In 1533 the Muscovite Princedom was passed down to Ivan IV, later known as Ivan the Terrible. He would be the beginning of a line of “larger-than-life” rulers of the Russian Empire who ignited the imagination and debats for future generations. These rulers, including Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, and later Lenin and Stalin, who used political terror in defense of themselves and their governments. Peter and Catherine’s brutalities can be somewhat justified by their political goals, however Ivan’s passion for killing has no rational explanation.. Many of these ruler’s reforms contributed to the overall critique envisioned by many of the empire and its imperialist character. Some of Russia’s greatest literary works were built upon these …show more content…
critiques such as stories by Gogol, Pushkin, and Tolstoy-- each leader somewhat presenting something new to critique. Ivan the Terrible’s reign began with great achievements and peaceful reforms such as the conduction of successful campaigns against the Tatars, creation of the first standing army, revision of the law code, expansion of trading routes, etc.
However his other half of his reign was less peaceful and accomplished. Some examples including the destruction of Russia’s military and economy after engaging in a 22 year war with the Poles, Livonians, and Swedes, the mass murder of citizens by his oprichniki guards, and his launch of mobility restrictions on peasants-- which later resulted in serfdom. Russia took a course towards imperialism where all classes of citizens, from landowners to serfs, are at service to the state and …show more content…
Tsar. Peter The Great’s actions contributed great advancements in Russia during his reign. As many know, he was the founder of St.Petersburg-- one of the most beautiful cities in the world. However, Pushkin sees a different image of the capital. This city represents a strong disconnect between "powers" and ordinary residents. Petersburg - a city of contrasts, where the "little people" live and suffer. That is why I believe that Pushkin’s The Bronze Horseman, is not about Peter The Great, rather about ordinary, lower class citizen Eugene, a man whos life rotates around meeting basic necessities, such as how to earn money and and get food. He is constantly wondering why life is so unfair-- some are drowning in luxuries, while others can barely meet their needs. In this story,Eugene’s neighborhood is completely demolished by a flood of the Neva, the river on which the city is built upon. After the storm subsides, he realizes that he llost everything: his girlfriend, shelter, hope for happiness. Strolling down his destroyed street, he stops by the bronze monument of Peter The Great, shaking his finger at him in disappointment and anger-- similar to what I believe is Pushkin’s protest against Imperialism. Eugene blames the Tsar for building a city over a river that regularly floods, criticising his inconsiderateness towards the lower class whose homes are destroyed because of it. After the flood, he never dares to rebel against the statute (or any power in that matter), for he is embarrassed. He is forced to tolerate injustice and blows of fate only because he was born "small". Another one of his most notable reforms to Russia was the creation of an elite class based on education and status.
His more direct action was his heavy enforcement of education among the public and going as far as to laying out plans for the first Russian University. This focus on education went hand-in-hand with his promotion of “self-serving” attitude, where the public were to work and earn their status. However, over the years this great reform began to lose its original purpose. Rank became an overpowering motive for the public and it’s obsession with it was at it greatest during Nikolai Gogol’s time. Gogol’s “The Nose” provides a depiction of the exact significance of rank and status in 19th century Russia as well as the diverse lifestyle of the people of St.Petersburg and more closely, the lifestyle of aristocrats of The Nevsky Prospect. The main character, assessor Kovalev, loses his nose to a clumsy barber and, along with it his position in society, his dignity, and future plans for marriage. During his journey to recover his nose, it becomes evident that he is flawed with great vanity and egotism. Through such an absurd event, as an escape of the nose from his master, the author shows the similar flaws in society as a whole. I believe that everyone’s unhealthy fixation with societal rank and as a result of it, their egotism, is Gogol’s critique of
imperialism. Empress Catherine’s reign created a social class of “socialites”. This was more of a leisure class who indulged in the arts and kept their rank by family lineage or connections. This lifestyle very much depicts Catherine’s entire reign. She loved the arts and enlightenment-- commissioning hundreds of artists and architects to embellish the nation. Because of this, her reforms were often viewed as less “practical” compared to those of Peter The Great. Her rule would expand on as well as sabotage a lot his work. She continued his process of Westernization but refused to practice Peter’s “self-service” campaign where he encouraged education, service to state, and hard work for the elite lifestyle. Later, Catherine exempted and freed the nobility from such duties and disciplines, ultimately putting an end to Peter’s campaign. This new, free class that emerged is portrayed in Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin. Onegin is a representation of this leisure class-- one who despite his ability to contribute a lot to society considering his great wealth and influence, rather is found bored in this lifestyle. I believe Pushkin critiques imperialism for creating this dull, dissatisfied leisure class. This perspective is common among the aristocratic class, finding boredom and meaninglessness in otherwise interesting activities like the theater. For example, Pushkin writes, “Theater angry legislator/ Fickle swain/ Charming actresses/ Honorary Citizen of the scenes.” For Onegin, theater is not a creative spectacle but rather a place of love affairs and backstage interests. Another flawful reform of Catherine’s was her extension of serfdom to the entire Russian empire. Over a million free serfs were gifted to powerful elites known as her “favorites”. Not only did she enslave rightfully free peasants, but also forbade them from complaining to state representatives on illegal matters regarding their masters. Little did she recognize that these actions, along with others would lead Russia into a great dilemma, later known as “the dilemma of the reforming despot”. Just as France, Russia was going to spiral down to revolution. In contrast to the characters such as Onegin, Kovalov, and Eugene, Tolstoy’s character, Office Zilina, shows us a different side of the Russian personality. He gives the depiction of someone who is kind, loyal, and selfless, always looking after his traitor of a military partner, Kostylin. He is lazy and relies on others around while Zhilin chooses to create his own destiny. His pure and sincere motives lead to his success. Unlike in the other stories, I wasn’t able to find any critique of imperialism, however I think that this different representation of the Russian citizen should be mentioned because in this period of hardship for many in Russia, people like Zilina progressed forward.
Through these decrees we see how Russian social class is very stratified and there are more high official roles but more people in poverty. Russia still had to serfs until 1861. Also the state of the Russian economy was probably very limited to do the fact that there was no manufacturing company to provide for the empire. The Russian economy was very isolated and they go to areas where they can trade. With Russia’s subsistence economy, they were not able to specialize in other areas.
For centuries, autocratic and repressive tsarist regimes ruled the country and population under sever economic and social conditions; consequently, during the late 19th century and early 20th century, various movements were staging demonstrations to overthrow the oppressive government. Poor involvement in WWI also added to the rising discontent against Nicholas as Russian armies suffered terrible casualties and defeats because of a lack of food and equipment; in addition, the country was industrially backward compared to countries such as Britain, France, Germany, and the USA. It had failed to modernize, this was to do with the tsars lack of effort for reforms. The country was undergoing tremendous hardships as industrial and agricultural output dropped. Famine and poor morale could be found in all aspects of Russian life. Furthermore, the tsar committed a fatal mistake when he appointed himself supreme commander of the armed forces because he was responsible for the armies constant string of defeats.
With the coinciding of a revolution on the brink of eruption and the impacts of the First World War beginning to take hold of Russia, considered analysis of the factors that may have contributed to the fall of the Romanov Dynasty is imperative, as a combination of several factors were evidently lethal. With the final collapse of the 300 year old Romanov Dynasty in 1917, as well as the fall of Nicholas II, a key reality was apparent; the impact that WWI had on autocratic obliteration was undeniable. However, reflection of Russia’s critical decisions prior to the war is essential in the assessment of the cause of the fall of the Romanov Dynasty. No war is fought without the struggle for resources, and with Russia still rapidly lagging behind in the international industrialisation race by the turn of the 20th century, the stage was set for social unrest and uprising against its already uncoordinated and temporarily displaced government. With inconceivable demands for soldiers, cavalry and warfare paraphernalia, Russia stood little chance in the face of the great powers of World War One.
Both monarchs had a royal background and were put in power with high expectations to continue the stability that the country possessed. Citizens aspire for all government officials to keep the peoples best interest in mind. But sadly, due to Ivan’s brutal childhood, he grew up observing and learning from the mannerisms of the corrupt elite. Ivan predominately gained power through fear and with this tactic was the first to exercise a despotism in Russia. One example of this is the story of the peasants who disturbed Ivan during one of his retreats. They came to him to complain of their governor who they believed was unjust but Ivan was so upset that they had troubled him with such a petty matter that he punished them. The men had their hands tied behind their backs, boiling hot alcohol poured on their heads and then their beards lit on fire with a candle. Apprehension and terror were Ivan’s main tools for keeping his people under control. Despite his totalitarian state of mind, Ivan believed that his decisions were still best for the country and the only way to keep it safe was by leaving it in constant fear. Although not always the most rational, the czar still made the suitable choices to keep the kingdom together. Similar to Ivan, Charles was not always under the influence of his mental disability. During his 42
It was due to its great resources and population that Russia was able to compete with the other world powers in war and in commerce. Russia did not have the succession of leaders that supported industrialization like Japan did. Therefore, Russia, with Alexander II as czar, made few reforms to encourage industrialization. It was only through the multiple peasant revolts that Russia began to change. Both of these nations experienced changes in government, an increase in economic strength and transportation, and radical changes in the structure of the social classes.
The short story, “Ivan Fyodorovich Shponka and His Aunt”, explicates the life of a man named Ivan Fyodorovich Shponka. We see him briefly in his young years, followed by his life in the army, and his return to the farm where his strong characterized aunt resides. We can see immediately that this man lives in constant cleanliness and dutiful paranoia; these are some of his desires that he wishes to exhibit to others. We can also see his fears, which reside in the confiscation of his masculinity and independence. This short story has many elements that resemble others in the Nikolai Gogol collection.
While most of Europe had develop strong central governments and weakened the power of the nobles, Russia had lagged behind the times and still had serfs as late as 1861. The economic development that followed the emancipation of peasants in the rest of Europe created strong industrial and tax bases in those nations. Russian monarchs had attempted some level of reforms to address this inequality for almost a century before, and were indeed on their way to “economic maturity” (32) on par with the rest of Europe. But they overextended themselves and the crushing defeats of the Russo-Japanese War in 1905 and the First World War in 1917 lost them the necessary support from their subjects and created “high prices and scarcity” which were by far “the most obvious factors in the general tension”
Shostakovich wasn’t the first to be exploited by malicious leaders. Tsar Nicholas I “cruelly manipulated Alexander Pushkin” (Dmitri), and St. Petersburg, as portrayed by Russian poets and writers, was “a place of “doubles” and ruined lives.”(Volkov, Testimony xx) In Russian biographer Solomon Volkov’s eyes, “this is what happened to artists in a cruel age.” (Dmitri) During Stalin’s reign of terror, influence over the people was a crucial thing, so he wanted to have a firm grip on liberal arts in Russia. One good example of his manipulation of artists in Russia was when Mikhail Bulgakov, the author of The Master and the Margarita, was rumored to be leaving the Soviet Unio...
Ivan the Terrible was the fist tsar of Russia whoes reign, one of the longest of the Russian tzars, transformed the medivial nation state into a Russian Empire .In order to understand what made Ivan the Terrible ruthless and feared, it is important to know his background. Ivan IV Vasilyevich was born on August 25, 1530 in Kolomenskoye, Moscow, Russia. His father died at age 3 from a blood infection, but on his death bead requested that Ivan become the ruler of Russia when he turned 15. After his father died, the boyars took over and paid no attention to Ivan, denying is right to the thrown. Boyars were the highest ranked members in the upper class of medieval Russia, second only to the prince. His mother queen Elena died mysteriously died1538, they believed from an assassination by poison and this left Ivan an orphan at age eight. Ivan remained isolated through out all of this, and his behavior later in life was thought to be a result from being forgotten as a child and also from the abuse that he suffered.
Peter the Great had many goals during the time he ruled. One of his biggest goals was to modernize and westernize Russia. The main reason Peter the Great modernized Russia was because he did not want the country he ruled to be left vulnerable to expansionist powers in Europe. The powers were constantly at war, fighting to take over each other’...
Dostoyevsky's writing in this book is such that the characters and setting around the main subject, Raskolnikov, are used with powerful consequences. The setting is both symbolic and has a power that affects all whom reside there, most notably Raskolnikov. An effective Structure is also used to show changes to the plot's direction and Raskolnikov's character. To add to this, the author's word choice and imagery are often extremely descriptive, and enhance the impact at every stage of Raskolnikov's changing fortunes and character. All of these features aid in the portrayal of Raskolnikov's downfall and subsequent rise.
Haarman, Susan . "Absolute Terror: Ivan the Terrible." . N.p.. Web. 20 Jan 2014. .
Russia had been defeated in all except the war with Turkey and its government and economy had the scars to prove it. A severe lack of food and poor living conditions amongst the peasant population led firstly to strikes and quickly escalated to violent riots. Tsar Nicholas II ruled Russia with an iron hand while much of Europe was moving away from the monarchical system of rule. All lands were owned by the Tsar’s family and Nobel land lords, while the factories and industrial complexes were owned by the capitalists’. There were no unions or labour laws and the justice system had made almost all other laws in favour of the ruling elite.
Nikolai Gogol has been widely recognized as one of the most inspiring and remarkable authors of the Russian Empire and the one who produced an enormous impact on literary work of countless contemporaries and successors, both in the Tsarist Russia and abroad. Particularly, Gogol’s literary legacy is praised for his exceptional ability to deploy humor as a means of expression and the way to convey the message. In this respect, the short story The Overcoat written during the St. Petersburg period of Gogol’s activity is a very important work which balances between tragic and humorous elements and presents a brilliant specimen of satire. In this work, Gogol builds up the powerful criticism of the contemporary Russian society with its social hierarchy,
1-27. The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'. Dragomirov, M.I. & Co., Ltd. "Dragomirov on Prince Andrey and the Art of War". Tolstoy: The Critical Heritage.