Ideology and projects of CatherineII.

Catherine II adhered to the policy of "enlightened absolutism", the main provisions of which were reflected in the "Instruction" to the Empress of the Legislative Commission (1767):

Creation of a new legislative code based on the principles of the philosophy of education;

The abolition of obsolete feudal institutions (certain class privileges, the subordination of the church to the state);

Carrying out peasant, judicial, educational reform, softening censorship.

Most of these plans were not implemented.

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Catherine's domestic policyII.

“Manifesto on Liberty to the Nobility” (1762) and “Charter to the Nobility” (1785) Catherine II secured the privileges of the nobility:

The nobles were exempted from taxes and duties.

Noble landownership increased markedly.

The exemption of the nobility from compulsory service (introduced by Peter III) was confirmed.

In 1775, the country was divided into 50 provinces instead of the previous 20. The population of the province ranged from 300 to 400 thousand people.

The secularization (withdrawal) of church lands in favor of the state continued.

In 1787, a system of city schools was created (main and small public schools)

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Uprising E.I. Pugachev (1773-1775)

In 1773, an uprising of the Yaik Cossacks (who lived in the area of ​​the Yaik River) began, a peasant war led by E. I. Pugachev.

Pugachev proclaimed himself Emperor Peter III.

The peasant uprising swept the lands of the Yaik army, the Orenburg Territory, the Urals, the Kama region, Bashkortostan, part of Western Siberia, as well as the Middle and Lower Volga regions.

During the uprising, the Bashkirs, Tatars, Kazakhs, Chuvashs, Mordovians, Ural factory workers and numerous serfs from all provinces where hostilities unfolded joined the Cossacks.

Basic requirements: the abolition of serfdom, the restoration of Cossack liberties in the areas of residence of the Cossacks.

In 1775 the uprising was crushed.

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XVIIIcentury. Wars with Turkey.

Foreign policy objectives:

the struggle for access to the Black and Azov Seas;

the liberation of the lands of Ukraine and Belarus from foreign domination and the unification in one state of all the Eastern Slavs;

the struggle against revolutionary France in connection with the Great French Revolution that began in 1789;

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Russia's foreign policy in the second halfXVIIIcentury. Partitions of Poland.

Together with Prussia and Austria, Russia participated in the division of the Commonwealth (Poland).

According to the first section (1772) of the Commonwealth, a part of eastern Belarus went to Russia.

According to the second section (1793) - Russia received the rest of eastern and central Belarus with Minsk, Volhynia and Podolia.

According to the third section (1795), western Belorussia, western Volhynia, Lithuania, and Courland were ceded to Russia.

Thus, under the rule of Russia, almost all the lands of the Eastern Slavs that were part of Kievan Rus were united, excluding the Galician lands with Lvov (Galicia), which became part of Austria.

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Russo-Turkish War 1768-1774

After a number of victories on land (under the leadership of P.A. Rumyantsev, V.M. Dolgorukov and A.V. Suvorov) and at sea (under the leadership of G.A. Spiridonov, A.G. Orlov and S.K. Greig ) the war was over.

TermsKuchuk-Kaynarji world(1774) Russia received:

access to the Black Sea;

the steppes of the Black Sea region - Novorossia;

the right to have its own fleet on the Black Sea;

the right of passage through the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles;

Azov and Kerch, as well as Kuban and Kabarda, passed to Russia;

The Crimean Khanate became independent from Turkey;

The Russian government received the right to act as a defender of the legitimate rights of the Christian peoples of the Ottoman Empire.

Russian-Turkish war 1787-1791 also ended with the defeat of Turkey.

ByYassy peace treaty:

Turkey recognized Crimea as a possession of Russia;

Russia included the territory between the rivers Bug and Dniester;

Turkey recognized the Russian patronage of Georgia, established by the Treaty of St. George in 1783.

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Paul's reformsI (1796-1801)

In 1796, Paul I (son of Catherine II and Peter III) came to power. During his 5 years in power, he carried out important reforms:

1. the law on succession to the throne, according to which the eldest son of the monarch became the heir to the throne,

2. limiting the work of peasants for the landowner three days a week.

3. reduction of noble privileges and the restoration of the compulsory service of the nobles.

The latter caused dissatisfaction of the nobility, a conspiracy arose, during which Paul I was killed.

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Russia in the second half of the 18th century. Catherine II

Peter I and the beginning of the modernization of the country. The era of palace coups

In the history of the Russian state, Peter I played a key role. His reign is considered a kind of frontier between the Muscovite kingdom and the Russian Empire. The boundary clearly delineates forms state power: from Ivan III - to Peter I and from Peter I - to Soviet Russia.

At the king Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov(1645-1676) from the first wife - Maria Ilyinichna Miloslavskaya- had 13 children. But if the daughters grew up strong and healthy, then the sons - frail and sickly. During the life of the king, three of his sons died at an early age, the eldest son Fedor could not move his swollen legs, and the other son Ivan was "poor in mind" and blind.

A widower, 42-year-old Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich married again and married a young, healthy Natalia Naryshkina, which on May 30, 1672 gave birth to him son of Peter. Peter was three and a half years old when Tsar Alexei suddenly fell ill and died. Throne occupied Fedor Alekseevich (1676-1682). Having reigned for 6 years, the sickly Fyodor died, leaving no offspring, no memory of himself among his contemporaries and subsequent generations. Ivan, Peter's older brother, was to be the successor, but the weak-minded heir was opposed Consecrated Cathedral and Boyar Duma. The situation was complicated by the fact that after the death of Alexei Mikhailovich, the relatives of his first wife, the Miloslavskys, became masters of the situation, removing from the court those close to the queen-widow Natalya Naryshkina. The prospect of Peter's accession did not suit the Miloslavskys, and they decided to use the discontent of the archers, who complained about the delay in salaries. Miloslavsky and sister Petra Princess Sophia managed to direct Streltsy rebellion in a favorable direction for themselves - against the Naryshkins. Some of the Naryshkins were killed, others were exiled.

As a result of the Streltsy rebellion, Ivan was declared the first king, Peter the second, and their elder sister Sophia became regents with child kings. During the reign of Sophia, Peter and his mother lived mainly in the villages of Kolomenskoye, Preobrazhenskoye, Semenovskoye near Moscow. From the age of three, Peter began to learn to read and write from the deacon Nikita Zotov. Peter did not receive a systematic education(in his mature years he wrote with grammatical errors). When Peter was 17 years old, Tsarina Natalya decided to marry her son and, thus, get rid of Sophia's guardianship. After the marriage, hostility between Sophia and Peter intensified. Sophia again tried to use the archers for her own purposes, but a new streltsy revolt in August 1689 was suppressed. Sophia, under the name of Sister Susanna, was exiled to the Novodevichy Convent, where she lived for 14 years until her death in 1704.

Formally, Peter began to rule jointly with Ivan, but the ailing Ivan did not take any part in state affairs - with the exception of official ceremonies. Young Peter was absorbed in military amusements, and the current state affairs were decided by the princes. Boris Alekseevich Golitsyn, Fedor Yurievich Romodanovsky and queen Natalia. Peter, although he felt indomitable energy in himself, did not yet imagine the role that he was to play in the history of Russia.

Peter was a figure of enormous historical proportions, a complex and highly controversial figure. He was smart, inquisitive, hardworking, energetic. Having not received a proper education, he nevertheless possessed extensive knowledge in the most diverse fields of science, technology, crafts, and military art. There is no doubt that everything he did was directed, in the opinion of Peter himself, for the benefit of Russia, and not for his, the Tsar, personally. But many of Peter's personal qualities were due to the nature of the harsh era in which he lived, and to a large extent determined his cruelty, suspicion, lust for power, etc. It is very significant that Peter liked being compared to Ivan the Terrible. In achieving his goals, he did not disdain any means, he was not just cruel to people (personally, for example, chopped off the heads of archers in 1689), he generally looked at a person as a tool, material for creating what he had conceived for the good empire. During the reign of Peter in the country, taxes increased three times and the population decreased by 15%. Peter did not stop before using the most sophisticated methods of the Middle Ages: torture, surveillance, encouraging denunciations. He was convinced that in the name of the state "benefit" moral norms can be neglected.

So, at the turn of the XVII-XVIII centuries. Russia was on the threshold of transformations. These transformations could take different forms and lead to different results. The personality of the reformer played a huge role in choosing the forms of development.

The name of Peter is associated with the transformation of Russia into an empire, a Eurasian military power.

Peter back in the 90s. XVII century came to the conclusion that in order to eliminate relative international isolation, it is necessary access to the seas - Black and Baltic- or at least one of them. Initially, Russian expansion rushed south - in 1695 and 1696. Azov campaigns took place. Failed under Azov in 1695, Peter, with his characteristic energy, set about building a fleet. The fleet was built on the Voronezh River at its confluence with the Don. During the year, about 30 large ships were built, lowered down the Don. As a result of the second campaign, Azov was taken, access to the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov was secured. However, the Turks refused to allow Russian ships to pass through the Kerch Strait, and even more so through the Bosphorus - access to the trade routes was still closed.

After "great embassy" to Europe (1697-1698) It became clear to Peter that the center of gravity in Russia's foreign policy must shift to the West. The main goal was to reach Baltic Sea dominated by Sweden. The origins of Russia's territorial claims to Sweden lead to the Pillar Peace of 1617, according to which Sweden received the territory from Lake Ladoga to Ivangorod (Yam, Koporye, Oreshek and Korela). The main damage for Russia was that it was closed access to the Baltic Sea. But it was impossible to cope with Sweden alone. Allies were needed. They managed to be found in the face of Denmark and Saxony, who were dissatisfied with the dominance of Sweden in the Baltic. In 1699, Russia established allied relations with Denmark and Saxony. Characteristically, Peter managed to hide the true intentions of Russia. The Swedish king Charles XII, who was interested in the war between Russia and Turkey, even gave Peter 300 cannons.

Northern War (1700-1721) was divided into two stages: the first - from 1700 to 1709 (before the Battle of Poltava), the second - from 1709 to 1721 (from the Poltava victory to the conclusion of the Nystadt peace). The war began unsuccessfully for Russia and its allies. Denmark was immediately withdrawn from the war. In November 1700, 8 thousand Swedes defeated the 60 thousandth Russian army near Narva. This was a serious lesson, and Peter was forced to embark on hasty transformations, to create a new European-style regular army. Already in 1702-1703. Russian troops won the first victory. Forts were taken Noteburg(renamed to Shlisselburg - Klyuch-gorod), Nienschanz; mouth Not you was in the hands of the Russians.

Nevertheless, at the first stage of the war, the strategic initiative remained in the hands of Sweden, whose troops occupied Poland, Saxony and invaded Russia. The victorious for the Russian army became the turning point in the war. Poltava battle(June 27, 1709). The strategic initiative passed into the hands of Russia. But the nature of the war on the part of Russia has changed. Peter renounced his previous promises to the Allies to confine himself to the return of the old Russian territories. In 1710, they were liberated from the Swedes Karelia, Livonia, Estonia, fortresses taken Vyborg, Revel, Riga. If not for the war with Turkey in 1710-1713, the Northern War would have ended faster. The Allies ousted Sweden from all its overseas territories. The Swedish empire collapsed.

The final fate of the Northern War was decided at sea in the battles of Gangute(1714), islands Ezel(1719) and Grengam(1720). Moreover, Russian troops repeatedly landed on the Swedish coast. Charles XII could not accept defeat and continued to fight until his death in Norway in 1718. Frederick I, the new king of Sweden, had to sit down at the negotiating table. On August 30, 1721, the Treaty of Nystadt was signed, according to which Estland, Livonia, Ingermanland, the cities of Vyborg and Kexholm passed to Russia. Sweden retained Finland, received compensation for Livonia (2 million efimki) and negotiated the right to buy bread duty-free in Riga and Revel.

Peter considered his victory the greatest joy of his life. In October 1721, the month-long festivities in the capital ended with a solemn ceremony of acceptance by the tsar title of emperor of all Russia. During Peter's lifetime, Sweden, Denmark, Prussia, Holland, and Venice recognized his new status as emperor.

Russia solved the main foreign policy task that the Russian tsars had been trying to accomplish for two centuries - access to the sea. Russia has firmly entered the circle of European powers. Permanent diplomatic relations were established with major European countries.

After the end of the Northern War, the eastern direction of Russian politics became more active. The goal was to capture the transit routes of eastern trade going through the Caspian regions. In 1722-1723. the western and southern coast of the Caspian Sea, which previously belonged to Persia, passed to Russia.

Thus, Russia's foreign policy evolved in the direction of imperial policy. It was under Peter I that the Russian empire, formed an imperial mindset that persisted for nearly three centuries.

The reforms of Peter I are a huge conglomerate of government measures that were carried out without a clearly developed long-term program and were conditioned both by the urgent, momentary needs of the state and by the personal preferences of the autocrat. The reforms were dictated, on the one hand, by the processes that began to develop in the country in the second half of the 17th century, on the other hand, by Russia's failures in the first period of its war with the Swedes, and on the third hand, by Peter's attachment to European ideas, orders and way of life.

The economic policy of the early 18th century was decisively influenced by mercantilism concept. According to the ideas of mercantilism, the basis of the wealth of the state is accumulation of money through active balance of trade, export of goods to foreign markets and restrictions on the import of foreign goods into their own market. This involved state intervention in the economic sphere: encouraging production, building manufactories, organizing trading companies, and introducing new technology.

Another important stimulus for active state intervention in the economy was the defeat of the Russian troops at the initial stage of the war with Sweden. With the outbreak of the war, Russia lost its main source of iron and copper supplies. Possessing large financial and material resources for that time, the state took over the regulation of industrial construction. With his direct participation and with his money, state-owned manufactories began to be created, primarily for the production of military products.

The state also seized trade - by introducing monopolies for the procurement and sale of certain goods. In 1705, a monopoly on salt and tobacco was introduced. Profit on the first doubled; for tobacco - 8 times. A monopoly was introduced for the sale of goods abroad: for bread, bacon, flax, hemp, resin, caviar, mast wood, wax, iron, etc. The establishment of a monopoly was accompanied by a strong-willed increase in prices for these goods, and the regulation of the trading activities of Russian merchants. The consequence of this was the disorganization of free, based on market conditions, entrepreneurship. The state achieved its goal - revenues to the treasury increased sharply, but the violence against entrepreneurship systematically ruined the most prosperous part of the merchant class.

By the end of the Northern War, when the victory was obvious, certain changes took place in the commercial and industrial policy of the government. Measures were taken to encourage private entrepreneurship. "Berg-privilege" (1719) allowed to search for minerals and build factories to all residents of the country and foreigners without exception. The practice of transferring state-owned enterprises (primarily unprofitable ones) to private owners or companies has become widespread. The new owners received various benefits from the treasury: interest-free loans, the right to sell goods duty-free, etc. The state abandoned its monopoly on the sale of goods on the foreign market.

However, entrepreneurs did not receive real economic freedom. In 1715, a decree was adopted on the creation of industrial and trading companies, whose members, having given their capital to a common pool, were bound by mutual responsibility and bore common responsibility to the state. The company did not actually have the right to private property. It was a kind of lease, the terms of which were determined by the state, which had the right to confiscate the enterprise in case of violation. Fulfillment of government orders became the main responsibility of the owner of the plant. And only the surplus could be sold on the market. This reduced the importance of competition as the main incentive for business development. The lack of competition also hindered the improvement of production.

Control over domestic industry was exercised by the Berg and Manufactory Colleges, which had exclusive rights: they gave permission to open factories, set prices for products, had a monopoly right to purchase goods from manufactories, and exercised administrative and judicial power over owners and workers.

The government of Peter I was very attentive to the development of its own industry, protecting it from hopeless competition with products from developed European countries. In terms of quality, the products of Russian manufactories were still inferior to foreign ones, so Peter forbade the import into the country of those foreign goods, the production of which was mastered in Russia. So, according to the customs tariff of 1724, a huge - 75% - duty was imposed on those European products, the demand for which could be satisfied by home means. The same duty was imposed on raw materials exported from Russia. The politics of mercantilism In the first quarter of the 18th century, it became a powerful weapon in the hands of the government and a reliable defense of domestic entrepreneurship.

The active intervention of the state in the sphere of the economy deformed social relations. First of all, this was manifested in the nature of the use of labor force. During the Northern War, the state and the owners of manufactories used both civilian labor, "runaway and walking", and ascribed peasants who worked out state taxes at the factories. However, in the early 20's. In the 18th century, the problem of labor force escalated: the fight against the escapes of peasants intensified, the mass return of the fugitives to their former owners began, an audit of the population was carried out, followed by fixing the social status of each person by fixing forever to the place of entry in the tax cadastre. Outlaws were placed "free and walking", who were equated with fugitive criminals.

In 1718-1724. Was held poll census. Instead of a peasant household, the unit of taxation was the “male soul”, which could be both a nursing baby and a decrepit old man. The dead were listed in the lists ("fairy tales") until the next revision. The soul tax was paid by serfs and state peasants, townspeople. Nobles and clergy were exempted from paying the poll tax. In 1724 was established passport system. Without a passport, peasants were forbidden to move further than 30 versts from their place of residence. In 1721, Peter signed a decree allowing serfs to buy from factories. Such peasants became known as possession (ownership). Peter I clearly understood that the treasury alone could not solve grandiose tasks. Therefore, government policy was aimed at involving private capital in industrial construction. A striking example of such a policy was the transfer in 1702 of the Nevyansk plant in the Urals, which had just been built by the treasury, to private hands. By this time, Nikita Demidov was already a well-known and major entrepreneur of the Tula Arms Settlement. The justification of such a step is confirmed by the mutually beneficial terms of the deal: the breeder had to significantly increase production, supply military supplies to the treasury at preferential prices, “build schools for children, and hospitals for the sick” and much more, and in return he was allowed to look for ores in the vast territory of the Urals “and build all sorts of factories. The Demidovs fulfilled their obligations and created a grand economy. Hundreds of people rushed to build factories. Many failed, but by the middle of the 18th century there were already more than 40 private factories in the Urals, and large "iron-making complexes of the Stroganovs, Demidovs, Mosolovs, Osokins, Tverdyshevs and Myasnikovs".

A feature of the development of Russian industry in the first half of the 18th century was the widespread use of forced labor. This meant the transformation of industrial enterprises, where the capitalist way of life could be born, into enterprises of the feudal economy. In the first quarter of the 18th century, a relatively powerful economic base was created - about 100 manufacturing enterprises, and at the beginning of the reign there were 15 of them. By the 1740s, the country produced 1.5 times more iron than England.

Having come to power in 1689, Peter inherited the traditional system of government of the 17th century with the Boyar Duma and orders as central institutions. As the autocracy grew stronger, the Boyar Duma, as a narrow body of estates, lost its significance and disappeared at the beginning of the 18th century. Information about the meetings of the Boyar Duma is interrupted in 1704. Its functions began to be performed "ministerial council"- council of chiefs of the most important government departments. In the activities of this body, elements of bureaucratization of management are already visible - work schedule, strict distribution of duties, introduction of regulated office work.

Education Senate in 1711 was the next step in the organization of a new administrative apparatus. The Senate was created as the highest governing body, concentrating in its hands administrative, judicial and legislative functions. The Senate introduced principle of collegiality: without a general consent, the decision did not enter into force. For the first time in a state institution, as in the army, a personal oath was introduced.

The reform of the administrative system was continued at the turn of the 10-20s. XVIII century. It was based on principles of cameralism- the doctrine of bureaucratic management, which assumed: the functional principle of management, collegiality, a clear regulation of the duties of officials, specialization of clerical work, uniform staffing and salaries.

In 1718 was adopted "Register of colleges". Instead of 44 orders, colleges were established. Their number was 10-11. In 1720 it was approved General Regulations collegiums, according to which each collegium consisted of a president, vice president, 4-5 advisers and 4 assessors. In addition to the four colleges that were in charge of foreign, military and judicial affairs (Foreign, Military, Admiralty, Justice College), a group of colleges dealt with finance (income - the Chamber College, expenses - the State Office College, control over the collection and expenditure of funds - Revision College), trade (Commerce College), metallurgy and light industry(Berg Manufactory College, later divided into two). In 1722, the most important control body was created - prosecutor's office. Prosecutor General P. I. Yaguzhinsky became the unofficial head of the Senate. Explicit state supervision was supplemented by covert supervision by introducing a system fiscals who carried out covert monitoring of the activities of the administration at all levels. Peter freed the fiscals from responsibility for a false denunciation. The phenomenon of denunciation has firmly established itself in the state system and in society.

became a special board Holy Synod, created in 1721. The position of patriarch was abolished. A state official was placed at the head of the Synod - chief prosecutor. The church actually became an integral part of the state apparatus. This meant for the Russians the loss of a spiritual alternative to the state ideology. The Church moved away from believers, ceased to be a defender of the "humiliated and offended", became an obedient instrument of power, which was contrary to Russian traditions, spiritual values, and the whole age-old way of life. The abolition of the secrecy of confession, the ban on hanging icons over the door of the house, the persecution of monasticism and other "reforms" allowed many contemporaries to call Peter the Antichrist Tsar.

The General Regulations and other decrees of Peter I consolidated the idea of ​​the service of the Russian nobility as the most important form of fulfilling duties to the sovereign and the state. V 1714 was accepted Decree on unanimity, according to which the noble estate was equalized in rights with the estate. He contributed to the completion of the process of unification of the estates of the feudal lords into a single class-estate, which had certain privileges. But the title of nobility could only be privileged when its holder served. Table of ranks (1722) introduced a new hierarchy of ranks. All military and civil positions subdivided into 14 ranks. To get the next rank, you had to go through all the previous ones. A military or civil official who reached the eighth rank, corresponding to a collegiate assessor or major, received hereditary nobility. The new position of the bureaucracy, other forms and methods of its activity gave rise to a very special psychology of bureaucracy. The idea of ​​Peter I that a person would receive a rank corresponding to his knowledge and diligence, and according to his rank, a position, did not work from the very beginning. There were far more employees who received the same ranks than the positions they applied for. Instead of the old, boyar, a new, bureaucratic localism began to flourish, expressed in the promotion to a new rank by seniority, that is, depending on who had previously been promoted to the previous class. In Russia, a cult of institutions has developed, and the pursuit of ranks and positions has become a national disaster. Peculiar "bureaucratic revolution"- the main result of imposing the European idea of ​​rationalism on Russian soil. The principle of generosity in appointment to the civil service was finally replaced by the principle of length of service. If in the West service was a privilege, in Russia it was a duty. The "emancipation" of the nobility occurred later - in the 30-60s. XVIII century.

One of the central places in Peter's reforms was the creation of powerful armed forces. At the end of the 18th century Russian army consisted of regiments of soldiers (in 1689 - 70% of the total), archery regiments and noble militia. The soldier regiments were only the beginnings of a regular army, since the treasury could not fully take them into its own content, and in their free time, the soldiers were engaged in crafts and trade. Archers increasingly turned into a police force and an instrument of palace intrigues. By the middle of the 17th century, the noble cavalry had largely lost its combat capability. The most combat-ready part of the troops were the so-called "amusing" regiments - Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky - the basis of the future guard. Having no access to non-freezing seas, Russia did not have a fleet either. The central issue in the creation of a regular army was the question of new system its assembly. In 1705 was introduced recruitment duty: from a certain number of households of taxable estates, a recruit was to be supplied to the army. Recruits were enrolled in the class of soldiers for life. The nobles began to serve from the rank of private in the guards regiments. Thus, a regular army was created, which had high fighting qualities. The army was re-equipped, taking into account foreign and domestic experience, strategy and tactics were changed, Military and Naval charters. By the end of Peter's reign, Russia had the strongest army in Europe, up to 250 thousand people, and the world's second navy (more than 1,000 ships).

However, the reverse side of the reforms was the accelerating militarization of the imperial state machine. Having taken a very honorable place in the state, the army began to perform not only military, but also police functions. The colonel oversaw the collection of per capita money and funds for the needs of his regiment, and also had to eradicate "robbery", including suppressing peasant unrest. The practice of participation of professional military personnel in state administration has spread. The military, especially the guards, were often used as emissaries of the king, and were endowed with emergency powers.

It can be seen from the foregoing that a powerful military-bureaucratic system was formed in Russia in the first quarter of the 18th century. At the top of the cumbersome pyramid of power was the king. The monarch was the only source of law, had immense power. The apotheosis of autocracy was the assignment of the title of emperor to Peter I.

The middle and second half of the 18th century went down in the history of Russia as a continuation of the "Petersburg period", as the time of our country's transformation into a great European power. The reign of Peter the Great ushered in a new era. Russia acquired Europeanized features of the state system: administration and jurisdiction, the army and navy were reorganized in a Western way. This time was a period of great upheavals (mass unrest of peasants in the middle of the century, the Plague Riot, the Pugachev uprising), but also of serious transformations. The need to strengthen social basis"autocratic absolutism" forced Russian monarchs change forms of cooperation with class structures. As a result, the nobility was given estate management and guarantees of property.

The history of Russia in the second quarter and the middle of the 18th century was characterized by a sharp struggle of noble groups for power, which led to frequent changes in the reigning persons on the throne, to rearrangements in their immediate environment. With a light hand, V.O. Klyuchevsky, the term “the era of palace coups” was assigned to this period. IN. Klyuchevsky associated the onset of political instability after the death of Peter I with the "autocracy" of the latter, who, in particular, decided to break the traditional order of succession to the throne. Previously, the throne passed in a direct male descending line, but according to the manifesto of February 5, 1722, the autocrat was given the right to appoint his own successor at his own request. “Rarely did autocracy punish itself so cruelly as in the person of Peter with this law on February 5,” wrote Klyuchevsky. Peter I did not have time to appoint an heir: the throne turned out to be given "to chance and became his toy" - it was not the law that determined who should sit on the throne, but the guard, which at that time was the "dominant force."

After the death of Peter I, the contenders for supreme power were Empress Ekaterina Alekseevna, wife of the late sovereign, and his grandson, son of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich, 9-year-old Petr Alekseevich. Catherine was supported by the guards and the new nobility, who advanced under Peter I - HELL. Menshikov, P.A. Tolstoy and others. Peter Alekseevich was supported by representatives of the old aristocracy, headed by the prince D.M. Golitsyn. Strength was on the side of the first party. With the support of the Guards regiments - Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky - Catherine I (1725-1727) came to the throne.

empress Ekaterina practically did not engage in state affairs. All power was concentrated in Supreme Privy Council, created on February 8, 1726. The council included 7 nobles, the most influential of which was His Serene Highness Prince A.D. Menshikov. The Supreme Privy Council reduced the size of the poll tax and abolished the participation of the army in its collection. The official duties of the nobility were facilitated, the nobles were granted the right to trade in all cities and marinas (before that, only merchants had such a right). After the demise Catherine I and accession to the throne Peter II the struggle between the leaders and those who were not members of the Supreme Privy Council intensified. Against A.D. Menshikov was intrigued by the princes Dolgoruky, Vice-Chancellor Osterman and others. As soon as the Serene Highness fell ill, he was sent into retirement, and then into exile in the Siberian city of Berezov, where Menshikov died two years later. However, Peter II did not reign for long - on January 19, 1730, he died of smallpox.

Disputes began in the Supreme Privy Council over the question of a candidate for the Russian throne. Prince D.M. Golitsyn put forward a proposal to invite the niece of Peter the Great - Anna Ioannovna, Dowager Duchess of Courland. Anna satisfied everyone, because she was not associated with either the guard or the court factions. Having invited Anna Ioannovna to the throne, the nobles offered her written conditions (conditions) which were supposed to significantly limit the autocracy. According to these conditions, the future empress was not supposed to marry, appoint an heir to the throne, decide the most important state affairs without the consent of eight members of the Supreme Privy Council; the army and guard were to be subordinate to the Privy Council.

Anna Ioannovna at first signed the terms. However, the nobility was dissatisfied with the dominance of the tribal aristocracy from the Supreme Privy Council. On February 25, representatives of the nobility, primarily from the guards, submitted a petition to Anna with a request to cancel the conditions and restore autocracy. The Empress immediately, in the presence of a crowd of nobles, tore the condition. Soon the Supreme Privy Council was abolished; its members were exiled and executed. The former Senate was restored, which, however, did not play a significant role in state administration under Anna Ioannovna (1730-1740). In 1731 was created Cabinet of three ministers, which was actually headed by A.I. Osterman. Subsequently, the decrees of the Cabinet were equated with the imperial, in essence, the Cabinet assumed the functions of the Privy Council.

At court, the Courland nobles who arrived with Anna Ioannovna, who headed state institutions, army and guard regiments, acquired more and more power. The favorite of the Empress enjoyed omnipotent influence E.I. Biron, whom she later made Duke of Courland.

Before her death, Anna Ioannovna announced her successor baby John VI Antonovich(1740-1741), son of her niece Anna Leopoldovna and Prince Anton-Ulrich of Brunswick(representatives of this family were called the "Brunswick surname"). Biron became regent under John. However, the commander of the Russian army, Field Marshal B.-H. Minich on the night of November 9, 1740 Biron was arrested. The former temporary worker was exiled to the Siberian city of Pelym. The emperor's mother, Anna Leopoldovna, became the ruler. A year later, another palace coup followed.

In 1741, as a result of a palace coup, the daughter of Peter the Great ascended the Russian throne Elizaveta Petrovna. The coup was carried out by the forces of the guard. On the night of November 25, Elizabeth appeared at the barracks of the Preobrazhensky Regiment and addressed the soldiers with a speech. 300 guardsmen followed her to the imperial palace. Representatives of the ruling "Brunswick family" were arrested. The infant emperor John Antonovich was subsequently imprisoned in the Shlisselburg fortress. His mother-ruler with her husband and other children were sent into exile in Kholmogory. Here in 1746 Anna Leopoldovna died. Ioann Antonovich was killed by the guards of the Shlisselburg fortress in 1756 when officer V. Mirovich tried to free the captive.

Persons who helped Elizabeth Petrovna ascend the throne were generously rewarded. The 300 guardsmen who carried out the military coup formed a special privileged detachment, the "life company". All of them received noble dignity and estates. The Germans surrounding Anna were replaced by Russian nobles.

Elizaveta Petrovna preferred to spend her time in court amusements; she left the administration of the state to her ministers. Of the nobles close to the empress, they enjoyed great influence Razumovsky brothers who emerged from ordinary Little Russian Cossacks. The eldest of the brothers, Alexei Grigorievich, who in his youth was a court chorister, rose thanks to the gracious attention of Elizabeth Petrovna, became a field marshal and a count. The younger, Cyril, became the hetman of Little Russia. The Shuvalovs occupied a prominent position at court. One of them - Ivan Ivanovich - rendered significant services to the state with his concerns about public education and earned the glory of a Russian patron of the arts. He patronized the famous M.V. Lomonosov; through his efforts the first Russian university was founded. A prominent role in the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna was played by Chancellor Alexei Petrovich Bestuzhev-Ryumin, who was in charge of foreign affairs.

The first important order of Elizabeth Petrovna in matters of internal administration was the destruction of the Cabinet of Ministers, created by Anna Ioannovna, and the return to the Senate of the significance that Peter I gave it.

In the reign of Elizabeth, city magistrates were restored. In 1752, the Naval Cadet Corps was founded in St. Petersburg (instead of the Naval Academy). Two loan banks were established - one for the nobility, the other for the merchants. The loan was secured by movable and immovable property with the condition of payment of 6%. In 1754, at the suggestion Pyotr Ivanovich Shuvalov internal customs and petty fees, which were restrictive for trade, were abolished. At the same time, duties on foreign goods imposed by the tariff of Peter I were significantly increased. The death penalty was abolished in criminal proceedings. But in general, the judiciary and administration under Elizabeth Petrovna were in a rather upset state. As the famous Russian historian D.I. Ilovaisky, "the regional administration was still a discordant mixture of the old Moscow order with the institutions of Peter I." The lack of public security measures was especially strong. The harassment of the landlords, the injustice of the governors and officials continued to serve as a source of internal unrest and disasters. The peasants responded with uprisings, continuous escapes and participation in robber gangs. The Volga was especially famous for robberies, the deserted banks of which abounded with convenient channels and backwaters. Gangs gathered here under the command of the most famous atamans (“low freemen”). They were sometimes very numerous, had cannons on their boats, attacked caravans of ships and even entered into open battle with military detachments.

A significant change took place in the upper strata of society: the German influence, which had dominated since the time of Peter I, was replaced by the influence of French culture under Elizabeth. At court and in the homes of the nobility, the era of the dominance of French customs and Parisian fashions begins.

Having removed the offspring of Tsar John Alekseevich from power, Elizabeth tried to consolidate the Russian throne for the descendants of Peter I. The Empress summoned her nephew, the Duke of Holstein, to Russia Karl-Peter Ulrich(the son of Elizabeth's older sister, Anna Petrovna), and declared him her heir. Karl-Peter received a name in baptism Petr Fedorovich. From birth, the boy grew up without a mother, lost his father early and was left to the care of educators who turned out to be ignorant and rude, severely punished and intimidated the sickly and weak child. When the Grand Duke was 17 years old, he was married to the princess of a small Anhalt-Zerbst principality Sophia Augusta Frederick, which received the name in Orthodoxy Ekaterina Alekseevna.

Everything connected with Russia was deeply alien to Peter, who was brought up in Protestant Holstein. He did not know well and did not seek to learn the language and customs of the country in which he was to reign, he treated Orthodoxy with disdain and even the outward observance of the Orthodox ritual. The Russian prince chose the Prussian king Frederick II as his ideal, and considered the war with Denmark, which had once taken away Schleswig from the Holstein dukes, as his main goal.

Elizabeth disliked her nephew and kept him out of public affairs. Peter, in turn, sought to oppose the court of the Empress with his "small court" in Oranienbaum. In 1761, after the death of Elizabeth Petrovna, Peter III came to the throne.

As soon as I ascended the throne, Peter III irrevocably turned public opinion against him. He informed Frederick II of Russia's intention to make peace with Prussia separately, without the allies of France and Austria. On the other hand, despite the brevity of his reign, Peter III managed to make very important and beneficial orders. First, wonderful "Manifesto on the Liberty of the Nobility", which eliminated the obligation of public service for the nobility. Now it could serve only according to its desire. The nobles were able to live on their estates, freely travel abroad and even enter the service of foreign sovereigns. But at the same time, the military or civil service of the nobles was encouraged by the state. Secondly, a decree on the secularization of 2 church lands followed: all estates were confiscated from the church and transferred to the jurisdiction of a special state College of Economy, officers-managers were appointed to the estates. Former monastic peasants received land that they cultivated for monasteries; they were exempted from dues in favor of the church and were subject to state dues, like state peasants. Thirdly, Peter III abolished the Secret Investigative Office. The secret office was engaged in political investigation and widely used denunciations. As soon as any informer uttered the phrase "word and deed", a political investigation immediately began with interrogations and torture. True criminals sometimes uttered "word and deed" in order to gain time and avoid the deserved punishment; others spoke it out of malice and slandered innocent people. Peter III forbade to pronounce the hated "word and deed." The functions of political investigation were transferred to the Secret Expedition, which was part of the Senate.

Peter III forbade the persecution of the Old Believers, and those of them who fled abroad were allowed to return; they were assigned land in Siberia for settlement. Peasants who disobeyed the landowners' power were forgiven if they repented. Many nobles exiled in the previous reign were returned from Siberia, including the famous Field Marshal B.-Kh. Minich, Duke E.I. Biron and others.

At the same time, the decrees of Peter III on the equalization of the rights of all religions, the allocation of money for the construction of a Lutheran church gave rise to rumors about the imminent closure Orthodox churches. It is clear that the decree on secularization did not contribute to the growth of Peter's popularity among the Russian clergy. Peter's commitment to the Germans, immoderate worship of Frederick II, the strict military discipline instituted by the tsar - all this caused displeasure of the guard. Attempts to transform the army along the Prussian model and the creation of a special commission for this, the liquidation of the "life company" confirmed the long-standing suspicion that Peter III intended to liquidate the guards regiments. The Holstein relatives of the emperor and the Oranienbaum officers pressed the old nobility at court and made her worry about the future. The clever Catherine skillfully took advantage of the displeasure of the guards and the excessive self-confidence of her husband, and Peter III had to yield the throne to her.

Russia in the second half of the 18th century. Catherine II

The era of Catherine II (1762-1796) constitutes a significant stage in the history of Russia. Although Catherine came to power as a result of a coup, her policy was successively connected with the policy of Peter III.

Catherine's real name Sophia-Frederica-Augusta, she was born in Prussian Pomerania, in the city Stettin, in 1729 Sophia's father, a general in the Prussian service, was the governor of Stettin, and later, when his cousin, the sovereign prince of Zerbst, died, he became his successor and moved to his small principality. Sophia's mother was from a Holstein family, therefore, Sophia was a distant relative of her future husband, Pyotr Fedorovich. The marriage of the future empress was most bothered by Frederick II, who hoped in this way to enter into a close alliance with Russia. At the age of 14, Sofya came with her mother to Russia; the bride converted to Orthodoxy, and in 1745 she was married to the heir to the throne.

Having been baptized into Orthodoxy, Sophia-Frederica-Augusta received the name of Ekaterina Alekseevna. Gifted by nature with various abilities, Catherine managed to develop her mind by literary pursuits, especially by reading the best French writers of her time. By diligent study of the Russian language, the history and customs of the Russian people, she prepared herself for the great work that awaited her, that is, for the government of Russia. Catherine was characterized by insight, the art of taking advantage of circumstances and the ability to find people to carry out her plans.

In 1762, as a result of a conspiracy of guards officers, in which Catherine herself took part, her husband Peter III was deposed from the throne. The main assistants of Catherine in the implementation of the coup were Orlov brothers, Panin, Princess Dashkova. A spiritual dignitary also acted in favor of Catherine Dmitry Sechenov, Archbishop of Novgorod, who relied on the clergy, dissatisfied with the secularization of church estates.

The coup was carried out on June 28, 1762, when the emperor was in his beloved castle of Oranienbaum. On this day in the morning, Catherine arrived from Peterhof to Petersburg. The guard immediately swore allegiance to her, and the entire capital followed the example of the guard. Peter, having received news of the events in the capital, was confused. Having learned about the movement of troops against him, led by Catherine, Peter III with his retinue boarded a yacht and sailed to Kronstadt. However, the Kronstadt garrison had already gone over to the side of Catherine. Peter III finally lost heart, returned to Oranienbaum and signed the act of abdication. A few days later, on July 6, he was killed by guards officers guarding him in Ropsha. It was officially announced that death was due to "hemorrhoidal colic." All prominent participants in the events of June 28 were generously awarded.

Historians have certain disagreements about the motives for the activities of Catherine II. Some believe that during her reign the empress tried to implement a well-thought-out program of reforms, that she was a liberal reformer who dreamed of cultivating the ideas of enlightenment on Russian soil. According to another opinion, Catherine solved the problems that arose before her in the spirit of the Russian tradition, but under the cover of new European ideas. Some historians believe that in reality Catherine's policy was determined by her nobles and favorites.

From the position of the XVIII century, the monarchical form of government and the ideas of enlightenment did not contain contradictions at all. Enlighteners (Ch. Montesquieu and others) fully allowed a monarchical form of government, especially for countries with such a vast territory as Russia. Moreover, it was the monarch who was entrusted with the task of taking care of the welfare of his subjects and introducing the principles of legality, consistent with reason and truth. How young Catherine imagined the tasks of an enlightened monarch can be seen from her draft note: “1. It is necessary to educate the nation, which must govern. 2. It is necessary to introduce good order in the state, to support society and force it to comply with the laws. 3. It is necessary to establish a good and accurate police in the state. 4. It is necessary to promote the flowering of the state and make it abundant. 5. It is necessary to make the state formidable in itself and inspire respect for its neighbors.

What life circumstances influenced this educational program, subjugated it? First, the nature and national specifics of those state tasks which the empress had to decide. Secondly, the circumstances of her accession to the throne: without any legal rights, ascended to the throne with her own mind and the support of the nobility, Catherine had to express the aspirations of the nobility, and correspond to the ideal of the Russian monarch, and demonstrate her moral - due to personal qualities and merits - the right to reign. German by birth, Catherine aspired to be a good Russian empress. This meant being a successor to the work of Peter I and expressing Russian national interests.

Many events of Catherine II, most imbued with the spirit of liberalism and enlightenment, turned out to be unfinished and ineffective, rejected by Russian reality. This applies, in particular, to the attempt to develop new legislation based on the principles of the Enlightenment. Even Peter I made an attempt to draw up a new code of laws, since the code of his father (Council Code of 1649) did not meet the new needs of the state. Peter's successors renewed his attempt and appointed commissions for this purpose, but the matter did not move forward. Meanwhile, the difficult state of finance, legal proceedings and regional administration caused an urgent need to improve legislation. From the very beginning of her reign, Catherine set about developing a project for a new state system. In 1767, a commission was convened to revise Russian laws, which received the name laid down; it was headed A.I. Bibikov. The commission was made up of deputies from various estates and social groups - the nobility, townspeople, state peasants, Cossacks. All deputies came to the commission with instructions from their electors, which allow them to judge the problems, needs and demands of the local population.

Before the start of the work of the commission, Catherine turned to her with an eloquent message, “Instruction”, in which the enlightening ideas of Montesquieu and the Italian lawyer Beccaria about the state, laws, duties of a citizen, equality of citizens before the law and the presumption of innocence were used. On June 30, 1767, in Moscow, in the Palace of Facets, the grand opening of the commission took place. On the initiative of Catherine II, one of the liberal nobles raised the question of the abolition of serfdom. But the majority of noble deputies rebelled against this. Representatives of the merchant class also made claims for the right to own serfs.

In December 1768, in connection with the outbreak of the Russian-Turkish war, the general meeting of the commission stopped its work, and some of the deputies were dissolved. Separate commissions continued to work on projects for another five years, but the main goal set for the commission - the development of a new Code - was never achieved. However, the commission, as Catherine II stated, “gave me light and information about the whole empire, with whom we are dealing and who we should worry about.” The debates that lasted for a year acquainted the empress with the real state of affairs in the country and the demands of the estates, but did not give a practical result. The commission provided the government with information about the internal state of the state and had a great influence on the subsequent government activities of Catherine II, especially on her regional institutions.

An important part of the domestic policy of Catherine II was the reform of public administration. In 1762, Catherine rejected N.I. Panin on the creation of the Imperial Council, which was to become the legislative body under the empress. In 1763, the Senate was reformed: it was divided into 6 departments with strictly defined functions and under the leadership of a prosecutor general appointed by the monarch. The Senate became the body of control over the activities of the state apparatus and the highest judicial authority, but lost its main function - legislative initiative, the right of legislative initiative actually passed to the empress.

In 1775 there was regional reform, which increased the number of provinces from 23 to 50. The size of the new provinces was determined by the population; each of them had to live from 300 to 400 thousand souls, the provinces were divided into counties of 20-30 thousand inhabitants each. 2-3 provinces were entrusted to the governor-general or governor, who was vested with great power and supervised all branches of government. The governor's assistants were the vice-governor, two provincial councilors and the provincial prosecutor, who made up the provincial government. The vice-governor headed the state chamber (revenues and expenses of the treasury, state property, farming, monopolies, etc.), the provincial prosecutor was in charge of all judicial institutions. In the cities, the position of mayor appointed by the government was introduced.

Simultaneously with the establishment of the provinces, a system of class courts was created: for each class (nobles, townspeople, state peasants), their own special judicial institutions were introduced. County courts were introduced for the nobility, city magistrates for merchants and philistines, lower reprisals for foreigners and state peasants. Some of the new courts introduced the principle of elected assessors. The power in the county belonged to the police captain elected by the noble assembly. From county institutions, cases could go to higher authorities, that is, to provincial institutions: the upper zemstvo court, the provincial magistrate and the upper massacre. In the provincial cities were established: the criminal chamber - for criminal proceedings, civil - for civil, state - for state revenues, provincial government - with executive and police power. In addition, conscientious courts, guardianship of the nobility, orphan's courts and orders of public charity (in charge of schools, shelters, hospitals) were established.

Provincial reform significantly strengthened the administrative apparatus, and consequently, the supervision of the population. As part of the policy of centralization, the Zaporozhian Sich was liquidated, the autonomy of other regions was abolished or limited. The system of local government created by the provincial reform of 1775 was preserved in its main features until 1864, and the administrative-territorial division introduced by it - until 1917.

The government of Catherine II cared a lot about the appearance of cities, that is, about laying straight wide streets and building stone buildings. Economic growth was reflected in the increase in population, up to 200 sprawling villages received the status of cities. Catherine took care of the sanitary condition of cities, the prevention of epidemics, and as an example for her subjects, she was the first to inoculate smallpox.

The policy documents of Catherine II were Letters granted to the nobility and cities. Catherine determined the meaning, rights and obligations of different estates. In 1785 was granted Complaint to the nobility, which determined the rights and privileges of the nobility, which, after the Pugachev rebellion, was considered the main support of the throne. The nobility finally took shape as a privileged estate. The charter confirmed the old privileges: the monopoly right to own peasants, land and mineral resources; consolidated the rights of the nobility to their own corporations, freedom from poll tax, recruitment, corporal punishment, confiscation of estates for criminal offenses; the nobility received the right to petition the government for their needs; the right to trade and entrepreneurship, the transfer of a title of nobility by inheritance and the impossibility of losing it except by court order, etc. The letter confirmed the freedom of the nobles from public service. At the same time, the nobility received a special class corporate structure: county and provincial noble assemblies. Once every three years, these meetings elected district and provincial marshals of the nobility, who had the right to directly appeal to the king. This measure turned the nobility of the provinces and counties into a cohesive force. The landlords of each province constituted a special noble society. The nobles filled many bureaucratic positions in the local administrative apparatus; they have long dominated the central apparatus and the army. Thus, the nobility turned into a politically dominant class in the state.

In the same 1785 was published Complaint letter to cities, which completed the structure of the so-called urban society. This society was made up of inhabitants belonging to taxable estates, that is, merchants, philistines and artisans. Merchants were divided into three guilds according to the amount of capital declared by them; declared less than 500 rubles. capital were called "philistines". Craftsmen for different occupations were divided into "workshops" on the model of Western European ones. There were city governments. All tax-paying townsfolk gathered together and made up the "common city duma"; they elected from their midst the mayor and 6 members to the so-called six-member duma. The Duma was supposed to deal with the current affairs of the city, its income, expenses, public buildings, and most importantly, it took care of the execution of state duties, for the serviceability of which all citizens were responsible.

The city dwellers were given the right to engage in trade and entrepreneurial activities. A number of privileges were received by the top of the townspeople - "eminent citizens" and the guild merchants. But the privileges of the townspeople against the backdrop of permissiveness of the nobility seemed imperceptible, the city self-government bodies were tightly controlled by the tsarist administration. On the whole, the attempt to lay the foundations of a bourgeois estate failed.

Under Catherine II, attempts were made to solve the peasant question. In the first years of her reign, Catherine had the intention to begin to limit the power of the landowners. However, she did not meet with sympathy in this matter in the court aristocracy and among the mass of nobles. Subsequently, the empress, occupied mainly with questions foreign policy, left the idea of ​​reforming the peasant class. New decrees were even issued that strengthened the power of the landlords. The landowners were given the right to exile the peasants "for their presumptuous state" to hard labor (1765). Serfs were forbidden to file complaints against their masters under pain of punishment with a whip and exile to Nerchinsk for eternal hard labor (decree of August 22, 1767). Meanwhile, the number of serfs increased significantly as a result of the continued distribution of state peasants to dignitaries and favorites. The empress distributed 800 thousand serfs to her close associates. In 1783 serfdom was legally registered in Ukraine.

Under Catherine II, the government tried to return to Russia the Old Believers, who went abroad in large numbers. Those who returned were given a full pardon. The Old Believers were exempted from the double head salary, from the obligation to wear a special dress and shave their beards. At the request of Potemkin, the Old Believers in Novorossia were allowed to have their own churches and priests (1785). The Ukrainian Old Believers formed the so-called Edinoverie Church.

Catherine II completed the secularization of spiritual estates, which was initiated by Peter I and continued by Peter III. On the day of the coup in 1762, Catherine tried to attract the clergy to her and promised to return to him the lands confiscated by Peter III. However, soon the empress "changed her mind" and appointed a commission to accurately inventory all church lands and income. By a decree of February 26, 1764, all the peasants who belonged to monasteries and episcopal houses (more than 900 thousand male souls) were transferred to the jurisdiction of the College of Economics. Instead of the previous dues and duties, they were subject to a fee of one and a half rubles per soul. New staffs were drawn up for monasteries and episcopal houses, and it was necessary to release salaries to them from the College of Economy. In addition, some land was left to them. Secularization naturally caused displeasure on the part of many members of the clergy. Of these, Metropolitan Arseny Matseevich of Rostov is especially famous, deprived of his dignity and imprisoned under the name of Andrei Vral in the Revel casemate.

In 1773-1775. the entire southeast of Russia, the Urals, the regions of the Middle and Lower Volga regions, Western Siberia were captured by the peasant-Cossack uprising under the leadership of the Don Cossack Emelyan Pugachev who declared himself miraculously saved from death by Emperor Peter III. On behalf of Peter III, Pugachev announced the abolition of serfdom and the release of all privately owned peasants. Soviet historians qualified this uprising as a peasant war, although in reality the social composition of the participants in the movement was complex, and, as you know, the Cossacks were the initiator of the uprising. The movement received wide support among the Yaik Cossacks, Russian peasants, the mining population of the Urals, non-Russian peoples: Bashkirs, Kalmyks, Tatars, Maris, Mordovians, Udmurts, dissatisfied with feudal exploitation, the state's attack on traditional rights and privileges. The rebels besieged Orenburg for a long time, they managed to burn Kazan, take Penza and Saratov.

However, in the end, the Pugachevites were defeated by government troops superior in equipment and training. The leader of the movement himself was captured, taken to Moscow and executed in 1775. To erase the memory of the Great Revolt, Catherine II ordered the Yaik River to be renamed the Urals, and the Yaik Cossacks were renamed the Ural Cossacks.

Domestic political instability in the second quarter of the 18th century did not always allow the full use of the advantages that military victories gave Russia. Under Anna Ioannovna, Russia interfered in Polish affairs and opposed French candidates for the Polish throne ( War of the Polish Succession 1733-1735). The clash of interests between Russia and France in Poland led to a serious deterioration in Russian-French relations. French diplomacy tried to raise Turkey and Sweden against Russia.

The Turkish government was dissatisfied with the entry of Russian troops into Poland and was actively looking for allies in a close war with Russia. The Russian government also considered war inevitable. In order to enlist the support of Iran, a neighbor of the Ottoman Empire, in 1735 Russia returned to it the provinces annexed to Russia as a result of the Persian campaign of Peter I. In 1735, the Crimean army, by decision of the Ottoman government, went through Russian possessions to the lands returned by Russia to Iran. Clashes broke out between the Crimeans and the Russian armed forces. The following year, Russia officially declared war on Turkey. Russian-Turkish war 1735-1739 conducted mainly in the Crimea and Moldova. Russian troops under the command of Field Marshal B.-Kh. Minikha won a series of important victories (near Stavuchany, near Khotyn), occupied Perekop, Ochakov, Azov, Kinburn, Gezlev (Evpatoria), Bakhchisaray, Yassy. According to the Belgrade Peace Treaty of 1739, Russia moved its border to the south somewhat, receiving steppe spaces from the Bug to Taganrog.

In 1741, war was declared on Russia, instigated by France and Prussia. Sweden who dreamed of returning the part of Finland conquered by Peter I. But the Russian troops under the command of P.P. Lassi defeated the Swedes. According to the peace concluded in 1743 in the town of Abo, Russia retained all its possessions and received a small part of Finland, up to the Kyumena River (Kyumenogorsk and part of the Savolak province).

In the middle of the 18th century, a rapid increase in Friedrich II (1740-1786) Prussia upset the European balance and dramatically changed the balance of power on the continent. The threat of Prussian hegemony in Europe united against her Austria, France, Russia, Saxony and Sweden. Great Britain became an ally of Prussia. At the beginning of the war (1756-1757), Frederick II won a number of victories over Austria, France and Saxony. Russia's entry into the war in 1757 changed its character. East Prussia was occupied by the Russian army. In the same year, 1757, Russian troops took Memel and defeated the Prussian Field Marshal H. Lewald at Gross-Jegersdorf. In 1759, the Russian army under the command of General Count P.S. Saltykova, together with the Austrians, inflicted a decisive defeat on Frederick II in the battle of Kunersdorf. The following year, Russian troops occupied Berlin. Prussia was placed on the brink of ruin. Only the death of Elizabeth Petrovna and the coming to power of Peter III, an admirer of Frederick II, saved Prussia. Elizabeth's successor concluded a separate peace with Frederick. Moreover, he wanted to send the Russian army to help Prussia against the recent Russian allies, but this intention caused the performance of the guard and the palace coup, which ended in the overthrow and death of Peter III.

Russia's participation in the war (1757-1762) did not give her any material gains. But the prestige of the country and the Russian army as a result Seven Years' War has grown significantly. It can be said without exaggeration that this war played an important role in the formation of Russia as a great European power.

If the almost 40-year period between 1725 and 1762 (the death of Peter I and the coronation of Catherine II) was insignificant from the point of view of the immediate results of Russia's foreign policy in Europe, then for the eastern direction of Russian policy it was of great importance. The main milestones of the new Eastern policy were outlined by Peter I, who erected strongholds for it in the Middle and Far East. He tried to enter into relations with China, tried to establish relations with Japan. Already after the death of Peter the Great, Russia concluded an eternal treaty with China (Treaty of Kyakhta, 1727). Russia received the right to have a religious mission in Beijing, which at the same time performed diplomatic functions. The result of the Russian eastern policy was the successful acquisition of land in the Far East and joining Russia in 1731-1743. lands of the Junior and Middle Kazakh zhuzes.

Peter organized the expedition V. Bering to explore the junction of Asia with America. In St. Petersburg, they did not know that this problem had already been solved in 1648 by S.I. Dezhnev. The first expedition of captain Vitus Bering in 1724-1730. did not give significant practical results. But in 1732, the navigator Fedorov and the surveyor Gvozdev stumbled upon the "Great Land" - Alaska - on the American continent. During the next decade (1733-1743) the Russian government organized the so-called "Great Northern Expedition", which was of enormous scientific importance and was one of the most outstanding undertakings in the history of science. In 1741, the ships of captains Bering and Chirikov reached the coast of America. Chirikov brought many valuable furs from the islands near Alaska, which aroused the interest of Siberian merchants. The first "merchant sea voyage" was undertaken in 1743, followed by many others. Started Russian exploration of Alaska and becoming Russian America, the only official colony in the history of the Russian Empire.

Catherine II completed the transformation of Russia into an empire begun by Peter the Great. During her reign, Russia became an authoritative European and world power, dictating its will to other states. In 1779, with the mediation of Russia, Teshensky treatise, which put an end to the war between Austria and Prussia for the Bavarian inheritance. The Treaty of Teschen, of which Russia became the guarantor, demonstrated the increased international weight of Russia, which allowed it to influence the state of affairs in Europe. In modern Western literature, this event is regarded as a turning point, testifying to the transformation of Russia from an Eastern European great power (since the beginning of the 18th century) into a great European power, which played not the last violin in the concert of European states over the next century.

Catherine's policy in Europe was closely connected with the Polish and Black Sea issues. First of all, she sought to decide the fate of the former Kiev lands, most of which belonged to the Commonwealth in the middle of the 18th century, and secondly, to expand the territory of Russia to the shores of the Black Sea.

The development of culture in the second half of the XVIII century

The development of Russian culture in the second half of the 18th century was influenced by the reforms of Peter the Great at the beginning of the century. The following trends.

Strengthening Western influence. Imitation of Western culture.

Reducing the sphere of cultural influence of the church. Culture became increasingly secular. Her further secularization took place.

Deepening the rationalism of the worldview.

The beginning of the formation of the Russian intelligentsia, to which in the XVIII century. could include officers, government officials, professional educators, scientists, actors.

Preservation of the traditionalism of folk culture.

Ideological factors that influenced the development of the culture of this period.

The ideology of "enlightenment" with its preaching of natural human rights, freedom and equality.

Freemasonry with its search for ways of moral perfection.

Freemasons (from French - freemasons) - an international religious and philosophical movement that set itself the goal of "morally ennobling people, uniting them on the basis of brotherly love, equality and mutual assistance." In the Masonic movement of the XVIII century. many prominent educators of the West took part.

The first information about Freemasonry in Russia refers to the years 1730-1740. Freemasons were well-known figures of their time, Count R.I. Vorontsov, princes Golitsyn, Trubetskoy, Meshchersky, prince M.M. Shcherbatov, poet A.P. Sumarokov, writer and historian I.P. Elagin, director and then curator of Moscow University M.M. Kheraskov, educator N.I. Novikov and others. In the XVIII century. Freemasonry was an extremely narrow and limited in number of participants social phenomenon and could not significantly affect the situation in the country.

The growing needs of the state for qualified specialists have led to transformations in education. In 1731, the Cadet Corps for the nobility was established - a military educational institution of a closed type. He trained future officers of the Russian army and civil officials. In 1764, the Educational Society for Noble Maidens (Smolny Institute) was opened in St. Petersburg, which became the first secular institution for girls from noble families. For children of other classes, closed educational institutions were also created. For example, in 1779, a Commercial School was opened in Moscow for the children of merchants and philistines. The children of the clergy studied at theological seminaries and theological academies. Recruiting children - in soldiers' schools. The nobles were educated with the help of private teachers, and studying abroad became common. Education was class-based. For the majority of the population, it remained inaccessible.

In the second half of the XVIII century. system began to take shape general education school. In 1786, the Charter of public schools was approved, according to which the main four-class schools were created in the provincial cities, and small two-class schools in the county towns. The schools taught reading, writing, sacred history, the basics of arithmetic and grammar. For the first time, unified curricula, a class-lesson system were introduced, and teaching methods were developed.

In the XVIII century. was the beginning of the formation of university education in Russia. V 1755 Empress Elizaveta Petrovna approved the submitted I.I. Shuvalov organization project Moscow University. The main role in the development of the plan for the creation of the university belonged to M.V. Lomonosov. In accordance with the ideas of Lomonosov, education in it was classless. The university was under the patronage of the Empress,

subordinated only to the Senate, exempted from all kinds of taxes and other fees. In 1757, the Academy of Arts was opened at the university.

Middle, second half of the 18th century. were the time of geographical discoveries, successes in the development of scientific and technical thought.

In 1733-1741. The second Kamchatka expedition took place under the leadership of IN AND. Bering(1681-1741), during which the strait between Chukotka and Alaska (Bering Strait) was discovered. Explorer of Siberia and Kamchatka S.P. Krasheninnikov(1711-1755) compiled a "Description of the Land of Kamchatka". The names of brave Russian polar explorers are inscribed in the history of geographical discoveries S.I. Chelyuskin(c.1704-1764), after whom the northernmost point of the Eurasian continent is named - Cape Chelyuskin, cousins D.Ya. and H.P. Laptev, after which one of the seas of the Arctic Ocean is named - the Laptev Sea.

An invaluable contribution to the development of world and domestic science was made by M.V. Lomonosov(1711-1765) - the first Russian academician, a person who possessed encyclopedic knowledge. His genius manifested itself in all branches of knowledge of that time: chemistry, physics, astronomy, mineralogy, geology and soil science, geography, cartography. Along with the natural sciences, he was also engaged in the humanities: grammar, stylistics of the Russian language, and history. By the middle of the XVIII century. historical knowledge turned into a science, which was largely facilitated by the works V.N. Tatishcheva(1686-1750). M.V. Lomonosov in his writings on history focused on ancient period Russian history and the time of Peter I. He was the first to speak out against the Norman theory of the origin of the Old Russian state.

Important technical inventions were made I.I. Polzunov(1728-1766) and I.P. Kulibin(1735-1818). I.I. Polzunov was the first in the world to develop a project for a universal steam engine. However, the steam engine he created in the conditions of serfdom turned out to be unnecessary and forgotten. Self-taught mechanic inventor I.P. Kulibin invented many original devices and tools, improved glass polishing for optical instruments, created a semaphore telegraph, a “lifting chair” - an elevator. The most fundamental work of Kulibin was the project of a single-arch 300-meter bridge across the Neva. But his inventions also did not find application. It is truly said that there are no prophets in one's own country.

Architecture has been further developed. Until the 1760s the prevailing style was baroque, whose greatest master was F.B. Rastrelli. Built in this style Winter Palace and the Smolny Monastery, the Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo and the Grand Palace in Peterhof.

Baroque has been replaced classicism. Distinctive features of classicism are the clarity and simplicity of forms while maintaining monumentality. The style was based on an appeal to the laws of classical architecture of Greece and Rome. Classicism provided for the symmetry of the layout, the allocation of the main parts of the building, the clarity of the lines. The founders of classicism in Russia are IN AND. Bazhenov(1737-1799) - Pashkov's house in Moscow, Engineering Castle in St. Petersburg, I.E. Starov(1745-1808) - the building of the Tauride Palace, the Trinity Cathedral of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. With the name of a student of Bazhenov F.M. Kazakov(1738-1812) associated with the creation of a large number of buildings and mansions in Moscow. These are the Senate building in the Kremlin, the old building of Moscow University, the Golitsin Hospital, the house of the Dolgoruky princes, transferred to the noble assembly, etc. A prominent representative of Russian classicism was D. Quarenghi(1744-1817), who worked in Russia since 1780 - the building of the Academy of Sciences, the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoye Selo, the Smolny Institute, etc. Wonderful Russian architect Yu.M. Felten(c.1730-1801) together with P.E. Egorov(1771-1784) designed the Neva embankment and the lattice of the Summer Garden.

In the second half of the XVIII century. in painting a system of genres is taking shape: portrait, monumental and decorative painting, landscape, historical painting. The first Russian historical painter was A.P. Losenko(1737-1773). One of his most famous paintings is Vladimir in front of Rogneda. Worked in the historical genre G.I. Ugryumov(1764-1823) - "The election of Mikhail Fedorovich to the kingdom", "The capture of Kazan". However, the greatest development in painting was the portrait. Created a gallery of beautiful portraits A.P. Antropov (1716-1795), I.P. Argunov(1729-1802), F.S. Rokotov(c.1735-1808), D.G. Levitsky (1735-1822), V.L. Borovikovsky(1757-1825) and others.

During the period under review, the foundations of the secular sculptures. F.I. Shubin(1740-1805) - a fellow countryman of Lomonosov, a native of Pomeranian peasants - created a gallery of sculptural portraits - M.V. Lomonosov, A.M. Golitsyna, G.A. Potemkin and others.

The monument to Peter I (“The Bronze Horseman”) by the French master is rightfully attributed to the masterpieces of world sculpture EM. Falcone In Petersburg. M.I. Kozlovsky(1753-1802) glorified himself with a monument to A.V. Suvorov on the Field of Mars in St. Petersburg. He is the author main statue Peterhof cascade of fountains - "Samson tearing apart the mouth of a lion."

Mid 18th century is an important milestone in theatrical culture of Russia. In 1750, the first professional theater appeared in Yaroslavl. The merchant was the initiator F.G. Volkov(1728-1763). Rumors about him reached St. Petersburg and Yaroslavl was summoned to the capital. In 1756 it was transformed into a public theater "for the presentation of tragedies and comedies."

Culture of Russia in the 18th century. prepared an extraordinary entry into the national culture of the first half of the 19th century.

Issues for discussion

1. What are the reasons for Peter's modernization and what were its

conflicting consequences?

2. Why did the palace coups of 1725-1762 could not change the creatures of the system?

3. Could Catherine II abolish serfdom in Russia?

4. What was the significance of the annexation of the Crimea to Russia in 1783?

5. What were the features of territorial acquisitions

Anisimov E.V. State transformations and autocracy of Peter the Great in the first quarter of the 18th century. St. Petersburg: Dmitry Bulanin, 1997. 331 p.

Brikner A.G. History of Peter the Great. History of Catherine II: a complete edition in one volume. M.: Alfa-Kniga, 2015. 1047 p.

Story foreign policy of Russia. 18th century / J.A. Ananyan [and others] M.: International relations, 1998. 302 p.

Kamensky A.B. Russian Empire in the 18th century: traditions and modernization. M.: New lit. Review, 1999. 326 p.

Klyuchevsky V.O. historical portraits. Moscow: Pravda, 1990. 624 p.

Moryakov V.I. Russian enlightenment in the second half of the 18th century. M.: MGU, 1994. 215 p.

Musskaya I.A. The most famous businessmen of Russia. M.: Veche, 2003. 412 p.

Pavlenko N.I. Peter the Great. M.: World of Avanta+ Encyclopedias: Astrel, 2009. 829 p.

Semin V.P. History: Russia and the world: a textbook. –M.: KNORUS, 2012. 544 p.

Fortunatov V.V. History of world civilizations. St. Petersburg: Piter, 2014. 528 p.

PUBLIC FINANCE OF RUSSIA

Test 3

1. What reforms did Peter the Great carry out?

a) reforming the order system

b) provincial reform

v) church reform

2. What colleges have been created?

a) military

b) Admiralteyskaya

c) Justice College

d) Manufactory College

f) Chief Magistrate

3. What provinces appeared in Russia after the first provincial reform?

a) Moscow

b) Ingrian

c) Kievskaya

d) Smolensk

e) Kazanskaya

f) Azov

g) Arkhangelsk

h) Siberian

4. The number of provinces and counties after the second provincial reform?

5. When did the church reform take place?

6. When was the Holy Synod founded?

7. Income budget items?

a) customs fees

b) tavern fees

c) archers

d) pit

e) coinage

8. Two means of increasing public welfare?

a) trade development

b) exploitation of monetary regalia

9. What coins were issued from copper?

a) half a half

b) half

c) money

d) a penny

e) 5 kopecks

10. What coins were issued from silver?

a) a penny

c) 5 kopecks

d) 10 money

e) hryvnia

e) a dime

g) half a half

h) fifty dollars

j) two rubles

11. What coins were issued from gold?

a) cross ruble

b) 2 rubles

c) chervonets

d) two chervonets

In the second half of the 18th century, the feudal economy came face to face with developing market relations. Creation of an all-Russian market, active participation of the country in international trade led to the fact that Agriculture increasingly resolutely drawn into the market. The landowners sought to get more money from their possessions to buy luxury goods, to build estates and to spend other unproductive expenses.

The exploitation of the peasants intensified on the estates, since only in this way could the feudal lords increase the production of agricultural products and sell them on the market. In the Chernozem region, the landlords constantly increased the amount of labor rent ( corvee), bringing it sometimes up to six days a week. In the 1770s, some of them began to translate peasants into “ a month”, that is, they took away allotments from the peasants, forcing them to work on the landowners' land, and for this paying them a monthly allowance - a natural ration. In the marginal non-chernozem provinces, peasants were increasingly transferred to quitrent thus forcing them to participate more actively in market relations. The economic guardianship of the landlords was further strengthened. In 1731, they (or their clerks) were instructed to collect the state poll tax from their peasants. In 1734, a decree was issued according to which, in lean years, the landowners were obliged to feed their peasants, supply them with seeds so that the land would not be empty.

During the 18th century, in order to streamline the collection of payments from serfs and the distribution of duties on landowners' farms, a new economic tax and work unit was organized: peasant "tax". This meant that the entire adult and able-bodied serf population, especially those on corvee, was divided into a certain number of "taxols". They included either one peasant couple - a husband and wife, or two men and two women each, that is, more crowded taxes. Each tax was determined by the same amount of final payments or the amount of working off. To do this, individual peasant taxes had to be equally provided with land, therefore, in the landlord farms, it was necessary to maintain land “equation” through periodic land redistribution, which in the 18th century had not yet become the dominant method.

In the second half of the 18th century, the volume of agricultural production increased markedly, but this happened mainly not due to an increase in productivity, but due to the development of new sown areas in the Volga region, on the southern outskirts of the country, in Western Siberia. The area under new crops increased: potatoes, sugar beet, sunflower. The crops of flax and hemp expanded, and more and more grain from the landowners' farms went for sale.

During this period, signs of property bundles peasantry in terms of the amount of land used, the number of livestock, etc. Particularly strong differentiation spread among state and partly landlord peasants, where a prosperous rural elite was formed - clerks, elders, who had the opportunity to enslave impoverished neighbors. It is from this category that entrepreneurs most often grow.

The market economy, to a greater extent than agriculture, penetrated into industry, which developed quite rapidly, and where the labor market gradually formed in the second half of the century. At the end of the century, there were about two thousand manufactories of various types: government,patrimonial,merchant and peasant. State and patrimonial enterprises were based on the use of serf labor, that is, they remained integral part feudal economy. In the patrimonial manufactories, which in the 1780s accounted for about 20% of the total, serfs worked at the expense of additional corvee. These enterprises, as a rule, produced products based on the use of raw materials produced within the estate (processing of flax fiber, sunflower and other crops). However, by the end of the century, the share of patrimonial manufactories decreased to 15%, giving way to merchant and peasant manufactories, the number of which grew at a faster pace. At these enterprises, civilian workers were mainly used at the expense of ruined artisans, residents of cities and large villages, as well as at the expense of peasants who were released by the landowners for waste seasonal work in order to receive cash rent.

By the end of the century, the number of hired workers in industry, including barge haulers and loaders on ships, was more than 400 thousand. But this was clearly not enough. Quite often, quitrent peasants went to the villages for field work for the summer, and the owners of manufactories were forced to reduce production and even close them for several months a year.

The growth of merchant and peasant manufactories was also facilitated by the factor that in 1775 was published Enterprise Freedom Manifesto, according to which Catherine II allowed everyone to engage in industrial activities. This markedly accelerated the development of the so-called “ unordered”factories and plants, that is, those established without special permission and based on hired labor.

Unlike Western Europe, where nobles occupied a prominent place among entrepreneurs, most of the Russian industrialists of the 18th century came from peasants and townspeople.

The second half of the 18th century was marked by high growth rates of large industrial enterprises. So, if in 1760 there were about 600 of them, then by the end of the century - at least 1200. In total, in Russia at that time there were about 2300 plants and factories. Russia ranked first in the world in iron smelting, overtaking even England. In 1750, Russia had 41 blast furnaces, which produced 2 million pounds. iron, while England produced 0.3 million pounds. By 1800, 111 blast furnaces operated in Russia with the output of 9.9 million pounds. England, already completing the industrial revolution, had by that time reached 9.5 million poods. cast iron. Russian iron was highly valued abroad. Products Ural metallurgy was better in quality than in France, England. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, France was forced to impose import duties on Russian metal.

The offensive of the state on the church was continued. In 1764, Catherine II held secularization of church lands, as a result of which the number of monasteries in Russia decreased from 881 to 385. Revenues from this process went to the state budget. Millions of monastic peasants were transferred to the jurisdiction of the College of Economy, so they began to be called "economic". Later they were attached to the state peasants.

To revive and develop the country's economy in 1762 and 1763. Catherine issued an appeal to foreigners to come to settle in Russia. They were promised tax breaks, religious freedom, the preservation of language and culture. Especially many colonists came from Germany. They received for development the black earth steppe in the Trans-Volga region, where they very quickly created farms that served as a model for Russian landowners.

The rights and privileges of the nobles, the foundations of an absolute monarchy, were expanded and strengthened.

On February 18, 1762, Emperor Peter III issued the famous Manifesto on granting liberty and freedom to the Russian nobility, which meant the release of the nobles from compulsory service, established almost three hundred years ago, at the end of the 15th century. Thus, the nobles turned from a servant into a privileged class.

Thus, the developing market relations demanded an adequate financial system, first of all, a stable monetary circulation.

The development of the Russian financial system in the second half of the 18th century followed the path of improving the principles and mechanisms developed by Peter I. The main emphasis was placed on the stabilization of monetary circulation.

The country's money circulation suffered from the influx of depreciated copper coins. The main reason for this was the increased production under Peter's successors, in 1727-1730, of copper five-kopeck coins. The nominal price of these coins was 5-6 times higher than the market price of copper of the same weight. Therefore, the import of counterfeit nickels into the country and the export of gold and silver coins became a very profitable occupation. The latter quickly disappeared from circulation. It got to the point that they refused to accept copper nickels in the calculations. The result of the disorder in monetary circulation was the rise in prices and the fall in the exchange rate of the ruble. The decree issued back in 1731 on the exchange of copper nickels for a full-fledged copper and silver coin was not carried out due to the lack of funds from the treasury to carry out such an operation. Therefore, the monetary reform was postponed for 13 years, during which active government measures were taken to achieve economic growth.

Steady growth in domestic market turnover allowed the government to successfully complete measures to normalize monetary circulation. Back in May 1744, Elizabeth signed a decree to reduce the nominal price of copper nickels by one kopeck annually. The project of P.I. was adopted as the basis for the reform. Yaguzhinsky, who proposed a phased increase in the denomination of pyataks to one kopeck, which corresponded to the price of the corresponding amount of copper. Since 1746, the former pyataks were given a denomination of 2 kopecks.

In 1755-1756. the reform was completed. At the suggestion of Count P.I. Shuvalov, nickels were bought from the population at a price of 2 kopecks. and minted in copper kopecks at 8 rubles. from a puddle of copper. After September 1, 1756, former nickels were accepted by the treasury as plain copper at 5 rubles. for a pood, it was forbidden to accept them in payment of state taxes and fees.

During the reign of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, daughter of Peter I, the role of the Senate was restored in matters not only of state development, but also financial management. It is impossible to give an unambiguous assessment of the activities of the Senate. On the one hand, it is known that during the reign of Elizabeth not a single list of state revenues and expenditures was reduced. The government's attempt to obtain a report on income and expenditure ended in the fact that the statements submitted by the Senate and the State Office sold more than a million rubles. In May 1752, the Senate stated that it was completely impossible to draw up a breakdown of the state budget. Numerous offices could not agree on the amounts available and due for spending. In the Chamber Collegium, which was in charge of state revenues, there were thousands of unsorted statements. On the other hand, with this way of doing business, Russian finances, according to the well-known researcher N.D. Chechulin, "were in a relatively good position, and the Russian coin has never been as valuable as it was in this reign."

There are enough reasons to believe that for the major figures of the Elizabethan era, the state interest was not an empty word. These grounds are the practical activities of the Senate and senators.

The Senate approached the solution of its main task, formulated by Peter, "as much as possible to collect money," in full accordance with the rules for organizing the financial economy established by Peter. The most important of these was to find out, as accurately as possible, the number of payers of the poll tax - the main source of state revenues. In order to "suppress the disturbances that have been going on until now and in paying for serving time," the Senate recognized it necessary to "re-introduce an audit and, for the future, carry it out in 15 years." The second revision was completed in 1747. In 1761, the last year of Elizabeth's reign, the third revision began.

In an effort to act in the spirit of Peter's decrees, the government was well aware that the situation in the country had changed significantly in the two decades since Peter. The position of Russia in the world and the system of social relations in Russian society have also changed. The immediate threat to the vital centers of the country was a thing of the past, and access to world sea trade routes was secured. Objectively, the preconditions for changing the social organization of society on principles other than the corporate-estate organization have taken shape. However, the nobility, who had strengthened their positions as the ruling class, understood and realized this opportunity as an opportunity to expand their "gentry liberties" mainly at the expense of the serfs and other estates. Ultimately, the monopoly on the use of peasant labor ceased to be state (transferred to the landowner under the condition of service) and became private.

Defending their monopoly right to exploit peasant labor, the nobility clearly sought to fix and, if possible, reduce the degree of its state exploitation.

Insofar as the landowner became a responsible poll tax collector, moreover, obliged by law to feed the peasant in lean years, to supply him with seeds so that the land does not become desolate, he became the only representative of the economic interests of the peasant in his relations with the state. In this case, the interest of both the peasant and the landowner coincided. That is why, under Peter's successors, an increase in direct taxation - the poll tax - was set by no law, not defined, but no less severe.

by the most in a simple way avoiding taxation was the concealment of souls. During the audit, the souls were concealed in all possible ways.

Nevertheless, the increase in the number of identified payers as a result of the second audit increased budget revenues by almost 700 thousand rubles. However, the established salary was collected with a significant arrears. One of the reasons for this was low solvency of the population. In order to maintain solvency, the Senate decided to add up 10 kopecks per soul when collecting the poll tax for 1742 and 1743, "so that our faithful subjects by paying for the past years of poll tax money are gradually corrected." This decision was not original. After the death of Empress Anna in the regency of Biron, the poll tax for 1740 was reduced by 17 kopecks.

On the contrary, an attempt to increase the poll tax in 1746 was of little success. Only a part of the additional 500,000 rubles due in salary was collected.

The weakening of state exploitation helped to increase the stability of the peasant economy. On the other hand, an increase in quitrents in favor of the landlords, as a rule, was more in line with the individual paying ability of peasant farms than a uniform poll tax. At the same time, such an increase forced the peasant to expand the plowing and sale of grain, as well as trade in products of ancillary crafts, which became one of the factors for expanding economic turnover.

Another important factor in the development of the financial system was expansion of the domestic market due to the development of industry, both domestic peasant and manufactory.

Measures to support factories and plants were repeatedly discussed in the Senate, including with the participation of the Empress herself. In the first years of the reign of Elizabeth, the Berg and Manufaktura collegiums (abolished under Anna Ioannovna) were recreated, and the Chief Magistrate was restored.

As incentives, it was practiced to grant a monopoly on the production of certain products for a number of years, as well as issuance of government loans. Lack of working capital and financial abuses often turned government loans into non-repayable loans. So, after the death (in 1763) of Count P.I. Shuvalov, the factories and industries under his control owed the treasury 680 thousand rubles, of which only 6.9 thousand rubles were returned.

The government was not shy about direct administrative intervention. So, in 1743, cloth factories were taken away from the foreigner Arnoldi, Russian manufacturers Sakharov and Plotnikov "for non-breeding" and transferred to the Voronezh merchant Postovalov, who managed to set up business at his factory. Postovalov was given a state-owned stone house in Voronezh, allowed to buy a village of up to 50 households, and use the peasants for factory work. In addition, the merchant was allowed to start another paper mill. Together with these incentive measures, Postovalov was obliged to produce 30 thousand uniform cloths for the first years, and then with multiplication.

The main goal, as under Peter, was about providing for the needs of the army. In 1746, the Senate denied merchants permission to sell cloth abroad until the needs of the army were satisfied. However, the low government prices were ruinous for the manufacturers. Low prices dictated low wages. The level of the latter did not allow factory workers to pay the poll tax. In this regard, in December 1747, the Senate made the empress a presentation about the need to increase the official price of cloth. However, if the cloths were of low quality, they could be priced below the listed prices.

The labor of assigned peasants was the main productive force both in state-owned and private factories. In November 1753, a decree was issued confirming the right of nobles and merchants to buy village factories with the permission of the Berg and Manufactory Colleges.

In addition to supporting cloth, ironworks, and copper smelters, the need for which was primarily determined by the needs of the army, under Elizabeth, silk manufactories, the production of hats, bricks, and other useful industrial activities were encouraged.

The government should pay special attention salt industry. The monopoly on salt introduced by Peter until the 80s. XVIII century (with the exception of 1727-1730) remained the most important source of income for the treasury.

The main part of the salt consumed in Russia was boiled down in the Perm salt pans, which belonged to the brothers Alexander and Sergey Stroganov. The Stroganovs enjoyed significant benefits for customs duties, for the use of state-owned timber and firewood necessary for salt production, received loans from the treasury for tens of thousands of rubles. Nevertheless, the Stroganovs repeatedly approached the government with a proposal to take their trades to the treasury, complaining about the lack of workers, the depletion of forests and the lack of firewood, as well as the low indicated prices for salt that did not cover costs. In other cases, it came to threats to stop boiling salt. In response, Senate decrees followed - to cook and supply salt forcibly. At the same time, the government was looking for alternative opportunities. During the reign of Elizabeth, the industrial exploitation of salt deposits on Lake Elton began.

Salt prices ranged from 3 and a quarter to 40 and even up to 50 kopecks per pood. In 1745 Count P.I. Shuvalov proposed a cardinal way to increase state revenues, consisting in establishing a single and higher state price for salt (as well as for wine). After numerous discussions of this measure in the Senate in 1750, the approval of the Empress was received. From now on, the official price of a pood of salt was 35 kopecks. In Astrakhan, however, the price was set at half the price.

government consistently patronized the domestic merchants, protecting in a number of cases his class rights against the peasant and nobleman, and carried out measures to protect the domestic market. Customs charter of 1755 prohibiting foreign merchants from retail trade and trade among themselves. (However, foreigners still dominated Russia's foreign trade). The same charter forbade the admission of persons of peasant rank for trade to marinas. Persons of a noble rank could only trade in “homemade”, that is, products produced on their own estates. The tariff of 1757 increased duties on many imported products, and confirmed the prohibition on the export of grain, timber, gold and silver, and wool.

In the second half of the 50s. government has moved to granting monopoly benefits and privileges to certain groups of entrepreneurs, as a rule, who had high patrons or were directly headed by them. In favor of the latter, in particular, exceptions were made to the ban on the export of grain and timber. Monopoly companies were founded for the Black Sea trade, trade with Persia, Khiva, Bukhara. These companies were largely unsuccessful.

Nevertheless, for 20 years (from 1742 to 1762) the annual turnover foreign trade Russia grew by 2.5 times and exceeded 20 million rubles. At the same time, the revenues of the treasury from the customs duty increased by 3 times.

Thus, the limited possibilities for increasing direct taxation were compensated by the government extension of taxation of indirect. As a result, from 1749 to 1758 the structure of state revenues changed radically - indirect taxation replaced direct taxation as the main source of income. If in 1749 revenues from indirect taxation (customs duties, income from the trade in wine, salt and other goods) amounted to about 1/3 of the treasury's income, then in 1758 it was about half. At the same time, the total amount of revenues to the treasury provided for by salaries increased by more than one and a half times - up to 15 million rubles. While maintaining the same volume of the salary of the poll tax, the amount of indirect taxes intended for collection increased by 4.3 million rubles, or 2.3 times.

The development of trade required credit consolidation. The lack of free capital, with turnover slowed down by vast distances, forced a significant part of Russian merchants to use borrowed funds from foreigners who had capital, paying off loans with purchased goods. Lack of capital also contributed to the high cost of credit. In 1733, Empress Anna ordered the Mint to lend money of all ranks to people on the security of gold and silver at 8% per annum. But this decision did not have a serious impact on economic life. Naturally, the government was primarily interested in the needs of the nobility. May 13, 1754 Elizaveta Petrovna signed a decree "On the establishment state loan bank on the procedure for issuing money from it and on the punishment of usurers.

“Our subjects, and more from the nobility, having a need for money, are forced to borrow from others with great interest and with mortgages such that against taking money at one and a half or twice the cost; into squalor and ruin, and they give not only 12, but also 15, and 20%, which is not found in the whole world," the decree noted. Therefore, the Empress ordered "to reduce interest-bearing money throughout the State, to establish state banks from our treasury, the first for the nobility in Moscow and St. Petersburg, the second for the correction at the St. , ... and from the second to one Russian merchants trading at the St. Petersburg port ... "

The same decree set the maximum level of loan interest at 6% per annum ("specified interest"). This percentage had to be content with private lenders. “If any of them dare to take more than six percent, and they will be convicted of that, those given from them in a loan will remain with the borrower, and for the treasury all their estates will be confiscated,” the decree prescribed.

Noble Bank could issue loans secured not only by gold, silver, jewelry, but also sat down with serfs. The bank gave loans in the amount of up to 10 thousand rubles. for up to 3 years. In 1757, the loan repayment period was extended by another year, and in 1761 to 8 years. But the limited capital and chronic non-repayment of loans did not allow the Noble Bank to develop its activities. In addition, the government was afraid to take tough measures against non-payers, "so that the nobility, this first member of the state, would not lose their estates." According to a contemporary, after two or three years, the existence of the Noble Bank ceased to have a moderating effect on usurers. The appetites of the latter were fueled by an increase in the demand of landowners for loans. By the beginning of the 60s, according to Chancellor M.I. Vorontsov, about 100 thousand estates were laid. However, the possibilities of credit in the overwhelming majority of cases were not used for productive purposes.

Even less successful was merchant bank. The bank also issued loans at 6% per annum for six months, then for one year. However, the Bank operated only in St. Petersburg and Moscow, its capital was clearly insufficient (500 thousand rubles), the conditions for issuing loans were hardly acceptable, and the loans themselves were not repaid by borrowers.

With the outbreak of the Seven Years' War in 1756, relative financial well-being was quickly replaced by a chronic lack of funds. During this period, military spending amounted to about 10 million rubles. per year, that is, they absorbed most of the current revenues to the treasury. The increase in the price of wine undertaken following the increase in the price of salt in the first year of the war also resulted in a decrease in consumption and a drop in revenues of the treasury by 200 thousand rubles.

Already in 1760, the debt of various departments to the Main Commissariat, which was in charge of supplying the army, exceeded 5 million rubles, and the latter reported to the Senate that if the debt was not repaid in the current year, the army's salary would not be paid in full. Nevertheless, in the same year, Elizabeth declared that she would continue the war, even if she was forced to sell half of her dresses and diamonds (which amounted to considerable sums - there were several thousand dresses in the Empress's wardrobe).

As a result, quitrent due from state peasants was raised from 40 kopecks. up to 1 ruble per soul. The government tried to solve some of the problems by establishing the first in Russia lottery in both capitals, Riga, Reval and Koenigsberg. A lottery ticket was not cheap - a ruble.

Military needs and the obvious exhaustion of the possibilities of increasing indirect taxation made it necessary to expand the scale of exploitation of the coin regalia again and return to the minting of a copper coin of 16 rubles. from a pood, which had previously been withdrawn from circulation with such difficulty. The situation nevertheless favored the release of a lighter coin. With the increase in trade in the country, there was a shortage of copper coins for servicing retail trade. In some places, silver rubles "began to be exchanged at a considerable loss" ", it was said in the decree of April 8, 1757, which announced the new issue of copper coins according to the 16-ruble coin foot. The same decree carried out the last reduction in the poll tribute.

The author of the project was again Count P.I. Shuvalov. In total in 1757-1761. almost 11 million rubles worth of copper money was issued on a 16-ruble coin stack, which exceeded the issuance of a similar coin in the first four decades of the century.

According to the project of P.I. Shuvalov in 1758 in St. Petersburg and Moscow were created "Bank offices"(Copper Bank). The main purpose of their creation was the introduction of the issued copper money into the economic circulation. The offices issued loans in copper coins to merchants, manufacturers and landlords at 6% per annum. But the return of 3/4 of the loan had to be made in silver coin. In addition, "bank offices" accepted copper coins and issued bills in such a way that the merchant could receive the amount deposited in the Bank in Moscow in St. Petersburg and vice versa. In 1760 was founded Artillery Bank, whose capital was coins minted from unusable artillery pieces. However, the activities of the established banks were accompanied by major abuses and loan defaults. The banks created by Shuvalov were abolished by Catherine II.

Along with the re-minting of copper coins, paper money was issued into circulation. At the end of 1768, Catherine II signed a manifesto and a personal decree to the Senate. Their essence boiled down to the fact that from 01/01/1769 paper bank notes were introduced into monetary circulation, equated to "walking coins". Initially, they were issued for 1 million rubles. The exchange of metal and paper money was carried out by two banknotes specially organized for this purpose in Moscow and St. Petersburg. In each of them, a change fund of a copper coin of 500 rubles was created. Until the end of the 18th century, the possibilities of using banknotes in everyday, small purchase and sale attacks were very limited: only large banknotes were put into circulation.

The relatively favorable situation on the banknote market lasted for approximately 18 years. By the end of the reign of Catherine II, the nominal value of banknotes in circulation reached 158 million rubles, and her immediate successors brought it to 836 million rubles in the first half of the 19th century.

Socio-economic processes and social policy of the middle-second halfXVIII century

During the 18th century, the bulk of the people still lived natural economy, but in its bowels grew market trends emerged elements of industrial way of life. Taking into account the fortress the state of the bulk of the population, these trends inevitably acquired distorted character. Market trends appeared in the following.

1) Spread among the peasants "waste". Having asked landlord's passport, the peasants went to the cities to earn money, from which they then paid off both with the landowner and with the state. In cities, they could engage in petty trade, small crafts, hired as apprentices, serve coachmen, begging- but their return to the landowner was inevitable. It was at the expense of such peasants that cities grew. So, temporarily released serfs were by the end of the XVIII 60% Petersburg residents.

2) Grows the number of "capitalists" peasants. Often they became richer his master. Many of them were oppressed by serfdom, they tried redeem to freedom, but the landowner, as a rule, did not let go - such a peasant was a goose that lays golden eggs. From the sources of the second half of the century, there are cases suicide among these peasants.

3) estate nobles More and more enlightened, needs grew. The nobles are coming out to the foreign market and sell bread abroad, primarily to England. But in order to have marketable grain, it was necessary to increase the pressure on the peasants. In the south of Russia, where the most fertile lands, corvee reached 5-6 days in Week. Peasants for processing own site remained Sundays.

3) reflecting the growth of market trends have spread human trafficking practice. Its peak falls on Catherine's time. Sale skillful carpenters or talented singers was a source of income. Some landowners even started music schools, taught peasant children and then sold profitably. In laws nothing was said about the possibility of trading people, but there was no prohibition. For the entire XVIII century, one is known the only decree, in which recommended to limit this kind of trade. In the decree of Catherine II of 1773, it was recommended to sell people "without using a hammer", and also Catherine strongly advised the nobles not to sell children up to 3 years separate from parents. Here she cared more about future taxpayers: without parents, such children usually died.

Until the second half XVIII century serfdom not perceived as evil. The landlords, as well as the emperors and empresses who succeeded each other on the throne, considered such a state natural. The first ruler to look to business otherwise, was EkaterinaII(1762-1796). Her attempt to start solving the peasant question is connected with acquaintance with the ideas of the "age of Enlightenment".

"Age of Enlightenment" in the history of Europe called XVII- XVIII century . At that time formed ideas and theories, which formed the basis contemporary ideas about social order . And, in particular, the thinkers of the Enlightenment put forward the theory "natural rights". It was that people by nature equal, endowed with equal- natural - rights. In later life, a person's success depends on his abilities and diligence, but the initial, starting rights everyone is the same. Now this idea is so habitual that we do not notice them. Then they seemed to someone news, to someone a crime. Because, more since antiquity established the notion that slaves and free people born. Putting forward the "theory of natural rights" Enlightenment thinkers argued not only with the ancient idea, but and with reality. After all, it was in their era - the 18th century - that fell in history maximum slave trade and the use of slave labor.

Catherine II was not only familiar with the ideas of the Enlightenment, but with some of them communicated personally. So, she was in correspondence with Voltaire and Wilhelm Grimm(one of the storytelling brothers, Wilhelm's main occupation was philosophy). At her invitation Denis came to Petersburg Diderot. Serfdom - slavery- in terms of the Enlightenment - evil. and Catherine came up with the question about serfdom.

In 1767 year in Moscow she convenes Statutory commission- a meeting that out of 573 estate representatives. There were presented all classes except proprietors' peasants - there were also state-owned peasants. Officially commission was convened to develop new legislative code. From the time of " Cathedral Code"Alexey Mikhailovich, 120 years have passed, it is outdated, it was assumed that the Legislative Commission would develop a new basic law. But Catherine also had secret hope: deputies condemn slavery, and it will be canceled, so to speak, with the sanction of the people. When the Legislative Commission met, the deputies were read "Order" compiled by Catherine. It contained quotations from enlighteners, in addition, the following idea was repeated in the "Instruction": when drafting new laws, deputies should be guided by "common good". Then the deputies began the debate: they could speak freely, because the Empress was not in the hall. The deputies did not know that before the meeting of the commission, part of the hall was fenced off by a partition Behind her was a chair. Ekaterina was in this shelter during the meetings. She wanted to hear what do they really think her subjects. She heard the following.

- nobles wished that they rights to peasants have been confirmed by law "forever"

- Merchants wished withdrawals state monopolies and the right to trade with foreign countries

- State peasants said on tax cuts

No one did not tell "for the common good", and not a single estate raised the question of the fate of the serfs. Catherine concluded for herself: give freedom to the peasants means to enter in contradiction with wishes nobles, and very likely lose power. Power Ekaterina loved more than the ideas of the Enlightenment. So more to the question about the fate of the serfs did not return. On the contrary, it was during her reign that serfdom assumed its wildest forms. As for the Legislative Commission, it was dissolved under the pretext of a war with Turkey.

First real Steps in solving the Peasant question were taken by the son of Catherine PaulI(1796-1801). Pavel was led two motives

First, he didn't like mother and strived to act in everything contrary to her. (To be fair, it should be noted that it was response to dislike Catherine to her son - she even intended to deprive Paul of the throne) Symbol this absentee dispute become inscriptions on pedestals two monuments to Peter. As you know, the first monument to Peter was erected during the reign of Catherine - this is the famous "Bronze Horseman". Having no rights to the throne, and having usurped power by erecting a monument to Peter, Catherine sought to show that is the successor his Affairs. Hence the inscription on the pedestal: "PeterI - CatherineII". This emphasized political continuity, after the First Great Emperor was the Second Great Empress. Coming to power Paul installed your monument Peter - in front of the Mikhailovsky Castle. The inscription on the pedestal reads: "Great-grandfather - great-grandson". Thus, Paul emphasized his kindred succession and legal rights to the throne. So and in his approach to Peasant the issue felt a dispute with Catherine: mother only talked about the Enlightenment, but did nothing to alleviate the lot of the majority.

Paul's second motive was with his knightly idea. As a child, Paul was fond of books about medieval knights, and, having come to power, sought to build state based on the principles of chivalry and knightly honor. Hence all kinds of knightly games of the Pavlovian era: he built for himself lock, which now does not look like a knight at all, and under Paul was surrounded ditches and chains bridges. Unusual for St. Petersburg brick color The castle is also associated with Paul's chivalrous passion. The architect Vencenzo Brenna asked what color to paint the castle. Pavel took out the glove of his beautiful lady Anna Gagarina-Lopukhina, which she had dropped at the ball, and indicated to paint in this one. Another chivalrous undertaking was offer to sovereigns Europe fight no more with the involvement of peoples, but to arrange jousting tournaments . In the peasant question, Paul proceeded from an idea, what the attitude of the nobles to the peasants should be knightly. Hence the undertaken measures on the peasant question

1) Prohibition to sell peasants with family separation

2) Prohibition sell peasants apart from the earth(such peasants became servants or performed corvée 7 days a week - their situation worsened)

3) Prohibition force peasants work on sundays and recommendation limit corvée 3 days in Week

4) Peasants have become swear. There was such procedure upon the accession of the emperor to the throne - in churches, people were sworn allegiance to the emperor. This procedure did not concern the peasants before - as if they were not seen as people who could promise and fulfill something. The innovation of Paul the peasants recognized by people.

This kind of measures formed among the peasants positive attitude to Paul. Went talk about will. They were groundless: there are no sources that would testify to such intentions of Paul. But he was the first ruler who tried to make life easier for the majority. The landowners did not forgive Pavel for these intentions. The nobility was drawn up conspiracy, and on the night of March 11-12, 1801, Pavel was killed in the Mikhailovsky Castle. His policy on the peasant question was not the only, but probably the main reason for the conspiracy.

Of all social laws XVIII century, the most important in the historical perspective was "Decree on the Liberty of the Nobility" accepted in 1762 year in office PetraIII (1761-1762) . This emperor spent everything on the throne several months, and fell victim to a coup - was killed on the secret orders of his wife Catherine II. For a long time historians drew an image this man, based on the legend, created by the "Notes" of Catherine, in which Peter III was drawn as big and naughty child who only did what he built papier mache castles and used them to play soldiers. But this image does not fit with those decrees, which appeared in the short reign of Peter III. So far, researchers are not entirely clear whether himself he was their author, or is it his secretary's business Dmitry Volkov. Under Peter, the following documents appear.

- Decree on liquidation of the Secret Chancellery- his reign will be short period in the history of the country, when there was no secret political investigation.

- Decree on religious tolerance. In accordance with it, mass persecution of the Old Believers, the schismatics who fled abroad received the right to return.

- "Manifesto on the Liberty of the Nobility". In accordance with it, the nobles received the right to choose: to serve or not to serve, so they exempted from compulsory service introduced by Peter I.

Consequences this decree turned out to be varied.

1) First, he became the beginning of the process of liberation of all estates . The idea of ​​free estates appeared, and after 100 years the process will come and to the majority- in 1861 the peasants will be freed.

2) Secondly, the "Decree on the Liberty of the Nobility" became the most important prerequisite for the Peasants' uprising under the leadership of Emelyan Pugachev - the strongest peasant movement in the history of the country. After the "Decree on the Liberty of the Nobility", the peasants began to expect the "Decree on peasant liberty". Otherwise, it turned out to be unfair: the nobles now may not serve the state, and the peasants must continue to bear the tax and recruitment duty. After the death of Peter III, officially presented as his natural death, among the peasants spread the legend of the "stolen" liberty and the "hidden" emperor. Peter de issued a decree on peasant liberty, but the nobles stole it. Peter, however, is hiding somewhere, but he will come and unleash. AND such Petra began to appear I am. In terms of the number of impostors for whom he became a prototype, Peter III turned out to be a record figure. Numbers are given in different studies. from 13 to 40. The most famous "Peter III" was Pugachev. The researchers noted that documentation, which were published on his behalf in nature resemble the text of the "Decree on the Liberty of the Nobility", only in content they were like "Manifestos on peasant liberty"

3) The third consequence of the decree was noticeable not immediately. Having retired from service, many nobles gained free time got the opportunity to learn and educate their children . The children and grandchildren of these liberated nobles would create a brilliant cultural upsurge in the first half of the 19th century. As you know, this period is called "golden age of Russian culture" .