Turning Points in Russian History - Part One

Today, we begin a two-part series relating to the turning points in Russian history. f you'd like to support the podcast with a small monthly donation, click this link - https://www.buzzsprout.com/385372/support

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Episode 279 – Turning Points in Russian History

Last time, we covered the long ad somewhat stormy relationship between Russia, the Soviet Union, and China. Today, I'm going to cover a very sweeping topic of the significant turning points in Russian history. While some of the events will be familiar to those of you who have followed me all these years, I guarantee that there will be some surprises and events that I have never mentioned before.

The first turning point, in my opinion, was Kyiv being the center of the early part of the history of the Rus. The reason I believe it is an important nexus is that there was a real possibility that it wasn't going to be the capital. Under Sviatoslav, he wanted to place his seat of power in Pereyaslavets on the Danube River, in the heart of the Balkans. This was the center of the Bulgarian civilization, but in 968, Sviatoslav captured the city and moved the capital from Kyiv there. Sviatoslav was reported to have said, "I do not care to remain in Kyiv but should prefer to live in Pereyaslavets on the Danube since it s the center of my realm, where all the riches are concentrated: gold, silks, wine, and various fruits from Greece, silver and horses from Hungary and Bohemia, and from Russia furs, wax, honey, and slaves. Even noted historian Nicholas Riasanovsky would write, “Once can only speculate on the possible implications of such a change of capital for Russian History.”

While most of what we know of this period is from the unreliable Primary Chronicles, we do have some backup history from the Byzantines and the Arabs of the time. One of the reasons why Sviatoslav would not be able to stay in his chosen capital was that it was not going to be tolerated by the big boys in the area, the Byzantines. The Emperor at the time was the famous general John Tzimisces, who was dealing with several rebellions in Asia. Sviatoslav knew about this and decided to invade Byzantium, threatening Adrianople and Constantinople. Tzimisces was able to free himself from these conflicts to face off against the army of the Rus.

Over the coming two years, the two armies faced off against each other in a number of battles. Finally, in July 971, Sviatoslav was forced to sue for peace. The terms were that he would abandon the Balkans and any claims to the Crimea and promise never to threaten Byzantium again. This decision would eventually lead to his death as on the way back to Kyiv, Sviatoslav and his men would be ambushed by their archrivals, the Pechenegs.

When we come upon turning points, there is always a decision or two, if made differently, would have changed the course of history. In my opinion, the decision to attack Byzantium by Sviatoslav was at that moment. Had he instead decided to ally himself with them and open trade talks, Pereyaslavets and not Kyiv would have been the capital of the land of the Rus. 

Sviatoslav was right; if you can believe the Primary Chronicle, Pereyaslavets was a better place than Kyiv for trade. It was also closer to the heart of Europe and Catholicism. It also might have prevented the Mongols from taking complete control of the land of the Rus had it been farther west than Kyiv. 

The second episode I’m going to call a turning point is the conversion of the Rus into Orthodoxy. Those of you who have been following the podcast know that the legend is that Vladimir the Great sent out envoys to the major religions to report back to him what each one stood for. They were Judaism, Islam, Catholicism, and Greek Orthodoxy. The legend states that the envoy who returned from Constantinople was so awed by the majesty of the Haji Sophia that he believed God must have resided there. The reality is a little bit less romantic. 

What pushed Vladimir towards Byzantium and the Orthodox religion was the need of their Emperor Basil II for reinforcements against the rebel generals, first Bardas Skleros and later Bardas Phokas. Vladimir, being the shrewd man he was, needed a strong alliance with Basil, which would guarantee that he wouldn't turn his back on the Russians once the generals were dealt with. That guarantee would be the hand of Basil's sister, Anna Porphyrogenita. The military support that Vladimir would provide was known as the Varangian Guard. There was one catch, Vladimir would have to convert to Orthodoxy, something he did with little reservation. He also ordered his people to convert as well or face his wrath.

The decision that made this pivotal was the choice of religion and who to align the Rus with. Vladimir had many options, and some were quite viable. Still, the political, spiritual, and cultural choice had to be Byzantium. It changed Russia forever.

The third turning point is where I’m going to go a bit obscure. I’m picking the 1315 trip of Yuri Danilovich to the Golden Horde in Sarai and marriage to Uzbeg Khan’s sister Konchaka. It was at this juncture that Moscow began to become a rival to Tver and Vladimir. Moscow was in a more central position as opposed to their adversaries, making them less vulnerable to attack. The holdup in taking the number one spot among Russian towns was that their leaders had to have been a Veliki Kniaz, or Grand Prince of Vladimir, something Yuri's family had never been.

Yuri was the oldest son of Daniel of Moscow, the first prince of Moscow. After his father Daniel died in 1303, Yuri became prince of Moscow and contended over the title of grand prince of Vladimir (the supreme position among princes in the northeast) with his uncle Mikhail of Tver. Because Daniel had never been the grand prince of Vladimir, his descendants had no legitimate claim to the throne of Vladimir according to traditional succession practices. This is why Tokhta Khan named Michael of Tver Veliki Kniaz of Vladimir.

Michael's military actions against Yuri resulted in the head of Moscow bowing down to his uncle. When Tokhta died in 1312, he was replaced by Uzbeg Khan, who viewed Yuri as an ally and, in 1317, named him Grand Prince of Vladimir. This gave his descendants a legitimate claim to all thrones within Russia.

After Yuri was murdered by the son of Michael and his successor, Dmitry, "the Terrible Eyes" of Tver, his son, Ivan I, would be granted the title of Veliki Kniaz. This is important as it was under the rule of Ivan that Moscow would move into the first position among cities. The Golden Horde also made Ivan their chief tribute collector, breaking an old custom of having multiple collectors. This monopoly gave Ivan tremendous wealth and power, something he put to good use. 

Ivan, known as Ivan Kalita or Ivan Moneybags, would use the wealth to loan money to other Princes, and when they couldn't repay the loans, he took their lands. This would become the first significant expansion of Muscovy into what would become the Russian Empire. Had Yuri not made that pilgrimage to Sarai and convinced Uzbeg Khan to grant him the title of Grand Prince of Vladimir, Moscow may never have been more than a backwoods town, and the expansion of the lands of Muscovy would never have happened. Russia as we know it may never have turned out to be the massive land mass it is today.

Moving forward 150 years, our fourth turning point occurred in 1476 when Ivan III Vasilyevich, known to us as Ivan the Great, decided to cease paying tribute to the Golden Horde. This was a monumental decision as the Horde was still a threat to the Muscovite nation, but Ivan felt their internal divisions made the time ripe for the change.

Ivan the Great had not only asserted complete independence from the Mongols but also used this to remove any rivals, like those in Tver and Novgorod, from any claims they had. This would mark an end to appanage Russia, where multiple sons could be given lands to rule over, to a single Grand Prince with sole leadership of the land that would be known as Russia. This started the authoritarian system of rule that would continue to this day. 

Had Ivan been a weaker leader and not taken the risk of stopping the payment of tribute to the Horde, it is likely that Russia would not be the behemoth it is today. Whether this is good or bad is an irrelevant opinion, as any guess would be just that, a guess. Ivan the Great gets his name because he was the right man at the right time, as opposed to someone like Nicholas II, who was the wrong man at the wrong time 400-plus years later.

Our next stop is 1581 under the rule of Ivan the Terrible. There were several significant developments during his reign, but in my opinion, the one with the most impact occurred on November 19, 1581. That was the day that Ivan murdered his son Ivan Ivanovich. This left Russia with the feeble-minded Feodor as the sole heir to the throne. Ivan the Terrible’s initial heir Ivan Ivanovich, was groomed to be a competent ruler and would likely have been able to continue the line of the Rurik Dynasty, something that was extinguished with the death of Feodor in 1598. It would also usher in the Time of Troubles, which itself was a turning point in Russian history.

In 1613, we have our next turning point. This was the selection of Michael Romanov as the new Tsar of Russia as voted on by the assembled Zemsky Sobor. According to our limited knowledge of this meeting, there were anywhere from 500 to 700 members, with 277 signatures to the final document that had come down to us. 

About six to ten men were discussed as candidates, but it is likely that the Romanov family was at the forefront for several reasons. First, he was related to Ivan the Terrible's first wife, Anastasia Romonovna. Her brother, Nikita, had protected many boyars from the violence of Ivan, so some owed the Romanovs for that. To top it off, Metropolitan Philaret, Michael's father, who was still a hostage of the Poles, added to the prestigious position of the family. Just think of the implications of another aspirant gaining the throne instead of the Romanovs.

Moving forward, we arrive at the date of October 16, 1700, with the death of Patriarch Adrian of the Russian Orthodox Church. By itself, it is a relatively inconsequential date and death. It was what Peter the Great did that marked a turning point in Russian history as well as the influence of the Russian Orthodox Church.

While the bishops of the ROC began to plan a gathering to elect a new Patriarch, Peter stopped it. He had enough of the meddling of the church in government policies as well as their influence on societal behavior, something that the Tsar was trying to change in earnest. Instead of the clergy controlling the church, Peter the Great, Stefan Yavorsky, and Feofan Prokopovich created the Holy Synod in January 1721 to replace the Patriarchate of Moscow. 

The SynodSynod was composed partly of ecclesiastical persons and partly of laymen appointed by the Tsar. Members included the Metropolitans of Saint Petersburg, Moscow, Kyiv, and the Exarch of Georgia. Initially, the SynodSynod had ten ecclesiastical members, but the number later changed to twelve. This would continue until the dissolution of the Holy Synod by the Bolsheviks. It was reconstituted and is now mainly under the control of the Patriarch and a number of Metropolitans.

This denial of power by the church gave more power to the Tsar, which also allowed Peter and his successors to reform the Russian government and society. Without this change, Russia would never have become the power it was to become. 

The next pivotal moment was the Battle of Stănilești, fought between July 18-22, 1711, between the forces of the Ottoman and Russian Empires. This was part of the Pruth River Campaign. Peter the Great defeated the Swedes and Charles XII at the Battle of Poltava. Some claim this confrontation was a turning point, but it was all but decided before the actual conflict because of the weakness of the Swedish army after the brutal winter of 1708-09.

Peter was full of himself, feeling like he could win a fight against anyone, as Charles was considered the most brilliant general of his time. What Peter did not count on was the force that was to bear on him by the Turks. A defeat of epic proportions ensued that should have wiped out the entirety of the Russian troops along with either the capture or the death of Tsar Peter.

The ill-prepared 38,000 Russians, with 5,000 Moldavians, found themselves surrounded by the Ottoman Army under Grand Vizier Baltaci Mehmet Pasha. There was no escape, forcing Peter to negotiate a treaty. The conflict was ended on July 21, 1711, by the Treaty of the Pruth, to the great disappointment of Charles XII. The Treaty, reconfirmed in 1713 through the Treaty of Adrianople, stipulated the return of Azov to the Ottomans; Taganrog and several Russian fortresses were to be demolished; and the Tsar pledged to stop interfering in the affairs of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.

The aftermath was of little consequence, and the tipping point of history was that the Ottomans did not annihilate the Russian army. Imagine in 1711 that Peter was overthrown or died at the battle. The conservatives would have dismantled all the reforms of Peter, and it is likely his son, Alexis, would have been named Tsar. He was such a weak individual that the anti-Petrine reform group would have used him to attain their goals. Russia would have been open to attack, especially from the Ottomans, and would have likely never reached the height of power it achieved under Catherine the Great and Alexander I.

A turning point in the world, as well as Russian history, occurred on January 5, 1762. This was the day that Empress Elizabeth died, and her nephew Peter III became Emperor. The pivot happened with Peter's reversal of who Russia's allies would be. Prussian armies under Fredrick the Great had dwindled to just 60,000 men, and with Berlin itself about to come under siege, the survival of both Prussia and its king was severely threatened. Fredrick was contemplating suicide when news came of Empress Elizabeth's death. Peter immediately halted the attack on the Prussians and offered 120,000 of his troops to aid Fredrick. The defeat of the Prussians would have changed global politics forever and would have strengthened Russia's position in Europe. Peter would pay for this strategic move with his life when his wife, Catherine II, overthrew him in July 1762.

This is our next turning point in Russian history. Peter III’s overthrow and subsequent murder put a woman on the throne. That, in and of itself, was not significant as there were three women on the Russian throne previously. It is who ascended, an enlightened woman who would continue the reforms of Peter the Great at an accelerated pace to further the Europeanization of Russia. Catherine the Great would be the last female to be Empress of Russia because of her horrible relationship with her son Paul, the future Emperor.

There were two pivotal moments in Catherine’s reign. The first was the signing of the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca, which was signed on July 21, 1774. It marked the end of the Russo-Turkish War of 1768–74, giving many concessions to Russia. It also ended what was known as the Old Regime of the Ottoman Empire. 

The Russians gained significant territory, eventually leading to the First Partition of Poland. Turkish losses included diplomatic defeats that saw its decline as a threat to Europe, loss over its exclusive control over the Orthodox in its lands, and the beginning of European bickering over the Eastern Question that would feature in European diplomacy until the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in the aftermath of World War I. This marked the beginning of the description of the Ottoman Empire as the “sick man of Europe.”

While there would be a few more Russo-Turkish Wars, the Ottomans were no longer the threat they had been. Unfortunately for the Russians, the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca would be one of the reasons for the start of the Crimean War in 1853.

Our next significant date, also under Catherine the Great, is December 23, 1791, with the establishment of the Pale of Settlement. This was the place Catherine created where the Jewish population could live as they were banned from much of the Russian Empire. The Pale of Settlement included all of modern-day Belarus and Moldova, much of Lithuania, Ukraine, and east-central Poland, and relatively small parts of Latvia and what is now the western Russian Federation.

Even within the Pale, many Jews were banned from some of the resource-rich lands as well as the most arable agricultural acreage. Because of these limitations, life within the Pale was difficult. It is also where many of the regressive pogroms were initiated, especially under Tsar Alexander III. This would lead to a large migration from the Pale in the late-19th century. Unfortunately, it had a large Jewish population which would suffer greatly when the Nazis occupied the territory in the late 1930s and early 1940s.

Our last turning point in today's episode was the Ministry of Internal Affairs establishment, known as the MVD, by Alexander I in 1802. It was the first real secret police and would be the forerunner of the Okhrana, Cheka, NKVD, and KGB. It would codify the spying of Russian citizens by its government. Its most famous development was the so-called Third Section of the imperial chancery, which we will discuss next time, which was instituted by Emperor Nicholas I in 1826.

Well, I hope you enjoyed today's episode. Join me next time as we begin in 1812, and complete the list of the most critical turning points in Russian and Soviet history.

So, until next time, Dasvidania eh Spasiba za Vinyamineya.