Russia :: essays research papers

When examining the progress of a nation, it is vital to also imagine what the national judgment behind it was. In Russia the driving motivation was not always consistent. ... They in time had difficulty in formulating and sustaining both permanent concept of the state and its interests independent of the family possessions and connections of the ruling dynasty.(Hosking 190) As with many countries of that time, the rulers were not held accountable, and often overlooked long-term strategical goals in favor of short-term gains. Foreign policy was to a greater extent a personal relationship among rulers than among nations alliances were made, broken or not honored routinely. each(prenominal) of these factors made for a precarious political environment in which any leader had to operate. Russias own unique problems required its rulers have an even greater political acumen than their purely europiuman counterparts. There in lies the crux of Russias biggest problems. Over the cen turies from - to - Russia has expanded from a small principality to a long polyglot of an empire encompassing many people with many several(predicate) cultures. Most Russians were not European. Although these people came from diverse geographical locations, they all divided up certain beliefs that unified them. Concepts such as Pravda, the Mir, and the acceptance of suffering helped coalesce the empire.When Peter I wanted to Europeanize Russia he did it in a typical Russian way out with the old, in with the new, having ... the tendency to install reform in total packages, rejecting previous ways as absolutely wrong. (Hosking 176) Peter I replaced the one stable and unifying set of beliefs with another(prenominal) set adopted from a world foreign to most everyone in the empire. This may be the reason that Russias Europeanization seemed to be a boil down veneer under which the majority of Russians did not understand or see any benefit in europeanization. To answer the question as to whether or not Peter I was a successful ruler, it must be stated that the premise under which he ruled was ... To increase Russias world power and wealth and to improve the well being of its people.(Hosking 198) To Peter that meant becoming more like Europe, and perhaps he thought this because of the great European influences on his, and on the lives of his advisors and the nobility in general. Peter saw the great armies and bureaucracies of Europe and wished to install them in Russia.