4

Absolute Rulers of Russia

MAIN IDEA WHY IT MATTERS NOW TERMS & NAMES

POWER AND AUTHORITY Peter Many Russians today debate • Ivan the • Peter the
the Great made many changes whether to model themselves Terrible Great
in Russia to try to make it more on the West or to focus on • boyar • westernization
like western Europe. traditional Russian culture.

SETTING THE STAGE Ivan III of Moscow, who ruled Russia from 1462 to
1505, accomplished several things. First, he conquered much of the territory
around Moscow. Second, he liberated Russia from the Mongols. Third, he began
to centralize the Russian government. Ivan III was succeeded by his son, Vasily,
who ruled for 28 years. Vasily continued his father’s work of adding territory to
the growing Russian state. He also increased the power of the central govern-
ment. This trend continued under his son, Ivan IV, who would become an abso-
lute ruler.

TAKING NOTES The First Czar

Summarizing Use a
cluster diagram to list the Ivan IV, called Ivan the Terrible, came to the throne in 1533 when he was only
important events of Peter three years old. His young life was disrupted by struggles for power among
the Great’s reign. Russia’s landowning nobles, known as boyars. The boyars fought to control
young Ivan. When he was 16, Ivan seized power and had himself crowned czar.
This title meant “caesar,” and Ivan was the first Russian ruler to use it offi-
cially. He also married the beautiful Anastasia, related to an old boyar family,
Peter the Great
the Romanovs.
The years from 1547 to 1560 are often called Ivan’s “good period.” He won
great victories, added lands to Russia, gave Russia a code of laws, and ruled justly.
Rule by Terror Ivan’s “bad period” began in 1560 after Anastasia died.
Accusing the boyars of poisoning his wife, Ivan turned against them. He orga-
nized his own police force, whose chief duty was to hunt down and murder peo-
ple Ivan considered traitors. The members of this police force dressed in black
and rode black horses.
Using these secret police, Ivan executed many boyars, their families, and the
peasants who worked their lands. Thousands of people died. Ivan seized the
boyars’ estates and gave them to a new class of nobles, who had to remain loyal
to him or lose their land.
Eventually, Ivan committed an act that was both a personal tragedy and a
national disaster. In 1581, during a violent quarrel, he killed his oldest son and
heir. When Ivan died three years later, only his weak second son was left to rule.
Rise of the Romanovs Ivan’s son proved to be physically and mentally inca-
pable of ruling. After he died without an heir, Russia experienced a period of
608 Chapter 21
 turmoil known as the Time of Troubles. Boyars struggled for power, and heirs of
Recognizing czars died under mysterious conditions. Several impostors tried to claim the throne.
Effects
Finally, in 1613, representatives from many Russian cities met to choose the
What were the
long-term effects of
next czar. Their choice was Michael Romanov, grandnephew of Ivan the Terrible’s
Ivan’s murder of his wife, Anastasia. Thus began the Romanov dynasty, which ruled Russia for 300
oldest son? years (1613–1917).

Peter the Great Comes to Power

Over time, the Romanovs restored order to Russia. They strengthened government
by passing a law code and putting down a revolt. This paved the way for the abso-
lute rule of Czar Peter I. At first, Peter shared the throne with his half-brother.
However, in 1696, Peter became sole ruler of Russia. He is known to history as
Peter the Great, because he was one of Russia’s greatest reformers. He also con-
tinued the trend of increasing the czar’s power.
Russia Contrasts with Europe When Peter I came to power, Russia was still a
land of boyars and serfs. Serfdom in Russia lasted into the mid-1800s, much longer
than it did in western Europe. Russian landowners wanted serfs to stay on the land
and produce large harvests. The landowners treated the serfs like property. When a
Russian landowner sold a piece of land, he sold the serfs
with it. Landowners could give away serfs as presents or to
pay debts. It was also against the law for serfs to run away
from their owners.
Most boyars knew little of western Europe. In the Middle
Ages, Russia had looked to Constantinople, not to Rome,
for leadership. Then Mongol rule had cut Russia off from
the Renaissance and the Age of Exploration. Geographic
barriers also isolated Russia. Its only seaport, Archangel in
northern Russia, was choked with ice much of the year. The
few travelers who reached Moscow were usually Dutch or
German, and they had to stay in a separate part of the city.
Religious differences widened the gap between western
Europe and Russia. The Russians had adopted the Eastern
Orthodox branch of Christianity. Western Europeans were Peter the Great
Summarizing mostly Catholics or Protestants, and the Russians viewed 1672–1725
Why was Russia them as heretics and avoided them. Peter the Great had the mind of a
culturally different genius, the body of a giant, and the
Peter Visits the West In the 1680s, people in the German ferocious temper of a bear. He was
from western
Europe? quarter of Moscow were accustomed to seeing the young so strong that he was known to take
Peter striding through their neighborhood on his long legs. a heavy silver plate and roll it up as if
(Peter was more than six and a half feet tall.) He was fasci- it were a piece of paper. If someone
nated by the modern tools and machines in the foreigners’ annoyed him, he would knock the
offender unconscious.
shops. Above all, he had a passion for ships and the sea. The
The painting above represents
young czar believed that Russia’s future depended on hav- Peter as he looked when he traveled
ing a warm-water port. Only then could Russia compete through western Europe. He dressed
with the more modern states of western Europe. in the plain clothes of an ordinary
Peter was 24 years old when he became the sole ruler of worker to keep his identity a secret.
Russia. In 1697, just one year later, he embarked on the
“Grand Embassy,” a long visit to western Europe. One of RESEARCH LINKS For more on Peter
Peter’s goals was to learn about European customs and the Great, go to classzone.com
manufacturing techniques. Never before had a czar traveled
among Western “heretics.”

Absolute Monarchs in Europe 609

 Peter Rules Absolutely
Inspired by his trip to the West, Peter resolved that Russia would compete with
Europe on both military and commercial terms. Peter’s goal of westernization, of
using western Europe as a model for change, was not an end in itself. Peter saw it
as a way to make Russia stronger.
Peter’s Reforms Although Peter believed Russia needed to change, he knew that
many of his people disagreed. As he said to one official, “For you know yourself that,
though a thing be good and necessary, our people will not do it unless forced to.” To Analyzing Bias
force change upon his state, Peter increased his powers as an absolute ruler. Judging from
Peter brought the Russian Orthodox Church under state control. He abolished this remark, what
the office of patriarch, head of the Church. He set up a group called the Holy was Peter’s view of
his people?
Synod to run the Church under his direction.
Like Ivan the Terrible, Peter reduced the power of the great landowners. He
recruited men from lower-ranking families. He then promoted them to positions of
authority and rewarded them with grants of land.
To modernize his army, Peter hired European officers, who drilled his soldiers
in European tactics with European weapons. Being a soldier became a lifetime job.
By the time of Peter’s death, the Russian army numbered 200,000 men. To pay for
this huge army, Peter imposed heavy taxes.
Westernizing Russia As part of his attempts to westernize Russia, Peter under-
took the following:
• introduced potatoes, which became a staple of the Russian diet
• started Russia’s first newspaper and edited its first issue himself
• raised women’s status by having them attend social gatherings
• ordered the nobles to give up their traditional clothes for Western fashions
• advanced education by opening a school of navigation and introducing
schools for the arts and sciences

1462 Acquisitions to 1682

Acquisitions to 1505 Acquisitions to 1725
The Expansion of Russia, 1500–1800 Acquisitions to 1584 Acquisitions to 1796
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dite
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1. Location Locate the territories that Peter added to Russia during his reign, from 1682 to 1725.
What bodies of water did Russia gain access to because of these acquisitions?
0 1,000 Miles
2. Region Who added a larger amount of territory to Russia—Ivan III, who ruled from 1462 to 1505,
0 2,000 Kilometers or Peter the Great?
610
 Peter believed that education was a key to Russia’s
progress. In former times, subjects were forbidden under
pain of death to study the sciences in foreign lands. Now
subjects were not only permitted to leave the country, many East Meets West
were forced to do it. In the East, Western influence would
affect not only Russia. Other eastern
Establishing St. Petersburg To promote education and nations would give way—not always
growth, Peter wanted a seaport that would make it easier to willingly—to the West and Western
travel to the West. Therefore, Peter fought Sweden to gain a culture. In 1854, Japan was forced to
piece of the Baltic coast. After 21 long years of war, Russia open its doors to the United States.
finally won the “window on Europe” that Peter had so By 1867, however, Japan had decided
to embrace Western civilization. The
desperately wanted.
Japanese modernized their military
Actually, Peter had secured that window many years based on the German and British
before Sweden officially surrendered it. In 1703, he began models. They also adopted the
building a new city on Swedish lands occupied by Russian American system of public education.
troops. Although the swampy site was unhealthful, it China and Korea, on the other hand,
seemed ideal to Peter. Ships could sail down the Neva River would resist foreign intervention well
into the 1900s.
into the Baltic Sea and on to western Europe. Peter called
the city St. Petersburg, after his patron saint.
To build a city on a desolate swamp was no easy matter. Every summer, the
army forced thousands of luckless serfs to leave home and work in St. Petersburg.
An estimated 25,000 to 100,000 people died from the terrible working conditions
and widespread diseases. When St. Petersburg was finished, Peter ordered many
Synthesizing Russian nobles to leave the comforts of Moscow and settle in his new capital. In
Which of Peter’s time, St. Petersburg became a busy port.
actions in building For better or for worse, Peter the Great had tried to westernize and reform the cul-
St. Petersburg show
ture and government of Russia. To an amazing extent he had succeeded. By the time
his power as an
absolute monarch? of his death in 1725, Russia was a power to be reckoned with in Europe. Meanwhile,
another great European power, England, had been developing a form of government
that limited the power of absolute monarchs, as you will see in Section 5.

SECTION 4 ASSESSMENT

TERMS & NAMES 1. For each term or name, write a sentence explaining its significance.
• Ivan the Terrible • boyar • Peter the Great • westernization

USING YOUR NOTES MAIN IDEAS CRITICAL THINKING & WRITING

2. Which event had the most 3. How did Ivan the Terrible deal 6. SUPPORTING OPINIONS Who do you think was more of
impact on modern Russia? with his enemies during his an absolute monarch: Ivan the Terrible or Peter the Great?
Why? “bad period”? 7. DRAWING CONCLUSIONS Which class of Russian society
4. Why did Peter the Great believe probably didn’t benefit from Peter’s reforms? Why?
that Russia’s future depended 8. HYPOTHESIZING How might Peter’s attempts at
on having a warm-water port? westernization have affected his people’s opinion of
Peter the Great 5. What were some of the ways Christians in western Europe?
Peter tried to westernize 9. WRITING ACTIVITY POWER AND AUTHORITY Write a one-
Russia? paragraph expository essay explaining which of Peter the
Great’s actions reveal that he saw himself as the highest
authority in Russia.

CONNECT TO TODAY STAGING A DEBATE

Peter the Great’s reforms were a first step toward Russia’s westernization. Today the country
continues the process by experimenting with democratization. Research to find out how Russia
has fared as a democracy. Then stage a debate to argue whether the experiment is working.

Absolute Monarchs in Europe 611