Following the Crimean defeat Russia began to take drastic measures to modernize its military.  This would enable the army to more effectively fight other modern forces from a position of advantage.  Yet, even as the army modernized to fight other nations, rebellions from within would arise in far corners of the Empire.  The longest lasting of these would be the Caucasian uprising of the Murids led by Imam Shamil who sought to expel Russia from the former Persian lands (now Chechnya and Dagestan) taken after the Russo-Persian War of 1826.  This conflict would take decades to ultimately resolve and the Imperial government in Tiflis would preside over an uneasy peace that was enforced by large numbers of troops.

Closer to home, the Russians found themselves dealing with a second Polish rebellion led by nationalists.  The rebels felt that Russia was weak following its loss during the Crimean War and felt that the liberal domestic policies were proof of this.  They were also inspired by Polish émigrés living in Western Europe, but it was primarily the Russian reaction to the crisis that provoked the Poles into active rebellion in 1863.

The fact that Russian aspirations in the Balkans had been stopped by her loss in the Crimean War led Russian expansionists to turn their attentions back towards Central Asia where they assumed that few European powers would take interest.  Only the British would show concern at Russian movements in the remote wilds of Asia as they feared these moves were pretexts to an eventual attack on British India.  They termed the Russian expansion and their response to it "The Great Game" and it drove their policies against Russia in Afghanistan and Persia.  British concern would only grow as ambitious Russian officers seeking to make a name for themselves and the official Russian policy of expansion to quell Muslim raids on Russian settlers brought them ever closer to India.  At the height of "the Great Game" Russian armies rapidly annexed the Khanates of Kokand, Bukhara, and Khiva bringing the empire ever closer to conflict with Britain and even China.

Continued tensions over what to do with the Ottoman Empire would dominate Russia's involvement in continental affairs, and by the time the Tsar decided to make a move in the Balkans against Turkey none would openly oppose him.

• Chronology
• Major Battles
• Losses

• Chronology
• Major Battles
• Losses

• Chronology
• Major Battles
• Losses