The Rise and Fall of

the Tsarist Empire

Barleanu Briana, Blageanu Oliviana, Etcu Raluca,
Marcu Bianca, Tibulca Teofan
 The content of the project
1. The Russian Empire
2. The Rise of the Tsarist Empire
3. Who were the tsars?
4. The Romanov Family
5. Czar Nicholas II
6. How has the Tsars fall in 1916 been remembered?
Russian Empire, historical empire founded on November
2 (October 22, Old Style), 1721, when the Russian Senate
conferred the title of emperor (imperator) of all the
Russias upon Peter I. The abdication of Nicholas II on
March 15, 1917, marked the end of the empire and its
ruling Romanov dynasty.
In the late 1800s, Russia was the largest country in the world.
Stretching from the Black Sea in Europe to the Bering Straits in the
extreme east of Asia. It would take at least ten days to travel from one
end to another by train. The sheer size made it a difficult country to
govern.
It had a population of approximately 125 million. Half of these were ethnic Russians.
The remainder included large numbers of: Germans, Poles, Slavs, Asians

They worked in an agricultural system that had changed little since the Middle Ages.
Most of the population were illiterate. There was little industry and most of it was
located in Moscow and the capital city Saint Petersburg. The Tsarist Empire also
used the Julien calendar rather than the Gregorian calendar which had been adopted
by many other countries as early as the 16th century. The Julien ran 13 days behind
the Gregorian. This was not changed until January 1918 which is why major events
in Russia prior to this often have two different dates, reflecting each calender.
 The Rise of the Tsarist
Empire
On 16 January 1547, Ivan 'the Terrible' was crowned
the first Tsar of Russia.

Who was 'Ivan the Terrible'?

Ivan the Terrible was the first Tsar of Russia. The translation
of the Russian Ivan Groznii as 'Ivan the Terrible' can be a
little misleading, I think. The meaning isn't 'terrible' as in
'unpleasant' or 'disagreeable’, but rather, 'formidable,
fearsome, threatening'.
 Who were the tsars?
This is actually quite a complicated question. The Russian word for 'tsar' comes the Latin word
'Caesar', which had the meaning of 'Emperor' in medieval times. 'Emperor' is perhaps the
closest fit in English, though there is also the word 'Imperator' in Russian, which was
apparently the preferred title of Ivan the Great. After Ivan the Terrible, the term 'tsar' became
the official designation for all future leaders until 1917.

When we talk about the tsars, most of us probably have the House of Romanovs in mind - the
house that ended with the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. The Romanovs were actually the
second major dynasty to rule Russia (1613-1917), following the demise of the Ryurik dynasty
(of which Ivan the Terrible was a member).
The Romanov Family
 Czar Nicholas II
■ Czar Nicholas II was the last Romanov emperor, ruling from 1894 until his forced
abdication in March of 1917. The duration of his rule was plagued by periods of political
and social unrest.
■ When he succeeded his father, Nicholas II had little experience in government. He was
widely seen as a politically weak and indecisive leader.
■ Czar Nicholas II left Saint Petersburg in 1915 to take command of the failing Russian
Army front in World War I.
■ The Russian economy was severely damaged by World War I. The Bolshevik
revolutionaries called for an overthrow of the czar.
 On 15 March 1917 Tsar Nicholas II abdicated from the
Russian throne. This brought to an end the Romanov dynasty
that had ruled Russia for over three hundred years. The end
was sealed in a short document in which Nicholas explained:

"Internal popular disturbances threaten to have a disastrous

effect on the future conduct of this persistent war.... We have
thought it well to renounce the Throne of the Russian Empire
and to lay down the supreme power."
The ‘internal popular disturbances’ were the events now
known as the ‘February Revolution’ in the capital city which
at the time was called Petrograd. Strikes by the city’s
workers, protests by women over bread shortages, wider
discontent among the population escalated into revolution
when some army units in Petrograd mutinied and went over
the side of the protesters.
The situation was especially serious since Russia was
fighting, and losing, ‘this persistent war’ with Germany on
the Eastern Front of the First World War.

Nicholas II in custody at a palace outside

Petrograd after his abdication
 How has the Tsars fall in 1916
been remembered?
The Assault on the Winter Palace, memorialized most famously in Sergei Eisenstein's
film October (1928), was thus a largely symbolic gesture. The Romanovs had not
inhabited the Winter Palace for several months, and were at that time in exile in Tobolsk,
Siberia. The symbolic power of the act nevertheless appealed to artists, a number of
whom recreated the event for film and stage.