Siberian punishment
In the 1660s the Russian government under Czar Alexis I had begun the practice of punishing common criminals and political offenders by exiling them to Siberia. During the last two centuries of Russian imperial rule, punishment varied significantly from czar to czar. Different styles of interrogation and justice were prevalent with each successive ruler. Autocracy allowed for what seems to be a harsh system of imperial punishment. In actuality, the practice of capital punishment and torture were commonplace throughout European rulers. Though labeled by the west as barbaric at times, Russia had no striking trends in outrageous punishment from Peter the Great to Nicholas II. What does differ between Europe and Russia in terms of punishment were the crimes committed. Europe saw much religious persecution and punishment of vagrants and peasants. Russia saw more peasant revolts and responded with oppression. Perhaps also alarming is the number of formerly powerful government officials of the Russian court sent to exile in Siberia. It becomes clear that czars were not overly cruel to the citizens of imperial Russia. However, at the same time, the gentry and peasants did know that the czar held the power, and the czar would l
Elizabeth abolished capital punishment in an enlightened act, but Catherine used the practice, although not nearly as extensively as Peter. Peter the Great was a very progressive ruler, taking rational aspects of European society and incorporating them into the Russian infrastructure. Serfs or peasants could be sent to hard labor at any time, and Peter specifically employed forced labor in the building of St. Peter, in Europe at the time, made the trip home. A prime example of this is his son Alexis, whom he had beaten and tortured, eventually killing him. The Streltsy military force was very hostile to foreign influences on the Russian government and had revolted before in 1682. Czars: Russia's Rulers for More Than One Thousand Years. Peter was also somewhat progressive in punishment, but he did utilize some rather harsh methods. Siberia remains virtually unknown to Europeans and Americans except as the land of Solzhenitsyn's "Gulag Archipelago," an ice-bound prison of forced labor and death. She was forced to become a nun, as was Peter's wife, Eudoxia, with three Streltsy hanging outside Sophia's window, in the Novodevichii convent. This was largely the case in the rule of Peter the Great with his wars against Sweden and the Ottoman Empire, along with the numerous peasant and Streltsy revolts that were instigated.
Common topics in this essay:
Europe Russia,
Ottoman Empire,
Ivan IV,
Anna Elizabeth,
Don Cossack,
Czar Alexis,
Petersburg Throughout,
Peter Miloslavskii,
Eudoxia Streltsy,
Nicholas II,
capital punishment,
imperial russia,
political exile,
hard labor,
eighteenth nineteenth centuries,
overly cruel,
ivan zickler,
late imperial,
forced labor,
sent hard,
eighteenth nineteenth,
sent hard labor,
late imperial russia,
|
Acceptance Essays
