Nation and Memory in Eastern Europe

Lecture 3Russian History I

Week 3

Outline

1.The Kievan Rus and Christianisation2.The “Mongolian yoke“ and the rise of Moscow3.The imperial Byzantine Heritage4. Expansion and Westernization between the 16th

and 18th centuries5. Conclusion

10001000

Influences

• The Principality of Kiev

Ca. 862 Rurik, a semi-legendary Scandinavian warrior, establishes Rus principality

862 Oleg moves capital to Kiev

988-9 Christianisation: Grand Prince Vladimir I becomes orthodox

1169 Prince Andri Bogolubski moves capital to Vladimir, near Moscow

1200

Outline

1.The Kievan Rus and Christianisation2.The “Mongolian yoke“ and the rise of Moscow3.The imperial Byzantine Heritage4. Expansion and Westernization between the 16th

and 18th centuries5. Conclusion

Influences

• The Principality of Kiev• Mongolian heritage – for 200 years part

of a Mongolian empire (1240 – middle of the 15th c.)

1300

Influences

• Mongolian heritage – for 200 years part of a Mongolian empire (1240 – middle of the 15th c.)

1237-1240

The Mongols (Tatars) under Batu Khan, invade and devastate Rus, Aleksander Nevsky defeats Sweden and – later - Teutonic Order

Ca. 1271

Moscow becomes capital of Grand Principality of Vladimir-Suzdal

1380 Dmitri Donskoi defeats Tatars, takes title Grand Prince of Moscow

1400

Aleksander Nevsky during the Battle of Lake Peipus or Battle of the Ice, 1242, scene from Alexander Nevsky by Sergei Eisenstein, 1938

Battle of Kulikovo, 1380, Painting 1850

Geography

• Forests in Moscovian heartland

• Peripheral location

• Vast Russian plain

• Dense and viable network of rivers

• Spring and autumn: mud, time of immobility

Outline

1.The Kievan Rus and Christianisation2.The “Mongolian yoke“ and the rise of Moscow3.The imperial Byzantine Heritage4. Expansion and Westernization between the 16th

and 18th centuries5. Conclusion

1500

Influences

• Byzantine heritage – Orthodox faith – Third Rome

1462-1505 Ivan III (the Great) begins annexing surrounding areas, conquers Republic of Novgorod, foundations of autocratic state, religious leaders proclaim Moscow the Third Rome (after Union of Florence in 1439, the fall of Constantinople in 1453 and the marriage with Zoe, the niece of the last Byzantine Emperor, in 1472)

1533 Ivan IV (the Terrible) calls himself tsar, expands autocracy, begins annexation of Siberia, Wars against Sveden and Poland, Conquest of Tatar principalities Kazan and Astrachan

1589 Russian Orthodox Church now completely independent from other Orthodox Churches

Church Slavonic, not Greek: church language, 'holy language', holy books translated into Church Slavonic

Ivan IV “the Terrible”Cathedral of St. Basil, Moscow

The Gathering of the Lands of the Golden Horde

• After end of Mongolian Empire and defeat of successors – power vacuum in the East, filled by Moscow

• Conquest of Kazan and Astrachan 1555

• Conquest of Kazakh steppe

• Colonization of Siberia

• Subjugation of Central Asia

1600

Moscow and the idea of the Third Rome

• After fall of Constantinople 1453 Moscow princes see themselves as legitimate heirs of orthodox emperor

• 17th – 19th centuries: several wars against Ottoman Empire

• Access to the Black Sea• Conquest of Crimea• Caucasus and Transcaucasus with orthodox

Georgian nation• Russian Emperor: Protector of Orthodox

population in Ottoman Empire

Autocracy

• Greek origin: self-ruler (samoderzhets)• Form of government• Unlimited power held by one individual• Used by Byzantine Emperor• Transferred with idea of Third Rome to Moscow

Measures:• Ivan IV: Oprichnina 1564 ff: persecution of old nobility with help of 'oprichniki'• Sack of Novgorod in 1570

Outline

1.The Kievan Rus and Christianisation2.The “Mongolian yoke“ and the rise of Moscow3.The imperial Byzantine Heritage4. Expansion and Westernization between the 16th

and 18th centuries5. Conclusion

Influences

• Influences of Western and Central Europe (Polish, German, Swedish, French) – 17th c. – 20th c.

1605-1613

Times of Trouble, Polish invasion

1613 Michael Romanov becomes tsar, Romanov Dynasty

1667 Raskol – Split of Orthodox Church in Official Church and Old Believers

Andrey Ryabushkin, Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich Holding Council with the Boyars in his Royal Chamber, 1893

The Gathering of the Lands of the Rus

• Conquest of Novgorod

• Several wars against the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth

• 1654 Treaty of Pereyaslav with Cossack Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky

• 1667 Peace Treaty of Andrusovo, West Bank Ukraine and Eastern part of Belarus join Russian Empire

• 1772 First Partition of Poland, Right Bank Ukraine and Western part of Belarus

• Russian Emperor: Protector of Orthodox population in Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth

• 1793/95 Second and Third Partition of Poland, eastern half of Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth goes to Russian Empire

Peter the Great, portrait by Paul Delaroche

Westernisation I

• 1682/1689-1725 Peter I. (the Great)• 1697 “Grand Embassy” to Western Europe• Government and administrative reforms – more effective

administration: Swedish, Dutch, German example• Land tax and household tax replaced by capitation:

payable also by serfs• Reform of the Russian Orthodox Church: Patriarch of

Moscow replaced by Holy Synod (10 clergymen)• 1721 Title “Emperor”• 1722 Introduction of a new order of precedence: the Table

of ranks: privileges of nobility based on state service

1700

Access to the Baltic Sea

• Great Northern War against Sweden 1699-1721

• Conquest of Ingermanland

• 1703 Foundation of St.Petersburg

• Integration of Estonia and Livonia 1721

• 1809 Finland becomes part of the Russian Empire

Skyline of St. Petersburg in the 19th c.

Battle of Poltava, 1709: Russia vs. Sweden and Cossack Allies (Mazepa)

Beginning of end of Cossack autonomy

Catherine the GreatPortrait by Dmitry Levitsky

Westernisation II

• 1761 under Peter III.: Liberty of nobility: no longer obliged to serve in the military or civil service

• 1762-1796 Catherine II. (the Great): Westernisation continues

• Enlightened Absolutism: administrative reforms, attempt to organise society in well defined social groups – estates

• Charter to the Nobility (1785) and Charter to the Towns

• 1790 Aleksandr N. Radishchev publishes “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow”: attack on serfdom and autocracy

1800

Outline

1.The Kievan Rus and Christianisation2.The “Mongolian yoke“ and the rise of Moscow3.The imperial Byzantine Heritage4. Expansion and Westernization between the 16th

and 18th centuries5. Conclusion

Influences

• Byzantine heritage – Orthodox faith – Third Rome

• Mongolian heritage – for 200 years part of a Mongolian empire (1240 – middle of the 15th c.)

• Influences of Western and Central Europe (Polish, German, Swedish, French) – 17th c. – 20th c.

Key questions

• Autocratic tradition – no estates: weakness of society

• Nobility vs. Peasants (serfs)• Weak middle class• 'Backwardness'• Multiethnic empire• What is Russia? What is Russia's role in the

world?• Relationship to Europe, to Asia