The Russian Empire
Chapter 19d
AP World History
In Russia…
n  There
are:
–  90 different ethnic or cultural groups
–  80 different languages spoken
–  11 different time zones
–  Coasts on three oceans (Atlantic, Pacific, and
Arctic)
Russia’s Geography
n  Geographically
the largest country in the
world
n  Ural Mountains in the west
n  Siberian Plains (sleeping land)
n  Few bodies of warm water
n  Frozen tundra near Arctic Circle
Russia
Siberian Plains
n
n
n
Taiga is the Russian word
for forest
The average temperature
is below freezing for six
months out of the year.
The winter temperature
range is -65 to 30° F.
Temperature range in the
summer gets as low as 20° F. The high in
summer can be 70° F.
Siberian Plains
n
n
n
Covers 75% of Russia’s
land mass
Most of Siberia is covered
by permafrost or taiga
and is uninhabitable (2/3
of the population lives in
Western Russia)
Includes Lake Baikal, the
deepest and cleanest lake
in the world
Siberian Plains
Climate
n  Largely
a continental climate
–  Hot summers
–  Cold winters
–  Little rainfall
n  European
Russia is more maritimecontinental under the influence of the
Atlantic Ocean, the Baltic Sea, and the
Black Sea
The Russian Empire
Mongols from eastern Asia conquered and ruled
Russia from the 13th to the 15th centuries
n  In 1547 a 16-year-old, Ivan IV, was named czar;
he became known as Ivan the Terrible
n  During Ivan the Terrible’s reign, as well as
following czars, Russia had an unlimited
government
n
–  Form of government in which a single ruler
holds all the power
Conflicts at Home
n  The
Russian czars were often in conflict
with Russian nobles
n  Nobles possessed much land and wealth
n  Czars viewed the nobles as a threat to
their control
n  Ivan the Terrible ordered his soldiers to
murder Russian nobles and church leaders
who opposed him
Life in the Russian Empire
Everyone had to swear an oath of
allegiance to the grand tsar
n  Everyone had to pay yasak =
tribute paid in cash or valuable
goods
n  New diseases accompanied
Russian conquest à ex: smallpox
and measles
n  People felt the pressure to convert
to Christianity
n
Ivan the Terrible
Tsar of Russia (1533-1584)
–  Tax breaks, tribute exemptions, and
the promise of land if they did
Life in the Russian Empire
n  Native
peoples were
“Russified” =
adopted the Russian
language and
culture, converted to
Christianity, gave up
their traditional
hunting & gathering
lifestyle, etc.
The Russian Empire
n  By
the 18th century = Russia became one
of the great powers of Europe
n  Power stemmed from wealth found in: rich
agricultural lands, valuable furs, and
mineral deposits
n  Russia became a highly militarized state as
well
n  Russian Empire stayed intact until the
collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991
The Russian Empire
n  Established
a
tradition of
autocratic
government with a
powerful monarchy
–  Belief = only a strong
ruler could hold
together such a large
empire with such a
diverse population
–  Ruled by monarchies
until the early 1900s
Peter the Great
Reign: 1682 - 1725
The Expansion of Russia
n  Peter
the Great
–  Ruled from 1682 to 1725
–  Defeated Sweden and won land along the Baltic
Sea
–  Built a port city: St. Petersburg
–  Used ideas and innovations of the Industrial
Revolution to modernize and strengthen Russia
–  Did not improve life for peasants
The Expansion of Russia
n  Catherine
the Great
–  Ruled from 1762 to 1796
–  Added new lands, including present-day
Ukraine and Belarus
–  Started new schools and encouraged art,
science, and literature
–  Lives of peasants continued to be unpleasant
and when the rebelled in the 1770s Catherine
crushed their uprising
Making the Russian Empire
n  Russian
state centered on the city of
Moscow
n  Conquered a number of neighboring
Russian-speaking cities
n  Continued to expand south and east of
Moscow
n  Brought together a wide variety of
different peoples and cultures
Making the Russian Empire
Motivations for
Russian Expansion
n  Motivation
#1 = security
from the nomadic pastoral
peoples
–  Lived in the grasslands south
and east of the Russian
heartland
–  Russians = afraid one of
these groups will rise to
power like the Mongols
–  These nomads frequently
raided Russia’s neighbors
and sold many of them into
slavery
Motivations for
Russian Expansion
n  Motivation
#2 = Pelts
of fur-bearing
animals
–  To the east across the
vast expanse of
Siberia
–  Very valuable and indemand item
–  Nickname = “soft
gold”
Russian Point of View
n  To
Russians, their
empire meant:
–  Defending the Russian
frontiers
–  Enhancing the power
of the Russian state
–  Bringing Christianity,
civilization, and
enlightenment to
“savages”
Russian Empire vs. those of other
Western European Countries
n
n
n
Russian Empire
Acquired territories next
to them that they had
been in contact with for a
long time
Acquired territories at the
same time that a Russian
state was taking shape
“Russia was an empire.”
n
n
n
Other Europeans
Acquired territories far
away from them that they
didn’t know about until
1492
Acquired overseas
empires AFTER
establishing themselves
as solid European states
“The British had an
empire.”