Pierre the Large one
The XVIII E century marks the entry of Russia in the concert of the European nations. With the reign of Pierre the Large one, the Empire reaches banks of the Baltic (foundation of Saint-Pétersbourg) and of the Black Sea, and becomes a maritime power. The expansion towards the occident and the East continues: the empress Anna Ivanovna (1730-1740) starts to be interested in the Caucasus; under Catherine II (1762-1796), Russia and Turkey clash in connection with the khanat of the Crimea and the cities of the Black Sea. The Russian Empire seeks consequently, to circulate freely in the Mediterranean, to make sure control of the strait of Dardanelles. Western Al', Poland, in full political decline, is divided with three recoveries (1772, 1793.1795) between Russia, Prussia and Austria; Courlande, Lithuania, Bielorussia and part of the Ukraine are subjected to the power of Catherine II.
The strong increase in the population (36 million inhabitants in 1800, against 20 million approximately in 1725) and the relative increase in the interior market thanks to a amelioriation of the exchanges (suppression of the regional customs, installation of the rivers for transport) support the economic advancement. Already, in second half of the XVII E century, the metallurgy, established primarily in the Ural, had started to develop; but it is to the XVIII E century that it becomes the floret of Russian industry, providing him its principal product of export
Catherine II
The continual process of control of the peasants (confirmed by the Charter of the nobility in 1785) causes agrarian disorders throughout the century: rising of Boulavine in 1707-1708 and, especially, revolts carried out by the Pougatchev cossack, who sets ablaze Western Siberia and the average and the low Volga in 1773-1774, and threatens the throne of Catherine II.
In spite of these disorders, the reign of Catherine the Large one is marked, following the example of that of Pierre the Large one, by the reinforcement of the State, which is based on the land aristocracy: the reforms installation at the conclusion of the Extraordinary meeting of 1767 do nothing but harden serfdom, whereas the nobility was released since 1762 of the obligation of the military service.
The influence of the Occident
Of Pierre the Large one, fascinated by Versailles and the luxuriant symbolic system of the absolutism louis-quatorzien, in Catherine II, advised by Diderot, all the sovereigns of the XVIII E century, including the least famous (Pierre II, Anne or Elisabeth I E), are influenced by the Occident.
The aristocratic elites open also abroad and are formed in universities made up on the German model (creation from the first university in Moscow, in 1755, and which understands in the beginning the three medicine and philosophy, Faculty of Law; unveiling in 1764 of the Smolny institute for the noble young girls).
Part of intelligentsia peerage-book, worried by the social problems, is filled with enthusiasm by the French revolution and its ideas of freedom. Aleksandr Nikolaïevitch Radichtchev, author of a very famous criticism against serfdom and the autocracy (the Voyage of Pétersbourg to Moscow, 1790), attract themselves the ire of the empress: it is continued, condemned to died then exiled. But, contrary to elites, the large majority of the rural population and the urban middle-class preserve their traditional habits and their lifestyle.