Russian Empire

From the 10th to 17th century, the Russian lands were dominated by a noble class known as the boyars, above whom stood the grand prince and later the tsar, an absolute monarch. The foundations of a unified Russian state and eventually the Russian Empire were laid in the 15th century under Ivan III. Moscow became the leading Russian principality and came to dominate the region known as Great Russia; by the early 16th century, the remaining Russian states were united with Moscow. The subjects of the Muscovite ruler were overwhelmingly Great Russian in ethnicity and Orthodox in religion. As Moscow was the only independent Orthodox power following the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453, its rulers had already taken symbolic steps toward becoming an empire by marrying into the Byzantine imperial dynasty, adopting the double-headed eagle as their symbol, and the title of tsar (caesar).

During the reign of Ivan IV, the khanates of Kazan and Astrakhan were conquered by Russia in the mid-16th century, marking the beginning of the transformation from an almost mono-ethnic realm into a multi-ethnic empire. The Russians began to expand into Siberia, initially in pursuit of the region's profitable furs. Following the Time of Troubles in the early 17th century, the traditional alliance of autocratic monarchy, church, and aristocracy was seen as the only basis for preserving social order and Russian statehood, which legitimized the rule of the Romanov dynasty.

The foundations of the Russian Empire were laid during Peter I's reforms, which altered Russia's political and social structure, and as a result of the Great Northern War which strengthened Russia's world standing.

Peter I (r. 1682–1725) played a major role in introducing the European state system into Russia. While Russia's vast lands had a population of 14 million, grain yields trailed behind those in the West. Nearly the entire population was devoted to agriculture, with only a small percentage living in towns. The class of kholops, whose status was close to that of slaves, remained a major institution in Russia until 1723, when Peter converted household kholops into house serfs, thus counting them for poll taxation. Agricultural kholops had been converted into serfs in 1679. They were largely tied to the land, in a feudal sense, until the late 19th century.

Peter's first military efforts were directed against the Ottoman Empire. His attention then turned north; Russia lacked a secure northern seaport, except at Arkhangelsk on the White Sea, where the harbor was frozen for nine months a year. Access to the Baltic Sea was blocked by Sweden, whose territory enclosed it on three sides. Peter's ambitions for a "window to the sea" led him, in 1699, to make a secret alliance with Saxony, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and Denmark-Norway against Sweden; they conducted the Great Northern War, which ended in 1721 when an exhausted Sweden asked for peace with Russia. On 2 November [O.S. 22 October] 1721, the day of the announcement of the Treaty of Nystad, the Governing Senate and Synod invested the tsar with the titles of Peter the Great, Pater Patriae (father of the fatherland), and Imperator of all Russia. The adoption of the title of imperator by Peter I is seen as the beginning of "imperial" Russia.

As a result of the war with Sweden, Peter acquired four provinces situated south and east of the Gulf of Finland, securing access to the Baltic Sea. In 1703, he founded the new capital, Saint Petersburg, on the Neva river delta to replace Moscow as the administrative and maritime center. The city was developed on a strict European grid pattern under architects such as Domenico Trezzini, utilizing Petrine Baroque and Italianate architecture to symbolize Russia's integration into Europe.

Peter reorganized his government based on the latest political models, molding Russia into an absolutist state. The Military Regulations recognized the autocratic nature of the regime. Peter replaced the old Boyar Duma (council of nobles) with a nine-member Senate, in effect a supreme council of state. The vestiges of the independence of the boyars were lost. The countryside was divided into new provinces and districts. Peter informed the Senate that its mission was to collect taxes, and tax revenues tripled over his reign. Peter continued and intensified his predecessors' requirement of state service from all nobles, in the Table of Ranks and equated the votchina with an estate. Russia's modern fleet was built by Peter, along with an army reformed in a European style and educational institutions (the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences). Civil lettering was adopted during Peter I's reign, and the first Russian newspaper, Vedomosti, was published. Peter I promoted science, particularly geography and geology, trade, and industry, including shipbuilding, as well as the growth of the educational system. Peter laid the groundwork for state-sponsored primary and technical schooling, such as cipher and navigation schools, though formal education remained largely confined to the nobility and state servitors.

As part of Peter's reorganization, he enacted a church reform. The Russian Orthodox Church was partially incorporated into the country's administrative structure, in effect making it a tool of the state. Peter abolished the patriarchate and replaced it with a collective body, the Most Holy Synod, which was led by a government official.

The concept of the triune of the Russian people, composed of the Great Russians, the Little Russians, and the White Russians, was introduced under Peter I, and it was associated with the name of Archimandrite Zacharias Kopystensky (1621), the Archimandrite of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra and expanded upon in the writings of an associate of Peter I, Archbishop Professor Theophan Prokopovich. Several of Peter I's associates included Alexander Menshikov, Jacob Bruce, Mikhail Golitsyn and Anikita Repnin. During Peter's reign serf labor played a significant role in the growth of industry, reinforcing traditional socioeconomic structures. International trade increased as a result of Peter I's industrial reforms. However, imports of goods overtook exports, strengthening the role of foreigners in Russian trade, particularly the British.

In 1722, Peter turned his aspirations toward increasing Russian influence in the Caucasus and the Caspian Sea at the expense of the weakened Safavid Persians. He made Astrakhan the base of military efforts against Persia, and waged the first full-scale war against them in 1722–23. Peter the Great temporarily annexed areas of Iran to Russia, which after his death were returned in the 1732 Treaty of Resht and 1735 Treaty of Ganja as a deal to oppose the Ottomans.

Peter died in 1725, leaving an unsettled succession. After the short reigns of his widow, Catherine I, and his grandson Peter II (who temporarily moved the court back to Moscow), the crown passed to Empress Anna in 1730. She slowed reforms and led a successful war against the Ottoman Empire. This resulted in a significant weakening of the Crimean Khanate, an Ottoman vassal and long-term Russian adversary. The next emperor, the infant Ivan VI, was deposed in 1741 and imprisoned for the rest of his life until being killed in 1764. The discontent over the dominant positions of Baltic Germans in Russian politics resulted in Peter I's daughter Elizabeth being put on the Russian throne in 1741. Elizabeth supported the arts, architecture, and the sciences (for example, the founding of Moscow University). But she did not carry out significant structural reforms. Her reign, which lasted nearly 20 years, is also known for Russia's involvement in the Seven Years' War, where it was successful militarily, but gained little politically.

Catherine the Great was a German princess who married Peter III, the German heir to the Russian crown. After the death of Empress Elizabeth, Catherine came to power after she effected a coup d'état against her very unpopular husband. She contributed to the resurgence of the Russian nobility that began after the death of Peter the Great, confirming the abolition of compulsory state service (first decreed by Peter III in 1762) and granting nobles control of most state functions in the provinces. She also removed the Beard tax instituted by Peter the Great.

Catherine extended Russian political control over the lands of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, supporting the Targowica Confederation. However, the cost of these campaigns further burdened the already oppressive social system, under which serfs were required to spend almost all of their time laboring on their owners' land. A major Cossack and peasant uprising erupted in 1773, triggered by growing oppression of serfs and the erosion of Cossack autonomy. Led by the Cossack Yemelyan Pugachev, who claimed to be the deposed Emperor Peter III, the rebels captured substantial territory along the Volga and threatened Moscow before they were suppressed. Instead of imposing the traditional punishment of drawing and quartering, Catherine issued secret instructions that the executioners should execute death sentences quickly and with minimal suffering, as part of her effort to introduce compassion into the law.

She furthered these efforts by ordering the public trial of Darya Nikolayevna Saltykova, a high-ranking noblewoman, on charges of torturing and murdering serfs. Although Catherine sought to project an enlightened image abroad, the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789 prompted her to suppress political dissent at home. Her son and successor, Paul I, further intensified censorship, banning foreign publications and French cultural influences.

In order to ensure the continued support of the nobility, which was essential to her reign, Catherine was obliged to strengthen their authority and power at the expense of the serfs and other lower classes. Nevertheless, Catherine realized that serfdom must eventually be ended, going so far in her Nakaz ("Instruction") to say that serfs were "just as good as we are" – a comment received with disgust by the nobility. Catherine advanced Russia's southern and western frontiers, successfully waging war against the Ottoman Empire for territory near the Black Sea, and incorporating territories of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth during the Partitions of Poland, alongside Austria and Prussia. As part of the Treaty of Georgievsk, signed with the Georgian Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti, Catherine launched the Persian expedition of 1796 after Iranian forces invaded eastern Georgia. Although Russian troops achieved swift victories, Catherine died later that year, and her successor Paul I promptly terminated the campaign and withdrew the forces.

Catherine's expansionist policy caused Russia to develop into a major European power, as did the Enlightenment era and the Golden age in Russia. But after Catherine died in 1796, she was succeeded by her son, Paul. He brought Russia into a major coalition war against the revolutionary French Republic in 1798. Russian commander Field Marshal Suvorov led the Italian and Swiss expedition, inflicting a series of defeats on the French, in particular at the Battle of the Trebbia in 1799.

Russia was in a continuous state of financial crisis. While revenue rose from 9 million rubles in 1724 to 40 million in 1794, expenses grew more rapidly, reaching 49 million in 1794. The budget allocated 46 percent to the military, 20 percent to government economic activities, 12 percent to administration, and nine percent for the Imperial Court in St. Petersburg. The deficit required borrowing, primarily from bankers in Amsterdam; five percent of the budget was allocated to debt payments. Paper money was issued to pay for expensive wars, thus causing inflation.

By the end of the 19th century the area of the empire reached roughly 22,800,000 square kilometers (8,800,000 sq mi) (with land area often estimated at 22,400,000 km2 (8,600,000 sq mi)), or almost one-sixth of the Earth's landmass; its only rival in size at the time was the British Empire. The majority of the population lived in European Russia. More than 100 different ethnic groups lived in the Russian Empire, with ethnic Russians composing about 45% of the population.

The administrative boundaries of European Russia, excluding Finland and Congress Poland, coincided approximately with the East European Plain. To the north lay the Arctic Ocean, including Novaya Zemlya, Kolguyev, and Vaygach Island. To the east, European Russia was separated from Siberia and the Central Asian steppes by the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, and the Caspian Sea. To the south, European Russia was bounded by the Black Sea and the Caucasus Mountains, separated from the northern plains by the Kuma–Manych Depression. The western border ran from the Varangerfjord through the Baltic coast to the mouth of the Danube, bordering Prussia, Austrian Galicia, and Romania.

An important feature of the empire was its few free outlets to the open sea outside the icebound shores of the Arctic Ocean. The Gulfs of Bothnia and Finland were surrounded largely by Finnish territory, and it was at the head of the Gulf of Finland that the capital was established at the mouth of the Neva river. The Gulf of Riga and the Baltic coast were inhabited predominantly by Baltic and Finnic peoples, as well as Germans. To the south, the Black Sea was an inland sea whose only outlet, the Bosphorus, was held by the Ottoman Empire, while the landlocked Caspian Sea served mainly as a link between Russia and its Asian territories rather than a route for foreign trade.

From 1860 to 1905, the Russian Empire occupied all territories of the present-day Russian Federation, with the exception of the present-day Kaliningrad Oblast, Kuril Islands and Tuva. In 1905 Russia lost southern Sakhalin to Japan, but gained Tuva as a protectorate in 1914. Prior to 1917 the Russian Empire included most of Dnieper Ukraine, Belarus (part of former Grand Duchy of Lithuania), Bessarabia, the Grand Duchy of Finland, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Central Asian states of Russian Turkestan, most of the Baltic Governorates, a significant part of Poland, and the former Ottoman provinces of Ardahan, Artvin, Iğdır, Kars, and the northeastern part of Erzurum Province.

In his 1864 circular, Foreign Minister Alexander Gorchakov justified Russian expansion into Central Asia by comparing it to the westward expansion of the United States and European conquests in Asia and North Africa, arguing that imperial powers were inevitably compelled to secure volatile frontier regions against nomadic raids.

Between 1799 and 1867, the Russian-American Company administered Alaska as a colony. The company also established settlements in Hawaii, including Fort Elizabeth (1817), and as far south in North America as Fort Ross Colony (established in 1812) in Sonoma County, California just north of San Francisco. Both Fort Ross and the Russian River in California got their names from Russian settlers, who had staked claims in a region claimed until 1821 by the Spanish as part of New Spain.

Following the Swedish defeat in the Finnish War of 1808–1809 and the signing of the Treaty of Fredrikshamn on 17 September 1809, the eastern half of Sweden, the area that then became Finland, was incorporated into the Russian Empire as an autonomous grand duchy. The emperor eventually ended up ruling Finland as a semi-constitutional monarch through the Governor-General of Finland and a native Senate appointed by him. The emperor never explicitly recognized Finland as a constitutional state in its own right, although his Finnish subjects came to consider the grand duchy as such.

In the aftermath of the Russo-Turkish War (1806–1812), and the ensuing Treaty of Bucharest (1812), the eastern parts of the Principality of Moldavia, an Ottoman vassal state, along with some areas formerly under direct Ottoman rule, came under the rule of the empire. This area (Bessarabia) was among the Russian Empire's last territorial acquisitions in Europe. At the Congress of Vienna (1815), Russia gained sovereignty over so-called Congress Poland, which on paper was an autonomous kingdom in personal union with Russia. However, this autonomy was eroded after the November Uprising in 1831, and was finally abolished in 1867.

Saint Petersburg gradually extended and consolidated its control over the Caucasus in the course of the 19th century, at the expense of Persia through the Russo-Persian War (1804–13) and Russo-Persian War (1826–28) and the respectively ensuing treaties of Gulistan and Turkmenchay, as well as through the Caucasian War (1817–1864).

The Russian Empire expanded its influence and possessions in Central Asia, especially in the later 19th century, conquering much of Russian Turkestan in 1865 and continuing to add territory as late as 1885.

Newly discovered Arctic islands became part of the Russian Empire: the New Siberian Islands from the early 18th century; Severnaya Zemlya ("Emperor Nicholas II Land") first mapped and claimed as late as 1913.

During World War I, Russia briefly occupied a small part of East Prussia, then a part of Germany; a significant portion of Austrian Galicia; and significant portions of Ottoman Armenia. While the modern Russian Federation currently controls the Kaliningrad Oblast, which comprised the northern part of East Prussia, this differs from the area captured by the empire in 1914, though there was some overlap: Gusev (Gumbinnen in German) was the site of the initial Russian victory.

According to the 1st article of the Organic Law, the Russian Empire was one indivisible state. In addition, the 26th article stated that "With the Imperial Russian throne are indivisible the Kingdom of Poland and Grand Principality of Finland". Relations with the Grand Principality of Finland were also regulated by the 2nd article, "The Grand Principality of Finland, constituted an indivisible part of the Russian state, in its internal affairs governed by special regulations at the base of special laws", and by the law of 10 June 1910.

Between 1799 and 1867, the empire formally controlled Russian America. With the exception of this territory – modern-day Alaska – the Russian Empire was a contiguous mass of land spanning Europe and Asia. In this it differed from contemporary colonial-style empires. The result of this was that, while the British and French empires declined in the 20th century, a large portion of the Russian Empire's territory remained together, first within the Soviet Union, and after 1991 in the smaller Russian Federation.

Furthermore, the empire held leaseholds and concessions in Qing China, notably the Kwantung Leased Territory (including the naval base at Port Arthur) and the Chinese Eastern Railway zone across Manchuria, as well as the Russian concession of Tianjin.

In 1815, Georg Anton Schäffer, an agent of the Russian-American Company, reached Kauai and negotiated a protectorate agreement with local ruler Kaumualii, but Emperor Alexander I declined ratification to avoid diplomatic conflict with Great Britain and the United States.

In 1889, adventurer Nikolay Ivanovitch Achinov led an unauthorized expedition to establish an outpost named New Moscow at Sagallo on the Gulf of Tadjoura (modern Djibouti). Because the territory was claimed by the French Somaliland protectorate, French naval gunboats bombarded the settlement after Achinov refused to surrender; the survivors were arrested and deported to Russia, where the tsarist government disavowed the venture.

From its initial proclamation in 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1905, the Russian Empire was led by an emperor (also referred to as tsar), who ruled as an absolute monarch. The adoption of the Russian Constitution of 1906 marked an important step toward constitutionalism in Russia: while the emperor retained the legal title and status of autocrat, his legislative monopoly was ended as laws now required the approval of the elected parliament. Nevertheless, the form of government is best described as a semi-constitutional monarchy. The emperor retained ultimate authority, including an absolute veto over legislation, the right to promulgate exceptional decrees, control of foreign affairs, and special prerogatives in defense legislation. The Almanach de Gotha, which had previously described Russia as "a hereditary monarchy", thereafter referred to it as "a constitutional monarchy under an autocratic tsar".

Most Russian leaders adhered to a kind of conservatism or traditionalism, albeit accommodating occasional reform. This conservatism was premised on the anti-rationalism of intellectuals, religiosity of the Russian Orthodox Church, traditionalism rooted in the landed estates worked by serfs, and militarism of the army officer corps. Official imperial ideology generally rejected Western European rationalism in favor of romantic nationalism and religious orthodoxy, framing the autocratic monarchy as the only natural political order for Russian society. A conservative notion of modernization based on the incorporation of modern technology to serve the established system replaced the liberal notion of "progress". The promise of modernization in the service of autocracy frightened socialist intellectual Alexander Herzen, who warned of a Russia governed by "Genghis Khan with a telegraph".

Peter the Great changed his title from tsar to emperor in order to secure Russia's position in the European states system. While later rulers did not discard the new title, the Russian monarch was commonly known as the tsar or tsaritsa until the imperial system was abolished following the February Revolution of 1917. Prior to the issuance of the October Manifesto, the emperor ruled as an absolute monarch, subject to only two limitations on his authority, both of which were intended to protect the existing system: the emperor and his consort must both belong to the Russian Orthodox Church, and he must obey the Pauline Laws of succession established by Paul I. Beyond this, the power of the Russian autocrat was virtually limitless.

On 17 October 1905, the situation changed: the ruler voluntarily limited his legislative power by decreeing that no measure was to become law without the consent of the Imperial Duma, a freely elected national assembly established by the Organic Law issued on 28 April 1906. However, he retained the right to disband the newly established Duma, and he exercised this right more than once. He also retained an absolute veto over all legislation, and only he could initiate any changes to the Organic Law itself. His ministers were responsible solely to him, and not to the Duma or any other authority, which could question but not remove them. Thus, while the emperor's personal powers were limited in scope after 28 April 1906, they remained formidable.

Under Russia's revised Fundamental Law of 20 February 1906, the State Council was associated with the Duma as a legislative upper house; from this time the legislative power was exercised normally by the emperor only in concert with the two chambers. The Council of the Empire, or Imperial Council, as reconstituted for this purpose, consisted of 196 members, of whom 98 were nominated by the emperor, while 98 were elective. The ministers, also nominated, were ex officio members. Of the elected members, 3 were returned by the "black" clergy (the monks), 3 by the "white" clergy (secular), 18 by the corporations of nobles, 6 by the academy of sciences and the universities, 6 by the chambers of commerce, 6 by the industrial councils, 34 by local governmental zemstvos, 16 by local governments having no zemstvos, and 6 by Poland. As a legislative body the powers of the council were coordinate with those of the Duma; in practice, however, it seldom if ever initiated legislation.

The Imperial Duma or State Duma (Gosudarstvennaya Duma), which formed the lower house of the Russian parliament, consisted (since the electoral law of 16 June [O.S. 3 June] 1907) of 442 members, elected by an exceedingly complicated franchise. The membership was manipulated to secure an overwhelming majority of wealthy landholders and ethnic Russian representatives at the expense of subject nationalities. Each province of the empire, except Central Asia, returned a set number of deputies, alongside representatives from several major cities. Members were chosen through electoral colleges, which were elected by three broad curiae: landed proprietors, urban property owners, and peasants.

Voting in the electoral colleges was conducted by secret ballot, with a simple majority deciding each seat. Because conservative elements dominated the colleges, progressive and socialist parties had limited representation. The few radical delegates largely owed their seats to direct representation granted to the empire's seven largest cities—Saint Petersburg, Moscow, Kiev, Odessa, Riga, Warsaw, and Łódź—though even there the electorate was stratified by property qualifications.

In 1905, the Council of Ministers (Sovet Ministrov) was created, under a minister president, the first appearance of a prime minister in Russia. This council consisted of all the ministers and of the heads of other principal departments. The ministries were as follows:

Ministry of the Imperial Court

Ministry of Foreign Affairs;

Ministry of War;

Ministry of the Navy;

Ministry of Finance;

Ministry of Commerce and Industry (created in 1905);

Ministry of Internal Affairs (including police, health, censorship and press, posts and telegraphs, foreign religions, statistics);

Ministry of Agriculture and State Assets;

Ministry of Ways of Communications;

Ministry of Justice;

Ministry of National Education.

The Most Holy Synod, established in 1721, was the supreme organ of government of the Russian Orthodox Church. It was presided over by a lay procurator, representing the emperor, and consisted of the three metropolitans of Moscow, Saint Petersburg, and Kiev, the Archbishop of Georgia, and a number of bishops sitting in rotation.

The Governing Senate (Pravitelstvuyushchi Senat), originally established during the government reform of Peter the Great, consisted of members nominated by the emperor. Its wide variety of functions were carried out by the different departments into which it was divided. It was the supreme court of cassation; an audit office; a high court of justice for all political offences; and one of its departments fulfilled the functions of a heralds' college. It also had supreme jurisdiction in all disputes arising out of the administration of the empire, notably in differences between representatives of the central power and the elected organs of local self-government. Lastly, it promulgated new laws, a function which theoretically gave it a power akin to that of the Supreme Court of the United States, of rejecting measures not in accordance with fundamental laws.

Russia was a unitary state. As of 1914, Russia was divided into 81 governorates (gubernii), 20 oblasts, and 1 okrug. Vassals and protectorates of the Russian Empire included the Emirate of Bukhara, the Khanate of Khiva, and, after 1914, Tuva (Uriankhai). Of these, 11 governorates, 17 oblasts, and 1 okrug (Sakhalin) belonged to Asian Russia. Of the rest, 8 governorates were in Finland and 10 in Congress Poland. European Russia thus embraced 59 governorates and 1 oblast (that of the Don). The Don Host Oblast was under the direct jurisdiction of the ministry of war; the rest each had a governor and deputy-governor, the latter presiding over the administrative council. In addition, there were governors-general, generally placed over several governorates and armed with more extensive powers, usually including the command of the troops within the limits of their jurisdiction. In 1906, there were governors-general in Finland, Warsaw, Vilna, Kiev, Moscow, and Riga. The larger cities (Saint Petersburg, Moscow, Odessa, Sevastopol, Kerch, Nikolayev, and Rostov) had administrative systems of their own, independent of the governorates; in these the chief of police acted as governor.

The judicial system of the Russian Empire was established by the statute of 20 November 1864 of Alexander II. This system – based partly on English and French law – was predicated on the separation of judicial and administrative functions, the independence of the judges and courts, public trials and oral procedure, and the equality of all classes before the law. Moreover, a democratic element was introduced by the adoption of the jury system and the election of judges. This system was disliked by the bureaucracy, due to its putting the administration of justice outside of the executive sphere. During the late reign of Alexander II and under Alexander III, judicial independence was progressively curtailed, though several of these restrictions were rolled back by the Third Duma following the 1905 Revolution.

The system established by the law of 1864 had two wholly separate tribunals, each having their own courts of appeal and coming in contact with each other only in the Senate, which acted as the supreme court of cassation. The first tribunal, based on the English model, were the courts of the elected justices of the peace, with jurisdiction over petty causes, whether civil or criminal; the second, based on the French model, were the ordinary tribunals of nominated judges, sitting with or without a jury to hear important cases.

Alongside the local organs of the central government in Russia, there were three classes of local elected bodies charged with administrative functions:

the peasant assemblies in the mirs and the volosts;

the zemstvos in the 34 governorates of Russia;

the municipal dumas.

Since 1870, the municipalities in European Russia had institutions like those of the zemstvos. All owners of houses, tax-paying merchants, artisans, and workmen were enrolled on lists, in descending order according to their assessed wealth. The total valuation was then divided into three equal parts, representing three groups of electors very unequal in number, each of which would elect an equal number of delegates to the municipal duma. The executive was in the hands of an elected mayor and an uprava, which consisted of several members elected by the municipal duma. Under Alexander III, however, through bylaws promulgated in 1892 and 1894, the municipal dumas were subordinated to the governors in the same way as the zemstvos. In 1894, municipal institutions, with still more restricted powers, were granted to several towns in Siberia, and in 1895 to some in the Caucasus.

The formerly Swedish-controlled Baltic provinces of Livonia and Estonia, along with the Duchy of Courland, were incorporated into the empire following the Great Northern War and the Third Partition of Poland. Under the 1721 Treaty of Nystad, the Baltic German nobility retained wide autonomy, religious freedom for Lutheranism, and German as the administrative language.

In the late 1880s, the imperial government enacted policies transferring judicial and police administration from local Baltic German manorial courts to central crown officials. This was accompanied by state-directed Russification, mandating the Russian language in provincial administration, secondary schools, and the Imperial University of Dorpat, which was renamed Iuryev in 1893.

Before the abolition of serfdom in 1861, Russia's economy mainly depended on agriculture. By the census of 1897, 95% of the Russian population lived in the countryside. Nicholas I attempted to modernize his country, and have it not been so dependent on a single economic sector. During the reign of Alexander III, many reforms occurred. The Peasants' Land Bank was founded in 1883 to provide loans for Russian peasants, both as individuals and in communes. The Nobles' Land Bank, in 1885, made loans at nominal interest rates to the landed nobility. The poll tax was abolished in 1886.

When Ivan Vyshnegradsky was appointed as the new minister of finance in 1886, he increased the pressure on peasants by increasing taxes on land and prescribing how they harvested grain. These policies led to the severe Russian famine of 1891–1892, with four hundred thousand perishing from starvation. Vyshnegradsky was succeeded by Count Sergei Witte in 1892. Witte began by raising revenues through a monopoly on alcohol, which brought in 300 million rubles in 1894. These reforms returned the peasants to essentially being serfs again. In 1900, a wealthy peasant class (kulaks) had emerged, representing less than 20% of the population. An income tax was introduced in 1916. Historical national accounts indicate that between 1885 and 1913, real national income grew at an average rate of roughly 3.3% annually, keeping pace with contemporaneous Western industrial growth, though rapid demographic growth kept per capita output at roughly one-third to one-half of Western European levels.

The agrarian economy rested on large estates worked by serfs under two primary obligations: barshchina (compulsory labor dues) and obrok (quitrent in cash or kind, which allowed peasants to take outside work). The legal foundations of serfdom had been formalized in the Sobornoye Ulozheniye of 1649 under Tsar Alexis.

From 1891 to 1892, peasants were faced with new policies carried out by Ivan Vyshnegradsky, causing a famine and disease that took the lives of four hundred thousand people, especially in the Volga region, eliciting the greatest decline in grain production.