Questions
• Illustrate the organization of the Dutch
government
• How did the Dutch government differ from the
other Western European states?
• What were the attitudes of the Dutch toward
religion and did those attitudes help or hinder
the progress of the Netherlands?
Eastern
European
Absolutism
Ivan IV of Russia
Eastern Absolutism vs. Western
Absolutism
• Re-emergence of serfdom
• 1. How did the plight of peasants and
serfs in eastern Europe differ from those in
western Europe after the Black Death?
• in western Europe labor shortages
resulting from the plague led to higher
wages for peasants and a reduction in
feudal obligations for the serfs
• in eastern Europe conditions worsened for
peasants and serfs
– the peasants’ freedom of movement was
restricted
– peasants’ land was taken and heavier labor
obligations were imposed
• Political Relationships
• 2. In western Europe the conflict between the
king and his vassals resulted in gains for the
common man. Why did this not happen in
eastern Europe?
• weak monarchs could not resist the demands of
the powerful noble landlords
• the absence of the western concept of
sovereignty meant that the king did not think in
terms of protecting the people of the nation
• the lords rather than the kings controlled the
courts
• the medieval privileges of town and the power of
the urban classes was systematically
undermined
– the lords sold directly to foreign capitalists instead of
local merchants
– eastern town lost their medieval right of refuge
Questions
• Why did serfdom hang on as a system of
labor in Eastern and Central Europe?
• Why do the political and economics
relationships of the Eastern European
Kings and Nobility prevent the common
man from making personal improvements?
Russia
• The Early years
• Influence of the Vikings
• Influence of the Mongols in unifying the
Slavs
• Tartars—descendants of the Mongols living in
the Crimea
• Eastern Orthodoxy—the eastern Slavs of Russia
who were converted by missionaries from the
Byzantine Empire to Orthodox Christianity
• Kievan principality—the eastern Slavic territories
were politically united under a single prince in
the Middle Ages but disintegrated shortly after
1000
• boyard nobility—the land owning nobility in
Russia
• Ghengis Kahn—Mongol conqueror who
temporarily unified the Mongols
• Mongols—nomadic tribes from present-day
Mongolia who conquered China, much of Asia,
and reached the plains of Hungary in the west
• Golden Horde—the Mongol army
• Mongol Yoke—ruled harshly over the eastern
Slavs for over 200 years before being expelled
by the Muscovite princes
• Muscovite Russia—the second political
unification of the eastern Slavs centered in
Moscow
• Tsar—Slavic contraction of “ceasar”; title taken
by Russian autocrats
• Autocracy—government in which one person
has absolute power; dictatorship, despotism
Themes
in Russian History
 Expansion by conquest.
Need for warm-water
ports.
 The necessity of a strong,
central government.
The Pendulum
of Russian History
Pro-West
For Progress & Change
Encourage New Ideas,
Technologies, etc.
Anti-West
Isolationist
Xenophobic
Ultra-Conservative
 A few Tsars
 Most Tsars
 Intellectual elites
 Russian Orthodox
Church
 Merchants/businessmen
 Young members of the
middle class.
 Military
 Boyars
 peasants
REFORM-MINDED
LEADER
DEMAGOGUE
Early Russia
• 8. Explain how the princes of Moscow
were able to establish preeminence
among the Slavic princes?
• by cooperation with the Mongol khans
– put down popular uprisings
– collected taxes
The Mongols Invade Russia
Russia in the Late 1500s
Ivan “The
Terrible”
(r. 1533-1584)
Alexander Nevsky: 1220-1263
Battle on the Ice
(Neva River)
Against the
Swedes
Teutonic
Knight
The leaders of Moscovy (Moscow) served the Mongols by as
soldiers in the mongol army and collecting taxes and were
rewarded with power, land, and prestige.
In the end they became so strong they were able to destroy all
their rivals for power and in the end even replace the Kahn’s as
the supreme rulers
Pictured here Ivan III
prince of moscovy
refuses to pay the
tribute to the mongols
Ivan the Great (r. 1462-1505)
Ivan III Tearing the Great Khan’s Letter Requesting
More Tribute in 1480.
• 9. Explain the role of each of the following in establishing
absolutism in Russia.
• Ivan III
• defeated rival princes and consolidated power around Moscow
• stopped acknowledging the khan as supreme
• enhanced the idea of Moscow as the “Third Rome” by marrying the
last Byzantine emperor’s daughter
• conquered Novgorod, confiscated the land, and created a new
“service nobility”
• Ivan IV “the Terrible”
• defeated the Mongol khanates of Kazan and Astrakhan, adding new
territory to Russia
• executed leading boyars, their relatives, and their peasants en
masse
• expanded the “service nobility”
• bound peasants to the land and urban traders and artisans were
bound to their towns
• Ivan assumed that the tsar owned Russia’s trade and industry as
well as the land
• Ivan III consolodated
moscovite power by
defeating took control of
Novgorod, thereby
reaching the Baltic Sea
– He confiscated 80% of
the land for himself and
distributed the rest to
nobles who swore to
serve only him (service
nobiltiy)
• He became an absolute
ruler called the Tsar
(Caeser)
– He saw himself as an
Imperial ruler
– He married the daughter
of the last Byzantine
Emperor
– With the fall of
Constantinople to the
Turks in 1453 he saw
Ivan III
Novgorod
The Rise of Russia
Early Byzantine Influences:
Orthodox Christianity
Early Byzantine Influences:
Cyrillic Alphabet
Russian Boyars
Ivan IV
• Expanded the idea of the
“service nobility”.
– He abolished hereditary
land ownership for the
Boyars made all nobles
serve him in order to hold
land
• Married Anastasia
Romanov
• Declared war on the
remaining mongols and
added vast new territory
to Russia
• Ivan IV was called the “Terrible” for many
reasons but first among them was the
ruthless way he struck down those he blamed
for his failures.
– Many of the Boyar’s and their families were
executed by the Tsars special army of men
dressed all in black and riding black horses
• Secondly
– He oppressed the common people and made
them his virtual slaves
• Third
– He forced urban (city) merchants and craftmen to
remain bound to their towns and jobs so he could
tax them.
– He felt that he the Tsar owned Russia’s trade and
industry just as he owned all the land
• ALL THE PEOPLE WERE CONSIDERED
SLAVES OF THE PRINCE
• RUSSIAN ABSOLUTISM WAS
FUNDAMENTALLY DIFERENT FROM
THAT PRACTICED IN WESTERN
EUROPE
– THE ONLY COMPAREABLE SYSTEM WAS
THAT OF THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE
• Many of the Common
people fled and
formed free groups
and outlaw armies
called “Cossacks”
who maintained
independence
beyond the reach of
the Tsar.
Ivan IV
• Ivans role in the establishment of
Absolutism in Russia
• Time of Troubles—an era of chaos that began
when Ivan IV’s son died without an heir
• a power struggle between the close relatives of
the deceased tsar
• invading Swedes and Poles occupied Moscow
• Cossack uprising demanding freedom of
movement, reduced taxes, and better treatment
from landlords
• Michael Romanov—emerged from the Time of
Troubles as Russia’s new hereditary tsar; the
Romanov dynasty reigned uninterrupted until the
revolutions of 1917
• Third Rome—after the fall of Constantinople
(second Rome) the tsars saw themselves as the
heirs of both the ceasars and Orthodox
Christianity
• service nobility—a “new” nobility created by the
tsars; they held the tsars land on the condition
that they remained loyal to the tsar and served in
the tsar’s army
• Cossacks—run away peasants and poor nobles
of Polish and Russian descent who lived in
autonomous communities in southern Russia
• Stenka Razin—Cossack leader who led a
rebellion of urban poor and peasants against the
government of the tsars
• Archbishop Nikon—introduced reforms in the
Russian Orthodox Church to bring practices in
line with the Greek Orthodox Church, creating a
schism
• Old Believers—resisted reforms of Nikon;
considered him the antichrist; were hunted down
and executed; as many as 20,000 burned
themselves alive
• Great Northern War (1700-1721)—Russia
defeats Sweden; becomes the dominant power
on the Baltic Sea; Russia gains status as a
European Great Power
• St. Petersburg—built by Peter the Great, gave
Russia a “window on Europe”; became the new
capital of Russia
Romanov Dynasty
(1613-1917)
Romanov Family Crest
Michael Romanov
(r. 1613-1645)
c
The Romanov dynasty is established.
c
The only Russian royal family  lasted for 304 years!
Romanov Dynasty
(1613-1917)
Michael Romanov
• 16 yr old nephew of
Ivan IV.
– Elected by the nobles
– Ended “Time of
Troubles” where
nobles feuded with
each other and
invasions came from
Cossacks / Swedes
– Was a true restoration
of the Tsars authority
Peter the Great (r. 1682-1725)
Peter I (The Great)
• He was 6’ 9” tall
• He was interested in
Modernizing Russia
– Primarily interested in
military technology
which could be used to
expand the Empire
– He ruled for 36 years
and had only one year
of peace.
• 10. Identify the achievements and reforms of Peter the
Great.
• expanded Russian territory into Ukraine
• required the nobility to serve in the army or civil
administration for life
• modernized the army and made Russia a great power
• created schools and universities to train technicians for
the army
• required 5 years of compulsory education for young
noblemen
• established an interlocking military—civilian bureaucracy
and rewarded merit
• increased service requirements for commoners in the
army, factories and mines
• increased taxes on peasants
• borrowed western technology and hired western
advisors
• expanded Russian territory to the Baltic Sea
Peter Cuts the Beards of His
Boyars
Execution of the Streltsy
Battle of Poltava (1709)
Russia & Sweden After the
Great Northern War
Russia Under Peter I
Lands added by Peter the Great
• 12. Describe how the construction and the
settlement of St. Petersburg were typical of
Russian autocracy.
• the government drafted peasants to build the city
without pay and a special tax was levied to feed
the workers
• nobles and merchants were drafted to move to
the new city
– they were also required to pay for much of the
construction
Peter the Great
• Peter the Greats role in Russian
Absolutism
Periods from 1500 to the present:
• 1500-1660 – dominated by the issue
of what to believe in religion [the 1st
estate];
• 1661-1789 – dominated by the issue
of the mode of government [the 2nd
estate];
• 1790-present – dominated by the
issue of social and economic equality
[the 3rd estate].
– from Barzun, Jacques, From Dawn to Decadence,
Perennial, 2000, p.xxi.
Russia Today
Former Soviet Region
Compared in Latitude & Area
with the United States
Rich Soil of the Steppes
Chernozen Soil
Siberia  “Permafrost”
 A former “gulag”
Soviet prison camp.
 Average temperatures of January
vary from 0 to -50°C, and in
July from 1 to 25°C
 150,000,000 population.
Early Byzantine Influences:
Orthodox Christianity
Russian Expansion
Russia’s Time Zones
Topography of Russia