The Tartar Yoke and Russian History

This site offers an evaluation of the impact of Mongol rule on Russian history.

http://garrard.russian.arizona.edu/atheneum/tataryoke.htm

Questions for further exploration:

Why was Moscovy or Moscow able to lead the way out from under Mongol influence? What long-term influence did the Mongols have on Russian history?

Life Among the Boyars

This site contains excerpts from an account of Russian life that addresses the education of Princes and daily life among the boyar class.

http://www.shsu.edu/~his_ncp/Kotosh.html

Questions for further exploration:

What was considered important in the education of a prince? How did well-off Russians entertain at home? What are some of the rituals that surrounded betrothal and marriage that are different from and/similar to common practice in the West today?

Ivan the Terrible

These sites seek to illuminate the terrible times of a Czar responsible who made a great contribution to the formation of the Russian state and national identity.

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Stage/2830/biography.html

Questions for further exploration:

What were some of Ivan the Terrible’s great achievements in the reform of Russian administration and “opening” Russia to new contacts? In what ways does his regime represent a turning point or watershed in the history of Russia?

Peter the Great and the Turn to Europe, 1682-1762

http://garrard.russian.arizona.edu/atheneum/peterthegreat.htm or use
http://garrard.russian.arizona.edu/atheneum/ (Click on Russia, History and 4. Peter the Great and the Turn to Europe) and
http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/petergreat.html (for some evaluations of his reign).

Questions for further exploration:

What were some of the most impressive of Peter the Great’s reforms? How may his reform effort be considered incomplete? What did they actually achieve? Who did they chiefly benefit? Click on the “Next” link to go to the reign of Catherine the Great. What two key elements of Peter I program did Catherine II pursue? The annexation of what country assisted both aims?

Catherine the Great

These sites survey some of the policies of Catherine the Great of Russia.

http://mars.wnec.edu/~grempel/courses/russia/lectures/16catherine.html

Questions for further exploration:

Catherine the Great pursued a vigorous policy of territorial expansion, but scholarly debate over her reign is focused on whether or not she can be classified as an “enlightened despot.” What are the grounds for arguing that she was no mere authoritarian ruler? What are the grounds for believing she was a ruthless despot who merely sought to improve her reputation among Enlightenment thinkers by a few superficial reforms?

Virtual St. Petersburg

This site houses a virtual tour of the Russian city of St. Petersburg.

http://www.cityvision2000.com/city_tour/index.htm

Questions for further exploration:

After making a tour of St. Petersburg, discuss how the different phases of Russian history can be illustrated by its chief monuments and art collections, from its Byzantine architecture to Peter the Great’s cabin, and from the Russian Versailles to the relics of the terrible Nazi siege of the Second World War.

The Cossacks

This site explores the role of the Cossacks in Russian history.

http://www.max.k12.nd.us./cossack.html and
http://artiom.home.mindspring.com/cossacks/kazaki.htm

Questions for further exploration:

Who were the Cossacks? What role did they play in Russian history? How did they fare at the time of the Russian Revolution and after? Why do neither of these sites refer to Cossacks in terms that make intelligible the hostility and fear among many peoples of Europe and Central Asia that the name Cossack usually evokes?

Russian Settlement of California

This site describes the settlement of Alto or Upper California by Russians in the 19th century.

http://www.parks.sonoma.net/rosshist.html

Questions for further exploration:

How was the settlement of northern California a part of a long history of Russian eastward expansionism? What were relations like between the Russians and the Spanish in California? What was daily life like in the Russian settlements? Why did the Russians withdraw from California?

Russian Serfs in Alaska

This site discusses the history of some of the indigenous peoples of Alaska under the reign of Russia and under the succeeding administration of the United States.

http://borealis.lib.uconn.edu/ArcticCircle/HistoryCulture/Aleut/Jones/ch1.html

Questions for further exploration:

In what ways were some indigenous Alaskan peoples subject to the same regulations that governed Russian serfs? In what ways did their conditions differ from traditional serfdom? Were these peoples freer in fact as well as law under initial U. S. administration?

The Development of Serfdom in Russia

This site offers a lecture on the evolution of serfdom in Russia.

http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/econ/koval6.htm

Questions for further discussion:

Discuss the evolution of serfdom in Russia. How did the Russian peasantry fall into this servile status? What forces held them there? What pressures hastened the ultimate abolition of serfdom?