History of Russia Quiz 3
The Enlightenment
A movement in the 18th century that advocated the use of reason in the reappraisal of accepted ideas and social institutions. Heavily emphasized the need for rationality in order to vanish the darkness of ignorance. Influenced most, if not all of Catherine's reforms.
Pugachev Rebellion
A revolt let by Emelian Pugachev from 1773 to 1775 and was sparked by grievances tied to mobilization and burdens on peasants, but the direct catalyst was the plight of the Cossacks living on the Ural river; they saw themselves losing traditional privileges and didn't like increasing service obligations; peasants encouraged to kill landlords and nobles; Emelian is eventually executed; results in the Statue on Provinicial Administration
Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow
A social critique that described examples of social injustice as well as a call to emancipate serfs. Written by Alexander Radishchev.
Emancipation of the Nobles
Achieved through the Manifesto Freeing the Nobility from Compulsory Service (1762); made during the reign of Peter III; freed nobles from having to serve the state
Mikhail Speransky
Admin assistant to Alexander during Napoleonic era; compiled first complete collection of Russian law; created administrative reform heavily based on France's laws; had idea of constitutional reforms using system of dumas (never really took off); kind of replaced the Unofficial Committee because he got so close to Alexander
Cesare Beccaria
Author of Of Crime and Punishment. He attacked both torture and capital punishment. He believed criminal justice should ensure speedy trial and sure punishment which was intended to deter further crime.
Treaty of Tilsit
B/w Alexander of Russia and Napoleon of France; reduced Prussia to a small territory; determined aftermath of conflict with Turkey; July 1807; alliance that was created through this treaty began to fray in 1911
Gregory Orlov
Catherine the Great's lover and helped to kill Peter III, commanded the soldiers stationed in St. Petersburg. Had lots of serfs.
Paul I
Catherine the Great's successor and son; motivated by hate for mother and ruled accordingly; established all-male primogeniture; removed French influences
Gregory Potemkin
Catherine's lover for 2 years and may have secretly gotten married to her. Was an important government figure and remained a prominent military and political figure even after breaking up with Catherine.
Princess Catherine Dashkova
Close friend of Catherine the Great; became president of the academy of Russian language; eventually oversaw the printing of the first Russian dictionary
soslovie (estates)
5 social groups that Alexander I organized Russian society into; nobles, clergy, merchantry, townsmen / artisans, serfdom
Academy of Sciences
A Russian academy founded by Peter the Great that had a main focus on the sciences. From 1725 to 1755 the Academy of Sciences had no rival in its academic pursuits. Peter believed that science was the key to making Russia more enlightened and civilized
Unofficial Committee
A group of close friends and advisers to Alexander I. Helped Alex establish many reforms including some sort of a constitution, did not like serfdom but realized they could not do anything about it.
The Nakaz (The Great Instruction)
A guide for the All-Russian Legislative Commission to recode Russian laws to become a more comprehensive, modern law code; was published in 1767 by Catherine the Great; inspired by her reading of the encyclopedia; some ideas included the separation of powers (Montesquieu), punishment should be humane, and innocent until proven guilty.
Emelian Pugachev
Cossack soldier who sparked a gigantic uprising of serfs (1773) in Russia during the reign of Catherine the Great-he proclaimed himself the true tsar (Peter III) and issued decrees abolishing serfdom, taxes, and army service; thousands joined him, slaughtering landlords and officials-lost to Russian army; he was captured and savagely executed during Catherine the Great's Reign.
Legislative Comission
Created by Catherine the Great to re-codify Russia's law codes; about 500 people who were mostly nobles, but also included some peasants, cossacks, and merchants (but no clergy or serfs); resembled the zemskii sobor; a national dialogue but not a representative body
Vitus Bering
Danish navigator and explorer. He led several Russian expeditions to determine whether Asia and North America were connected by land and discovered the Bering Sea and Bering Strait, which are named after him.
Elizabeth
Daughter of Peter the Great; came to power through a coup w/ help of guards; oversaw 7 Years War where she sided against Prussia; allowed nobles more opportunities to gain more dominance in government; big supporter of arts and culture-- built Smolny Convent
Bartolomeo Rastrelli
Elizabeth's (daughter of Peter the Great) chief architect who had come to Russia from Italy as a boy of 15 in 1715. He built many places for the nobility and all the larger government buildings erected during Elizabeth's reign.
Anna
Empress of Russia 1730-1740; niece of Peter I; very autocratic; took little interest in govt affairs so others pretty much ruled on her behalf quite aggressively; reign during War of Polish Succession and Russo-Turkish War- high costs.
Law of Free Agriculturists
Established by Alexander I in 1803 that decreed that peasants could be independent farmers; created the idea of independent farming without the overseeing of a landlord
Smolny Institute for Noble Girls
Established in 1764 by Catherine the Great and was the first institute of education for girls in Russia
Imperial Academy of Fine Arts
Established in 1764; Catherine the Great was the main patron and poured lots of money into the institute; Students studied history, classical mythology, etc and drew inspiration from still life and figure drawing
Charter of the Nobility
Established in 1785 by Catherine the Great and defined the privileges of being a noble; gave nobles right of trial by peers, exemption from taxation and corporal punishment, freedom to travel to other countries, and right to pass down land; established that being a noble was a birthright and a hereditary title; nobles have to be a leader in society!
Charter of the Towns
Established in 1785 by Catherine the Great; set of rules for townspeople that recognized different sets of rules for members
Volga Germans
Ethnic Germans who colonized and historically lived along the River Volga in the region of southeastern European Russia around Saratov and to the south; encouraged by Potemkin to colonize the new territory Russia had gained and were offered money and religious freedom
Francois-Marie Aroute "Voltaire"
Famous French Enlightenment writer known for talking about cruelty and tyranny; corresponded with Catherine the Great and had shared hatred for Turks and fanaticism
Kunstkamera Museum
First museum in Russia that included all sorts of weird anomalies (babies with two heads, goats with two bodies etc); Peter's attempt to cultivate scientific curiosity within the Russian population
The Partitions of Poland
First partition: Russia, Austria, and Prussia divide Poland among themselves after Seven Years War; around 2 million ppl absorbed into Russia's empire Second partition: Done after Poles press for independence and even write a constitution threatening to limit Russian intervention (this uprising in crushed by Catherine, who dispatched Russian troops to Poland); Poland becomes super small Third Partition: The French Revolution inspires the Polish people to start their own revolution but is quickly squashed (1794); basically results in a massacre of 20,000 Polish citizens and Poland virtually doesn't exist anymore
Seven Years' War
Fought between France/Russia and Prussia- Frederick kept fighting against heavy odds and was saved when Peter III took Russian throne and called off the war.
Moscow University
Founded by Mikhail Lomonsov; serves as primary research university of Russia; oldest and most famous/well regarded research university in Russia; renamed after Lomonsov in Soviet times
Gallomania
Francophile culture within Russia
Denis Diderot
French Enlightenment philosopher best known for his work in creating the first well-known encyclopedia; lover of Catherine the Great, who bought his whole library and convinced him to come to St. Petersburg with it
Baron de Motesquieu
French Enlightenment philosopher who believed in dividing power within government; created checks and balances
Alexander Radishchev
He wrote A Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow (1790), in which he described examples of social injustice, hoping that his criticism of serfdom, autocracy, and censorship would enlighten Catherine II. He was declared to me the most radical of revolutionaries and arrested and exiled to Siberia. He was pardoned by Alexander I in 1801, but committed suicide.
Lyceum
High schools in Russia; many highly regarded figures of Russia graduated from these schools
Encylopedia, or a Systemic Dictionary
Inspired by a British philosophes in 1728 who wrote the first 'encyclopedia' (was supposed to be a translation of it); Was edited and published by Denis Diderot and considered to represent the thought of the Enlightenment for how orderly it was
philosophes
Leading writers during the Enlightenment and who popularized the emphasis on rationality; engaged in ventures to increase education and believed that different states had different paths; believed reforms needed to be driven by the ruler ("Enlightened despotism")
Peter III
Ruled for 6 months; withdrew from 7 Years War to form alliance with Prussia (liked Prussia unlike Anna) in order to go to war with Denmark; married to Catherine the Great BUT supposed conspiracy b/w her and her lover to oust him-- He happened to be assassinated
June 24, 1812
Napoleon invades Russia
Princess Sophia Auguste Frederike of Anhalt-Zerbst
Old name of Catherine the Great as the daughter of a large German noble family
Dmitrii Levitsky
One of the finest painted from the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts; famous for his portrait of Catherine in historical Roman attire
Napoleon Bonaparte
Overthrew the French revolutionary government (The Directory) in 1799 and became emperor of France in 1804. Failed to defeat Great Britain and abdicated in 1814. Returned to power briefly in 1815 but was defeated and died in exile.
Manifesto on the Succession to the Throne
Peter's rules on throne succession that determined that the successor would be chosen by the current monarch with no restriction on age or gender, but can't be a commoner.
lubki, lubok
Popular wood prints inspired by fine arts within the capital; kind of like a comic script but also literary with highly moralistic tones; signs of western dress, foreign scenes, and neo-classical ornaments; part of the oral tradition of Russia
Pale of Settlement
Restricted district created in 1804 that Jews in Russia were required to live in after merchants complained that the Jewish population had an unfair advantage against them.
Catherine II "the Great"
Russian Czar from 1762-1796. Was an Enlightened Absolutist, but came to power when spouse was murdered (b/c she publicly ridiculed and denounced him). This Czar suppressed the serfs and gave power to the aristocracy, and was notable for freeing the nobles from service. Expanded mostly West and South, and Westernized in literature, philosophy, and art, with a special focus on education.
Nikita Panin
Russian diplomat, statesman, and political mentor to Catherine the Great for the first 18 years of her reign. Created the Russian-Prussian alliance with the Northern Accord following the end of the Seven Years' War. Russia and Prussia would defend each others' territorial security. Made to counteract the Habsburg (Austrian) Empire. Tried to sleep with Catherine a lot.
Mikhail Lomonsov
Russian scientist and writer; developed concept of nuclear structure, theories of matter, Russian poetry; first Russian professor of Academy of Sciences; founded Moscow University
Alexander I
Son of Paul; ultimately defeated Napoleon; took part in Congress of Vienna; fought to establish Holy Alliance
The Napoleonic Code, or Code Civil de Francais
Systematized law code; hundreds of precedent legal codes compiled into one volume Equality of the law, religious toleration, abolition of aristocratic privileges But were not good to women; women lost property rights, divorce laws became stricter Conquered territories received Napoleonic code
Holy Alliance
The Holy Alliance was a coalition linking the monarchist great powers of Russia, Austria and Prussia. It was created after the final defeat of Napoleon at the behest of Tsar Alexander I of Russia and signed in Paris on 26 September 1815.
Polizeitstaad, or Police State
The model of rulership that a state that focused on order, orderliness, and institutional control utilized; state is primarily constructed on rules and regulations; first transferred to Russia from small German states by Peter the Great, then expanded upon by Catherine
bironovshchina
The type of regime under Anna's rule: dominance of foreigners in political life, exploitation of the people and the country's wealth-- turned out to be an extremely unhelpful ruling tactic for Russia.
Catherine (I)
This woman was the empress of Russia. She expanded Russian territory and power, as well as increased some western reforms, but she also expanded serfdom and granted nobles rights.
Zerbst
Town in Germany in which there was a palace that was the childhood home of Catherine the Great until she went to Russia in the year 1744; said to be very magnificent
Statute of Provincial Administration
Written in 1775 as a direct response to the Pugachev Rebellion; Catherine believed that nobles needed to serve as inbetweens for national government in their community and divides Russia into 38 provinces and then further subdivisions of districts; each province has a capital with a governor, commander-in-chief, and a chief of police; Establishes system of courts and appeals mechanism; made Russia more orderly and well-governed