# data[].attributes.body
“Peter the Great on a White Horse.” This portrait by an anonymous author in the Hermitage Museum depicts how Peter himself wanted to be portrayed. A great military leader, outfitted in the extravagant western European style. Expansionist as he was, he is also referred to as “the reformer tsar” (Whittaker 1992, 2). Reforming legal code, building a new capital, reorganizing the military, centralizing power from the boyars to himself, and curiously attempting to purge beards from the nobility, Peter by force of personality alone made Russia’s first significant step towards becoming a recognizably European nation (Moss 2005, 234-243). Though recognized on the periphery of Europe before Peter, his successful campaigns against all of his powerful and influential neighbors put Russia on the map, so to speak. None of these campaigns would have been possible without his drastic reform efforts. His navy accounted for his successes in the Baltic sea against the Swedish, and his centralization to his new capital of Saint Petersburg freed him from the bureaucratic nightmare of Moscow. However, much of the burden of his reforms fell on the backs of the peasant serfs, with Peter’s soul tax increasing the pressure on the poor and serf manufactories being set up to fund his war efforts (Whittaker 1992, 10) (Moss 2005, 242). His construction of Saint Petersburg was also cruel to the peasant worker, with thousands dying in the marshes during its construction (Massie 2013, 236). Though Peter pulled Russia into modernity through reform, he did so through neglect of the serf, a theme to become common in the history of the Russian empire.

# data[].attributes.body
“Monument to Alexander Radishchev.” Pictured in this photograph courtesy of the Russian Hermitage Museum is a bust of the author of “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow,” Alexander Radishchev, the first great member of the Russian intelligentsia that would define the coming 18th century. The first author to risk life and career in a passionate outcry against the injustices of the Russian state, Radishchev’s novel earned him exile to Siberia by Catherine the great. Decrying the injustices of serfdom and upholding the values of the Russian peasant through the eyes of a humanist traveler, Radishchev not only inspired young Russians aspiring to free their country, but also arguably created the mold for dissident Russian literature that continues to this day. His novel proceeds to call for reform of the law codes of the Russian empire in tandem with freedom and equality for the massive serf population. Radishchev’s Journey had the unfortunate luck of being printed at the dawn of the French revolution, which promoted the novel from philosophical fiction to subversive material threatening the nation itself. Catherine tied the pursuit of Radishchev to “the French Madness” and “to stir up in the people indignation against their superiors and against the government”. Radishchev proved to be prophetic in his calls that the Tsars would meet with violent revolt if the condition of the peasants is continually ignored, writing: “Having already raised its scythe, time waits for the convenient moment, and the first flatterer or lover of mankind, arisen to stir the unfortunate, will hasten his blow. Beware.”

# data[].attributes.body
“Portrait of Michael M. Speransky.” Part of the State Hermitage Museums collection of portraits, this painting depicts prolific civil servant Michael Speransky. Known primarily for his attempts for modernizing Russia under Alexander the first, but later also advising Nicholas the first in minor government reforms, Speransky was one of the most intelligent and forward-thinking men of his generation. He envisioned Russia as a constitutional monarchy inspired by Great Britain and decided his course of action would be to directly convince the Tsar himself. Alexander the first was a uniquely qualified monarch for this possibility. Raised in the court of his grandmother Catherine the Great, Alexander was exposed to enlightenment ideals at a young age. He showed aptitude for reform at the beginning of his reign, and Speransky soon worked himself into being Alexander’s primary advisor. Speransky had the unique task of reforming his government through flattery and persuasion, rather than revolt and revolution. He idealized the works of French philosopher Montesquieu, a major influence on the recent American revolution, and worked to persuade Alexander that if the Tsar did not reform the country, then the people would be forced to. Due to the precariousness of his position, he was forced to dodge the glaring issue of serfdom in Russia and instead hope that with the success of his reforms the issue would force itself to resolution. Unfortunately for Speransky, he would have a falling out with the Tsar in 1812 and be forced out of government, much to the relief of the nobility. However in his Siberian exile he would befriend and heavily influence an influential leader in Russia’s next attempt at reform, Gabriel Batenkov of the Decembrists).

# data[].attributes.body
“Military Revolt at the Advent of Emperor Nicholas” Part of the Hermitage Museum’s Russian Art and Culture collection, this engraving is a portrayal of the Decembrist revolt in 1825. Resulting from the dissatisfaction of a few high-ranking officers in Tsar Alexander the first’s pivot from enshrining enlightenment ideals to more classic conservatism and autocracy, these progressive nobles formed a plot to transition the Russian empire to a constitutional monarchy. With the Tsar’s death and subsequent dynastic crisis, these men stormed the capital in a rushed attempt to attain their goals through their support of ascending Tsar Nicholas’s brother Constantine. Though this revolt can be seen as a precursor to the more major revolutions in the beginning of the 20th century, the makeup of the rebels was considerably different. Of the 289 men sentenced following the revolts failure, only twelve did not have noble backgrounds. Even more interestingly, about 85% of those sentenced came from families with history of service to the state. Thus, the Decembrists seem more like the signatories of the Declaration of Independence in America than the radicals espousing world revolution in 1917. This resemblance to the founding fathers is not coincidental, the leaders of the revolt were openly admirers of the young United States, major leaders Colonel Pavel Pestel and Nikita Muriev closely copied the American constitution in their plans for a new government, though the two differed on the role of the landholding nobility in the new republic. Although the Decembrists favored Jefferson rather than Marx, the Decembrist revolt provided the Romanovs with a taste of violent revolt, a threat that would be continually ignored until the last fateful hour.

# data[].attributes.body
“Order to employees: do not spare cartridges and do not give blank volleys.” This image was the cover of satirical journal “Arrows,” part of the University of Southern California’s Russian satirical journal collection. It was published in December of 1905, accounting for imperial Russian dating.  Depicted in the image is a holy man leading a mob of workers calling for freedoms and labor protection on their flags. This journal was published at the height of the 1905 revolution, with the major railway strikes only just subsiding. The subtext at the bottom reads “Long live full amnesty!” This is likely referring to the political amnesty granted to the strikers in the October Manifesto, decreed barely a month before. The decrease in political censorship following the manifesto resulted in a mass flooding of satirical journals into the Russian markets containing views all across the political spectrum, with left-wing publications quickly becoming the most popular. The prevalence of the color red in this art is no coincidence, the symbolic shade of the revolution at one point had become so desired by the masses that some vendors refused to sell journals whose covers lacked the hue. Such journals came to represent and spread the views of discontented workers, who were becoming increasingly radical following the failure of the Tsar to relinquish any power to the Duma. Though many of these publications would be banned following only a few issues, their influence on the political situation cannot be understated.

# data[].attributes.body
“Down with capitalism, long live the dictatorship of the proletariat!” This poster, part of the New York Public Library’s “Collection of Russian and Ukrainian Posters,” signifies the true end of the Russian Empire that had stood so tall since the defeat of Napoleon. Depicting the noble worker trampling on the remains of the neo-classical pillars spelling out “capital,” this poster claims heir to the Russian expanses through legitimacy of number with the masses rallying behind the triumphant socialist. Death had been knocking at the door of the Romanovs, and by refusing to relinquish any power Tsar Nicholas II had only been exacerbating the movement against him. On the eve of the strikes and anarchy in the capital breaking out into full revolution, prime minister of the duma pleaded with the Tsar: “The last hour has come, when the fate of the fatherland and the dynasty is being decided”. He proved to be prophetic, as the very next day imperial troops in the capital broke ranks and joined the marching peasants and workers, largely cited as the start of the 1917 revolution. This was the culmination of forces and trends working within the Russian empire for over a century, and there are few to no notable names directly tied with this upheaval. The 1917 revolution truly was the people’s revolution, as the average Russian worker, not any professional revolutionary or politician, who carried out the dissolution of the monarchy. After years of assassinations, terrorism, and strikes, the Tsar was finally forced to abdicate and cede power to the factions that would proceed to plunge Russia into civil war.