From One Leader to Another in Russia History

During his 72 year reign he began a golden age for France in art, culture, and literature, he expanded France through fighting in many wars, and made an aggressive foreign policy. While Ivan the Terrible, began his reign at 8 years old after his two parents died. He became the first Tsar of Russia. The reconstructive period is when he married his wife, Anastasia Romanovna, he made reforms in government,law, tax, and church. However, after his wife died he turned “evil” and reigned in terror.

The last Tsar Nicholas II ascended the throne in 1894 and was faced with a country that was trying to free itself from its autocratic regime. The serfs had recently been emancipated, the industry and economy was just starting to develop and opposition to the Tsar was building up. Russia was still behind Europe in terms of the political regime, the social conditions and the economy. Nicholas II who was a weak and very influenced by his mother and his wife had to deal with Russia’s troubles during his reign. In order to ascertain how successfully Russia dealt with its problems by 1914, this essay will examine the October Manifesto and the split of the opposition, how the Tsar became more reactionary after the 1905 revolution, Stolypin’s

Nicholas II was known, not only for being the Emperor of Russia but also for his character and personality which undoubtably led him to his own downfall. Nicholas was often referred to as not being ready to become Tsar as well as being a weak leader. Firstly, Nicholas II himself, amongst a very large proportion of Russian society, believed that he was not prepared to be coronated Emperor. Nicholas himself stated “What is going to happen to me and all of Russia? I am not prepared to be a Tsar. I never wanted to become one. I know nothing of the business of ruling.”. (Russian Revolution Quotations 2015). Nicholas was aware of what he was getting himself into and that he was not prepared for such a role. This is further corroborated by the

     During this same time Peter the Great sought to ¡°westernize¡± Russia. An autocratic tsar who had absoluter power, he did not wish to share it with his royal court. He moved the capital to St. Petersburg, and absorbed western intellectual and cultural trends. He forced all his nobles to cut of their beards, and instructed them to learn modern Western dances. Russia historically had an autocratic tsar like Peter, + the nobles have no political clout in the government. However, the nobles in Russia are huge landowners and had enormous powers over the serfs on their estates. This economic power, b/c serfs were almost like slaves, made them wealthy + prosperous. Thus, although Peter the Great rules without the input of anyone else, the nobles were westernized under his rule + enjoyed power over their serfs and economic gains.

During the late seventeenth century under the leadership of Peter the Great, Russia underwent a period of modernization and westernization due to Peter’s reforms. However, without the reforms he instituted, Russia would have remained the most culturally unevolved country in Europe for quite a long time.

Ivan IV, also known as “Ivan the Terrible,” lived from 1530 to 1584 and was the first Tsar of Russia. He officially reigned from the age of three; however, he did not have any real power until he crowned himself “Tsar” of Russia in 1547. He went on to conquer vast amounts of neighboring territories, eventually controlling the largest empire in the world at the time. In addition to increasing the Russian Tsardom’s size, he also completely restructured the political system. He took away all power from the noble boyar elite, and became an absolute monarch. This was good because the boyars at the time had been corrupt, and more interested in their personal interests than the interests of the state (Ivan the Terrible).

Their reaction to the coming social conflict would be crucial – not least because peasant lads in grey coats were armed.’ While Prince Lvov and his cronies did inherit everything the old regime had deserted in chaos and acknowledged ‘the solution of the problem requires, if not years, at least several months.’ The Provisional Government failed to identify growing areas of concern within the Russian empire, proving fatal to the common perception of the government. ‘Industrial chaos, ineffective

The first of these tsars, Ivan III, also known as “Ivan the Great”, defied Mongol control and declared the autonomy of Moscow. Ivan III was soon followed by Ivan IV, also known as “Ivan the Terrible”, who declared his power by pushing aside his advisors, crowning himself tsar and crushing boyars, who were Russian nobles. At first, Ivan’s reign was successful as he added vast new territories to the Russian empire. Later, after his wife’s death, Ivan’s power and prosperity declined because he started persecuting those whom he believed opposed him. This resulted in the execution of many nobles and their families, friends, servants and peasants, in which he replaced with a new service nobility, whose loyalty was “guaranteed by their dependent on the state for land and titles.” [1] Ivan the Terrible nor Ivan III were never absolute rulers- their ways of ruling just helped lay the foundation for Russian absolutism. After Ivan IV and his successor died, Russia entered a “Time of Troubles”, which lasted from 1598-1613, in which the peasant warrior bands known as Cossacks, rebelled against their nobles who fought back and defeated the Cossacks. Ivan’s grand-nephew, Michael Romanov, was soon elected by the Zensky Sober- a body of nobles, and placed efforts toward state-building. He was succeeded by “Peter the Great”, the Russian king that truly consolidated Russian

Russia emerged as a significant power during the 1500s through war. It fought its neighbors and expanded its territory aimlessly. Ivan the Terrible’s expansion brought him into contact with both Western Europe and the Ottoman Empire. Aiming to gain a port and outlet to the Baltic,

He added vast new territories to the realm by successfully defeating Mongol power. He layed the foundation for a huge, ethnic Russian empire. After Anastasia, his beloved wifes death, he threatened to jail and execute anyone who tried to oppose him. Lots of boyar familes were executed and also their familes, friends, servants and peasants. The rest of what was left of the broken up estates were given to the service nobility. These people got this name from serving in tsar's army. All commoners who were trying to be forced to be servants fled to the conquered territories to the east and south. After their arrival they joined all the free people and outlaw armies living there. They were known as Cossacks. Russia entered yet another chaotic period following the death of Ivan IV. This period was known as the "Time of Troubles." During this time the Cossacks and peasants rebelled against all nobles and officials. This explosion brought the nobility together and they elected ivans grandnephew as the new hereditary tsar. Social and religious uprisings continued after his election. After a long war, Russia was able to gain a large amount of the ukraine because of wesk and decentralized Poland in

Despite all the work Alexander II did toward reforming Russia, the “Era of Great Reforms” left one crucial aspect unaltered: the power of the emperor. The intentional neglect of this was what kept the reforms from realizing their true potential. This led to dissatisfaction, which encouraged repression, terror, and most importantly: revolution. The first was the Polish Rebellion, caused by the failure of Russian authorities to suppress Polish nationalism. Although the Poles failed, other minorities sprung up for their voice

Ivan IV was a complicated man, with a complicated past, in a complicated country, in a complicated time; his story is not an easy one. Ivan the terrible, the man, could never be completely understood in a few words, nor in a few pages, and only perhaps in a few volumes. A man of incredible range his dreadfulness could only be matched by his magnificence, his love by his hatred.

The time between his mother’s death and his crowning in 1547 were very violent as he grew up. A very high social class of nobles known as the boyars disputed among themselves as to who should rule ensued and as for Ivan he was constantly neglected and mistreated by these boyars who had looked after him, and occasionally tortured small animals for entertainment as a result. As the first tsar of Muscovy, Russia Ivan also married his wife Anastasia Romanovna during the year of his crowning. The time period between his crowning and his wife’s death in 1560 was considered his most constructive during which he expanded his control over independent territories and instituted laws, a tax collection and ordered the construction of St. Basil’s Cathedral in his kingdom. After his wife’s death he quickly began to decline and during the next twenty-four years of his rule he earned his name as Ivan the Terrible

The beginning of the 20th century brought radical changes to the social and political structure of autocratic Russia. It was a period of regression, reform, revolution and eradication. Eradication of a blood line that had remained in rule for over 300 years; the Romanov Dynasty. The central figure of this eradication was Tsar Nicholas II, often described as an incompetent leader, absent of the “commanding personality nor the strong character and prompt decision which are so essential to an autocratic ruler...” (Sir G. Buchman, British ambassador to Russia from 1910 in H. Seton-Watson, The

As Ivan grew older, he began to under stand the benefits of being a prince Czar. Because Ivan grew up the way he did was why he became the ruler that he did. He knew from experience what would happen if he wasn't a strong ruler. As a Czar, when Ivan met someone new, he would look for the thing to fear in that person, then, he would do whatever it took to minimize whatever that something was that he was afraid of. It might require taking harsh action, but then Ivan wouldn't have to worry about that person becoming too powerful.