Romanov

The Romanov Family is the ruling family of Russia and Ukraine. The liberal branch ruled Russia after the death of Tsar Nicholas I under the rule of a military executive until 1866 following the Austro-Prussian War, when Tsar Constantine I took back executive control of the Imperial Government. In 1881, at the death of Grand Duke Alexander, his son, also named Alexander, led a conservative revolution in the territory of Ukraine. Allied with Austria, the conservatives managed a stalemate in the war, having Ukraine recognized as a separate kingdom under Tsar Alexander I. This rivalry continued with the reign of Constantine II of Russia until the beginning of the Great War.