If we trace the process of the emergence of empires on the European continent over the past 500-600 years, we can see the primary role of military expansion. The territories of neighboring and distant states were captured by militant rulers, the Mongols led by Genghis Khan acted by the method of scorched earth, destroying everyone and everything; the British, for lack of other people's territories nearby, swam away from their homeland and were engaged in expansion there. The Roman Empire was formed at the expense of the occupied lands, which urgently joined, and then Roman laws were introduced for the population and all civil rights were granted to people. The Romans tried to make enslaved peoples not feel that way.
Russian Empire at the beginning of the 20th century and earlier
Russia did not wage aggressive wars. However, it had vast territories, mostly undeveloped, and these vast expanses were of great political importance. At the beginning of the 18th century, the
Northern War began in Europe
, in which Sweden acted on the one hand, and on the other, a coalition association of northern states, including Russia. The war lasted 20 years and ended with the defeat of Sweden. According to the results of the Northern War, Tsar
Peter I was granted the title of All-Russian Emperor by decision of the Senate. In 1721, Emperor Peter I proclaimed the Russian Empire.
Having existed for nearly two centuries, the Russian empire at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries ended its history as a result of a coup. Perhaps the
October revolution of the Bolsheviks was the result of the difficulties, economic and political, experienced by the Russian empire in the early 20th century. The spirit of autocracy,
an absolute monarchy did not benefit the country economically backward and politically dependent on Western countries. The tough tax policy introduced by the autocratic tsar forced the peasantry, which borne the bulk of the tax burden, to "go underground" and hide agricultural products in order to somehow survive and not starve to death.
Political discussions were going on all over Europe that the Russian empire at the beginning of the 20th century was no longer as powerful as it was in the last hundred and fifty years of its history. The then Minister of Finance S.Yu. Witte. He managed to convince Tsar Nicholas II of the need for a tough program of industrial development of the country. It was proposed to close the path to protectionism, which brought industrial assets of Russia closer to foreign ones, in favor of the latter. The monetary reform of 1897 was carried out, significantly strengthening the Russian ruble, which soon became a reliable European currency, as it was provided with gold.
At the same time, the political situation was heating up on the European continent. The strike movement was expanding, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels were heard , and a new Russian empire was looming on the threshold of history. The economy was already closely intertwined with the political aspirations of the masses. Being monolithic earlier, the Russian empire at the beginning of the 20th century staggered and cracks went along it. Autocracy has lost its inviolability. The Council of Ministers, previously obedient to the tsar’s will, ceased to be an unquestioned political entity and its decisions were already in the nature of state responsibility. Then the Russian empire at the beginning of the 20th century experienced another shock - the first world civil war, which brought the end of the empire closer.