With Ottomans busy distracting the western powers, Alexander l began to introduce some changes to the governing systems of the empire. Ukraine and Romania was further divided into seperate states and further ten states were added to the Russian empire totalling the count upto fourty states. With increased number of states he further divided these states into districts according to the demographics. With a better education system there were many people looking for jobs other than agriculture sector. So he created the Russian civil service department and Russian imperial police. The civil service personnels worked directly under the command of governors of each state. They were charged with civilian duties such as implementing law and order, implementing policies after consulting the governor, supervision of the implemented policies, travelling to places where the policies are being implemented, managing the finances of the district and many more. Over time many small departments like finance, commerce, agriculture, water, transport, public works would be implemented for more smooth running.
The imperial police was made subservient to RCS and the governors. They had a ten year term of service after that they would be tested further and reinstated to the police force. Those who failed the test would be retrained and spread out to new departments that would be forming closely.
Army reforms were also implemented by implementing a more sophisticated and open system of chain of command. The aristocracy of the empire had a good hold on the army but by changing the promotions of officers according to seniority only and establishment of several tribunals for disciplainary actions and military courts this influence began to gradually decline. With the victory of Russian navy over the Ottoman navy Alexander l gave seperate command to the navy. So the army and navy got seperated on December 24th in 1464. Alexander l ordered construction of more ports and ships across the coasts of Black sea to maintain the naval supremacy. Alexander also formed the OKB, which was charged with producing and improving weapons for military purposes.
While Russia was undergoing a rapid reforms in many stages, the Ottoman empire continued their string of conquests upon western Europe. Rebellions began in Greece against Ottoman rule during 1464. But they were soundly put down by the Ottomans. Then they looked towards their next target Albania. The Albanians requested the aid of Italy but the aid never came as Italy remained silent as one by one the former parts of the Roman empire began to fall to the Ottomans.
While Albania was a small nation they were able to resist two incursions into their homeland in 1466 and 1467. But the Ottomans were successful at last. But it was a very costly victory for the Ottomans. The war against Albania started at 1466. They were conquered at 1475. Twelve long years of war crippled much of the Ottoman forces to fight another war but Mehmed ll could not stop his crusade just like that. So he negotiated a trade deal with the Russian empire. Constantinople was once again used as trade nexus to buy food, medicine, weapons from Russia.
Russia greatly prospered from this trade and used this immense wealth upon Ukraine and Romania for development. Russian traders had easy access to the Ottoman empire due to the superior navy of Russia. But it was not just the traders that came to Constantinople from Russia. Russian intelligence officers established a well connected network across the land for the implementation of the master plan of Alexander l and waited patiently.
Mehmed ll began his conquest anew as fresh supplies began to arrive from Russia. His plan was to conquer all of western Europe and then turn this might upon the Russians. So he launched an ambitious attack upon Italy in 1480. Since it was only 28 years after the fall of Constantinople, there was some fear that Rome would suffer the same fate. Plans were made for the Pope and citizens of Rome to evacuate the city. Pope Sixtus IV repeated his 1481 call for a crusade. Several Italian city-states, Hungary, and France responded positively to the appeal. The Ottoman forces attacked Otranto in May 1 of 1481. But on May 3 Mehmed ll fell in the battlefield. Chaos spread across the Ottoman forces as factions began to form supporting different successors. This led to the withdrawal of Ottoman forces back to Albania.
The time was ripe for the Russians. They sailed across the Black sea and layed siege to Constantinople. The Russian military already had a minor presence inside the city. They used this presence to assassinate high profile targets of Ottoman military before the siege ensuring the failure of chain of command in the Ottoman forces. By the month of June the entire city came under the control of Russian army. This essentially traped the Ottoman forces in the Western Europe.
The Russian navy began a series of raids across the coasts of Ottoman empire forcing them to concentrate their army to defend their homeland instead of trying to take Constantinople. At the same time the Russian army began invading Serbia and Bulgaria. There were already local resistance against Ottoman rule so by 1484 both nations became freed of Ottoman influence. It was the largest military defeat the Ottoman empire ever knew. More than hundred thousand soldiers died against Russian empire alone. The rest of the Ottoman forces in Western Europe were destroyed by the combined Italian and French army.
From Bulgaria Russian army began it's march into Greece. With Constantinople under Russian control the Mediterranean sea was now opened to Russian Empire. They used their navy and army to destroy the remaining Ottoman army in Greece. Bulgaria was assimilated into the Russian empire. With the complete eradication of Ottoman forces Alexander l began evicting all non Christian citizens except Jews from Constantinople to Turkey. All the Christian churches were rebuilt by 1494 and Constantinople was renamed Tsargrad and officially assimilated as a part of Russian empire. Jews were given safe heaven in Tsargrad and Russian empire for their help in regaining control of Tsargrad. Jews were given equal rights as any citizens and were fully incorporated into the Empire.
Serbia was liberated by the Russian Empire. The Ottoman empire was crushed by the Eastern European powers and Serbia had a fear their independence would be shortlived but Russia withdrew their armies and after some negotiations and agreed to help Serbia from the destruction of their war torn lands. Since then Serbia and Russia enjoyed a fruitful relationship.
The Greeks owed their very existence to Russia. If Russia lose Tsargrad to Ottoman empire, Greece would be the first to feel their wrath. Not only that the Russian navy kept the Ottoman navy away from the Mediterranean. So Greece engaged in a full alliance with Russian empire. Many were against such a course of action to completely depend on an InterContinental empire like Russia but time proved that it was a brilliant move.
With the Meditteranian access Russia could now access Italy, France, Spain, Britania and the entire African continent via the Mediterranean sea. As soon as sufficient port facilities and ships were available Russian trade will boom in the future. Alexander l knew this but he also knew he needed a very good access point into the Baltic sea. So he targated a single Baltic nation, Estonia. As a celestial it was very easy for him to engineer a natural calamity.
In 1570 Estonia was struck by a series of powerful earthquakes which shattered much of the land. At that time Estonia was part of the Swedish empire. With much of the infrastructure destroyed and huge loss of life as well as the series of quakes that were suffered by Sweden itself, Estonia became a financial drain. This is where Alexander l came in with an offer. Ruseian Empire would be willing to buy Estonia at a price and Estonia itself would become a free trade hub for Sweden and Russian empires. This was a deal that they could not afford to lose. Even though it would be a shame for the Swedish empire to sell a part of their land but they swallowed their pride and accepted the offer. With the inclusion of Estonia Russia finally had unrestricted access to Baltic sea.
Russian empire was undergoing the greatest expansion in it's history. Alexander created St. Petersburg in honour of Peter l the first king of Russia. Just like Moscow this city became a cultural hub of Russia in the future. With the western borders secured Russia began the expansion into Eastern parts of its land mass. Southern parts of Siberia was still not under Russian control so they began the slow assimilation of these lands.
In 1575 Russia mourned as Alexander l died peacefully in his sleep in the palace of Light in Moscow. He was one of the best king the Romanov family had ever produced. His son Alexey Romanov ascended the throne. He was very much a reformer like his father. He continued the reforms of his father and he took it one step further. His brother Nicholas fell in love with a Ukrainian girl named Anastasia Bagan. The problem was she was no nobility but a daughter of a modest merchent. There were many opposition to such a union but Alexey was his father's son. He saw an opportunity to completely shatter the powers of nobility and empower the crown even more. Alexey called many poets, writers, singers and ministrels. He charged them with creating songs, poems, stories about the love between his brother and Anastasia and to spread it across the empire. This was a sound strategy as within a year of spreading the tales of their love many became interested what would happen to the lovers. Alexy used this wave of attention and with the blessings of the church of Russia, Ukraine, Romania, Estonia and Bulgaria he changed the marriage laws of the Romanov family and thereby the crown. With the new law any citizen of Empire could marry a Romanov so long as they were Christians. This was widely popular among the many citizens that inhabited the empire. Many prominent noble families planned to remove the Romanov's from power but all these families had very strange and tragic endings. This led to the belief that the blessing of the angel Stephen worked against all those who wished ill upon the descendants of Peter l . So in 1580 Nicholas Romanov wed Anastasia Bagan at a church in Kyiv in the Ukranian state. The further crowning ceremony of Anastsia happened in Moscow. She became the first low born to become a princess in Russian empire, but she was certainly not the last.
The Ottoman empire has been completely humiliated by the Russian empire. So to take revenge upon the Russians, Bayezid II the new emperor layed siege upon Tsargrad. But again the Russians proved their superiority in warfare. The Russian fleet created a blockade upon Turkey and strangled any commerce. Then the entire Ottoman navy was destroyed in the Mediterranean sea. The vast fleets of Russia began their attack along the Black sea coast and Mediterranean coast of Turkey.
The siege of Tsargrad was a complete failure as the superior weapons, experienced soldiers of Russia broke the siege and captured most of the Ottoman army. It was a costly battle that saw a huge loss of life for the Ottoman empire. With no hope for a victory Bayezid II sued for peace. The treaty of Tsargrad was signed by Bayezid II and Alexey l in Tsargrad. The Ottoman empire would have to pay in gold for the damages done to Tsargrad as well as the war in general. The Ottoman navy was further restricted to some few fishing fleets in the Mediterranean and Black sea.This war led to the economic ruin and destabilization of Ottoman empire.
In the year of 1600 Alexey l called a high profile meeting of his many governers , civil service personel and court judges. The aim of this meeting was to establish a constitutional monarchy in Russian empire. A long debate took place and at last everyone came to an agreement. Half the members of the senate would be appointed by the Crown, but these members would only be selected from those who were previously governers, civil service personel or those who were personaly knighted by the crown. The other half representatives would be elected by the people. The total seats were fixed to be a hundred numbers. This was only a general design and it would take a lot of time until such a body came into existence but already the construction of the senate house had begun.
