Transcript Outline
Nation and Memory in
Eastern Europe
(19th and 20th century)
Christoph Mick
Lecture 4
Russian History
(only text slides)
Week 5
Outline
1. Geography and Cultural Influences
2. Expansion and Westernization
3. Russia in the 19th Century
4. Views of Russia‘s Past and Present (19th c.)
5. Conclusion
Influences
• The Principality of Kiev
• Mongolian heritage – for 200 years part of
a Mongolian empire (1240 – middle of the
15th c.)
• Byzantine heritage – Orthodox faith –
Third Rome
• Influences of Western and Central Europe
(Polish, German, Swedish, French) – 17th
c. – 20th c.
Ca. 862
Rurik, a semi-legendary Scandinavian warrior, establishes
Rus principality
862
Oleg moves capital to Kiev
988-9
Grand Prince Vladimir I becomes orthodox
1169
Prince Andri Bogolubski moves capital to Vladimir, near
Moscow
1237-1240 The Mongols (Tatars) under Batu Khan, invade and
devastate Rus, Aleksander Nevsky defeats Sweden and –
later - Teutonic Order
Ca. 1271
Moscow becomes capital of Grand Principality of VladimirSuzdal
1380
Dmitri Donskoi defeats Tatars, takes title Grand Prince of
Moscow
Outline
1. Geography and Cultural Influences
2. Expansion and Westernization
3. Russia in the 19th Century
4. Views of Russia‘s Past and Present (19th c.)
5. Conclusion
Geography
•
•
•
•
•
Forests in Moscovian heartland
Peripheral location
Vast Russian plain
Dense and viable network of rivers
Spring and autumn: mud, time of
immobility
1462-1505 Ivan III (the Great) begins annexing surrounding areas,
conquers Republic of Novgorod, foundations of autocratic
state, religious leaders proclaim Moscow the Third Rome
(after the fall of Constantinople in 1453)
1533
Ivan IV (the Terrible) calls himself tsar, expands autocracy,
begins annexation of Siberia, Wars against Sveden and
Poland, Conquest of Kazan and Astrachan
1589
Russian Orthodox Church now copletely independent from
other Orthodox Churches
1605-1613 Times of Trouble, Polish invasion
1613
Michael Romanov becomes tsar, Romanov Dynasty
1654
Treaty of Pereyaslav with Cossack Hetman Bohdan
Khmelnytsky
1667
Peace Treaty of Andrusovo (confirmed and expanded in
1686) Russia gains Eastern Ukraine and Kiev from Poland
1667
Raskol – Split of Orthodox Church in Official Church and
Old Believers
The Gathering of the Lands of the Golden
Horde
• After end of Mongolian Empire and defeat
of successors –power vacuum in the East,
filled by Moscow
• Conquest of Kazan and Astrachan 1555
• Conquest of Kazach steppe
• Colonization of Siberia
• Subjugation of Central Asia
Moscow and the idea of the Third Rome
• After fall of Constantinople 1453 Moscow
princes see themselves as legitimate heirs of
orthodox emperor
• 17th – 19th centuries: several wars against
Ottoman Empire
• Access to the Black Sea
• Conquest of Crimea
• Caucasus and Transcaucasus with orthodox
Georgian nation
• Russian Emperor: Protector of Orthodox
population in Ottoman Empire
Autocracy
• Greek origin: self-ruler
• Form of government
• Unlimited power held by one individual
• Used by Byzantine Emperor
• Transferred with idea of Third Rome to Moscow
The Gathering of the Lands of the Rus
• Conquest of Novgorod
• Several wars against the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth
• 1654 Treaty of Pereyaslav
• 1667 Peace Treaty of Andrusovo, West Bank Ukraine and Eastern
part of Belarus join Russian Empire
• 1772 First Partition of Poland, Right Bank Ukraine and Western part
of Belarus
• Russian Emperor: Protector of Orthodox population in PolishLithuanian commonwealth
• 1793/95 Second and Third Partition of Poland, eastern half of
Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth goes to Russian Empire
Access to the Baltic Sea
• Great Northern War against Sweden 16991721
• Conquest of Ingermanland
• 1703 Foundation of St.Petersburg
• Integration of Estonia and Livonia 1721
• 1809 Finland becomes part of the Russian
Empire
Outline
1. Geography and Cultural Influences
2. Expansion and Westernization
3. Russia in the 19th Century
4. Views of Russia‘s Past and Present (19th c.)
5. Conclusion
1772-1795
Partitions of Poland
Acquisition of eastern Georgia
1806
Conquest of Daghestan and Baku
1809
1812 June 24
1815
Annexation of Finland
Napoleon's invasion of Russia
Congress of Vienna and Holy Alliance
Holy Alliance
• Inspired by Alexander I 1815
• Russia, Prussia, Austria
• Christianity in European political life
• Bastion against revolution
The legitimacy of established
governments and territorial integrity of
existing countries
Foreign and Imperial Policy 1801 - 1856
1801
1806
Acquisition of eastern Georgia
Conquest of Daghestan and Baku
1809
1812 June 24
1815
1830/31
1848
1853-1856
Polish rebellion (November uprising)
Intervention in Hungary
Crimean War
Annexation of Finland
Napoleon's invasion of Russia
Congress of Vienna and Holy Alliance
Kingdom of Poland (Congress Poland) in
personal union with Russia
Autocratic rule,
but
Tsar and nobility were mutually dependent on each
other.
Domestic Policy 1801 - 1856
1801
1816-1819
Sale of serfs without land prohibited
Abolition of serfdom in Baltic provinces
1819
1825
1832
University of St. Petersburg founded
Decembrist uprising
Uvarov's three principles enunciated:
pravoslavie, samoderzhavie narodnost´orthodoxy, autocracy, nationality
Autocracy, Orthodoxy, and Nationality/National
Character (narodnost’)
Count Sergey S. Uvarov, Minister for Education 1832
“narodnost’” underlines the originality
and uniqueness of the Russian
people, the fundamental values of
Russian culture and society, as
opposed to Westernization.
"To turn Russians back to Russian
ways", ("возвраща́ть ру́сских к
ру́сскому"). Uvarov
Domestic Policy 1801 - 1856
1801
1816-1819
Sale of serfs without land prohibited
Abolition of serfdom in Baltic provinces
1819
1825
1832
University of St. Petersburg founded
Decembrist uprising
Uvarov's three principles enunciated:
autocracy, orthodoxy, nationality
1833
1834
Code of Laws
Kiev University founded
Imperial and Foreign Policy 1856 - 1881
1858-1860
Acquisition from China of Amur and Maritime
provinces
1859
1863/64
Surrender of Shamil; conquest of Caucasus
completed
Polish rebellion (January uprising)
1864-1885
1867
1877-1878
Conquest of central Asia
Alaska sold to the United States of America
Russo-Turkish War
Domestic Policy 1856 - 1881
1860-1873
First railway boom
1861 Feb 19
Emancipation of the serfs
1863-1865
Law (courts) and education reform, Zemstvo instituted
1873
1874
Populist movement To the People (V narod)
Universal Military Training Act, military reforms
1879
People's Will Party – terrorism
1881 March 1
Assassination of Alexander II
Major Ethnic Groups in the Russian
Empire 1897 (125,640,000)
Russians
Ukrainians
Belorussians
Poles
Jews
Other ethnic groups in the West
Ethnic groups in the North
Ethnic groups Wolga/Ural
Ethnic groups in Siberia
Ethnic groups in the Steppe
Ethnic groups in the Transcaucasus
Ethnic groups in the Caucasus
Ethnic groups in Central Asia
Diaspora groups (1.43% Germans)
44.31%
17.81%
4.68%
6.31%
4.03%
4.47%
0.42%
5.85%
0.99%
1.99%
3.53%
1.05%
5.69%
1.91%
Outline
1. Geography and Cultural Influences
2. Expansion and Westernization
3. Russia in the 19th Century
4. Views of Russia‘s Past and Present (19th c.)
5. Conclusion
Discussions on Russia’s Past, Present and Future
Slavophiles
• Unique Russian civilization
• Based on orthodox church, village
community (mir), ancient popular
assembly
• Superior to Western culture
• Support autocracy
• Pro emancipation of the serfs
• Freedom of speech and press
Reforms of Peter I alienation from
true Russian national character
Ivan Kireyevsky, Aleksey Khomiakov,
Ivan Aksakov
Westernizers
• Oriented towards Western culture
• Adoption of Western culture and
technology necessary for future of
Russia
• Inferior to Western culture
• Mostly pro-constitutional, liberal,
rationalistic
• Pro emancipation of the serfs
• Freedom of speech and press
Reforms of Peter I basis for
modernization
P. Chaadayev, Aleksandr Herzen,
Vissarion Belinsky
Many slavophiles later supported
• Panslavic Movement
• Russian Nationalism
Many westernizers stayed liberals,
others later became socialists or
political radicals
Mir, Obshchina – Peasant community
• 16th c. – 1929 form of organisation in villages
• Corporate body with an assembly, obligations and rights
• Responsible for allocating the arable land to its members and for
reallocating such lands periodically (size dependent on number of hands
in peasant household)
• After abolition of serfdom – land owned jointly by the mir, not by the
individual peasant
• Slavophiles saw it as specifically Russian form of organisation
• Some socialists interpreted mir as Russian version of socialism
(industrialisation for Russia no precondition for socialism)
• Marxist socialists, liberals, modernists-nationalists saw mir as backward
form of organisation – preventing innovation and amelioration in
countryside
• Reforms of Stolypin: Creating an estate of individual, wealthy peasants
Outline
1. Geography and Cultural Influences
2. Expansion and Westernization
3. Russia in the 19th Century
4. Views of Russia‘s Past and Present (19th c.)
5. Conclusion
The Russian narrative
• Moscow Tsardom and the Russian Empire are the legitimate
successors to the Kievian Rus (principality of Kiev)
• The population of the territory of the principality came under foreign
rule (Lithuanian, Polish), Belarussians and Ukrainians were alienated
from the Great Russians
• Ukrainians and Belarussians are not separate nations, they belong to
the Russian Nation
• The Russian Empire collected the land of the Kievian Rus and
liberated Belarussians and Ukrainians from foreign oppression
The integration of this territory in the Russian Empire is
historically necessary, legitimate and unites Ukrainians and
Belarussians after several hundred years of enforced
separation with their Russian brothers and sisters.