Who founded the Russian empire. In what year did Russia become an empire: the reasons and periods of its greatest prosperity

The formation of the Russian Empire happened on October 22, 1721, according to the old style, or on November 2. It was on this day that the last Russian tsar, Peter the Great, declared himself emperor of Russia. This happened as one of the consequences of the northern war, after which the Senate asked Peter 1 to accept the title of Emperor of the country. The state received the name "Russian Empire". Its capital was the city of St. Petersburg. For all the time, the capital was transferred to Moscow only for 2 years (from 1728 to 1730).

Territory of the Russian Empire

Considering the history of Russia of that era, it must be remembered that at the time of the formation of the empire, large territories were annexed to the country. This became possible thanks to the successful foreign policy of the country, which was led by Peter 1. He created a new history, a history that returned Russia to the ranks of world leaders and powers whose opinion should be reckoned with.

The territory of the Russian Empire was 21.8 million km2. It was the second largest country in the world. In the first place was the British Empire with its numerous colonies. Most of them have retained their status to this day. The first laws of the country divided its territory into 8 provinces, each of which was controlled by a governor. He had full local authority, including the judiciary. Subsequently, Catherine 2 increased the number of provinces to 50. Of course, this was done not by annexing new lands, but by crushing them. This greatly increased the state apparatus and rather significantly reduced the effectiveness of local government in the country. We will talk about this in more detail in the corresponding article. It should be noted that at the time of the collapse of the Russian Empire, its territory consisted of 78 provinces. The largest cities in the country were:

St. Petersburg.
Moscow.
Warsaw.
Odessa.
Lodz.
Riga.
Kyiv.
Kharkov.
Tiflis.
Tashkent.

The history of the Russian Empire is full of both bright and negative moments. In this time period, which lasted less than two centuries, a huge number of fateful moments were invested in the fate of our country. It was during the period of the Russian Empire that the Patriotic War, campaigns in the Caucasus, campaigns in India, European campaigns took place. The country developed dynamically. The reforms affected absolutely all aspects of life. It was the history of the Russian Empire that gave our country great commanders, whose names are on the lips to this day not only in Russia, but throughout Europe - Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov and Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov. These illustrious generals forever inscribed their names in the history of our country and covered Russian weapons with eternal glory.

Map

We present a map of the Russian Empire, a brief history of which we are considering, which shows the European part of the country with all the changes that have occurred in terms of territories over the years of the existence of the state.

Population

By the end of the 18th century, the Russian Empire was the largest country in the world in terms of area. Its scale was such that the messenger, who was sent to all corners of the country to report the death of Catherine 2, arrived in Kamchatka after 3 months! And this despite the fact that the messenger rode almost 200 km daily.

Russia was also the most populous country. In 1800, about 40 million people lived in the Russian Empire, most of them in the European part of the country. A little less than 3 million lived beyond the Urals. The national composition of the country was motley:

East Slavs. Russians (Great Russians), Ukrainians (Little Russians), Belarusians. For a long time, almost until the very end of the Empire, it was considered a single people.
Estonians, Latvians, Latvians and Germans lived in the Baltics.
Finno-Ugric (Mordovians, Karelians, Udmurts, etc.), Altai (Kalmyks) and Turkic (Bashkirs, Tatars, etc.) peoples.
The peoples of Siberia and the Far East (Yakuts, Evens, Buryats, Chukchi, etc.).

In the course of the formation of the country, part of the Kazakhs and Jews who lived on the territory of Poland, who, after its collapse, went to Russia, turned out to be its citizenship.

The main class in the country were peasants (about 90%). Other classes: philistinism (4%), merchants (1%), and the remaining 5% of the population were distributed among the Cossacks, the clergy and the nobility. This is the classic structure of an agrarian society. Indeed, the main occupation of the Russian Empire was agriculture. It is no coincidence that all the indicators that lovers of the tsarist regime are so proud of today are related to agriculture (we are talking about the import of grain and butter).

By the end of the 19th century, 128.9 million people lived in Russia, of which 16 million lived in cities, and the rest in villages.

Political system

The Russian Empire was autocratic in the form of its government, where all power was concentrated in the hands of one person - the emperor, who was often called, in the old manner, the king. Peter 1 laid down in the laws of Russia precisely the unlimited power of the monarch, which ensured the autocracy. Simultaneously with the state, the autocrat actually controlled the church.

An important point - after the reign of Paul 1, autocracy in Russia could no longer be called absolute. This happened due to the fact that Paul 1 issued a decree that canceled the system for the transfer of the throne, established by Peter 1. Peter Alekseevich Romanov, let me remind you, decided that the ruler himself determines his successor. Some historians today speak of the negative of this document, but this is precisely the essence of autocracy - the ruler makes all decisions, including about his successor. After Paul 1, the system returned, in which the son inherits the throne after his father.

Rulers of the country

Below is a list of all the rulers of the Russian Empire during the period of its existence (1721-1917).

Rulers of the Russian Empire

Emperor	Years of government
Peter 1	1721-1725
Catherine 1	1725-1727
Peter 2	1727-1730
Anna Ioannovna	1730-1740
Ivan 6	1740-1741
Elizabeth 1	1741-1762
Peter 3	1762
Catherine 2	1762-1796
Pavel 1	1796-1801
Alexander 1	1801-1825
Nicholas 1	1825-1855
Alexander 2	1855-1881
Alexander 3	1881-1894
Nicholas 2	1894-1917

All the rulers were from the Romanov dynasty, and after the overthrow of Nicholas 2 and the murder of himself and his family by the Bolsheviks, the dynasty was interrupted, and the Russian Empire ceased to exist, changing the form of statehood to the USSR.

Main dates

During its existence, and this is almost 200 years, the Russian Empire has experienced many important moments and events that have had an impact on the state and people.

1722 - Table of ranks
1799 - Suvorov's foreign campaigns in Italy and Switzerland
1809 - Accession of Finland
1812 - Patriotic War
1817-1864 - Caucasian War
1825 (December 14) - Decembrist uprising
1867 Sale of Alaska
1881 (March 1) the murder of Alexander 2
1905 (January 9) - Bloody Sunday
1914-1918 - World War I
1917 - February and October revolutions

End of the Empire

The history of the Russian Empire ended on September 1, 1917, according to the old style. It was on this day that the Republic was proclaimed. This was proclaimed by Kerensky, who by law did not have the right to do so, so declaring Russia a Republic can safely be called illegal. Only the Constituent Assembly had the authority to make such a declaration. The fall of the Russian Empire is closely connected with the history of its last emperor, Nicholas 2. This emperor had all the qualities of a worthy person, but had an indecisive character. It was because of this that the riots occurred in the country that cost Nicholas himself 2 lives, and the Russian Empire - existence. Nicholas 2 failed to severely suppress the revolutionary and terrorist activities of the Bolsheviks in the country. True, there were objective reasons for this. Chief among which, the First World War, in which the Russian Empire was involved and exhausted in it. The Russian Empire was replaced by a new type of state structure of the country - the USSR.

Russian empire - a state that existed from November 1721 to March 1917.

The empire was created after the end of the Northern War with Sweden, when Tsar Peter the Great proclaimed himself emperor, and ended its existence after the February Revolution of 1917 and the last emperor, Nicholas II, resigned his imperial powers and abdicated from the throne.

The population of the vast power at the beginning of 1917 was 178 million people.

The Russian Empire had two capitals: from 1721 to 1728 - St. Petersburg, from 1728 to 1730 - Moscow, from 1730 to 1917 - St. Petersburg again.

The Russian Empire had vast territories: from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Black Sea in the south, from the Baltic Sea in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east.

The major cities of the empire were St. Petersburg, Moscow, Warsaw, Odessa, Lodz, Riga, Kyiv, Kharkov, Tiflis (modern Tbilisi), Tashkent, Vilna (modern Vilnius), Saratov, Kazan, Rostov-on-Don, Tula, Astrakhan, Ekaterinoslav (modern Dnepropetrovsk), Baku, Chisinau, Helsingfors (modern Helsinki).

The Russian Empire was divided into provinces, regions and districts.

As of 1914, the Russian Empire was divided into:

a) provinces - Arkhangelsk, Astrakhan, Bessarabia, Vilna, Vitebsk, Vladimir, Vologda, Volyn, Voronezh, Vyatka, Grodno, Yekaterinoslav, Kazan, Kaluga, Kyiv, Kovno, Kostroma, Courland, Kursk, Livonia, Minsk, Mogilev, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Novgorod, Olonets, Orenburg, Oryol, Penza, Perm, Podolsk, Poltava, Pskov, Ryazan, Samara, St. Petersburg, Saratov, Simbirsk, Smolensk, Tauride, Tambov, Tver, Tula, Ufimsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Kholm, Chernihiv, Estonian, Yaroslavl, Volyn, Podolsk, Kyiv, Vilna, Kovno, Grodno, Minsk, Mogilev, Vitebsk, Courland, Livonian, Estonian, Warsaw, Kalisz, Kielce, Lomzhinsk, Lublin, Petrokov, Plock, Radom, Suwalk, Baku, Elizavetpol (Elisavetpol), Kutaisi, Stavropol, Tiflis, Black Sea, Erivan, Yenisei, Irk Utskaya, Tobolskaya, Tomskaya, Abo-Björneborgskaya, Vazaskaya, Vyborgskaya, Kuopioskaya, Nielanskaya (Nyulandskaya), St. Michelskaya, Tavastguskaya (Tavastgusskaya), Uleaborgskaya

b) regions - Batumi, Dagestan, Kars, Kuban, Terek, Amur, Trans-Baikal, Kamchatka, Primorskaya, Sakhalin, Yakut, Akmola, Trans-Caspian, Samarkand, Semipalatinsk, Semirechensk, Syr-Darya, Turgay, Ural, Fergana, Don Army Region;

c) districts - Sukhumi and Zakatalsky.

It would be useful to mention that the Russian Empire in its last years before the collapse included once independent countries - Finland, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia.

The Russian Empire was ruled by one royal dynasty - the Romanovs. For 296 years of the existence of the empire, she was ruled by 10 emperors and 4 empresses.

The first Russian Emperor Peter the Great (reigned in the Russian Empire 1721 - 1725) was in this rank for 4 years, although the total time of his reign was 43 years.

Peter the Great set as his goal the transformation of Russia into a civilized country.

Over the last 4 years of his stay on the imperial throne, Peter carried out a number of important reforms.

Peter carried out a reform of public administration, introduced the administrative-territorial division of the Russian Empire into provinces, created a regular army and a powerful navy. Peter also abolished ecclesiastical autonomy and subjugated

imperial church. Even before the formation of the empire, Peter founded St. Petersburg, and in 1712 he moved the capital there from Moscow.

Under Peter, the first newspaper was opened in Russia, many educational institutions for the nobility were opened, and in 1705 the first general education gymnasium was opened. Peter also put things in order in the design of all official documents, forbidding the use of half-names in them (Ivashka, Senka, etc.), forbade forced marriage, taking off his hat and kneeling when the king appeared, and also allowed marital divorces. Under Peter, a whole network of military and naval schools was opened for the children of soldiers, drunkenness was prohibited at feasts and meetings, and state officials were forbidden to wear beards.

To improve the educational level of the nobles, Peter introduced the compulsory study of a foreign language (in those days - French). The role of the boyars was leveled, many boyars from yesterday's semi-literate peasants turned into educated nobles.

Peter the Great forever deprived Sweden of the status of an aggressor country, defeating the Swedish army near Poltava in 1709, led by the Swedish king Charles XII.

During the reign of Peter the Russian Empire annexed to its possessions the territory of modern Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, as well as the Karelian Isthmus and part of Southern Finland. In addition, Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina (the territory of modern Moldova and Ukraine) were included in Russia.

After the death of Peter, Catherine I ascended the imperial throne.

The Empress did not reign for long, only two years (reigned 1725 - 1727). However, her power was rather weak and was actually in the hands of Alexander Menshikov, Peter's comrade-in-arms. Catherine showed interest only in the fleet. In 1726, the Supreme Privy Council was created, which, under the formal chairmanship of Catherine, ruled the country. During Catherine's time, bureaucracy and embezzlement flourished. Catherine only signed all the papers that were handed over to her by representatives of the Supreme Privy Council. Within the council itself, there was a struggle for power, reforms in the empire were suspended. During the reign of Catherine the First, Russia did not wage any wars.

The next Russian emperor, Peter II, also reigned for a short time, only three years (reigned 1727 - 1730). Peter II became emperor when he was only eleven years old, and he died at the age of fourteen from smallpox. In fact, Peter did not rule the empire, for such a short period he did not even have time to show interest in state affairs. The real power in the country continued to be in the hands of the Supreme Privy Council and Alexander Menshikov. Under this formal ruler, all the undertakings of Peter the Great were leveled. The Russian clergy made attempts to separate from the state, the capital was moved from St. Petersburg to Moscow, the historical capital of the former Moscow principality and the Russian state. The army and navy fell into decay. Corruption and massive theft of money from the state treasury flourished.

The next Russian ruler was Empress Anna (reigned 1730-1740). However, in reality, the country was ruled by her favorite Ernest Biron, the Duke of Courland.

The powers of Anna herself were greatly curtailed. Without the approval of the Supreme Privy Council, the empress could not impose taxes, declare war, spend the state treasury at her own discretion, promote to high ranks above the rank of colonel, and appoint an heir to the throne.

Under Anna, the proper maintenance of the fleet and the construction of new ships were resumed.

It was under Anna that the capital of the empire was returned back to St. Petersburg.

After Anna, Ivan VI became emperor (year of reign 1740) became the youngest emperor in the history of tsarist Russia. He was put on the throne at the age of two months, but Ernest Biron continued to have real power in the empire.

The reign of Ivan VI turned out to be short. Two weeks later there was a palace coup. Biron was removed from power. The baby emperor lasted a little over a year on the throne. During his formal reign, no significant events occurred in the life of the Russian Empire.

And in 1741, Empress Elizabeth (reigned 1741-1762) ascended the Russian throne.

During the time of Elizabeth, Russia returned to the Petrine reforms. The Supreme Privy Council, which for many years replaced the real power of the Russian emperors, was liquidated. The death penalty was abolished. The privileges of the nobility were legislated.

During the reign of Elizabeth, Russia participated in a number of wars. In the Russian-Swedish war (1741 - 1743), Russia again, like Peter the Great once, won a convincing victory over the Swedes, having won a significant part of Finland from them. This was followed by the brilliant Seven Years' War against Prussia (1753-1760), which ended with the capture of Berlin by Russian troops in 1760.

During the time of Elizabeth, the first university was opened in Russia (in Moscow).

However, the empress herself had weaknesses - she often liked to arrange luxurious feasts that pretty much devastated the treasury.

The next Russian emperor, Peter III, reigned for only 186 days (the year of reign was 1762). Peter energetically engaged in state affairs, during his short stay on the throne, he abolished the Office of Secret Affairs, created the State Bank and for the first time introduced paper money into circulation in the Russian Empire. A decree was created forbidding landowners to kill and maim peasants. Peter wanted to reform the Orthodox Church along Protestant lines. The document "Manifesto on the Liberty of the Nobility" was created, which legally fixed the nobility as a privileged class in Russia. Under this king, the nobles were exempted from compulsory military service. All high-ranking nobles exiled during the reign of previous emperors and empresses were released from exile. However, another palace coup prevented this sovereign from continuing to work properly and reign for the benefit of the empire.

Empress Catherine II (reigned 1762 - 1796) comes to the throne.

Catherine II, along with Peter the Great, is considered one of the best empresses, whose efforts contributed to the development of the Russian Empire. Catherine came to power through a palace coup, overthrowing her husband Peter III, who was cold towards her and treated her with undisguised disdain.

The period of Catherine's reign had the saddest consequences for the peasants - they were completely enslaved.

However, under this empress, the Russian Empire significantly pushed its borders to the west. After the division of the Commonwealth, Eastern Poland became part of the Russian Empire. Also included in it and Ukraine.

Catherine liquidated the Zaporozhian Sich.

During the reign of Catherine the Russian Empire victoriously ended the war with the Ottoman Empire, taking Crimea from it. As a result of this war, the Kuban was also included in the Russian Empire.

Under Catherine, there was a mass opening of new gymnasiums throughout Russia. Education became available to all city dwellers, except peasants.

Catherine founded a number of new cities in the empire.

During the time of Catherine, a major uprising took place in the empire under the leadership of

Emelyan Pugacheva - as a result of further enslavement and enslavement of the peasants.

The reign of Paul I, which followed Catherine, did not last long - only five years. Paul introduced brutal cane discipline in the army. Corporal punishment for nobles was brought back. All nobles were required to serve in the army. However, unlike Catherine, Paul improved the position of the peasants. Corvee was limited to only three days a week. The grain tax in kind from the peasants was abolished. The sale of peasants along with the land was prohibited. It was forbidden to separate peasant families during the sale. Fearing the impact of the recent French Revolution, Paul imposed censorship and banned the importation of foreign books.

Pavel died unexpectedly in 1801 from apoplexy.

His successor, Emperor Alexander I (reigned 1801 - 1825) - during his time on the throne, carried out a victorious Patriotic War against Napoleonic France in 1812. During the reign of Alexander, the Georgian lands - Megrelia and the Imeretian kingdom - became part of the Russian Empire.

Also during the reign of Alexander the First, a successful war was waged with the Ottoman Empire (1806-1812), which ended with the annexation of part of Persia (the territory of modern Azerbaijan) to Russia.

As a result of the next Russian-Swedish war (1806-1809), the territory of all of Finland became part of Russia.

The emperor died unexpectedly of typhoid fever in Taganrog in 1825.

One of the most despotic emperors of the Russian Empire, Nicholas the First (reigned 1825-1855), ascends the throne.

On the very first day of the reign of Nicholas in St. Petersburg there was an uprising of the Decembrists. The uprising ended badly for them - artillery was used against them. The leaders of the uprising were imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg and soon executed.

In 1826, the Russian army had to defend its distant frontiers from the troops of the Persian Shah who unexpectedly invaded Transcaucasia. The Russo-Persian war lasted two years. At the end of the war, Armenia was taken from Persia.

In 1830, during the reign of Nicholas I, an uprising against the Russian autocracy took place on the territory of Poland and Lithuania. In 1831, the uprising was crushed by Russian regular troops.

Under Nicholas the First, the first railway from St. Petersburg to Tsarskoe Selo was built. And by the end of the period of his reign, the construction of the St. Petersburg-Moscow railway was being completed.

During the time of Nicholas I, the Russian Empire waged another war with the Ottoman Empire. The war ended with the preservation of Crimea as part of Russia, however, the entire Russian navy was removed from the peninsula in accordance with the agreement.

The next emperor - Alexander II (reigned 1855 - 1881) in 1861 completely abolished serfdom. Under this tsar, the Caucasian War was carried out against the detachments of the Chechen highlanders under the leadership of Shamil, the Polish uprising of 1864 was suppressed. Turkestan was annexed (modern Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan.

Under this emperor, Alaska was sold to America (1867).

Another war with the Ottoman Empire (1877-1878) ended with the liberation of Bulgaria, Serbia and Montenegro from the Ottoman yoke.

Alexander II is the only Russian emperor who died a violent unnatural death. A bomb was thrown at him by a member of the Narodnaya Volya organization, Ignaty Grinevetsky, during his walk along the embankment of the Catherine Canal in St. Petersburg. The emperor died on the same day.

Alexander III becomes the penultimate Russian emperor (reigned 1881 - 1894).

Under this tsar, the industrialization of Russia began. Railways were built throughout the European part of the empire. The telegraph became widespread. Telephone communication was introduced. In large cities (Moscow, St. Petersburg) electrification was carried out. There was a radio.

Under this emperor, Russia did not wage any wars.

The last Russian emperor - Nicholas II (reigned 1894 - 1917) - took the throne at a difficult time for the empire.

In 1905-1906, the Russian Empire had to fight with Japan, which captured the Far Eastern port of Port Arthur.

In the same year, 1905, an armed uprising of the working class took place in the largest cities of the empire, which seriously undermined the foundations of autocracy. The work of the Social Democrats (future communists) led by Vladimir Ulyanov-Lenin was unfolding.

After the revolution of 1905, tsarist power was seriously limited and transferred to the local Dumas.

The First World War, which began in 1914, put an end to the further existence of the Russian Empire. Nicholas was not ready for such a protracted and exhausting war. The Russian army suffered a series of crushing defeats from the troops of Kaiser's Germany. This hastened the collapse of the empire. Desertions from the front became more frequent among the troops. Looting flourished in the rear cities.

The inability of the tsar to cope with the difficulties that arose in the war and inside Russia provoked a domino effect, in which, in two or three months, the huge and once powerful Russian empire was on the verge of collapse. In addition to this, revolutionary sentiment intensified in Petrograd and Moscow.

In February 1917, a provisional government came to power in Petrograd, staging a palace coup and depriving Nicholas II of real power. The last emperor was asked to get out of Petrograd with his family, which Nicholas immediately took advantage of.

On March 3, 1917, at the Pskov station, in the carriage of his imperial train, Nicholas II officially abdicated the throne, deposing the powers of the Russian emperor.

The Russian Empire quietly and peacefully ceased to exist, giving way to the future empire of socialism - the USSR.

Russian empire- a monarchical estate multinational state of the beginning of the 18th - beginning of the 20th centuries. It developed on the basis of the Russian centralized state, which in 1721 Peter I declared an empire.

The composition of the Russian Empire included: from the XVIII century. Baltic states, Right-Bank Ukraine, Belarus, part of Poland, Bessarabia, North Caucasus; since the 19th century, in addition, Finland, Transcaucasia, Kazakhstan, Central Asia and the Pamirs. By the end of the XIX century. the territory of the Russian Empire was 22,400,000 km².

Population

According to the 1897 census, the population was 128,200,000 people, including European Russia - 93,400,000, the Kingdom of Poland - 9,500,000, the Grand Duchy of Finland - 2,600,000, the Caucasus region - 9,300,000, Siberia - 5,800,000, Central Asian regions - 7,700,000. More than 100 peoples and nationalities lived on the territory of the Russian Empire. 57% of the population were non-Russian peoples. Tsarism brutally oppressed non-Russian peoples, pursued a policy of forcible Russification, suppression of national culture, and incitement of interethnic hatred. The Russian language was officially the national language, obligatory for all state and public institutions. According to the expression, the Russian Empire was a "prison of peoples."

Administrative division

The territory of the Russian Empire in 1914 was divided into 81 provinces and 20 regions. There were 931 cities. Part of the provinces and regions were united into governor-generals (Warsaw, Irkutsk, Kiev, Moscow, Amur, Steppe, Turkestan and Finland). The official vassals of the Russian Empire were the Khanate of Bukhara and the Khanate of Khiva. In 1914, the Uryankhai Territory (now the Republic of Tyva) was taken under the protectorate of the Russian Empire.

autocratic system. Caricature

The structure of power and society

The Russian Empire was a hereditary monarchy headed by an emperor who had autocratic power. This provision was enshrined in the "Basic State Laws". A member of the emperor's family and his relatives made up the imperial house (see ""). The emperor exercised legislative power through the State Council (since 1810) and (since 1906), he directed the state apparatus through the Senate, the Council of Ministers and ministries. The emperor was the supreme leader of the armed forces of the Russian Empire (see Russian Army, Russian Navy). In the Russian Empire, the Christian church was part of the state; "the leading and dominant" was the Orthodox Church, which was ruled by the emperor through the Synod.

The entire population was considered subjects of the Russian Empire, the male population (from 20 years old) was obliged to swear allegiance to the emperor. Citizens were divided into 4 estates ("states"):

nobility;
clergy;
city dwellers (honorary citizens, guild merchants, philistines and townspeople, artisans or workshops);
rural inhabitants (that is, peasants).

The nobility was the dominant class. He held political power. The local population of Kazakhstan, Siberia and a number of other regions of the empire stood out in an independent "state" and were called foreigners (see ""). This category is managed by .

Extensive legislation was collected in the Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire and the Code of Laws of the Russian Empire. The Russian Empire had a coat of arms - a double-headed eagle with royal regalia; the state flag - a cloth with white, blue and red horizontal stripes; the national anthem, which began with the words: "God Save the Tsar."

Decline and collapse of the empire

In the process of historical development of Russia in the 2nd half of the XIX century. moved from to, and in the late XIX - early XX centuries. entered the stage. in Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. the economic and social prerequisites for a people's revolution have matured. The center of the revolutionary movement moved from Western Europe to Russia. The revolution of 1905-1907 shook the foundations of the autocracy and was the "dress rehearsal" for the bourgeois and proletarian revolution. overthrew autocracy,

As a result of the Northern War of 1700-1721, the powerful Swedish army was defeated, the Russian lands occupied by Sweden in the late 16th and early 17th centuries were returned. At the mouth of the Neva, the city of St. Petersburg was built, where in 1712 the capital of Russia was transferred. The Muscovite state becomes in 1721 the Russian Empire, headed by the Emperor of All Russia.

Of course, Russia took a long time to create an empire, and not only the victory in the Northern War contributed to this.

Long way

At the beginning of the XIII century, Russia consisted of about 15 principalities. However, the natural course of centralization was crossed out by the Mongol invasion (1237-1240). Further unification of the Russian lands took place in difficult foreign policy conditions and was dictated primarily by political prerequisites.

In the XIV century, most of the Russian lands were united around Vilna - the capital of the emerging Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Russia. During the 13th-15th centuries, the Gorodensky, Polotsk, Vitebsk, Turov-Pinsk, Kiev principalities, as well as most of the Chernihiv region, Volyn, Podolia, Smolensk region and a number of other Russian lands were in the possession of the great Lithuanian princes from the Gediminovich family. Thus, the sole rule of the Rurikovichs and the tribal unity of Russia have gone into the past. Lands were annexed both by military and peaceful means.

The end of the 15th - the beginning of the 16th centuries became a kind of frontier, after which the lands annexed to Russia formed a single whole with it. The process of joining the rest of the legacy of Ancient Russia dragged on for another two centuries, and by this time their own ethnic processes had gained strength there.

In 1654 Left-Bank Ukraine joined Russia. The lands of the Right-Bank Ukraine (without Galicia) and Belarus became part of the Russian Empire as a result of the second division of the Commonwealth in 1793.

“The Russian kingdom (both conceptually, ideologically, and institutionally) had two sources: the “kingdom” (khanate) of the Golden Horde and the Byzantine Orthodox kingdom (empire).”

One of the first to formulate a new idea of the royal power of the Moscow princes was Metropolitan Zosima. In the essay "The Presentation of the Paschal", submitted to the Moscow Cathedral in 1492, he emphasized that Moscow became the new Constantinople thanks to the fidelity of Russia to God. God Himself appointed Ivan III - "the new Tsar Constantine to the new city of Constantine - Moscow and the whole Russian land and many other lands of the sovereign." Thus, Ivan IV was the first tsar crowned king. This happened on January 16, 1547.

Under Ivan IV, Russia managed to significantly expand its possessions. As a result of the campaign against Kazan and its capture in 1552, she gained the middle Volga region, and in 1556, with the capture of Astrakhan, the lower Volga region and access to the Caspian Sea, which opened up new trade opportunities with Persia, the Caucasus and Central Asia. At the same time, the ring of hostile Tatar khanates that hampered Russia was broken, and the road to Siberia was opened.

V. Surikov "Conquest of Siberia by Yermak"

The era of Ivan the Terrible also marked the beginning of the conquest of Siberia. A small detachment of Cossacks Yermak Timofeevich, hired by the Ural industrialists Stroganovs to protect against the raids of the Siberian Tatars, defeated the army of the Siberian Khan Kuchum and took his capital Kashlyk. Despite the fact that due to the attacks of the Tatars, few of the Cossacks managed to return alive, the collapsed Siberian Khanate was no longer restored. A few years later, the tsarist archers of the voivode Voeikov crushed the last resistance. The gradual development of Siberia by the Russians began. Over the next decades, forts and trading settlements began to appear: Tobolsk, Verkhoturye, Mangazeya, Yeniseisk and Bratsk.

Russian empire

P. Zharkov "Portrait of Peter I"

On August 30, 1721, the Treaty of Nystadt was concluded between Russia and Sweden, according to which Russia received access to the Baltic Sea, annexed the territory of Ingria, part of Karelia, Estonia and Livonia.

Russia has become a great European power. Peter I accepted from the Senate the titles "Great" and "Father of the Fatherland", he was proclaimed emperor, and Russia - an empire.

The formation of the Russian Empire was accompanied by a number of reforms.

Public Administration Reform

Creation of the Near Office (or Council of Ministers) in 1699. It was transformed in 1711 into the Governing Senate. Establishment of 12 collegiums with a specific scope of activity and authority.

The system of state administration has become more perfect. The activities of most state bodies became regulated, the collegiums had a clearly defined area of activity. Supervisory bodies were created.

Regional (provincial) reform

At the first stage of the reform, Peter I divided Russia into 8 provinces: Moscow, Kiev, Kazan, Ingermandland (later St. Petersburg), Arkhangelsk, Smolensk, Azov, Siberia. They were ruled by governors who were in charge of the troops located on the territory of the province, and also possessed full administrative and judicial power. At the second stage of the reform, the provinces were divided into 50 provinces ruled by governors, and those were divided into districts led by zemstvo commissars. The governors were stripped of their administrative power and were in charge of judicial and military matters.

There was a centralization of power. Local governments have almost completely lost influence.

Judicial reform

Peter 1 formed new judicial bodies: the Senate, the Justic College, the Hofgerichts, and the lower courts. Judicial functions were also performed by all colleagues, except for Foreign. The judges were separated from the administration. The court of kissers (an analogue of the jury trial) was canceled, the principle of the inviolability of an unconvicted person was lost.

A large number of judicial bodies and persons who carried out judicial activities (the emperor himself, governors, governors, etc.) brought confusion and confusion to the proceedings, the introduction of the possibility of "knocking out" testimony under torture created grounds for abuse and bias. At the same time, the adversarial nature of the process was established and the need for the verdict to be based on specific articles of the law corresponding to the case under consideration.

Military reforms

The introduction of recruitment, the creation of the navy, the establishment of the Military Collegium, which was in charge of all military affairs. Introduction with the help of the "Table of Ranks" of military ranks, uniform for all of Russia. Creation of military-industrial enterprises, as well as military educational institutions. Introduction of army discipline and military regulations.

With his reforms, Peter 1 created a formidable regular army, numbering up to 212 thousand people by 1725, and a strong navy. Subdivisions were created in the army: regiments, brigades and divisions, in the navy - squadrons. Many military victories were won. These reforms (although ambiguously assessed by different historians) created a springboard for the further success of Russian weapons.

Church reform

The institution of the patriarchate was actually liquidated. In 1701, the management of church and monastery lands was reformed. Peter 1 restored the Monastic order, which controlled church revenues and the trial of the monastery peasants. In 1721, the Spiritual Regulations were adopted, which actually deprived the church of independence. To replace the patriarchate, the Holy Synod was created, whose members were subordinate to Peter 1, by whom they were appointed. Church property was often taken away and spent on the needs of the emperor.

The church reforms of Peter 1 led to the almost complete subordination of the clergy to secular power. In addition to the elimination of the patriarchate, many bishops and ordinary clergy were persecuted. The church could no longer pursue an independent spiritual policy and partly lost its authority in society.

Financial reforms

The introduction of many new (including indirect) taxes, the monopolization of the sale of tar, alcohol, salt and other goods. Damage (reduction in weight) of the coin. The penny becomes the main coin. Transition to the poll tax.

Increase in revenues of the treasury several times. But! It was achieved at the expense of the impoverishment of the bulk of the population, and most of this income was embezzled.

Culture and life

Peter I led the fight against the external manifestations of the "outdated" way of life (the most famous ban on beards), but no less paid attention to the introduction of the nobility to education and secular Europeanized culture. Secular educational institutions began to appear, the first Russian newspaper was founded, translations of many books into Russian appeared. Success in the service of Peter made the nobles dependent on education.

N. Nevrev "Peter I"

A number of measures were taken to develop education: on January 14, 1700, a school of mathematical and navigational sciences was opened in Moscow. In 1701-1721, artillery, engineering and medical schools were opened in Moscow, an engineering school and a naval academy in St. Petersburg, mining schools at the Olonets and Ural factories. In 1705, the first gymnasium in Russia was opened. The goals of mass education were to be served by the digital schools created by decree of 1714 in provincial cities, called " to teach children of all ranks literacy, numbers and geometry". It was supposed to create two such schools in each province, where education was supposed to be free. Garrison schools were opened for soldiers' children, and a network of theological schools was created for the training of priests in 1721. Peter's decrees introduced compulsory education for nobles and clergy, but a similar measure for the urban population met with fierce resistance and was canceled. Peter's attempt to create an all-estate elementary school failed (the creation of a network of schools ceased after his death, most of the digital schools under his successors were redesigned into class schools for the training of the clergy), but nevertheless, during his reign, the foundations were laid for the spread of education in Russia.

Peter I created new printing houses.

In 1724, Peter approved the charter of the Academy of Sciences being organized, which was opened after his death.

Of particular importance was the construction of stone Petersburg, in which foreign architects took part and which was carried out according to the plan developed by the tsar. He created a new urban environment with previously unfamiliar forms of life and pastime (theatre, masquerades). The interior decoration of houses, the way of life, the composition of food, etc. have changed.

By a special decree of the tsar in 1718, assemblies were introduced, representing a new form of communication between people in Russia. At the assemblies, the nobles danced and mingled freely, unlike earlier feasts and feasts.

S. Khlebovsky "Assemblies under Peter I"

Peter invited foreign artists to Russia and at the same time sent talented young people to study "arts" abroad.

On December 30, 1701, Peter issued a decree ordering to write full names in petitions and other documents instead of derogatory half-names (Ivashka, Senka, etc.), not to fall on your knees in front of the tsar, in winter, in the cold, wear a hat in front of the house in which you are king, do not shoot. He explained the need for these innovations in this way: "Less baseness, more zeal for service and loyalty to me and the state - this honor is characteristic of the king ...".

Peter tried to change the position of women in Russian society. He by special decrees (1700, 1702 and 1724) forbade forced marriage and marriage. It was prescribed that there should be at least six weeks between the betrothal and the wedding, "so that the bride and groom could recognize each other." If during this time, the decree said, “the bridegroom does not want to take the bride, or the bride does not want to marry the groom,” no matter how the parents insisted, “there is freedom.”

The transformations of the era of Peter I led to the strengthening of the Russian state, the creation of a modern European army, the development of industry and the spread of education among the upper classes of the population. An absolute monarchy was established, headed by the emperor, to whom the church was also subordinate (through the chief prosecutor of the Holy Synod).