title: Russia, 1475–1830
abstract: Russia changed from a small state on Europe’s periphery to a powerful empire stretching from Baltic to Pacific, with few geographical features to protect it. Subjection to Tatars was oppressive, but enabled rulers of Muscovy, from which Russia emerged in the fifteenth century, to act as all-powerful representatives against European powers like Sweden and the Poland-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Autocratic Russian rulers employed those skilled in warfare and conquest to forge an ever-vaster empire. As