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Certain economic, social, political and spiritual factors led to the process of formation of the Russian centralized state. background.

There are different points of view on the issue of reasons formation of a centralized state. Economic:

It is believed that the causes of political centralization and its very process in Russia were the same as in the countries of Western Europe, the material basis for the formation of a single Russian state with a center in Moscow was the appearance in the XIV century. in the Russian lands of such signs of early bourgeois relations, as the development of crafts, trade and the market (J. Duby). Indeed, the unification of principalities and lands in the most developed countries of Western Europe took place in connection with the growth of material production, due to the development of commodity-money relations, the destruction of natural economy as the basis of the economy, and the beginning of the formation of capitalist relations. End of the 15th century many historians define it as the transition from the Middle Ages to the New Age - the Renaissance. In the current conditions, the royal power, relying on the wealth of cities, sought to unite the country. The unification process was led by the monarch, who was at the head of the nobility - the ruling class of that time. At the same time, in Western Europe, the rights of feudal owners were secured by a personal contract, and feudal immunity was protected by law.

However, attempts to link Russian history to Western European history are not confirmed. The process of development of crafts, trade and the market in the Russian lands is not evidence of the emergence of early bourgeois relations, but took place on the basis of the deepening of feudal relations and the emergence, along with the estates, of conditional feudal landownership. Medium and small feudal lords needed a strong centralized government, which could keep the peasants in subjection and limit the feudal rights and privileges of the patrimonial boyars (M. M. Gorinov, A. A. Gorsky, A. A. Danilov and others).

The free peasant community was almost completely absorbed by the feudal state. The peasants still retained the right to freely move from one feudal lord to another, but in practice this right increasingly turned out to be formal. The main form of large-scale feudal landownership in Russia in the XIV century. there was a fiefdom - princely, boyar, church (Sh. M. Munchaev, V. M. Ustinov). The involvement of the entire rural population in the system of feudal relations led to the disappearance of many terms that in the past denoted various categories of the rural population (“people”, “smerds”, “outcasts”, etc.), and the appearance by the end of the 14th century. new term "peasants". This name has survived to this day.

In the process of the formation of the Moscow kingdom in the Russian lands, the social group of owners was actually destroyed and power-property was established in the person of the tsar and the state bureaucracy. So, if at the beginning of the XV century. 2/3 of all convenient lands belonged to the boyars, princes, the Church, and the Grand Duke - only 1/3, then by the middle of the 16th century. the situation changed to the diametrically opposite: the nobility and the Church - 1/3, and the Grand Duke - 2/3.

During this period, the isolation of the Muscovite state from the European world intensified. The path "from the Varangians to the Greeks" lost its significance under the conditions of the Mongol conquest, which reduced the activity of economic and trade relations between the Russian lands and Europe. It almost disappeared after the annexation of commercial Novgorod and the severing of ties between North-Western Russia and the Hanseatic League. The only strong state with which Russia in the XIII-XV centuries. had constant and direct contacts, was the Golden Horde.

The spiritual and mental isolation of Muscovy from Europe intensified even more after the signing by many Orthodox states, or rather their churches, of the Union of Florence in 1439. The Russian Orthodox Church actually broke away from the entire Christian, including the Orthodox, world, since all international contacts of the Moscow Metropolis mainly through the Patriarchate of Constantinople.

Thus, it is traced absence enough in Russia socio-economic prerequisites to create a unified state. If in Western Europe:

Senior relations dominated;

The personal dependence of the peasants was weakened;

The cities and the third estate were strengthened;

Development of interstate relations.

That in Russia:

State-feudal forms prevailed;

The relationship of personal dependence of the peasants on the feudal lords was just taking shape;

The cities were in a subordinate position in relation to the feudal nobility;

Isolation of Russian lands.

At the same time, there were strong political reasons formation of a unified Russian state:

As domestic political reasons one can determine the desire of several feudal centers: Moscow, Tver, Suzdal, etc., for seniority and the gradual subordination of less powerful lands to their power. Wherein the struggle took place under the slogan of a return to the system of grand ducal power that was called by the ancestors. The land acquired by the treasury was used primarily for the maintenance of the local noble army, which became the main support of the autocracy.

National association Russia, the formation of a unitary state, which began almost simultaneously with similar processes in England, France and Spain, but had a number of features.

First, the Russian state from the very beginning was formed as military national, which was driven by the leading need for defense and security.

Secondly, the formation of the state took place on multinational basis(in Western Europe - on the national).

Thirdly, Eastern style of political activity. Autocratic power was formed according to two models - the Byzantine basileus and the Mongol khan. Western kings were not taken into account, due to the fact that they did not have real state sovereignty, they depended on the Roman Catholic Church. The Russian princes adopted from the Mongols a state policy that reduced the functions of the state to the collection of tribute and taxes, maintaining order and protecting security. At the same time, this state policy was completely devoid of consciousness of responsibility for public welfare. The Tatar element, not from the outside, but from the inside, took possession of the soul of Russia, and in this respect the Moscow princes proved to be the most consistent in the “gathering” of Russian lands, which was carried out by “eastern methods”: violent seizures of territories; treacherous arrests of rival princes; the withdrawal of the population to Moscow and its replacement by newcomers; violent measures against local customs and traditions.

Thus, at the heart of the unification of the Russian lands lay the desire of the Rurikovichs to return the “fatherland”. The most conceited, capable and flexible in their policy Moscow princes won.

Basic foreign policy reason the need to confront the Horde and Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Due to this factor, all segments of the population were interested in centralization. Such a “leading” (in relation to socio-economic development) nature of the unification process determined the features of the unification formed by the end of the 15th century. states. The Moscow principality was an ulus of the Golden Horde. As soon as the power in the Horde began to weaken, and the direct heirs of Genghis Khan were transferred, the Russian princes boldly entered the struggle for the inheritance of the Genghisites. Moscow most consistently expressed the idea of ​​Russian statehood, while other political centers pursued narrow princely interests. If Tver was guided by Lithuania, then Moscow entered into a strong alliance with the Tatars. At the same time, the Moscow princes professed the principle of ethnic tolerance, selecting people for their service solely on their business qualities. The Moscow court was replenished with immigrants from the Horde who did not accept the religious policy of Khan Uzbek, who in 1313 proclaimed Islam the official religion of the Golden Horde.

Thus, the founders of the state were not the princes of Kyiv, but the Moscow tsars, successors of the Mongol khans. After the collapse of the Horde, the capital was moved from Saray to Moscow, and after Kazan, Astrakhan and Siberia joined the Muscovite kingdom, the Horde was reborn in the guise of the Muscovite state.

Indeed, on the one hand, the Mongol-Tatar invasion and the Golden Horde yoke slowed down the socio-economic development of the Russian lands. Unlike the advanced countries of Western Europe, the formation of a single state in Russia took place under the complete dominance of the traditional way of the Russian economy - on a feudal basis. This makes it possible to understand why a bourgeois, democratic, civil society began to take shape in Europe, and why serfdom, estates, and inequality of citizens before the laws will dominate in Russia for a long time to come.

On the other hand, Russia received a huge inheritance, on the basis of which the descendants received a unique opportunity to become the greatest power in the world. Neither the Russian Empire, nor the Soviet Union, nor modern Russia could digest the wealth that had fallen on them, and the "sovereigns" continued and continue to rule the country in the old-fashioned way.

The 14th and 15th centuries became the time of the formation of the Russian centralized state. Centralization is a natural and progressive stage in the development of society, corresponding to the stage of developed and late feudalism. The process of centralization is based on a set of prerequisites that can be conditionally divided into economic, social, political, foreign policy, and spiritual.

Prerequisites for the emergence of a centralized state:

Socio-economic background.

a). The development of agriculture. Renaissance towards the end of the fourteenth century. the economic potential of the Russian land, the spread of the three-field system of agriculture, some revival of crafts and trade in the restored cities in the second half. XV century, internal colonization (i.e. development from the middle of the XV century under the arable land of the forests of North-Eastern Russia), a noticeable demographic rise in the villages, the development of crafts in them become, hidden from a superficial glance, the basis of the country's progress, a prerequisite for its political consolidation .

b). One of the main socio-economic factors of the unification was the growth of the boyar class and feudal land ownership in certain lands of North-Eastern Russia. The main source of the distribution of boyar estates was the princely grants of land with the peasants. But in conditions of political dispersal (by the beginning of the 14th century, more than ten independent principalities existed in the system of the Vladimir reign), the shortage of arable land was increasingly felt, which limited the development of the boyar estate, and, consequently, undermined the prince's strength, primarily military.

in). The formation of a single state was also facilitated by the development of landownership, which became widespread in the second half of the 15th century. largely due to the expansion of arable land. Servants of the prince, freemen and servants under the court (hence the later term - nobles) received land as a conditional holding, i.e. they could not freely dispose of it and owned it only on the terms of service. They supported the prince in his policy, hoping with his help to strengthen their position and gain new lands. The rapid growth in the number of service nobility became the basis for strengthening the military potential of the Moscow Grand Dukes, the key to the success of their unifying policy.

Socio-political background.

a). The princes, who were interested in strengthening their military service forces, became crowded within the framework of small principalities. As a result, the contradictions between the princes, supported by their boyar groups, escalated. This led to a struggle to expand the possessions of one at the expense of the other. Thus, the rivalry between the principalities of Tver and Moscow gradually emerged, the struggle between which largely predetermined the development of the process of unification of Russia.

b.) The Grand Duchy of Vladimir, whose significance was actually restored by the Tatars, was a ready-made institution of power for the future unified state. In addition, the prince, who owns the label for a great reign, had additional economic and military resources, enjoyed authority that allowed him to subjugate the Russian lands.

in). The Orthodox Church was also interested in uniting the lands. The desire to preserve and strengthen a single church organization, to eliminate the threat to its positions both from the West and from the East (after the Horde adopted Islam as the state religion) - all this forced the church to support the unifying policy of that prince who would be able to unite Russia.

G). The main political prerequisite for the merging of fragmented lands was the urgent task of liberating the country from the Horde yoke. In addition, the confrontation between the Northeastern Principalities and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which also claimed to be the unifier of Russian lands, played a role.

Cultural, in general, spiritual prerequisites facilitated future unification.

a). In the conditions of fragmentation, the Russian people retained a common language, legal norms, and most importantly, the Orthodox faith.

b). Orthodoxy relied on the developing common national identity, which began to manifest itself especially actively from the middle of the 15th century. (After the fall of Constantinople, the center of Orthodoxy fell into the hands of the Turks, which caused a feeling of spiritual loneliness among the Russian people). Under these conditions, the desire for unity intensified, the desire to submit to the power of the most powerful prince, in whom they saw an intercessor before God, a defender of the land and the Orthodox faith. The mentality of the people unusually raised the authority of the Grand Duke of Moscow, strengthened his power and made it possible to complete the creation of a single state.

The question of which prince and the principality headed by him would become such a center was decided by concrete political history. Not every principality could claim the role of a political leader, since many of them were too small and insignificant.

The process of unification of Russian lands was hampered by the fact that the fragmentation of large principalities did not stop. For example, the system of the northeastern principalities consisted of several great principalities, gradually breaking up into smaller secondary destinies. The mutual relations of all these large and small principalities were characterized by the complete disunity of the possessory interests of their princes. By the XIV century, young but strong principalities had formed: Tver, Suzdal-Nizhny Novgorod, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Russian, Moscow. It was between them during the XIV-XV centuries that a long struggle was waged for the political unification of the Russian lands. Moscow was by no means destined to become the center of the Russian state. She had to get this opportunity in the most difficult and stubborn political and military struggle with other applicants. The most powerful among them were the Principality of Tver and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Russia. The fate of centralization in Russia, as in the rest of Europe, was decided in the course of fierce internal wars. At the same time, the political horizons of the Russian princes were then limited to the interests, primarily of their principality.

There are several main stages in the collection of Russian lands by Moscow:

At the first stage (from the formation of the Moscow principality to the beginning of the reign of Ivan Kalita and his sons Semyon Proud and Ivan the Red), the foundations of the economic and political power of the principality were laid.

On the second (the reign of Dmitry Donskoy and his son Vasily I), a fairly successful military confrontation between Russia and the Horde began. The largest battles of this period were the battles on the Vozha River (1378) and on the Kulikovo Field (1380). At the same time, the territory of the Muscovite state is expanding significantly. The international authority of the Moscow princes is growing (for example, Vasily I was married to the daughter of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vitovt).

The third stage (1425-1462) is characterized by a long feudal war between Grand Duke Vasily II and his relatives. The main goal of this struggle was no longer upholding the leading position of Moscow, but the desire to seize power in the Muscovite state, which was gaining strength and weight. Of great importance was the transformation of the Russian Orthodox Church into the world center of Orthodoxy after the fall of Byzantium (1453).

The final stage was the reign of Ivan III (1462-1505) and Vasily III (1505-1533), when the main Russian principalities united under the rule of Moscow.

How to explain the fact that it was Moscow that became the center of the unification of Russian lands? There is a traditional point of view that explains the rise of Moscow by the following factors: convenient geographical location and favorable economic conditions; the far-sighted policy of the Moscow princes; support of the Russian church. Assistance to the Horde, the issuance of labels for reigning, the personal qualities of the first Moscow princes, their political dexterity and thriftiness.

A. A. Zimin believes that Moscow became the center of the unification of Russian lands for the following reasons: the formation of a strong service army (court); features of the colonization of fertile Russian lands, which created the economic basis of the military power of the Moscow princes; lack of land in the Moscow principality, which contributed to an active unification policy.

The formation of a unified Russian state was of great historical significance. It contributed to the liberation of Russia from the Horde dominion. The formation of the political center strengthened the position of the state in the international arena. Thus, the completion of the process of unification of Russian lands at the turn of the 15th-16th centuries led to the emergence of the Russian centralized state. It had a huge territory - it included the center of Eastern Europe and its north. From the very beginning, the state was formed as a multinational one, it included numerous nationalities. On the Russian lands, the formation of a single economic space began. Awareness of the Russian people as a single whole now formed the basis of the spiritual life of the inhabitants of various regions of the state. The creation of a unified state created favorable conditions for the development of economic life, strengthen the country's defense capability. At the same time, the preservation of the remnants of the traditions of the period of feudal fragmentation put forward the task of finding a new system of the political structure of the state.

The appearance in the 13th century of a separate Moscow principality and the expansion of its territories in the 14th-15th centuries was the main step towards the formation of the Russian centralized state, the stages and features of the creation of which are presented in our article.

Conditions for education

Let's talk briefly about the prerequisites for the formation of the Russian centralized state:

• Development of agriculture, handicrafts, trade (especially in newly formed cities) :
  the improvement of housekeeping led to the appearance of products and products not only for personal use, but also for sale;
• The increased need for the centralization of power to contain the anti-feudal actions of the peasants:
  an increase in forced labor and payments forced the peasants to put up serious resistance to the landowners (robbery, arson);
• The emergence of a strong center (Moscow), uniting around itself more and more previously fragmented principalities (not always in an honest way):
  favorable territorial location allowed Moscow to become a major principality that controls the interconnections of other Russian lands;
• The need for a joint action against the Principality of Lithuania and the Mongols-Tatars in order to recapture the original Russian territories:
  the majority of representatives of all classes were interested in this;
• The existence in Russia of a single faith and language.

We must pay tribute to the Mongol-Tatars: they did not plant their faith on the occupied lands, allowing the common people to profess Orthodoxy, and the churches to develop. Therefore, having freed itself from the invaders, by the 16th century Russia became the only independent Orthodox state, which allowed it to consider itself the successor not only of Kievan Rus, but also of the Byzantine Empire.

Rice. 1. Russian church of the 16th century.

Formation periods

It is believed that a centralized state was formed already in the 15th century during the reign of Prince Ivan ΙΙΙ Vasilyevich (1462-1505). Later, the Russian territories expanded significantly due to the policy of Vasily ΙΙΙ (1505-1533) and the conquests of Ivan ΙV the Terrible (formally from 1533; 1545-1584).

The latter in 1547 took the title of king. Grozny was able to annex lands that were not previously Russian to his possessions.

The process of creating a unified state can be divided into the following main stages:

• 13th-14th centuries:
  the formation of the Moscow principality takes place. Since 1263, it was a small inheritance in the Vladimir principality, ruled by Daniil Alexandrovich (the youngest son of Nevsky). Earlier attempts at isolation proved to be temporary. Gradually, the possessions expanded. Of particular importance was the victory over the principality of Tver for the rights to the grand throne in Vladimir. From 1363 "great" was added to the name. In 1389 the principality of Vladimir was absorbed;
• 14th-15th century:
  The Moscow principality led the fight against the Mongol-Tatars. Moscow's relations with the Golden Horde were ambiguous. Ivan Ι Kalita (prince of Moscow from 1325) collected tribute for the Mongol-Tatars from all conquered Russian principalities. Moscow princes often entered into an alliance with the invaders, entered into dynastic marriages, bought a "label" (permission) to reign. Dmitry Ι Donskoy (Prince of Moscow from 1359) in 1373 offered serious resistance to the Mongol-Tatars who attacked Ryazan. Then the Russian troops won the battle on the Vozha River (1378) and on the Kulikovo Field (1380);
• 15th-early 16th century:
  the final formation of a centralized state. Its founder is Ivan ΙΙΙ, who completed the annexation of the northeastern lands to the Moscow Principality (by 1500) and overthrew the Mongol-Tatar power (since 1480).

Rice. 2. Moscow prince Daniil Alexandrovich.

The strengthening of statehood also took place through the adoption of legislative acts aimed at centralizing power. The basis for this was the formation of the feudal system: the prince-landlord. The latter received land for management for the period of princely service, becoming dependent on a representative of a higher class. At the same time, the landlords themselves sought to enslave the peasants. Hence the creation of the Code of Laws (code of laws of 1497).

The formation of the Russian centralized state briefly

In the XIII-XIV centuries, the prerequisites for the formation of a Russian centralized state were formed - economic and political. The starting point in the development of the feudal economy was the rapid development of agriculture, the development of abandoned lands. There was an urgent need for more new, better tools, which led to the separation of handicrafts from agriculture, and hence the growth of cities. There is a process of exchange in the form of trade between the artisan and the farmer, ᴛ.ᴇ. between city and countryside. The division of labor between individual regions of the country required the political unification of the Russian lands. Nobles, merchants, artisans were especially interested in this. The strengthening of economic ties was one of the reasons for the formation of a single Russian state. During this period, the exploitation of the peasants intensifies, which leads to an aggravation of the class struggle. The feudal lords strive to legally subjugate the peasants to themselves, to secure them for their property. Only a centralized state can perform such a function. The threat of attack from outside accelerated the process of centralization of the Russian state, because. all strata of society were interested in the struggle against an external enemy.

In the process of formation of a unified Russian state, three stages can be distinguished.

Back in the XII century, there was a tendency to unite the lands under the rule of one prince in the Vladimir-Suzdal principality.

· The first stage (late 13th century) - the rise of Moscow, the beginning of unification. Moscow becomes the main contender to be considered the center of Russian lands.

· The second stage (1389-1462) - the fight against the Mongols-Tatars. Strengthening Moscow.

· The third stage (1462-1505) - the completion of the formation of a unified Russian state. The Mongol-Tatar yoke was overthrown, the process of unification of Russia was completed.

Unlike the countries of Western Europe, the formation of the Russian centralized state had its own characteristics:

· The unification took place against the backdrop of late feudalism, and not flourishing, as in Europe;

The unification of Russian lands was led by Moscow princes, and in Europe by the urban bourgeoisie;

· First of all, Russia united for political reasons, and then for economic ones, while for European countries the main ones were economic reasons.

The first tsar of all Russia and the supreme judge was Ivan IV Vasilyevich the Terrible, son Vasily 3. The specific princes were now under the control of proteges from Moscow.

The young centralized state in the XVI century. became known as Russia. The country has entered a new stage of its development.

The formation of the Russian centralized state is briefly - the concept and types. Classification and features of the category "Formation of the Russian centralized state in brief" 2017, 2018.

The Russian centralized state took shape in XIV-XVI centuries

Groups of prerequisites for the formation of a Russian centralized state.

1. Economic background: to the beginning of the XIV century. in Russia, after the Tatar-Mongol invasion, economic life gradually revived and developed, which was the economic basis for the struggle for unification and independence. Cities were also restored, residents returned to their native places, cultivated the land, engaged in crafts, and trade relations were established. Novgorod contributed a lot to this.

2. Social background: by the end of the XIV century. the economic situation in Russia has already completely stabilized. Against this background, later feudal features are developing, and the dependence of the peasants on large landowners is growing more and more. At the same time, the resistance of the peasants also increases, which reveals the need for a strong centralized government.

3. Political background, which in turn are subdivided into internal and external ones:

1) domestic: in the XIV-XVI centuries. significantly increases and expands the power of the Moscow principality. His princes are building a state apparatus to strengthen their power;

2) foreign policy: the main foreign policy task of Russia was the need to overthrow the Tatar-Mongol yoke, which hampered the development of the Russian state. The restoration of the independence of Russia required a general unification against a single enemy: the Mongols - from the south, Lithuania and the Swedes - from the west.

One of the political prerequisites for the formation of a unified Russian state was Union of the Orthodox Church and the Catholic Western Church, signed by the Byzantine-Constantinople Patriarch. Russia became the only Orthodox state uniting all the principalities of Russia at the same time.

The unification of Russia took place around Moscow.

The reasons for the rise of Moscow are:

1) good geographical and economic position;

2) Moscow was independent in foreign policy, it did not gravitate towards either Lithuania or the Horde, therefore it became the center of the national liberation struggle;

3) Moscow's support from the largest Russian cities (Kostroma, Nizhny Novgorod, etc.);

4) Moscow - the center of Orthodoxy in Russia;

5) the absence of internal enmity among the princes of the Moscow house.

Merging Features:

1) the unification of Russian lands took place not in the conditions of late feudalism, as in Europe, but in the conditions of its heyday;

2) the basis for unification in Russia was the union of Moscow princes, and in Europe - the urban bourgeoisie;

3) Russia united initially for political reasons, and then for economic reasons, while the European states - primarily for economic ones.

The unification of Russian lands took place under the leadership of the prince of Moscow. He was the first to become the king of all Russia. AT 1478 after the unification of Novgorod and Moscow, Russia finally freed itself from the yoke. In 1485, Tver, Ryazan, etc., joined the Muscovite state.

Now the specific princes were controlled by proteges from Moscow. The Moscow prince becomes the supreme judge, he considers especially important cases.

The Moscow principality creates a new class for the first time nobles(service people), they were soldiers of the Grand Duke, who were awarded land on the terms of service.