Russia is under siege – from Ivan the Terrible to the present day. Part Five

    The 18th century was not just a turning point, but a golden age in the history of Russia
    access_time25 May 2022
    print 25 5 2022
     

    The 18th century, without a doubt, was not just a turning point, but a golden age in the history of Russia. Through the efforts of Pyotr I, his daughter Elizaveta, Ekaterina II and other Romanovs, a state developed for that time was created in Russia that not only fully ensured its own security, but also was a guarantor of stability in Europe.

    From a "dark horse" on the European outskirts, at the junction of the European continent and Asia, Russia has become one of the main world leaders. Its status was most accurately expressed by the Chancellor of the Russian Empire, Aleksandr Andreyevich Bezborodko, who stated "not a single cannon in Europe or Asia had the right to fire without the knowledge of Empress Ekaterina”.

    If in previous comments I first talked about the sanctions and psychological pressure under which, despite all the obstacles, the progressive development of Russia was carried out, then in this case, I think it would be appropriate to do the opposite: first briefly summarise the reign of Pyotr the Great, his no less great followers and descendants, and only after that to tell what kind of reaction this rather rapid take-off caused in Europe on a historical scale.

    In the 18th century, a lot of things happened that affected and continues to affect the life of Europe and Russia to this day. Therefore, I will allow myself to divide this text into two parts in order to most fully reflect the picture of the events of that time.

    The scale of what was done, in principle, is already indicated by the fact that it was thanks to Pyotr I that Russia began to be proudly called the "Russian Empire", and all its supreme rulers henceforth bore the title of emperors.

    In domestic politics, the main efforts were aimed at strengthening the centralised system of power, that is, autocracy as an absolutist monarchical form of government. A rigid vertical of power was built both in the centre and on the ground. The Senate was established a kind of Council of Ministers, which ensured and controlled the implementation of all the main directions of imperial policy.

    A modern regular army and navy were created at that time, as well as the corresponding infrastructure that ensures their functioning. A tax "poll" reform was carried out to increase the income from the place to the state treasury, as well as monetary reform: the whole system was brought to the decimal principle, which we use to this day, and small change money was introduced, their dating.

    The reform in the industrial sphere allowed quite dramatically to accelerate the process of Russia's transformation from an agrarian to an industrial country, in particular, thanks to the organisation of factories at the expense of the state with their subsequent transfer to private hands. What was it some kind of germ of state capitalism?

    The invitation of foreign specialists was widely used for the purpose of training Russian workers and engineers. And for the general improvement of the educational level of the population in the country, primary education was introduced, medicine and healthcare were developed, and the Academy of Sciences was established. A new chronology was introduced.

    At the everyday level, Russia has gradually been modified from a patriarchal country in the European image and likeness.

    Pyotr, as we all remember at least from the movies, not only introduced a ban on having a beard. Imperial decrees regulated almost all the nuances of everyday life, including regarding the rules of wearing outerwear in the Western manner. However, I personally cannot agree with some of Pyotr's innovations. Thus, the use of alcohol was not only not prohibited, but even welcomed. Official permission was given for smoking and selling tobacco.

    Not all of Pyotr's innovations were calmly perceived in the country, so even in the 18th century there were riots and even uprisings, which St. Petersburg suppressed quite harshly. And in general, without rigidity, it was impossible to achieve in a relatively short time the results that the emperor demanded.

    It is reliably known, for example, that only during the "Streltsy uprising" about 1,200 Streltsy were executed. They executed a hundred or two hundred people a day, they were hanged, their heads were cut off, they were put on a breaking wheel. The bodies were not removed for five months as a warning to others! It is also known that the emperor was personally present at the cruel tortures, when the necessary testimony was beaten out of the suspects.

    Historians have been trying to calculate in various ways for more than a century how many human lives the construction of a new Russia cost then. They could not come to a consensus, but at the same time they agree that Pyotr the Great held power with a tight grip and could well have worn the title of the Terrible, with such harsh measures he ensured the implementation of his decrees. The figure of about 250,000 people who were executed, died on construction sites, public works and killed during the wars that the country continuously waged with its neighbours at that time is considered more or less real.

    This is how we smoothly move on to the foreign policy of the Petrine and post-Petrine times. Pyotr inherited a country that was under a complete naval blockade from the north and south. And besides, under constant "shelling" and military pressure from Poland, Sweden, the Crimean Khanate and Turkey, which sharply intensified as Russia grew stronger and matured. Russia had no access to the Baltic and Black Seas, and its sworn neighbours, in violation of previous peace treaties, did not stop military attacks on our territories.

    I was not lazy and calculated: out of 100 years of that century, Russia, at best, was not in a state of war for only 20 of them, and even then this does not mean that its army did not have to repel enemy aggression anywhere even during these periods of calm. Moreover, almost all this time it was forced to wage a war on two fronts. Five times Pyotr and his generals had to put Sweden in its place, which could not accept the loss of its dominant position in the northern seas, and in Europe as a whole. Four times it was necessary to repel the aggressive encroachments of the Turks and Crimean Tatars.

    The longest was the so-called "Northern War", which lasted 21 years. As a result, it ended with the victory of Russia. The turning point was the well-known battle with the Swedes near Poltava on November 8, 1709, when the Russian army was already well armed and manned. This battle even became proverbial defeated "like the Swedes near Poltava”. King Charles XII of Sweden cowardly fled to Turkey. And by 1713, the Russian army was able to completely squeeze the Swedes out of continental Europe.

    After a number of major victories at sea, as well as the landing of Russian troops, Sweden was forced to admit defeat and on September 10, 1721 signed the Treaty of Nystad. As a result, Ingria (a geographical area located along the southern shore of the Gulf of Finland, bordering Lake Ladoga on the Karelian Isthmus in the north and the Narva River on the border with Estonia in the west), Karelia, Estonia (the historical name of the northern part of Estonia), Livonia (aka Riga province) were attached to Russia.

    But for these lands, Pyotr I had to pay Sweden compensation of 2 million thalers (popularly called efimok) or 1.3 million rubles a grandiose amount at that time: it accounted for more than a quarter of the state's annual expenditures.

    So, as historians joked, the acquisition of the Baltic states cost Russia very dearly! And how much our country had to invest in it all the previous centuries has not even been calculated. And no such thanks! As they say, do not do good you will not get evil. And we don't see anything else from the current Baltic nationalists.

    But this finally ensured access for the Russian merchant fleet to the Baltic Sea and the establishment of maritime trade with European states.

    The beautiful Saint Petersburg was built on the shore of the Gulf of Finland. Pyotr even paid the captain of the first European ship that came to St. Petersburg harbour a tidy sum of 500 zloty.

    Interestingly, it was proclaimed the capital already in 1712, although de jure these territories became part of Russia only in 1721. Here is such an interesting historical incident. And the city was named not in honour of the Tsar, but of the Apostle Pyotr. And Pyotr the Great himself received the title of emperor for his victory in the "Northern War".

    Pyotr saw the main task for himself not only in abstractly "cutting a window to Europe", but, despite military pressure from the north, west and south, to expand Russian possessions and turn Russia into a maritime power with access not only to the northern, but also to the southern seas.

    But in the Asian direction, the situation was not so successful.

    Attempts to break through the Turkish blockade began with the Azov campaigns of 1695-1696, when Russia managed to win back part of the southern territories. But in 1710, Turkey intervened in the war on the side of Sweden and, having surrounded the Russian troops during their so-called Prut campaign of 1711, forced Pyotr I to return the previously captured Azov, as well as destroy Taganrog. The conclusion of the Treaty of Adrianople with the Turks in 1713 allowed Pyotr I to avoid a war on two fronts, but all the conquests of the previous Azov campaigns were lost.

    The Caspian campaign against Persia in the southeast in 1722-1732 became much more successful. Russia has managed to significantly expand its influence on the Caspian Sea coast and in Transcaucasia. Derbent, Baku, Rasht, the provinces of Shirvan, Gilan, Mazenderan and Estarabad were attached to its territory. Russia thus gained access to the Caspian Sea.

    It still remained to break through to the Black Sea, which could only be ensured by victory in the war with Turkey and the attachment of the Crimea. But Ekaterina the Great was able to solve this problem only half a century later.

    (to be continued)

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