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I. Russia: From Fledgling Principality to Major Power
New Russian State
- a. New Russian state (15th) under leadership of principality of Moscow and grand dukes
- i. Ivan the Terrible (16th)= first ruler t take tsar
- 1. Expanded territories of Russia eastward after western expansion blocked by Swedes and Poles
- 2. Extended autocracy of the tsar by crushing the power of the Russian nobility, known as boyars
- 3. Dynasty ended in 1598 and followed by resurgence of aristocratic power in period of anarchy called Time of Troubles
- a. Ended when Zemsky Sobor, or national assembly, chose Michael Romanov as new tsar
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I. Russia: From Fledgling Principality to Major Power
17th
- a. 17th: Muscovite society stratified
- i. Tsar at top: divine
- ii. Upper class of landed aristocrats who, by 17th, could bind peasants to land
- 1. Serfdom desibrable to landowners with abundance of land and shortange of peasants
- 2. Townspeople also controlled
- a. Merchants not allowed to move without government permission or sell business to anyone outside class
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I. Russia: From Fledgling Principality to Major Power
Merchant and Peasant Revolts
- i. Merchant and Peasant revolts and schism in Russian Orthodox Church
- 1. 17th century Moscow experiencing contacts with the West, and Western ideas penetrated Russian circles
- a. Still, Russia outside framework of West: Renaissance, Reformation, geographic discoveries made little impact
- b. End of century: Peter the Great accelerated this process
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I. Russia: From Fledgling Principality to Major Power
Peter the Great
- a. Peter the Great
- i. Character: strong, coarse in tasts and rude in behavior, low humor
- ii. Viewed West on trip and returned to Russia set on westernizing his realm
- 1. Policy of Europeanization was technical
- a. Admired European technology and gadgets and wanted them in Russia
- i. Key to the army and navy needed to make Russia a great power
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I. Russia: From Fledgling Principality to Major Power
First Priority
- i. First priority: reorganization of army and creation of navy
- 1. Employed Russians and Europeans as officers and conscripted peasants for 25 year stints of service for standing army of 210,000 men
- 2. Began forming first Russian Navy
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I. Russia: From Fledgling Principality to Major Power
Central Government
- 1. 1711: created Senate to supervise administrative machinery of state during absence
- a. Senate became ruling council with inefficiencies, which caused Peter to use Western idea of “colleges,” or boards of administrators with different functions: foreign affairs, war, etc.
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I. Russia: From Fledgling Principality to Major Power
To impose rule
- 1. To impose rule of central government more effectively throughout land, he divided Russia, first, into 8, and in 1719, 50 provinces
- 2. Tried to create well-ordered community governed by law, few bureaucrats shared concept of honest service and duty to state
- a. Peter wanted civic duty, but his persona prevented it
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I. Russia: From Fledgling Principality to Major Power
Administrative aims
- 1. To further them, he demanded all members of landholding class to serve in military or civil offices
- 2. 1722: institution of the Table of Ranks to create opportunities for nonnobles to serve the state and join the nobility
- a. All civil offices ranked according to 14 levels; a parallele list of fourteen grades was also created for all military offices
- i. Every official began at level one and worked up
- 1. Nonnoble reached eight= noble
- Attempt at creating new nobility not continued
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I. Russia: From Fledgling Principality to Major Power
Finance
- 1. Army and navy took 4/5 of state revenue; so, Peter adopted Western mercantilistic policies to stimulate economic growth
- a. Tried increasing exports and developing new industries, while exploiting domestic resources like iron mines in the Urals
- b. Military needs endlessà reliance on simply raising taxes,imposing more burdens on peasants, oppressing htem
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I. Russia: From Fledgling Principality to Major Power
Religion
- 1. Tried to gain state control of Russian orthodox church
- a. 11721: abolished position of patriarch and created body called the Holy Synod to make decisions for the church
- i. At head= procurator, layman who represented the interests of the tsar and assured Peter of effective domination of the church
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I. Russia: From Fledgling Principality to Major Power
After return from West
- i. After return from West in 1698, he began introducing Western customs into Russia
- 1. Ordered prep of first Russian book of etiquette for manners
- a. Russian beards shaved; coats shortened
- i. Peter did this himself
- ii. Barbers and tailors enforced edicts by doing this as well
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I. Russia: From Fledgling Principality to Major Power
Women
- 1. Benefited greatly from Peter’s cultural reforms
- a. Seeing men and women mix in Western courts, he ended seclusion of upper-class Russian women and demanded removal of their veils that covered hteir faces
- b. Social gatherings held 3x a week in large houses of Saint Petersburg where men and women could mix for conversation, card games, and dancing
- 2. Allowed to marry on own free will
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I. Russia: From Fledgling Principality to Major Power
Russia as Military Power
- i. Peter’s domestic reforms were to make Russia into great state and military power
- 1. Primary goal: oopen a port easily accessible to Europe, which could only be achieved on Baltic, which was controlled by Sweden, the most important oewr in n. Europe
- a. Wanted themà Peter, with support of Poland and Denmark, attacked Sweden in 1700 when the young king, Charles XII, ruled (presumed weak)
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I. Russia: From Fledgling Principality to Major Power
Charles
- i. Charles= brilliantà smashed Danes, flattened Poles, and with well-disciplined force of 8000 men, routed the Russian army of 40,000 at the Battle of Narva (1700)à Great Northern War
- 1. Peter fought back
- a. Reorganized army along Western lines and at Battle of Poltava in 1709 defeated Charles’ army
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I. Russia: From Fledgling Principality to Major Power
War=12 more years
- 1. War= 12 more yearsà Peace of Nystadt gave formal recognition to what Peter achieved
- a. Acquisition of Estonia, Livonia, and Karelia
- b. Sweden second-rate Power and Russia now great European state
- c. Peter was building fine capital, beginning early in the war, when he constructed a new city, Saint Petersburg, his window on the West
- i. Construction cost thousands of peasant lives, but completed and remained Russian capital until 1917
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I. Russia: From Fledgling Principality to Major Power
Summary
- i. Peter modernized and westernized Russiaà great military power, and by death, an important member of European state system
- ii. Policies detrimental to Russia
- 1. Westernization= sham
- a. Western culture only upper classes
- b. Real object of reforms, the creation of a strong military, added more burdens to masses of Russians
- iii. His force led to distrust of Europe and Western civilization
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