Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Russian Empire in Europe and Asia

1. Bentley & Ziegler, TRADITIONS AND ENCOUNTERS, 2/e Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Russian Empire in Europe and Asia

2. Today’s Big Questions • What were the aspirations of the Tsars when they attempted to ‘westernize’ Russia? • Why did the attempts to westernize Russia fail? • What were the long-term consequences of that failure? Can we directly attribute the Russian Revolution of 1917 to it?

3. Chapter Twenty-Nine:The Russian Empire in Europe and Asia • Foundations of the Absolutist State

4. Chapter Twenty-Nine:The Russian Empire in Europe and Asia • Foundations of the Absolutist State • The Time of Troubles • Ivan IV

5. Chapter Twenty-Nine:The Russian Empire in Europe and Asia • Foundations of the Absolutist State • The Time of Troubles • Ivan IV • Ivan’s Reign of Terror

6. Chapter Twenty-Nine:The Russian Empire in Europe and Asia • The Absolutist State • The Gathering of the Russian Land • Ivan III • Cossacks • The Third Rome • The Time of Troubles • Ivan IV • Ivan’s Reign of Terror • War and Famine

7. Chapter Twenty-Nine:The Russian Empire in Europe and Asia • Westernization and Empire • The Limits of Westernization • Catherine II “You write on paper, but I have to write on human skin, which is far more ticklish.” - Catherine the Great

8. Chapter Twenty-Nine:The Russian Empire in Europe and Asia • Westernization and Empire • A Window on the West • Peter I • Peter’s Program of Westernization • Military Reform • Bureaucratic Reform • Social Reform • St. Petersburg • The Limits of Westernization • Catherine II • Pugachev’s Rebellion • The End of Reform

9. Imperial Russia in the 18th century

10. Chapter Twenty-Nine:The Russian Empire in Europe and Asia • A Society in Tension • Muscovite Society Before Westernization • Rural Life • Serfdom (the law of 1649) • Catherine and the Nobility • The Growth of Trade and Industry • European Trade • Asian Trade • Industrial Development • Population Growth

11. Chapter Twenty-Nine:The Russian Empire in Europe and Asia • Cultural Clashes • Crisis in the Church • Church Reform • Patriarch Nikon • Avvakum and Old Belief • Tsarist Control Over the Church • Westernization and the Enlightenment in Russia • Education • Enlightenment Issues • The Intelligentsia • The End of Experimentation

12. Today’s Big Questions Revisited • What were the aspirations of the Tsars when they attempted to ‘westernize’ Russia? • This was probably a sincere effort to transform Russia to resemble “advanced” European societies, although it did contradict the personal power of the Tsars • Why did the attempts to westernize Russia fail? • Probably a better question would be, “could it ever have succeeded?” The obstacles were too great, as (a) the power of the monarchs was built upon the structure of the nobility, (b) there were too deeply entrenched conservative interests, and (c) the Tsars were threatened by the specter of the French Revolution • What were the long-term consequences of that failure? Can we directly attribute the Russian Revolution of 1917 to it? • Yes! Yes! Yes! The Emancipation of the Serfs was too little too late, and, combined with a large and growing working class, the system could not restrain growing popular discontent

13. We finished, again!