WHAT IS RUSSIA?1. European/Western -> ?2. Asiatic/Eastern -> ?3. Both/Something special and unique -> ?

1. Geography2. Religion – Eastern Orthodox Christianity3. Autocracy – one man rule at the top4. Small powerful nobles5. Serfdom – harsh and enduring6. No middle class7. No/slow economic development

Invaded and occupied by the Mongols -> 13th through 15th centuries = “the Tartar Yoke”

The Principality of Moscow The Grand Duke of Moscow IVAN IV, THE TERRIBLE1. First to take the title Tsar/Czar2. Expands Russia to the East3. Wife dies -> goes crazy -> slaughters the

Boyars (old Russian nobility)4. Creates a new “service nobility”

Period of aristocratic/noble resurgence and anarchy after Ivan’s death

Michael Romanov becomes Tsar in 1613

Romanov’s establish a dynasty in Russia last from 1613 until World War I and the Soviet Revolution in 1917

Tsar Peter Romanov = Peter the Great1. Westernize/Europeanize backward Russia2. Emphasis on technical development to

strengthen Russia militarily3. Reorganizes the army/creates a navy4. Forces the nobles to serve in either military or

government positions5. Adopts mercantilist policies -> but mostly just

squeezes taxes out of poor peasants6. Establishes govt control over Russian Orthodox

Church7. Introduces/forces Western customs, manners,

and style -> cutting off noble’s beards and long coats

Peter wanted an ice-free warm water port to give access to Europe

THE GREAT NORTHERN WAR 1701-1721 -> Peter defeats Sweden

Sweden becomes second rate power/Russia becomes big dog in the Baltic region

Peter builds new capital/window to the West – St. Petersburg

King Gustavus Adolphus 1611-1632 -> killed in the Thirty Years’ War

King Charles XI – builds Swedish monarchy along absolutist lines

King Charles XII -> loses war to Russia and Sweden becomes second rate

Conquer Constantinople in 1453 Attempt to conquer all of the Balkans Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent 1520-1566

= the greatest of the Ottoman rulers Conquer Yugoslavia in 1521/Hungary in

1526/attack Vienna in 1529 but fail Major naval defeat – the Battle of Lepanto

1571 = limits Turkish naval power in Medit. JANISSARIES – christian boys taken from

parents -> converted to Islam -> trained from childhood to be the elite personal soldiers of the Sultan

Absolute monarchs were not able to establish absolute power

Local power was still mostly in the hands of the nobles

Landowning aristocracy was immensely powerful -> they limited what monarchs could do