300 Year Romanov Reign

Population in all European countries (sans France) grew immensely during that period. But in Russia this growth was exacerbated by the extremely shitty land structure. Peasants' arable lands weren't rented (later owned) by peasants individually, but by communities - Mirs. Mirs periodically allocated plots to each family. The more kids a family had, the more plots it had allocated by their Mir. Therefore, the peasant families had huge incentive to produce as much children as possible, thus leaving the majority of Russia's population deep inside the Malthusian trap.

The failure of resolve that problem is Romanov's fault. Add to that the Romanov's inability to industrialize Russia and inability to give it's population education or any sort of modern legal system.

>All that empty tundra

I just have this feeling that we've been lied to about the Romanovs. I'm not saying they were some superhero family like some monarchists might assert, but I can't shake the feeling that they might have been more competent than they are portrayed. Was life for the average Russian farmer all that different than life for the average Scandinavian immigrant farmer in Minnesota in the same period? The evidence shows that both were tough, but rewarding, lives.

>Malthusian trap
Nice meme lad. There are no disadvantages to huge population. And Russia had more than enough arable land.
>inability to industrialize
But that's false, industrialization occurred, it was only delayed.

Also how is that not a fair land allocation system? They more mouths you have to feed the more land you get. Also, is that actually a really effective policy of you are looking to grow your population to populate and defend your massive territory?

Because it discouraged any form of investment, sans fucking your peasant wife so she would produce a kid every year. If the land isn't owned by you and you can lose it next year if your neighbor out-breed you, you have absolutely no incentive to do any sort of investment of this land.

>There are no disadvantages to huge population.
Wut?

>And Russia had more than enough arable land.
Where? Even the USSR failed to make much of that land arable.

>But that's false, industrialization occurred, it was only delayed.
Russia miserably trailed on the road of industrialization, so it was overall a failure.

It kept the population growing to keep the hordes of Islam and the Orient at bay.

What kind of bullshit argument is that?

Question: Did the Romanovs and their policies successfully keep the hordes of Islam and the Orient at bay?

Answer: Yes, they most certainly fucking did.

Question: Was keeping the hordes of Islam and the Orient at bay historically a huge problem for Russia and Eastern Europe in general?

Answer: Yes it was.

As far as im aware while the last romanov rule was pretty bad most of it would have been tolerated if ww1 hadnt fucked up russia too. Being in a huge war while everyone is pissed off due to mass starvation isnt a good combination.

A damn good argument, the Romanovs put the feared steppe nomads in their place. By the mid-1700s the Romanov name sent shivers down the spines of the Central Asian emirs and by the mid-1800s they had Orthodox Cathedrals being built in the centers of all the major central Asian cities.

>feared steppe nomads in their place
Feared by who by that point? Their time had passed before the 1700's even came around.

Nobody on Veeky Forums has any interesting anecdotes with regards to the Romanovs

I have one about Peter the Great.

He had a kind of irrepressible energy that had him learning all kinds of things. One of those things was amateur dentistry. He would practice on his court nobles too. A tooth extraction here or there among his courtiers.

One day a noble came to him and said something along the lines of "My wife has a terrible toothache, but she is a proud women so she wont admit it, but I know that she could not refuse service by the Tsar himself". Peter saw this as an excellent opportunity to practice his hobby and agreed at once.

They went to the Noble's house and the Tsar demanded that the women let him extract her problem tooth. She made some weak protest, but knew she couldn't refuse and so the hulking 6'8 Peter extracted her tooth.

Only later did Peter come to find out that the women never had a toothache at all! but the husband concocted the entire story to the Autocrat of All Russia to rip out the wife's tooth as a punishment for something,

>christian magnificence

>the Soviet regime actually improved Russia

Fucking kek, my sides are in orbit.

Based Pyotr Veliki

They were a very aesthetic family to me for some reason. Anyways, they should have followed after Peter the Great's footsteps.

You mean create a British style maritime trade empire?

Im curious why did you start this thread with a picture of the worst Romanov, indeed probably one of the worst monarchs of Europe?

Why not Peter the Great or Alexander?

Unfortunately, yes. Serfdom in Russia was much more like slavery than serfdom in Western Europe, with serfs being bought and sold. They didn't get the rewards of their labor either, like independent farmers. And keep that by the time the serfs were liberated the farmers in Minnesota and Scandinavia and most of the West had begun moving into cities.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serfdom_in_Russia

I do have an anecdote though. Peter the Great was so dedicated to copying France, he enacted a law saying that Russian men had to shave their beards. Naturally, this offended many traditionalists. So Peter would go around with a razor and if he found someone with a beard he would shave it off, often taking skin with.

He also enjoyed getting foreign diplomats drunk and then humiliating them when they came to.

Also, Catherine the Great fucked every member of the Russian Officer Corps, and Voltaire. Probably not a horse, though the meme persists. And she died taking a shit.

>Preferably stories or anecdotes that portray them positively. I have no desire to hear old anti-monarchist memes.

Fair enough, what would you consider a meme and what would you consider a valid criticism?

running a country isn't CK2. Owning more surface area doesn't mean you're winning. Romanovs were shit and Nicholas II was awful.

Yeah. Peter was one crazy guy if you deep into his personality and what he done.

So... Who was the best Romanov? Don't meme answer with Nicky II, please.

These are the memes I'm trying to avoid. While you had some valid criticism of serfdom, you forgot to point out that free-farmers also flourished in this time and formed a component of the Russian economy. Also was serfdom always that bad? Serious question to consider.

>Peter would shave it off
This I believe, that's a power-play that only a 6'8" giant could get away with
>often taking skin
This part seems memeish, although I bet they got some nasty wounds

>Catherine fucked every member of the Russian officer corps
meme

> meme
Could be true but who honestly cares? She was a one of better rulers, pressured the turks but was a follower of enlightenment ideas. If sex with a horse is your biggest fuck up while ruling Russia you are doing the god's job here.

It's a dumb meme and needs to die. If I recall, Catherina may have had one lover besides her husband.

translated some parts of an article that was published in a local finnish newspaper about two years ago.

Summertours by boat in the finnish archipelago was one of tsar Alexander III:s and empress Dagmars recurring summer enjoyments. Fishing, music and meeting with regular finns was part of the program.

"When the tsar of Russia is fishing Europe can wait", is a famous quote by tsar Alexander III.

The fishing cabin in Langinkoski was one of the places where the tsar liked to try his fishing luck. The cabin was built by request of the tsar himself and completed in 1889.

During his years as heir and regent Alexander III visited his grandduchy of Finland 31 times. Most of these visits were holiday trips during which he did not bother visiting Helsinki.

One reason for the tsars interest in Finland was the stable society. Terrorists had murdered Alexander II and his son Alexander III was worried for his safety. In Finland neither he nor his empress Dagmar had to feel anxious. In addition they could mingle with the locals - a luxury they did not have at home in Russia.

- The locals were both unafraid of and unbothered by the tsar and his company, says Elina Anttila director of the National museum.

In the summer of 1886 the russian fleet landed at Högsåra and the tsar to his surprise was commanded by one of his subjects, a fishwife trying to pull up a net too heavy for her.

"Hey you there, come here and help me get up this net!" the fishwife yelled at the sight of the large man looking at her struggle.

The fishwife was Serafina Lindblad who had no idea whom she had just commanded but Alexander was amused, according to legend the tsar couple visited her fishing cabin where they were offered tea. During the years that followed the empress Dagmar regularly sent postcards to "Tsar-Fina" as she came to be called after the incident.

>The Sobornoye Ulozhenie (Coбopнoe yлoжeниe, "Code of Law") of 1649 gave serfs to estates, and in 1658, flight was made a criminal offense. Russian landowners eventually gained almost unlimited ownership over Russian serfs.[5] The landowner could transfer the serf without land to another landowner while keeping the serf's personal property and family; however, the landowner had no right to kill the serf.[6] About four-fifths of Russian peasants were serfs according to the censuses of 1678 and 1719; free (black) peasants remained only in the North and North-East of the country.[7]

>an open-ended prohibition for peasants to leave their masters was introduced by the ukase of 1597 under the reign of Boris Godunov, which took away the peasants' right to free movement around Yuri's Day, binding the vast majority of the Russian peasantry in full serfdom.

While there were some free serfs, they were definitely a minority and region-specific. There's a region the French Revolution was about Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity whereas the Russian Revolution was about Peace, Land, and Bread.

Thank you so much! This is exactly the kind thing I was looking for. Couldn't help but smile while reading that last paragraph :)