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114-718: In the Great Northern War (1700–1721) a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Northern , Central and Eastern Europe . The initial leaders of the anti-Swedish alliance were Peter I of Russia, Frederick IV of Denmark–Norway and Augustus II the Strong of Saxony – Poland–Lithuania . Frederick IV and Augustus II were defeated by Sweden, under Charles XII , and forced out of

228-668: A Baltic empire centred on the Gulf of Finland and comprising the provinces of Karelia , Ingria , Estonia , and Livonia . During the Thirty Years' War Sweden gained tracts in Germany as well, including Western Pomerania , Wismar , the Duchy of Bremen , and Verden . During the same period, Sweden conquered Danish and Norwegian provinces north of the Sound (1645; 1658). These victories may be ascribed to

342-585: A twenty-five-year war against the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , Sweden, and Denmark. Despite first successes, Ivan's army was pushed back, and the nation failed to secure a coveted position on the Baltic Sea. Hoping to make profit from Russia's concentration on Livonian affairs, Devlet I Giray of Crimea , accompanied by as many as 120,000 horsemen, repeatedly devastated the Moscow region , until

456-684: A Norwegian front but was killed in the Siege of Fredriksten in 1718. The war ended with the defeat of Sweden, leaving Russia as the new dominant power in the Baltic region and as a new major force in European politics. The Western powers, Great Britain and France , became caught up in the separate War of the Spanish Succession (1701–1714), which broke out over the Bourbon Philip of Anjou 's succession to

570-508: A Russian galley fleet made a lightning raid on Borgå and managed to return to Kronslot just one day before the Swedish battle fleet returned to the blockade, after being delayed by unfavourable winds. In August 1708, a Swedish army of 12,000 men under General Georg Henrik Lybecker attacked Ingria , crossing the Neva from the north. They met stubborn resistance, ran out of supplies and, after reaching

684-452: A Swedish ally, though this proved hard to achieve. After years of marches and fighting around Poland he finally had to invade Augustus' hereditary Saxony to take him out of the war. In the treaty of Altranstädt (1706) , Augustus was finally forced to step down from the Polish throne, but Charles had already lost the valuable advantage of time over his main enemy in the east, Peter I, who then had

798-551: A boyar, Vasily Shuysky , was proclaimed tsar in 1606. In his attempt to retain the throne, Shuysky allied himself with the Swedes, unleashing the Ingrian War with Sweden. False Dmitry II , allied with the Poles, appeared under the walls of Moscow and set up a mock court in the village of Tushino . In 1609, Poland intervened into Russian affairs officially , captured Shuisky , and occupied

912-564: A broad view of what had been a rarely visited and poorly reported state. In the 1630s, the Russian Tsardom was visited by Adam Olearius , whose lively and well-informed writings were soon translated into all the major languages of Europe. Further information about Russia was circulated by English and Dutch merchants . One of them, Richard Chancellor , sailed to the White Sea in 1553 and continued overland to Moscow. Upon his return to England,

1026-565: A concept shared by most major powers of the period. The cost of the warfare proved to be much higher than the occupied countries could fund, and Sweden's coffers and resources in manpower were eventually drained in the course of long conflicts. The foreign interventions in Russia during the Time of Troubles resulted in Swedish gains in the Treaty of Stolbovo (1617). The treaty deprived Russia of direct access to

1140-499: A conflict with each other, which provided Russia with the opportunity to make peace with Sweden in 1617. The Polish–Muscovite War was ended with the Truce of Deulino in 1618, restoring temporarily Polish and Lithuanian rule over some territories, including Smolensk , lost by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1509. The early Romanovs were weak rulers. Under Mikhail, state affairs were in

1254-500: A decade of terror in Russia that culminated in the Massacre of Novgorod (1570). As a result of the policies of the oprichnina , Ivan broke the economic and political power of the leading boyar families, thereby destroying precisely those persons who had built up Russia and were the most capable of administering it. Trade diminished, and peasants, faced with mounting taxes and threats of violence, began to leave Russia. Efforts to curtail

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1368-422: A detailed description of L'Empire de Russie of the early 17th century that was presented to King Henry IV , stated that foreigners make "a mistake when they call them Muscovites and not Russians. When they are asked what nation they are, they respond 'Russac', which means 'Russians', and when they are asked what place they are from, the answer is Moscow, Vologda , Ryasan and other cities". The closest analogue of

1482-560: A hostility toward his advisers, the government, and the boyars . Historians have not determined whether policy differences, personal animosities, or mental imbalance caused his wrath. In 1565, he divided Russia into two parts: his private domain (or oprichnina ) and the public realm (or zemshchina ). For his private domain, Ivan chose some of the most prosperous and important districts of Russia. In these areas, Ivan's agents attacked boyars, merchants, and even common people, summarily executing some and confiscating land and possessions. Thus began

1596-567: A new law code, revamped the military, and reorganized local government. These reforms undoubtedly were intended to strengthen the state in the face of continuous warfare. The key documents prepared by the so-called Select Council of advisors and promulgated during this period are as follows: Muscovy remained a fairly unknown society in Western Europe until Baron Sigismund von Herberstein published his Rerum Moscoviticarum Commentarii (literally Notes on Muscovite Affairs ) in 1549. This provided

1710-420: A period of social struggle and civil war, the Time of Troubles ( Smutnoye vremya , 1598–1613). Ivan IV was succeeded by his son Feodor , who was uninterested in ruling and possibly mentally deficient. Actual power went to Feodor's brother-in-law, the boyar Boris Godunov (who is credited with abolishing Yuri's Day , the only time of the year when serfs were free to move from one landowner to another). Perhaps

1824-602: A prolonged struggle with Augustus II the Strong ; he had already inflicted defeat on him at Riga in June 1701 and took Warsaw the following year, but trying to force a decisive defeat proved elusive. Russia left Poland in the spring of 1706, abandoning artillery but escaping from the pursuing Swedes, who stopped at Pinsk . Charles wanted not just to defeat the Commonwealth army but to depose Augustus, whom he regarded as especially treasonous, and have him replaced with someone who would be

1938-450: A result, False Dmitriy I entered Moscow and was crowned tsar that year, following the murder of Tsar Feodor II , Godunov's son. Subsequently, Russia entered a period of continuous chaos, known as The Time of Troubles (Смутное Время). Despite the Tsar's persecution of the boyars, the townspeople's dissatisfaction, and the gradual enserfment of the peasantry, efforts at restricting the power of

2052-529: A well-trained army, which despite its comparatively small size, was far more professional than most continental armies, and also to a modernization of administration (both civilian and military) in the course of the 17th century, which enabled the monarchy to harness the resources of the country and its empire effectively. Fighting in the field, the Swedish army (which during the Thirty Years' War contained more German and Scottish mercenaries than ethnic Swedes, but

2166-581: Is a somewhat archaic translation. The Russian word grozny reflects the older English usage of terrible as in "inspiring fear or terror; dangerous; powerful; formidable". It does not convey the more modern connotations of English terrible , such as "defective" or "evil". Vladimir Dal defined grozny specifically in archaic usage and as an epithet for tsars: "Courageous, magnificent, magisterial and keeping enemies in fear, but people in obedience". Other translations have also been suggested by modern scholars. Ivan IV became Grand Prince of Moscow in 1533 at

2280-528: Is often unclear as Swedish cavalry was used as heavy shock cavalry yet was unarmoured. ** The Saxon army and corresponding militia does not have full details available. Frederik IV of Denmark–Norway directed his first attack against Sweden's ally Holstein-Gottorp . In March 1700, a Danish army laid siege to Tönning . Simultaneously, Augustus II 's forces advanced through Swedish Livonia , captured Dünamünde and laid siege to Riga . Charles XII of Sweden first focused on attacking Denmark. The Swedish navy

2394-615: The Baltic Sea . Russian fortunes began to reverse in the final years of the 17th century, notably with the rise to power of Peter the Great , who looked to address the earlier losses and re-establish a Baltic presence. In the late 1690s, the adventurer Johann Patkul managed to ally Russia with Denmark and Saxony by the secret Treaty of Preobrazhenskoye , and in 1700 the three powers attacked. Charles XII of Sweden succeeded Charles XI of Sweden in 1697, aged 14. From his predecessor, he took over

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2508-628: The Battle of Molodi put a stop to such northward incursions. But for decades to come, the southern borderland was annually pillaged by the Nogai Horde and the Crimean Khanate , who took local inhabitants with them as slaves. Tens of thousands of soldiers protected the Great Abatis Belt – a burden for a state whose social and economic development was stagnating. During the late 1550s, Ivan developed

2622-523: The Caucasus , although Russia surrendered those gains after Peter's death in 1725. There was no single flag during the Tsardom. Instead, there were multiple flags: Siege of Fredriksten King Charles XII of Sweden made several campaigns into the city during the Great Northern War (Swedish: Stora nordiska kriget ) as part of his campaign to capture Norway . At the close of the Great Northern War ,

2736-469: The Eastern Orthodox Church . The Sobornoye Ulozheniye , a comprehensive legal code introduced in 1649, illustrates the extent of state control over Russian society. By that time, the boyars had largely merged with the new elite, who were obligatory servitors of the state, to form a new nobility , the dvoryanstvo . The state required service from both the old and the new nobility, primarily in

2850-800: The First Battle of Narva where the Russians suffered a crushing defeat. After the dissolution of the first coalition through the peace of Travendal and with the victory at Narva, the Swedish chancellor, Benedict Oxenstjerna , attempted to use the bidding for the favour of Sweden by France and the Maritime Powers (then on the eve of the War of the Spanish Succession ) to end the war and make Charles an arbiter of Europe. Charles XII then turned south to meet Augustus II , Elector of Saxony , King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania . The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth

2964-653: The Holy Roman Emperor in Russia, used both Russia and Moscovia in his work on the Russian tsardom and noted: "The majority believes that Russia is a changed name of Roxolania . Muscovites ("Russians" in the German version) refute this, saying that their country was originally called Russia (Rosseia)". Pointing to the difference between Latin and Russian names, French captain Jacques Margeret , who served in Russia and left

3078-576: The Kremlin . A group of Russian boyars signed in 1610 a treaty of peace, recognising Ladislaus IV of Poland , son of Polish king Sigismund III Vasa , as tsar. In 1611, False Dmitry III appeared in the Swedish-occupied territories, but was soon apprehended and executed. The Polish presence led to a patriotic revival among the Russians, and a volunteer army, financed by the Stroganov merchants and blessed by

3192-515: The Muscovy Company was formed by himself, Sebastian Cabot , Sir Hugh Willoughby , and several London merchants. Ivan IV used these merchants to exchange letters with Elizabeth I . Despite the domestic turmoil of the 1530s and 1540s, Russia continued to wage wars and to expand. It grew from 2.8 to 5.4 million square kilometers from 1533 to 1584. Ivan defeated and annexed the Khanate of Kazan on

3306-568: The Norwegian fortresses in southeastern Norway with the objective of capturing Frederiksten. This would remove the threat at his back, and the fortifications could serve as the base for a renewed offensive later that year. Capturing the harbours at the mouth of the Glomma river would also allow him to land the necessary provisions for a successful siege of Akershus Fortress. Charles' troops attempted to take Frederiksten by storm on 4 July. His troops took

3420-572: The Ottoman Empire , and the Russian conquest of Siberia , to the reign of Peter the Great, who took power in 1689 and transformed the tsardom into an empire. During the Great Northern War , he implemented substantial reforms and proclaimed the Russian Empire after victory over Sweden in 1721. While the oldest endonyms of the Grand Duchy of Moscow used in its documents were "Rus'" ( Русь ) and

3534-747: The Spanish throne and a possible joining of France and Spain. The formal conclusion of the Great Northern War came with the Swedish-Hanoverian and Swedish-Prussian Treaties of Stockholm (1719), the Dano-Swedish Treaty of Frederiksborg (1720), and the Russo-Swedish Treaty of Nystad (1721). By these treaties Sweden ceded its exemption from the Sound Dues and lost the Baltic provinces and

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3648-564: The Svinesund and burned the bridges behind him. By 12 July 1716 all Swedish troops had been withdrawn from the area around Fredriksten. Charles came again to besiege the fortress in autumn of 1718 with 40,000 men. He did this intending to first capture Fredriksten fortress to be able to sustain a siege of Akershus. By first taking the border areas, Charles wished to avoid a repeat of the fiasco he had suffered two years before. The 1,400-strong garrison of Frederiksten fought ferociously to hold back

3762-548: The Treaty of Nerchinsk , Russia ceded its claims to the Amur Valley, but it gained access to the region east of Lake Baikal and the trade route to Beijing . Peace with China strengthened the initial breakthrough to the Pacific that had been made in the middle of the century. Peter the Great (1672–1725), who became ruler in his own right in 1696, brought the Tsardom of Russia, which had little prior contact with Western Europe, into

3876-568: The Ukrainian Hetman Ivan Mazepa (1708–1710). The Ottoman Empire temporarily hosted Charles XII of Sweden and intervened against Peter I. The war began when an alliance of Denmark–Norway , Saxony and Russia , sensing an opportunity as Sweden was ruled by the young Charles XII, declared war on the Swedish Empire and launched a threefold attack on Swedish Holstein-Gottorp, Swedish Livonia , and Swedish Ingria . Sweden parried

3990-462: The boyar faction controlling the throne. In the 17th century, the bureaucracy expanded dramatically. The number of government departments ( prikazy ; sing., prikaz ) increased from twenty-two in 1613 to eighty by mid-century. Although the departments often had overlapping and conflicting jurisdictions , the central government, through provincial governors, was able to control and regulate all social groups, as well as trade, manufacturing, and even

4104-448: The "Russian land" ( Русская земля , Russkaya zemlya ), a new form of its name in Russian became common by the 15th century. The vernacular Rus ' was transformed into Rus(s)iya or Ros(s)iya (based on the Greek name for Rus'). In the 1480s, Russian state scribes Ivan Cherny and Mikhail Medovartsev mention Russia under the name "Росиа" ( Rosia ), and Medovartsev also mentions

4218-561: The 16th century, the Russian ruler had emerged as a powerful, autocratic figure, a Tsar . By assuming that title, the sovereign of Moscow tried to emphasize that he was a major ruler or emperor ( tsar ( царь ) represents the Slavic adaptation of the Roman Imperial title/name Caesar ) on a par with the Byzantine emperor . Indeed, after Ivan III married Sophia Palaiologina , the niece of

4332-515: The 17th century. In the southwest, it claimed the Wild Fields (modern day Eastern Ukraine and South-Western Russia), which had been under Polish–Lithuanian rule and sought assistance from Russia to leave the rule of the Commonwealth. The Zaporozhian Cossacks , warriors organized in military formations, lived in the frontier areas bordering Poland, the Crimean Tatar lands. Although part of them

4446-449: The Baltics, and eventually he built up a powerful navy. In 1710 the Russian forces captured Riga , at the time the most populated city in the Swedish realm, and Tallinn , evicting the Swedes from the Baltic provinces, now integrated in the Russian Tsardom by the capitulation of Estonia and Livonia . Tsardom of Russia The Tsardom of Russia , also known as the Tsardom of Moscow ,

4560-637: The Cossack Academy in Kiev , Russia gained links to Polish and Central European influences and to the wider Orthodox world. Although the Zaporozhian Cossack link induced creativity in many areas, it also weakened traditional Russian religious practices and culture. The Russian Orthodox Church discovered that its isolation from Constantinople had caused variations to appear between their liturgical books and practices. The Russian Orthodox patriarch, Nikon ,

4674-490: The Danish and Russian attacks at Travendal (August 1700) and Narva (November 1700) respectively, and in a counter-offensive pushed Augustus II's forces through the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth to Saxony, dethroning Augustus on the way (September 1706) and forcing him to acknowledge defeat in the Treaty of Altranstädt (October 1706). The treaty also secured the extradition and execution of Johann Reinhold Patkul , architect of

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4788-604: The Grand Duke Ivan IV was crowned Tsar and thus was recognized – at least by the Russian Orthodox Church – as Emperor. Notably, the hegumen Philotheus of Pskov claimed in 1510 that after Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Empire in 1453, the Russian tsar remained the only legitimate Orthodox ruler, and that Moscow was the Third Rome , becoming the final lineal successor to Rome and Constantinople ; these were

4902-545: The Great in Rawa Ruska in September 1698, where the plans to attack Sweden were made, became legendary for its decadence. Frederick IV of Denmark -Norway, another cousin of Charles XII, succeeded Christian V in 1699 and continued his anti-Swedish policies. After the setbacks of 1700, he focused on transforming his state, an absolute monarchy, in a manner similar to Charles XI of Sweden. He did not achieve his main goal: to regain

5016-500: The Gulf of Finland west of Kronstadt, had to be evacuated by sea between 10 and 17 October. Over 11,000 men were evacuated but more than 5000 horses were slaughtered, which crippled the mobility and offensive capability of the Swedish army in Finland for several years. Peter I took advantage of this by redeploying a large number of men from Ingria to Ukraine . Charles spent the years 1702–06 in

5130-558: The Hetmanate ( Cossack Hetmanate ) as a participating party of the agreement ended the war in 1667. Cossacks considered it as a Moscow betrayal. As a result, it split Cossack territory along the Dnieper River , reuniting the western sector (or Right-bank Ukraine ) with Poland and leaving the eastern sector ( Left-bank Ukraine ) self-governing under the sovereignty of the tsar. However, the self-government did not last long and Cossack territory

5244-494: The Kremlin in Moscow, prompting many to accept Tsarist autocracy as a necessary means to restoring order and unity in Russia. The Time of Troubles included a civil war in which a struggle over the throne was complicated by the machinations of rival boyar factions, the intervention of regional powers Poland and Sweden, and intense popular discontent, led by Ivan Bolotnikov . False Dmitriy I and his Polish garrison were overthrown, and

5358-477: The Latin term Moscovia in Russia was "Tsardom of Moscow", or "Moscow Tsardom" ( Московское царство , Moskovskoye tsarstvo ), which was used along with the name "Russia", sometimes in one sentence, as in the name of the 17th century Russian work On the Great and Glorious Russian Moscow State ( О великом и славном Российском Московском государстве , O velikom i slavnom Rossiyskom Moskovskom gosudarstve ). By

5472-400: The Neva with 4,000 troops and defeated an opposing Russian force, but made no move on Saint Petersburg. Later in the autumn Peter I led an army of 20,000 men in an attempt to take the Swedish town and fortress of Viborg . However, bad roads proved impassable to his heavy siege guns. The troops, who arrived on 12 October, therefore had to abandon the siege after only a few days. On 12 May 1708,

5586-526: The Norwegian Army had been weakened in early 1716 by withdrawal of 5000 of the best troops to Denmark. When rumors reached Christiania (now Oslo) that Charles XII was preparing to invade, all remaining troops in Østerdal and Gudbrandsdal were ordered to the border at Halden and Fredrikstad. The Norwegians expected Swedish forces to invade at Kongsvinger , Basmo and/or Halden. It was at Basmo Fortress ( Basmo festning ) where Charles struck, crossing

5700-782: The Ob River to the Yenisey River , then on to the Lena River and the coast of the Pacific Ocean. In 1648, Cossack Semyon Dezhnyov opened the passage between America and Asia. By the middle of the 17th century, Russians had reached the Amur River and the outskirts of the Chinese Empire . After a period of Sino-Russian border conflicts with the Qing dynasty , Russia made peace with China in 1689. By

5814-403: The Orthodox Church, was formed in Nizhny Novgorod and, led by Prince Dmitry Pozharsky and Kuzma Minin , drove the Poles out of the Kremlin. In 1613, a zemsky Sobor proclaimed the boyar Mikhail Romanov as tsar, beginning the 300-year reign of the Romanov family. The immediate task of the new dynasty was to restore order. However, Russia's major enemies, Poland and Sweden, were engaged in

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5928-408: The Ottoman town of Bender . The Ottoman Empire defeated the Russian-Moldavian army in the Pruth River Campaign , but that peace treaty was in the end without great consequence to Russia's position. After Poltava, the anti-Swedish coalition revived and subsequently Hanover and Prussia joined it. The remaining Swedish forces in plague-stricken areas south and east of the Baltic Sea were evicted, with

6042-454: The Poles convinced the Tartars to switch sides, the Zaporozhian Cossacks needed military help to maintain their position. In 1648, the Hetman (leader) of the Zaporozhian Host , Bohdan Khmelnytsky , offered to ally with the Russian tsar , Aleksey I . Aleksey's acceptance of this offer, which was ratified in the Treaty of Pereyaslav in 1654, led to a protracted war between Poland and Russia . The Truce of Andrusovo , which did not involve

6156-420: The Polish sejm to replace him with Stanislaus Leszczyński in 1704. August II resisted, still possessing control of his native Saxony, but was decisively defeated at the Battle of Fraustadt in 1706, a battle sometimes compared to the Ancient Battle of Cannae due to the Swedish forces' use of double envelopment , with a deadly result for the Saxon army. In 1706, after a Swedish invasion of Saxony , August II

6270-456: The Russian fortifications held. In 1705, repeated Swedish attacks were made against Russian fortifications in the area, to little effect. A major attack on 15 July 1705 ended in the deaths of more than 500 Swedish men, or a third of its forces. In view of continued failure to check Russian consolidation, and with declining manpower, Sweden opted to blockade Saint Petersburg in 1705. In the summer of 1706, Swedish General Georg Johan Maidel crossed

6384-521: The Russian realm" ( vo vse Rossisskoe tsarstvo ); the former is more typical of the 17th century, when the usage of the term " Great Russia " ( Velikaya Rossiya ) became widely established. By the 17th century, the form Rossiya replaced Rus' to describe the extent of the tsar's imperial authority in chiny , with Feodor III using the term "Great Russian Tsardom" ( Velikorossisskoe tsarstvie ) to denote an imperial and absolutist state, subordinating both Russian and non-Russian territories. The old name Rus'

6498-399: The Strong , elector of Saxony and another cousin of Charles XII, gained the Polish crown after the death of King John III Sobieski in 1696. His ambitions to transform the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth into an absolute monarchy were not realized due to the zealous nature of the Polish nobility and the previously initiated laws that decreased the power of the monarch. His meeting with Peter

6612-412: The Swedish Empire as an absolute monarch. Charles XI had tried to keep the empire out of wars, and concentrated on inner reforms such as reduction and allotment , which had strengthened the monarch's status and the empire's military abilities. Charles XII refrained from all kinds of luxury and alcohol and usage of the French language, since he considered these things decadent and superfluous. He preferred

6726-407: The Swedish fortress of Nyen , guarding the mouth of the River Neva . Thanks to General Adam Ludwig Lewenhaupt , whose outnumbered forces fended the Russians off in the battles of Gemäuerthof and Jakobstadt , Sweden was able to maintain control of most of its Baltic provinces. Before going to war, Peter had made preparations for a navy and a modern-style army, based primarily on infantry drilled in

6840-452: The Swedish heir since 1702. He claimed the throne upon Charles XII's death in 1718, but was supplanted by Ulrike Eleonora . Charles Frederick was married to a daughter of Peter I, Anna Petrovna . Ivan Mazepa was a Ukrainian Cossack hetman who fought for Russia but defected to Charles XII in 1708. Mazepa died in 1709 in Ottoman exile. Peter the Great became Tsar in 1682 upon the death of his elder brother Feodor but did not become

6954-403: The Tsar were only halfhearted. Finding no institutional alternative to the autocracy, discontented Russians rallied behind various pretenders to the throne. During that period, the goal of political activity was to gain influence over the sitting autocrat or to place one's own candidate on the throne. The boyars fought among themselves, the lower classes revolted blindly, and foreign armies occupied

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7068-417: The West opened as international trade increased and more foreigners came to Russia. The Tsar's court was interested in the West's more advanced technology, particularly when military applications were involved. By the end of the 17th century, Little Russian, Polish, and West European penetration had weakened the Russian cultural synthesis – at least among the elite – and had prepared

7182-426: The actual ruler until 1689. He commenced reforming the country, turning the Russian tsardom into a modernized empire relying on trade and on a strong, professional army and navy. He greatly expanded the size of Russia during his reign while providing access to the Baltic, Black, and Caspian seas. Beside Peter, the principal Russian commanders were Aleksandr Danilovich Menshikov and Boris Sheremetev . Augustus II

7296-404: The age of three. The Shuysky and Belsky factions of the boyars competed for control of the regency until Ivan assumed the throne in 1547. Reflecting Moscow's new imperial claims, Ivan's coronation as Tsar was a ritual modeled after those of the Byzantine emperors. With the continuing assistance of a group of boyars, Ivan began his reign with a series of useful reforms. In the 1550s, he declared

7410-493: The alliance in 1700 and 1706 respectively, but rejoined it in 1709 after the defeat of Charles XII at the Battle of Poltava . George I of Great Britain and the Electorate of Hanover joined the coalition in 1714 for Hanover and in 1717 for Britain, and Frederick William I of Brandenburg-Prussia joined it in 1715. Charles XII led the Swedish army. Swedish allies included Holstein-Gottorp , several Polish magnates under Stanislaus I Leszczyński (1704–1710) and Cossacks under

7524-471: The alliance seven years earlier. Meanwhile, the forces of Peter I had recovered from defeat at Narva and gained ground in Sweden's Baltic provinces, where they cemented Russian access to the Baltic Sea by founding Saint Petersburg in 1703. Charles XII moved from Saxony into Russia to confront Peter, but the campaign ended in 1709 with the destruction of the main Swedish army at the decisive Battle of Poltava (in present-day Ukraine ) and Charles' exile in

7638-408: The book Of the Russe Common Wealth (1591), and Samuel Collins , author of The Present State of Russia (1668), both of whom visited Russia, were familiar with the term Russia and used it in their works. So did numerous other authors, including John Milton , who wrote A brief history of Moscovia and of other less-known countries lying eastward of Russia , published posthumously, starting it with

7752-442: The border on 8 March 1716. The Norwegian scorched earth policy and guerrilla raid interdiction of supply chains by the residents of Bohuslen deprived Charles of supplies, while the fortresses still held by the Norwegians behind his lines threatened his supply chain. Charles took Christiania (now Oslo), but without heavy siege artillery, was unable to take Akershus Fortress . After a brief occupation, Charles retraced his steps to

7866-444: The church and the state. The chief opposition figure, the protopope Avvakum , was burned at the stake. The split afterwards became permanent, and many merchants and peasants joined the Old Believers. The tsar's court also felt the impact of Little Russia and the West. Kiev was a major transmitter of new ideas and insight through the famed scholarly academy that Metropolitan Mohyla founded there in 1631. Other more direct channels to

7980-491: The decision. Widespread crop failures caused the Russian famine of 1601–1603 , and during the ensuing discontent, a man emerged who claimed to be Tsarevich Demetrius , Ivan IV's son who had died in 1591. This pretender to the throne, who came to be known as False Dmitriy I , gained support in Poland and marched to Moscow, gathering followers among the boyars and other elements as he went. Historians speculate that Godunov would have weathered this crisis had he not died in 1605. As

8094-487: The former eastern Danish provinces lost to Sweden in the course of the 17th century. He was not able to keep northern Swedish Pomerania, Danish from 1712 to 1715. He did put an end to the Swedish threat south of Denmark. He ended Sweden's exemption from the Sound Dues (transit taxes/tariffs on cargo moved between the North Sea and the Baltic Sea). Frederick William I entered the war as elector of Brandenburg and king in Prussia —the royal title had been secured in 1701. He

8208-596: The hands of the tsar's father, Filaret , who in 1619 became Patriarch of Moscow. Later, Mikhail's son Aleksey (r. 1645–1676) relied on a boyar, Boris Morozov , to run his government. Morozov abused his position by exploiting the populace, and in 1648 Aleksey dismissed him in the wake of the Salt Riot in Moscow. After an unsuccessful attempt to regain Smolensk from Poland in 1632, Russia made peace with Poland in 1634. Polish king Władysław IV Vasa , whose father and predecessor

8322-481: The immense human suffering that accompanied many of his projects, such as the construction of Saint Petersburg , led many pious Russians to believe that he was the Antichrist . The Great Northern War against Sweden consumed much of Peter's attention for years; however, the Swedes were eventually defeated, and peace was agreed to in 1721. Russia annexed the Baltic coast from Sweden and parts of Finland, which would become

8436-407: The invasion, but suffered a severe setback when, on 8 December the forward fortification, Gyldenløve fort, at Fredriksten fell. Encouraged by their very hard-fought success the Swedish army intensified their efforts against the main fort. The Swedish trenches had almost reached the main fortification walls when on the evening of 11 December (Swedish calendar: 30 November 1718, a projectile (probably

8550-457: The land they farmed. Middle-class urban tradesmen and craftsmen were assessed taxes, and, like the serfs, they were forbidden to change residence. All segments of the population were subject to military levy and to special taxes. By chaining much of Russian society to specific domiciles, the legal code of 1649 curtailed movement and subordinated the people to the interests of the state. Under this code, increased state taxes and regulations altered

8664-456: The last city, Tallinn , falling in the autumn of 1710. The coalition members partitioned most of the Swedish dominions among themselves, destroying the Swedish dominium maris baltici . Sweden proper was invaded from the west by Denmark–Norway and from the east by Russia, which had occupied Finland by 1714. Sweden defeated the Danish invaders at the Battle of Helsingborg . Charles XII opened up

8778-413: The late 16th century and throughout the 17th century with different Western maps and sources using different names, so that the country was called "Russia, or Moscovia" ( Latin : Russia seu Moscovia ) or "Russia, popularly known as Moscovia" ( Latin : Russia vulgo Moscovia ). In England in the 16th century, it was known both as Russia and Muscovy. Such notable Englishmen as Giles Fletcher , author of

8892-477: The late Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos , in 1472, the Moscow court adopted Byzantine terms, rituals, titles, and emblems such as the double-headed eagle , which survives in the coat of arms of Russia . At first, the Byzantine term autokrator expressed only the literal meaning of an independent ruler, but in the reign of Ivan IV (1533–1584) it came to imply unlimited ( autocratic ) rule. In 1547

9006-611: The life of an ordinary soldier on horseback, not that of contemporary baroque courts. He determinedly pursued his goal of dethroning his adversaries, whom he considered unworthy of their thrones due to broken promises, thereby refusing to take several chances to make peace. During the war, the most important Swedish commanders besides Charles XII were his close friend Carl Gustav Rehnskiöld , also Magnus Stenbock and Adam Ludwig Lewenhaupt . Charles Frederick , son of Frederick IV, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp (a cousin of Charles XII) and Hedvig Sophia , daughter of Charles XI of Sweden, had been

9120-399: The mainstream of European culture and politics. After suppressing numerous rebellions with considerable bloodshed, Peter embarked on an incognito tour of Western Europe . He became impressed with what he saw and was awakened. Peter began requiring the nobility to wear Western European clothing and shave off their beards, an action that the boyars protested bitterly. Arranged marriages among

9234-611: The middle Volga in 1552 and later the Astrakhan Khanate , where the Volga meets the Caspian Sea . These victories transformed Russia into a multiethnic and multiconfessional state, which it continues to be today. The tsar now controlled the entire Volga River and gained access to Central Asia. Expanding to the northwest toward the Baltic Sea proved to be much more difficult. In 1558, Ivan invaded Livonia , eventually involving himself in

9348-685: The military because of permanent warfare on southern and western borders and attacks of nomads . In return, the nobility received land and peasants . In the preceding century, the state had gradually curtailed peasants' rights to move from one landlord to another; the 1649 code officially attached peasants to their home . The state fully sanctioned serfdom , and runaway peasants became state fugitives . Landlords had complete power over their peasants. Peasants living on state-owned land, however, were not considered serfs. They were organized into communes , which were responsible for taxes and other obligations. Like serfs, however, state peasants were attached to

9462-414: The mobility of the peasants by tying them to their land brought Russia closer to legal serfdom . In 1572, Ivan finally abandoned the practices of the oprichnina. According to a popular theory, the oprichnina was started by Ivan in order to mobilize resources for the wars and to quell opposition. Regardless of the reason, Ivan's domestic and foreign policies had a devastating effect on Russia and led to

9576-594: The most important event of Feodor's reign was the proclamation of the Patriarchate of Moscow in 1589. The creation of the patriarchate climaxed the evolution of a separate and totally independent Russian Orthodox Church . In 1598, Feodor died without an heir, ending the Rurik Dynasty. Boris Godunov then convened a Zemsky Sobor , a national assembly of boyars, church officials, and commoners, which proclaimed him tsar, although various boyar factions refused to recognize

9690-517: The nobility were banned, and the Orthodox Church was brought under state control. Military academies were established to create a modern Western European-style army and officer corps. These changes did not win Peter many friends, and in fact caused great political division in the country. These, along with his notorious cruelties (such as the torture murder of his own son for plotting a rebellion) and

9804-478: The region and escaped serfs seeking free land. The unexpected uprising swept up the Volga River valley and even threatened Moscow. Tsarist troops finally defeated the rebels after they had occupied major cities along the Volga in an operation whose panache captured the imaginations of later generations of Russians. Razin was publicly tortured and executed. The Tsardom of Russia continued its territorial growth through

9918-845: The sceptre "of Russian lordship" ( Росийскаго господства , Rosiyskago gospodstva ). In the following century, the new forms co-existed with Rus' and appeared in an inscription on the western portal of the Transfiguration Cathedral of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Monastery in Yaroslavl (1515), on the icon case of the Theotokos of Vladimir (1514), in the work by Maximus the Greek , the Russian Chronograph written by Dosifei Toporkov (died 1543 or 1544) in 1516–1522, and in other sources. On 16 January 1547, Ivan IV

10032-410: The site of the new Russian capital, Saint Petersburg. The Russian victory in the Great Northern War marked a watershed in European politics, as it not only brought about the eclipse of Sweden as a great power , but also Russia's decisive emergence as a permanent European great power. The Russian colonization of Siberia also continued, and war with Persia brought about the acquisition of territory in

10146-684: The social discontent that had been simmering since the Time of Troubles. In the 1650s and 1660s, the number of peasant escapes increased dramatically. A favourite refuge was the Don River region, domain of the Don Cossacks . A major uprising occurred in the Volga region in 1670 and 1671. Stenka Razin , a Cossack who was from the Don River region, led a revolt that drew together wealthy Cossacks who were well established in

10260-692: The southern part of Swedish Pomerania . The peace treaties also ended its alliance with Holstein-Gottorp. Hanover gained Bremen-Verden , Brandenburg-Prussia incorporated the Oder estuary ( Stettin Lagoons ), Russia secured the Baltic Provinces , and Denmark strengthened its position in Schleswig-Holstein . In Sweden, the absolute monarchy had come to an end with the death of Charles XII, and Sweden's Age of Liberty began. Between 1560 and 1658, Sweden created

10374-401: The time to recover and build up an army that was both new and better. At this point, in 1707, Peter offered to return everything he had so far occupied (essentially Ingria) except Saint Petersburg and the line of the Neva, to avoid a full-scale war, but Charles XII refused. Instead he initiated a march from Saxony to invade Russia . Though his primary goal was Moscow, the strength of his forces

10488-570: The town after fierce fighting, but the citizens set fire to their own houses, forcing Charles, unable to take the fortress, to retreat and await the arrival of heavy siege guns. Unfortunately for the invading army the entire Swedish transport fleet was captured or destroyed by the Norwegian naval hero Peter Wessel Tordenskjold (1690-1720) at the Battle of Dynekilen ( Slaget om Dynekilen ) in Bohuslen. Running low on supplies, Charles retreated hastily across

10602-546: The two centers of Christianity and of the Roman empires ( Western and Eastern ) of earlier periods. The "Third Rome" concept would resonate in the self-image of the Russian people in future centuries. The development of the Tsar's autocratic powers reached a peak during the reign of Ivan IV, and he gained the sobriquet "Grozny". The English word terrible is usually used to translate the Russian word grozny in Ivan's nickname, but this

10716-416: The use of firearms. The Nyen fortress was soon abandoned and demolished by Peter, who built nearby a superior fortress as a beginning to the city of Saint Petersburg . By 1704, other fortresses were situated on the island of Kotlin and the sand flats to its south. These became known as Kronstadt and Kronslot. The Swedes attempted a raid on the Neva fort on 13 July 1704 with ships and landing armies, but

10830-482: The war against the only hostile power remaining, Tsar Peter's Russia. The Battle of Narva dealt a severe setback to Peter the Great , but the shift of Charles XII's army to the Polish-Saxon threat soon afterward provided him with an opportunity to regroup and regain territory in the Baltic provinces. Russian victories at Erastfer and Nöteborg (Shlisselburg) provided access to Ingria in 1703, where Peter captured

10944-621: The war in August 1700 according to the terms of the Peace of Travendal . Charles XII was now able to speedily deploy his army to the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea and face his remaining enemies: besides the army of Augustus II in Livonia, an army of Russian tsar Peter I was already on its way to invade Swedish Ingria , where it laid siege to Narva in October. In November, the Russian and Swedish armies met at

11058-524: The way for an even more radical transformation. Russia's eastward expansion encountered little resistance. In 1581, the Stroganov merchant family, interested in the fur trade, hired a Cossack leader, Yermak Timofeyevich , to lead an expedition into western Siberia . Yermak defeated the Khanate of Sibir and claimed the territories west of the Ob and Irtysh Rivers for Russia. From such bases as Mangazeya , merchants, traders, and explorers pushed eastward from

11172-561: The western regions of Rus'. Due to the propaganda of the Commonwealth, as well as of the Jesuits , the term Moscovia was used instead of Russia in many parts of Europe where prior to the reign of Peter the Great there was a lack of direct knowledge of the country. In Northern Europe and at the court of the Holy Roman Empire , however, the country was known under its own name, Russia or Rossia . Sigismund von Herberstein , ambassador of

11286-529: The words: "The Empire of Moscovia, or as others call it, Russia...". According to prominent historians like Alexander Zimin and Anna Khoroshkevich, the continuous use of the term Moscovia was a result of traditional habit and the need to distinguish between the Muscovite and the Lithuanian part of Rus', as well as of the political interests of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , which competed with Moscow for

11400-419: Was Sigismund III Vasa , had been elected by Russian boyars as tsar of Russia during the Time of Troubles, renounced all claims to the title as a condition of the peace treaty. The autocracy survived the Time of Troubles and the rule of weak or corrupt tsars because of the strength of the government's central bureaucracy . Government functionaries continued to serve, regardless of the ruler's legitimacy or

11514-1141: Was able to mobilize a larger army but could not put all of it into action simultaneously. The Russian mobilization system was ineffective and the expanding nation needed to be defended in many locations. A grand mobilization covering Russia's vast territories would have been unrealistic. Peter I tried to raise his army's morale to Swedish levels. Denmark contributed 20,000 men in their invasion of Holstein-Gottorp and more on other fronts. Poland and Saxony together could mobilize at least 100,000 men. 33,456 musketeers 19,584 pikemen 6,528 grenadiers 8,400 militia 1,200 naval infantry 1,540 grenadiers 9,600 militia (768 grenadiers) 150 halberdiers 1,500 grenadiers cavalry 100 Horse drabants 15,000 heavy cavalry 1,800 noble cavalry 402 horse guards 57 drabant guard 4,556 line cavalry 2,800 pancerni 2,200 heavy cavalry 1,800 cuirassiers 4,000 baltic militia dragoons 20,000 Ukrainian cossacks 15,000 Zaporozhian cossacks 15,000 Don Cossacks 804 militia dragoons 1,710 light cavalry 32,400 cavalry 63,351 cavalry 13,723 cavalry 12,810 cavalry * The difference between heavy and other cavalry

11628-533: Was able to outmaneuver the Danish Sound blockade and deploy an army near the Danish capital, Copenhagen . At the same time, a combined Anglo-Dutch fleet had also set course towards Denmark. Together with the Swedish fleet, they carried out a bombardment of Copenhagen from 20 to 26 July. This surprise move and pressure by the Maritime Powers ( England and the Dutch Republic ) forced Denmark–Norway to withdraw from

11742-532: Was administered by the Swedish Crown) was able, in particular, to make quick, sustained marches across large tracts of land and to maintain a high rate of small arms fire due to proficient military drill . However, the Swedish state ultimately proved unable to support and maintain its army in a prolonged war. Campaigns on the continent had been proposed on the basis that the army would be financially self-supporting through plunder and taxation of newly gained land,

11856-521: Was crowned the tsar and grand prince of all Russia ( Царь и Великий князь всея Руси , Tsar i Velikiy knyaz vseya Rusi ), thereby proclaiming the Tsardom of Russia, or "the Great Russian Tsardom", as it was called in the coronation document, by Constantinople Patriarch Jeremiah II , and in numerous official texts. The formula in manuscripts "to all his state of Great Russia" later replaced those found in other manuscripts – "to all

11970-427: Was crushingly defeated by a larger Russian force under Peter in the Battle of Poltava and fled to the Ottoman Empire while the remains of his army surrendered at Perevolochna . This shattering defeat in 1709 did not end the war, although it decided it. Denmark and Saxony joined the war again and Augustus the Strong, through the politics of Boris Kurakin , regained the Polish throne. Peter continued his campaigns in

12084-546: Was determined to bring the Russian texts back into conformity with the Greek texts and practices of the time. But Nikon encountered opposition among the many Russians who viewed the corrections as improper foreign intrusions. When the Orthodox Church forced Nikon's reforms, a schism resulted in 1667. Those who did not accept the reforms came to be called the Old Believers ; they were officially pronounced heretics and were persecuted by

12198-681: Was determined to gain the Oder estuary with its access to the Baltic Sea for the Brandenburgian core areas, which had been a state goal for centuries . George I of the House of Hanover , elector of Hanover and, since 1714, king of Great Britain and of Ireland, took the opportunity to connect his landlocked German electorate to the North Sea . In 1700, Charles XII had a standing army of 77,000 men (based on annual training). By 1707 this number had swollen to at least 120,000 despite casualties. Russia

12312-523: Was eventually incorporated into the Russian Empire (after the Battle of Poltava ) during the 18th century. Russia's southwestern expansion, particularly its incorporation of the Wild Fields (modern day Eastern Ukraine), had unintended consequences . Most Little Russians were Orthodox, but their close contact with the Roman Catholic Polish also brought them Western intellectual currents. Through

12426-413: Was forced to sign the Treaty of Altranstädt in which he made peace with the Swedish Empire, renounced his claims to the Polish crown, accepted Stanislaus Leszczyński as king, and ended his alliance with Russia. Patkul was also extradited and executed by breaking on the wheel in 1707, an incident which, given his diplomatic immunity, infuriated opinion against the Swedish king, who was then expected to win

12540-463: Was formally neutral at this point, as Augustus started the war as an Elector of Saxony. Disregarding Polish negotiation proposals supported by the Swedish parliament, Charles crossed into the Commonwealth and decisively defeated the Saxe-Polish forces in the Battle of Klissow in 1702 and in the Battle of Pultusk in 1703. This successful invasion enabled Charles XII to dethrone Augustus II and coerce

12654-409: Was replaced in official documents, though the names Rus ' and Russian land were still common and synonymous to it. The Russian state partly remained referred to as Moscovia (English: Muscovy ) throughout Europe, predominantly in its Catholic part, though this Latin term was never used in Russia. The two names Russia and Moscovia appear to have co-existed as interchangeable during

12768-497: Was sapped by the cold weather (the winter of 1708/09 being one of the most severe in modern European history) and Peter's use of scorched earth tactics. When the main army turned south to recover in Ukraine , the second army with supplies and reinforcements was intercepted and routed at Lesnaya —and so were the supplies and reinforcements of Swedish ally Ivan Mazepa in Baturyn . Charles

12882-646: Was serving in the Polish army as Registered Cossacks , the Zaporozhian Cossacks remained fiercely independent and staged several rebellions against the Poles. In 1648, the peasants of what is now Eastern Ukraine joined the Cossacks in rebellion during the Khmelnytsky Uprising , because of the social and religious oppression they suffered under Polish rule. Initially, Cossacks were allied with Crimean Tatars , which had helped them to throw off Polish rule. Once

12996-596: Was the centralized Russian state from the assumption of the title of tsar by Ivan IV in 1547 until the foundation of the Russian Empire by Peter the Great in 1721. From 1550 to 1700, Russia grew by an average of 35,000 square kilometres (14,000 sq mi) per year. The period includes the upheavals of the transition from the Rurik to the Romanov dynasties, wars with the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , Sweden , and

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