1. Russian Czars Increase Power
From Ivan to the Romanovs

2. Ivan III (1462-1505) -conquered area around Moscow
-liberated Russia from Mongols
-centralized Russian gov’t
-laid the foundations for absolutism in Russia

3. Ivan the Terrible *Ivan IV (aka: Ivan the Terrible) 1533-1584
-first Czar or Tsar (“Caesar”)
-boyars: Russia’s landowning nobles
-wife: Anastasia from the Romanov family
-killed in 1560
-began Ivan’s “bad period”
-turned against boyars
-organized police force to use terror
-executed many boyars
-1581 killed his oldest son and heir
-left his weak second son to rule

4. Time of Troubles -Ivan V (son of the “terrible”) died w/o an heir
-boyars struggled for power
-in 1613 representatives elected Michael Romanov as czar (random relative of Anastasia)
-began the Romanov dynasty ( )

5. Peter the Great *Peter the Great Takes the Throne -1672-1725
-great reformer and absolute ruler
-Russia’s differences from Europe:
-serfdom
-cut off from the Renaissance and the age of Exploration (geography)
-Eastern Orthodox rather than Protestant or Catholic

6. Peter Visits the West
*Expedition into Europe was called the “Grand Embassy”
-wanted to learn about western culture and industrial techniques
-kept his identity a secret (hard to hide when you are 6’7”!)
-visited England, Austria, and the Netherlands
-inspired by western methods

7. Peter Rules Absolutely
-Westernization: using Western Europe as a model to make Russia stronger
-Peter’s reforms
-increased his absolute power
-brought the Russian Orthodox church under gov’t control
-reduced the powers of landowners (Boyars)
-hired European officers to modernize the army
-imposed heavy taxes
-believed in the importance of education
-St. Petersburg
-new capital along the sea (swamp)
-By his death, Russia was a powerful nation

8. St. Petersburg- Swamp

9. St. Petersburg-Naval Academy

10. Baroque Architecture
Absolute Monarchs attempted to display their supreme power with “over-the-top” Baroque palaces.
Many of the absolute monarchs modeled their palaces after Versailles in France