The Romanov family ruled for 300 years - up till the early years of the twentieth century when the revolution toppled the monarchy.
Of all the Romanov czars two stand out as great, visionary leaders - Peter the Great and Catherine the Great. Peter served for 43 years and was a visionary leader who sought to modernize Russia. He served into the first quarter of the 18th century.
Catherine was Peter's equal even though she was not even related to Peter the Great. No, she was not even a Romanov. She was actually German and her real name was Sofia. She served for 34 years and was shrewd, cunning and daring.
To remain as a czar in Russia one had to be able to effectively ward off palace coups and other possible threats to power. And then of course there were wars to be waged and uprisings to be thwarted.
Several Russian czars were teenagers when they took the throne. One was actually only nine months old. Others were poisoned. Still others ruled in name only and permitted their lovers or favorite members of the royal inner circle to rule.
For 300 years the Russians were ruled by imperious, autocratic people -- people who schemed against one another and who had their actual or perceived enemies (including family members) poisoned, strangled, quartered or (if you were lucky) simply exiled. Revenge was rampant. Suspicion ruled the day. Blood-thirsty, iron-fisted power prevailed.
One of the final czars, Alexander II was the most modern, liberal and liberating of all the czars. He abolished serfdom. In the end, he was assassinated by one of the very people who was liberated by him.
The final emperor, Nicholas II ruled from 1894 till 1917 when he and his family were killed in the Bolshevik uprising -- the revolution.
This ushered in the communist era and the beginning of the Soviet Union.
And that's yet another chapter of history -- one with its own bag full of intrigue and bloodshed.
But that's another story.
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