RISE 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

16 th & 17 th 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 )  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, 1 st 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 the Great (r )

 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 20 th Century  Russia would continue to struggle with modernization &Westernization  Absolutism would eventually fail as Russia moved toward socialism & communism in the late 19 th & early 20 th Centuries