After years of turmoil, Nicholas II finally abdicated the throne on March 15, 1917, putting an end to more than 300 years of Romanov rule.
For over 300 years, the Romanov tsars ruled Russia, overseeing sweeping culutural and political changes and expanding the size of the empire.
In Yekaterinburg, Russia, Czar Nicholas II and his family are executed by the Bolsheviks, bringing an end to the three-century-old Romanov dynasty.
Mongols were the biggest threat to the Christian world in the 13th century. They established the largest continental empire of all time. Most of Western Russia was under Mongol rule for 250 years.
The Bolsheviks hated the old rulers of Russia, especially the Romanovs, the family that had ruled for 300 years. As tsar, Nicholas was the head of the Romanov family, made up of dozens of nobles and aristocrats who owned much of Russia's land and wealth.
Though both Elizabeth and Philip were related to the Romanovs, Philip's connection came through Alexandra, with whom he shared a common female ancestor, meaning only he could provide a mitochondrial DNA match.
The abdication of Nicholas II on March 15, 1917, marked the end of the empire and its ruling Romanov dynasty.
The first modern state in Russia was founded in 862 by King Rurik of the Rus, who was made the ruler of Novgorod. Some years later, the Rus conquered the city of Kiev and started the kingdom of the Kievan Rus.
Through a series of long forced marches, Napoleon pushed his army of almost half a million people rapidly through Western Russia, now Belarus, in an attempt to destroy the separated Russian armies of Barclay de Tolly and Pyotr Bagration who amounted to around 180,000–220,000 at this time.
Napoleon. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Russian army suffered two shameful defeats against French Emperor, Napoleon.
In March 1917, the army garrison at Petrograd joined striking workers in demanding socialist reforms, and Czar Nicholas II was forced to abdicate.
British plans to save the family fall through.
Britain regretted the offer almost immediately. The government was nervous having the Romanovs on British shores, while George V's private secretary, Lord Stamfordham, feared an uprising against the monarchy.
To put it simply, political tension. The new provisional government of Russia feared that pro-Romanovs would rally and restore the dynasty. So, not unreasonably, they wanted the tsar and tsarina of Russia to leave the country.
The Russians were formed from East Slavic tribes, and their cultural ancestry is based in Kievan Rus'. Genetically, the majority of Russians are identical to their East and West Slavic counterparts; unlike northern Russians, who belong to the Northern European Baltic gene pool.
Russia wanted to sell its Alaska territory, which was remote and difficult to defend, to the U.S. rather than risk losing it in battle with a rival such as Great Britain. Negotiations between Seward (1801-1872) and the Russian minister to the U.S., Eduard de Stoeckl, began in March 1867.
On March 30, 1867, the United States reached an agreement to purchase Alaska from Russia for a price of $7.2 million. The Treaty with Russia was negotiated and signed by Secretary of State William Seward and Russian Minister to the United States Edouard de Stoeckl.
Over centuries, there have been several Polish–Russian Wars, with Poland once occupying Moscow and later Russia controlling much of Poland in the 19th as well as in the 20th century, damaging relations. Polish–Russian relations entered a new phase following the fall of communism, 1989–1993.
Russia has been defeated in war on several occasions in the modern era.
1815 - The Congress of Vienna creates a rump Kingdom of Poland, ruled by Russia. 1830-1831 - Military revolt in protest at Russian erosion of the Kingdom's political autonomy and civil liberties. 1863-1864 - Another revolt against Russian rule is defeated and the Kingdom annexed to Russia.
The modern-day name for Russia (Rossiya) is derived from the Greek word for the Rus'. As the Kievan Rus' was evolving and separating into different states, what we now know as Russia was being called Rus' and Russkaya Zemlya (the land of the Rus').
Much of Russia's expansion occurred in the 17th century, culminating in the first Russian colonisation of the Pacific in the mid-17th century, the Russo-Polish War (1654–1667) that incorporated left-bank Ukraine, and the Russian conquest of Siberia.
Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin (9 March 1934 – 27 March 1968) was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut who became the first human to journey into outer space.
During the Russian Revolution of 1917, Bolshevik revolutionaries toppled the monarchy, ending the Romanov dynasty. Czar Nicholas II and his entire family—including his young children—were later executed by Bolshevik troops.
As Russia became engulfed in World War I, over fifteen million men joined the army, which left a shortage of workers for the factories and farms. This led to widespread shortages of food and materials. As goods became more and more scarce, prices went through the roof, and soon famine consumed Russian cities.
The Communist uprising led to the death of Tsar Nicholas II, Tsarina Alexandra, and their children. This dismantled and removed an ancient monarchy from the throne of Russia.