Editing History of Russia (section)

==Tsardom of Russia (1547–1721)==
{{Main|Tsardom of Russia}}

===Ivan IV, the Terrible===
[[File:Ivan IV the Terrible portrait by Weigel 1882.jpg|thumb|[[Ivan IV]] was the [[Grand Prince of Moscow]] from 1533 to 1547, then "Tsar of All the Russias" until his death in 1584.]]

The development of the Tsar's autocratic powers reached a peak during the reign of [[Ivan IV of Russia|Ivan IV]] (1547–1584), known as "Ivan the Terrible".<ref>{{cite book | first=Tim | last=McDaniel | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0yIABAAAQBAJ&pg=PA46 | title=Autocracy, Modernization, and Revolution in Russia and Iran | publisher=Princeton University Press | date=1991 | isbn=0-691-03147-9 | page=46}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | first=Kevin | last=O'Connor | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b3b5nU4bnw4C&pg=PA23 | title=The History of the Baltic States | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221030013948/https://books.google.com/books?id=b3b5nU4bnw4C&pg=PA23& | archive-date=30 October 2022 | publisher=Greenwood Press | date=2003 | isbn=0-313-32355-0 | page=23}}</ref> He strengthened the position of the monarch to an unprecedented degree, as he ruthlessly subordinated the nobles to his will, exiling or executing many on the slightest provocation.<ref name=Curtis2/> Nevertheless, Ivan is often seen as a farsighted statesman who reformed Russia as he promulgated a new code of laws ([[Sudebnik of 1550]]),<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/history/russia/ivantheterrible.html|title=Ivan the Terrible|access-date=23 July 2007|work=Minnesota State University Mankato|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070718145812/http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/history/russia/ivantheterrible.html|archive-date=18 July 2007}}</ref> established the first Russian feudal representative body ([[Zemsky Sobor]]), curbed the influence of the clergy,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Zenkovsky |first=Serge A. |author-link=Serge Aleksandr Zenkovsky |date=October 1957  |title=The Russian Church Schism: Its Background and Repercussions|journal=Russian Review |volume=16 |issue=4 |pages=37–58 |doi=10.2307/125748 |jstor=125748 |publisher=Blackwell Publishing}}</ref> and introduced local self-management in rural regions.<ref>Skrynnikov R., "Ivan Grosny", p. 58, M., AST, 2001</ref> Tsar also created the first regular army in Russia: [[Streltsy]].

His long [[Livonian War]] (1558–1583) for control of the Baltic coast and access to the sea trade ultimately proved a costly failure.<ref>{{cite web | work=Lithuanian Quarterly Journal of Arts and Sciences | title=The Origin of the Livonian War, 1558 | access-date=16 July 2023 | first=William | last=Urban | date=Fall 1983 | url=http://www.lituanus.org/1983_3/83_3_02.htm | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020530071736/http://www.lituanus.org/1983_3/83_3_02.htm | archive-date=30 May 2002}}</ref> Ivan managed to annex the [[Khanate of Kazan|Khanates of Kazan]], [[Khanate of Astrakhan|Astrakhan]], and [[Siberia Khanate|Siberia]].{{sfn|Martin|2004|p=395}} These conquests complicated the migration of aggressive nomadic hordes from Asia to Europe via the Volga and [[Urals]]. Through these conquests, Russia acquired a significant Muslim Tatar population and emerged as a [[multiethnic]] and [[wikt:multiconfessional|multiconfessional]] state. Also around this period, the mercantile [[Stroganov]] family established a firm foothold in the Urals and recruited Russian [[Cossacks]] to colonise Siberia.<ref>[[Siberian Chronicles]], Строгановская Сибирская Летопись. изд. Спаским, СПб, 1821</ref>

In the later part of his reign, Ivan divided his realm in two. In the zone known as the ''[[oprichnina]]'', Ivan's followers carried out a series of bloody purges of the feudal aristocracy (whom he suspected of treachery after prince [[Andrey Kurbsky]]'s betrayal), culminating in the [[Massacre of Novgorod]] in 1570. This combined with the military losses, epidemics, and poor harvests so weakened Russia that the [[Crimean Tatars]] were able to sack central Russian regions and [[Russo–Crimean War (1571)|burn down Moscow in 1571]].<ref>Skrynnikov R. "Ivan Grozny", M, 2001, pp. 142–173</ref> However, in 1572 the Russians defeated the Crimean Tatar army at the [[Battle of Molodi]] and Ivan abandoned the ''oprichnina''.<ref>[[Robert I. Frost]] ''The Northern Wars: 1558–1721'' (Longman, 2000) pp. 26–27</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.economist.com/cities/printStory.cfm?obj_id=9141603&city_id=MCW | title=Moscow – Historical background | work=The Economist: City Guide | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011214606/http://www.economist.com/cities/printStory.cfm?obj_id=9141603&city_id=MCW | archive-date=11 October 2007}}</ref>

At the end of Ivan IV's reign the Polish–Lithuanian and Swedish armies carried out a powerful intervention in Russia, devastating its northern and northwest regions.<ref>Skrynnikov. "Ivan Grozny", M, 2001, pp. 222–223</ref>

===Time of Troubles===
{{Main|Time of Troubles}}
[[File:Lissner.jpg|thumb|The Poles surrender the [[Moscow Kremlin]] to [[Prince Pozharsky]] in 1612]]
The death of Ivan's childless son [[Feodor I of Russia|Feodor]] was followed by a period of civil wars and foreign intervention known as the [[Time of Troubles]] (1606–13).<ref name=Curtis2/> Extremely cold summers (1601–1603) wrecked crops,<ref>Borisenkov E, Pasetski V. "The thousand-year annals of the extreme meteorological phenomena", {{ISBN|5-244-00212-0}}, p. 190</ref> which led to the [[Russian famine of 1601–1603]] and increased the social disorganization. [[Boris Godunov]]'s reign ended in chaos, civil war combined with foreign intrusion, devastation of many cities and depopulation of the rural regions. The country rocked by internal chaos also attracted several waves of interventions by the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]].<ref>Solovyov. "History of Russia...", v.7, pp. 533–535, 543–568</ref>
During the [[Polish–Muscovite War (1605–1618)]], Polish–Lithuanian forces reached Moscow and installed the impostor [[False Dmitriy I]] in 1605, then supported [[False Dmitry II]] in 1607. The decisive moment came when a combined Russian-Swedish army was routed by the Polish forces under [[hetman]] [[Stanisław Żółkiewski]] at the [[Battle of Klushino]] on {{OldStyleDate|4 July|1610|24 June}}. As the result of the battle, the [[Seven Boyars]], a group of Russian nobles, deposed the tsar [[Vasily Shuysky]] on {{OldStyleDate|27 July|1610|17 July}}, and recognized the Polish prince [[Władysław IV Vasa]] as the Tsar of Russia on {{OldStyleDate|6 September|1610|27 August}}.<ref>[[Lev Gumilev]] (1992), ''Ot Rusi k Rossii. Ocherki e'tnicheskoj istorii'' [From Rus' to Russia], Moscow: Ekopros.</ref><ref>Michel Heller (1997), ''Histoire de la Russie et de son empire'' [A history of Russia and its empire], Paris: Plon.</ref> The [[Polish–Lithuanian occupation of Moscow|Poles occupied Moscow]] on {{OldStyleDate|21 September|1610|11 September}}. Moscow revolted but riots there were brutally suppressed and the city was set on fire.<ref name=Vern>[[George Vernadsky]], "A History of Russia", Volume 5, Yale University Press, (1969). [http://www.spsl.nsc.ru/history/vernad/vol5/vgv522.htm Russian translation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924105306/http://www.spsl.nsc.ru/history/vernad/vol5/vgv522.htm |date=24 September 2015 }}</ref><ref>Mikolaj Marchocki "Historia Wojny Moskiewskiej", ch. "Slaughter in the capital", [http://www.vostlit.info/Texts/rus8/Marchockij/pred.phtml?id=902 Russian translation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170704181638/http://www.vostlit.info/Texts/rus8/Marchockij/pred.phtml?id=902 |date=4 July 2017 }}</ref><ref>Sergey Solovyov. History of Russia... Vol. 8, p. 847</ref>

The crisis provoked a patriotic national uprising against the [[invasion]], both in 1611 and 1612. A volunteer army, led by the merchant [[Kuzma Minin]] and prince [[Dmitry Pozharsky]], expelled the foreign forces from the capital on {{OldStyleDate|4 November|1612|22 October}}.<ref name=Dunning>Chester S L Dunning, ''Russia's First Civil War: The Time of Troubles and the Founding of the Romanov Dynasty'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=9NUYtSJaO8cC&pg=PA434 p. 434] Penn State Press, 2001, {{ISBN|0-271-02074-1}}</ref><ref name=ToT>[https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9073517 Troubles, Time of] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071218201128/http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9073517 |date=18 December 2007 }}." [[Encyclopædia Britannica]]. 2006</ref><ref>[http://www.bartleby.com/65/e-/E-Pozharsk.html Pozharski, Dmitri Mikhailovich, Prince] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081211151400/http://www.bartleby.com/65/e-/E-Pozharsk.html |date=11 December 2008 }}", [[Columbia Encyclopedia]]</ref>

The Russian statehood 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 the faction controlling the throne.<ref name=Curtis2/> However, the Time of Troubles caused the loss of much territory to the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]] in [[Russo-Polish War (1605-1618)|the Russo-Polish war]], as well as to the [[Swedish Empire]] in the [[Ingrian War]].

===Accession of the Romanovs and early rule===
[[File:Election of Michael I of Russia by A. Krivshenko.jpg|thumb|left|Election of 16-year-old [[Michael I of Russia|Mikhail Romanov]], the first Tsar of the [[Romanov dynasty]]]]

In February 1613, after the chaos and expulsion of the Poles from Moscow, a [[Zemsky Sobor|national assembly]] elected [[Michael I of Russia|Michael Romanov]], the young son of [[Patriarch Filaret (Feodor Romanov)|Patriarch Filaret]], to the throne. The [[Romanov]] dynasty ruled Russia until 1917.

The immediate task of the new monarch was to restore peace. Fortunately for Moscow, its major enemies, the [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]] and [[Sweden]], were engaged in a bitter conflict with each other, which provided Russia the opportunity to make peace with Sweden in 1617 and to sign a truce with the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1619.

Recovery of lost territories began in the mid-17th century, when the [[Chmielnicki Uprising|Khmelnitsky Uprising]] (1648–1657) in Ukraine against Polish rule brought about the [[Treaty of Pereyaslav]] between Russia and the [[Ukrainian Cossacks]]. In the treaty, Russia granted protection to the [[Cossack Hetmanate|Cossacks state]] in [[Left-bank Ukraine]], formerly under Polish control. This triggered a prolonged [[Russo-Polish War (1654–1667)]], which ended with the [[Treaty of Andrusovo]], where Poland accepted the loss of Left-bank Ukraine, [[Kiev]] and [[Smolensk]].<ref name=Curtis2/>
The [[Russian conquest of Siberia]], begun at the end of the 16th century, continued in the 17th century. By the end of the 1640s, the Russians reached the Pacific Ocean, the Russian explorer [[Semyon Dezhnev]], discovered the strait between Asia and America. Russian expansion in the Far East faced resistance from [[Qing China]]. After the war between Russia and China, the [[Treaty of Nerchinsk]] was signed, delimiting the territories in the Amur region.
[[File:Соборное уложение глава 2.jpg|thumb|[[Sobornoye Ulozheniye]] was a legal code promulgated in 1649.]]
Rather than risk their estates in more civil war, the boyars cooperated with the first Romanovs, enabling them to finish the work of bureaucratic centralization. Thus, the state required service from both the old and the new nobility, primarily in the military. In return, the tsars allowed the boyars to complete the process of enserfing the peasants.

In the preceding century, the state had gradually curtailed peasants' rights to move from one landlord to another. With the state now fully sanctioning [[Russian serfdom|serfdom]], runaway peasants became state fugitives, and the power of the landlords over the peasants "attached" to their land had become almost complete. Together, the state and the nobles placed an overwhelming burden of taxation on the peasants, whose rate was 100 times greater in the mid-17th century than it had been a century earlier. Likewise, middle-class urban tradesmen and craftsmen were assessed taxes, and were forbidden to change residence. All segments of the population were subject to military levy and special taxes.<ref>For a discussion of the development of the class structure in Tsarist Russia see [[Theda Skocpol|Skocpol, Theda]]. ''[[States and Social Revolutions]]: A Comparative Analysis of France, Russia, and China''. Cambridge University Press, 1988.</ref>

Riots among peasants and citizens of Moscow at this time were endemic and included the [[Salt Riot]] (1648),<ref name=Kotilaine>Jarmo Kotilaine and Marshall Poe, ''Modernizing Muscovy: Reform and Social Change in Seventeenth-Century Russia'', Routledge, 2004, p. 264. {{ISBN|0-415-30751-1}}.</ref> [[Copper Riot]] (1662),<ref name=Kotilaine/> and the [[Moscow Uprising of 1682|Moscow Uprising]] (1682).<ref>{{in lang|ru}} [http://militera.lib.ru/common/solovyev1/13_03.html Moscow Uprising of 1682] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170701155153/http://militera.lib.ru/common/solovyev1/13_03.html |date=1 July 2017 }} in the ''History of Russia'' of [[Sergey Solovyov (historian)|Sergey Solovyov]]</ref> By far the greatest peasant uprising in 17th-century Europe erupted in 1667. As the free settlers of South Russia, the [[Cossacks]], reacted against the growing centralization of the state, serfs escaped from their landlords and joined the rebels. The Cossack leader [[Stenka Razin]] led his followers up the Volga River, inciting peasant uprisings and replacing local governments with Cossack rule.<ref name=Curtis2/> The tsar's army finally crushed his forces in 1670; a year later Stenka was captured and beheaded. Yet, less than half a century later, the strains of military expeditions produced another [[Bulavin Rebellion|revolt in Astrakhan]], ultimately subdued.