Editing History of Russia (section)

===Nicholas I and the Decembrist Revolt===
[[File:Kolman decembrists.jpg|thumb|The Decembrists at the [[Decembrists Square|Senate Square]]]]

Russia's great power status obscured the inefficiency of its government, the isolation of its people, and its economic backwardness.<ref>Riasonovsky ''A History of Russia'' (fifth ed.) pp. 302–303; Charques ''A Short History of Russia'' (Phoenix, second ed. 1962) p. 125</ref> Following the defeat of Napoleon, Alexander I was willing to discuss constitutional reforms, and though a few were introduced, no thoroughgoing changes were attempted.<ref>Riasonovsky pp. 302-307</ref>

The tsar was succeeded by his younger brother, [[Nicholas I of Russia|Nicholas I]] (1825–1855), who at the onset of his reign was confronted with an uprising. The background of this revolt lay in the Napoleonic Wars, when a number of well-educated Russian officers traveled in Europe in the course of the military campaigns, where their exposure to the liberalism of Western Europe encouraged them to seek change on their return. The result was the [[Decembrist Revolt]] (December 1825), the work of a small circle of liberal nobles and army officers who wanted to install Nicholas' brother as a constitutional monarch. But the revolt was easily crushed, leading Nicholas to turn away from liberal reforms and champion the reactionary doctrine "[[Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationality]]".<ref>{{cite book|author1=Christopher Browning|author2=Marko Lehti|title=The Struggle for the West: A Divided and Contested Legacy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=a86NAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA36|year=2009|publisher=Routledge|page=36|isbn=9781135259792|access-date=30 October 2016|archive-date=22 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230122071933/https://books.google.com/books?id=a86NAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA36|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1826–1828, Russia fought another war [[Russo-Persian War (1826-1828)|against Persia]]. Russia lost almost all of its recently consolidated territories during the first year but regained them and won the war on highly favourable terms. At the 1828 [[Treaty of Turkmenchay]], Russia gained [[Armenia]], [[Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic|Nakhchivan]], [[Nagorno-Karabakh]], [[Azerbaijan]], and [[Iğdır Province|Iğdır]].<ref>Timothy C. Dowling [https://books.google.com/books?id=KTq2BQAAQBAJ&pg=PA728 ''Russia at War: From the Mongol Conquest to Afghanistan, Chechnya, and Beyond''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221021003937/https://books.google.com/books?id=KTq2BQAAQBAJ&pg=PA728 |date=21 October 2022 }} (2014) p. 729</ref> In the 1828–1829 [[Russo-Turkish War (1828–1829)|Russo-Turkish War]] Russia invaded northeastern [[Anatolia]] and occupied the strategic Ottoman towns of [[Erzurum]] and [[Gümüşhane]] and, posing as protector and saviour of the [[Greek Orthodox]] population, received extensive support from the region's [[Pontic Greeks]]. After a brief occupation, the Russian imperial army withdrew into Georgia. By the 1830s, Russia had conquered all Persian territories and major Ottoman territories in the Caucasus.<ref>Riasonovsky p. 308</ref>

In 1831, Nicholas crushed the [[November Uprising]] in Poland. The Russian autocracy gave Polish artisans and gentry reason to rebel in 1863 by assailing the national core values of language, religion, and culture.<ref>Stephen R. Burant, "The January Uprising of 1863 in Poland: Sources of Disaffection and the Arenas of Revolt." ''European History Quarterly'' 15#2 (1985): 131–156.</ref> The resulting [[January Uprising]] was a massive Polish revolt, which also was crushed. France, Britain and Austria tried to intervene in the crisis but were unable. The Russian patriotic press used the Polish uprising to unify the Russian nation, claiming it was Russia's God-given mission to save Poland and the world.<ref>Olga E. Maiorova, "War as Peace: The Trope of War in Russian Nationalist Discourse during the Polish Uprising of 1863." ''Kritika: Explorations in Russian and Eurasian History'' 6#3 (2005): 501–534.</ref> Poland was punished by losing its distinctive political and judicial rights, with Russianization imposed on its schools and courts.<ref>Norman Davies: ''God's Playground: A History of Poland'' (OUP, 1981) vol. 2, pp. 315–333, 352-363</ref>