“[Russia] is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.” —Winston Churchill
The Russian Empire was the third largest in history, had a far reaching influence over the world, and was ruled over by only a handful of families. Here are some interesting facts about its rule.
30. Beginnings
In 1547, Grand Prince Ivan of Moscow declared himself the tsar of Russia. He would later earn the nickname Ivan the Terrible. This dynasty of tsars would rule for almost 400 years and become one of the largest empires in history.
29. Brutal Power
The Russian empire would often rely on cruel violent acts, including torture, to sustain their power. Ivan the Terrible in particular was known for this, and would do things like roast his enemies alive in a giant skillet. He was also known to personally supervise the torture of prisoners when they were stretched on a rack or burned with hot irons.
28. Childhood Memories
Even though the Tsar was supposed to have absolute power, the Russian Empire often had intense violence within the Russian court itself, with various factions competing for power. One story recounts how a young boy, who would later become Peter the Great, witnessed armed men tear through his house and massacre his mother's relatives.
27. Imposters!
The Russian Empire suffered from an imposter problem that seemed worse than other periods in history. Imposters would come out of nowhere and claim to be relatives to tsar. For example at least three imposters claimed to be Ivan the Terrible's son Dmitri, who had actually died as a child.
26. Got To Have A Hobbie
Peter the Great had a strange love of "little people", people with dwarfism. He was even known to have a naked dwarf jump out of a giant pie for fun.
25. Powerful Women
After messing up her hair with a bad dye job, Empress Elizabeth had to shave all her hair off. To make it easier to show herself in public, she ordered all the women in the court also shave their heads, so she wouldn't stick out.
24. Killing the Indigenous
Similar to the way the Spanish colonized the Americas, the Russians went into Siberia and wiped away the Aleut peoples with incredible cruelty. Again, just like in the Americas, disease proved to be the deadliest weapon, and smallpox was the main culprit in reducing most of the Aleut population.
23. Expanding an Empire
Expansion of much of the Russian empire into Siberia was thanks to powerful dynastic merchant families like the Stroganov family, who pushed into the wilderness in search of valuable furs to trade. Cossack mercenaries were often hired as agents to do the family's dirty work. And now I can never have beef stroganoff again.
Count Sergei Grigorievich Stroganov
22. Dynasty Tales
The 300 year period of Romanov rule began in 1613 (though the Russian Empire did not technically start until 1721) after Mikhail Romanov, a teenager at the time, was elected by a national assembly that was desperate to get the country out of its Time of Troubles, which lasted from 1598-1613.
21. Ivan’s Fits
Truth be told though, the Romanovs were only able to ascend to the throne of Russia due in part to the violent rage of Ivan the Terrible, who killed his son Ivan Ivanovich, the true heir to the throne, way back in 1581. Ivan the Terrible's younger heir was largely unfit to rule in his brother's stead.
20. His Holiness
Mikhail's accession to the throne brought his father, Fyodor Romanov, out of exile. Dead old dad then snatched the reins (and the reign) from his son, becoming the de facto ruler. Fyodor would also rise to become Filaret, meaning the Patriarch of Moscow and all of Russia.
19. New Laws
Mikhail’s son Alexis would become the second Romanov Tsar, and was known as a benevolent and gentle ruler. That is until he had to deal with many riots, starting with the Salt Riots of 1648. The most significant outcome of these riots, however, was that a new legal code called the Assembly of the Land was written, which would last hundreds of years, and Alexis brought the first printing press to Russia in order to spread the new laws.
18. Woman Behind the Throne
After the People’s Revolt of 1682, Ivan V and Peter I ruled together in a kind of unison, though they were both children and their sister Sophia Alekseyevna really held supreme power. Her influence in court was all the more impressive because noble women were generally kept very much separate from politics at the time.
17. Swing the Sword
Peter the Great was a ruler who believed in the great Stark family tradition: The man who passes the sentence should swing the sword. True to his creed, Peter would carry out many executions himself.
16. Modernizing Russia
Peter the Great was also the tsar who expanded the Russian empire into a European power, leading a cultural revolution in which he borrowed many western European ideas, mostly based in the Enlightenment, and updated Russian politics and culture into the modern world.
15. How’s Your Tooth?
Though Peter did great things for Russia by bringing back the newest advances in technology and science to his motherland, it didn’t always go well for those around him. Once, he decided to learn dentistry, and his nobles were the ones who he forced his practice on.
14. Death of a Mistress
Mary Hamilton was the royal mistress to Peter the Great, and lady in waiting to Empress Catherine I, when she was executed for the theft of Catherine’s jewelry, abortion, and the killing of her own infant. After she was decapitated, Peter held her head up to the crowd and, being the learned man he was, gave a lesson on anatomy before kissing her goodbye.
13. Bridge Project
The first bridges of St. Petersburg, which are now part of the city's charm, came under construction at the order of Catherine I. However, she would not be able to oversee their production, as her health was deteriorating.
12. What Secret Police
Nicholas I, like many tsars, was quite paranoid. Though he had a wide-reaching secret police force, it wasn’t enough for his taste. He was known for occasionally traveling the country himself to spy on the citizenry. Well, if you want something done right...
11. Toy Soldiers
Although he was German, Peter III became tsar of Russia. He lasted only six months before he was killed and his wife Catherine the Great claimed the throne for herself, thus transforming Russia once again and ushering in a Golden Age. Not only could Peter not even speak Russian, he was also an immature adult, and would often play games with toy soldiers.
10. Expansion Games
When Russia began expanding late in the 16th century, they kept a policy of absorbing different peoples, allowing these peoples to keep their language and culture and bring their nobles to the court. Much like Mongol tactics centuries earlier, this allowed Russia to take over large swaths of land, as this often sounded like a better alternative to being, you know, slaughtered.
9. Another Roman Empire
When Ivan IV took reign, his coronation ceremony was much in the vein of the Byzantines, as he saw his new empire as an extension of the Roman legacy, and Moscow as a new Rome.
8. Dressing Up
Elizabeth was known to have her bit of fun by cross-dressing. Granted, she wasn't the one cross-dressing: she would dress up those around her as the opposite sex to have her fun with them.
7. For the Love Of Guns
Empress Anna was very fond of her firearms. So fond that often wild creatures were brought back from expeditions just for her to shoot and have as trophies. Talk about spoiled.
6. Bear Arms
The Russian people retained the right to bear arms throughout the country during the Empire, and for a long time, one could simply stroll on down to the local hunting shop and pick up whichever gun fit your fancy.
5. Pass the Water
Though Russia is now seen as the capital of vodka, for a long time during the Empire, it was a sober country due to its religious orthodoxy. My, how things have changed.
4. Smell the Empire
When you breathe in the fresh, seductive scent of Chanel No. 5, the first thing that comes to your mind is...the Russian Empire, right? Oh..no? Well, it was actually invented in Moscow by the chemist Ernest Beaux.
3. A Mother’s Job
Running an empire is hard! It was reported that when Nicholas II was crowned emperor as a young adult, he would often respond to important government issues with the quip, “Ask my mother.”
NY Daily News
2. Baby Tsar
Being a baby tsar can be a dangerous business. When Ivan VI took the throne into his chubby fingers at the age of two months old, he was overthrown by his cousin Elizabeth only a year later and then placed in solitary confinement. He would remain in confinement for 20 years, where he had no contact and no windows, and eventually developed a mental illness. Later, Catherine the Great stepped in and gave him freedom...by having him murdered.
1. Severed Blood Ties
When Peter The Great found his wife was having sexual relations with another man, he had her lover killed, then actually forced his wife to keep the man’s head by her bedside in a jar of alcohol. Despite both of their dalliances outside of marriage, Peter truly trusted only his wife, and after he died Catherine rose to the throne and threw off the normal lines of ascension. This changed the course of Russian history, as it was no longer necessary to be a firstborn son or have royal blood to rule over the land.
Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18
.jpg){kind=link}