Imperio ruso (en ruso: Российская Империя, Россійская Имперія en ortografía anterior a 1918) es la denominación que se le da a Rusia entre 1721 y 1917. Abarcó grandes zonas de los continentes europeo, asiático y norteamericano, siendo el sistema político sucesor del Zarato ruso. La expresión «Rusia imperial» designa el periodo cronológico de la historia rusa desde la conquista de los territorios comprendidos entre el mar Báltico y el océano Pacífico iniciada por Pedro I hasta el reinado de Nicolás II, el último zar, y el comienzo de la Revolución de 1917. La capital del imperio fue San Petersburgo (rebautizada en 1914 como Petrogrado a raíz del inicio de la Primera Guerra mundial). A finales del siglo XIX, el imperio comprendía 22.800.000 km². De acuerdo al censo de 1897, su población alcanzaba las 125.640.000 personas, habitando la mayoría (93,44 millones) en Europa. Más de 100 diferentes grupos étnicos convivían en el imperio (la etnia rusa componía el 44% de la población). Además del actual territorio de Rusia, en 1917 el Imperio ruso incluía territorios de los estados bálticos, Ucrania, Bielorrusia, parte de Polonia (Zarato de Polonia), Moldavia (Besarabia), Rumania (Valaquia y Moldavia), el Cáucaso, Finlandia, la mayoría del Asia Central y una parte de Turquía (las provincias de Ardahán, Artvin, Iğdır y Kars). Entre 1741 y 1867, el Imperio ruso también incluía Alaska, al otro lado del estrecho de Bering. En 1914, el Imperio ruso estaba dividido en 81 provincias (óblasti) y 20 regiones (gubérniyas). Entre los vasallos y protectorados del imperio se incluían el Emirato de Bujará, el Kanato de Jiva y, tras 1914, Tuvá. El Imperio ruso estaba gobernado por una monarquía hereditaria liderada por un rey autocrático (zar) desde la dinastía Románov. La religión oficial del imperio era el cristianismo ortodoxo, controlado por el monarca a través del Santísimo Sínodo Gobernante. Sus habitantes estaban divididos en estratos (clases) tales como dvoryanstvo («nobleza»), el clero, los comerciantes, los cosacos y los campesinos. Los nativos de Siberia y Asia Central fueron oficialmente registrados en el estrato inorodtsy («extranjeros»). Su escudo de armas fue el gran escudo del Imperio ruso, y su himno «Dios salve al zar» (Боже, Царя храни). Después de que la monarquía zarista fuese derrocada durante la Revolución de febrero en 1917, Rusia fue declarada República bajo el Gobierno provisional ruso.

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Russia, also officially known as the Russian Empire, was a state that existed from 1721 until it was overthrown by the short-lived liberal February Revolution in 1917. One of the largest empires in world history, stretching over three continents, the Russian Empire was surpassed in landmass only by the British and Mongol empires. The rise of the Russian Empire happened in association with the decline of neighboring rival powers: the Swedish Empire, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Persia and the Ottoman Empire. It played a major role in 1812–14 in defeating Napoleon's ambitions to control Europe, and expanded to the west and south. The House of Romanov ruled the Russian Empire from 1721 until 1762, and its German-descended cadet branch, the House of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov, ruled from 1762. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Russian Empire extended from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Black Sea in the south, from the Baltic Sea on the west to the Pacific Ocean, and (until 1867) into Alaska in North America on the east. With 125.6 million subjects registered by the 1897 census, it had the third-largest population in the world at the time, after Qing China and India. Like all empires, it included a large disparity in terms of economics, ethnicity, and religion. There were numerous dissident elements, who launched numerous rebellions and assassination attempts; they were closely watched by the secret police, with thousands exiled to Siberia. Economically, the empire had a predominately agricultural base, with low productivity on large estates worked by serfs (until they were freed in 1861). The economy slowly industrialized with the help of foreign investments in railways and factories. The land was ruled by a nobility (the boyars) from the 10th through the 17th centuries, and subsequently by an emperor. Tsar Ivan III (1462–1505) laid the groundwork for the empire that later emerged. He tripled the territory of his state, ended the dominance of the Golden Horde, renovated the Moscow Kremlin, and laid the foundations of the Russian state. Tsar Peter the Great (1682–1725) fought numerous wars and expanded an already huge empire into a major European power. He moved the capital from Moscow to the new model city of St. Petersburg, and led a cultural revolution that replaced some of the traditionalist and medieval social and political mores with a modern, scientific, Europe-oriented, and rationalist system. Catherine the Great (reigned 1762–1796) presided over a golden age. She expanded the state by conquest, colonization and diplomacy, continuing Peter the Great's policy of modernisation along West European lines. Tsar Alexander II (1855–1881) promoted numerous reforms, most dramatically the emancipation of all 23 million serfs in 1861. His policy in Eastern Europe involved protecting the Orthodox Christians under the rule of the Ottoman Empire. That connection by 1914 led to Russia's entry into the First World War on the side of France, Britain, and Serbia, against the German, Austrian and Ottoman empires. The Russian Empire functioned as an absolute monarchy until the Revolution of 1905 and then became a constitutional monarchy. The empire collapsed during the February Revolution of 1917, largely as a result of massive failures in its participation in the First World War.

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