Domestic and foreign policy of Boris Godunov briefly

The reign of Boris Godunov is of special interest, because it was he who became the first tsar of Russia that did not belong to the Rurik dynasty. His fate is largely contradictory. The new ruler who took the country on take-off after a decade of rest from the oprichnina of Ivan the Terrible had every opportunity not only to help the country to recover completely, but also to create a new dynasty. However, he failed. This was served by a whole range of reasons, which will be discussed below.

Accession to the throne

Boris Godunov belonged to a boyar family, who served for many years at the Moscow court. However, the rise of a young man was not so much the nobility of the name, but his own ability to survive at the court of Ivan the Terrible. In the years of oprichnina, he married the daughter of Malyuta Skuratov, the closest approximate tsar. Due to this he entered the monarch's circle.

After the death of Ivan the Terrible in 1584, his son Feodor, who had poor health and lack of managerial abilities, was to ascended the throne. For this reason, a regency council was created, which included the most famous boyars of the country. Very soon all of them lost their posts because of the struggle for power that was going on at the court.

Since 1585, Boris was actually the sole ruler of the country, being the brother-in-law of the official autocrat. Fedor died 13 years later, leaving no direct heirs. For this reason, his closest relative was anointed to the kingdom. Nevertheless, the internal and foreign policies of Boris Godunov should be considered in the years of his regency.

Urban Development

By the end of the XVI century, power from Moscow extended to thousands of unoccupied kilometers. The reason for this was the subordination of the Kazan, Astrakhan and Siberian khanates. The internal policy of Boris Godunov could not ignore such an important issue as the settlement of new territories.

The most large-scale urban development took place on the Volga. Here, new fortresses were needed to ensure the safety of the waterway. There were Samara, Saratov and Tsaritsyn (future Volgograd). The settlement of the lands located to the south of the Oka and previously suffering from Tatar raids began to occur. The Yelets was rebuilt, Voronezh and Belgorod cities were built. Several rare expeditions to Siberia were sent, where Tomsk was rebuilt for consolidation in new territories. At the same time, the already existing cities were being strengthened. So, in Moscow a new wall was erected.

Relations with other states

Domestic and foreign policy of Boris Godunov was aimed at proving the legitimacy of his rule. This was also served by constant contacts with Europe, through which the new ruler tried to establish himself as an open and wise diplomat. Even under Fedor, thanks to his brother-in-law, the war with Sweden was completed. The peace treaty signed near Ivangorod allowed the return of Russia to the Baltic lands lost after the unsuccessful Livonian War.

The foreign policy of Boris Godunov, whose table can be depicted in the form of numerous connections, characterized him as a far-sighted ruler who understands the backwardness of his country. After receiving the throne, the new king filled his yard with foreigners. The grandees, doctors, engineers, and generally specialists in various sciences came to Moscow. For a century before Peter I, his predecessor began sending compatriots to Europe for training.

Special location of the monarch enjoyed the British. With them, he signed treaties on monopoly trade in the White Sea. For the exchange of goods was built Arkhangelsk.

In relations with the most problematic neighbors - the Poles - Boris Godunov's policy, briefly, was aimed at preserving peace. Another threat - the Crimean Tatars - was successfully restrained. In 1591 their army approached Moscow, but it was broken.

Dynastic problem

It was extremely important for the new tsar to secure a reliable future for his dynasty and a continuation of the family. This was the internal / foreign policy of Boris Godunov. If his son Fyodor was still too young for a wedding, then Xenia's daughter was just the perfect bride. The bridegroom for her was found in Denmark. They became the brother of King Christian IV John. He even arrived in Moscow, but died there suddenly. Sudden death gives the right to assume that the groom was poisoned, but until now no precise evidence of this has been found.

After that, the monarch intended to tie his children by marriage with representatives of noble English families, but the death of Queen Elizabeth in 1603 prevented this intention.

Repression

The shaky position of the dynasty was aggravated by the suspicious character of the tsar. The internal policy of Boris Godunov was marked by intolerance towards competitors pretending to be in power. And if at first the prince treated his sympathizers with sympathy, then in the last years of his reign at court courting flourished. Typical occasions for disgrace were complaints of servants and fabricated evidence.

Many famous boyar families, including the Romanovs, suffered. The cousin of the late Fedor Ivanovich Fedor Nikitich was forcibly tonsured as a monk. Later, he will be the father of the first king of the Romanov dynasty - Mikhail Fedorovich, and will also accept the rank of patriarch.

The pressure on the proxies became one of the reasons for the dissatisfaction of the people with the new autocrat. His behavior was more reminiscent of the habits of Ivan the Terrible, which differed paranoia and persecution mania.

Hunger and attempts to combat it

The situation worsened in 1601, when a large part of the crop was lost in the country because of bad weather. The famine lasted for several years. Despite the fact that this disaster began not through the fault of the king, the superstitious masses treated the event as a heavenly punishment for the illegal usurpation of the throne. Domestic and foreign policy of Boris Godunov began to depend on the mood of the lower classes.

Trying to save the situation, the sovereign instructed to freeze the price of bread. Another measure was the restoration of St. George's Day, in which peasants could change their landowner. However, these efforts were in vain. The standard of living of the population continued to decline, and riots began in the peasantry, as well as in the Cossack milieu. The most famous in this series is the Cotton revolt, which united the commoners around 20 counties of central Russia. The motley crowd reached Moscow and was defeated by the tsar's army. However, this did not change the situation of the country for the better.

The appearance of an impostor

The above events were only prerequisites for the catastrophe that overtook the Godunovs. The last months of the government Boris Godunov's internal / foreign policy was subordinated to unrest, led by an impostor Grigory Otrepiev, who pretended to be the son of Ivan the Terrible who died in childhood.

Despite the incredible lie, Falsdmitry gathered around him a large number of supporters. The backbone of his troops were the Cossacks of the western districts. The pretender pretended to be the last Rurikovich, and therefore had a formal right to the throne. His troops triumphantly went to Moscow, but was defeated in the Battle of Dobrinichy in the modern Bryansk region. Nevertheless, the impostor managed to escape to Putivl, where he again gathered the army.

The fate of the dynasty and the character of government

Against the background of these events, Boris Fyodorovich died suddenly in Moscow. His son Fyodor did not rule for very long and was killed after the throne managed to capture False Dmitry. The Godunov dynasty stopped, and the Troubles began in the country. For this reason, Boris Godunov's domestic and foreign policies are often criticized as the cause of subsequent disasters.

Nevertheless, this point of view is not entirely objective. The policy of Boris Godunov, briefly, was balanced and correct. However, the former boyar was killed by suspicion and banal failure, since it was with him for several years that the famine was raging in the country, without which the Troubles and the leapfrog on the throne would certainly not have happened.

The foreign policy of Boris Godunov deserves special praise. Briefly it is recorded in the annals of that time. They have captured numerous contacts with European powers and a successful confrontation with the Crimean Tatars.