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RUSSIAN ABSOLUTISM

RISE OF THE CZARS. RUSSIAN ABSOLUTISM. 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

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RUSSIAN ABSOLUTISM

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  1. RISE OF THE CZARS RUSSIAN ABSOLUTISM

  2. 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

  3. St. Basil’s Cathedral, Moscow

  4. 16th & 17th 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

  5. 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

  6. “Cossack on Duty” by Jozef Brandt

  7. 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

  8. Peter the Great (r.1682-1725) • 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…

  9. Built up Russian military • organization, 1st 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

  10. 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

  11. 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)

  12. Peterhof – Peter the Great’s Palace

  13. Catherine theGreat(r.1762-1796)

  14. 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

  15. Suppression of Resistance • Pugachev Uprising

  16. Legacy of Russian Absolutism • Russian absolutism created an environment of social & political tensions in Russia that would last into the 20th Century • Russia would continue to struggle with modernization &Westernization • Absolutism would eventually fail as Russia moved toward socialism & communism in the late 19th & early 20th Centuries

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