Chapter 10 Section 2 Guided Reading Russia in the Age of Absolution Chapter 10 Section 2 Guided Reading

Before 1480 much of Russia was under Mongol rule for about 200 years and thus had an Asian influence. So their religion was Eastern Orthodox. Several factors both cultural and geographic. Russia was separated from the rest of Europe. Also the Cyrillic alphabet made communication difficult. From 1300 to about 1600 the Romanov family ruled Russia. The country would become a leading European power. Peter wanted to end Russia’s land lock situation. He also wanted to take control of the warm water ports on the Sea of Azov and the Black sea from the Ottoman’s.

Westernization of Russia. Russia gained territory on the east coast of the Gulf of Finland. Now they had access to the Baltic Sea. St. Petersburg represented a capital of a progressive nation. He used Western architectural designs to construct the city. Westernization of Russia. Social Changes- women less socially isolated, took a greater part in the community. Peter forced nobles to shave long beard- dress in European styles. Modernized the army- own soldiers, reformed government Encouraged manufacturing and Foreign trade.

Service nobility- the individual noble’s rank depended on the performance of government service. In return for this service the czar granted individual nobles large estates with thousands of serfs. Peter like Louis XIV, made his nobles stay in their capital. Both men wanted to keep a watchful eye on the nobles. Catherine the Great created more serfs, which created a large lower class. The nobles got richer while the serfs became poorer. The nobles lost touch with everyone because they became Westernized and spoke French.

Catherine would defeat the Turks and take over the most northern shore of the Black Sea and the region of Crimea. In the First Partition, Russia, Prussia, Austria. Poland would disappear on a map in Europe until 1919. Russia and America expanded overland. This was different than most European countries that wanted to expand over the sea. Russians would cross the Bering Strait to North America. The land that they would conquer would be a colony in Alaska.