 WHAT IS RUSSIA? 1. European/Western -> ? 2. Asiatic/Eastern -> ? 3. Both/Something special and unique -> ?

1. Geography 2. Religion – Eastern Orthodox Christianity 3. Autocracy – one man rule at the top 4. Small powerful nobles 5. Serfdom – harsh and enduring 6. No middle class 7. No/slow economic development

 Invaded and occupied by the Mongols -> 13 th through 15 th centuries = “the Tartar Yoke”  The Principality of Moscow  The Grand Duke of Moscow  IVAN IV, THE TERRIBLE 1. First to take the title Tsar/Czar 2. Expands Russia to the East 3. Wife dies -> goes crazy -> slaughters the Boyars (old Russian nobility) 4. Creates a new “service nobility”

 Period of aristocratic/noble resurgence and anarchy after Ivan’s death

 Michael Romanov becomes Tsar in 1613  Romanov’s establish a dynasty in Russia last from 1613 until World War I and the Soviet Revolution in 1917

 Tsar Peter Romanov = Peter the Great 1. Westernize/Europeanize backward Russia 2. Emphasis on technical development to strengthen Russia militarily 3. Reorganizes the army/creates a navy 4. Forces the nobles to serve in either military or government positions 5. Adopts mercantilist policies -> but mostly just squeezes taxes out of poor peasants 6. Establishes govt control over Russian Orthodox Church 7. Introduces/forces Western customs, manners, and style -> cutting off noble’s beards and long coats

 Peter wanted an ice-free warm water port to give access to Europe  THE GREAT NORTHERN WAR > Peter defeats Sweden  Sweden becomes second rate power/Russia becomes big dog in the Baltic region  Peter builds new capital/window to the West – St. Petersburg

 King Gustavus Adolphus > killed in the Thirty Years’ War  King Charles XI – builds Swedish monarchy along absolutist lines  King Charles XII -> loses war to Russia and Sweden becomes second rate

 Conquer Constantinople in 1453  Attempt to conquer all of the Balkans  Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent = the greatest of the Ottoman rulers  Conquer Yugoslavia in 1521/Hungary in 1526/attack Vienna in 1529 but fail  Major naval defeat – the Battle of Lepanto 1571 = limits Turkish naval power in Medit.  JANISSARIES – christian boys taken from parents -> converted to Islam -> trained from childhood to be the elite personal soldiers of the Sultan

 Absolute monarchs were not able to establish absolute power  Local power was still mostly in the hands of the nobles  Landowning aristocracy was immensely powerful -> they limited what monarchs could do