Medieval leadership to the Age of

Absolute Monarchy

Ivan the IV, Peter the I and Catherine II

Unit 10 Russia

Ivan III (the great) to Ivan IV (the Terrible

At the age of 12 Ivan the III

was placed nominally in

command of a military

expedition to deal with the

remnants of his father’s

internal enemies.

At 18 he led a successful

campaign against the Tartars

in the south. When his father

Vasily II died on March 27,

1462, Ivan was made the

grand prince of Moscow.

Ivan the III

April 5, 1462 – Oct. 27,

1505

Ivan the III (Great)

Ivan’s policy was to

start the centralize of

the government

administration by

stripping the princes

of land and authority.

As for the boyars,

they were stripped of

much of their authority

and swiftly executed

or imprisoned if

suspected of treason.

What are Boyars?

Landowners in Russia

with power and

authority over their

region with little or no

loyalty to the grand

prince.

The Boyars acted

much the same as the

Italy princes in Venice

and Florence during

the Renaissance.

Ivan III Continued None dispute the

importance of his

diplomatic and military

successes.

But Ivan’s family life

was as dysfunctional as

that of his grandson

Ivan the IV.

After deciding his eldest

son, Dmitry would be

the new prince, his

second wife Sofia, who

wanted her son, Vasily

on the throne, plotted

against Ivan to

overthrown him and

place Vasily on the

throne. Ivan discovered

the plot and had his wife

Ivan the IV (or Ivan the Terrible)

Ivan the Terrible By age 8 both his

parents were dead and he was keep away from his family.

He trusted few people

At 17, he was crowned by the Boyars who had come back into power.

He rejected the title Prince and at the urging of the church took the Russian form of the title Caesar or Czar (Tzar)

Within a year of taking the throne, in1547 Ivan

married Anastasia

Romanovna

Russia was a

backward country

with no banks,

no road system,

and little in the way

of loyalty or authority to Ivan’s rule.

Ivan the IV Ivan and his new wife

had issues with power struggles from the beginning.

But, Ivan’s power was soon to be solidified after an attack on the Tartar’s (Remnants of Genghis Khan’s army known as Mongol Golden Horde)

Having defeated the Tartars Ivan became know as Ivan the Terrible which was a title of honor at the time, but it was a precursor of his actions later in his life.

This iconic structure was commissioned by Ivan to commemorate the conquest of Kazan a Tartar city and one of Russia’s most feared enemies.

St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow's Red Square, built between 1555 and 1561.

St. Basil's Cathedral

Ivan the IV and his family

After the death of

Anastasia

Romanovna, Ivan would

marry 7 more times

often divorcing one wife

and taking another

within months.

What do you think his

motives were for

taking wife after wife

from the royal

families?

To gain loyalty from

the families.

Remove power from

the Boyars

Ivan went so far as to

ask Queen Elizabeth

of England for a

suitable English

princess to wed.

Ivan the Terrible Ivan become more and

more violent in his

dealings with his

enemies yet he was not

alone in his treatment of

his and his country’s

enemies.

Over the next 24 years,

Ivan IV conducted a

reign of terror,

displacing and

destroying the major

Boyar families in the

region, and earning the

name by which he's

Ivan created a secret

police that for 7 years

reigned with terror

under his direction.

Setting a horrific high

bar for campaigns of

state-instituted terror.

It was only after Ivan

could not control them

he disbanded the group.

The end of Ivan’s reign Killed his eldest son in a fit of rage after attacking his

son’s wife.

Become more secretive and religious as time passed

Three years after killing the heir to the throne Ivan

died in 1584.

His last living child Feodor, will come to the throne but

whose rule spiraled Russia into the catastrophic “Time of

Troubles,” leading to the establishment of the Romanov

Dynasty.

It is now known that Ivan was treated with common

pain medicine which content high levels of mercury.

What are the effects of high levels of mercury?

Elements in Ivan’s behavior

Symptoms include tremors,

emotional changes,

insomnia,

headaches,

disturbances in sensations,

changes in nerve responses, and performance

deficits on tests of cognitive function.

Peter I or Peter the Great - The first

absolute monarchy of Russia

He will take the throne

after almost a century

after the death of Ivan

IV and the ensuing

chaos. (b. June 9,

1672 – d. 1725)

But he also come to

the throne in a power

struggle at age 17,

with his sister, Sofia

who was ruling in his

name. Sofia

Peter I

Russia had rejected

westernization and

remained isolated

from the

modernization that

had swept Europe

during the

Renaissance and the

Reformation.

BUT that was all

about to change as

Peter took the throne

as the Tzar (Czar)

Peter

Peter’s reforms Peter as the monarch

engineered a series of reforms that were to put Russia among the major European powers of the day.

He opened Russia to the influences of the West

Invited the best European engineers, shipbuilders, architects, craftsmen and merchants to come to Russia and modernize the country.

Why do you think he wanted Russia to westernize?

Become a powerful military nation not as some in Europe considered Russia a weak and backward country

Become a powerful economic force to compete for goods from Asia but also a conduit for goods to travel through Russia not around it.

Peter creates St. Petersburg (later

know as Leningrad) When the Northern War

ended in 1721 Russia was declared an Empire and Peter the Great proclaimed himself its Emperor

After expanding Russia through his modern military and navy, Peter creates a new city on land taken from Sweden at the end of the Northern War

St. Petersburg is a warm port city. Russia now had a way to create an economic relationship with Europe.

And a new capitol to capture Peter’s vision of

Bronze Horseman placed in St.

Petersburg to honor Peter the

Great.

St. Petersburg Peter and Paul Fortress Included in the fortress

is the Peter and Paul

Cathedral where Peter

the Great was buried.

The fortress also

served, as did the

Tower of London, as a

prison for political

prisoners. Peter

personally interrogated

his own son Alexei,

whom he suspected of

plotting against him,

and Alexei was the first

inmate jailed in the

Peter and Paul fortress.

Peter’s Legacy Peter the Great died on

28 January 1725, without naming a successor.

Peter’s wife Catherine I took the throne but Catherine’s reign did not last long. She died in 1727, just two years after Peter.

Peter the Second will take the throne for 15 years unlike this grandfather Peter would not be remember for reforms.

Alexei was jailed so he

was not named successor

but his only son will come

to the throne - Peter II

(1715-1730)

Legacy and Legend

The Archbishop of Novgorod eulogized Peter the

Great stating: “We are burying Peter the Great . .

. who has raised Russia as if from among the

dead and elevated her to such heights of power

and glory. . . . He was your Samson, Russia. . . .

He was your Moses. . . . He was your Solomon,

who received from the Lord reason and wisdom

in great plenty. . . . Can a short oration

encompass his immeasurable glory?”

Peter’s Legacy

Empress Elizabeth

Petrovna Peter and

Catherine’s second

oldest daughter will

reign and continue

her fathers work.

Catherine the I, Peter

the Great’s second

wife

Catherine the Great

Emperor Peter III nephew of Empress Elizabeth and Duke Karl Friedrich of Holstein-(nephew of Charles XII of Sweden) will only be on the throne for six months before his wife, a German Princess, who was hand selected by Empress Elizabeth will take the throne. She will be become known as Catherine the Great.

Her reign became Russia’s Golden Age, the time of great reforms and glorious victories.

Young Catherine

Catherine the Great

Catherine sought to

appease the military

and the church. She

recalled troops that

had been sent by

Peter to fight

Denmark, and

promoted and gifted

those who had

backed her as the

new empress.

Early in her reign, she

returned the church's

land and property.

Although Catherine

was never consider a

very religious leader.

Catherine’s Social reforms While Catherine believed in absolute rule, as did

all her European counterparts, she did make

some efforts toward social and political reforms.

"Nakaz," a document on how the country's legal

system should run, with a push for capital

punishment and torture to be outlawed and calling

for every man to be declared equal.

Catherine sought to address the dire situation of

country's serfs, workers who were owned by

landowners for life. Although she was fought by

the Senate and was not as successful as she

wanted to be she continued to fight for a more

equable system of labor in Russia.

Catherine’s legacy

Why do you think

Catherine took the

throne from Peter the

III?

She was brilliant, he

was not,

She wanted power,

She was a very

calculating political

force,

Political skills were

fine tuned beyond

that of her husband

Peter III.

Final question

On a separate sheet of paper

answer the following question

Who do you think the Russians believe was their

greatest leader of the three discussed here?

Explain your answer with at least 3 examples of

why you believe this.