Absolutism and Peter the Great

1
Absolutism and Peter the Great

• The Development of Russia

(The State Hermitage Museum)
2
The Reforms of Peter the Great

• Sought to modernize Russia, particularly the
  military
• Westernization was a means to that end not the
  actual goal

3
Military Reforms

• Began to build a professional army based on
  infantry, rather than the cavalry made up of
  boyars which dominated the current Russian army
• Built schools to teach artillery, engineering and
  military medicine staffed by Western Europeans

4
Military Reforms

• Built first navy in Russian history
• Branded the left hand of recruits to prevent
  desertion (drafted from peasants) because they
  served for life
• Created a special guards regiment to deal with
  those suspected of rebellion, espionage,
  pretensions to the throne or unseemly
  utterances against the tsar

5
Political Changes

• required nobles to either serve in the military
  or civil administration for life
• Created an interlocking military-civilian
  bureaucracy with fourteen ranks and everyone
  started from the bottom
• Led to the rise of non-noble origin to high
  positions in this meritocracy
• Taxes jumped tripled for peasants

6
Economic changes

• Beginning of industrialization (both factories
  and mines were almost always owned directly or
  indirectly by the state)
• Serfs were reassigned to work in either the mines
  and factories
• People replaced land as the principle unit for
  determining taxes

7
Social changes

• Westerners began to flow into Russia for the
  first time
• New class of educated Russians began to emerge
• Split between serfs and peasants widened
• More power was concentrated in the hands of the
  tsar
• Status of woman changed

8
Cultural changes

• Idea of state interest, as opposed to the tsars
  personal interest began to take hold
• Peter encouraged this by claiming in public to be
  serving the common good he would attach
  explanations for his decrees in an attempt to
  gain the confidence and support of the people by
  making it appear that he wasnt acting in an
  arbitrary manner

9
Cultural Changes

• Western ideas came into Russia
• Eliminated the office of patriarch in the Russian
  Orthodox Church
• Founded the Royal Academy of Sciences
• Published a book of manners
• Introduced Arabic numerals

10
Cultural Changes

• Replaced the traditional Russian calendar with
  the Julian calendar
• Published the first newspaper
• Required officials and nobles to shave their
  beards and dress in Western fashions
• Issued regulations about suitable styles of
  jackets, caps, and boots

(Hunt, etal. 633)
11
Aesthetic Changes

• Translations of Western classics and touring
  theatre companies to perform Western plays
• Construction of St. Petersburg and Peterhof

(www.mepl.co.uk)
12
Peterhof or Versailles?
(www.peterhof.org)
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Sources

• Hunt, Lynn, etal. The Challenge of the West.
  Lexington, MA D.C. Heath and Co, 1995.
• McKay, John P. etal. A History of Western
  Society. Boston Houghton Mifflin, 1995.
• Mary Evans Picture Library. MEPL Online. No
  date of creation. Date of Access 8 September
  2002. Found at ltwww.mepl.co.ukgt.
• Peterhof State Museum-Preserve. Peterhof.
  Natalie Rudneva, webmaster. Date of creation
  2001. Date of Access 8 September 2002. Found at
  ltwww.peterhof.orggt.
• State Hermitage Museum. The State Hermitage
  Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia. Date of
  Creation 2002. Date of Access 8 September
  2002. Found at ltwww.hermitage.rugt.