The Fault in Our Tsars

In the 17th century, the European world entered the age of absolutism. An absolutist is one who has complete and unrestricted power or absolute authority in a government (Merriam-Webster). Louis XIV and Peter the Great were both famous absolute monarchs in Europe. One thing I did read was how similar Peter the Great and Louis XIV were as well as both being such incredible leaders. Although both of these rulers came to power when they were very young and were able to do incredible things during their time, from my point of view I believe that Louis XIV was the best example of an absolutist. Although during his time Louis XIV was one of the most disfavored kings in France, he is now viewed as one of

In 1655, an adolescent Louis XIV famously remarked “L'état c'est moi,” meaning “I am the state.” This quote encapsulates the fundamental principles of absolutism. Absolutism is a form of government in which a sovereign holds unrestricted government power. Coming just after the Era of Exploration, the Age of Absolutism was an effort by monarchs to consolidate power in their newly expanded empires. Though France is viewed as the pioneer of absolutism, the idea quickly spread throughout Europe. The major power shift occurring across Europe raises the question: how much of an effect did absolutism have on everyday life in the 18th century? Absolutism had a large effect on everyday life in the 18th century. The disempowerment of the

Tsarina Alexandra Romanov is accused of having a serious helping hand in the ultimate demise of Russia and eventual revolution that occurred. While many of the Tsarina’s actions did contribute to the eventual failures in Russia, Tsarina Alexandra was dealing with much more than just the political nature of Russia during the time of World War I. The Tsarina found herself struggling with finding a balance between the Russian distrust due to her lineage, her struggle to produce an heir, and finding her place with Tsar Nicholas II away at the front. In a time when the Romanov family was the center of distrust, the German princess found herself conflicted between her strong religious beliefs, Russian patriotism, and her desire to protect Russian aristocracy in order to provide her son a future as Tsar. With all these conflicting allegiances in her life, Tsarina Alexandra found herself trying to establish her role as a leader of the Russian people, a mother, and a wife while also trying to balance her duty as a Tsarina in the scope of family and war.

The idea of absolutism is the sovereignty of kings seeking absolute control of the state

Russian society before Peter’s rule was in a problematic situation because, their army was failing as well as their economy. When Peter the Great came to rule in Russia, he used absolutism as a way to increase his country and his own power. During his reign, Peter was building a strong army, expanding his territory and Westernizing Russia. In an effort to Westernize Russia, Peter adapted new ideas from Europe. As a result, Peter had an overall positive impact in Russia.

The reign of Peter the Great has been a source of considerable historical debate for many contemporary and traditional historians. Especially, the transformation he made to Russian culture, politics and economic, which arguably changed the foundations of society. Thus, the interval of some three hundred years has allowed us to access Peter the Great 's reforms more accurately but we must consider that Russia during the late 17th century existed in different ethical and social circumstances to our own contemporary society as to make it almost a foreign civilisation. Judgements about Peter the Great using today 's political and moral perspectives may have to be tempered unless we are accused of historical and cultural relativism. Therefore, we must be careful in analysing the impact that his many reforms caused and the lasting nature that they had on the very foundations of Russian society.

During the late seventeenth century Russia underwent drastic transformations in order to westernize their medieval states. The idea of westernization caused chaos within the Imperial Empire; people in power were mentally unstable and would travel outside of palace gates in order to get what they wanted, a determined and curious young boy came into power changing everything, and a young lady not of Russian blood became queen and finalized everything.

As an autocrat Nicholas II expected unquestioning loyalty and obedience from the Russian people, loyalty which was gained through the Russian Orthodox Church. The church taught and encouraged the Russian people to love and respect their Tsar by promoting ‘The Divine Right of Kings’, meaning that the Tsar was appointed by god to rule and he therefor had absolute power. His absolute power also came from fear, as his secret police, the Okhrana would act viciously to anyone who opposed the Tsar.

In this article Ostrowski discusses the nature of the Tsar’s power in collaboration with other Russian institutions including the boyars and church in the 16th and 17th century. Ostrowski attempts to refute the traditional use of a absolutist or autocratic framework by historians when studying Russia by proving a level of collaboration or exchange between the Tsar and the elite. This article is a helpful addition to this research paper as it will help develop my analysis of the way Orthodox Russian’s viewed and interacted with their

It is therefore the view of this writer that without this concerted ideological shift about the nature of the ruler himself, the reforms would never have come to the fore. Peter’s own influence was then fundamental in transforming the concept of the Russian

In the Russian Revolution, there were many people in positions of authority that abused their powers and became oppressive to their country. To start, after Czar Nicholas left his wife, Queen Alexandra, and Grigori Rasputin in charge as a temporary government, the two immediately became oppressive and had inadequate leadership ways. The two together made economic decisions that disregarded the citizens cries for “Peace, land, and bread.” They abused their power by keeping their own lives better and healthier whole their people suffered right beneath their eyes. Grigori Rasputin managed to oppress even more than this. He convinced females that if they sinned, they’d be closer to God. He promised them he could help them sin and ended up

In Tsar Nicholas II’s early rule, his main objective was to uphold the European status quo. In the 1890s they began to expand their industries and the following year the Trans-Siberian railways were under construction. The strength of the Romanov rule was the church, army, political parties, and the secret police. Although they supported Tsar Nicholas II, soldiers joined riots against him and church’s supported him, but did not approve of his ways. The weakness of Tsar Nicholas II outweighs his strengths, being his incompetence of problems, economic and social, in Russia at the time.

Absolutism perhaps had its peak in Europe during the Age of Absolutism, the 17th and 18th centuries. Along with Louis XVI, many other European monarchs during this period espoused or adopted the doctrine of the Divine Right of Kings, believing that God had invested in them all power and authority. The early Stuart monarchs in England (like James I and Charles I) attempted to import this idea into England, only to ignite the English Civil War that briefly deposed the Stuarts. The Tsars of Russia were also absolute monarchs, ruling that nation as a "police state", became the last European nation to abandon absolutism with the 1917 Revolution.

Although the states had a different ideology, where in Russian autocracy all the power and wealth was controlled by the Tsar, and Marxism-Leninism was based on an absolute truth for understanding social life, the governments of both regimes depended heavily on the central control from the absolute ruler. As defined by Dominic Lieven, an empire is measured by the scale of territory, the amount of absolute power held by the Tsar and the numerous ethnicities within the polity. By the law, religion and tradition, the Tsar was the absolute ruler and as Nicholas I in 1832 declared “The Emperor of all the Russias is an autocratic and unlimited monarch”. As Tsarist Russia was strongly Orthodox, it was believed that God himself gives the power to the

Throughout various episodes in history, multiple variables contribute to the rise and collapse of different regimes. During the later stages of the Romanov dynasty in Russia, the Tsarist regime teetered towards collapse and eventually faced its demise due to a plethora of factors. The lack of efficient leadership, continued brutality towards the populace, war, famine, and the banishment of political figures, along with the “tinkering” with the old political system instead of larger measures towards reform, and the influence of radical thinkers, Marxists in particular, all contributed to the collapse of the Tsarist regime and rise of the Socialist state.