• Kiev – established by Vikings

• Strong Byzantine influences

• Conquered by Mongols in late 1230’s

• Princes of Muscovy worked with Mongols to gain power

• Ivan III (the Great) stopped tribute to Mongols in 1480

• Ivan III established strong centralized government

• Married niece of last Byzantine emperor – took title of Czar (Tsar)

• Adopted Byzantine double-headed eagle as state emblem

• Adopted pomp and ceremony of Byzantine court – called Russia “Third Rome”

• Ivan III absorbed independent Novgorod (tied to Poland-Lithuania) into new state

• To settle new territories, Ivan III used free peasant pioneers (Cossacks)

• Cossacks played large role in the expansion of Russia

• Focus of expansion was to the east - Furs

The Cossacks

The Growth of Russia from 1300 to 1584

• Russia- Early Contact with the WestWestern merchants established trade

contactsItalian artists & architects imported for

royal and church buildingsRussia looked to the West as example

for court lifeRussia selectively copied Western

culture / commerce

• Competition with nobility (Boyars) for power

• Czar took on role as head of church

• Struggle with Boyars reached climax under rule of Ivan IV

Ivan IV

• Ivan IV (Ivan the Terrible)Began rule at age 16Married into Romanov Boyar clanSuspected Boyars of killing his wifeThreatened to abdicate unless given

power to deal with Boyars and gain land called Oprichnina (“land apart”)

• Ivan IV broke up estates of Boyars• Created new aristocratic class called

Oprichniki• Used Oprichniki to terrorize

population• Depredations made Russia weak –

open to outside invasions• Ivan turned on Oprichniki

• Ivan IV died (1584) leaving no heir

• Civil War ensued along with outside invasions

• Mikhail Romanov elected Czar in 1613

• Romanovs would rule to 1917

Ivan cradles his dead son

• Peter the Great Peter developed

fascination for Western technology

Took throne in 1689 Established a policy of

rapid and forced modernization and Westernization

Copied many aspects of Western military

Peter the Great

Established the “Table of Ranks,” permitting nobles to move ahead based on merit

Abolished the Terem, the Russian equivalent of the harem

Encouraged the mixing of the sexes in towns and cities

1703 - built new capital on the Baltic Sea, St. Petersburg

• Russia and the WestPeter adopted only that which did not

interfere with the autocratic stateWesternization caused hostility on part

of the populaceRussia would continue love-hate

relationship with the West

• Catherine the Great Married Peter III Peter murdered –

Catherine succeeded to throne as Catherine II (1762 – 1796)

Ruled with support of nobility and military

Selective Westernization – interested in the Enlightenment

Catherine II (the Great)

Continued expansion of Russia into the Crimea and Siberia

Partitioned Poland – Poland not free again until 1918

Absorbed large Jewish populationEnacted harsh policies on treatment

of serfs

Russian Expansion 1700 to 1741

• Expansion east brought contact with Ottomans and Safavids

• Took control of Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Armenia

• Cossacks conducted campaign against ethnic peoples of Siberia (American west?)

Russia COT 1450-1750

• In Russia 1450-1750, the centralization against the Mongols led to the development of the absolutist monarchy of the tsars and the “Westernization” campaign of gaining territory including the essential warm water ports. Feudalism, however, would be increasingly cemented by Russian forces to gain furthered agricultural productivity.

• LaborSerfs could be bought and soldA law code in 1649 imposed rigid caste-like

structure over Russia’s labor force It restricted both their occupational and their

geographical mobilityArtisans and merchants had to register their

children into their father’s occupation It also established a hierarchy of nobles,

making 52 Boyar families the top class

Industrialization began under Peter the Great

Factory owners could buy serfs, prostitutes, beggars, criminals, and orphans

Despite the emphasis put on industry, Russia’s factories never rivaled those of Europe

Russia COT 1450-1750

Changes Continuities

St. Petersburg (Window to the West) warm water portTsars centralized Absolute authorityWomen interacting with men in cities, removal of Tarem, Catherine enlightened despotWesternization campaign- removal beards, development of gunpowder weaponry, table of ranks, first navyCampaign of “eastward” imperialism by Cossaks led to destruction of indigenous populations

Moscow still politically, economically and culturally importantRole of Orthodox churchStill patriarchalHarsh punishment of serfsJews in pogromsfeudalism persitsedStill predominantly agriculturalFurs still important revenue