"brother's death. Prince Alexander of the Netherlands Prince Alexander of the Netherlands, Prince of Orange-Nassau (William ""Alexander"" Frederick Constantine Nicholas Michael, ; 2 August 1818 – 20 February 1848) was born at Soestdijk Palace, the second son to King William II of The Netherlands and Queen Anna Paulovna, daughter of Tsar Paul I of Russia. He was nicknamed Sasha within his family. Prince Alexander was born on Sunday, 2 August 1818 at a quarter past ten in the morning. His birth was announced the next day in the Nederlandsche Staatscourant. To commemorate the birth of his second grandson William I"
"consequence, shortly after Empress Anna's death, Elizabeth Petrovna, a legitimized daughter of Peter I, managed to gain the favor of the populace and dethroned Ivan VI in a ""coup d'état"", supported by the Preobrazhensky Regiment and the ambassadors of France and Sweden. Ivan VI and his parents died in prison many years later. The Holstein-Gottorps of Russia retained the Romanov surname, emphasizing their matrilineal descent from Peter the Great, through Anna Petrovna (Peter I's elder daughter by his second wife). In 1742, Empress Elizabeth of Russia brought Anna's son, her nephew Peter of Holstein-Gottorp, to St. Petersburg and proclaimed him"
"Feodor's death and lasted until 1613. In that year, Mikhail I ascended the throne, founding the Romanov dynasty that would rule until 1762 and as Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov until the revolutions of 1917. Tsar Mikhail's first wife Maria Dolgorukova was of Rurikid stock but their marriage produced no children. Emperor Peter III in 1762 brought fresh Rurikid blood to the Romanovs: he and his wife Catherine the Great both descended from the Rurik dynasty. (Catherine the Great descended from a daughter of Yaroslav I (978–1054) through her maternal grandfather, Christian August of Holstein-Gottorp.) Historian Vasily Tatishchev and filmmaker Jacques Tati also descended"
"Peter the Great Peter the Great (), Peter I () or Peter Alexeyevich (; – ) ruled the Tsardom of Russia and later the Russian Empire from until his death in 1725, jointly ruling before 1696 with his elder half-brother, Ivan V. Through a number of successful wars, he expanded the Tsardom into a much larger empire that became a major European power and also laid the groundwork for the Russian navy after capturing ports at Azov and the Baltic Sea. He led a cultural revolution that replaced some of the traditionalist and medieval social and political systems with ones"
"of the Romanov dynasty and of the Russian Empire. He also intervened in the French Revolutionary Wars and, toward the end of his reign, added Kartli and Kakheti in Eastern Georgia into the empire which was confirmed by his son and successor Alexander I. He was ""de facto"" Grand Master of the Order of Hospitallers from 1799 to 1801, and ordered the construction of a number of Maltese thrones. Paul was born in the Palace of Empress Elizabeth, Saint Petersburg. His father, the future Emperor Peter III, was the nephew and heir apparent of the Empress. His mother, born the"
"the Romanov male line. He was succeeded by Anna I, daughter of Peter the Great's half-brother and co-ruler, Ivan V. Before she died in 1740 the empress declared that her grandnephew, Ivan VI, should succeed her. This was an attempt to secure the line of her father, while excluding descendants of Peter the Great from inheriting the throne. Ivan VI was only a one-year-old infant at the time of his succession to the throne, and his parents, Grand Duchess Anna Leopoldovna and Duke Anthony Ulrich of Brunswick, the ruling regent, were detested for their German counselors and relations. As a"
"husband, but her enemies said she conducted a love affair with Ernst Johann von Biron, a prominent courtier, for many years. In 1730, Tsar Peter II (grandson of Anna's uncle Peter the Great) died childless at a young age. His death rendered extinct the male line of the Romanov dynasty, which had ruled Russia for over a century, since 1613. There were five possible candidates for the throne: the three surviving daughters of Ivan V, namely Catherine (b.1691), Anna herself (b.1693) and Praskovya (b.1694), and the two surviving daughters of Peter the Great, namely Anna (b.1708) and Elizabeth (b.1709). Ivan"
"Mikhail was succeeded by his only son Alexei, who steered the country quietly through numerous troubles. Upon Alexei's death, there was a period of dynastic struggle between his children by his first wife Maria Ilyinichna Miloslavskaya (Feodor III, Sofia Alexeyevna, Ivan V) and his son by his second wife Nataliya Kyrillovna Naryshkina, the future Peter the Great. Peter ruled from 1682 until his death in 1725. In numerous successful wars he expanded the Tsardom into a huge empire that became a major European power. He led a cultural revolution that replaced some of the traditionalist and medieval social and political"
"supreme ruler and Tsar of all of Russia. The struggle for power within the family had finally ended, and Peter was left to bring Russia into a new age of westernization. In 1730, more than 30 years after Ivan's death, his second surviving daughter Anna, Duchess of Courland was invited to the throne of Russia by the country's privy council. She ruled for more than 10 years, and was succeeded by Ivan's infant great-grandson Ivan VI, but a palace coup engineered in 1741, by Ivan's niece Elizabeth, resulted in the throne passing finally to the progeny of Peter the Great."
"and led a cultural revolution that replaced some of the traditionalist and medieval social and political mores with a modern, scientific, Europe-oriented, and rationalist system. Empress Catherine the Great (reigned 1762–1796) presided over a golden age; she expanded the state by conquest, colonization and diplomacy, continuing Peter the Great's policy of modernization along West European lines. Emperor Alexander II (1855–1881) promoted numerous reforms, most dramatically the emancipation of all 23 million serfs in 1861. His policy in Eastern Europe involved protecting the Orthodox Christians under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. That connection by 1914 led to Russia's entry into"
"elections. ""Think about it: Lenin was bald, Stalin was hairy; Krushchev was bald, Brezhnev was hairy; Gorbachev was bald, Yeltsin was hairy - and Putin is practically bald. Medvedev had to win."" From 1682 to 1801 there was a strict ""man–woman"" sequence on the Russian throne: Peter I the Great, Catherine I, Peter II, Anna, Ivan VI, Elizabeth, Peter III, Catherine II the Great, Paul. Emperor Paul changed the rules of succession to the throne so that only men could rule the country, and the ""man–woman"" interchange was terminated. If Tsarina Sophia (a sister of Peter I and Ivan V"
"Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna of Russia Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna of Russia, Tsesarevna of Russia (Anna Petrovna Romanova) ; 27 January 1708, in Moscow – 4 March 1728, in Kiel) was the elder daughter of Emperor Peter I of Russia and Empress Catherine I of Russia. Her sister, Elizabeth of Russia, ruled as Empress between 1741 and 1762. While a potential heir in the reign of her father and her mother, she never acceded to the throne due to political reasons. However, her son Peter would rule as Emperor in 1762, succeeding Elizabeth. She was the ""Duchess of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp"" by"
"however, would not work, as Alexander was not a minor prince of Europe and was in line to inherit a throne himself. Alexander II succeeded to the throne upon the death of his father in 1855. He inherited a large mess that had been wrought by his father's fear of progress during his reign. Many of the other royal families of Europe had also disliked Nicholas I, which extended to distrust of the Romanov dynasty itself. Even so, there was no one more prepared to bring the country around than Alexander II. The first year of his reign was devoted"
"at http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/cshome.html says, """"Information contained in the Country Studies On-Line is not copyrighted and thus is available for free and unrestricted use by researchers. As a courtesy, however, appropriate credit should be given to the series."""" Please leave this statement intact so that credit can be given to the now changed first draft. History of Russia (1796–1855) In Russian history, the period from 1796 to 1855 (covering the reigns of Paul I, Alexander I and Nicholas I) saw the Napoleonic wars, Government reform, political reorganization and economic growth. Catherine II died in 1796, and her son Emperor Paul I (r."
"unique relationship with Rasputin, whose role in the life of her only son was not widely known. Alexandra was a carrier of the gene for haemophilia, inherited from her maternal grandmother, Queen Victoria. Her son, Alexei, the long-awaited heir to the throne, inherited the disease and suffered agonizing bouts of protracted bleeding, the pain of which was sometimes partially alleviated by Rasputin's ministrations. Nicholas and Alexandra also had four daughters, the Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia. The six crowned representatives of the Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov line were: Paul (1796–1801), Alexander I (1801–1825), Nicholas I (1825–1855), Alexander II (1855–1881), Alexander III"
"dealt with The Bronze Horseman, an equestrian statue raised in Peter's honour. Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy wrote a biographical historical novel about him, named ""Pëtr I"", in the 1930s. Peter the Great Peter the Great (), Peter I () or Peter Alexeyevich (; – ) ruled the Tsardom of Russia and later the Russian Empire from until his death in 1725, jointly ruling before 1696 with his elder half-brother, Ivan V. Through a number of successful wars, he expanded the Tsardom into a much larger empire that became a major European power and also laid the groundwork for the Russian navy"
"I, becoming the first Tsar of Russia from the House of Romanov. His grandson Peter I established the Russian Empire and transformed the country into a continental power through a series of wars and reforms. The direct male line of the Romanovs came to an end when Elizabeth of Russia died in 1762. After an era of dynastic crisis, the House of Holstein-Gottorp, a cadet branch of the House of Oldenburg that reigned in Denmark, ascended the throne in 1762 with Peter III, a grandson of Peter I. All rulers from the middle of the 18th century to the revolution"
"Princess Catherine Ivanovna of Russia Princess Catherine Ivanovna of Russia (; 12 July 1915 (O.S.) – 13 March 2007) was a great-great-granddaughter of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia and a niece of King Alexander I of Yugoslavia. She was the last member of the Imperial Family to be born before the fall of the dynasty, and was ultimately to become the last surviving uncontested dynast of the Imperial House of Russia. Born in Pavlovsk Palace, she was the second child of Prince John Konstantinovich of Russia and Princess Jelena of Serbia. After the Revolution, her father was arrested and deported"
"was Eudoxia Lopukhina, Peter the Great's first wife. Alexandra Feodorovna (Alix of Hesse), the wife of Nicholas II of Russia, was the last Russian Empress. Eudoxia Lopukhina was sent to a monastery in 1698 (which was the usual way the Emperor ""divorced"" his wife), and she died in 1731. In 1712 Peter married in church Catherine I of Russia. The Russian Empire was officially proclaimed in 1721, and Catherine became Empress by marriage. After Peter's death she became ruling Empress by her own right. In following centuries the title ""tsarina"" was in unofficial informal use – a kind of ""pet"
"her daughter Elizabeth and granddaughter-in-law Catherine the Great, all of whom continued Peter the Great's policies in modernizing Russia. At the time of Peter's death the Russian Army, composed of 130,000 men and supplemented by another 100,000 Cossacks, was easily the largest in Europe. However, the expense of the military was proving ruinous to the Russian economy, consuming some 65% of the government's annual revenue. Since the nation was at peace, Catherine was determined to reduce military expenditure. For most of her reign, Catherine I was controlled by her advisers. However, on this single issue, the reduction of military expenses,"
"to the insistence of the Russian Orthodox Church on more DNA-testing. Alexei was the heir to the Romanov Throne. Paul I had passed laws forbidding women to succeed to the throne (unless there were no legitimate male dynasts left, in which case, the throne would pass to the closest female relative of the last Tsar). This was done in revenge for what he perceived to be the illegal behavior of his mother, Catherine II (""the Great"") in deposing his father Peter III. Nicholas II was forced to abdicate on . He did this in favour of his twelve-year-old son Alexei"
"mistress Anna Kuznetsova (1847–1922); they bore the last name Knyazev: Konstantin was the paternal great-great grandfather of Charles, Prince of Wales, heir apparent to the British throne, since his daughter Olga married George I of Greece, whose son Andrew married Alice Battenberg and begat Philip, Charles' father. Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich of Russia Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich of Russia (; 21 September 1827 – 25 January 1892) was the second son of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia and younger brother of Tsar Alexander II. During the reign of Alexander II, Konstantin was an admiral of the Russian fleet and reformed"
"their mother Catherine I, who had previously been a maid in his household. On the other hand, Praskovia Saltykova, the wife of Ivan V, had been a nobleman's daughter and a devoted wife and mother; moreover, she had been a lady greatly respected for her many virtues, not least her chastity. Finally, the Russian Supreme Privy Council led by Prince Dmitri Golitzyn selected Anna, the second daughter of Ivan V, to be the new Empress of Russia. She was selected in preference to her elder sister Catherine even though Catherine was at that time resident in Russia whereas Anna was"
"powers: the Swedish Empire, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Persia and the Ottoman Empire. It played a major role in 1812–1814 in defeating Napoleon's ambitions to control Europe and expanded to the west and south. The House of Romanov ruled the Russian Empire from 1721 until 1762, and its German-descended cadet branch, the House of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov, ruled from 1762. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Russian Empire extended from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Black Sea in the south, from the Baltic Sea on the west to the Pacific Ocean, into Alaska and Northern California in America"
"History of Russia (1796–1855) In Russian history, the period from 1796 to 1855 (covering the reigns of Paul I, Alexander I and Nicholas I) saw the Napoleonic wars, Government reform, political reorganization and economic growth. Catherine II died in 1796, and her son Emperor Paul I (r. 1796-1801) succeeded her. Painfully aware that Catherine had considered bypassing him to name his son, Alexander, as tsar, Paul instituted primogeniture in the male line as the basis for succession. It was one of the lasting reforms of Paul's brief reign. He also chartered a Russian-American Company, which eventually led to Russia's acquisition"
"being seated in Tbilisi, the town which most of his children remembered as the home of their childhood. In the course of his life, four members of his family ruled as Emperors of Russia: his father, Nicholas I; his brother, Alexander II; his nephew, Alexander III; as well as his grand-nephew, Nicholas II, whose second daughter, Grand Duchess Tatiana, the Grand Duke was godfather to. He died in Cannes, France, on 18 December 1909. He was the last surviving legitimate grandchild of Paul I of Russia. Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia (25 October"
"Grand Duchess Catherine Mikhailovna of Russia Grand Duchess Catherine Mikhailovna of Russia (Ekaterina Mikhailovna Romanova), () (28 August 1827 – 12 May 1894), was the third of five daughters of Grand Duke Michael Pavlovich of Russia, youngest son of Tsar Paul I, and Princess Charlotte of Württemberg. She was born in St. Petersburg. She had two elder sisters, Grand Duchess Maria and Grand Duchess Yelizaveta, called ""Lili"". Two more sisters were born after her, Alexandra and Anna, who both died young. On 16 February 1851 in St. Petersburg, Catherine married Duke Georg August of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1824–76), second son of Georg,"
"Catherine the Great Catherine II (Russian: Екатерина Алексеевна ""Yekaterina Alekseyevna""; – ), also known as Catherine the Great (, ""Yekaterina Velikaya""), born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst, was Empress of Russia from 1762 until 1796, the country's longest-ruling female leader. She came to power following a ""coup d'état"" when her husband, Peter III, was overthrown. Under her reign, Russia was revitalized; it grew larger and stronger, and was recognised as one of the great powers of Europe. In her accession to power and her rule of the empire, Catherine often relied on her noble favourites, most notably Grigory Orlov and Grigory"
"Duchess Ekaterina Grigoryevna (a daughter of Ivan the Terrible's associate Malyuta Skuratov and sister of a former tsarina, the spouse of Tsar Boris Godunov), military commander Mikhail Shein, and Patriarch Filaret who would ascend to power in Russia later on as the father and ""de facto"" ruler behind the back of his son Michael I of Russia, the founder of the Romanov Dynasty. The internal and external policies of Ivan the Terrible led to a lasting power crisis that also extinguished the direct line of the Rurikids early on. Sigismund III saw this as an opportunity to conclude a personal"
"also the father to Count Constantin Kleinmichel, Countess Catherine d'Andrini (1849–1937), Natalia Wodimova (1819–1876), and Alexei Pashkine (17 April 1831 – 20 June 1863), although these children are only speculated to be his by historians. Nicholas I of Russia Nicholas I (; – ) was the Emperor of Russia from 1825 until 1855. He was also the King of Poland and Grand Duke of Finland. He is best known as a political conservative whose reign was marked by geographical expansion, repression of dissent, economic stagnation, poor administrative policies, a corrupt bureaucracy, and frequent wars that culminated in Russia's defeat in"
"Emperor Nicholas I of Russia (1796–1855) and his consort, Princess Charlotte of Prussia, who founded the Nikolaevichi branch of the Russian Imperial Family. Romanov spent the first ten years of his life in Antibes, France, where he received a traditional Russian education. In 1936 his family moved to Italy, where he continued his education and for a time lived at the Royal Palace in Rome. In 1946 his family moved to Egypt, where they lived for a number of years before returning to Italy. In 1960 he moved to Denmark, where he worked for a number of banks including the"
"of Ahmed III in front of the Topkapı Palace. The famous Flemish-French painter Jean-Baptiste van Mour visited the Ottoman Empire during the Tulip Era and crafted some of the most renowned works of art depicting scenes from daily life in the Ottoman society and the imperial court. Upon the death of Peter the Great in 1725, Catherine, Peter's wife succeeded to the throne of the Russian Empire as Czarina Catherine I. Together with Austria, Russia, under Catherine I, engaged in a war against the Ottoman Empire from 1735 until 1739. The Treaty of Belgrade signed on 18 September 1739, ended"
"rightful heir to the dynasty's legacy. Others recognized Nicholas Romanov, Prince of Russia as head of the family, being a descendant of Emperor Nicholas I and the elected president of the Romanov Family Association, which consists of most living male-line descendants of the Romanov emperors. Neither he nor his younger brother, Prince Dimitri Romanov, had sons and since their deaths no new claims have been advanced by this branch. Anna Anderson attempted to prove she was Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia, the lost daughter of Nicholas II, but DNA testing on her remains eventually proved her to be an"