Absolutism in Russia

Want to keep your beard? Pay a tax! The 18th-century Russian leader Peter the Great ordered all men who lived in cities to shave off their beards—or pay a tax. He also entirely banned traditional Russian clothing in urban centers in favor of its European counterpart.

Peter the Great enjoyed substantial power and is considered one of Russia's foremost absolutist leaders. In Europe, the age of absolutism was between the 17th and late 18th centuries. In Russia, however, absolute monarchy is associated with the 18th and 19th centuries. Ultimately, absolutism ended by limiting a ruler’s power through a constitution, parliament, or revolution.

Fig. 1 - The Barber, 18th-century Russian woodcut. Source: Wikipedia Commons (public domain).

Absolutism in Russia: Summary

Muscovite Russia began its rise in the 15th century after overthrowing Mongol rule in 1480, following more than two centuries of vassalage. Tsar Ivan III (1440-1505) began consolidating power and territories around Moscow.

In the 17th century, the Romanov dynasty arose after decades of Russian political weakness with Tsar Michael I (1596-1645). Eventually, the Romanov dynasty produced strong leaders such as Peter I the Great and Catherine II the Great in the 18th century. Both rulers consolidated the power of the Russian state, expanded its bureaucracy, carried out reforms, subordinated the nobles, and grew Russia's military might and territorial possessions. These two rulers are usually associated with absolutism in Russia, also called autocracy.

Absolutism continued into the next century with tsars Alexander I and Nicholas I. However, Alexander II undertook significant reforms by the middle of the 19th century, including freeing the serfs in 1861. The changes were gradual, and Russia experienced growing social unrest. In 1906, Tsar Nicholas II attempted to modernize the Russian political system by allowing for a constitution and a Parliament. However, these changes were insufficient. The First World War exacerbated the situation, and Russia ultimately experienced a Revolution in 1917.

The early 17th century in Russia is known as the Time of Troubles (1598-1613). The monarchy was weak, and the population declined due to a major famine. There were also questions of royal succession after Fyodor I, one of the last Rurikid rulers, died.

Fig. 2 - Michael I Romanov of Russia, Johann Heinrich Wedekind, 1728 (a copy of a 1636) painting. Source: Wikipedia Commons (public domain).

The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth invaded and occupied Russia in an attempt to install its rulers in Moscow. In 1612, the Russians successfully expelled the Poles. The following year gave birth to the last Russian dynasty, the Romanovs, who ruled Russia until the Russian Revolution of 1917.

Their first tsar was Michael I (1596-1645). Michael I, was elected by the Zemsky Sobor, a kind of parliament of the nobility. At this time, the Russian rulers were not absolutists.

However, the Tsar was able to strengthen the Russian state after the Time of Troubles. He also encouraged eastward expansion through Siberia and toward the Pacific Ocean.

Absolutism in Russia

Russia's late 17th to late 19th centuries is a period of autocracy (absolutism). Russian autocrats had a substantial degree of political power.

Enlightened Absolutism

Enlightened absolutism was the time in European and Russian history when the rulers used the ideas of the Enlightenment to amass more power.

In Russia, empress Catherine the Great corresponded with the French Enlightenment intellectuals such as Voltaire for about 15 years.

Russia had several lifelong monarchs in the time of absolutism, including:

• Peter the Great
• Catherine the Great
• Alexander I
• Nicholas I

Peter the Great

Peter I the Great (1672-1725) is one of the most important Russian leaders. Inspired by countries like the Netherlands, his reforms sought to make Russia more socially and culturally aligned with Europe.

Fig. 3 - Portrait of Peter I of Russia, Maria Giovanna Clementi, 18th century. Source: Wikipedia Commons (public domain).

The rebellion's leader, Yemelian Pugachev, attempted to create an alternative government. At first, his campaign was successful, and Pugachev even captured the city of Kazan. Ultimately, the monarch saw the seriousness of the situation, crushed the rebellion, and publicly executed Pugachev in 1775.

Fig. 5 - Yemelian Pugachev. Execution in Moscow (1775), a pretender to the throne in the reign of Catherine II, A. Rudnev, 1865. Source: Library of Congress, Wikipedia Commons (public domain).

The Decembrist Revolt

Another important revolt took place in 1825 between the death of Alexander I and the beginning of the rule of Nicholas I. The uprising took place in December, hence the name of the group. The Decembrists were primarily of noble descent and sought significant liberal reforms that challenged the monarchy. Ultimately, the insurrectionists failed, and the punishment for the majority of those involved was exile in Siberia.

Late 19th-Century Revolutionaries

The second half of the 19th century was a time of intellectual development in Russia, especially in student circles which included radical left-wing, revolutionary ideas. Many revolutionary groups operated in Russia at this time:

• People's Will (Narodnaia Volia);
• Land and Freedom (or Land and Will, Zemlia I Volia),
• the nihilists,

Some members of these organizations were peaceful. Others engaged in terrorism.

The most notable case was the assassination of Tsar Alexader II in 1881 by the People's Will. Paradoxically, Alexander II carried out several liberalizing reforms, most notably, the emancipation reform freeing the serfs in 1861—the same year the United States abolished slavery. However, the radicals thought that these reforms did not go far enough.

Fig. 6 - The Assassination of Tsar Alexander II, the 1880s. Source: Wikipedia Commons (public domain)

Absolutism in Russia: Revolution

In the early 1900s, the last Russian Tsar, Nicholas II, attempted to reform the state and limit his power.

The tsar undertook these reforms after the unsuccessful Revolution of 1905. This event had many causes, including general social unrest and the loss of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905. However, these changes were insufficient, and the start of the First World War in 1914 exacerbated the social conditions in Russia.

Ultimately, Tsar Nicholas gave up his throne in March 1917. Interim leaders, called the Provisional Government led by the lawyer Alexander Kerensky, took over in the summer of that year. However, a small radical group of revolutionaries known as the Bolsheviks overthrew this government in November 1917. This time was the end of the Romanov autocratic rule.