Russia during the Early Modern

Age1450-1750

Russia Under the Mongols

Russia Under the Romanovs

• Ivan III (a.k.a. Ivan the Great)• Claimed succession from the Rurik dynasty and from the

old Kievan days• Freed part of Russia after 1462• Patronized Orthodox Christianity• In 1480, freed Moscow from the Mongols and conquered

the Polish Lithuanian kingdom• Called Russia a “third Rome” because of its potential• Labeled the empire as “tsar”• Recruited peasants called Cossack to go to newly

conquered land

Ivan the Great

• Ivan IV (a.k.a. Ivan the Terrible)

-Expansionism

-Emphasized tsarist autocracy

-Killed boyars (Russian nobles)

Ivan the Terrible

• Built up tsarist control• Expansionism• Interested in altering the Russian economy and culture

with Westernization• Traveled to the West in order to seek Western science

and technology• Allied with Western states against the Turks in a crusade• Specially trained military• Chancery of Secret Police- stop bureaucracy from

corruption• New capital at St. Petersburg

Peter the Great

Peter the Great

• First Russian navy• Appointed provincial governors• Town councils & magistrates• Training institutes for the bureaucracy and

officers• Built metallurgical and mining industries• Iron holdings contributed to shipbuilding• Gave more freedom to upper-class women• More education in math and technology

Peter the Great

• Western fashion and fads• Established senate• Got rid of Patriarchate (noble councils)• Personal nomination rather than hereditary

succession • Ballet was imported from the West and became

a cultural icon in Russia• *Westernization was only used to encourage the

autocratic state and NOT to provide new political ideas*

Catherine the Great

• Peter the Great died in 1724• Army officers fought for power• Peter III became the tsar and married Catherine,

a German-born princess• Put down peasant uprisings due to serfdom• Combined Enlightenment ideals with Russian

aristocratic ideas• Commissioned new laws that used Western

ideas• Less severe punishments

• Gave nobles more control over their serfs• Patronized Western art and architecture• Sent children to schools in the West• Censored Russian intellectuals who sought Western

political reforms• Campaigned against Ottomans• Gained territories in central Asia• Colonized Siberia• Gained Alaska• Partition of Poland between Russia, Prussia, and Austria

Catherine the Great

Russian Society• Boyars- Russian nobles• Russian landlords adopted Mongol dress and social

habits• Women gained more freedom and were allowed to go to

public events• The status of women remained unchanged among

peasants because they were not effected by westernization

• Male nobles had to shave their beards off because they were a sign of Mongol domination

• Russians were urged to move to newly conquered lands, where they formed their own regional administration

• Multicultural empire

Russian Society• Nobles gained more power over serfs• -Ennobled officials chosen by tsars• -Gained new power to punish their serfs• -Treat serfs like property• -Could levy taxes of money and goods• Pugachev Rebellion- peasant uprising that led to the

extended powers of central government into regional politics

• Serfdom became hereditary• No artisan class (artists were imported from Western

Europe)• Small merchant groups because trade was mostly

controlled by Westerners

Christianity under the Russians

• Russian Orthodox still the primary religion • Muslim minority were observed by the government• Muslims not forced to integrate into Russian culture• Catherine the Great converted to Russian Orthodox• Alexis Romanov gained new power over the church by

getting rid of the superstitions and problems created by the Mongols

• State controlled Church• Religious conservatives called Old Believers sought

religious freedom in Siberia and Southern Russia• Christmas trees imported from Germany

Arts and Architecture: West and Russian

Combined• Westernization began under Peter the Great• Ballet imported from France• Italian artists and architects build churches that

combined Renaissance styles with Russian architecture• Ornate, onion-shaped domes• Catherine the Great patronized the art and architecture

of the West• Little motivation to improve technology because any

excess was taken by the landlord• Traditional agricultural methods• Ballet imported from France

Various Trademark Buildings

Hermitage Museum builtHermitage Museum built

by Catherine the Greatby Catherine the Great

Cathedral of St. Cathedral of St. Basil built under Basil built under Ivan IVIvan IV

Italian Architecture in Russia

Rococo Winter Palace and the Smolny Cathedral built by the Italian architect Rococo Winter Palace and the Smolny Cathedral built by the Italian architect Rastrelli Rastrelli

Bolognese Architecture in Russia

Cathedral of the Dormition built by Cathedral of the Dormition built by Aristotle Fioravanti, an Italian Aristotle Fioravanti, an Italian architectarchitect

Theories and Education: A Noble Practice

• “Seditious” writings of liberals or democrats were banned• Peter the Great built garrison schools for the children of

soldiers• Peter the Great simplified the alphabet and changed the

calendar• Catherine the Great built the Hermitage Museum• Statue for Schools- every town had some sort of schooling• Catherine the Great patronized the creation of a small-pox

vaccine• Catherine the Great patronized the first College of

Medicine• Western-inspired radicals• Radishev wanted an end to serfdom and liberal rule

Trading and Manufacturing:

On a Small Scale• Trading connections with Asia• Ivan the IV allowed British merchants to create

ports in Russia• Sold fur and other raw materials• Peter the Great visited the major manufacturing

cities of the West• Established a port on the East coast of the Baltic

sea• Produced grain to be sold to the West• Traded fur with Central Asia

Trading and Manufacturing:

On a Small Scale• Catherine the Great built the first School of

Mines• Mined silver• Built and repaired roads and bridges• Primary exports: hemp, leather, furs, cloth, linen,

timer, and iron• Imported silks, cottons, tea, silver, and tobacco

from China• Peter the Great created companies that

controlled factories and workshops

Serfdom: The Major Source of the Russian Economy

• Had to pay extensive tribute to Mongols until independent

• Trade and manufacturing decreased• Dependent on peasant labor• Rise of serfdom• Landlords could levy taxes• Serfdom grew as Russia expanded• Produced grain to be sold to the West

Serfdom: The Major Source of the Russian Economy

• Peasants paid high taxes• Serfs owed labor for farming, mining, and

manufacturing• Sufficient revenue to support Russia• Catherine the Great sought new farmers in

foreign newspapers• Catherine the Great encouraged new methods

to breed sheep and cattle• Social unrest due to serfdom• Pugachev led a revolt to end serfdom and

abolish the aristocracy

Pugachev Rebellion