manasecret
08-25-2008, 11:13 AM
We continue on our trip today with Part 2 from KnowledgeNews.net's (http://www.knowledgenews.net) A Trip to Russia series.
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A Trip to Russia, Part 2
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f294/barneyis666/a1734.jpg
Peter the Great says, "Westward, Russian soldiers!"
The first leg of our Russian journey ended in Moscow, where the rulers of a once-minor medieval principality, called "Muscovy," were becoming mighty emperors, called "czars." Yet as the czars gained power, the land's peasants and nobles, called "boyars," lost it--and lost it big.
The czars wanted serfs. The czars wanted rich estates. They wanted to rule a great power. Today, we'll enter the Kremlin and meet three of these czars: Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great, and Empress Catherine the Great.
Meet Ivan the Terrible -- and His Corps of Black-Clad Thugs
Before the 15th century, serfdom was virtually unknown in Russia. By the 17th century, most peasants had been reduced nearly to slave status. As serfs, they were legally tied to the land and could even be bought and sold.
Some fled south, feeding the development of independent communities of people known as "Cossacks." Meanwhile, Muscovy's princes were building an army by seizing property from boyars and parceling it out to military men who pledged continual service. Both of these processes reached new heights in the mid-16th century, during the reign of Ivan IV (a.k.a. "Ivan the Terrible").
In 1564, Ivan literally split the state in two, claiming many of the richest parts of Russia as his "oprichnina"--basically, crown lands. He enforced control using a corps of black-clad thugs, "oprichniks," who sometimes confiscated whole estates and executed their inhabitants en masse. Boyar families were decimated, and many peasants fled. By the time he died in 1584, Ivan had nearly undermined Muscovy.
Witness the Time of Troubles -- Our Excuse for Autocracy
Ivan's mentally deficient son, Fyodor I, succeeded him, but died without an heir in 1598. Control then passed to Fyodor's brother-in-law, Boris Godunov, who had dominated the court even while Fyodor was alive.
Godunov managed to get himself named czar, but he faced legitimacy problems practically from the start. Aristocrats were jealous of his rise. Peasants hated the taxes he imposed (not to mention more laws limiting their movement). And there were whispers that he had murdered Fyodor's younger brother, Dmitry Ivanovich, who would have been the rightful heir. To top it all off, a deadly famine struck in 1601.
Then, in 1604, a man falsely claiming to be Dmitry Ivanovich led a successful revolt against Moscow, backed by Cossacks, peasants, and a Polish garrison. After a brief peace, the boyars revolted against this False Dmitry and placed one of their own, Vasily Shysky, on the throne. Cossacks and peasants then rose again, marching on Moscow with a second False Dmitry. In a bid to save his crown, Shysky allied himself with the Swedes, enemy of the Poles.
The "Time of Troubles," as this chaotic era is now called, continued until 1613, when an assembly of Russian nobles elected Ivan IV's wife's great-nephew, Michael Romanov, czar. The Romanov family would rule Russia for more than 300 years--and point back to the Time of Troubles whenever it needed an excuse for autocracy.
Meet Peter the Great -- and See the Rise of the Russian Empire
Michael Romanov ruled over relative calm until 1645, when his son Alexis succeeded him. Under Alexis, Muscovy sided with Cossacks revolting against Polish rule in Ukraine. That led to war with Poland, which led to a 1667 treaty dividing Ukraine in two--Poland got the west, Muscovy the east. The principality was edging closer to western Europe. Still, it remained a relative backwater from the perspective of the European powers of the time.
That began to change with Peter I (a.k.a. "Peter the Great"). The six-foot, seven-inch giant became sole ruler of Muscovy in 1696 and ruthlessly set his nation on a course to great-power status. Peter modernized the army, built a navy, rationalized government structures, and established a merit-based ranking system for the bureaucracy--letting talented and loyal people, including commoners, rise in authority. He even established Russia's Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Peter also spent most of his reign at war. Most notably, he won the Great Northern War against Sweden, annexing Estonia and other Baltic lands. When that war concluded in 1721, Peter assumed the title of emperor as well as czar. The principality of Muscovy officially became the Russian Empire, and a new city closer to Europe--St. Petersburg--officially became the capital.
Meet Catherine the Great -- and Reckon with Russia as a Great Power
Not everyone liked Peter's reforms, which tended to westernize Russia. Among those opposed was his son, Alexis, who died in 1718, while in prison on a charge of high treason. In response, Peter decreed that czars should henceforth name their own successors. Then he failed to name his own before his death in 1725. The result was more than 15 years of coups. Eventually, Peter's daughter Elizabeth assumed the throne and oversaw a cultural flourishing.
When Elizabeth died in 1762, Peter the Great's grandson, Peter III, succeeded her. Distinctly pro-Prussian, Peter III viewed his Russian subjects with a certain amount of contempt--and they returned the favor. He wasn't long for the throne. But not so his German wife, Catherine. Fearing for her own position, Catherine deposed her husband in a palace coup. Her lover later murdered him, and she became Catherine II, empress of Russia (a.k.a. "Catherine the Great").
Under Catherine, Russia expanded yet again, annexing Crimea and a large chunk of Poland--which, for a time, disappeared from the map. The Russian empress also kept a scandalously long list of lovers and became a favorite of the Enlightenment philosophes. But her actual dedication to Enlightenment values is questionable. When Russian author Alexander Radishchev published an attack on serfdom and autocracy in 1790, Catherine promptly shipped him off to Siberia.
By the end of Catherine's reign in 1796, Russia was a great power, fully capable of competing militarily and politically with its European rivals. Yet it still lagged behind them economically--reliant as it was on serf-powered agriculture. That economic gap would widen as the industrial revolution picked up pace in western Europe. Russia's future would belong as much to Alexander Radishchev's ideological descendants as to Catherine the Great's literal ones.
--Steve Sampson
-----------------------------------------------
Tune in tomorrow for Part 3 in the series.
KnowledgeNews.net (http://knowledgenews.net/index.shtml)
If you missed it:
A Trip to Russia, Part 1 (http://www.gametavern.net/forums/showthread.php?t=18902)
-----------------------------------------------
A Trip to Russia, Part 2
http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f294/barneyis666/a1734.jpg
Peter the Great says, "Westward, Russian soldiers!"
The first leg of our Russian journey ended in Moscow, where the rulers of a once-minor medieval principality, called "Muscovy," were becoming mighty emperors, called "czars." Yet as the czars gained power, the land's peasants and nobles, called "boyars," lost it--and lost it big.
The czars wanted serfs. The czars wanted rich estates. They wanted to rule a great power. Today, we'll enter the Kremlin and meet three of these czars: Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great, and Empress Catherine the Great.
Meet Ivan the Terrible -- and His Corps of Black-Clad Thugs
Before the 15th century, serfdom was virtually unknown in Russia. By the 17th century, most peasants had been reduced nearly to slave status. As serfs, they were legally tied to the land and could even be bought and sold.
Some fled south, feeding the development of independent communities of people known as "Cossacks." Meanwhile, Muscovy's princes were building an army by seizing property from boyars and parceling it out to military men who pledged continual service. Both of these processes reached new heights in the mid-16th century, during the reign of Ivan IV (a.k.a. "Ivan the Terrible").
In 1564, Ivan literally split the state in two, claiming many of the richest parts of Russia as his "oprichnina"--basically, crown lands. He enforced control using a corps of black-clad thugs, "oprichniks," who sometimes confiscated whole estates and executed their inhabitants en masse. Boyar families were decimated, and many peasants fled. By the time he died in 1584, Ivan had nearly undermined Muscovy.
Witness the Time of Troubles -- Our Excuse for Autocracy
Ivan's mentally deficient son, Fyodor I, succeeded him, but died without an heir in 1598. Control then passed to Fyodor's brother-in-law, Boris Godunov, who had dominated the court even while Fyodor was alive.
Godunov managed to get himself named czar, but he faced legitimacy problems practically from the start. Aristocrats were jealous of his rise. Peasants hated the taxes he imposed (not to mention more laws limiting their movement). And there were whispers that he had murdered Fyodor's younger brother, Dmitry Ivanovich, who would have been the rightful heir. To top it all off, a deadly famine struck in 1601.
Then, in 1604, a man falsely claiming to be Dmitry Ivanovich led a successful revolt against Moscow, backed by Cossacks, peasants, and a Polish garrison. After a brief peace, the boyars revolted against this False Dmitry and placed one of their own, Vasily Shysky, on the throne. Cossacks and peasants then rose again, marching on Moscow with a second False Dmitry. In a bid to save his crown, Shysky allied himself with the Swedes, enemy of the Poles.
The "Time of Troubles," as this chaotic era is now called, continued until 1613, when an assembly of Russian nobles elected Ivan IV's wife's great-nephew, Michael Romanov, czar. The Romanov family would rule Russia for more than 300 years--and point back to the Time of Troubles whenever it needed an excuse for autocracy.
Meet Peter the Great -- and See the Rise of the Russian Empire
Michael Romanov ruled over relative calm until 1645, when his son Alexis succeeded him. Under Alexis, Muscovy sided with Cossacks revolting against Polish rule in Ukraine. That led to war with Poland, which led to a 1667 treaty dividing Ukraine in two--Poland got the west, Muscovy the east. The principality was edging closer to western Europe. Still, it remained a relative backwater from the perspective of the European powers of the time.
That began to change with Peter I (a.k.a. "Peter the Great"). The six-foot, seven-inch giant became sole ruler of Muscovy in 1696 and ruthlessly set his nation on a course to great-power status. Peter modernized the army, built a navy, rationalized government structures, and established a merit-based ranking system for the bureaucracy--letting talented and loyal people, including commoners, rise in authority. He even established Russia's Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Peter also spent most of his reign at war. Most notably, he won the Great Northern War against Sweden, annexing Estonia and other Baltic lands. When that war concluded in 1721, Peter assumed the title of emperor as well as czar. The principality of Muscovy officially became the Russian Empire, and a new city closer to Europe--St. Petersburg--officially became the capital.
Meet Catherine the Great -- and Reckon with Russia as a Great Power
Not everyone liked Peter's reforms, which tended to westernize Russia. Among those opposed was his son, Alexis, who died in 1718, while in prison on a charge of high treason. In response, Peter decreed that czars should henceforth name their own successors. Then he failed to name his own before his death in 1725. The result was more than 15 years of coups. Eventually, Peter's daughter Elizabeth assumed the throne and oversaw a cultural flourishing.
When Elizabeth died in 1762, Peter the Great's grandson, Peter III, succeeded her. Distinctly pro-Prussian, Peter III viewed his Russian subjects with a certain amount of contempt--and they returned the favor. He wasn't long for the throne. But not so his German wife, Catherine. Fearing for her own position, Catherine deposed her husband in a palace coup. Her lover later murdered him, and she became Catherine II, empress of Russia (a.k.a. "Catherine the Great").
Under Catherine, Russia expanded yet again, annexing Crimea and a large chunk of Poland--which, for a time, disappeared from the map. The Russian empress also kept a scandalously long list of lovers and became a favorite of the Enlightenment philosophes. But her actual dedication to Enlightenment values is questionable. When Russian author Alexander Radishchev published an attack on serfdom and autocracy in 1790, Catherine promptly shipped him off to Siberia.
By the end of Catherine's reign in 1796, Russia was a great power, fully capable of competing militarily and politically with its European rivals. Yet it still lagged behind them economically--reliant as it was on serf-powered agriculture. That economic gap would widen as the industrial revolution picked up pace in western Europe. Russia's future would belong as much to Alexander Radishchev's ideological descendants as to Catherine the Great's literal ones.
--Steve Sampson
-----------------------------------------------
Tune in tomorrow for Part 3 in the series.
KnowledgeNews.net (http://knowledgenews.net/index.shtml)
If you missed it:
A Trip to Russia, Part 1 (http://www.gametavern.net/forums/showthread.php?t=18902)