The Russian Empire is proclaimed by Tsar Peter I after the Swedish defeat in the Great Northern War.

The Russian Empire was the final period of the Russian monarchy. It spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about 22,800,000 km2 (8,800,000 sq mi), roughly one-sixth of…