9781422285893

Tourists gather in an elaborate hall in the Great Wooden Palace of Tsar Aleksey Mikhailovich (Mikhail I) Romanov in Kolomenskoe.

Eighteenth-century portrait of Tsar Aleksey Mikhailovich by Johann Vedikind.

the monarchy, restructured the military, and nearly doubled the size of Russia with his thunderous campaigns. The death of Ivan IV in 1584 left the state in disarray. Several would-be rulers tried to claim the throne, but none with any legitimacy. An invasion by nearby Poland as well as a period of famine further complicated things. In 1613 the remaining nobility appointed Mikhail Romanov as the new tsar. The Roma- nov dynasty would rule Russia for the next 300 years. PAST ALLIANCES The Tatars were Turkic-speaking peoples located primarily in central Asia. Many joined the armies of Mongol leader Genghis Khan in the thirteenth century. The alliance between the Turks and the Mongols dominated the central Asian region until Russian power began to expand in the sixteenth century. Under the first few generations of Romanovs, little changed in Russia. It was not until Peter the Great assumed full power in 1696 that Russia began to modernize. Peter was a very driven man, determined to make Russia a world power. During a two-year sojourn to Western Europe, he was able to study new methods of industry and statecraft firsthand, as well as experi- ence European culture. He even disguised himself as a carpenter while traveling

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MAJOR NATIONS IN A GLOBAL WORLD: RUSSIA