Russia in 1682 and the Regency
In 1682 the tsar was an autocrat: he made laws and answered to God, not to any parliament. Old noble families (boyars) advised him in the Boyar Duma. The Orthodox Church, led by a Patriarch, was very powerful. Most people were peasants; many were serfs, tied to a landowner's estate and owing him labour or rent. Trade was small and towns were few.
When Tsar Fyodor died in 1682, the palace guards (Streltsy) rioted. Two boys were crowned together: Ivan V (who was in poor health) and Peter (aged 10). Their older sister Sophia ruled as regent, with her adviser Golitsyn. In 1689, after failed wars against the Crimean Khanate, Peter's supporters removed Sophia and Peter began to rule (Ivan died in 1696).
Peter the Great: westernisation, early reforms and opposition (1689–1707)
As a young man Peter spent time in Moscow's 'German quarter' where foreigners lived, and learned about ships and soldiering. In 1697–98 he travelled through western Europe on the Grand Embassy, even working in a shipyard.
Westernisation
On his return he ordered nobles to shave their beards (or pay a beard tax), wear western clothes, and change the calendar to start the year in January. He hired foreign experts, sent young nobles abroad to study and started schools of navigation and mathematics.
Early reforms and opposition
He built a modern army with conscription (each group of households had to send recruits for life) and created a navy. When the Streltsy rebelled in 1698, he crushed them harshly and disbanded them. Many Old Believers (people who rejected earlier Church changes), conservative clergy and nobles disliked his reforms. Heavy taxes caused revolts, such as at Astrakhan (1705) and the Bulavin rising (1707).
Peter the Great: wars, money, Church and government (1707–1725)
Wars
The Great Northern War (1700–21) against Sweden began badly (Narva, 1700), but Peter rebuilt the army and won at Poltava (1709). The Peace of Nystad (1721) gave Russia a coast on the Baltic Sea. Peter took the title Emperor. A war against the Ottomans (1711) went badly.
Money and economy
War needed money. Peter added many taxes, then a poll (soul) tax on every male peasant (from 1718, collected from 1724). He set up state-backed ironworks, mines and cloth factories, often worked by serfs (mercantilism: building home industry and exports).
Church
When the Patriarch died (1700) Peter left the post empty. In 1721 a committee, the Holy Synod, overseen by a lay official, replaced it. The Church came under the state.
Government
The Senate (1711) ran affairs when Peter was away. Ministries called Colleges (from 1718) handled war, foreign affairs, money and trade. The country was split into provinces (gubernii). The Table of Ranks (1722) set 14 grades in the army, navy and civil service; reaching a certain rank made a commoner a noble.
Society
Nobles had to serve the state for life. Serfdom became stricter as the poll tax tied peasants to landowners. Peter's son Alexei opposed him and died in prison in 1718; Peter then decreed (1722) that each ruler could choose an heir.
The era of palace coups and Elizabeth (1725–1762)
Peter died in 1725 without naming an heir. His succession law meant there was no fixed rule, so the elite Guards regiments and court groups could decide. This is called the era of palace coups.
- Catherine I (1725–27), Peter's widow, backed by the Guards and Menshikov. The Supreme Privy Council (1726) ran government.
- Peter II (1727–30), Peter's grandson, a boy who died young.
- Anna (1730–40): the Council offered her the throne with 'Conditions' limiting her power; with Guards support she tore them up and ruled as an autocrat.
- Ivan VI (1740–41), a baby, quickly removed.
- Elizabeth (1741–62), Peter's daughter, seized power with the Guards.
Elizabeth ended the death penalty in practice, brought back the Senate's role, built grand palaces, and founded Moscow University (1755) and the Academy of Arts. Russia fought well in the Seven Years' War against Prussia.
Peter's legacy: a strong army and navy, a European capital, a service nobility and a state-controlled Church, but also heavier serfdom and a gap between westernised nobles and traditional peasants.
Russia by 1762 and Catherine the Great (1762–1796)
By 1762 Russia was a great power. Nobles had won shorter service, and in 1762 Peter III freed them from compulsory service altogether. Months later his German-born wife Catherine took the throne in a coup with the Guards.
Catherine and the Enlightenment
Catherine wrote to thinkers such as Voltaire and Diderot and wanted to be seen as an enlightened despot: a ruler with total power who uses reason to improve the country. Her Nakaz (Instruction, 1767) used ideas from Montesquieu and Beccaria; she called a Legislative Commission of many social groups (not serfs) to write new laws, but it ended without a new code.
Government
After the Pugachev revolt, the Provincial Reform (1775) created many smaller provinces and districts with governors, courts and roles for local nobles. The Charter to the Nobility (1785) confirmed nobles' rights: no service required, no body punishment, own land and serfs, and local noble assemblies. A Charter to the Towns gave towns some self-government.
Society, serfdom, opposition and foreign affairs under Catherine
Russia's population grew to about 37 million by 1796. About half of peasants were privately owned serfs. Landowners could send serfs to hard labour, and serfs could not complain about their masters to the empress. Catherine gave away about 800,000 state peasants to favourites, who became serfs. Church lands were taken over by the state (1764).
The economy grew: more iron (Russia was a leading producer), more farming land in the south, and more trade on the Black Sea. But serf labour kept methods old-fashioned.
Opposition and rebellion
The Pugachev revolt (1773–75) was led by a Cossack, Yemelyan Pugachev, who claimed to be Peter III. Cossacks, serfs, factory workers, Old Believers and peoples such as the Bashkirs joined. It spread along the Volga before the army crushed it. Writers who criticised serfdom, like Radishchev (1790), were punished, especially after the French Revolution.
Foreign affairs
Two wars with the Ottoman Empire (1768–74 and 1787–92) gave Russia lands and ports on the Black Sea; the Crimean Khanate was annexed in 1783. With Prussia and Austria, Russia took part in the three Partitions of Poland (1772, 1793, 1795).
Try it
Use the year slider. Stop at 1698, 1722, 1741, 1773 and 1785. For each, say whether the event made the ruler stronger, the nobles stronger, or showed opposition.
Key formulas and definitions
- Autocracy: rule by one person with unlimited power (the tsar or emperor).
- Westernisation: copying western European ways in army, dress, schools and government.
- Table of Ranks (1722): 14 grades of service; rank by service, not birth.
- Holy Synod (1721): a committee under state control that replaced the Patriarch.
- Palace coups (1725–62): rulers put on the throne with the help of the Guards regiments.
- Enlightened despotism: an all-powerful ruler who claims to use reason to improve the state.
- Serfdom: peasants tied to a landowner's estate and owing labour or rent.
Worked examples
1. Give three ways Peter westernised Russia.
He made nobles shave beards and wear western clothes; he built a navy and a modern army with foreign experts; he moved the capital to St Petersburg, a European-style city on the Baltic.
2. Why was the Table of Ranks important?
It said rank came from service to the state, not only from birth. Talented commoners could rise and become nobles, and all nobles had a clear ladder of service.
3. Explain why there were so many palace coups after 1725.
Peter's 1722 law let a ruler pick any heir, but he died without naming one. There was no clear rule, several heirs were children or women with rival backers, and the Guards regiments near the palace could decide the outcome.
4. Put in order: Poltava, Pugachev revolt, Table of Ranks, Charter to the Nobility, Grand Embassy.
Grand Embassy (1697) → Poltava (1709) → Table of Ranks (1722) → Pugachev revolt (1773) → Charter to the Nobility (1785).
5. Was Catherine the Great an enlightened ruler? Give one point for and one against.
For: she wrote the Nakaz using Enlightenment ideas, called the Legislative Commission, supported schools and the arts. Against: serfdom grew harsher, she gave state peasants to nobles and punished critics such as Radishchev.
6. Why did so many different groups join Pugachev?
Serfs hated harsh landlords, Cossacks resented losing freedoms, factory serfs suffered hard work, Old Believers faced religious pressure, and peoples like the Bashkirs resented land loss and taxes. Pugachev's claim to be the 'true tsar' Peter III gave them a leader.
Common mistakes
- Saying Peter freed the serfs. His poll tax and policies tied them more tightly to landowners.
- Thinking Catherine the Great was Russian-born. She was a German princess who married Peter III.
- Saying Catherine's Legislative Commission produced a new law code. It met, debated and ended without one.
- Thinking 'palace coups' were mass revolutions. They were small power grabs by court groups and the Guards.