Absolutism in the political sense is a form of government, in which all power is legally and in fact in the hands of the monarch. In Russia, absolute monarchy originated in the 16th century, in the first quarter of the 18th century, Russian absolutism took on its final forms.
Prerequisites for the development of absolutism in Russia
In Russia, absolutism developed under the specific conditions of serfdom and the rural community, which at that moment had already undergone serious decay. Not the least role in the formation of Russian absolutism was played by the policy of the reigning persons seeking to strengthen their own power.
In the 17th century, significant contradictions arose between the townspeople and the feudal lords. The emerging absolutism at that time tried to encourage the development of industry and trade in order to solve its both internal and external tasks. Therefore, in the period of the initial formation of absolute power, the monarch, in confrontation with representatives of the boyar aristocracy and church opposition, relies on the top of the posad: the merchants, the service class, the serf nobility.
Foreign economic reasons also contributed to the formation of absolutism in Russia: the need to fight for the economic and political independence of the state and the possibility of access to the sea coast. The absolute monarchy, and not the estate-representative form of the structure of state power, turned out to be more prepared to wage such a struggle.
The emergence of an absolute monarchy in the Russian Empire was caused by the country's foreign policy, the course of socio-economic development, the contradictions that arose between different classes of society, leading to the class struggle, as well as the emergence of bourgeois relations.
Establishment of an absolute monarchy
The development and formation of absolutism as the main form of government led to the abolition of Zemsky Sobors in the second half of the 17th century, which limited the power of the reigning person. The tsar hammered into a significant financial independence previously inaccessible to him, making a profit from his own estates, customs duties, taxes from enslaved peoples, taxes from developing trade. The weakening of the political and economic role of the boyars led to the loss of the significance of the Boyar Duma. There was an active process of subordination of the clergy to the state. Thus, in the second half of the 17th century, an absolute monarchy was established in Russia with the boyar Duma and the boyar aristocracy, which took shape finally during the reign of Peter I, in the first quarter of the 18th century.
In the same period, the Russian absolute monarchy received legislative confirmation. The ideological substantiation of absolutism was given in Theophan Prokopovich's book "The Truth of the Will of Monarchs", created in accordance with the requirements of a special order of Peter I. In October 1721, after Russia's outstanding victory in the battles of the Northern War, the Spiritual Synod and the Senate bestowed upon Peter I the honorary title of "Father of the Fatherland, Emperor of All Russia." The Russian state is becoming an empire.
The emergence of absolutism in Russia, as well as in many other countries, was a completely natural process. However, between the absolute monarchies of different countries, there are both common and isolated features, determined by the local conditions of development of a particular state.
Absolutism of different countries
So, in France and in Russia, the absolute monarchy existed in a fully completed form, in which there was no body in the structures of the state apparatus that could limit the power of the reigning person. Absolutism of this form is characterized by a high degree of centralization of state power, the presence of a large bureaucratic apparatus and powerful armed forces. Unfinished absolutism was characteristic of England. There was a parliament here, which nevertheless limited the power of the ruler to an insignificant extent, there were local self-government bodies, there was no numerous standing army. In Germany, the so-called "princely absolutism" only contributed to the further feudal fragmentation of the state.
Periods of development of absolutism in Russia
During its 250-year history, Russian absolutism has undergone a number of changes. There are five main periods in the development of absolutism in the conditions of Russia:
- the first stage - existing in the second half of the 17th century, along with the boyar aristocracy and the Boyar Duma, an absolute monarchy;
- the second - the noble-bureaucratic monarchy of the 18th century;
- the third - the absolute monarchy of the first half of the 19th century, continuing until the reform of 1861;
- the fourth stage - the absolute monarchy in the period from 1861 to 1904, during which the autocracy took a step towards the bourgeois monarchy;
- the fifth - in the period from 1905 to February 1917, when on the part of absolutism one more step was taken in the direction of the bourgeois monarchy.
The absolute monarchy in Russia was overthrown as a result of the events of the February bourgeois revolution of 1917.
