Czarist Russia Gennady Shkliarevsky Spring 2010 In the eighteenth century, Muscovy was transformed into a partially westernized and secularized Russian state as a result of the rapid and aggressively implemented reforms of Peter the Great (1694-1725). Yet Peter I’s aspirations to bring Europe into Russia became problematic at the end of his reign, when his efforts eventually culminated in an absolutist autocracy and an entrenchment of serfdom into Russian life. Paradoxically, it was precisely
After Peter the Great’s death, Russia faced a long time period full of weak rulers who didn’t have any significant contributions to Russia (Farah). However, after 37 long years, a woman called Sophie Friederike Auguste, Catherine II or Catherine the Great, who had married the czar of Russia 17 years earlier, became the next great ruler of Russia. Catherine, a very intellectual woman, was interested in music and literature, knew German, French, and managed to learn Russian in a short period of time
flourish of literary growth, stern reevaluations on the significance of organized religion, and the advancements surrounding science and technology. However, the neighboring country of Russia was wholly detached from these western advancements, remaining underdeveloped and overwhelmingly agricultural (Dmytryshyn 2). Urging Russia to be involved in this culture of mass westernization, Peter the Great, also commonly referred to as Peter I, sought to transform aspects of Russian society—notably the establishment
eighteenth century was Catherine II, Empress of Russia. Historians have not always been so kind to her memory, and all too often one reads accounts of her private life, ignoring her many achievements. The stories of her love affairs have been overly misinterpreted and can be traced to a handful of French writers in the years immediately after Catherine's death, when Republican France was fighting for its life against a coalition that included Russia. Catherine was born Sophia Augusta Frederika