(Unit 3 - Russia)

Russia

Ousting the Mongols & Centralizing Power

● Under Ivan III, prince of Moscow, Russia begins to oust Mongol rule 

● Ivan III unifies Russia under the power of the princes of Moscow

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Centralization & Expansion under Ivan IV:

Ivan the Terrible

● Ivan IV is crowned the first tsar/czar of Russia (1547) 

● Begins dynastic rule of Russia - Rurik Dynasty 

    ○ Responsible for building the centralized Russian state 

   ○ Expanded Russia to include non-Slavic territories 

           ■ Took control of Kazan, Astrakhan, and Siberia through the use of gunpowder 

● Creates arquebusier cavalry 

     ■ Wants to expand fur trade eastward 

● Allows Stroganovs (major landowners) to hire cossacks to fight local tribes and Siberian khan to gain control of the Volga River and its outlet to the Caspian Sea

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The Volga River

● Provides access to the Caspian Sea 

● Connects Russia to trade with Persia

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Continued Expansion

● Russia continues to expand east After Ivan IV 

● Reaches the Pacific by 1639 

● By 1741, Russia has sent explorers and fur traders as far as Alaska and down the coast of California by 1814 

● A Russian trading company was formed that traded very valuable pelts

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Centralizing Government

● Bringing all of the Russian states under the control of one rule began with Ivan IV (The Terrible) 

● Ivan used brutal and militaristic means to develop and maintain control of the Russian state 

     ○ Many boyars resisted Ivanʼs expansion, and their lands were confiscated and they were moved to Moscow near the ruler 

     ○ Built a bureaucracy by moving the boyars to his court in Moscow and having them work for him

              ■ Appointments were based on loyalty 

     ○ Created a loyal secret police force called the oprichnina 

● Ivan IV develops absolute power of the tsar in Russia

      ○ Has total power over all parts of government ○ Often allied with the Orthodox Church to rationalize their power

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Centralizing Power: Peter the Great

● Romanov Dynasty begins in 1613 and maintain power until the end of the monarchy in 1917 

● Peter the Great (1689) led Russia during a time when competing centers of power sought dominance

     ○ The Russian Orthodox Church sought to maintain traditional religious beliefs and values 

                 ■ Peter the Great, “Defender of Orthodoxy” allied himself with the church but also sought to control it 

      ○ Boyars wanted to gain influence 

                ■ Peter divided his empire into 8 provinces and over 50 administrative divisions to match the influence of the boyars to match the power of landowners 

                ■ Provincial officials were salaried, creating a bureaucratic class loyal to the king 

      ○ The royal family wanted to control the state, the boyars, and the church 

                ■ Peter had to defeat his sister and her military corps, the Streltsy before taking power. Later the Streltsy rebelled 

● Peter creates a Senate to advise government officials when Peter is away \n

Religion & Art to Legitimize Power: Russia

● Peter brought French Ballet to Russia, illustrating his attempts at Westernization 

● Just as Louis XIV built Versailles as a symbol of power, other monarchs built monumental architecture to demonstrate their influence 

● Peter the Great sought a “warm water port” where he could trade with the west all year. He achieved this by seizing lands along the Baltic to create St. Petersburg

     ○ Moved the capital here 

      ○ Oversaw boyars who he perceived as a threat 

      ○ City built by Carlo Rossi and Domenico Trazzini built the city using grid streets and a new style that came to be known as Petrine Baroque 

                ■ Built by peasants and Swedish POWs 

                ■ Designed in western European style rather than Byzantine style

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Centralizing Power: Taxation

● Peter the Great established new industries owned by the state

        ○ Shipyards in St. Petersburg ○ Iron Mines in Ural Mountains 

● Encouraged growth of the private industry 

      ○ Metallurgy 

      ○ Paper 

      ○ Shipbuilding 

● Raised taxes 

● Forced peasants to work in shipyards

● In 1718 land tax replaced tax on individuals (tax on heads), and peasants became more

oppressed \n

Centralizing Power: Religion

● The Russian Orthodox church had been used

to unify the Russian people 

● Tsars claimed to rule by divine right 

● Peter the Great sought to unify Church and state by abolishing the patriarch, the spiritual head of the church

         ○ Created the Holy Synod which was led by a secular official who answered to the tsar

● Peter raised the age that men could become monks to 50, requiring the young to serve as his soldiers

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