Russian Empire

Chapter 18

Mongol Rule

• Local administration in the hands of the Russians

• Reduced cultural and economic life

• Literacy declined

• All agricultural

1480: Creation of a large independent state

• Ivan III, prince of Moscow, rose up against the Mongols– Strong central government– Head of Orthodox Church

1547-1584: Ivan the IV reign

• Ivan the IV was a bit paranoid and killed boyars he believed to be working against his throne.– Beat daughter-in-law (was pregnant)– Attacked his son (when confronted)– Crowned Tsar of all Russians– Known to torture animals– Death led to time of troubles

Time of Troubles (between two Dynasties)

Romanov Dynasty

• Boyars chose Michael as czar– Order and stopped invaders

• Alexis– Expanded role of czar– Abolished assembly of the nobles– Wanted to cleanse the church of

changesthose that resisted were exiled to Siberia “Old Believers”

http://www.rollins.edu/Foreign_Lang/Russian/Lubok/barber.jpg

Peter the GreatRomanov Dynasty

• 1682-1725• Western technology• Forced and rapid modernization• No representative government—bureaucrats

were from outside autocracy• Focuses on military—army & navy• Secret police• Western clothes & style; shave beards• Moved capital to St Petersburg• Added the Baltic—success against Sweden

Catherine the GreatRomanov Dynasty

• 1762-1795

• Expanded the empire East to Alaska

• Institution of serfdom expanded– 1649 law tied serfs to landlords

• Strong centralized government was more important than Enlightenment ideas

• Patron of western arts and architecture

Russian serfdom

• Free peasants fell into debt and forced to become serfs on large estates

• Used to make nobility happy and control the masses

• 1649 Act—serfs are born into the status, cannot get out of serfdom, could be bought and sold, punished by masters BUT not literally slaves

Life of a serf

• Illiterate

• Poor

• Pay high taxes

• Owed labor service to their landlords—agriculture, mining or manufacture

• Grain exported to the West

• No real motivation for efficient agriculture practices

Expansion

• Added Siberia

• Cossacks were sent to occupy new land

• Nobles & bureaucrats received land grants

What is Westernization?

• Absolute monarchy with bureaucracy

• Systemized law code and tax system

• Peasants bear the brunt

• Metallurgy and mining

• Increased education in science and math

• Upper-class women’s lives improved

• All classes resisted

1450-1750

• Russia has contact with the West

• Only a few big cities; 95% rural

• No strong merchant or commercial class

• Long-lasting multinational empire

• Autocrats bring Westernization and expansionism