Absolute+Rulers+of+Russia

Absolute Rulers of Russia

Bold:
 * 1) Boyars- Russia’s landowning nobles. The boyars fought to control young Ivan.
 * 2) Ivan the Terrible- Came to the throne in 1533 when he was only three years old.
 * 3) Peter the Great- He shared the throne with his half-brother. However, in 1696, Peter became sole ruler of Russia.
 * 4) Westernization- 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.

Key People:
 * 1) Ivan the Terrible- Ivan seized power and had himself crowned czar. This title meant “caesar,” and Ivan was the first Russian ruler to use it officially. He also married the beautiful Anastasia, related to an old boyar family, the Romanovs. Ivan’s “bad period” began in 1560 after Anastasia died. Accusing the boyars of poisoning his wife, Ivan turned against them. He organized his own police force, whose chief duty was to hunt down and murder people 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.
 * 2) Peter the Great- Peter the Great had the mind of a genius, the body of a giant, and the ferocious temper of a bear. He was so strong that he was known to take a heavy silver plate and roll it up as if it were a piece of paper. If someone annoyed him, he would knock the offender unconscious. The painting above represents Peter as he looked when he traveled through western Europe. He dressed in the plain clothes of an ordinary worker to keep his identity a secret. In the 1680s, people in the German quarter of Moscow were accustomed to seeing the young Peter striding through their neighborhood on his long legs. (Peter was more than six and a half feet tall.) He was fascinated by the modern tools and machines in the foreigners’ shops. Above all, he had a passion for ships and the sea. In 1697, just one year later, he embarked on the “Grand Embassy,” a long visit to western Europe. One of Peter’s goals was to learn about European customs and manufacturing techniques. Never before had a czar traveled among Western “heretics.”
 * 3) Michael Romanov- Grandnephew of Ivan the Terrible’s wife, Anastasia. Thus began the Romanov dynasty, which ruled Russia for 300 years (1613–1917).

Ideas/Events:

THE FIRST CZAR:
 * Ivan’s son proved to be physically and mentally incapable of ruling. After he died without an heir, Russia experienced a period of turmoil known as the Time of Troubles.

PETER COMES TO POWER:
 * Over time, the Romanovs restored order to Russia. They strengthened government by passing a law code and putting down a revolt.
 * 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.
 * Religious differences widened the gap between western Europe and Russia. The Russians had adopted the Eastern Orthodox branch of Christianity. Western Europeans were mostly Catholics or Protestants, and the Russians viewed them as heretics and avoided them.
 * Peter was 24 years old when he became the sole ruler of Russia.

PETER RULES ABSOLUTELY:
 * Peter brought the Russian Orthodox Church under state control. He abolished the office of patriarch, head of the Church.
 * **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**