While the modern state of Russia was formed 1547, many historians consider the various monarchies that existed prior to 1547 when discussing a Russian "monarchy". These include the Princes of Novgorod, the Grand Princes of Kiev, the Grand Princes of Vladimir, and the Grand Princes of Moscow. It was under the Grand Princes of Moscow that a true Russian state was unified in 1547, with Ivan IV the Terrible proclaiming himself the Tsar of all the Russias. Peter the Great proclaimed Russia an empire in 1721, and successfully made Russia into a European power. The monarchy was overthrown during the Russian Revolution in 1917, and the reigning emperor, Nicholas II and his immediate family were executed in 1918.
Russia was briefly an independent republic before becoming part of the Soviet Union from 1922 until the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991, when Russia once again became an independent republic. The Russian Federation is currently a federal republic. The head of state is the president, with the prime minister serving as the head of government. Unlike the figurehead presidents common in most of Europe, the President of Russia is a substantive position, particularly when it comes to setting foreign policy.
Monarchies[]
Southern Victory[]
The Russian monarchy was threatened as a consequence of the country's participation in the Great War. In 1917, after Russia and its allies suffered terrible losses, Russian socialists launched an uprising against Nicholas II that soon became a revolution and then a civil war throughout the remainder of the 1910s and into the 1920s. By the mid-1920s, the Red faction had been defeated, and Nicholas retained his throne. He was succeeded by his brother, Mikhail II in the 1930s.
| Monarch | Reign | House | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nicholas II | 
|
1894-1932(?) | Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov |
| Mikhail II | 
|
1932(?)-Incumbent at series end, 1945 | |
The Two Georges[]
The Russian Empire, along with the British Empire and the Franco-Spanish Holy Alliance, were the three major powers in the mid-1990s.
Known Tsars:
Alexander I, who reigned in the early 19th century as he did in OTL. He's only mentioned in passing, and his reign is not discussed in any detail.
- The incumbent tsar in 1995 is referenced throughout the novel, but is unnamed.
Other Monarchs[]
In addition to the above, Harry Turtledove has written several stories in which the Monarch of Russia plays a prominent role or, at a minimum, in which the incumbent is referenced.
An incumbent czar is referenced in Liberating Atlantis, which is set in 1852. The reference seems to suggest that the czar is not Nicholas I, who is otherwise the logical choice.
In addition to Southern Victory, Nicholas II keeps his throne in the story "Uncle Alf" after the Great War proves to be fairly short, and Germany comes to his rescue. He continues to reign into 1929, the year in which the story is set.
Nicholas II is also implicitly the monarch at the point of divergence of Curious Notions. While Russia went through a long civil war that continued into 1930s, the final fate of Nicholas and the Russian monarchy is unrevealed. While there are several passing references to incumbent monarchs in 2096, the year the novel is set, the Russian tsar is not one of the them.
In The Disunited States of America, Russia is ruled by an emperor until at least 1947. None are named.
A czar was killed under the same circumstances as Nicholas II in the fantasy novel The House of Daniel. Given the fantasy setting of the novel, that czar is not necessarily Nicholas II.
Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia is the ruler of Russia in the shared universe work "Last Flight of the Swan of the East", though the position is the center of an inconsistency.
In the short story, "Les Mortes d'Arthur", Siberia was able to secede from the Soviet Union in the 21st century, and reconstituted a monarchy. The incumbent czar is referenced, but unnamed.
Republics[]
Other Republican Heads of State[]
In the novel Joe Steele, Alexander Kerensky was de facto head of state of the Russian Provisional Government as in OTL. While President Joe Steele hates the Soviet Union, he doesn't consider the hapless Kerensky a viable alternative.
In "The Breaking of Nations", Vladimir Putin is President of the Russian Federation into 2031. His government exerts tremendous control over the Mike Pence Administration.