The Russian Empire (1453–1917)
The construction of a mighty empire and impressive high culture in a region uniquely far from the centers of global trade and culture was a great achievement. Elements of Eurasian empire and European military-fiscal state merged in the tsarist polity. This polity’s success rested on a powerful “sacred” monarchy that dominated the church and forged a close alliance with the landowning nobility while preserving a massive “state peasantry” whose surplus went to the crown alone. As with the English, French, and Spanish, Russia’s peripheral location in Europe facilitated the conquest of non-European territories. The Industrial and French revolutions posed great challenges to Russia’s geopolitical security and social order, as well as to the regime’s legitimacy. Though these challenges (e.g., nationalism) were faced by most empires, in the Russian case factors that had been essential to previous success (autocracy, serfdom, Westernized elites) contributed to undermining the regime’s legitimacy by 1900.