The Russian Empire it was inhabited by Slavic and Finnish tribes, dominated by the Mongolian Tatars until the 16th century. They were very backward towns. But, at the beginning of the 16th century, Ivan the Terrible, head of the Principality of Moscow, managed to emancipate himself from the yoke of the Mongol Khans, founding the Russian state of Muscovy, whose capital was Moscow. Ivan named himself "Tsar" which meant Great King of the entire Russian empire.
He ruled absolutely, with the force of arms he expanded the Russian empire. After the death of Ivan the Terrible, there were internal struggles, until he was proclaimed Tsar Miguel de Romanof, who began a dynasty that ruled until 1917, when the last monarch Nicholas II was executed. His counselor Rasputin, a dark and enigmatic character, is also remembered.
Origin of the Russian Empire
Those who gave rise to the Russian empire were two peoples:The Muscovites , who founded the city of Moscow and The Swedes , who under the command of the leader Rurik they founded the small republic of Novogorod . This possibly occurred in the twelfth or thirteenth centuries.
Ivan "The Terrible" (1533 to 1584)
The country of the Muscovites made rapid progress and conquered the Republic of Rurik. Then the Muscovites extended their domains to the Caspian Sea, defeating the Tatars who formed the "Golden Horde" and who had taken over that region. Since then Moscow was the capital and one of its most notable kings was Ivan IV the Terrible. The main facts of this half-legendary King were:
- He built the great Kremlin Palace in Moscow.
- he expelled from the Russian empire the Tatars of the Golden Horde, who had been annihilated earlier by Ivan III, and began the colonization of Siberia with the help of the Don Cossacks .
- he had his political enemies executed and ruled bloodily on the advice of Father Sylvester. In a fit of rage he had his own son perish.
Romanoff dynasty
Years later (1613) the warrior leader Miguel Romanoff , he took possession of Moscow and took the title of ZAR, thus founding a dynasty. The most notable ruler of this family was Peter the Great .
Peter the Great, (1689-1725)
This Tsar of the Russian Empire was a great ruler. From his youth he revealed a superior spirit. Since Russia needed a fleet and an army, Peter the Great did the following:
To get a fleet, he moved to Holland and worked undercover as a carpenter in a shipyard. He learned a lot about the art of sailing and then returned to Russia to personally direct the construction of numerous ships. In order to obtain an army, he organized a battalion and enrolled himself as a soldier, leading a common life with his companions. He sometimes he played the drum. These two actions created a continental prestige for him. But the most outstanding fact of his reign was the war he sustained against the King of Sweden, Charles XII.
The war against Charles XII
To ruin Sweden's trade, a customs alliance was formed between Denmark, Poland, and Russia. Carlos XII, king of that country, who was a military man of brilliant conceptions and executions, attacked his three adversaries overwhelmingly; he first beat the Danes , taking away territories and making them sign a humiliating peace; then he beat the Poles , capturing the king of him Augustus II; and immediately he faced Peter the Great . The Tsar of Russia had transformed his country, he had founded the city of Saint Petersburg , and was on a magnificent war footing. Carlos XII invaded Russia in the midst of the admiration of Europe, because everyone considered him invincible after his previous victories; more Peter the Great dealt him a complete defeat at the Battle of Pultawa (1709), the vanquished being forced to take refuge in Turkey. With this action the war ended and the great Tsar, in the midst of general admiration, calmly dedicated himself to governing.
Cultural transformation and territorial expansion
It could be said that in the history of Russia there are two epochs:the one before the 17th century and the one after that century.
Actually, before ruling the house of the Romanoffs, Russia was a backward country. He lived in great isolation and hardly knew the advances of European culture.
But from Peter the Great there was a complete transformation in customs. The Slavic culture of the Russian peoples finally came into contact with Western Culture. Among other changes, the following are worth mentioning:
- Irrigation canals were opened.
- Numerous workshops and factories were founded
- A Naval School, a School of Surgery and a School of Engineering were created.
- An Aristocratic Senate was created with legislative and judicial functions.
- A military rank was created
- A Holy Synod was created , that is, a council of bishops in charge of religious affairs
- The economic condition of the MUJIKS was improved or peasants.
The most notable work of this transformation was the transfer of the capital to a place on the Baltic Sea, next to the Neva River, since from then on it was called Saint Petersburg, "Peter's City" in homage to the founding tsar. In this way, the Russian empire had greater maritime and land contact with the peoples of northern and central Europe.
The territorial expansion of the Russian empire followed a well-studied plan by the tsar himself. She would be done in three directions:
- Towards the Baltic Sea , gaining territory from the Swedes, after their defeat.
- Towards the Black Sea , dispossessing the Turks of the territories they had seized from the Eastern Roman Empire.
- To Poland whose distribution the Russian sovereigns yearned for.
This great program of expansion of the Russian empire was carried out during the reigns of Peter the Great, his successors and, above all, Catherine II, also called Catherine the Great.
Catherine II (1762 to 1796)
She was a superior woman, without a doubt. But she was also a wicked woman.
To gain the throne, she led an uprising and had her husband Tsar Peter III, who was a depraved drunk, assassinated. Once in power, Catalina showed great artistic and political ability.
- In the field of art she founded the Russian Academy Catherine the Great favored philosophical and artistic research and wrote beautiful comedies. She spoke German and French and corresponded with the greatest men in Europe. Voltaire called him for this “The Semiramis of the North” .
- In the political field, she established in Russia freedom of the press and religious tolerance; she had the Civil Code renewed and improved the fate of the serfs. Finally, she granted autonomy to the cities to manage their revenues.
But this brilliant government was clouded by the foreign wars that she sustained.
First of all, she waged an ignoble campaign against the Turks , in order to take away territories to restore the old Eastern Empire and put her grandson Constantine on the throne. And secondly, she took part in the shameful Polish casts .