1. Tsarist Russia and the Russian Empire

2. 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

3. Ivan the Great
The first major Russian figure to conquer or compromise a
unified Russia state was Ivan III who ruled from
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

5. Peter the Great ( )
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

7. 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