RUSSIAN ABSOLUTISM
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RUSSIAN ABSOLUTISM RISE OF THE CZARS
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RISE OF THE CZARS. RUSSIAN ABSOLUTISM. Medieval Russia. Russia came under the control of the Mongols Moscow rulers began to reassert themselves over Mongol rule 1505 – Prince of Moscow had become Czar Czar also served as head of the Orthodox Church - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
Transcript of RUSSIAN ABSOLUTISM
RUSSIAN ABSOLUTISMRISE OF THE CZARS
Medieval Russia
Russia came under the control of the Mongols
Moscow rulers began to reassert themselves over Mongol rule
1505 – Prince of Moscow had become Czar
Czar also served as head of the Orthodox Church Associated with the Byzantine (Eastern)
branch of Christianity
St. Basil’s Cathedral, Moscow
16th & 17th Century Russian Society Power tended to rest with the
powerful Russian nobility (boyars) Held land & controlled the serfs
the nobility struggled for control with the new czars
To gain control, the new czars used the nobility to serve the Russian state Created a government bureaucracy Mandatory military service
Nobles were the high-ranking military officers
The Russian Peasantry
Vast majority of Russians were peasants & serfs
Cossacks were outlaw armies of peasants who often challenged the government & boyars Major source of civil unrest & fear
“Cossack on Duty” by Jozef Brandt
The Romanov Family 1613 – Michael Romanov selected Czar of Russia He & his successors moved Russia toward a more autocratic rule
Total enserfment of the Russian peasantry accomplished in 1649
Military service demands were relaxed for boyars
Change met with opposition & civil unrest Cossacks challenged power of the state
Peter the Great (r.1682-1725) Committed to policy of Westernization for Russia
selective political, economic, & cultural change persuading Russians to change their life proved difficult to impose his will, he became the most autocratic of Europe’s absolute monarchs
During his reign he…
Built up Russian military organization, 1st Russian navy, nobles as
officers Engaged in wars & some territorial
expansion Baltic & Black Seas regions Maintained alliances with Austria & Poland
against the Ottomans Forced nobility into military or civil
service for life Established compulsory education for all
young nobles scientific academies
Standardized law code & tax system taxes on peasants increase
Encouraged mining using serf labor
Attempted to change traditional fashion
Boyars to shave beards & wear Western dress
Westernization of Russia kept in check
Peter’s orders bureaucracy Chancery of Secret Police
Policies encouraged the extension of serfdom
Expansion under Peter the Great Set out to extend Russia to the west & south unsuccessfully fought Ottomans to gain
warm-water port Long war with Sweden that gave Russia land
along Baltic Sea Build new capital = St. Petersburg
Exploration of Bering Strait region (between Siberia & Alaska)
Peterhof – Peter the Great’s Palace
Catherine theGreat
(r.1762-1796)
An efficient, energetic empress who ruled in the tradition of absolute monarchs, Catherine… Continued selective Westernization
welcomed philosophes, patronize arts & sciences
Reward nobles for service to the central government given greater authority over peasants
(taxation, justice) Territorial expansion
partition of Poland (Russia gains eastern portion)
successful war against Ottomans gain Crimea & warm-water port on Black Sea
Siberia & Alaska
Suppression of Resistance
Pugachev Uprising
Legacy of Russian Absolutism Russian absolutism created an
environment of social & political tensions in Russia that would last into the 20th Century
Russia would continue to struggle with modernization &Westernization
Absolutism would eventually fail as Russia moved toward socialism & communism in the late 19th & early 20th Centuries
