Although affected by the Great Mistake, Russia's legendarily vast lands and population proved to be valuable resources during the subsequent environmental changes and the long recovery. Though having flirted with a full imperial restoration during the 21st century - first with the formal acknowledgement of the illegitimacy of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and then with the restoration of the House of Romanov as a Constitutional Monarchy - the consequences of the Great Mistake forced the State Duma to restore the full powers of the House of Romanov to the Emperor, Nicholas III, in order to execute a series of emergency authorizations which gave the government the means to use all resources necessary to preserve the nation and to prevent territories from seceding. Its military was forced to interpose itself more than once into the violence that rocked Asia and the Imperial Federation emerged a much-changed entity. Political leaders saw an opportunity to regain the trust of eastern European nations, especially in light of the dissolution of the EU, and the Federation courted these countries into membership through access to Russia's strategic mineral wealth and a common cultural heritage. Although Slavic in name, the Federation nonetheless contains hundreds of Asian ethnic groups and new populations of refugees. And the Federation seems to suffer little in the way of ethnic or religious strife. The member nations of the Federation enjoy a degree of autonomy, and it must in fairness be said that ethnic minorities are often given freedom to form local governments.