The Kingdom of Women

It was truly a Russian paradox. In the land of "Domostroy," where numerous folk proverbs quite sincerely described the position of women: "A hen is not a bird, a woman is not a human," "Who carries water? A woman! Who gets beaten? A woman! Why? Because she is a woman," - throughout the XVIII century, five women-empresses and one Regent ruled the Russian state autocratically.
All our crowned ladies were extraordinarily warlike and managed to leave the 19th century and the male emperors an immense country, with vast problems that eventually led the country to catastrophe…