The first major event of the 19th century in Russia was a coup d'etat. On 11 March 1801 Emperor Paul I was killed in his residence, St Michael's Castle, by a group of conspirators. His 24-year-old son ascended the throne as Alexander I (1801-25). The young Emperor was known for the liberal ideas he received from his republican-minded teachers and his subjects expected him to be an enlightened ruler who would be capable of arranging the affairs of state wisely. However, Alexander's benevolent intensions were not implemented, since they ran up against the ambitions of another European politician, Napoleon I, who plunged the Continent into war. Only the Russian army could resist the onslaught of Napoleon's forces and its brilliant victory brought glory both to the Russian state and to its monarch. In November 1825 Alexander I died in Taganrog.

On 14 December 1825 an oath of allegiance to the new Emperor Nicholas I was to be taken on Senate Square in St Petersburg. Nicholas ascended the throne in the place of his elder brother, Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich, who was considered the more liberal-minded of the sons of Paul I, but had abdicated in favour of his brother for the sake of a love marriage. The younger generation of Russian nobility were still inspired by their victory over Napoleonic France. They had tasted the spirit of freedom in Europe during their sojourns in the West. They sought to establish a new order in Russia by means of a coup d'etat. The Decembrists' uprising was put down by Nicholas I (1825-55), who ruled with an "iron hand" and oppressed all manifestations of dissidence. His reign ended with the ignominious Crimean War that brought to light many of the shortcomings in the Emperor's military and civil policies.

Alexander II (1855-81) entered history as a great reformer who liberated the Russian peasantry from age-old serfdom. The transformations he initiated opened a new chapter in Russian history. However, the free-thinking which his reforms aroused gave rise to extremism and the tsar-liberator became its principal victim. He was killed by terrorists on 1 March 1881.

Emperor Alexander III (1881-94) was described by a contemporary as follows: "In his preferences he took after his grandfather Nicholas I. From his early childhood Alexander thought that if political establishments evolved too quickly, it could be dangerous for the country." After the tragic death of his father, he strived to strengthen autocracy, while at the same time pursuing the liberal reforms of Alexander II.

"Nicholas II had no vice, but he possessed the worst possible failing for a monarch, namely he was devoid of personality." Thus wrote Maurice Paleologue, the French ambassador in Russia. The very dramatic events of the turn of the century - wars and revolutions - befell the lot of this delicate and soft-hearted man, an irreproachable father and husband but an irresolute politician. The execution of Nicholas II and his family by firing squad in 1918 put an end to the 300-year reign of the Romanov dynasty.