Russian Czars Increase Power

From Ivan to the Romanovs

Ivan III (1462-1505)

-conquered area around Moscow

-liberated Russia from Mongols

-centralized Russian gov’t

-laid the foundations for absolutism in Russia

Ivan the Terrible

*Ivan IV (aka: Ivan the Terrible) 1533-1584-first Czar or Tsar (“Caesar”)-boyars: Russia’s landowning nobles-wife: Anastasia from the Romanov family

-killed in 1560-began Ivan’s “bad period”

-turned against boyars-organized police force to use terror-executed many boyars

-1581 killed his oldest son and heir-left his weak second son to rule

Time of Troubles

-Ivan V (son of the “terrible”) died w/o an heir

-boyars struggled for power

-in 1613 representatives elected Michael Romanov as czar (random relative of Anastasia)

-began the Romanov dynasty (1613-1917)

Peter the Great

*Peter the Great Takes the Throne

-1672-1725

-great reformer and absolute ruler

-Russia’s differences from Europe:

-serfdom

-cut off from the Renaissance and the age of Exploration (geography)

-Eastern Orthodox rather than Protestant or Catholic

Peter Visits the West

*Expedition into Europe was called the “Grand Embassy”

-wanted to learn about western culture and industrial techniques-kept his identity a secret (hard

to hide when you are 6’7”!)-visited England, Austria, and

the Netherlands-inspired by western methods

Peter Rules Absolutely-Westernization: using Western Europe as a model to

make Russia stronger-Peter’s reforms

-increased his absolute power-brought the Russian Orthodox church under gov’t control-reduced the powers of landowners (Boyars)-hired European officers to modernize the army

-imposed heavy taxes-believed in the importance of education -St. Petersburg

-new capital along the sea (swamp)-By his death, Russia was a powerful nation

St. Petersburg- Swamp

St. Petersburg-Naval Academy

Baroque Architecture

• Absolute Monarchs attempted to display their supreme power with “over-the-top” Baroque palaces.

• Many of the absolute monarchs modeled their palaces after Versailles in France