The coats-of-arms which were to be included in the Armorial had to be approved by the Emperor. But after Catherine died in 1796, she was succeeded by her son, Paul. Before this date, the fundamental laws of Russia described the power of the emperor as "autocratic and unlimited". is also a part of the coat of arms. The emperor eventually ended up ruling Finland as a semi-constitutional monarch through the Governor-General of Finland and a native Senate appointed by him. The Abbreviated Imperial Title is inscribed over the perimeter of the Seal. Until the 1905 Russian Revolution, the Russian Empire functioned as an absolute monarchy, following which a semi-constitutional monarchy was nominally established. Only one-quarter of the peasants were farmers; the remainder were mere laborers.[164]. Just these ten parts were published before the revolt of the year 1917. The personal Arms of amon de Valera, Irish founding father whose influence helped preserve the heraldic office in the new Republic. Coat of arms of Congress Poland was the symbol of the Congress Poland, representing the domination of the Russian Empire over the Crown of the Polish Kingdom. [134] Catherine also established the Orenburg Muslim Spiritual Assembly, which had a degree of imperial jurisdiction over the organization of Islamic practice in the country. He also introduced the Table of Ranks and equated the Votchina with an estate. These factors led to revolutions twice, and the second one, which occurred in February 1917, led to the end of almost two centuries of imperial rule, including one of the four continental empires which were collapsed after World War I, along with Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Turkey.[11]. More than 100 different ethnic groups lived in the Russian Empire, with ethnic Russians composing about 45% of the population.[106]. Austria went to war with Russia on 6 August. Oct 31, 2017 - Explore Kevin's board "Russian Imperial Coat of Arms" on Pinterest. [128] However, some historians evaluate Tsar Nicholas II as having given tacit approval to the antisemitic pogroms that resulted from reactionary riots. The Russian masses were so furious over the massacre that a general strike was declared, which demanded a democratic republic. Serfs were the least literate. [124] The Emperor was not allowed to "profess any faith other than the Orthodox" (Article 62 of the 1906 Fundamental Laws) and was deemed "the Supreme Defender and Guardian of the dogmas of the predominant Faith and is the Keeper of the purity of the Faith and all good order within the Holy Church" (Article 64 ex supra). Another significant result of the 187778 Russo-Turkish War in Russia's favour was the acquisition from the Ottomans of the provinces of Batum, Ardahan, and Kars in Transcaucasia, which were transformed into the militarily administered regions of Batum Oblast and Kars Oblast. XXV (IA dli.granth.78042).pdf, Punch, Vol. [39] As Napoleon's forces retreated, Russian troops pursued them into Central and Western Europe and to the gates of Paris. The urban population was divided into two categories according to taxable wealth and elected delegates directly to the college of the governorates. It was the supreme court of cassation; an audit office; a high court of justice for all political offences; and one of its departments fulfilled the functions of a heralds' college. XXVIII (IA dli.granth.78045).pdf, Punch, Vol. [114] During the reign of Alexander III, many reforms occurred. Disappointment at the results of the war stimulated revolutionary tensions, and helped Serbia, Romania, and Montenegro gain independence from, and strengthen themselves against, the Ottomans.[55]. Date 28 November 2009 Source The war was fought primarily in the Crimean peninsula, and to a lesser extent in the Baltic during the related land War. , . 3d illustration. Don't hesitate in asking any questions concerning the people listed below or particular features of the archival search. The invaders are dragging the occupied Ukrainian territories into the past in an expedited manner. In 1889, a Russian adventurer, Nikolay Ivanovitch Achinov, tried to establish a Russian colony in Africa, Sagallo, situated on the Gulf of Tadjoura in present-day Djibouti. Many proprietors contrived to curtail the allotments that the peasants had occupied under serfdom, and frequently deprived them of precisely that land of which they were most in need: pasture lands around their houses. Literacy rates were highest for the nobility (84 to 87 percent), merchants (over 75 percent), then the workers and peasants. It also had supreme jurisdiction in all disputes arising out of the administration of the Empire, notably in differences between representatives of the central power and the elected organs of local self-government. [69], In 1903, at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, in London, the party split into two wings: the gradualist Mensheviks and the more radical Bolsheviks. The foundations of the Russian Empire laid during Peter I's reforms, which significantly altered Russia's political and social structure,[18] and as a result of the Great Northern War, which strengthened Russia's standing on the world stage. Each Soviet Republic (SSR) and Autonomous Soviet Republic (ASSR) had its own coat of arms, largely inspired by the state emblem of the Union. [12] Alexander II (18551881) initiated numerous reforms, most notably the 1861 emancipation of all 23 million serfs. Since playing a major role in the defeat of Napoleon, Russia had been regarded as militarily invincible, but against a coalition of the great powers of Europe, the reverses it suffered on land and sea exposed the weakness of Emperor Nicholas I's regime. See more ideas about coat of arms, imperial, imperial russia. Alongside the local organs of the central government in Russia there are three classes of local elected bodies charged with administrative functions: Since 1870, the municipalities in European Russia had institutions like those of the zemstvos. Japan took over Korea, and Manchuria remained a contested area. Alexander I (18011825) played a major role in defeating the militaristic ambitions of Napoleon and subsequently constituting the Holy Alliance, which aimed to restrain the rise of secularism and liberalism across Europe. This index, published in the year 1888 contains the surnames of persons and families which received a coat of arms included to one of 14 designated parts of the General Collection of coats of arms of the All-Russian Empire. The deep indentations of the Gulfs of Bothnia and Finland were surrounded by what is ethnically Finnish territory, and it is only at the very head of the latter gulf that the Russians had taken firm foothold by erecting their capital at the mouth of the Neva River. Hover to zoom. [67], On the left, the Socialist Revolutionaries (SRs) and the Marxist Social Democrats wanted to expropriate the land, without payment, but debated whether to distribute the land among the peasants (the Narodnik solution), or to put it into collective local ownership. [152], The army performed poorly in World War I and became a center of unrest and revolutionary activity. [164], Censorship was heavy-handed until the reign of Alexander II, but it never went away. Its wide variety of functions were carried out by the different departments into which it was divided. "The Sovereign Emperor exercises legislative power in conjunction with the State Council and State Duma". After 167 years of German language administration and education, in 1888 and 1889 laws were passed transferring administration of the police and manorial justice from Baltic German control to officials of the central government. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. [138] Lutherans were particularly tolerated with the invited settlement of Volga Germans and the presence of Baltic German nobility. Literacy among women was very low. 3rd Army (Russian Empire) Adjutant general; Aleksey Tillo; Alexander III of Russia; Alexander Nevsky; Alexander Ypsilantis; Alexis of Russia; Anna of Russia; Ararat (brandy) Armorial of Russia; Black Hundreds; Boris Godunov; Breguet (brand) Catherine I of Russia; Catherine the Great; Caucasian Native Cavalry Division; Caucasus Army (Russian Empire, 1914-1917) Caucasus Front (Russian Republic) 1. Four versions were used: 6 ribbons were used in 1923, which were written on in Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Georgian, Armenian, and Azerbaijani; 11 ribbons with the addition of Turkmen, Uzbek, Tajik, Kazakh, Kyrgyz; 16 with the addition of Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Moldavian, and Finnish. Between 1744 and 1867, the empire also controlled Russian America. Steven Hoch, "Did Russia's Emancipated Serfs Really Pay Too Much for Too Little Land? During Peter's reign, the nobility was still required to serve, and serf labour played a significant role in the growth of the industry; therefore, Peter's objectives required the preservation of antiquated traditions. Of these, 11 Governorates, 17 oblasts, and 1 okrug (Sakhalin) belonged to Asian Russia. As a result of its spending, Russia developed a large and well-equipped army, a very large and complex bureaucracy, and a court that rivaled those of Paris and London. [166], Educational standards were very low in the Russian Empire. Between 1742 and 1867, the Russian-American Company administered Alaska as a colony. Workmen were treated in a special manner, with every industrial concern employing fifty hands electing one or more delegates to the electoral college. Russian Empire Coat Of Arms. Ivan adopted the golden Byzantine double-headed eagle in his seal, first documented in 1472, marking his direct claim to the Roman imperial heritage and posing as a sovereign equal and rival to the Holy Roman Empire. In addition to almost the entire territory of modern Russia,[i] prior to 1917 the Russian Empire included most of Dnieper Ukraine, Belarus, Bessarabia, the Grand Duchy of Finland, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, the Central Asian states of Russian Turkestan, most of the Baltic governorates, a significant part of Poland, and the former Ottoman provinces of Ardahan, Artvin, Idr, Kars, and the northeastern part of Erzurum Provinces. Coat of arms of Prussia The state of Prussia developed from the State of the Teutonic Order. Following a dispute with Emperor Alexander I, in 1812, Napoleon launched an invasion of Russia. An important feature of Russia is its few free outlets to the open sea, outside the ice-bound shores of the Arctic Ocean. Upon achieving victory, she established Russian rule over it and expelled the newly established Persian garrisons in the Caucasus. The "General Collection" has a short information about them, a black-white image of the coat of arms and its description. The coat of arms of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) was adopted on 10 July 1918 by the government of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Soviet Union), and modified several times afterwards. [33] She furthered these efforts by ordering the public trial of Darya Nikolayevna Saltykova, a high-ranking nobleman, on charges of torturing and murdering serfs. The formerly Swedish-controlled Baltic provinces of Livonia and Estonia and later Duchy of Courland, a vassal of PolishLithuanian Commonwealth, were incorporated into the Russian Empire after the defeat of Sweden in the Great Northern War. The result was the Decembrist revolt (December 1825), which was the work of a small circle of liberal nobles and army officers who wanted to install Nicholas' brother Constantine as a constitutional monarch. At about this time, the eagle's color was changed from golden to black, which would be retained until the fall of the Russian monarchy in 1917. By contrast in Western Europe, urban men had about a 50 percent literacy rate. The overall anti-Jewish policy of the Russian Empire led to significant sustained emigration. [37] By 1812, Russia had occupied many territories in Eastern Europe, holding some of Eastern Galicia from Austria and Bessarabia from the Ottoman Empire;[38] from Northern Europe, it had ceded Finland from the war against weaken Sweden; it also possessed some territory in Caucasus. Germany, the Austria's ally, saw the call to arms as a threat; when Russia mustered its troops, Germany affirmed the state of "imminent danger of War",[81] followed by the declaration of war on 1 August 1914. "Historiography and national identity among the Eastern Slavs: towards a new framework. Elena Tsvetkova They have been retained in the modern Russian arms despite the fact that the Russian Federation is not a monarchy, which led to objections by the Communists even though both the blue ribbon and the collar of the Order of St. Andrew (which in the imperial arms supported the three crowns and surrounded the central shield) have been removed from the current coat of arms. Peasants had no use for literacy, and people who didsuch as artisans, businessmen, and professionalswere few in number. Each province of the Empire, except Central Asia, returned a certain number of members; added to which were those returned by several large cities. A Critical Analysis of the Great Crimean Tatar Emigration of 1860-1861", "The Tsar's Foreign Faiths: Toleration and the Fate of Religious Freedom in Imperial Russia by Paul W. Werth", "How the Jesuits Survived Their Suppression: The Society of Jesus in the Russian Empire (17731814), written by Mark Inglot, S.J. Probably under influence from its German equivalent, the eagle, from 1654 onwards, was designed with spread wings and holding a scepter and orb in its claws. [128], Islam had a "sheltered but precarious" place in the Russian Empire. [46] In the 182829 Russo-Turkish War, Russia invaded northeastern Anatolia and occupied the strategic Ottoman towns of Erzurum and Gmhane and, posing as protector and saviour of the Greek Orthodox population, received extensive support from the region's Pontic Greeks. ", Stephen R. Burant, "The January Uprising of 1863 in Poland: Sources of Disaffection and the Arenas of Revolt.". The original flag of the Teutonic Knights had been a black cross on a white flag. During the years 1861 to 1892 the land owned by the nobles decreased 30%, or from 850,000 to 610,000km2 (210,000,000 to 150,000,000 acres); during the following four years an additional 8,577km2 (2,119,500 acres) were sold; and since then the sales went on at an accelerated rate, until in 1903 alone close to 8,000km2 (2,000,000 acres) passed out of their hands. For inquiries, please contact: [150]:69. [73] Russia and France's relations remained isolated before the 1890s when both sides agreed to ally when peace was threatened. [135], Despite the predominance of Orthodoxy, several Christian denominations were professed. The Lesser Coat of Arms ( ) depicts the imperial double-headed eagle, as used in the coat of arms, with the addition of the collar of the Order of Saint Andrew around the escutcheon of St. George, and the Arms of Astrakhan, Siberia, Georgia, Finland, Kiev-Vladimir-Novgorod, Taurica, Poland and Kazan on the wings (seen clockwise). Alexander II decided to abolish serfdom from above, with ample provision for the landowners, rather than wait for it to be abolished from below by revolution. Newly discovered Arctic islands became part of the Russian Empire: the New Siberian Islands from the early 18th century; Severnaya Zemlya ("Emperor Nicholas II Land") first mapped and claimed as late as 1913. This is a list of surnames which once held Coats of Arms in the Russian Empire. In 1894, municipal institutions, with still more restricted powers, were granted to several towns in Siberia, and in 1895 to some in the Caucasus. Afterwards, the concept was developed in the writings of an associateof Peter I, Archbishop Professor Feofan Prokopovich. By envisioning their own role in a rail network they came to understand how important they were to the empire's economy. the Chinese national emblem. Since the majority consisted of conservative elements (the landowners and urban delegates), the progressives had little chance of representation at all, save for the curious provision that one member at least in each government was to be chosen from each of the five classes represented in the college. As part of the Treaty of Georgievsk, signed with the Georgian Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti, and her own political aspirations, Catherine waged a new war against Persia in 1796 after they had invaded eastern Georgia. Though modified more than once since the reign of Ivan III, the current coat of arms is directly derived from its medieval original, with the double-headed eagle having Byzantine and earlier antecedents. Russia obtained treaty ports such as Dalian/Port Arthur. This page was last edited on 6 January 2023, at 23:12. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. [135] As the Russian Empire expanded, tsarist administrators found it expedient to draw on existing Islamic religious institutions that were already in place. [50] However, Russification policies in Poland, Finland and among the Germans in the Baltics largely failed and only strengthened political opposition.[49]. Peter abolished the patriarchate and replaced it with a collective body, the Holy Synod, which was led by a government official.[30]. The judicial system of the Russian Empire was established by the statute of 20 November 1864 of Alexander II. The relations with Britain were in disquietude from the Great Game in Central Asia until 1907, when both agreed to end the influential war and joined to anti the new rising power of Germany. T-shirts, posters, stickers, home decor, and more, designed and sold by independent artists around the world. Most rich families still depended on private tutors. Elena Tsvetkova Indeed, her son Paul introduced a number of increasingly erratic decrees in his short reign aimed directly against the spread of French culture in response to their revolution. His official policy involved the responsibility of the Russian Empire towards the protection of Eastern Orthodox Christians residing within the Ottoman-ruled territories of Europe; this was one factor that later led to the Russian entry into World War I on the side of the Allied Powers against the Central Powers. We print the highest quality russian empire coat of arms stickers on the internet Hi there! [113] Nicholas I attempted to modernise his country, and have it not be so dependant on a single economic sector. Peter told the Senate that its mission was to collect taxes, and tax revenues tripled over the course of his reign. All orders are custom made and most ship worldwide within 24 hours. The east coast of the Black Sea belonged to Transcaucasia, a great chain of mountains separating it from Russia. Every year more than half the adult males (in some districts three-quarters of the men and one-third of the women) quit their homes and wandered throughout Russia in search of work. Have one to sell? For More Information: If you found the surname you look for in the present list we (BLITZ) can provide you with the corresponding data from the "General Collection", a copy of the article including the picture of the family crest and make the translation. In the Almanach de Gotha for 1910, Russia was described as "a constitutional monarchy under an autocratic Tsar". From 1721 until 1762, the Russian Empire was ruled by the House of Romanov; its matrilineal branch of patrilineal German descent, the House of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov, ruled from 1762 until 1917. The events of the February Revolution and the fierce political struggles inside army units led to irreversible disintegration. The promise of modernization in the service of autocracy frightened the socialist intellectual Alexander Herzen, who warned of a Russia governed by "Genghis Khan with a telegraph".[110]. [97] The name-sake offensive was the most successful allied strike of World War I,[98] but the slaughter of many casualties (approximately one million men) forced the Russian forces not to rebuild or launch any further attacks. During the latter years of Alexander II and the reign of Alexander III, power that had been given was gradually taken back, and that take back was fully reversed by the third Duma after the 1905 Revolution.[j]. In the harsh and bitter winter, thousands of French troops were ambushed and killed by peasant guerrilla fighters. On 4 June 1916, General Aleksei Brusilov carried out an offensive to the front by targeting Kovel. Would-be revolutionaries were sent off to Siberia under Nicholas I hundreds of thousands were sent to katorga there. This marked the beginning of the Revolution of 1905. This page was last edited on 15 January 2023, at 01:41. The forests were sold, and the only prosperous landlords were those who exacted rack-rents for the land allotted to peasants. The capital was out of control of the protest and strife.[104]. Nicholas II proved ineffective as a ruler, and in the end his dynasty was overthrown by revolution. They favored far-reaching reforms, and hoped the landlord class would fade away, while agreeing they should be paid for their land. Peter I (16721725)also referred to as Peter the Greatplayed a major role in introducing the European state system into the Russian Empire. The zemstvo system was introduced in 1865 as a rural assembly with administrative authority over the local population, including education and welfare, which ex-slaves were unable to acquire. By August 1914, Russia had invaded the German province of East Prussia, ending with a humiliating defeat at Tannenberg, owing to the message sent without wiring and coding,[86] causing the destruction of the entire second army. Russian Coat of Arms. Under Russia's revised Fundamental Law of 20 February 1906, the Council of the Empire was associated with the Duma as a legislative Upper House; from this time the legislative power was exercised normally by the Emperor only in concert with the two chambers. In sharp contrast to Western Europe, the entire empire had a very small bureaucracy about 17,000 public officials, most of whom lived in two of the largest cities, Moscow and Saint Petersburg. To the east were the Asiatic territories of the Empire: Siberia and the Kyrgyz steppes, from both of which it was separated by the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, and the Caspian Sea the administrative boundary, however, partly extended into Asia on the Siberian slope of the Urals. [146] This created a "Golden Age of Old Faith" for the previously persecuted Old Believers until the emergence of the Soviet Union. The state coat of arms of the Soviet Union (Russian: Gosudarstvennyiy gerb SSSR) was adopted in 1923 and was used until the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991. [70], Defeat in the Russo-Japanese War (19041905) was a major blow to the tsarist regime and further increased the potential for unrest. [28] Peter the Great temporarily annexed several areas of Iran to Russia, which after the death of Peter were returned in the 1732 Treaty of Resht and 1735 Treaty of Ganja as a deal to oppose the Ottomans.[29]. Select from premium Coat Of Arms Of The Russian Empire of the highest quality. The volume of the country's international trade turnover increased as a result of Peter I's industrial reforms. Above the canopy stands the state khorugv, of gold cloth, on which is depicted the Medium State Seal. The banner is topped by the State Eagle. However, instead of receiving their lands as a gift, the freed peasants had to pay a special lifetime tax to the government, which in turn paid the landlords a generous price for the land that they had lost. [60], Expansion into the vast stretches of Siberia was slow and expensive, but finally became possible with the building of the Trans-Siberian Railway, 1890 to 1904. In 1863, the Russian autocracy had given the Polish artisans and gentry reason to rebel, by assailing national core values of language, religion, and culture. The background of this revolt lay in the Napoleonic Wars, when a number of well-educated Russian officers travelled in Europe in the course of military campaigns, where their exposure to the liberalism of Western Europe encouraged them to seek change on their return to autocratic Russia. High quality Russian Empire Coat Of Arms-inspired gifts and merchandise. It was the first state insignia created in the style known as socialist heraldry, a style also seen in e.g. By the end of the 19th century the area of the empire was about 22,400,000 square kilometers (8,600,000sqmi), or almost 16 of the Earth's landmass; its only rival in size at the time was the British Empire. T-Shirt. [139] During the reign of Catherine II, the Jesuit suppression was not promulgated, so Jesuits survived in Russian Empire, and this "Russian Society" played a role in re-establishing the Jesuits in the west. The roots of this symbol are what we tackle upon . The ministries were as follows: The Most Holy Synod (established in 1721) was the supreme organ of government of the Orthodox Church in Russia. At about the same time, the image of a gilt, double-headed eagle on a red background appeared on the walls of the Palace of Facets in the Moscow Kremlin. While revenue rose from 9million rubles in 1724 to 40million in 1794, expenses grew more rapidly, reaching 49million in 1794. Category: Emblems. Thirteen years previously the government had endeavored to secure greater fixity and permanence of tenure by providing that at least twelve years must elapse between every two redistributions of the land belonging to a mir amongst those entitled to share in it. This Heraldry Department was subordinated to the State Council, which was abolished in the year 1841. "Between Local and Inter-Imperial: Russian Imperial History in Search of Scope and Paradigm. [40] The "Holy Alliance" was proclaimed, linking the monarchist great powers of Austria, Prussia, and Russia. The coat of arms of Russia is the official representative figure of Russia. [99] Triggered Russia to join the war on 2 November. Many reforms were promised, but few were actually carried out before 1820 when the emperor turned his attention to foreign affairs and personal religion and ignored reform issues. This is a list of the Coats of armsof the Russian Federationand its federal subjects. Nicholas tolerated Uvarov's achievements until 1848, then reversed his innovations. Previously we placed on our site a list of surnames of people granted with the blazons included in the parts (volumes) I-X of the General Armorial of the Russian Empire. Police spies were planted everywhere. ", the rebels threatened to take Moscow before they were ruthlessly suppressed. Under Alexander III, however, by-laws promulgated in 1892 and 1894, the municipal dumas were subordinated to the governors in the same way as the zemstvos. That war broke out when the Austro-Hungarian Empire, with strong German support, tried to suppress Serbian nationalism, with Russia supporting Serbia. Added to this, the peculiar institution of the mirframed on the principle of community ownership and occupation of the landthe overall effect was not encouraging of individual effort. David Schimmelpenninck Van Der Oye, "Russian foreign policy, 18151917" in D. C. B. Lieven, ed. During World War I, Russia briefly occupied a small part of East Prussia, then a part of Germany; a significant portion of Austrian Galicia; and significant portions of Ottoman Armenia. The groundwork leading up to the establishment of the Russian Empire was laid by Ivan III (14621505): he tripled the territory of the Russian state and laid its foundation, renovating the Moscow Kremlin and also ending the dominance of the Golden Horde. When Ivan Vyshnegradsky was appointed as the new minister of finance in 1886, he increased the pressure on peasants by increasing taxes on land and prescribing how they harvested grain. The first 10 parts were published before the revolution of the year 1917. Eighty thousand Russian troops, half of the delegations to restore order, had gone on strike and refused the high officers' orders. Of the elected members, 3 were returned by the "black" clergy (the monks), 3 by the "white" clergy (secular), 18 by the corporations of nobles, 6 by the academy of sciences and the universities, 6 by the chambers of commerce, 6 by the industrial councils, 34 by local governmental zemstvos, 16 by local governments having no zemstvos, and 6 by Poland. Kennard, Howard Percy, and Netta Peacock, eds. According to the 1st article of the Organic Law, the Russian Empire was one indivisible state. . Peter's ambitions for a "window to the sea" led him, in 1699, to make a secret alliance with Saxony, the PolishLithuanian Commonwealth, and Denmark against Sweden; they conducted the Great Northern War, which ended in 1721 when an exhausted Sweden asked for peace with Russia. The larger cities (Saint Petersburg, Moscow, Odessa, Sevastopol, Kerch, Nikolayev, and Rostov) had administrative systems of their own, independent of the governorates; in these the chief of police acted as governor. The index to the General Collection of coats of arms of the All-Russian Empire started in the year 1797. In the college itself, the voting for the Duma was by secret ballot and a simple majority carried the day. A final form for the eagle was adopted by imperial decree in 1729, and remained virtually unchanged until 1853. In 1906, there were governors-general in Finland, Warsaw, Vilna, Kiev, Moscow, and Riga. Russia was paralyzed, and the government was desperate.[71]. Unique Russian Empire Coat Of Arms Posters designed and sold by artists. Catherine extended Russian political control over the lands of the PolishLithuanian Commonwealth, supporting the Targowica Confederation. [27] Nearly the entire population was devoted to agriculture, with only a small percentage living in towns. These slaves were heavily taxed, making them the poorest in any Russians. Clothing. Valerii L. Stepanov, "Revisiting Russian Conservatism", Walter Sperling, "Building a Railway, Creating Imperial Space: 'Locality,' 'Region,' 'Russia,' 'Empire' as Political Arguments in Post-Reform Russia,", Sarah Searight, "Russian railway penetration of Central Asia,", I. N. Grebenkin, "The Disintegration of the Russian Army in 1917: Factors and Actors in the Process.".