Tsarist autocracy

Tsarist autocracy (Russian: царское самодержавие, transcr. tsarskoye samoderzhaviye) refers to a form of autocracy (later absolute monarchy) specific to the Grand Duchy of Moscow, which later became Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire. In it, all power and wealth is controlled (and distributed) by the tsar. They had more power than constitutional monarchs, who are usually rested by law and counterbalanced by a legislative authority; they even had more authority on religious issues compared to Western monarchs. In Russia, it originated during the time of Ivan III (1440−1505), and was abolished after the Russian Revolution of 1917. Some historians see the traditions of tsarist autocracy as loosely influencing totalitarianism in the Soviet Union.

Alternative names

This system has also been described by the following terms: imperial autocracy, Russian autocracy, Muscovite autocracy, tsarist absolutism, imperial absolutism, Russian absolutism, Muscovite absolutism, Muscovite despotism, Russian despotism, tsarist despotism or imperial despotism.

Hearts of Iron

Hearts of Iron is a grand strategy computer game developed by Paradox Development Studio and published by Strategy First, set in the years 1936-1948. In the game players can control any one nation as World War II unfolds. It was released for Windows-compatible PCs in 2002. A Macintosh version was also released by Virtual Programming. The lead game programmer was Johan Andersson.

Gameplay

Hearts of Iron is based on Paradox's successful Europa Universalis game engine, but has many changes:

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire (Pre-reform Russian orthography: Россійская Имперія, Modern Russian: Российская империя, translit: Rossiyskaya Imperiya) was a state that existed from 1721 until 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 the 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.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the Russian Empire extended from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Black Sea on 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 the British Empire. 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.

Hearts of Iron IV

Hearts of Iron IV is a computer game being developed by Paradox Development Studio. It is the sequel to Hearts of Iron III and part of the Hearts of Iron series of grand strategy games focusing on World War II.

The formal announcement of the game in January 2014 indicated an intended release date of the first quarter of 2015, later postponed to the second quarter of 2015. At E3 2015, Johan Andersson confirmed that the game will be pushed back from its original release window, most likely to the first quarter of 2016. This is an attempt to resolve several issues encountered with the game. However, Johan Andersson later confirmed that the game would not be released in the first quarter of 2016. The game used the code name Project Armstrong while in development. As of early February, 2016, the game has been approved for beta.

In a Reddit "Ask Me Anything" event, Paradox manager Johan Andersson promised better AI and accessibility compared to Hearts of Iron III, and that the game would not have a rigid, forced game-progression but would feature sandbox-style gameplay. He also stated that Hearts of Iron IV would be available on the Linux operating system.

World War I

World War I (WWI or WW1), also known as the First World War, or the Great War, was a global war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilised in one of the largest wars in history. Over 9 million combatants and 7 million civilians died as a result of the war (including the victims of a number of genocides), a casualty rate exacerbated by the belligerents' technological and industrial sophistication, and the tactical stalemate caused by trench warfare, a grueling form of warfare in which the defender held the advantage. It was one of the deadliest conflicts in history, and paved the way for major political changes, including revolutions in many of the nations involved.

The war drew in all the world's economic great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Allies (based on the Triple Entente of the United Kingdom/British Empire, France and the Russian Empire) versus the Central Powers of Germany and Austria-Hungary. Although Italy was a member of the Triple Alliance alongside Germany and Austria-Hungary, it did not join the Central Powers, as Austria-Hungary had taken the offensive, against the terms of the alliance. These alliances were reorganised and expanded as more nations entered the war: Italy, Japan and the United States joined the Allies, while the Ottoman Empire and Bulgaria joined the Central Powers.