When did Russia become definitively more absolutist than rest of Europe:

When did Russia become definitively more absolutist than rest of Europe?


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It was not so much Russia becoming more absolutist, but rather the majority of European monarchies becoming less absolutist. ;)
 
Peter I destroyed all representative institutions in Russia, replacing elected officials appointed:(
 
Richard Pipes' Property & Freedom is a good book to read for insight into why Russia developed differently than the West. He argues private property is a critical concept for development of institutions conducive to liberty, and that these were essentially destroyed under the Mongol Yoke. The origins lie there although one could argue that the diverging trends did not become decisive until much later, but certainly Peter I at the latest. A strong case can be made that it was the triumph of Muscovy as the dominant state in Russia that insured how Russia would develop which would put it in the 1500s with Ivan the Terrible.
 
Richard Pipes' Property & Freedom is a good book to read for insight into why Russia developed differently than the West. He argues private property is a critical concept for development of institutions conducive to liberty, and that these were essentially destroyed under the Mongol Yoke. The origins lie there although one could argue that the diverging trends did not become decisive until much later, but certainly Peter I at the latest. A strong case can be made that it was the triumph of Muscovy as the dominant state in Russia that insured how Russia would develop which would put it in the 1500s with Ivan the Terrible.

Nonsense, sorry. Russia before Peter has evolved in the same direction as other countries: Boyar Duma - the House of Lords, Pomestnyy Sobors - the States General, a large number of elective offices in the Municipality.
 
This question should be put in context. With some exception, the most significant though partial ones being Britain and Poland, the vast majority of European countries were basically moving toward a more absolutist frame from 1450 to about 1780. Russia followed basically an analogous (though not identical) pattern in this regard.
I would sat that institutionalized "modern" absolutism in Russia can be traced to the Early Romanovs after the Troubles, building incrementally from there and especially after Peter the Great, but the bases for that had been already set by Ivan III and Ivan IV.
The anomaly, however, did not come out until later. Russia became more absolutist than the rest of Europe when it managed to keep her absolutism intact while the other European countries had started the process to reverse it (Britain being an exception on the opposite side) which did not really happen before the 1770s at earliest.
 
This question should be put in context. With some exception, the most significant though partial ones being Britain and Poland, the vast majority of European countries were basically moving toward a more absolutist frame from 1450 to about 1780. Russia followed basically an analogous (though not identical) pattern in this regard.
I would sat that institutionalized "modern" absolutism in Russia can be traced to the Early Romanovs after the Troubles, building incrementally from there and especially after Peter the Great, but the bases for that had been already set by Ivan III and Ivan IV.
The anomaly, however, did not come out until later. Russia became more absolutist than the rest of Europe when it managed to keep her absolutism intact while the other European countries had started the process to reverse it (Britain being an exception on the opposite side) which did not really happen before the 1770s at earliest.
Pretty much this.
I'd go all the way to the 19th century until Russia was anything other than 'Generic Continental Europe' in terms of government. I'd guess being one of the only major states to get through the Napoleonic period essentially unchanged, the anomolous Britain being the other, and missing the intendant spread of liberal, nationist ideals probably had something to with why everyone else eventually left them behind.
 
Nonsense, sorry. Russia before Peter has evolved in the same direction as other countries: Boyar Duma - the House of Lords, Pomestnyy Sobors - the States General, a large number of elective offices in the Municipality.
the Boyar' Revolt? I do believe Ivan the Terrible killed a lot of Nobles stalin-style scaring them into not crossing him through secret police (Oprichniki?)

That definitely sets a precedent for the Monarch being unquestionable.
Funny, it is said that when Ivan first came to power it seemed he was to put Russia on the path to enlightment and then one day he supposedly just snapped and became paranoid. Imagine if Ivan succeeded in granting privileges to the Boyars' we could have maybe seen real democratic traditions developing in Russia similar to England.
 
the Boyar' Revolt? I do believe Ivan the Terrible killed a lot of Nobles stalin-style scaring them into not crossing him through secret police (Oprichniki?)

That definitely sets a precedent for the Monarch being unquestionable.
Funny, it is said that when Ivan first came to power it seemed he was to put Russia on the path to enlightment and then one day he supposedly just snapped and became paranoid. Imagine if Ivan succeeded in granting privileges to the Boyars' we could have maybe seen real democratic traditions developing in Russia similar to England.

Enlightened in this context is essentially meaningless and I'd posit that a Russia with more noble privilege is in fact more likely to end up a backwards power with no ability to modernize. A powerful traditionalist landed elite running a nation is never conducive to reform.
 
Enlightened in this context is essentially meaningless and I'd posit that a Russia with more noble privilege is in fact more likely to end up a backwards power with no ability to modernize. A powerful traditionalist landed elite running a nation is never conducive to reform.

Poland-Lithuania comes to mind.

While an enlightened Ivan as opposed to one who basically "when all you have is a hammer. . ." might be an improvement, Ivan strengthening the nobility would not be.
 
Definitely started under Ivan the Terrible, so the late 1500s. While the people killed weren't exclusively boyars, if you disagreed with Ivan no matter who you were, you would be killed. Ivan the Terrible also laid the grounds for the use of secret police that would be see in Russia, just not in the same format.

The Oprichnina were all made of people the Ivan the Terrible deemed loyal or at least trustworthy to him and him alone. Everyone else the "Zemskie People" were either extorted, killed or driven off their lands. The Oprichnina where also a branch of governance who managed their own lands, and added to them by confiscation and unsavory acts.

Under Ivan the Great from what read. There was a time when Lithuanian magnates defected to Muscovy, rather than the other way around under Ivan the Terrible.
 
Basically the second half of the 19C.

From then on, even places like Prussia and Austria started putting on Parliamentary fig-leaves, but in Russia absolutism remained stark naked until 1906.
 
It wasn't until Nikolai I that Russia could be said to be definitively distinct and more absolutist than the rest of Europe.

Before then if anything it was run by the landed nobility and gentry with the Tsar often at their mercy.
 
the Boyar' Revolt? I do believe Ivan the Terrible killed a lot of Nobles stalin-style scaring them into not crossing him through secret police (Oprichniki?)

That definitely sets a precedent for the Monarch being unquestionable.
Funny, it is said that when Ivan first came to power it seemed he was to put Russia on the path to enlightment and then one day he supposedly just snapped and became paranoid. Imagine if Ivan succeeded in granting privileges to the Boyars' we could have maybe seen real democratic traditions developing in Russia similar to England.

What does the revolution? Before the Peter any decision to king had to be approved by the Boyar Duma. Therefore, Peter escaped from Moscow where he was chained in their endeavors. But in St. Petersburg, he could wring a ram's horn to call back any nobleman.
Peter acted in accordance with the theories of his beloved mentor Leibniz, which is seen in such an ideal state.

Ivan the Terrible created a state within a state, dividing Russia on his estate (Oprichina), where he was is sovereign, and Zemshchina where still operated the old laws. Hence raids oprichniks (guards of the king) on ​​Zemshchina, which was seen as a vassal state.
 
Under Ivan the Great from what read. There was a time when Lithuanian magnates defected to Muscovy, rather than the other way around under Ivan the Terrible.

Yes, it is under Ivan III. When his grandson ran back to Lithuania.
 
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