Chapter 17, Section 5 Absolute Monarchy in Russia

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Chapter 17, Section 5 Absolute Monarchy in Russia

• In the early 1600s, Russia was still a medieval
  state, untouched by the Renaissance and
  Reformation and largely isolated from Western
  Europe. The "Time of Troubles" had plunged the
  state into a period of disorder and foreign
  invasions. The reign of the first Romanov czar in
  1613 restored a measure of order. Not until 1682,
  however, did a czar emerge who was strong enough
  to regain the absolute power of earlier czars.
  Peter the Great pushed Russia on the road to
  becoming a great modern power.

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I. Peter the Great

• Peter took control of the government in 1689 and
  became the most autocratic of Europe's absolute
  monarchs

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I. Peter the Great

• Like earlier czars, Peter the Great used terror
  to enforce his absolute power

Czarevich Alexei was convicted of high treason by
his father and secretly executed in 1718. All who
had in any way befriended Alexei were impaled,
broken on the wheel and otherwise lingeringly
done to death
Alexei interrogated by his father
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A. Journey to the West

• In 1697, Peter set out to study western
  technology and brought technical experts,
  teachers, and soldiers back to Russia

Visit of Tsar Peter the Great to VOCs wharf
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A. Journey to the West

• He embarked on a policy of westernization - the
  adoption of western ideas, technology, and
  culture

Peter proceeded to offend many sensibilities by
the vigorous adoption of western customs,
insisting that beards be shaven at court and that
German dress be worn. Houses were to be built
in a western style and boyars children were to
be put in the charge of foreign tutors.
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B. Autocrat and Reformer

• Peters goals were to strengthen the military,
  expand Russian borders, and centralize royal
  power

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B. Autocrat and Reformer

• He forced the boyars to serve the state in
  civilian or military jobs, and peasants lived as
  serfs

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II. Expansion Under Peter

• Peter created the largest standing army in Europe
  and set out to extend Russian borders

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II. Expansion Under Peter

• Peter needed an ice-free port to increase trade
  with the West, but after battling the Ottoman
  Empire, failed to gain one

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II. Expansion Under Peter

• In 1709, he defeated the Swedes and won land
  along the Baltic Sea

Battle of Poltava as painted by Denis Martens the
Younger in 1726. The decisive victory of the
Russians is said to have ended Sweden's role as a
Great Power in Europe.
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II. Expansion Under Peter

• On the land won from Sweden Peter built a new
  capital city, St. Petersburg, to open a window
  on the West

Peter the Great laying down the foundation stone
of St. Petersburg
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II. Expansion Under Peter

• Peter signed a treaty with Qing China that
  recognized Russia's right to lands north of
  Manchuria

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II. Expansion Under Peter

• Vitus Bering explored the strait between Siberia
  and Alaska, and Russian pioneers moved as far
  south as California

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III. Catherine the Great

• Peter died without naming a successor, setting
  off power struggles among the Romanovs

This medal commemorates the death of Czar Peter I
in 1725.  The reverse of the medal shows Neptune
and Minerva, representing the rise in sea power
and magnificence of the building of St.
Petersburg during his reign
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III. Catherine the Great

• In 1762, mentally unstable Czar Peter III was
  murdered by a group of army officers and his wife
  Catherine ascended to the throne

Peter ascended the Russian throne on December 25,
1761. On June 28, 1762, he was overthrown by a
court coup led by his wife. On July 7, 1762, he
was killed by Count Alexei Orlov, Catherine's
favorite lover
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III. Catherine the Great

• Catherine reorganized the government, codified
  laws, and began state-sponsored education for
  boys and girls

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III. Catherine the Great

• Catherine was a ruthless absolute monarch.
  Conditions grew worse for peasants forced into
  serfdom

Palace of Catherine the Great
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III. Catherine the Great

• Catherine gained a warm-water port on the Black
  Sea after a war with the Ottoman empire

Allegory of Catherine's Victory over the Turks
(1772)
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III. Catherine the Great

• In the 1770s, Catherine the Great, Frederick the
  Great, and Emperor Joseph II of Austria agreed to
  partition Poland

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• Looking Ahead By the mid-1700s, absolute
  monarchs ruled four of the five leading powers in
  Europe. Britain, with its strong Parliament, was
  the only exception. As these five nations
  competed with one another, they often ended up
  fighting to maintain the balance of power.
• At the same time, new ideas were in the air.
  Radical changes would soon shatter the French
  monarchy, upset the balance of power, and
  revolutionize European societies. In the next
  unit, you will read about how the Enlightenment,
  the French Revolution, the rise of Napoleon
  Bonaparte, and the Industrial Revolution would
  transform Europe.