Russia in Europe
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- Introduction
- A powerful state was created because of enough financial resources and an advanced military. This explains the expansion of the small principality of Muscovy to an empire that lasted until 1991.
- Expansion began under Ivan the Great and expanded into Europe (Poland, Lithuania, and the Balkan Peninsula)
- During Ivan the Terrible, Russia began expanding east into Siberia and Mongol territories
- By the late 18th century, the Russian empire was vast and embraced the land from Poland to the Pacific Ocean
- Poland-Lithuania
- In the early stages of Russian expansion, the tsars wanted to capture territory associated with the Kevian state and make Russia the dominant power
- After Mongols left, Lithuania was created. This united Poland from the Baltic to Black sea
- In 1569, when Ivan IV's reign of terror englufed Russia, Poland-Lithuania organized into a dual republican state with different legal systems. However, they had a common king and parliament
- The political structure was too unstable to stop conflict, and left the Polish and Lithuanian republic vulnerable
- Differences between Russia and Poland
- Poland and Lithuania were Roman Catholic
- Belarus and Ukraine were Orthodox that fell in the territory of Poland-Lithuania, and feared Roman Catholic influence. These communities gravitated towards Moscow because of this
- Absorption of Ukraine
- Hostility towards Poland made Ukraine form a union with Russia
- Bogdan Khmelnitsky wanted revenge against Poland for killing his son, and used Orthodox faith as an incentive to convince Moscow to fight with him and the Ukraine peasants
- The Russians cooperated, and waged a war against Poland for 13 years.
- The war ended in 1667 and resulted in a partition of Ukraine and Kiev returned to the empire that it had once served as a capital city for
- Partition of Poland
- Poland's conflict in politics increased. They were handicapped in the sense that a unanimous consent was required to make laws. One vote could prevent any legislation.
- This could not protect Poland from when Russia, Austria, and Prussia partitioned the Polish-Lithuanian republic and absorbed its regions. The Poles rose against Russia twice in 1830 and 1863 and gained independence in 1918
- When Russia annexed territory from Poland, it absorbed a lot of Jews. Poland was a sanctuary for Jews because they had tolerated them since 1265.
- After partitions, Catherine II prevented Jews from moving out of the territory where they lived without permission. This made many Jews migrate to places such as the United States
- Southern Expansion
- Russia also expanded south into Ottoman areas and made common cause with the Greek Orthodox Christians
- Tsarist forces pushed into regions that the Ottomans could not defend.
- Russia annexed Crimea and made plants to take Istanbul
- However, western European powers grew worried that Russia would gain control of the Black Sea, Bosporus, and Dardanelles because they did not want Russians to have free access to the Mediterranean
- The British and French cooperated to prevent Russia from taking over the region
- The Slavic people of Russia and the Balkans made a relationship that influenced the history of the Balkan Peninsula through two world wars and civil conflicts
- Introduction
- The Russian Empire in Asia
- Introduction
- Russia also expanded into sparsely populated and less technological regions of central and northern Asia
- The Mongols had broken into the khanates of Kazan, Astrakhan, and the Crimea
- Ivan IV's army marched into Kazan in 1552 and annexed Astrakhan
- This gave the Russian control over the Volga River and gave then the opportunity to trade with Safavid Persians and Ottomans
- Expansion into central Asia brought large numbers of Turkish and Mongols into Russian rule
- The Caucasus
- Russians wanted warm water ports, so the tsarist forces continued to push south into the Caspian Sea and Caucasus, vibrant and multi-ethnic regions near Georiga, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. Georgia was attractive to imperialists because it was an ancient kingdom that had a ruling dynasty that traced to King David of Israel
- Georgians were independent from Greek and Russian churches, and were Orthodox Christians who feared the Ottoman Turks.
- Russia absorbed Georgia when the tsar declared that the kingdom was extinct and gave the nobles the the same privileges as Russian autocrats
- Siberia
- Siberia was not very hospitable than the steppe lands, but Russians still explored there
- Russian conquest of Asia began in 1581 when Stroganov merchant family hired a cossack named Ermak to capture the khanate of Sibir in the Ural mountains
- The Stroganovs wanted access to Siberian fur, since it was a source of wealth that lured the tsarist state eastward, like North American fur attracted English, French, and Dutch
- An old Mongol practice of exacting tribute on furs let the Russian government establish settlement in Siberia and make local people supply pelts
- Native Peoples of Siberia
- Siberia was home to 26 ethnic groups that lived by hunting, fishing, or herding reindeer
- These people had different religions, and responded to Russian explorers in different ways
- Some groups accepted iron tools, cloth, and food, but other hated the demand of fur
- This caused the Russians to punish them and take hostages to induce Siberians to deliver fur.
- The Yakut people of Lena and Aldan river mounted a revolt in 1642. The Russians forced them to leave their settlements, and the Yakut population went down 70%
- Violence reduced the supply of fur, so Russians started to protect the "small peoples"
- Peter the Great sent missionaries to convert Siberians into Orthodox Christianity and bring them into Russian society. Only few Siberians expressed interest
- Once Siberians converted to Christianity, they did not have to provide tributes
- Tsars put less effort into spreading religion than Spanish and Portuguese did with Roman Catholic Christianity
- Orthodox missionaries mostly served as merchants, adventurers and explorers
- Most natives continued to practice their own inherited religions guided by the shamans
- Russian Population of Siberia
- Trappers and soldiers who went into Siberia were cossacks, misfits, criminals, and prisoners of war
- The harsh terrain discouraged many, and limited Moscow's reach
- Serfdom did not extend to the Ural Mountains, so peasants had motivations to go to Siberia
- By 1763, 420,000 Russian migrants almost doubled the population of Siberia
- Siberia was used as a prison, to exile people such as the priest Avvakum and also had labor camps
- American and Pacific Explorations
- Russia commissioned the Danish navigator, Vitus Bering to take two expeditions (1725-1730; 1733-1742)
- He was in search of a northwest passage to Asian ports
- Bering sailed through the Bering Strait which separates Siberia from Alaska
- Other Russian explorers pushed into Alaska which the tsarist government sold to the United States in 1867
- They also went south into Canada and California
- By 1800, Russian mariners had begun to explore the Pacific Ocean and sailed down to Hawaii. There, they established a fort at Kauai and tried to trade
- Introduction