Section 5.26The Westernizing of Russia

IntroductionAustrian monarchy, Prussia, and the Russian empire became

modern states• Borrowed administrative systems from the west• Remained distinct in political, social, and cultural

characteristics• 1650 to 1750 Muscovy modernized into Russia• Undergoes a process of Europeanization

– Peter The Great 1682-1725) initiated rapid and forced change

• Roots are European (Vikings at Kiev)Still out of the loop during the Renaissance. Why?• Were Christians before many other Northern Europeans

(Greek Orthodox) • Influence comes from Constantinople instead of Rome• Mongol invasions (1240)• kept them under Asian domination for 250 yrs.• 1480 Ivan III gained Muscovy independence• No warm water port

– communication with the west was difficult

Prussia v. RussiaPrussian parallels with

Russia• Great plains culture• Lacked natural borders• Grew by the addition of

territories• State arose as a means

of supporting a modern army

• Autocratic governments• Landlord class was

strong and controlled the peasantry

• No native commercial class to speak of

• Imported new skills from western Europe

Prussian differences from Russia

• Germanic vs. Slavic• Protestant vs. Eastern

Orthodox– Protestantism gave Prussia

connection to Europe• European universities vs.

no universities• Close to commercial activity

vs. distant from commercial activity

• More European vs. More Oriental

• Russia develops a unique blend of European and non-European traits

Russia before Peter the Great• Slavic in languageDiverse population• Great Russians (Muscovites) lived around Moscow• Scandinavian• Tartars• Cossaks (semi-independent cowboys)• White Russians (Byelorussians) • Little Russians (Ukrainians)Russia is facing eastward• Conquered the Tartars in 16th and reached Urals• Stretching to the Urals and beyond

– Frontier experience in Siberia– Alaska

Trade is focused on the east• Europe was in the “rear” of Russia• 1552 Ivan the Terrible conquers the Kazaks• with the help of a German engineer• Richard Chancellor in 1553 of England makes contact through

Archangel on the White Sea– England has access to eastern goods (from Persia)– Russia has access to the west

Russian culture before Peter the Great• Asiatic• Course and crude• Men wore beards, skirted garments• Drunkenness, religious piety• women wore veils and were secluded• Religion was “mystical” and superstitious• Little respect for life• Murder, kidnapping, torture, physical cruelty• Little support for education or charitable institutions• No respect for learning or sentiments of humanity• Geometry was a sin• “Abhorred of God is any who loves geometry; it is a

spiritual sin” Russian bishop• Arithmetic was little understood• Arabic numerals were not used• Abacus was instrument of trade• Ability to predict eclipse magic• Manufacturing was non-existent• Some European characteristics

– Manorial and feudal organization– Duma (Parliament)– Modern absolutism was examined

Early TsarsIvan the Terrible (1553-1584) = the first Tsar• Consolidates authority under his title• Inherited throne at 3• Mother murdered by nobles at 7• Had a virgin competition (girls over 12) to

choose a bride• Used Bible to give instructions on torture

methods (so it was like hell)• Killed son in fit of rage with his staff• Buried in a monks habit• At Ivan’s death “Time of troubles”(1604-

1613) ensues– War and infighting

1613 Michael Romanov (17) was elected Tsar• Romanov in the one and only dynasty • Begins to repress representative institutions• Move toward absolute monarchy

Serfdom in Russia• serfs had some mobility

– Plains and Siberia• Landlords move to secure a labor force• Manors become slave plantations• Laws make serfs fugitives if they leave• Lords have right to recover limitless• Killing of a serf could be squared by giving the lord

another• Civil rights of peasants deteriorate• bonded to the land• bonded to the lord• 1625 law allowed lords to sell peasants (chattel)Stephen Razin lead a serf revolt with some success (Great

Peasant Revolt (1670-71)• Outfitted fleet on Caspian and invaded Persia, sacked

cities on Volga• 1671 he was executed• Results in more repression of the serfs

Peter and the Orthodox Church• Orthodox Church is largely controlled by the

Tsar after 1589• promoting the concept of “Holy Russia”• Constantinople is controlled by the Turks• Russia sets up its own Patriarch• Reforms led to split between new and old

believers– Further divides the peasants (old believers) from the

government• Church is willing to reform from within • Rejects reforms from the west (Peter)• Peter puts control of the Church under a

committee of bishops with a civil representative to keep the Church in line

• Peter secularizes the Church and makes himself the head after the European model

• This follows the trend in Europe of secularized control of religion

Peter the Great: Foreign Affairs and Territorial

Expansion• Exposure to the West• Europeanization would have been more gradual

w/out Peter• Initiated a social revolution• Met Europeans of other nationalities in Moscow

(German quarter) when he was a boy• Met Westerners at Archangel and took lessons in

navigation• Spent over year in Holland and England and saw

how backward Russia was• Worked as a ships carpenter in Amsterdam and

talked with business and political leaders• Visited workshops, mines, hospitals, forts• Unlike other Europeans monarchs (very tall,

unpretentious, dressed carelessly, practical joker, slob, mixed easily with commoners

Swedish threat recedes• Poles hoped to Catholicize Russia• Soon no longer a menace as nobles squabbled• Peter formed alliance with Poland against Sweden in

1697• Charles XII was known to kill sheep in his room for

enjoyment• Great general • Routed Peter’s 40 thousand with only 8 thousand at b of

Narava• While Charles pursued Poland Peter modernized army in

Western model• Charles’s army greatly weakened by Russian winter of

1709 was destroyed at Poltava in S. Russia• Peter conquered Livonia, parts of Finland and went as far

as the Elbe• Treaty of Nystadt (1721) ended Northern War and gave

Russia Baltic shore

War and Imperial Russia

• Wars helped “father” Russia

• Peter eliminated the elite but rebellious streltsi (Moscow guard) and rebuild army from bottom up

• Used European officers, uniformed troops in Western styled, organized them in regiments, armed them with muskets, artillery

Founding of St. Petersburg• Named after himself and patron

saint• His chief window on the West• Established offices of gov, made

noblemen build town houses, encouraged foreign merchants, craftsmen to settle

• Meant to be new symbol of Russia (facing Europe)

• Made it the new capital (until 1917)

– Called Leningrad in 1924 but back to Petersburg in 1991

Internal Changes under PeterMercantilism encouraged• Money needed to pay for expanding government• Taxes on land inns, mills, hats, leather, coffins, right to marry, sell

meat, wear a beard, be Old Believer were imposed• Fell mostly on peasants• Organized commercial companies and gave them capital, labor

supply (serfs)Serfs in Industry• Gave owners right to sell serfs without land and move them from

landed estates into mines, or industrial activityNew Administrative System• Got rid of Duma and national assembly• Made a senate dependent on himself, 10 territorial areas called

governments (gubernii) a Latin word• He was at top of structure, autocrat• Abolished rule of hereditary succession and said tsar could name his

own successor• Required “state of service”

– All landowning aristocrats required to serve in army or civil admin.– Birth counted for nothing– tax administrator Kurbatov was an ex-serf

Peter’s Social Revolution• Attempted to reeducate Russians• Required gentry to put sons in school• Simplified Russian alphabet• Edited 1st newspaper• Ordered book of etiquette (not to spit

of floor, scratch themselves, gnaw bones at dinner, take off hats, converse pleasantly, give eye contact, converse with women)

• Ordered beards to be shaved (he himself did in court to nobles)

• No respect for aristocratic status (torturing them as he would peasants)

Results of Peter’s Revolution

Resistance to Reform• Some thought he was going too fast,

xenophobic• Son, Alexis said he would stop Peters program

(Peter had him killed)• Died in 1725• His changes stuck• The methods used, force fastened autocracy,

serfdom, bureaucracy on country

Exclusion of Peasants• Still regarded as brutes and children and did not

become European by Peter