Author: Scotty Hendricks / Source: Big Think
- Russia’s history is fascinating and filled with colorful characters.
- Some of the most influential of them have been extremely controversial.
- Here are ten of the most interesting, both good and bad.
Russia is a fascinating place. Its history is filled with adventures, drama, triumphs, and tragedies.
Many of the most interesting people to grace that history have been extremely controversial. Today, we’ll look at ten of them.Ivan the Terrible
Photo: YURI KADOBNOV/AFP/Getty Images
A statue of Ivan in Moscow.
Ivan the Terrible, the first Tsar of Russia, is a household name even if people aren’t quite sure what he did.
Coming to power at age 16, Ivan had himself crowned as Tsar, meaning ‘Caesar’, instead of as a prince. This direct claim to absolute, divine authority would define his reign. He revised the legal code, brought the first printing presses to Russia, established a standing army, built St. Basil’s and laid the foundation for serfdom by restricting the mobility of the peasants.
He also began a series of expansionist wars that proved costly and were financed by ever-increasing tax burdens. To keep down dissent caused by this, among other problems, he created the oprichnina which gave him vast control over the wealthiest parts of Russia and reduced the power of the nobility.
His name is a bit of a mistranslation though; a more accurate title would be Ivan the Awesome.
“To shave the beard is a sin that the blood of all the martyrs cannot cleanse. It is to deface the image of man created by God“ – Ivan the Terrible
Mikhail Bakunin
Photo: Nadar/Getty Images.
Mikhail Bakunin
Mikhail Bakunin (1814-1876) was an anarchist philosopher who founded the school of collectivist or social anarchism. He dreamed of a world based around mutual aid, liberty, and bold action in the name of progress.
Born into a minor noble family, Bakunin was a brilliant student who made the first translation of Hegel into Russian. He later studied in Germany where his left-wing views were solidified. At the age of 30, his associations and activism led to the Tsar revoking his noble status, confiscating his land, and issuing a treat of exile to Siberia if he ever came back to Russia. He would later return to Russia, be sent to Siberia, and then escape back to Europe.
He is also partly responsible for the split between socialists and anarchists in the First International. A leading critic of authoritarian means to utopian ends, Bakunin advocated direct action outside of the state to establish an anarchist society. He was well known as Marx’s leading opponent. After the failure of the Paris Commune, which Marxists believed to be the result of the commune not using the power of the state to the fullest extent, Bakunin was expelled from the International and the anarchists left to create their own organization.
No mere theorist, though he did write many books, he was also directly involved in an uprising in Lyon. His work continues to inspire anarchist thought to this day.
“When the people are being beaten with a stick, they are not much happier if it is called ‘the People’s Stick.'” – Statism and Anarchy (1873) by Mikhail Bakunin
Photo: OLGA MALTSEVA/AFP/Getty Images
A giant sand sculpture of Peter in St. Petersburg, because why not?
Arguably the most controversial ruler in Russian history, Peter the Great dragged Russia kicking and screaming into the 17th century. He launched reforms designed to westernize and modernize the backward Russian Empire and turn it into a major power.
After an extensive tour of Western Europe, Peter was convinced that Western customs were superior to Russian ones. To correct for this, he introduced the Julian calendar and Arabic numerals, modernized the economy through state intervention, mandated education for noble children, brought in foreigners to help manage government ministries, and launched wars designed to capture warm water ports to expand trade.
His requirement that state officials adopt French styles of dress and shave their long beards was so out of sync with Russian traditions that many nobles did so only after stipulating that their beards would then be buried with them at the time of their deaths. When faced with a rebellion against him, he executed some 1,200 poorly organized rebels and put their corpses on display.
His legacy lives on in the city of St. Petersburg, which he built and named after himself.
“Alas! I have civilized my own subjects; I have conquered other nations; yet I have not been able to civilize or to conquer myself.” – Peter the Great
Leo Tolstoy
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Count Leo Tolstoy.
Leo Tolstoy, one of the greatest novelists ever to live, is well known for War and Peace, Anna Karenina, and several other works.
Born into the nobility, Tolstoy would later evolve into an anarchist with a mystic bent. His philosophical thought was as influential as his literature, and a young Indian lawyer named Gandhi asked him for advice after reading his views on Indian independence. Tolstoy also wrote on the virtues of non-violent resistance, spirituality, and anarchism. His writings got him excommunicated from the Orthodox church, and he then started writing against organized religion. He opened several schools for the education of peasants, but they didn’t last long in the face…
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