Overview

This chapter covers the impressive evolution of the Russian empire from a minor city-state in the late fifteenth century to a vast empire by the end of the eighteenth century that stretched from the Baltic Sea across Asia to the Pacific Ocean. The contributions of several forceful rulers--Ivan III, Ivan IV, Peter I, and Catherine II--are discussed in some detail. Russia became, like other Asian empires, autocratic, conservative, and resistant to change; yet in some respects, the Russian state proved more dynamic and innovative. Some aspects of the Russian empire to consider:

• An autocratic state. Russian rulers were directly involved in the governance of the empire and imposed strict authority over their subjects. There was no tradition of participation in government and no tolerance of dissent.


• An agricultural economy. Wealth and power were linked to land and to farming. Nobles forced serfs to work their lands and resisted alternative forms of labor. Peter actively promoted industry, science, and technology but not free enterprise. The structures of capitalism did not emerge in Russia before the nineteenth century.


• A rigid social structure. Russian society was divided between nobles and peasants. Social rank was hereditary and strictly enforced. Between 1500 and 1800, Russian peasants actually lost freedom and status at the very time that peasants in western Europe were gaining basic legal and civil rights.


• Aggressive empire building. Starting in the fifteenth century, the principality of Moscow was the core of what became an immense empire, first taking over the lands of the Golden Horde, then Siberia, and the Caucasus. In the eighteenth century, Russia pushed to the Pacific Ocean and began to intrude on the Ottoman Empire to the south and Poland-Lithuania to the west.


• Ambivalence toward change and innovation. Peter I imposed sweeping reforms in the military, government, education, and industry, and Catherine continued many of those policies. Russians were forced to accept western models and learning, but these reforms stopped short of significant social changes. By 1800 the momentum for change had ended.