Brief history through the ages. Brief chronology of world history
Brief Chronology of the History of Russia.
6th century AD, from 530 - The Great Migration of the Slavs. The first mention of the people grew / Russ
860 - the first campaign of the Rus to Constantinople
862 - The year to which "The Tale of Bygone Years" relates the "calling of the Norman king" Rurik.
911 - Campaign of Prince Oleg of Kyiv against Constantinople and an agreement with Byzantium.
941 - The campaign of the Kyiv prince Igor to Constantinople.
944 - Treaty of Igor with Byzantium.
945 - 946 - Submission to Kyiv of the Drevlyans
957 - The trip of Princess Olga to Tsargrad
964-966 - Campaigns of Svyatoslav against the Kama Bulgarians, Khazars, Yases and Kasogs
967-971 - War of Prince Svyatoslav with Byzantium
988-990s - The beginning of the baptism of Rus'
1037 - Laying of the Sophia Cathedral in Kyiv
1043 - Prince Vladimir's campaign against Byzantium
1045-1050s - Construction of the Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod
1054-1073 - Presumably during this period, "The Truth of the Yaroslavichs" appears
1056-1057 - "Ostromir gospel"
1073 - "Izbornik" of Prince Svyatoslav Yaroslavich
1097 - The first congress of princes in Lyubech
1100 - The second congress of princes in Uvetichi (Vitichev)
1116 - The appearance of "The Tale of Bygone Years" in the edition of Sylvestor
1147 - The first annalistic mention of Moscow
1158-1160s - Construction of the Assumption Cathedral in Vladimir-on-Klyazma
1169 - The capture of Kyiv by the troops of Andrei Bogolyubsky and his allies
1188 - Approximate date of appearance of "The Tale of Igor's Campaign"
1202 - Foundation of the Order of the Sword (Livonian Order)
1206 - Proclamation of Temujin as the "Great Khan" of the Mongols and his adoption of the name of Genghis Khan
1224 - The capture of Yuriev (Tartu) by the Germans
1237 - Unification of the Order of the Sword and the Teutonic Order
1237-1238 - The invasion of Khan Batu in North-Eastern Rus'
1240. July 15 - Victory of the Novgorod prince Alexander Yaroslavich over the Swedish knights on the Neva River
1243 - Formation of the Golden Horde.
1262 - Uprising against the Mongol-Tatars in Rostov, Vladimir, Suzdal, Yaroslavl
1327 - uprising against the Mongol-Tatars in Tver
1367 - Construction of the stone Kremlin in Moscow
1378 - The first victory of Russian troops over the Tatars on the river. vozhe
1382 - Hike to Moscow Khan Tokhtamysh
1385 - Kreva Union of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania with Poland
1395 - The defeat of the Golden Horde by Timur (Tamerlane)
1410 July 15 - Battle of Grunwald. Ragrom of German knights by Polish-Lithuanian-Russian troops
1469-1472 - Travel of Athanasius Nikitin to India
1471 - Campaign of Ivan III to Novgorod. Battle on the Shelon River
1480 - "Standing" on the river Ugra. The end of the Tatar-Mongol yoke.
1484-1508 - Construction of the Moscow Kremlin. Construction of cathedrals and the Palace of Facets
1507-1508, 1512-1522 - Wars of the Muscovite state with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Return of Smolensk and Smolensk land
1510 - Accession of Pskov to Moscow
1550 - Sudebnik of Ivan the Terrible. Creation of the archery army
1551 - February-May - Stoglavy Cathedral of the Russian Church
1552 - The capture of Kazan by Russian troops. Accession of the Kazan Khanate
1556 - Accession of Astrakhan to Russia
1558-1583 - Livonian War
1565-1572 - Oprichnina
1569 - Union of Lublin. The formation of the Commonwealth
1589 - Establishment of the Patriarchate in Moscow
1590-1593 - War of the Russian state with Sweden
1595 - The conclusion of the Tyavzinsky world with Sweden
1606 - Uprising in Moscow and the assassination of False Dmitry I
1607 - The beginning of the intervention of False Dmitry II
1609-1618 - Open Polish-Swedish intervention
1611 September-October - Creation of the militia under the leadership of Minin and Pozharsky in Nizhny Novgorod
1633 - Death of Patriarch Filaret, father of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich
1648 - Uprising in Moscow - "Salt Riot"
1649 - "Cathedral Code" of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich
1649-1652 - Campaigns of Yerofey Khabarov to the Daurian land along the Amur
1652 - Consecration of Nikon to the patriarchs
1653 - Zemsky Sobor in Moscow and the decision to reunite Ukraine with Russia
1654-1667 - War between Russia and Poland over Ukraine
1670-1671 - Peasant war led by S. Razin
1676-1681 - The war of Russia with Turkey and the Crimea for the Right-Bank Ukraine
1682 - Cancellation of locality
1686 - "Eternal Peace" with Poland
1687-1689 - Crimean campaigns of the book. V.V. Golitsyn
1695-1696 - Azov campaigns of Peter I
1697-1698 - The "Great Embassy" of Peter I to Western Europe
1700-1721 - Northern war of Russia with Sweden
1700 - Death of Patriarch Adrian. Appointment of Stefan Yavorsky as locum tenens of the patriarchal throne
1703 - The first exchange in Russia (merchant meeting) in St. Petersburg
1703 - Edition of the textbook "Arithmetic" by Magnitsky
1707-1708 - Uprising on the Don K. Bulavin
1711 - Prut campaign of Peter I
1712 - Decree on the establishment of commercial and industrial companies
1722-1723 - Persian campaign of Peter I
1731 - Cancellation of the decree on single inheritance
1734 - "Treatise on Friendship and Commerce" between Russia and England
1735-1739 - Russian-Turkish war
1736 - Decree on the "perpetual fixing" of artisans in manufactories
1740 from November 8 to 9 - Palace coup, the overthrow of the regent Biron. Announcement of the regent Anna Leopoldovna
1741-1743 - Russia's war with Sweden
1764 - Establishment of the Smolny Institute in St. Petersburg
1764 from 4 to 5 July - Attempted coup by V.Ya.Mirovich. The murder of Ivan Antonovich in the Shlisselburg fortress
1766 - Accession to Russia of the Aleutian Islands
1769 - First external loan in Amsterdam
1773-1775 - The first section of the Commonwealth
1773-1775 - Peasant war led by E.I. Pugachev
1783 - Annexation of Crimea to Russia 1785 April 21 - Letters of grant to the nobility and cities
1787-1791 - Russian-Turkish war
1793 - Second partition of the Commonwealth
1794 - Polish uprising led by T. Kosciuszko and its suppression
1795 - Third Partition of Poland
1796 - Formation of the Little Russian province 1796-1797. - War with Persia
1799 - Italian and Swiss campaigns by A.V. Suvorov
1799 - Formation of the "United Russian-American Company"
1801 from March 11 to 12 - Palace coup. Assassination of Paul I. Accession to the throne of Alexander I
1804-1813 - Russo-Iranian War
1806-1812 - Russia's war with Turkey
1808-1809 - Russo-Swedish war
1812 - The invasion of Napoleon's "Great Army" into Russia. Patriotic War
1826-1828 - Russo-Iranian War
1828-1829 - Russian-Turkish war
1839-1843 - Monetary reform of Count E.f. Kancrina
1853 - Opening of the "Free Russian Printing House" by A.I. Herzen in London
1853 - Cocaid campaign of the gene. V.A. Perovsky
1853-1856 - Crimean War
1861 - Establishment of the Council of Ministers
1865 - Military judicial reform
1874 spring - The first mass "going to the people" of revolutionary populists
April 25, 1875 - Treaty of Petersburg between Russia and Japan (on South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands)
1876-1879 - The second "Land and Freedom"
1877-1878 - Russian-Turkish war
1881 March 1 - Assassination of Alexander II by revolutionary populists
1892 - Russo-French secret military convention
1896 - Invention of the radiotelegraph by A.S. Popov
1902 - Formation of the party of socialist revolutionaries (SRs)
1904-1905 - Russo-Japanese War
1905 May 12-June 1 - General strike in Ivanovo-Voskresensk. Formation of the first Soviet of Workers' Deputies
1908 - Formation of the reactionary "Union of Michael the Archangel"
1914 July 19 (August 1) - Germany declares war on Russia. The beginning of the first world war
March 3, 1917 - Abdication led. book. Mikhail Alexandrovich. Declaration of the Provisional Government
1917 October 24-25 - Armed Bolshevik coup. Overthrow of the Provisional Government
December 7, 1917 - Decision of the Council of People's Commissars to create the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission for Combating Counter-Revolution (VChK)
1918-1922 - Civil war on the territory of the former Russian Empire
1920 - Soviet-Polish war
1930 - The beginning of continuous collectivization
1933-1937 - Second Five Year Plan
June 22, 1941 - Attack of Nazi Germany and its allies on the USSR. The beginning of the Great Patriotic War
1945 May 8 - Act of unconditional surrender of Germany. Soviet victory in the Great Patriotic War
1946-1950s - The fourth five-year plan. Restoration of the destroyed national economy
1948 August - Session of VASKhNIL. Launch of the campaign against "Morganism" and "Cosmopolitanism"
1955 14m;1st - Establishment of the Warsaw Pact Organization (WTO)
1955 July 18-23 - Meeting of the heads of government of the USSR, Great Britain, the USA and France in Geneva
1965 - Reform of the economic mechanism of economic management in the USSR
June 6, 1966 - Resolution of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Council of Ministers of the USSR "On the public call of youth to the most important construction projects of the five-year plan"
1968 - Open letter of Academician A.D. Sakharov to the Soviet leadership
May 26, 1972 - Signing in Moscow of the "Fundamentals of Relations between the USSR and the USA". The beginning of the policy of "détente"
1975 July 15-21 - Joint Soviet-American experiment under the Soyuz-Apollo program
1975 July 30-August 1 - Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (Helsinki). Signing of the Final Act by 33 European countries, the USA and Canada
November 19-21, 1985 - Meeting of M.S. Gorbachev and US President R. Reagan in Geneva. Restoration of the Soviet-American political dialogue
1989 May 25-June 9. - I Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR, elected on the basis of amendments to the Constitution of the USSR
1990 May 1-June 12 - Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR. Declaration of State Sovereignty of Russia
1991 December 8 - Signing in Minsk by the leaders of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus of the agreement on the "Commonwealth of Independent States" and the dissolution of the USSR
March 13, 1992 - Initialing of the Federal Treaty of the Republics within the Russian Federation
September 21, 1993 - Decree of B.N. Yeltsin "On a phased constitutional reform" and the dissolution of the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation
1993 October 3-4 - Demonstrations and armed demonstrations by the pro-communist opposition in Moscow. Storming of the building of the Supreme Council by troops loyal to the President
December 12, 1993 - Elections to the State Duma and the Federation Council. Referendum on the draft of the new Constitution of the Russian Federation
1. Theory of the origin of the Eastern Slavs
The historical and ethnic predecessors of the Eastern Slavs were the tribes of the Ants, who lived in the Azov region, the Black Sea region and the Dnieper region in 1st century BC e. Another name for the Ants - Ases - is close to the name of the Roksolani tribe and the tribal name "Rus" or "Ros". Scientists of the Norman school believe that "Rus" was the name of one of the Scandinavian tribes to which the prince belonged. Rurik with his squad.
But convincing evidence that this particular theory is correct has not been found. What is known for certain is that in X-XI centuries The Russian land was called Middle Transnistria - the land of the Kyiv glades, and it is from here that this name was XII-XIII centuries spread to other areas occupied by East Slavic tribes. In the south, it was known much earlier than the arrival of Rurik and the Varangians in the Novgorod region (mid-9th century). Already in 7th century the Normans penetrated the Azov coast, and in VIII-IX centuries here formed the Slavic-Varangian principality, or "Russian Khaganate". The city of Tmutarakan became an important political and commercial center of this state. At the beginning and in the middle 9th century Azov Rus' raided the Byzantine possessions.
The Slavic colonization of the Great Russian Plain began from its southwestern corner, namely from the Carpathian region. Here, in 6th century a large military alliance of the Slavs arose under the leadership of Prince Dulebov. But already within 7th-8th centuries Slavs begin to settle on the Russian Plain and occupy a vast area located along the Volkhov-Dnieper line. IN IX-X centuries the southwestern part of the East European Plain was occupied by the streets and the Iberians, who settled in the territory between the Dnieper and the Black Sea; "white" Croats, located in the foothills of the Carpathians; Dulebs, Volynians and Buzhans, who lived in Eastern Galicia, on the banks of the Volhynia and the Western Bug. On the western bank of the Middle Dnieper there were meadows, to the north of them along the Pripyat River - the Drevlyans; even further to the north - Dregovichi; northerners lived on the eastern bank of the Middle Dnieper, on the Desna and its tributaries; on the Sogle River - Radimichi, on the Oka River - Vyatichi, the easternmost of the Slavic tribes.
The northwestern part of the Russian-Slavic territory was occupied by a numerous tribe of Krivichi, who lived in the upper reaches of the Volga, Dnieper, Western Dvina and was divided into Krivichi of Polotsk, Smolensk and Pskov. Finally, the northern Russian group was made up of the Ilmenian Slavs (or Novgorodians), who occupied the territory around Lake Ilmen and on both banks of the Volkhov River.
2. The emergence of the first Russian cities
TO IX-X centuries East Slavic tribes occupied the western part of the Great Russian Plain, bounded by the Black Sea coast in the south, the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga (Lake Nevo) in the north. Here, from north to south (along the Volkhov-Dnieper line), a great waterway passed, which was called "from the Varangians to the Greeks." For several centuries it was the main core of the economic, political and cultural life of the Eastern Slavs.
The consequence of this was the emergence of the most ancient Russian cities - Kyiv, Chernigov, Smolensk, Lyubech, Novgorod the Great, Pskov, Vitebsk, Rostov.
These cities were able to subjugate the surrounding regions to their power, creating the first political form in Rus' - a city region, or volost. Such urban division did not have a tribal origin and did not coincide with it.
Before the settlement of the Slavs on the Russian Plain, their socio-political structure was patriarchal, or tribal. The elders had the supreme power.
IN 879 Rurik's relative Oleg began to rule in Novgorod. Oleg, together with Igor and his retinue, set off along the path "from the Varangians to the Greeks." He took the cities of Smolensk, Lyubich on the Dnieper and approached Kyiv. Oleg seized Kyiv by cunning, conquered the Slavic and Finnish tribes, and also freed the East Slavic tribes from the Khazars and became the founder of the great Kievan principality.
Having asserted his power in the Dnieper region, Oleg 907 regulated trade relations between Russia and Byzantium.
IN 912 Igor led Rus'. IN 944 g. made peace with the Greeks.
WITH 946 princess Olga more than 10 years ruled the state. IN 955 accepted the Christian faith. From that moment Christianity began to spread in Kyiv.
With coming to power Svyatoslav(son of Igor) undertook a number of successful campaigns to the East.
3. Ancient Rus' in the period X - early XII centuries. The adoption of Christianity in Rus'. The role of the Church in the life of Ancient Rus'
Olga's grandson Vladimir Svyatoslavovich was originally a zealous pagan. He even placed idols of pagan gods near the princely court, to which the people of Kiev made sacrifices.
Vladimir sent ambassadors abroad. When they returned, they spoke with particular enthusiasm about the Orthodox service in the Constantinople Cathedral Church of St. Sophia. Impressed by the story, Vladimir decided to accept Greek Christianity. (988). His marriage in 989 with the Greek princess Anna finally approved Christianity as the dominant religion of the Russian state.
Christianity was originally accepted only by those tribes that lived along the line of the Dnieper - Volkhov. In other areas, the new faith met with stubborn resistance from the population, paganism, united with the new religion, formed a dual faith.
Christianity produced a profound moral change in ancient Russian society.
The adoption of Christianity in Rus' influenced the political structure of Rus'. The Greek clergy transferred the Byzantine concept of "sovereign" to the prince of Kyiv, which was set by God not only for the external protection of the country, but also for the establishment and maintenance of internal social order.
The Russian Church was headed by the Metropolitan of Kyiv, who was also the Patriarch of All Rus'. He was appointed by the Patriarch of Constantinople, on whom the entire Russian metropolis depended. The Metropolitan of Kiev placed bishops in the most important Russian cities.
The Kiev-Pechersky Monastery was formed. The collection of church laws "The Pilot Book" served as a guide for church judges. The so-called church people were subordinated to church administration and jurisdiction:
1) monks;
2) white clergy with their families;
3) priest widows and adult priests;
4) clergy;
5) spit;
6) wanderers;
7) people in hospitals and hospices, and those who served them;
8) "inflated people", outcasts, beggars, the population living on church lands.
The church authorities judged all Christians who committed crimes against religion and morality, and dealt with all cases relating to family relations.
Christianity brought the Slavs a written language based on the Church Slavonic alphabet compiled by the brothers-enlighteners. Kirill And Methodius in the second half 9th century
Monasteries, in particular the famous Kiev-Pechersk Monastery, founded by Saint Anthony And Saint Theodosius in the second half 11th century The first chronicler was Reverend Nestor. Large libraries of handwritten books were collected in monasteries and episcopal sees.
In the Kievan era, the most prominent were the metropolitans Hilarion And Cyril of Turovsky, hegumen Daniel.
4. Feudal fragmentation of Rus'
WITH 1068 begins a period of civil strife - power passed from hand to hand.
Political collapse of Kievan Rus in XI-XII centuries led to the formation of a dozen separate principalities (Kyiv, Turov-Pinsk, Polotsk, etc.).
The throne of Kiev was occupied by the eldest prince in the family, and the rest were placed by seniority in cities of more or less significant size. In the event of the death of the Grand Duke, the eldest of the remaining princes was to take the throne of Kiev, and the rest of the princes would accordingly move from one volost to another. The struggle for the throne of Kiev went on with increasing bitterness between the two princely lines: the Kyiv and Pereyaslav Monomakhivichs.
In the period from 1097 to 1103, congresses of princes were held, which, however, did not improve the situation.
Initially, the Monomakhovichi and Olegovichi shared the throne, but after the death of Vladimir Monomakh, the civil strife was complicated by the confrontation between the Monomakhovichi.
Reasons for fragmentation:
1) strengthening of feudal relations;
2) the growth of large feudal landownership;
3) strengthening the military power of each principality;
4) economic development (growth of agriculture, cities, trade).
Feudal fragmentation led to the weakening of trade ties and economic relations, military clashes.
For 10 years of civil strife, Kyiv passed from one hand to another.
The whole country broke up into separate principalities, competing with each other.
By the end of the XII century. there is a tendency to centralize power. This is most clearly manifested during the reign of Roman Mstislavich.
The beginning of internecine wars was laid by a quarrel between the sons and grandchildren of Vladimir Monomakh. Grand Duke Yaropolk wanted to give Pereyaslavl to his nephew, so the princes of Rostov and Volyn opposed. As a result, the city was transferred to Yuri Dolgoruky, the son of Vladimir Monomakh.
5. Mongol-Tatar invasion and German-Swedish expansion
By the beginning of the Mongol-Tatar invasion, Rus' had been in feudal fragmentation for more than a hundred years. This weakened Rus' both politically and militarily.
Gradually in the first third 13th century the two most powerful states-principalities stood out, which became political leaders: Galicia-Volyn in the southwest and Vladimir-Suzdal in the northeast. These principalities pursued a policy of centralization and political unification of the Russian lands. However, this was prevented for many years by the Tatar-Mongol yoke.
The Russians suffered their first defeat from the Mongol-Tatars in 1223 during the collision river Kalka. The defeat at Kalka went down in history as one of the strongest and most difficult.
By the beginning of the invasion of Rus', the Mongols had a vast territory, a strong, organized army, and centralized power. The Tatar-Mongol invasion of Rus' began in 1237 under the leadership of Batu Khan. Ryazan fell first.
Batu did not reach 100 versts to Novgorod and turned back. The following year, the main blow of the Mongol-Tatar expansion came to the south. Kyiv, Chernigov and many other cities were captured. The cities of Galicia-Volyn land were the last to be defeated.
IN 1240s in the lower reaches of the Volga, the city of Sarai-Batu was founded, which became the capital of a huge Tatar-Mongolian state.
All the princes were confirmed on the thrones in Sarai-Batu, and later in Sarai-Berk. They were given labels - these are letters of the Tatar-Mongol khans for the right to occupy any throne. In order to know how much tribute could be collected, the first census was carried out. Those who could not pay tribute were sold into slavery.
The Mongol rulers kindled enmity between the Russian princes, preventing the centralization of Russian lands.
The Swedes and German knights attacked Rus' from the west. IN 1234 Prince Yaroslav of Novgorod defeated the German knights on the Embakh River. The Teutonic and Livonian Orders united and with the support of Germany and the Pope, they attacked Novgorod and Pskov. Together with the Germans, the Swedes also decided to act. They planned to seize the lands of the Gulf of Finland.
In the winter of 1240 The Swedes along the Neva approached the mouth of the Izhora River. The army of the young Prince Alexander Vsevolodovich approached the Neva on July 15 and defeated the Swedes on the shore and at sea. Since then, the Novgorod prince was nicknamed Alexander Nevsky.
In the spring of 1242 the famous Battle of the Ice on Lake Peipsi took place, during which Alexander Nevsky defeated the German knights. This victory put an end to the claims and aggression of the crusaders.
Ivan III stopped paying the Tatar "exit" and entered into an alliance with the Crimean Khan, an opponent of the Golden Horde. IN 1480 Khan of the Golden Horde Akhmat decided to restore his power. The enemy troops met on the Ugra River, not daring to start a battle. IN early November khan Akhmat retreated from the Russian borders. IN 1502 Crimean Khan Shengli Giray dealt the final blow to the weakened Golden Horde.
Basil III(1505-1533)- completed the unification of Great Russia. In 1510, he annexed Pskov to Moscow, and in 1517- Principality of Ryazan. In 1514, in the war with Lithuania, he took Smolensk.
6. Formation of the Moscow state in the XIV - early XVI centuries. Rise of Moscow
For the first time Moscow is mentioned in the annals 1147 in connection with an invitation to Moscow by Prince Yuri Dolgoruky.
Moscow had a favorable location, being at the intersection of three main trade routes.
Thanks to this, Moscow became an important center of trade.
The support of the clergy played a big role in the rise of Moscow. Gradually, Moscow became the church capital of Rus'.
IN 1327 When Mikhail's son Alexander of Tver was the Grand Duke, there was an indignation in Tver against the Khan's ambassador Schelkay. This event was skillfully used by the new Moscow prince Ivan Danilovich Kalita. IN 1328 Ivan Kalita received a label from Khan Uzbek to the Grand Duchy of Vladimir.
Thus ensuring the external security of his principality.
IN 1362 through the efforts of the Moscow boyars and Metropolitan Alexei, the label for the great reign was acquired for the Moscow prince Dmitry Ivanovich.
The victory won Dmitry Donskoy V 1380 on the Kulikovo field, gave the Moscow prince the importance of a national leader.
The highest authority in XVI-XVII centuries was the Boyar Duma. Cases for its consideration were received by decree of the sovereign.
If necessary, special commissions were formed from the general composition of the Duma - "reciprocal" (for negotiations with foreign ambassadors), "laid" (for drafting new regulations), "judgmental" and "reprisal". A joint meeting of the Duma and the "consecrated cathedral" was convened to resolve particularly important matters.
Zemsky Sobors were advisory in nature. The composition of the Zemsky Sobors included:
1) representatives of the higher clergy;
2) Boyar Duma;
3) representatives of the service and townspeople.
The central authorities in the Muscovite state were orders:
1) Ambassadorial order;
2) local order;
3) Discharge (military) order;
4) Slave order;
5) Robbery order (with the elders subordinate to him in the field);
6) Judgment order;
7) Order of a large treasury and a large parish;
8) several territorial orders.
IN 1550 A new code of law was issued, the purpose of which was to improve the justice system, control by representatives of the local population.
IN 1550s. a number of statutory letters of Ivan IV, the government abolished the administration of governors and volostels.
7. Domestic and foreign policy of Ivan the Terrible. Livonian war. Oprichnina
Vasily III died in 1533, and, since his son Ivan was only 3 years old, his mother, the Grand Duchess, began to rule the state Elena Glinskaya. After her death (1538) the era of boyar rule and the struggle for power between the princes Shuisky And Belsky. The only friend and mentor of the young king was the Metropolitan Macarius, famous compiler Chet's Menaion- a collection of church texts.
The adult Ivan was married to the kingdom and officially took the title of Tsar and Grand Duke of All Rus' January 16, 1547 Two weeks later the king married Anastasia Romanovna Zakharina-Yurieva.
In addition to Metropolitan Macarius, the tsar’s circle of associates included a priest Sylvester, Alexey Adashev and prince Andrey Kurbsky. IN 1551- compiled by Stoglav.
IN 1550 a new Code of Laws was published. He legitimized the presence of elders, representatives of the local population and jurors - kissers. During the court hearings, the Duma clerks were supposed to keep minutes, and the headman and kissers had to sign them after the decision was made. The governors could not arrest anyone without explaining to the elders and kissers the reason for the arrest.
IN 1563 printing appeared in Moscow. The first printers were deacon Ivan Fedorov and Peter Timofeev.
IN 1556 The tsar issued a general regulation on the military service of landlords and estates.
Government Ivan IV led a successful foreign policy. IN 1556 Astrakhan was conquered. All the Middle and Lower Volga regions became part of the Muscovite state. From the second half of the XVI century. Russian settlers rushed to these regions from the central regions of the Moscow state (in the 1580s, new Russian cities arose here).
Narva, Yuryev and about 20 other cities were taken.
IN 1553 the tsar fell ill and, fearing death, demanded that the boyars swear allegiance to his youngest son Dmitry.
Ivan IV established a special court - the oprichnina, for which he first recruited a thousand, and then 6,000 "bad" people, bound by oaths of loyalty and complete submission to the king. The oprichny regions were subordinated to the tsar, and the rest of the territory of the state remained in the hands of the zemstvo boyars.
The oprichnina was a deliberate undertaking by Ivan IV, the purpose of which was to crush the influence of the princely-boyar aristocracy, replace the former ruling class - the boyars with the nobility, and thereby strengthen the monarchical power.
In the last years of the reign of Ivan IV, the terror of the oprichnina subsides; estates previously confiscated from boyars and princes are partially returned.
8. Russia during the reign of Fedor Ioannovich. The social structure of Russian society in the XVI century
Between those close to the throne, a struggle began for influence on the king, the royal brother-in-law came to the fore Boris Fyodorovich Godunov.
IN 1589 patriarchate was established in Moscow.
The last wife of Ivan IV, Maria Nagaya, with her young son Dmitry and brothers, was removed from Moscow to the city of Uglich. 15 May 1591 Tsarevich Dmitry was killed.
IN January 1598 Tsar Fedor died. With his death, the Rurik dynasty on the Moscow throne ended.
The centers of literacy and education were monasteries.
IN 16th century a galaxy of talented publicists appears (F. I. Karpov, I. S. Peresvetov, Ermolai-Erazim, Sylvester).
After the death of the childless king Fedor Ivanovich Zemsky Sobor was convened, at which Boris Godunov was elected the new Russian Tsar.
In Poland Grigory Otrepiev- the son of a Galich boyar, a monk, a former clerk in the Miracle Monastery in Moscow, who fled to Lithuania, where he secretly converted to Catholicism, called himself a prince Dmitry, son of Ivan iv. IN October 1604 he entered Moscow. And already in June 1605 Moscow solemnly welcomed "its lawful sovereign" Dmitry Ivanovich.
On the night of 17 May 1606 boyars led by prince Vasily Shuisky broke into the Kremlin and killed the king.
prince Vasily Shuisky was "shouted out by the king".
Soon a new one appeared in Starodub False Dmitry. With the help of the Swedes and the people's militias, the king's nephew Prince Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky.
Tsar Vasily July 17, 1610 was dethroned. After the overthrow of Shuisky, an interregnum began in Moscow. The time of the "seven boyars" began.
IN September 1610 Moscow, with the consent of the boyars, was occupied by the Polish army.
IN December 1610 False Dmitry II was killed in Kaluga.
I Zemstvo militia was heterogeneous in composition. Consisting of nobles and boyar children, headed by the Ryazan governor Prokopy Lyapunov. On the other side- Cossacks, whose leaders were former Tushino "boyars". June 30, 1611 issued a decree on the composition and work of the new zemstvo government. It included princes D. Trubetskoy, I. Zarutsky and P. Lyapunov. Due to controversy in the I government, the militia disintegrated.
Nizhny Novgorod became the center of the II Zemsky militia. His headman Kuzma Minin V September 1611, urged fellow citizens to help the Moscow state. The head of the zemstvo militia invited the stolnik and voivode prince Dmitry Mikhailovich Pozharsky.
In October, the militias entered Moscow.
On February 21, 1613, the Zemsky Sobor solemnly proclaimed Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov the Russian Tsar.
9. Development of Russia after the Time of Troubles. Peasant war led by Stepan Razin
After the Time of Troubles and the economic crisis, Russia had to restore the destroyed economy. Agriculture remained subsistence. Only a small part of the production was sold on the market. There were several forms of exploitation of the peasantry: corvée, natural and cash dues.
Handicrafts developed actively. Wage labor began to be used in large craft workshops. The all-Russian market was formed.
One after another, uprisings broke out:
1) 1648-1650- uprisings swept over 20 cities of Russia;
2) 1650- a riot in Pskov and Novgorod, in which archers also took part;
3) 1666- copper riot in Moscow. It began due to the fact that the government began to mint worthless copper money instead of silver.
Causes of the peasant war:
1) strengthening of autocracy;
2) the growth of the state apparatus;
3) increase in the tax burden;
4) enslavement of peasants, etc.
The flight of the peasants, their attack on the feudal lords, numerous urban uprisings were the prerequisites for the peasant war.
IN 1666 A campaign of Cossacks led by ataman Vasily Us from the Don through Voronezh to Tula took place. This campaign stirred up the masses. IN 1667 Stepan Razin made trips to the Volga and Lik, and in 1668-1669- across the Caspian Sea to Persia. In the summer of 1669, moving along the western coast of the Caspian Sea, Razin returned through Astrakhan to the Don to the Kagalnitsky town.
IN 1669-1670 Stenka Razin's uprising grew into a peasant war. It was headed by Stepan Razin, Vasily Us and Fedor Sheludyak.
In summer 1670 the rebels occupied the entire lower and middle reaches of the Volga from Astrakhan to Simbirsk. It was not possible to take Simbirsk: in the battle, Razin's detachments were defeated, and he himself was wounded and captured (executed summer 1671). The rebels were finally defeated only by November 1671 when Astrakhan was taken. The reasons for the defeat of Razin consisted in the spontaneity of his movement, fragmentation in the troops, disorganization and the complete absence of a program of action.
10. Russia in the XVII century. Domestic and foreign policy. culture
Under the king Alexei Mikhailovich (1645-1676) the royal power is strengthened. The Council Code limited church and monastic land ownership. Patriarch Nikon carried out church reform. Tsar and Cathedral 1654 supported church reform. They helped Nikon in the fight against the opposition, led by the archpriest Habakkuk.
Troops maintained at the expense of the state treasury. These innovations allowed Russia to successfully wage war against Poland. The beginning of this war was associated with the accession of the Left-bank Ukraine to the Muscovite state. Only the intervention of the Swedes, who sought to prevent the Russians from reaching the Baltic Sea, did not allow them to achieve a complete victory.
IN 1656 the war with Sweden began. But in 1661 Russia had to make peace with Sweden.
The 17th century can be called the beginning of a new period in the history of Russian culture.
IN 1634 a primer was published V. Burtseva, Grammar of Meletius Smotrytsky.
IN 1687 opened the Slavic-Greek-Latin School, later called the Academy.
At the turn of the XVI and XVII centuries. a general map of the state appeared.
The events of the beginning of the century prompted princes and boyars, nobles and townspeople, monks and priests to take up the pen. A satirical genre appears: "The ABC of a naked and poor man", "Service to a tavern", "The Tale of Shemyakin's Court".
Stone architecture, interrupted by the Time of Troubles, is reborn with 1620s The walls and towers of the Kremlin are being restored in Moscow. Tent churches and cathedrals are being built. The famous complexes of the Trinity-Sergius Lavra, Joseph-Volokolamsky, Novodevichy, Simonov, Spasso-Efimiev, New Jerusalem monasteries are being designed. By the end of the century, the Moscow baroque style was taking shape.
In the visual arts, the Stronovskaya school is developing with its small, calligraphic writing, the finest drawing of details.
11. Petrovsky transformations (1689-1725). Socio-economic and administrative reforms
At the very beginning of the century, a huge number of factories were opened.
Metallurgy comes first.
Peter pursued a protectionist policy towards Russian industry. As a result of the measures taken, Russia's dependence on imports has been significantly reduced.
The population was divided into guilds:
1) the first guild included doctors, pharmacists, painters, skippers, jewelers;
2) the second guild included poorer artisans and merchants;
3) the third group consisted of merchants and owners of manufactories.
According to the reforms of Peter I with 1699 the population of the cities was controlled by the City Hall in the capital and the zemstvo huts in the field.
Under Peter I, the composition of the nobility changed. In his ranks, according to official merit and the royal salary, many people from other classes entered.
The old generation of nobles, who were divided into duma, metropolitan and provincial ranks, was replaced by a new bureaucratic division, which, according to Peter, should have come from the principle of length of service, suitability. The Petrovsky Table of Ranks, published on January 24, 1722, finally fixed the principle of official length of service. The new law of Peter divided the service into military and civil.
In 1699, the Boyar Duma was replaced by the Close Chancellery of eight confidants of the tsar. In 1711, the Senate was created, which has judicial, administrative, managerial and legislative powers.
Fiscal positions were introduced.
The Senate directed all institutions in the country. The Senate itself was also under control.
New colleges were formed:
1) Military;
2) Admiral's;
3) Chamber Board;
4) Justice College;
5) Auditor Board;
6) Commerce College;
7) Staff-offices-board;
8) Berg-manufactory-board.
Adjacent to the collegiums was the Synod, the central body for managing church affairs and estates, established in 1721.
IN 1708-1710 Peter divided the country into eight provinces:
1) Moscow;
2) Ingrian;
3) Kievskaya;
4) Smolensk;
5) Kazan;
6) Azov;
7) Arkhangelsk;
12. Great embassy. Foreign policy in the era of the reign of Peter I
The Great Embassy was formed by Peter I in 1697 Admiral headed the embassy F. Ya. Leforta. The official purpose of the embassy was to reaffirm the alliance directed against Turkey and Crimea. The tsar and the embassy got acquainted with European industry, in particular with shipbuilding and observatories. More than 800 craftsmen of various specialties were hired to work in Russia.
After the Great Embassy, the direction of foreign policy changes. August 8, 1700 an armistice was signed with Turkey. August 9, 1700 Peter I declared war on Sweden. The struggle for access to the Baltic began.
Peter, from the end of the 17th century, began to form regiments of the regular army. 30 infantry soldier regiments were created, of which three divisions were formed. Colonels and junior officers were exclusively foreigners - Poles, Swedes, Germans.
November 18, 1700 The Russian army was defeated near Narva. IN October The Noteburg fortress was taken at the source of the Neva. In the spring of the following year, the garrison of Nyenschantz, a fortress at the mouth of the Neva, surrendered. 16 May 1703 Peter I founded the fortress of St. Petersburg, the future capital of Russia.
In 1704, Russia signed the Union Treaty with the Commonwealth: the parties pledged to wage war with Sweden and not conclude a separate peace with it. Battle of Poltava (June 27, 1709) ended with the complete victory of the Russian army over the Swedes.
November 10, 1710 Turkey declared war on Russia. March 6, 1711 Peter I left for the army. On July 10, the Russian army entered Moldova, where the Turkish offensive was repulsed, but Russia's position was very difficult.
Peter convened a council of war, at which it was proposed that the Turks begin negotiations. Two messengers were sent to them. For two days in the camp of the Russian Tsar, soldiers, generals, officers did not close their eyes, waiting for further events.
July 12, 1710 The parties signed a peace treaty. According to its terms, Turkey received Azov, in addition, Russia was forced to promise to destroy the fortresses of Taganrog on the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov and Kamenny Zaton on the Dnieper.
More significant were the Russian victories in the Baltics. At the beginning of 1712, near Stralsund and Wismar, the Russian army defeated the Swedes; in January 1713, the Swedes were again defeated near Friedrichstadt. On July 27, 1714, the Russian fleet defeated a large Swedish squadron at Cape Gangut.
13. Russia during the reign of Catherine I, Peter II, Anna Ioannovna
Peter I died January 28, 1725 without appointing a successor. The question of the heir to the throne was to be decided by the Senate, the Synod and the generals. When deciding on the heir to Peter I, opinions and voices were divided:
1) the old nobility wanted the accession of little Peter, the son of Tsarevich Alexei;
2) the nobles, headed by A. D. Menshikov and P. A. Tolstoy, wanted to proclaim the widow of Peter I, Catherine, as empress.
The Senate proclaimed Empress Catherine, who was crowned in 1724 In fact, the ruler of the state became A. D. Menshikov.
In May 1727, Catherine died and Peter II Alekseevich ascended the throne. The princes Dolgoruky gained great influence on the emperor, and Menshikov and his family were exiled to Siberia. IN January 1730 Peter II fell seriously ill and died.
Members of the Supreme Privy Council invited the Dowager Duchess of Courland to the Russian throne, Anna Ivanovna(daughter of Tsar Ivan Alekseevich).
On February 15, 1730, Anna solemnly entered Moscow, and the oath was taken to her. The Empress abolished the Council and created a cabinet "for the best and most orderly administration of all state affairs."
Under the new empress, the Baltic Germans occupied many positions in diplomacy. The first place in the state was taken by the favorite of Anna Ioannovna, chief chamberlain von Biron.
Russian nobles, especially from the old nobility, were not only relegated to the background, but also subjected to direct cruel persecution, executions, exile, imprisonment in the fortress befell the princes Dolgoruky and Golitsin, the cabinet minister A.P. Volynsky was executed.
IN 1736 a law was issued that significantly limited the official service of the nobility imposed on it by Peter the Great. Even earlier in 1731 the government of Anna Ioannovna returned to the nobility the right to dispose of estates, limited by the law of Peter I on single inheritance.
To improve the economic condition of the landowners in 1734 opened a state loan bank.
In October 1740 Empress Anna died, appointing her two-month-old grandson John as heir to the throne.
14. Russia during the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna and Peter III
On the night of November 25, 1741, with the support of the guards officers, Elizabeth made a palace coup and was proclaimed empress. The young Emperor John was exiled to the North of Russia.
During the reign of Elizabeth, one of the most important economic reforms was carried out - the abolition of internal customs (by decree December 20, 1753).
The main event of foreign policy under Elizabeth was the participation of Russia in the war (which began in 1756) against Frederick II of Prussia. In 1757, Russian troops entered Prussia to help Austria, oppressed by Frederick.
In 1759, the Russian army, together with the Austrian troops, practically destroyed the Prussian army.
Empress Elizabeth had no children, so in 1742 she appointed her nephew Duke of Schleswig-Holstein Karl Peter Ulrich as heir to the throne, after which the latter, having converted to Orthodoxy, became known as Peter Fedorovich. The Empress decided to marry him to the Princess of Anhalt-Zerbst. In 1744, the wedding took place, and the princess received the name Catherine.
At the end of 1761, Elizabeth died, and Peter III. His reign was short. Under him, a manifesto was issued on the release of the nobility from compulsory military service. He caused general dissatisfaction with his admiration for the recent enemy of Russia, Frederick of Prussia, the introduction of Prussian drill into the guards.
In favor of Catherine, a group of guards officers plotted against Peter III, and on the night of June 28, 1762 Catherine, accompanied by officers, appeared in the barracks of the Izmailovsky regiment, then from there moved to the barracks of the Semenovsky regiment, then to the Kazan Cathedral, where she was proclaimed empress. After that, the procession moved to the Winter Palace, where a manifesto was drawn up on Elizabeth's accession to the throne. Peter III finally lost heart, returned to Oranienbaum and signed the act of abdication (June 29, 1762). A week later, Peter III was killed by his wife's close associates.
15. Russian culture of the 18th century
IN 18th century the development of Russian culture was due to the fundamental socio-economic reforms of Peter I.
IN 1725 The Academy of Sciences appeared in St. Petersburg, with a university and a gymnasium attached to it. IN 1755 I. I. Shuvalov And M. V. Lomonosov founded Moscow University. IN 1757 Academy of Fine Arts opened.
They began to draw up maps ("Atlas of the Russian Empire" (1734)). Opened the Kunstkamera.
At that time, such Russian scientists as M. V. Lomonosov, M. V. Severin, S. P. Krashennikov, I. I. Lepekhin lived and worked.
In the middle of the XVIII century. Classicism is established in Russian literature. The ancestor of classicism in Russia is A. D. Kantemir. Russian classicism is represented by the names of A. P. Sumarokov, M. M. Kheraskov, V. I. Maikov, Ya. B. Knyazhnin.
They erected the bell tower of the cathedral in the Peter and Paul Fortress, the building of the colleges, the Tauride Palace, the Winter Palace, the cathedral of the Smolny Monastery in St. Petersburg, the Pashkov House in Moscow, the Senate building in the Kremlin.
The basis in Russian painting was - V. L. Borovikovsky, D. G. Levitsky, F. S. Rokotov.
IN 1756 Petersburg was the first professional theater in Russia.
In June 1762 Catherine II became empress.
Declaring herself the successor of Peter I, Catherine called her reign "enlightened absolutism."
In 1767, the Legislative Commission met in St. Petersburg, whose task was to revise Russian laws. However, the commission did not justify the hopes of the empress and was dissolved under the pretext of the outbreak of the Russian-Turkish war.
One of the main reforms of Catherine II was the reform of the Senate. She divided the Senate into six departments with different functions. The role of the Senate was reduced to an administrative-executive one.
For the same purpose, in 1764, local self-government, the hetmanate, was liquidated in Ukraine. The Little Russian Collegium was created.
IN 1775 provincial reform was carried out. Each province was headed by a governor.
Under Catherine II, the alliance of the nobility with state power was significantly strengthened. On April 21, 1785, Catherine issued a Letter of Complaint, which expanded the personal privileges of the nobility:
1) nobles could only be judged by their class court;
2) were exempted from all taxes and corporal punishment;
3) received the right to engage in trade, establish factories and factories on their land.
16. Economy of Russia in the second half of the 18th century
Second half of the 18th century- this is the time of the beginning of the gradual formation of the capitalist way of life.
In the second half of the XVIII century. manufacturing industry developed rapidly. The number of enterprises using civilian labor has increased sharply.
In addition, the government in every possible way contributed to the development of trade. In 1754 all internal customs were abolished. Freedom of trade in agricultural products was also declared.
Merchants had significant privileges.
In 1754, three large state-owned banks were created, including the Noble and Merchant banks. Later, "signature banks" were created in St. Petersburg.
Government Catherine II withdrew troops from Prussian territory.
The Russian empress and the Prussian king concluded in St. 1764 union agreement.
IN 1768 Turkish Sultan Mustafa declared war on Russia.
IN 1772 The first partition of the Commonwealth took place.
1) land between the Dnieper and the Bug;
2) Azov at the mouth of the Don;
3) Kerch and Yenikale at the tip of the Crimea;
4) Kinburn at the entrance to the Dnieper Bug Estuary;
5) in the North Caucasus, lands up to the Kuban, Kabarda.
April 8, 1783 The government of Catherine II included the Crimea (Taurida) into Russia. IN August 1787 Turkey, having demanded the return of the Crimea and received a refusal, again declared war on Russia. Its troops and fleet attacked Kinburn, but were defeated by the army of A. V. Suvorov. IN 1788 army G. A. Potemkina took Ochakov by storm.
By 1788, the Russians occupied Akkerman, Bender, and Gadzhibey Fort.
October 22, 1791 between Turkey and Russia in Iasi, a peace treaty was signed, according to which Russia received land in Right-Bank Ukraine.
17. Emelyan Pugachev's uprising
IN 1760s. the government introduced a state monopoly on fishing and salt mining on Yaik. This caused discontent among the Cossacks. IN late 1771 a commission arrived on Yaik under the leadership of a major general M. M. von Traubenberg.
The following year, the Cossacks rose under the banner Peter III Fedorovich. The most famous impostor was the Don Cossack Emelyan Ivanovich Pugachev.
IN September 1773 Pugachev headed up the Yaik to Orenburg - the center of the border line of fortresses, an important strategic point in the southeast of the country. Pugachev took the Tatishchev fortress by storm. In early October, his army approached Orenburg, assaults and battles began under the walls of the city. The camp of the rebels was located near Orenburg in the Berdskaya Sloboda. Here Pugachev and his accomplices created the Military Board - the highest authority and management of military and civil affairs.
The uprising swept: the Southern and Middle Urals, Western Siberia, Bashkiria, the Volga region, the Don.
The authorities gathered regiments and sent them to Orenburg. In the Tatishcheva fortress, a general battle took place between the forces of Pugachev and the army of General M. M. Golitsina. After the defeat, Pugachev withdrew the remaining forces from Orenburg. But near the Samara town, M. M. Golitsin again defeated the rebels. Pugachev withdrew to Bashkiria, then to the South Urals. The rebel detachments of Salavat Yulaev operated here. Pugachev's detachment captured several factories, then occupied the Trinity Fortress. But here he was defeated by I.P. de Colong.
Pugachev went to Zlatoust. IN May 1774 he several times entered into battle with the army of I. I. Michelson but was defeated. Yulaev and Pugachev, joining their forces, moved west to the Volga.
Pugachev crossed the Volga with 2,000 men and moved west. In the Right Bank, Pugachev's detachment was replenished with several thousand people and began to move south along the right bank of the Volga. Pugachev occupied Penza, Saratov, began the siege of Tsaritsyn, but the approaching corps of Michelson threw the rebels to the southeast. At the end of August 1774, the last battle took place near Cherny Yar, in which Pugachev suffered a final defeat.
He, with a small group of people, went to the left bank of the Volga, where he was betrayed by the Cossacks. IN September 1774 Pugachev was brought to the Budarinsky outpost. January 10, 1775 Pugachev and his associates were executed on Bolotnaya Square.
18. Socio-economic development of Russia in the first quarter of the XIX century. Reforms 1801-1811
Early 19th century was marked by a palace coup. On the night of 11 to 12 March 1801 emperor Pavel I was strangled, and his son, a participant in the conspiracy, ascended the throne. In your manifest Alexander I announced to the people that his father had died of apoplexy.
IN July 1801 the emperor created and headed the Secret Committee, which included P. A. Stroganov, V. P. Kochubey, N. N. Novosiltsev.
December 12, 1801 A decree was issued allowing merchants, philistines and state peasants to buy land as property.
Decree - "On free cultivators" dated February 20, 1803- allowed landowners to release peasants with land for ransom.
September 8, 1802 In order to strengthen the central government, eight ministries were created instead of colleges:
1) foreign affairs;
2) military land affairs;
3) naval affairs;
4) justice;
5) internal affairs;
6) finance;
7) commerce;
8) public education.
September 8, 1802 Alexander I signed the Decree on the rights of the Senate, which was declared the highest administrative and judicial body. Since 1802 to 1804 the entire system of educational institutions was restructured. As a result, the education system consisted of four links:
1) one-year parish school;
2) a two-year county school;
3) provincial school (gymnasium);
4) university.
In addition, there were lyceums, institutes, military schools.
The university charter of 1804 granted autonomy to all universities for the first time.
By the end of 1809, Speransky drew up a plan for reforming the Russian Empire - "Introduction to the Code of State Laws." The essence of the project was to transform feudal-serf Russia into a legal bourgeois state. The issue of the abolition of serfdom as an indispensable condition for preventing a revolution was also considered.
According to the draft constitution developed by Speransky, the entire population of the state was divided into three estates:
1) nobility;
2) merchants, petty bourgeois, state peasants;
3) "working people" - landlord peasants, artisans, servants.
The first two estates received political rights. Power in the country was proposed to be divided into:
1) legislative;
2) executive;
3) judicial.
The Senate was to become the supreme body of judicial power, the ministries to be executive, and the State Duma to be legislative. The State Council was established as an advisory body under the tsar.
Of his major projects, only one was implemented: January 1, 1810 Council of State was established.
19. Foreign policy of Alexander I. Patriotic war of 1812. Campaign of the Russian army of 1813-1815
The most important task of Russia's foreign policy in early 19th century was to curb French expansion in Europe.
Alexander signed in Tilsite unfavorable for Russia Russian-French treaty of peace, friendship and alliance (July 1807). Russia recognized all the conquests of France, entered into an alliance with her and joined the continental blockade of England.
Russia was at war with Iran and Turkey. Russo-Iranian War (1804-1813) ended with a Russian victory. Russo-Turkish War (1806-1812) also ended with the victory of the Russian army. And according to the Bucharest Peace Treaty of May 16, 1812 Russia ceded Bessarabia, Abkhazia and part of Georgia.
After making peace with Napoleon, Alexander went to war with Sweden. (1808-1809). As a result, Finland went to Russia, which became part of Russia as an autonomous principality.
June 12, 1812 Napoleon at the head of his army invaded the territory of Russia. He hoped to defeat the Russian armies and impose peace on Russia on his own terms. The Russian army was headed by: M. B. Barclay de Tolly, P. I. Bagration, A. P. Tormasov.
Following the plan of M. B. Barclay de Tolly, the Russian army immediately began to retreat. Napoleon's plan was thwarted, he continued the attack on Moscow in the hope of a general battle. Russian society was dissatisfied. This forced the emperor to appoint commander-in-chief M. I. Kutuzova. August, 26th A battle took place near the village of Borodino near Moscow.
September 1 A military council was held in the village of Fili, where it was decided to leave Moscow to Napoleon, thereby preserving the Russian army. September 2 Napoleon entered Moscow. Due to lack of food, he decided to leave the Russian capital. Kutuzov was preparing for a counteroffensive, which he launched October 6. October 12 The battle took place at Maloyaroslavets. The onset of severe frosts and famine turned the French retreat into a flight. December 25, 1812 the manifesto of Alexander I announced the victorious end of the Patriotic War.
January 1, 1813 The Russian army crossed the Neman. October 4-6, 1813 the battle of Leipzig, the so-called Battle of the Nations, took place. Soon the allied troops entered Paris. Napoleon abdicated and was exiled to the island of Elba.
May 28, 1815 During the Congress of Vienna, the Final Act was signed, according to which Russia received Bessarabia, Finland and the territory of the former Duchy of Warsaw. June 6, 1815 the Battle of Waterloo took place. Napoleon was once again defeated and sent to Saint Helena.
20. Transition to reactionary politics. Arakcheevshchina
1815-1825 entered the history of Russia under the name "Arakcheevshchina". The restoration of the country after the war with the French was at the expense of the peasants. Fearing uprisings, the king resorted to liberal measures. He promised to introduce a constitution in Russia and instructed Arakcheev to draw up a plan for the liberation of the peasants. Nevertheless, a harsh reaction existed in Russia from 1820 until the end of the reign of Alexander I. The main manifestation of the reactionary regime was cruel terror.
But under Alexander I, military settlements were created. The goals of this innovation were to reduce the cost of the army, as well as to create an effective means for the rapid suppression of peasant uprisings. The state peasants were transferred by the counties to the position of military settlers and had to combine army service with their usual duties.
The punitive policy was carried out in all spheres of the life of the state, including education. In 1817, the Ministry of Education was merged with the spiritual department and renamed the Ministry of Spiritual Affairs and Public Education. At its head stood the prince A. N. Golitsyn. Russian universities were subject to revisions, many professors were expelled, some were put on trial.
The police regime was strengthened. Having destroyed the secret police in 1801, Alexander I 1805 established the Higher Police Committee, 1807 transformed into the Committee for the Protection of Public Safety. IN 1820 secret police were introduced into the army. All these measures were designed to prevent the emergence of new centers of the revolutionary movement. For the period from 1820 to 1825. there were thirteen unrest in various military units. One of them happened in 1820 in the Semyonovsky Guards Regiment in St. Petersburg.
The only liberal measure taken by Alexander I was the liberation of the peasants in the Baltic states without giving them land. The tsarist government supported the Baltic nobility. Once every three years, the nobles gathered for meetings - Landtags, where they discussed draft resolutions, which were subsequently considered by the government. At the Landtags, a collegium of landrats was elected, which dealt with the affairs of local government.
Restrictions on the amount of dues and corvee were abolished, landowners received the right to sell peasants and the right to exile them to Siberia.
21. Social movement in Russia in the first quarter of the 19th century
The movement of the Decembrists took shape as early as 1814, when one after the other associations began to take shape, called pre-Decembrist ones:
1) "Order of Russian knights";
2) "Holy artel";
3) "Semenovskaya Artel".
But they did not pose a serious threat to the state.
February 9, 1816 A secret organization, the Union of Salvation, was established, the purpose of which was to abolish serfdom and replace the autocracy with a constitutional monarchy. Because of the disagreements that arose, the "Union of Salvation" broke up, but instead of it in 1818 The Welfare Union was formed. Its participants decided to fight for the republic, choosing the tactics of a military revolution. Since 1821, secret revolutionary societies began to be created in Russia one after another.
One of these societies was the "Southern Society", under the leadership P. I. Pestel. Their program was Russkaya Pravda.
At the same time, the "Northern Society" was operating in St. Petersburg, headed by K. F. Ryleev, G. S. Batenkov, and the Bestuzhev brothers. Both societies agreed on the date of the performance - the summer of 1826, but due to the sudden death of Alexander I, the uprising was postponed to December 14, 1825
After the death of Alexander I, an interregnum arose. There were two pretenders to the throne:
1) Konstantin;
2) Nicholas.
Constantine renounced the throne, so the oath to Nicholas was scheduled for December 14th. The Decembrists decided to take advantage of the situation and December 14 at 11 am rebel troops gathered on the Senate Square. According to the plan, three detachments of the Decembrists were to capture the Winter Palace and arrest the new tsar, then seize the Peter and Paul Fortress and force the senators to recognize the coup.
But the troops of the Decembrists did not dare to take decisive action. Artillery salvos on the rebels put an end to the confrontation. After that, the arrests of the Decembrists began both in St. Petersburg and in the south of the country. The investigation into their case took place with the direct participation of Nicholas I, and he also passed the verdict. The trial was demonstrative: P. I. Pestel, S. I. Muravyov, K. F. Ryleev, M. A. Bestuzhev-Ryumin, P. G. Kakhovsky were sentenced to quartering, but Nicholas I commuted the sentence to execution by hanging. The Vakhostal Decembrists were exiled.
22. Domestic policy of Russia in the second quarter of the 19th century
A new form of government was introduced, called the military-bureaucratic. In 1826, by decree of Nicholas I, departments of the imperial office were formed. The 1st department performed clerical services for the office. The second branch took up the legislation of the empire. The drafting of the legislative code was entrusted to M. M. Speransky. Two editions were issued: "The Complete Collection of Laws of the Russian Empire" (1832) and "The Code of Laws of the Russian Empire" (1833).
The main task of the III branch, which was headed by combat general A. Kh. Benckendorff, was the fight against dissent.
The new charter eliminated university independence.
Agriculture developed, as before, along an extensive path. Industry, too, could not be called successful, although there was a massive transition to machine production. The financial system of the state was in a difficult position. The War of 1812 created a huge budget deficit.
During the reign of Nicholas I, 9 secret committees were created that tried to solve the peasant issue. In 1835 a committee was set up to deal with the abolition of serfdom.
All Russian society was divided into appositions.
The liberal opposition movement was represented by the Slavophiles. Slavophilism was an ideological and political doctrine of the exclusivity and originality of the historical path of development of Russia. The Slavophiles proposed to abolish serfdom and limit the despotism of the tsar.
In opposition to Slavophilism was Westernism - the doctrine according to which the historical development of Russia should follow the European version. To achieve this goal, it is necessary to abolish serfdom, introduce a constitutional monarchy, guarantee the rights and freedoms of the individual.
The revolutionary movement was represented by revolutionary democrats, who were divided into moderates and radicals. The radicals took as a basis the theory of Russian socialism.
In the culture of Russia there was a change of values. So sentimentalism came to replace classicism. The founder of which was Karamzin. The growing interest in the individual person led to the formation of romanticism. This time is marked by the names of Zhukovsky, Pushkin, Lermontov, Aivazovsky, Glinka, Griboyedov, Gogol, etc.
Criticism is developing strongly (Belinsky).
Realism emerges.
23. Foreign policy of Russia in the second quarter of the 19th century
In foreign policy Nicholas I adhered to the principle of peaceful coexistence with neighboring states. Since Russia was a member of the Holy Alliance, she was directly involved in a number of military campaigns, along with England and France. Yes, in 1827-1829 Allied countries by force stopped Turkey's military operations against the Greeks. In 1833, a situation arose as a result of which Russia gained great influence in the Balkans. In particular, Turkey turned to Russia for help in the fight against the Egyptian Pasha. Russia sent its fleet to defend the Bosphorus. The matter did not come to military action, since European diplomacy managed to persuade the rebels to submit to the Sultan. But Turkey concluded an agreement with Russia, under which Russia undertook to "lock" the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles for the passage of foreign ships.
European diplomacy achieved the establishment of a common protectorate of five powers over Turkey:
1) Russia;
2) England;
3) Austria;
4) France;
5) Prussia.
Since that time, Russia's influence in the Balkans began to decline rapidly. The Nikolaev policy of interference in all European affairs caused discontent and opposition from such states as England and France. The latter began to support Turkey on a number of foreign policy issues. The outbreak of conflict between the Turks and Greeks led to hostilities 1853, in which Emperor Nicholas opposed the powerful coalition of England, France and Turkey in hostilities, Austria and Prussia - in diplomatic. Crimean War 1853-1856 showed the failure of the entire Nikolaev system. The well-trained and most numerous army in the world could not cope even with the 60,000th Anglo-French expeditionary corps that landed in the Crimea. The vast majority of the Russian army guarded the landlords from the peasants and watched the country's endless borders, not connected by railroads, and therefore was not mobile. Russia at the very beginning of the war lost its fleet, having sunk it in the Bay of Sevastopol, since the sails could not compete with the steam engines of English ships. The defeat of Russia turned out to be unconditional and natural. During the unfolding battle of Sevastopol, Nicholas I died.
24. Prerequisites for the peasant reform of 1861. The abolition of serfdom
The objective prerequisites for the reform 1861 were economic processes.
Alexander II to carry out the reform "from above" creates a Committee of the high-ranking elite. Eventually February 19, 1861 Alexander II approved all legislative acts concerning the abolition of serfdom. Among them stood out:
1) "General Regulations on the Peasants Who Have Emerged from Serfdom", proclaiming the abolition of serfdom and the general conditions for this abolition;
2) "Regulations on the organization of courtyard people who have emerged from serfdom."
All rights and obligations common to peasants were legally enshrined in the Manifesto and Regulations on February 19, 1861. The peasants received the rights of a legal entity:
1) conclude contracts, assume obligations and contracts;
2) the right to carry out "free trade" without trade certificates and without payment of duties;
3) open shops, factories and other industrial and craft establishments;
4) the right to participate in gatherings, draw up worldly sentences, participate in elections to public positions as voters and elected;
5) move to other classes, be recruited or simply enter the military service, leave the place of residence;
6) the right to enter general educational institutions.
Zemstvo reform - January 1, 1864"Regulations on provincial and district zemstvo institutions" were approved.
IN June 1870 approved "City Regulations".
"Judicial Statutes" and Decree on Judicial Reform of November 20, 1864 made the court public, introduced the principle of adversarial proceedings and jury trial. New judiciary appeared.
The result of the military reform was the Charter on military service from January 1, 1874, which instead of recruiting introduced universal military service for the male population after 21 years.
By the 1870s the capitalist system of economy began to supplant all others. The peasants began to rent land from the landowners and paid for it in money or working off. The labor system of the economy became transitional from corvée to capitalist.
The peasant reform stimulated the development of industry. The rise of agriculture contributed to the creation of demand for industrial products.
25. Foreign policy of Russia during the reign of Alexander II
As a result of Turkey's support, Russia achieved the lifting of the ban on keeping the navy on the Black Sea and building warships there. From that moment on, the eastern question comes to the fore, aggravated due to the successful advance of Russia in Central Asia in the 1860s-1870s. Yes, in 1868 Russia put the Kokand Khanate under its control. Following him, the Emir of Bukhara signed an agreement with Russia. IN 1873 The Khanate of Khiva capitulated. On the educated lands, Russia created the Turkmen Governor-General with its center in Tashkent. At the end of the 1870s. began an offensive against the Turkmen tribes. As a result of long hostilities, in May 1881, the Trans-Caspian region was formed with the center in Ashgabat.
IN 1873 Russia and Austria-Hungary signed a political convention, to which Germany joined. As a result, the so-called "Union of the Three Emperors" took shape in Europe. The conclusion of the "Union" meant Russia's exit from international isolation.
In the summer of 1875, the Slavic peoples of Turkey revolted because of the Sultan's refusal to equalize the rights of the Christian population with the Muslims. When the war between Serbia and Montenegro and Turkey began (July 1876), Russian officers joined the Serbian army, and Russian society supplied weapons and food there. Alexander II had to declare war on Turkey. April 12, 1877 hostilities began. They did not last long, and after the victories of the Russian troops, Russia and Turkey signed a peace treaty (February 1878). According to the San Stefano Peace Treaty, Turkey recognized the independence of Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and also transferred the fortresses of Ardagan, Kars and Batum to Russia. An independent Bulgarian principality was also created in the Balkans.
Russia's leadership in the Balkans did not suit Austria-Hungary, and under its pressure, Russia was forced to submit the treaty for international consideration, which took place at the Berlin Congress in June-July 1878. There, the San Stefano peace treaty was changed. Austria-Hungary got the opportunity to occupy Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey got back part of the territories. The Berlin Congress meant a diplomatic defeat for Russia.
26. Russia during the reign of Alexander III the Peacemaker. "Counter-reforms" of the 1890s
Recovering from the murder of his father, Alexander III began to pursue his tough policy.
From 1886 to 1894, counter-reform projects were being developed. Fearing overthrow, he began to pursue a policy of centralization of power, the abolition of democratic reforms, an increase in the gendarmerie, and even created an organization to combat revolutionaries and terror. Strict censorship introduced.
During the reign of Alexander III, not a single war was fought, for which he received the nickname Peacemaker. IN June 1881 the signing of the new Austro-Russian-German "Union of the Three Emperors" took place. The Triple Alliance was formed.
August 27, 1891 A Russian-French secret agreement was signed, which provided for joint action in the event of an attack on one of the parties.
The last Russian emperor Nicholas II saw his task in preserving the autocracy unchanged.
The tsarist autocracy pursued a frank Russification policy towards Poland, Finland and the Caucasus. Under these conditions, a revolutionary explosion was inevitable.
Back to top 20th century Russia was an agrarian-industrial country. It was one of the five most developed industrial countries in the world.
Back to top 20th century mechanical engineering and metallurgy were established.
IN 1893 there was a strong industrial boom.
S. Yu. Witte, M. I. Bunge and others were convinced that Russia needed a consistent economic program. In accordance with it, the following activities were carried out:
1) a strict tax policy was pursued;
2) the government pursued a policy of protectionism;
3) in 1897 the currency reform was carried out.
IN 1900 the global economic crisis began, which dealt a serious blow to the Russian economy. He hit mechanical engineering and metallurgy with the greatest force. All types of monopolies existed in Russia:
1) cartels;
2) syndicates;
3) trusts;
4) concerns.
Agriculture provided half of the national income. The main features of the development of agriculture were:
1) the growth of commercial entrepreneurial agriculture;
2) specialization of individual economic regions of the country.
27. Russo-Japanese War
At the turn of the century, the contradictions between the capitalist countries on the question of the division of the world escalated. At this time, two world groupings are being formed:
1) Entente (Russia, England and France);
2) Triple alliance (Germany, Italy and Austria).
At the same time, the knot of contradictions was located not only in Europe, but also in the Pacific Ocean. Of particular interest was the Liaodong Peninsula in view of the military-strategic importance of Port Arthur. IN 1896 a Russian-Chinese treaty on a defensive alliance against Japan was concluded, and in 1898- lease agreement for the Liaodong Peninsula for 25 years. This pushed Japan to war with Russia.
Russia was completely unprepared for war, not only diplomatically, but also in military-technical terms. TO January 1904 Russian troops in the Pacific were more than three times inferior in number to the Japanese.
January 27, 1904 the Japanese squadron suddenly attacked the Russian troops in Port Arthur. Russian ships were not ready to attack, and several ships were seriously damaged. In February, a talented naval commander S. O. Makarov, who led the Pacific squadron, managed to take control of Port Arthur in his own hands. He began combat exercises, arranged military supplies, and to summer of 1904 Port Arthur was heavily fortified, but the Japanese continued their unsuccessful siege.
Defeats followed one after another: in August near Liaoyang, in September on the Shahe River. On December 20, 1904, an act was signed on the surrender of Port Arthur. The Russian fleet was destroyed.
IN 1905 two of the biggest battles in world history took place:
1) Mukden - on land;
2) Tsushima - at sea.
The battle of Mukden took place in February 1905 and ended with the retreat of the Russian army, which suffered heavy losses. In May, there was a battle near the island of Tsushima. Russian squadron under the command of Admiral Z. P. Rozhdestvensky was completely destroyed. This marked the end of the war. With the mediation of the United States, peace negotiations began, which ended with the signing of the Portsmouth Peace Treaty. According to it, Russia lost access to the Pacific Ocean, as well as the southern part of Sakhalin Island, part of the CER, Korea became the sphere of influence of Japan.
28. First Russian Revolution 1905-1907
internal political crisis in 1905 was caused by the exacerbation of social contradictions, as well as the unfavorable consequences of the Russo-Japanese war. A revolution has begun in the country. The immediate beginning of the revolutionary events can be considered the execution of a demonstration of workers who staged a peaceful procession to the Winter Palace to petition for needs January 9, 1905 The priest was the initiator G. A. Gapon. Initially spontaneous, the movement became more focused and organized. A peasant union is formed. One of the most striking events was the uprising on the battleship Potemkin in July 1905. The peak of revolutionary activity came at the end of 1905, when the strike that broke out in Moscow grew into the All-Russian October political strike (October 12-18). During the strike, workers' councils arose, which in fact turned into alternative authorities. By December, the strike had grown into a real war.
1) carrying out economic reforms;
2) replacement of the monarchical system with a democratic one;
3) provision of political freedoms;
4) the destruction of estates, isolation and inequality of different segments of the population.
In the conditions of a gradual loss of control over the situation, Nicholas II was forced to sign October 17, 1905 a manifesto that granted the population inviolability of the person, freedom of speech, conscience, assembly and unions.
Elections to the First State Duma were held in February-March 1906
1) Constitutional Democratic (cadets, leaders - Prince P. D. Dolgorukov;
These parties can be attributed to the liberal movement.
There were also socialist parties: the RSDLP (V. I. Lenin), the Socialist-Revolutionaries (V. M. Chernov).
Monarchist parties were: SRN (Ya. I. Dubrovin) and the Union of Michael the Archangel.
The First Duma included 179 Cadets, 17 Octobrists, 18 Social Democrats, 63 autonomists, 97 members of the labor peasant group, 105 non-party members. The Duma was dissolved June 8 the same year, and the soon elected II State Duma lasted from February 20th By June 2, 1907
On June 3, 1907, the "Third of June Monarchy" regime was established. 2/3 of the seats in the Duma were received by representatives of the bourgeoisie and farmers.
29. Stolypin reform 1906-1917
One of the most notable events in the domestic policy of the Russian Empire between the two revolutions was the reforms P. A. Stolypin. The long overdue agrarian reform became necessary after the revolutionary events of 1905. Its development and implementation are associated with the name of P.A.
November 3, 1905 - the manifesto of Nicholas II on the abolition of redemption payments to their complete abolition from January 1907 marked the beginning of agrarian reforms. P. A. Stolypin sought to create in the Russian countryside a layer of prosperous peasantry capable of becoming the mainstay of the state, and since the solution of the peasant problem at the expense of landowners' lands was recognized as impossible, the main stake was placed on the destruction of the community.
The process of agrarian reform was initiated by the Decree of November 9, 1906 on peasant land ownership, the provisions of which were enshrined in the law of July 20, 1910. Under this decree, the peasants received the right to withdraw from the community, and the consent of the community gathering became optional. Peasants leaving the community were given ownership of all the lands that were in their allotment use, and the peasant could combine cut strips of land in one place, "go out to the cut", and also create a farm, that is, a farm. IN 1907 The peasant bank received part of the lands of the royal family, through which the landlords could sell part of their land holdings. The bank contributed to the accumulation of land in the hands of the rural bourgeoisie on the most favorable terms for the landowners.
For ten years, from 1906 By 1916, about 26% of all community members (over 2.5 million peasant households) took the opportunity to leave the community, but still the majority of rural owners remained in the community. For the period from 1906 By 1916 mainly rich and enterprising peasants created 1.2 million cuts and 400 farms.
Separately, the agrarian reform included the mass resettlement of former communal peasants in the eastern regions of the country. Over 3 million peasants moved to Siberia with 1906 By 1914, and 2.5 million of them remained in the new location. However, about 16% of the settlers returned, adding to the army of the weak-willed.
The reform was not completed 1911 P. A. Stolypin was killed in Kyiv by the provocateur D. Bogrov), but nevertheless she contributed to the transition of the countryside to the capitalist path of development.
30. Beginning of the First World War
The reason for the war was the murder June 28, 1914. in Sarajevo, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, Archduke Franz Ferdinand. The main cause of the First World War was the contradiction between the colonial powers. Germany wanted to take over England. The basis of Germany's strategic plan was the Schlieffen plan, designed for quick and decisive measures. The Russian headquarters developed 2 plans. July 30 announced a general mobilization.
On July 31, Germany demanded that Russia cancel the decision to mobilize and, without receiving a direct answer, August 1 declared war on her. On August 2, France announced its support for Russia, which in turn was supported by England.
August 3rd Germany declared war on France and Belgium August 4 Great Britain declared war on Germany; August 6 Russia received an official declaration of war from Austria-Hungary.
Starting in Europe, the war very quickly developed into a world war, covering 38 states.
Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich was appointed supreme commander in chief. In the first weeks of August 1914, the Entente troops on the Franco-Belgian border suffered a series of serious defeats. Responding to the call of the allies, Russian troops went on the offensive in East Prussia in mid-August.
On the Southwestern Front, simultaneously with the East Prussian operation, the Battle of Galicia took place.
On August 10, Germany sent the battlecruiser Gebek and the light cruiser Breslau to the Black Sea to support the Turkish fleet. Russia declared war on Turkey and defeated it.
Despite the success on the Caucasian front, the company 1915 was extremely unfortunate for Russia. Nevertheless, the plan of the German command was thwarted, and Russia was not withdrawn from the war.
In May - June 1916, as a result of the Brusilov breakthrough, when the defense of the Austro-German troops was broken through over 340 km to a depth of 120 km by the forces of the Southwestern Front under the command of General A. A. Brusilov, Austria-Hungary faced the reality of defeat . In the war, an obvious advantage began in the direction of the Entente.
However, the unfavorable situation in Russia, which winter 1916-1917 form of a nationwide crisis, allows us to consider the First World War as the most important cause of events 1917
Internal instability, dissatisfaction with the government in the context of the ongoing war, economic crisis and devastation led at the beginning 1917 to a revolutionary explosion in Petrograd. Commander of the Petrograd Military District General S. S. Khabalov could not put things in order, and in the evening February 26 there was a fundamental change in the balance of power. The soldiers of the battalion of the Life Guards of the Pavlovsky Regiment went over to the side of the revolutionary workers. And by March 1, Moscow was already in the hands of the rebels.
On March 2, Nicholas II signed an act of abdication in favor of the younger brother of the Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich, who abdicated the throne the very next day, declaring the need to convene a Constituent Assembly.
In the morning February 27 The State Duma created a Provisional Committee headed by Chairman M. V. Rodzianko. At the same time, the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' Deputies was created. Both organizations created after the abdication of the emperor and the fall of the autocratic monarchy became real political forces in the country. Of the 12 members of the Provisional Government, 5 represented the Cadets, 2 - the Octobrists, 1 each - Progressives, Centrists and Trudoviks, 2 - were non-party. The Declaration of the Provisional Government, published on March 3, contained a program of broad democratic reforms. The country has developed a system of dual power. The power of the provisional government was formal.
Autumn 1917 the country was sharply marked by a political and socio-economic crisis. The provisional government lost support. Few people supported V. I. Lenin, since the opinion of G. E. Zinoviev and L. B. Kamenev about the peaceful development of the revolution prevailed in the party. But as soon as V. I. Lenin arrived in Petrograd, the Bolsheviks decided to support his course. On October 10, at a meeting of the Central Committee of the party, a plan for an armed uprising was adopted. Leading bodies for the preparation of the uprising were created:
1) Politburo (V. I. Lenin, I. V. Stalin);
2) Military Revolutionary Committee (VRK) (Ya. M. Sverdlov, M. S. Uritsky, I. V. Stalin, and others).
By the morning the 25th of October the Bolsheviks occupied railway stations, telegraph, bridges, power station, State Bank. At 10 am on October 25, Lenin wrote an appeal by the Military Revolutionary Committee "To the Citizens of Russia", which announced the overthrow of the Provisional Government and the transfer of power into the hands of the Military Revolutionary Committee.
On October 25, the Bolsheviks began to storm the Winter Palace, which housed the Provisional Government. Winter was taken. The government is under arrest. Meanwhile, the Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets opens. The congress proclaimed the victory of the revolutionaries and announced the transfer of power to the soviets.
At the second meeting, decrees on peace and land were adopted and the first Soviet government, the Council of People's Commissars, was formed. Lenin became the chairman.
32. The main stages and causes of the Civil War 1918-1921
In Russia, the Civil War began in November 1917, immediately after the victory of the October armed uprising.
In the Civil War, the following main stages are distinguished:
1) before May 1918- war prologue;
2) summer - October 1918- during this period, the Civil War spreads to the entire territory of the country;
3) November 1918 - April 1919- this is the period of increased intervention of the Entente countries after the end of the First World War;
4) until the end of 1919- decisive battles took place on the Southern and Eastern fronts;
5) 1920- this period is characterized by the Soviet-Polish war and the defeat of Wrangel's troops in the Crimea;
6) 1921-1922- An epilogue to the Civil War.
The war was the result of an imminent crisis within society, which inevitably had to happen. The classes overthrown by the revolution sought to return political power, economic privileges and property to their own hands. They were supported by the clergy.
Main fronts of the Civil War:
1) on the Don, Terek and Kuban. (M. V. Alekseev, L. G. Kornilov, A. I. Denikin, P. N. Krasnov);
2) in Ukraine;
3) in the Volga region and Eastern Siberia.
After the end of the First World War, the forces of the Entente countries are released, which immediately intensify their intervention. After the annulment of the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, anti-Bolshevik regimes come to power.
IN 1919 the whites launched 3 grand but poorly coordinated offensives:
1) in March, A.V. Kolchak launched an offensive on a broad front from the Urals to the Volga. But, refusing to join in Saratov with the troops of A.I. Denikin, he could not take Moscow and was forced to retreat;
2) May 4-19, 1919 the troops of A. I. Denikin launched a successful offensive, capturing a number of cities;
3) in October the troops of A. I. Yudenich came close to Moscow.
IN October 1919 forces of the Red Army inflicted a heavy defeat on A. I. Denikin, and in March 1920 he was completely destroyed.
IN April 1920 Yu. Pilsutsky made peace with Petliura, head of the Ukrainian Rada, and sent his troops to occupy Ukraine.
IN late 1920 the last White forces left Sevastopol and Odessa. The civil war is over.
33. Political system in Russia after the end of the Civil War
The Soviet government was in a difficult position. In this situation, the Bolsheviks decide on the transition to universal military duty. The Revolutionary Military Council, headed by L. D. Trotsky. A Workers' and Peasants' Defense Council is also being created. It was headed V. I. Lenin. The task of this body was to mobilize all forces to achieve victory. The Order of the Red Banner of War was established.
By the end of 1919, with the strengthening of the interventionist and anti-Bolshevik forces, the Bolsheviks established the policy of war communism.
By the end of 1920, all industry was nationalized, which was subordinate to the Supreme Council of National Economy (Supreme Council of the National Economy). This was to help establish military production, destroy private property and build a classless socialist society.
But the most difficult issue was food. There was famine, war and mass deaths from typhus and cholera in the country. At first, a food dictatorship was introduced, which prohibited the trade in bread. Speculation in bread was punishable by death.
There was a nationalization of industry.
January 11, 1919 issued a decree on surplus appropriation, as a temporary measure in a war.
This was the beginning of the policy of war communism. Card system has been introduced in the cities. All trade was excluded.
The years of War Communism became the dictatorship of the Bolshevik Party. It was also characterized by the curtailment of publishing activities, the tightening of censorship, and the terror of the political police intensified. The royal family was shot in Ekaterenburg, 500 hostages and suspicious persons were shot in Petrograd. Any speeches against the Bolshevik authorities were stolen by execution. Gulags appeared - a loss for the isolation of class enemies.
34. Russia in 1917-1920s. National policy of the Soviet state
In 1917, V. I. Lenin formulated a new scheme of the national-state structure.
A special place in this program was occupied by Finnish and Polish issues.
The process of creating a unified state developed in two directions:
1) creation of autonomies;
2) granting republican sovereignty.
Many peoples received two levels of autonomy:
1) republican (Bashkir ASSR, Dagestan ASSR, Tajik ASSR);
2) regional (Kalmyk, Mari, Chuvash regions).
Autonomous regions (AO) on the basis of larger national territories arose with the participation of the Red Army and under the leadership of the Central Committee of the RCP (b).
Formally sovereign Soviet republics also appear:
IN March 1922 the last three formed the Transcaucasian Socialist Federal Soviet Republic (TSFSR). TO 1922 all these republics were bound by an alliance.
The Stalinist project, the so-called autonomization plan, proposed the creation of a unitary state with the inclusion of the union republics in it as autonomies. V. I. Lenin rejected this project and insisted on the formation of a state on the principle of a voluntary union and equal republics.
IN January 1924 II All-Union Congress of Soviets approved the first Constitution of the USSR. The Congress of Soviets became the supreme legislative body, and between congresses - the Central Executive Committee (CEC), consisting of two equal chambers: the Union Council and the Council of People's Commissars. A single union citizenship was established, the population of the country nominally received broad democratic rights and freedoms. Between 1922 and 1924 the Criminal and Civil Codes were approved, judicial reform was carried out, censorship was constitutionally fixed, the Cheka was transformed into (GPU), and then into the OGPU under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR.
35. Political struggle in Russia in 1917-1920
In the 1920s the mono-party system was finally established in the USSR.
The leading center of the country, the Political Bureau (Politburo) of the Central Committee of the RCP(b), included as main members in 1921:
1) V. I. Lenin;
2) G. E. Zinoviev;
3) A. B. Kameneva;
4) I. V. Stalin;
5) L. D. Trotsky, I. I. Bukharin, M. I. Kalinin and V. M. Molotov as candidates.
The RCP(b) during the years of the Civil War turned into a closed organization with a rigid linear management structure. The main and most responsible posts both in the party and in the state apparatus were occupied by representatives of the so-called old Bolshevik guard. It included about 10 thousand people who joined the party before the revolution. IN 1921 purges of the ranks began, and in 1924 a split in the "old guard" began. Already in 1924, the General Secretary of the Central Committee became the dominant figure (since 1922) I. V. Stalin, who pursued a tough hardware policy. The first episode of the internal party struggle for power was L. D. Trotsky’s rejection of the economic and political course of G. E. Zinoviev, L. B. Kamenev and I. V. Stalin. IN January 1924 Trotsky's group was accused of a petty-bourgeois deviation and attempts at a split.
The "new opposition" consisting of G. E. Zinoviev, L. B. Kamenev, G. Ya. Sokolnikov and N. K. Krupskaya spoke at the XIV Party Congress against the course of I. V. Stalin and N. I. Bukharin. IN 1926-1927 the "united opposition" of L. D. Trotsky, L. B. Kamenev and G. E. Zinoviev is formed. IN early 1928 the main opponent of I.V. Stalin, L.D. Trotsky was exiled to Alma-Ata, and in 1929- abroad. Thus, pursuing a policy of removing oppositionists and the "old guard" from power, I.V. Stalin by the end of the 1920s. got rid of all the most dangerous rivals in the struggle for power, laying the foundations of personal dictatorship.
36. Foreign policy of the Soviet state after the Civil War
The foreign policy of the Soviet state after the end of the civil war and intervention was based on two opposing principles: first, the establishment of strong diplomatic and economic ties with the capitalist states to bring the country out of the crisis; secondly, orientation towards the world revolution, which assumed the support of the communist parties of the Western countries.
WITH 1918 By 1928 the head of the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs was an experienced diplomat, a hereditary nobleman T. V. Chicherin. Spring 1920 A delegation led by the People's Commissar for Foreign Trade arrived in London L. B. Krasin, which concluded with the British side one of the first agreements of the Soviet country with the European powers. WITH April 10th By May 19, 1922 An international economic and financial conference was convened in Genoa, in which 29 countries participated. The demands of foreign countries (the payment of debts, the return of nationalized foreign property in the amount of 78.5 billion gold rubles), as well as the counterclaims of the Soviet side, caused contradictions that were not resolved at this conference. The first success of Soviet diplomacy was the conclusion of an agreement between Soviet Russia and Germany April 16, 1922 in Rapallo. The agreement provided for the restoration of diplomatic relations, the mutual waiver of reimbursement of military expenses, and a number of other points.
Since 1924 to 1925 Russia signed about 40 agreements and treaties, including the Japanese-Soviet convention. Of the great powers, only the United States denied recognition to the Soviet Union. December 17, 1925 A treaty of friendship and neutrality was signed with Turkey. Established diplomatic relations with Mexico (1924) and Uruguay (1926).
One of the biggest crises in Anglo-Soviet relations was the events of May-June 1923, when Deputy People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs M. M. Litvinov received a memorandum containing a number of ultimatum demands ("Curzon's ultimatum"). In the mid 1920s. The Soviet Union was recognized by the world community as a sovereign subject of international relations.
37. Development of national culture in 1917 - mid-1920s
IN December 1919 Decree "On the elimination of illiteracy among the population of the RSFSR" was issued.
The following educational institutions were formed: primary 4-year school, 9-year city school, ShKM, FZU.
IN 1922 on the initiative of V. I. Lenin, 160 prominent scientists and philosophers were expelled from the country (N. A. Berdyaev, S. L. Frank, P. A. Sorokin, etc.)
Many Russian writers and poets ended up abroad, realizing that freedom of creativity and ideological dictate are incompatible (I. A. Bunin, A. I. Kuprin, K. D. Balmont, Z. N. Gippius, D. S. Merezhkovsky and others .)
The literary group "Serapion Brothers" (K. A. Fedin, V. V. Ivanov, M. M. Zoshchenko, V. A. Kaverin, and others) who remained in the country advocated the search for a new artistic form.
Works of symbolist and formalist trends (A. A. Bely, E. I. Zamyatin, A. M. Remizov) are widely used. Social prose also appeared, reflecting the contradictions of the early 1920s. (A. I. Tarasov-Rodionov, M. Yu. Lebedinsky).
IN 1929 created the All-Union Academy of Agricultural Sciences. V. I. Lenin (VASKhNIL), whose president was V. I. Vavilov. The study of the atomic nucleus is being conducted L. D. Mysovsky, D. D. Ivanenko, D. V. Skobeltsin, B. V. Kurchatov And I. V. Kurchatov and etc.
The development of chemistry. Yes, in 1928 S. V. Lebedev discovered a method for producing synthetic rubber from ethyl alcohol. In 1928, the Committee for Chemicalization of the National Economy was formed under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR.
Through research K. E. Tsiolkovsky in the USSR, the development of theoretical problems of space exploration begins. In 1930, the world's first jet engine was created (designer F.A. Zander). In the 1930s physiologist continue to work I. P. Pavlov, breeder I. V. Michurin. Genetics is developing, the Institute of Genetics of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and the All-Union Institute of Plant Growing (VIR) are being created.
In the 1930s world-class composers worked in the USSR - S. S. Prokofiev, D. D. Shostakovich, A. I. Khachaturian, T. N. Khrennikov, D. B. Kabalevsky, I. O. Dunaevsky, R. M. Glier.
An important form of art for the state ideology during these years was cinema (in the late 1920s-1930s, such outstanding directors as G. Vasiliev, S. Vasiliev, S. Eisenstein, V. Pudovkin, A. Dovzhenko, I. Eck created , S. Gerasimov, G. Alexandrov and others).
38. Socio-economic development of the USSR in the late 1920s-1930s
If by the end of the 1920s in the USSR and the remnants of civil society survived, then in the 1930s. the state becomes completely totalitarian:
1) the economy comes under state control;
2) the party finally merges with the ideological state.
After the proclamation of the course towards industrialization at the XIV Party Congress (December 1925), a crisis began in agriculture. The state was forced to resort to "extraordinary measures" - the dispossession of wealthy peasants. In the spring of 1929, two party groupings arose:
1) the group of N. I. Bukharin (A. I. Rychkov, N. P. Tomsky, N. A. Ustinov) advocated the establishment of a mechanism for coordinating actions between agriculture and industry;
2) I. V. Stalin's group (V. V. Kuibyshev, K. E. Voroshilov, G. K. Ordzhonikidze) proposed the maximum concentration of resources in heavy industry by "pumping" funds from light industry and agriculture.
IN April 1929 support was received by the Stalinist group. The main goals of steel industrialization were:
1) elimination of the technical and economic backwardness of the country;
2) achieving economic independence;
3) creation of a developed military-industrial complex.
Stalinist industrialization solved the peasant question through the "liquidation of the peasantry as a class," at the same time creating - collective farms, which were under administrative control.
As a result, in absolute volumes of industrial production, the USSR in 1937 took second place in the world after the United States.
By 1932, 61.5% were collectivized in the USSR, by 1937 - 93% of peasant farms. In the course of collectivization, there was a sharp drop in agricultural production, and in 1932-33. famine broke out in the southern regions of the country, killing over 5 million people. The main goals of collectivization were achieved:
1) the country's economy is freed from the need to use market mechanisms;
2) elements dangerous to the regime were eliminated in the countryside;
3) a material base was created for the development of industry (although the number of peasants decreased by 1/3, and gross grain production by 20%, its state procurement doubled in the period from 1928 to 1934).
39. Socio-political development of the USSR in the late 1920s-1930s
Since 1928 By 1937 in the USSR, a totalitarian state was finally formed.
Market mechanisms were laid down by state regulation, and in all spheres of society a regime of total control was established, carried out by the party-state apparatus.
There were other signs of a totalitarian system:
1) monoparty system;
2) lack of opposition;
3) merging of the state and party apparatus;
4) the actual elimination of the separation of powers;
5) destruction of political and civil liberties;
6) unification of public life;
7) the cult of the leader of the country;
8) control over society with the help of all-encompassing mass public organizations.
At the top of the political pyramid was the General Secretary of the CPSU (b) I. V. Stalin.
By the beginning of the 1930s. he eliminated all oppositionists and contenders for power and approved the regime of personal dictatorship in the USSR. The main structures of this political system were:
1) party;
2) management of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b);
3) Politburo;
4) state security agencies operating under the direct leadership of I.V. Stalin.
Mass repressions, as one of the main tools of the regime, pursued several goals:
1) elimination of opponents of Stalin's methods of building socialism;
2) destruction of the free-thinking part of the nation;
3) keeping the party and state machinery in constant tension.
Strictly regulating not only the behavior, but also the thinking of each of its members, the ideologized official organizations were called upon from childhood to educate a person in the spirit of the norms of communist morality.
In fact, each of them was only one or another modification of the state ideology for different social groups. Thus, the most privileged and honorable was membership in the CPSU (b) (about 2 million people) and the Soviets (about 3.6 million deputies and activists). For young people there was the Komsomol (Komsomol) and a pioneer organization. For workers and employees there were trade unions, and for the intelligentsia - unions, depending on the type of activity.
The logical continuation of the political course of the party was the adoption December 5, 1936 at the VIII All-Union Extraordinary Congress of Soviets of the new Constitution of the USSR. It established the creation of two forms of ownership:
1) state;
2) collective-farm-cooperative.
The system of state power has also undergone changes:
1) the Supreme Soviet of the USSR remained the supreme body;
2) in the intervals between its sessions, the Presidium of the Supreme Council had power.
40. Foreign policy of the USSR in the late 1920s-1930s
In the foreign policy of the USSR at the end of 1920-1930. three main periods can be distinguished:
1) 1928-1933- an alliance with Germany, opposing Western democracies;
2) 1933-1939- gradual rapprochement with England, France and the United States in the face of a growing threat from Germany and Japan;
3) June 1939-1941- rapprochement with Germany (up to the beginning of the Great Patriotic War).
In the first period, Japanese aggression in Manchuria contributed to the improvement of relations with China. Support for China was further reduced and completely stopped after the conclusion of the Soviet-Japanese treaty from April 13, 1941
Between 1928 and 1933 the most active economic and diplomatic relations were established with Germany, but after the National Socialists came to power, the Western policy of the USSR changed radically and acquired a clear anti-German character.
IN 1935 mutual aid treaties were signed with France and Czechoslovakia.
The duality of the USSR's policy was revealed in 1939, when, simultaneously with the Anglo-French-Soviet negotiations taking place in July-August about the German threat, there were secret negotiations with Germany, which ended with the signing August 23 Moscow non-aggression pact. It was signed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs A. Ribbentrop from the German side and People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs V. M. Molotov- from the Soviet.
From the very beginning of the war, the secret protocols of the pact Molotov-Ribbentrop came into action: from September 17 to September 29, 1939, the Red Army occupied the western regions of Belarus and Ukraine. September 28, 1939 The Soviet-German Treaty "On Friendship and Borders" was signed, defining the border between Germany and the USSR approximately along the Curzon line.
At the same time there were forced preparations for war. Thus, the number of armed forces of the USSR for 2 pre-war years tripled (about 5.3 million people), the output of military products increased significantly, and appropriations for military needs in 1940 reached 32.6% of the state budget. On the other hand, the necessary scale for the production of modern weapons was never achieved, mistakes were made in the development of military doctrine, and the combat capability of the army was weakened by mass repressions, during which more than 40 thousand commanders and political workers were destroyed, and stubborn ignorance of information about the training Germany was not allowed to bring the troops to combat readiness in time for the war.
41. World War II
1) economic and political contradictions;
2) the struggle for a further redistribution of the world;
3) the aggressive policy of fascist Germany;
4) the inept actions of a divided Europe, which considered the greater threat to itself not Nazism, but communist ideology.
61 states participated in the war, military operations were conducted on the territory of Europe, Asia, Africa, the USA, Oceania and on all oceans. The total number of soldiers in the armies of the warring countries exceeded 110 million people, the number of those killed was, according to various sources, from 60 to 70 million people. The largest conflict in the history of the world, which lasted 6 years, became the most destructive. The reason for this was that, in contrast to the First World War, the fighting was much more dynamic, military equipment (tanks and aircraft) was widely used, vast territories became the springboard for hostilities.
The first stage of the war was the capture of Poland (in accordance with the German Weiss plan). Despite the fact that on September 3, Great Britain and France, as well as their colonial possessions, declared war on Germany, two weeks later the Polish army was defeated.
The next period of the war was characterized by some lull and was called the "strange war" for the reason that there were practically no military operations at that time. A large-scale offensive in Western Europe began in accordance with the Weserübung plan only on April 9, 1940. Denmark and Norway were occupied, and then on May 10, 1940, the German army invaded the territory of Belgium and Holland, which capitulated, respectively, on May 28 and 14 . At the same time, the invasion of France began. The main part of the Anglo-French group was evacuated to England in the Dokker area, and on June 22, 1940, a Franco-German truce was concluded in the Compiègne Forest. Italy, which entered the war on June 10, launched an offensive in Somalia against British troops. The "Sea Lion" plan acted against England, which provided for massive bombardments and preparations for a landing operation on the British Isles. By the summer of 1941, Germany and Italy occupied 12 countries, establishing control over a large part of Europe. At the same time, since July 1940, a plan of war against the USSR was being developed under the name "Barbarossa".
42. Great Patriotic War (1941-1945)
The Great Patriotic War has begun June 22, 1941 According to the "Barbarossa" plan, the military forces were divided into three main groups of the army: "North", "Center", "South".
On the basis of the border districts were created:
1) Northern Front (M. M. Popov);
3) Northwestern Front (F.I. Kuznetsov);
4) Western Front (D. G. Pavlov);
5) Southwestern Front (M. P. Kirpson);
6) Southern Front (I. V. Tyulenev).
The basis of the German plan was a lightning war - blitzkrieg. According to this plan for winter 1941 it was supposed to go to the Arkhangelsk-Volga-Astrakhan line. The course of the Great Patriotic War can be divided into 4 main stages:
1) the first stage - the beginning of the war, November 1941- characterized by the retreat of the Red Army. The strategic initiative was in the hands of the German command (the Germans occupied the Baltic states, Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus, blockaded Leningrad and approached Moscow);
2) second stage (December 1941 - November 1942)- unstable balance of forces. In May 1942, the German troops launched a counteroffensive and, in accordance with the new strategic plan, in the summer of 1942 reached the Caucasus and Stalingrad. The Battle of Stalingrad (July 17 - November 18) ended with the encirclement of over 330 thousand enemy troops;
3) the third period of the Great Patriotic War (December 19, 1942 – December 31, 1943)- transfer of strategic initiative to the Soviet Union. During the battle on the Kursk Bulge (July-August 1943), the Wehrmacht lost over 500 thousand people, 3 thousand guns, 1.5 thousand tanks, over 3.7 thousand aircraft, which meant the collapse of the German offensive strategy. After the victory at Kursk, a powerful offensive of the Red Army began on a front with a length of up to 2 thousand km;
4) fourth period (1944 – May 9, 1945)- in January 1944, the blockade of Leningrad was completely lifted. During Operation Bagration, which began on June 23, most of Belarus was liberated. Successful operations in Poland allowed the Soviet troops to January 29, 1945 enter German territory.
The final operation of the Great Patriotic War was the capture of Berlin. 8 May 1945 An act of unconditional surrender of the armed forces of Nazi Germany was signed. 9th May liberated Prague.
43. Allies of the USSR in the war against the Nazis
From the very beginning of the war, close cooperation between the Soviet Union and the governments of the allied countries began. So, July 12, 1941 the first step towards the creation of an anti-Hitler coalition was taken - a Soviet-British agreement on joint actions in the war was concluded. Officially, the coalition began its existence in January 1942 after the signing in Washington by representatives of 26 states of the Declaration of the United Nations (more than 20 countries later joined it). IN October 1941 an agreement was signed on Anglo-American deliveries of food and military equipment to our country, supplemented in July 1942 agreement with the United States on lend-lease assistance. The main problem in the relations between the USSR, the USA and England was the question of opening a second front in Western Europe, which happened only in July 1944(except for the landings in Sicily and southern Italy in 1943). At the Big Three conferences in Tehran (November 1943), Yalta (February 1945) and Potsdam (July-August 1945), the planning of military operations gradually developed into a discussion of the principles of the post-war world. In accordance with the agreement reached at Yalta, the USSR took part in the final phase of World War II, declaring August 8, 1945 war in Japan. After the successful offensive in the Far East, as well as the US atomic attack on Japanese cities, the Japanese government 10th of August start of negotiations. As a result September 2 Japan's surrender was signed aboard the USS Missouri, officially ending World War II.
The USSR made the main contribution to ridding the world of the fascist threat, paying for it with colossal human and material losses. One of the main outcomes of the war was a new world geopolitical structure that brought the Soviet Union into the ranks of superpowers. In contrast to the USSR, the United States became the leader of Western democracies, turning into the second superpower. Thus, a bipolar system of the world was formed, which determined the political courses of the two great powers and their allies. Created at the final stage of the war, the United Nations was further relegated to the background by the military-political blocs of the superpowers:
1) arising in 1949 the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO);
2) by the Warsaw Pact Organization (WTO), issued in 1955
The confrontation and local conflicts between these blocs determined the Cold War policy for the next 40 years.
44. USSR in the second half of the 1940s - early 1950s
The main trend in the economy of the USSR during the war years was the transfer of industry to war footing, but with 1943 the gradual restoration of the economy begins in areas liberated from German occupation. Since during the Great Patriotic War the country lost approximately 1/3 of its national wealth (1,710 cities, 70,000 villages and villages were destroyed, 31,850 plants and factories, 1,135 mines, 65,000 km of railway lines were put out of action, the sown area decreased on 36.8 million hectares, the population - by 34.4 million people), the revival of the economy became the main task after the Victory. As in the years preceding the war, the main emphasis in this direction was placed on the restoration of industry.
The demobilization of the army personnel was carried out (total 1948 8.5 million people were dismissed), and most of the demobilized military personnel were sent to industrial enterprises. March 18, 1946 session of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR approved the fourth five-year plan (1946-1950). In general, over these years, industrial production exceeded pre-war figures by 73%, labor productivity increased by 25%, and 6,200 large industrial enterprises were restored. Despite this, the conversion of the military industry was only partial, which made it possible to keep the military-industrial complex as the most important element of the country's economy. The rapid recovery of the economy during the Fourth Five-Year Plan was based on:
1) using all the possibilities of a directive economy;
2) reparations with Germany;
3) free labor of the military and prisoners of the Stalinist camps;
4) expanding the scale of the economy (extensive path of development);
5) redistribution of funds from light industry, agriculture and the social sphere in favor of heavy industry;
6) compulsory state loans;
7) monetary reform 1947 etc.
The situation was different in agriculture, however, even here, during this period, it was possible to increase gross output from 60% (1946) up to 92% (1950) from pre-war levels.
It can be argued that in the first post-war years, the country's economy continued to develop in a super-centralized way - the disproportion between the production of means of production and consumer goods increased. The main task of the authorities in the field of economy was to increase the military potential, and not to increase the welfare of citizens.
45. Foreign and domestic policy of the USSR in the mid-1950s - early 1960s
In the socio-political sphere, the last years of the reign of I. V. Stalin (1945-1953) were marked by the strengthening of total control over the spiritual life of the country.
During the war years, a new generation of people appeared who were able to think independently. In addition, many of the soldiers had the opportunity to see how the standard of living in Europe differed from the Soviet one. The majority of the country's population hoped for some liberalization and democratization of the political regime (including party members).
It should be noted that some steps have been taken in this direction. Thus, the GKO was abolished, the collectivity in the work of the Soviets increased, and the congresses of public and political organizations resumed. IN 1946 The SNK was transformed into the Council of Ministers. IN 1952 The CPSU(b) was renamed the CPSU. However, there were no changes in the ideological sphere, moreover, the isolation of the USSR from foreign countries increased (campaigns to combat cosmopolitanism). The transformations did not affect the state security systems and the Gulag, but with 1948 a new round of repressions began, the victims of which were at least 6 million people.
In the field of foreign policy, the main directions of the course of the USSR were:
1) consolidation of influence in the liberated countries of Eastern Europe (socialist camp);
2) a peaceful policy towards Western countries with a simultaneous buildup of military power for the forcible establishment of socialism in other countries (not excluding Western Europe).
At the same time, the doctrines of "containment of communism" and "rejection of communism" are becoming the main trends in Western politics. By the end of the 1940s. The influence of the United States in the countries of Western Europe was noticeably strengthened, at the same time, pro-Soviet regimes were established in the countries of Eastern Europe, which became one of the reasons for the emergence of the Cold War phenomenon. IN 1949 there is a Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) for the "countries of people's democracy", supplemented in 1955 by the Warsaw Pact Organization (OVD). As a counterbalance to these organizations, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is created, and the production of atomic weapons begins. The first conflicts between the two superpowers arise (Korean War 1950-1953).
46. Socio-political development of the USSR in the 1950s - mid-1960s
After the death of I. V. Stalin (March 5, 1953) The most influential figures in the leadership of the USSR were:
1) G. M. Malenkov;
2) N. S. Khrushchev;
3) L. P. Beria.
As a result of the political struggle (March-June 1953)- managed to eliminate L.P. Beria for "criminal encroachment" on the party leadership of society, G.M. Malenkov was removed from the post of head of government in February 1955, "united opposition". N. S. Khrushchev managed to concentrate the party and executive powers in his hands.
After the death of I. V. Stalin, a campaign began to criticize the cult of personality, accompanied by the release and partial rehabilitation of Soviet prisoners. For the period from 1956 to 1961. 700 thousand people were rehabilitated. Speech by N. S. Khrushchev at a closed meeting of the XX Congress of the CPSU (February 1956)"On the cult of personality and its consequences", as well as the adoption of a special resolution of the Central Committee of the CPSU from June 30, 1956 laid the foundation for criticism of the Stalinist regime. The task of "restoring Lenin's norms" in the activities of the state and the CPSU was put forward.
A number of reforms were carried out in the economic sphere. Since the mid 1950s. economic transformations began (the campaign for the development of virgin lands). IN 1957 sectoral ministries were abolished and territorial councils of national economies were introduced. The economic policy mainly consisted in carrying out administrative reorganizations. Collective farms are being transformed into state farms.
In the industrial sector, the backlog from the leading Western countries was growing in the era of the scientific and technological revolution. The growth of industrial and agricultural production gradually declined with each five-year period. Collective farmers received passports for the first time, mass housing construction was going on.
The reforms of N. S. Khrushchev did not affect the foundations of the command-administrative system. As a result, progressive undertakings turned into dissatisfaction with the population and the party and state apparatus. In 1964 N. S. Khrushchev was relieved of his duties.
47. Foreign policy of the USSR under N. S. Khrushchev
At the Twentieth Congress of the CPSU, a new doctrine was formulated, which included two main points:
1) the multivariance of ways to build socialism was recognized (with confirmation of the principle of "proletarian internationalism", i.e., assistance to communist parties and socialist countries);
2) the concept of peaceful coexistence of states with different social systems was updated.
IN 1955 the military-political alliance of the new socialist countries is finally taking shape. The Warsaw Pact Organization (OVD) is being created as part of the USSR, the GDR, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, the People's Republic of China, the NRB, and the NRA. In the same year, relations with Yugoslavia were normalized. However, in 1956 there was an uprising in Hungary, suppressed by parts of the Soviet army and local communists. But not in all countries of the socialist camp, criticism of Stalinism aroused enthusiasm. She received a negative assessment in Albania, North Korea and especially in China. Despite the liberalization of the political course, relations with Western countries became even more aggravated. IN 1953 the war in Korea ended, and the USSR refused to create military bases in Turkey. IN 1955 Soviet troops were withdrawn from the territory of Austria.
In March 1954 G. M. Malenkov was the first to put forward the thesis about the inadmissibility of military conflicts in the era of nuclear weapons. At the end 1950s The USSR considered the possibility of creating a collective security system in Europe and Asia, and also unilaterally carried out a reduction in the size of the armed forces, declared a moratorium on nuclear tests, while changing military doctrine. In general, in the context of the Cold War, both the Soviet Union and Western countries continued to build up their military potential. The most dangerous in the history of the Cold War were 1961(the construction of a wall in Berlin, isolating its western sectors), as well as 1962 when, due to the deployment of Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba, the Cuban Missile Crisis erupted, almost leading to a nuclear war. However, the war was avoided. Moreover, after this episode, the process of improving relations between East and West began.
The basis of the foreign policy of the USSR in relation to the countries of the third world was the involvement of former colonies (mainly England and France) in its sphere of influence. IN 1957-1964 negotiations were held with the leaders of more than thirty developing countries. 20 cooperation agreements were signed. In order to direct their development along the socialist path, many countries were provided with significant material assistance (UAR, India).
48. "Thaw" and Soviet culture in the late 1950s-1960s
In the mid 1950s. the education system established in 1930s needed to be reformed. The main changes were made in the system of secondary education: adopted in December 1958 The law introduced universal compulsory eight-year education instead of seven years. An eight-year polytechnic school was created, secondary education could be obtained at a school for working (rural) youth on the job, at a technical school (on the basis of an eight-year school), at a secondary labor general education school (with industrial training). The higher education system was focused mainly on the training of engineers. For students of higher education, a mandatory work experience was introduced.
New scientific institutions, institutes and problem laboratories, scientific centers were created.
The geography of Soviet science expanded.
Some of the most significant achievements of Soviet science in these years were:
1) creation in 1957 the world's most powerful elementary particle accelerator - the synchrophasotron;
2) launch of the world's first nuclear-powered icebreaker;
4) sending animals into space in November 1957;
6) an attempt to create the world's first jet supersonic passenger liner (TU-104).
Work was carried out in the field of nuclear fusion theory, field theory, aerodynamics, hydrodynamics. Soviet scientists gained worldwide fame L. D. Landau, A. D. Sakharov, M. A. Lavrentiev, S. P. Korolev.
IN May 1958 The decision of the Central Committee of the CPSU "On the correction of errors in the evaluation of the operas" Great Friendship "," Bogdan Khmelnitsky "," From the Heart "" was adopted, in which the previous assessments of Soviet composers were recognized as unfair and unsubstantiated.
New unions of artists were created: the Union of Writers of the RSFSR, the Union of Artists of the RSFSR, the Union of Cinematographers of the USSR.
A real event was the release of the works of AI Solzhenitsyn "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" and "Matryona's Dvor". The phenomenon of dissidence arises (B. Galansky, V. Bukovsky, E. Kuznetsov, the emergence of samizdat literature).
49. Socio-economic development of the USSR in the mid-1960s - early 1980s
The Plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSU found it inappropriate to combine the duties of the First Secretary of the Central Committee (it became L. I. Brezhnev) and the President of the Council of Ministers (A. N. Kosygin). The next 20 years were the period of the most stable development of Soviet society.
Between 1964 and 1985 there was a rapid increase in the population of the country. Under these conditions, social policy acquired special significance. But the main funds in the country were used to carry out economic reforms, while the social sphere was financed according to the residual principle:
1) investments in current construction were reduced;
2) health care spending was reduced;
3) the food problem has aggravated (Rosimport of food), which already in the 1970s. was the reason for the introduction of a card distribution system; decline in real per capita income.
In the field of economics in the 1960-1980s. one of the largest reforms of the economic mechanism, prepared in the era of N. S. Khrushchev, began to be carried out in the country:
1) in agriculture, the debts of collective farms and state farms were written off;
2) increased purchase prices;
3) set a surcharge for above-plan production.
In industry, the main direction of transformation was:
1) strengthening cost accounting;
2) restructuring the pricing system;
3) restoration of the sectoral principle of management;
4) reduction in the number of planned indicators.
The main goal of all reforms was to improve the economy through the introduction of a mechanism of internal self-regulation. The main shortcomings of the reform were half-heartedness and inconsistency. The accompanying negative reform processes were:
1) extensive development, which implied the expansion of production, which became difficult due to the exhausted possibilities of the main donor - agriculture;
2) the need to build up military potentials;
3) covering the state budget deficit through energy exports;
4) inability to master new technologies of scientific and technological revolution;
5) the emergence of a shadow economy and its merging with corrupt groups of the Soviet nomenklatura.
50. Political development of the USSR in the mid-1960s - early 1980s
Since 1965 By 1985 On the whole, the formation of the Soviet bureaucratic system was completed, and there was a gradual increase in the size of the apparatus. The process of centralization of the party organization intensified.
Accepted October 7, 1977 the new Constitution (4th) established in the 6th article the monopoly position of the CPSU in the political system of the country. The constitution as a whole had a democratic character. However, the rights and freedoms fixed in it could not actually be realized in the USSR.
The internal political course was based on the thesis of "building a developed socialist society in the USSR" and the need to improve developed socialism (neo-Stalinism).
The foreign policy of the USSR in 1965-1985 was based on the position of a radical change in the balance of power in the world in favor of the countries of the socialist bloc. Since the 1970s in relations between the US and the USSR, characterized as a "detente" of tension.
IN 1972 The FRG and the GDR officially recognized each other, and at the same time, the first visit of US President R. Nixon to the USSR took place. IN 1973 during the visit of L. I. Brezhnev to the United States, an agreement was signed on the prevention of nuclear war. IN 1975 The Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe was held in Helsinki with the participation of the heads of 33 states of Europe, the USA and Canada.
After suppression in August 1968 attempts at a democratic coup in Czechoslovakia (Prague Spring), the split in the socialist camp intensified. This was the reason for the new policy of the USSR towards the "allies", aimed at strengthening the military and economic integration in Eastern Europe, which in fact meant limiting the sovereignty of the countries of "people's democracy".
Pro-Soviet regimes are being established in a number of Third World states. At the end of 1979, a "limited contingent of Soviet troops" was brought into Afghanistan to strengthen Soviet influence.
51. Domestic culture in the mid-1960s - early 1980s
In the field of education, there has been a gradual decline in the level of training of students. During these years, for the first time, a disproportion between mid-level and top-level specialists became apparent. An increase in the number of technical schools could not improve the situation. The attempt to reform the school in 1983-1984 The system of higher education was also in crisis: the increase in the number of universities led to the irrational use of graduates, a decrease in the level of training and the prestige of the Soviet diploma. In the field of science, the main problem was the isolation of scientific research from the applied sphere. If in fundamental areas Soviet developments did not lag behind Western ones, then, say, in computerization, the lag was simply catastrophic. So, despite the advanced space programs, in the early 1980s. 40% of workers were employed in industry, 60% in construction, and 75% in agriculture.
Nevertheless, significant successes have been achieved in physics, chemistry, space exploration, and the development of the latest weapons. Funding for culture in the country was constantly growing (from 55.9 billion rubles in 1979 to 125.6 billion rubles in 1980). However, the tightening of censorship and ideological pressure could not but affect the artistic level of the works. During these years, many figures of literature and art were deprived of the opportunity to freely create in the USSR:
2) theatrical performances;
3) many films remained on the shelves;
4) some prominent figures of Russian culture were forced to leave the country (I. A. Brodsky, Yu. S. Lyubimov, A. I. Solzhenitsyn, A. A. Galich, M. L. Rostropovich).
Nevertheless, many outstanding works of art appeared during these years, which received recognition at home and abroad. Against the backdrop of the official mass culture (production and historical-revolutionary themes dominated), they looked especially bright. Of particular note is the cinematographic school of these years (A. A. Tarkovsky, A. D. German, T. Abuladze, S. N. Parajanov, K. Muratova, N. S. Mikhalkov, A. S. Konchalovsky and others). The dissident movement, headed by leading representatives of the Soviet intelligentsia, became an integral feature of the culture and social life of the USSR.
52 Domestic policy of the USSR during the years of perestroika
After the death of L. I. Brezhnev, the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU stood at the head of the party and state apparatus Yu. V. Andropov. Replaced him in February 1984. K. U. Chernenko. After the death of K. U. Chernenko, in March 1985, the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU became M. S. Gorbachev. The period of the country's life, called "perestroika".
The main task was to stop the collapse of the "state socialism" system. Designed in 1987 The reform project included:
1) expand the economic independence of enterprises;
2) revive the private sector of the economy;
3) give up the foreign trade monopoly;
4) reduce the number of administrative instances;
5) in agriculture to recognize the equality of five forms of ownership: collective farms, state farms, agro-combines, rental cooperatives and farms.
Decree 1990"On the Concept of Transition to a Regulated Market Economy".
Inflationary processes intensified in the country, caused by the budget deficit.
The new leadership of the RSFSR (Chairman of the Supreme Council - B. N. Yeltsin) developed the "500 Days" program, which involved the decentralization and privatization of the public sector of the economy.
The policy of glasnost, which was first announced at the 26th Congress of the CPSU in February 1986, assumed:
1) mitigation of censorship over the media;
2) publication of previously banned books and documents;
3) mass rehabilitation of victims of political repressions, including major figures of the Soviet government 1920-1930s
Mass media free from ideological attitudes appeared in the country in the shortest possible time. In the political sphere, a course was taken to create a permanent parliament and a socialist legal state. IN 1989 Elections of People's Deputies of the USSR were held, and the Congress of People's Deputies was created. Parties are formed with the following direction:
1) liberal democratic;
2) the communist party.
In the CPSU itself, three trends were clearly identified:
1) social democratic;
2) centrist;
3) orthodox traditionalist.
53. Collapse of the Soviet Union
IN 1989-1990 Communist parties of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia announced their withdrawal from the CPSU. In all the republics, new centers of power began to take shape; a policy of distancing from Moscow is being pursued.
Already in spring and summer 1990 The Baltic republics adopted the Declaration of Sovereignty. IN 1989 interethnic conflicts began in the country.
The second stage of political reforms led to the fact that:
1) the "leading and guiding" role of the CPSU was abolished;
2) the possibility of registering political parties was announced;
3) an attempt was made to restructure the CPSU.
Negotiations began between the presidential administration and the leadership of the republics on concluding a new union treaty after unsuccessful military operations in Tbilisi (April 1989), Baku (January 1990), Vilnius and Riga (January 1991). Representatives of nine of the fifteen republics of the former USSR agreed to participate in the negotiations.
Introduced the post of President of the USSR. The center's last attempt to maintain a unified state was the Commonwealth of Sovereign States (CCS) project. However, by summer 1991 most of the republics declared their sovereignty.
August 19, 1991 the conservative wing in the leadership of the USSR made an attempt to keep the system from the final collapse. The signing of a new union treaty, scheduled for August 20, could automatically change all state structures. In Moscow, the State Committee for the State of Emergency (GKChP) was established, which attempted to establish power in the country. However, the President of the RSFSR (since June 1991- B. N. Yeltsin) managed to organize resistance in Moscow and large cities of Russia. Already on August 21, an emergency session of the Supreme Council of Russia supported the leadership of the republic; all members of the GKChP were arrested on charges of attempting a coup d'état.
The leaders of the new states refused to sign the union treaty. In mid-December 1991, the leaders of the Russian Federation, Ukraine and Belarus (B. N. Yeltsin, L. M. Kravchuk, S. S. Shushkevich) announced the creation of the CIS. On December 21, eight more republics joined the CIS. Resignation of President M. S. Gorbachev December 25, 1991 finally secured the liquidation of the USSR.
54. Foreign policy of the USSR during the years of perestroika
On the edge 1987-1988 there is a new foreign policy doctrine, called "new political thinking". The main principles of the new foreign policy course were:
1) rejection of the fundamental conclusion about the split of the world into two opposite socio-political systems;
2) recognition of this course as one and indivisible;
3) rejection of the principle of proletarian (socialist) internationalism;
4) recognition of the priority of universal human values over any others.
The main directions of foreign policy as a whole remained traditional for the USSR relations with the West, socialist countries and the third world.
In July 1991, the Soviet-American Treaty on the Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (OSNV-1) was signed. was carried out (May 1988 - February 1989) withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan 1989 began the withdrawal of troops from Mongolia, as well as Vietnamese troops from Kampuchea. During the years of perestroika, gratuitous aid to friendly regimes in developing countries was reduced. At the same time, relations with Israel and South Korea were strengthened.
In a short period of time, the national democratic forces in the former countries of the socialist bloc have taken a leading position. The integration of these countries into NATO and the EEC has begun. Already in 1990, the reunification of the GDR and the FRG took place. Spring 1991 CMEA and ATS were officially dissolved.
The main outcome of 1991 in terms of international relations was the destruction of the system that emerged after the Second World War. The bipolar order of the world, based on nuclear deterrence, the confrontation between two economic systems and two superpowers, has collapsed. From that time on, only the United States could claim superpower status.
55. Domestic policy of the Russian Federation in 1991-2000
IN October 1991 A program of economic reforms was drawn up, which included:
1) price liberalization;
2) privatization and corporatization in industry and agriculture;
3) antimonopoly tax policy;
4) reduction of unreasonable expenses;
5) a system of targeted social assistance;
6) establishing economic relations with other countries.
IN 1992 privatization of state property began. August 14, 1993 issued a presidential decree on the introduction of privatization checks (vouchers).
In agriculture, the gradual creation of farms and industrial share partnerships began. TO 2000 most of the enterprises in the country passed into private hands. The prices of consumer goods rose steadily, driving up inflation; increased social stratification. The decline in knowledge-intensive industries has been steadily increasing. The peak of the economic crisis was the default on August 17, 1998.
The conflict between the branches of government (President B.N. Yeltsin, the Supreme Council headed by R.I. Khasbulatov) took real shape in October 1993. After the President announced the dissolution of the Congress and the Supreme Council, the Supreme Council, in turn, removed the head of state from positions, transferring presidential powers to Vice President A. V. Rutskoi. Events October 2-4, 1993 ended with the capture of the White House by special forces. December 12, 1993 Elections were held to the Federation Council and the State Duma - the upper and lower houses of the Federal Assembly. At the same time during the popular vote 12 December The new Constitution of Russia was adopted. A presidential-parliamentary republic was created with a clear predominance of executive power.
B. N. Yeltsin won the 1996 elections, however December 31, 1999 before the expiration of his term, he resigned and, according to the Constitution, the prime minister became the acting president of the country V. V. Putin, elected President of the Russian Federation March 26, 2000 in the first round (52% of the votes).
56. Foreign policy of the Russian Federation in 1991-2000
An important task of the country's leadership was to preserve the territorial integrity of Russia. IN 1991 all autonomous republics, as well as autonomous regions, declared themselves sovereign republics. In December 1994, federal troops were brought into the territory of Chechnya to restore constitutional order. IN May 1997 an agreement was signed between Chechnya and the Center to end the state of war. However, the hostilities were soon continued, and only February 29, 2000 The command of the federal forces in Chechnya announced that they had taken control of the last stronghold of the militants - the city of Shatoi. But the Chechen question was still far from being finally resolved.
Priority in foreign policy was given to relations with the United States and the CIS.
The Russian Federation lost its naval bases in the Baltics and Crimea, and the question arose of creating new borders with the former republics of the USSR.
Russia's relations with Western countries throughout 1990s developed in several directions:
1) relations with the "Big Seven";
2) continuation of nuclear disarmament within the framework of relations between the Russian Federation and the United States.
An important event after the collapse of the Warsaw Pact was the withdrawal of Russian military contingents from the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, as well as the Baltic states. On May 27, 1997, the Russia-NATO agreement was signed in Paris, in which the countries of the Alliance assumed a number of obligations.
The most important direction of Russia's foreign policy was the settlement of relations with neighboring countries. IN 1992 a treaty on collective security of the countries - members of the CIS (6 out of 11 countries) was signed.
A special place was occupied by the problem of protecting the Russian-speaking population living in the post-Soviet space (about 26 million people).
Nicholas II (1894 - 1917)
Due to the stampede that occurred during his coronation, many people died. So the name "Bloody" was attached to the kindest philanthropist Nikolai. In 1898, caring for world peace, he issued a manifesto in which he called on all countries of the world to completely disarm. After that, a special commission met in The Hague to develop a number of measures that could further prevent bloody clashes between countries and peoples. But the peace-loving emperor had to fight. First, in the First World War, then the Bolshevik coup broke out, as a result of which the monarch was overthrown, and then shot with his family in Yekaterinburg.
The Orthodox Church canonized Nicholas Romanov and his entire family as saints.
Lvov Georgy Evgenievich (1917)
After the February Revolution, he became Chairman of the Provisional Government, which he headed from March 2, 1917 to July 8, 1917. Subsequently, he emigrated to France after the October Revolution.
Alexander Fedorovich (1917)
He was the chairman of the Provisional Government after Lvov.
The nineteenth century in Russian history turned out to be rich in epochal events that played a huge role in the development of not only our country, but also influenced the course of world history.
1801. At night (March 11-12) in St. Petersburg, Emperor Paul the First is killed as a result of a palace conspiracy. He reigned less than five years. But over the years he managed to do a lot: he published the “Institution on the Imperial Family”, improved the position of serfs, settled some religious contradictions, under him a university was opened in Derpt, theological academies in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and even women's institutes. In the same year, the son of the murdered Paul the First, Alexander the First (Blessed), who reigned until 1825, was crowned king.
1802. Ministries were established, in particular, for the first time - the Ministry of Education, and education began to be regarded as the most important state business.
According to V.G. Belinsky, all ancient Russian epics can be divided into only two cycles - Novgorod and Kiev, since all epics are connected either with Novgorod or with Kiev - two political centers. Epics reflected the desire of people to feel safe, to feel protected against the backdrop of constant dangers in the form of enemy raids on their native lands.
People longed for protection, and people found a kind of outlet, a kind of lifeline in the form of fictional legends about saviors-heroes who are ready to stand up for the freedom of their native lands, who can protect them from misfortune, ruin and death. Although, in addition to military epics, there are, of course, social and everyday ones, the heroes of which also often became the legendary defenders of the Russian land.
These epics, no doubt, include the epics "Dobrynya and Alyosha" (about the failed marriage of Alyosha), "Dobrynya and Marinka", "Nightingale Budimirovich", "Volga and Mikula", "Duke Stepanovich", epics about Sadko
very interesting, especially the history of the Russian state. Over the centuries, there have been many historical characters to learn from. And every Russian person is simply obliged to know his history, as this speaks of his culture and patriotism. Interesting and reliable information can be found on the website website Every pupil or student needs to write an essay on history. Previously, this work was more difficult, as you had to go to the reading room, shovel through mountains of books, re-read a sea of information, choose the most interesting and significant points on the topic. And write, write, write!
Today, computer technology makes life easier for schoolchildren and students. At home, sitting at a computer in a comfortable chair with a sandwich in hand, going to the site, there is an opportunity to get excellent information for creating an abstract on history, to familiarize yourself with. Moreover, any information is freely available and free of charge. On the site site, anyone can get information about, about culture and, about political ideologies. The site has information about and, and, and, and, and, and even about with specific recipes. In the Special Projects section, you can learn about, about, about Russian victories, commanders, naval commanders, about heroes and battles of wars, about the royal family, about Soviet posters, about awards from the USSR and modern Russia.
The history of Russia in the 13th century was marked mainly by the struggle against external invasions: the southwestern Russian lands were invaded by Batu Khan, and the North-Eastern was faced with danger coming from the Baltic.
By the beginning of the 13th century, it had a strong influence on the Baltic states, so the Polotsk land established close contacts with its inhabitants, which consisted mainly in collecting tribute from the local population. However, the Baltic lands also attracted German feudal lords, namely representatives of the German spiritual and knightly orders. The invasion of the German crusader knights (they were called so because they had an image of a cross on their clothes) into the southeastern Baltic began after the Vatican proclaimed a crusade to these lands.
The 14th century in the history of Russia was marked by the beginning of the unification of Russian lands around Moscow, which was then the center of the struggle against the Mongol-Tatar rule. The rise of Moscow was also facilitated by its favorable geographical position at the intersection of land and river routes, which was used to advantage by the Moscow princes for trade and military purposes. For the Moscow princes themselves, the transformation of the Moscow principality into the strongest was also beneficial, because. being the youngest sons in the family, they could not take the grand prince's throne by seniority. In other words, they had to rely only on themselves, their actions, the position and strength of their principality. However, an advantageous position among the Russian lands was also in, therefore, His Majesty Chance also played a role in which city would become the capital of the new state.
The founder of the Moscow princely dynasty and the first independent Moscow specific prince was the youngest son (1276-1303). The Moscow principality in 1276 was small, but Daniel managed to expand it. In 1301, he took from the princes, and in 1302 he was bequeathed by his nephew the Principality of Pereyaslav, which was finally annexed to Moscow in the reign of Daniel's eldest son, Yuri, from 1303 to 1325. Mozhaisk was annexed to Moscow in 1303, gradually the Moscow principality became the strongest in North-Eastern Rus'.
The 15th century in the history of Russia is the century of the overthrow of the Mongol-Tatar yoke, the reign of descendants - the Moscow princes (1389-1425), (1425-1462), (1462-1505). Russian literature of that time was devoted to the theme of the struggle for freedom ("The Legend of the Battle of Mamaev"). The development of ties with other countries was reflected in such a genre of literature as "walking" - descriptions of travel. The most famous work of this genre in the 15th century was "Journey Beyond Three Seas" by the merchant Athanasius Nikitin.
The strength of the Moscow rulers by the end of the reign, the son of Dmitry Donskoy, surpassed the strength of other Russian princes. Until 1425, not a single conflict between the princes occurred within the Moscow principality. This contributed to the strengthening and exaltation of Moscow. The first civil strife in the 15th century was the feudal war, which lasted 20 years from 1433 to 1453. It was connected with the order of succession to the throne in the Moscow principality.
At the end of the 15th and beginning of the 16th century, education was completed, which developed along with world civilization. It was the time of the Great Geographical Discoveries (America was discovered in 1493), the beginning of the era of capitalism in European countries (the first European bourgeois revolution of 1566-1609 began in the Netherlands). But the development of the Russian state took place in rather peculiar conditions. There was a process of development of new territories in Siberia, the Volga region, the Wild Field (on the rivers Dnieper, Don, the Middle and Lower Volga, Yaik), the country did not have access to the seas, the economy was in the nature of a subsistence economy based on the dominance of the feudal orders of the boyar patrimony. In the southern outskirts of Russia in the second half of the 16th century, Cossacks (from fugitive peasants) began to appear.
By the end of the 16th century, there were approximately 220. The largest of them was Moscow, and the most important and developed - and, Kazan and, and Tula, Astrakhan and. Production was closely connected with the availability of local raw materials and was of a natural geographical nature, for example, leather production was developed in Yaroslavl and Kazan, a large amount of salt was produced in Vologda, Tula and Novgorod specialized in metal production. Stone construction was carried out in Moscow, the Cannon Yard, the Cloth Yard, the Armory were built.
The ancestors of the Slavs - the Proto-Slavs - have long lived in Central and Eastern Europe. In terms of language, they belong to the Indo-European group of peoples that inhabit Europe and part of Asia up to India. The first mention of the Proto-Slavs belong to the I-II centuries. Roman authors Tacitus, Pliny, Ptolemy called the ancestors of the Slavs Wends and believed that they inhabited the Vistula River basin. Later authors - Procopius of Caesarea and Jordanes (VI century) divide the Slavs into three groups: the Slavs who lived between the Vistula and the Dniester, the Wends who inhabited the Vistula basin, and the Antes who settled between the Dniester and the Dnieper. It is the Antes that are considered the ancestors of the Eastern Slavs.
Detailed information about the settlement of the Eastern Slavs is given in his famous "Tale of Bygone Years" by the monk of the Kiev-Pechersk monastery Nestor, who lived at the beginning of the 12th century. In his chronicle, Nestor names about 13 tribes (scientists believe that these were tribal unions) and describes in detail their places of settlement.
Near Kyiv, on the right bank of the Dnieper, there lived a glade, along the upper reaches of the Dnieper and the Western Dvina - the Krivichi, along the banks of the Pripyat - the Drevlyans. On the Dniester, Prut, in the lower reaches of the Dnieper and on the northern coast of the Black Sea, the streets and Tivertsy lived. Volhynia lived to the north of them. Dregovichi settled from Pripyat to the Western Dvina. Northerners lived along the left bank of the Dnieper and along the Desna, and Radimichi lived along the Sozh River - a tributary of the Dnieper. Ilmen Slovenes lived around Lake Ilmen.
The neighbors of the Eastern Slavs in the west were the Baltic peoples, the Western Slavs (Poles, Czechs), in the south - the Pechenegs and Khazars, in the east - the Volga Bulgarians and numerous Finno-Ugric tribes (Mordovians, Mari, Muroma).
The main occupations of the Slavs were agriculture, which, depending on the soil, was slash-and-burn or shifting, cattle breeding, hunting, fishing, beekeeping (collecting honey from wild bees).
In the 7th-8th centuries, in connection with the improvement of tools, the transition from the fallow or shifting system of agriculture to the two-field and three-field crop rotation system, the Eastern Slavs experienced a decomposition of the tribal system, an increase in property inequality.
The development of craft and its separation from agriculture in the VIII-IX centuries led to the emergence of cities - centers of craft and trade. Usually cities arose at the confluence of two rivers or on a hill, since such an arrangement made it possible to defend much better from enemies. The most ancient cities were often formed on the most important trade routes or at their intersection. The main trade route that passed through the lands of the Eastern Slavs was the route "from the Varangians to the Greeks", from the Baltic Sea to Byzantium.
In the 8th - early 9th centuries, the Eastern Slavs distinguished tribal and military squad nobility, and military democracy was established. Leaders turn into tribal princes, surround themselves with a personal retinue. Stands out to know. The prince and the nobility seize tribal land into a personal hereditary share, subjugate the former tribal government bodies to their power.
Accumulating valuables, seizing lands and lands, creating a powerful military squad organization, making campaigns to capture military booty, collecting tribute, trading and engaging in usury, the nobility of the Eastern Slavs turns into a force that stands above society and subjugated previously free community members. Such was the process of class formation and the formation of early forms of statehood among the Eastern Slavs. This process gradually led to the formation of an early feudal state in Rus' at the end of the 9th century.
State of Rus' in the 9th - early 10th centuries
On the territory occupied by the Slavic tribes, two Russian state centers were formed: Kyiv and Novgorod, each of which controlled a certain part of the trade route "from the Varangians to the Greeks."
In 862, according to The Tale of Bygone Years, Novgorodians, wishing to stop the internecine struggle that had begun, invited the Varangian princes to rule Novgorod. The Varangian prince Rurik, who arrived at the request of the Novgorodians, became the founder of the Russian princely dynasty.
The date of formation of the ancient Russian state is conditionally considered to be 882, when Prince Oleg, who seized power in Novgorod after the death of Rurik, undertook a campaign against Kyiv. Having killed Askold and Dir ruling there, he united the northern and southern lands as part of a single state.
The legend about the calling of the Varangian princes served as the basis for the creation of the so-called Norman theory of the emergence of the ancient Russian state. According to this theory, the Russians turned to the Normans (the so-called
whether immigrants from Scandinavia) in order for them to put things in order on Russian soil. In response, three princes came to Rus': Rurik, Sineus and Truvor. After the death of the brothers, Rurik united the entire Novgorod land under his rule.
The basis for such a theory was the position rooted in the writings of German historians about the absence of prerequisites for the formation of a state among the Eastern Slavs.
Subsequent studies refuted this theory, since the determining factor in the formation of any state is objective internal conditions, without which it is impossible to create it by any external forces. On the other hand, the story about the foreign origin of power is quite typical of medieval chronicles and is found in the ancient histories of many European states.
After the unification of the Novgorod and Kyiv lands into a single early feudal state, the Kiev prince began to be called the "grand prince". He ruled with the help of a council consisting of other princes and combatants. The collection of tribute was carried out by the Grand Duke himself with the help of the senior squad (the so-called boyars, men). The prince had a younger squad (gridi, youths). The oldest form of tribute collection was "polyudye". In late autumn, the prince traveled around the lands subject to him, collecting tribute and administering court. There was no clearly established rate of tribute. The prince spent the whole winter traveling around the lands and collecting tribute. In the summer, the prince with his retinue usually made military campaigns, subjugating the Slavic tribes and fighting with their neighbors.
Gradually, more and more of the princely warriors became landowners. They ran their own economy, exploiting the labor of the peasants they enslaved. Gradually, such combatants strengthened and could already further resist the Grand Duke both with their own squads and with their economic strength.
The social and class structure of the early feudal state of Rus' was indistinct. The class of feudal lords was diverse in composition. These were the Grand Duke with his entourage, representatives of the senior squad, the closest circle of the prince - the boyars, local princes.
The dependent population included serfs (people who lost their freedom as a result of sales, debts, etc.), servants (those who lost their freedom as a result of captivity), purchases (peasants who received a "kupa" from the boyar - a loan of money, grain or draft power), etc. The bulk of the rural population was made up of free community members-smerds. As their lands were seized, they turned into feudal-dependent people.
Reign of Oleg
After the capture of Kyiv in 882, Oleg subjugated the Drevlyans, northerners, Radimichi, Croats, Tivertsy. Oleg successfully fought with the Khazars. In 907 he laid siege to the capital of Byzantium, Constantinople, and in 911 concluded a profitable trade agreement with it.
Igor's reign
After the death of Oleg, Rurik's son Igor became the Grand Duke of Kyiv. He subjugated the Eastern Slavs who lived between the Dniester and the Danube, fought with Constantinople, and was the first of the Russian princes to face the Pechenegs. In 945, he was killed in the land of the Drevlyans while trying to collect tribute from them a second time.
Princess Olga, reign of Svyatoslav
Igor's widow Olga brutally suppressed the uprising of the Drevlyans. But at the same time, she determined a fixed amount of tribute, organized places for collecting tribute - camps and graveyards. So a new form of tribute collection was established - the so-called "cart". Olga visited Constantinople, where she converted to Christianity. She ruled during the early childhood of her son Svyatoslav.
In 964, Svyatoslav, who had come of age, came to rule over Russia. Under him, until 969, Princess Olga herself largely ruled the state, since her son spent almost his entire life on campaigns. In 964-966. Svyatoslav liberated the Vyatichi from the power of the Khazars and subordinated them to Kyiv, defeated the Volga Bulgaria, the Khazar Khaganate and took the capital of the Khaganate, the city of Itil. In 967 he invaded Bulgaria and
settled at the mouth of the Danube, in Pereyaslavets, and in 971, in alliance with the Bulgarians and Hungarians, began to fight with Byzantium. The war was unsuccessful for him, and he was forced to make peace with the Byzantine emperor. On the way back to Kyiv, Svyatoslav Igorevich died at the Dnieper rapids in a battle with the Pechenegs, who had been warned by the Byzantines about his return.
Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavovich
After the death of Svyatoslav, his sons began to fight for the rule in Kyiv. Vladimir Svyatoslavovich emerged as the winner. By campaigns against the Vyatichi, Lithuanians, Radimichi, Bulgarians, Vladimir strengthened the possessions of Kievan Rus. To organize defense against the Pechenegs, he established several defensive lines with a system of fortresses.
To strengthen the princely power, Vladimir made an attempt to turn popular pagan beliefs into a state religion and for this he established the cult of the main Slavic retinue god Perun in Kyiv and Novgorod. However, this attempt was unsuccessful, and he turned to Christianity. This religion was declared the only all-Russian religion. Vladimir himself adopted Christianity from Byzantium. The adoption of Christianity not only equalized Kievan Rus with neighboring states, but also had a huge impact on the culture, life and customs of ancient Rus'.
Yaroslav the Wise
After the death of Vladimir Svyatoslavovich, a fierce struggle for power began between his sons, culminating in the victory of Yaroslav Vladimirovich in 1019. Under him, Rus' became one of the strongest states in Europe. In 1036, Russian troops inflicted a major defeat on the Pechenegs, after which their raids on Rus' ceased.
Under Yaroslav Vladimirovich, nicknamed the Wise, a single judicial code for all of Rus' began to take shape - “Russian Truth”. It was the first document regulating the relationship of the princely warriors among themselves and with the inhabitants of cities, the procedure for resolving various disputes and compensation for damage.
Important reforms under Yaroslav the Wise were carried out in the church organization. Majestic cathedrals of St. Sophia were built in Kyiv, Novgorod, Polotsk, which was supposed to show the church independence of Rus'. In 1051, the Metropolitan of Kiev was elected not in Constantinople, as before, but in Kyiv by a council of Russian bishops. The church tithe was determined. The first monasteries appear. The first saints were canonized - brothers princes Boris and Gleb.
Kievan Rus under Yaroslav the Wise reached its highest power. Support, friendship and kinship with her were sought by many of the largest states in Europe.
Feudal fragmentation in Rus'
However, the heirs of Yaroslav - Izyaslav, Svyatoslav, Vsevolod - could not maintain the unity of Rus'. The internecine strife of the brothers led to the weakening of Kievan Rus, which was used by a new formidable enemy that appeared on the southern borders of the state - the Polovtsy. They were nomads who had replaced the Pechenegs who lived here earlier. In 1068, the united troops of the Yaroslavich brothers were defeated by the Polovtsy, which led to an uprising in Kyiv.
A new uprising in Kyiv, which broke out after the death of the Kyiv prince Svyatopolk Izyaslavich in 1113, forced the Kyiv nobility to call for the reign of Vladimir Monomakh, the grandson of Yaroslav the Wise, an imperious and authoritative prince. Vladimir was the inspirer and direct leader of military campaigns against the Polovtsians in 1103, 1107 and 1111. Having become the prince of Kyiv, he suppressed the uprising, but at the same time he was forced by law to somewhat soften the position of the lower classes. This is how the charter of Vladimir Monomakh arose, which, without encroaching on the foundations of feudal relations, sought to somewhat alleviate the situation of the peasants who fell into debt bondage. The same spirit is imbued with the "Instruction" of Vladimir Monomakh, where he advocated the establishment of peace between the feudal lords and peasants.
The reign of Vladimir Monomakh was a time of strengthening of Kievan Rus. He managed to unite under his rule significant territories of the ancient Russian state and stop princely civil strife. However, after his death, feudal fragmentation in Rus' intensified again.
The reason for this phenomenon lay in the very course of the economic and political development of Rus' as a feudal state. The strengthening of large landownership - estates dominated by subsistence farming, led to the fact that they became independent production complexes associated with their immediate environment. Cities became economic and political centers of estates. The feudal lords turned into full masters of their land, independent of the central government. The victories of Vladimir Monomakh over the Polovtsy, which temporarily eliminated the military threat, also contributed to the disunity of individual lands.
Kievan Rus broke up into independent principalities, each of which, in terms of territory, could be compared with an average Western European kingdom. These were Chernigov, Smolensk, Polotsk, Pereyaslav, Galicia, Volyn, Ryazan, Rostov-Suzdal, Kiev principalities, Novgorod land. Each of the principalities not only had its own internal order, but also pursued an independent foreign policy.
The process of feudal fragmentation opened the way for the strengthening of the system of feudal relations. However, it had several negative consequences. The division into independent principalities did not stop the princely strife, and the principalities themselves began to be divided among the heirs. In addition, a struggle began between the princes and local boyars within the principalities. Each of the parties strove for the greatest completeness of power, calling on foreign troops to their side to fight the enemy. But most importantly, the defense capability of Rus' was weakened, which the Mongol conquerors soon took advantage of.
Mongol-Tatar invasion
By the end of the 12th - beginning of the 13th century, the Mongolian state occupied a vast territory from Baikal and Amur in the east to the upper reaches of the Irtysh and Yenisei in the west, from the Great Wall of China in the south to the borders of southern Siberia in the north. The main occupation of the Mongols was nomadic cattle breeding, so the main source of enrichment was constant raids to capture booty and slaves, pasture areas.
The Mongol army was a powerful organization consisting of foot squads and cavalry warriors, which were the main offensive force. All units were shackled by cruel discipline, intelligence was well established. The Mongols had siege equipment at their disposal. At the beginning of the 13th century, the Mongol hordes conquered and ravaged the largest Central Asian cities - Bukhara, Samarkand, Urgench, Merv. Having passed through Transcaucasia, which they had turned into ruins, the Mongol troops entered the steppes of the northern Caucasus, and, having defeated the Polovtsian tribes, the hordes of the Mongol-Tatars, led by Genghis Khan, advanced along the Black Sea steppes in the direction of Rus'.
They were opposed by the united army of Russian princes, commanded by the Kiev prince Mstislav Romanovich. The decision on this was made at the princely congress in Kyiv, after the Polovtsian khans turned to the Russians for help. The battle took place in May 1223 on the Kalka River. The Polovtsians fled almost from the very beginning of the battle. The Russian troops found themselves face to face with a still unfamiliar enemy. They did not know either the organization of the Mongolian army or the methods of warfare. There was no unity and coordination of actions in the Russian regiments. One part of the princes led their squads into battle, the other preferred to wait. The consequence of this behavior was the brutal defeat of the Russian troops.
Having reached the Dnieper after the Battle of Kalka, the Mongol hordes did not go north, but, turning east, returned back to the Mongol steppes. After the death of Genghis Khan, his grandson Batu in the winter of 1237 moved the army now against
Rus'. Deprived of help from other Russian lands, the Ryazan principality became the first victim of the invaders. Having devastated the Ryazan land, the troops of Batu moved to the Vladimir-Suzdal principality. The Mongols ravaged and burned Kolomna and Moscow. In February 1238, they approached the capital of the principality - the city of Vladimir - and took it after a fierce assault.
Having ravaged the Vladimir land, the Mongols moved to Novgorod. But because of the spring thaw, they were forced to turn towards the Volga steppes. Only the following year, Batu again moved his troops to conquer southern Rus'. Having mastered Kiev, they passed through the Galicia-Volyn principality to Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. After that, the Mongols returned to the Volga steppes, where they formed the state of the Golden Horde. As a result of these campaigns, the Mongols conquered all Russian lands, with the exception of Novgorod. The Tatar yoke hung over Russia, which lasted until the end of the 14th century.
The yoke of the Mongol-Tatars was to use the economic potential of Rus' in the interests of the conquerors. Every year, Rus' paid a huge tribute, and the Golden Horde tightly controlled the activities of the Russian princes. In the cultural field, the Mongols used the labor of Russian craftsmen to build and decorate the Golden Horde cities. The conquerors plundered the material and artistic values of Russian cities, exhausting the vitality of the population with numerous raids.
Crusader invasion. Alexander Nevskiy
Rus', weakened by the Mongol-Tatar yoke, found itself in a very difficult situation when a threat loomed over its northwestern lands from the Swedish and German feudal lords. After the seizure of the Baltic lands, the knights of the Livonian Order approached the borders of the Novgorod-Pskov land. In 1240, the Battle of the Neva took place - a battle between Russian and Swedish troops on the Neva River. Novgorod Prince Alexander Yaroslavovich utterly defeated the enemy, for which he received the nickname Nevsky.
Alexander Nevsky led the united Russian army, with whom he set out in the spring of 1242 to liberate Pskov, which had been captured by that time by the German knights. Pursuing their army, the Russian squads reached Lake Peipus, where on April 5, 1242, the famous battle took place, called the Battle of the Ice. As a result of a fierce battle, the non-German knights were utterly defeated.
The significance of the victories of Alexander Nevsky with the aggression of the Crusaders is difficult to overestimate. If the crusaders were successful, the peoples of Rus' could be forcibly assimilated in many areas of their life and culture. This could not happen for almost three centuries of the Horde yoke, since the general culture of the nomadic steppe dwellers was much lower than the culture of the Germans and Swedes. Therefore, the Mongol-Tatars were never able to impose their culture and way of life on the Russian people.
Rise of Moscow
The ancestor of the Moscow princely dynasty and the first independent Moscow appanage prince was the youngest son of Alexander Nevsky, Daniel. At that time, Moscow was a small and poor inheritance. However, Daniil Alexandrovich managed to significantly expand its boundaries. In order to gain control over the entire Moscow River, in 1301 he took Kolomna from the Ryazan prince. In 1302, Pereyaslavsky appanage was annexed to Moscow, the next year - Mozhaisk, which was part of the Smolensk principality.
The growth and rise of Moscow were associated primarily with its location in the center of that part of the Slavic lands where the Russian people developed. The economic development of Moscow and the Moscow Principality was facilitated by their location at the crossroads of both water and land trade routes. Trade duties paid to Moscow princes by passing merchants were an important source of growth in the princely treasury. No less important was the fact that the city was in the center
Russian principalities, which covered it from the raids of the invaders. The Moscow principality became a kind of refuge for many Russian people, which also contributed to the development of the economy and the rapid growth of the population.
In the XIV century, Moscow was promoted as the center of the Moscow Grand Duchy - one of the strongest in North-Eastern Rus'. The skillful policy of the Moscow princes contributed to the rise of Moscow. Since the time of Ivan I Danilovich Kalita, Moscow has become the political center of the Vladimir-Suzdal Grand Duchy, the residence of Russian metropolitans, and the church capital of Rus'. The struggle between Moscow and Tver for supremacy in Rus' ends with the victory of the Moscow prince.
In the second half of the 14th century, under Ivan Kalita's grandson Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy, Moscow became the organizer of the armed struggle of the Russian people against the Mongol-Tatar yoke, the overthrow of which began with the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380, when Dmitry Ivanovich defeated the hundred thousandth army of Khan Mamai on the Kulikovo field. The Golden Horde khans, understanding the importance of Moscow, tried to destroy it more than once (the burning of Moscow by Khan Tokhtamysh in 1382). However, nothing could stop the consolidation of Russian lands around Moscow. In the last quarter of the 15th century, under the Grand Duke Ivan III Vasilyevich, Moscow turned into the capital of the Russian centralized state, which in 1480 forever threw off the Mongol-Tatar yoke (standing on the Ugra River).
Reign of Ivan IV the Terrible
After the death of Vasily III in 1533, his three-year-old son Ivan IV came to the throne. Because of his infancy, Elena Glinskaya, his mother, was declared the ruler. Thus begins the period of the infamous "boyar rule" - the time of boyar conspiracies, noble unrest, and urban uprisings. The participation of Ivan IV in state activity begins with the creation of the Chosen Rada - a special council under the young tsar, which included the leaders of the nobility, representatives of the largest nobility. The composition of the Elected Rada, as it were, reflected a compromise between the various strata of the ruling class.
Despite this, the aggravation of relations between Ivan IV and certain circles of the boyars began to mature as early as the mid-50s of the 16th century. A particularly sharp protest was caused by the course of Ivan IV to "open a big war" for Livonia. Some members of the government considered the war for the Baltics premature and demanded that all forces be directed to the development of the southern and eastern borders of Russia. The split between Ivan IV and the majority of members of the Elected Rada pushed the boyars to oppose the new political course. This prompted the tsar to take more drastic measures - the complete elimination of the boyar opposition and the creation of special punitive authorities. The new order of government, introduced by Ivan IV at the end of 1564, was called the oprichnina.
The country was divided into two parts: the oprichnina and the zemshchina. The tsar included the most important lands in the oprichnina - the economically developed regions of the country, strategically important points. Nobles who were part of the oprichnina army settled on these lands. It was the responsibility of the zemshchina to maintain it. The boyars were evicted from the oprichnina territories.
A parallel system of government was created in the oprichnina. Ivan IV himself became its head. Oprichnina was created to eliminate those who expressed dissatisfaction with the autocracy. It was not only administrative and land reform. In an effort to destroy the remnants of feudal fragmentation in Russia, Ivan the Terrible did not stop at any cruelty. The oprichnina terror began, executions and exile. The center and north-west of the Russian land, where the boyars were especially strong, were subjected to a particularly cruel defeat. In 1570 Ivan IV undertook a campaign against Novgorod. On the way, the oprichnina army defeated Klin, Torzhok and Tver.
Oprichnina did not destroy the princely-boyar land ownership. However, she greatly weakened his power. The political role of the boyar aristocracy, which opposed
centralization policies. At the same time, the oprichnina worsened the situation of the peasants and contributed to their mass enslavement.
In 1572, shortly after the campaign against Novgorod, the oprichnina was abolished. The reason for this was not only that the main forces of the opposition boyars had been broken by that time and that it itself had been almost completely exterminated physically. The main reason for the abolition of the oprichnina lies in the clearly overdue dissatisfaction with this policy of the most diverse segments of the population. But, having abolished the oprichnina and even returned some of the boyars to their old estates, Ivan the Terrible did not change the general direction of his policy. Many oprichnina institutions continued to exist after 1572 under the name of the Sovereign's Court.
The oprichnina could only give temporary success, since it was an attempt by brute force to break what was generated by the economic laws of the country's development. The need to combat specific antiquity, the strengthening of centralization and the power of the tsar were objectively necessary at that time for Russia. The reign of Ivan IV the Terrible predetermined further events - the establishment of serfdom on a national scale and the so-called "Time of Troubles" at the turn of the 16th-17th centuries.
"Time of Troubles"
After Ivan the Terrible, the Russian tsar in 1584 was his son Fyodor Ivanovich, the last tsar of the Rurik dynasty. His reign was the beginning of that period in national history, which is commonly referred to as the "Time of Troubles." Fedor Ivanovich was a weak and sickly man, unable to manage the vast Russian state. Among his close associates, Boris Godunov gradually stands out, who, after the death of Fedor in 1598, was elected by the Zemsky Sobor to the kingdom. A supporter of strict power, the new tsar continued his active policy of enslaving the peasantry. A decree was issued on bonded serfs, at the same time a decree was issued on the establishment of "lesson years", that is, the period during which the owners of the peasants could bring a claim for the return of fugitive serfs to them. During the reign of Boris Godunov, the distribution of land to service people was continued at the expense of possessions taken to the treasury from monasteries and disgraced boyars.
In 1601-1602. Russia suffered severe crop failures. The worsening situation of the population was facilitated by the cholera epidemic that hit the central regions of the country. The disasters and discontent of the people led to numerous uprisings, the largest of which was the uprising of Cotton, which was suppressed with difficulty by the authorities only in the autumn of 1603.
Taking advantage of the difficulties of the internal situation of the Russian state, the Polish and Swedish feudal lords tried to seize the Smolensk and Seversk lands, which used to be part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Part of the Russian boyars was dissatisfied with the rule of Boris Godunov, and this was a breeding ground for the emergence of the opposition.
In conditions of general discontent, an impostor appears on the western borders of Russia, posing as Tsarevich Dmitry, the son of Ivan the Terrible, who "miraculously escaped" in Uglich. "Tsarevich Dmitry" turned to the Polish magnates for help, and then to King Sigismund. In order to enlist the support of the Catholic Church, he secretly converted to Catholicism and promised to subordinate the Russian Church to the papacy. In the autumn of 1604, False Dmitry with a small army crossed the Russian border and moved through the Seversk Ukraine to Moscow. Despite the defeat near Dobrynichy in early 1605, he managed to raise many regions of the country to revolt. The news of the appearance of the “legitimate Tsar Dmitry” raised great hopes for changes in life, so city after city declared support for the impostor. Encountering no resistance on his way, False Dmitry approached Moscow, where Boris Godunov had suddenly died by that time. The Moscow boyars, who did not accept the son of Boris Godunov as tsar, made it possible for the impostor to establish himself on the Russian throne.
However, he was in no hurry to fulfill his earlier promises - to transfer the outlying Russian regions to Poland and, moreover, to convert the Russian people to Catholicism. False Dmitry did not justify
hopes and the peasantry, since he began to pursue the same policy as Godunov, relying on the nobility. The boyars, who used False Dmitry to overthrow Godunov, were now only waiting for an excuse to get rid of him and come to power. The reason for the overthrow of False Dmitry was the wedding of the impostor with the daughter of the Polish magnate Marina Mniszek. The Poles who arrived at the celebrations behaved in Moscow as in a conquered city. Taking advantage of the current situation, on May 17, 1606, the boyars, led by Vasily Shuisky, raised an uprising against the impostor and his Polish supporters. False Dmitry was killed, and the Poles were expelled from Moscow.
After the assassination of False Dmitry, the Russian throne was taken by Vasily Shuisky. His government had to deal with the peasant movement of the early 17th century (an uprising led by Ivan Bolotnikov), with the Polish intervention, a new stage of which began in August 1607 (False Dmitry II). After the defeat at Volkhov, the government of Vasily Shuisky was besieged in Moscow by the Polish-Lithuanian invaders. At the end of 1608, many regions of the country came under the rule of False Dmitry II, which was facilitated by a new surge in the class struggle, as well as the growth of contradictions among Russian feudal lords. In February 1609, the Shuisky government concluded an agreement with Sweden, according to which, in exchange for hiring Swedish troops, it ceded to it part of the Russian territory in the north of the country.
From the end of 1608, a spontaneous people's liberation movement began, which the Shuisky government managed to lead only from the end of the winter of 1609. By the end of 1610, Moscow and most of the country were liberated. But as early as September 1609, open Polish intervention began. The defeat of Shuisky's troops near Klushino from the army of Sigismund III in June 1610, the speech of the city's lower classes against the government of Vasily Shuisky in Moscow led to his fall. On July 17, part of the boyars, the capital and provincial nobility, Vasily Shuisky was overthrown from the throne and forcibly tonsured a monk. In September 1610, he was extradited to the Poles and taken to Poland, where he died in prison.
After the overthrow of Vasily Shuisky, power was in the hands of 7 boyars. This government was called "seven boyars". One of the first decisions of the “seven boyars” was the decision not to elect representatives of Russian families as tsar. In August 1610, this grouping concluded an agreement with the Poles standing near Moscow, recognizing the son of the Polish king Sigismund III, Vladislav, as the Russian tsar. On the night of September 21, Polish troops were secretly admitted to Moscow.
Sweden also launched aggressive actions. The overthrow of Vasily Shuisky freed her from allied obligations under the treaty of 1609. Swedish troops occupied a significant part of the north of Russia and captured Novgorod. The country faced a direct threat of loss of sovereignty.
Discontent grew in Russia. There was an idea to create a national militia to liberate Moscow from the invaders. It was headed by the voivode Prokopiy Lyapunov. In February-March 1611, the militia troops besieged Moscow. The decisive battle took place on 19 March. However, the city has not yet been liberated. The Poles still remained in the Kremlin and Kitai-Gorod.
In the autumn of the same year, at the call of Nizhny Novgorod Kuzma Minin, a second militia began to be created, the head of which was elected Prince Dmitry Pozharsky. Initially, the militia attacked the eastern and northeastern regions of the country, where not only new regions were formed, but governments and administrations were also created. This helped the army to enlist the support of people, finances and supplies of all the most important cities of the country.
In August 1612, the militia of Minin and Pozharsky entered Moscow and united with the remnants of the first militia. The Polish garrison experienced great hardship and hunger. After a successful assault on Kitai-Gorod on October 26, 1612, the Poles capitulated and surrendered the Kremlin. Moscow was liberated from the interventionists. The attempt of the Polish troops to retake Moscow failed, and Sigizmund III was defeated near Volokolamsk.
In January 1613, the Zemsky Sobor, which met in Moscow, decided to elect to the Russian throne 16-year-old Mikhail Romanov, the son of Metropolitan Filaret, who at that time was in Polish captivity.
In 1618, the Poles again invaded Russia, but were defeated. The Polish adventure ended with a truce in the village of Deulino in the same year. However, Russia lost Smolensk and the cities of Seversk, which it was able to return only in the middle of the 17th century. Russian prisoners returned to their homeland, including Filaret, the father of the new Russian Tsar. In Moscow, he was elevated to the rank of patriarch and played a significant role in history as the de facto ruler of Russia.
In the fiercest and most severe struggle, Russia defended its independence and entered a new stage of its development. In fact, this is where its medieval history ends.
Russia after the Troubles
Russia defended its independence, but suffered serious territorial losses. The consequence of the intervention and the peasant war led by I. Bolotnikov (1606-1607) was a severe economic devastation. Contemporaries called it "the great Moscow ruin." Almost half of the arable land was abandoned. Having finished with the intervention, Russia begins slowly and with great difficulty to restore its economy. This became the main content of the reign of the first two tsars from the Romanov dynasty - Mikhail Fedorovich (1613-1645) and Alexei Mikhailovich (1645-1676).
To improve the work of government bodies and create a more equitable taxation system, a population census was conducted by decree of Mikhail Romanov, and land inventories were compiled. In the first years of his reign, the role of the Zemsky Sobor was strengthened, which became a kind of permanent national council under the tsar and gave the Russian state an outward resemblance to a parliamentary monarchy.
The Swedes, who ruled in the north, failed near Pskov and in 1617 concluded the Peace of Stolbov, according to which Novgorod was returned to Russia. At the same time, however, Russia lost the entire coast of the Gulf of Finland and access to the Baltic Sea. The situation changed only after almost a hundred years, at the beginning of the 18th century, already under Peter I.
During the reign of Mikhail Romanov, intensive construction of “secret lines” against the Crimean Tatars was also carried out, further colonization of Siberia took place.
After the death of Mikhail Romanov, his son Alexei took the throne. From the time of his reign, the establishment of autocratic power actually begins. The activities of the Zemsky Sobors ceased, the role of the Boyar Duma decreased. In 1654, the Order of Secret Affairs was created, which was directly subordinate to the king and exercised control over state administration.
The reign of Alexei Mikhailovich was marked by a number of popular uprisings - urban uprisings, the so-called. "copper riot", a peasant war led by Stepan Razin. In a number of Russian cities (Moscow, Voronezh, Kursk, etc.) in 1648 uprisings broke out. The uprising in Moscow in June 1648 was called the “salt riot”. It was caused by the dissatisfaction of the population with the predatory policy of the government, which, in order to replenish the state treasury, replaced various direct taxes with a single tax - on salt, which caused its price to rise several times. The uprising was attended by townspeople, peasants and archers. The rebels set fire to the White City, Kitay-Gorod, and defeated the courtyards of the most hated boyars, clerks, and merchants. The king was forced to make temporary concessions to the rebels, and then, having split the ranks of the rebels,
executed many leaders and active participants in the uprising.
In 1650 uprisings took place in Novgorod and Pskov. They were caused by the enslavement of the townspeople by the Council Code of 1649. The uprising in Novgorod was quickly suppressed by the authorities. In Pskov, this failed, and the government had to negotiate and make some concessions.
On June 25, 1662, Moscow was shaken by a new major uprising - the "copper riot". Its causes were the disruption of the economic life of the state during the years of Russia's wars with Poland and Sweden, a sharp increase in taxes and the intensification of feudal serf exploitation. The release of a large amount of copper money, equal in value to silver, led to their depreciation, the mass production of counterfeit copper money. Up to 10 thousand people took part in the uprising, mainly residents of the capital. The rebels went to the village of Kolomenskoye, where the tsar was, and demanded the extradition of traitorous boyars. The troops brutally suppressed this performance, but the government, frightened by the uprising, in 1663 abolished copper money.
The strengthening of serfdom and the general deterioration in the life of the people became the main causes of the peasant war under the leadership of Stepan Razin (1667-1671). Peasants, the urban poor, the poorest Cossacks took part in the uprising. The movement began with a robbery campaign of the Cossacks against Persia. On the way back, the differences approached Astrakhan. The local authorities decided to let them through the city, for which they received part of the weapons and booty. Then the detachments of Razin occupied Tsaritsyn, after which they went to the Don.
In the spring of 1670, the second period of the uprising began, the main content of which was a speech against the boyars, nobles, and merchants. The rebels again captured Tsaritsyn, then Astrakhan. Samara and Saratov surrendered without a fight. In early September, Razin's detachments approached Simbirsk. By that time, the peoples of the Volga region - Tatars, Mordovians - joined them. The movement soon spread to Ukraine. Razin failed to take Simbirsk. Wounded in battle, Razin retreated to the Don with a small detachment. There he was captured by wealthy Cossacks and sent to Moscow, where he was executed.
The turbulent time of the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich was marked by another important event - the schism of the Orthodox Church. In 1654, at the initiative of Patriarch Nikon, a church council met in Moscow, at which it was decided to compare church books with their Greek originals and establish a single and binding procedure for all rituals.
Many priests, led by Archpriest Avvakum, opposed the decision of the council and announced their departure from the Orthodox Church, headed by Nikon. They began to be called schismatics or Old Believers. The opposition to the reform that arose in church circles became a kind of social protest.
Implementing the reform, Nikon set theocratic goals - to create a strong church authority, standing above the state. However, the interference of the patriarch in the affairs of state administration caused a break with the tsar, which resulted in the deposition of Nikon and the transformation of the church into a part of the state apparatus. This was another step towards the establishment of autocracy.
Reunification of Ukraine with Russia
During the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich in 1654, the reunification of Ukraine with Russia took place. In the 17th century, Ukrainian lands were under the rule of Poland. Catholicism began to be forcibly introduced into them, Polish magnates and gentry appeared, who cruelly oppressed the Ukrainian people, which caused the rise of the national liberation movement. Its center was the Zaporizhzhya Sich, where the free Cossacks were formed. Bogdan Khmelnitsky became the head of this movement.
In 1648, his troops defeated the Poles near Zhovti Vody, Korsun and Pilyavtsy. After the defeat of the Poles, the uprising spread to all of Ukraine and part of Belarus. At the same time Khmelnitsky turned
to Russia with a request to accept Ukraine into the Russian state. He understood that only in alliance with Russia it was possible to get rid of the danger of complete enslavement of Ukraine by Poland and Turkey. However, at that time, the government of Alexei Mikhailovich could not satisfy his request, since Russia was not ready for war. Nevertheless, despite all the difficulties of its domestic political situation, Russia continued to provide Ukraine with diplomatic, economic and military support.
In April 1653, Khmelnitsky again turned to Russia with a request to accept Ukraine into its composition. On May 10, 1653, the Zemsky Sobor in Moscow decided to grant this request. On January 8, 1654, the Bolshoy Rada in the city of Pereyaslavl proclaimed the entry of Ukraine into Russia. In this regard, a war began between Poland and Russia, which ended with the signing of the Andrusovo truce at the end of 1667. Russia received Smolensk, Dorogobuzh, Belaya Tserkov, Seversk land with Chernigov and Starodub. Right-bank Ukraine and Belarus still remained part of Poland. Zaporizhzhya Sich, according to the agreement, was under the joint control of Russia and Poland. These conditions were finally fixed in 1686 by the "Eternal Peace" of Russia and Poland.
The reign of Tsar Fedor Alekseevich and the regency of Sophia
In the 17th century, Russia's noticeable lag behind the advanced Western countries becomes obvious. The lack of access to ice-free seas hindered trade and cultural ties with Europe. The need for a regular army was dictated by the complexity of Russia's foreign policy position. The Streltsy army and the noble militia could no longer fully ensure its defense capability. There was no large-scale manufacturing industry, the management system based on orders was outdated. Russia needed reforms.
In 1676, the royal throne passed to the weak and sickly Fyodor Alekseevich, from whom one could not expect the radical transformations so necessary for the country. Nevertheless, in 1682 he managed to abolish localism - the system of distribution of ranks and positions according to nobility and generosity, which had existed since the 14th century. In the field of foreign policy, Russia managed to win the war with Turkey, which was forced to recognize the reunification of Left-Bank Ukraine with Russia.
In 1682, Fedor Alekseevich died suddenly, and, since he was childless, a dynastic crisis broke out in Russia again, since two sons of Alexei Mikhailovich could claim the throne - sixteen-year-old sickly and weak Ivan and ten-year-old Peter. Princess Sophia did not renounce her claims to the throne either. As a result of the Streltsy uprising in 1682, both heirs were declared kings, and Sophia was their regent.
During the years of her reign, small concessions were made to the townspeople and the search for fugitive peasants was weakened. In 1689, there was a gap between Sophia and the boyar-noble group that supported Peter I. Having been defeated in this struggle, Sophia was imprisoned in the Novodevichy Convent.
Peter I. His domestic and foreign policy
In the first period of the reign of Peter I, three events took place that decisively influenced the formation of the reformer tsar. The first of these was the trip of the young tsar to Arkhangelsk in 1693-1694, where the sea and ships conquered him forever. The second is the Azov campaigns against the Turks in order to find an outlet to the Black Sea. The capture of the Turkish fortress of Azov was the first victory of the Russian troops and the fleet created in Russia, the beginning of the transformation of the country into a maritime power. On the other hand, these campaigns showed the need for changes in the Russian army. The third event was the trip of the Russian diplomatic mission to Europe, in which the tsar himself participated. The embassy did not achieve its direct goal (Russia had to abandon the fight against Turkey), but it studied the international situation, paved the way for the struggle for the Baltic states and for access to the Baltic Sea.
In 1700, a difficult Northern War began with the Swedes, which dragged on for 21 years. This war largely determined the pace and nature of the transformations being carried out in Russia. The Northern War was fought for the return of the lands occupied by the Swedes and for Russia's access to the Baltic Sea. In the first period of the war (1700-1706), after the defeat of the Russian troops near Narva, Peter I was able not only to raise a new army, but also to rebuild the country's industry in a military way. Having captured the key points in the Baltic and founded the city of Petersburg in 1703, Russian troops entrenched themselves on the coast of the Gulf of Finland.
In the second period of the war (1707-1709), the Swedes invaded Russia through Ukraine, but, having been defeated near the village of Lesnoy, they were finally defeated in the Battle of Poltava in 1709. The third period of the war falls on 1710-1718, when the Russians troops captured many Baltic cities, ousted the Swedes from Finland, together with the Poles pushed the enemy back to Pomerania. The Russian fleet won a brilliant victory at Gangut in 1714.
During the fourth period of the Northern War, despite the intrigues of England, which made peace with Sweden, Russia established itself on the shores of the Baltic Sea. The Northern War ended in 1721 with the signing of the Peace of Nystadt. Sweden recognized the accession to Russia of Livonia, Estonia, Izhora land, part of Karelia and a number of islands in the Baltic Sea. Russia undertook to pay Sweden monetary compensation for the territories ceded to it and to return Finland. The Russian state, having regained the lands previously occupied by Sweden, secured access to the Baltic Sea.
Against the backdrop of the turbulent events of the first quarter of the 18th century, all sectors of the country's life were restructured, and reforms were carried out in the system of state administration and the political system - the power of the king acquired an unlimited, absolute character. In 1721 the tsar assumed the title of Emperor of All Russia. Thus, Russia became an empire, and its ruler - the emperor of a huge and powerful state, which became on a par with the great world powers of that time.
The creation of new power structures began with a change in the image of the monarch himself and the foundations of his power and authority. In 1702, the Boyar Duma was replaced by the “Council of Ministers”, and from 1711 the Senate became the supreme institution in the country. The creation of this authority also gave rise to a complex bureaucratic structure with offices, departments and numerous staffs. It was from the time of Peter I that a kind of cult of bureaucratic institutions and administrative instances was formed in Russia.
In 1717-1718. instead of a primitive and long-obsolete system of orders, colleges were created - the prototype of future ministries, and in 1721 the establishment of the Synod headed by a secular official completely placed the church in dependence and at the service of the state. Thus, from now on, the institution of the patriarchate in Russia was abolished.
The crown of the bureaucratic structure of the absolutist state was the "Table of Ranks", adopted in 1722. According to it, military, civil and court ranks were divided into fourteen ranks - steps. The society was not only ordered, but also found itself under the control of the emperor and the highest aristocracy. The functioning of state institutions has improved, each of which has received a certain direction of activity.
Feeling an urgent need for money, the government of Peter I introduced a poll tax, which replaced the household tax. In this regard, in order to take into account the male population in the country, which has become a new object of taxation, its census was carried out - the so-called. revision. In 1723, a decree on succession to the throne was issued, according to which the monarch himself received the right to appoint his successors, regardless of family ties and primogeniture.
During the reign of Peter I, a large number of manufactories and mining enterprises arose, and the development of new iron ore deposits began. Promoting the development of industry, Peter I established central bodies in charge of trade and industry, transferred state-owned enterprises to private hands.
The protective tariff of 1724 protected new branches of industry from foreign competition and encouraged the import into the country of raw materials and products, the production of which did not meet the needs of the domestic market, which manifested itself in the policy of mercantilism.
The results of the activities of Peter I
Thanks to the vigorous activity of Peter I in the economy, the level and forms of development of the productive forces, in the political system of Russia, in the structure and functions of the authorities, in the organization of the army, in the class and class structure of the population, in the life and culture of peoples, tremendous changes took place. Medieval Muscovite Rus turned into the Russian Empire. The place of Russia and its role in international affairs has changed radically.
The complexity and inconsistency of the development of Russia during this period determined the inconsistency of the activities of Peter I in the implementation of reforms. On the one hand, these reforms were of great historical significance, since they met the national interests and needs of the country, contributed to its progressive development, being aimed at eliminating its backwardness. On the other hand, the reforms were carried out by the same feudal methods and thereby contributed to the strengthening of the rule of the feudal lords.
The progressive transformations of the time of Peter the Great from the very beginning carried conservative features, which, in the course of the development of the country, became more and more powerful and could not ensure the elimination of its backwardness in full. Objectively, these reforms were of a bourgeois nature, but subjectively, their implementation led to the strengthening of serfdom and the strengthening of feudalism. They could not be different - the capitalist way of life in Russia at that time was still very weak.
It should also be noted that the cultural changes in Russian society that occurred in the time of Peter the Great: the emergence of first-level schools, schools in specialties, the Russian Academy of Sciences. A network of printing houses appeared in the country for printing domestic and translated publications. The first newspaper in the country began to appear, the first museum appeared. Significant changes have taken place in everyday life.
Palace coups of the 18th century
After the death of Emperor Peter I, a period began in Russia when the supreme power quickly passed from hand to hand, and those who occupied the throne did not always have legal rights to do so. It began immediately after the death of Peter I in 1725. The new aristocracy, formed during the reign of the reforming emperor, fearing to lose their prosperity and power, contributed to the ascension to the throne of Catherine I, Peter's widow. This made it possible to establish in 1726 the Supreme Privy Council under the empress, which actually seized power.
The greatest benefit from this was derived by the first favorite of Peter I - His Serene Highness Prince A.D. Menshikov. His influence was so great that even after the death of Catherine I, he was able to subjugate the new Russian emperor, Peter II. However, another group of courtiers, dissatisfied with the actions of Menshikov, deprived him of power, and he was soon exiled to Siberia.
These political changes did not change the established order. After the unexpected death of Peter II in 1730, the most influential group of close associates of the late emperor, the so-called. “supreme leaders”, decided to invite the niece of Peter I, the Duchess of Courland Anna Ivanovna, to the throne, stipulating her accession to the throne with conditions (“Conditions”): do not marry, do not appoint a successor, do not declare war, do not introduce new taxes, etc. Accepting such conditions made Anna is an obedient toy in the hands of the highest aristocracy. However, at the request of the noble deputation, upon accession to the throne, Anna Ivanovna rejected the conditions of the "supreme leaders".
Fearing intrigues from the aristocracy, Anna Ivanovna surrounded herself with foreigners, on whom she became completely dependent. The Empress was almost not interested in state affairs. This prompted foreigners from the royal environment to many abuses, plundering the treasury and insulting the national dignity of the Russian people.
Shortly before her death, Anna Ivanovna appointed the grandson of her older sister, the infant Ivan Antonovich, as her heir. In 1740, at the age of three months, he was proclaimed Emperor Ivan VI. His regent was the Duke of Courland Biron, who enjoyed great influence even under Anna Ivanovna. This caused extreme discontent not only among the Russian nobility, but also in the immediate circle of the late Empress. As a result of a court conspiracy, Biron was overthrown, and the rights of the regency were transferred to the mother of the emperor, Anna Leopoldovna. Thus, the dominance of foreigners at the court was preserved.
Among the Russian nobles and officers of the guard, a conspiracy arose in favor of the daughter of Peter I, as a result of which, in 1741, Elizabeth Petrovna entered the Russian throne. During her reign, which lasted until 1761, there was a return to the Petrine order. The Senate became the highest body of state power. The Cabinet of Ministers was abolished, the rights of the Russian nobility expanded significantly. All changes in the administration of the state were primarily aimed at strengthening the autocracy. However, in contrast to the time of Peter the Great, the court-bureaucratic elite began to play the main role in decision-making. Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, like her predecessor, was very little interested in state affairs.
Elizaveta Petrovna appointed the son of the eldest daughter of Peter I, Karl-Peter-Ulrich, Duke of Holstein, who in Orthodoxy took the name of Peter Fedorovich, as her heir. He ascended the throne in 1761 under the name of Peter III (1761-1762). The Imperial Council became the highest authority, but the new emperor was completely unprepared to govern the state. The only major event that he carried out was the "Manifesto on the Granting of Liberty and Freedom to All the Russian Nobility", which destroyed the obligation for the nobles of both civil and military service.
The worship of Peter III before the Prussian King Frederick II and the implementation of a policy that was contrary to the interests of Russia led to dissatisfaction with his reign and contributed to the growth of the popularity of his wife Sophia-Augusta Frederica, Princess of Anhalt-Zerbst, in Orthodoxy Ekaterina Alekseevna. Catherine, unlike her husband, respected Russian customs, traditions, Orthodoxy, and most importantly, the Russian nobility and the army. A conspiracy against Peter III in 1762 elevated Catherine to the imperial throne.
Reign of Catherine the Great
Catherine II, who ruled the country for more than thirty years, was an educated, intelligent, businesslike, energetic, ambitious woman. While on the throne, she repeatedly declared that she was the successor of Peter I. She managed to concentrate all the legislative and most of the executive power in her hands. Her first reform was the reform of the Senate, which limited its functions in government. She carried out the seizure of church lands, which deprived the church of economic power. A colossal number of monastic peasants were transferred to the state, thanks to which the treasury of Russia was replenished.
The reign of Catherine II left a noticeable mark in Russian history. As in many other European states, Russia during the reign of Catherine II was characterized by a policy of "enlightened absolutism", which assumed a wise ruler, patron of art, benefactor of all science. Catherine tried to conform to this model and even corresponded with the French enlighteners, preferring Voltaire and Diderot. However, this did not prevent her from pursuing a policy of strengthening serfdom.
And yet, the manifestation of the policy of “enlightened absolutism” was the creation and activities of a commission to draw up a new legislative code of Russia instead of the obsolete Cathedral Code of 1649. Representatives of various segments of the population were involved in the work of this commission: nobles, townspeople, Cossacks and state peasants. The documents of the commission fixed the class rights and privileges of various segments of the population of Russia. However, the commission was soon dissolved. The empress found out the mentality of the class groups and made a bet on the nobility. The goal was one - to strengthen state power in the field.
From the beginning of the 1980s, a period of reforms began. The main directions were the following provisions: decentralization of management and increasing the role of the local nobility, almost doubling the number of provinces, strict subordination of all local authorities, etc. The system of law enforcement agencies was also reformed. Political functions were transferred to the zemstvo court elected by the noble assembly, headed by the zemstvo police officer, and in county towns - by the mayor. A whole system of courts, dependent on the administration, arose in the counties and provinces. The partial election of officials in the provinces and districts by the forces of the nobility was also introduced. These reforms created a fairly perfect system of local government and strengthened the relationship between the nobility and the autocracy.
The position of the nobility was further strengthened after the appearance of the “Charter on the rights, liberties and advantages of the noble nobility”, signed in 1785. In accordance with this document, the nobles were exempted from compulsory service, corporal punishment, and could also lose their rights and property only by the verdict of the noble court approved by the empress.
Simultaneously with the Letter of Complaint to the Nobility, the “Charter for Rights and Benefits to the Cities of the Russian Empire” appeared. In accordance with it, the townspeople were divided into categories with different rights and obligations. A city duma was formed, dealing with issues of urban economy, but under the control of the administration. All these acts further consolidated the class-corporate division of society and strengthened autocratic power.
Uprising E.I. Pugacheva
The tightening of exploitation and serfdom in Russia during the reign of Catherine II led to the fact that in the 60-70s a wave of anti-feudal actions of peasants, Cossacks, ascribed and working people swept through the country. They acquired the greatest scope in the 70s, and the most powerful of them entered the history of Russia under the name of the peasant war led by E. Pugachev.
In 1771, unrest swept the lands of the Yaik Cossacks, who lived along the Yaik River (modern Ural). The government began to introduce military orders in the Cossack regiments and to limit the Cossack self-government. The unrest of the Cossacks was suppressed, but hatred was ripening among them, which spilled out in January 1772 as a result of the activities of the commission of inquiry that examined the complaints. This explosive region was chosen by Pugachev for organizing and campaigning against the authorities.
In 1773, Pugachev escaped from the Kazan prison and headed east, to the Yaik River, where he proclaimed himself Emperor Peter III, allegedly saved from death. The "Manifesto" of Peter III, in which Pugachev granted land, hayfields, and money to the Cossacks, attracted a significant part of the discontented Cossacks to him. From that moment began the first stage of the war. After a bad luck near Yaitsky town with a small detachment of surviving supporters, he moved to Orenburg. The city was besieged by the rebels. The government brought troops to Orenburg, which inflicted a severe defeat on the rebels. Pugachev, who retreated to Samara, was soon defeated again and fled to the Urals with a small detachment.
In April-June 1774, the second stage of the peasant war fell. After a series of battles, detachments of the rebels moved to Kazan. In early July, the Pugachevites captured Kazan, but they could not resist the approaching regular army. Pugachev with a small detachment crossed to the right bank of the Volga and began a retreat to the south.
It was from this moment that the war reached its highest scope and acquired a pronounced anti-serfdom character. It covered the entire Volga region and threatened to spread to the central regions of the country. Selected army units were advanced against Pugachev. The spontaneity and locality characteristic of the peasant wars made it easier to fight the rebels. Under the blows of government troops, Pugachev retreated to the south, trying to break through l into the Cossack
Don and Yaik regions. Near Tsaritsyn, his detachments were defeated, and on the way to Yaik, Pugachev himself was captured and handed over to the authorities by wealthy Cossacks. In 1775 he was executed in Moscow.
The reasons for the defeat of the peasant war were its tsarist character and naive monarchism, spontaneity, locality, poor armament, disunity. In addition, various categories of the population participated in this movement, each of which sought to achieve its own goals.
Foreign policy under Catherine II
Empress Catherine II pursued an active and very successful foreign policy, which can be divided into three areas. The first foreign policy task that her government set for itself was to seek access to the Black Sea in order, firstly, to secure the southern regions of the country from the threat from Turkey and the Crimean Khanate, and secondly, to expand opportunities for trade and, consequently, , to increase the marketability of agriculture.
In order to fulfill the task, Russia fought twice with Turkey: the Russian-Turkish wars of 1768-1774. and 1787-1791. In 1768, Turkey, incited by France and Austria, who were very concerned about the strengthening of Russia's positions in the Balkans and Poland, declared war on Russia. During this war, Russian troops under the command of P.A. Rumyantsev won brilliant victories in 1770 over superior enemy forces near the Larga and Cahul rivers, and the Russian fleet under the command of F.F. Ushakov in the same year twice inflicted a major defeat on the Turkish fleet in the Chios Strait and Chesma Bay. The advance of Rumyantsev's troops in the Balkans forced Turkey to admit defeat. In 1774, the Kyuchuk-Kaynarji peace treaty was signed, according to which Russia received lands between the Bug and the Dnieper, the fortresses of Azov, Kerch, Yenikale and Kinburn, Turkey recognized the independence of the Crimean Khanate; The Black Sea and its straits were open to Russian merchant ships.
In 1783, the Crimean Khan Shagin Giray resigned his power, and the Crimea was annexed to Russia. The lands of the Kuban also became part of the Russian state. In the same 1783, the Georgian king Erekle II recognized the protectorate of Russia over Georgia. All these events exacerbated the already difficult relations between Russia and Turkey and led to a new Russian-Turkish war. In a number of battles, Russian troops under the command of A.V. Suvorov again showed their superiority: in 1787 at Kinburn, in 1788 during the capture of Ochakov, in 1789 near the Rymnik River and near Focsani, and in 1790 it was taken impregnable fortress of Izmail. The Russian fleet under the command of Ushakov also won a number of victories over the Turkish fleet in the Kerch Strait, near the island of Tendra, at Kali Akria. Turkey again admitted its defeat. According to the Yassy peace treaty of 1791, the annexation of the Crimea and Kuban to Russia was confirmed, the border between Russia and Turkey along the Dniester was established. The Ochakov fortress retreated to Russia, Turkey abandoned its claims to Georgia.
The second foreign policy task - the reunification of Ukrainian and Belarusian lands - was carried out as a result of the division of the Commonwealth by Austria, Prussia and Russia. These sections took place in 1772, 1793, 1795. The Commonwealth ceased to exist as an independent state. Russia regained all of Belarus, the right-bank Ukraine, and also received Courland and Lithuania.
The third task was the fight against revolutionary France. The government of Catherine II took a sharply hostile stance towards the events in France. At first, Catherine II did not dare to openly intervene, but the execution of Louis XVI (January 21, 1793) caused a final break with France, which the Empress announced by a special decree. The Russian government provided assistance to French emigrants, and in 1793 concluded agreements with Prussia and England on joint actions against France. The 60,000th corps of Suvorov was preparing for the campaign, the Russian fleet participated in the naval blockade of France. However, Catherine II was no longer destined to solve this problem.
Pavel I
On November 6, 1796, Catherine II died suddenly. Her son Paul I became the Russian emperor, whose short period of reign was full of intense searches for a monarch in all spheres of public and international life, which from the outside looked more like hectic throwing from one extreme to another. Trying to put things in order in the administrative and financial spheres, Pavel tried to get into every little thing, sent out mutually exclusive circulars, severely punished and punished. All this created an atmosphere of police surveillance and barracks. On the other hand, Paul ordered the release of all politically motivated prisoners arrested under Catherine. True, at the same time, it was easy to go to jail just because a person, for one reason or another, violated the rules of everyday life.
Pavel I attached great importance in his work to lawmaking. In 1797, he restored the principle of succession to the throne exclusively through the male line by the “Act on the Order of Succession” and the “Institution on the Imperial Family”.
Quite unexpected was the policy of Paul I in relation to the nobility. Catherine's liberties came to an end, and the nobility was placed under the strict control of the state. The emperor punished representatives of the noble estates especially severely for failure to perform public service. But even here there were some extremes: infringing on the nobles, on the one hand, Paul I at the same time, on an unprecedented scale, carried out the distribution of a significant part of all state peasants to the landowners. And here another innovation appeared - legislation on the peasant question. For the first time in many decades, official documents appeared that gave some relief to the peasants. The sale of householders and landless peasants was canceled, a three-day corvee was recommended, peasant complaints and requests that were previously unacceptable were allowed.
In the field of foreign policy, the government of Paul I continued the fight against revolutionary France. In the autumn of 1798, Russia sent a squadron under the command of F.F. Ushakov to the Mediterranean through the Black Sea straits, which liberated the Ionian Islands and southern Italy from the French. One of the largest battles of this campaign was the battle of Corfu in 1799. In the summer of 1799, Russian warships appeared off the coast of Italy, and Russian soldiers entered Naples and Rome.
In the same 1799, the Russian army under the command of A.V. Suvorov brilliantly carried out the Italian and Swiss campaigns. She managed to liberate Milan and Turin from the French, having made a heroic transition through the Alps to Switzerland.
In the middle of 1800, a sharp turn began in Russia's foreign policy - the rapprochement between Russia and France, which aggravated relations with England. Trade with it was actually stopped. This turn largely determined the events in Europe in the first decades of the new 19th century.
The reign of Emperor Alexander I
On the night of March 11-12, 1801, when Emperor Paul I was killed as a result of a conspiracy, the issue of the accession to the Russian throne of his eldest son Alexander Pavlovich was resolved. He was privy to the conspiracy plan. Hopes were pinned on the new monarch to carry out liberal reforms and soften the regime of personal power.
Emperor Alexander I was brought up under the supervision of his grandmother, Catherine II. He was familiar with the ideas of the Enlightenment - Voltaire, Montesquieu, Rousseau. However, Alexander Pavlovich never separated thoughts of equality and freedom from autocracy. This half-heartedness became a feature of both the transformations and the reign of Emperor Alexander I.
His very first manifestos testified to the adoption of a new political course. It proclaimed the desire to rule according to the laws of Catherine II, remove restrictions on trade with England, contained the announcement of an amnesty and the reinstatement of persons repressed under Paul I.
All the work related to the liberalization of life was concentrated in the so-called. A secret committee, where friends and associates of the young emperor gathered - P.A. Stroganov, V.P. Kochubey, A. Czartorysky and N.N. Novosiltsev - adherents of constitutionalism. The committee existed until 1805. It was mainly engaged in the preparation of a program for the liberation of the peasants from serfdom and the reform of the state system. The result of this activity was the law of December 12, 1801, which allowed state peasants, burghers and merchants to acquire uninhabited lands, and the decree of February 20, 1803 "On free cultivators", which gave the landowners the right, at their request, to release the peasants into the will with endowing them land for ransom.
A serious reform was the reorganization of the highest and central government bodies. Ministries were established in the country: the military-ground forces, finance and public education, the State Treasury and the Committee of Ministers, which received a single structure and were built on the principle of one-man command. Since 1810, in accordance with the project of the prominent statesman of those years, M.M. Speransky, the State Council began to operate. However, Speransky could not carry out a consistent principle of separation of powers. The State Council from an intermediate body turned into a legislative chamber appointed from above. The reforms of the early 19th century did not affect the foundations of autocratic power in the Russian Empire.
In the reign of Alexander I, the Kingdom of Poland, annexed to Russia, was granted a constitution. The constitutional act was also granted to the Bessarabian region. Finland, which also became part of Russia, received its legislative body - the Sejm - and the constitutional structure.
Thus, constitutional government already existed in part of the territory of the Russian Empire, which inspired hopes for its spread throughout the country. In 1818, even the development of the Charter of the Russian Empire began, but this document never saw the light of day.
In 1822, the emperor lost interest in state affairs, work on reforms was curtailed, and among the advisers of Alexander I stood out the figure of a new temporary worker - A.A. Arakcheev, who became the first person in the state after the emperor and ruled as an all-powerful favorite. The consequences of the reform activities of Alexander I and his advisers were insignificant. The unexpected death of the emperor in 1825 at the age of 48 became an occasion for open action on the part of the most advanced part of Russian society, the so-called. Decembrists, against the foundations of autocracy.
Patriotic War of 1812
During the reign of Alexander I, there was a terrible test for the whole of Russia - the war of liberation against Napoleonic aggression. The war was caused by the desire of the French bourgeoisie for world domination, a sharp aggravation of Russian-French economic and political contradictions in connection with the aggressive wars of Napoleon I, Russia's refusal to participate in the continental blockade of Great Britain. The agreement between Russia and Napoleonic France, concluded in the city of Tilsit in 1807, was of a temporary nature. This was understood both in St. Petersburg and in Paris, although many dignitaries of the two countries were in favor of maintaining peace. However, the contradictions between the states continued to accumulate, which led to open conflict.
On June 12 (24), 1812, about 500 thousand Napoleonic soldiers crossed the Neman River and
invaded Russia. Napoleon rejected the proposal of Alexander I for a peaceful solution to the conflict if he withdraws his troops. Thus began the Patriotic War, so named because not only the regular army fought against the French, but almost the entire population of the country in the militia and partisan detachments.
The Russian army consisted of 220 thousand people, and it was divided into three parts. The first army - under the command of General M.B. Barclay de Tolly - was in Lithuania, the second - General Prince P.I. Bagration - in Belarus, and the third army - General A.P. Tormasov - in Ukraine. Napoleon's plan was extremely simple and consisted in defeating the Russian armies piece by piece with powerful blows.
The Russian armies retreated to the east in parallel directions, conserving their strength and exhausting the enemy in rearguard battles. On August 2 (14), the armies of Barclay de Tolly and Bagration united in the Smolensk region. Here, in a difficult two-day battle, the French troops lost 20 thousand soldiers and officers, the Russians - up to 6 thousand people.
The war clearly took on a protracted character, the Russian army continued its retreat, taking the enemy behind him into the interior of the country. At the end of August 1812, a student and colleague of A.V. Suvorov, M.I. Kutuzov, was appointed commander-in-chief instead of the Minister of War M.B. Barclay de Tolly. Alexander I, who did not like him, was forced to take into account the patriotic mood of the Russian people and the army, general dissatisfaction with the retreat tactics chosen by Barclay de Tolly. Kutuzov decided to give a general battle to the French army in the area of the village of Borodino, 124 km west of Moscow.
On August 26 (September 7) the battle began. The Russian army was faced with the task of exhausting the enemy, undermining his combat power and morale, and in case of success, launching a counteroffensive on his own. Kutuzov chose a very good position for the Russian troops. The right flank was protected by a natural barrier - the Koloch River, and the left - by artificial earthen fortifications - flushes occupied by Bagration's troops. In the center were the troops of General N.N. Raevsky, as well as artillery positions. Napoleon's plan provided for a breakthrough in the defense of the Russian troops in the area of the Bagrationovsky flushes and the encirclement of Kutuzov's army, and when it was pressed against the river, its complete defeat.
Eight attacks were made by the French against the flushes, but they could not completely capture them. They only managed to advance slightly in the center, destroying Raevsky's batteries. In the midst of the battle in the central direction, the Russian cavalry made a daring raid behind enemy lines, which sowed panic in the ranks of the attackers.
Napoleon did not dare to bring into action his main reserve - the old guard, in order to turn the tide of the battle. The Battle of Borodino ended late in the evening, and the troops retreated to their previously occupied positions. Thus, the battle was a political and moral victory for the Russian army.
On September 1 (13) in Fili, at a meeting of the command staff, Kutuzov decided to leave Moscow in order to save the army. Napoleonic troops entered Moscow and stayed there until October 1812. In the meantime, Kutuzov carried out his plan called the Tarutino Maneuver, thanks to which Napoleon lost the ability to track the Russian deployment sites. In the village of Tarutino, Kutuzov's army was replenished with 120,000 men and significantly strengthened its artillery and cavalry. In addition, she actually closed the way for the French troops to Tula, where the main weapons arsenals and food depots were located.
During their stay in Moscow, the French army was demoralized by hunger, looting, and fires that engulfed the city. Hoping to replenish his arsenals and food supplies, Napoleon was forced to withdraw his army from Moscow. On the way to Maloyaroslavets, on October 12 (24), Napoleon's army suffered a serious defeat and began to retreat from Russia along the Smolensk road already devastated by the French themselves.
At the final stage of the war, the tactics of the Russian army consisted in the parallel pursuit of the enemy. Russian troops, no
engaging in battle with Napoleon, they destroyed his retreating army in parts. The French also suffered seriously from the winter frosts, for which they were not ready, since Napoleon expected to end the war before the cold. The culmination of the war of 1812 was the battle near the Berezina River, which ended with the defeat of the Napoleonic army.
On December 25, 1812, in St. Petersburg, Emperor Alexander I published a manifesto stating that the Patriotic War of the Russian people against the French invaders ended in complete victory and the expulsion of the enemy.
The Russian army took part in the foreign campaigns of 1813-1814, during which, together with the Prussian, Swedish, English and Austrian armies, they finished off the enemy in Germany and France. The campaign of 1813 ended with the defeat of Napoleon in the battle of Leipzig. After the capture of Paris by the allied forces in the spring of 1814, Napoleon I abdicated.
Decembrist movement
The first quarter of the 19th century in the history of Russia became the period of the formation of the revolutionary movement and its ideology. After the foreign campaigns of the Russian army, advanced ideas began to penetrate into the Russian Empire. The first secret revolutionary organizations of the nobility appeared. Most of them were military - officers of the guard.
The first secret political society was founded in 1816 in St. Petersburg under the name of the Union of Salvation, renamed the following year into the Society of True and Faithful Sons of the Fatherland. Its members were the future Decembrists A.I. Muravyov, M.I. Muravyov-Apostol, P.I. Pestel, S.P. Trubetskoy and others. rights. However, this society was still small in number and could not realize the tasks that it set for itself.
In 1818, on the basis of this self-liquidating society, a new one was created - the Union of Welfare. It was already a more numerous secret organization, numbering more than 200 people. It was organized by F.N. Glinka, F.P. Tolstoy, M.I. Muravyov-Apostol. The organization had a branched character: its cells were created in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Tambov, in the south of the country. The goals of society remained the same - the introduction of representative government, the elimination of autocracy and serfdom. Members of the Union saw ways to achieve their goal in the propaganda of their views and proposals sent to the government. However, they never received a response.
All this prompted radical members of society to create two new secret organizations, established in March 1825. One was founded in St. Petersburg and was called the "Northern Society". Its creators were N.M. Muravyov and N.I. Turgenev. The other originated in Ukraine. This "Southern Society" was led by P.I. Pestel. Both societies were interconnected and were actually a single organization. Each society had its own program document, the Northern one had the “Constitution” by N.M. Muravyov, and the Southern one had the “Russian Truth” written by P.I. Pestel.
These documents expressed a single goal - the destruction of the autocracy and serfdom. However, the "Constitution" expressed the liberal nature of the transformations - with a constitutional monarchy, restriction of voting rights and the preservation of landownership, and "Russian Truth" - radical, republican. It proclaimed a presidential republic, the confiscation of landowners' lands, and a combination of private and public ownership.
The conspirators planned to make their coup in the summer of 1826 during army exercises. But unexpectedly, on November 19, 1825, Alexander I died, and this event prompted the conspirators to take action ahead of schedule.
After the death of Alexander I, his brother Konstantin Pavlovich was to become the Russian emperor, but during the life of Alexander I he abdicated in favor of his younger brother Nicholas. This was not officially announced, so initially both the state apparatus and the army swore allegiance to Constantine. But soon Constantine's renunciation of the throne was made public and a re-swearing was appointed. That's why
On December 14, 1825, the members of the "Northern Society" decided to come out with the demands laid down in their program, for which they intended to hold a demonstration of military force near the Senate building. An important task was to prevent the senators from taking the oath to Nikolai Pavlovich. Prince S.P. Trubetskoy was proclaimed the leader of the uprising.
On December 14, 1825, the Moscow regiment was the first to come to Senate Square, led by the members of the "Northern Society" brothers Bestuzhev and Shchepin-Rostovsky. However, the regiment stood alone for a long time, the conspirators were inactive. The murder of the Governor-General of St. Petersburg M.A. Miloradovich, who went to the rebels, became fatal - the uprising could no longer end peacefully. By the middle of the day, the guards naval crew and a company of the Life Grenadier Regiment nevertheless joined the rebels.
The leaders still hesitated to start active operations. In addition, it turned out that the senators had already sworn allegiance to Nicholas I and left the Senate. Therefore, there was no one to present the Manifesto, and Prince Trubetskoy did not appear on the square. Meanwhile, troops loyal to the government began shelling the rebels. The uprising was crushed, arrests began. Members of the "Southern Society" tried to carry out an uprising in the first days of January 1826 (the uprising of the Chernigov regiment), but even this was brutally suppressed by the authorities. Five leaders of the uprising - P.I. Pestel, K.F. Ryleev, S.I. Muravyov-Apostol, M.P. Bestuzhev-Ryumin and P.G. Kakhovsky - were executed, the rest of its participants were exiled to hard labor in Siberia.
The Decembrist uprising was the first open protest in Russia, which set itself the task of radically reorganizing society.
Reign of Nicholas I
In the history of Russia, the reign of Emperor Nicholas I is defined as the apogee of Russian autocracy. The revolutionary upheavals that accompanied the accession to the throne of this Russian emperor left their mark on all his activities. In the eyes of his contemporaries, he was perceived as a strangler of freedom, freethinking, as an unlimited despot ruler. The emperor believed in the perniciousness of human freedom and the independence of society. In his opinion, the welfare of the country could be ensured only through strict order, the strict fulfillment by each citizen of the Russian Empire of his duties, control and regulation of public life.
Considering that the issue of prosperity can only be resolved from above, Nicholas I formed the “Committee of December 6, 1826”. The tasks of the committee included the preparation of bills for reforms. In 1826, the transformation of "His Imperial Majesty's Own Chancellery" into the most important body of state power and administration also falls. The most important tasks were assigned to its II and III departments. Section II was to deal with the codification of laws, while Section III dealt with matters of higher politics. To solve problems, it received a corps of gendarmes under its control and, thus, control over all aspects of public life. The all-powerful Count A.Kh. Benkendorf, close to the emperor, was placed at the head of the III branch.
However, the over-centralization of power did not lead to positive results. The supreme authorities drowned in a sea of paperwork and lost control over the course of affairs on the ground, which led to red tape and abuse.
To solve the peasant question, ten successive secret committees were created. However, the result of their activities was insignificant. The reform of the state village of 1837 can be considered the most important event in the peasant question. Self-government was given to the state peasants, and their management was put in order. The taxation of taxes and the allotment of land were revised. In 1842, a decree was issued on obligated peasants, according to which the landowner received the right to release the peasants into the wild with the provision of land to them, but not for ownership, but for use. 1844 changed the position of the peasants in the western regions of the country. But this was done not with the aim of improving the situation of the peasants, but in the interests of the authorities, striving
striving to limit the influence of the local, opposition-minded non-Russian nobility.
With the penetration of capitalist relations into the economic life of the country and the gradual erosion of the estate system, changes were also associated in the social structure - the ranks giving the nobility were raised, and for the growing commercial and industrial strata a new estate status was introduced - honorary citizenship.
Control over public life led to changes in the field of education. In 1828, the lower and secondary educational institutions were reformed. Education was class-based, i.e. the stages of the school were torn off from each other: primary and parish - for peasants, county - for urban inhabitants, gymnasiums - for the nobles. In 1835, a new university charter saw the light of day, which reduced the autonomy of higher educational institutions.
The wave of European bourgeois revolutions in Europe in 1848-1849, which horrified Nicholas I, led to the so-called. The “gloomy seven years”, when censorship was tightened to the limit, the secret police raged. A shadow of hopelessness loomed before the most progressive-minded people. This last stage of the reign of Nicholas I, in fact, was already the agony of the system that he created.
Crimean War
The last years of the reign of Nicholas I passed against the backdrop of complications in the foreign policy situation in Russia, associated with the aggravation of the Eastern question. The cause of the conflict was the problems associated with trade in the Middle East, for which Russia, France and England fought. Turkey, in turn, counted on revenge for the defeat in the wars with Russia. Austria did not want to miss its chance, which wanted to expand its sphere of influence on Turkish possessions in the Balkans.
The direct reason for the war was the old conflict between the Catholic and Orthodox churches for the right to control the holy places for Christians in Palestine. Supported by France, Turkey refused to satisfy Russia's claims to the priority of the Orthodox Church in this matter. In June 1853, Russia severed diplomatic relations with Turkey and occupied the Danubian principalities. In response to this, the Turkish Sultan on October 4, 1853 declared war on Russia.
Turkey relied on the unceasing war in the North Caucasus and provided all kinds of assistance to the highlanders who rebelled against Russia, including landing their fleet on the Caucasian coast. In response to this, on November 18, 1853, the Russian flotilla under the command of Admiral P.S. Nakhimov completely defeated the Turkish fleet in the roadstead of the Sinop Bay. This naval battle became a pretext for France and England to enter the war. In December 1853, the combined English and French squadron entered the Black Sea, and in March 1854 war was declared.
The war that came to the south of Russia showed the complete backwardness of Russia, the weakness of its industrial potential and the unpreparedness of the military command for war in the new conditions. The Russian army was inferior in almost all respects - the number of steam ships, rifled weapons, artillery. Due to the lack of railways, the situation with the supply of the Russian army with equipment, ammunition and food was also bad.
During the summer campaign of 1854, Russia managed to successfully resist the enemy. Turkish troops were defeated in several battles. The English and French fleets tried to attack Russian positions in the Baltic, Black and White Seas and the Far East, but to no avail. In July 1854, Russia had to accept the Austrian ultimatum and leave the Danubian principalities. And from September 1854, the main hostilities unfolded in the Crimea.
The mistakes of the Russian command allowed the Allied landing force to successfully land in the Crimea, and on September 8, 1854, defeat the Russian troops near the Alma River and besiege Sevastopol. The defense of Sevastopol under the leadership of Admirals V.A. Kornilov, P.S. Nakhimov and V.I. Istomin lasted 349 days. Attempts by the Russian army under the command of Prince A.S. Menshikov to pull back part of the besieging forces were unsuccessful.
On August 27, 1855, French troops stormed the southern part of Sevastopol and captured the height that dominated the city - Malakhov Kurgan. Russian troops were forced to leave the city. Since the forces of the fighting parties were exhausted, on March 18, 1856, a peace treaty was signed in Paris, under the terms of which the Black Sea was declared neutral, the Russian fleet was reduced to a minimum and fortifications were destroyed. Similar demands were made to Turkey. However, since the exit from the Black Sea was in the hands of Turkey, such a decision seriously threatened the security of Russia. In addition, Russia was deprived of the mouth of the Danube and the southern part of Bessarabia, and also lost the right to patronize Serbia, Moldavia and Wallachia. Thus, Russia lost its positions in the Middle East to France and England. Its prestige in the international arena was severely undermined.
Bourgeois reforms in Russia in the 60s - 70s
The development of capitalist relations in pre-reform Russia came into ever greater conflict with the feudal-serf system. The defeat in the Crimean War exposed the rottenness and impotence of serf Russia. There was a crisis in the policy of the ruling feudal class, which could no longer carry it out with the old, feudal methods. Urgent economic, social and political reforms were needed in order to prevent a revolutionary explosion in the country. The country's agenda included measures necessary to not only preserve, but also strengthen the social and economic base of the autocracy.
All this was well understood by the new Russian emperor Alexander II, who ascended the throne on February 19, 1855. He understood the need for concessions, as well as compromise in the interests of state life. After his accession to the throne, the young emperor introduced his brother Constantine, who was a staunch liberal, into the cabinet of ministers. The next steps of the emperor were also progressive in nature - free travel abroad was allowed, the Decembrists were amnestied, censorship on publications was partially lifted, and other liberal measures were taken.
Alexander II took the problem of the abolition of serfdom with great seriousness. Starting from the end of 1857, a number of committees and commissions were created in Russia, the main task of which was to resolve the issue of emancipating the peasantry from serfdom. At the beginning of 1859, Editorial Commissions were created to summarize and process the projects of the committees. The project developed by them was submitted to the government.
On February 19, 1861, Alexander II issued a manifesto on the liberation of the peasants, as well as the “Regulations” regulating their new state. According to these documents, Russian peasants received personal freedom and most civil rights, peasant self-government was introduced, whose duties included collecting taxes and some judicial powers. At the same time, the peasant community and communal land ownership were preserved. The peasants still had to pay the poll tax and bear the recruitment duty. As before, corporal punishment was used against the peasants.
The government believed that the normal development of the agrarian sector would make it possible for two types of farms to coexist: large landowners and small peasants. However, the peasants got land for plots 20% less than those plots that they used before the liberation. This greatly complicated the development of the peasant economy, and in some cases brought it to naught. For the land received, the peasants had to pay the landowners a ransom that exceeded its value by one and a half times. But this was unrealistic, so the state paid 80% of the cost of the land to the landowners. Thus, the peasants became debtors of the state and were obliged to return this amount within 50 years with interest. Be that as it may, the reform created significant opportunities for the agrarian development of Russia, although it retained a number of vestiges in the form of class isolation of the peasantry and communities.
The peasant reform led to the transformation of many aspects of the social and state life of the country. 1864 was the year of the birth of zemstvos - local governments. The area of competence of the zemstvos was quite wide: they had the right to collect taxes for local needs and hire employees, they were in charge of economic issues, schools, medical institutions, as well as charity issues.
They touched upon the reform and urban life. Since 1870, self-government bodies began to form in cities as well. They were mainly in charge of economic life. The self-government body was called the city duma, which formed the council. At the head of the Duma and the executive body was the mayor. The Duma itself was elected by city voters, whose composition was formed in accordance with the social and property qualifications.
However, the most radical was the judicial reform carried out in 1864. The former class and closed court was abolished. Now the verdict in the reformed court was passed by jurors, who were members of the public. The process itself became public, oral and adversarial. On behalf of the state, the prosecutor-prosecutor spoke at the trial, and the defense of the accused was carried out by a lawyer - a sworn attorney.
The media and educational institutions were not ignored. In 1863 and 1864 new university statutes are introduced, which restored their autonomy. A new regulation on school institutions was adopted, according to which the state, zemstvos and city dumas, as well as the church took care of them. Education was proclaimed accessible to all classes and confessions. In 1865, the preliminary censorship of publications was lifted and the responsibility for already published articles was assigned to the publishers.
Serious reforms were also carried out in the army. Russia was divided into fifteen military districts. Military educational institutions and the court-martial were modified. Instead of recruitment, since 1874 universal military duty was introduced. The transformations also affected the sphere of finance, the Orthodox clergy and church educational institutions.
All these reforms, called "great", brought the socio-political structure of Russia in line with the needs of the second half of the 19th century, mobilized all representatives of society to solve national problems. The first step was taken towards the formation of the rule of law and civil society. Russia has entered a new, capitalist path of its development.
Alexander III and his counter-reforms
After the death of Alexander II in March 1881 as a result of a terrorist act organized by the Narodnaya Volya, members of a secret organization of Russian utopian socialists, his son, Alexander III, ascended the Russian throne. At the beginning of his reign, confusion reigned in the government: not knowing anything about the forces of the populists, Alexander III did not dare to dismiss the supporters of his father's liberal reforms.
However, already the first steps of the state activity of Alexander III showed that the new emperor was not going to sympathize with liberalism. The punitive system has been significantly improved. In 1881, the "Regulations on measures to preserve state security and public peace" were approved. This document expanded the powers of the governors, gave them the right to introduce a state of emergency for an unlimited period and to carry out any repressive actions. There were "security departments", which were under the jurisdiction of the gendarmerie corps, whose activities were aimed at suppressing and suppressing any illegal activity.
In 1882, measures were taken to tighten censorship, and in 1884 higher educational institutions were actually deprived of their self-government. The government of Alexander III closed liberal publications, increased several
times the tuition fee. The decree of 1887 "on cook's children" made it difficult for children of the lower classes to enter higher educational institutions and gymnasiums. At the end of the 80s, reactionary laws were adopted, which essentially canceled a number of provisions of the reforms of the 60s and 70s
Thus, peasant class isolation was preserved and consolidated, and power was transferred to officials from among local landowners, who combined judicial and administrative powers in their hands. The new Zemsky Code and City Regulations not only significantly curtailed the independence of local self-government, but also reduced the number of voters by several times. Changes were made in the activities of the court.
The reactionary nature of the government of Alexander III also manifested itself in the socio-economic sphere. An attempt to protect the interests of the bankrupt landlords led to a tougher policy towards the peasantry. In order to prevent the emergence of a rural bourgeoisie, the family sections of the peasants were limited and obstacles were put up for the alienation of peasant allotments.
However, in the conditions of the increasingly complicated international situation, the government could not but encourage the development of capitalist relations, primarily in the field of industrial production. Priority was given to enterprises and industries of strategic importance. A policy of their encouragement and state protection was carried out, which led to their transformation into monopolists. As a result of these actions, threatening disproportions were growing, which could lead to economic and social upheavals.
The reactionary transformations of the 1880s and 1890s were called "counter-reforms". Their successful implementation was due to the lack of forces in Russian society that would be able to create an effective opposition to government policy. To top it all off, they extremely aggravated relations between the government and society. However, the counter-reforms did not achieve their goals: society could no longer be stopped in its development.
Russia at the beginning of the 20th century
At the turn of the two centuries, Russian capitalism began to develop into its highest stage - imperialism. Bourgeois relations, having become dominant, demanded the elimination of the remnants of serfdom and the creation of conditions for the further progressive development of society. The main classes of bourgeois society had already taken shape - the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, and the latter was more homogeneous, bound by the same hardships and difficulties, concentrated in the country's large industrial centers, more receptive and mobile in relation to progressive innovations. All that was needed was a political party that could unite his various detachments, arm him with a program and tactics of struggle.
At the beginning of the 20th century, a revolutionary situation developed in Russia. There was a delimitation of the political forces of the country into three camps - government, liberal-bourgeois and democratic. The liberal-bourgeois camp was represented by supporters of the so-called. "Union of Liberation", which set as their task the establishment of a constitutional monarchy in Russia, the introduction of general elections, the protection of "the interests of the working people", etc. After the creation of the party of the Cadets (Constitutional Democrats), the Union of Liberation ceased its activities.
The social democratic movement, which appeared in the 90s of the XIX century, was represented by supporters of the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party (RSDLP), which in 1903 was divided into two movements - the Bolsheviks led by V.I. Lenin and the Mensheviks. In addition to the RSDLP, this included the Socialist-Revolutionaries (the party of socialist revolutionaries).
After the death of Emperor Alexander III in 1894, his son Nikolai I ascended the throne. which put the defeat of Russia in the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-1905. The mediocrity of Russian generals and the tsarist entourage, who sent thousands of Russians into the bloody massacre
soldiers and sailors, further aggravated the situation in the country.
First Russian Revolution
The extremely deteriorating condition of the people, the complete inability of the government to solve the pressing problems of the country's development, the defeat in the Russo-Japanese War became the main causes of the first Russian revolution. The reason for it was the execution of a demonstration of workers in St. Petersburg on January 9, 1905. This execution caused an outburst of indignation in wide circles of Russian society. Mass riots and unrest broke out in all regions of the country. The movement of discontent gradually assumed an organized character. The Russian peasantry also joined him. In the conditions of the war with Japan and complete unpreparedness for such events, the government had neither the strength nor the means to suppress numerous speeches. As one of the means of relieving tension, tsarism announced the creation of a representative body - the State Duma. The fact of neglecting the interests of the masses from the very beginning put the Duma in the position of a still-born body, since it had practically no powers.
This attitude of the authorities caused even greater discontent both on the part of the proletariat and the peasantry, and on the part of the liberal-minded representatives of the Russian bourgeoisie. Therefore, by the autumn of 1905, all conditions were created in Russia for the brewing of a nationwide crisis.
Losing control over the situation, the tsarist government made new concessions. In October 1905, Nicholas II signed the Manifesto, granting Russians freedom of the press, speech, assembly and association, which laid the foundations of Russian democracy. This Manifesto also split the revolutionary movement. The revolutionary wave has lost its breadth and mass character. This can explain the defeat of the December armed uprising in Moscow in 1905, which was the highest point in the development of the first Russian revolution.
Under the circumstances, liberal circles came to the fore. Numerous political parties arose - the Cadets (constitutional democrats), the Octobrists (Union of October 17). A noticeable phenomenon was the creation of organizations of a patriotic direction - the "Black Hundreds". The revolution was on the decline.
In 1906, the central event in the life of the country was no longer the revolutionary movement, but the elections to the Second State Duma. The new Duma was unable to resist the government and was dispersed in 1907. Since the manifesto on the dissolution of the Duma was published on June 3, the political system in Russia, which lasted until February 1917, was called the Third June Monarchy.
Russia in World War I
Russia's participation in the First World War was due to the aggravation of Russian-German contradictions caused by the formation of the Triple Alliance and the Entente. The murder in the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the city of Sarajevo, of the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne was the reason for the outbreak of hostilities. In 1914, simultaneously with the actions of the German troops on the western front, the Russian command launched an invasion of East Prussia. It was stopped by German troops. But in the region of Galicia, the troops of Austria-Hungary suffered a serious defeat. The result of the 1914 campaign was the establishment of a balance on the fronts and the transition to a positional war.
In 1915, the center of gravity of hostilities was shifted to the Eastern Front. From spring to August, the Russian front along its entire length was broken into by German troops. Russian troops were forced to leave Poland, Lithuania and Galicia, having suffered heavy losses.
In 1916 the situation changed somewhat. In June, troops under the command of General Brusilov broke through the Austro-Hungarian front in Galicia in Bukovina. This offensive was stopped by the enemy with great difficulty. The military actions of 1917 took place in the conditions of a clearly imminent political crisis in the country. The February bourgeois-democratic revolution took place in Russia, as a result of which the Provisional Government, which replaced the autocracy, became a hostage to the previous obligations of tsarism. The course to continue the war to a victorious end led to an aggravation of the situation in the country and to the coming to power of the Bolsheviks.
Revolutionary 1917
The First World War sharply exacerbated all the contradictions that had been brewing in Russia since the beginning of the 20th century. The loss of life, the ruin of the economy, famine, the dissatisfaction of the people with the measures of tsarism to overcome the imminent national crisis, the inability of the autocracy to compromise with the bourgeoisie became the main causes of the February bourgeois revolution of 1917. On February 23, a strike of workers began in Petrograd, which soon grew into an all-Russian strike. The workers were supported by the intelligentsia, students,
army. The peasantry also did not remain aloof from these events. Already on February 27, power in the capital passed into the hands of the Soviet of Workers' Deputies, headed by the Mensheviks.
The Petrograd Soviet completely controlled the army, which soon completely went over to the side of the rebels. Attempts at a punitive campaign, undertaken by the forces withdrawn from the front, were unsuccessful. The soldiers supported the February coup. On March 1, 1917, a Provisional Government was formed in Petrograd, consisting mainly of representatives of the bourgeois parties. Nicholas II abdicated. Thus, the February Revolution overthrew the autocracy, which hindered the progressive development of the country. The relative ease with which the overthrow of tsarism in Russia took place showed how weak the regime of Nicholas II and its support, the landlord-bourgeois circles, were in their attempts to retain power.
The February bourgeois-democratic revolution of 1917 had a political character. It could not solve the pressing economic, social and national problems of the country. The provisional government had no real power. An alternative to his power - the Soviets, created at the very beginning of the February events, controlled so far by the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks, supported the Provisional Government, but so far could not take a leading role in the implementation of radical transformations in the country. But at this stage, the Soviets were supported by both the army and the revolutionary people. Therefore, in March - early July 1917, the so-called dual power developed in Russia - that is, the simultaneous existence of two authorities in the country.
Finally, the petty-bourgeois parties, which then had a majority in the Soviets, ceded power to the Provisional Government as a result of the July crisis of 1917. The fact is that in late June - early July, German troops launched a powerful counteroffensive on the Eastern Front. Not wanting to go to the front, the soldiers of the Petrograd garrison decided to organize an uprising under the leadership of the Bolsheviks and anarchists. The resignation of some ministers of the Provisional Government further aggravated the situation. There was no consensus among the Bolsheviks about what was happening. Lenin and some members of the central committee of the party considered the uprising premature.
On July 3, mass demonstrations began in the capital. Despite the fact that the Bolsheviks tried to direct the actions of the demonstrators in a peaceful direction, armed clashes began between the demonstrators and the troops controlled by the Petrosoviet. The Provisional Government, seizing the initiative, with the help of the troops that arrived from the front, went to the application of harsh measures. The demonstrators were shot. From that moment on, the leadership of the Council gave full power to the Provisional Government.
The duality is over. The Bolsheviks were forced to go underground. A decisive offensive by the authorities began against all those dissatisfied with the policy of the government.
By the autumn of 1917, a nationwide crisis had again matured in the country, creating the ground for a new revolution. The collapse of the economy, the activation of the revolutionary movement, the increased authority of the Bolsheviks and support for their actions in various sectors of society, the disintegration of the army, which suffered defeat after defeat on the battlefields of the First World War, the growing distrust of the masses in the Provisional Government, as well as the unsuccessful attempt at a military coup undertaken by General Kornilov , - these are the symptoms of the maturing of a new revolutionary explosion.
The gradual Bolshevization of the Soviets, the army, the disappointment of the proletariat and the peasantry in the ability of the Provisional Government to find a way out of the crisis made it possible for the Bolsheviks to put forward the slogan "All power to the Soviets", under which they managed to carry out a coup in Petrograd on October 24-25, 1917, called the Great October Revolution. At the II All-Russian Congress of Soviets on October 25, the transfer of power in the country to the Bolsheviks was announced. The provisional government was arrested. The congress promulgated the first decrees of the Soviet power - "On Peace", "On the Land", formed the first government of the victorious Bolsheviks - the Council of People's Commissars, headed by V.I. Lenin. On November 2, 1917, Soviet power established itself in Moscow. Almost everywhere the army supported the Bolsheviks. By March 1918, the new revolutionary power was established throughout the country.
The creation of a new state apparatus, which at first encountered the stubborn resistance of the former bureaucratic apparatus, was completed by the beginning of 1918. At the III All-Russian Congress of Soviets in January 1918, Russia was proclaimed a republic of Soviets of Workers', Soldiers' and Peasants' Deputies. The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) was established as a federation of Soviet national republics. Its supreme body was the All-Russian Congress of Soviets; in the intervals between congresses, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (VTsIK), which had legislative power, worked.
The government - the Council of People's Commissars - through the formed People's Commissariats (People's Commissariats) exercised executive power, people's courts and revolutionary tribunals exercised judicial power. Special authorities were formed - the Supreme Council of the National Economy (VSNKh), which was responsible for regulating the economy and the processes of nationalization of industry, the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission (VChK) - for the fight against counter-revolution. The main feature of the new state apparatus was the merging of legislative and executive power in the country.
For the successful construction of a new state, the Bolsheviks needed peaceful conditions. Therefore, already in December 1917, negotiations began with the command of the German army on the conclusion of a separate peace treaty, which was concluded in March 1918. Its conditions for Soviet Russia were extremely difficult and even humiliating. Russia abandoned Poland, Estonia and Latvia, withdrew its troops from Finland and Ukraine, conceded the regions of Transcaucasia. However, this "obscene", in the words of Lenin himself, the world was urgently needed by the young Soviet republic. Thanks to a peaceful respite, the Bolsheviks managed to carry out the first economic measures in the city and in the countryside - to establish workers' control in industry, begin its nationalization, and begin social transformations in the countryside.
However, the course of the reforms that had begun was interrupted for a long time by a bloody civil war, the beginning of which was laid by the forces of internal counter-revolution already in the spring of 1918. In Siberia, the Cossacks of Ataman Semenov opposed the Soviet government, in the south, in the Cossack regions, the Don Army of Krasnov and the Volunteer Army of Denikin were formed
in the Kuban. Socialist-Revolutionary riots broke out in Murom, Rybinsk, and Yaroslavl. Almost simultaneously, interventionist troops landed on the territory of Soviet Russia (in the north - the British, Americans, French, in the Far East - the Japanese, Germany occupied the territories of Belarus, Ukraine, the Baltic states, British troops occupied Baku). In May 1918, the rebellion of the Czechoslovak Corps began.
The situation on the fronts of the country was very difficult. Only in December 1918 did the troops of the Red Army manage to stop the offensive of the troops of General Krasnov on the southern front. From the east, the Bolsheviks were threatened by Admiral Kolchak, who was striving for the Volga. He managed to capture Ufa, Izhevsk and other cities. However, by the summer of 1919, he was driven back to the Urals. As a result of the summer offensive of the troops of General Yudenich in 1919, the threat now hung over Petrograd. Only after bloody battles in June 1919 was it possible to eliminate the threat of the capture of the northern capital of Russia (by this time the Soviet government had moved to Moscow).
However, already in July 1919, as a result of the offensive of General Denikin's troops from the south to the central regions of the country, Moscow now turned into a military camp. By October 1919 the Bolsheviks had lost Odessa, Kyiv, Kursk, Voronezh and Orel. The troops of the Red Army, only at the cost of huge losses, managed to repulse the offensive of Denikin's troops.
In November 1919, the troops of Yudenich were finally defeated, who again threatened Petrograd during the autumn offensive. In the winter of 1919-1920. The Red Army liberated Krasnoyarsk and Irkutsk. Kolchak was captured and shot. At the beginning of 1920, having liberated the Donbass and Ukraine, the troops of the Red Army drove the White Guards into the Crimea. Only in November 1920 was the Crimea cleared of the troops of General Wrangel. The Polish campaign of spring-summer 1920 ended in failure for the Bolsheviks.
From the policy of "war communism" to the new economic policy
The economic policy of the Soviet state during the years of the civil war, aimed at mobilizing all resources for military needs, was called the policy of "war communism". It was a complex of emergency measures in the country's economy, which was characterized by such features as the nationalization of industry, the centralization of management, the introduction of surplus appropriation in the countryside, the prohibition of private trade and equalization in distribution and payment. In the conditions of the ensuing peaceful life, she no longer justified herself. The country was on the verge of economic collapse. Industry, energy, transport, agriculture, as well as the country's finances experienced a protracted crisis. The speeches of the peasants, dissatisfied with the surplus appraisal, became more frequent. The mutiny in Kronstadt in March 1921 against the Soviet regime showed that the dissatisfaction of the masses with the policy of "war communism" could threaten its very existence.
The consequence of all these reasons was the decision of the Bolshevik government in March 1921 to switch to the "new economic policy" (NEP). This policy provided for the replacement of the surplus appropriation with a fixed tax in kind for the peasantry, the transfer of state enterprises to self-financing, and the permission of private trade. At the same time, a transition was made from natural to cash wages, and equalization was abolished. Elements of state capitalism in industry were partially allowed in the form of concessions and the creation of state trusts connected with the market. It was allowed to open small handicraft private enterprises, serviced by the labor of hired workers.
The main merit of the NEP was that the peasant masses finally went over to the side of Soviet power. Conditions were created for the restoration of industry and the start of an increase in production. The granting of a certain economic freedom to the working people gave them the opportunity to show initiative and enterprise. NEP, in fact, demonstrated the possibility and necessity of a variety of forms of ownership, recognition of the market and commodity relations in the country's economy.
In 1918-1922. small and compact peoples living on the territory of Russia received autonomy within the RSFSR. Parallel to this, the formation of larger national entities - allied with the RSFSR sovereign Soviet republics. By the summer of 1922, the process of unification of the Soviet republics entered its final phase. The Soviet party leadership prepared a project for unification, which provided for the entry of the Soviet republics into the RSFSR as autonomous entities. The author of this project was I.V. Stalin, the then People's Commissar for Nationalities.
Lenin saw in this project an infringement of the national sovereignty of the peoples and insisted on the creation of a federation of equal union republics. On December 30, 1922, the First Congress of Soviets of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics rejected Stalin's "project of autonomization" and adopted a declaration and an agreement on the formation of the USSR, which was based on the plan of a federal structure that Lenin insisted on.
In January 1924, the II All-Union Congress of Soviets approved the Constitution of the new union. According to this Constitution, the USSR was a federation of equal sovereign republics with the right to freely secede from the union. At the same time, the formation of representative and executive Union bodies in the field took place. However, as subsequent events will show, the USSR gradually acquired the character of a unitary state, ruled from a single center - Moscow.
With the introduction of the New Economic Policy, the measures taken by the Soviet government to implement it (the denationalization of some enterprises, the permission of free trade and wage labor, the emphasis on the development of commodity-money and market relations, etc.) came into conflict with the concept of building a socialist society on a non-commodity basis. The priority of politics over the economy, preached by the Bolshevik Party, the beginning of the formation of the administrative-command system led to the crisis of the New Economic Policy in 1923. In order to increase labor productivity, the state went to an artificial increase in prices for industrial goods. The villagers turned out to be beyond their means to acquire industrial goods, which overflowed all the warehouses and shops of the cities. The so-called. "crisis of overproduction". In response to this, the village began to delay the delivery of grain to the state under the tax in kind. In some places, peasant uprisings broke out. New concessions were needed to the peasantry on the part of the state.
Thanks to the successful monetary reform of 1924, the ruble exchange rate was stabilized, which helped to overcome the sales crisis and strengthen trade relations between the city and the countryside. The in-kind taxation of the peasants was replaced by monetary taxation, which gave them greater freedom in developing their own economy. In general, therefore, by the mid-1920s, the process of restoring the national economy was completed in the USSR. The socialist sector of the economy has significantly strengthened its positions.
At the same time, there was an improvement in the positions of the USSR in the international arena. In order to break through the diplomatic blockade, Soviet diplomacy took an active part in the work of international conferences in the early 1920s. The leadership of the Bolshevik Party hoped to establish economic and political cooperation with the leading capitalist countries.
At an international conference in Genoa devoted to economic and financial issues (1922), the Soviet delegation expressed its readiness to discuss the issue of compensation for former foreign owners in Russia, subject to the recognition of the new state and the provision of international loans to it. At the same time, the Soviet side put forward counterproposals to compensate Soviet Russia for the losses caused by the intervention and blockade during the years of the civil war. However, these issues were not resolved during the conference.
On the other hand, the young Soviet diplomacy managed to break through the united front of non-recognition of the young Soviet republic by the capitalist encirclement. In Rapallo, suburb
Genoa, managed to conclude an agreement with Germany, which provided for the restoration of diplomatic relations between the two countries on the terms of mutual renunciation of all claims. Thanks to this success of Soviet diplomacy, the country entered a period of recognition from the leading capitalist powers. In a short time, diplomatic relations were established with Great Britain, Italy, Austria, Sweden, China, Mexico, France and other states.
Industrialization of the national economy
The need to modernize industry and the entire economy of the country in the conditions of the capitalist encirclement became the main task of the Soviet government from the beginning of the 20s. In the same years, there was a process of strengthening control and regulation of the economy by the state. This led to the development of the first five-year plan for the development of the national economy of the USSR. The plan for the first five-year plan, adopted in April 1929, laid down indicators for a sharp, accelerated growth in industrial output.
In this regard, the problem of lack of funds for the implementation of an industrial breakthrough was clearly identified. Capital investment in new industrial construction was sorely lacking. It was impossible to count on help from abroad. Therefore, one of the sources of industrialization of the country was the resources pumped out by the state from the still weak agriculture. Another source was government loans, which were levied on the entire population of the country. To pay for foreign supplies of industrial equipment, the state went to the forced seizure of gold and other valuables both from the population and from the church. Another source of industrialization was the export of the country's natural resources - oil, timber. Grain and furs were also exported.
Against the backdrop of a lack of funds, the technical and economic backwardness of the country, and a shortage of qualified personnel, the state began to artificially spur the pace of industrial construction, which led to disproportions, disruption of planning, a discrepancy between wage growth and labor productivity, a breakdown in the monetary system and rising prices. As a result, a commodity hunger was discovered, a rationing system for supplying the population was introduced.
The command-administrative system of managing the economy, accompanied by the formation of Stalin's regime of personal power, attributed all the difficulties of implementing industrialization plans to the expense of certain enemies who interfered with the construction of socialism in the USSR. In 1928-1931. a wave of political trials swept across the country, during which many qualified specialists and managers were condemned as "saboteurs", allegedly holding back the development of the country's economy.
Nevertheless, thanks to the broadest enthusiasm of the entire Soviet people, the first five-year plan was completed ahead of schedule in terms of its main indicators. In the period from 1929 to the end of the 1930s alone, the USSR made a fantastic breakthrough in its industrial development. During this time, about 6 thousand industrial enterprises came into operation. The Soviet people created such an industrial potential that, in terms of its technical equipment and sectoral structure, was not inferior to the level of production of the advanced capitalist countries of that time. And in terms of production, our country came second after the United States.
Collectivization of agriculture
The acceleration of the pace of industrialization, mainly at the expense of the countryside, with an emphasis on basic industries, very quickly exacerbated the contradictions of the new economic policy. The end of the 1920s was marked by its overthrow. This process was stimulated by the fear of the administrative-command structures before the prospect of losing the leadership of the country's economy in their own interests.
Difficulties were growing in the country's agriculture. In a number of cases, the authorities got out of this crisis by using violent measures, which was comparable to the practice of war communism and surplus appropriations. In the autumn of 1929, such violent measures against agricultural producers were replaced by forced, or, as they said then, complete collectivization. To this end, with the help of punitive measures, all potentially dangerous, as the Soviet leadership believed, elements were removed from the village - kulaks, wealthy peasants, that is, those who could prevent collectivization from developing their personal economy normally and who could resist it.
The destructive nature of the forcible association of peasants into collective farms forced the authorities to abandon the extremes of this process. Volunteering began to be respected when joining collective farms. The main form of collective farming was declared an agricultural artel, where the collective farmer had the right to a personal plot, small implements and livestock. However, land, cattle and basic agricultural implements were still socialized. In such forms, collectivization in the main grain regions of the country was completed by the end of 1931.
The gain of the Soviet state from collectivization was very important. The roots of capitalism in agriculture were liquidated, as well as undesirable class elements. The country gained independence from the import of a number of agricultural products. Grain sold abroad has become a source for acquiring the perfect technologies and advanced machinery needed in the course of industrialization.
However, the consequences of the destruction of the traditional economic structure in the countryside turned out to be very difficult. The productive forces of agriculture were undermined. Crop failures in 1932-1933, unreasonably inflated plans for the supply of agricultural products to the state led to famine in a number of regions of the country, the consequences of which could not be eliminated immediately.
Culture of the 20-30s
Transformations in the field of culture were one of the tasks of building a socialist state in the USSR. The features of the implementation of the cultural revolution were determined by the backwardness of the country inherited from the old times, the uneven economic and cultural development of the peoples that became part of the Soviet Union. The Bolshevik authorities focused on building a public education system, restructuring higher education, enhancing the role of science in the country's economy, and forming a new creative and artistic intelligentsia.
Even during the civil war, the struggle against illiteracy began. Since 1931, universal primary education has been introduced. The greatest successes in the field of public education were achieved by the end of the 1930s. In the system of higher education, together with old specialists, measures were taken to create the so-called. "people's intelligentsia" by increasing the number of students from among the workers and peasants. Significant advances have been made in the field of science. The researches of N. Vavilov (genetics), V. Vernadsky (geochemistry, biosphere), N. Zhukovsky (aerodynamics) and other scientists gained fame all over the world.
Against the backdrop of success, some areas of science have experienced pressure from the administrative-command system. Significant harm was done to the social sciences - history, philosophy, etc. by various ideological purges and persecution of their individual representatives. As a result, almost all of the then science was subordinated to the ideological ideas of the communist regime.
USSR in the 1930s
By the beginning of the 1930s, the formation of the economic model of society, which can be defined as state-administrative socialism, was taking shape in the USSR. According to Stalin and his inner circle, this model should have been based on complete
nationalization of all means of production in industry, the implementation of the collectivization of peasant farms. Under these conditions, the command-administrative methods of managing and managing the country's economy have become very strong.
The priority of ideology over the economy against the backdrop of the dominance of the party-state nomenclature made it possible to industrialize the country by reducing the living standards of its population (both urban and rural). In organizational terms, this model of socialism was based on maximum centralization and rigid planning. In social terms, it relied on formal democracy with the absolute dominance of the party and state apparatus in all areas of the life of the country's population. Directive and non-economic methods of coercion prevailed, the nationalization of the means of production replaced the socialization of the latter.
Under these conditions, the social structure of Soviet society changed significantly. By the end of the 1930s, the country's leadership declared that after the liquidation of capitalist elements, Soviet society consisted of three friendly classes - workers, the collective farm peasantry and the people's intelligentsia. Among the workers, several groups have formed - a small privileged stratum of highly paid skilled workers and a significant stratum of the main producers who are not interested in the results of labor and therefore low paid. Increased staff turnover.
In the countryside, the socialized labor of collective farmers was paid very low. Almost half of all agricultural products were grown on small household plots of collective farmers. Actually collective-farm fields gave much less production. Collective farmers were infringed on political rights. They were deprived of their passports and the right to move freely throughout the country.
The Soviet people's intelligentsia, the majority of which were unskilled petty employees, was in a more privileged position. It was mainly formed from yesterday's workers and peasants, the ego could not but lead to a decrease in its general educational level.
The new Constitution of the USSR of 1936 found a new reflection of the changes that had taken place in Soviet society and the state structure of the country since the adoption of the first constitution in 1924. It declaratively consolidated the fact of the victory of socialism in the USSR. The basis of the new Constitution was the principles of socialism - the state of socialist ownership of the means of production, the elimination of exploitation and exploiting classes, labor as a duty, the duty of every able-bodied citizen, the right to work, rest and other socio-economic and political rights.
The Soviets of Working People's Deputies became the political form of organization of state power in the center and in the localities. The electoral system was also updated: elections became direct, with secret ballot. The 1936 Constitution was characterized by a combination of new social rights of the population with a whole series of liberal democratic rights - freedom of speech, press, conscience, rallies, demonstrations, etc. Another thing is how consistently these declared rights and freedoms were implemented in practice...
The new Constitution of the USSR reflected the objective tendency of Soviet society towards democratization, which followed from the essence of the socialist system. Thus, it contradicted the already established practice of Stalin's autocracy as head of the Communist Party and state. In real life, mass arrests, arbitrariness, and extrajudicial killings continued. These contradictions between word and deed became a characteristic phenomenon in the life of our country in the 1930s. The preparation, discussion and adoption of the new Basic Law of the country were sold simultaneously with falsified political trials, rampant repressions, and the forcible removal of prominent figures of the party and state who did not reconcile themselves to the regime of personal power and Stalin's personality cult. The ideological substantiation of these phenomena was his well-known thesis about the aggravation of the class struggle in the country under socialism, which he proclaimed in 1937, which became the most terrible year of mass repressions.
By 1939, almost the entire "Leninist guard" was destroyed. Repressions also affected the Red Army: from 1937 to 1938. about 40 thousand officers of the army and navy were destroyed. Almost the entire senior command staff of the Red Army was repressed, a significant part of them were shot. Terror affected all layers of Soviet society. The rejection of millions of Soviet people from public life has become the norm of life - deprivation of civil rights, removal from office, exile, prisons, camps, the death penalty.
The international position of the USSR in the 30s
Already in the early 1930s, the USSR established diplomatic relations with most countries of the then world, and in 1934 joined the League of Nations, an international organization created in 1919 with the aim of collectively resolving issues in the world community. In 1936, the conclusion of the Franco-Soviet agreement on mutual assistance in the event of aggression followed. Since in the same year Nazi Germany and Japan signed the so-called. the “anti-Comintern pact”, to which Italy later joined, the answer to this was the conclusion in August 1937 of a non-aggression pact with China.
The threat to the Soviet Union from the countries of the fascist bloc was growing. Japan provoked two armed conflicts - near Lake Khasan in the Far East (August 1938) and in Mongolia, with which the USSR was connected by an allied treaty (summer 1939). These conflicts were accompanied by significant losses on both sides.
After the conclusion of the Munich Agreement on the secession of the Sudetenland from Czechoslovakia, the USSR's distrust of Western countries, which agreed with Hitler's claims to part of Czechoslovakia, intensified. Despite this, Soviet diplomacy did not lose hope of creating a defensive alliance with Britain and France. However, negotiations with the delegations of these countries (August 1939) ended in failure.
This forced the Soviet government to move closer to Germany. On August 23, 1939, a Soviet-German non-aggression pact was signed, accompanied by a secret protocol on the delimitation of spheres of influence in Europe. Estonia, Latvia, Finland, Bessarabia were assigned to the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union. In the event of the division of Poland, its Belarusian and Ukrainian territories were to go to the USSR.
Already after the German attack on Poland on September 28, a new agreement was concluded with Germany, according to which Lithuania also retreated to the sphere of influence of the USSR. Part of the territory of Poland became part of the Ukrainian and Byelorussian SSR. In August 1940, the Soviet government granted a request for the admission of three new republics to the USSR - Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian, where pro-Soviet governments came to power. At the same time, Romania gave in to the ultimatum demand of the Soviet government and transferred the territories of Bessarabia and northern Bukovina to the USSR. Such a significant territorial expansion of the Soviet Union pushed its borders far to the west, which, in the face of the threat of invasion from Germany, should be assessed as a positive moment.
Similar actions of the USSR against Finland led to an armed conflict that escalated into the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940. In the course of heavy winter battles, only in February 1940, with great difficulty and losses, the troops of the Red Army managed to overcome the defensive “Mannerheim Line”, which was considered impregnable. Finland was forced to transfer the entire Karelian Isthmus to the USSR, which significantly pushed the border away from Leningrad.
The Great Patriotic War
The signing of a non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany only briefly delayed the start of the war. On June 22, 1941, having assembled a colossal invasion army - 190 divisions, Germany and its allies attacked the Soviet Union without declaring war. The USSR was not ready for war. The miscalculations of the war with Finland were slowly eliminated. Serious damage to the army and the country was caused by the Stalinist repressions of the 30s. The situation with the technical support was no better. Despite the fact that Soviet engineering thought created many samples of advanced military equipment, little of it was sent to the active army, and its mass production was only getting better.
The summer and autumn of 1941 were the most critical for the Soviet Union. Fascist troops invaded from 800 to 1200 kilometers deep, blockaded Leningrad, approached dangerously close to Moscow, occupied most of the Donbass and Crimea, the Baltic states, Belarus, Moldova, almost all of Ukraine and a number of regions of the RSFSR. Many people died, the infrastructure of many cities and towns was completely destroyed. However, the enemy was opposed by the courage and strength of the spirit of the people and the material possibilities of the country put into action. A mass resistance movement unfolded everywhere: partisan detachments were created behind enemy lines, and later even entire formations.
Having bled the German troops in heavy defensive battles, the Soviet troops in the battle near Moscow went on the offensive in early December 1941, which continued in some directions until April 1942. This dispelled the myth of the enemy's invincibility. The international prestige of the USSR increased sharply.
On October 1, 1941, a conference of representatives of the USSR, the USA and Great Britain ended in Moscow, at which the foundations for the creation of an anti-Hitler coalition were laid. Agreements were signed on the supply of military aid. And already on January 1, 1942, 26 states signed the Declaration of the United Nations. An anti-Hitler coalition was created, and its leaders decided on the conduct of the war and the democratic organization of the post-war system at joint conferences in Tehran in 1943, as well as in Yalta and Potsdam in 1945.
In the beginning - the middle of 1942, a very difficult situation again developed for the Red Army. Using the absence of a second front in Western Europe, the German command concentrated maximum forces against the USSR. The successes of the German troops at the beginning of the offensive were the result of an underestimation of their forces and capabilities, the result of an unsuccessful attempt by the Soviet troops near Kharkov and gross miscalculations of the command. The Nazis rushed to the Caucasus and the Volga. On November 19, 1942, the Soviet troops, having stopped the enemy in Stalingrad at the cost of colossal losses, launched a counteroffensive, which ended with the encirclement and complete liquidation of more than 330,000 enemy groups.
However, a radical turning point in the course of the Great Patriotic War came only in 1943. One of the main events of that year was the victory of the Soviet troops in the Battle of Kursk. It was one of the largest battles of the war. In only one tank battle in the Prokhorovka area, the enemy lost 400 tanks and more than 10 thousand people were killed. Germany and her allies were forced to go on the defensive from active operations.
In 1944, an offensive Belarusian operation was carried out on the Soviet-German front, code-named "Bagration". As a result of its implementation, Soviet troops reached their former state border. The enemy was not only expelled from the country, but the liberation of the countries of Eastern and Central Europe from Nazi captivity began. And on June 6, 1944, the allies who landed in Normandy opened a second front.
In Europe in the winter of 1944-1945. during the Ardennes operation, the Nazi troops inflicted a serious defeat on the allies. The situation took on a catastrophic character, and the Soviet army, which launched a large-scale Berlin operation, helped them get out of a difficult situation. In April-May, this operation was completed, and our troops captured the capital of Nazi Germany by storm. A historic meeting of the allies took place on the Elbe River. The German command was forced to capitulate. In the course of its offensive operations, the Soviet army made a decisive contribution to the liberation of the occupied countries from the fascist regime. And on May 8 and 9 in the majority
European countries and in the Soviet Union began to be celebrated as Victory Day.
However, the war was not over yet. On the night of August 9, 1945, the USSR, true to its allied obligations, entered the war with Japan. The offensive in Manchuria against the Japanese Kwantung Army and its defeat forced the Japanese government to admit final defeat. On September 2, the act of surrender of Japan was signed. Thus, after a long six years, the Second World War was over. On October 20, 1945, a trial began in the German city of Nuremberg against the main war criminals.
Soviet rear during the war
At the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the Nazis managed to occupy the industrially and agriculturally developed regions of the country, which were its main military-industrial and food base. However, the Soviet economy was able not only to withstand extreme stress, but also to defeat the economy of the enemy. In an unprecedentedly short time, the economy of the Soviet Union was reorganized on a war footing and turned into a well-organized military economy.
Already in the first days of the war, a significant number of industrial enterprises from the front-line territories were prepared for evacuation to the eastern regions of the country in order to create the main arsenal for the needs of the front. The evacuation was carried out in an exceptionally short time, often under enemy fire and under the blows of his aircraft. The most important force that made it possible in a short time to restore evacuated enterprises in new places, build new industrial facilities and start manufacturing products intended for the front, is the selfless labor of the Soviet people, which has provided unprecedented examples of labor heroism.
In mid-1942, the USSR had a rapidly growing military economy capable of meeting all the needs of the front. During the war years in the USSR, iron ore production increased by 130%, iron production - by almost 160%, steel - by 145%. In connection with the loss of Donbass and the enemy's access to the oil-bearing sources of the Caucasus, vigorous measures were taken to increase the production of coal, oil and other types of fuel in the eastern regions of the country. The light industry worked with great tension, which, after a difficult year for the entire national economy of the country in 1942, in the following year, 1943, managed to fulfill the plan for supplying the belligerent army with everything necessary. Transport also worked with maximum load. From 1942 to 1945 the freight turnover of railway transport alone increased by almost one and a half times.
The military industry of the USSR with each military year gave more and more small arms, artillery weapons, tanks, aircraft, ammunition. Thanks to the selfless work of the home front workers, by the end of 1943 the Red Army was already superior to the fascist in all combat means. All this was the result of a stubborn single combat between two different economic systems and the efforts of the entire Soviet people.
The meaning and price of the victory of the Soviet people over fascism
It was the Soviet Union, its fighting army and people, that became the main force blocking the path of German fascism to world domination. Over 600 fascist divisions were destroyed on the Soviet-German front, the enemy army lost here three-quarters of its aircraft, a significant part of tanks and artillery.
The Soviet Union rendered decisive assistance to the peoples of Europe in their struggle for national independence. As a result of the victory over fascism, the balance of forces in the world changed decisively. The prestige of the Soviet Union in the international arena has grown considerably. In the countries of Eastern Europe, power passed to the governments of people's democracy, the system of socialism went beyond the boundaries of one country. The economic and political isolation of the USSR was eliminated. The Soviet Union has become a great world power. This was the main reason for the formation of a new geopolitical situation in the world, characterized in the future by the confrontation of two different systems - socialist and capitalist.
The war against fascism brought innumerable losses and destruction to our country. Almost 27 million Soviet people died, of which more than 10 million died on the battlefields. About 6 million of our compatriots ended up in Nazi captivity, 4 million of them died. Nearly 4 million partisans and underground fighters perished behind enemy lines. The grief of irretrievable losses came to almost every Soviet family.
During the war years, more than 1700 cities and about 70 thousand villages and villages were completely destroyed. Almost 25 million people lost their roof over their heads. Such large cities as Leningrad, Kiev, Kharkov and others were subjected to significant destruction, and some of them, such as Minsk, Stalingrad, Rostov-on-Don, were completely in ruins.
A truly tragic situation has developed in the countryside. About 100 thousand collective farms and state farms were destroyed by the invaders. The sown area has been significantly reduced. Livestock has suffered. In terms of its technical equipment, the country's agriculture turned out to be thrown back to the level of the first half of the 30s. The country has lost about a third of its national wealth. The damage caused by the war to the Soviet Union exceeded the losses during the Second World War of all other European countries combined.
Restoration of the economy of the USSR in the post-war years
The main tasks of the fourth five-year plan for the development of the national economy (1946-1950) were the restoration of the country's regions destroyed and devastated by the war, the achievement of the pre-war level of development of industry and agriculture. At first, the Soviet people faced enormous difficulties in this area - a lack of food, the difficulties of restoring agriculture, aggravated by a strong crop failure in 1946, the problems of transferring industry to a peaceful track, and the mass demobilization of the army. All this did not allow the Soviet leadership until the end of 1947 to exercise control over the country's economy.
However, already in 1948 the volume of industrial production still exceeded the pre-war level. Back in 1946, the level of 1940 in the production of electricity was blocked, in 1947 - coal, in the next 1948 - steel and cement. By 1950, a significant part of the indicators of the Fourth Five-Year Plan had been implemented. Almost 3,200 industrial enterprises were put into operation in the west of the country. The main emphasis, therefore, was placed, as in the course of the pre-war five-year plans, on the development of industry, and above all, heavy industry.
The Soviet Union did not have to rely on the help of its former Western allies in restoring its industrial and agricultural potential. Therefore, only their own internal resources and the hard work of the entire people became the main sources of restoration of the country's economy. Growing massive investment in industry. Their volume significantly exceeded the investments that were directed to the national economy in the 1930s during the first five-year plans.
With all the close attention to heavy industry, the situation in agriculture has not yet improved. Moreover, we can talk about its protracted crisis in the post-war period. The decline of agriculture forced the country's leadership to turn to methods proven back in the 1930s, which concerned primarily the restoration and strengthening of collective farms. The leadership demanded the implementation at any cost of plans that did not proceed from the capabilities of the collective farms, but from the needs of the state. Control over agriculture again sharply increased. The peasantry was under heavy tax oppression. Purchase prices for agricultural products were very low, and peasants received very little for their work on collective farms. As before, they were deprived of passports and freedom of movement.
And yet, by the end of the Fourth Five-Year Plan, the grave consequences of the war in the field of agriculture were partially overcome. Despite this, agriculture still remained a kind of “pain point” for the entire economy of the country and required a radical reorganization, for which, unfortunately, in the post-war period there were neither funds nor forces.
Foreign policy in the post-war years (1945-1953)
The victory of the USSR in the Great Patriotic War led to a serious change in the balance of power in the international arena. The USSR acquired significant territories both in the West (part of East Prussia, Transcarpathian regions, etc.) and in the East (South Sakhalin, the Kuriles). The influence of the Soviet Union in Eastern Europe grew. Immediately after the end of the war, communist governments were formed here in a number of countries (Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, etc.) with the support of the USSR. In China, in 1949, a revolution took place, as a result of which the communist regime also came to power.
All this could not but lead to a confrontation between the former allies in the anti-Hitler coalition. In the conditions of tough confrontation and rivalry between two different socio-political and economic systems - socialist and capitalist, called the "cold war", the government of the USSR made great efforts in pursuing its policy and ideology in those states of Western Europe and Asia that it considered objects of its influence . The split of Germany into two states - the FRG and the GDR, the Berlin crisis of 1949 marked the final break between the former allies and the division of Europe into two hostile camps.
After the formation of the military-political alliance of the North Atlantic Treaty (NATO) in 1949, a single line began to take shape in the economic and political relations between the USSR and the countries of people's democracy. For these purposes, a Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (CMEA) was created, which coordinated the economic relations of the socialist countries, and in order to strengthen their defense capability, their military bloc (the Warsaw Pact Organization) was formed in 1955 in the form of a counterweight to NATO.
After the United States lost its monopoly on nuclear weapons, in 1953 the Soviet Union was the first to test a thermonuclear (hydrogen) bomb. The process of rapid creation in both countries - the Soviet Union and the USA - of more and more new carriers of nuclear weapons and more modern weapons - the so-called. arms race.
This is how the global rivalry between the USSR and the USA arose. This most difficult period in the history of modern mankind, called the Cold War, showed how two opposing political and socio-economic systems fought for dominance and influence in the world and prepared for a new, now all-destroying war. It split the world in two. Now everything began to be viewed through the prism of tough confrontation and rivalry.
The death of I.V. Stalin became a milestone in the development of our country. The totalitarian system created in the 1930s, which was characterized by the features of state-administrative socialism with the dominance of the party-state nomenklatura in all its links, had already exhausted itself by the beginning of the 1950s. It needed a radical change. The process of de-Stalinization, which began in 1953, developed in a very complex and contradictory way. In the end, he led to the coming to power of N.S. Khrushchev, who in September 1953 became the de facto head of the country. His desire to abandon the old repressive methods of leadership won the sympathy of many honest communists and the majority of the Soviet people. At the 20th Congress of the CPSU, held in February 1956, the policies of Stalinism were sharply criticized. Khrushchev's report to the delegates of the congress, later, in milder terms, published in the press, revealed those perversions of the ideals of socialism that Stalin allowed during almost thirty years of his dictatorial rule.
The process of de-Stalinization of Soviet society was very inconsistent. He did not touch upon the essential aspects of the formation and development
of the totalitarian regime in our country. N. S. Khrushchev himself was a typical product of this regime, only realizing the potential inability of the former leadership to keep it in an unchanged form. His attempts to democratize the country were doomed to failure, since in any case, the real activity to implement changes in both the political and economic lines of the USSR fell on the shoulders of the former state and party apparatus, which did not want any radical changes.
At the same time, however, many victims of Stalinist repressions were rehabilitated, some peoples of the country, repressed by the Stalin regime, were given the opportunity to return to their former places of residence. Their autonomy was restored. The most odious representatives of the country's punitive organs were removed from power. Khrushchev's report to the 20th Party Congress confirmed the country's former political course, aimed at finding opportunities for peaceful coexistence of countries with different political systems, at defusing international tension. Characteristically, it already recognized various ways of building a socialist society.
The fact of public condemnation of Stalin's arbitrariness had a huge impact on the life of the entire Soviet people. Changes in the life of the country led to the loosening of the system of state, barracks socialism built in the USSR. The total control of the authorities over all areas of life of the population of the Soviet Union was a thing of the past. It was these changes in the former political system of society, already uncontrolled by the authorities, that aroused in them the desire to strengthen the authority of the party. In 1959, at the 21st Congress of the CPSU, it was announced to the entire Soviet people that socialism had won a complete and final victory in the USSR. The statement that our country had entered a period of "widespread construction of a communist society" was confirmed by the adoption of a new program of the CPSU, which set out in detail the tasks of building the foundations of communism in the Soviet Union by the beginning of the 80s of our century.
The collapse of the Khrushchev leadership. Return to the system of totalitarian socialism
N.S. Khrushchev, like any reformer of the socio-political system that had developed in the USSR, was very vulnerable. He had to change her, relying on her own resources. Therefore, the numerous, not always well-thought-out reform initiatives of this typical representative of the administrative-command system could not only significantly change it, but even undermine it. All his attempts to "cleanse socialism" from the consequences of Stalinism were unsuccessful. Having ensured the return of power to party structures, restoring its significance to the party-state nomenklatura and saving it from potential repressions, N.S. Khrushchev fulfilled his historical mission.
The aggravated food difficulties of the early 60s, if not turned the entire population of the country into dissatisfied with the actions of the previously energetic reformer, then at least determined indifference to his future fate. Therefore, the removal of Khrushchev in October 1964 from the post of head of the country by the forces of the highest representatives of the Soviet party-state nomenklatura passed quite calmly and without excesses.
Increasing difficulties in the socio-economic development of the country
In the late 60s - in the 70s, the USSR economy gradually slid to the stagnation of almost all of its industries. A steady decline in its main economic indicators was evident. The economic development of the USSR looked especially unfavorable against the background of the world economy, which at that time was progressing significantly. The Soviet economy continued to reproduce its industrial structures with an emphasis on traditional industries, in particular on the export of fuel and energy products.
resources. This certainly caused significant damage to the development of science-intensive technologies and complex equipment, the share of which was significantly reduced.
The extensive nature of the development of the Soviet economy significantly limited the solution of social problems related to the concentration of funds in heavy industry and the military-industrial complex, the social sphere of life of the population of our country during the period of stagnation was out of the government's field of vision. The country gradually plunged into a severe crisis, and all attempts to avoid it were unsuccessful.
An attempt to accelerate the socio-economic development of the country
By the end of the 1970s, for a part of the Soviet leadership and millions of Soviet citizens, the impossibility of maintaining the existing order in the country without changes became obvious. The last years of the rule of L.I. Brezhnev, who came to power after the removal of N.S. Khrushchev, took place against the backdrop of a crisis in the economic and social spheres in the country, an increase in apathy and indifference of the people, and a deformed morality of those in power. The symptoms of decay were clearly felt in all areas of life. Some attempts to find a way out of the current situation were made by the new leader of the country - Yu.V. Andropov. Although he was a typical representative and sincere supporter of the former system, nevertheless, some of his decisions and actions had already shaken the previously indisputable ideological dogmas that did not allow his predecessors to carry out, although theoretically justified, but practically failed reform attempts.
The new leadership of the country, relying mainly on tough administrative measures, tried to stake on restoring order and discipline in the country, on eradicating corruption, which by that time had affected all levels of government. This gave temporary success - the economic indicators of the country's development improved somewhat. Some of the most odious functionaries were withdrawn from the leadership of the party and government, and criminal cases were opened against many leaders who held high positions.
The change in political leadership after the death of Yu.V. Andropov in 1984 showed how great the power of the nomenklatura is. The new general secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, the mortally ill KU Chernenko, as if personified the system that his predecessor was trying to reform. The country continued to develop as if by inertia, the people indifferently watched Chernenko's attempts to return the USSR to Brezhnev's order. Numerous Andropov's undertakings to revive the economy, renew and purge the leadership cadres were curtailed.
In March 1985, MS Gorbachev, a representative of a relatively young and ambitious wing of the country's party leadership, came to the leadership of the country. On his initiative, in April 1985, a new strategic course for the development of the country was proclaimed, focused on accelerating its socio-economic development based on scientific and technological progress, the technical re-equipment of mechanical engineering and the activation of the "human factor". Its implementation at first was able to somewhat improve the economic indicators of the development of the USSR.
In February-March 1986, the XXVII Congress of Soviet Communists took place, the number of which by that time amounted to 19 million people. At the congress, which was held in a traditional ceremonial setting, a new version of the party program was adopted, from which the unfulfilled tasks for building the foundations of a communist society in the USSR by 1980 were removed. elections, plans were made to solve the housing problem by the year 2000. It was at this congress that a course was put forward for the restructuring of all aspects of the life of Soviet society, but specific mechanisms for its implementation have not yet been developed, and it was perceived as an ordinary ideological slogan.
The collapse of perestroika. The collapse of the USSR
The course towards perestroika, proclaimed by the Gorbachev leadership, was accompanied by slogans of accelerating the country's economic development and glasnost, freedom of speech in the field of public life of the population of the USSR. The economic freedom of enterprises, the expansion of their independence and the revival of the private sector turned for the majority of the country's population into rising prices, a shortage of basic goods and a drop in living standards. The policy of glasnost, at first perceived as a sound criticism of all the negative phenomena of Soviet society, led to an uncontrollable process of denigrating the entire past of the country, the emergence of new ideological and political movements and parties that were alternative to the course of the CPSU.
At the same time, the Soviet Union is radically changing its foreign policy - now it was aimed at easing tensions between West and East, settling regional wars and conflicts, and expanding economic and political ties with all states. The Soviet Union stopped the war in Afghanistan, improved relations with China, the United States, contributed to the unification of Germany, etc.
The decomposition of the administrative-command system, generated by the perestroika processes in the USSR, the abolition of the former levers of governing the country and its economy significantly worsened the life of the Soviet people and radically influenced the further deterioration of the economic situation. Centrifugal tendencies were growing in the Union republics. Moscow could no longer tightly control the situation in the country. The market reforms proclaimed in a number of decisions of the country's leadership could not be understood by ordinary people, since they further worsened the already low level of well-being of the people. Inflation intensified, prices on the “black market” rose, there were not enough goods and products. Workers' strikes and interethnic conflicts became frequent occurrences. Under these conditions, representatives of the former party-state nomenklatura attempted a coup d'état - the removal of Gorbachev from the post of president of the collapsing Soviet Union. The failure of the putsch of August 1991 showed the impossibility of reviving the former political system. The very fact of the coup attempt was the result of Gorbachev's inconsistent and ill-conceived policy, leading the country to collapse. In the days that followed the putsch, many former Soviet republics declared their full independence, and the three Baltic republics also achieved its recognition by the USSR. The activity of the CPSU was suspended. Gorbachev, having lost all the levers of governing the country and the authority of the party and state leader, left the post of president of the USSR.
Russia at a turning point
The collapse of the Soviet Union led the American president in December 1991 to congratulate his people on their victory in the Cold War. The Russian Federation, which became the legal successor of the former USSR, inherited all the difficulties in the economy, social life and political relations of the former world power. President of Russia Boris N. Yeltsin, with difficulty maneuvering between various political currents and parties of the country, made a bet on a group of reformers who took a tough course in carrying out market reforms in the country. The practice of ill-conceived privatization of state property, the appeal for financial assistance to international organizations and major powers of the West and East have significantly worsened the overall situation in the country. Non-payment of wages, criminal clashes at the state level, uncontrolled division of state property, a drop in the living standards of the people with the formation of a very small layer of super-rich citizens - this is the result of the policy of the current leadership of the country. Russia is in for a big test. But the whole history of the Russian people shows that its creative forces and intellectual potential will overcome modern difficulties in any case.
Russian history. Brief reference book for schoolchildren - Publishers: Slovo, OLMA-PRESS Education, 2003
1. What was the special role of the state in the history of Russia?
The whole life of society was regulated by the state. The subordination of the individual to the state, representatives of all classes must bear certain duties directly to the state (nobles - military and civil service, peasantry - taxes + recruitment duty, merchants and bourgeoisie - taxes). The state initiated the reforms. The state directed the economic development of the country, especially brightly under P.1, the Soviet era. The state led the struggle for the expansion of its borders, the conquest of territories. The state contributed to the development of education and culture (Academy of Sciences, schools - Peter 1, Moscow University - Elizabeth, development of public education - Elizabeth II). Since ancient times - the formation of despotic power. State intervention - authoritarian nature. The ruling class sought to obtain legal guarantees of its rights and obligations, if it did not work out, ideology came to the rescue.
2. Analyze the role of the geographical factor in the history of Russia.
The geographical position in the center of the Eastern Hemisphere between Europe and Asia put the history of Russia in connection not only with the history of Europe, but also with Asia. The median, Eurasian position of Russia, the close intertwining of European and Asian cultures, historical traditions and customs of the peoples living here, determined the uniqueness of development. The richest natural resources, vast territories, its openness, lack of natural borders - all this did not allow the local people to live in isolation from the outside world, to concentrate on a certain, historically unchanged territory. The absence of overpopulation, lack of undeveloped land was our specificity. There was no reason to move from extensive to intensive methods.
3. CIVILIZATION
a community of people united by fundamental spiritual values and ideals, having stable special features of a socio-political organization, culture, economy and a psychological sense of belonging to this community.
4. ETHNOGENESIS
the process of emergence, development and disappearance of ethnic groups J) THOG - a group of people naturally formed on the basis of an original stereotype of behavior, existing as a system that opposes itself to other similar systems, based on a sense of complementarity 5. When the Tale of Bygone Years was created. Russian Pravda - ancient. vault. laws that have come down to us in three lists: Brief Truth - the oldest. 11th century, Spacious [second half of the 12th century] and Abbreviated. P.V. years - the first edition, compiled by the monk of the Kiev-Pechora monastery Nestor, did not reach us. in Kostroma.]
6. Name the most prominent Russian historians.
V. N. Tatishchev - the founder of Russian historical science - "Russian history from the most ancient times." A. N. Radishchev is the founder of the revolutionary and educational understanding of history. N. M. Karamzin - noble-monarchist understanding of history - "the history of the Russian state". M. Solovyov - the founder of the Russian liberal school - "the history of Russia from ancient times." O. Klyuchevsky.b. n. Chicherin - the founder of the state school - "experiments in the history of Russian law", L.N. Gumilev
7.Chronicle date of the calling of the Varangians with Rurik on R.
862 - Called by the Slavs to the Novgorod tribe /rus/ led by the Varangians Rurik, Sineus, Truvor [perhaps without brothers], called because the Krivichi, Chud and Merya did not agree on the choice of the prince.
8. What is the essence of the dispute between Normanists and anti-norms.
In 1724, Johann Bayer, Gerard Millenemtz], a supporter of the norm theory: Karamzin, Klyuchevsky, Pogodin, Solovyov, Pokrovsky .; anti-norman. - But at the present time, norm.ideas are more recognized [especially after the archaeologist. finds near Yaroslavl and Smolensk]
9. What was the significance of the adoption of Christianity in the history of Kievan Rus?
1. contributory. fortified units state based on a common relay.
2. there was an introduction to Christian culture; churches and monasteries became centers of Russian culture
3. there was a strengthening of princely power
4. Rus' acquired a strong ally - Byzantium
5. in Nar. rooted. gum. the moral standards of Christ
The establishment of Christianity in Rus' as the state religion is an event of great historical significance. The Old Russian state strengthened its economic, political, dynastic and cultural ties with Byzantium and Western Europe, overcame isolationism caused by religious differences. Kievan Rus became a Christian power, integrating into the family of Christian peoples and states.
Christianity was even more important for establishing a new social system. The elimination of local, tribal differences accelerated, which contributed to ethnic consolidation. Orthodox institutions found themselves in close connection with the early feudal state and the monarchy, giving them the character of divine establishment, sacredness. The country was attached to Christian values, on the basis of which fundamentally new relations began to form, cultural and spiritual life began to develop. At the same time, Christianity was adopted in its Byzantine, future Orthodox version, which subsequently led to the emergence of opposite trends - political and cultural alienation from Latin Europe, the establishment of a different model of historical development.
With the adoption of Christianity, the church and the church hierarchy began to line up, which occupied an important place in ancient Russian society. The initial history of the church is poorly known. The supreme authority, uniting all Christian Rus', was the Metropolitan of Kiev and All Rus', who, in turn, was appointed and subordinated to the Patriarch of Constantinople. Soon his metropolis began to be divided into dioceses, the number of which gradually increased. Among them were Novgorod, Rostov, Chernigov, Pereyaslav, Vladimir and others. Metropolitans and bishops from ancient times received various gifts and land holdings from the princes. Along with the white clergy, the black clergy also appeared, monks who settled in deserts and monasteries. The number of the latter in the XI-XIII centuries. according to chronicle, rather controversial news, it reaches 70. It is characteristic that they are located mainly in cities or near cities - the protracted process of Christianization encouraged monasticism to huddle close to urban "Orthodox" centers. There is also a monastic landownership, which is significantly inferior to the land holdings of the bishops' chairs. The last until the XIV century. inclusive were the main representatives of non-secular landowners. 10. Year of the baptism of Rus' - 988
11.VOTCHINA
"father's land", the right of a prince or boyar to the territory that belonged to his ancestors "and passed to him by inheritance. First mentioned in the annals under 968.
12. Describe the economic and socio-political development of Ancient Rus'.
a) 2nd floor 9 - 2 floor. 10 - the unification of the Slavic tribes around Kyiv, the folding of the ancient Russian people, and the creation of a power apparatus and military organization. b) end 10 - the period of the rise of the Old Russian state: the development of feudal lands, cities, crafts, and trade. formation of estates, code of laws (Russian truth). c) the beginning of the 12th century. fragmentation of Russia into separate principalities (final disintegration after the death of Mstislav Vladimirovich in 1132). economy: agriculture, cattle breeding, hunting, fishing, beekeeping, handicrafts (carpentry, pottery, blacksmithing, jewelry). trade: export: hemp, wood, flax; import: weapons, fabric, spices. geography of trade: byzantium, western europe, east. cities - shopping centers: kiev, novgorod, suzdal, ryazan, chernihiv, vladimir. political system: prince - legislator, military leader, supreme judge, recipient of tribute . senior squad = boyar thought. composition: boyars, posadniks (princely governors in cities), thousand, elders of cities, higher clergy. functions: participation in the state and military administration and administration of the regions. veche - the people's assembly, assembled as needed, in Novgorod - the highest legislative power. junior team. composition: ordinary soldiers, petty rulers, servants. functions: executive power. princely administration = "princely court". composition: representatives of the senior and junior squads and state administration officials (printers, customs officers, etc.), posadniks and thousands - officials of state administration bodies), personal servants of the prince (butlers, stewards, roundabouts) .. functions: executive power. the prince relied on the retinue, but was limited by the veche (the oldest political institution, etc., invited the princes, looked at him and his retinue, removed the prince). 2 political and administrative centers that fought among themselves and at different periods of history the prince or veche prevailed. estates: boyars: senior warriors, wealthy merchants and landowners; warriors: junior warriors; people: free community members; smerdy: semi-free members of the community; purchases and ryadovichi: part-time slaves; servants and serfs: slaves; outcasts: people expelled from the community for misdeeds; urban population: townspeople (artisans, small traders); clergy: 1.) black - monks 2) white - ministers; purchases - worked for a sponsor for a loan (kupa). Feudalism was characterized by the complete ownership of the land by the feudal lord and incomplete ownership of the peasants, against whom various measures of economic and non-economic coercion were applied.
13. Name the time frames of the period of specific fragmentation R.
After the death of Yaroslav Mudrovo, the Kiev state. was sec. between his 5 sons, in 1097 in Lublich, a meeting of princes [the title of princes / to keep their fatherland /. Grandson Yaros. Mud. - Vl. Monamakh and his son Mstislav removed the liquidation division, but after the death of MstislavD. state broke up into 13 major principalities: Novgorod and Pskov lands, Vladimir-Suzdal, Polotsk-Minsk, Galicia-Volyn, Kiev, Ryazan. sec. reached its climax, only Vlad.-Suzdal. split into 14 principalities. In the 60-80s. 15 century in the principality of the son of Vasily 2 - Ivan 3 came an image. central state. In 1463 + Yaroslavl, 1474 + Rostov, 1472 + Perm, 1478 + Novgorod 1480
14. What events began the Mongol-Tatar invasion of Rus'? In what forms was the dependence of the Russian principalities on the Golden Horde established?
At the beginning of the 13th century, the Mongols waged war against the Polovtsy and asked the Russians for assistance, but the Russians had an agreement with the Polovtsy. In 1223 Russians + Cumans = battle on the Kalka River (defeat). The Mongols decided to take revenge. 1237 - Batu invasion of Rus' (Ryazan land). February 3, 1238 - the capture of Vladimir. March 1238 - the defeat of the troops of Yuri Vsevolodovich in the battle on the river Sit. 1240 - the capture of Kyiv by Batu. The Horde imposed tribute on Rus'. In addition to monetary payments, the Mongols demanded that the Russian princes constantly send military detachments to the service of the khan. The Tatars preserved the existing political system in Rus'. The prince who received the label for the great Kievan reign was appointed the head.
15. What do you know about the Battle of Kulikovo?
September 8, 1380. The entire Russian people rose to defend the fatherland. In a short time, regiments and militias from almost all Russian lands and principalities gathered in Moscow. Blessings of Sergei Radonezh. Mamai (Lithuanian prince Jagiello and Oleg Ryazansky). Victory of Dmitry Donskoy. But not the overthrow of the yoke, but the overthrow of fear. 1382 Tokhmatysh takes Moscow. However, it is not possible to completely restore the power of the Horde. As a result of what event did Rus' finally free itself from the Mongol-Tatar yoke?
The idea of the struggle against the m.-Tatars, delivered. from the payment of yes-no arose in the 70s of the 14th century (Dmitry Donskoy). 1380 - battle. Russian and tat. to Kulik. field, but Russian victory. not obsessed History the task of freeing from m.-t. the yoke occurred under Ivan III. At this time, the Horde split: department. Kazan, then the Crimean Khanate. Moscow principality continued to strengthen: were attached. Novgorod, Tver.
In the summer of 1480 - standing on the Ugra. Akhmat led the troops away, Nozdrevaty said that he would not pay
The meaning of the Kulikovo victory. Despite the defeat in 1382, the Russian people after the Battle of Kulikovo believed in a speedy liberation from the Tatars. On the Kulikovo field, the Golden Horde suffered its first major defeat. The Battle of Kulikovo showed the power and strength of Moscow as a political and economic center - the organizer of the struggle to overthrow the Golden Horde yoke and unite the Russian lands. Thanks to the Kulikovo victory, the amount of tribute was reduced. In the Horde, the political supremacy of Moscow among the rest of the Russian lands was finally recognized. The defeat of the Horde in the Battle of Kulikovo significantly weakened their power. Residents from different Russian lands and cities went to the Kulikovo field - they returned from the battle as the Russian people.
Before his death, Dmitry Donskoy handed over the Grand Duchy of Vladimir to his son Vasily (1389-1425) by will as the "fatherland" of the Moscow princes, without asking the right to a label in the Horde. There was a merger of the Grand Duchy of Vladimir and Moscow.
16. Analyze the prerequisites for the unification of the Russian principalities around Moscow.
1. The wise policy of the Moscow princes, who, where by force, where with the help of money, increased the territory. Moscow Principality (especially Ivan Kalita, grandson of Dmitry Donskoy)
2.Applicable to the service at Mos. book. en. people from Tat., Polovts.
3. Transferred. Metropolitan residence. in M. (Ivan Kalita)
4. Played the role of a single faith, culture, language
5. All specific princes, enmity. among themselves, adj. to one dyn. Rurikovich, i.e. had a common root
6. Convenient geographical location of Moscow
As early as the second half of the 13th century, the Moscow principality occupied a modest place in the political life of the country. At the end of the 13th century, it went to the youngest son of Alexander Nevsky, Daniel. Its main territory at that time lay along the middle course of the Moskva River, capturing the left and right tributaries. Moscow was located at the junction of land and water roads. That is, Moscow pulled together roads from different Russian lands and therefore was their economic center. The location of the Moscow principality was no less advantageous in relation to the Golden Horde. When attacking the northeastern Russian lands, the Tatars usually rose along the Volga and its tributaries, ruining Nizhny Novgorod, Ryazan, Yaroslavl, Vladimir, Suzdal, but as they went deeper into the Russian lands, the strength of the Tatar strike weakened, and the Tatars rarely reached the Moscow borders . The population of the outlying Russian lands, raised by the Tatar pogroms, flocked to the Moscow principality, contributing to its strengthening. In 1300, the troops of Daniil Alexandrovich captured Kolomna, in 1302 Pereyaslavl was included in the Moscow possessions, in 1303 Mozhaisk was annexed. These acquisitions almost doubled the territory of the Moscow Principality. In 1328 Ivan Kalita took the great reign. From a fragmentary chronicle story about the time of Ivan Kalita, an image of an energetic prince grows before us, in which caution and prudence were combined with perseverance, deceit and determination. He achieved great political success not on the battlefield, but through a far-sighted policy. He obediently fulfilled the difficult requirements of the Golden Horde, enjoyed the trust of the Khan, who saw him as an intermediary in relations with the Russian lands. In reality, Kalita skillfully used the khan's power to achieve his own goals. And he managed to turn the khan into an obedient tool in his hands. The successful policy of Ivan Kalita in relation to the Golden Horde required large expenses from him, which he covered with tribute collected from Novgorod, Rostov and other Russian cities. It was under Kalita that the old capital, Vladimir, began to recede into the background before Moscow, and Moscow began to turn from the capital of a small principality into a political and religious Center common to the Russian lands - the transfer of the residence of the metropolitan to Moscow. Beli and other reasons. The wise policy of the Moscow princes. Within the boundaries of the Moscow Principality, there never existed either a large boyar landownership or appanages - a strong authoritarian princely power is being created and is being formed. The absence of strong enemies, since Novgorod was not strong, and in Tver there were constant feuds between the princes. Attracting energetic people from the Tatars, Lithuanians, Polovtsy to the service of the Moscow prince. Interest in uniting ordinary people (peasants, townspeople), who suffered from civil strife in the first place. Single culture, faith, language. All the specific princes who were at odds with each other belonged to the same Rurik dynasty. The social struggle of peasants and townspeople demanded the strengthening of power. Development of economic relations between the lands. The revival of the destroyed and the emergence of new cities. External threat.
17. Authorities of the 16th century.
BOYAR DUMA - an advisory legislative body under the sovereign in the 16th century. It consisted of boyars, former appanage princes and was a general zemstvo government assembled under the leadership of the sovereign. In addition to the boyars, the Duma included representatives of the higher clergy.
Zemsky Sobors - meeting. organ. Appeared in R. in the middle. 16th century in 1549. At this time, after the cancellation of feedings, the connection of the center with the places was weakened. To strengthen it, Zemsky Sobors began to be convened. They solved questions of foreign policy, waging wars, taxation. At some Zemsky Sobors (1598), a tsar was elected (Boris Godunov). Part. Z. s. included: members of the Duma, early. prik., a representative of the two-va, cities and spirit-in. Frequency of convocation Z.S. not installed
ORDERS, their functions. - central government bodies, emerged under Ivan the Terrible. At the end of the 15th - n.16th centuries, units. order. the main clerks turned into complex government offices, a cat. and were called huts, or orders. The heads of orders are judges. Each judge has his own clerk, secretary with clerks. Former palace departments turned into orders. As it arises new pr-in. task image. new orders: embassy order - foreign policy issues; discharge order - military service affairs; local order - affairs of local, service and patrimonial land tenure; robbery order - corner. affairs; kholopy order - cases about serfs; n. big. parish - state. doh.; 12 App. - scope inside landscaping, communication from nar. needs. inter.
In January 1547, Ivan IV, having reached the age of majority, was officially married to the kingdom. The ceremony of taking the royal title took place in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin. From the hands of the Moscow Metropolitan Macarius, who developed the ritual of crowning the kingdom, Ivan IV received the Monomakh's hat and other signs of royal power. From now on, the Grand Duke of Moscow herd is called the king.
In the period when a centralized state was taking shape, as well as during interregnums and internal strife, the role of the legislative and deliberative body under the Grand Duke, and later under the tsar, played the Boyar Duma. During the reign of Ivan IV, the composition of the Boyar Duma was almost tripled in order to weaken the role of the old boyar aristocracy in it.
18. ESTATE
a form of land tenure, which, unlike the estate, was conditional in nature, because was given to the nobles for their service. The term is first found in the Sudebnik in 1497. From the middle of the 11th c. began the transformation of the estate into a hereditary possession. The complete merger of the patrimony and the estate took place according to the decree of Peter I on a single inheritance in 1714.
19. Give an assessment of the reign of B. Godunov. B. G.
He continued the policy of asserting autocracy and Ukrainian. state, based on a fortified position. nobility and the weakening of the feudal lords. stuck peasantry [app. system / reserved years / - prohibition of care kr. from his masters, 1597 established. 5-year-old investigation of the fugitive kr., 1600 - concluded a peace with Poland for 20 years, 1598 - summed up arrears in taxes and taxes, gave nkotor. privileges for servicemen and townspeople in the execution. state duties, 1591 Tsarevich Dmitry died in Uglich [Commission Prince. V.I. Shuisky official. announced D. died. during an attack of pilepsy, but the people accused B.G. 1601-1603 of hunger, B.G. the price of bread, in November 1601 he allowed the transition of the kr., began issuing bread from the state. barns, strengthened the repression of robbery cases and allowed the serfs to leave their masters if they could not feed them.
20. Trouble.
1. Causes of the Troubles in Russia at the beginning of the 17th and its consequences.
Causes:
The suppression of the legitimate dynasty.
The ruin of the starana under Ivan the Terrible from the oprichnina and the Livonian war.
Graduation fixed peasants (cancellation of St. George's Day)
The struggle for the Moscow throne.
Appearance of selfishness.
economic ruin of the country.
Mass popular movements.
Consequences: For the first time. advanced the concept of about-va, cat. start of action myself.; The composition of the ruling elite is changing.; The former support of the king - the boyars - began to collapse, representatives of the provinces rose up. nobility and merchants.; The system of parochialism is rapidly collapsing; the main role in moving up began to be played by personal merits, and not by nobility of origin .; The kings began to reckon more with the boyars and took obligations not to execute them without trial and to ensure their safety .; Zemsky Sobors began to play a significant role in governing the country. All segments of the population were represented in them in the 17th century.
2. What social forces and historical figures acted during the Time of Troubles
During the Time of Troubles, all segments of the population were active. The first to join the Time of Troubles under B. Godunov was the top of the boyars, then, with the accession of Shuisky, the middle boyars, the metropolitan nobility and officials of orders (clerks) were included in it. The ordinary nobility is gradually included, incl. provincial (also in the period of Shuisky). At the final stage, Cossacks, merchants, townspeople, and peasants are active. The beginning of their activity is the uprising of I. Bolotnikov (1606-1607), but the peak of activity falls on 1611-1612 when creating a militia against the Poles. Historical persons: B. Godunov (1598-1605); V. Shuisky (1606-1610); Lzhedm. 1; False Dmitry 2; I. Bolotnikov (1606-1607 - campaign against Moscow); Procopius Lyapunov (1st militia in 1611); K. Minin and D. Pozharsky (2nd militia in 1612)
21. Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich.
On July 11, 1613, the first Russian tsar from the Romanov dynasty was crowned king. The young and inexperienced king needed support in the conditions of the ruin of the country. Zemsky Sobors sat almost continuously for the first ten years of his reign. At first, the tsar's mother and his maternal relatives, the Saltykov boyars, who enjoyed the respect of their contemporaries, began to play a decisive role in governing the state. In 1619, Michael's father returned from Polish captivity after the Truce of Deulino. In Moscow, Philaret was proclaimed Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' and a great sovereign. Until his death in 1633, he, a smart and powerful Pole, ruled the country together with his son.
The main task facing Russia was to restore the country's ruined economy, internal order and stability. Mikhail Fedorovich (1613-1645) took the path of assigning peasants to their owners. In 1619, a five-year search was again announced, and in 1637, a nine-year search for fugitives. In 1642, a decree was again issued on a ten-year term for the search for fugitives and a fifteen-year search for forcibly exported peasants.
22. Politics A.M.
(1645-1676) Internal period: the government of the boyar B.I. to work Zemsky Sobor, 1649 he adopted the Cathedral Code [In that document. proclaiming the abolition./of school years./and the establishment indefinite investigation of fugitive peasants and townspeople. The right to transfer estates to the nobles by inheritance is recognized, provided that the sons serve like their father. 1653 - the Trade Charter was adopted, which established a single ruble duty for merchants and abolished a number of internal. duty from that year ceased. convocation of Zemsky Sobors, wire. merger and reorganization. orders, orders them to one person, was undertaken. an attempt at reorganization. ex.- yen places.R cases. for 250 counties, headed by. warlords were standing. 1654 -image. The order of the great sovereign of secret affairs, in whose jurisdiction. transferred from B.D. a number of important state cases, instead of silver coins, they began to mint copper coins at the same price. 1667 - the New Trade Charter was adopted, according to which. foreign merchants are forbidden. retail trade in R., form. Regiment of the new system - Reiter and Dragoon, innovation. in the Russian church [departure from the old Byzane. canons] EXTERNAL pol.: A) the struggle in the south against the Turkish-Tatar aggression, b] May 10, 1653. The Zemsky Sobor decided. accept Ukr. in the composition of the R. In 1654 began. war with Poland over Ukraine. Finished signature Andrusovo truce 31 Jan. 1667 [left bank of the Ukrainian. ours] in]. 1656-1658. war with Sweden for the return. The Baltic coast, which ceded to Sweden according to the Stolbovsky peace of 1617, was unsuccessful. In 1661, a peace was signed in Cardin. contract.
25. Nikon's church reforms.
Church reform was dictated by the need to strengthen discipline, order, and the moral foundations of the clergy. The expansion of ties with Ukraine and the Greek East required the introduction of the same church ritual throughout the Orthodox world. The spread of printing opened up the possibility of unifying church books.
At the end of the 40s of the 19th century. In Moscow, a circle of zealots of ancient piety was formed. Prominent church figures are thrown into it: the tsar's confessor Stefan Vonifatiev, the rector of the Kazan Cathedral on Red Square John, the tsar's bed-keeper F. Rtishchev, prominent figures of the church from Nizhny Novgorod Nikon and Avvakum and others.
The son of a Mordovian peasant Nikon (in the world Nikita Mnnov) made a rapid career. Having taken monastic vows on the distant Solovetsky Islands, Nikon soon became abbot (head) of the Kozheozersky monastery (Kargopol region). Nikon was connected by acquaintance and friendship with Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, whose support he enjoyed for a long time. Nikon becomes the archimandrite of the Moscow Novospassky monastery - the ancestral tomb of the Romanovs. After a short stay as Metropolitan of Novgorod (just during the Novgorod uprising of 1650), in 1652 Nikov was elected Patriarch of Moscow.
In an effort to turn the Russian Church into the center of world Orthodoxy, the imperious and "cool" Patriarch Nikoi began a reform to unify the rites and establish the uniformity of church services. Greek rules and rituals were taken as a model.
Split. The reforms, carried out in the conditions of mass popular discontent, provoked a protest from part of the boyars and hierarchs of the church, who were afraid that changes in the church would undermine its authority among the people. There was a split in the Russian Church. Adherents of the old order - the Old Believers - refused to recognize Nikon's reform and advocated a return to the pre-reform order. Outwardly, the disagreements between Nikon and his opponents, the Old Believers, among whom Archpriest Avvakum stood out, boiled down to what models - Greek or Russian - to unify church books. The dispute between them was also about how to be baptized - with two or three fingers, how to make a procession - in the course of the sun or against salt, etc.
The schism became one of the forms of social protest of the Russian masses, who linked the deterioration of their position with the reform of the church. Thousands of peasants and residents of the settlement, carried away by the passionate sermons of the "splitting teachers", fled to the Pomeranian North, to the Volga region, to the Urals, to Siberia, where they founded Old Believer settlements.
The most powerful protest against church reform manifested itself in the Solovetsky uprising of 1668-1676 it. Opponents of reforms flocked here, to a distant monastery with powerful walls and a significant supply of food. Many differences found shelter here. In 1676, a traitor let the royal troops into the monastery through a secret hole. Of the 600 defenders of the fortress, only 50 survived.
The leaders of the Old Believers, Archpriest Avvakum and his associates, were exiled to Pustozersk in the lower reaches of the Pechora and spent 14 years in an earthen prison, after which they were burned alive. Since then, the Old Believers often subjected themselves to "baptism of fire" - self-immolation in response to the coming into the world of "Nikon the Antichrist." The fate of the main enemy of the Old Believers, Patriarch Nikon, was also tragic. Having achieved the title of "Great Sovereign", His Holiness the Patriarch clearly overestimated his strength. In 1658, he defiantly left the capital, declaring that he did not want to be a patriarch in Moscow, but would remain the patriarch of Rus'. In 1666, a church council with the participation of the patriarchs of Alexandria and Aiti-Ochi, who had powers from two other Orthodox patriarchs - Constantinople and Jerusalem, removed Nikon from the post of patriarch. The famous Ferapoitov Monastery near Vologda became the place where it was dumped. Already after the death of Alexei Mikhailovich, Niko returned from exile and died (1681) not far from Yaroslavl. Yun was buried in the Resurrection New Jerusalem Monastery near Moscow (Istra), which he himself built according to the same plan as the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem - Moscow was seen by Nikon as the true center of world Christianity
26. Why P.1 chose the path of catch-up development and how it manifested itself.
B17 century. R. was the largest state. in the Old World., population comp. only 13 million people, concentrated mainly in the center and north of Europe. h. R. At the turn of the 17-18 century. R. stood in front of the need. overcome social - horse. backwardness compared to others. Western European countries - Holland, England, France: 1.conom.R.rest. nature. , with underdeveloped. prom. 2.bulky and unmovable. there was a control system. n. household 3.were inherent. signs of autarchy, i.e. hoz.closed, insulated. from the outside world 4.absent. restraining access to the seas. development intl. connections [way through Bel. m. was long, limited. in current. many a month. per year, Balt. m. control. Sweden, Azov. and Chern m.-Turkey and the Crimean Khanate.] 5.spec. was noticeable. lagging behind Europe. military level. deed [abs. good. fire weapons, shooter. the army did not carry regulations. military service, there was no military-marine. fleet] 6.crisis growing. in the form of religion. struggle between the Orthodox and old believer. church.
27. Analyze the administrative reforms of Peter I .
The essence of administrative reforms is the creation of a noble and bureaucratic centralized apparatus of power. All the fullness of the legislative, executive and judicial powers were concentrated in the hands of the king. The Zemstvo Assembly is not convened, the Boyar Duma ceases to operate.
Instead of the abolished Boyar Duma, a Senate of 9 people was created, which was formed on the basis of professional suitability. He had legislative functions.
Replacement of orders by colleges that were in charge of individual branches of government. The management system has become clearer and more centralized. The Senate was the governing and supervising body in relation to the collegiums.
Restructuring of the administrative-territorial division. Russia was divided into 8 provinces, provinces were divided into provinces, provinces - into counties.
28. Economic policy of Peter 1.
Characterized by the active intervention of the state. in a horse measures are encouraged. private predp. -1719, a commercial collegium was created, later an organ. Main and City Magistrate [in function. included the help of merchants, their self-government, the creation of guilds] -In order to improve trades. ways to access construction channels -1704 steel issue. ruble coins [Per weight unit - silver. thaler] - built by the first quarter of the 18th century. 100 manufactories, - to the enterprise. attributing to Mrs. peasants [assigned], by decree of 1721. -1722 association in crafts workshops. [elected foreman obl. for quality. products.] -1754 cancel ext. customs duties. -1718-24 on the web. shower taxes.
29 Military reforms. PETER 1 their meaning.
a]-1705 set. recruit. guilty -created. regular army [recruit. pass. military prepared, received uniforms, armed, if the recruit was from the fortress. kr., it automatically becomes. freedom.] -All nobles had to bear in. service with soldiers rank, by decree of 1714 prohibition. production as officers of those who did not pass the soldier. service in the Guards. -preparation official impl. in the military schools, founded. from 1698 -99 - by decree of P. in the early 1720s, 50 garrison were founded. preparatory schools. non-commissioned officer composition. -ships were built in Voronezh, Astrakh., In 1704 was the foundation. Admiralty and shipyards in Peter. - from 1706 to 1725, about 60 large and more than 200 light ships were built. for the Baltic Fleet. -in 1701 in Moscow founded. Navigation school. b]-reg. overland army composition. 200 thousand - fleet of 48 battleships. 800 galleys, 28 thousand crew members. - won a victory in the North. war over Sweden [according to the Nystad peace. Great Danes. On August 30, 1721, Stlandia, Livonia, part of Karelia, went to R., and access to the Baltic was obtained. m. -Persian campaign
30. What reforms were carried out under Catherine II
a] 1762-monopoly. the right of nobles to rule. kr., a manifesto on the freedom of the nobility [prvo dv. do not serve] 1763 - Senate reform: the division of the Senate into departments with the delineation of their functions.
b] consequences: - IN THE MIDDLE. 60-70s by R. rolled. wave of anti-feud. speech.cr. July 31, 1774 - Pugachev] -strengthening of the position of the nobility -possodst.education of the people -as a result. struggle with Turkey in 1770-80, Crimea, Bessarabia, and Ukr were attached to R. land by bank Azov. and the Black Seas [R. Fleet received the right to freely sail along the Black Sea] - as a result of the 3 partitions of Poland, the following were moved to R.: Pravoberezh. Ukr. , Belorusm., Balt. - SHE created an advanced control system for her time. , effective. conom., but not dec. implement the principle section. authorities
31. Politics of enlightened absolutism
Ek.11 began to carry out her nobility, serf policy in the form of enlightenment. absolute that policy was harak. -for countries with a relatively slow development of capital. relations, where the nobility kept their polit. law and horse. privilege. P.A. held such events in which. the nobles were interested, the absolute state itself, but which. at the same time conducive to .development cap. way of life.
32. Give an analysis of the class system of Russia at the end XVIII century.
By the end of the 18th century, the rights and obligations of the estates were fixed in legislative acts: privileged (exempt) - the clergy, nobility, merchants; and unprivileged (taxable) - petty bourgeois, cross. (state and serfs) and
33. Expand the contents of the Letter of Complaint to the nobles of 1785
Rights of the nobility: ownership of real estate and peasants; exemption from taxes, recruitment duties and corporal punishment; privileges are hereditary.
34. Politics of Paul 1.
Why was he overthrown. Ex. was a feud. - autocrat. He was determined to put an end to the liberalism that Fr. to the revolution and execute the king. 1.Replacement of collegiums with ministries [ukr. absolutism] 2. opposed. nobles. privileges [actual cancellation of the action of the Charter of the nobility 3. introduced Prussian drill and cane discipline into the army [suggested to switch from recruitment to a mercenary army] 4. manifesto on a 3-day corvée 5. forbade the sale of kr. without land b] he understood autocracy literally. sense of the word, installed. at your own discretion. order: 1. gap rel. with England - a blow to the income of the landowners. farms 2. entered into an alliance with N. Bonaparte, [a plan was drawn up for a joint campaign in India] 3. consequences of p.
35. The result of the Russian tour of the war.
Russian-Turkish war 1787-1791 it. In 1791 Peace was signed in the city of Iasi. According to the Yassy peace treaty, Turkey recognized Crimea as a possession of Russia. The Dniester River became the border between the two countries. The territory between the rivers Bug and Dniester became part of Russia. Turkey recognized the Russian patronage of Georgia, established by the Treaty of St. George in 1783.
As a result of the Russian-Turkish wars, the economic development of the steppe south of Russia accelerated. Russia's ties with the countries of the Mediterranean were expanding. The Crimean Khanate, a constant hotbed of aggression against Ukrainian and Russian lands, was liquidated. In the south of Russia, Nikolaev (1789), Odessa (1795), Ekaterinodar (1793, now Krasnodar) and others were founded.
In 1774, the Kyuchuk-Kaynarji peace treaty was concluded with Turkey, according to which Kerch, Kinburn, Kabarda were ceded to Russia, Russia received the right to build a navy in the Black Sea and free navigation in the Mediterranean straits. Moldavia and Wallachia were under the protectorate of Russia, and the Crimea gained independence. In addition, Turkey has pledged to pay 4 million rubles. contributions. The conclusion of the Iasi Peace in 1791 confirmed the annexation of the Crimea to Russia and the establishment of its protectorate over Georgia.
36. What is the secularization of church lands. in 1764
Catherine II carried out the secularization of the church. lands, depriving the church of konomich. power. A million former monasteries. cr. was transferred to the jurisdiction of the College of Economy, the income from them replenished the empty state. treasury.
37.Ros. 18th century empress , their contribution to R. history.
1725-27 tsar. Catherine 1 [Menshikov], 1730-40 reign of Anna Ioanovna [Bironovshchina], 1731 - cancellation of single inheritance, 1741-61 right. Elizabeth Petrovna [Razumovsky and Shuvalov], 1750 - open. the first Russian theater in Yaroslavl. and 25 Jan. 1755 - founded. Moscow State University., 1762-1796, government. Catherine 2: 1762-monopoly. the right of nobles to rule. kr., a manifesto on the freedom of the nobility [prvo dv. do not serve] 1763 - Senate reform: the division of the Senate into departments with the delineation of their functions.
1764 - Secularization of church lands. Reform of strengthening the financial position of the state, released. from crepe. stuck 1 million peasants. Liquidation of the hetmanship, which abolished the autonomy of Ukraine.
1765 - the right to distillation, the provision of two. the right to exile cr. to hard labor. 1767 - ban. cr. file complaints against the premises. 1768 - the beginning of the issue of bonds 1775 - Introduction of a new administrative-territorial division and a new system of local government.
1782 - Charter of the Deanery: transferring the behavior of subjects, their observance of laws and norms of behavior, to the control of the police.
1785 - A charter to the nobility and cities.
38.1. ABSOLUTISM
a form of monarchy with unlimited power of the king, including representative elected bodies. Under the monarch, a bureaucracy is formed, with the help of which he exercises his power.
1. 38.2. ENLIGHTENED ABSOLUTISM
The unlimited power of the monarch, combined with progressive legislative activity, which regulates social relations in society.
39. ADMIN. REFOR. ALEXANDRA 1
.(1801-1825) 1801-Unspoken Committee: Stroganov, Kochubey, Novosiltsev, Czartoryski. 1802 - established ministries in R. 1810 - the creation of the State Council, 1815 - Poland was given a constitution, 1816 - military settlements, Arakcheevshchina,
40. What are the reasons for the movement. dec. its consequences.
a) The origins of Decembrism:
The presence of serfdom, inhibiting. development of the country;
Influence of theories app. phil-fov, economists, sociologists;
The general rise of the national spirit, connected. with the war of 1812;
The Decembrist movement arose among the nobility, its core was officers. UNION OF SALVATION - the first secret society (1816) In 1816 the UNION OF WELFARE appeared, which subsequently divided into Northern and Southern societies.
Dec-in key ideas:
The liquidation of serfdom; - Cancellation of class privileges; - Equal economic and political rights for all; - Fair taxes; - Constitutional monarchy or republic
b) Consequences of the Decembrist movement:
It turned out Ogre. influencer for the last generation grew up roar-ditch;
Tougher censorship and the fight against progressive ideas;
The autonomy of universities has been abolished;
In contrast to progressive ideas developed. the official ideology of guarding;
Increased centralization. power and personal imperial power.
Nicholas I was forced to create several. commissions, cat. dev. free projects. cross. (projects did not pass).
41.Crisis of Crepe Law
In the first half of the XIX century. Rosoy remained an agrarian country. The bulk of the population were peasants. Most belonged to the landowners and were serfs. In solving the peasant question, Russia lagged far behind other European states. The personal dependence of the peasants on the landlords and their lack of interest in the results of labor made agriculture less and less efficient. The absence of a free labor force hindered the development of industry. Already in the second half of the eighteenth century. the urgent need to change the existing situation became obvious.
However, the majority of landlords do not even hear about the benefits of their privileges. Being the ruling estate and the supporter of the autocracy, the nobility defended the preservation of serfdom in a strict form. Therefore, the government at the beginning of the nineteenth century. tried to at least cover up its most ugly and socially condemned forms. It was forbidden to publish advertisements in newspapers for the sale of serfs. The nobility skillfully bypassed this decree, giving announcements about the delivery of serfs "for rent". In 1803, a decree was issued on free cultivators, according to which the landowners could release crosses to freedom with land for a ransom. However, this measure did not actually affect the serf system, since in the first quarter of the 19th century. only 47 thousand privately owned peasants were released. At the same time, the distribution of state peasants into private hands was significantly reduced (which was widely practiced by the "generous" Catherine II). Many statesmen (M.M.Speransky, A.A-Arakcheev, P.D.Knselev and others) developed, before the order of Alexander I, projects for the liberation of the peasants. However, they did not receive a tactical implementation.
Under Nicholas I, the peasant question escalated even more. Peasants and advanced public figures demanded his immediate decision. The Secret Committees set up by the government to collect funds for improving the condition of the peasants have relegated their activities to fruitless discussions. The general direction of the wa koi-servapia policy of the old order interfered with the liberation of the peasants. As in the first quarter of the 19th century, so in the second the government took measures aimed at softening serfdom. It was forbidden to give serfs to factories and the right of landowners to dump peasants into Siberia was limited. In 1841, a law was passed prohibiting the sale of peasants singly and without land. In 1843, landless nobles were deprived of the right to acquire peasants. So it was done with the most ugly forms of serfdom, when peasant families were destroyed, and their members were used as domestic slaves. In 1842, a decree was issued "On obligated peasants." He continued the line outlined by the decree of 1803 on free cultivators. He did not oblige landlords to provide land to peasants who received personal freedom without a ransom. For the allotment given for use, the peasant was obliged to work out certain duties. The regulation of relations between the landlords and peasants of the western provinces was expressed in the introduction of inventories that determined the size of the peasants' allotments and duties, and the methods of possible punishment of the peasants. However, all these were partial measures that did not change the essence of feudal relations in the countryside.
In 1837-1841. under the leadership of Count P.D. Kiselev, a wide system of measures was carried out - the reform of the management of state peasants. They made up more than a third of the rural population that paid taxes, and were under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Finance. The chain of the reform is to raise the welfare of this category of peasants in order to facilitate the collection of taxes, and to show the landowners an example of how they treat the peasants. The reform improved the legal and material situation of the state peasants, and introduced peasant local self-government workers. The established Ministry of State Property took care of meeting the economic and household needs of subordinate peasants. The Eye delimited land and increased the allotments of small-land peasants, created a family fund and food stores (warehouses) in case of crop failure, monitored the fair distribution of taxes, and opened elementary schools and hospitals in the villages.
In general, the peasant question during the first half of the XIX century. was not finally resolved and serfdom remained unshakable. But by the middle of the century, in government circles, some experience had been accumulated in solving it, on which the statesmen of the 50-60s could rely.
42. In what decade did 19 begin. industrial coup.
BY THE BEGINNING OF THE 1880s completed in R. industrial coup, i.e. transition to machines. production Since the end of the 1880s, iron smelting has tripled [the United States has a similar step in 23 years, Germany in 12 years]. heavy prom. R. came out on the 1st place in the world, the push to develop. new industries - coal, oil. ext., chem. and machine building., in P export prevailed prod. agriculture: bread., import.: cotton, fabrics, cars; import: cast iron, coal there were not enough workers. hands Conclusion: prom. development post-reform. period created the basis for glitter. industry jump, start from the second floor. 1890s However, the features of the social-con. building R. - no significant, con. strong bourgeois class., archaic rural. h.-prevented R to catch up with the leading cap. , created dangerous disproportions in the social and economic development. .
43. Westernizers and Slavophiles
Protest against the autocratic system and serfdom;
Supported equal rights and freedoms of the individual
They shared some of the ideas of Fourier's socialism;
DIFFERENCES
SLAVOPHILE WESTERNERS
1. Idealized Russian antiquity, including the peasant community1.Kr. total has no future - it is a moribund social-ec. organism
2.They condemned the development of capitalism in Russia2.The development of the bourgeoisie. rel. in Russia - the path of progress
3. Were opponents of the influence of the app. culture, condemned the reforms of Peter I3. They advocated the enlightenment of the people, for the use of progressive ideas of the Zap.
44. State Bank - 1860
45. Crepe law + other reforms
Becoming new household way, basics. on the free labor, required development self. us., which could be realized. through local self-government (zemstvo and city reforms).
Cancel crepe. aid rights. development pr-ty, that is spent. fin. ref., in particular the development of the banking system.
The development of people. households demanded ref. syst. public education (training a competent worker and specialist for capitalist reproduction.
46. agrarian and industrial development after reforms in russia
Agriculture. The agricultural sector dominated the Russian economy. It was in this area that the evolution of capitalist relations proceeded at the slowest pace. The landowners owned the largest and best-quality private land fund in the country. Therefore, the main indicator of the bourgeois evolution of the agrarian sector was the state of the landlord economy. In the post-reform period, three types developed in it: labour-working, capitalist and mixed - with elements of capitalist and labour-working.
The labor system consisted in the cultivation of the land of the landowner by the peasants with their own inventory. It was due to the lack of land and the lack of money of the peasants, who were forced to go into bondage to the landowner for the land rented from him. It was a semi-serf form of exploitation with a characteristic extremely low labor productivity. Working off were especially common in the black earth regions of the Center and in the Volga region, where corvée had previously prevailed.
The capitalist system implied the use of free hired labor of peasant laborers who cultivated the landowner's land with his inventory. It was in these farms that agricultural machinery was more widely introduced, the structure of production was improved and its marketability grew at a rapid pace. This type of farms was typical for the Baltic States, Ukraine and Western Belarus.
A mixed system, in which civilian labor and working off was used, was widespread in the Left-Bank Ukraine, Eastern Belarus and some western Russian provinces. By the end of the 70s of the XIX century. the capitalist system of farming began to gradually replace the labor system. The landlords, unable to transfer their farms to the new rails, gradually went bankrupt and sold their estates. The country was in the process of redistributing land, as part of it was bought by the bourgeoisie.
Peasant farming even more slowly than the landlords, adapted to capitalist relations. This was caused by lack of land, lack of funds due to high redemption payments and taxes, redistribution of land within the community, total illiteracy and darkness of the peasants. Most of their farms were teetering on the brink of survival. In lean years, mass famine engulfed the Russian countryside. Only individual peasants managed to create profitable farms oriented to the market.
In general, agriculture continued to develop along an extensive path. Therefore, the growth of agricultural production was carried out mainly due to the expansion of sown areas and the development of new areas. The use of civilian labor, the use of agricultural machines, the improvement of agricultural practices - an intensive path - led to a certain increase in productivity. The specialization of agricultural regions was determined: the black earth center, the south of Ukraine and the Volga region became a grain granary, the northwestern and central provinces specialized in dairy cattle breeding, and beef cattle breeding developed in the southeastern provinces. This contributed to the completion of the formation of the all-Russian market.
Despite all the difficulties, the agrarian sector in the Russian economy turned from a crisis and stagnant one in the second half of the 19th century into a new one. into developing and commercial. At the same time, the incompleteness of the capitalist transformation of agriculture maintained a sharp opposition between peasants and landowners. The agrarian-peasant question remained central in the social and political life of the country. This hindered the evolutionary (reformist) path of development and created the prerequisites for future revolutionary upheavals.
Industry. The abolition of serfdom provided favorable conditions for the rapid growth of capitalism in all branches of industry. A free labor force appeared, the process of capital accumulation became more active, the domestic market gradually expanded and ties with the world grew.
However, the development of capitalism in the industry of Russia had a number of features. The rapid pace of production shortened the phase of "free", pre-monopoly industrial capitalism. In a few decades, Russia has traveled a path that took two centuries in Europe.
The diversity of industry was preserved, so large-scale machine industry coexisted with manufactory and small-scale production.
Another feature was the uneven distribution of industry across the territory of Russia. Along with the highly developed regions - the northwestern (Petersburg - Baltic), central (around Moscow), southern (Ukraine) and others continued to be industrially undeveloped Siberia and Central Asia.
Industry also developed unevenly across sectors. The leading role was played by light (especially textile and food) industry. Textile production was the most advanced in technical equipment. More than 1/2 industrial workers were employed here. The heavy industry (mining, metallurgical and oil) also gained a fast pace. However, domestic engineering was poorly developed.
Russia was especially characterized by strong state intervention in the industrial sector through loans, government subsidies, state orders, financial and customs policies. This laid the foundation for the formation of a system of state capitalism.
The insufficiency of domestic capital caused an intensive influx of foreign capital. Investors from Angaii, France, Germany and Belgium were attracted by the low cost of labor, rich raw materials and, consequently, the possibility of obtaining high profits. In the coal, metallurgical, machine-building industries, foreign capital has taken a dominant position.
The establishment of capitalism in industry passed through two stages. In the 1960s and 1970s, it was rebuilt. Therefore, the pace of production slowed down, especially in traditional industrial areas (Urals). In the 1980s and 1990s, there was a rapid economic upsurge. This was a consequence of the completion of the industrial revolution, which began in the first half of the 19th century. From now on, the main industrial products of Russia were produced at enterprises equipped with steam and electric1 machines. Intensively developed new industries - whether coal, oil, chemical and engineering. In connection with this, the role of the Donets Basin has sharply increased. Baku region, machine-building centers (Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod). During the 40 post-reform years, the total volume of industrial output in Russia increased 7 times (in Germany - 5 times, in England - 2 times, in France - 2.5 times). In the 1990s, the first monopolistic associations appeared.
47. Years of Witte's golden reform
Witte's ancestors came from Gollan. ,law. physico-math. Faculty of Novorossiysk University in Odessa, began his career on the iron. road, in 43 he became Minister of Finance, V R. noun. high inflation due to the huge redemption payment. for land, received. room from the government after the reform. 1861 [for 10 years they received 772 million rubles. which. were spent on non-production. expenses Since the autumn of 1894 in R. attack. to accumulated. gold in the state bank, R. received up to 3 billion rubles gold external loans, and the gold reserve composition. in 1897, 1 billion 95 million rubles, which approached the cost of finding. in circulation boom. money. In 1897, a law was passed on minting and issuing in circulation. angry coins. rub. was equal to 0.774 g of pure gold. Conclusion: the reform is not reflected. on prices, increased the influx of the fatherland. and foreign capital in the economy. By the end of the century, R. turned. from a purely agrarian. in the agricultural industry. power with a moderate level of development.
48. People's Will
In that year, another part of the landowners created the organization "Narodnaya Volya" (1879-1881). It was headed by A.I. Zhelya-bov, AD. Mikhailov, CJI. Perovskaya, N.A. Morozov, V.N. Figner and others. They were members of the Executive Committee - the center and main headquarters of the organization.
The program of the Narodnaya Volya reflected their disappointment in the revolutionary potential of the peasant masses. They believed that the people were crushed and brought to a slave state by the tsarist government. Therefore, they considered their main task to be the fight against this government. The program requirements of the Narodnaya Volya included: the preparation of a political coup and the overthrow of the autocracy; the convocation of the Constituent Assembly and the establishment of a democratic system in the country; the destruction of private property, the transfer of land to peasants, factories to workers. (Many program provisions of the Narodnaya Volya were adopted at the turn of the XDC-XX centuries by their followers - the Party of Socialist Revolutionaries.)
The Narodnaya Volya carried out a number of terrorist actions against representatives of the tsarist administration, but considered the assassination of the tsar to be their main goal. They assumed that this would cause a political crisis in the country and a popular uprising. However, in response to the terror, the government stepped up repression. Most of the Narodnaya Volya were arrested. Remaining at large CJI. Perovskaya organized an assassination attempt on the tsar. March 1, 1881 Alexander P was mortally wounded and died a few hours later.
This act did not live up to the expectations of the populists. He once again confirmed the ineffectiveness of terrorist methods of struggle, led to an increase in the reaction and police arbitrariness in the country. In general, the activity of the people to a large extent slowed down the evolutionary development of R.
49. Prerequisites for the formation of political parties in Russia.
a) Exacerbation of contradictions in the country: the labor movement, peasant unrest, the sektivization of the liberals.
b) Theoretical premises (populists, Marxism, liberalism).
c) The experience of organizations (populists ("Land and Freedom", "Black Redistribution"
The party is the organization of the most active part of the class, the task is to conduct an n-th struggle, defending interests with the help of the authorities. In Russia, the creation of the PP - the end of the 19th century, the constitution - the beginning of the 20th century. Background: prom. the rise of the late 1990s, then the crisis of 1900-1903; interweaving of advanced forms of households with feudal remnants in eq. and n-th spheres^ multinational state-va; Russo-Japanese War 1904-05 -> setting in motion all the general forces. Parties were created on the basis of movements. The first to emerge were social parties, not bourgeois ones (feature). Socialist-Revolutionaries - from the revolutionary populism of the 90s. 19th century Program: Proclamation of the people's dem. republics, the socialization of all lands, the introduction of labor legislation. RSDLP - formed in March 1898 in Minsk on the basis of Marxism. 1st Congress of the RSDLP - July - August 1903 Program: hegemony in the revolution belongs to the proletariat, the overthrow of the autocracy, the establishment of the dictatorship of the proletariat.
50. Causes, nature and features of the revolution of 1905-1907.
The elimination of the survivals of feudalism, the need to give full play to the development of capitalist production.
Solving the agrarian question
Development of labor legislation
Solution of the national question
Establishment of political and civil liberties
Character - bourgeois-democratic
Peculiarities:
1) In the struggle against tsarism, there are two streams: revolutionary-democratic and
bourgeois-liberal; They acted separately, used various means of struggle: rev-dem. - violent; bur-lib. - peaceful
2) According to the main economic content, the revolution is agrarian.
3) According to the forms of struggle - proletarian (strike, general political strike).
4) Bur-lib. was inclined to compromise with self-destruction, acted indecisively.
5) A revolution is not a multi-momentary act, but an undulating movement of ups and downs in the struggle over a period of 2.5 years.
6) The mass emergence of political parties, trade unions, the creation of a mass democratic press.
(5) What are the reasons for the defeat and the results of the revolution of 1905-1907? Reasons for the defeat:
1) Insufficient organization and inconsistency in the actions of the revolutionary-democratic camp. First of all, the working class lacked organization and unity of action, although it acted as the most active force in the revolution. It can be said without any exaggeration that the first Russian revolution was proletarian in its forms of struggle. The inconsistency in the actions of the proletariat was a consequence of the split of the RSDLP into two factions, each of which offered its own tactics in the revolution.
The peasant movement suffered spontaneity. Peasant uprisings, as a rule, did not coincide in time with the rise of the working-class movement, following it. The influence of political parties among the peasantry was weak. The main peasant party, the AKP, experienced a split into three independent parties during the years of the revolution. In addition to the AKP, the peasantry had such political organizations as the Peasant Union, the Trudovik faction in the State Duma - all this aggravated the split in the peasant movement.
Despite some revolutionary speeches in the army, it continued to be the backbone of the autocracy and was used by the government to suppress the revolution.
The inconsistency of actions was characterized by the position
all revolutionary democrat. camp, its political parties - the Bolsheviks, Mensheviks, Socialist-Revolutionaries, anarchists, maximalists, popular socialists and other political forces. Maximalists, anarchist-communists, and Bolsheviks showed particular intolerance and unwillingness to cooperate.
There were no coordinated actions between the two forces opposed to tsarism: the revolutionaries and the liberals. The former considered it unacceptable to cooperate with the "compromisers". The liberal camp, however, acted indecisively, showing readiness to cooperate with the autocracy at the most dramatic moments of the revolution.
2) The defeat of the revolution of 1905-1907. the bourgeoisie of the Western European countries contributed, which provided not only moral, but also material assistance to tsarism in suppressing the revolution.
3) And yet the main reason for its defeat is the unfavorable balance of forces between the revolution and the counter-revolution. The autocracy was still strong both economically and politically, it relied on the army, the police and those social class forces that formed the basis of the government camp.
The results of the revolution of 1905-07.
1. A representative body, the State Duma, began to operate in Russia.
2. The peasants were freed from redemption payments.
3. Workers got the right to form trade unions.
4.As a result of the revolution in Russia, political parties.
5. The revolution showed the weakness of the revolutionary-democratic parties, which acted in isolation, weakly led the masses.
6. The army hesitated, but nevertheless it remained the backbone of the autocratic system.
7. The concept of a liberal parliamentary revolution was defeated. The revolution showed that the liberals are closely connected with the authorities, thereby discrediting themselves in the eyes of the people.
(1) The main climaxes of the revolution 1905-1907
b) May Day strikes - April 1905
c) The uprising of sailors on the battleship "Potemkin" - June 1905.
d) The uprising of sailors on the cruiser "Ochakov" - November 1905.
"On the improvement of the state order", in which the tsar promised to introduce some political freedoms and convene a legislative State Duma on the basis of a new electoral law; peasant riots that led to the abolition of redemption payments; performances in the army and navy (uprising in Sevastopol under the leadership of Lieutenant P.P. Schmidt); December strikes and uprisings in Moscow, Kharkov, Chita, Krasnoyarsk and other cities.
52. Stolypin agrarian reform.
The central place in domestic policy was occupied by the agrarian question. The struggle of the peasants forced the government to abolish (November 1905) the redemption payments from 1906 in half, and from 1907 - completely. But that wasn't enough. The peasants did not demand land. The government was forced to return to the idea of abandoning the communal and the transition to private peasant land tenure. It was expressed as early as 1902, but the lean government refused to implement it. P.A. Stolypin insisted on carrying out the reform and therefore it was called "Stolypin".
The reform was carried out in several ways. 1) The decree of November 9, 1906 allowed the peasant to leave the community, and the law of June 14, 1910 made it mandatory. 2) The peasant could demand the unification of allotment plots into a single cut and even move to a separate farm. 3) A fund was created from part of the state and imperial lands. 4) For the purchase of these and landowners' lands, the Krestyansky Bank gave money loans. 5) Given the "land hunger" in the center of Russia, the government encouraged the resettlement of peasants beyond the Urals. The settlers were given loans for settling in a new place, state-owned warehouses of agricultural machines were created, agronomic consultations, medical and veterinary care were provided.
i< Цель реформы состояла в том, чтобы сохранить помещичье земле-владение и одновременно ускорить буржуазную эволюцию сельского.хозяйства, снять социальную напряженность в деревне и создать там дрочную социальную опору правительства в лице сельской буржуазии. ? Реформа способствовала подъему экономики страны. Сельское хо-_зяйство приобрело устойчивый характер. Увеличились покупательная способность населения и валютные поступления, связанные с вывозом |ерна.
However, the social goals set by the government were not achieved. Only 20-35% of the christians left the community in different regions, since the majority retained a collectivist psychology and traditions. Only 10% of households started farming. The kulaks left the community more often than the poor. The former bought land from landowners and impoverished fellow villagers and set up a profitable commodity economy. The poor went to the cities or became agricultural workers. 20% of the peasants who received loans from the Peasants' Bank went bankrupt. About 16% of the settlers were unable to settle down in their homes, returned to the central regions of the country and joined the ranks of the proletarians. The reform accelerated social stratification - the formation of the rural bourgeoisie and the proletariat. The government did not find a strong social support in the countryside, since it did not satisfy the needs of the peasants in the land.
2. What was the Stolypin agrarian reform?
A). consolidation of allotment land in private ownership.
b). freedom to leave the community.
V). the elimination of striped, the peasant received a single plot - a farm or a cut.
G). the size of land ownership was limited to 12-18 acres.
e). organizing the resettlement of peasants to the outskirts of the country, where there were free lands.
the goal of the reform is to destroy the community, which hindered the development of agriculture, to create a significant layer of private owners in the countryside - the backbone of tsarism, to ease the land hunger in the central regions of Russia by mass resettlement of peasants to the outskirts of the country.
3. What are the results of the Stolypin agrarian reform?
A). it contributed to the breaking of backward communal land tenure.
b). contributed to the development of new lands.
V). grain production began to grow, the export of bread increased.
G). improve financial position of the peasantry.
e). limited in the fact that landownership was preserved.
53. 1st World
6. What are the causes of the 1st World War?
1). Uneven development of the main bourgeois countries of Europe: accelerating the growth rates of the economies of Germany and Russia, slowing down the growth rates in England and France.
2). The aggravation of the struggle for markets, sources of raw materials, for the redistribution of colonies, for new spheres of influence.
7. What coalitions of countries waged the 1st World War? Quadruple Alliance: Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, Turkey. Entente and its allies: Russia, France, England + Serbia, Montenegro, Romania, Belgium, Italy, Japan, USA.
8. What goals did the Russian government set in World War I?
1). Accession of Galicia, Ugric land, Bukovina with the aim of reuniting the Ukrainian people.
2). Liquidation of East Prussia - the focus of German aggression against the Slavic peoples.
3). The conquest of the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles, Constantinople areas around it.
11. What are the causes of the February bourgeois-democratic revolution? 1). The unresolved problems of the radical bourgeois-dem. converter in the country. 2). Growth new contradictions., connection. with war: failure and defeat. on the fronts; exacerbation prod. difficult; deteriorating mater. pos. work.; confusion at the top, the growth of opposition kings; 3). All this howled. in people .. roar. movement cross, work class, in weeks. soldier wt.
12. What are the reasons for the easy and quick victory of the February Revolution?
1). In the struggle against tsarism, revolutionary-democratic and bourgeois-liberal streams merged, which ensured a powerful onslaught on the autocracy.
2). Unprecedented sharpness of contradictions in the country, caused by the world war.
3). During the war, the bourgeoisie strengthened itself economically, created its own organizations, gained political experience and came close to power.
4). The masses of the people had rich experience in the revolutionary struggle.
13. What is the essence of the dual power that emerged as a result of the February Revolution? When did it exist? Members of the State thoughts formed a temporary pr-in, in the cat. representative entered. bourgeois parties, ch. image of the Octobrists and Cadets. Chairman pr-va became G.E. Lvov.
Simultaneous social democrat. the Duma faction, the working group of the TsVPK and other org. organized council elections. The parties of the Socialist-Revolutionaries, Mensheviks, Bolsheviks (the latter ~ 10%) turned out to be represented in the soviets, which expressed the interests of the working class and the peasantry.
N.S. Chkheidze (who was the chairman of the Menshevik faction in the Duma) became the chairman of the executive committee of the Petrograd Soviet. The army was on the side of the Soviets, since soldiers' councils were created in all units.
The provisional government had support in the ministerial leadership of the Soviets, who believed that after the victory of the bourgeois-democratic revolution, power should be in the hands of the bourgeoisie. But without the consent of the Petrograd Soviet, the Provisional Government was unable to make important decisions.
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