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PETER'S REFORMS |
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Among
all the Russian rulers Peter I was the greatest
reformer. During his reign there was no sphere of
human activity that would not be touched by reforms:
whether state administration, army, economy,
education, culture, Church of finances. First
innovations affected the habits, and as soon as the
czar returned from his first foreign voyage. He issued
the decree that introduced the new calendar, and since
1 January 1700 Russia abandoned the old chronology
"from the Creation of the World", as well as the day 1
September as the first day of the year, and adopted
chronology conforming European usage. Since the
Gregorian calendar at that time was not widely spread
yet,
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especially in the Protestant countries, Russia adhered to the Julian calendar, which in the 18th
century was lagging behind the Gregorian one by 11 days, in
the 19th century 12 days, and in the 20th century 13 days.
Therefore studies in the Russian history require taking into
account the difference between the dates in so-called Old
Style and New Style, and use both of them to date events of
the Russian history in the world history setting. Not all
of the reforms were well-thought from the beginning to the
end, especially when they concerned the competences of newly
created offices. Reforms took place in result of current
needs, ripening since long, for which Russia was ready, and of
which even before Peter thought among others Sophia and
Vasiliy Golitsyn, although they had no will-power and energy
to materialize their predicaments. Some of the reforms were
needed due to the protracting war and that is why they were
often introduced in hurry: they would promptly require changes
and amendments. Competences of the offices and officials
changed constantly, so did the number and the borders of the
administrative units, as well as the scope of other
undertakings - changes often took decades to complete and it
was not until the second half of the 19th century that Russia
achieved in this matter a satisfactory stabilization.
Among the political and administrative reforms, first of all
one needs to name the creation of the Senate and collegia, as
well as the new administrative division of the country. The
Senate (the official name: Governing Senate) was created in
1711 in place of the Legislative Assembly (Boyar Duma), which
ended its existence as it became inadequate for new conditions
and requirements. All the the members of the Boyar Duma,
without exception, were aristocrats, while during the reign of
Peter I big careers were made, and high offices were held, by
representatives of lower social classes. The Senate, that new
Legislative Assembly, in every matter reported to the czar and
was designated first of all to execute czar's decrees. The
Senate exercised control of both administrative and judicial
apparatus, published czar's decrees and comments to them,
administered taxation, treasury expenditures and foreign
trade, carried out so-called revisions in various local
offices, and substituted for the czar during the periods of
his absence (for example during his foreign travels or the
Prut Campaign of 1711). In 1722 was created the office of the
General-Procurator of the Senate, whose duty was to control
the activities of the Senate itself.
Collegia had been created since 1717 in place of the former
prikazes as central offices of the state authority with
clearly defined competences, and collective (collegial) system
of making decisions and responsibility for their execution. At
the head of each collegium stood its president, and to the
making of their boards went vice-presidents, councillors and
assessors; vice-presidents often were foreigners. At first
there were created nine Collegia: three "capital" or
"royal" - of Foreign Affairs, War and Admiralty, -
three economical - of Mines, Manufactures and Trade, - and
three financial - of Revenue, Expenditure and Control. Most of
the collegia had foreign names, chiefly originating from the
German language. So, for example, the Collegium of Mines was
called Berg-kollegia, of Manufactures - Manufaktur-kollegia,
of Control - Revision-kollegia etc. Later organization of the
collegia used to change; some collegia were abolished (for
example the Revision-kollegia, which was amalgamated with the
Senate), some were created as necessary, like for example the
Justitz-kollegia (for administration of the judicial system)
or the Collegium of Russia Minor, and some others were
transformed into completely different offices, as it happened
to the Spiritual Collegium. In 1708 in Russia was introduced a new administrative division
into eight big provinces: Moscow, Ingermanland (later
Petersburg), Smolensk, Kazan, Azov, Siberia, Kiev and
Archangel. Later the administrative division changed, the
number of the provinces increased, and their borders were
uneven. At the head of the provinces stood governors - the
highest representatives of the local administration, enjoying
broad, but never clearly defined, competences. The provinces
in their turn were divided into the lands, and the lands into
the counties. And this division used to go through many
transformations; also changed the structure of the local
administrative bodies attached to the governors - as a rule
their members were elected by the local nobility.
In the sphere of the legal and judicial system there were more
experiments and temporary legislations than substantial and
permanent changes. Among others in the epoque of Peter the
Great there were created district courts in ten biggest
Russian cities. Peter did not codify the laws - legally the
Legal Code (Sobornoye Ulozheniye) of 1649 was still valid.
State crimes of all kinds were under the jurisdiction of
so-called Preobrazhenski Prikaz, whose head was one of Peter's
closest and most trusted associates, prince Fyodor
Romodanovskiy. Of course, neither the highest office of the
czar's secret police not its head enjoyed much sympathy of the
people, chiefly due to their investigation methods. As the
prikazes were abolished, also this one was transformed into
the Secret Office. Reforms enabled centralization of the state apparatus and
consolidated czar's autocracy, having unequivocally
subordinated all the organs of the state authority and state
institutions to the czar's will. Implementation of such
tendency did not leave even the Orthodox Church aside, the
more so that the clergy, and especially the new patriarch
Hadrian (1690-1700), openly sabotaged the reforms. Peter tried
to neutralize their influence through appointing to bishops
clergymen from Russia Minor, especially those, who studied in
Kiev and were more predisposed towards some Western habits.
And after Hadrian's death Peter did not allow for election of
a new patriarch. For several years the metropolitan of Ryazan,
Stephen Yavorskiy, remained the locum tenens of the
patriarchal throne. In 1721 the office of the patriarch was
abolished and replaced by the Governing Synod (akin of the
Senate), transformed from the Spiritual Collegium, and in 1726
it was again transformed into the Holy Synod, whose board
included, apart from secular officials (president and
vice-presidents), also clerical ones. To the making of the
Synod also went a secular official, ober-procurator, who
represented the monarch and was empowered to control the works
of the Synod. The Synod exercised its authority in the
questions of interpreting dogmas, issuing liturgical decrees,
administration of the churches and monasteries, management of
the Church property, prosecution of heretics and old-ritualists,
Orthodox propaganda among non-Orthodox and non-Slavic peoples,
and Church censorship. Yavorskiy became the first president of
the Synod, and among the first vice-presidents was Theophan
Prokopovich.
Big changes occurred in the urban administration. The
beginnings of the municipal reforms became one of the
earliest, along the calendar reform, innovations. Already in
1699 in Moscow was created so-called municipal chamber, and
with time municipal chambers and elected mayors (gorodnichiye)
appeared in other cities. Out-of-town settlers were removed
from the jurisdiction of land authorities. Since 1720 there
had been created magistrates (with mayors), which reported to
the Chief Magistrate in Petersburg. In view of substantial
already at that time property and professional stratification
of the citizens, they were divided into "regular"
and "common" ones. "Regular" citizens in
their turn were divided into two guilds - the first comprising
rich merchants, medics, pharmacists and other representatives
of the liberal professions, and the second - artisans and
other merchants. Only "regular" citizens could
participate in elections of the members of the magistrates;
"commoners" (workers for hire and people without
established occupation and dwelling) had no such rights.
Moreover, merchants, who possessed manufactures, enjoyed a
number of privileges. As far as military reforms are concerned, it is necessary to
mention the creation of the permanent army and navy in the
first place. In the beginning of the reign of Peter I the
situation in this area was far from satisfactory: the streltsi
troops were disbanded after the revolt of 1698, and the
popular militia was not able to meet the challenges that the
Great Northern War had put in front of it. One may say that
while entering the war with Sweden, the czar had no army at
all, and that was one of the reasons of the defeat at Narva,
where hastily formed regiments fought under the command of
foreigners. After Narva started regular recruitment among the
peasants and citizens according to certain quantitative rates.
Officers, almost without exception, were coming from the
gentry, having previously served in one of the regiments of
guard - Preobrazhenski or Semyonovski. Soldiers' and officers'
duties were in details described in regulations, soldiers were
clad in modern uniforms, and the service was for life. The
army was armed with modern muskets and modernized artillery;
also developed construction of the fortresses. All those
reforms towards the reign of Peter I gave him the regular land
army of 200 thousand men, comprised of infantry, cavalry,
artillery, engineers, ordnance and guards. Apart from that
also 100 thousand irregular Cossacks, Tartars and Bashkirs saw
service. One of the greatest Peter's merits was the creation of the
navy. Questions concerning the sea and the navy had occupied
him ever since the early youth; Peter's courtiers often used
to channel their talks to the naval issues and pretend a big
interest in naval affairs in order to gain czar's favours. At
the end of the Great Northern War the Russian navy numbered
several dozens of sailing ships (perhaps about 50, different
sources name different numbers) and more than 800 other
vessels, mostly rowing galleys. Ships were built in several
shipyards in Petersburg, Archangel and on the River Svir
(linking lakes Onega and Ladoga); sometimes they were
purchased abroad, and some were captured in battles with the
Swedes. |
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