
	Russia

Reasons for Isolation

Physical-

· Large landlocked country

· No warm water ports under control, Sweden and Poland controlled the Baltic

· Black sea was controlled by the Ottoman Empire.

· Vast plains of Poland and Europe to the west slowed trade because it took to long to travel

· Most rivers did not flow into large bodies of water

Cultural-

· Asian influence from Mongol rule

· Western Civilization reached Russia from The Byzantine Empire at Constantinople, which was not part of the western civilization.

· The Russian religion was Eastern Orthodox and not Catholic like Europe

· Russians had different alphabet called Cyrillic unlike Europe which used the Roman alphabet

Czar Peter the Great Romanov

Ruled Russia from 1682-1725 tall man 6’9’’

Inherited very poor country 95% were serfs

Behind in technologically

Wanted to increase trade and gain control of a warm water port.

Ideas

After meeting with a Dutch inventor who explained to him the sextant, Peter got the idea that he was to westernize Russia
Kept his identity a secret so people would treat him fairly
Disguised himself as a citizen and went to Europe to learn about western civilization and the technology there. Went to Amsterdam because of their advanced architecture, to learn about shipbuilding. The Dutch had a good fleet of trading ships. He also went to England to learn about England’s navy, which recently defeated the powerful Spanish armada.

Changes

Reorganized army to look like the French army, which at the time was very powerful. Equipped his army with the best European weapons. With this improved army he waged war on Sweden from 1700-21 and acquired access to the Baltic Sea.
He built the city St. Petersburg in remembrance of acquiring The Baltic.
In the economy he encouraged trade. He also built and sub sized factories. Also increased and encouraged the Iron industry to take place in Russia. He also taxed almost everything in the country to gain money
In the society he changed many things. For all the men in the country they had to shave their beards because most people in western civilization were clean-shaven. If you refused to shave you were forced to pay a special tax to keep it. For the nobles he forbade them from wearing the old fashion robes and cloaks and ordered them to wear coats and more western clothing. Women were no longer isolated from society and were encourage taking action in the communities.
Peter offended the church with his law regarding men being forced to shave. Also he badly offended them by taking the church bells and melting them to be used for weapons in the war against Sweden.
With the nobles he created a new order in rank. The rank and privileges they received were base upon the amount of government service preformed not family status. As a reward for their services to the government the nobles were given large plots of land and thousands of serfs to work the land. The nobles also had the right to buy and sell the serfs like slaves.

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