Romanov Russian imperial dynasty (1613–1917). Michael, the first Romanov Tsar, was elected in 1613. His descendants, especially Peter I (the Great) and Catherine II (the Great), a Romanov only by marriage, transformed Russia into the largest empire in the world. The last Romanov Emperor, Nicholas II, abdicated in 1917 and was later murdered with his family by the Bolsheviks.

Romanov a dynasty that ruled in Russia from the accession of Michael Romanov (1596–1645) in 1613 until the overthrow of the last tsar, Nicholas II, in 1917.