Changes

In the post-Mongol period, '''[[Muscovy]]'' gradually became the dominant principality and was able, through diplomacy and conquest, to establish [[suzerain]]ty over European Russia. [[Ivan III]] (1462-1505) referred to his empire as "the Third Rome" and considered it heir to the Byzantine tradition. [[Ivan IV]] (the Terrible) (1530-1584) was the first Russian ruler to call himself [[tsar]]. He pushed Russian eastward with his conquests but his later reign was marked by the cruelty that earned him his familiar epithet. He was succeeded by his feeble son, the childless Feodor I Ivanovich who reigned from 1584–1598. [[Boris Godunov]],the brother-in-law of Feodor, became the tsar Boris I. He ruled from 1598-1604 when he was disposed and killed, along with this wife and son, by a cabal of [[boyar]]. With the death of Boris I Russia commenced the so-called [[Time of Troubles]] which was to see further brief and bloody reigns. In 1613, after relative stability was achieved, fifteen year old [[Michael Romanov]] was selected by an assembled council of lay and ecclesiastical to be the new tsar. The dynasty that bore his name survived until 1917 with the death of Nichols II and his family.

In the post-Mongol period, '''[[Muscovy]]'' gradually became the dominant principality and was able, through diplomacy and conquest, to establish [[suzerain]]ty over European Russia. [[Ivan III]] (1462-1505) referred to his empire as "the Third Rome" and considered it heir to the Byzantine tradition. [[Ivan IV]] (the Terrible) (1530-1584) was the first Russian ruler to call himself [[tsar]]. He pushed Russian eastward with his conquests but his later reign was marked by the cruelty that earned him his familiar epithet. He was succeeded by his feeble son, the childless Feodor I Ivanovich who reigned from 1584–1598. [[Boris Godunov]],the brother-in-law of Feodor, became the tsar Boris I. He ruled from 1598-1604 when he was disposed and killed, along with this wife and son, by a cabal of [[boyar]]. With the death of Boris I Russia commenced the so-called [[Time of Troubles]] which was to see further brief and bloody reigns. In 1613, after relative stability was achieved, fifteen year old [[Michael Romanov]] was selected by an assembled council of lay and ecclesiastical to be the new tsar. The dynasty that bore his name survived until 1917 with the death of Nichols II and his family.

==Peter the Grat and Modernization==

==Peter the Great and Modernization==

During the reign of [[Peter the Great]] (1689-1725), modernization and European influences spread in Russia. Peter created Western-style military forces, subordinated the [[Russian Orthodox Church]] hierarchy to the tsar, reformed the entire governmental structure, and established the beginnings of a Western-style education system. He moved the capital westward from Moscow to [[St. Petersburg]], his newly established city on the [[Baltic]]. His introduction of European customs generated nationalistic resentments in society and spawned the philosophical rivalry between "Westernizers" and nationalistic "Slavophiles" that remains a key dynamic of current Russian social and political thought.  

During the reign of [[Peter the Great]] (1689-1725), modernization and European influences spread in Russia. Peter created Western-style military forces, subordinated the [[Russian Orthodox Church]] hierarchy to the tsar, reformed the entire governmental structure, and established the beginnings of a Western-style education system. He moved the capital westward from Moscow to [[St. Petersburg]], his newly established city on the [[Baltic]]. His introduction of European customs generated nationalistic resentments in society and spawned the philosophical rivalry between "Westernizers" and nationalistic "Slavophiles" that remains a key dynamic of current Russian social and political thought.  

[[Catherine the Great]] continued Peter's expansionist policies and established Russia as a European power. During her reign (1762–96), power was centralized in the monarchy, and administrative reforms concentrated great wealth and privilege in the hands of the Russian nobility. Catherine was also known as an enthusiastic patron of art, literature and education and for her correspondence with [[Voltaire]] and other [[Enlightenment]] figures. Catherine also engaged in a territorial resettlement of Jews into what became known as "The Pale of Settlement," where great numbers of Jews were concentrated and later subject to vicious attacks known as pogroms.

[[Catherine the Great]] continued Peter's expansionist policies and established Russia as a European power. During her reign (1762–96), power was centralized in the monarchy, and administrative reforms concentrated great wealth and privilege in the hands of the Russian nobility. Catherine was also known as an enthusiastic patron of art, literature and education and for her correspondence with [[Voltaire]] and other [[Enlightenment]] figures. Catherine also engaged in a territorial resettlement of Jews into what became known as "The Pale of Settlement," where great numbers of Jews were concentrated and later subject to vicious attacks known as pogroms.

==19th Century==

==19th Century==

[[File:Princepotemkin.jpg|thumb|Prince Potemkin, Prime Minister of Imperial Russia during the reign of Catherine the Great.]]

[[File:Princepotemkin.jpg|thumb|Prince Potemkin, Prime Minister of Imperial Russia during the reign of Catherine the Great.]]