A country with a remarkable and dramatic history - that's what historians say about it. Indeed, over the 12 centuries of its existence, it went through a lot - the search for religion, invasions, wars, turmoil, palace coups, perestroika … Each of these stages left a scar, first of all - on the life of the people …
The following are the conditional names of periods in the history of Russia:
- Ancient Russia, IX-XIII centuries. It is often called the period of Kievan Rus.
- Tatar-Mongol yoke, XIII-XV cc.
- Moscow kingdom, XVI-XVI centuries.
- Russian Empire, XVIII - early XX centuries.
- USSR, beginning - end of XX centuries.
- Since 1991, the period of the Russian Federation began, in which we now live.
And now about everything in more detail. Let us analyze in detail, but briefly, the main periods of the history of Russia.
It all started like this…
No, this is not the first period in the history of Russia, but only the prerequisites for it. So…
In the 6th-7th centuries, Slavic tribes moved from the vast plains of Eastern Europe to the Northern Black Sea region. In the valleys of the Don and Dnieper. They were pagan farmers who worshiped the sun, lightning, and wind.
Gradually, cities began to form: Kyiv, Chernihiv, Novgorod, Yaroslavl. Tribal leaders and princes were engaged in the usual activities for that period: they fought with their neighbors - the nomadic tribes of the Pechenegs and Khazars, fought with each other and mercilessly oppressed and robbed their subjects. Gradually, the level of strife and civil strife became more and more tangible, and the Novgorod elders turned to the Varangians - as the Slavs then called the Scandinavian Vikings - with the words: “Our land is great and plentiful, but there is no order in it. Come reign and rule over us.”
3 Varangian princes took up the task of restoring order: Sineus, Truvor and Rurik. The new princes founded, in fact, the state of Russia. And the Varangian-Slavic people who inhabited these lands began to be called Russian.
This is the beginning of the 1st period of Russian history.
Rurik's Board
Rurik became the founder of the Rurik dynasty, who ruled Russia for several centuries. He himself headed the newly formed state from 862 to 879.
After the death of Rurik for some time, power passed to the guardian of his son, Oleg. During the short years of his reign (from 879 to 912), he managed to capture Kyiv and make it the capital of Russia. After that, the Russian state became known as Kievan Rus. This state became so strong that Oleg's squad captured the capital of Byzantium, Constantinople, or, as the Russians called it, Tsargrad.
After Oleg's death, he ruled for a short time (since 912to 945) son of Rurik, Igor. He was killed by the Drevlyans, a neighboring vassal tribe, who rebelled from unthinkable extortions. Olga, Igor's wife, cruelly avenged the Drevlyans for the death of her husband. But in general, she was a very enlightened ruler. Olga sat on the throne from 945 to 957 and even converted to Christianity, for which she was later ranked among the most revered saints.
New Religion
Paganism was no longer suitable for Kievan Rus - a fairly strong and modern state. It was necessary to choose a monotheistic religion. And Prince Vladimir of Kyiv (980-1015), grandson of Olga, were presented with a choice of 3 religions:
- Christianity in the Roman and Orthodox traditions.
- Muslim.
- Judaism, which was professed by the rulers of the then powerful Khazar kingdom.
Prince Vladimir made a historic decision. He chose Orthodoxy, the religion of Byzantium. And this choice became fateful for Russia for the entire time of its further history.
The baptism of Russia is one of the most significant events in the first period of the history of Russia: it began in 988 and was not easy. The most stubborn keepers of the pagan faith were mercilessly destroyed. Many had to be baptized, as they say, "with fire and sword." However, most of the population quietly accepted the new faith.
The reign of Vladimir in Russian history is considered a bright and joyful page - the best time of Kievan Rus.
New Laws
After the death of Vladimir, for some time the throne was taken by his son Yaroslav (1019-1054), nicknamed, and not without reason, the Wise. Hecreated the first code of laws "Russian Truth". He patronized scientists, architects and icon painters. He led a well-thought-out economic policy.
After Yaroslav, one after another, his sons and grandsons, who were at enmity with each other, became rulers. The country broke up into many principalities.
Historians believe that Kievan Rus ceased to exist in the 12th century - from that moment begins the 2nd period of Russian history.
Life under the yoke
At this time, a powerful militant power was formed on the territory of Mongolia, Siberia and Northern China, headed by the outstanding commander Genghis Khan. From the nomadic tribes of the Mongols and Tatars, he created an army with a rigid organization, iron discipline and armed with hitherto unseen siege equipment. With a deadly wave, this army swept across the expanses of Asia and moved towards Europe. Despite the desperate resistance of some Russian princes, the Mongol-Tatar hordes captured the entire space of Ancient Russia, sowing death, smoke of conflagrations, and violence everywhere. However, the Tatar-Mongol conquerors retained the power of princes loyal to themselves and did not persecute the Orthodox Church, which remained the guardian of culture and the main unifying factor for the Russian people.
Gradually, the Tatar-Mongol conquerors and Russian principalities established some kind of balance of power and interests. The second period in the development of Russian history lasted for about two centuries.
Liberation victories
Novgorod prince Alexander Nevsky (1252-1264), staying invassal dependence on the conquerors and continuing to pay tribute to them, he managed to defeat the troops of the knightly Catholic order twice - on the banks of the Neva and on the ice of Lake Peipsi.
Prince Alexander Nevsky (Prince of Novgorod, Grand Duke of Kyiv, Grand Duke of Vladimir, commander, saint of the Russian Orthodox Church) was later canonized and became, as it were, a symbol of the victory of the Orthodox Russian army over the Catholic knightly orders. Considered one of the patron saints of Russia.
The new capital of Kievan Rus
And now, the initially inconspicuous small principality of Moscow (originally the lot of the Grand Duchy of Vladimir), under the control of smart and prudent rulers, is gradually becoming the center of attraction for the rest of the Russian lands. In general, from the day of its foundation, the Muscovite state has been constantly expanding for many centuries, annexing more and more new lands. And do you know what period of Russian history this time belongs to? To the Moscow kingdom of the 16th-16th centuries, which over the years became so strong that the grandson of the first Moscow prince Ivan Kalita - Prince Dmitry (1359-1389) - managed to gather an army of many thousands and move it towards a detachment of Tatars led by commander Mamai.
The battle on the banks of the Don - on the Kulikovo field - turned into a terrible bloody battle. And ended with the victory of the Russian rati. And although for many years after that, Russia paid tribute to the Tatar conquerors and was in vassal dependence on them, the victory on the Kulikovo field had the deepesthistorical meaning. She showed the increased power of Russia and the ability to defeat the enemy in open battle.
But in general, over the 2 centuries of the yoke - as the Tatar-Mongolian occupation began to be called later - Russia has largely lost various ties with the West. As if frozen on the historical path.
So the eternal pendulum in Russian history "East - West" swung towards the East.
Freedom
In the 15th century, Ivan III (1462-1505), nicknamed the Great by his contemporaries, became Prince of Moscow. Under him, Russia stopped paying tribute to the Tatar conquerors. The reign of Ivan the Great was a happy time for Russia.
He married the niece of the last Byzantine emperor, Sophia Palaiologos, and received a double-headed eagle as the state emblem of Russia. Under him, relations with Europe were established. Foreign architects and builders came to Russia. In particular, the Italian masters who, together with Russian architects, rebuilt the Russian Kremlin.
When he finally came up with the idea of the Russian state. It was confirmed by historical reality, and also reflected in the minds of the citizens of the country, who began to understand that their country is Russia. And this is not only the country of Russians, but also, after the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453, the center of world Orthodoxy.
The bloody time of Ivan the Terrible
The years of the reign of Ivan IV (1533-1584), who ascended the throne in 1547, became one of the most controversial and bloody pages in the history of Russia. The king carried out the necessary reforms:
- Issued a new code of laws (Sudebnik 1550year).
- Streamlined the tax system.
- Created a well-trained archery army.
As a result of successful wars, he annexed Kazan, Astrakhan, and then the Siberian kingdoms to Russia. But he went down in world history as Ivan the Terrible - a bloody tyrant, distinguished by extreme cruelty. The atmosphere of palace intrigues, murders and deceit, combined with mental disorders (such is the point of view of historians) made the king, as is often the case with tyrants, obsessed with persecution mania. Enemies and traitors seemed to him everywhere, and he executed these subjects, and mostly imaginary enemies, in the most sophisticated ways.
Ivan the Terrible created a personal army - the so-called guardsmen. They were young people dressed in all black and boundlessly devoted to the king. During the day they chopped off the heads of the enemies of the king, terrifying the people, and at night they feasted in close company with Ivan the Terrible. The victims of the guardsmen were primarily boyar families - the descendants of many ancient families. The cruelty of the formidable king knew no bounds. The whole country, covered in blood, lived in constant fear. In a fit of furious anger, the king killed his eldest son with a blow from his staff.
After the death of Ivan IV, his weak-willed and indecisive son Fyodor ascended the throne (reigned 1584-1598). In fact, the country was ruled by Boris Godunov, a boyar, a close adviser to the last Russian tsars from the Rurik dynasty, which ended with the death of Fedor.
Since 1598, Boris Godunov, who ascended the throne at the end of the 16th century, became the official tsar in Russia. He ruled fairly until 1605 and tried toto reform life in Russia, to strengthen statehood. It was a historic chance for Russia to make a decisive breakthrough in its development. But reformers in Russia were never loved…
Invasion of false kings
There were various rumors among the people, sometimes the most incredible ones. Some of them concerned the youngest son of Ivan the Terrible, Dmitry, who died in infancy from an accident. The Poles decided to take advantage of this, having long dreamed of capturing part of the Russian lands and expanding their influence in the east. In Poland, a man appeared who pretended to be the miraculously surviving Tsarevich Dmitry. On his way from Poland to Moscow, False Dmitry received jubilation and support from the people, dissatisfied with the rule of Godunov. The so-called Time of Troubles began. The time of anarchy and lawlessness, which was almost worse than the time of the despotism of Ivan the Terrible.
Moscow was flooded by the Poles, eventually angering the people. Without sitting on the throne for even a year, False Dmitry was overthrown and executed.
The representative of the famous boyar family Vasily Shuisky (1606-1610) was declared king - and immediately a peasant uprising swept the country.
The weak power of the new king has given rise to many contenders for the throne, supported by various forces. Cossack detachments came to Moscow, designed to protect the country's borders, and joined the struggle for power.
Poles, Kazakhs, Swedes - whoever tried to establish their control over Muscovy. The patience of the Russian people, in the end, burst. He was able to rally in the face of external and internal threats. Headman of Nizhny Novgorod Kuzma Minin and Prince DmitryPozharsky convened a people's militia. Moved from Novgorod to Moscow. All interventionists were expelled. This time was the final for the period of Russian history known as the "Moscow State".
Romanovs, start
The new Russian Tsar Michael was elected from the family of the Romanov boyars (1613-1645). So a new dynasty of Russian monarchs was born, and a new period in the history of Russia started. However, we have not yet reached the empire … After all, it was under Peter I. In the meantime …
During the reign of Mikhail Romanov and his son - Tsar Alexei (1645-1676) - the Russian people received a peaceful respite. In the last third of the 17th century, Russia achieved political stability, a certain economic prosperity, and even expanded its borders.
To survive and take its place in the world, Russia in the 17th century needed urgent modernization. As if obeying the call of history, a man appeared who can be safely called a genius - it was Tsar Peter I (1682-1725). He set the goal of his life to promote Russia to the ranks of the leading European powers.
But let's go back a few years. After the death of her father - Tsar Alexei - the sister Sophia sat on the throne, the main support of which was the detachments of archers. A kind of guard that defended the traditional foundations.
Peter de alt with them very harshly and even cut off the heads of archers on Red Square near the Moscow Kremlin. In the fight against the conservative boyar opposition, clinging to old traditions, he did not even spare his own son Alexei, sending him toexecution. However, Peter was cruel only to those who were an obstacle in the implementation of his super-ideas - to put Russia among the leading European countries.
He completely changed life in the country:
- Went to Europe with a large retinue, whom he forced to learn craft, engineering, economics, morals.
- Sent the sons of noblemen to study in Europe.
- He ordered the boyars to shave off their beards, put the ladies in low-cut dresses and hold balls according to the European model. The elite of society - the ruling class - has completely changed, even outwardly. The social history of Russia during the period of the empire was incredibly rich.
- He, however, under a false name, worked for some time as a carpenter in order to master shipbuilding.
- With the help of young merchants, he created a new industry that provides the army with weapons.
- He waged wars with the Swedes, the Turks, again with the Swedes, in order to annex new territories, and most importantly, to provide the country with access to the sea. After all, until now the Russian state did not have its own ports either on the Black or B altic Seas.
Moreover, on the B altic coast, in wild places where there were only forests and swamps, he built the new capital of the Russian Empire - the city of St. Petersburg, which was Russia's "window to Europe".
Peter holds a special place in Russian history. He left behind a completely new country. History itself is now divided into 2 periods: pre-Petrine Russia and post-Petrine Russia.
Palace coups
After the death of Peter in 1725, the so-called era of palace coups in history beginsRussia. The periods of reign of emperors are limited to the time pleasing to the guard.
First, Catherine I Alekseevna, Peter's wife, became Empress for 2 years (1725-1727). Then power for 3 years (1727-1730) passed to the grandson of Peter - Peter II Alekseevich. And then for 10 years (1730-1740), the guards put Peter's niece, Anna Ioannovna, on the throne. In fact, this period was ruled by her favorite, the cruel Ernst Biron.
After Anna's death, for a short time (1740-1741), the baby Ivan VI Antonovich was declared emperor, under which his mother Anna Leopoldovna, Anna Ioanovna's niece, performed the regency. She was successfully overthrown by the guards and put on the throne by Peter's daughter, Elizabeth (1741-1761), who had no children. After her death, the throne passed to her nephew, Peter III Fedorovich (1761-1702). He married the German princess Sophia August Frederick of Anh alt-Zerbt, who received the name Catherine in Russia. In the end, the guards overthrew Peter III, and put Catherine on the throne.
As a result, 7 rulers have changed in Russia in 75 years after Peter the Great.
Golden Age of the Russian Empire
The reign of Catherine II is called the Golden Age. Under her, Russia continued the path marked by Peter - the country fought both in the West and in the South. As a result, a series of Russian-Turkish wars annexed Crimea and the Northern Black Sea region to Russia, opening up access to the warm waters of the Mediterranean Sea.
After several partitions of Poland, Russia included: Lithuania, Belarus, the western regions of Ukraine.
Following the Moscow University, opened under Elizabeth,thanks to Catherine the Great, several educational institutions appear in the capital St. Petersburg.
Catherine II was liberal. She called her subjects not slaves, but free people. True, the peasant uprising (1773-1775) led by Stepan Pugachev so frightened the empress that she curtailed her liberal projects. In particular, the new code of laws.
Catherine, considering her son Pavel (1796-1801) not a very smart young man, during her reign did not even let him come close to the throne. Therefore, having seized power, he began to eradicate any "free-thinking". He introduced strict censorship, forbade Russian citizens to study abroad, and foreigners to freely enter Russia. He broke off diplomatic relations with England and sent 40 Don Cossack regiments to conquer India. At the same time, they had neither maps nor a plan of action. As a result of a conspiracy in which Paul's son Alexander participated, he was overthrown and killed.
Alexander I (1801-1825) became the new emperor. He began his reign by canceling his father's decrees. Returned innocent victims from exile. In general, he was determined to carry out various liberal reforms. Under him, for the first time, imperial Russia begins to wage a defensive war against France.
Not far from Moscow, near the village of Borodino (1812), a famous battle took place, as a result of which neither side was able to win a decisive victory.
Emperor Nikolai I Pavlovich (1825-1855) struggled intensely with the ideas of change that had penetrated the country. For 30 years of his reign, he created an ideal, absolute monarchy. Authoritarian thinking also affected foreign policy. Starting another Russian-Turkish war, Nicholas faced opposition from the European powers. Bound by allied obligations with Turkey, with the Ottoman Empire, England and France moved their troops into the Black Sea, as a result of which they inflicted a humiliating defeat on Russia. This dragged Russia into another crisis.
Nicholas I is succeeded on the throne by his son Alexander II (1855-1881). His reign is associated with the abolition of serfdom in the country (1861). This event became one of the most important in the social history of Russia during the period of the empire. That is why Alexander II went down in history as the "tsar-liberator".
The new monarch actively implemented reforms:
- Judicial.
- Military.
- Zemskaya.
However, for some they seemed too serious, and for others - insufficient. The tsar found himself in the crossfire of conservatives and liberals. In 1881, as a result of an assassination attempt on the banks of the Catherine Canal, he was killed.
Threats of terrorism forced Alexander III (1881-1894) to settle away from St. Petersburg, in the well-guarded Gatchina Palace. His reign can be described as a victory for conservatism - the reforms stopped, the operation of some liberal laws was limited.
On the threshold of the USSR
The change of the 19th and 20th centuries is a transitional time between the main periods in the history of Russia. The Empire will be replaced by the Union… Soon…
Perhaps the most unfortunate Russian Tsar was the son of Alexander III - Nicholas II (1894-1917). He was burdened by the fact that he was born an heir. Histhe prospect of becoming emperor was frightening.
Society yearned for change, and after the lost war with Japan in the Far East, there was the first workers' revolt that turned into a revolution. The uprising was crushed. The frightened king went to extremes.
Uneducated, poor and hungry for the most part, the country in 1914 enters the war on the side of England and France with Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The soldiers - yesterday's peasants - did not understand what they were fighting for. Plus, the poor equipment of the army, discontent, hunger did their job - they gave rise to an uprising in St. Petersburg.
As a result, the last Russian tsar from the Romanov dynasty abdicates the throne. We can say that from this moment the Soviet period in the history of Russia begins.
Soviet Troubles
The provisional government, formed from representatives of different parties, came to power. The population, exhausted by the war, adopted revolutionary views. Representatives of extremist and terrorist organizations, who had previously been underground, have returned from abroad.
One of these was the "Marxist Group of Communist Bolsheviks", led by Vladimir Ulyanov (Lenin). They boldly seized power in Petersburg. They occupied, practically without firing a shot, the Winter Palace, where the provisional government was located, and arrested its members.
Civil War
From 1917 to 1920, the country was in the Civil War. As a result, the Bolsheviks won. From 1920 they begin to build in the lying inruins of the country "society of happiness" - communism. This ideology will become the main one for the Soviet period of Russian history.
Lenin takes a decisive step and introduces a new economic policy (NEP), which allowed the state to transform in a couple of years - food, clothing and even luxury goods appeared. This annoyed the cardinal Bolsheviks.
After Lenin's death in 1924, Joseph Dzhugashvili, better known under the pseudonym Stalin (1924-1953), seized power more and more decisively. He took control of the secret police of the Cheka. He started a series of high-profile trials against almost all the leaders of the Bolsheviks who led the revolution. Since 1929, he has completely controlled the country. Destroys kulaks, seizes land and creates collective farms.
The II Great Patriotic War (1941-1945) fell on the era of Stalin. This is one of the blackest pages of this period in the history of Russia.
As a result of a short struggle for power, after the liquidation of the Minister of State Security Lavrenty Beria, in 1953 the pragmatist Nikita Khrushchev came to power. He was a controversial leader - he proposed to sow fields with corn, at a meeting of the UN Security Council he pounded his boot on the podium; however, under him the first satellite was launched, and the cosmonaut Gagarin also made the world's first flight into outer space. The first of the Soviet leaders visited America. Under him, the "Khrushchev thaw" took place, which allowed liberal views in art. He promised to destroy and bury America in the ground, and he, in minutesenlightenment, decided to get rid of the dominance of the party nomenklatura. For which he was removed from power by this very nomenklatura in 1964.
The reins of government of the country were taken over by a group of conspirators led by Leonid Brezhnev (1964-1982). The years of his reign are usually called the era of stagnation. The confrontation with the West continued. The Cold War waxed and waned. The economy was focused on the sale of commodities, which led it to a crisis. Brezhnev died in 1982.
The government nominated him to replace the influential former head of the security service, Yuri Andropov (1982-1984), and then, after his death, another elderly leader, Konstantin Chernenko (1984-1985), who also died shortly after.
A younger ruler came to power - Mikhail Gorbachev (1985-1991), who vigorously set to work. He quickly changed the leadership of the party and the state and began to carry out reforms. The so-called course for the restructuring of the social and state life of the country was announced.
Gorbachev's liberal reforms angered conservative circles. In 1991, they decided to make a coup. However, the coup was defeated, because the conspirators did not have any plan of action to change the life of the country for the better. Nevertheless, the coup actually left the country without a government, which was used by the emboldened heads of the national republics - who separated and gained independence from Russia.
The paradox is that Gorbachev, who returned in triumph to Moscow, remained the president of the collapsed Soviet Union, and the newBoris Yeltsin became President of Russia (1991-1999).
Our time - New time
Everything that has been happening in our country since 1991 belongs to the period of modern Russian history.
And now let's get back to Yeltsin… The lack of confrontation with the collapsed republics and conservative political oppositions is attributed to the pluses of his policy. As well as democratic style of government, freedom of speech. However, conservatives opposed it. This led to the armed rebellion in 1993. Nevertheless, the first president managed to cope with the situation without reprisals.
When it seemed that all the bad things were over, a financial crisis broke out in the country, which ended in default - bankruptcy, loss of bank deposits, shutdown of enterprises … All this could lead to a new revolution. But history has its own plans.
Yeltsin appoints former security officer Vladimir Putin (2000-2008, 2012 - today) as his successor. At first, Putin continued Yeltsin's policy, but over time he began to show more and more independence. It was he who settled the conflict in Chechnya.
In 2008, according to the constitution, Putin handed over powers to the newly elected president, Dmitry Medvedev, and he took over as prime minister. However, in 2012 everything changed again… Today, V. V. Putin holds the post of President of the Russian Federation.
These are, to be brief, calm and exciting historical periods in the history of Russia.
