I shall be an autocrat: that’s my trade. And the good Lord will forgive me: that’s his.”

"—Catherine the Great"

................................................................................................

................................................

November 17, 2022 - November 17, 2022.

................................................

................................................................................................

Chapter 4. War with Napoleon

................................................................................................

"—Napoleon Bonaparte"

................................................................................................

Surely it wasn't "40,000 thousand troops"? That'd make it 40 million troops!

Or is the author Australian?

................................................................................................

"Alexander was succeeded by a man who would lead the Russian Empire for the next tumultuous 30 years, his younger brother Nicholas."

................................................................................................

................................................

November 17, 2022 - November 17, 2022.

................................................

................................................................................................

Chapter 5. The Decembrist Revolt

................................................................................................

"“Patriotism is slavery.”

"—Leo Tolstoy"

................................................................................................

Hence lionisation of Pushkin by Soviet Union?

................................................................................................

................................................

November 17, 2022 - November 17, 2022.

................................................

................................................................................................

Chapter 6. The Crimean War and Assassination Attempts

................................................................................................

"“Beggars in the streets of London were at that time leading the lives of princes, compared to the life of our soldiers in the Crimea.”

"—Florence Nightingale"

This was the root of the menace that has terrorized the world today - this unreasonable bias against Russia on part of West.

And this bias was despite all the royal intermarriages between Romanov clan and royals of other European countries, of England and Denmark, and various royals of Germany, too.

................................................................................................

Pacific Ocean?

................................................................................................

And the event has since been taught as romantic tale of valour in schools through a poem, Charge of the Light Brigade, in most English medium curriculums, especially in the then colonies.

Is that where George Bernard Shaw got inspiration for his Arms And The Man?

................................................................................................

................................................

November 18, 2022 - November 20, 2022.

................................................

................................................................................................

Chapter 7. The Russo-Japanese War

................................................................................................

"“We will smash the Japanese and drive them from Korea and I do not care what the cost will be!”

"—Tsar Nicholas II"

................................................................................................

That was fact, not reluctance.

That represents more the reality of his statement regarding being not ready to govern than anything else.

................................................................................................

................................................

November 20, 2022 - November 20, 2022.

................................................

................................................................................................

Chapter 8. Reform and Rasputin

................................................................................................

"—Grigori Rasputin"

................................................................................................

Again, a single word - "allegedly" - exposes the bias of the author and publishers, and its safe to bet that the bias comes from church, whether as an institution or as from followers.

................................................................................................

Obviously the distraught mother couldn't care more about court than about her son's health and life.

................................................................................................

................................................

November 20, 2022 - November 20, 2022.

................................................

................................................................................................

Chapter 9. World War One: The Beginning of the End

................................................................................................

"“In a year of the war the regular army had vanished. It was replaced by an army of ignoramuses.”

"—General Aleksei Brusilov"

................................................................................................

................................................

November 20, 2022 - November 20, 2022.

................................................

................................................................................................

Chapter 10. Revolution: Fall of the Russian Empire

................................................................................................

Something most accounts do not care to mention.

................................................................................................

"The new republic would last less than two months, replaced by the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic after another revolution led by Lenin and the Bolsheviks in October 1917."

................................................................................................

................................................

November 20, 2022 - November 20, 2022.

................................................

................................................................................................

Conclusion

................................................................................................

Hereon author discourses on flaws of Russia and heads blame on system, tsars, etc.

And moreover, climate and land of Russia does not make for easy prosperity of agriculture, whatever the system of government.

................................................................................................

................................................

November 20, 2022 - November 20, 2022.

................................................

................................................................................................

Bibliography

................................................................................................

"Burbank, J. (2007). Russian Empire: Space, People, Power, 1700-1930.

"Hopkirk, P. (1992). The Great Game: The Struggle for Empire in Central Asia.

"Lieven, D. (2002). Empire: The Russian Empire and Its Rivals.

"Plokhy, S. (2017). Lost Kingdom: The Quest for Empire and the Making of the Russian Nation.

"Pritsak, O. (1977). The Origin of Rus’. The Russian Review. https://doi.org/10.2307/128848

"Seton-Watson, H. (1988). The Russian Empire, 1801-1917."

................................................................................................

................................................

November 20, 2022 - November 20, 2022.

................................................

................................................................................................

Russian Empire: A History

from Beginning to End

(History of Russia),

by Hourly History.

................................................

November 17, 2022 - November 20, 2022.

Purchased November 17, 2022.

ASIN:- B0BCHW84QQ

................................................

................................................................................................

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5110064849

................................................................................................

Reviews - Books I Read - DRJG

Monday, November 21, 2022

Russian Empire: A History from Beginning to End (History of Russia), by Hourly History.

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