The Entry of Russia into European Politics

Ivan III or “the Great” (r. 1442—1505)

• Ended Mongol domination over Russia in 1480

• Began modernization of Russia by importing many Greek scholars, craftsmen, architects, and artists

• Moscow called the “Third Rome”

Ivan IV or “the Terrible” (r. 1533—1584)

• Began westernizing Russia

• Contemporary of Queen Elizabeth

• Opened trade with England and the Dutch

A Man of Contradictions

• He made the old state councils (Duma) more democratic representing the people

• He was paranoid—used brutal black-robed state police to terrorize the boyars or powerful nobles

• Under Ivan IV, Russia expanded east into Siberia and towards the Pacific

The “Time of Troubles” (1603—1614)

• Ivan IV killed his heir to the throne in a fit of rage

• Russia entered a period of instability, turmoil, famine, and power struggles

• Recap on Ivan III and IV: both were able to drive Mongols from much of central Asia– Established a semblance of administrative

structure and military power

Russia--Romanov Dynasty• 1613assembly of nobles elected a tsar a

seventeen- year -old boy Michael, and his two successors, Aleksei and Theodore II brought stability and modest bureaucratic centralization to Russia– Still weak and impoverished

• Fought a series of unsuccessful wars against Poland, Sweden, and Turkey

• Expand westward and annexed Ukraine with rich farmlands

Westernization of Russia• Westernization began with the military which

used foreign weapons and trained by Scots• Western skills, technology, clothes, and customs

became accepted in Russia• By 1700, 20,000 Europeans lived in Moscow

developing trade and manufacturing• Western books were translated into Russian

– Those who opposed westernization were sentence to death by fire

Peter the Great• Driving ambition was

to modernize Russia• Wanted to compete

with great powers of Europe

• Could be cruel and vicious, yet charming and gracious

Peter the Great—the early years• Visited western Europe to study techniques and

culture of the West• Sent European technicians to Russia to train

Russians and build factories• came to power at age ten • believed that the power of the tsar must be

secure from the boyars, the old nobility and the streltsy, the guards of the Moscow garrison– publicly executed rebellious streltsy and repressed

and humiliated the boyars

Wars• wanted to increase

Russian military power, so he drafted an army of 300,000 soldiers

• built a navy on the Baltic Sea and went to war with the Ottomans in SE Europe over areas around the Black Sea

The Great Northern War (1701-1721)

• Peter defeats the Swedes and takes control of Estonia, Latvia, parts of Finland

• Russia now had possessions on the Baltic Sea

• Peter will begin building his “window to the West”

St. Petersburg “the window to the West”

• “the Venice of the North”– French theaters– Italian operas– Copied Versailles

• Built by conscripted labor

• By 1725, Peter’s death, largest city in northern Europe

Peter the Great built St. Petersburg on the Gulf of Finland to provide Russia with better contact with western Europe. He moved Russia’s capital there from Moscow in 1712. This is an eighteenth-century view of the city.The Granger Collection

Gov’t under Peter

• Russia divided into 12 provinces headed by a governor who all reported to Peter

• Tsar ruled by decree

• The Duma, legislative body, never called

• Secret police found opposition and punished them

Reforms• Table of Ranks – made a person’s social

position and privileges more important than lineage

• Nobles and serfs owed service for life to the state, army, civil service, or at court

• Formidable military through conscription– Paid for by taxing almost every aspect of life even

birth of male children• Internal economy improved through industry, but

foreign trade decreased– Peter controlled all state run industries

• 1725 – Peter dies and leaves no successor as Russia becomes unstable

Catherine II or “the Great” (r. 1762—1796)

• Continued westernization started by Peter the Great

• Gained territory through the partitions of Poland in 1772—1792 and annexation of Crimea (Black Sea) from Turkey

• Considered an “enlightened despot” but due to internal rebellions like the Pugachev Revolt of 1773—1775, her enlightenment stopped