Russia Unifies and ExpandsAfter the Mongols… what did they do?
Looking EastKievan Rus modeled the government on Constantinople, and was adopted by Moscow with the establishment of the Russian Orthodox Church, to unite the people behind the leadership
Never experienced the Renaissance, but were the main fur traders in Eurasia
Russia also traded caviar and honey with the rest of Europe
Finally, even though they looked east, they were still a product of Europe thanks to the Vikings and later on, looked west for technology
Ivan III aka “Ivan
the Great”
He was the prince of Moscow
who overthrew the Mongols
He rebuilt the walls of the
Kremlin, the central citadel
Made Moscow the center of
trade
Social status was static, you
couldn't change your status
Nobles were called boyars,
and practiced feudalism
Some Boyars of Novgorod
opposed Ivan’s expansionist
policies, so he attacked and
defeated them and moved
their families to Moscow
Ivan IV aka
“Ivan the
Terrible”
Took control of the khanates of Kazan Astrakhan and Siberia, helped with the use of gunpowder
Commissioned the building of St. Basil’s Cathedral, which was to remind the nation that the Tzar and the church were united
Allowed the major Russian landowners, the Stroganovs, to hire Cossacks, to fight the local tribes in Siberia
Continued to move east thanks to the profitable fur trade
More on Ivan IV
To control the boyars at
home, he established a
paramilitary forced loyal
to him called the
Oprichnina
Killed his son in a fit of
rage, leaving Russia
without a strong heir
Earned his nickname “The
Terrible” for not only killing
his son, but the
inhabitants of entire cities
Time of Troubles and the RomanovsRussia was without a autocrat or family in control so from 1603 till 1613 it was a state of anarchy
The Zemseky Sobor(assembly of the land) Chose Michael Romanov as the leader, initiating the Romanov Dynasty-lasting till 1917
Peter the Great Three main groups
trying to get power,
Church, Tzar, and
Boyars, but Peter won
by:
First defeating his
sister to gain the
title of Tzar for
himself- forcing her
into a convent
Abolished the
position of
patriarch, and
incorporating it into
the government by
establishing the
Holy Synod
He was 6’ 9” TALL!!!
He looks west <——
Visited Western Europe in
1697 to observe military
and naval tech, tried to
blend in… yea right
Hired German technicians
to build his military
Used the navy to gain St.
Petersburg, and move the
capital to Moscow
He designed St Petersburg
in a new rectangular grid
and built his in-town home:
the Winter Palace
More on Peter’s
ReformsWanted to mimic Western Europe in EVERYTING!
Increased the industry of shipbuilding, and promoted people according to merit rather than social class with a Table of Ranks
Reorganized Russian government into provinces
The effected the upper class, but the peasants sank deeper into serfdom thanks to increased taxes
Catherine the
Great (II)
Not Russian borne (German) But married Peter III, took over when he died
She was an enlightened despot who was pen-pals with Voltaire
Tried to pass reforms to help the peasants, but after their revolts (give a little freedom and they always want more) she allowed landowners to exert more control
She conquered parts of Poland, took the Crimean Peninsula from the Ottomans, and other parts of land as a protective barrier for its agricultural settlements
So here is where we stand
Other info on
Catherine
Established a school for girls
Expected smallpox
inoculations
Some believed in the idea of
Slavophilism, or the idea that
Russia should base it’s
development on its own
history
Created a territory in Poland
called Pale of Settlement,
where the Jews were forced
to live
Russian SerfdomBecause of the power of the
Nobility in Russia, serfdom never
went away as it did in Western
Europe
Also, because of high taxes from
the peasants, it forced more
into serfdom
It kept the peasants under
control, provided free labor, but
serfs could not leave the cities
This would end in 1861 by
decree of the Tzar in the
Emancipation Act
Cossacks and
Peasant RebellionsCossack warriors were nomadic descendants of the Mongols, and at odds with the central government
Yemelyan Pugachev, a Cossack initiated a peasant rebellion against Catherine the Great in 1774
This led to Catherine’s harsh crackdown on peasants and more support for the nobles (remember, give a little freedom, people want more)
France and Russia: 1750Basically compare the two
to in order to better understand Russia
Neither had a legislative body
Both wanted to expand
land at financial costs
Russia didn’t focus on the
Enlightenment like France did
This is why their revolutions would be
separated by over a
century