The Imperial Russia

Lecture 2

Lyra Riabov

Associate Professor

Southern New Hampshire University

Russian Empire1613-1917

Romanov Dynasty

Westernizing Russia

The Golden Age of Russian Culture

Northern Russian Architecture, XVIIth Century, Kizhi

Russian Architecture, XVIth - XVIIIth Centuries

The Romanov Dynasty

MIKHAILFEODOROVICH 1613-1645

ALEXEI MIKHAILOVICH 1645-1676

FEODOR ALEXEEVICH 1676-1682

IVAN V (IVAN ALEXEEVICH) 1682-1696

SOFIAALEXEEVNA 1682-1689

PETER THE GREATEMPEROR OF ALL RUSSIA 1721-1725

CATHERINE I 1725-1727

PETER II1727-1730

ANNA IVANOVNA 1730-1740

IVAN VI1740-1741

ELIZAVETA PETROVNA 1741-1761

PETER III1761-1762

CATHERINE THE GREAT 1762-1796

PAUL I1796-1801

ALEXANDER I 1801-1825

NICHOLAS I 1825-1855

ALEXANDER II 1855-1881

ALEXANDER III

1881-1894 NICHOLAS II

1894-1917

Peter The Great1689 - 1725

• Transformed Russian Society to its foundation

• Military reform: Russia was at war in every year of Peter’s reign but one

• Peter ordered thousands of Church bells to be melt down and made into cannons and cannonballs

• His army numbered more than 200,000 regular troops, the largest in Europe

• He built ships and had 28,000 sailors

• Built St. Petersburg, a new capital of Russia

• Placed Church under control of Holy Synod, a secular office

• Peter defeated the Swedes in the battle of Poltava in 1709, obtained territory on the Baltic coast, and marked the emergence of Russia as a military power in Europe

• Developed economy and created a better, more enlightened administration

• Introduced sweeping government reforms, using western European models: a Senate was created with “Twelve colleges”/ministries

• Foreign trade increased by 400%• Introduced new taxes• Decreed to shave beards,

westernized clothes, encouraged learning foreign languages

Peter I in 1716

Summer Palace of Peter the Great

In 1703 Peter said,“ Here shall be a town.”

Peter I Bust in CopenhagenGrand Palace and Fountains in

Petrodvorets

St. Petersburg –A Window on the West

Peter the Great The AdmiraltySt. Peter & Paul Fortress

Vasilievsky Island – The place of original Peter the Great’s Port More Views

Kunstcamera, Peter’s First Museum

Reigned: 1762-1796Born in GermanyMarried Peter III in 1745 Great intelligence, strong willPassionate and clever womanTurned her romances to the advantage of the state

Catherine the Great

The Bronze Horseman

On the Shore by the desolate waves

He stood, with lofty thoughts,

And gaze into the distance…

Alexander Pushkin (1833)

Catherine II to Peter I

They both admired Western Culture

Peter had practical nature: imported western technology

Shipbuilding fascinated Peter

Catherine was interested in culture and ideas. She built palaces and purchased grand collections of art

Catherine corresponded with French philosophers Voltaire and Rousseau. She also was the author of essays, plays, poems and music.

Peter was traveling in Europe as a workman learning shipbuilding, navigation, geometry,dentistry, and carpentry.

Palaces of St. Petersburg, XVIIIth - XIXth Centuries

St. Petersburg & Peterhof, XVIIIth - XIXth Centuries

Publication of books increased from 600

during Peter the Great’s reign to 7,500

Built Smolny Institute for noblewomen

Founded Odessa, a southern port and

stronghold on the Black sea

Established Russian Academy of Science

Ended the initial concord between the

empress and the writers

Signed the execution sentence of

Alexander Radishchev for his pamphlet

Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow, in

which he described the evils of serfdom.

Ended Pugachev rebellion in blood

Peter the Great had ended the threat to

Russia from Sweden,and Catherine did the

same from the Ottoman Empire and Poland

Expanded Russian territories: annexed

most of Poland, the Crimea,and the

Northern Caucasus

Confirmed and strengthened gentry’s

ownership of land and serfs. Peasants were

serfs since XVIth century.

Seized Church lands for state needs

Emancipated Nobility from compulsory

state service, and granted freedom from

taxation

Catherine the Great

“My aim is to do good…to bring happiness freedom and

well being to my subjects”

1812 Russia’s War against Napoleon

Alexander I

1801-1825

Interested in the ideas of constitutional government and corresponded with Thomas Jefferson

Won the war over Napoleon

This was an epic and popular victory for Russia, later celebrated in word (Tolstoy’s War and Peace) and music (Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture)

Kutuzov, Commander-in -Chief of Russian Army

Kutuzov is at Fili meetingbefore the Battle at

Borodino

Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Russia with 600,000 troops in 1812.

Only one-tenth of this number left Russia alive.

The end of Napoleonic Empire was in sight.

Emancipation of Serfs in1861

It is better to abolish serfdom

from above rather than await the time when it

will begin to abolish itself from below

Alexander II 1855-1881

50 million serfs received freedomIlya Repin. Barge Haulers on the Volga.

1870-1873. Oil on canvas. The Russian Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia

“Nowhere has the artists been more burdened with the task of moral leadership and national prophesy, nor more feared and persecuted by the state. Alienated from official Russia by their politics, and from peasants by their education, Russia’s artists took it upon themselves to create a national community of values and ideas through literature and art…if we look carefully, they may become a window on to a nation’s life.”

Orlando Figes, Historian

In Search for Truth

It was a quest to grasp the idea of Russia, its nationality, its character, its history, its customs and conventions, its spiritual essence and its destiny.

Pushkin Lermontov Gogol Turgenev Leo Tolstoy

Glinka Tchaikovsky Dostoevsky Borodin Musorgsky

Repin Karl Brullov Isaac Levitan Mendeleev Hertzen

The Golden Age of Russian Culture

Orest Kiprensky (1782-1836)

Alexander Pushkin Evgraf Davydov

Nikolai Ge (1831-1894)What is Truth? Peter is Interrogating his Son Alexis

Karl Brullov (1799-1852)

Self-portrait & The Last Day Of Pompeii (Detail)

Ivan Kramskoy (1837-1887)

Leo Tolstoy Christ in the Wilderness

Serov, Levitan, Miasoedov XIXth – XXth Centuries

The End of Romanov Dynasty

1613 - 1917

Olga Tatiana

Nicolas

Marie Anastasia Alexei

Alexandra