1E Russia in the Age of Absolutism and Enlightenment, 1682–1796 (A-level only) – Increasing the glory of Russia, 1707–1725 — AQA A-Level History

The period between 1707 and 1725 represents the culmination of Peter the Great's transformative reign, during which Russia decisively broke out of its relative diplomatic isolation to emerge as a dominant European empire. Anchored by the crushing defeat of Charles XII at Poltava in 1709 and the conclusive Treaty of Nystad in 1721, Russia displaced Sweden's Baltic empire and reshuffled the international balance of power.

This external glory was entirely contingent upon an unprecedented mobilisation of domestic society, leading to systemic institutional reforms. To finance and provision his standing military, Peter overhauled central governance through the Senate and Collegia, subjected the Russian Orthodox Church to state control via the Holy Synod, bound the nobility to state service through the Table of Ranks, and imposed crushing fiscal burdens upon the peasantry through the Soul Tax.

• →Great Northern War (1700–1721): The strategic conflict against Sweden that shaped all Petrine domestic and military policy, culminating in the 1709 victory at Poltava and the 1721 Peace of Nystad.
• →Administrative Rationalisation: The systematic replacement of antiquated Muscovite institutions with the Governing Senate (1711) and specialized functional Collegia (1718) modelled on Swedish bureaucracy.
• →Table of Ranks (1722): A 14-grade system of state service that formalized civil and military advancement based on merit and service to the Crown rather than birth, fundamentally restructuring the Russian nobility.
• →Subordination of the Church: The abolition of the Moscow Patriarchate and the implementation of the 1721 Ecclesiastical Regulation, establishing the Holy Synod under a secular Chief Procurator to ensure the Church served imperial state interests.
• →Fiscal-Military State and the Soul Tax: The transition from household-based taxes to a direct capitation tax (poll tax) on all non-noble males between 1718 and 1724, funding the standing army whilst hardening the legal institution of serfdom.

• Identify the introduction of the soul tax in 1724 and its profound impact on both state revenue and the peasantry.
• Explain the role of mercantilism in Peter's economic policies, including state monopolies and protectionist tariffs such as the 1724 Tariff.
• Evaluate the development of industry, particularly metallurgy in the Urals, to supply the military.
• Assess the overall success of these reforms, balancing the achievement of funding the war against the long-term structural weaknesses caused by reliance on serfdom.
• Explain the significance of the 1721 Spiritual Regulation in abolishing the independent Patriarchate.
• Analyse the structure and function of the Holy Synod, highlighting the role of the secular Chief Procurator.
• Evaluate how the subordination of the Church increased the Tsar's autocratic power and financial resources.
• Discuss the ideological justification for these changes, such as Feofan Prokopovich's arguments for the divine right of the Tsar over the Church.
• Explain the replacement of the Boyar Duma with the Governing Senate and the introduction of Colleges to streamline central administration.
• Assess the effectiveness of dividing Russia into gubernii for local governance, tax collection, and military recruitment.
• Evaluate the military reforms, including the creation of a standing army, lifelong peasant conscription, and the modernisation of weaponry and tactics.
• Analyse the impact of the Table of Ranks (1722) in establishing a meritocratic Service State that bound the nobility to compulsory state service.
• Identify key policies of Westernisation, including changes to dress, grooming (beard tax), and the introduction of Western-style assemblies.
• Analyse the social developments affecting the nobility, such as compulsory education and the end of female seclusion (terem).
• Evaluate the impact of Peter's reforms on the peasantry, focusing on the increased financial and physical burdens of the soul tax and conscription.
• Assess the overall extent of change by 1725, contrasting the transformed elite culture in St Petersburg with the unchanged traditional lives of the rural masses.
• Explain the economic and cultural triggers of the Astrakhan revolt, noting the resentment towards Westernisation policies like the beard tax.
• Analyse the Bashkir rebellion as a reaction to religious insensitivity and the imposition of new taxes on a non-Russian, Muslim population.
• Evaluate the Bulavin Rebellion of the Don Cossacks as a defence of traditional regional autonomy and the right to harbour fugitive serfs from state conscription.
• Assess the political threat posed by Tsarevich Alexis as a focal point for conservative opposition, including the clergy and old nobility, against Peter's reforms.
• Assess the strategic significance of the Battle of Poltava in 1709 in turning the tide of the Great Northern War against Sweden.
• Evaluate the terms of the Treaty of Nystad in 1721 and its role in confirming Russian dominance in the Baltic region.
• Analyse the causes and consequences of the Pruth Campaign in 1711, noting the loss of Azov and the setback to Peter's southern expansion against Turkey.
• Explain Peter's methods for integrating Russia into European conflicts, including the use of dynastic marriages in German states and naval pressure in the Baltic.

• 💡Use the 1724 soul tax as your primary evidence when evaluating the success of Peter's financial reforms in raising state revenue.
• 💡Link economic policies directly to military needs; Peter's industrialisation was primarily driven by the necessity of supplying the army and navy.
• 💡When assessing success, differentiate between short-term military survival and long-term economic modernisation.
• 💡Use the establishment of the Holy Synod in 1721 as the definitive turning point in the relationship between the Tsar and the Orthodox Church.
• 💡Connect Church reforms to Peter's broader goal of absolutism; controlling the Church removed the last institutional check on his power.
• 💡Reference the requirement for priests to break the seal of confession for treason as a powerful example of the Church becoming an instrument of state control.
• 💡Link the administrative reforms directly to the demands of the Great Northern War, showing how military necessity drove state centralisation.
• 💡Use the Table of Ranks as key evidence when evaluating Peter's attempts to control the nobility and create a merit-based bureaucracy.
• 💡Contrast the theoretical design of the Colleges with their practical limitations, such as overlapping jurisdictions and a lack of trained personnel.
• 💡When discussing the extent of change, explicitly contrast the visual transformation of the nobility with the continuity of peasant life to demonstrate nuanced evaluation.
• 💡Use the introduction of the soul tax (poll tax) as a primary example of how social developments negatively impacted the peasantry.
• 💡Argue whether Westernisation was an end in itself or merely a practical tool to modernise the state and support Peter's military ambitions.
• 💡Compare the different motives for rebellion, contrasting the dynastic threat of Alexis with the socio-economic grievances of the Cossacks and Bashkirs.
• 💡Use the Bulavin Rebellion to demonstrate the tension between Peter's need for military manpower and traditional regional autonomies.
• 💡When discussing Tsarevich Alexis, evaluate how his death secured Peter's reforms in the short term but created long-term succession instability.
• 💡Contrast Peter's overwhelming success in the Baltic against Sweden with his significant strategic failures against Turkey in the south.
• 💡Link foreign policy directly to domestic reforms, demonstrating how the demands of the Great Northern War drove Peter's military and economic changes.
• 💡Use the Treaty of Nystad as a definitive turning point to argue when Russia formally replaced Sweden as the dominant power in northern Europe.
• 💡Utilise precise chronological dates and terminology: referencing the 1711 Senate, 1718 Collegia, 1721 Treaty of Nystad, and 1722 Table of Ranks signals high-level subject knowledge.
• 💡Balance evaluation of military glory with domestic cost: examiners reward answers that analyze the fiscal cost on the peasantry (the Soul Tax) alongside the battlefield triumphs of Poltava and Gangut.
• 💡Integrate the Church reform into discussions of absolutism: explain how the Holy Synod (1721) eliminated the Church as an autonomous political rival to the Tsar, directly enhancing royal autocracy.

• Error: Confusing the soul tax with a household tax. Correction: Specify that the soul tax was levied on individual male peasants, replacing the older household tax to prevent tax evasion.
• Error: Claiming Peter created a modern capitalist economy. Correction: Emphasise that his economy was state-directed and reliant on unfree serf labour, not free-market capitalism.
• Error: Ignoring the financial aspect of the reforms. Correction: Ensure you explicitly discuss revenue-raising measures like the soul tax and debasement of coinage alongside industrial developments.
• Error: Stating that Peter abolished the Orthodox Church. Correction: Clarify that Peter abolished the Patriarchate, not the Church itself, which he instead subordinated to the state.
• Error: Confusing the Holy Synod with a secular government department like the Senate. Correction: Specify that the Holy Synod was a council of clerics, but it was supervised by a secular Chief Procurator appointed by the Tsar.
• Error: Ignoring the financial motives behind Church reform. Correction: Mention that controlling the Church allowed Peter to access monastic revenues to fund his wars and state-building.
• Confusing the Governing Senate with a democratic parliament; it was an appointed body designed to govern in Peter's absence and enforce his autocratic will.
• Assuming the Table of Ranks abolished the nobility; it merely restructured their service and allowed commoners to achieve hereditary noble status at the 8th rank.
• Overstating the success of local government reforms; while gubernii were created, local administration remained underfunded, corrupt, and largely ineffective.
• Claiming that Westernisation affected all of Russian society; it was almost entirely restricted to the nobility and urban elites, leaving the peasantry largely untouched culturally.
• Assuming the end of the terem meant full equality for women; it only applied to elite women and was designed to mimic Western court life rather than promote genuine emancipation.
• Stating that Peter completely destroyed the Orthodox Church's influence; while he subordinated it to the state, traditional religious beliefs remained central to the lives of most Russians.
• Error: Confusing the causes of the Cossack and Bashkir rebellions. Correction: Ensure you distinguish that the Bashkirs rebelled primarily over religious and ethnic autonomy, whereas the Don Cossacks fought to protect their tradition of harbouring runaway serfs.
• Error: Assuming Tsarevich Alexis actively led a military uprising against Peter. Correction: Clarify that Alexis was a passive figurehead who fled abroad, rather than a military commander, but was perceived as a severe dynastic threat.
• Error: Treating all opposition as purely anti-Westernisation. Correction: Acknowledge that while cultural reforms sparked the Astrakhan revolt, heavy taxation and conscription for the Great Northern War were the primary drivers for the provincial rebellions.
• Error: Stating that Russia gained access to the Black Sea during this period. Correction: Specify that while Peter initially took Azov, it was lost back to Turkey in 1711 at the Pruth, meaning Black Sea access was not secured.
• Error: Viewing the Great Northern War as a continuous series of Russian victories. Correction: Recognise the fluctuating fortunes of the war, noting that victory required extensive military reforms and alliances after early defeats.
• Error: Ignoring Russia's diplomatic integration into Europe. Correction: Include Peter's use of diplomacy, such as marrying his nieces into German ducal families, to secure influence in European conflicts beyond direct warfare.
• Assuming Peter followed a premeditated master plan: Peter's reforms were largely improvisational responses to immediate wartime crises rather than an ideological blueprint conceived during his 1697–1698 Grand Embassy.
• Believing Russia's diplomatic elevation was universally welcomed: Western European powers—notably Britain under George I and the Habsburg Empire—viewed the rise of a powerful Russian Baltic fleet and an expansionist Russian army with deep suspicion and diplomatic hostility.
• Conflating Westernisation with the liberation of society: Westernising cultural and bureaucratic reforms applied almost exclusively to the elite, whilst the vast peasant majority experienced unprecedented legal subjugation, heavier taxation, and brutal conscription.

1. 1Phase 1: Map the military trajectory from 1707 to 1725, contrasting the success at Poltava (1709) and Nystad (1721) with the failure at Pruth (1711) and the Caspian Expedition (1722–1723).
2. 2Phase 2: Create a comparison table of domestic structural reforms: Senate (1711), Collegia (1718), Table of Ranks (1722), and Holy Synod (1721), identifying the purpose and impact of each.
3. 3Phase 3: Analyse the economic and social toll of Peter's rule, focusing specifically on the census and the Soul Tax (1718–1724), peasant conscription, and the construction of St Petersburg.
4. 4Phase 4: Practice AQA 25-mark essay outlines focusing on the extent to which Peter achieved his aim of increasing the glory and security of Russia.

• 📋25-mark Breadth Essay evaluating foreign policy: Questions asking students to assess whether Peter's foreign policy was entirely successful or driven by consistent aims between 1707 and 1725.
• 📋25-mark Thematic Essay on autocracy and governance: Questions focusing on whether Petrine domestic reforms fundamentally transformed Russian governance or merely entrenched autocracy through military coercion.
• 📋25-mark Social/Economic Evaluation: Questions assessing the extent to which the lower orders bore the primary burden of Russia's emergence as an imperial great power.