Russian

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Russian History
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Former Soviet Region Compared in Latitude Area
with the United States
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Themes in Russian History

• Expansion by conquest.
• Need for warm-water ports.
• The necessity of a strong, central government.

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Early Russia
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Early Byzantine InfluencesOrthodox Christianity
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Early Byzantine InfluencesOrthodox Christianity
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Early Byzantine InfluencesCyrillic Alphabet
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Novgorod
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Russian Boyars
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The Mongols Invade Russia
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Ivan the Great (r. 1462-1505)
Ivan III Tearing the Great Khans Letter
Requesting More Tribute in 1480.
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Russia in the Late 1500s
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The Pendulum of Russian History
Pro-WestFor Progress ChangeEncourage New
Ideas,Technologies, etc.
Anti-WestIsolationistXenophobicUltra-Conservati
ve

• Most Tsars
• Russian Orthodox Church
• Military
• Boyars
• peasants

• A few Tsars
• Intellectual elites
• Merchants/businessmen
• Young members of the middle class.

REFORM-MINDEDLEADER
DEMAGOGUE
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Peter the Great (r. 1682-1725)
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Russia Sweden After the Great Northern War
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Catherine the Great r1762-1796
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Catherine the Great
Russias next important ruler was actually a
German princess who came to Russia to marry a
grandson of Peter the Great. She became known as
Catherine the Great.
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Challenges to Catherines Rule

• Conflicts
• Catherine tried to reform Russia, was distracted
  by conflict
• Faced war in Poland, where people wanted freedom
  from Russian influence
• 1768, Ottoman Empire joined Polish cause

• War and Rebellion
• Eventually won war, took over half of Poland,
  territory on Black Sea
• While war raging, Catherine faced popular
  rebellion inside Russia
• Man claiming to be Peter III traveled
  countryside, leading ragtag army

• Strengthening the Monarchy
• In the end, man captured, beheaded, rebellion put
  down
• Rebellion convinced Catherine she needed to
  strengthen monarchy in rural areas put local
  governments in hands of landowners, nobles

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The Big Blunder -- Russia
In July, 1812 Napoleon led his Grand Armee of
614,000 men eastward across central Europe an
into Russia. The Russians avoided a direct
confrontation. The Russian Nobles abandoned
their estates and burned their crops to the
ground, leaving the French to operate far from
their supply bases in territory stripped of
food. They retreated to Moscow, drawing the
French into the interior of Russia (knowing that
its size and the weather would act as support
for the Russian cause.
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Napoleons Troops at the Gates of Moscow

• September 14, 1812 ? Napoleon reached Moscow, but
  the city had largely been abandoned.
• The Russians had set fire to the city.

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Moscow Is On Fire!
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Napoleons Retreat from Moscow (Early 1813)
100,000 French troops retreat40,000 survive!
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Trans-Siberian Railroad 1891-1916