Inbetween the years 1450-1750 CE, Western Europe and Russia have gone through several political and economic changes, though they have existed in different districts of Europe. Both Western European and Russian cultural patterns have been influenced by their enlightenment periods, bringing an era of revolution and economic/ intellectual advancement. However, though they shared this in common, Western Europe went through the Renaissance, a time of new styles and inventions in secular arts and sciences that challenged popular religion, while Russian was becoming a major European power through Westernization forces brought on by tsars, like Peter the Great. Many of Western Europe’s innovations in finance and government started developing during …show more content…
Initially, Russia’s tsar, Ivan the Great, had seen Russia’s low literacy level and poor economic system dependent on peasant labor and began the revival of his mother country through expansion and reform. Unlike Western empires, Russia’s expansion had limited commercial expansion, though it did establish territorial and trading policies in central Asia. This expansion was caused by the movement of Russian peasants and landlords, adding new diversities to the country, making it a multicultural empire, like the Ottoman Empire. This expansion period reached a dramatic change with Russian Westernization led by one its chief reformist tsars, Peter the Great. Inspired by his travels, Peter the Great brought back many inventions of Western science and technology to shift Russia westward and created his capital, St. Petersburg. Russia’s enlightenment period consisted of changes of a more defined military hierarchy, building up metallurgical and mining industries, and reformation of its economy while continuing to use serf labor. One paradigm of Westernization was seen in Peter the Great’s order for all men of nobility to cut their beards off, symbolizing the shaving of “old Russia” and growing into a time of advanced education and new cultural styles, reflecting the Renaissance. Furthermore, Peter’s ministers created law codes extending throughout Russia and revising the tax system, imposing larger taxes on Russian
In Document 3 he expresses this by saying “Since our accession to the throne all our efforts and intentions have tended to govern this realm in such a way that all of our subjects should, through our care for the general good, become more and more prosperous”. Peter only wanted what was best for his people but his people didn’t see it that way sometimes. Document 6 expresses how Peter the Great’s decision to change their style of the dress actually affected them. Before Peter changed the dress conditions Russians used to dress as the document says: Until that time the Russians had always worn long beards, which they cherished and preserved with much care, allowing them to hang down on their bosoms, without even cutting the mustache. The Russians found Peter a tyrant and a pagan due to his decision to change their cultural dress.
During his reign, he established churches and universities and enforced compulsory education so that his people could be educated and help in the development of Russia. One of the major changes in Russian culture was the shaving of the beards. He wanted to import western manners, dress and style into Russian society. Therefore, when he returned from the west, he demanded that beards be cut and foreign dress be worn.
Post WWl, Russia was still not industrialized, suffering economically and politically and in no doubt in need of a leader after Lenin’s death. “His successor, Joseph Stalin, a ruthless dictator, seized power and turned Russia into a totalitarian state where the government controls all aspects of private and public life.” Stalin showed these traits by using methods of enforcement, state control of individuals and state control of society. The journey of Stalin begins now.
In the era of 1450-1750, many different empires were taking shape, along with different trades, conquests and cultural diffusion across many different countries. The Ottomans and Mughals were spreading Islam among their conquered regions, China was starting to expand into Central Eurasia during the time of the Qing dynasty, and Japan was starting to become more independent from China and adapting Neo-Confucianism.. In the era, christianity was also getting popular, spreading even farther than before, as well as splitting into a protestant and roman catholic sub-group. Among these developing societies, was Spanish America and Russia who were both alike and different in their expansion and cultural impact of the people in their society. The Spanish went abroad, conquering people overseas, while Russia expanded close to home, both having the same idea of expansion but with different motives.
In 1917, Tsar Nicholas ll is the current ruler of Russia. Russia’s economic growth is increased by the Czar’s reforms of the production of factories. During this era, Russia desperately needed to keep up with the rest of Europe’s industry. This reform worked perfectly, but the working conditions of these factories didn’t charm factory workers. After the events of the Russo-Japanese War, “Bloody Sunday”, and WW1, Russia was in utter chaos under the Czar’s ghastly leadership.
When the officers and newly literate members of the Russian military chased Napoleon through Western Europe they were inevitably exposed to enlightened ideals and the ever increasing voice of the people in political circles. Russia at this time consisted a small number nobility and an overwhelming majority of serfs and peasant farmers. Power was entirely centralized towards on the Tzar and the early signs of the citizens demanding for representation in government and abolition of serfdoms began following the 1812-1813 campaigns. 14 Secondly as an unintended side effect of Napoleon’s invasion the Russian military and to a lesser extent its citizen experienced for the first time a sense of militaristic superiority and dependency on the tactics used.
In addition, to these reforms he sought to westernize Russia in other ways, whether it was the dress of those in the Russian courts, the establishing of Western style education and creating a state that effectively raised revenue. With that being said Peter would expand taxes, which would prove to be particularly burdensome for peasants (Riansovsky 234). But this was necessary so that Peter could
Peter ruled Russia jointly with is brother Ivan V from 1682 until 1696. Peter inherited a country, which was greatly underdeveloped. He reformed his army, built a strong navy, secularized schools, reformed the Orthodox Church and introduced several territorial divisions. He developed the country’s commerce and industry, modernized Russian alphabet, and introduced the first newspaper. He also reformed the government and its foreign policy.
The Russians did not hate the Tsar at first as they blamed their troubles on the government, however an event called Bloody Sunday changed their minds. Citizens began to protest outside of Tsar’s palace where many were shot and killed by soldiers. This turned them against the man they once trusted. World War I also occurred during Tsar’s reign and ultimately killed many unskilled and unequipped Russian soldiers. This caused the citizens to dislike Tsar even
Northern Renaissance Economy After the countless struggles and deaths of the Middles Ages a rebirth in Europe occurred causing economic prosperity. This period of rebirth, entitled the Renaissance, lead to a thriving wool trade in Flanders causing the Northern Renaissance to be economically sound and even stronger than the Southern Renaissance economy. Furthermore, even the economic leader in the Northern Renaissance, Jakob Fugger, had more power and, therefore, influence than that of the Southern Renaissance, the Medici family. To start off, Flanders, which is located in modern day Belgium, was an extremely wealthy area.
Peter the Great wanted to change the foreign policy by (Enter Text Here), and he wanted to change he stipulated what clothes people could wear and how they could cut their hair and their beards, adopting Western, rather than
The Russian Revolution, which was started by Lenin and his followers, was a rebellion that occurred in 1917 which forced higher powers to act to the needs of the lower class. For instance, many citizens were worried for their protection in consequence to the lack of survival necessities due to an early drought. Furthermore, their current czar during the time was incapable for his position as a czar and made horrendous decisions as czar. For example, when the czar, Nicholas, entered in World War I, he sent untrained troops into countless battles of failure which costed in mass amounts of lost life (paragraph 23).
The concept of freedom constantly rings throughout the texts of Alexander Pushkin’s The Bronze Horseman and Nikolai Gogol’s The Overcoat. These stories are both key elements of Russian literature and Russian history. During 19th century Russia, there was a prominent distinction that many peasants and people of lower class didn’t have the rights that the bourgeoisie potentially possessed. There are also freedoms that do reign on the main characters of these pieces as they go along in their respective plots. Points of freedom resonate with the protagonists as well as a dissolution of freedom that is constantly referenced throughout the stories, respectively.
Russian expansion has always been motivated by a need for a buffer region to protect the Russian interior. Russia lacks protective barriers like mountains and ocean and because of this, Russia’s sovereignty has always been under existential threat. Russian expansion at this time was also prompted by a need for a warm water port. Although Russia has one of the largest coastlines in the world, most of Russia’s coast is useless because it is located along the frozen Arctic Ocean. The few ports that Russia does have are located in enclosed seas that can easily be cut off by an enemy of Russia’s.
At the end of summer in 1914, the ancient monarchies of Austria, Russia and Germany submerged their countries into a very bloody war, which then also engulfed Europe. The Statistics of the war is crucial, more than three-million men died and more than nine-million men were wounded, and every country that took part in the war, had lost its form of government. One of them is Russia, it collapsed so critically and catastrophically that the ensuing consequences still echo in today’s world. The Russian army during World War I, was known as a large ill-equipped force. But in 1914 the Russian army were well trained and well equipped.