Foreign policy of Russia in the 17th century: main directions, tasks, outcomes

In the history of our country, the 17th century is a very significant milestone, as at that time there were many events that affected all subsequent development of the state. Especially important was Russia 's foreign policy in the 17th century, since at that time it was very difficult to fight off numerous enemies while at the same time retaining the strength for domestic work.

What determined the political mood?

In general, the needs of a cultural, economic and military nature determined all the subsequent development of our country in those centuries. Accordingly, Russia's foreign policy in the 17th century was completely dependent on the tasks that the statesmen faced in those difficult times.

Main goals

First, it was necessary to urgently return all the lands that were lost as a result of the Troubles. Secondly, the rulers of the country had the task of attaching back all those territories that once were part of the Kyivan Rus. Of course, in many respects they guided not only the ideas of the reunification of the peoples once divided, but also the desire to increase the share of arable land and the number of taxpayers. Simply put, Russia's foreign policy of the 17th century was aimed at restoring the integrity of the country.

The trouble was extremely difficult for the country: the treasury was empty, many peasants became so poor that it was simply impossible to take taxes from them. The acquisition of new lands, not looted by the Poles, would allow not only to restore Russia's political prestige, but also to replenish its treasury. In general, this was the main foreign policy of Russia in the 17th century. The table (the 10th grade of the school should know it perfectly), given in the article, reflects its most global goals.

Exit to the sea

For their implementation, it was extremely important to have access to the Black and Baltic Seas. Firstly, the availability of these ways would help to strengthen economic ties with Europe without problems, setting up supplies of not only rare goods, but also technologies, literature and other things that could help to eliminate the country's lag in the industrial sphere.

Finally, it was time to solve something with the Crimean Khan: it is unsolvable for a large country at that time to suffer from the raids of some "petty" allies of the Turkish sultan. However, do not forget about the old army story about paper and ravines ... On this path was a lot of difficulties.

Promotion to the East

It should also be remembered that Russia's foreign policy in the 17th century largely pursued the goal of expanding the country to the East in order to further develop and exploit those lands.

In particular, the export required a huge number of sable furs, which were in great demand in the world. The problem was only that in the European part of the country these valuable animals were long ago raised. Finally, it was imperative to reach the Pacific Ocean and to establish a natural border on it. And further. There were enough "violent goals" in the country, it was a shame to cut. It was decided to send the most active but troubled people to Siberia.

So two tasks were solved at once: the center of the state got rid of "undesirable elements", and the border was under reliable protection. This was the foreign policy of Russia in the 17th century. The table will show you the main tasks that were to be dealt with then.

Russia's foreign policy in the 17th century was complicated. The table clearly demonstrates that, without wars, not a single decade has gone by, success has not always accompanied our state.

What prevented the solution of the most important tasks?

The main one was not even the activity of "eternal friends" in the face of Britain and France, but its own technological backwardness. Europe during the next Thirty Years' War was able to completely rethink the theory of weapons and organization of troops on the battlefield, as well as tactics of their application. So, the main striking force was again the infantry, which from the end of the Roman Empire was on the lead roles. The means of strengthening it became the artillery that was intensively developing at the time.

Backwardness in military affairs

And here Russia's foreign policy in the 17th century was stalled. The table (the 7th grade must know its main points) can not show this, but the army was extremely weak. The fact is that in our country the backbone of the armed forces was still the nobility's cavalry. To fight the remnants of the once powerful Horde, she could have succeeded, but when she met with the army of France, she would certainly be in for serious losses.

Thus, Russia's foreign policy in the 17th century (summarizing) was aimed primarily at creating a normal military, commercial and administrative and diplomatic apparatus.

On Weapons Problems

A huge country largely depended on arms imports. The backwardness in tactics and armaments was planned to be eliminated by the intensive import of weapons from European manufactories, as well as the recruitment of officers. All this resulted not only in dependence on the leading powers of that period, but also quite costly for the country.

Thus, Russia's foreign policy in the 17th century (the main lines of which we described) was based on paradoxes: on the one hand, no one doubted the need for war with the Europeans. On the other hand, it was they who bought expensive weapons and ammunition for it, which increased the military and economic might of the powers of the Old World, but greatly weakened Russia, already devastated by the Troubles.

So, on the eve of the Russo-Polish war mentioned in the table, a lot of gold had to be spent. In Holland and Sweden, at least 40,000 muskets and 20,000 poods of selected gunpowder were purchased. This number was at least 2/3 of the total number of infantry weapons. At the same time, the tension on the part of Sweden continues to increase, which not only closes the way to the Baltic Sea, but continues to claim a large part of the Russian lands.

Attitude to the country in the international arena

Very badly affected by the fact that in the West, Russia was perceived only as an extremely backward, "barbaric" country, the territory of which was subject to mandatory expansion, and the population was planned to partially assimilate. In all other respects, the sad fate of the Indians of North America was foreseen.

Thus, Russia's strong foreign policy in the 17th century was more important than ever. Its main tasks were aimed at "chopping the window", which Peter later did. Economic and military backwardness was largely due to banal territorial isolation, as the powerful Turkish-Polish-Swedish barrier stood in the way of establishing normal relations.

Do not forget about the constant intrigues of English merchants, who did not smile at all to get a powerful competitor in trade matters. All these contradictions could be resolved only by creating a powerful army and breaking through the trade and economic blockade.

Here is the main foreign policy of Russia in the 17th century. To put it briefly, the most important tasks lay in the West, from which the military threat was more clearly felt.

Wars in the West

All this led to the fact that in 1632, immediately after the death of Sigismund III, a war began in Rzeczpospolita for the revision of the Deulin agreements. The instigator was our country. Unfortunately, the forces were clearly unequal. In general, Russia's foreign policy in the 17th century (the summary of which we have already discussed) largely failed due to the extreme imperfection of the administrative, military and diplomatic corps.

We give the most obvious and annoying example. Due to extremely bad diplomacy, the Polish King Vladislav managed to establish contact with the Crimean Tatars. The slow Russian army, which was headed by M. Shein, consisted of servicemen. When they found out that the Tatars started regular outings inland, they simply left the army, leaving to defend their estates. All this ended with the signing of the Polyanovsky Peace Treaty.

It was necessary to return to Poland all lands conquered at the beginning of the war, but King Vladislav completely renounces any claims to the Russian lands and the throne. Governor M. Shein and A. Izmailov were declared guilty of the defeat, and subsequently they were severed their heads. Thus, Russia's foreign policy in the 17th century is not particularly successful for us.

The territory of present-day Ukraine

At the same time, the national liberation movement broke out in the territory of present-day Ukraine. In 1648, in those parts, another uprising broke out, which was caused by intolerable conditions for the Orthodox population, who lived on the territory of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.

The culprits were Zaporozhye Cossacks. In general, they led quite a good life: guarding the limits of Poland from the raids of the same Crimean Tatars, they received a decent reward (not counting the military booty). But the Poles were very unhappy with the fact that the Cossacks had accepted into their ranks any fugitive servant and had never given him back. The methodical "twisting of nuts" began, the cutting of Cossack freemen. The immediately flared uprising was headed by Bogdan Khmelnitsky.

The successes and failures of the insurgents

In December 1648, his troops occupied Kiev. In August of the following year, peace agreements were signed. They provided for an increase in the number of "official" Cossacks, to which the authorities had no complaints, but on that list of achievements was coming to an end.

Khmelnytsky understood that without help from the outside, he would not be able to correct injustice. The only candidate for allied relations was Russia, but its authorities were not too eager to fight, as it needed time to fully reform the army. Meanwhile, the Poles did not tolerate a shameful peace; Already in 1653 the rebels were under threat of complete extermination.

Russia could not allow this. In December 1653, an agreement was concluded on the reunification of Ukrainian lands with Russia. Of course, immediately after that the country was dragged into a new war, but its results were much better than the previous ones.

This is what characterized Russia's foreign policy in the 17th century. The main directions, tasks, the results of it you will find in this article.