Rise of Russia
I. Russia at the Start
A. Grand Duchy of Muscovy c. 1450
a. Largest of Russian principalities but not alone
b. Had been Mongol tribute collector
c. Grand Prince used power to conquer others
d. Peasants turned into serfs to guarantee taxes, supply of labor
e. Metropolitan of Kiev moved to Moscow, became patriarch
B. Grand Princes Ivan I and II
a. Had grown rich off of tribute
b. Built the Kremlin in Moscow
c. Raised an army of musketeers
d. Prepared to throw off Mongols at first chance
C. Khanate of the Golden Horde
a. Remnants of Mongols in Russia, on steppe
b. Had converted to Islam
c. Each passing year their rule more challenged
D. Russia primitive, backward society
a. Had missed Renaissance, Reformation
b. While European prior to Mongols, now often more Oriental
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E. Ivan III (or Ivan the Great, reigned 1462-1505)
a. Declared Russian independence from Mongol rule, 1480
b. “Gathering the Russian land"
1. Acquire Russian speaking lands under Muscovy
2. Incorporated trading city Novgorod, 1470s
F. Cossacks
a. Free peasants settled on newly conquered lands
b. Recruited to settle steppe, serve as cavalry
c. Live as Orthodox steppe nomads
d. Extended Russian influence south into the steppes
e. Conquered Volga River valley, north Caucasus
f. Crossed Urals, conquered, settled Siberia
G. The Third Rome
a. Name given to Moscow in sixteenth century
b. Ivan built strong centralized government
c. Modeled after the Byzantine empire
d. Married daughter of last Byzantine Emperor
e. Tsar head of both the state and Russian Orthodox church
f. Russians saw themselves as God’s successors to Rome, Constantinople
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II. Time of Troubles
A. Ivan IV (reigned 1533-1584), Ivan III's grandson
a. Known as Ivan the Terrible (Or Dread in Russian)
b. Notorious for erratic, often violent rule
c. Wife murdered; beat own son to death
d. Reshaped the Russian government
1. Chosen Council--advisors chosen for merit
2. "Assemblies of the land" = local assemblies
e. Called himself tsar (after Greek title "caesar")
f. Confiscated large estates
g. Redistributed land to supporters
B. Ivan IV's reign of terror
a. Oprichniki: Private, secret “police”
b. Used terror, cruelty to subdue civilian populations
C. War and famine followed Ivan's death in 1598
a. Died without an heir
b. Fifteen years (1598-1613) of turmoil followed
c. Numerous tsars, imposters, peasant revolts
d. Invasions by Poland, Sweden repelled by volunteer armies, 1610
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III. Romanov Dynasty
A. Romanov Dynasty establishes an autocratic monarchy
a. Mikhail Romanov chosen as new tsar in 1613 by representatives
1. Son of Russian Patriarch
2. Founder of Romanov dynasty, lasted until 1917
b. Alexis Romanov limits power of nobles, Orthodox Church
B. Peter I (reigned 1682-1725): known as Peter the Great
a. Fascinated with technology he found in the foreign quarters of Moscow
b. As tsar, imposed program of rapid modernization
1. Russian industries to incorporate the most advanced science and technology
2. Russians sent abroad to study
3. Peter himself traveled to Europe to study government, military, and industry
C. Peter's reforms: progressive but autocratic
a. Military reform: to build powerful, modern army
1. Offered better pay and modern weapons to peasants
2. Aristocratic officers ordered to study mathematics and geometry
3. Built largest European army; defeated Sweden in Great Northern War, 1700-1722
b. Bureaucratic reform: to facilitate collection of taxes
1. Only nobles educated to serve as government officials
2. Table of Ranks allowed social mobility for civil servants by merit and service
3. Created new nobles based on service, loyalty, success in army
c. Social reform: challenged established customs
1. Abolished the seclusion of women; encouraged social mixing of the sexes
2. Ordered subjects to wear western clothing; ordered men to shave beards
d. St. Petersburg, the "window on the west"
1. New capital on the Baltic Sea built by Peter in 1703
2. Headquarters for Russian navy, administrative center for government
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IV. Westernization of Russia
A. Russia’s path raises question of history
a. Westernization
1. Imitating, copying of the west
2. Done at expense of local institutions, traditions
3. Usually begins with military, technology
4. Includes social, economic, political, intellectual
b. Modernization
1. Modernize ancient institutions
2. Avoid losing heritage
3. Borrow technology; avoid cultural borrowing
c. Peter’s Process
1. From the top down at expense of Russian traditions
2. Goal: give Russia ability to win war
3. Peter decreed dress, hair length, shaving
4. Peter insisted that boyars (nobles) be educated, cultured
d. Russia’s path creates model, shows problem
1. Imitate the west to surpass the west
2. Many traditional elements oppose, fight westernization
3. Dependence on western technology, trade, ideas creates problems
Note: Westernization, Modernization not the same
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V. Limits of Westernization
A. Catherine I, Anna I, and Elizabeth I: A Century of Four Tsarinas
a. No rules prohibiting female rules: ruled Russia with iron fists;
b. All continued policies of westernization, expansion
B. Catherine II (reigned 1762-1795)
1. Married Peter's grandson, unpopular tsar
2. Replaced him as ruler when he was murdered
3. Made deal with boyars: back me, keep serfs
4. Continued Peter's policies of westernization
5. Attracted to Enlightenment
6. Rejected changes that would weaken her rule
C. Pugachev's rebellion in Caucasus (1773-1774)
1. Cossacks, exiles, peasants, and serfs
2. Protest taxes, rebel
3. Led by Pugachev, claimed to be Peter III
4. Killed thousands of nobles, officials, and priests
5. Crushed by imperial army, 1774
D. The end of Catherine's reforms
1. Pugachev's rebellion and French Revolution soured Catherine on reform
2. Reversed policy of westernization
3. Tried to restrict foreign influence in Russia
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VI. Russia’s Role in Europe
A. Neighbors as Enemies
1. Sweden to North, Poland to West, Ottoman Empire to the South
2. For Russia to expand, had to confront, defeat its enemies
B. Poland-Lithuania
1. A dual republican state; two societies, one king and parliament; Catholic
2. Large Slavic Orthodox minorities in Belarus and Ukraine
3. During Time of Troubles tried to conquer Russia; remained permanent enemy
C. Absorption of Ukraine
1. Ukrainian peasants led by Bodhan Khmelnitsky sought union with Moscow
2. Long revolt against Poland ended, 1667
3. Ukraine and Kiev absorbed into Russia
D. Great Northern War with Sweden, early 18th Century
1. Peter the Great tried to take advantage of Swedish king’s youth
2. Charles of Sweden turned out to be a military genius and nearly destroyed Russia
3. Only Russian winter, recklessness of Charles saved Peter, who won territory on Baltic
E. The partition of Poland, 1790s
1. Polish parliament ineffective and unstable; country poorly defended
2. Polish-Lithuanian republic carved up between Austria, Prussia, and Russia
3. Partition is the most blatant example of the Balance of Power
F. Southern expansion of Russian empire into Ottoman territories
1. Begun by Peter but only minor gains; Catherine finished conquest of N. Black Sea
2. Tsarist forces pushed into Balkans, welcomed by Greek Orthodox minorities
3. Further expansion halted by England and France
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VII. Russia’s Asian Empire
A. The Caucasus Area
1. By late 18TH century Russia controlled Volga River to Caspian Sea
2. Georgia: Orthodox Christians; absorbed into Russian empire, 1783
3. Armenia and Azerbaijan also annexed
B. Northern Asia (Siberia)
1. This is the forested zone called the Taiga; runs north of the steppe
2. Less hospitable, but rich in resources, especially furs, timber, gold
3. Conquest began in 1581 when Cossacks crossed the Ural Mountains
4. Conquest considered necessary to prevent return of Mongols, nomads
5. Local peoples forced to pay tribute in furs at Russian forts
C. Native peoples of Siberia
1. Lived by hunting, fishing, or herding reindeer
2. Some groups welcomed Russian trade
3. Yakut people resisted, brutally crushed; 70 percent of population killed
4. Smallpox reduced more than half of total Siberian population
5. Few Siberians converted to Christianity; remained shamanistic, animistic
D. By 1763: Add Europeans to the population of Siberia
1. Russian government settles convicts, poor forcibly in Siberia
2. Doubled with addition of Cossacks, trappers, soldiers, serfs
E. American and Pacific explorations
1. Vitus Bering led two maritime expeditions across Asia to the Pacific Ocean
2. Other Russian explorers pushed further into Alaska and west Canada
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VIII. Russian Society
A. Rural life
1. Centered on peasant villages, church, local market: very isolated
2. Large, extended families; males headed household, ran village affairs
3. Women could own property, responsible for arranging marriages
4. Land held in common by mir or community of peasant, serfs
5. Life hard: men worked fields, women home; great illiteracy
B. Russian serfdom more flexible before seventeenth century
1. In European Russia, serfs bound to noble’s lands, crown, monasteries
2. In Siberia, peasants mostly free in Siberia, as payment for settling there
3. On Steppe, Cossacks mostly free as payment for defense, settlement
4. Serfdom in Eastern Europe: Poland, Hungary, too
C. Law Code of 1649 placed serfs under strict control of landlords
1. Serfs were not slaves but could be sold as private property
2. Also fixed occupational castes; sons forced into trades of their fathers
D. Types of Serfs
1. State: Often worked in government mines, factories
2. Proprietary serfs, house peasants: paid rent to lord, generally worked land
3. Church and Crown serfs: owned, worked lands of church, tsar
E. Catherine gave nobility greater control over lands and serfs
1. Nobles supported her reforms in exchange
2. Most serfs subject to harsh and arbitrary rule of noble landlords
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IX. Trade and Industry
A. European trade with Russia began in mid-sixteenth century
1. Handled through Archangel on White Sea; port only open 4 months of year
2. Handled through Novgorod to Baltic Sea; dependent on Swedish permission
3. Europeans bought Russian furs, leather, and grain
4. Russians bought western European armaments, textiles, paper, and silver
5. English, Dutch came to dominate trade
6. Russia becomes a major grain exporter
B. Asian trade increased with expansion
1. Astrakhan on Volga: market to Muslims
2. Merchants came to Caspian Sea from India
C. Russian merchants demanded restrictions
1. Feared competition of foreign merchants
2. Ignored by tsars as they needed western goods
D. Industrial development was primary goal of Peter the Great
1. Invited engineers, shipbuilders, officers, teachers, technicians to Russia
2. Opened new industrial plants opened: iron, arms, textiles, glass, paper
3. Begin shipping industry along Baltic once conquered
4. No urban working class; factory owners allowed to draft serfs
E. Population doubled in 18th century from 15 to 30 million
1. Most population was rural; mostly villages and hamlets
2. Cities rare: St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kiev and a few smaller
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X. Crisis in Russian Society
A. Efforts to reform the Russian Orthodox Church led to schism
1. Mid-17th century, Patriarch Nikon of Moscow promoted reform
a. To standardize Orthodox rituals
b. To promote religious instruction in Greek and Latin
c. Although backed by tsars, Nikon's reforms denounced by conservatives
2. Avvakum, Orthodox priest and leader of religious conservatives
a. Old Believers refused to accept reforms of Nikon
b. Also attacked government policies of serfdom and taxation
c. Old Belief outlawed by tsar; Avvakum executed for treason
d. Old Believers were not wiped out, but split into different sects thereafter
3. Tsarist control over church tightened between 16th/18th centuries
a. State control over church strengthened by the religious schism
b. Peter changed calendar, introduced western practices into church
c. Peter the Great made Orthodox church part of state
d. Peter considered anti-Christ by the Old Believers
B. Social Unrest
1. Tensions between Westernizers, Slavophiles
2. Tensions between nobles, serfs
3. Tension between towns, villages
4. Tensions between tsars/government, boyars
5. Tensions between state, western educated intellectuals
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XI. Enlightenment in Russia
A. Peter's westernization included art (e.g., ballet), literature, and ideas
B. Peter recognized the role of education in western progress
1. Created first secular education system; elementary schools in capital cities
2. Founded academy of sciences
3. Catherine expanded elementary schools to all children except serfs
C. Catherine introduced the ideas of the Enlightenment to Russia
1. Introduced western literature; promoted Russian literature
2. Great friend of Voltaire
3. Promoted inoculation against smallpox
D. The intelligentsia, a new unofficial social class of intellectuals
1. Compiled and published in "Thick journals" latest ideas in science and arts
a. Encouraged by Catherine
b. But always subject to government censors
2. Many advocated abolition of serfdom; liberalism
a. Western inspired radical Radishev is best example
b. Persecuted by Catherine
E. Intellectual, cultural experimentation ended
1. French Revolution scared Catherine
2. Pugachev’s Rebellion ended experimentation
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