Background
Russia began the 17th century with the Time of Troubles, which lasted from 1598 to 1613. This time marked the end of the Rurik dynasty and the beginning of the Romanov dynasty. Michael Romanov (tsar from 1613 to 1645) and his son Alexis (tsar from 1645 to 1676) both strove to strengthen the power of the tsar in order to stabilize the country after the turmoil of the Time of Troubles. As a result, the Zemsky Sobor and the boyar council, two other bodies of government in Russia, slowly lost influence. The Russian population went from fifteen years of “near anarchy” to the reigns of two strong, centralizing autocrats.
In addition, a deep divide existed between the lower peasant class in Russia and the noble class. Recent changes in the treatment and legal standing of peasants, including the institutionalization of serfdom in the Law Code of 1649 also contributed to the unrest among the peasant class. The Don Cossacks, a lower class group that lived independently near the Don River and whom the tsar’s government supplied in exchange for defending Russia, led Razin’s rebellion. Historian Paul Avrich characterizes Razin’s revolt as a “curious mixture of brigandage and revolt,” similar to other popular uprising of the period. Razin revolted against the “traitor-boyars” rather than the tsar. The Cossacks supported the tsar because they worked for him.
Read more about this topic: Stenka Razin
Famous quotes containing the word background:
“Pilate with his question What is truth? is gladly trotted out these days as an advocate of Christ, so as to arouse the suspicion that everything known and knowable is an illusion and to erect the cross upon that gruesome background of the impossibility of knowledge.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (18441900)
“... every experience in life enriches ones background and should teach valuable lessons.”
—Mary Barnett Gilson (1877?)
“Silence is the universal refuge, the sequel to all dull discourses and all foolish acts, a balm to our every chagrin, as welcome after satiety as after disappointment; that background which the painter may not daub, be he master or bungler, and which, however awkward a figure we may have made in the foreground, remains ever our inviolable asylum, where no indignity can assail, no personality can disturb us.”
—Henry David Thoreau (18171862)