Peter The Great Imperialism

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As is the case with Russia in the present day, Imperial Russia was able to maintain an expansionist policy while negating the rights of the common people due to the chauvinistic support that it received from its military prowess. The Russian Empire starts with Peter the I, who paved the way for the Russian Tsar’s having absolute authority that was tolerated due to the continued success of their military conquests. Peter desired for Russia to gain access to the Baltic Sea as this would connect the empire to the rest of Europe and thus legitimize it as a European power (Wikipedia contributors, Russian Empire). As such, he waged war against a weakened Swedish Empire and in 1721, through victory, Sweden seceded significant portions of Northeast …show more content…
With the Russian people revering him due to victory in the Northern War against Sweden, Peter the Great had the support necessary to continue Russia’s imperialistic ambitions against its weakening neighbors and form a government that gave him absolute authority. Desiring to replicate the great emperors of the past such as Julius Caesar (Boterbleom, 2018, p.37), Peter the Great prohibited any forms of self-governance, took away significant influence from the nobility, and created a senate with the main purpose of collecting tax revenue to fund the empire’s expansionism (Wikipedia Contributors, Russian Empire). While the forfeiting of rights and increased taxation would normally arouse anger in the common people, due to Peter the Great’s continued military victories such as the gaining of territory against the Persian Empire in the Caucus and Caspian Sea, he continued to receive significant support and thus instilled in his successors that absolute authority and a lack of rights would be overlooked in the case of military prowess and inspirational leadership (Wikipedia contributors, Russian …show more content…
This map indicates how Peter the Great was able to establish Russian control over areas in the Caucus as well as gain Russian access to the Baltic Sea. Following the death of Peter the Great, the Russian empire stagnated and gained minimal territory changes until the ascension of Catherine the II to the throne in 1762. Catherine II, who also adorned the moniker ‘Great’, modeled her leadership and ambitions for the Russian Empire after Peter the Great. She understood that to gain the support of the people while continuing to suppress their rights, she needed to continue Peter’s legacy of successful military conquest against weakened neighbors. During her reign, Russia engaged in successful campaigns against the Persians, Ottomans, and Poles. In 1774, after six years of war with the Ottomans, through the Treaty of Kuchuk Kainarji, Russia claimed portions of the Northern Black Sea coast and Crimea (Boterbleom, 2018, p.49). In 1783, Russia gained further influence in the Caucus region by signing the Treaty of Georgievesk that gave the Empire control of the Kingdom of Kartili-Hakheti (Boterbleom, 2018, p.51). After negotiations with Prussia and Austria, in the second and third partitions of the Polish-Lithuania Commonwealth, Catherine the Great acquired significant portions of Western Belarus, Western Ukraine, Lithuania, Southern Latvia, and most of Poland