•  Peter wanted to make Russia a factor in European politics. He defeated a major power of Europe in his day, Sweden. Military excellency dominated Peter’s reforms. There was better organization and technical advances. He reformed the army and built a navy from scratch. He started conscription- which made everyone able to join the army. It involved meritocracy which allowed serfs to be promoted, which was a way out of serfdom.
• The creation of St. Petersburg was a big accomplishment of Peter’s. It was a window to the west and forced boyars to move there, breaking their power and getting them to serve the state. It was a major port, administrative capital, and a show piece.
• The economy changed. St. Petersburg brought in a lot of merchants, industrialization began, and a merchant marine was created. The boyars were forced to set it up and have serfs works there. Fortifications were also built.
• He reorganized state apparatus, added a governing senate to act in place of the monarch. Set up 9 ministries. Local government was re-organized. Taxes were by head so there was only one class of tax payers.
• Eliminated the role of the patriarch in the church and made a senate of lay people to govern. It was not an autonomous society in religion.

• A lot of reform is resisted. Moscow never became an open resistance, but there was an underlying competition between the boyars who were jealous and wanted to hold onto Moscow’s resistance.
• The Boyars or nobility, were powerful families who affected determinance of czar. They were never in open rebellion, but it was waiting to emerge.
• The streltsy were the palace police who had a major role in determining who became czar. People killed some and the rest were brought in control. They were destroyed as an institution.
• The Old Believers had overall opposition. They considered Peter to be the antiChrist. They provided the ideological fervor that drove the Bulavin revolt and other peasant revolts.
• The cossacks and the peasants- The cossacks were nomadic tribes on borderlands between Russia and Greece/Poland/Asia. They were a buffer and maintained independence from Russia. Peter tried to bring them under control, they resisted, and were ready to rebel.

1.  Discuss the legacy of Peter the Great in the eras of Anna and Elizabeth.

• Anna and Elizabeth did not further any of the legacies Peter set forth, except for culture. They continued the construction of St. Petersburg, hired Italian architects, etc. 
• Elizabeth ordered the building of some of the most famous structures in Russia. She restored the Senate's power and founded the University of Moscow
• She also abolished most domestic custom barriers.

 Discuss the legacy of Peter the Great for the 18th and 19th centuries.

• The gentry was strengthened. 
• Deterioration of serfs.
• Rise of culture and intelligentsia.
• Westernization continued
• Instability at top.

Discuss the “dilemma of an enlightened despot” from the perspective of Catherine II.

• The dilemma was “how can you believe in enlightenment and be an absolute monarch?”
• Catherine was the first Russian monarch to view herself as an intellectual. She continued Peter’s work and worked night and day. Serfdom got worse under Catherine. She wanted Russia to be like France.
• She attempted to encourage the nobility to become entrepreneurs. She started the Legislative Commission which was a representative group of nobility to advise her on changes needed in laws. 
• Education and health was her greatest accomplishment. She was a great believer in girls’ education and in public health. She removed the requirement for state service.

Discuss the “dilemma of an enlightened despot” from the perspective of Alexander Radishchev.

•  Radishchev argued that Catherine was not enlightened at all because she did not do anything to help serfdom or freedom. He raised questions about Russian society and its inequality. 
• He is an example of an intellectual who took Catherine seriously and applied mind and ideas to Russia.

 The Decembrists have been called both the last enlightened aristocrats and the first revolutionaries in Russia. Which are they, and why?

• A group of young noblemen who were in favor of making Russia a republic. They rose up in St. Petersburg and there was a clash between the young army officers and the regular army. They were defeated. Their model was the United States republic: freedom, legislature, constitution, freedom of press, abolition of serfdom, and freedom of people. 
• They were into social questions and western liberal movement. Writings circulated wildly.
• They are the first revolutionaries because they had tried to revolt, but failed.

1. Why can it be said that, despite Nicholas I being “the perfect despot”, that Russia changed greatly in his 30 years in power?

•  A perfect despot was when a czar looked like and acted like a czar and had no liberal advisors.
• Culture and intellectuals were important. Pushkin was a larger than life figure and wrote a portrait poem on Pugachev from a heroic standpoint. The Hamlet Question was introduced and people were trying to figure out what they were going to do with their lives.
• Crimean War showed how far behind the Russian military was.

 Discuss “the Hamlet question” and “the cursed questions” in Russian literature and thought in the first half of the nineteenth century.

• To be or not to be” - people figuring out what they are going to do with their lives.
• Social thought or “cursed questions” dealt with serfdom and autocracy. Raised questions. Censorship forced literature to be written in an aesopian way. They would write about something else but would have it stand for Russia. If it was read carefully and correctly it would be understood to be about Russia.

Discuss Alexander II’s great reforms. Which were most important and why?

• Emancipation-  support for serfdom had dwindled. The economy had declined and saw serfdom as a drag on the economy. The big issue was the terms of emancipation. Wanted to get gentry directly involved and advise him on terms of emancipation. 
• Judicial Reform- enabled trials to happen. Zakonnost was the publishing of the law, which was an attempt to get officials to obey the law. They would have professional jurists and legal counsel. Separation of judicial branch and executive branch. The czar was giving up power. Public trials.
• Military Reform- universal obligation is put back in with reduced years. First time having citizen military.
• Zemstvo- town and local government elections for county commissioners, city councils, involving all classes. Responsible for local health, roads, etc. 
• University Reform- universities made autonomous after university unrest.

Did “The Great Reforms” succeed? Why or why not?

• Emancipation-  the serfs were set free with no education, no money, and no land. This reform was a failure, even though the right idea was there. It did not help with the serfdom problem.
• Judicial Reform- was a success because it allowed for just trials even to guilty parties. Judicial reform did not work for peasants. The accused really benefitted. The Conservatives didn’t like it. They thought Alexander had gone too far. This became the benchmark for the Russian Judicial system.
• Military Reform- both the rich and poor had to serve, but with reduced time. This reform survived so it was a success. The army and navy were changed too.
• Zemstvo- the rural government did not include all of Russia, but helped with education. It was the groundwork for more radicals and liberals. Huge step for Russia and was the MOST successful.
• University Reform- gave power to local universities. All social classes were allowed in the universities. It stimulated education, so was a success to a point.

1. The Legacy of Alexander II’s reforms and the debate which ensued after his death may be more important than the reforms themselves. Discuss.

• There was a clash of reform and revolution. Reform was winning. Reaction was next.
• Continuous reaction- reversing or stopping Alexander II’s reforms. Why did Alexander II’s reforms survive? Universities were brought back under control, which was the only reform that was reversed.
• The zemstvo was not reversed, but they did return to Nicholas I’s policy of Russianness, orthodoxy, and autocracy. Vigorous process of Russification.

1. Discuss Populism as it emerged during the reign of Alexander II. What were its roots, how did it develop, and what happened to it?

• Was trying to defend countryside. It was the rise of a new kind of idealism. History was on the side of the common people. Complete rejuvenation of in society.
• The roots of populism started in the peasant commune and in emancipation. Serfs were set free, but didn’t have power or land. Intellectuals were examining freedom using the serfs perspective.
• The intellectuals started going to the people to try and make a movement. It failed
• Populism split into two categories. Terrorism- assassination of czar because there was no czar the peasants could relate to, and the Black Repartition- division of land for good land for peasants, organizing countryside, lead to “small deeds”.

1. Discuss the “Westernizer-Slavophile” debate as it emerged under Alexander II. Which approach was predominant under Alexander II? Did the debate end after his death?

• Slavophile and Westernizer was a group of full blown individuals: intellectuals, writers, and advisors on one side or another.
• The Slavophiles advocated Russia’s unique way of development, whereas the Westernizers insisted on the need to follow in the wake of Western civilization and imitate the Western socio-political system, civil society and culture.
• No the debate did not end until Nicholas II

1. Discuss the terms of emancipation of the serfs as enunciated by Alexander II. Why did these terms leave the seeds of a problematic “peasant question” for the future?

• Emancipation-  support for serfdom had dwindled. The economy had declined and saw serfdom as a drag on the economy. The big issue was the terms of emancipation. Wanted to get gentry directly involved and advise him on terms of emancipation. The serfs were set free with no education, no money, and no land. This reform was a failure, even though the right idea was there. It did not help with the serfdom problem.

Synod

government body that Peter the Great set up to govern the church.

Alexander Radishchev

had an attack on serfdom. He was an example of an intellectual who took Catherine seriously and applied mind and ideas to Russia. He raised questions of Russian society and of inequality. He had the first major work of an alienated intellectual.

Nakaz

Decembrists

Pugachev

greatest peasant revolter in Russia of all time. Got peasants to almost overthrow Catherine.Tried to stop Moscow’s expansion. Wanted right to land. Moved north and gained supporters along with Old Believers’.

Alexander Herzen

 Father of Russian socialism.

He was forced to leave Russia, but continued to write. His works were smuggled back into Russia. They raised serfdom questions.

Nikolai Gogol

Alexander Pushkin

Founder of Russian literature and a Russian author.

He was a larger than life figure and wrote a portrait poem on Pugachev from a heroic standpoint.

Chaadaev

Zakonnost

Streltsy

Journey from St. P to Moscow

Mikhail Lomonosov

Founder of the basics of modern Russian literary language.

He was a great thinker and scientist. Nobility involved in education.

Legislative Commission 

Speransky

Greatest Russian reformer during the reign of Alexaner I.

He wanted to eliminate serfdom. He also was for a constitution and a legislature.

Bolotnikov

Mikhail Bakunin

Vissarion Belinsky

Russian literary critic of western tendencies.

He stayed in Russia and wrote things that only Russia’s intelligentsia could understand.

Turgenev 

Naturalist and Realist.

He wrote about life in the countryside. It was a universal generational conflict.

Emancipation of serfs