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| Map of the Break-up of the Ottoman Empire (Years in the green areas show when territory transferred to Russia). From William R. Shepherd's Atlas of Medieval and Modern History (Henry Holt: London, 1932). |
If you watched US coverage of the opening ceremony of the
2014 Olympics in Sochi, Russia, you might have caught the fact that Peter the
Great (Tsar of Russia from 1682-1721), made a real effort to westernize his
nation. So what happened in the last 293
years? Why did Russian history travel
its own path as an isolated and anti-Western country? If your answer was that it began with communism
or the Russian Revolution, think again.
Peter the Great died on 28 January 1725 leaving his wife
Catherine I to rule in his place, but her poor health did not allow her much
time on the throne (she died in 1727).[1] However, she used this time to continue to
bolster foreign alliances including The Treaty of 1726 with the Austrian Empire
that insured mutual military aid if the Turks attacked either nation (Sochi was
part of the Turkish Ottoman Empire at this time).
But in the chaos following the death of Catherine I, we
begin to already glimpse the push back of the nobility to keep the West out.[2] Many favored moving the capital away from St.
Petersburg and instead to Moscow in an effort to set their own path independent
of the tsars. While the family was able
to right the autocratic ship in the years to come, these ideas of toppling the
elite (who were synonymous with their elite family members ruling in the rest
of Europe) kept growing and finally were consummated with the Revolutions of
1905 and 1917.
The bottom line: Most
of the interaction ordinary Russians had with the West came about because of
the ruling elite, so when they pushed back against them, they were indirectly
pushing back against Western ideas.
