How Did Ivan I Want To Westernize Russia

Ivan IV was the first official tsar of Russia. Peter I was the first “All-Russian Emperor.” Both monarchs distinguished themselves from earlier Russian rulers via their foreign and domestic policies. Ivan and Peter sought to extend Russia’s borders. Ivan was successful in the south and east; he conquered Kazan and Astrakhan, which secured Russia’s control of trade on the Volga River. Peter also tried to expand in the south for economic reasons, but he was unable to hold his territorial gains along the Sea of Azov and the Caspian Sea. Similarly, Ivan was unable to hold the territory he acquired in the Livonian War and even lost land to Sweden. However, Peter succeeded where Ivan failed. The Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War, gave Russia ample Livonian territory

The primary difference between Peter and Ivan’s domestic policies was that Ivan focused on combatting potential enemies and Peter focused on modernizing and Westernizing Russia. Restrictions in Ivan’s Sudebnik and Peter’s Holy Synod made the Orthodox Church more subservient to the state. Ivan created prikazy to deal with specific areas of government, but, by Peter’s reign, the prikazy were ineffective, so Peter replaced them with Western-style colleges. Ivan also established the streltsy, a permanent military force, and the oprichnina, a secret police force, yet Peter expanded the Russian military and navy much more drastically. Although Ivan’s admission of lower classes to the oprichnina and bureaucracy and Peter’s Table of Ranks increased the number of nobles, both rulers restricted the nobility: Ivan’s forces terrorized and killed boyars, and Peter forced them to Westernize and serve the state. To appease nobles with greater control over the lower classes, Ivan restricted peasants’ movement and Peter allowed nobles to tie serf villages to