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Russia Engages the World, 1453-1825
1453 Through the Reign of Ivan the Terrible (1533-1584) The Time of Troubles to the First Romanovs (1598-1682) Peter the Great and His Legacy (1682-1762) The Age of Catherine the Great (1762-1801) The Reign of Emperor Alexander I (1801-1825)

                                     

Explore this Section:

Peter the Great and His Legacy (1682–1762): A Summary of Russian History
Russia Symbol Introduction
Russia Symbol The Early Years
Russia Symbol The Drive Toward Westernization
Russia Symbol The Drive Toward Empire
Russia Symbol The Historical Assessment
Russia Symbol Immediate Successors
Russia Symbol The Reign of "the Daughter"
Peter the Great and His Legacy (1682–1762): A Summary of World History
Europe
Eurasia


Russia's Globalization:
A Key

Events marked Russia Symbol are specific to Muscovy/Russia's internal development.
Those marked World Symbol are important world historical or cultural events.
Engagement Symbol indicates specific points of sociocultural or military engagement between Muscovy/Russia and foreign powers or individuals.




















 

 


      

  The Turk's Foes Rewarded
NYPL, Slavic and Baltic Division

Muscovy began to awaken more actively to its position in world affairs toward the end of the 17th century, but its overall development remained well behind western Europe's, and only slightly ahead of the stagnation then afflicting West Asia. During the late 17th century, West Asian potentates failed to sustain the energy that had driven their once grand empires. The deterioration of institutions, the stagnation in religious thinking and leadership, and the isolation of these regimes from worldwide intellectual and social development led to complacency.

Into this scene marched a new ruler, Peter I (r. 1682–1725). Unlike the sultans and khans of West Asia, he sought to modernize his state according to European models in the maritime, military, and educational fields. Toward West Asia, Peter adopted an aggressive approach, in contrast to the caution shown by his predecessors. In 1696, Peter triumphed over the Ottoman Empire at Azov, a fortress and port that opened up access to the Black Sea, and to the Aegean Sea beyond. A subsequent peace treaty stipulated that Russia could have a permanent envoy in Istanbul. However, the Russians could not obtain free navigation for their ships on the Black Sea, which the Turks insisted on preserving as an Ottoman "lake."

  Mapping the Safavid Empire
NYPL, Slavic and Baltic Division, Bates-Pantuhoff Collection

Results from his various moves against West Asia, Persia, and territories controlled by the Ottoman Empire proved ephemeral. He launched inconclusive military actions against the Ottomans in the Balkans, and disastrous campaigns onto the plains of Central Asia, and was forced to withdraw from the invasion he personally led along the west shore of the Caspian Sea against petty khanates dependent upon Persia. Russia—engaged in a protracted conflict with Sweden—could not sustain his military gains.

Peter's successors, especially his niece Anna Ioannovna (r. 1730–40), succeeded in enlarging Russia's holdings temporarily in and near West Asia. Russia, though intimidating militarily, had yet to overwhelm West Asian strengths—namely, the tenacity of the population, geographical remoteness, and a hostile climate.

  India's Mughal Treasure-House
NYPL, General Research Division

In 1692, a Dutchman named Evert Ysbrants Ides (1657–1708/9) was asked by Peter to serve as ambassador to the Emperor of China. Before his return to Moscow in 1695, he passed through many countries and regions, including Perm, Siberia, and "Great Tartary" (West Asia).

In 1719, Tsar Peter the Great sent Lev Izmailov (d. 1738) as ambassador to China, to ask for complete free trade on reciprocal terms and for the establishment of a Russian consulate-general in Beijing. Izmailov agreed to kowtow (an act involving kneeling and repeatedly touching one's forehead to the floor) to the Emperor Kangxi, and therefore had numerous audiences with him. Russia's failure to repatriate the Oirat people of northwest China under the terms of the Treaty of Nerchinsk led Beijing to reject requests for the extension of trade and establishment of a consulate-general. The emperor did approve the building of a Russian church in his capital and permitted the Russian secretary to remain after Izmailov's departure.

  China Receives a Russian Ambassador
NYPL, Rare Books Division

Catherine I (r. 1725–27) succeeded Peter the Great in 1725. In that year Count Savva Lukich Raguzinskii-Vladislavich (ca. 1670–1738), a South Slavic diplomat, was sent as Envoy Extraordinary to Beijing to negotiate a new treaty. After many meetings with envoys of the Qing dynasty, the Treaty of Kiakhta (known also in Russia as Troitskosavsk) was signed in 1728, setting the boundary line between Mongolia and Siberia and thereby resolving a point of contention since the 17th century. This treaty was favorable to Russia, as China lost territory. The principal point of contact between Russia and China remained a border city divided in two: a Chinese part, Maimaicheng (meaning "a trading city"), and a Russian part, Kiakhta, a major center for traders in fur and other native products.



  China Receives a Russian Ambassador NYPL, Rare Books Division












 

 

              

  China Receives a Russian Ambassador NYPL, Rare Books Division

















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