Romanov

The dynasty which ruled Russia from 1613 until the February Revolution of 1917.

The family descended from the first wife of Ivan the Terrible (Tzar, 1547-84). Russia fell into fifteen years of chaos (the so-called Time of Troubles) following the death of the last tzar of the previous dynasty (the Rurik) 1598. In 1613 a zemsky sobor ("assembly of the land") invited the teenaged Michael Romanov to rule over them as the new tzar, thinking that, being young as he was, they could "manage" him to their ways. Things would turn out differently.

Orthodox in their faith and autocratic in their rule, the Romanov did little serious to modernize Russia until Peter the Great (r.1682-1725) and Catherine the Great (r.1762-96). By that time the rest of western Europe were already far ahead of Russia in every aspect of economic and social developments. Serfdom—backbone of her economy—was not abolished until 1861 (the last nation in Europe to do so), but already dissent was already felt: there was the famous Decembrist revolt in 1825 that failed. The defeat of the Russian armies and then of her navies by the Japanese in 1904 gave reformers the courage to launch the Revolution of 1905. It failed and more than 300 marcher, including women and children died. But Nicholas II showed signs that he was ready for reform, and a national representative assembly, the Duma, was formed. In the end it turned out to be only a showcase with no substance nor any intention to make real changes. The outbreak of the WWI would bring the Romanov to its knees. The Russian army was badly mauled on the Eastern Front while food became scarce at home especially during the winter of 1916-17. At the same time the royal family continued to stay aloft from the masses, entertaining the hated Rusputin as their special guest. All these conspired such a massive civilian revolt it forced Nicholas to abdicate on 2 March 1917. A few hours afterwards he, with his family (his wife, four daughters and a sickly son) were ordered placed under house-arrest by the provisional government. When the Bolsheviks had finally established their hold of the country, they ordered the Tzar and his family (they had by then been moved to the city of Yekaterinberg (modern Sverdlovsk in the Urals) shot. Those other members of the dynasty who could fled, those who could not were shot by the Bolshevics.

The Romanov tzars include:

Michael Romanov (r.1613-45)

Alexis (r.1645-76)

Fyodor III (1676-82)

Sophia (Regent, 1782-89)

Ivan V (Co-tzar, 1682-96)

Peter the Great (1682-1725)

Catherine I (r.1725-27)

Peter II (r.1727-30)

Anna (r.1730-40)

Anna Leopoldovna (r.1740-41)

Ivan VI (r.1740-41)

Elizabeth (r.1741-62)

Peter III (r.1762)

Catherine II the Great (r.1762-96)

Paul I (r.1796-1801)

Alexander I (r.1801-25)

Nicholas I (1825-55)

Alexander II (r.1855-81)

Alexander III (1881-94)

Nicholas II (r.1894-1917)