Summarize political, economic, and cultural aspects of tsarist Russia

Russia's tsarist period lasted from the 16th century to 1917. It was marked by aggressive commercial and military expansions in parts of Europe and Asia (specially in throughout 18th and 19th centuries). Famous rulers such as Peter the Great were responsible for a great deal of the expansionism in the region. The tsarist Era had many rulers and different periods; some were calm and peaceful, with a limited expansionist policy; while others were marked by wars, invasions, expansionism and changes in power (like the "palace coups", a period of political instability when Russia had many tsars that didn't rule for a long period of time).

Russia's economy was connected with it's serfdom system, since most of the working force was made up of serfs (a social class which lived in very similar conditions to that of slaves). This system was responsible for causing a lot of social issues (including economic and political instability during the end of the tsarist Era).