Editing Serfdom (section)

===Russia===
{{main|Serfdom in Russia}}
[[File:Grigoriy Myasoyedov Reading of the 1861 Manifesto 1873.jpg|thumb|Russian peasants reading the [[Emancipation reform of 1861|Emancipation Manifesto]], an 1873 painting by [[Grigory Myasoyedov]]]]
Serfdom became the dominant form of relation between Russian peasants and [[nobility]] in the 17th century. Serfdom only existed in central and southern areas of the Russian Empire. It was never established in the North, in the Urals, or in Siberia. The [[Conscription in the Russian Empire|conscripted]] serfs dramatically increased the size of the Russian military during the [[Napoleonic Wars]].<ref>David Moon. "The Abolition of Serfdom in Russia". Harlow: Pearson Education Limited, 2001. Page 33</ref> According to the ''Encyclopedia of Human Rights'':

{{quote|In 1649 up to three-quarters of [[Tsardom of Russia|Muscovy]]'s peasants, or 13 to 14 million people, were serfs whose material lives were barely distinguishable from slaves. Perhaps another 1.5&nbsp;million were formally enslaved, with Russian slaves serving Russian masters.<ref>{{cite book|editor=David P. Forsythe|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1QbX90fmCVUC&pg=RA3-PA464|title=Encyclopedia of Human Rights: Vol. 1|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=2009|page=3|isbn=9780195334029|access-date=1 July 2015|archive-date=13 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160513021154/https://books.google.com/books?id=1QbX90fmCVUC&pg=RA3-PA464|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

Russia's over 23 million (about 38% of the total population<ref>{{cite web |url=http://home.freeuk.net/russica2/books/russia/28.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090705223359/http://home.freeuk.net:80/russica2/books/russia/28.html |archive-date=5 July 2009 |title=Chapter XXVIII. The Serfs |work=Russia |author=Donald Mackenzie Wallace |date=1905}}</ref>) privately held serfs were freed from their lords by [[Emancipation reform of 1861|an edict]] of [[Alexander II of Russia|Alexander II]] in 1861. The owners were compensated through taxes on the freed serfs. [[State serf]]s were emancipated in 1866.<ref>David Moon, ''Abolition of Serfdom in Russia: 1762–1907'' (2002)</ref>