The Stamps of Russia
Russia
The Tsardom of Russia, also known as the Tsardom of Muscovy, was the centralized Russian state from tsar Ivan IV in 1547 until the founding of the Russian Empire by Peter the Great in 1721. The Russian Empire was ruled by the Romanovs from 1721 to 1917. In responce to a revolution in 1905 Tsar Nicholas II authorized the Duma, essentially a parliament, but retained absolute political power. In 1917, mass unrest among the population and mutinies in the army resulted in Nicholas' abdication during the 'February Revolution' and the formation of the 'Russian Provisional Government', which was overthrown in the 'October Revolution' by the Bolsheviks. The Bolshevik seizure of power resulted in the Russian Civil War. The Bolsheviks (Reds) defeating the weaker White Army (Whites). In 1918, the Bolsheviks executed the Romanov family and, after winning the Russian Civil War in 1922-1923, created the Soviet Union. The terms 'Soviet Russia' and 'Soviet Union (or the USSR)' are sometimes used interhangably because Russia dominated the Soviet Union during the era of the Soviet Union), but some historians when referring to the foundations of the Soviet Union, use the term 'Soviet Russia' to refer to brief period between the October Revolution of 1917 and the creation of the Soviet Union in 1922. Before 1922, there were four independent Soviet Republics: the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Byelorussian SSR, and Transcaucasian SFSR. These four were the first Union Republics of the Soviet Union, Later the Bukharan People's Soviet Republic and Khorezm People's Soviet Republic joined in 1924. With the advent of World War II, portions of countries in Eastern Europe were anexed, and the Russian SFSR annexed the Tuvan People's Republic, and took South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands from Japan. The USSR also annexed three countries on the Baltic Sea creating the Lithuanian SSR, Latvian SSR, and Estonian SSR. Russia, technically known as the 'Russian Federation', extends from eastern Europe and northern Asia and crosses eleven time zones. On December 1991 it became an independent country after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Date: 1547-present Capital City: Moscow Postal History Timeline: The first Russian postal stamp was issued on December 10, 1857. A translation of a circular of the Postal Department 'On the bringing of postal stamps for the common use' reads: "Starting from the 1st January of the next year 1858 usual private letters to all the places of the Empire, the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Finland brought to the post in usual envelopes or without envelope at all just with addresses written on the letter itself should be sent only with the stamp corresponding to the letter weight". The first stamps went on sale December 10, 1857, but officially people started to use stamps to pay internal correspondence in Russia from January 1, 1858 (from March 1, 1858 - in the Caucasus, Transcaucasia, and Siberia). Since this time all private letters have been sent only with postal stamps that were cancelled with two crossed lines.
Russian Stamp Catalogues
Russian Postal Stationary |
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3¢ Red on White - Scott U1
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3¢ Red on White - Thorp 1 - UPSS 1Seal - Horizontally Laid 
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3¢ Red on White - Thorp 1 - UPSS 1Seal - Horizontally Laid
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3¢ Red on Buff - Scott U2
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3¢ Red on Buff - Thorp 3 - UPSS 3Seal - Horizontally Laid
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