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<page pageid="94" ns="0" title="Romania">
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<rev xml:space="preserve">{{Countrybox|Country=Romania|flag=Romania.gif|population=21.498.616|capital=Bukarest|language=Romanian}}
[[File:Romania.jpg|right|frame]]
Romania, also spelled Rumania, is a country in eastern Europe. Its name means land of the Romans. The country is so called because it was part of the Roman Empire during ancient times.
The Romanian people are the only eastern Europeans who trace their ancestry and language back to the Romans. Bucharest is Romania's capital and largest city.
Soviet occupation following World War II led to the formation of a communist "peoples republic" in 1947 and the abdication of the king. The decades-long rule of President Nicolae Ceausescu became increasingly draconian through the 1980s.
He was overthrown and executed in late 1989. Former communists dominated the government until 1996 when they were swept from power. Much economic restructuring remains to be carried out before Romania can achieve its hope of joining the EU.
==History==
Romania is situated in Central Europe, in the northern part of the Balkan Peninsula and its territory is marked by the Carpathian Mountains, the Danube and the Black Sea. Romania has inland borders with Moldova, Ukraine, Hungary, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria, and a coastline on the Black Sea.
With its temperate climate and varied natural environment, which is favorable to life, the Romanian territory has been inhabited since time immemorial. The research done by Romanian archaeologists has led to the discovery of traces of human presence dating back as early as the Lower Paleolithic (approximately two million years BC). These vestiges are among the oldest in Europe.
[[File:Bukarest_funky1opti.jpg|right|frame|Bukarest from an airplane]]
Born, like the other Romance people, in A.D. 1st millennium, the Romanian people has continuously inhabited the selfsame geographical place from the old times to this day, a space where its forefathers belonging to the Thracian king had arrived as early as the 2nd millennium B.C. Today the Romanians are the sole descendants of the Eastern Roman world, and their language, along with Spanish, Portuguese, French and Italian, is one of the major of-spring of Latin. They are the sole people who by their name - roman (deriving from the Latin romanus) have preserved to this day the memory of the Seal of Rome, a memory to be perpetuated later in the name adopted by the nation State Romania. The Romanians are today the only descendants of the Eastern Roman stock; the Romanian language is one of the major heirs of the Latin language, together with French, Italian, Spanish; Romania is an oasis of Latinity in this part of Europe.
Historical and archaeological evidence and linguistic survivals seem to confirm that the present territory of Romania had a fully developed society, with a high degree of economic, cultural, and even political development, long before the Roman armies crossed the Danube into what became known as the province of Dacia. Roman influence was profound and created a civilization that managed to maintain its identity during the great folk migrations that followed the collapse of the empire. The first mention of Walachs (Volokhs, Vlachs), the name given to the Romanian people by their neighbors, appears in the 9th century.
During the medieval period there two independent Romanian feudal states took shape, with mountain crests marking a political frontier: their conventional names are Walachia (called in Romania Tara Româneasca, literally “Romanian Land") and Moldavia (Romanian: Moldova), both on the southern and eastern slopes of the Carpathians. Initially, the core areas of these states were centered in the foothills of the Carpathians; only later, as the Romanian lands on the plains were gradually consolidated, were the major settlements transferred from the mountains, first to Târgoviste and Suceava and later to Bucharest and Iasi.
Transylvania was affected during the Middle Ages by colonization by Hungarian-speaking Szeklers and German-speaking Saxons. More German speakers, known as Swabians, arrived in the Banat in the 18th century along with various Slav groups, mainly Serbs. Meanwhile, Turkish rule left an ethnic legacy of Turks and Tatars along the lower Danube, and Gypsies settled in all parts of the country. Jews from Poland and Russia arrived during the first half of the 19th century.
Mostly Christians of Orthodox rite, the Romanians lived from the Middle Ages to the modern times in three neighboring self-dependent principalities: Wallachia, Moldavia, Transylvania - which for their location at the crossroads of big expansionistic empires the Ottoman Empire, Czarist Russia and the Hapsburg Empire-, managed to preserve their state entity, faith and civilization, at the time when neighboring kingdoms like Byzantium, Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary or Poland had been wiped off the map of Europe.
Later, they managed to achieve national unity in 1859, a process eventually completed in 1918. At the end of World War I, the centuries-old dream of reunification of all the Romanians within the boundaries of one single nation-state came true, paid with the sacrifice of over 800,000 lives. The ensuring two decades of economic, political and cultural advance are cut short soon after the outbreak of World War II, in 1940, when one third of the country's area and population is amputated. In 1945, after 4 years of war, which left another 700,000 people dead, the nearly one-century long democratic traditions (with all the inherent imperfections) are cut short by Soviet troops and the forcible imposition of the communist regime.
The hopes awakened by the distance taken from the Soviet model over 1960-1968 are soon dispelled by the advent to power of most oppressive and absurd totalitarian regime - that of Nicolae Ceausescu. That devastating dictatorial rule is brought to an end by the people's revolt of December 1989, which closes the historical gap Romania lived in for 45 years and opened a new page in Romania's contemporary history. Conditions were created for a final breakaway from the communist regime and paved the way for the restoration of democracy based on the multi-party system and a market economy. The adoption of the new Constitution on 21 November 1991, the free parliamentary and presidential elections of May 1990 and September 1992 were as many steps on the path to the irreversible breakaway from the totalitarian past.
* '''Demographic structure: Romanians - 89.47%;'''
* '''Hungarians (plus Szecklers) - 7.12%; Gypsies - 1.76%;'''
* '''other nationalities - 1.65%.'''
The Romanians are today the only descendants of the Eastern Roman stock; the Romanian language is one of the major heirs of the Latin language, together with French, Italian, Spanish; Romania is an oasis of Latinity in this part of Europe.
===About Byzantine Romanian Catholic Church===
Most Romanians are members of The Romanian Orthodox Church. Catholics of Oriental and Roman rites are well represented (5%). There are also Reformed / Lutheran (3%), Unitarian (1%), Neo-Protestant, Armenian, Moslem and Jewish communities.
However, there are still in Romania some religious tensions between the Orthodox majority and some of the smaller churches, as legacy of the old communist regime.
By the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, the majority of The Orthodox Church in Transylvania, had broken away from the Orthodox Church and accepted papal authority and the entire dogma of The Catholic Church while retaining the Orthodox ritual, canon, and calendar, and conducting the worship service in Romanian. A ‘suis juris’ Romanian Catholic Church of The Byzantine Rite flourished for 250 years in what it is today modern Romania.
In 1948, on Stalin’s orders the local communist government in an obvious attempt to use religion to foster political unity; the country's 1.7 million Uniates were forcibly attached to the Romanian Orthodox Church. Some 14,000 ‘recalcitrant priests’ were arrested, thousands of faithful were murdered during incarceration, and many others died from disease and hunger. All 12 Bishops were put in camps and most of them died as martyrs. Their beatification cause is in advanced stages in Rome.
That the Romania Greek-Catholic Church survived, albeit precariously and underground, long after it officially had ceased to exist was an embarrassment to the regime. Even in the mid-1980s, there were still some 1.5 million believers, 300 priests continued to minister with the risk of loosing their life and another 450 priests were secretly trained. The Church had three underground bishops, one of them created a Cardinal by a Pope Paul VI. After 1977 some Byzantine Catholic clergymen led a movement demanding the reinstatement of their church and full restoration of rights in accordance with constitutional provisions for freedom of worship. In 1982 the Vatican publicly expressed concern for the fate of the Uniates and supported their demands. The Romanian authorities protested this act as interference in the internal affairs of the Romanian Orthodox Church.
The Romanian Byzantine Catholic Church suffered particular hardship during the Communist regime and so far only after 12 years of newly regained freedom, 120 of the more than 2,300 church properties of 1948 have been returned. All this makes reconciliation even more vital.
==="Challenge to Reconcile"===
The meaning of reconciliation in Romania was preceded by patient work to heal the wounds that emerged between Catholics and Orthodox following the fall of the Communist regime.
Pope John Paul II has made history by becoming the first pontiff to visit a mainly Orthodox country. During his May 7-9 visit to Romania the Pope was enthusiastically welcomed by the country's Catholic minority and warmly received by the head of Romania's Orthodox Church, Patriarch Teoctist, and the Church's Synod.
The road of reconciliation passed through an important stage in Bucharest, Romania, in May 1999 when the embrace between the Bishop of Rome and Patriarch Teoctist helped to overcome misunderstandings.
While in Romania, the Pope spoke several times of the need for reconciliation between the Orthodox and Catholic Church. For Pope John Paul II reconciliation among Christians is the most pressing challenge for the churches as they begin the new millennium. "I express the hope that Christians will find themselves, if not fully united, closer to full communion," he said on May 9, 1999.
"My visit is meant to strengthen those ties between Romania and the Holy See which were so important for the history of Christianity in the region... The seed of the Gospel, fallen on fertile ground produced abundant fruits of holiness and martyrdom during these two millennia...
"Your country has experienced the horrors of harsh totalitarian systems. The communist regime suppressed the Byzantine-Romanian rite united with Rome and many [Catholics] paid with blood... I would also like to give due recognition to the members of the Romanian Orthodox Church... who suffered similar persecutions and grave restrictions... After the harsh winter of communist domination came the springtime of hope... Romania began a process of reestablishing a state governed by law with respect for freedom... I hope that your nation will not lack the political and financial support of the European Union.
"To heal the wounds of a recent and bitter past one needs patience and wisdom... It is a challenge especially for you young people... Do not be afraid to accept your responsibility... Romania, bridge between East and West, crossroads between Central and Eastern Europe, called the beautiful title Garden of Mary, I come to you in the name of Jesus Christ... On the threshold of a new millennium, once again set your future on the rock of the Gospel..."
He concluded with ecumenical thoughts: "For Christians these are days of forgiveness and reconciliation. Without this witness the world will not believe: how can we credibly speak of God who is love if there is no respite from conflict? Heal the wounds of the past with love. May your shared suffering not lead to separation but accomplish the miracle of reconciliation. Is this not the marvel that the world expects from believers?"
==Culture==
Romanians are extremely hospitable. They will welcome you into their modest homes, feed you until you burst, and expect nothing in return other than friendship. Don't rebuff it.
===Art===
Bucovina's painted monasteries were the first in the world to be adorned with frescoes on the outside. Painted in the 16th century, these frescoes also went beyond the confines of religious art, conveying political as well as religious messages. Painting on glass and wood, a traditional peasant art, has been widespread in Romania since the 17th century and remains popular today.
===Literature===
Romanian literature draws heavily on the country's rich folkloric heritage coupled with its turbulent history as an occupied country inhabited by a persecuted people. In the 15th century an oral epic folk literature emerged, and writings in the Romanian language took shape around 1420. Modern literature emerged in the 19th century. Romania's best known writer internationally is playwright Eugene Ionesco (1912-94), an exponent of the 'Theatre of the Absurd'. Literature became a tool of the communist party from 1947 onwards. Since 1990 many works have been published attesting to the horrors of the communist period.
===Music===
Folk music and dancing have long been popular in Romania. Couples dance in a circle, a semicircle or a line. Modern Roma (Gypsy) music has absorbed many influences and professional Roma musicians play whatever village clients want.
===Language===
Romanian is closer to classical Latin than it is to other Romance languages, and the grammatical structure and basic word stock of the mother tongue are well preserved. Speakers of French, Italian and Spanish won't be able to understand much spoken Romanian but will find written Romanian more or less comprehensible. Romanian is spelt phonetically so once you learn a few simple rules you should have no trouble with pronunciation.
===Religion===
Romania is the only country with a Romance language that does not have a Roman Catholic background. It is 86% Romanian Orthodox, 5% Roman Catholic, 3.5% Protestant, 1% Greco-Catholic, 0.3% Muslim and 0.2% Jewish. Unlike other ex-communist countries where the church was a leading opposition voice to the regime, the Romanian Orthodox Church was subservient to and a tool of the government. Today it is hierarchical, dogmatic and wealthy.
===Food & Drinks===
Those who live to eat have long found life pretty dull in Romania. Restaurants still serve traditional, sometimes tedious fare: grilled pork, pork liver, grilled chicken, tripe soup and greasy potatoes, though things are turning around. You can find excellent offerings in the larger cities with a little perserverance. Romania's most novel dish is mamagliga, a hard or soft cornmeal mush which is boiled, baked or fried. In many Romanian households, it's served as the main dish. The other mainstay of the Romanian diet is ciorba (soup). The sweet-toothed won't starve: typical desserts include placinta (turnovers), clarite (crepes) and saraille (almond cake soaked in syrup). Romanian wines are cheap and good. Tuica (plum brandy) and palinca (distilled three times as much as tuica) are mind-blowing liqueurs taken at the beginning of a meal. Noroc! (Cheers!) Avoid the ubiquitous Ness, an awful instant coffee made from vegetable extracts, and try cafea naturala, a 'real' coffee made the Turkish way, with a thick sludge of ground coffee beans at the bottom and a generous spoonful of sugar.
===Christmas===
The tradition in Romania is for children to travel from house to house singing carols and reciting poetry and legends throughout the Christmas season. The leader carries a large wooden star called a steaua, which is covered with shiny paper and decorated with bells and colored ribbon. A picture of the Holy Family is pasted in the star's center, and the entire creation is attached to a broomstick or stout pole.
==Events==
''coming soon...''
==National holidays==
* '''Jan 1:''' New Year's Day
* '''Jan 2:''' Day After New Year's Day
* '''May 1:''' Romanian Labor Day
* '''Dec 1:''' Romanian National Day
* '''Dec 25:''' Christmas Day
* '''Dec 26:''' Day After Christmas
* Easter Monday
* Orthodox Easter Sunday
==Embassies==
* '''[http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/bucharest/ Embassy of Canada in Bucharest, Romania]'''
* '''[http://www.ambafrance-ro.org/ambassade/fiche/ORGANIGRAMME2.HTM French Embassy in Bucharest, Romania]'''
* '''[http://www.dree.org/roumanie/ French Trade Commission]'''
* '''[http://www.bukarest.diplo.de/ Embassy of Germany in Bucharest, Romania]'''
* '''[http://www.grembassy.ro/ Embassy of Greece in Bucharest, Romania]'''
* '''[http://hungaryemb.ines.ro/ Embassy of Hungary in Bucharest, Romania]'''
* '''[http://www.itcult.ro/ Embassy of Italy in Bucharest, Romania]'''
* '''[http://www.ice.it/estero/bucarest/ Italian National Institute for Foreign Trade in Bucharest, Romania]'''
* '''[http://www.ro.emb-japan.go.jp/ Embassy of Japan in Bucharest, Romania]'''
* '''[http://www.romorange.ro/ The RomOrange Web Site - a service of the Commercial Section of the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Romania]'''
* '''[http://www.usembassy.ro/ U.S. Embassy in Bucharest, Romania]'''
* '''[http://www.dntcj.ro/others/usa-embassy/ U.S. Information Office in Cluj, Romania]'''
* '''Embassy of Argentina in Bucharest''' - Romania Address: Strada Drobeta 11, 70258 Bucharest 2, Mail: Bucharest OP 70258, Telephones: (00 40 1) 211 7293 - 211 7290 - 211 6414, Fax: (00 40 1) 210 1412
* '''Embassy of Chile in Bucharest, Romania''' - Address: Calea Victoriei Nº155, Block D1, Scara 8, Etaj 7, Bucharest, Telephones: (00 40 1) 223 1822 - 223 1838, Fax: (00 40 1) 2106571, E-Mail: [mailto:embachile@dial.roknet.ro embachile@dial.roknet.ro]
* '''Embassy of Croatia in Bucharest, Romania''' - Address: Dr. Burghelea 1, 2 Bucharest,Telephones: (0040 21) 313 0457 - 313 0369, Telex: 030-229 14 00, Fax: (0040 21) 313 0384, E-Mail: [mailto:crobuc@canad.ro crobuc@canad.ro]
* '''Embassy of Peru in Bucharest, Romania''' - Address: Soseaua Kiseleff N° 18 Sector 1 Bucharest, Telephones: (00 40 1) 223 1253 - 223 1086, Fax: (00 40 1) 223 1088, E-Mail: [mailto:embaperu@bx.logicnet.ro embaperu@bx.logicnet.ro]
[[Category:Country]]
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<page pageid="175" ns="0" title="Russia">
<revisions>
<rev xml:space="preserve">{{Countrybox|Country=Russia|flag=Russia.gif|population=141.9 Mio|capital=Moscow|language=Russian}}
[[File:Russia.jpg|right|frame]]
Russia is the worlds largest country in area. It is almost twice as big as Canada, the second largest country. From 1922 until 1991, Russia was the biggest republic in the Soviet Union, the most powerful Communist country in the world.
In the 1980s, many of the union republics began making strong demands for greater control of their own affairs or for independence.
Independence moves by the republics gained strength after a failed coup in 1991. In that year, the Soviet Union broke apart, and Russia began to set up a new political, legal, and economic system.
The defeat of the Russian Empire in World War I led to the seizure of power by the communists and the formation of the USSR. The brutal rule of Josef Stalin (1924-53) strengthened Russian dominance of the Soviet Union at a cost of tens of millions of lives.
The Soviet economy and society stagnated in the following decades until General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev (1985-91) introduced glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) in an attempt to modernize communism, but his initiatives inadvertently released forces that by December 1991 splintered the USSR into 15 independent republics.
Since then, Russia has struggled in its efforts to build a democratic political system and market economy to replace the strict social, political, and economic controls of the communist period.
==History==
===Medieval Russia===
The Slavs probably came from southern Poland and the Baltic shore and settled in the region of mixed forest and meadowlands north of the fertile but unprotected steppe lands of the south. The Slavs engaged in agriculture, hunting, and fishing and gathered products of the forest. They settled beside the rivers and lakes along the water route that was used by Viking warrior-traders (the Varangians) to reach Constantinople. Using their superior military and organizational skills, the Varangians exacted tribute from the Slavs and to this end consolidated their rule in key points on the route to Constantinople. About 862 a group of Varangians led by Rurik took control of Novgorod. From there Rurik moved south and established (879) his authority in Kiev, strategically located above the Dnepr rapids where the open steppe met with the belt of Slavic settlements in the forest-meadow region.
===Kievan Russia===
Under Rurik's successor, Oleg (d. c.912), Kiev became the center of a federation of strong points controlled by Varangian "dukes" who soon became Slavicized in language and culture. Attempts by Duke SVYATOSLAV I (r. 945-72) to create an "empire" in the region between the Dnepr and Danube failed, but Kiev was effectively protected from nomads in the east by the Khazar state on the Volga. With the conversion (c.988) of Duke Vladimir I to Eastern Christianity, Kiev developed into a major cultural center, with splendid architecture, richly adorned churches, and monasteries that spread Byzantine civilization.
The political and cultural apogee of Kievan Rus' was reached under YAROSLAV the Wise, who ruled from 1019 to 1054. Politically, Kiev was the center of a federation of principalities tied together by their rulers who claimed to be descendants of Rurik. The unity of Kievan Rus' was more of an ideal than a reality (many internal feuds existed), but it served as an inspiration to later generations. The socioeconomic base of this polity has been a subject of controversy; liberal historians have singled out the trading role of the princes and their retinues (druzhina), whereas Soviets historians insisted on the primacy of agriculture and artisanal production. Probably trade was the mainstay of political power, and agriculture (complemented by hunting and fishing) was the major occupation of the population.
[[File:Moskau_-cavin-.jpg|right|frame|Moscow at night]]
Culturally, Kiev served as the agent of transmission for Byzantine civilization -- Orthodox Christianity and its art (music, architecture, and mosaics); it also developed, however, into the creative center of a high-level indigenous culture represented, in literature, by the sermons of Hilarion (d. after 1055) and Vladimir Monomakh (d. 1125); in historiography, by the early-12th-century Primary Chronicle; in law, by Yaroslav's codification, Pravda; and in monastic life, by Kiev's 11th-century cave monastery (Lavra). This culture served as the common foundation for the later Ukrainian, Belorussian, and Great Russian civilizations.
The decline of Kievan Rus' (starting in the late 11th century) was brought about by internecine feuds, by a change in Byzantine trade patterns--which made the old river route obsolete--and by the depopulation resulting from slaughter by nomadic invaders from the east. The end, however, came swiftly when the MONGOLS, surging forth from Central Asia, overran the South Russian plain. Kiev was sacked in 1240, and the Mongol khans of the Golden Horde at Sarai on the Volga established their control over most of European Russia for about two centuries.
===Mongol Rule===
The overlordship of the Mongols proved costly in economic terms, because the initial conquest and subsequent raids to maintain the Russians in obedience were destructive of urban life and severely depleted the population. Equally costly--even to cities that escaped conquest, such as Novgorod -- were the tribute payments in silver. Politically the yoke was not burdensome, for the Mongols ruled indirectly through local princes, and the church was even shown respect and exempted from tribute (enabling it to assume a cultural and national leadership role). The most deleterious long-lasting effect of Mongol rule was isolation from Byzantium and western Europe, which led to a turning inward that produced an aggressive inferiority complex. The exceptions were the free cities of Novgorod and Pskov, ruled by oligarchies of merchants (the princes, such as Alexander Nevsky, were merely hired military leaders) in active contact with the Hanseatic League.
===Rise of Moscow===
In the shadow of Mongol overlordship and in the harsh environment of central Russia, to which the population had fled from the south, the society and polity of Moscow, or Muscovy, developed. Members of the ruling family of Kievan Rus' had seized free lands in the northeast and colonized them with peasants to whom they offered protection in return for payments in money and kind. Each one of these princes was full master of his domain, which he administered and defended with the help of his retainers (Boyars). A semblance of family unity was maintained by the claim of common descent from Rurik and of a "national" consciousness based on the Kievan cultural heritage.
Taking advantage of genealogy, Mongol favor, church support, geographic situation, and wealth, some of the local princes--for example, those of Vladimir, Yaroslavl, Moscow, Suzdal, and Tver--became dominant in their region and gradually forced the weaker rulers (along with their boyars) into their own service. Of these principalities Moscow gradually emerged as the most powerful. Its ruler Ivan I (Ivan Kalita; r. 1328-41) was granted the title grand duke of Vladimir by the khanate as well as the right to collect tribute for the Mongols from neighboring principalities. His grandson Dimitry Donskoi won the first major Russian victory over the Mongols at Kulikovo (1380). Finally, after victory in a fierce civil war, the elimination of a main rival at Tver (1485), and the winning over of most small independent princes, Ivan III, grand duke of Moscow (r. 1462-1505), emerged as the sole ruler in central Russia. The Golden Horde had regained control after Kulikovo, but a century later it was seriously weakened by internal strife. In 1480, therefore, Ivan III successfully challenged Mongol overlordship by refusing the tribute.
Moscow's triumph was not complete, however, because another putative heir to Kiev remained--the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, to whose rule many of the independent princes of the southwest and the large boyar retainers of Belorussia had gravitated. To the south and east the Muslim successors of the Golden Horde, the khanates of Kazan, Astrakhan, and the Crimea, were serious threats to Muscovy's security.
Although Moscow's annexation of Novgorod (1478) and Pskov (1510) gave it access to the profitable Baltic trade and control over the far-flung colonial lands of the northeast, it also opened the gates to religious and cultural challenges to the spiritual and artistic self-sufficiency and provincialism of central Russia. A conflict arose between church and state as well as between cultural nativism and innovation; it ended, in the second quarter of the 16th century, in a compromise that reaffirmed and strengthened the political values of Moscow (autocracy) while respecting the economic power and position of the church and liberalizing its cultural life to admit the influences from the Balkans and western Europe. Yet the strain between those who wanted a spiritualistic church, divested of worldly wealth (the nonpossessors, or Volga Elders), and the possessors, followers of Joseph of Volokolamsk (d. 1515), who wished to retain the church's wealth and institutional power, continued to affect Muscovite cultural life.
In the shadow of Mongol overlordship and in the harsh environment of central Russia, to which the population had fled from the south, the society and polity of Moscow, or Muscovy, developed. Members of the ruling family of Kievan Rus' had seized free lands in the northeast and colonized them with peasants to whom they offered protection in return for payments in money and kind. Each one of these princes was full master of his domain, which he administered and defended with the help of his retainers (Boyars). A semblance of family unity was maintained by the claim of common descent from Rurik and of a "national" consciousness based on the Kievan cultural heritage.
===Organization of the Muscovite State===
The main political task of the grand dukes of Moscow was the absorption of formerly independent princes and their servitors into the service hierarchy of Moscow. This absorption was achieved by expanding the membership of the boyar council (duma) to include the newcomers. A system of precedence (mestnichestvo) based on both family status and service position kept the boyar class divided. In addition, from the late 15th century on, the grand duke created a class of military servitors (dvorianstvo) entirely subordinated to him by grants of land on a temporary basis, subject to performance of service. The peasantry remained outside this system, with village communes taking care of local fiscal and police matters. Towns were under the direct rule of the grand duke's representatives and enjoyed no municipal freedoms.
The culmination of absolutism was dramatically symbolized by the grandson of Ivan III, Ivan IV (r. 1533-84). Assuming (1547) the title of tsar, he underlined his claim to the succession of both Byzantium and the Golden Horde. The conquests of the khanates of Kazan (1552) and Astrakhan (1556) followed, putting the entire course of the Volga under Russian control. These conquests initiated further expansion (1581) into Siberia, whose western regions were conquered by the Cossack leader Yermak Timofeyevich, sponsored by the Novgorod family of salt merchants, the Stroganovs.
Relying on his absolute power and increased military potential, Ivan IV attempted to eliminate the competition of Lithuania and gain a port on the Baltic. The 25-year war (1558-83) against Poland-Lithuania, Livonia, and Sweden -- accompanied by several devastating raids of Crimean Tatars against Moscow (for example, in 1571) -- ended in failure and seriously debilitated the country. To mobilize all resources and cope with internal opposition, Ivan IV set up his own personal guard and territorial administration (oprichnina, 1565-72), whose exactions and oppression did great damage to both the economy and the social stability of the realm. The combined needs of the military servitor class for labor and of the government for tax-paying peasants led to legislation limiting the mobility of peasants. The edicts of Ivan's successors (Fyodor I, r. 1584-98, and Boris Godunov, r. 1598-1605) initiated a process that culminated in the complete enserfment of the Russian peasantry (Code of 1649).
The main political task of the grand dukes of Moscow was the absorption of formerly independent princes and their servitors into the service hierarchy of Moscow. This absorption was achieved by expanding the membership of the boyar council (duma) to include the newcomers. A system of precedence (mestnichestvo) based on both family status and service position kept the boyar class divided. In addition, from the late 15th century on, the grand duke created a class of military servitors (dvorianstvo) entirely subordinated to him by grants of land on a temporary basis, subject to performance of service. The peasantry remained outside this system, with village communes taking care of local fiscal and police matters. Towns were under the direct rule of the grand duke's representatives and enjoyed no municipal freedoms.
The culmination of absolutism was dramatically symbolized by the grandson of Ivan III, Ivan IV (r. 1533-84). Assuming (1547) the title of tsar, he underlined his claim to the succession of both Byzantium and the Golden Horde. The conquests of the khanates of Kazan (1552) and Astrakhan (1556) followed, putting the entire course of the Volga under Russian control. These conquests initiated further expansion (1581) into Siberia, whose western regions were conquered by the Cossack leader Yermak Timofeyevich, sponsored by the Novgorod family of salt merchants, the Stroganovs.
Relying on his absolute power and increased military potential, Ivan IV attempted to eliminate the competition of Lithuania and gain a port on the Baltic. The 25-year war (1558-83) against Poland-Lithuania, Livonia, and Sweden -- accompanied by several devastating raids of Crimean Tatars against Moscow (for example, in 1571) -- ended in failure and seriously debilitated the country. To mobilize all resources and cope with internal opposition, Ivan IV set up his own personal guard and territorial administration (oprichnina, 1565-72), whose exactions and oppression did great damage to both the economy and the social stability of the realm. The combined needs of the military servitor class for labor and of the government for tax-paying peasants led to legislation limiting the mobility of peasants. The edicts of Ivan's successors (Fyodor I, r. 1584-98, and Boris Godunov, r. 1598-1605) initiated a process that culminated in the complete enserfment of the Russian peasantry (Code of 1649).
===The 17th and 18th centuries===
The Muscovite dynasty ended in 1598 with the death of Ivan IV's son Fyodor I. Real power during Fyodor's reign had been exercised by his brother-in-law Boris Godunov, who was chosen to succeed him. Although Boris was a strong ruler, he was regarded by many as a usurper. The exhausted country was, therefore, precipitated into turmoil marked by the appearance of a series of pretenders to the throne and provoking invasions by Poland, Sweden, and the Crimean Tatars (1598-1613). Disgruntled boyar families, enserfed peasants, Cossacks, and lower clergy tried in turn to take advantage of the anarchy, but none succeeded. Eventually, a militia of noble servitors (dvoriane) and townspeople of the northeast, based in Nizhni Novgorod, expelled the Poles from Moscow, drove back the Swedes and Cossacks, and elected young Michael Romanov as tsar in 1613. The Romanov dynasty was to rule Russia until 1917.
The Muscovite dynasty ended in 1598 with the death of Ivan IV's son Fyodor I. Real power during Fyodor's reign had been exercised by his brother-in-law Boris Godunov, who was chosen to succeed him. Although Boris was a strong ruler, he was regarded by many as a usurper. The exhausted country was, therefore, precipitated into turmoil marked by the appearance of a series of pretenders to the throne and provoking invasions by Poland, Sweden, and the Crimean Tatars (1598-1613). Disgruntled boyar families, enserfed peasants, Cossacks, and lower clergy tried in turn to take advantage of the anarchy, but none succeeded. Eventually, a militia of noble servitors (dvoriane) and townspeople of the northeast, based in Nizhni Novgorod, expelled the Poles from Moscow, drove back the Swedes and Cossacks, and elected young Michael Romanov as tsar in 1613. The Romanov dynasty was to rule Russia until 1917.
===An Era of Conflict===
Beneath a veneer of traditional forms and static structures profound changes took place in the course of the 17th century, changes that resulted in religious, cultural, political, and socioeconomic disarray. Efforts at reforming the church structure and at modernizing the ritual along Byzantine and Ukrainian lines, led by Nikon (patriarch from 1652 to 1666), were resisted in the name of earlier spiritualist traditions by large segments of the population (led by monks and parish priests). These Old Believers, about 25 percent of the population, were persecuted by the state and virtually split away from official culture and civil society. In suppressing the Old Believers the church lost much of its moral authority and autonomy vis-a-vis the state.
The cultural gap between the elites and the people was deepened by political, social, and economic conflicts: urban strife at times threatened the stability of the regime itself (for example, the salt riots of Moscow, 1648, and revolts in Pskov and Novgorod, 1650). The military servitors' struggle to establish full control (legalized by the Code of 1649) over their peasants led to numerous revolts. In 1670-71 dissatisfied Cossacks, persecuted Old Believers, escaped serfs, and disgruntled urban elements joined forces under Stenka Razin in a revolt that swept the entire Volga valley and threatened Moscow itself.
The religious crisis exacerbated the cultural conflict over the extent and character of Westernization. Trade contacts, especially with England and the Dutch, brought foreigners to Russia, and diplomatic exchanges grew more frequent as Russia became involved in European military and diplomatic events. The importation of Western technological innovations for military purposes brought in their wake foreign fashions and cultural goods.
The trend was reinforced following the incorporation of eastern Ukraine (1654). The ecclesiastical academy in Kiev (founded in 1637 by the Ukrainian churchman Peter Mohyla) educated future clergy (and some laymen) according to contemporary European neoscholastic philosophical and juridical curricula; its graduates often continued their studies at central and western European universities. Better trained and more learned than the native Muscovite clerics, the graduates of the Kievan academy were welcomed in Moscow. They were the first to organize regular schools there (for example, the Greco-Latin Slavonic Academy), and they brought Western political and juridical works and belles-lettres to the Kremlin court. The winds of culture and art blowing from the west also helped change Muscovite tastes in architecture, icon painting, church music, and poetry--changes in style that are usually labeled Moscow baroque. These foreign and innovative influences helped smooth the path for the forceful Europeanization that followed under Peter I.
The government, especially under Tsar Alexis (r. 1645-76), tried to cope with the difficulties by centralizing the local administrations (prikazy, or departments) under direct supervision of the boyar duma and the tsar, assisted by professional hereditary clerks (diaki). Naturally, the fiscal burden grew in proportion to centralization. To ensure domestic control and to carry on an active foreign policy (for example, the annexation of the Ukraine in 1654 and wars with Poland leading to a "perpetual peace" in 1686), a professional army of streltsy (musketeers) and foreign mercenaries and modernized technology were introduced. Although absolutism was retained intact, factionalism and palace coups became more frequent and made pursuing coherent policies difficult. When Tsar Fyodor III died in 1682 the situation was ripe for the energetic intervention of a genuine leader. After the brief but tumultuous regency of SOPHIA, 1682-89, Fyodor's half brother Peter grasped the opportunity.
===The Reforms of Peter the Great===
By dint of his driving energy and ruthlessness, Peter I (r. 1682-1725) transformed Russia and brought it into the concert of European nations. A struggle of almost 20 years with Charles XII of Sweden (1700-21; ) and wars with Ottoman Turkey (1710-11) and Persia (1722-23) radically changed Russia's international position (symbolized by Peter's assumption of the new title of emperor in 1721). By the Treaty of Nystad (1721) with Sweden, Russia acquired the Baltic province of Livonia (including Estonia and most of Latvia), giving it a firm foothold on the Baltic Sea and a direct relationship with western Europe. In the south gains were modest, but they marked the beginning of a Russian imperial offensive on the Black and Caspian seas.
These territorial gains, requiring much effort and great expenditures of labor and resources, forced Peter to transform the institutional framework of the state and to attempt a restructuring of society as well. The central administration was streamlined along functional lines: a set of colleges on the European model displaced the prikazy, and a senate of appointed officials replaced the boyar duma; the church was put under direct state administration with the abolition of the patriarchate and the establishment of a Holy Synod (1721) of appointed ecclesiastical members supervised by a lay official. A navy was created, and the army was reorganized along professional Western lines, the peasantry furnishing the recruits and nobility the officers. The local administration, however, remained a weak link in the institutional chain, although it maintained the vast empire in obedience. The peasantry was subjected to compulsory labor (as in the building of the new capital, Saint Petersburg, begun in 1703) and to military service, and every individual adult male peasant was assessed with a head, or poll, tax. By these measures the state severed the last legal ties of the peasants to the land and transformed them into personal serfs, virtually chattel, who could be moved and sold at will.
Other classes of society were not immune from state service either. Compulsory, lifelong service was imposed on the nobility, and their status was made dependent on ranks earned in military or administrative office (the Table of Ranks of 1722 also provided for automatic ennoblement of commoners through service). State service required education, and Peter introduced compulsory secular, Westernized schooling for the Russian nobleman. While resistance to compulsory service gradually forced its relaxation, education became an internalized value for most nobles who were culturally Westernized by the mid-18th century.
Peter failed to reshape the merchants into a Western bourgeoisie, however, and his efforts at modernizing the economy had mixed results. The clergy turned into a closed castelike estate, losing its spiritual and cultural influence. The limitations of Peter's reforming drive were due to the inherent paradox of his policy and approach: he aimed at liberating the creative forces of Russian society, but he expected to accomplish this liberation only at his command and through compulsion, at a pace that precluded an adaptation of traditional patterns and values. He succeeded in transforming the upper class but failed to change the common people; the deep cultural gulf in the long run undermined the regime.
===The Imperial Succession===
Peter's impetuousness did not allow the new structure and patterns to congeal, and after his death (1725) instability plagued the new institutional setup. Having had his son, Alexis, tortured to death for alleged treason, Peter abolished the traditional practice of succession, declaring (1722) that the emperor could choose his successor. For the next half-century the throne was exposed to a series of palace coups instigated by cliques of favorites and dignitaries with the support of the Guards regiments. After the reign (1725-27) of Peter's widow, Catherine I, Peter II (r. 1727-30), Anna (r. 1730-40), Ivan VI (r. 1740-41), Elizabeth (r. 1741-62), and Catherine II (r. 1762-96), who supplanted her husband, Peter III, all came to the throne in this manner. The only serious attempt at limiting the power of the throne (1730), however, failed because of divisions among the nobility and their continued dependence on state service. The autocracy managed to keep the nobility in subordination by promoting the economic status of that class through salaries, gifts, and the extension of its legal rights over the serfs, particularly following the traumatic experience of the great peasant uprising (1773-75) under Yemelian Pugachev.
The government proved unable to regularize its structure and practices through a code of laws because it was feared that such a code would delegate power to impersonal institutions. Personalized authority was favored by most subjects, however, as a protection against abuses of officials and as a source of rewards.
The tension between a rational and automatic rule of law and a personalized authority was never resolved in imperial Russia.
===Expansion and Westernization===
Two important processes dominated the 18th century. The first was imperial expansion southward and westward. The southern steppe lands were gradually settled by Russians, and the autonomous local social groupings -- especially the Cossacks (whose hetmanate in the Ukraine was abolished in 1764)--lost their status and were assimilated into Russian serf society. The process was formally completed by the Treaty of Kucuk Kainarji (1774), ending the first major Russo-Turkish War, by which Russia secured the northern shore of the Black Sea, and by the annexation (1783) of the Crimea, which put an end to the nomadic threats from the southeast. By extending (1783) serfdom to the Ukraine the economic integration of that area with Russia was achieved, and its large, prosperous estates were soon able to feed a growing urban population and to export grain abroad.
The empire's expansion westward was the result of the Partitions of Poland (1772, 1792, 1795; ), which awarded Russia most of the eastern and central regions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. This expansion enhanced Russia's economic potential and brought it closer to western Europe, but it also burdened the empire with unsolvable national and religious problems and saddled it with onerous diplomatic, military, and police tasks.
In the past, apart from the incorporation of small Finnish and Siberian tribes, Muscovy had known only one major territorial conquest involving non-Russian and non-Christian peoples--that of the Tatars of the Volga in the 16th century. Their elites were quite successfully incorporated into the tsar's service nobility (most eventually became Christians); as for the common folk, they were subject to a special tribute (Iassak), but their internal tribal affairs were left to the care of traditional elders and chieftains. The imperial acquisitions of the 18th century, however, brought a number of new nationalities under Russian rule: Ukrainians, Poles, Crimean Tatars, Jews, Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, and Baltic Germans. Wherever workable, these nationalities' elites were recruited into the military and civil establishments. The common people continued to be allowed their own traditional institutions, provided they paid their taxes. The Russian church was discouraged from proselytizing. Legal disputes were resolved according to native customary law if no Russians were involved; otherwise Russian law took precedence. Before the birth of modern nationalism in the 19th century this approach worked well enough so that the imperial administration and the Russian elites were able to ignore the multiethnic character of the empire.
The second process shaping 18th-century Russia is best characterized as the cultural Westernization of the Russian elites. It was furthered by the establishment of new educational institutions (the Academy of Sciences, 1725; the University of Moscow, 1755; and military and private schools), the creation of a modern national literature along Western lines (exemplified in the work of Mikhail Lomonosov and Aleksandr Sumarokov), and the beginnings of scientific research and discoveries (Lomonosov). Increased sophistication heightened yearnings for free expression and implementation of enlightened Western moral and social values. It led to a conflict between state control and educated society's demand for creative freedom and to the emergence of an oppositionist intelligentsia. In 1790, for example, Aleksandr Radishchev denounced the moral evils of serfdom in A Journey from Saint Petersburg to Moscow.
Imperial expansion and cultural Westernization were accompanied by economic modernization. Russia became a notable producer of iron, lumber, and naval stores (pine products) and witnessed the expansion of urbanization and social amenities. Catherine II intensified these developments and reaped their benefits. In February 1762 the nobles had been freed from compulsory state service by Peter III and had been given the right to travel abroad. But their corporate status, security of person and property, and local administrative function had not been clarified. This was even truer of the other free classes. In order to obtain reliable and comprehensive information on conditions in the empire (and to bolster her own legitimacy) Catherine convoked (1767) an assembly of elected delegates from the free estates of the realm. The deputies were expected to draft and bring to the assembly "instructions" (nakazy) listing the conditions and needs of their electors. This "Legislative Commission" was soon disbanded, but the instructions and debates gave Catherine ample material for a picture of what the various free classes of the population expected from her. In response she decided that Russian society should contribute more directly to economic activity.
To this end she fostered security of property and person, at least for members of the upper classes. In implementing this goal she followed two paths. First, by the Statute on the Provinces (1775) she concentrated the administration of the empire by breaking up its territory into manageable units (guberniia) under appointed governors responsible to the sovereign and accountable to the senate. Governors were to be assisted by boards of officials organized according to function and, on the district level, by police officers elected by, and from among, the local nobility or wealthy urban population. Second, the empress planned to promote the formation of a civil society by granting the three principal estates of the realm the right to form corporations. These would serve to register their members, and to protect group interests, as well as each individual member's person and property. The Charter to the Nobility (1785) put local resident nobles in charge of district police, some judicial matters, and the protection and supervision of orphans, widows, and incapacitated persons. The Charter to the Towns (1785) similarly gave an active administrative role to urban elites, while reserving paramount authority to governors and appointed officials. A third charter giving state peasants a degree of self-government on the village level was drafted but never implemented.
Though the practice fell far short of the intention, Catherine II did lay the foundations for the emergence of a provincial civic and cultural life -- a prerequisite for the modernization of Russia in the 19th century.
Two important processes dominated the 18th century. The first was imperial expansion southward and westward. The southern steppe lands were gradually settled by Russians, and the autonomous local social groupings--especially the Cossacks (whose hetmanate in the Ukraine was abolished in 1764)--lost their status and were assimilated into Russian serf society. The process was formally completed by the Treaty of Kucuk Kainarji (1774), ending the first major Russo-Turkish War, by which Russia secured the northern shore of the Black Sea, and by the annexation (1783) of the Crimea, which put an end to the nomadic threats from the southeast. By extending (1783) serfdom to the Ukraine the economic integration of that area with Russia was achieved, and its large, prosperous estates were soon able to feed a growing urban population and to export grain abroad.
The empire's expansion westward was the result of the Partitions of Poland (1772, 1792, 1795; ), which awarded Russia most of the eastern and central regions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. This expansion enhanced Russia's economic potential and brought it closer to western Europe, but it also burdened the empire with unsolvable national and religious problems and saddled it with onerous diplomatic, military, and police tasks.
In the past, apart from the incorporation of small Finnish and Siberian tribes, Muscovy had known only one major territorial conquest involving non-Russian and non-Christian peoples--that of the Tatars of the Volga in the 16th century. Their elites were quite successfully incorporated into the tsar's service nobility (most eventually became Christians); as for the common folk, they were subject to a special tribute (iassak), but their internal tribal affairs were left to the care of traditional elders and chieftains. The imperial acquisitions of the 18th century, however, brought a number of new nationalities under Russian rule: Ukrainians, Poles, Crimean Tatars, Jews, Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, and Baltic Germans. Wherever workable, these nationalities' elites were recruited into the military and civil establishments. The common people continued to be allowed their own traditional institutions, provided they paid their taxes. The Russian church was discouraged from proselytizing. Legal disputes were resolved according to native customary law if no Russians were involved; otherwise Russian law took precedence. Before the birth of modern nationalism in the 19th century this approach worked well enough so that the imperial administration and the Russian elites were able to ignore the multiethnic character of the empire.
The second process shaping 18th-century Russia is best characterized as the cultural Westernization of the Russian elites. It was furthered by the establishment of new educational institutions (the Academy of Sciences, 1725; the University of Moscow, 1755; and military and private schools), the creation of a modern national literature along Western lines (exemplified in the work of Mikhail Lomonosov and Aleksandr Sumarokov), and the beginnings of scientific research and discoveries (Lomonosov). Increased sophistication heightened yearnings for free expression and implementation of enlightened Western moral and social values. It led to a conflict between state control and educated society's demand for creative freedom and to the emergence of an oppositionist intelligentsia. In 1790, for example, Aleksandr Radishchev denounced the moral evils of serfdom in A Journey from Saint Petersburg to Moscow.
Imperial expansion and cultural Westernization were accompanied by economic modernization. Russia became a notable producer of iron, lumber, and naval stores (pine products) and witnessed the expansion of urbanization and social amenities. Catherine II intensified these developments and reaped their benefits. In February 1762 the nobles had been freed from compulsory state service by Peter III and had been given the right to travel abroad. But their corporate status, security of person and property, and local administrative function had not been clarified. This was even truer of the other free classes. In order to obtain reliable and comprehensive information on conditions in the empire (and to bolster her own legitimacy) Catherine convoked (1767) an assembly of elected delegates from the free estates of the realm. The deputies were expected to draft and bring to the assembly "instructions" (nakazy) listing the conditions and needs of their electors. This "Legislative Commission" was soon disbanded, but the instructions and debates gave Catherine ample material for a picture of what the various free classes of the population expected from her. In response she decided that Russian society should contribute more directly to economic activity.
To this end she fostered security of property and person, at least for members of the upper classes. In implementing this goal she followed two paths. First, by the Statute on the Provinces (1775) she concentrated the administration of the empire by breaking up its territory into manageable units (guberniia) under appointed governors responsible to the sovereign and accountable to the senate. Governors were to be assisted by boards of officials organized according to function and, on the district level, by police officers elected by, and from among, the local nobility or wealthy urban population. Second, the empress planned to promote the formation of a civil society by granting the three principal estates of the realm the right to form corporations. These would serve to register their members, and to protect group interests, as well as each individual member's person and property. The Charter to the Nobility (1785) put local resident nobles in charge of district police, some judicial matters, and the protection and supervision of orphans, widows, and incapacitated persons. The Charter to the Towns (1785) similarly gave an active administrative role to urban elites, while reserving paramount authority to governors and appointed officials. A third charter giving state peasants a degree of self-government on the village level was drafted but never implemented.
Though the practice fell far short of the intention, Catherine II did lay the foundations for the emergence of a provincial civic and cultural life -- a prerequisite for the modernization of Russia in the 19th century.
===The 19th century===
====Alexander I====
Catherine's grandson Alexander I, who succeeded to the throne after the brief reign (1796-1801) of his unbalanced father, Paul I, intended to give regular institutional form to the results of the social and cultural evolution of the 18th century. The first years of Alexander's reign were marked by intensive efforts at reforming the administration and at expanding the educational facilities. Although the reforms did not bring about constitutionalism or limit the autocracy, they did inaugurate rapid bureaucratization with better trained officials.
Russia's involvement in the Napolenonic Wars proved in some ways an impediment to the normal evolution of the country. Napoleon I's invasion of Russia in 1812, although ending in his own defeat, was hardly a victory for Russia. The wars proved costly, and the ultimate political gains (Finland, penetration into the Caucasus) were rather slim despite Alexander's diplomatic role after 1815 (notably in the Holy Alliance). On the other hand, the reconstruction of devastated territories along the route of the French invasion and of Moscow (largely destroyed by fire during the French occupation) gave great impetus to an economic takeoff and involved entrepreneurial initiatives by peasants and urban commoners. It resulted in a rapid expansion of textile manufactures and the building trades, which generated capital and resources for later Russian industrialization.
During the wars the younger generation of educated society had acquired self-confidence and a desire to be of use to their country and people; upon the return of peace they tried to put their ideals into practice. Unavoidably, this led to a clash with a government that was loath to give society genuine freedom and that, after 1815, became more restrictive and obscurantist. Secret societies were organized under the leadership of progressive officers, and, on the sudden death of Alexander I in December 1825, they tried to take over the government. This abortive insurrection of the Decembrists traumatized Alexander's successor, his brother Nicholas I, into a policy of reaction and repression.
====Nicholas I====
Nicholas I's reign, however, was by no means static, and it proved seminal in many respects. In spite of strict censorship, the golden age of Russian literature occurred with the work of Aleksandr Pushkin, Nikolai Gogol, the young Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Leo Tolstoi, and Ivan Turgenev. Accompanying this literary flowering, discussion circles sprang up in Moscow and Saint Petersburg in which the intelligentsia debated Russia's identity, its historical path and role, and its relationship to western Europe (the slavophiles and westernizers represented the two main lines of interpretation that emerged).
Nicholas was unfavorably disposed to the humanities and limited admissions to the universities, but he promoted technical and professional training. During his reign a number of technical institutions of higher learning were founded, and state support for needy students in professional schools was expanded. By the end of the reign a cadre of well-trained professionals and officials had been prepared to carry out reforms. Nicholas's government also brought to a successful conclusion the codification of laws (1833; the achievement of Mikhail Speransky), which enabled an orderly and systematic economic development of the country. The building of railroads was initiated, the currency was stabilized, and protective tariffs were introduced. As a result private enterprise was activated, especially in consumer goods (textiles), in which even peasant capital and skill participated. These developments only served to underscore the backward nature of an agrarian economy based on serf labor. Nicholas was well aware of this, but, fearing political and social disturbances, he did not go beyond discussions in secret committees and the improvement of the administration of state peasants.
All the while, however, his government encouraged middle-rank officials to collect accurate and comprehensive data on Russia's economic and social condition. The Imperial Geographic society sponsored expeditions and statistical surveys that eventually provided the government with information needed to undertake reforms.
The government's timidity was conditioned not only by fear of a peasant uprising and a distrust of the nobility but also by its international policies. Nicholas's reign was for the most part peaceful, although Russia did participate in securing Greek independence (1828-29) and in curtailing Turkish power in the Black Sea. Nicholas also acted as the "gendarme of Europe" when he crushed the Polish insurrection of 1831-33 and helped Austria subdue the Hungarians in 1849. The empire further expanded in the Far East (in the Amur River valley). At the end of his reign Nicholas embroiled Russia in the Crimean War (1853-56). Although the immediate cause of the war was a dispute over the guardianship of the Holy Places in Palestine, underlying the conflict was the Eastern Question, the prolonged dispute over the disposition of the territories of the fast-declining Ottoman Empire. The Russians fought on home ground against British and French troops assisted by Sardinian and Austrian forces. The course of the war revealed the regime's weaknesses, and the death (1855) of Nicholas allowed his son, Aleexander II, to conclude a peace (the Treaty of Paris, 1856) that debarred Russian warships from the Black Sea and Straits.
====Alexander II and Emancipation of the Serfs====
Russian society now expected and demanded far-reaching reforms, and Alexander acted accordingly. The crucial reform was the abolition of serfdom on Mar. 3 (N.S.), 1861. In spite of many shortcomings it was a great accomplishment that set Russia on the way to becoming a full-fledged modern society. The main defects of the emancipation settlement were that cancellation of labor obligations took place gradually, the peasants were charged for the land they received in allotment (through a redemption tax), and the allotments proved inadequate in the long run. The last was a consequence of demographic pressures due to the administrative provisions of the act that restricted the mobility of the peasants and tied them to their village commune, which was held responsible for the payment of taxes; the former serfs remained second-class citizens and were denied full access to regular courts. Nevertheless, 20 million peasants became their own masters, they received land allotments that preserved them from immediate proletarization, and the emancipation process was accomplished peacefully.
Three other major reforms followed emancipation. The first was the introduction (1864) of elected institutions of local government, zemstvos, which were responsible for matters of education, health, and welfare; however, the zemstvos had limited powers of taxation, and they were subjected to close bureaucratic controls. Secondly, reform of the judiciary introduced jury trials, independent judges, and a professional class of lawyers. The courts, however, had no jurisdiction over "political" cases, and the emperor remained judge of the last resort. Finally, in 1874, the old-fashioned military recruiting system gave way to universal, compulsory 6-year military service.
Taken together, the reforms marked the end of the traditional socioeconomic system based on serfdom, and set Russia fully on the path to an industrial and capitalist revolution that brought problems of urbanization, proletarianization, and agrarian crisis in its wake. In part the difficulties resulted from unpreparedness and reluctance on the part of landowners (and many among the intellectual elites) to make necessary adjustments in their economic practices and social attitudes; but they were also caused by government policies that hindered the emergence of a genuine capitalist bourgeoisie and industrial labor force.
The impetus for reform was thwarted and arrested by external and domestic events. Externally, the Polish rebellion of 1863-64 gave pause to the government and, by exacerbating nationalistic feelings, strengthened the conservative opposition to further reforms. The Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 undermined the financial equilibrium, and chauvinistic passions were aroused when the Treaty of San Stefano, which greatly increased Russian influence in the Balkans, was substantially revised by the Congress of Berlin. At home in the 1860s radical university students and nihilist critics such as Nikolai Chernyshevsky voiced dissatisfaction with the pace and direction of the reforms. Radical associations were formed to propagandize socialist ideas, and student youth "went to the people" in 1874-76 to enlighten and revolutionize the peasantry. Repressed by the government, the young radicals turned to terrorism. Eventually a group of Narodniki (populists) called the People's Will condemned the emperor to death, and after several dramatic but unsuccessful attempts they killed him on Mar. 13 (N.S.), 1881.
====Alexander III====
Alexander II's violent death inaugurated the conservative and restrictive reign of his son Alexander III. Nonetheless, the process of social and economic change released by the reforms could not be arrested. Now society proved more dynamic and took the lead in the drive for modernization and liberalization; the government, on the other hand, incapable of giving up its autocratic traditions, acted as a barrier. The deepening agrarian crisis--dramatized by the famine of 1891--turned the active elements from criticism to overt opposition. At the same time, industrialization energetically pushed by Sergei Witte, minister of finance (1892-1903), brought in its wake labor conflict, urban poverty, and business cycles.
====Expansion and Russian Nationalism====
The acquisition of Caucasia, under Nicholas I, had required lengthy and difficult campaigns against mountain populations using guerrilla tactics to defend themselves. During the reign of Alexander II, largely on local military initiative, the independent or autonomous Muslim principalities of Central Asia were brought under Russian control and turned into virtual colonies for economic exploitation and peasant settlement.
Paralleling the south and southeastward expansions of the empire, the governor-general of Siberia, Nikolai N. Muraviev, forced China to relinquish control over the lower course of the Amur River (Treaty of Aigun, 1858), opening up the Pacific shore to Russian penetration and settlement. The Russian Empire thus increased its territory and developed a genuinely colonial approach to the newly incorporated lands and peoples. With the possible exception of Georgia (incorporated early in the 19th century), native leadership was not absorbed into the Russian nobility or cultural elite, as had been the case in earlier conquests. New administrative practices developed in these territories with the help and participation of the military resulted in the imposition of oppressive rule and socio-economic discrimination against the native populations.
The Slavophile-Westernizer debates over the nature of Russian national identity in the 1830s undoubtedly contributed to a more aggressive and self-centered sense of Russian nationalism, which received strident expression during the Polish revolt of 1863 and the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78. It prompted the government to embark on a consistent policy of Russification and harsh repression of nationalist movements among the non-Russian peoples of the empire. Imperial decrees restricted the use of the Ukrainian language and the privileged status of the Germans in the Baltic provinces. Paradoxically, the actions against the Baltic Germans encouraged the growth of nationalist feeling among the Latvians and Estonians, whom the Germans had dominated. The suppression of the Polish uprising of 1863 was followed by energetic Russification measures aimed at eliminating the Polish language and Polish culture from public life.
Under Alexander III, discriminatory laws against Jews, involving residential restrictions and limited access to secondary and higher education, were reinforced and harshly applied. At the same time, the government did little to control pogroms or anti-Jewish riots. Hundreds of thousands of Jews emigrated to Western Europe and the United States, and many who aspired to professional education and cultural assimilation were driven into the arms of radical political parties.
These policies continued unabated under Alexander's son Nicholas II, whose government also curtailed Finland's traditional autonomy.
====Nicholas II====
Nicholas succeeded his father in 1894. The new emperor soon dashed society's hopes for political and social reform. To deflect attention from the worsening social situation and to neutralize the revitalized revolutionary movement, especially among the workers, the government embarked on imperialist adventures in the Far East, provoking a war with Japan (1904-05). Russia suffered a humiliating defeat, although the peace terms (Treaty of Portsmouth, 1905) were less onerous thanks to the mediation of U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt and Japan's exhaustion.
The war triggered widespread disturbances within Russia, including rural violence, labor unrest (in Saint Petersburg troops fired on a large crowd of demonstrating workers; Bloody Sunday, Jan. 22, 1905), and naval mutinies (most notably, that led by sailors of the battleship Potemkin in Odessa, June 1905). The turmoil of the Russian Revolution of 1905 culminated in the general strike of October, which forced Nicholas II to grant a constitution. Russia received a representative legislative assembly, the Duma, elected by indirect suffrage. The executive, however, remained accountable only to the emperor. Limited as its powers were (the suffrage was further restricted in 1907), the Duma made the government more responsive to public opinion. From 1906 to 1911 the government was directed by Pyotr Stolypin, who combined repressive action with land reforms to improve the position of the peasants.
The new political activity contributed to the remarkable upsurge of Russia's artistic and intellectual creativity (called the Silver Age) that lasted until the outbreak of World War I in 1914. The Silver Age marked Russia's coming of age as a contributing participant in Western culture. This happened, first of all, because of the high level of professionalization attained by Russian scholars, scientists, and artists. The process had been initiated in the filed of humanities under Alexander I and was confined at first to the nobility. The reign of Nicholas I marked Russia's take-off in science and scholarship within the framework of the universities and the Academy of Sciences. In the 1860s prominent Russian scientists such as N. I. Lobachevsky and D. I. Mendeleyev received full recognition in the West.
After the reforms of Alexander II, the needs of the zemstvos, the new judicial system, and of the rapidly developing industrial system produced an exponential increase in the number of technicians and professionals in such areas as law, medicine, engineering, agronomy, and statistics. Professional associations aimed at playing an active role in shaping government and public policies in their fields for the benefit of society.
By the first decade of the 20th century Russia had moved to the forefront of scholarly and scientific progress; the contributions of Russian scientists in such areas as chemistry, aeronautics, linguistics, history;, archaeology, and statistics were universally recognized.
Equally significant was the renaissance of religious life, and growing interest in the question of church involvement in social problems. Reformist laymen and clergy demanded greater independence for the church, calling for a national church council to address the needs and define the character of Russia's ecclesiastical institutions. Closely allied to the religious renaissance was the development of the personalist-existentialist school of Russian philosophy by N. A. Berdyayev, N. O. Lossky (1870-1965), L. Shestov (1866-1938), and others.
Last, but not least, the Silver Age witnessed an extraordinarily creative outburst in the arts. The composer Igor Stravinsky, ballet impresario Sergei Diaghilev, and the painter Wassily Kandinsky each had a strong influence on the emergence of avant-garde modernism before and after World War I. In the same period, constructivism and suprematism were original Russian contributions to abstract art.
Thus the years 1905-14 were a period of great complexity and ferment. To many this feverish intellectual creativity, which had its social and political counterpart in rural unrest, industrial discontent, revolutionary agitation, and nationalist excesses (for example, the pogroms against the Jews), proved that the imperial regime was nearing its inevitable end, which the outbreak of war only served to delay. On the other side, liberals and moderate progressives saw in these phenomena harbingers of Russia's decisive turn to political democracy and social and economic progress, which was abruptly stopped in 1914.
In any event Russia went to war in August 1914. Determined to prevent further Austro-Hungarian encroachment in the Balkans, the Russian government rallied to the support of Serbia when Austria-Hungary declared war on that Balkan nation. Russia's alliance with France and Britain and Austria-Hungary's with Germany helped transform the local Balkan conflict into WORLD WAR I. The strains of that bloody and disastrous conflict produced a breakdown of both the political system and the social fabric in Russia. Food riots in Petrograd (formerly Saint Petersburg) and other cities toppled the monarchy in March (N.S.; February, O.S.) 1917.
===The Russian Revolutions of 1917===
Following the abdication of the emperor the Duma established a provisional government, headed first by Prince Georgy Lvov (1861-1925) and later by Aleksandr Kerensky. The government's authority was challenged, however, by an increasingly radical Soviet (council) of Soldiers' and Workers' Deputies, and it could not stem the tide of disintegration. Eventually agrarian unrest, mass desertions at the front, turmoil in the cities, and disaffection of the non-Russian nationalities gave the Bolsheviks under Vladimir Ilich Lenin an opening to seize power in November (N.S.; October, O.S.) 1917. Thus the second of the two Russian Revolutions of 1917 occurred, leading to the establishment of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
==Culture==
Russia's 19th-century cultural legacy is overwhelming, with outstanding achievements in the fields of literature, architecture, ballet, musical composition and performance. The St Petersburg Imperial Ballet school produced dancers Anna Pavlova and Vaslav Nijinsky and choreographers Marius Petipa and Mikhail Fokine. The Ballets Ruse took Paris by storm in 1909, and later glories belonged to the Kirov and Moscow's Bolshoy companies, though a string of defections thinned their ranks. Concertos, symphonies and orchestral works have issued from household names such as Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Stravinsky and Shostakovich.
Russia's most characteristic architectural feature is its onion-domed churches, which evolved when the wooden churches of the north were translated into brick and colourful tilework. In the world of art, religious icons, futurism and revolutionary graphic art are instantly recognisable Russian forms. Cinema has always been an important art form and leisure pursuit, the revolutionary period best represented by Sergey Eisenstein's iconic Battleship Potyomkin and Ivan the Terrible; the recent past in the overtly symbolic work of Andrei Tarkovsky. Folk culture is remembered in the heroic stamping dances of the Georgian State Dance Company, regional embroidery and woodcarving, Russian dolls and the carved wooden houses of the east.
Russian is the language of state business and the native tongue of over half the population. Central Asian populations speak Turkic and are Muslim. Although communism and religion were not the best of bedfellows, the Russian Orthodox Church survived and is a growing entity in today's Russia; unfortunately, the Jewish population has favoured emigration because of intransigent anti-Semitism.
===Christmas===
St. Nicholas is especially popular in Russia. The legend is that the 11th-century Prince Vladimir traveled to Constantinople to be baptized, and returned with stories of miracles performed by St. Nicholas of Myra. Since then many Eastern Orthodox Churches have been named for the saint, and to this day, Nicholas is one of the most common names for Russian boys. The feast of St. Nicholas (December 6) was observed for many centuries, but after the communist revolution, the celebration of the feast was suppressed. During the communist years St. Nicholas was transformed into Grandfather Frost.
Other religious traditions were suppressed during the communist era. Before the revolution, a figure called Babouschka would bring gifts for the children. Like Italy's La Befana, the story is that Babouschka failed to give food and shelter to the three wise men during their journey to visit the Christ Child. According to tradition, she still roams the countryside searching for the Christ Child and visiting the homes of children during the Christmas season. Babouschka never completely disappeared, and now in the post-communist era, has returned openly. Christmas trees were also banned by the Communist regime, but people continued to trim their "New Year's" trees.
Most Christian Russians belong to the Eastern Orthodox Church, and it is customary to fast until after the first church service on Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve dinner is meatless but festive. The most important ingredient is a special porridge called kutya. It is made of wheatberries or other grains which symbolize hope and immortality, and honey and poppy seeds which ensure happiness, success, and untroubled rest. A ceremony involving the blessing of the home is frequently observed. A priest visits the home accompanied by boys carrying vessels of holy water, and a little water is sprinkled in each room. The kutya is eaten from a common dish to symbolize unity.
''Source: [http://www.lonelyplanet.com lonely planet]''
==Events==
''coming soon...''
==National holidays==
* '''Jan 1:''' New Year's Day
* '''Jan 7:''' Orthodox Christmas
* '''Mar 8:''' International Women's Day
* '''May 1:''' International Labor Day
* '''May 2:''' Spring Day
* '''May 3:''' Bridge
* '''May 9:''' Victory Day
* '''May 10:''' Bridge
* '''Jun 12:''' Russian Independence Day
* '''Nov 7:''' Day of Consent & Reconciliation
* '''Nov 8:''' Bridge
* '''Dec 12:''' Constitution Day
* '''Dec 13:''' Bridge
==Embassies==
* '''[http://www.australianembassy.ru/ Embassy of Australia in Moscow, Russian Federation]'''
* '''[http://azembassy.msk.ru/ Embassy of Azerbaijan in Moscow, Russian Federation]'''
* '''[http://www.glasnet.ru/brazemb/ Embassy of Brazil in Moscow, Russian Federation]'''
* '''[http://www.europanas.com/Croacia-Rusia.htm Embassy of Croatia in Moscow, Russian Federation]'''
* '''[http://www.finemb-moscow.fi/ Embassy of Finland in Moscow, Russian Federation]'''
* '''[http://www.ambafrance.ru/ Embassy of France in Moscow, Russian Federation]'''
* '''[http://www.moskau.diplo.de Embassy of Germany in Moscow, Russian Federation]'''
* '''[http://www.britemb.msk.ru/ Embassy of Great Britain in Moscow, Russian Federation]'''
* '''[http://www.huembmow.macomnet.ru/index.html Embassy of Hungary in Moscow, Russian Federation]'''
* '''[http://www.indianembassy.ru/ Embassy of India in Moscow, Russian Federation]'''
* '''[http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/2661/ Embassy of Indonesia in Moscow, Russian Federation]'''
* '''[http://www.embjapan.ru/ Embassy of Japan in Moscow, Russian Federation]'''
* '''[http://www.online.ru/people/infokor/ Embassy of the Republic of Korea in Moscow, Russian Federation]'''
* '''[http://www.netherlands.ru/ Embassy of Netherlands in Moscow, Russian Federation]'''
* '''[http://www.nzembassy.msk.ru/index.html Embassy of New Zealand in the Russian Federation]'''
* '''[http://www.nigerianembassy-moscow.ru/ Embassy of Nigeria in Moscow, Russian Federation]'''
* '''[http://www.europanas.com/Peru-Rusia-en.htm Embassy of Peru in Moscow, Russian Federation]'''
* '''[http://soafrica.chat.ru/ Embassy of South Africa in Moscow, Russian Federation]'''
* '''[http://www.ispania.aha.ru/ Embassy of Spain in Moscow, Russian Federation]'''
* '''[http://www.sweden.ru/ Embassy of Sweden in Moscow, Russian Federation]'''
* '''[http://usembassy.state.gov/moscow/ Embassy of the United States of America in Moscow, Russian Federation]'''
* '''[http://www.europanas.com/Uruguay-Rusia-en.htm Embassy of Uruguay in Moscow, Russian Federation]'''
* '''[http://www.dree.org/russie/ French Trade Commission]'''
* '''[http://usembassy.state.gov/stpetersburg/ General Consulate of the United States of America in St. Petersburg, Russian Federation]'''
* '''[http://www.uscgyekat.ur.ru/ General Consulate of the United States of America in Yekaterinburg, Russian Federation]'''
* '''[http://www.pietari.com/ General Consulate of Finland in St. Petersburg, Russian Federation]'''
* '''[http://www.fransulat.spb.ru/ General Consulate of France in St. Petersburg, Russian Federation]'''
* '''[http://www.britain.sky.ru/ General Consulate of Great Britain in Ekaterinburg, Russian Federation]'''
* '''[http://www.malta.ru/ Malta National Tourist Office in Moscow, Russian Federation]'''
* '''[http://www.ice.it/estero/mosca/ National Institute for Foreign Trade in Moscow, Russian Federation]'''
[[Category:Country]]
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