Peter the Great Quiz

Tsar Mikhail I

• Started of the Romanov Dynasty

• 16 years old when crowned

• 1613 to 1645

• A distant relative of Ivan IV’s wife, Anastasia

• Helped stabilize the country after the Time of Troubles

Tsar Alexis I

• Mikhail’s son

• 1645 to 1675

• Passed the 1649 Law Code

• Opened Russia’s ports to the west

• Pushed borders to the Pacific

Bohdan Khmelnytsky

• A Ukrainian Cossack

• Led a revolt against the Polish rule

• Signed Treaty of Pereyaslav agreement w/ Russia

Peter the Great

• As a boy: healthy, rambunctious, lots of freinds —> as a man: 6’7”

• Played pretend war games and aspired to be a military commander

• Co-tsars with Ivan V (half-brother) while Sophia (half-sister) was Russia’s regent till he became of age

• The Streltsy reign of terror consisted of killing Peter’s close relatives —> Once became Tsar, forced Sophia into a covenant and

• Peter was determined to establish a warm water port in the Black Sea, so he built a navy (drawback: Russia is practically landlocked), captured the Turkish city of Azov, and gained an open door

• Obsessed with modernizing Russia —> hoping to learn better ship building, modern medicine practices, architecture, dentistry and minting coins.

• While Peter traveled to Western Europe, the Streltsy revolted —> Peter brutally murdered and arrested the uprising (some exiled to Siberia)

• Westernizing Russia by no longer authorizing nobles to wear kaftans + no beards allowed (or paid a tax) —> resenting traditional customs

• Moscow seemed too primitive and gloomy; Boyars were too medieval-looking; the Orthodox Church wielded too much power

• Created the Table of Ranks

• Founded St. Petersburg in 1703 under forced labor

• Disappointed in his son —> Imprisoned him and left no heir to the throne

  Advancements:

  • - Military Schools

    -The press (newspapers)

    -Hospitals

    -Postal Services

    -Creation of the Russian Navy

• Remade Russia from an isolated kingdom to a modern global power

Regent Sophia

• Half-sibling of Peter the Great.

• Following their father, Tsar Alexei I’s death and their half-brother, Fydor, she was incharge of Russia until Peter came of age.

• Compromise: Peter and Ivan V were co-tsars, while she was regent.

• 1682 to 1689

• Streltsy followed her order

• Once Peter turned 17, she was sent to a convent to become a nun.

Charles XII

• King of Sweden in 1700

• determined to control most of the Baltic coast

• Participant in The Great Northern War w/Russia

• The battle on the Narva was a victory for the Swedes

• Afterward, King turned his attention toward facing off the Poles

• In 1709, Russia faced off with Sweden once more on the Poltava and won —> Sweden lost control over the Baltic

Prince Alexei

• Peter the Great’s son

• Peter was unimpressed with his work ethic + his lack of want/skill to become Tsar

• Fearing his father’s anger, Alexei fled to Western Europe

• Eventually lured back —> labeled as a traitor for abandoning his nation

• Resulting in his imprisonment where he would spend his last days (recorded: beaten w/ a whip till death) —> Unknown if Peter intended for his son to die.

• No son —> no heir to the throne —> Catherine I would become Tsarina

Alexander Pushkin

• Considered one of Russia’s greatest poet

• Wrote the Bronze Horseman

• Father was a direct descendent of an Ethiopian prince + a general in Peter’s army

• Died only 37 years old —> fighting a duel to defend his wife’s honor

Time of Troubles

• Chaotic upheavals

• Constant hardships

• Famine and Diseases

• Without political leaderships

Romanov Dynasty

• Established right after the Time of Troubles; Stabilized the country

• First Tsar: Mikhail Romanov

• 3 centuries long

1649 Law Code

• passed by Tsar Alexis I

• legalized serfdom (peasant farmers are tied to the land) —> Peasants had uprising and periods of constant unrest

Treaty of Pereyaslav (1654)

• Ukrainian Cossacks are against impending Polish rule (led by Bohdan Khmelnytsky)

• He proposes a the treaty as a compromise: in exchange for protection, Ukraine would pledge its loyalty to the Tsars

• Result: Most of left bank Ukraine (not all) break away from Polish rule

• Result: granted a degree of autonomy (self-government)—> fully incorporated into the Russian Empire for the next 300+ years

Streltsy

• elite soldiers who sided with Regent Sophia and her reign

• Massacred Peter’s close relatives

• When Peter returned from his trip to the West, the streltsy were in open revolt —> Peter authorized the arrest of most strelsty members; most killed or exiled to Siberia

Warm-Water Port

• A port that doesn’t freeze over in the winter

• Establishes easy access to trade

• Russia was landlocked + Peter wanted a successful navy and ships

• Preferred the Black Sea —> Occupied by the Azovs, but Peter eventually gained control.

• Next, he wanted a port on the Baltic Sea —> led to the Great Northern War w/ Sweden —>Defeat at Narva —> Building of St. Petersburg —> Victory at Poltava + easy access to the Baltic coast

Table of Ranks

• a 14 level program where civil servants or commanding officers had to go through each category and successfully move up

• hoped to achieve a more widen composition of nobility & make them more efficient

• Peter didn’t want incompetent nobility to inherit high positions + Peter knew there was talent among the lower class

• Alexander Menshikov: first job was selling pies but he eventually became a leading army commander & a trusted friend and advisor to Peter

• remained in effect till the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917

Great Northern War

• Began with Russia wanting control of the Baltic Sea when primarily Sweden (Charles XII) had custody

• 1700 to 1721

• Battle of Narva: Defeat —> led to Peter building more effective war ships & the construction of St. Petersburg along the Neva river

• Battle of Poltava: Victory —> a major city in place + access to Baltic ports

Battle of Narva

• Russians were soundly defeated by Swedish troops

• However, in preparation for a second attempt, Peter built Northern War Ships & constructed St. Petersburg near the Neva River

Battle of Poltava

• a decade long

• A Russian victory

• Importance: Russia was now a great European power w/ a major city & access to the Baltic Sea

St. Petersburg

• founded in 1703

• near the mouth of the Neva River (meets the Gulf of Finland)

• The are was swampy and marshy

• “city built on bones”

• Drafted tens of thousdand of men and forced them to work under any circumstances

• Steaming hot summers where diseases festered in swamplands (malaria, scurvy) & a lack of water supplies

• bone-chilling winters; winds whipping from the Gulf of Finland

• Thousand of laborers died

The Bronze Horseman

• A famous poem written by Alexander Pushkin BUT also a famous statue by Etienne Falconet

• Famous statue dedicated to

  the memory of Peter the Great from Catherine the Great

• The main character, Yevegeni, faces a traumatic storm and flood and is slowly descending into madness as he wanders around St. Petersburg looking for his love, Parasha —> Ends w/ Yevegeni at Parasha’s washed away house, dead, of a broken heart.

Peterhof Palace

• Famous palace 20 miles outside of St. Petersburg & looks over the Gulf of Finland

• Construction started under Peter the Great (1722)

• Has been called the “Russian Versailles”

• WW2: decimated by invading Germans

• Now: rebuilt & a major tourist attractions

Mice Burying the Cat

• Mice —> represent Peter’s subjects

• Cat —> represents Peter

• Three mice are celebrating the Tsar’s death by dancing and playing instruments

• The mouse with the crutch could represent a laborer of the construction of St. Petersburg, who must have gotten injured in the construction process.

• Overall message: subjects were celebratory for the Tsar’s death as they no longer could be controlled under his reign

Beard Tax

• Left Man —> Subject w/ a beard

• Right Man —> a clean shaven Peter the Great

• Represents the Beard Tax: subjects had to pay a tax in order to own a beard

• Peter hoped to modernize Russia —> converting away from traditional nobel clothing (kaftans & beards) to a more western look

• Overall message: Peter believed the noble class was too primitive and medieval; he admired the Western look and wished to incorporate that into his reign by any means necessary (thus forcing a beard tax upon his citizens to usher men to shave their beards)