The Table of Ranks was a formal list of positions and ranks in the military, government, and court of Imperial Russia. Peter the Great introduced the system in 1722 while engaged in a struggle with the existing hereditary nobility, or boyars. The Table of Ranks was formally abolished on 11 November 1917 by the newly established Bolshevik government. During the Vladimir Putin presidency a similar formalized structure has been reintroduced into many governmental departments, combined with formal uniforms and insignia: Local Government, Diplomatic Service, Prosecution Service, Investigative Committee.
A manuscript copy of the 1722 Table of Ranks
An 1898 copy of the Table of Ranks
The Russian Empire, also known as Imperial Russia or simply Russia, was a vast realm that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its proclamation in November 1721 until its dissolution in March 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about 22,800,000 square kilometres (8,800,000 sq mi), roughly one-sixth of the world's landmass, making it the third-largest empire in history, surpassed only by the British and Mongol empires; it also held colonies in North America between 1799 and 1867. The empire's 1897 census, the only one it conducted, found a population of 125.6 million with considerable ethnic, linguistic, religious, and socioeconomic diversity.
The Victory at Poltava, painted by Alexander von Kotzebue in 1862
Peter the Great officially proclaimed the Russian Empire in 1721 and became its first emperor. He instituted sweeping reforms and oversaw the transformation of Russia into a major European power. Painting by Jean-Marc Nattier, 1717.
Empress Catherine the Great, who reigned from 1762 to 1796, continued the empire's expansion and modernization. Considering herself an enlightened absolutist, she played a key role in the Russian Enlightenment (painted in the 1780s).
1764, Rouble Catherine II ММД - Krasny Mint