How did Russian rulers build a distinctive absolutist monarchy and expand into a vast and powerful empire?

RRUSSIA OCCUPIED A UNIQUE POSITION among Eurasian states. With borders straddling eastern Europe and northwestern Asia, its development into a strong imperial state drew on elements from both continents.

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Russian Peasants An eighteenth-century French artist visiting Russia recorded his impressions of the daily life of the Russian people in this etching of a fish merchant pulling his wares through a snowy village on a sleigh. Two caviar vendors behind him make a sale to a young mother standing at her doorstep with her baby in her arms. (From Jean-Baptiste Le Prince’s second set of Russian etchings, 1765. Private Collection/Gérard PIERSON/www.amis-paris-petersbourg.org)