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Revolution in Russia in the late 19th century
Revolution in Russia in the late 19th century
Revolution in Russia in the late 19th century
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In Russian history, the eighteenth century was characterized by significant changes to the political, economical, social and cultural fabric of Russian life that shifted Muscovite Russia’s isolated position and mindset of the Middle Ages into modernization and westernization. The driving force of reformation is accredited to Peter the Great whose reign (1694 – 1725) ushered in European ideas, models, manners, and philosophies. Willingly accepted or not, government intervention was evident in almost all aspects of life. The Petrine reforms, although extensive and multi-faceted, can be generally catalogued into the following areas: military; administrative; ecclesiastical; economical and fiscal; cultural; and social. A synthesis of the reforms, and their effect on and significance to Russia, are examined here. The Muscovy past was irreversibly changed, but the Petrine reforms were not particularly a break from Russian tradition, as evidenced by institutions such as serfdom and the faith of the Old Believers. Instead, Peter initiated a shift towards a new perspective of consciousness that must be balanced between what worked and what did not for Russia and it’s population. However, the character of the reforms was not uniform and proved to be difficult to support in future years.
In the length of Peter’s reign, only one year was spent in peace when Russia was not at war (Ria p. 251). Starting with the war with Turkey in 1695, Peter would wage war against Sweden, Poland, or the Ottoman Empire throughout the era. Peter’s foreign policies were ambitious: he endeavoured to regain territories that were thought to be historically Russian such as the Baltic States, Poland, and Ukraine; sought access to international waterways; and aimed t...
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...so held its weight. There were as ountstanding amount of evidence that Peter assumed power illegitimatly, through such tricks as swapping the real czar during the time that we was travelling abroad.
In effect, the reforms success in some areas and failure in others, makes the whole of the reform a complex and difficult picture to judge critically. Government was inefficient, succession was not assured, and was superficial since it only, really, affected and empowered the nobility. It is interesting to note that this nobility that was created by Petrine reforms, will lead the schism between the higher classes and the tsar’s government.The way traditions were held intact, while reform was outwardly expressed, pushed Russia in a confused state. Underneath the new clothes and clean shaven faces, the Russian mentality struggled in reconcialing the old and the new.
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.
Observing that European technological superiority allowed it to enjoy extraordinary benefits, he adopted many European practices to assert his own dominance and increase Russia’s protection against its adversaries. In doing this, Peter the Great formed himself a lasting legacy. Although Peter the Great originally mimicked Louis XIV in his staunch practice of absolutism, he ultimately surpassed Louis XIV in his goal of supremacy. Peter replaced the previous head of the Orthodox Church, and had both religious and earthly supremacy. Thus, Peter achieved something that Louis could never manage: a control of both church and state. Outside of Russia’s borders, Peter succeeded in his endeavors to a much greater extent than Louis XIV. The Great Northern War against Sweden effectively gave Russia access to a warm water port: Saint Petersburg, where Peter created his own Versailles, the Winter Palace, that fulfilled goals similar to those of Louis. Thus, where Louis fell, Peter
I believe that there was so much attention given to Peter the Great because of his extensive reforms. Peter brought both social and economic changes to his country. He wanted to make Russia big. Peter transformed the culture; he wanted his people to wear the western European fashion. Many of the people were not thrilled with the change because they did not like the ways of the western European societies. He made his navy stronger, he reformed his army to meet the western standards, and he gained control over the church.
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.
Peter the Great, the Russian Czar, inherited his absolutist power from his brother, Ivan V. Born in aristocracy, Peter’s dad was the Czar, and later his brother, and after his brother’s death, him. He was a firm believer in the possible benefits from the control of a single leader to make decisions for the people, and he exercised this divine right to create many renouned institutions. At the beginning of Peter’s reign, Russia was in a poor condition: many rejected modernization from the Renaissance, and large spending from his brother’s reign caused economic droughts. He took advantage of his absolutist power to help ameliorate Russia’s situation and first decided to minimalize power from the other aristocrats. The subduction of the rich allowed
Absolutists during the 16th and 17th centuries were often times focused too heavily on military or other such rather than the people they were ruling. Peter the Great is a good example of this type of ruler because he did great things for Russia like improving the navy; however, Peter the Great did nothing to help the people of Russia, and according to Michael Gibson in document 8, he "failed to create the large, thriving
Historically, Russia has always been a country of perplexing dualities. The reality of Dual Russia, the separation of the official culture from that of the common people, persisted after the Revolution of 1917 and the Civil War. The Czarist Russia was at once modernized and backward: St. Petersburg and Moscow stood as the highly developed industrial centers of the country and two of the capitals of Europe, yet the overwhelming majority of the population were subsistent farms who lived on mir; French was the official language and the elites were highly literate, yet 82% of the populati...
Peter preferred to live comfortably, and didn’t have a need for extravagance as much as Louis XIV did. But that didn’t mean he didn’t think big. Peter’s main goals were to modernize Russia, and to make it a major European power—a force to be reckoned with—and also to gain control of the church. He tried to achieve these in many different ways. One way he attempted to make Russia more powerful was by westernizing the country. He traveled all over Western Europe, learning about the culture, more modern practices and way of ...
When recognised as being an ageing superpower by Alexander II it was inevitable that some sort of change would take place in Russia in the hope of modernisation. We can see that the changes were mostly political and economical. During Alexander III’s reign we can see that the changes were suppressive although it ultimately led to further change in the form of revolution in the future.
During the course of the eighteenth century, both Peter I and Catherine II rose to power as Russian tsars implementing their social and political power upon their kingdom and people. They aimed to westernize Eastern Europe, amassing great power and tracts of land, yet the tactical process in which they did so differed for each individual. Peter I and Catherine the Great made effective changes within the structures of military, nobility, education, and peasantry.
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”
Peter the Great would come to be one of Russia’s most influential and powerful rulers by implementing easily the greatest amount of reforms a Russian ruler has ever attempted and altering the course of Roman history for good. The Tsar’s many reforms brought Russia out of archaic times and into a more Europeanized modern age where not only was the entire structure of government changed but so too were extensive reforms brought onto late 17th century and early 18th century Russia’s industry, commerce, technology, military, and culture among other things. Peter the Great’s legacy brought Russia to the height of her power and is one that has inspired many Russians and historians alike through the centuries since his death.
Before Peter the Great took control of Russia, it differed drastically from the states and societies that lye further west. During the seventeenth century, Russia was a highly firm and restricted society; one in which people did not have rights and/or control of their own lives. Around the area of Moscow, Peter inherited a huge territorial aggregation. At the time, Western Europe was sparsely populated, and the level of economic development was too low for European standards. It was practically impossible to give an accurate approximation of what the population in Russia actually was, but it was estimated to be around 10 to 12 million during the late seventeenth century. The government prior to Peter the Great was in effect of promising the landlords a secure supply of peasants by the extension of serfdom.
The main challenge Alexander II faced in his projects towards modernization of Russia was a compromise between advancing his state thorough improving the lives of his subjects, without falling prey to the demand for further reforms he would be unable to satisfy. Westwood, revisiting Russian History in 1981 phrased the problem as follows: “how to advance the education of the state by educating the people, without educating the people to questions the state? ”.
As Stolypin became minister of interior, he began to tackle major problems at present in Russia, he aimed to establish social stability before he brought out any real political reforms. Stolypin also aimed to maintain the Tsarist rule and along with this to bring out a change in education, agriculture and socialism, he did this by introducing reforms for all of these. This shows a little idea of the ideas that Stolypin had and also shows how these ideas would influence Russian reforms. Stolypin introduced crop rotation and land reforms to help increase food production and also give to some extent what people wanted.