Description

The Grand Duchy of Finland was the predecessor state of modern Finland. It existed between 1809 and 1917 as an autonomous part of the Russian Empire and was ruled by the Russian Emperor as Grand Duke.

Alexander II (1818-1881) was the Emperor of Russia from 1855 until his assassination in 1881. He was also the King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Finland. Alexander was the most successful Russian reformer since Peter the Great. His most important achievement was the emancipation of serfs in 1861, for which he became known as Alexander the Liberator. In foreign policy, Alexander sold Alaska to the United States in 1867. Among his greatest domestic challenges was an uprising in Poland in 1863, to which he responded by stripping that land of its separate Constitution and incorporating it directly into Russia.

Nicholas II (1868-1918) was the last Emperor of Russia, Grand Duke of Finland, and titular King of Poland. Nicholas II ruled from 1894 until his forced abdication in 1917. His reign saw Imperial Russia go from being one of the foremost great powers of the world to economic and military collapse. Under his rule, Russia was decisively defeated in the Russo-Japanese War. The Anglo-Russian Entente, designed to counter German attempts to gain influence in the Middle East, ended the Great Game between Russia and the United Kingdom. As head of state, Nicholas approved the Russian mobilization of August 1914, which marked the beginning of Russia's involvement in the First World War, a war in which 3.3 million Russians were killed. Nicholas II abdicated following the February Revolution of 1917 during which he and his family were imprisoned and executed in 1918.