A history of Russia

by Riazanovsky

  Empress Anne's ten-year reign left a bitter memory. Traditionally, it has been presented as a period of cruel and stupid rule by individual Ger-

  Head of St. Peter of Alexandria, from the fresco in the Church of the Savior on the Nereditsa, Novgorod, 1197.

  Holy Gates of the Rizpolozhenskii Monastery in Suzdal, seventeenth century.

  Preobrazhenskaia Church, 1714, in Kizhy near Petrozavodsk. It has 22 cupolas.

  Sixteenth-century view of the city of Moscow.

  Red Square in Moscow, 1844.

  Church of St. Basil the Blessed, Moscow, 1555-60.

  Zagorsk, with Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Monastery, Kremlin, and Assumption Cathedral. Fifteenth and sixteenth centuries and later.

  Moscow Kremlin

  Soviet architecture: Moscow State University, on Lenin Hills.

  Hermitage Museum, Leningrad, 1852.

  The seventeenth-century Simeon Stolpnik Church on Moscow's Novgi Arbat in front of a Soviet housing project.

  mans and even "the German party" in Russia. And while this interpretation should not be overdone - for, after all, the 1730's, in foreign policy, in social legislation, and in other major respects constituted an integral part of the Russian evolution in the eighteenth century rather than anything specifically German - it remains true that Anne brought with her from Courland a band of favorites, and that in general she patronized Germans as well as other foreigners and distrusted the Russian nobility. The sovereign herself proved largely unfit and thoroughly disinclined to manage state affairs. Certain departments, such as the foreign office with Ostermann at the head and the army with Munnich, profited from able German leadership of the Petrine vintage; but many new favorites had no qualifications for their positions, acted simply in their personal interest, and buttressed their remarkable ignorance of Russia with their disdain of everything Russian. Ernst-Johann Biren, or Siron, the empress's lover from Courland, acquired the highest honors and emoluments and became the most hated figure and symbol of the reign. Bironovshchina - that is, Bironism - refers especially to the police persecution and political terror during the reign, which led to the execution of several thousand people and to the exile of some twenty or thirty thousand to Siberia. Although many of the victims were Old Believers and even common criminals rather than political opponents, and although the cruelty of Biren and his associates perhaps should not be considered exceptional for the age, the persecutions excited the popular imagination and made the reign compare unfavorably, for example, with the rule of Elizabeth which was to follow it. It might be added that after the abolition of the Supreme Secret Council Anne did not restore the Senate to its former importance as the superior governing institution, but proceeded to rely on a cabinet of two or three members to take charge of state affairs.

  Anne died in the autumn of 1740. Shortly before her death she had nominated a two-month-old infant, Ivan, to be her successor on the throne. Ivan was a great-grandson of Ivan V and a grandson of Anne's elder sister, Catherine, who in 1716 had married the Duke of Mecklenburg, Charles Leopold. A daughter from this marriage, Anna Leopoldovna, became the wife of Duke Anthony Ulric of Brunswick-Bevern-Liineburg. The new emperor was the child of Anna Leopoldovna and Anthony Ulric. But, although both of his parents resided at the Russian court, Empress Anne appointed Biren as regent. The arrangement failed to last. First, within a month Biren was overthrown by Munnich and Anna Leopoldovna became regent. Then, in another year, late in 1741, Ivan VI, Anna Leopoldovna, and the entire "German party" were tumbled from authority and power. This last coup was executed by the guards led by Peter the Great's daughter Elizabeth, who then ascended the throne as Empress Elizabeth of Russia.

  Elizabeth. Peter III

  Just as Anne and her reign have been excessively blamed in Russian historiography, Elizabeth has received more than her fair share of praise. Kind, young, handsome, and charming, the new monarch symbolized to many contemporaries and later commentators the end of a scandalous "foreign" domination in Russia and even, to an extent, a return to the glorious days of Peter the Great, an association which the empress herself stressed as much as she could. But in truth there was little resemblance between the indolent, easy-going, and disorganized, although by no means stupid, daughter and the fantastically energetic, active, and forceful father. Although the cabinet was abolished, the Senate was restored to its former importance, and certain other administrative changes were made that also harked back to the reign of Peter the Great, the spirit and vigor of the celebrated reformer could not be recaptured, nor in fact was a serious attempt made to recapture them. Moreover, the social and economic evolution of the country continued under Elizabeth as under Anne: neither ruler made a strong personal impress on it. Even Elizabeth's abolition of capital punishment, enlightened and commendable in itself as well as strikingly different from the practices of Anne's government, pales into insignificance when compared to the enormous, persistent, and in fact growing evil of serfdom.

  Favorites continued to occupy the stage, although their identity changed, and the new group proved on the whole more attractive than the one sponsored by Empress Anne. Alexis Razumovsky, who may have been morganatically married to Elizabeth, was closest to the monarch. His rise to eminence represents an earlier and truer version of Andersen's tale of the princess and the swineherd. He was a simple cossack in origin, who tended the village flock in his native Ukraine. Because of his magnificent voice, the future favorite was brought to the court as a singer. Elizabeth fell in love with him, and her attachment lasted until her death. Yet, while Alexis Razumovsky became a very close associate and perhaps even the husband of the empress, his impact on state affairs remains difficult to discern. Indeed one historian, in a rather typical evaluation, dismisses the favorite as follows:

  He became the bearer of all Russian decorations, a General Field Marshal, and he was raised to the position of Count of the Holy Roman Empire. He was very imperious, even lived in the palace. But he was distinguished by an honest, noble, and lazy character. He had little influence on the governing of the country: he constantly dodged state affairs. He did much good in Ukraine and in Russia, and in his tastes and habits he remained more a simple Ukrainian than a Russian lord. In the history

  of the Russian court he was a remarkable individual, in the history of the state - an entirely insignificant actor.

  Alexis Razumovsky's younger brother, Cyril, received a good education abroad and occupied such important offices as those of President of the Academy of Sciences, Field Marshal, and Hetman of Ukraine.

  The Shuvalovs, the brothers Peter and Alexander and their cousin Ivan, displayed more energy than the Razumovskys. Ivan Shuvalov, the empress's favorite, left behind him an almost unique reputation for integrity and kindness, for refusing honors and rewards, and for selfless service in several capacities, especially in promoting enlightenment in Russia. The University of Moscow, which he founded, remains his lasting monument. Peter Shuvalov was made Count by the empress - a title which Ivan Shuvalov refused - and used his strong position at the court to have a hand in every kind of state business, in particular in financial and economic matters and in the military establishment. Able, but shamelessly corrupt and cynical, Peter Shuvalov contributed much to the ruinous financial policy of the reign and has been credited with saying that debased coinage would be less of a load to carry and that the tax on vodka suited a time of distress because people would then want to get drunk. Elizabeth's own extravagance, which included the building of the extremely expensive Winter Palace and the acquisition of, reportedly, fifteen thousand dresses, added greatly to the financial crisis. A French milliner finally refused further credit to the Russian empress! Of much more importance is the fact that the financial chaos, together with the fundamental and overwhelming burden of serfdom, led to the flight and uprisings of peasants that became characteristic of the age. Alexander Shuvalov, the third prominent member of that family, served as the head of the security police. Other close associates of Elizab
eth included her old friend Chancellor Count Michael Vorontsov and Count Alexis Bestuzhev-Riumin, who specialized in foreign policy. The replacement of Germans by Russians in the imperial entourage under Elizabeth had some connection with the increasing interest of the Russian court and educated public in French society and culture and their declining concern with the German states.

  The German orientation, however, came back with a vengeance, if only briefly, in the reign of Peter III. When Elizabeth died in late 1761 or early 1762 - depending on whether we use the Old or the New Style - Peter, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, who had been nominated by the empress as her successor as early as 1742, became Emperor Peter III. The new ruler was a son of Elizabeth's older sister, Anne - therefore a grandson of Peter the Great - and of Charles Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp. Having lost his mother in infancy and his father when a boy, Peter was brought up first with the view of succeeding to the Swedish throne, for

  his father was a son of Charles XII's sister. After Elizabeth's decision, he was educated to succeed to the throne of the Romanovs. Although he lived in Russia from the age of fourteen, Peter III never adjusted to his new country. Extremely limited mentally, as well as crude and violent in his behavior, he continued to fear and despise Russia and the Russians while he held up Prussia and in particular Frederick II as his ideal. His reign of several months, best remembered in the long run for the law abolishing the compulsory state service of the gentry, impressed many of his contemporaries as a violent attack on everything Russian and a deliberate sacrifice of Russian interests to those of Prussia. While not given to political persecution and in fact willing to sign a law abolishing the security police, the new emperor threatened to disband the guards, and even demanded that icons be withdrawn from churches and that Russian priests dress like Lutheran pastors, both of which orders the Holy Synod did not dare execute. In foreign policy Peter Ill's admiration for Frederick the Great led to the withdrawal of Russia from the Seven Years' War, an act which probably saved Prussia from a crushing defeat and deprived Russia of great potential gains. Indeed, the Russian emperor refused to accept even what Frederick the Great was willing to give him for withdrawing and proceeded to make an alliance with the Prussian king.

  While Peter III rapidly made enemies, his wife Catherine, who had married him in 1745 and who was originally a princess of the small German principality of Anhalt-Zerbst, behaved with far greater intelligence and understanding. Isolated and threatened by her boorish husband, who had a series of love affairs and wanted to marry one of his favorites, she adapted herself to her difficult environment, learned much about the government and the country, and found supporters. In mid-summer 1762 Catherine profited from the general dissatisfaction with Peter III to lead the guards in another palace revolution. The emperor was easily deposed and shortly after killed, very possibly by one of the leaders of the insurrection, Alexis Orlov, in a drunken argument. Catherine became empress, bypassing her son Paul, born in 1754 during her marriage with Peter III, who was proclaimed merely heir to the throne. Although the coup of 1762 appeared to be simply another one in a protracted sequence of overturns characteristic of Russian history in the eighteenth century, and although Catherine's chances of securing her power seemed, if anything, less promising than those of a number of her immediate predecessors, in fact her initial success meant the beginning of a long and celebrated reign. That reign will form the subject of another chapter.

  The Gains of the Gentry and the Growth of Serfdom

  While rulers changed rapidly and favorites constantly rose and fell in Russia between 1725 and 1762, basic social processes went on in a con-

  tinuous and consistent manner. Most important was the growth of the power and standing of the gentry together with its complementary process, a further deterioration in the position of the serfs. As we know, Peter the Great's insistence that only one son inherit his father's estate could hardly be enforced even in the reformer's reign and was formally repealed in 1731. Empress Anne began giving away state lands to her gentry supporters on a large scale, the peasants on the lands becoming serfs, and Elizabeth enthusiastically continued the practice. These grants were no longer connected to service obligations.

  In 1731 Empress Anne opened a cadet school for the gentry in St. Petersburg. The graduates of this school could become officers without serving in the lower ranks, a privilege directly opposed to Peter the Great's intentions and practice. As the century progressed the gentry came to rely increasingly on such cadet schools for both education and advancement in service. Also to their advantage was the Gentry Bank that was established by Empress Elizabeth in St. Petersburg, with a branch in Moscow, to supply the landlords with credit at a moderate rate of interest. The gentry became increasingly class-conscious and exclusive. An order of 1746 forbade all but the gentry to acquire "men and peasants with and without land." In 1758 the members of other classes who owned serfs were required to sell them. A Senate decision of 1756 affirmed that only those who proved their gentry origin could be entered into gentry registers, while decisions in the years 1758-60 in effect eliminated [the opportunity to obtain hereditary gentry status through state service, thus destroying another one of Peter the Great's characteristic arrangements. At the same time "personal," or non-hereditary, members of the class came to be rigidly restricted in their gentry rights.

  The most significant evolution took place in regard to the service obligations of the gentry to the state. In 1736 this service, hitherto termless, was limited to twenty-five years - the gentry themselves had asked for twenty years - with a further provision exempting one son from service so he could manage the estates. Immediately following the publication of the law and in subsequent decades, many members of the gentry left service to return to their landholdings. Moreover, some landlords managed to be entered in regimental books from the age of eight or ten to complete the twenty-five-year period of service early in their lives. Finally, on March 1, 1762 - February 18, Old Style - in the reign of Peter III, compulsory gentry service was abolished. Henceforth members of the gentry could serve the state, or not serve it, at will, and they could even serve foreign governments abroad instead, if they so desired. The edict also urged upon the gentry the importance of education and proper care of their estates.

  The law of 1762 has attracted much attention from historians. To many older scholars, exemplified by Kliuchevsky, it undermined the basic struc-

  ture of Russian society, in which everyone served: the serfs served the landlords, the landlords served the state. In equity the repeal of compulsory gentry service should have been followed promptly by the emancipation of the serfs. Yet - again to cite Kliuchevsky - although the abolition of serfdom did take place on the following day, the nineteenth of February, that day came ninety-nine years later. The serfs themselves, it would seem, shared the feeling that an injustice had been committed, for the demand for freedom of the peasants, to follow the freedom of the gentry, became a recurrent motif of their uprisings. By contrast, some specialists, such as V. Leontovich and Malia, have emphasized the positive results of the law of 1762: it represented the acquisition of an essential independence from the state by at least one class of Russian society, and thus the first crucial step taken by Russia on the road to liberalism; besides, it contributed to the growth of a rich gentry culture and, beyond that, to the emergence of the intelligentsia.

  As the gentry rose, the serfs sank to a greater depth of misery. In the reign of Peter II they were already prohibited from volunteering for military service and thus escaping their condition. By a series of laws under Empress Anne peasants were forbidden to buy real estate or mills, establish factories, or become parties to government leases and contracts. Later, in the time of Elizabeth, serfs were ordered to obtain their master's permission before assuming financial obligations. Especially following the law of 1731, landlords acquired increasing financial control over their serfs, for whose taxes they were held responsible. After 1736 serfs had to receive the permission of t
heir masters before they could leave for temporary employment elsewhere. Landlords obtained further the right to transfer serfs from one estate to another and, by one of Elizabeth's laws, even to exile delinquent serfs to Siberia and to fetch them back, while the government included these exiles in the number of recruits required from a given estate. The criminal code of 1754 listed serfs only under the heading of property of the gentry. Russian serfdom, although never quite the same as slavery and in the Russian case not concerned with race or ethnicity, came to approximate it closely, as demonstrated in the works of Kolchin and other scholars.

  The Foreign Policy of Russia from Peter to Catherine

  Russian foreign policy from Peter the Great to Catherine the Great followed certain clearly established lines. The first emperor, as we know, brought Russia forcefully into the community of European nations as a major power that was concerned with the affairs of the continent at large, not, as formerly, merely with the activities of its neighbors, such as Turkey, Poland, and Sweden. From the time of Peter the Great, permanent -

  rather than only occasional - representatives were exchanged between Russia and other leading European states. Ostermann in the years immediately following the death of Peter the Great, and Bestuzhev-Riumin in the time of Elizabeth, together with lesser officials and diplomats, followed generally in the steps of Peter.