1450-17501450-1750

Originally created by Ms. Susan M. Pojer Horace Greeley HS Chappaqua, NY

Topography of RussiaTopography of Russia

Rich Soil of the SteppesRich Soil of the Steppes

ChernozenChernozen Soil and Population Soil and Population TriangleTriangle

Three Themes Three Themes in Russian Historyin Russian History

The necessity of a strong, The necessity of a strong, central government. Why?central government. Why?

Struggle to embrace or Struggle to embrace or scorn relations with West. scorn relations with West.

Expansion by ConquestExpansion by Conquest

Need for warm water Need for warm water portsports

History of Russia

• First East Slavic State- Kievan Rus in 988

• Don, Dneiper, and the Volga• Byzantine and Slavic mixture• Mongol invasions in the 1230’s• Rise of Novgorod and Pskov to

inherit cultural and political legacy of Kievan Rus

Early RussiaEarly Russia

Early Byzantine Early Byzantine Influences:Influences:

Orthodox ChristianityOrthodox Christianity

Early Byzantine Early Byzantine Influences:Influences:

Orthodox ChristianityOrthodox Christianity

Early Byzantine Early Byzantine Influences:Influences:

Cyrillic AlphabetCyrillic Alphabet

History of Russia timeline

• Volga Bulgaria 7th-13th c.• Kievan Rus 9th-12th c.• Novgorod Republic 12th -14th c.• Mongol Invasion 1220-1240’s• Golden Horde 1240’s -1480’s• Muscovy 1340-1547 (Tribute State)• Khanate of Kazan 1438-1552• Tsardom of russia 1547-1721• Russian Empire 1721-1917

NovgorodNovgorod

Novgorod or “New City”

• City-State• Control from Estonia to

Ural Mts.• Shared power with boyars• Not sacked by Mongols by

tribute levied• Remained vital until Ivan

III and became part of Muscovy

• Sacked by Ivan IV and thousands killed

• Famine decimated city later

Russian Russian BoyarsBoyars

Russian ExpansionRussian Expansion

The Mongols Invade RussiaThe Mongols Invade Russia

Rise of Muscovy

1340-1547

Grand Duchy

• Daniil Aleksandrovich, youngest son of Alexander Nevsky founded principality of Moscow by “expelling” the Tatars (Mongol) from Moscow

• Collected tribute from Russian principalities

• By mid 14th C, power of Mongols was declining and Grand princes began to oppose Mongol yoke

Ivan III

r. 1440-1505Grand Prince of Moscow and "Grand Prince of all Rus”

Sometimes referred to as the "gatherer of the Russian lands”

tripled the territory of his state, ended the dominance of the Golden Horde over the Rus

renovated the Moscow Kremlin, and laid the foundations of the Russian state.

He was one of the longest-reigning Russian rulers in history

Ivan III, the Great (1462-1505)

• In the 15th C, grand princes of Moscow continued to increase land,population, and wealth

• Laid foundations of Russian national state

• Fall of Constantinople and emergence of New Rome and seat of Orthodox Christianity

• Proclaimed his absolute sovereignty over all Russian princes and nobles

• Refused further tribute to Tatars

Ivan the Great Ivan the Great (r. 1462-1505)(r. 1462-1505)

Ivan III Tearing the Great Khan’s Letter Ivan III Tearing the Great Khan’s Letter Requesting More Tribute in 1480.Requesting More Tribute in 1480.

Ivan III, The Great

• Divided into khanates and hordes• Manor system and creation of

expanding military control• Ivan III forced lesser princes to accept

him and his successors as unquestioned rulers over military, judicial, and foreign affairs

• Gradually, Russian ruler emerged as a powerful, autocratic ruler, a tsar or Ceasar

Cathedral of the Assumption

• Rise of Orthodoxy and cathedral to Virgin Mary

• Pays off Tatars• Third Rome• Western built

technology• Independent Russia• Many churches in

Eastern Europe built

The Rise of RussiaThe Rise of Russia

Ivan IV r.1533-1584*

• Ivan IV Vasilyevich-the Grand Prince of Moscow from 1533 to 1547

• His long reign saw the conquest of Tartary and Siberia and the subsequent transformation of Russia into a multiethnic state.

Tsardom of Russia

• First Russian ruler to officially crown himself “Tsar” was Ivan IV (The Terrible)

• 1547-1584-Tzar not Prince

• Subordination of nobles, exiling many, and executing many

• Enduring legacies both positive and negative

Cathedral of the Intersession

• St. Basil’s Cathedral

• Mark victory over the Khazan Khanate

• 8 days of battle• Onion domes• Expansion of

Russian power

Russia in the Late 1500sRussia in the Late 1500s

Ivan “The Ivan “The Terrible”Terrible”

(r. 1533-1584)(r. 1533-1584)

Ivan IV r. 1533-1584

• complex personality; described as intelligent and devout, yet given to rages and prone to episodic outbreaks of mental illness.

• One notable outburst may have resulted in the death of his groomed and chosen heir Ivan Ivanovich, which led to the passing of the Tsardom to the younger son: the weak and possibly intellectually disabled Feodor

• Although his name is usually written in English as Ivan the Terrible, its original meaning is closer to "Redoubtable" or "Severe" and carries connotations of might, power and strictness rather than horror or cruelty

The “Time of Troubles”

• Russian Inquisition left thousands dead• Rampant famine, grass, cannibalism?• Ivan IV murdered his son and daughter-in-law

who was carrying his grandson• No true successor to crown• Internal chaos attracts Polish-Lithuanian

intervention and installment of “tsars” • Between 1598-1610, Six different “tsars”• Vast lands acquired under Ivan III lost• Who will unit the Lands of the Rus?

The Rise of the Romanovs

1613-1917

The Romanovs

• New Dynasty must restore peace and reclaim lost lands from Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth and Sweden

• Boyars fearing civil war and loss of lands cooperated with the first Romanovs

• Enserfment of peasants• Great burden of taxation placed on

peasants• All segments of population were subject to

military and special taxes

Michael Romanov Michael Romanov (r. 1613-1645)(r. 1613-1645)

c The Romanov Dynasty is established in 1613

c The only Russian royal family lasted for 304 years!

Romanov DynastyRomanov Dynasty(1613-1917)(1613-1917)

Romanov Family Crest

Look Familar?

Romanov DynastyRomanov Dynasty(1613-1917)(1613-1917)

The Romanovs

• Many peasant uprisings and riots most notably the Cossacks

• Peasants becomes serfs aka slaves to the nobles for life

• Harsh centralization of state• Tsar’s army crushed many of the

uprisings and “examples” were made of those who rebelled against the state

The Pendulum The Pendulum of Russian Historyof Russian History

Pro-WestPro-WestFor Progress & ChangeFor Progress & ChangeEncourage New Ideas,Encourage New Ideas,

Technologies, etc.Technologies, etc.

Anti-WestAnti-WestIsolationistIsolationistXenophobicXenophobic

Ultra-ConservativeUltra-Conservative

Most TsarsMost Tsars

Russian Orthodox Russian Orthodox ChurchChurch

MilitaryMilitary

BoyarsBoyars

peasantspeasants

A few TsarsA few Tsars

Intellectual elitesIntellectual elites

Merchants/Merchants/businessmenbusinessmen

Young members of the Young members of the middle class.middle class.

REFORM-MINDEDREFORM-MINDEDLEADERLEADER DEMAGOGUEDEMAGOGUE

Alexis r. 1645-1676

• son of Tsar Michael• committed to the

care of the boyar Boris Morozov

• accessible to Western ideas

• Salt riots of 1648

Alexis r. 1645-1676

• Pacificatory Practices• Secured a truce with

Poland and carefully avoided Ottoman Empire

• Domestic policy was fair and aimed at relieving the public burdens by limiting the privileges of foreign traders

• Abolished a great many “useless and expensive” court offices

Feodor III r. 1676-1682

• eldest surviving son of Tsar Alexis succeeded his father on the throne

• Fine intellect and a noble disposition• Received an excellent education, knew Polish,

and even Latin • Horribly disfigured and half paralyzed by a

mysterious disease, supposed to be scurvy• He spent most of the time with young nobles,

Yazykov and Likhachov, who would later introduce the Russian court to Polish ceremonies, dress, and language

Feodor III

• Fyodor married a second time Marfa Matveievna Apraksina but Feodor died three months after his new wedding,

• News of his death sparked the Moscow Uprising of 1682

Moscow Uprising of 1682

• Sophia Alekseyevna made herself regent during the minority of her brothers, Peter the Great and Ivan V

• Attempting to become a Tsarevna

• Behind the uprising was the rivalry between the relatives of the two wives of the late Tsar Alexis I of Russia for the dominant influence on the politics of Muscovy

• Ivan V and Peter I were half-brothers

Streltsy Mutiny

Young Peter watching Uncle dragged away

Imperial Russia

Peter I to Nicholas II1682-1917

Peter the Great (r. 1682-1725)Peter the Great (r. 1682-1725)

Co-tsar with Ivan V from 1682-1696

Power wieldedBy Ivan V’s Elder SisterSophia Alekseyevna

Became sole rulerUpon Ivan V’s deathAt age 29

Peter I, the Great

• Consolidated autocracy in Russia and brought country into European state system

• Largest state in the world from Baltic to Pacific Ocean

• Window to the sea and the Great Northern War

• New Capital, St. Petersburg, a window opened to Europe to replace the cultural center of Moscow

Russia Under Peter IRussia Under Peter I

Peter Cuts the Beards of His Peter Cuts the Beards of His BoyarsBoyars

Execution of the Streltsy- Execution of the Streltsy- Rebellion of Western ReformsRebellion of Western Reforms

Azov Wars against Turks

• Two Russian military campaigns during the Russo-Turkish War of 1686–1700, led by Peter the Great and aimed at capturing the Turkish fortress of Azov (garrison - 7,000 men), which had been blocking Russia's access to the Azov Sea and the Black Sea.

• Since the Crimean campaigns of 1687 and 1689 had failed because of the difficulty of moving a large army across the steppe, Peter decided to try a river approach

• Birth of Russian Navy• First of Many Russo-Turkish Wars

Battle of Poltava Battle of Poltava (1709)(1709)

Victory overSwedish Forces

Great Northern War

Beginning ofSwedishDecline

Dneiper RiverIn modern-dayUkraine

Russia & Sweden After the Russia & Sweden After the Great Northern WarGreat Northern War

Peter I• Soon after peace was made with Sweden, he was

officially proclaimed Emperor of All Russia. Some proposed that he take the title Emperor of the East

• Peter's imperial title was recognized by Augustus II of Poland, Frederick William I of Prussia, and Frederick I of Sweden, but not by the other European monarchs.

• In the minds of many, the word emperor connoted superiority or pre-eminence over kings. Several rulers feared that Peter would claim authority over them, just as the Holy Roman Emperor had claimed over all Christian nations

Succession Line

• Peter the Great had two wives, with whom he had fourteen children; three of them survived to adulthood.

• His eldest child and heir, Alexei, was suspected of being involved in a plot to overthrow the Emperor. Alexei was tried and confessed under torture during questioning conducted by a secular court.

• He was convicted and sentenced to be executed. The sentence could be carried out only with Peter's signed authorization, and Alexei died in prison, as Peter hesitated before making the decision. Alexei's death most likely resulted from injuries suffered during his torture

Peter I

• New taxes to fund improvements in Saint Petersburg

• Abolished the land tax and household tax, and replaced them with a poll tax

• Compulsory education- dictated that all Russian 10- to 15-year-old children of the nobility, government clerks, and lesser-ranked officials, must learn basic mathematics and geometry, and should be tested on it at the end of their studies

Russian Empire

• Peter I took the title of emperor and tsar and the Russian Tsardom officially became the Russian Empire in 1721

• Government organized on Western models• Died in 1725 and led to succession battle that

would eventually end with a German Princess who married the German heir to the Russian throne, Catherine II aka The Great (r. 1762-1796)

• 1725Peterhof is completed outside St. Petersburg

Peterhof

• 1725 construction of Peterhof was completed

• Dutch for "Peter's Court” was a grand residence, becoming known as the "Russian Versailles”

Peterhof

Succession to the Throne

• Many of the Russian heirs as well as other monarchs are intertwined with each other

• Russian, Prussian, Serbian, Austro-Hungarian, Romanian, Spanish, etc.

• In Russia’s case, intrigue, assassinations, and heirs to be are common.

Catherine I

r. 1725-1727• Second wife of Peter

the Great, reigned as Empress of Russia from 1725 until her death

• Lithuanian peasant of Polish origin, most likely a Catholic

• Succeeded by last male heir of Peter the Great

Peter II

r. 1727-1730• Only son of Tsarevich

Alexei Petrovich, son of Peter I

• Only male-line son of Peter the Great

• With Peter II's death, the direct male line of the Romanov Dynasty ended.

Anna

r. 1730-1740• Daughter of Ivan V

and niece to Peter I• Reinstituted Secret

Police• Gave power to Baltic

Germans and not Russian Nobles

• Exiled 30,000 “Old Believers” to Siberia

Boyarina Morozova by Vasily Ivanovich Surikov

Russian Orthodox Schisms Continue...

Elizabeth I

r. 1741-1762• Empress of Russia• War of Austrian

Succession (1740-1748)

• Seven Year’s War (1756-1763

• Russia spanned over 4,000,000,000 acres

• Daughter of Peter I

Peter III r. 1462

• Emperor of Russia for six months in 1762

• very pro-Prussian, which made him an unpopular leader.

• assassinated as a result of a conspiracy led by his wife, who succeeded him to the throne as Catherine II aka Catherine the Great

Catherine the Great r. 1762-1796

• Golden Age of the Russian Empire and the Russian nobility

• freed Russian nobles from compulsory military or state service. Construction of many mansions of the nobility

• Enlightened despot, a correspondent of Voltaire

• Russian Enlightenment, when the Smolny Institute, the first state-financed higher education institution for women in Europe, was established