Reform and Regicide

by Leonard, Carol S.

• ISBN13: 9780253333223
• ISBN10: 0253333229
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1993-03-01
• Publisher: Indiana Univ Pr

Summary

ÒA provocative reexamination of legislation and foreign policy under Peter III. Utilizing archival and published sources, Leonard shows this brief reign to have been a significant turning point in the evolution of economic and social policy. This work represents an important contribution to our understanding of eighteenth-century Russian monarchy.Ó ÑRichard WortmanÒLeonard's convincing reassessment of the reign of Peter III squarely places it in the reformist tradition for which Catherine II claimed to have served as exclusive midwife. This is an impressive departure from received notions about the contrast between Peter's reign and that of his ambitious spouse.Ó ÑMichael F. MetcalfThe victim of a coup engineered by his wife, the future Catherine the Great, who portrayed him as Òa libertine, a halfwit, and a drunkard whose contempt for ordinary decency and for his country made imperative his removal,Ó Emperor Peter III has received short shrift from Russian, Soviet, and Western historians. Challenging traditional interpretations, Carol S. Leonard argues that the policies and legislation pursued by Peter III during his brief reign in 1762 were not foolish and arbitrary but rather were firmly rooted in the traditions of Russian absolutism and the intellectual climate of the mid-eighteenth century. Leonard shows Peter III to have been a serious ruler who, with a circle of talented advisors, instituted fundamental changes of an enlightened nature. Important turning points during Peter III's reign involved the emancipation of the nobility from compulsory service, the secularization of church property, the institution of progressive economic policies, the extrication of Russia from its costly participation in the Seven Years War, and the inception of an alliance with Prussia that was to be the cornerstone of Russian foreign policy through much of the Imperial period.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Interpreting the Reign of Peter

Origins of Reform

Emancipation of the Russian Nobility

Secularization of the Exxlesiastical Estates

National Revenues

Foreign Policy

Why the Coup?

Conclusion

Russian Autocracy at Mid-Century

Notes

Bibliography

Index

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