Tsarist Russia and the Russian Empire

Post-Mongol Eastern Europe The Kievan Rus and the Republic of Novgorod, enriched by Northern European trade, had been controlled by the Golden Horde since the Mongol invasion of the 14th century However, by the 15th and 16th centuries, the Mongols and the Golden Horde had lost their power and influence This left the Slavs of Eastern Europe in several kingdoms that would soon be united One of the kingdoms, other than Novgorod, was Muscovy—headed in Moscow While many of the kingdoms were inhabited by the Rus people, with common language and culture, there was no, united state for the Russians

Ivan the Great The first major Russian figure to conquer or compromise a unified Russia state was Ivan III who ruled from 1462-1505 Coming from a rising city of power and trade, Moscow, Ivan and many of the Rus people had begun to form a large kingdom Conflicting with the re-vitalized Novgorod, Ivan, Prince of Muscovy, defeated the Republic of Novgorod and took 4/5 of their land Uniting most of the Rus people, Ivan became known as Ivan the Great, and laid the foundation for the Russian state His son continued his conquests, adding more Rus people to the state, crowning himself Tsar of the Rus, and officially beginning Russian state

Peter the Great (1682-1725) While the Tsars of Russia eventually expanded Russian territory to other ethnicities, Tsar Peter would begin a large territorial expansion, as well as many domestic reforms Peter the Great’s conquests would officially begin what was the called the Russian Empire, adding large portions of non-Russians In addition to territory, Peter the Great completely changed the state and economic systems of Russia to compete with West Since exploration, Western Europeans had been the dominate force of Europe and the world However, with reforms brought on by Peter the Great, the Russian Empire would compete with Western Europe and surpass the other land empires of Asia and Africa

Peter’s Reforms Peter began by moving the capital of Russia from Moscow to St. Petersburg in an attempt to start a maritime, trade empire like the West He also attempted to model Louis XIV, and move his nobles to the capital, and use them in the military and central gov. He increased tax collection policies and officials, and demanded higher taxes These reforms and tax increases added more pressure to the Russian peasants (serfs) As a result, many peasants opted to settle on the dangerous, yet cheap, Russian frontiers near Russian forts, and began spreading Russian peoples across Asia