The Story of Mankind [117]
territory, finally became strong enough to risk
open rebellion against its masters, the Tartars. It was successful
and its fame as the leader in the cause of Russian independence
made Moscow the natural centre for all those who
still believed in a better future for the Slavic race. In the year
1458, Constantinople was taken by the Turks. Ten years
later, under the rule of Ivan III, Moscow informed the
western world that the Slavic state laid claim to the worldly
and spiritual inheritance of the lost Byzantine Empire, and
such traditions of the Roman empire as had survived in
Constantinople. A generation afterwards, under Ivan the Terrible,
the grand dukes of Moscow were strong enough to adopt the
title of Caesar, or Tsar, and to demand recognition by the western
powers of Europe.
In the year 1598, with Feodor the First, the old Muscovite
dynasty, descendants of the original Norseman Rurik, came to
an end. For the next seven years, a Tartar half-breed, by the
name of Boris Godunow, reigned as Tsar. It was during
this period that the future destiny of the large masses of the
Russian people was decided. This Empire was rich in land
but very poor in money. There was no trade and there were
no factories. Its few cities were dirty villages. It was composed
of a strong central government and a vast number of
illiterate peasants. This government, a mixture of Slavic,
Norse, Byzantine and Tartar influences, recognised nothing
beyond the interest of the state. To defend this state, it
needed an army. To gather the taxes, which were necessary
to pay the soldiers, it needed civil servants. To pay these many
officials it needed land. In the vast wilderness on the east
and west there was a sufficient supply of this commodity. But
land without a few labourers to till the fields and tend the
cattle, has no value. Therefore the old nomadic peasants
were robbed of one privilege after the other, until finally, during
the first year of the sixteenth century, they were formally
made a part of the soil upon which they lived. The Russian
peasants ceased to be free men. They became serfs or slaves
and they remained serfs until the year 1861, when their fate
had become so terrible that they were beginning to die out.
In the seventeenth century, this new state with its growing
territory which was spreading quickly into Siberia, had become
a force with which the rest of Europe was obliged to
reckon. In 1618, after the death of Boris Godunow, the
Russian nobles had elected one of their own number to be
Tsar. He was Michael, the son of Feodor, of the Moscow family
of Romanow who lived in a little house just outside the
Kremlin.
In the year 1672 his great-grandson, Peter, the son of another
Feodor, was born. When the child was ten years old,
his step-sister Sophia took possession of the Russian throne.
The little boy was allowed to spend his days in the suburbs of
the national capital, where the foreigners lived. Surrounded
by Scotch barkeepers, Dutch traders, Swiss apothecaries, Italian
barbers, French dancing teachers and German school-masters,
the young prince obtained a first but rather extraordinary
impression of that far-away and mysterious Europe where
things were done differently.
When he was seventeen years old, he suddenly pushed
Sister Sophia from the throne. Peter himself became the ruler
of Russia. He was not contented with being the Tsar of a
semi-barbarous and half-Asiatic people. He must be the sovereign
head of a civilised nation. To change Russia overnight
from a Byzantine-Tartar state into a European empire was no
small undertaking. It needed strong hands and a capable
head. Peter possessed both. In the year 1698, the great
operation of grafting Modern Europe upon Ancient Russia was
performed. The patient did not die. But he never got over
the shock, as the events of the last five years have shown very
plainly.
open rebellion against its masters, the Tartars. It was successful
and its fame as the leader in the cause of Russian independence
made Moscow the natural centre for all those who
still believed in a better future for the Slavic race. In the year
1458, Constantinople was taken by the Turks. Ten years
later, under the rule of Ivan III, Moscow informed the
western world that the Slavic state laid claim to the worldly
and spiritual inheritance of the lost Byzantine Empire, and
such traditions of the Roman empire as had survived in
Constantinople. A generation afterwards, under Ivan the Terrible,
the grand dukes of Moscow were strong enough to adopt the
title of Caesar, or Tsar, and to demand recognition by the western
powers of Europe.
In the year 1598, with Feodor the First, the old Muscovite
dynasty, descendants of the original Norseman Rurik, came to
an end. For the next seven years, a Tartar half-breed, by the
name of Boris Godunow, reigned as Tsar. It was during
this period that the future destiny of the large masses of the
Russian people was decided. This Empire was rich in land
but very poor in money. There was no trade and there were
no factories. Its few cities were dirty villages. It was composed
of a strong central government and a vast number of
illiterate peasants. This government, a mixture of Slavic,
Norse, Byzantine and Tartar influences, recognised nothing
beyond the interest of the state. To defend this state, it
needed an army. To gather the taxes, which were necessary
to pay the soldiers, it needed civil servants. To pay these many
officials it needed land. In the vast wilderness on the east
and west there was a sufficient supply of this commodity. But
land without a few labourers to till the fields and tend the
cattle, has no value. Therefore the old nomadic peasants
were robbed of one privilege after the other, until finally, during
the first year of the sixteenth century, they were formally
made a part of the soil upon which they lived. The Russian
peasants ceased to be free men. They became serfs or slaves
and they remained serfs until the year 1861, when their fate
had become so terrible that they were beginning to die out.
In the seventeenth century, this new state with its growing
territory which was spreading quickly into Siberia, had become
a force with which the rest of Europe was obliged to
reckon. In 1618, after the death of Boris Godunow, the
Russian nobles had elected one of their own number to be
Tsar. He was Michael, the son of Feodor, of the Moscow family
of Romanow who lived in a little house just outside the
Kremlin.
In the year 1672 his great-grandson, Peter, the son of another
Feodor, was born. When the child was ten years old,
his step-sister Sophia took possession of the Russian throne.
The little boy was allowed to spend his days in the suburbs of
the national capital, where the foreigners lived. Surrounded
by Scotch barkeepers, Dutch traders, Swiss apothecaries, Italian
barbers, French dancing teachers and German school-masters,
the young prince obtained a first but rather extraordinary
impression of that far-away and mysterious Europe where
things were done differently.
When he was seventeen years old, he suddenly pushed
Sister Sophia from the throne. Peter himself became the ruler
of Russia. He was not contented with being the Tsar of a
semi-barbarous and half-Asiatic people. He must be the sovereign
head of a civilised nation. To change Russia overnight
from a Byzantine-Tartar state into a European empire was no
small undertaking. It needed strong hands and a capable
head. Peter possessed both. In the year 1698, the great
operation of grafting Modern Europe upon Ancient Russia was
performed. The patient did not die. But he never got over
the shock, as the events of the last five years have shown very
plainly.