Gianna Rocca

Block 2
Rulers of Russia
Questions:
1. While reading, list in chronological order the rulers of Russia.
1462-1505: Ivan III of Moscow
1533-1584: Ivan IV the Terrible
1613-1645: Michael Romanov
1682-1725: Czar Peter I the Great
2. Identify the following terms: boyer, czar, and westernization
Boyer- Russias landowning nobles
Czar- Title meaning Caesar
Westernization- Using western Europe as a model for change
3. How did Ivan the Terrible deal with his enemies during his "bad
period"?
Ivan the Terrible dealt with his enemies during his bad period by turning against
the boyars. To do this, he organized his own police force, whose chief duty was to
hunt down and murder people Ivan considered traitors, mainly the families and
peasants who worked on their land. Nevertheless, Ivan seized the boyars estates
and gave them to a new class of nobles, who had to remain loyal to him or lose
their land.
4. Why did Peter the Great believe that Russia's future depended on
having a warm-water port?
Peter the Great had a passion for ships and the sea and believed that Russias future
depended on having a warm-water port so that Russia could compete with the more
modern states of Western Europe.
5. What were some of the ways Peter attempted to westernize
Russia?

Peter attempted to westernize Russia in various ways by introducing potatoes,

which became a staple of the Russian diet, starting Russias first newspaper and
edited its first issue himself, raising womens status by having them attend social
gatherings, ordering the nobles to give up their traditional clothes for Western
fashions, and by opening a school of navigation and introducing schools for the
arts and sciences to advance education.
6. Who do you believe was more of an absolute monarch: Ivan IV or
Peter the Great? Explain with
I believe that Peter the Great was more of an absolute monarch in comparison to
Ivan IV. First off, unlike Ivan IV, Peter increased his powers as an absolute ruler
Peter is an absolute monarch because he had tried to westernize and reform
the culture and government of Russia for better or for worse. Even by the time of
his death in 1725, he had succeeded his duty to such an extent that Russia was a
power to be reckoned with in Europe. He had also abolished the office of patriarch,
head of the Church and he set up a group called the Holy Synod to run the Church
under his direction. In all, Peter the Great was one of Russias greatest reformers.
He also continued the trend of increasing the czars power.
7. Which class of Russian society probably did not benefit from
Peter's reforms? Why?
The class of Russian society that did not benefit from Peters reforms was probably
the great landowners. Just like Ivan the Terrible, Peter reduced the power of the
great landowners in order to recruit men from lower-ranking families. He then
promoted the men from the lower-ranks to positions of authority and rewarded
them with grants of land.
8. How might Peter's attempts at westernization have affected his
people's opinion of Christians in Europe?
Peters attempts at westernization could have affected peoples opinions of
Christians in Europe by bringing the Russian Orthodox Church under state control.
Even though the Russians had adopted the Eastern Orthodox branch of
Christianity, Western Europeans were mostly Catholics or Protestants, and the
Russians viewed them as heretics and avoided them. The opinions of the peoples

could have been affected because they might have disagreed with the fact that the
Church was under control of the state and did not want the state to have control of
it.
9. Which event in your reading do you believe had the most impact on
modern Russia? Why?
I believe that the event that had the most impact on modern Europe was
westernization. I believe this because Peter the Great used westernization as a
model for change and as a way to make Russia stronger. If there were no
westernization, it would be unlikely that Russia would have become modern at the
rapid pace that it did when Peter the Great was in power in the 1700s. Despite how
Peter had tried to westernize and reform the culture and government of Russia, he
had succeeded to an amazing extent.
10. Write a one-paragraph expository essay explaining which of Peter's
actions reveal that he saw himself as the highest authority in Russia.
The action that revealed how Peter saw himself as the highest authority in Russia
was westernization. By pursuing westernization, Peter was able to act with the
most authority in Russia and could rule Russia the way he wanted. Westernization
was simply one of Peters goals that he ended up achieving. He was only inspired
by his trip to the west, and saw westernization as a way to make Russia stronger.
Peter knew the people of Russia would disagree with the fact that Russia needed to
change, but instead did not care about the opinions of others and still forced change
upon his state. This shows that Peter did see himself as the highest authority in
Russia since he undertook many attempts to westernize Europe and in the end, it
increased his powers as an absolute ruler.