1. Ancient Rus’ in X-XII centuries.

Appendage period
1. According to the earliest Russian chronicle, a Varangian named Rurik was
elected ruler (knyaz) of Novgorod in about 860, before his successors moved
south and extended their authority to Kiev, which had been previously
dominated by the Khazars. Oleg, Rurik's son Igor and Igor's son Sviatoslav
subsequently subdued all local East Slavic tribes to Kievan rule, destroyed
the Khazar khaganate and launched several military expeditions to
Byzantium and Persia.

2. The first East Slavic state, Rus', emerged in the 9th century along the
Dnieper River valley. A coordinated group of princely states with a common
interest in maintaining trade along the river routes, Kievan Rus' controlled
the trade route for furs, wax, and slaves between Scandinavia and the
Byzantine Empire along the Volkhov and Dnieper Rivers.

3. By the end of the 10th century, the Norse minority had merged with the
Slavic population, which also absorbed Greek Christian influences in the
course of the multiple campaigns to loot Tsargrad, or Constantinople. One
such campaign claimed the life of the foremost Slavic druzhina leader,
Svyatoslav I, who was renowned for having crushed the power of the
Khazars on the Volga. At the time, the Byzantine Empire was experiencing a
major military and cultural revival; despite its later decline, its culture would
have a continuous influence on the development of Russia in its formative
centuries.

4. The region adopted Christianity in 988 by the official act of public baptism
of Kiev inhabitants by Prince Vladimir I. Some years later the first code of
laws, Russkaya Pravda, was introduced.[31] From the onset the Kievan
princes followed the Byzantine example and kept the Church dependent on
them, even for its revenues,[32] so that the Russian Church and state were
always closely linked.

5. By the 11th century, particularly during the reign of Yaroslav the Wise,
Kievan Rus' displayed an economy and achievements in architecture and
literature superior to those that then existed in the western part of the
continent Compared with the languages of European Christendom, the
Russian language was little influenced by the Greek and Latin of early
Christian writings.This was because Church Slavonic was used directly in
liturgy instead.
6. Kievan Rus' ultimately disintegrated as a state because of in-fighting
between members of the princely family that ruled it collectively. Kiev's
dominance waned, to the benefit of Vladimir-Suzdal in the north-east,
Novgorod in the north, and Halych-Volhynia in the south-west. Conquest by
 the Mongol Golden Horde in the 13th century was the final blow. Kiev was
destroyed.

2. The Russian Lands in XII-XIV centuries. Between the

Mongols and Crusader. Tatar Mongolian Yoke

7. After the fall of the Khazars in the 10th century, the middle Volga came to
be dominated by the mercantile state of Volga Bulgaria, the last vestige of
Greater Bulgaria centered at Phanagoria. In the 10th century the Turkic
population of Volga Bulgaria converted to Islam, which facilitated its trade
with the Middle East and Central Asia. In the wake of the Mongol invasions
of the 1230s, Volga Bulgaria was absorbed by the Golden Horde and its
population evolved into the modern Chuvashes and Kazan Tatars.

8. The invading Mongols accelerated the fragmentation of the Rus'. In 1223,

the disunited southern princes faced a Mongol raiding party at the Kalka
River and were soundly defeated. In 1237–1238 the Mongols burnt down the
city of Vladimir (4 February 1238) and other major cities of northeast
Russia, routed the Russians at the Sit' River, and then moved west into
Poland and Hungary. By then they had conquered most of the Russian
principalities. Only the Novgorod Republic escaped occupation and
continued to flourish in the orbit of the Hanseatic League.
9. The impact of the Mongol invasion on the territories of Kievan Rus' was
uneven. The advanced city culture was almost completely destroyed. As
older centers such as Kiev and Vladimir never recovered from the
devastation of the initial attack, the new cities of Moscow, Tver and Nizhny
Novgorod began to compete for hegemony in the Mongol-dominated Russia.
Although a Russian army defeated the Golden Horde at Kulikovo in 1380,
Mongol domination of the Russian-inhabited territories, along with demands
of tribute from Russian princes, continued until about 1480.

10.The princes of southern and eastern Russia had to pay tribute to the Mongols
of the Golden Horde, commonly called Tatars; but in return they received
charters authorizing them to act as deputies to the khans. In general, the
princes were allowed considerable freedom to rule as they wished, while the
 Russian Orthodox Church even experienced a spiritual revival under the
guidance of Metropolitan Alexis and Sergius of Radonezh.

1. To the Orthodox Church and most princes, the fanatical Northern Crusaders
seemed a greater threat to the Russian way of life than the Mongols. In the
mid-13th century, Alexander Nevsky, elected prince of Novgorod, acquired
heroic status as the result of major victories over the Teutonic Knights and
the Swedes. Alexander obtained Mongol protection and assistance in
fighting invaders from the west who, hoping to profit from the Russian
collapse since the Mongol invasions, tried to grab territory and convert the
Russians to Roman Catholicism.

Tatar-Mongolian Yoke - Having joined Central Asia, China, Khoresm and

Transcaucasia to his empire, Genghis Khan aimed for Russian lands. In 1223 the
armies of Genghis Khan defeated Russians on the River Kalka. After the battle
Tatars devastated the towns in the outskirts of Chernigov but soon retreated to the
Volga steppes. In the late 1237 the union of Mongolian tribes, the Golden Horde,
headed by Batu (1208 – 1255), the grandson of Genghis Khan, invaded Ryazan.
Afterwards Mongols conquered Moscow and moved to Vladimir. In February 1238
Vladimir was besieged and taken by storm. Novgorod was left unprotected. But
Tatars were exhausted and they returned to the steppe. In autumn 1239 Batu
resumed his attacks. Now his aim was to conquer southern principalities. The first
to fall was Chernigov. In a year’s time Batu’s armies approached Kiev’s walls.
After lasting siege and fierce fight Kiev was taken. That period marked the
beginning of Mongol Yoke. Russian lands were devastated. The citizens were
annihilated or enslaved. Most of the ruined cities never rose again. Russian
knayzes accepted the superior power of the Khan and agreed to pay tribute (yasak)
to the conquerors. They also had to ask for new Russian rulers appointment
approval. Russian knyazes strove to get rid of vassal dependence on the Golden
Horde. However, they were not strong enough to fight. The neighbors threatened
the weak Russian lands. In 1240 Crusaders who also tried to get a piece of Russian
lands attacked Novgorod. It was Alexander Nevsky (1252 – 1263) who defeated
Swedish Crusaders on the Neva River in 1240 and later - Germanic knights in the
Ice Battle, which took place on Lake Chudskoye in 1242.

3. “ Gathering of the Russian lands” in XIV-XV centuries.

Dmitryi Donskoi and Ivan III.
 1. By the middle of the 14th century, the power of the Mongols was declining,
and the Grand Princes felt able to openly oppose the Mongol yoke. In 1380,
at Kulikovo on the Don River, the Mongols were defeated, and although this
hard-fought victory did not end Tatar rule of Russia, it did bring great fame
to the Grand Prince Dmitry Donskoy. Moscow's leadership in Russia was
now firmly based and by the middle of the 14th century its territory had
greatly expanded through purchase, war, and marriage.

2. In the 15th century, the grand princes of Moscow went on gathering Russian
lands to increase the population and wealth under their rule. The most
successful practitioner of this process was Ivan III,who laid the foundations
for a Russian national state. Ivan competed with his powerful northwestern
rival, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, for control over some of the semi-
independent Upper Principalities in the upper Dnieper and Oka River basins.

3. Through the defections of some princes, border skirmishes, and a long war
with the Novgorod Republic, Ivan III was able to annex Novgorod and Tver.
As a result, the Grand Duchy of Moscow tripled in size under his rule.
During his conflict with Pskov, a monk named Filofei (Philotheus of Pskov)
composed a letter to Ivan III, with the prophecy that the latter's kingdom
would be the Third Rome. The Fall of Constantinople and the death of the
last Greek Orthodox Christian emperor contributed to this new idea of
Moscow as 'New Rome' and the seat of Orthodox Christianity.

4. A contemporary of the Tudors and other "new monarchs" in Western

Europe, Ivan proclaimed his absolute sovereignty over all Russian princes
and nobles. Refusing further tribute to the Tatars, Ivan initiated a series of
attacks that opened the way for the complete defeat of the declining Golden
Horde, now divided into several Khanates and hordes. Ivan and his
successors sought to protect the southern boundaries of their domain against
attacks of the Crimean Tatars and other hordes.To achieve this aim, they
sponsored the construction of the Great Abatis Belt and granted manors to
nobles, who were obliged to serve in the military. The manor system
provided a basis for an emerging cavalry based army.

Dmitry Donskoy - He was the first prince of Moscow to openly challenge Mongol
authority in Russia. His nickname, Donskoy (i.e., "of the Don"), alludes to his
great victory against the Tatars in the Battle of Kulikovo (1380), which took place
on the Don River.[1] He is venerated as a Saint in the Orthodox Church.

Ivan III - was a Grand Prince of Moscow and Grand Prince of all Rus'. Sometimes
referred to as the "gatherer of the Rus' lands", he tripled the territory of his state,
ended the dominance of the Golden Horde over the Rus', renovated the Moscow
Kremlin, and laid the foundations of what later became called the Russian state. He
was one of the longest-reigning Russian rulers in history.

4. Russia State in the XVI century. Reign of Ivan IV

The development of the Tsar's autocratic powers reached a peak during the reign
(1547–1584) of Ivan IV ("Ivan the Terrible").He strengthened the position of the
monarch to an unprecedented degree, as he ruthlessly subordinated the nobles to
his will, exiling or executing many on the slightest provocation. Nevertheless, Ivan
is often seen as a farsighted statesman who reformed Russia as he promulgated a
new code of laws (Sudebnik of 1550), established the first Russian feudal
representative body (Zemsky Sobor), curbed the influence of clergy, and
introduced the local self-management in rural regions.

Although his long Livonian War for the control of the Baltic coast and the access
to sea trade ultimately proved a costly failure, Ivan managed to annex the Khanates
of Kazan, Astrakhan, and Siberia. These conquests complicated the migration of
the aggressive nomadic hordes from Asia to Europe through Volga and Ural.
Through these conquests, Russia acquired a significant Muslim Tatar population
and emerged as a multiethnic and multiconfessional state. Also around this period,
the mercantile Stroganov family established a firm foothold at the Urals and
recruited Russian Cossacks to colonize Siberia.

In the later part of his reign, Ivan divided his realm in two. In the zone known as
the oprichnina, Ivan's followers carried out a series of bloody purges of the feudal
aristocracy (which he suspected of treachery after the betrayal of prince Kurbsky),
culminating in the Massacre of Novgorod (1570). This combined with the military
losses, epidemics, poor harvests so weakened Russia that the Crimean Tatars were
able to sack central Russian regions and burn down Moscow (1571). In 1572 Ivan
abandoned the oprichnina.
At the end of Ivan IV's reign the Polish–Lithuanian and Swedish armies carried out
a powerful intervention in Russia, devastating its northern and northwest regions.

Ivan IV - His long reign saw the conquest of the Khanate of Kazan, Khanate of
Astrakhan and Khanate of Sibir, transforming Russia into a multiethnic and
multicontinental state spanning almost one billion acres, approximately
4,050,000 km2 (1,560,000 sq mi). Ivan managed countless changes in the
progression from a medieval state to an empire and emerging regional power, and
became the first ruler to be crowned as Tsar of All the Russias.
5. TIME OF TROUBLES: POLITICAL CRISIS AND
FOREIGN INTERVENTION.
 At the beginning of the 17th century, Russia expanded rapidly and seized
lands from the Tatars- The Khanates of Kazan, Astrakhan' and Sibir. In
comparison to Western Europe, Russia and Poland were tiny.
 Russia suffered a famine in 1602-3. The phase of the «little ice age»
afflicted all Europe- Russia was affected most. The poor crops resulted in
increased taxes and exactions of government and landlords, making many
peasants flee their lands.
 Large areas with few people created government problems: the Russia tsars
came to wield despotic power, less limited by law or custom.
 Feodor was indecisisve, so Boris Godunov (1551-1605) had the real
influence. He established the Russian patriarchate and Russia had been
converted by Greek Orthodox missionaries and was now subject to the
patriarch in Constantinople. The recognition of patriarch increased
Godunov's prestige and the Church's status. He also tried to create service
nobility – dvorianstvo- dependent on the government by they only held
lands (pomestie) if they served the Tsar as soldiers or administrators.
 Government needed peasants to pay taxes for military expansion: laws
forbade them to leave lands to achieve this goal (enserfment of peasantry).
To flee this conditions, many joined Cossacks (free man), who defended
Russia's southern border.
 The mestnichestvo system limited the Tsar's power over the boyars (this
ranked boyar families according to their hereditory superiority). The system
created quarells amongst boyar families and meant that incompetents were
placed in important jobs. It was abolished only in 1682.
 In 1598, Feodor died childless, putting an end to the Rurikid dynasty (his
brother Dmitrii died under mysterious conditions in 1591).
 The first false Dmitrii: Godunov's reign became with a famine, harvest
failed, and over 100,000 people died of malnutrition only in Moscow alone.
At this time a young ex-monk popped up in Lithuania, claiming he was
Dmitrii and had escaped death at Godunov's hands. A number of Polish and
Lithuanian aristocrats (interested in weakening Russia) backed Dmitrii.
 In 1604, Dmitrii invaded Russia and the discontented population welcomed
him. Godunov died in 1605, just when military victory over False Dmitrii
seemed forthcoming.
 In 1605, soldiers of Godunov's son (feodor) rebelled, the Muscovites also
rose and arrested Feodor II. The true Dmitrii's godfather took control over
the city.
 Tsar Vasiliy Shuiskiy had displayed Dmitrii's body on Red Square. Rumors
began to fly that true Dmitrii escaped death and would return. Cossacks and
soldiers formed the center of Dmitrii's army, towns rebelled and joined the
cause with many peasants.
  In 1606, two rebel armies wanted to seige Moscow, but Shuiskii bribed the
officers to change sides, making it possible to drive Bolotnikov from the
gates of Moscow. They also defeated the rebels at the battle of Vosma.
Bolotnikov was imprisoned.
 Foreign intervention from Swedes and Poles from 1609, changed the phase
of the civil war. Vasilii made a deal with Charles IX of Sweden granting him
territory on the Baltic in exchange for military assitance. The enemy of
Charles (Poland) responded by invading Russia (attempted to seize
fortresses of Smolensk).
 In 1610, demonstraters demanded Tsar's desposition. A council of seven
boyars was chosen to rule. Polish troops occupied Moscow. Second False
Dmitrii was murdered. The fact that Russia had no ruler created an
opportunity to ally against foreign intervention.
 In 1611, Moscow rose up against the Poles and harried their supply routes.
 A Swedish army invaded Russia and seized Korela because Vasilii didnt
carry out his promise (promissed this fortress).
 Pozharskii's motivated but poorly armed army to Moscow from the Poles in
1612. Pozharskii nd Minin convened a Zemskiy Sobor to elect a new tsar.
Mikahil Romanov was crowned in 1613.
 The Time of troubles severely damaged the towns, trade, industry and
economy of Russia.

6) RUSSIA IN THE XVII CENTURY- AGE OF REVOLTS.

FOREIGN POLICY OF FIRST ROMANOVS.
 Extremely cold summers (1605-18) wrecked crops and increased social
disorganization.
 Godunov's reign ended in chaos: civil war, devastation of cities and
depopulation of the rural regions, the country also attracted waves of
interventions by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
 During the war (1605-18), Polish-Lithuanian forces reached Moscow and
supported False Dmitrii II. Decisive moment came in 1610, when a
Swedish-Russian army was routed by the Polish forces at the Battle of
Klushino. As a result, the Seven Boyars recognized the Polish prince as the
Tsar of Russia.
 The Poles entered Moscow and Muscovites revolted but riots were supressd
and the city was set on fire. The crisis provoked a patriotic national uprising
against the invasion.
 Age of succession/early rule: In 1613, with the chaos ended and the Poles
expelled from Moscow, a national assembly elected Mikhail Romanov to the
throne. Romanov dynasty lasted until the 1917 revolution.
 The primary task of the new dynasty was to restore peace and Moscow had
the opportunity to make peace with Sweden in 1617 and to sign a truce with
the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1619 (bc PL Commonwealth and
Sweden were too busy fighthing with each other).
  The recovery of lost territories started in the 17th century, when the Treaty
of Pereyaslav was concluded after the Khmelnitskiy uprising in Ukraine
against the Polish rule. Russia granted protection to the Cossacks in the Left-
bank Ukraine and this ended in a Russo-polish war, which ended with the
Andrusovo treaty (1667). Poland accepted the loss of Kiev and Smolensk.
 The boyars cooperated with first Romanov's, enabling them to finish
bureaucratic centralization. The state required service from the old and new
nobility, in return the Tsars allowed to complete the process of enserfing
peasants.
 The state and the nobles placed the burden of taxation on the peasants and
middle-class tradesmen were assessed taxes and forbidden to change
residence: all segments of population were subject to military levy and
special taxes.
 There were many revolts under such circumstances: Salt Riot, Moscow
uprising, Copper riot, a great peasant uprising in 1667: Stenka Razin led his
followers to Volga river, inciting peasant uprisings and replacing local
governments with Cossack rule.
 In 1648, many Russian settlers moved to Siberia. And in 1689 the Russians
made a treaty with the Chineese, fixing their border with them.
 Alexis made new law codes in 1649, and the peasants lost the traces of
freedom. Russia was torn by schism, when Patriarch Nikon decided to
update books, made changes to Church rights, however some refused to
accept them, dividing them to Old Believers (they were mercilessly
persecuted).
 Peter the Great gained power in 1694, and was determined to bring Russia
up to date: in 1696-97, he traveled to the West. He built a navy and in 1696
captured Azov from the Turks. Encouraged foreign trade and the building of
factories. He also introduced the Julian calendar.

7. Peter the Great: Domestic policy and main reforms.

Peter the Great was a Russian czar in over the reactionary Orthodox
the late 17th century, who is best Church, and introduced new
known for his extensive reforms in an administrative and territorial divisions
attempt to establish Russia as a great of the country.
nation.
Born in Moscow, Russia on June 9, Early Rule
1672, Peter the Great was a Russian
czar in the late 17th century who is Peter the Great was born Pyotr
best known for his extensive reforms Alekseyevich on June 9, 1672 in
in an attempt to establish Russia as a Moscow, Russia. Peter the Great was
great nation. He created a strong the 14th child of Czar Alexis by his
navy, reorganized his army according second wife, Natalya Kirillovna
to Western standards, secularized Naryshkina. Having ruled jointly with
schools, administered greater control his brother Ivan V from 1682, when
Ivan died in 1696, Peter was officially Peter acquired territory in Estonia,
declared Sovereign of all Russia. Latvia and Finland; and through
Peter inherited a nation that was several wars with Turkey in the south,
severely underdeveloped compared to he secured access to the Black Sea. In
the culturally prosperous European 1709, he defeated the Swedish army
countries. While the Renaissance and by purposely directing their troops to
the Reformation swept through the city of Poltva, in the midst of an
Europe, Russia rejected unbearable Russian winter. In 1712,
westernization and remained isolated Peter established the city of St.
from modernization. Petersburg on the Neva River and
moved the capital there from its
During his reign, Peter undertook former location in Moscow. Shortly
extensive reforms in an attempt to after, St. Petersburg was deemed
reestablish Russia as a great nation. Russia's "window to Europe."
Peter overcame opposition from the
country's medieval aristocracy and Shortcomings and Death
initiated a series of changes that
affected all areas of Russian life. He Under Peter's rule, Russia became a
created a strong navy, reorganized his great European nation. In 1721, he
army according to Western standards, proclaimed Russia an empire and was
secularized schools, administered accorded the title of Emperor of All
greater control over the reactionary Russia, Great Father of the
Orthodox Church, and introduced new Fatherland, and "the Great." Although
administrative and territorial divisions he proved to be an effective leader,
of the country. Peter was also known to be cruel and
tyrannical. The high taxes that often
accompanied his various reforms led
Sweeping Changes
to revolts among citizens, which were
Peter focused on the development of immediately suppressed by the
science and recruited several experts imposing ruler.
to educate his people about
technological advancements. He Peter the Great was determined to
concentrated on developing reform the domestic structure of
commerce and industry and created a Russia. He had a simple desire to
gentrified bourgeoisie population. push Russia – willingly or otherwise –
Mirroring Western culture, he into the modern era as existed then.
modernized the Russian alphabet, While his military reforms were
introduced the Julian calendar, and ongoing, he reformed the church,
established the first Russian education and areas of Russia’s
newspaper. economy.

Territorial Gains One of the bastions to change from

Peter’s point of view was
the Church. In bygone years it had
been semi-autonomous. For someone Naval officers needed to know how to
who believed in royal absolutism this navigate.
was unacceptable. The subordination In 1701, the School of Navigation
of the church within Russia was and Maths was founded in Moscow.
completed without a problem. This was run by British teachers. In
There were other reasons to explain the same year, similar schools were
Peter’s interest in the Church. created for artillery and languages. In
it was a very rich institution and Peter 1707, a School of Medicine was
wanted this wealth created and in 1712 a School of
it refused to be modernized Engineering.
it owned vast amounts of land and For the educated public, a newspaper
serfs and, as such, could be seen to be was established in 1703 called the
a rival to the tsar. “Vedomosti”. It was issued by the
In 1700, the head of the church, state. Peter believed that military
Patriach Adrian, died. Peter did not leaders had to be educated but that a
replace him. In 1701, the control of loyal public should also be if Russia
church property was handed over to a was to shake off its reputation of
government department called being steeped in medievalism.
the Monastyrskii Prikaz. This Peter knew that economy of Russia
received monastic revenues and paid needed reforming. His travels abroad
monks a salary. The simple fact that it had convinced Peter that Russia was
was a government department meant too backward. As tsar he wanted to
that it was subordinate to the will of apply western mercantilism to
Peter.  In 1721, the church hierarchy stimulate agriculture, industry and
was officially abolished by the commerce. A richer Russia could only
Ecclesiastical Reservation and the benefit the position of the tsar as more
church was placed under the control could be taxed and invested into the
of the Holy Synod and was fully military. A further strengthened
linked to the state. military would further enhance his
power. In fact, Peter achieved less
Education also had to be modernized than he would have liked to but he did
if Russia was going to survive as a kick start the economic growth of
power in Europe. Peter wanted a Russia that was witnessed in the 18th
modern army and navy that would be century.
feared throughout Europe. The The state dominated all forms of
officers in the military had to be industry. The state was the source of
educated or this would never be capital, raw materials and labor. The
achieved. While on his travels as a state was also the main purchaser of
youth, Peter had seen the importance finished goods. In 1718, two colleges
of the knowledge of science and math were created for commerce and mines
for military success. The correct use and manufacturing. Under state
of artillery needed knowledge of direction, factories of all types were
angles; the building of fortifications developed. Prices were fixed by the
needed knowledge of engineering. state and the state had the right to be
the first purchaser from the producers
 – but at a price fixed by the state. those who lived there. The supremacy
Private businesses could make a profit of the local lord over his people was
only on the surplus of produce which deeply entrenched. The state did what
the state did not want and many it could to encourage those in farming
successful enterprises were simply to use modern equipment such as
taken over by the state. harrows and ploughs but to little avail.
Little was achieved in agriculture Human labour doing the bulk of the
which simply remained medieval. The work carried on into the Nineteenth
superstitious and conservative attitude Century and was an issue Stalin tried
of those in agriculture and the sheer to deal with in the 1930’s. For
size of the country, meant that someone to successfully reform
government officials had great agriculture in the 1720’s, the problem
difficulty getting out to rural areas proved too great.
and imposing the will of the tsar on

8. Peter the Great. Foreign policy.

Peter the Great's foreign policies are  1710 another treaty of
usually divided into four sections; Friendship signed with Prussia and
Strengthen diplomatic relations, Hannover.
Access to the Baltic, Internal  !716 Anglo-Danish support
expansion and access to the Black prepared to invade Sweden
Sea. 
Peter achieved this objective by
Strengthen Diplomatic Relations  gaining international recognition.
There were Russian embassies in
most European courts 
 Went on the great Embassy.
Wanted to strengthen Russian ties Access to the Baltic 
with other European States. He was
in search of allies to help him fight
off the Ottoman Empire.  Sweden was the main power
 Wanted to build a fleet of well- within the Baltic coast at the start of
trained ship builders from Europe to the Great Northern War.
help fight off the Ottoman Empire  He was defeated at Narva
 Alliances with different states.  Peter wanted a substantial
For example, Anti-Swedish coastline in Ingria and Karelia.
Alliance was signed with Poland.
Also signed a treaty with the Elector Access to the Black Sea 
of Hanover.
 Treaty of Nystad - This treaty is
the one that ended the Great  Between 1700-1709 Turkey
Northern War. was the most difficult to defeat in
 Treaty of Friendship with war.
France to neutralize French power.
 Attacked Turkish fortress of Azov. ofPoland. After some early defeats,
Served the army as bombardier  notably at Narva in 1700, and the loss
of its allies, Russia eventually gained
 Divided command and poor the upper hand over the Swedes. After
technical skills brought about Narva, King Charles XII abandoned
Peter's defeat. his Russian campaign to
 Peter responded to the defeat by pursue Augustus into Poland and
raising a larger army under one Saxony, allowing Russia to advance
commander, Alexis Shein. in Ingria and Livonia. When he
Constructed new ships, Apostles eventually invaded Russia
Paul and Peter via Ukraine in 1707–1708, Charles
 Got himself involved in the found his troops overextended,
whole work unlike in the 1st Azov underprovisioned, and confronted by
campaign a much improved Russian army.
 Raised an army of 4000 men Victory at Poltava in Ukraine in 1709
 2nd Azov Campaign Peter allowed Peter to stage a successful
found himself serving as galley assault on Sweden's eastern Baltic
captain. ports, including Viborg, Riga, and
 Captured the Azov fort within Reval (Tallinn) in 1710. Defeat by
two months and less than 300 the Turks on the river Pruth in 1711
Russian deaths were recorded forced him to return Azov (ratified in
 This did not give access to the the 1713 Treaty of Adrianople), but
Black Sea but instead, it gave him did not prevent him pursuing the
access to the Azov sea. Kerch Swedish war both at the negotiating
blocked Russian access to the Black table and on campaign, for instance,
Sea. in Finland in 1713–1714 and against
Sweden's remaining possessions in
northern Germany and the Swedish
Internal Expansion  mainland. The Treaty of Nystadt
(1721) ratified Russian possession of
Livonia, Estonia, and Ingria. During
 Captured Viborg and Riga with the celebrations the Senate awarded
help from Poland. Peter the titles Emperor, the Great,
 Also captured most of the and Father of the Fatherland. In 1722–
Baltic coastline which include St 1723 Peter conducted a campaign
Petersburg against Persia on the Caspian,
capturing the ports of Baku and
Derbent. Russia's military successes
were achieved chiefly by intensive
The great northern war, 1700–1721
recruitment, which allowed Peter to
After making peace with the Ottoman keep armies in the field over several
Empire in 1700, Peter declared war decades; training by foreign officers;
on Sweden with the aim of regaining home production of weapons,
a foothold on the Baltic, in alliance especially artillery; and well-
with Denmark and King Augustus II organized provisioning. The task was
made easier by the availability of a auxiliary force in the latter stages of
servile peasant population and the the Northern War, although Peter's
obstacles which the Russian terrain personal involvement in naval affairs
and climate posed for the invading has led some historians to exaggerate
Swedes. The navy, staffed mainly by the fleet's importance. The galley fleet
foreign officers on both home-built was particularly effective, as
and purchased ships, provided an exemplified at Hango in 1714.

9. Palace coups in Russia in the first half of the 18th century.

The era of Russian palace died in 1727, Peter's grandson, Peter
revolutions (thematically) II, was crowned tsar. In 1730 Anna
Peter changed the rules of succession Ivanovna, whose father Ivan V had
to the throne after the death of his been co-ruler with Peter, ascended the
son, Aleksey, who had opposed his throne. The Supreme Privy Council,
father's reforms and served as a a government body established by
rallying figure for anti-reform groups. Catherine I that put Anna on the
A new law provided that the tsar throne, attempted to impose various
would choose his own successor, but conditions on her. In her struggle
Peter failed to do so before his death against those restrictions, Anna had
in 1725. In the decades that followed, the support of other nobles who feared
the absence of clear rules of oligarchic rule more than autocracy.
succession left the monarchy open to Thus the principle of autocracy
intrigues, plots, coups, and continued to receive strong support
countercoups. Henceforth, the crucial despite chaotic struggles for the
factor for obtaining the throne was the throne.
support of the elite palace guard in Anna died in 1740, and her infant
St. Petersburg. grandnephew was proclaimed tsar
After Peter's death, his wife Catherine as Ivan VI. After a series of coups,
I ascended the throne. But when she however, he was replaced by Peter the
Great's daughter Elizabeth (r. 1741-
1762). During Elizabeth's reign, the Nobility, Peter III granted civil
which was much more effective than liberties to the nobility and ended
those of her immediate predecessors, mandatory state service for nobles.
a modernized Russian culture began While his manifesto was popular, he
to emerge. Among notable cultural alienated clergy by decision to pass
events were the founding of Moscow church lands to the state and created
University (1755) and the Academy deep resentment by forcing Prussian
of Fine Arts (1757), along with the military drills on the Russian army,
emergence of Russia's first eminent and depriving Russia of a military
scientist and scholar, Mikhail victory by establishing his sudden
Lomonosov. alliance with Prussia. Making use of
During the rule of Peter's successors, the discontent and fearing for her own
Russia took a more active role in position, Peter III's wife, Catherine,
European events. From 1726 to 1761, deposed her husband in a coup, and
Russia was allied her lover's brother, Aleksey Orlov,
with Austria against the Ottoman subsequently murdered him, so in
Empire and Crimean Khanate, June 1762 Catherine
which France usually supported. In became Catherine II, empress of
the War of Polish Succession (1733– Russia.
1735), Russia and Austria blocked the Catherine I, ruled 1725-1727
French candidate to thePolish throne.
In the Russo-Turkish War of 1735- Peter the Great had two wives,
1739, Russia reacquired the port Yevdokiya Lopukhina (the daughter
of Azov, but Russia's greatest reach of a minor noble) and Marfa
into Europe was during the Seven Skavronskaya (a Lithuanian peasant,
Years' War(1756–1763), which was renamed Catherine after her
fought on three continents conversion to Orthodoxy). Catherine
between Great Britain and France I’s rise through Peter I’s Table of
with numerous allies on both sides. In Ranks from a simple peasant to
that war, Russia continued its alliance empress, embodied the Petrine spirit,
with Austria, but Austria shifted to an making it seem as though Peter I
alliance with France against Prussia. literally “created” her. With the help
In 1760 Russian forces were at the of Aleksandr Menshikov (her advisor,
gates of Berlin. Fortunately for ex-lover and leader of the palace
the Kingdom of Prussia, Elizabeth guards), she gained the throne by
died in 1762, and her successor, Peter emphasizing this connection to Peter I
III, allied Russia with Prussia because and her maternal nature. Due to her
of his devotion to the Prussian poor health, Menshikov did much of
king, Frederick the Great. the ruling. With Catherine I’s
blessing, he created the Supreme
Privy Council, which consisted of six
Peter III had a short and unpopular or so members. It ultimately took over
reign. His father was Charles most of the functions of the Ruling
Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp. Senate (an advisory body founded by
In his Manifesto on the Freedom of Peter I to oversee judicial, financial
and administrative affairs) Almost Elizabeth. However, Alexis
immediately, Catherine I appointed Dolgoruky and his allies chose Anna
Peter II, the grandson of Peter the Ivanonva, the daughter of Peter I’s
Great, as her successor and she died half-brother Ivan, because the
after only two years of ruling. Supreme Privy Council wanted a ruler
Peter II, ruled 1727-1730 that would not impose on the powers
of the Council, allowing them to
Peter II was only eleven when he continue to virtually rule the
became emperor. At such a young empire. The Supreme Privy Council
age, his advisers manipulated him offered her the throne with
throughout his reign. Intent on “Konditsii” or Conditions. These
maintaining his power, Menshikov included the inability of the empress
took the young boy under his wing, to marry, designate a successor,
banishing his competitors including declare war or peace, raise taxes, or
both Petar Zaitsev and Emil Vasilcin spend state revenue without the
who were related to Peter I to Siberia consent of the Council. Many other
and, ultimately, betrothing Peter II to nobles saw this as an aristocratic grab
his daughter Maria for power and told the would-be
Menshikova. However, when empress so as soon as she arrived in
Menshikov fell ill and had to leave Moscow. Ultimately, Anna
court, Andrei Osterman and Alexis invalidated the conditions, abolished
Dolgoruky ingratiated themselves into the Council and sent many members
the young emperor’s graces, replacing who advocated the conditions into
Menshikov as Peter II’s premier exile. During her reign, Anna relied
advisers. Both were nobles and heavily on Ernst Johann von Biron
members of the Supreme Privy (her longtime adviser and lover),
Council and eventually had making many refer to her reign as
Menshikov tried and banished to “Bironovshchina” (Biron’s repressive
Siberia on “a charge of regime). Together, they repealed Peter
‘tyranny’”. Peter became, once again, I’s legislature which prohibited nobles
engaged to a daughter of one of the dividing up their estates amongst their
Supreme Privy Council’s members sons while similarly reducing the
(this time it was Dolgoruky’s nobility’s state service
daughter, Catherine). However, requirements. Many regard her reign
before the wedding took place, Peter as a time of foreign domination,
died of smallpox before naming a particularly German, in the
successor, throwing the empire into court. However, this mainly stems
another succession struggle. from the fact that a few Germans had
high ranking positions. During her
Anna of Russia, ruled 1730-1740 reign, Anna remained involved in
external conflicts. In 1732, her
When Peter II died, there were
government was forced to cede back
multiple candidates for the throne
all territories annexed several years
including Peter I’s first wife,
earlier by Peter I in the North and
Yevdokiya, and Peter I’s daughter,
South Caucasus to Persia, now led by
Nader Shah, in order to forge a end of German dominated rule. She
Russo-Persian alliance against the was, perhaps, more interested in
common enemy, the Ottoman politics than any of her predecessors.
Empire. From 1733-1736, Russia However, she lacked much of her
became allied with Austria against father’s force and drive in the political
France and Spain in the War of Polish sphere. She was impatient and
Succession. Russia and Austria joined unpredictable, unwilling to rely too
to stop the election of a French heavily on one adviser. However, her
candidate for the Polish throne, administration continued much of
allowing Austria’s favored candidate Peter I’s legacy. She restored the
to win. Later, allied with Austria, Senate’s powers, abolished most
Russia went to war with the Ottoman domestic custom barriers and founded
Empire in the hopes of gaining new the University of Moscow in
territory. This war, lasting 1735-1739 1755. During her reign, she ordered
“secured the restoration of Azov to the building of some of the most
Russia and some lands between Azov famous structures, including the
and the Dniester” but at high casualty Winter Palace, although it was not
rates, mainly due to disease. Anna completed until Catherine the
Ivanonva named the young son of Great. However, Elizabeth remained
Anna Leopoldovna and the Duke of intent on keeping the nobility
Brunswick, Ivan VI, as her successor satisfied. During Elizabeth’s reign, the
and Biron as his regent. nobility’s control over the daily life of
Ivan VI, ruled 1740-1741 serfs increased: the landlord
controlled who the serfs could
Anna Leopoldovna argued with Biron marry. Indeed, the Senate passed
and replaced him as the babe’s regent. legislature which allowed nobles to
A cabinet composed of both Russians exile their serfs to Siberia. Despite the
and Germans advised Anna worsening life for the serfs, the
Leopoldovna. However, this regime majority of the population still saw
lasted only a year due to its Elizabeth as a benevolent ruler, when
ineffective leadership. Peter I’s last compared to the German brutes that
surviving daughter, Elizabeth, long in dominated the court during Anna
the sidelines sensed this as her Ivanonva and Ivan VI’s sovereignties.
moment to obtain power and led the Elizabeth remained very interested in
coup against Anna Leopoldovna and diplomacy and Russia’s foreign
Ivan VI, imprisoning or banishing all affairs. Under her rule, Russia took
who stood in her way. part in the Seven Years' War from
1755 to 1762. Russia entered the war
Elizabeth of Russia, ruled 1741- as an ally of Austria and France
1762 against Prussia. The campaign
advanced successfully but ended as a
As the last surviving child of Peter I,
result of mounting financial
Elizabeth’s reign had a certain
difficulties and Elizabeth’s death in
legitimacy and the people of the
1762. Her successor, Peter III
empire greeted her ascension as the
(grandson of Peter I) took Russia out most notable of his reign was the
of the war. “Manifesto on the Freedom of the
Peter III, ruled for six months in Nobility” which ended compulsory
1762 state service for the
nobility. However, during his short
Peter III reigned for a mere six reign Peter managed to irritate the
months before his wife, Catherine II, nobility by dramatically decreasing
led a coup against him. He was born the power of the Senate. He similarly
and raised in Germany and did not angered the Church by his liberation
come to live in Russia until he was of serfs on church land and his
fourteen. It is difficult to ascertain his obvious contempt for Russian
character because there exist many Orthodoxy. Yet what ultimately
contradictory accounts. Catherine’s terminated his reign was his passion
journals describe him as incompetent for Prussian style military. His delight
bordering on retarded, yet his acts as for rigid discipline alienated the
emperor illustrate a certain amount of palace guards, and ultimately allowed
shrewdness. Peter withdrew Russia Catherine II, with the help of her lover
from the Seven Years' War to salvage Grigori Orlov who led the palace
the remainder of the empire’s finances guard regiments, to overthrow Peter
and to save his beloved Prussia from III on July 9, 1762. Peter’s
complete defeat while depriving assassination symbolically showed the
Russia of territorial advances. Perhaps end of the era of palace revolutions.
10. Epoch of Catherine the Great. Domestic policy and main
reforms.
Recognized worldwide as a In 1743, she was introduced into the
noteworthy historical figure, Lutheran Church at the desire of her
Catherine the Great was one of the
most prominent rulers of Russia and a mother, though she easily changed her
figure deserving of admiration. religion to the Russian Orthodox faith
During her rule from 1762 to 1796 the right before her marriage to the
Russian Empress Catherine II made Russian Prince Peter. Her parents
such progress in political power that it were very concerned that their
is hard to find similar examples in daughter marry and make a good
world history. She expanded the match.
territory of the Russian Empire and
improved its administration, In 1744 Catherine’s mother received
following the policy of an invitation from Empress Elizabeth
Westernization. She was reputed to be of Russia to visit the country with her
an "enlightened despot," however she daughter, which meant she was
was also praised for her generosity planning to marry the heir to the
and humanity. Many historians Russian throne, Peter, to Catherine.
associate her with all the significant However, Catherine had already met
events and trends in Russia's her husband to-be, who was one of
expanding world role. Though she her cousins. He was only 11 when
always rejected the appellation "the they were introduced, but he was
Great," it endured. She was often already reputed to be addicted to
compared to Peter the Great. One of alcohol. Catherine didn’t experience
her contemporaries described the any affection for her cousin, but was
essence of her rule, saying that Peter ready to obey her parents’ decision.
the Great created people in Russia, Moreover, she realized that marrying
and Catherine put her heart into them. the heir to the Russian throne would
She reformed Russia gradually and open the door to a most brilliant life,
calmly finished what Peter had done so coveted by the young and
forcibly. Prince Piotr Vyazemsky ambitious princess. Sophia and her
described the different approaches of mother made a journey to Russia in
these two outstanding sovereigns as the winter of 1744, where she was
follows: the Russian man wanted converted to Orthodoxy and renamed
Russians to become Germans, and the Catherine. She was one year younger
German lady tried to make them than Peter Fedorovich, the nephew of
Russians again. Elizabeth, the then reigning monarch
of Russia. Their marriage was decided
Marriage to the heir of the Russian upon by their respective families.
throne
The two were absolutely incompatible Ascent to power
with each other. Still, Catherine tried
to keep up appearances in front of the Although love was an important part
court and was patient with her silly of Catherine's life, it did not
and eccentric husband, as long as such overshadow her everlasting learning
pretence served her ambitious process and political interests. A
purposes. Catherine, unlike her sharp-witted and educated young
husband, was a woman of great talent, woman, she read widely, particularly
intelligence and ambition. Her strong in French, which was at that time the
and masculine mind, so eager to learn, first language of educated Europeans.
had been trained and developed with She liked novels, plays and verse but
all the learning and accomplishments was particularly interested in the
of the age. She came to Russia with writings of the major figures of the
the intention of achieving a French Enlightenment such as Diderot
memorable career. Her husband, on and Voltaire. She spoke German,
the contrary, had an unstable French and Russian. Catherine
personality, tempestuous, devoid of worked hard to master the Russian
talent, and his education had been language, though she never managed
totally neglected. Peter’s inferiority to totally lose her accent. She quickly
was the first step to their mutual absorbed Russian culture, mastering
dislike, which led to fatal results for the customs and history of the empire.
Peter. The most literate ruler in Russian
history, Catherine constantly
Favoritism patronized cultural life; in particular a
flurry of satirical journals and
One of Catherine’s ardent passions comedies were published
was Sergey Saltykov, the prince’s anonymously with her significant
chamberlain. He had been a favorite participation. Extensive traveling
among the ladies of the court, and he demonstrated in Catherine a great
attempted to win Catherine’s thirst for exploring the empire. She
affections. A handsome man with also knew to demonstrate devotion to
graceful manners, Saltykov won the Russian Orthodox faith and the
Catherine’s love. According to some Russian state.
historians, Catherine was advised to
conceive an heir with Saltykov, and When Empress Elizabeth died on 25
Paul, who after Catherine’s death December 1761, her nephew Peter
became Emperor Paul I, was was proclaimed Emperor Peter III,
presumably fathered by him and and Catherine became Empress.
raised by Empress Elizabeth. Two Friends warned her that she might not
other favorites, Grigory Orlov and enjoy her status for long since Peter
Stanislaw August Poniatowski, are was planning to divorce her and she
said to have fathered two additional was advised to flee. She decided to
children - a boy and a girl that only ignore the warning, and the wisdom
lived sixteen months - who were of her decision was soon
never publicly acknowledged. demonstrated. A few months after
taking the throne Peter built up much General in 1763 and 1764 she
hostility among government, military incorporated Ukraine into the empire
and church leaders. So, a group of by abolishing a self-governed Cossack
them began plotting a coup to remove community in Southern Ukraine
him. They wanted to place his 7-year- centered at the Dnieper River that had
old son, Paul, on the throne, and name its own political and administrative
Catherine as regent until the boy center, the hetmanship, also known as
should come of age. hetmanate.

But Catherine aimed at a bigger role For more than two years, inspired by
for herself. On 28 June 1762, with the the writings of Montesquieu and the
aid of her lover Grigory Orlov, she Italian jurist Beccaria, she worked on
rallied the troops of Saint Petersburg the "Instruction," a set of guidelines
to her support and declared herself for those entrusted with reforming the
Catherine II. She had Peter arrested legal system. This work became
and forced him to sign an act of widely known in Europe and caused a
abdication. When he sought sensation because it called for a legal
permission to leave the country, she system way ahead of its time. It
refused it, intending to hold him proposed a system providing equal
prisoner for life. He had only a few protection under the law for all
days to live, though, as shortly after persons and emphasized prevention of
his arrest he was killed in a fight with criminal acts rather than harsh
his captors. punishment for them. In June 1767
the Empress created the Legislative
As for general policy, Catherine Commission to revise the old laws in
understood that Russia needed an accordance with the "Instruction."
extended period of peace during Like many others, Catherine had great
which to concentrate on domestic expectations about what the
affairs and that peace required a Commission might accomplish, but
cautious foreign policy. The able unfortunately, the delegates devoted
Count Nikita Panin, whom she placed most of their time exposing their own
in charge of foreign affairs, was well grievances, rather than focusing on
chosen to carry out such a policy. By the job. Consequently, despite the
1764 Catherine felt secure enough to year-long series of sessions, they
begin work on reform (1764-1768). made no progress, and Catherine
Her stance on the reforms placed her suspended the meetings at the end of
among the 18th-century rulers known 1768.
as "enlightened despots." Influenced
by the ideas of the Enlightenment, Foreign and domestic affairs
these monarchs thought that a wise Catherine attempted to increase
and generous ruler, living and ruling Russia's power at the expense of its
by the dictates of reason, could ensure weaker neighbors, Poland and the
the well-being of their people. She Ottoman Empire. She sent troops to
expanded the Senate in 1762, help the Polish king Stanislaw August
bolstered the office of Procurator- Poniatowski, in suppressing a
nationalist revolt aimed at reducing Pugachev, posing as a wealthy
Russia's influence in Poland. The merchant, reportedly tested the
Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774 feelings of the Cossacks at the Yaik (a
resulted in bringing Southern Ukraine, river, nowadays called the Ural and
the Northern Caucasus and the known as Yaik before 1775, flowing
Crimea under the possession of the through Russia and Kazakhstan) by
Russian Empire. The war broke out as suggesting that he lead a mass exodus
a result of an internal conflict within into Turkey. When the majority
Poland. A squadron of Cossacks in seemed to agree to his plan, he
Russian service entered Balta during thought it was the right time to begin
the pursuit of a Polish Bar his revolt. Though he was arrested
Confederation force. The Ottoman shortly after and held for five months
Empire accused the troops of having at Kazan, he would escape and return
murdered its subjects in the town of to the Yaik to start his revolt. By
Balta. The Russian authorities denied promising to return several privileges
the charge. Following this border to the Cossacks and to restore the Old
incident the Turkish Sultan Mustafa Belief, he was able to gain the support
III declared war on Russia. The Turks he needed to promote his identity as
formed an alliance with the Polish Peter III. Soon tens of thousands were
opposition forces of Bar following him and the uprising, which
Confederation, while Russia was started in the south and spread up the
supported by Great Britain, who Volga River, moved within
offered naval advisers to the Imperial threatening range of Moscow.
Russian Navy. Thus in 1772 Austria Pugachev's defeat required several
and Russia annexed Polish territory in major expeditions by the imperial
the First Partition of Poland. Two forces, and a feeling of security
years later, after long-lasting returned to the government only after
negotiations, Catherine concluded his capture late in 1774. After the
peace with Turkey, getting relatively rebellion Catherine had the Yaik
modest but nonetheless important Cossaks renamed Ural Cossacks and
gains. Russia received as a territorial the Yaik River, the Ural River.
concession its first foothold on the
Black Sea coast, and Russian With regards to foreign affairs,
merchant ships were allowed to sail in Catherine gradually came to believe
the Black Sea and through the that it would be possible to strip
Dardanelles. Turkey of both Constantinople and its
European possessions if only Austria
Even before the conclusion of peace would join Russia in the assault. And,
with the Turks, Catherine had to face having gained Austria’s support, she
a revolt led by the Cossack Yemelyan began to conduct a policy so
Pugachev. It proved to be the most aggressive towards Turkey that in
odious internal threat she ever faced. 1787 the Sultan finally declared war
The rebel leader claimed to be the on Russia. As in past encounters,
deposed Emperor Peter III, as his Russian forces proved superior, but
death certificate was fabricated. they required four years to totally
defeat the Turks. By the Treaty of make a fit successor to the throne. She
Jassy (1792) Catherine won from considered disclaiming him as heir
Turkey a large area on the Black Sea and naming his oldest son, Aleksandr,
coast and gained Turkish agreement as her successor. But before she was
to Russia's annexation of the Crimean able to change her original
Peninsula. But she was not able to arrangement, she died of a stroke on 6
fulfill her original plan of annexing November 1796.
Constantinople and Turkey's
European territory, since Austria had During her reign the territory of
withdrawn its support for this action Russia increased significantly: out of
and other powers strongly opposed it. 50 provinces 11 were acquired while
While the Russo-Turkish War was in she was in power. The population of
progress, Polish nationalists again the country grew almost twofold. She
tried to strengthen the Polish state and ordered 144 new cities and towns
end Russian influence within it. built, founding more than four cities
per year of her reign. Russia also saw
Catherine devoted much attention to a flood of European immigrants. She
expanding the country's educational boosted twofold the strength of the
facilities. She gave serious Russian army and increased more
consideration to various plans and in than threefold the number of lead
1786 adopted one providing for a ships of the Russian fleet. Her army
large-scale educational system. and the fleet triumphantly came out
Unfortunately she was unable to carry victorious 78 times strengthening
out the entire plan. But she did add a Russia’s position in the world.
number of the country's elementary
and secondary schools, while some of
the remaining points of her plan were
carried out by her successors.

Another one of Catherine's chief

domestic concerns was the
enhancement of Russia's economic
strength. To this end she encouraged
trade by lifting various restrictions
and promoting the development of
under-populated areas by attracting
both Russians and foreigners to settle
there.

As she grew older, Catherine became

greatly concerned because her heir,
Paul, who had long displayed violent
and unpredictable extremes of
emotion, was becoming so unsettled
and erratic that she doubted he would
11. Foreign policy of Russia in the second half of the
18th century
Catherine the Great and Foreign Affairs (1762-1796)
During her reign, Catherine extended the borders of the Russian
Empire southward and westward to absorb New Russia, Crimea,Northern
Caucasus, Right-bank Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, and Courland at the
expense, mainly, of two powers – the Ottoman Empireand the Polish–
Lithuanian Commonwealth. All told, she added some 200,000 square
miles (520,000 km2) to Russian territory.
Catherine's foreign minister Nikita Panin (in office 1763–81), exercised
considerable influence from the beginning of her reign. A shrewd
statesman, Panin dedicated much effort and millions of rubles to setting
up a "Northern Accord" between Russia, Prussia, Poland, and Sweden.
When it became apparent that his plan could not succeed, Panin fell out
of favour and Catherine had him replaced with Ivan Osterman(in office
1781–97).
Catherine agreed to a commercial treaty with Great Britain in 1766, but
stopped short of a full military alliance Although she could see the
benefits of Britain's friendship, she was wary of Britain's increased power
following its victory in the Seven Years War, which threatened
the European balance of power.
Russo-Turkish Wars
While Peter the Great had succeeded only in gaining a toehold in the
south on the edge of the Black Sea in the Azov campaigns, Catherine
completed the conquest of the south. Catherine made Russia the dominant
power in south-eastern Europe after her first Russo-Turkish War against
the Ottoman Empire (1768–74), which saw some of the heaviest defeats
in Turkish history, including the Battle of Chesma (5–7 July 1770) and
the Battle of Kagul (21 July 1770).

The Russian victories allowed Catherine's government to obtain access to

the Black Sea and to incorporate present-day southernUkraine, where the
Russians founded the new cities of Odessa, Nikolayev, Dnepropetrovsk
and Kherson.

Russo-Persian War
In accordance with the Treaty of Georgievsk (1783) Russia had signed
with the Georgians to protect them against any new invasion of their
Persian suzerains and further political aspirations, Catherine waged a new
war against Persia in 1796 after they, under the new king Agha
Mohammad Khan, had again invaded Georgia and established rule over
it about a year prior and had expelled the newly established Russian
garrisons in the Caucasus
Relations with Western Europe
Catherine longed for recognition as an enlightened sovereign. She
pioneered for Russia the role that Britain later played through most of the
19th and early 20th centuries as an international mediator in disputes that
could, or did, lead to war. She acted as mediator in the War of the
Bavarian Succession (1778–79) between the German states of Prussia
and Austria. In 1780, she established a League of Armed Neutrality,
designed to defend neutral shipping from the British Royal Navy during
the American Revolution.
From 1788 to 1790, Russia fought a war against Sweden, a conflict
instigated by Catherine's cousin, King Gustav III of Sweden, who
expected to simply overtake the Russian armies still engaged in war
against the Ottoman Turks, and hoped to strike Saint Petersburg directly.
But Russia's Baltic Fleet checked the Royal Swedish navy in a tied battle
off Hogland (July 1788), and the Swedish army failed to advance.
Denmark declared war on Sweden in 1788 (the Theater War). After the
decisive defeat of the Russian fleet at the Battle of Svensksund in 1790,
the parties signed the Treaty of Värälä (14 August 1790), returning all
conquered territories to their respective owners and confirming the Treaty
of Åbo. Peace ensued for 20 years, aided by the assassination of Gustav
III in 1792.
Paul I
Paul's early foreign policy can largely be seen as reactions against his
mother's. In foreign policy, this meant that he opposed the many
expansionary wars she fought and instead preferred to pursue a more
peaceful, diplomatic path. Immediately upon taking the throne, he
recalled all troops outside Russian borders, including the struggling
expedition Catherine II had sent to conquer Iran through the Caucasus
and the 60,000 men she had promised to Britain and Austria to help them
defeat the French. Paul hated the French before their revolution, and
afterwards, with their republican and anti-religious views, he detested
them even more.In addition to this, he knew French expansion hurt
Russian interests, but he recalled his mother's troops primarily because he
firmly opposed wars of expansion. He also believed that Russia needed
substantial governmental and military reforms to avoid an economic
collapse and a revolution, before Russia could wage war on foreign soil

12. Russia in the first quarter of the XIX century.

Alexander I.
Alexander I (1777-1825) was emperor of Russia from 1801 to 1825. His
leadership in the defeat of Napoleon and his statesmanship at the
Congress of Vienna contributed to a rare attempt at massive political
reconstruction of Europe.
The eldest son of Czar Paul I, Alexander was born on Dec. 12, 1777. He
was removed from the care of his parents and brought up under the
careful guidance of his grandmother, Empress Catherine II. His principal
tutor was César La Harpe, a Swiss revolutionary who, however, was
willing to compromise with czarist absolutism as a means to achieve his
end. La Harpe was an ardent disciple of the Enlightenment and instilled
in his student a sincere attachment for its philosophy. Alexander did not
master the Russian language, but he spoke fluent English and excellent
French. He ended his formal education after his marriage to Elizabeth
(Princess Louise of Baden) in September 1793.
The Succession
At the court of Catherine II, Alexander was groomed to become her
successor. But at his father's residence in Gatchina, where Alexander was
a frequent visitor in the later years of Catherine's reign, he learned the art
of warfare according to Prussian style. The exact military drill demanded
of the soldiers by Paul I appealed to Alexander. At Gatchina, Alexander
befriended Aleksei Arakcheev, who later became a close adviser.
Since the relationship between Catherine and her son Paul was hostile,
she attempted to change the succession to Alexander. A letter from
Alexander to Catherine in 1796, the year of her death, reveals that he was
fully aware of the plan and had approved it. Paul reigned for 5 years. On
March 11, 1801, a palace uprising led to Paul's murder, with the
collaboration of Alexander. None of the participants in the conspiracy
was tried or officially punished, but there is evidence that Alexander
never entirely freed himself from the memories of that night.

Domestic Policy
When Alexander became czar, he was expected to initiate far-reaching
constitutional and social reforms because of his liberalism. These hopes
were nurtured by the early enlightened measures of his regime: the
annulment of vexatious prohibitions enacted by Paul, provision for a
broad amnesty, liberation of trade, permission to import foreign
publications, removal of restriction on traveling abroad, and partial
reform of the harsh penal procedure.
At Alexander's request Speranski drew up plans for constitutional reform.
He recommended reforms of the government based on the doctrine of
separation of powers— legislative, executive, and judicial—all of them,
however, emanating from the czar. The right to vote was to be granted to
all property owners. Although Speranski favored the eventual abolition of
serfdom, he saw the difficulties in achieving emancipation.
Alexander rejected the doctrine of separation of powers, but Speranski
did persuade Alexander to create a state council, a body to review laws
passed by the emperor, although its decisions were not binding on the
Crown. Alexander also approved Speranski's legislation of 1810-1811 for
the reconstruction of the executive departments.
Speranski raised the civil service standards and instituted financial
reforms. These measures infringed on the privileges of the landowning
and bureaucratic classes, and to placate the nobility Alexander dismissed
Speranski in 1812.
Alexander created the Holy Alliance in 1815, an agreement between the
rulers of Russia, Austria, and Prussia that they would conduct themselves
according to Christian principles. The Alliance became a symbol of
repression and reaction, and Alexander's policies became more and more
conservative.
The fact that Speranski's constitutional reforms were not carried out and
that Alexander failed to fulfill his promise resulted in the emergence of
organized political opposition in the form of secret societies. This
opposition came from members of the upper classes and led to an
abortive coup d'etat on Dec. 14, 1825. Alexander I had died on November
19.

13. Foreign policy of Alexander I. War of 1812.

Foreign Policy
The succession of Alexander I to the throne brought closer relations
between Russia and England. Alexander ordered the recall of the
Cossacks that Paul had sent to conquer India, and diplomatic relations
were improved. This disturbed Napoleon because in 1801 France was at
war with England, and he had made plans to dispatch a French expedition
to join the Russian force undertaking the conquest of India. Alexander
distrusted Napoleon and resented the unceremonious way in which he
dealt with the crowned heads of the German and Italian states. In spite of
their differences, a Franco-Russian treaty of amity was signed on Oct. 11,
1801, which called for close cooperation in all matters of common
interest and for joint endeavors to keep peace.
In June 1802 Alexander, without consulting the minister of foreign
affairs, Count Kochubey, established a personal friendship with Frederick
William III of Prussia that lasted through peace and war.
On April 11, 1805, an Anglo-Russian treaty was signed for the liberation
of Holland, northern Germany, Italy, and Switzerland from Napoleonic
rule. In the ensuing war an Austro-Russian army of 90,000 men
commanded by Gen. Mikhail Kutuzov was routed at the Battle of
Austerlitz (Dec. 2, 1805). Alexander wept like a child during the retreat.
The war continued until July 1807, when the Franco-Russian treaty was
signed at Tilsit. The alliance with France was not popular in Russia, and
Mikhail Speranski, Alexander's secretary of state, felt that the Treaty of
Tilsit contained practically all the ingredients of a future war between
Russia and France. His fears were realized when Napoleon's army
invaded Russia in June 1812. The severe Russian winter, however,
proved insurmountable and led to disaster for Napoleon. By the Final Act
of the Congress of Vienna on June 9, 1815, part of Poland was set up as a
constitutional kingdom, and Alexander became its king.
1812 War
Russia's economy was being hurt by Napoleon Bonaparte's Continental
System that banned trade with Britain and internal pressures forced Tsar
Alexander to turn a blind eye to those who broke it.

Bonaparte decided to bring the Russians back into line and gathered a
Grande Armee of more than 500,000 men - including contingents from all
France's allies - to frighten them.

The implied threat did not work

and the tsar ordered two
Russian armies to protect the
Motherland.

Led by General Barclay de Tolly and General Bagration, the Russians

retreated as Bonaparte's troops swarmed across the frontier on the River
Niemen on 24 June.
Combining at Smolensk, the Russian armies fought at Smolensk and
Valutino, but the overall strategy was to trade space for time and continue
to avoid a major battle with the French. Finally the retreat stopped some
110 kilometres west of Moscow.

Now under the command of General Mikhail Kutusov, the Russians set

up strong defensive positions for his 120,000 troops at Borodino and
waited for Bonaparte's men to come on.

They did so, 133,000 strong, and the fighting was brutal, even in
Napoleonic terms, with little quarter being given.

Although advised by Marshal Davout to manouevre around the defences

and attack from another direction, Bonaparte threw his men into a series
of bloody attacks on the Russian positions.

At the end of the day - and at the cost of 44,000 Russian casualties and
30,000 French losses - the battle was indecisive, as Bonaparte withheld
his Imperial Guard in a move that probably saved Kutusov's army from
destruction. But, so far from friendly territory, Bonaparte said he could
not take the risk.

Kutusov retreated again and the French occupied a burning Moscow - set
on fire by the Russians themselves.

Hoping for a Russian surrender that never came, Bonaparte waited in

Moscow for five weeks - far too long - and then began what would
become one of the greatest disasters in military history.

Again ignoring good advice from Davout to take a different, better-

supplied route to that they had advanced on, Bonaparte sent his men back
to Smolensk through already-plundered territory.

To make a bad situation worse, the snows came early in 1812 and the
cold, together with hunger and cossack attacks, doomed what had been
one of the most impressive armies ever to be formed.

Defended by a magnificent fighting rearguard led by Marshal Ney, the

French struggled on. They were almost destroyed during the crossing of
the River Beresina where a two-day battle to hold off the Russians
allowed what was left of the army to limp across two fragile bridges.

Bonaparte left the army on 5 December to return to Paris where a coup

had been foiled and to raise another army. His troops dragged themselves
on and on 7 December finally crossed the Niemen out of Russian
territory. They had survived, but only 20,000 of them.

14. Nicholas I. Domestic and foreign policy.

The Russian czar, statesman, and autocrat Nicholas I (1796-1855) reigned
from 1825 to 1855. During his reign Russian 19th-century autocracy
reached its greatest power.
The third son of Czar Paul I, Nicholas was tutored in political economy,
government, constitutional law, jurisprudence, and public finance. He
learned to speak Russian, French, German, and English, and he studied
Greek and Latin. Nicholas showed great aptitude for the science of
warfare, especially military engineering, and became an expert
drillmaster. His education ended in the middle of 1813. In 1814 Nicholas
joined the army, for which he retained a strong affection throughout his
life. On July 1, 1817, he married Charlotte of Prussia, daughter of King
Frederick William III. Nicholas took no part in the administration of
public affairs during the reign of his brother Alexander I. He was put in
charge of a brigade of the guards and was inspector general of army
engineers.

Paul I's second son had renounced his right to the throne, and on
Alexander's death in 1825 Nicholas became czar. But the confusion over
the succession led to the Decembrist Rebellion of 1825. This uprising
was a shock to Nicholas, for it involved the army, especially the guards,
whom the Czar regarded as the backbone of the throne. Nicholas
supervised the investigation of the conspiracy. He labeled the
Decembrists "a handful of monsters." In spite of numerous secret
committees and proposals, no significent reforms were enacted. The
general attitude of Nicholas is pointed out by his remarks on the
emancipation of serfs. "There is no doubt that serfdom, in its present
form, is a flagrant evil which everyone realizes," Nicholas proclaimed in
the state council on March 20, 1842, "yet to attempt to remedy it now
would be, of course, an evil even more disastrous."

Nicholas's rigid conservatism, his fear of the masses, and his desire to
preserve autocracy and to protect the interests of the nobility hindered
reforms. Thus, his regime became a dictatorship.

Nicholas's conservative views determined Russian foreign policy, over

which he exercised personal control. His opposition to the principle of
national self-determination, which spread throughout Europe, caused him
to come into conflict with every democratic and liberal movement in
England and on the Continent. His aggressive and unpredictable foreign
policy in Asia and the Near East annoyed the European powers and
caused suspicion. His bloody suppression of the Polish insurrection of
1830-1831 and the destruction of Polish autonomy enhanced Nicholas's
unpopularity.

Under Nicholas I the first railway between St. Petersburg and Tsarskoe
Selo (Pushkin), 17 miles long, was opened to the public in 1837. By the
end of his reign Russia had 650 miles of railways. Some progress was
also made with river shipping.

It is a paradox that during the absolutism of Nicholas I the golden age of

Russian literature occurred. Of the authors whose work does not extend
beyond the chronological limits of Nicholas's rule, the most prominent
were Aleksandr Pushkin, Mikhail Lermentov, Aleksei Koltsov, and
Nikolai Gogol. In addition, intellectual movements emerged to debate the
destiny and the contributions to civilization of Russia. The two best-
known movements were the Westerners and the Slavophiles. The
Westerners were primarily Russian humanitarians. They admired
European science and wanted constitutional government, freedom of
thought and of the press, and emancipation of the serfs.

Slavophilism of the 1840s was a romantic nationalism that praised

Russian virtues as superior to those of the decadent West. The Orthodox
Church, according to this movement, was the source of strength in the
past and Russia's hope for the future. The Slavophiles criticized the
Westernization of Peter the Great as an interruption in the harmonious
course of Russian history.

Certainly, Nicholas's defeat in the Crimean War exposed the military and
technological backwardness of Russia to the world. He was aware of the
failure of his reign, and whatever illusions he might have cherished were
dispelled by the Crimean War. He died in St. Petersburg on March 2,
1855.

15. Main public and political movements of the XIX

century.
 Economic developments: throughout the last half of the 19th
century, Russia's economy developed slowly, especially when
comparing to the west. Russia's population was larger than those of
the more developed countries, but the vast majority of the people
 lived in rural communities and engaged in primitive agriculture.

 Agriculture, which was technologically undeveloped, remained in

the hands of former serfs and state peasants. Small-scale peasant
farming and the growth of the rural population increased the
amount of land used for agricultural development, land was used
more for gardens and fields of grain.
 Industrial growth was not extensive. Russia's industrial regions
included Moscow, the central regions of European Russia, St.
Petersburg, the Baltic cities, Russian Poland, some areas along the
lower Don and Dnepr rivers, and the southern Ural Mountains.
By 1890 Russia had about 32,000 kilometers of railroads and 1.4
million factory workers, most of whom worked in the textile
industry. Between 1860-1890, annual coal production had grown,
and iron/steel production had more than doubled every year.
 The state budget had more than doubled, however, and debt
expenditures had quadrupled.
 The regime had envisioned that the landlords who possessed large
estates would thrive without serfs and would continue to provide
loyal political and administrative leadership in the countryside.
 The value of government bonds fell as the peasants failed to make
their redemption payments.
 Reforms of local government closely followed emancipation. In
1864, most local government in the European part of Russia was
organized into provincial and district zemstva, which were made up
of representatives of all classes and were responsible for local
schools, public health, roads, prisons, food supply, and other
concerns.
 In 1870, elected city councils, or dumy, were formed. Dominated
by property owners and constrained by provincial governors and
the police, the zemstva and dumy raised taxes and charged labor to
support their activities.
 In 1864, the regime implemented judicial reforms. In major towns,
it established Western-style courts with juries. In general, the
judicial system functioned effectively, but the government lacked
the finances and cultural influence to extend the court system to the
villages.
 Other reforms took place in the educational and cultural spheres.
The accession of Alexander II brought a social restructuring that
required a public discussion of issues and the lifting of some types
of censorship. When an attempt was made to assassinate the tsar in
1866, the government reinstated censorship, but not with the
 severity of pre-1855 control.
 The government put restrictions on universities in 1866. The
central government attempted to act through the zemstva to
establish uniform curricula for elementary schools and to impose
conservative policies, but it lacked resources.
 In the financial sphere, Russia established the State Bank in 1866,
which put the national currency on a firmer footing. The Ministry
of Finance supported railroad development, which facilitated vital
export activity. The ministry also founded the Peasant Land Bank
in 1882 to enable enterprising farmers to acquire more land.
 The regime also sought to reform the military. One of the chief
reasons for the emancipation of the serfs was to facilitate the
transition from a large standing army to a reserve army by
instituting territorial levies and mobilization in times of need.
 The tariff system introduced in 1874 gave the army a role in
teaching many peasants to read and in pioneering medical
education for women. But the army remained backward despite
these military reforms. Russia did not keep pace with Western
technological developments in the construction of rifles, machine
guns, artillery, ships, and naval ordnance. It also failed to use naval
modernization as a means of developing its industrial base in the
1860s.
 Alexander III initiated a period of political reaction, which
intensified a counter-reform movement that had begun in 1866. He
strengthened the security police, reorganizing it into an agency
known as the Okhrana, gave it extraordinary powers, and placed it
under the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
 Alexander's minister of internal affairs, instituted the use of land
captains, and he restricted the power of the zemstva and the dumy .
 Alexander III assigned Konstantin Pobedonostsev to be the
procurator of the Holy Synod of the Orthodox Church and Ivan
Delyanov to be the minister of education. In their attempts to
"save" Russia from "modernism," they revived religious
censorship, persecuted non-Orthodox and non-Russian populations,
fostered anti-Semitism, and suppressed the autonomy of the
universities. Their attacks on liberal and non-Russian elements
alienated large segments of the population.
 The nationalities, particularly Poles, Finns, Latvians, Lithuanians,
and Ukrainians, reacted to the regime's efforts to Russify them by
intensifying their own nationalism. Many Jews emigrated or joined
radical movements. Secret organizations and political movements
continued to develop.
 From the 1860s-1880s, Russian radicals, known as Narodniki,
focused on the peasantry, whom they identified as the narod. The
leaders of the Populist movement included radical writers,
idealists, and advocates of terrorism. The Populist campaign failed,
however, when the peasants showed hostility to the urban idealists
and the government began to consider nationalist opinion more
seriously.
 In 1876, the radicals formed a propagandist organization called
‘Zemlya i volya’, which leaned toward terrorism. This orientation
became stronger, when the group renamed itself the ‘Narodnaya
volya’, these radicals were responsible for the assassination of
Alexander II in 1881.
 In 1879 Georgiy Plekhanov formed a propagandist faction of Land
and Liberty called Black Repartition, which advocated
redistributing all land to the peasantry. This group studied
Marxism, which was principally concerned with urban industrial
workers.
 Influenced by Chernyshevskiy's writings, Vladimir joined the
People's Will, and later converted to Marxism. He later changed his
name to Lenin.
 Radical political parties developed: During the 1890s, Russia's
industrial development led to a significant increase in the size of
the urban bourgeoisie and the working class, setting the stage for a
more dynamic political atmosphere and the development of radical
parties.
 Socialists of different nationalities formed their own parties.
Russian Poles founded the nationalistic Polish Socialist Party in
Paris in 1892. That party's founders hoped that it would help
reunite a divided Poland with the territories held by Austria-
Hungary, Germany, and Russia.
 The Russian Social Democratic Labor Party was established in
1898. Armenians were politically active in this period in Russia
and in the Ottoman Empire.
 Imperialism and the Russo-Japanese war: Tsar Nicholas failed to
orchestrate a coherent Far Eastern policy because of ministerial
conflicts. Russia's uncoordinated and aggressive moves in the
region ultimately led to the Russo-Japanese War (1904-05).
 By 1895 Germany was competing with France for Russia's favor,
and British statesmen hoped to negotiate with the Russians to
define spheres of influence in Asia. This situation enabled Russia
to intervene in northeastern Asia.
  In the negotiations, Japan was forced to make concessions in the
Liaotung Peninsula and Port Arthur in southern Manchuria French
capital was used to establish the Russo-Chinese Bank: Its goal was
to finance the construction of a railroad across Manchuria to
shorten the Trans-Siberian Railroad. Within two years, Russia had
acquired leases on the Liaotung Peninsula and Port Arthur and had
begun building a trunk line.
 In the war that followed, Japan's location, technological
superiority, and superior morale gave it command of the seas, and
Russia's incompetent commanders caused continuous setbacks on
land.
 Russia accepted mediation by Roosevelt, ceded southern Sakhalin
Island to Japan, and acknowledged Japan's domination in Korea
and southern Manchuria.

16.,17. Alexander II: the Era of Great Reforms.

Alexander II. Foreign policy.

Alexander II (1818-1881) was emperor of Russia from 1855 to 1881. He

is called the "czar liberator" because he emancipated the serfs in 1861.
His reign is famous in Russian history as the "era of great reforms."
Eldest son of Nicholas I, Alexander was born in Moscow on April 17,
1818. Vasili Zhukovski, the poet and courtier, was his principal tutor.
Alexander spoke Russian, German, French, English, and Polish. He
acquired a knowledge of military arts, finance, and diplomacy. From an
early age he traveled extensively in Russia and abroad; in 1837, for
example, he visited 30 Russian provinces, including Siberia, where no
member of the royal family had ever been. Unlike his father, Alexander
had experience in government before he acceded to the throne. He held
various military commands and was a member of the state council (from
1840) and of the committee of the ministers (from 1842); during
Nicholas's absence Alexander acted as his deputy.
Alexander's political philosophy eludes precise definition. However, there
is ample evidence to indicate that he was an admirer of Nicholas's
autocracy and bureaucratic methods.
Emancipation of the Serfs
Before he became czar, Alexander was not sympathetic to emancipation.
He changed his mind because of Russia's technological and military
backwardness in the Crimean War and because he believed that the
liberation of the serfs was the only way to prevent a peasant uprising.
Through a burdensome arrangement in which local commissions made
studies and reported their findings to the government, an emancipation
law was eventually formulated and proclaimed in 1861.
The new law stated that serfs were free to marry, acquire property,
engage in trades, and bring suits in courts. Each estate proprietor had to
prepare within a year an inventory determining the area of land actually
in the possession of the peasants and defining the annual payment or
services due from the liberated serfs. Each peasant household received its
homestead and a certain amount of land (generally the same amount the
family had cultivated for its own use in the past). The land usually
became the property of the village commune, which had the power to
redistribute it periodically among the households. The government
bought the land from the owners, but the peasants had to redeem it by
payments extending over 49 years. The proprietor kept only the portion of
his estate that had been farmed for his own purposes.
The emancipation law of 1861, which liberated more than 40 million
serfs, has been called the greatest single legislative act in history. It was a
moral stimulus to peasant self-dignity. Yet there were many problems.
The peasants had to accept the allotments, and generally they did not
receive enough land and were overcharged for it. Since they became
obligated for the payment of taxes and redemption reimbursements, their
mobility was greatly limited. The commune replaced the proprietor as
master over the peasants. The settlement, however, was on the whole
liberal, despite some unsolved problems and the agrarian crises that
emerged in part from its inadequacies.
Domestic Reforms
Because the emancipation of the serfs ended the landlords' rights of
justice and police on their estates, it was necessary to reform the entire
local administrations. The statute of 1864 created provincial and district
assemblies, which handled local finances, education, scientific
agriculture, medical care, and maintenance of the roads. The elaborate
electoral system dividing voters into categories by class provided
substantial representation to the peasants in the assemblies. Peasant and
proprietor were brought together in order to work out local problems.
During Alexander's reign other reforms were initiated. The cities were
granted municipal assemblies with functions similar to those of the
provincial assemblies. The Russian judicial system and legal procedures,
which were riddled with inequities, were reformed. For the first time in
Russian history, juries were permitted, cases were debated publicly and
orally, all classes were made equal before the law, and the court system
was completely overhauled. Censorship was relaxed, and the universities
were freed from the restrictions imposed on them by Nicholas I. The
army, too, was reformed by Gen. Dimitri Miliutin, military schools were
reorganized along liberal lines, and conscription was borne equally by all
social groups.
Despite all these reforms, Alexander II became the target of
revolutionaries in 1866. Terrorist activity continued throughout the
1870s. The underlying reasons were the lack of far-reaching social and
constitutional reforms; the bloody suppression of the peasant uprisings,
especially the slaughter of Bezna; the Polish insurrection of 1863 and its
bloody defeat; and the general ultrareactionary trend of official policies.
Conservatives and nationalists were welcomed by the Czar, but the
liberals were alienated. The radicals went underground and espoused the
cause of political and social revolution. A member of a terrorist group
murdered Alexander II on March 1, 1881.
Foreign Policy
Encroachments begun under Nicholas I against Chinese territory in the
Amur River valley were regularized by treaty in 1860. The Russians
successfully repressed the Polish uprising of 1863. In 1877 Alexander
went to war against Turkey on behalf of the rebellious Balkan
Christians of Bosnia, Herzegovina, and Bulgaria. Much greater success
attended the efforts of Russian diplomacy and Russian arms in Asia. By
the treaty of Aigun (May 28, 1858), and without any military
operations, the Ruszha cession of a great part of the basin of the Amur
was obtained from China. Six years later began the toAs/erapid
expansion of Russia in Central Asia, and at the end of Alexander II. 's
reign her domination had been firmly established throughout nearly the
whole of the vast expanse of territory lying between Siberia on the
north and Persia and Afghanistan on the south, and stretching without
interruption from the eastern coast of the Caspian to the Chinese
frontier. The greater part of the territory was formally incorporated into
the empire, and the petty potentates, such as the khan of Khiva and the
amir of Bokhara, who were allowed to retain a semblance of their
former sovereignty, became obsequious vassals of the White Tsar.
18. Emperor Alexander III: Epoch of the counter-
reforms.
 The traditional view of Alexander III has been of a conservative
reactionary, with historians and commentators contrasting
Alexander as the repressive opposite of his father, the 'Tsar
liberator'.  However, while there is some truth in this - Alexander
III was in many senses a conservative who hoped to stop further
political liberalisation.

 Given his political convictions and his wish to send a clear

message to opponents of Tsardom, Alexander III started his reign
with a strong statement of conservative reaction.  The terrorists
responsible for his father's death were executed, and 10,000
suspected opponents across the country were arrested. 
Greater censorship was re-introduced and his father's plans for a
written constitution and further reform were immediately
scrapped. 

 Local Government: radical plans to destroy

the zemstva completely were dropped, but the introduction of Land
Captains and changes in the voting system served to strengthen
autocracy and the position of the nobility in the
countryside and reduce peasant self-government.
 
 Powers of the State and repression: following the assassination the
1881 Statute of State Security gave the government more powers to
pursue revolutionaries.  This gave the state the power to declare
any part of the country under "extraordinary protection" and
thereby ban public gatherings, close schools and universities and
charge and individual for political crimes. 

 Russification and anti-semitism: under Podonostsev's influence and

position as the Procurator of the Holy Synod (state head of
Orthodox Church), a strict policy of Russification was followed
towards the non-Russian groups of the empire.  This policy of
suppressing local cultures and promoting Russian characteristics
was not invented by Alexander III, but it was appllied with new
determination in his reign.

 His firm policies allowed a period of stability which allowed

the Russian state to be strengthened and for Russian pride to be
restored after the turbulence of the 1860s. 
  Overall, Alexander III's reforms of the 1880s and 90s served
to strengthen traditional social estates (ie. the nobility)
and undermine his father's reforms of the 1860s, which satisfied
conservatives.  In this sense, the traditional view of historians of
Alexander's reign as one of repression and reactionis at least
partly correct, though it might also be pointed out that stabilizing
the state would have been an essential task for any ruler to carry
out following the dramatic assassination of 1881, and Alexander's
strengthening of the autocracy allowed Russia to improve its
international position.

 Furthermore, it would be a mistake to characterize

Alexander III purely as a conservative reactionary.  His economic
policies saw Russia make important progress towards becoming a
modern, industrialized nation, and in economic terms it can be
argued that Alexander III was at least as great a reformer as his
father was socially and politically. 

19. Rule of Nicholas II. First Russian revolution of 1905-

1907. Domestic policy.
- He knew that industrialization was vital for Russian superiority,
and so under Nicholas ll’s reign came up with a number of reforms such
as protective tariffs on foreign goods, foreign investment (loans etc.) and
also managed to put the Russian currency on the gold standard. However
his ignorance of peasants through high taxation, low wages and lack of
agricultural reforms caused a great amount of dissent towards the Tsar. 
- In 1905, Russia suffered a defeat in Manchuria at the hands of the
Japanese. This resulted in strikes and riots culminating in January 1905,
on 'Bloody Sunday', when the army in St Petersburg shot at a crowd
demanding radical reforms. Opposition to the tsar grew and Nicholas was
forced to grant a constitution and establish a parliament, the Duma.
- Following the Battleship Potemkin Mutiny, Industrial workers all
over Russia went on strike and in October, 1905, the railwaymen went on
strike which paralyzed the whole Russian railway network. Later that
month, Leon Trotsky and other Mensheviks established the St. Petersburg
Soviet. Over the next few weeks over 50 of these soviets were formed all
over Russia.
- Nicholas's concessions were only limited. Changes were made in
the voting laws to prevent the election of radicals and the secret police
continued to crush opposition. However, the Duma did give many more
people, especially the middle classes, a voice in government. Furthermore
Nicholas had several arguments leading to him dissolving 3 successive
Dumas and rejecting all their suggested reforms. Peter Stolypin, under the
Tsar, also instituted a new court system that made it easier for the arrest
and conviction of political revolutionaries. Over 3,000 suspects were
convicted and executed by these special courts between 1906 and 1909.

20. Foreign policy of Nicholas II.

- The Russo-Japanese war: Although Nicholas II described
himself as a man of peace; he favoured an expanded Russian Empire.
Encouraged by Vyacheslav Plehve, the Minister of the Interior, the Tsar
made plans to seize Constantinople and expanded into Manchuria and
Korea. On 8th February, 1904, the Japanese Navy launched a surprise
attack on the Russian fleet at Port Arthur.

The Russian Navy fought two major battles to try and relieve Port
Arthur. At both Liao-Yang and Sha Ho, the Russians were defeated
and were forced to withdraw. On 2nd January, 1905, the Japanese finally
captured Port Arthur. The Russian Army also suffered 90,000 causalities
in its failed attempt to Mukden (February, 1905).

In May, 1905, the Russian Navy was attacked at Tsushima. Twenty

Russian ships were sunk and another five were captured. Only four
Russian ships managed to reach safety at Vladivostok.

-The Russian government considered Germany to be the main threat to

its territory. This was reinforced by Germany's decision to form
the Triple Alliance. Under the terms of this military
alliance, Germany,Austria-Hungary and Italy agreed to support each
other if attacked by either France or Russia.

Although Germany was ruled by the Tsar's cousin, Kaiser Wilhem II, he

accepted the views of his ministers and in 1907 agreed
that Russia should joined Britain and France to form the Triple
Entente.

In the international crisis that followed the assassination of Archduke

Ferdinand, Nicholas II accepted the advice of his foreign minister, Sergi
Sazonov, and committed Russia to supporting the Triple Entente. 

-In September 1915, Nicholas II replaced Grand Duke Nikolai as

supreme commander of the Russian Army fighting on the Eastern
Front. This failed to change the fortunes of the armed forces and by the
end of the year there were conscription riots in several cities.

Nicholas II, as supreme commander of the Russian Army, was now

closely linked to the country's military failures and during 1917 there was
a strong decline in his support in Russia. 

21. THE 1917 BOLSHEVIK REVOLUTION.

 The revolution removed Russia from the war and brought about the
transformation of the Russian Empire into the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics (USSR), replacing Russia’s traditional
monarchy with the world’s first Communist state.
 The revolution happened in stages through separate coups, one in
February and one in October. The new government, led by
Vladimir Lenin, would solidify its power only after three years of
civil war, which ended in 1920.
 Prior to the revolution, the Russian monarchy had become
progressively weaker and increasingly aware of its own
vulnerability. Nicholas II had witnessed revolutionary terrorists
assassinate his grandfather and his own father respond to the
assassination through brutal oppression of the Russian people.
 As Nicholas’s newly imposed oppressions in turn incited still more
unrest, he was forced to make concessions after each incident: it
was in this manner that Russia’s first constitution was created.
These concessions continued gradually until Nicholas II’s grip on
power became very shaky.
 As Nicholas II grew weaker, Vladimir Lenin rose to being the most
powerful figure in Russia. Although the famous leader of the
October Revolution was not even in Russia for the February
Revolution, he exerted tremendous influence. Few other Russian
revolutionaries possessed Lenin’s decisiveness and strength of
vision for Russia’s future. As a young adult, Vladimir joined the
resistance movement himself and took the pseudonym Lenin but
swore that he would never engage in the sort of “adventurism” that
had ended his brother’s life.
 The revolution that Lenin led marked one of the most radical
turning points in Russia’s history: it affected economics, social
structure, culture, international relations, industrial development
etc. Although the new government would prove to be at least as
repressive as the one it replaced, the country’s new rulers were
drawn largely from the intellectual and working classes rather than
from the aristocracy.
 The revolution opened the door for Russia to fully enter the
industrial age. Prior to 1917, Russia was a mostly agrarian nation
that had immersed in industrial development only to a limited
degree. By 1917, Russia’s European neighbors had embraced
industrialization for more than half a century, making technological
advancements such as widespread electrification, which Russia
hadn’t yet achieved.
 After the revolution, new urban-industrial regions appeared quickly
in Russia and became increasingly important to the country’s
development. Education also took a major upswing, and illiteracy
was almost entirely eradicated.
 The Russian Revolution also had international consequences.
Lenin’s government immediately pulled Russia out of WWI,
changing the balance of forces for the remaining participants.
During the civil war in Russia, several nations, including the
United States, sent troops to Russia in hopes of keeping the chaos
from spreading beyond Russia’s boundaries.
 Over the next several decades, the Soviet Union actively sponsored
and assisted Communist movements and revolutions around the
world in an effort to broaden its sphere of influence. The country
also played a fundamental role in the defeat of Nazi Germany
during WWII.
 Threatened by the possibility of revolutions in their own lands, the
governments of many Western nations viewed Communism as a
spreading threat and moved to isolate the Soviet Union as much as
possible.
 The February Revolution: began in 1917, when demonstrators
asking for bread took the streets of Petrograd. Supported by huge
crowds of striking industrial workers, the protesters clashed with
police but refused to leave the streets. The strike spread among all
of Petrograd’s workers, and angry mobs destroyed police stations.
 Several factories elected deputies to the Petrograd Soviet, or
council, of workers’ committees, following the model devised
during the 1905 revolution.
 On March 11, the troops of the Petrograd army garrison were
called out to overwhelm the uprising. In some encounters,
regiments opened fire, killing demonstrators, but the protesters
kept to the streets and the troops began to waver. That day,
Nicholas again dissolved the Duma.
 On March 12, the revolution triumphed when regiment after
regiment of the Petrograd garrison defected to the cause of the
 demonstrators. The soldiers subsequently formed committees that
elected deputies to the Petrograd Soviet.
 The imperial government was forced to resign, and the Duma
formed a provisional government that peacefully vied with the
Petrograd Soviet for control of the revolution.
 On March 14, the Petrograd Soviet issued Order No. 1, which
instructed Russian soldiers and sailors to obey only those orders
that did not conflict with the directives of the Soviet. The next day,
Nicholas II abdicated the throne in favor of his brother Michael
(1878-1918), whose refusal of the crown brought an end to the
czarist autocracy and Romanov dynasty.
 Bolshevik Revolution, 1917: In the aftermath of the February
Revolution, power was shared between the weak provisional
government and the Petrograd Soviet. Then, on November 6-7,
1917, leftist revolutionaries led by Bolshevik Party leader Vladimir
Lenin launched a nearly bloodless coup against the provisional
government.
 The Bolsheviks and their allies occupied government buildings and
other strategic locations in Petrograd, and soon formed a new
government with Lenin at its head.
 Lenin became the virtual dictator of the first Marxist state in the
world. His government made peace with Germany, nationalized
industry and distributed land, but beginning in 1918 had to fight a
devastating civil war against anti-Bolshevik White Army forces.
 In 1920, the anti-Bolsheviks were defeated, and in 1922 the Union
of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was established.

22. Civil and Allied intervention 1918-1922

The Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, whereby Russia yielded large portions of its
territory to Germany, caused a breach between the Bolsheviks
(Communists) and the Left Socialist Revolutionaries, who thereupon left
the coalition. In the next months there was a marked drawing together of
two main groups of Russian opponents of Vladimir I. Lenin: (1) the non-
Bolshevik left, who had been finally alienated from Lenin by his
dissolution of the Constituent Assembly and (2) the rightist whites, whose
main asset was the Volunteer Army in the Kuban steppes. This army,
which had survived great hardships in the winter of 1917–18 and which
came under the command of Gen. Anton I. Denikin (April 1918), was
now a fine fighting force, though small in numbers.

At the same time, the Western Allies, desperately pressed by a new

German offensive in northernFrance in the spring of 1918, were eager to
create another front in the east by reviving at least a part of the Russian
army. In March 1918 a small British force was landed at Murmansk with
the consent of the local soviet. On April 5 Japanese forces landed
at Vladivostok, without any approval.

Assassination of the tsar and the battle for Ukraine

Among the early victims of the civil war, which may be considered to
have begun in earnest in June 1918, were the former imperial family.
Tsar Nicholas II, his wife, and his children had been moved in August
1917 to Tobolsk and in the spring of 1918 to Yekaterinburg. With the
development of anti-Bolshevik forces in Siberia, the local soviet feared
that Nicholas might be liberated. In the night of July 16–17, 1918, all the
members of the family were taken to the cellar of their prison house and
shot.
In the late summer the Communists’ hastily reorganized armed forces,
the Red Army, recovered most of eastern European Russia. At Omsk,
which became the centre of the anti-Communists, a new army was hastily
trained under the command of Adm. Aleksandr V. Kolchak, with the
assistance of British and U.S. military missions.

In Omsk relations between the Socialist Revolutionaries and Kolchak

steadily deteriorated. Kolchak and his officers disliked the left-wing
views of the politicians and found it difficult to distinguish between
Socialist Revolutionaries and Communists, lumping together all “Reds”
as enemies. The conflict came to a head when, on November 18, 1918,
Kolchak set up his own dictatorship. Kolchak’s coup d’état coincided
with the collapse of Germany and the end of the European war.

At the beginning of 1919 Red Army forces invaded Ukraine. The

remnants of the forces of the Socialist Revolutionaries, headed by Simon
Petlyura, retreated westward, where they joined forces with Ukrainian
nationalist forces from formerly Austrian Galicia. For the next months the
mixed Petlyurist-Galician forces held parts of Ukraine; other areas were
in the hands of anarchist bands led by Nestor Makhno; and the main cities
were held by the Communists, ruling not directly from Moscow but
through a puppet Ukrainian “government” in Kharkov (now Kharkiv).
The defeat of Germany had also opened the Black Sea to the Allies, and
in mid-December 1918 some mixed forces under French command were
landed at Odessa and Sevastopol, and in the next months at Kherson and
Nikolayev.

Foreign intervention

The Allied governments now had to decide on their policy in the

confused Russian situation. The original purpose of intervention, to
revive an eastern front against Germany, was now meaningless. Russian
exiles argued that, since the pre-Bolshevik governments of Russia had
remained loyal to the Allies, the Allies were bound to help them. To this
moral argument was added the political argument that the Communist
regime in Moscow was a menace to the whole of Europe, with its
subversive propaganda and its determination to spread revolution.

At the beginning of 1919 the French and Italian governments favoured

strong support to the Whites (as the anti-Communist forces now came to
be called), while the British and U.S. governments were more cautious
and even hoped to reconcile the warring Russian parties. In January the
Allies, on U.S. initiative, proposed to all Russian belligerents to hold
armistice talks on the island of Prinkipo in the Sea of Marmara. The
Communists accepted, but the Whites refused. In March the U.S.
diplomat William C. Bullitt went to Moscow and returned with peace
proposals from the Communists, which were not accepted by the Allies.
After this the Allies ceased trying to come to terms with the Communists
and gave increased assistance to Kolchak and Denikin.

The only “interventionists” who represented a real danger were the

Japanese, who established themselves systematically in the Far Eastern
provinces.

Victory of the Red Army

In the first half of 1919 the main fighting was in the east. Kolchak
advanced in the Urals and had attained his greatest success by April. On
April 28 the Red Army’s counteroffensive began. Ufa fell in June, and
Kolchak’s armies retreated through Siberia, harassed by partisans. By the
end of summer the retreat had become a rout. Kolchak set up an
administration in November at Irkutsk, but it was overthrown in
December by Socialist Revolutionaries. He himself was handed over to
the Communists in January 1920 and shot on February 7.

Meanwhile, in the late summer of 1919, Denikin had made a last effort in
European Russia. By the end of August most of Ukraine was in White
hands. The Communists had been driven out, and the Ukrainian
nationalists were divided in their attitude to Denikin, Petlyura being
hostile to him, but the Galicians preferring him to the Poles, whom they
considered their main enemy. In September the White forces moved
northward from Ukraine and from the lower Volga toward Moscow. On
October 13 they took Oryol. At the same time, Gen. Nikolay N.
Yudenich advanced from Estonia to the outskirts of Petrograd (St.
Petersburg). But both cities were saved by Red Army counterattacks.
Yudenich retreated intoEstonia, and Denikin, his communications greatly
overextended, was driven back from Oryol in an increasingly disorderly
march, which ended with the evacuation of the remnants of his army, in
March 1920, from Novorossiysk.

In 1920 there was still an organized White force in Crimea, under

Gen. Pyotr N. Wrangel, who struck northward at the Red Army and, for a
time, occupied part of Ukraine and Kuban. The Red Army eventually
battered Wrangel’s forces, whose rearguards held out long enough to
ensure the evacuation of 150,000 soldiers and civilians by sea
from Crimea. This ended the Russian Civil War in November 1920.
23. Soviet state and society in the 1920s-30s

HOW DID LENIN GET HIS NEW GOVERNMENT ON

ITS FEET?
 Lenin proclaimed Soviet power but he did not use it to exercise
power
 Created the Council of the People Commissars, or the
SOVNARKOM.
 Only made up of Bolsheviks (although some left-wing Social
Revolutionaries were allowed to join later)
 Lenin had no intention of sharing power with the other parties.
 Many soviets were still in control of Mensheviks, SRs or non-
socialists
 In soviet’s with the Bolshevik control there was no guarantee that
their orders would be carried out
 Even the State Bank wouldn’t hand over any money for the first 10
days

 However, the Sovnarkom ruled by decree without going to the

Soviet for Approval

o Land decree:
 This gave peasants the right to take over estates of the
gentry, the decided for themselves the best way to
divide it up
 Land now belonged to the ‘entire people’
 This is not what the Bolshevik’s wanted
o Workers’ control decree:
 Factory committees were given the right to control
production and finance in workplaces and to
‘supervise’ management
 This did not give direct management to the workers
but some committees
o Rights of the People of Russia decree:
 This gave the right of self-determination to the
national minorities in the former Russian empire
 Bolshevik’s did not have control of the areas in which
most of these people lived so it was nothing more than
a paper measure
 o War Communism
 Less than a third of the urban diet came from state-
provided rations
 Economic system adopted by the Bolsheviks to cope
with the exigencies of the civil war
 The hoarded grain was requisitioned from the peasants
to feed the starving
 Russian industry was harnessed totally to the defence
of the Bolsheviks
o Cheka
 “The Cheka and its successors assimilated the
practices of the tsarist secret police to such an extent
that as late as the 1980s, the KGB distributed to its
staff manuals prepared by the Okhrana nearly a
century earlier.” – Richard Pipes
 “Under Lenin’s regime – not Stalin’s - the Cheka was
to become a vast police state. It had its own leviathan
infrastructure, from house committees to the
concentration camps, employing more than a quarter
of a million people”. – Figes

Lenin’s Rule Until 1924:

While the Kronshtadt base rebelled against the severe policies of war
communism, the Tenth Party Congress of the Russian Communist Party
(Bolshevik) met in March 1921 to hear Lenin argue for a new course in
Soviet policy. Lenin realized that the radical approach to communism
was unsuited to existing conditions and jeopardized the survival of his
regime. Now the Soviet leader proposed a tactical retreat, convincing the
congress to adopt a temporary compromise with capitalism under the
program that came to be known as the New Economic Policy (NEP).
Under NEP, market forces and the monetary system regained their
importance. The state scrapped its policy of grain requisitioning in favor
of taxation, permitting peasants to dispose of their produce as they
pleased. NEP also denationalized service enterprises and much small-
scale industry, leaving the "commanding heights" of the economy--large-
scale industry, transportation, and foreign trade--under state control.
Under the mixed economy of NEP, agriculture and industry staged
recoveries, with most branches of the economy attaining prewar levels of
production by the late 1920s. In general, standards of living improved
during this time, and the "NEP man"--the independent private trader--
became a symbol of the era.

About the time that the party sanctioned partial decentralization of the
economy, it also approved a quasi-federal structure for the state. During
the Civil War years, the non-Russian Soviet republics on the periphery of
Russia were theoretically independent, but in fact they were controlled by
Moscow through the party and the Red Army. Some Communists
favoured a centralized Soviet state, while nationalists wanted autonomy
for the borderlands. A compromise between the two positions was
reached in December 1922 by the formation of the Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics. The constituent republics of this Soviet Union (the
Russian, Belorussian, Ukrainian, and Transcaucasian republics) exercised
a degree of cultural and linguistic autonomy, while the Communist,
predominantly Russian, leadership in Moscow retained political authority
over the entire country.

The party consolidated its authority throughout the country, becoming a

monolithic presence in state and society. Potential rivals outside the
party, including prominent members of the abolished Menshevik faction
and the Socialist Revolutionary Party were exiled. Within the party,
Lenin denounced the formation of factions, particularly by radical-left
party members. Central party organs subordinated local soviets under
their authority. Purges of party members periodically removed the less
committed from the rosters. The Politburo created the new post of general
secretary for supervising personnel matters and assigned Stalin to this
office in April 1922. Stalin, a minor member of the Central Committee at
the time of the Bolshevik Revolution, was thought to be a rather
lackluster personality and therefore well suited to the routine work
required of the general secretary.

From the time of the Bolshevik Revolution and into the early NEP years,
the actual leader of the Soviet state was Lenin. Although a collective of
prominent Communists nominally guided the party and the Soviet Union,
Lenin commanded such prestige and authority that even such brilliant
theoreticians as Trotsky and Nikolai I. Bukharin generally yielded to his
will. But when Lenin became temporarily incapacitated after a stroke in
May 1922, the unity of the Politburo fractured, and a troika (triumvirate)
formed by Stalin, Lev B. Kamenev, and Grigorii V. Zinov'ev assumed
leadership in opposition to Trotsky. Lenin recovered late in 1922 and
found fault with the troika, and particularly with Stalin. Stalin, in Lenin's
view, had used coercion to force non-Russian republics to join the Soviet
Union; he was "rude"; and he was accumulating too much power through
his office of general secretary. Although Lenin recommended that Stalin
be removed from that position, the Politburo decided not to take action,
and Stalin remained general secretary when Lenin died in January 1924.

Stalin’s Rise to Power:

After Lenin's death, two conflicting schools of thought regarding the
future of the Soviet Union arose in party debates. Left-wing Communists
believed that world revolution was essential for the survival of socialism
in the economically backward Soviet Union. Trotsky, one of the primary
proponents of this position, called for Soviet support for permanent
revolution around the world. As for domestic policy, the left wing
advocated the rapid development of the economy and the creation of a
socialist society. In contrast with these militant Communists, the right
wing of the party, recognizing that world revolution was unlikely in the
immediate future, favored the gradual development of the Soviet Union
through NEP programs. Yet even Bukharin, one of the major right-wing
theoreticians, believed that socialism could not triumph in the Soviet
Union without assistance from more economically advanced socialist
countries.
Against this backdrop of contrasting perceptions of the Soviet future, the
leading figures of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolshevik)--the new
name of the Russian Communist Party (Bolshevik) as of December
1925--competed for influence. The Kamenev-Zinov'ev-Stalin troika,
supporting the militant international program, successfully maneuvered
against Trotsky and engineered his removal as commissar of war in 1925.
In the meantime, Stalin gradually consolidated his power base and, when
he had sufficient strength, broke with Kamenev and Zinov'ev. Belatedly
recognizing Stalin's political power, Kamenev and Zinov'ev made amends
with Trotsky to join against their former partner. But Stalin countered
their attacks on his position with his well-timed formulation of the theory
of "socialism in one country." This doctrine, calling for construction of a
socialist society in the Soviet Union regardless of the international
situation, distanced Stalin from the left and won support from Bukharin
and the party's right wing. With this support, Stalin ousted the leaders of
the "Left Opposition" from their positions in 1926 and 1927 and forced
Trotsky into exile. By the end of the NEP era, free debate within the party
thus became progressively limited as Stalin gradually eliminated his
opponents.

Collectivization, carried out between 1928 and 1940, was Stalin’s

foremost contribution to the Soviet Union – a complete cultural, societal,
economic and political upheaval that came with many sacrifices. It came
at a time fearful of another ‘scissor crisis’, frightened of counter-
revolution from a powerfully growing peasant class, and afraid of
imminent invasion. Stalin saw collectivization as imperative,
encapsulated in his quote, “Either we do it, or we shall be crushed.” 1. The
goals were to consolidate his political control and provide the resources
for industrialization.2 The political success brought on by ‘de-
kulakisation’, bringing the peasantry subservient to the state and moving
them into collective households allowed Stalin to maintain authoritarian
control of the USSR, a political success. Moreover, the Famine of 1932-
34 then consolidated the political chokehold Stalin had on the country.
Finally, rapid industrialization and huge leaps in production of industrial
goods allows collectivization to be dubbed an economic success. Thus,
we may submit that, for Stalin, bearing in mind not human costs but the
need for industrialization and complete political control, collectivization
was both a political and economic success.

24. USSR in the years of the Great Patriotic War (1941-

1945)
1st years of war, 1941-42
The German invasion of the Soviet Union, known as "Operation
Barbarossa" was launched on 22 June 1941.
It was a disaster for the unprepared Red Army, with soviet cities falling
one after another. (Minsk, Kiev…)
The Wehrmacht was advancing on Moscow (Army Group Center), Army
G. North aiming at Leningrad, Army G. South going for Ukraine.
Resistance in Smolensk area front forced Army Group Center to divert
troops to the area, preventing Field Marshall Von Bock, General
Guderian and his army attacking Moscow in the summer as he wanted.

September 30 1941, Operation Typhoon was launched, also known as the

Battle of Moscow.
In the same time Moscow was being bombed on a daily basis.
Initial advances of Germans and heavy losses for Russians, halted after
mid-October by Mozhaisk defense line, and then the mud season.
Every day resisted by Red Army was vital as it allowed more
reinforcements to arrive from the Far East.
After 15 November, the snow gave place to ice and the Germans again
advanced.
But the Red Army was now re-enforced enough to resist and even though

2
the Germans reached Khimki (15 km from centre) they didn't manage to
go any further.
The coldest winter in 140 years also proved to be fatal to many German
troops.

On 6 december the attack was suspended and in parallel Soviets began

their counteroffensive commanded by G. Zhukov and drove the Germans
back 150-200 km but then came to a halt and bogged down in the so-
called "Rzhev meat grinder".

In the same time further north the siege of Leningrad had begun on
September 8 1941. Germany, helped by allied Finland encircled
Leningrad that could only be supplied via Lake Ladoga. This situation
killed almost a million civilians by starvation and it was not until 27
January 1944 that the siege was lifted.

The summer offensive of 1942, called "Case Blue" included two

simultaneous operations by the Wehrmacht: the 1st and 4th Panzer armies
were to secure the Don and Volga plains, and then drive into the
Caucasus Mountains in order to capture the Baku oil fields. The 6th army
commanded by Von Paulus was to march towards Stalingrad. However
after initial losses (as usual) the Soviets resisted heroically in the battle of
Stalingrad (23 August 1942-2 February 1943) and managed to encircle
Von Paulus' 6th Army. This also caused the advance into the Caucasus to
bog down, as the 4th Panzer army was sent to reinforce Stalingrad.

25. The turning point (1943)

During winter 1942-43, Von Paulus' 6th Army sent to advance in
Stalingrad was eventually captured by the Red Army after the latter
survived from quasi-annihilation and managed to reverse the situation.
The Nazis were suffering the harsh cold, freezing and starving at
Stalingrad; however Hitler refused them to allow to surrender, and
instead attempted to send reinforcements and an air bridge. These efforts
however failed and on the 31 January 1943, the 90,000 survivors of the
6th Army surrendered.

This was the first time the Nazis suffered such a humiliating defeat, and
now the whole world could see that they were not invincible. For Nazi
Germany morale this also was a huge blow, and the danger of a defeat
seemed real. Hitler for the first time recognized the defeat and tells on
radio to his fellow Germans that they were now fighting a defensive war.
In fact, the Red Army rapidly advanced more than 500km in the steppe
and retook Kursk (8 Feb 43) and Kharkov (16 Feb 43). However the
Nazis managed to recapture Kharkov and Belgorod in March 1943.
After this event, both enemies concentrated their forces for one more
decisive battle that would take place in summer 1943: The Battle of
Kursk.
This was the last time the Nazi Germans attempted a large scale offensive
on the Red Army. It was codenamed Operation Citadel. It lasted a week
and subsequently faced a month of Soviet counterattack. The Germans
planned as usual to attempt to encircle a salient of Red Army at Kursk
attacking from the north and the south. However the northern attack led
by Army group center commanded by Von Mannfield failed
considerably.
This battle was the largest tank battle in history.
The Soviets managed to stop the "Summer" Germans for the first time
and regained territory along a 2000km wide front as a direct consequence.
Never again would the Axis forces have the strategic initiative again.
Furthermore the Allies landing in Sicily forced Hitler to halt the offensive
on the USSR.
The Soviets offensive was launched by advancing in the Orel salient, and
managed to capture Kharkov for the final time on 22 August 1943.
In September Army Group South chased by Soviet units evacuated on the
other side of the Dnieper River. On their chase, the soviets advanced
establishing bridgeheads between enemy positions. In October the Red
Army recaptured Zaporozhye and Dniepropetrovsk. In early November,
Kiev, the 3rd largest city of the USSR fell.
The year of 1943 ended with a dramatic change in the situation. Hitler's
stubbornness to attack in the same time the Caucasus and Stalingrad
proved to be fatal for the German War effort. In fact, even if some
historians consider the Battle of Moscow to be the 1st turning point, sot
historians acknowledge that the turning point of the war was the Battle of
Stalingrad and to a lesser extent the battle of Kursk.

26. The last years of the war and the outcome

In the last weeks of 1943, the retreat of the Germans continued as the 1st
and 2nd Ukranian fronts of the Red Army advanced. The Polish-Soviet
border was reached on 3 January 1944.
The Germans attempted to hold on at the Dniepr rivier, under orders
coming directly from Hitler to hold at all costs, but under heavy attack by
Red Army fire, the 5th Panzer division retreated across the river to safety,
but at the cost at half of their number and equipment.
By april the Red Army troops had advanced 500 km and recaptured
Odessa and captured Sevastopol on 10 May.
On the central and northern parts of the front, Army Group Center
retreated much less in the first place than its counterpart in the south, but
the loss of key cities in the German defence cities such as Smolensk and
Bryansk (25 sept 1943), but in January 1944 the Soviets launched a
lightning campaign that pushed the Germans far back into the Baltic
countries by summer 1944. This also finally relieved the 800 day+ siege
of of Leningrad.
The Germans expected for summer 1944 the Russians to place their
major offensive somewhere in the Ukraine around Lvov. However the
Soviet Stavka surprised them by a massive attack on Army Group Center.
This offensive was codenamed "Operation Bagration" and was terrible
for the Wehrmacht: 2,3 million men attacked 800,000 Germans. This
time, with their overwhelming numerical advantage the Red Army
rapidly retook Minsk (3 July), trapping there some 100,000 Germans. Just
ten days later they reached the prewar Polish border. Hitler had declared a
total war and Nazi Germany was now fighting a war for its own survival.
The Red Army was about to enter German populated territory, and there
would be no mercy for the invaders of 1941.
In the same in the south, Soviet Army entered Romania and occupied
Bucarest by the end of the summer. There they deposed General
Antonescu's allied regime with the Nazis and made them sign a separate
peace.
In the north the Red Army made the Finnish troops retreat by steps to the
1941 border along the Carlian isthmus.
In autumn 1944 Soviet troops entered Slovakia.
Warsaw in Poland was entered in 17 January 1945.
In just 3 moths the Red Army advanced around 30km a day advancing
400km between Warsaw to the Oder River via Poznan. In Poznan they
faced fierce resistance, and General Chuikov's forces were let there to
crush the German's as General Konev's forces were to continue their
advance for Berlin.
At this point of the war so desperate for Germany, one of the fiercest
resistances came from East Prussia's capital Konigsberg (future
Kaliningrad). The fall of Konigsberg on 9 april 45 allowed General
Rokossovkiy's 2nd Belorussian front to help out the advance on Berlin.
In a desperate move to attempt to halt the now unstoppable German
offensive, and the Wehrmacht now short of men, Hitler ordered the
creation of the Volksturm, a paramilitary force were any German aged 16
to 60 could enter. He asked for "fanatical resistance" from his troops.
This however was not enough to halt the Soviets, who rushed up their
advance also in order to prevent their allies but future Cold War enemies
USA to get Berlin first.
The Vistula-Oder offensive by the Germans slowed down the Red Army
in January-February 1945, however the decisive battle of Berlin was
fought between April 16 and May 2 1945. In the last days Hitler and
other high ranking Nazi officials committed suicide and the last German
forces still fighting after the unconditional surrender were submitted on
8/9 may, what will be later known as Victory Day.
The outcome of the war against Germany was the establishment of a new
order in Europe that will be shared between Western/US zone of
influence and Soviet influence in the countries it had "liberated".
The USSR's war effort was crucial in defeating Nazi Germany.
However the Great Patriotic War was still not over, as Stalin had
promised Roosevelt and Churchill in the Yalta conference that no longer
than 90 days after the fall of Berlin it would open a front against Japan to
finish the 2nd World War.
This conflict began on August 9 1945 and lasted until September 2, 1945.
Here again Soviet efforts, more than US atomic bombardment of
Nagasaki and Hiroshima, were determining to defeat Japan, as by seizing
Manchuria it had cut off Japan of all its industries. In reward for this, the
Soviet Russia regained the Southern part of Sakhalin and the entire Kuril
islands.