The Russian Empire

Alexander II 1855 – 1881

Alexander was the eldest son of Emperor Nicholas I and was born in Moscow on 17 April 1818. He came to the throne on 19 February 1855, after the death of his father.
Defeat in the Crimean War convinced the Czar that reform was necessary. He implemented important reforms. Most notable was the abolition of serfdom in 1861 (The Emancipation Decree).
Unfortunately under this measure, he offered so
many concessions to landlords that many peasants found themselves in worse economic circumstances than before. Many of the plots of land the peasants received were smaller than those they had farmed as serfs.
The repayments over forty-nine years were a massive burden for the peasants.


Political and legal reforms

Although he refused to consider introducing an elected parliament, he did bring in some political reforms. This included permitting each district to set up a Zemstvo.
These were local councils with powers to provide roads,
schools and medical services. However, the right to elect members was restricted to the wealthy.
The legal system was also reformed in 1864. The judiciary became an independent branch of government.
Favour under the law for the wealthy and upper classes was replaced by what was supposed to be equality before the law. Trial by jury was introduced for serious criminal offenses.
Alexander also reformed the military, reducing duty from twenty-five years to six and people from all classes were obliged to serve.
Corporal punishment was abolished for soldiers and an effort was made to improve the professionalism of the officer corps.

Alexander III 1881-1894

A physically imposing man, the new Czar had watched his father die in a St Petersburg Palace. As a result of the assassination,
, Alexander III would not consider granting a parliament. He tightened censorship of the press and sent thousands of revolutionaries to Siberia.
In his Accession Manifesto, he declared his intention to have "full faith in the justice and strength of the autocracy" that he had been entrusted with.
Any liberal proposals in government were quickly dismissed. Judges and officials who were sympathetic to Liberal ideas were removed from office.
Alexander III His reign is often referred to as the Age of Counter Reform. He is known as a reactionary ruler.
To many westerners he appeared crude and not very intelligent. Queen Victoria commented that she thought him as "a sovereign whom she does not look upon as a gentlemen."
He was greatly influenced by his tutor Constantine Pobedonostsev who instilled into him conservative values.
His political ideal was a nation containing only one nationality, one language, one religion and one form of administration.

A policy of Russification was introduced. This involved imposing the Russian language and Russian schools on the Germans, the Poles and the Finns and all other minority nationalities.
Russian had also to be used by local officials and in the courts. The policy was not successful and bred resentment.
Schools were also forced to raise their fees to prevent the poorer classes gaining an education. In 1897 the illiteracy rate was 79%.
Universities lost most of the freedoms gained under Alexander II and censorship was tightened considerably.
He strengthened the security police, reorganizing it into an agency known as the Okhrana.
He encouraged the Orthodox Church at the expense of other religions especially the Catholic Church.
It was an offence to convert from the Orthodox Church to another faith. Divorce could only be granted through a church court. The Orthodox Church was given control of primary schools.
Alexander also persecuted the Jews. Many blamed them for the assassination of Alexander II.
Over six hundred anti-Jewish measures were introduced. For example the number who could attend university was limited. They were forbidden to trade on Christian holy days.
There were many pogroms or attacks on Jews although they were not officially encouraged. Anti-Jewish policies led to large scale Jewish emigration to Europe and the US. Many others joined revolutionary organisations opposed to the Czarist government.
Industrialisation

One major success during the reign of Alexander III was the acceleration of industrial development that continued under his son Nicholas II.
The man most associated with this policy was Sergei Witte who was Minister of Finance from 1892 until 1903. He encouraged foreign investment and placed the rouble on the gold standard.
From 1889 large amounts of the finance necessary for industrial investment had come from French investors, a factor that contributed to the alliance that developed between the two countries in 1894.
British and German money was also significant.
Russia mapIt was in these years that coal mining and great iron and steel plants developed in the Ukraine, oil around Baku (where the Nobel brothers were investors), textiles around Moscow and engineering in the capital St Petersburg.
Russia's coal, iron, steel, and oil production tripled between 1890 and 1900. Her GNP grew more quickly than any other major European power.
Railroad mileage almost doubled, giving Russia the most track of any nation other than the United States.
The greatest project of the period was the construction of the Trans Siberian Railway linking St.Petersburge and Vladivostok. It was started in 1891 and completed in 1905 and ran for 5,785 miles.
The urban labour force grew rapidly. For example the population of St Petersburg and Moscow increased by over 100%. Nearly 50% of workers worked in factories with over 1000 employees. Wages, hours of work and housing conditions were usually very poor. T
his was especially true in Moscow. Government attempts to improve conditions were resisted bitterly by employers there. The development of a large industrial working class was to create a lot of political problems for Czar Nicholas II.


The Russo-Japanese War

Since the Congress of Berlin, Russia had been expanding eastwards and extending her influence into the Chinese province of Manchuria and into Korea.
In 1898 she acquired the Chinese town of Port Arthur (now Dalian). She moved troops into Manchuria during the Boxer Rising in 1900. She came into conflict with Japan who also had ambitions in the region.
The Japanese tried to reach a negotiated settlement but the Russian government was inflexible.
It was willing to risk an armed conflict in the belief that Japan was bound to be defeated and that a Russian victory would head off the growing threat of internal revolution in Russia.
The negotiations failed and in February 1904 the Japanese attacked Port Arthur and war began.
They decided to attack before the Trans-Siberian Railway was completed. The colonial nature of the war was shown by the fact that the land war was fought in China.
The Russians fought bravely but a mixture of poor leadership, supply difficulties, Japanese military ability and poor luck insured her eventual defeat.
In January 1905 Port Arthur fell to the Japanese. In March after a two week battle at Mukden, the Japanese emerged victorious.
Peace Treaty
In May, the Russian fleet that had sailed around the world from the Baltic was ambushed and annihilated at the Battle of Tsushima.
both sides were prepared to accept an offer of mediation from the US president Theodore Roosevelt. The Treaty of Portsmouth was signed in September and this greatly reduced Russian influence in the region.
The war was to have a number of consequences:

* It was the first defeat of a European power by an Asian country and marked the emergence of Japan as a great power.
* The conduct of the war exposed the inefficiency and corruption of the Czarist system of government and contributed directly to the revolution of 1905.
* It marked the end of major Russian expansion in Asia and caused Russia to take a greater interest in European affairs especially the Balkans.
* The Battle of Mukden was to be very similar to those of World War I with two large armies of 300,000 men involved and very heavy causalities on both sides.

Military

I'm unsure of the exact military power of russia in 1870 however what I do know is that the overall russian military had sustained some damage from the cremean war.
Although Russia had the third largest population and one of the largest standing armies in europe. The army was poorly trained and equiped ontop of which was poorly supported by artillery.
by 1914 the russian army mobilized 126 infantry divisions around 40 calvary divisions and 20 artillery divisions. Which made it x2 larger then the german eastern and austrian army combined
and three times larger then the french army.

Some events russia could recieve are some extra soldiers, calvary, artillery that is spawned seeing as how their population was increased by 100%
They could automaticcaly spawn some industries and business for extra gold and war material income seeing as how their industries had actually increased
extra gold should be givin to the russians due to the fact taht their coal, iron, steel and oil production tripled. Also her GNP had grown more then any other european power.
during the 1905 revolution some russian soldiers and buildings could go hostile(SOME ONLY SOME like maybe 10 soldiers and like 2 cities)
during the Russo Japanese war Russia could lose gold and war material and units if you can pull it off.
Russia could spawn some soldiers during 1914 seeing as how they mobolized the largest army.
1917 Russia could fall into a revolution were you can choose which side you would like to play as.
When Stalin came into power russia could gain a lot of Industries and war material thanks to the industrial revolution.
They could lose some shit because of the great purging or what not.

This list still remains incomplete, more research and updates to come. Such as the Russian navy, russian special infantry, more events and russia from 1919-1930.

Hell yeah