Peter the Great's Russia

Relevant Historical Background Regarding Russia

• Mongols (a group of nomadic tribes from Mongolia) established an empire, uniting most of Asia

• Grand Duchy of Moscow was good at serving the Mongols, but got stronger over time, especially under Ivan III (the Great)

• after the Fall of Constantinople, Moscow princes saw themselves as the next Byzantine Emperor → Ivan III married daughter of last Byzantine Emperor

• Eventually, Mongols vs Muscovites happened and the Mongols backed away

• Ivan IV (the Terrible): took crown as Tsar for himself, after his wife died he persecuted anyone who opposed him (leading boyars, friends, families, servants) BUT created a service nobility (loyalty guaranteed by dependence on state for land and titles) to replace the persecuted, strictly tied peasants to land, taxed peasants more heavily, urban dwellers bound to towns and land, defeated the remnants of Mongol power, allied with Cossacks (free groups and warrior bands) to conquer more land

• "Time of Troubles" (1598-1613): when Ivan IV's relatives struggled for power, Cossacks and peasants rebelled against nobles and officials → nobles worked together to defeat them, ended when Micheal Romanov (Ivan's 16 yr old grandnephew) took throne

• 1667: got Ukraine, Siberia, and made its way to Sea of Okhotsk in Pacific → only checked by Qing Dynasty in China

• experienced no Renaissance, no Enlightenment, and remained very tied to the Orthodox Church

Cultural Traits that made up Russia at the time of Peter the Great (and the ones he kept)

• serfdom

• long beards

• robes, dressed for cold weather

• women and men had separate spheres

• Russian Orthodox Church

• trade in fur, specifically Siberian

• streltsi: Russia's old and first standing army, like conservative musketeers

Key Challenges Peter the Great had to overcome as he ascended the throne and consolidated his power

• disputed succession (with streltsi violence) led to Peter being controlled as child-regent with his half-brother Ivan V by sister, Sophia

• Peter detested "Old Russia," turning attention to "playing war" with his friends in a "play army" → over time the "play army" became serious and started having advisors

• 1689: takes full power (with the help of his "play army"), cloistering (making a nun) Sophia and crushing streltsi (after a 1698 rebellion, rumored Peter himself killed 1000)

• after his very traditional mother died, Peter abolished all Muscovite court rituals

• Russia was underdeveloped and not modernized (had to catch up to the West) → intended to expand and increase Russia international standing

• in need of a warm water port (does not freeze over) for trade, other than Archangel

Ways Peter the Great established a dramatic precedent for Russian expansionism

• rapid expansion

• rapid militarism

• rapid westernization

- used war to expand

Peter the Great transformed Russia's Economics/Trade by…

• collecting Siberian fur to trade → money to fund army and bureacracy

• devoting 80-85% of all revenue to war → militarization

• restrictions on serfs increased, had to work in factories or mines → growing gap between serfs and nobility, factories and mines supplied military

• conquered a warm water port from Ottoman Empire (fort of Azov, though lost it soon) → trade all year round because the water wouldn't freeze over

• taxed peasants 3 times more than usual → to fund army

• increased serf labor → increased production

• placed a big tax on the wealthy + sent 25,000-40,000 peasants to work without pay each summer → construction of St. Petersburg, new capital city, the window to the West

• forced nobles to build palaces in St. Petersburg + live there most of the year → populated new capital, emptied nobles pockets

• required merchants to settle and build in St. Petersburg → populated new capital

• enforced a soul tax (tax based on soul) → could tax the nobility

Peter the Great transformed Russia's Social/Intellectual/Culture by…

• boyars had to shave their beards (or paid a tax) → shocked traditional Orthodox notion of masculinity

• boyars had to wear western style (germanic style) clothes → not suitable for cold and harsh Russian climate

• young men and women forced to go to parties and converse with each other → women despised not getting to wear gloves

• created schools of navigation, math, medicine, engineering, and finance → educated!

• created a new Russian alphabet (more simple) and Russia's first newspaper → westernization, literacy goes up

• brought foreign experts in military, administration, shipbuilding → improve army, navy, and infrastructure

• created a new capital in St. Petersburg, his window to the West

• Table of Rank/State Service: 14 rank beauracracy based on merit and not wealth → anyone regardless of birth could gain status through service

Peter the Great transformed Russia's Religion by…

• getting rid of the patriarch → Russian Orthodox Church became a government office (the Holy Synod), but Peter was not exactly the head

Peter the Great transformed Russia's Government and Military by…

• crushed streltsi revolt early on in reign

• established a new capital in St. Petersburg (Peterhof here, heavily inspired by Versailles) → serfs, soldiers, peasants, Swedish prisoners all had to build it (thousands died), nobles had to build expensive palaces here and live here most of the year

• indeniture: only 1 son inherited land, cut out daughters and other sons → nobles unhappy

• 1696: Conquered Ottoman fort Azov near the Black Sea → Russia's 1st naval base, but lost it later to the Ottomans

• 14 rank bureaucracy (Table of Rank) → efficient army and government

• Ukase: "royal decree," ruling by own law

• standing army of 200,000 men, more than 100,000 in special regiment Cossacks + mercenaries

• peasant-soldiers were drafted and commanded by nobles for life

• 8,000 men in Swedish army beat Russia's ~40k army at Narva → Peter militarized a lot

• Great Northern War (1700-1721): Narva's loss made Peter focus on making his military more western; Battle of Poltova (1709) → Treaty of Nystad (1721): Russia got the Baltic (including land like Estonia, Livonia (Latvia), AND where St. Petersburg was)

• benefitted from the Partition of Poland

• Peter did not name his son, Alexei, as his heir because he said he would undo all westernization, Alexei was arrested for treason but while awaiting his death sentence he died in prison of torture during interrogation

The Great Northern War (1700-1721)

• Peter allied with Denmark + Poland to attack Sweden for access to the Baltic BUT Charles XII of Sweden quickly defeated Denmark in 1700, then his well-trained army defeated the unsuspecting Russians at the Battle of Narva (8k Sweden vs 40k Russia)

• Effect of Battle of Narva: started the Great Northern War, Peter increased state power and strengthened military to gain victory, required nobles to serve in army/civil administration for life

• Battle of Poltova (1709): Peter's new modernized army crushed Charles XII's small weak one in Ukraine at Poltova

• Treaty of Nystad (1721): officially ended the Great Northern War, Russia got the Swedish parts of the Baltic (where St. Petersburg already was)

Sweden's King who fought Peter in the Great Northern War (1700-1721)

Charles XII

Peter's Baroque summer palace

Peterhof in St. Petersburg

The head of the Russian Orthodox Church, until Peter

Patriarch

A term for transforming society and technology to mimic that of Western Europe

Westernize

Russian nobles called

Boyars

Peter wanted to learn the most about western

Technology

Ivan IV's nickname, probably for going crazy and hunting boyars

"the Terrible"

Simplified during Peter's reign

Russian alphabet

Dynasty that began with Micheal's election (1613)

Romanov

Women no longer wore these in Peter's Russia

Gloves

Executed, rather tortured to death, for promising to go back to "the old ways"

Alexei, Peter the Great's son

Peter forced men and women to do this!

Dance

Russian robes were tossed aside for clothes

Western (Germanic style)

Where Russia's 40K lost to Sweden's 8K in 1700

Battle of Narva

Brought much of Russia (and Asia) together under their yoke

Mongols

Peter won access to this sea through the Great Northern War (1700-1721)

Baltic Sea

Wanted to re-Roman Catholicize Russia, an ally during the Great Northern War (1700-1721)

Poland

Peter defeated them with his navy, briefly gaining access to the Sea of Azov

Ottoman Turks

Capital of Russia until Peter

Moscow

What Peter wanted to do to the army and navy

Modernize

Peter's "window to the west"

St. Petersburg

English monarch who encouraged Peter to visit England

William III

Where Peter defeated the Swedes in 1709

Poltova in Ukraine

Russia won it during the Great Northern War but gave it back in 1721

Finland

After 1700, Russia's religion was controlled by the Procurator of the ____ ______

Holy Synod

Treaty in 1721 which gave Peter Livonia and Baltic access

Treaty of Nystadt

Regent of Russia until Peter banned her to a monastary

Sophia

Russia's main enemy who controlled the Baltic

Sweden

Peter waited to visit this kingdom until the Sun King died

France

Men shaved these or paid a tax

Long beards

Port near but not on the Black Sea

Azov

Government jobs, under Peter, were distributed based on _, rather than birth

Merit

A canal linked St. Petersburg to this river

Volga

First to use the name Tsar, drove out the Mongols

Ivan IV

Russia's class that was "Europeanized"

Upper class, the boyars

Bound peasants who were forced to work in industry by Peter

Serfs

Many, in Peter the Great's Russia, paid a tax on their ____

soul