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The Rise of Russia
Chapter 18
Focus Questions:
What factors led to the emergence of the Russian Empire?
Who led efforts to Westernize Russia?
Introduction
• The Rise of Russia involved very limited
commercial exchange (unlike Europe)
• Mongol rule fostered a new level of
independence in the 15th century and Russia
pushed eastward conquering central and
eventually Eastern Asia all the way to the
Pacific
• Russia experienced limited interaction with
the West early on until the early 18th century
• Russia was rivaled by regional states like
Poland and the Baltics
• Russia was still dominated by an air of
Byzantine culture and influence (though the
empire was long since gone)
Revival and Expansion
•Moscow took the lead to liberate Russia
from the Mongols in the late 15th century
•Mongol occupation did not change
Russian culture but it weakened it and
changed Russian economy into strictly
agrarian (no trade)…even weakened
literacy
•Ivan III (the Great) developed a military
government/influence coupled with
nationalism and Orthodox religious fervor
to create a Russian “manifest destiny”
•Ivan III dreamed to turn Russia into the
third Rome and took the title Tsar (Caesar)
•His son, Ivan IV (the Terrible) continued
this policy…he killed off nobles (boyars) to
consolidate his power
Revival and Expansion
• The tsars focused on taking lands away from their
former Mongol masters in Central Asia
• Both Ivans recruited peasant pioneers (cossacks) to
conquer and settle this territory in Central & Eastern
Asia…most of this territory was vast open and fertile
plains which would be used to expand Russia’s
agricultural economy
• Acquisition of territory gave the tsars the ability to
gain noble loyalty by offering land grants, however,
nobility continued the institute of serfdom to level
that it was slavery
• Expansion into the east created cultural interaction,
though the Russians allowed these people to retain
cultural identity under Russian rule (much like the
Mongols did)
Early Western Contact and Romanov Policy
•The Ivans began a limited contact with the
West, establishing diplomatic relations in an
effort to improve Russia’s economy
–British merchants traded manufactured
goods for furs and raw materials
–Italian artists and architects were
brought in
•However, Ivan IV died without an heir and
the Time of Troubles (20-30 year civil war)
ensued where boyars attempted to gain
control of Russia
–Western nations like Sweden and Poland
captured Russia’s Baltic territories
•In 1613, Michael Romanov was chosen by
the boyars as tsar and the Time of Troubles
ended, with Romanov restoring internal
order, expelling foreign invaders (fought war
w/Poland) and interests
•Romanov’s son Alexis abolished the boyar
assemblies and instituted state control of the
Orthodox Church…began the infamous
pattern of exiling people to Siberia
“Conquerors: Peter the Great” Video Clip
1.
In the years before 1682, why was Russia thought of as “a relic of the Dark Ages?”
2.
What influence did the so-called “German suburb” have on Peter's aspirations for Russia?
3.
What were the most important lessons Peter learned in Amsterdam?
4.
Why did Peter feel he had to challenge the authority of the Russian Orthodox Church, and
how did he do it?
5.
What motivated Peter to build St. Petersburg?
Peter the Great
•Son of Alexis
•The Great “Westernizer” of
Russia…known for traveling to other
European kingdoms in secret to learn
their ways
•Was a brutal autocrat, crushed dissent
mainly by murdering the
dissenters…was not interested in the
emerging parliamentary governments,
rather preferred despotic direct rule
•Fought wars with the Ottomans and
the Swedes for territory
•One major gain was Russia’s “window
to the Baltic” where Peter built his new
capital, St. Petersburg and moved
Russian rule to that locale, thus
establishing a new era of contact with
the West
The Impact of Peter the Great
• Despite despotic rule, Westernization did bring a wave
of political, social and economic changes to Russia
• Bureaucracy and military were modeled after the
West…a Russian navy was built…with the boyar
council gone, Peter set up advisors under his direct
control…a system of governors was established…laws
and taxes were created that put more pressure on the
serfs (peasants)…Nobles had to shave their beards
and dress like westerners (if they did not they were
taxed)…Peter brought technical and scientific
education to his elites
• These changes, however, were met with some
measure of resistance…and an eventual build up to
revolution/rebellion among the peasantry as they saw
no benefits from Westernization
“Conquerors: Peter the Great” Video Clip
1.
Before 1682, Russia was a nation of 8 million peasants, isolated from the
outside world. It had a history of resisting reform and being dominated
completely by the czars.
2.
An oasis of culture and technology just three miles outside of Moscow, the
“German suburb” both fascinated and frustrated Peter. He enlisted Franz
Timmermann to explain the workings of complex European navigation tools
such as the sextant, which would make it possible for Peter to build ships and
expand his horizons beyond Russia. He combed Europe to find ideas,
inventions, and great minds he could bring back to Russia.
3.
Peter apprenticed himself with a master shipbuilder to learn all the secrets of
the shipbuilding trade, but he had to do it under an assumed identity, as
apprenticing a Russian czar would have been too intimidating to a commoner.
Peter also hired hundreds of Dutch shipbuilders and captains and transplanted
them to Russia so he could build a fleet.
4.
Peter challenged the power of the Russian Orthodox Church because he
resented the Church's opposition to change and progress. He forced nobles to
shave and cut their hair in the European style and enforced a European dress
code, in direct opposition to long-held Orthodox practices.
5.
Peter wanted to build St. Petersburg to celebrate his eventual victory over
Charles XII of Sweden and to have a new capital that would be both a window
on the West and a naval outlet on the Baltic Sea.
Catherine the Great
•After several decades of weak rule,
Catherine (a German princess)
conspired to overthrow her “retarded”
husband (Peter III)
•She continued Peter the Great plans
and style of rule, strictly autocratic,
quelled all dissent and rebellion
(Pugachev’s)
•She used sexual relations to get her
way in European affairs
•She was a Westernizer and brought
the European enlightenment
(particularly French) to Russia, but
still maintained strong central
authority (Instruction of 1767)
•Was an expansionist (conquered the
Caucuses region, claimed Alaska,
successfully partitioned Poland among
3 European kingdoms)
Themes in Russia: Serfdom
• Russian society embraced serfdom and the
exploitation of the peasantry, while the rest of Europe
rapidly advanced socially
• Russia’s peasantry was used to the good life before
and during Mongol rule, however, the despotism of
the nobility led to serfdom becoming hereditary
(1649)…serfs were treated like slaves unlike those in
a feudal system…the serfs produced food for the
masses and for sale while nobles/landlords kept the
profits and bought luxury goods for
themselves…peasants remained poor and illiterate,
living off the few spoils of their noble masters
• The only thing the peasants had were ties amongst
villages, small political and religious entities that
dictated their daily lives
• Russia thus remained largely a rural agrarian society,
with few cities and most people were tied to the land
on which they were born
Themes in Russia: Trade and Dependence
• There were few artisans who produced
goods…merchants that did exist traded furs
and other light manufactured goods…though
Peter the Great increased these areas of
economic development, the nobility prevented
the emergence of a strong mercantile class
• Russia’s agricultural wealth and efforts,
though backwards and limited, still managed
to keep the nations economy afloat, even in
times of famine and hunger
Themes in Russia: Social Unrest
•Serfs did eventually start to
rebel against the system…they
didn’t stay ignorant and
illiterate forever!
•Western Europeans cried for an
end to serfdom in Russia and
attempted to educate the serfs
of Russia on democratic and
capitalist ideas…most rebellions
and foreign intrusions were
dealt with harshly
•Emelian Pugachev’s led a
rebellion in the 1770s promising
end to serfdom, low taxes and
abolition of the landed
nobility…he was chopped into
many pieces in Moscow
Russia and Eastern Europe
• The Eastern European societies, once
influenced by Byzantium and Russia,
began to fall into the sphere of Western
influence
– Balkan states in Romania and Bulgaria fell
to the Ottomans, Russia’s new enemy
– Czech and Slovak along with parts of Poland
were absorbed by the Prussians, yet parts of
Eastern Poland did become part of Russia
– Hungary and Bohemia were absorbed into
the Hapsburg Austro-Hungarian Empire