APE Topic 5 Discussion 26

1. Explain why Russia had not been part of western development.

2. Describe how Russian development paralleled Prussia.

3. Explain how the westernization of Russia was like Japan, but not like Japan.

4. Describe how Russia, in the 1500’s considered Europe “in the rear”.

5. Describe the state of intellectual life in Russia in the 1600’s.

6. Explain how Russia was western in its political institutions and how Ivan the Terrible’s bid for absolutism (which was completed by the Romanovs) was designed to save Russia.

7. Explain how availability of land led to serfdom in Russia.

8. Describe the condition of the serfs in 1650’s Russia.

9. Describe Peter the Great.

10. Explain what is meant by “a window to the west.”

10.1 Explain what Peter’s Winter Palace suggests about his reform efforts.

11. Describe the tactics used by Peter the Great to defeat Charles XII of Sweden.

12. Describe Peter the Great’s military reforms.

13. Explain how the Russian Empire of Peter the Great parallels the Soviet Union.

14. Explain how St. Petersburg symbolizes the transformation of Russia.

15. Describe Peter the Great’s commercial reforms.

16. Explain how Peter the Great’s reforms widened the gap between Europe and Russia.

17. Explain how Peter the Great’s decision to let the Czars pick their successor placed Russia on a path divergent from that of Europe.

18. Describe Peter the Great’s social reforms.

19. Describe the effects of Peter the Great’s reforms on Russia, the nobility, the serfs.