The Isolation of Russia

Compared to Western Europe• Backward (blend of cultures)

• Less politically developed

• Not influenced by Renaissance and Scientific Revolution

• No exploration (no sea routes)

• No trade (No Crusade)

• Serfdom continues

• 30 Years War (holds E. Europe back)

Early Russian Society• 1480 Ivan III frees Russia from the

Mongol Yoke • Became the first czar

• Claimed descent from Caesar

• Society dominated by landowning nobility (boyars), serfs tied to land• Serfdom lasted until mid 1800’s (ended

in 1300/1400’s in Western Europe

Effects of Mongol Culture• Asian culture

• Mongols took money (tribute)• Princes controlled land and collected

money

• Mongols used strength of military/force

More Isolation• Don’t know much of W.

Europe

• Middle Age leadership- Constantinople not Rome

• Mongols cut Russia off from W. Europe during Renaissance

Legitimacy…• Tie back to Romans and Byzantium

• 2 headed eagle

• Absolute monarch “Caesar”

• Religion of Byzantium• Break from Catholicism

• Leads to religious conflict with W. Europe

• Art = icons

Further Isolation• Geographically cut-off

• Ural Mountains cut off from East

• Only seaport- Archangel (frozen)

• Religion widens gap West• Eastern/Russian Orthodox v. Catholic/

Protestant

• Only Germans traveled to Russia

Ivan

the

Terrible

Time of Troubles

•No clear successor to Throne

•Michael Romanov

Rule of Peter the Great

Peter

the

Great

Early Rule

• Crown at Ten• Strelsky Kills Family• Made Co with brother Ivan• Plays solider• Sister Sophia Tries to Take over• Imprisons her in Convent• Gets rid of Brother• Louie XIV

Peter the Great• 1682 (full power 1696)• Interested in foreign things, ships,

seas• Saw need for warm water port

• Necessary for competition with modern powers

• Came to power w/ help of streltsy (Moscow guards)

Desire to Modernize • 1698 Traveled to W. Europe to learn

customs• 1st czar to travel to W. Europe (heretics)

• Incognito (wanted real look)

• Worked in shipyard in Netherlands

• Later traveled to England• Toured in London

Peter’s Changes –Make Russian more W. European

• Status of Women• Until 1700 followed Byzantine custom-

women stay at home

• Noblewoman invited to social gatherings (without veils)

• No arranged marriages (unless children consented)

• No beards for men (look European)

Peter’s Changes –Make Russian more W. European

• Russian Calendar• Year starts on Jan. 1 not Sept. 1• Year based on birth of Jesus

• 7208 became 1700

• Newspapers• 1st newspaper reported on non-Russian

events• Western ideas develop• Reading taught

Peter’s Changes –Make Russian more W. European

• Agriculture• Staple crop= potato

• Factories and Mines-• Exports encourage• Imports discouraged• Factories subsidized (centralized

workshops)• Iron industry developed

Absolute Rule • Peter increased power

• People become discontented (forced changes)

• Holy Synod (priests) with Peter as head- replaced Patriarch• Similar to Church of England

• Boyars lose power (new social status)• Land and positions given to lower-

ranking (ensured loyalty)

Russian Military• European officers hired to modernize

• Army –Prussia, Navy -Britain

• Only had part-time cavalry

• Army of 200,000 paid for by taxes

• Army used to crush peasant revolt and gain warm water port• Lead to need for warships

Russian Military• Close Russia to possible European

invasion

• Great Northern War- v. Swedes who invade Ukraine (defeated by winter)• Russia gains land on Baltic Sea

A New Capital

• 1712 St. Petersburg made capital

• Built on swamp

• Land gained from Sweden

• Located on Neva River, near coast

Catherine the Great

The Beginning...• German sent to Russia to marry Peter

(heir to throne)

• Peter was mentally unstable

• Catherine made friends with army officers

• 1762 husband came to power

• she had him confined (died/murder)

• 1762 Catherine crowned

Her 34 Year Rule• Dedicated to Russia• 1767 Convention of nobles, free

peasants, townspeople• Created constitution• Suggested reform: stop capital

punishment, end use of torture,abolish serfdom

• In end group accomplished nothing

• Religious tolerance, except Jews

Little Help for Peasants

• 1773 massive rebellion of serfs, soldiers, escaped prisoners• Leader Pugachev (claimed to be

dead husband) promises to end serfdom

• Serfs burned manors, murdered landowners

• Rebellion grows

Reaction & Results• Reaction: Army used to crush

rebellion

• Villages destroyed

• Results: Catherine realized she needed nobles help to keep throne

• Nobles given absolute control over serfs

• 95% of population was serfs

War?• Ignores philosophes warning against

war• War with Ottoman Turks

• Access to Black Sea• Threatened balance of power in E.

Europe- Frederick II, Maria Theresa threatened

• Led to compromise (Aust, Prussia, Russia)- divided weak Poland (1795 Poland gone

Expansion

• Russia grew by 200,000 square miles

Russia• Weaknesses:

• little industry

• inefficient agriculture

•serfs (80%) tied to land- uneducated, poor, no incentive to work

• stern rule of czar

• political tension between nationalities

• 1800’s attempt to expand Pan-Slavism

• gain access to Mediterranean

Alexander I

• Coup• Defeats Napoleon• Scorched Earth• Peter Used in Great Northern Wars• Presence felt at Congress of

Vienna

Decembrist Revolt • Alexander I dies- army officers

revolt• Officers had contact with West

(Napoleonic Wars)

• Goal: written constitution (Western-style rights)

Repression and Nicholas I• 1825 Decembrist Revolt crushed• Russification- force Russian

language, culture and subject nations• Destroy nationalism and revolts

• Serfdom not abolished- needed support of the wealthy• 500 peasant revolts crushed• Westernization hampered

Repression and Nicholas I• “Fight revolutionary spirit”

• Limited education • Books and newspapers censored

• Secret police

• Crimean Wars lost- Russia behind

Reforms and Alexander II• Reform needed for Westernization

• 1861 Serfdom abolished• 1/2 land remained for nobles

• 1/2 mirs (village commumities)- SOLD money for govt.

• Peasants still tied to land (not allowed to leave, others would have to pay more)

More Reforms• Zemstvos- people gain some control over

affairs• local councils- nobles, townspeople,

peasants• More schools• Court system modernized• Army reformed• Economic development encouraged with

building of railroads and factories

1863 Polish Revolt• ***Reform ended***

• Russification pushed in Poland• led to more Polish

nationalism

1870 Will of the People

• Russian nationalists•officials murdered

•bomb kills Czar Alexander in 1881

Reading

• Group 5 minutes• Pass in Video Notes• 2nd Empire• Third Republic• Paris Commune• Dryfus Affair

Repression and Alexander III• Russia becomes a police state to end

revolutionary activity• power of zemstvos reduced• persecution of Jews- pogroms• Russification- Autocracy,

Orthodoxy, Nationalism • Nationalism still grows

• Industrialization continues• Russia still behind rest of world

Russia under Nicholas II

•Nicholas II- Romanov family•Czar in 1894 at age 26

•Did NOT want to become czar

•Ruled as autocrat

Attempts at Modernization• Russia was weak and undeveloped

• Sergei Witte- czar’s minister• 1900 worked for industrialization

• Foreign experts brought in

• Trans-Siberian RR completed

• Increased taxes

• Borrowed money from foreigners

Unrest Develops from Urbanization

• Peasants left farms for factories

• Workers unhappy with low standard of living and little political power

• Upper-class resented power of foreign companies

• Critics look to a new form of government

Russian Revolution

LeninStalin

Lenin and the Bolsheviks• Vladimir Ilyich Lenin- studied

Marx• Brother was executed for plot against

the czar• 1895 Lenin was arrested and sent to

Siberia for political activities then left Russia for 17 years

• In Europe Lenin continued his anti-czarist activities

Russian Marxists Split• Both groups agreed Russia was not

industrialized or capitalist• Mensheviks – “minority”

• Socialist revolution needed to wait until proletariat grows

• Bolsheviks – “majority”• Form secret group to help workers revolt• Secret group would rule until proletariat

ready

Revolution of 1905• 1905- Russia defeated in Russo-

Japanese War• 1905- Workers in St. Petersburg revolt

• Soviets formed- representative council for the people

• October Manifesto- Czar gives constitution• Duma- first parliament, czar had veto

power

Read and Take Notes

•Kagan 837- 840

•New Industries

•Economic Difficulties

•Social Distinctions

WWI• Russia interested in Balkans brings her

into war• 1915- Nicholas goes to front to rally

troops• Alexandra left to rule with Rasputin

• “Holy man” who could control Alexis’ hemophilia

• 1916 Nobles kill Rasputin- felt their power threatened

The March Revolution• Causes:

• Defeats of war

• Discontent (food, fuel shortage)

• Weaknesses of autocracy

• Strike led by women textile workers in Petrograd

• Soldiers turn on officers, not people

Results of March Revolution• Nicholas II abdicates

• Provisional Government under Alexander Kerensky est.•Russia stays in WWI

•Western-style parliamentary govt.

• People unhappy

Petrograd Soviet• Competes with Provisional Govt.

for control

• Favored withdrawal from WWI

• Favored radical social reform for workers and peasants

• Actually held more power than Provisional Govt.

Three Government Choices • Russia lost faith in govt, Lenin is

returned by Germans

• 1. Parliamentary Govt- order through Democratic reform (Provisional)

• 2. Military Dictatorship- restore order by armed force

Three Govt. Choices cont…• 3. Rule by workers’ and soldiers’

soviets• Petrograd Soviet controlled by

Lenin and Bolsheviks

• Offered: land, food, and self-determination to non-Russians

• People wanted real change: Who would they favor and why?

Fall 1917…• “All power to the soviets”

• Bolshevik Revolution• Nov. 7- Leon Trotsky, leading

Lenin’s supporters, seized government

• Provisional Govt. officials arrested

• Communists come to power

State-building under Lenin

• Chaos worsened under Bolsheviks• No effective govt. or army

• No food, commerce, or industry

• Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (March 1918)

• Bolsheviks/Communists decide to eliminate ALL opposition

Treaty of Brest Litovsk•Signed with Germany

•Lost Finland, possessions in Poland, Baltic States, Ukraine

•Treaty cancelled when Germany lost war

•Finland, Baltic States gained independence

Civil War Breaks Out• “Whites”- opponents of Bolsheviks,

aided by West• Parliamentary Govt. supporters• Czarist defenders• Moderate Socialists

• “Reds”- Communists• “Greens”- Ukrainian peasants

• Want independence

Communist Dictatorship• Terror Tactics

• Economic Policy

• Kronstadt Rebellion

• Centralized Govt.

• Soviet Union

• Religious persecution

• Propaganda

Terror Tactics• “Dictatorship of the

Proletariat”

• Secret police used to kill and suspected opponents of govt.

Economics= War Communism

• Nationalization of industry, banks, foreign trade

• Draft used for labor and army

• Strikes forbidden

• Food taken from peasants and given to cities and armies

• ***Russia continues to decline***

Kronstadt Rebellion• March 1921

• Sailors rebel

• Results: Lenin switches to NEP• New Economic Policy

• Only important industries under state control

• Some free enterprise

Centralized Government• Govt. moved to Kremlin- Moscow• Politburo led new govt.

• unity stressed (thrown out)• political parties banned• only 1% of population was

Communist (500,000)• Decisions made at top (like czar)• Party ran unions

State and Party Linked• Soviets elected locally but led by

Party

• Soviets• district, regional, republic level

• Supreme Soviet- highest govt. authority• Council of Ministers- Party members

who made up executive branch

The Soviet Union• Formed in 1922 by Communists• 15 Republics based on

nationalities• Identical constitutions• Controlled by Party• Limited self-rule• Self-determination in writing only

Religious Persecution

• Religion was threat

• State schools taught God did NOT exist

• Church seen as possible tool of control• Land and property seized

Propaganda• Govt. controlled and censored

information

• Lenin tried to isolate USSR from West

• Party ideology enforced• Marxism-Leninism

Read and Take Notes

• Kagan 848-855

• New Employment

• Working Class Woman

• Middle Class Women

• Political Feminism

• Finish at home

Lenin’s Hopes for Communism• Govt. was responsible for

workers’ problems• 1919 Comintern- Communist

Third International• bring Communists together and

help Soviet foreign policy• Goal: strengthen Soviets not world

revolution

Stalin v. Trotsky• Lenin wanted Trotsky to be

successor

• Stalin uses position of Secretary General to gain power

Stalin’s 5 Year Plans• Plans set quotas for production of

industrial goods• All economic activity under state

management• First Five Year Plan 1928-

• Industrial output up 250%• Less consumer goods• State forced labor (bad conditions)• Literature used to rally people

Collectivization of Agriculture

• High demand for farm output•Food exported for

industrialization

•Workers refused quotas

• Collective farms - combining small farms into larger farms

Reaction to Collectivization• Stalin was at war with people

• Peasants’ views- equated it with serfdom and loss of freedom

• Refused to give up land

• killed animals, burned crops

• Famine and reduced output resulted

• Kulaks- prosperous farmers liquidated

• Gulags- forced labor camps

Political Terror• Millions died in collectivization

and industrialization

• Congress of 1934- Stalin criticized• same favored Kirov as replacement

• Kirov killed= Great Purge

Great Purge 1935• Stalin called Kirov’s murder plot

against Soviet leadership• Important Communists put on trial

and forced to make false confessions in public• Executed• Kirov’s supporters eliminated• Trotsky murdered while in exile in

Mexico

Terror • Stalin intimidated people

• Secret police given quotas of people to kill

• Totalitarian State- govt. controls every aspect of its citizens lives