Editing Absolute monarchy (section)

====Russia====
{{Further|Russian Empire}}
[[File: Zar Alexander II.jpg (cropped).jpg|Photograph of Tsar Alexander II, 1878–81|thumb|right|200 px]]
Until 1905, the [[tsar]]s and [[emperor]]s of Russia governed as absolute monarchs. [[Ivan the Terrible|Ivan IV]] ("the Terrible") was known for his reign of terror through the ''[[oprichnina]]''. Following the [[Time of Troubles]] in the early 17th century, the traditional alliance of autocratic monarchy, the church, and the aristocracy was widely seen as the only basis for preserving the social order and Russian statehood, which legitimized the rule of the [[House of Romanov|Romanov dynasty]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lieven |first1=Dominic |editor1-last=Bang |editor1-first=Peter Fibiger |editor2-last=Bayly |editor2-first=Christopher Alan |editor3-last=Scheidel |editor3-first=Walter |title=The Oxford World History of Empire |date=2021 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-753276-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nz0HEAAAQBAJ |language=en |chapter=The Russian Empire (1453–1917) |page=965}}</ref> [[Peter the Great|Peter I]] ("the Great") reduced the power of the [[Russian nobility]] and strengthened the central power of the monarch, establishing a bureaucracy. This tradition of absolutism was expanded by [[Catherine II of Russia|Catherine II]] and her descendants. Although [[Alexander II of Russia|Alexander II]] made some reforms and established an independent judicial system, Russia did not have a representative assembly or a constitution until the [[Russian Revolution of 1905|1905 Revolution]]. However, the concept of absolutism was so ingrained in Russia that the [[Russian Constitution of 1906]] still described the monarch as an autocrat. 

Russia became the last European country (excluding [[Vatican City]]) to abolish absolutism, and it was the only one to do so as late as the 20th century (the [[Ottoman Empire]] drafted [[Ottoman constitution of 1876|its first constitution]] in 1876). Russia was one of the four continental empires which collapsed [[Aftermath of World War I|after World War I]], along with [[German Empire|Germany]], [[Austria–Hungary]], and the [[Ottoman Empire]]. In 1918, the [[execution of the Romanov family|Bolsheviks executed the Romanov family]], ending three centuries of Romanov rule.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Decades of Reconstruction |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2017 |isbn=9781107165748 |pages=331 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vZokDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA331 |editor-last=Planert |editor-first=Ute |editor-last2=Retallack |editor-first2=James |access-date=5 January 2023 |archive-date=11 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230211110511/https://books.google.com/books?id=vZokDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA331 |url-status=live }}</ref>