The Romanov dynasty: all Romanov rulers in order, 1613–1917

The Romanovs were the second and last royal dynasty of Russia, after the Rurikids. In 304 years on the throne there were 18 rulers: five tsars and fourteen emperors and empresses (Peter the Great was both the last tsar and the first emperor). Under them the Tsardom of Muscovy became the Russian Empire, the largest contiguous state in the world.

Below are all the Romanov rulers in order, followed by how they came to power and what each reign is remembered for. The links with years open the Panchronia globe, where you can watch Russia's territory grow.

Romanov rulers in order

From 1682 to 1689 the young Ivan V and Peter I were under the regency of their sister Sophia Alekseyevna. She was never crowned, so she is not usually counted among the rulers. For the full list of Russia's rulers, from Rurik to the present, see Rulers of Russia.

How the Romanovs came to power

At the start of the seventeenth century Russia went through the Time of Troubles. The Rurikid dynasty had died out; Boris Godunov, False Dmitry I and Vasily Shuisky followed one another on the throne; and Polish troops occupied Moscow. In 1612 a militia led by Minin and Pozharsky drove them out, and in February 1613 an assembly of the land, the Zemsky Sobor, elected sixteen-year-old Michael Romanov as tsar.

The choice made sense. The Romanovs were an old boyar family related to the previous dynasty: Michael's great-aunt Anastasia Romanovna had been the first wife of Ivan the Terrible. His father Filaret returned from Polish captivity, became Patriarch, and until his death in 1633 effectively ruled alongside his son.

The seventeenth-century tsars

Michael (1613–1645) rebuilt a ruined country, making peace with Sweden and a truce with Poland, at the cost of Smolensk.

Alexis (1645–1676), called "the Most Quiet", issued the Law Code of 1649, which bound the peasants to the land for good. In 1654 the Pereiaslav Agreement brought the Cossacks of left-bank Ukraine under the tsar, and in the 1660s came the schism of the Russian Church. His reign also saw the Copper Riot and the rebellion of Stenka Razin.

Feodor III (1676–1682) abolished mestnichestvo, the custom of appointing officials by the rank of their family. After his death two brothers were put on the throne at once: Ivan V and Peter I.

Peter the Great and the era of palace coups

Peter's accession in 1682 was at first only nominal; he began to rule in his own right in the 1690s. His reign brought the Great Northern War with Sweden, the founding of Saint Petersburg, and, after the victory at the Battle of Poltava, Russia's access to the Baltic. In 1721 Peter took the title of Emperor, and the Tsardom of Russia became the Russian Empire.

Peter changed the law of succession so that the emperor could name his own heir, but he died without naming one. For the next 37 years the throne passed from hand to hand with the help of the Guards regiments: the era of palace coups. Peter's widow Catherine I, his grandson Peter II, his niece Anna, the infant Ivan VI and his daughter Elizabeth followed one another. With the death of Peter II in 1730 the male line of the Romanovs died out; later rulers descended from the family through the female line.

The Holstein-Gottorp-Romanovs

Peter III was the son of Peter the Great's daughter Anna and Duke Charles Frederick of Holstein-Gottorp. Genealogists therefore call his descendants the House of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov, although they went on calling themselves Romanovs. After six months on the throne Peter III was overthrown by his wife: the accession of Catherine the Great.

Catherine II (1762–1796) was the longest-reigning empress of Russia. Her reign saw the Partitions of Poland, the annexation of Crimea and Pugachev's Rebellion. Paul I (1796–1801) introduced a law of succession through the male line in 1797, which ended the palace coups, but he was himself killed by conspirators.

The nineteenth-century emperors

Alexander I (1801–1825) defeated Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812, and his army entered Paris in 1814. Nicholas I (1825–1855) began his reign by crushing the Decembrist revolt and died during the Crimean War, which Russia lost.

Alexander II (1855–1881) carried out the emancipation of the serfs and reforms of the courts and the army, and sold Alaska to the United States. After several attempts on his life he was assassinated by revolutionaries. Alexander III (1881–1894) fought no major wars and was called "the Peacemaker"; construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway began under him.

Nicholas II and the end of the dynasty

The reign of Nicholas II (1894–1917) saw the Russo-Japanese War, the Revolution of 1905 and World War I. During the February Revolution, on 15 March 1917 (2 March in the old calendar), he abdicated for himself and his son in favour of his brother Michael, who declined the throne the next day. That was the end of Romanov rule.

On the night of 16–17 July 1918, Nicholas, Empress Alexandra, their five children and four servants were shot in the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg: the execution of the Romanov family.

The Romanov family tree in brief

• Michael → his son Alexis.
• Alexis's first marriage (to Maria Miloslavskaya): Feodor III, Sophia and Ivan V. Ivan V's daughters were Empress Anna and Catherine, whose daughter Anna Leopoldovna was the mother of Ivan VI.
• Alexis's second marriage (to Natalya Naryshkina): Peter the Great. Peter's grandson through his son Alexei was Peter II; his daughters by Catherine I were Anna (mother of Peter III) and Elizabeth.
• Peter III and Catherine II → Paul I → his sons Alexander I and Nicholas I → Alexander II → Alexander III → Nicholas II.

Who ruled elsewhere at the same time

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