Nation and Memory
Lecture 3
Russian History
Week 3
Outline
1. The Kievan Rus and Christianisation
2. The “Mongolian yoke“ and the rise of Moscow
3. The imperial Byzantine Heritage
4. Expansion and Westernization between the 16th
and 18th centuries
5. Russia in the 19th century
6. Conclusion
1000
1000
Influences
• The Principality of Kiev
Ca. 862
Rurik, a semi-legendary Scandinavian warrior,
establishes Rus principality
862
Oleg moves capital to Kiev
988-9
Christianisation: Grand Prince Vladimir I becomes
orthodox
1169
Prince Andrej Bogoljubskij moves capital to
Vladimir, near Moscow
1200
Outline
1. The Kievan Rus and Christianisation
2. The “Mongolian yoke“ and the rise of Moscow
3. The imperial Byzantine Heritage
4. Expansion and Westernization between the 16th
and 18th centuries
5. Russia in the 19th century
6. Conclusion
Influences
• The Principality of Kiev
• Mongolian heritage – for 200 years part
of a Mongolian empire (1240 – middle of
the 15th c.)
1300
Influences
• Mongolian heritage – for 200 years part of
a Mongolian empire (1240 – middle of the
15th c.)
12371240
The Mongols (Tatars) under Batu Khan, invade and
devastate Rus, Aleksander Nevsky defeats Sweden
and – later - Teutonic Order
Ca.
1271
Moscow becomes capital of Grand Principality of
Vladimir-Suzdal
1380
Dmitri Donskoi defeats Tatars, takes title Grand Prince
of Moscow
1400
Aleksander Nevsky during the Battle of Lake Peipus or
Battle of the Ice, 1242, scene from Alexander Nevsky by
Sergei Eisenstein, 1938
Battle of Kulikovo,
1380, Painting 1850
Geography
•
•
•
•
•
Forests in Moscovian heartland
Peripheral location
Vast Russian plain
Dense and viable network of rivers
Spring and autumn: mud, time of
immobility
Outline
1. The Kievan Rus and Christianisation
2. The “Mongolian yoke“ and the rise of Moscow
3. The imperial Byzantine Heritage
4. Expansion and Westernization between the 16th
and 18th centuries
5. Russia in the 19th century
6. Conclusion
1500
Influences
• Byzantine heritage – Orthodox faith – Third Rome
1462-1505 Ivan III (the Great) begins annexing surrounding areas,
conquers Republic of Novgorod, foundations of autocratic
state, religious leaders proclaim Moscow the Third Rome
(after Union of Florence in 1439, the fall of Constantinople
in 1453 and the marriage with Zoe, the niece of the last
Byzantine Emperor, in 1472)
1533
Ivan IV (the Terrible) calls himself tsar, expands autocracy,
begins annexation of Siberia, Wars against Sveden and
Poland, Conquest of Tatar principalities Kazan and
Astrachan
1589
Russian Orthodox Church now completely independent
from other Orthodox Churches
Church Slavonic, not Greek: church language, 'holy
Ivan IV “the Terrible”
Cathedral of St. Basil,
Moscow
The Gathering of the Lands of the Golden
Horde
• After end of Mongolian Empire and defeat
of successors – power vacuum in the
East, filled by Moscow
• Conquest of Kazan and Astrakhan 1555
• Conquest of Kazakh steppe
• Colonization of Siberia
• Subjugation of Central Asia
1600
Moscow and the idea of the Third Rome
• After fall of Constantinople 1453 Moscow
princes see themselves as legitimate heirs of
orthodox emperor
• 17th – 19th centuries: several wars against
Ottoman Empire
• Access to the Black Sea
• Conquest of Crimea
• Caucasus and Transcaucasus with orthodox
Georgian nation
• Russian Emperor: Protector of Orthodox
population in Ottoman Empire
Autocracy
• Greek origin: self-ruler (samoderzhets)
• Form of government
• Unlimited power held by one individual
• Used by Byzantine Emperor
• Transferred with idea of Third Rome to Moscow
Measures:
• Ivan IV: Oprichnina 1564 ff: persecution of old
nobility with help of 'oprichniki'
• Sack of Novgorod in 1570
Outline
1. The Kievan Rus and Christianisation
2. The “Mongolian yoke“ and the rise of Moscow
3. The imperial Byzantine Heritage
4. Expansion and Westernization between the 16th
and 18th centuries
5. Russia in the 19th century
6. Conclusion
Influences
• Influences of Western and Central Europe
(Polish, German, Swedish, French) – 17th c. –
20th c.
16051613
Times of Trouble, Polish invasion
1613
Michael Romanov becomes tsar, Romanov Dynasty
1667
Raskol – Split of Orthodox Church in Official Church
and Old Believers
The Gathering of the Lands of the Rus
• Conquest of Novgorod
• Several wars against the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth
• 1654 Treaty of Pereyaslav with Cossack Hetman Bohdan
Khmelnytsky
• 1667 Peace Treaty of Andrusovo, West Bank Ukraine and Eastern
part of Belarus join Russian Empire
• 1772 First Partition of Poland, Right Bank Ukraine and Western part
of Belarus
• Russian Emperor: Protector of Orthodox population in PolishLithuanian commonwealth
• 1793/95 Second and Third Partition of Poland, eastern half of
Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth goes to Russian Empire
Peter the Great, portrait by Paul
Delaroche
Westernisation I
• 1682/1689-1725 Peter I. (the Great)
• 1697 “Grand Embassy” to Western Europe
• Government and administrative reforms – more effective
administration: Swedish, Dutch, German example
• Land tax and household tax replaced by capitation:
payable also by serfs
• Reform of the Russian Orthodox Church: Patriarch of
Moscow replaced by Holy Synod (10 clergymen)
• 1721 Title “Emperor”
• 1722 Introduction of a new order of precedence: the Table
of ranks: privileges of nobility based on state service
1700
Access to the Baltic Sea
• Great Northern War against Sweden 16991721
• Conquest of Ingermanland
• 1703 Foundation of St.Petersburg
• Integration of Estonia and Livonia 1721
• 1809 Finland becomes part of the Russian
Empire
Skyline of St. Petersburg in the 19th c.
Battle of Poltava,
1709: Russia vs.
Sweden and Cossack
Allies (Mazepa)
Beginning of end of
Cossack autonomy
Catherine the Great
Portrait by Dmitry Levitsky
Westernisation II
• 1761 under Peter III.: Liberty of nobility: no longer
obliged to serve in the military or civil service
• 1762-1796 Catherine II. (the Great):
Westernisation continues
• Enlightened Absolutism: administrative reforms,
attempt to organise society in well defined social
groups – estates
• Charter to the Nobility (1785) and Charter to the
Towns
• 1790 Aleksandr N. Radishchev publishes “Journey
from St. Petersburg to Moscow”: attack on
serfdom and autocracy
1800
Outline
1. The Kievan Rus and Christianisation
2. The “Mongolian yoke“ and the rise of Moscow
3. The imperial Byzantine Heritage
4. Expansion and Westernization between the 16th
and 18th centuries
5. Russia in the 19th century
6. Conclusion
Domestic Policy 1801 - 1856
1801
• Sale of serfs without land prohibited
1816-1819
• Abolition of serfdom in Baltic provinces
1819
• University of St. Petersburg founded
1825
• Decembrist uprising
1832
• Uvarov's three principles enunciated:
autocracy, orthodoxy, nationality
1833
• Code of Laws
1834
• Kiev University founded
Autocracy, Orthodoxy, and Nationality/National
Character (narodnost’)
Count Sergey S. Uvarov, Minister for Education 1832
“narodnost’” underlines the originality
and uniqueness of the Russian
people, the fundamental values of
Russian culture and society, as
opposed to Westernization.
"To turn Russians back to Russian
ways", ("возвраща́ть ру́сских к
ру́сскому"). Uvarov
Foreign and Imperial Policy 1801 - 1856
1801
• Acquisition of eastern Georgia
1806
• Conquest of Daghestan and Baku
1809
• Annexation of Finland
1812 June 24
1815
• Napoleon's invasion of Russia
• Congress of Vienna and Holy Alliance
• Kingdom of Poland (Congress Poland)
in personal union with Russia
1830/31
• Polish rebellion (November uprising)
1848
• Intervention in Hungary
1853-1856
• Crimean War
Imperial and Foreign Policy 1856 - 1881
1858-1860
• Acquisition from China of Amur and
Maritime provinces
1859
• Surrender of Shamil; conquest of
Caucasus completed
1863/64
• Polish rebellion (January uprising)
1864-1885
• Conquest of central Asia
1867
• Alaska sold to the United States of
America
1877-1878
• Russo-Turkish War
Domestic Policy 1856 - 1881
1860-1873
• First railway boom
1861 Feb 19
• Emancipation of the serfs
1863-1865
• Law (courts) and education reform,
Zemstvo instituted
1873
• Populist movement To the People (V
narod)
1874
• Universal Military Training Act, military
reforms
1879
• People's Will Party – terrorism
1881 March 1 • Assassination of Alexander II
Outline
1. The Kievan Rus and Christianisation
2. The “Mongolian yoke“ and the rise of Moscow
3. The imperial Byzantine Heritage
4. Expansion and Westernization between the 16th
and 18th centuries
5. Russia in the 19th century
6. Conclusion
Influences
• Byzantine heritage – Orthodox faith – Third
Rome
• Mongolian heritage – for 200 years part of a
Mongolian empire (1240 – middle of the 15th c.)
• Influences of Western and Central Europe
(Polish, German, Swedish, French) – 17th c. –
20th c.
Key questions
• Autocratic tradition – no estates: weakness of
society
• Nobility vs. Peasants (serfs)
• Weak middle class
• 'Backwardness'
• Multiethnic empire
• What is Russia? What is Russia's role in the
world?
• Relationship to Europe, to Asia
Problems of nation building
• Serfdom until 1861
• Liberation without land (peasants have to pay for it)
• Non-Russian peasants in periphery of Empire have
often more rights than Russian peasants
• Gulf between nobility/elite and peasants
• Weakness of Russian Orthodox Church – since 17th
c. tool of autocracy
• Late introduction of self-administration (zemstva)
• Gulf between autocracy and educated elite
• Empire vs. Russian nation (enormous role of nonRussians in imperial bureaucracy)
• Great Russians are not absolute majority of
population
• National movements in periphery
• Challenge by socialism