Captivating History - The Romanovs: A Captivating Guide to the Last Imperial Dynasty to Rule Russia and the Impact the Romanov Family Had on Russian History

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Introduction

M odern Russia is the largest country in the world, stretching from Europes eastern borders to the Sea of Japan, and sharing its southern border with Mongolia, China, and Kazakhstan. Its complicated history stretches back thousands of years, from the time of the Viking explorer Ruriks first documented colony of Novgorod to the modern day. And an undoubtedly interesting, exciting, and dramatic chapter of its history was ruled over by the Romanov dynasty.

This powerful ruling family came to power shortly after the frightening rule of a legendary figure in Russian history: Ivan the Terrible. After murdering his own son and unborn grandson, Ivan died without an heir, resulting in the formation of a new dynasty. This was the Romanov family.

The Romanovs included some of the most famous names in all of history, from Peter the Great, who expanded its borders, to the mighty Empress Catherine the Great, a powerful female ruler in a time of rife male supremacy and who is still a symbol of feminine power to this day. The Romanovs ruled from the end of the Middle Ages to the dawn of a modern era that forcefully rejected the last Romanovs from a nation that no longer tolerated a monarchy. And every last one of these mighty monarchs had quirks and idiosyncrasies, likes and dislikes, pasts that were often troubled, and complicated family lives.

Every one of them was a person, complex, intricate, flawed, and fascinating. Their stories range from the beautiful to the tragic to the bizarre. And here they all are, laid out for you to enjoy.

Chapter 1 Russia Before the Romanovs

Illustration I: Ilya Repins 19th-century depiction of Ivan the Terrible and his son

T he Grand Duchy of Moscow was established in the 13th century, and many of Russias political and economic events have since centered on this ancient city and its location on the Moskva River.

Kievan Rus

The East Slavic state of Kievan Rus existed in a small region of Eastern Europe. Located just east of Poland and Hungary, and to the north of the Byzantine Empire, Kievan Rus was a state comprised of ancient communities that had been conquered by the Vikings in the 9th and 10th centuries. [1] It is told in the Russian Primary Chronicle , which was written in the 12th century and covers the history of the region from 850 to 1110, that the first Viking to lay claim to the city of Novgorod was named Rurik. Rurik was succeeded by his relative Oleg around 879, and the latter is credited with establishing the state of Kievan Rus. [2] To achieve this, Oleg first annexed the established cities of Smolensk and Kiev. The Viking founder moved onward, weaving Slavic and Finnish tribes into his nation, and in 911, he made a strategic trade deal with the Byzantine capital city of Constantinople. [3]

The economy of the early Kievan Rus state was carefully maintained. During the winter, princes of the state traveled among their neighboring tribes to collect tribute payments in the form of money, slaves, and furs. When warmer weather came, they put these items on small boats in the Dnieper River at Kiev and traveled toward Constantinople en masse. The river, as well as the nations trading treaties, are what kept Kievan Rus viable in those early centuries.

Rurik and his successors were the first of the Rurik dynasty, and they ruled Kievan Rus, the later-established Grand Duchy of Moscow, and the early Tsardom of Russia.

The Rurikids

By the end of the 10th century, Ruriks successors and descendants had grown their domains up and down the Dnieper and Volga Rivers, bringing numerous East Slavic tribes under their control. What was more, their allegiance with the Byzantine Empire had a strong influence on their culture. For instance, in 988, under Prince Vladimir (the great-grandson of Rurik), the official religion of Kievan Rus changed to Christianity. [4]

It was not long, however, before the burgeoning new state would fall into internal disrepair. Vladimir had to fight tooth and nail to gain control over Kievan Rus, and his son, Yaroslav, had to as well. There was no real rule of successionback then, it was every man for himself. Yaroslav would attempt to smooth out the transition from one leader to the next by leaving a detailed will after his death in 1054, which divided his domain among his numerous sons, with the eldest supposedly ruling over them all. War inevitably followed, and while the following generations made stumbling attempts at following Yaroslavs model of succession, chaos would reign for centuries every time a ruler died. Kievan Rus was fractured into numerous smaller principalities or duchies, with Kiev as the capital.

As the princes of Kievan Rus squabbled among themselves for supremacy, their external enemies inevitably took advantage of their poorly guarded borders. The Poles, Lithuanians, and, most devastating of all, Mongols were all eager for a piece of the vast territory. The Mongol attacks were so devastating that Kiev itself fell before them.