Rise of Russia

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• Rise of Russia

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• Russian known as the 3rd Rome because of they
  claimed heritage from Rome itself.
• Rome fell and the eastern part of the Roman
  Empire became Byzantine Empire. The Byzantine
  Empire was overthrown by the Ottoman Turks
  (Muslims in 1453).
• Ivan III (Great) of Moscow then married the last
  niece of the Byzantine Empire and claimed himself
  as Caesar (of course after forming an alliance
  against the Mongols and fighting them off in
  successful battles like the Battle of Kulikova!
  The Russian version of Caesar tsar and hence
  kings of Russian became known as tsars. Moscow
  led the way of fighting off the Mongols and
  united the Russian people.
• The Russians now also felt that they were a true
  Christian Empire since they were fighting the
  Mongols and could claim their Christian lineage
  via Rome.
• As stated previously, Moscow led the way to fight
  the Mongols. This is because the princes of
  Moscow were the great tax collectors for the
  Mongols and gained much power, prestige, money,
  and contacts in this position. Remember Ivans
  nickname (Moneybags)! The Russians proved
  victorious against the Mongols and the Golden
  Horde driving them out of Russia after two
  centuries of paying tribute! (1462)

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• The Mongols left the government systems,
  religion, and culture in place so literally the
  Russians picked up where they left. However
  scholarship, learning, economics and literacy
  decreased during Mongol occupation.
• Ivan III (Great) became tsar and moved to
  centralize his authority, to fight the Mongols,
  and increase his lands via a strong military!
• Ivan IV (Terrible) continued expansion and became
  more of a tsarist autocrat! He actually was quite
  peaceful early (created the zemsky sobor,
  subjugated church authority again, standing army,
  even created a law code) He did have a bad side
  He killed many boyars (Russian nobles) using his
  secret military/ police (Oprichnina) to weed out
  dissidence. He also blamed the boyars for the
  death of his beloved wife and this fueled many of
  his rampages! It was said as a boy that he
  tortured and killed small animals so you could
  imagine he had a pretty sadistic streak!
• Russia expanded into Central Asia and conquered
  the Mongols and many various Asian groups making
  Russian an extremely diverse country (similar in
  diversity to the Mughal Empire of India and the
  Ottoman Empire of the Middle East). The Russians
  were so effective at expansions because of their
  military, effort, and of course lack of natural
  barriers!
• The Russian government sent peasants to migrate
  to the new lands to from. These peasants are
  known as Cossacks (they are compared to American
  cowboys in the expansion West)
• The new lands provided new trade networks and
  more raw materials
• Ivan III sent out diplomats from Russia to
  Western European countries and soon they were
  trading raw materials like furs for manufactured
  goods. Ivan also sent for great European artists
  and architects . They mixed Russian tradition and
  Renaissance style to form unique Russian
  classical style with the domes that look like
  onions!

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• Ivan IV died without an heir. He did have two
  sons, but the capable one (Ivan) he killed one
  night over a dispute about his sons wife. After
  killing his able son this only left his weak and
  mentally handicapped son to rule! This created a
  succession conflict. At the same time of this
  conflict the state was being attack by Poland
  (powerful at the time) and Sweden. The forces
  were taking territory on the western border of
  the country and getting close to Moscow so the
  boyars needed to act quickly to resolved the
  problem. The zemsky sobor (council of nobles)
  elected Michael Romanov as the tsar in 1613 and
  the Romanov family ruled Russia until WWI and the
  Bolshevik Revolution in 1917!
• Michael Romanov was a great tsar because he beat
  the Poles and expanded the state. He son, Alexis
  was also a great tsar because he expanded the
  state, abolished noble assemblies to centralize
  power, and gained more power over the church
  (uniformed church beliefs felt there was too much
  of a Mongol presence. He made all dissidents or
  Old Believers leave Russia and exiled them to the
  new lands)

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Peter the Great (I)

• Peter I or Great was the son of Alexis. He was
  68 and was known for his love of learning. He
  traveled incognito across Europe and even worked
  as a carpenter on ships in Holland to learn the
  skill to bring to Russia. He wanted to improved
  Russia and saw Westernizing the country as the
  ticket. So he created Westernization policies.
• Westernization Reforms of Peter the Great
  (1689-1725)
• Culture western dress, cut beards, no more whips
  to men on marriage day given by brides fathers,
  schools for noble boys, ballet from France and
  Christmas trees from Germany
• Capital new capital on Baltic Sea named St.
  Petersburg (made nobles move like Qin dynasty)
• Economics mining and encouragement of serf labor
• Table of Ranks hierarchy of society with highest
  class based on military service. Upward mobility
  via military!
• He ruled Russia as an autocrat! He knew that
  Russia had to prove itself to Europe as a power.
  He was successful in the Great Northern War
  (Battle of Poltava) in 1721 against Sweden and
  gained access to the Baltic sea for trade
  purposes.
• Used western organization principles to mold his
  reforms specialized bureaucratic departments,
  improved weapons, created Navy, codified law
  codes and tax systems, new academies and schools
• Peter the Great created a much stronger Russia,
  centralized his authority as tsar, created a more
  efficient and effective government, better
  economics and education, social hierarchy based
  on military service with the idea of upward
  mobility for all that were great military
  leaders. He died in 1725 from his severe bladder
  problems (gangrene).
• Peter left no named heir and this led to a
  succession of very weak emperors and empresses.
  Many had to give some type of power to the nobles
  to ensure their rule. Peter III (1761) was one
  such weak tsar.

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Peter the Great
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Catherine the Great 1762-1796

• Sophia was her German name, Catherine II her
  Russian (changed name when she converted to the
  Eastern Orthodox Church). After turning 16, in
  1745, she was married to Peter who would become
  Peter III tsar of Russia (in 1762). On their
  first meeting he told her it was just a marriage
  and he was in love with his mistress!
• She learned Russian and was very intelligent. Her
  husband was not so intelligent and actually gave
  lands back to Prussia lost in the 7 Years War
  because of his love of the Prussian king
  Frederick the Great!!!! This enraged many
  nobles6 months after taking the throne Catherine
  along with supporters usurped the throne from
  Peter III.
• Peter III gave up the throne, but died soon after
  of massive gastro intestinal issues! Mmm.
• Catherine was a great empresses because she
  returned to many of Peter the Greats policies and
  centralized the power of the tsar more. She was
  also a great enlightenment supporter. She invited
  thinkers to debate and read much of their work.
  Although she clearly disagreed when it came to
  peasants/ serfs. She gave new powers to the
  nobles over serfs. In return for their service to
  the government (Table of Ranks) she allowed the
  nobles to deal with local peasants and serfs as
  they saw fit allowing nobles to use peasant
  labor, collect taxes from peasants, and even hand
  out punishments to peasants for crimes!
• Pugachevs rebellion He was a Cossack leader.
  Pugachev claimed to be Catherines dead husband
  and sought to take back power from the Empress
  and become tsar. He promised the people an end to
  serfdom, taxes, military conscription, and the
  landed aristocracy!! Many people were attracted
  to his message and he became dangerously popular.
  He was captured and in 1775 in a public square in
  Moscow he was cut into quarters as an example to
  others not to rebel!!!!
• Catherine was known for her many lovers. Who she
  would elevate to high positions so long as they
  agreed with her.
• She encouraged education for both noble boys and
  girls and opened up schools in Moscow
• She patronized the arts
• She tried to control all dissent by murder,
  suppression, and closing borders. However, the
  sons of the nobility educated in western Europe
  brought with them many radical intellectual ideas
  and son these ideas were spreading across the
  country.
• She helped to partition Poland ? 1772, 1793, and
  1795 (no longer a state)

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Catherine the Great
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Serfdom

• Peasants became serfs because of a debt they
  owed. They couldnt pay so they were forced to
  give their labor to pay off the debt.
• This system satisfied nobles who needed serf
  labor and also regulated the many peasants which
  the government simply bureaucratically could not
  do! Laws were passed by tsar to support serfdom
  and make it a larger labor system.
• 1649 law if you are born to a serf then you are
  a serf for life!!! Serfs could be bought or sold,
  gambled away, and even punished by their masters!
  Sometimes whole villages were sold! It was said
  that Catherine the Great gave away more than
  400,000 people during her reign. Serfs were not
  slaves though! Russia was unusual because it
  looked internally for coercive labor instead of
  importing labor like in Latin America.
• Serfs were not slaves and there still was local
  town councils but serf rebellions did break out
  in communities against local landlord and records
  were destroyed and lands seized.
• As you can imagine many serfs were unhappy and
  did rebel like Pugachev! However, these were
  suppressed. ?

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Russia

• Composed of small cities and rural areas with 95
  of the population of Russia being rural!
• Small merchant class because many merchants were
  from Western Europe and lived in port towns/
  cities and conducted the trade. Merchant activity
  was stiff lied internally by the government out
  of fears of jealousy from the riches gained
  (nobles).
• During the 18th century the population of Russia
  doubled to 36 million!!! This put pressure on the
  agricultural system. However, it was still very
  tradition with little improvements because of
  serf labor. Serfs were not motivated to be better
  farmers and create/ import innovations because
  they simple would not reap the benefits of their
  hard work.

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Eastern Europe

• Eastern Europe dramatically changed due to Russia
  becoming more powerful and entering the European
  stage as a real power.
• The Mongols were kicked out of Europe!!!
• Poland lost its status as a state due to it
  meddling nobility. Polish parliament would put
  weak kings into power in order to control them
  and would argue about many things and make no
  powerful decisions. They kept this up until the
  partitioning of the country, but by that time is
  was too late!
• Poland went from one of the most powerful
  countries in Europe to not existing!!!!
• Russia expanded and became incredibly diverse.
  Today Russia covers 10 Time Zones!!!!

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Works cited

• http//www-tc.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/shows/chechny
  a/images/timeline_pic2.jpg
• http//images.google.com/imgres?imgurlhttp//pand
  ora.cii.wwu.edu/vajda/russ110/images/kremlinpic12.
  jpgimgrefurlhttp//pandora.cii.wwu.edu/vajda/rus
  s110/htm_images/kremlinpic12.htmusg__IwAat3ku2Aq
  rVIpIvVEoEpgHd8kh430w323sz22hlenstart17
  um1tbnidcRXNANvIPR9bwMtbnh126tbnw95prev
  /images3Fq3Dimages2Band2Bcatherine2Bthe2Bgre
  at26hl3Den26client3Dfirefox-a26rls3Dorg.mozi
  llaen-USofficial26um3D1