AP World History

Textbook notes

Class

Resources

Explore

5. Political Transformations

The Steppes and Siberia

Russian Empire was taking shape while Western Europeans were building their empires in the Americas

by 1480: small Russian state centered on Moscow was emerging from two centuries of Mongol rule

soon conquered neighboring Russian-speaking cities

incorporated into expanding territory

acquired empire under different circumstances than Western Europeans

Spanish and British conquered and colonized New World an ocean away

wholly unknown to them before 1492

only after establishing selves as distinct European states

Russia absorbed adjacent territories

did so while modern Russian state was taking shape

“The British had an empire. Russia was an empire” (Geoffrey Hocking, historian)

Location

remote, cold, heavily-forested eastern fringe of Christendom

unlikely candidate for one of the great empires of the modern era

yet extended Russian domination over vast tundra, forests, grasslands of northern Asia that was south and east of Moscow, to Pacific Ocean, and westward (Poles, Germans, Ukrainians, Belorussians, Batlics)

Reasons for expanding

grasslands south and east of heartland: security concerns

pastoral peoples (like Mongols before) frequently raided agricultural Russian neighbors and sold them into slavery

east (Siberia): opportunity

scattered peoples of forests and tundra posed no threat

mostly hunting, gathering, herding people in small-scale societies and without access to gunpowder weapons

primarily wanted “soft gold” of fur-bearing animal pelts

great demand on world market

as world cooled during Little Ice Age

Building

1500-1800

growing line of wooden forts offered protection to frontier towns and trading centers, mounting numbers of Russian farmers

building involved Russian state and its officials and a variety of private interests

merchants

hunters

peasants

churchmen

exiles

criminals

adventurers

for Russian migrants to east: “economic and social improvements over what they had at home—from more and better land to fewer lords and officials”

political leaders and educated defined empire in grander terms

defending Russian frontiers

enhancing power of Russian state

bringing Christianity, civilization, enlightenment to savages

Experiencing the Russian Empire

Conquest

frequent resistance

Russian military might brought steppes and Siberia under Russian control

modern weaponry

organizational capacity of a state

authorities demanded oath of allegiance, swearing “eternal submission to the grand tsar” (monarch)

demanded yasak (tribute) paid in cash or in kind

Siberia: enormous quantities of fur, especially sable (Siberians compelled to produce)

epidemics accompanied conquest

particularly In more remote regions of Siberia

local people had little immunity to smallpox or measles

pressure to convert to Christianity

incentives:

tax breaks

exemptions from paying tribute

promise of land or cash

added pressures:

destruction of many mosques

forced resettlement of Muslims

did not pursue conversion with single-minded intensity like Spanish authorities

particularly if missionary activity threatened political and social stability

Catherine the Great established religious tolerance for Muslims in late 18th, state agency to oversee Muslim affairs

Settlers

influx of Russian settlers was most profoundly transforming feature of Russian Empire

numbers by end of 18th overwhelmed native peoples

by 1720: Russians : Siberians = 70 : 30, then in 19th: 86 : 14

local people dependent on Russian markets

loss of hunting grounds and pasturelands to Russian agricultural settlers

undermined long-standing economies

markets for:

grain

sugar

tea

tobacco

alcohol

pressures to encourage pastoralists to abandon nomadic ways

requirement to pay fees

obtain permission to cross agricultural lands

some mixed-race offspring but absorbed as Russian instead of distinctive communities

intermarriage

prostitution

sexual abuse

Russification

Siberia and steppes incorporated into Russian states

native peoples not driven into reservations or eradicated

adopted Russian language and converted to Christianity

traditional ways of life much disrupted

represented final triumph of agrarian civilization over hunting societies of Siberia and pastoral peoples of grasslands

Russians and Empire

Change of Russia

fundamentally changed Russia

Russians diminished as proportion of overall population

increasingly multiethnic

predominant: Slavic-speaking Ukrainians and Belorussians

Siberia and steppes housed numerous separate peoples with small populations

remained politically dominant

wealth of empire played major role in making Russia one of great powers of Europe

rich agricultural lands

valuable furs

mineral deposits

Westward expansion

context of westward expansion: military rivalries with major powers of region

Ottoman Empire

Poland

Sweden

Lithuania

Prussia

Austria

late 17th and 18th: acquired substantial territories in Baltic region, Poland, Ukraine

contact with Europe fostered awareness of Russia’s backwardness relative to Europe

prompted extensive program of westernization

particularly under leadership of Peter the Great (r. 1689-1725)

vast administrative changes

enlargement and modernization of Russian military forces

new educational system for sons of noblemen

dozens of manufacturing enterprises

Russian nobles instructed to dress in European styles, shave sacred and much-revered beards

newly-created capital St. Petersburg was “window on the West”

Catherine the Great (r. 1762-1796) viewed self as part of European Enlightenment

followed with further efforts to Europeanize Russian cultural and intellectual life

Russians were first of many peoples to measure selves against West

Eastward expansion

Asian power

bumped up against China, India, Persia, Ottoman Empire

front lines of encounter between Christendom and Islam

Asia-Europe straddle was source of long-standing identity problem troubling educated Russians for 300 years

was Russia a backwards European country, destined to follow the lead of more highly developed Western European societies?

different, uniquely Slavic or Asian, shaped by Mongol legacy and status as Asian power?

great size, bordering on virtually all great agrarian civilizations of outer Eurasia

turned Russia into highly militarized state

reinforced highly autocratic character of Russian Empire

such huge state required powerful monarchy

hold vast domains and highly diverse peoples together

⁠

Go to "Asian Empires"

⁠