Russian Empire (jan 2, 1475 – jan 1, 1917)

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Muscovy continued to grow outward from Moscow, becoming the great Russian Empire. Ruled by czars, Russia faced severe difficulties after Ivan IV's reign. Foreign invasion, economic decline and social upheaval plagued Russia until 1613, when the Romanov Dynasty came to power. The government slowly tightened its grip on the people. Many commoners had become serfs by 1650. Serfs were treated almost like slaves, and were bound to serve out their days working the land and serving the nobility that ruled over it.
In the late 1600s, a new czar named Peter I (later nicknamed Peter the Great) decided to modernize Russia. He moved the capital to a new city, St. Petersburg, and established trade with the rest of Europe. He enlarged Russia's territory and expanded it's military. He built ports along the baltic sea on land he gained from Sweden, and strengthened Russia's control of Siberia. St Petersburg became the most successful seaport in Russia, as most others were unoperational due to ice for half the year.
in the late 1700s, Empress Catherine the Great gained a long-sought-after port on the black sea. Russian nobility had adopted western European culture by then, which included mainly speaking the French language instead of Russian. By comparison, the serfs had clung to traditional Russian culture, which grew the already substantial gap separating the two. During this time, serfs were given even harder work and sunk into greater poverty, and Russian expansion brought other cultures, both Slavic and non-Slavic, under Russia's control.
A cycle of popular discontent, unsuccessful reformations and governmental repression repeated itself over and over during the 1800s. The educated populace wanted to see Russian society be more open, but the government held most of the country's power and limited any reforms that happened. As national pride grew, non-Russian peoples suffered racism. The government introduced the policy of Russification, which forced all Russian people to speak Russian and follow Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Those that refused were persecuted, especially Jews.
Many members of the working class were attracted to the ideas of Karl Marx, a german philosopher. Marx argued that wealth should be equally shared amongst all people, and advocated for a classless society. He believed that there would be a world-wide revolution where the working class rose up and took away the power of the wealthy.
In the early 1900s, discontent with the czars began being expressed in more physical ways. Russia nearly fell in 1905 to strikes and riots. The hardships brought by World War I brought even more riots to Russia. In 1917, Czar Nicholas II surrendered his throne, ending the Russian Empire.

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