Chapter 5: The Eastern Civilization

Eastern Civilizations are the Orthodox Slavic, the Eastern European, the Eastern Orthodox, or even the Russian Civilization. Just like the Western Civilization, the Eastern Civilization is a descendant of the Greco-Roman Civilization, more specifically, of its Byzantine part.The Eastern Civilization was born around mid-9th century CE.

Alvin Toffler, the American philosopher of historical and societal development, describes three types of societies; First Wave (Agrarian), the Second Wave (Industrial) and The Third Wave (Informational).

The Eastern Civilization During the Agricultural Period: The Succession and the Geographical Boundaries of Societies

According to the traditional history, the Slavs invited the Scandinavians to rule over them since even though their “whole land is great and rich, there is no order in it.”

The East Slavs appeared in European history between the 3rd and 8th centuries CE. in the area between the Vistula and Dnieper rivers. After the predominantly agricultural tribes of East Slavs made an alliance with the Scandinavian warrior-traders, known as the Vikings, the Scandinavian newcomers had founded a state, called Kievan Rus, in the 9th century with its center at Kiev.

Powerful and prosperous East Slavic state, under the reign of the Ruriks from the 9th to the 13th century was the cultural forerunner of the Russia, Ukraine and Belarus.

Viking Rurik of Scandinavia established a state on the backbone of the trade route from the Vikings to the Greeks. One of the Rurik’s descendants – Prince Vladimir (958-1015) – converted his subjects into the Orthodox Christian faith in 988. Vladimir’s son, Yaroslav the Wise (978-1054), made military campaigns and also perceived dynastic marriages with the families of the other European countries, like France, Norway, and Hungary. Yaroslav’s sons divided the state into warring factions, and the city of Kiev lost its preeminence in 1054.

After the 12th century, the Kievan principality declined due to the conflicts between regional princes, new trade routes of the Crusades and the Mongol invasion in the first half of the 13th century. The nomads of the Mongol Empire devastating many cities, including Kiev.

The principalities of Rus become part of the Mongol Empire and they were called as the Golden Horde. Poland and Lithuania absorbed the remaining vestiges of Kievan Rus in the west. The only region that retained autonomy was the Republic of Novgorod. Other important consequence was the rise of the Grand Principality of Moscow.

Novgorod Republic became a foundation for the Great Principality of Moscovy, and, later for the Czardom of Russia and flourished between the 12th and 15th centuries CE because of the Hanseatic League trade network. It was governed by the veche – an early democratic institution of East Slavs.

The Grand Principality of Moscow originated within the Principality of Vladimir-Suzdal when Prince Daniel I inherited a tiny timber citadel called Moscow in the mid13th century and at the end of the 15th. century, city controlled the other East Slavs lands and gained independence from the Golden Horde. Ivan III (the Great) further consolidated the state and tripled the territory of his realm. By marrying the niece of the Byzantine emperor, he symbolically established Muscovy as the successor state of the Byzantine Empire - the “Third Rome. Ivan’s successor Vasily III consolidated all East Slavic lands in the 16th century and continued its expansion even further.

The Czardom of Russia existed between the Czar Ivan IV in 1547 and Peter I in 1721. The beginning of the 17th century was an era of major social upheavals within the Eastern Civilization. Those include the shift from the Rurik to the Romanov dynasty. Ending the Rurik dynasty led to civil war, famine, epidemics, and other calamities. Just between the years 1601 and 1603, famine claimed about one-third of the population. Then, during the Polish–Russian War (1605–18) the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth occupied Russia. In 1610, the king of Poland stood poised to claim the throne of the Czar. However, a volunteer army and expelled foreign invaders from Moscow, thus terminating the Time of Troubles in 1612.

The Evolution of the Eastern Civilization during the Industrial Period: The Russian Empire and the USSR

Starting in 16th century, the territory of the Eastern Civilization had significantly expanded from 1551 to 1700. There were several reasons for Russia’s expansion; firstly, they need access to the sea. Secondly, land-rich aristocracy demand the profits from the expansion, based on some ideological underpinnings, like the idea of Third Rome, Pan-Slavism, or later, Communism. Finally, the empire may have continued to expand almost accidentally.

The vehicle for the expansion was industrialization in the Russian colonization. The early Period of Industrialization in the realm of the Eastern Civilization commenced with the accession to the throne of a young and energetic Peter I, also known as Peter the Great (1682–1725). In a single generation, Peter the Great transformed his ancient land from an isolated, landlocked kingdom into a modern, global power of its time by initiating the mining and manufacturing of weapons. Then his empire began to compete with the neighbors, the Swedish Empire, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Ottoman Empire, and Persia. Catherine II (the Great) continued with the policy of Western-style modernization. The country expanded swiftly by conquest, colonization, and diplomacy. However, army draft and the state economy continued to depend on the existence of serfdom. Heavyhanded demands of the state and private proprietors led to massive Pugachev Rebellion.

A significant challenge to the Romanov dynasty and their empire also came in the form of the French invasion, known in Russia as the Patriotic War of 1812. After battle at Borodino, Napoleon entered Moscow. However, Alexander I rejected the offer to negotiate. In the process, heroism of the Russian people and the severe winter conditions destroyed the Napoleon’s army. There is, however, unanticipated consequence of the Napoleonic Wars. Young Russian officers, who visited Europe during the war, encountered the existence of modern constitutional forms of government. They formed secret societies, and in 1825, they rebelled, demanding a constitution for Russia. The new Czar, Nicholas I (1796- 1855) turned his guns against the Decembrists and declared that democracy or a constitution was out of question.

In the years that followed, Russia faced to humiliating defeat in the Crimean War (1853-56). It was a war between an alliance of European powers and Russia for the control of the territorial and spiritual domains of the Ottoman Empire. Finally, Alexander II (1855–1881) made important reforms. For example, he pardoned the Decembrists, abolished corporal punishment, instituted trial by jury, supporting the idea of a parliamentary rule. However, the most noticeable was the emancipation of 23 million serfs in 1861. In the meantime, the protection of Orthodox Christians living in the Ottoman Empire became most significant policy in Eastern Europe.

Economically, the empire was still largely an agricultural nation. The peasantry comprised about 85 percent of the population, and large estates, plowed by serfs. The economy gradually industrialized with the assistance of foreign investments, such as textile factories, oil and mining facilities, and railways. Politically, the empire operated as an absolute monarchy until the Revolution of 1905.

At the beginning of the 20th. century, Russia was rapidly industrializing. The situation of the working class was not good. Reformers, motivated by the western European example, desired rapid political change. Nevertheless, the Czarist government opposed it while encouraging the country’s industrialization.

The 1905 “Bloody Sunday” massacre of the reformers demonstration in Saint Petersburg triggered nationwide strikes, which paralyzed the economy. Reformers demanded the establishment of a constitution and a legislature. World War I created a crisis of such proportions that the monarchy could not meet the challenge. Massive demonstrations and strikes led to efforts by the Duma to form a Provisional Government. Since the Provisional Government and the Soviets represented different social forces, their decisions often contradicted one another. In the meantime, peasants began to seize the land, while soldiers began to desert the army in increasing numbers.

In 1917, Nicholas II abolished the Romanov dynasty and Lenin armed a radical faction of the Social Democratic Party, the Bolsheviks. Then, the Bolsheviks carried out a successful revolt in November 1917. Following the coup, they consolidated their control over the Soviets.

This period involved an armed power struggle between the Bolsheviks and several rival groups. The war effort against Germany collapsed, and the new Soviet government signed Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. The country then faced a devastating civil war between the “Reds” “White” armies. The American, French, and British troops intervened the war. In the end, the Bolsheviks established a one-party dictatorship.

Russian history is divided into 3 categories in the 20th. century; Stalin’s phase” (1924-1953), “Khrushchev’s phase” (1953-1964), and the “Brezhnev’s phase” (1964- 1982).

The Soviet Union existed from 1922 to 1991. After Lenin’s death in 1924, Joseph Stalin assumed the dictatorial power and introduced his own crude version of Marxism-Leninism. The nation underwent a period of rapid industrialization, which was accompanied by the brutal collectivization of peasants into factory-like communes called kolkhozy and sovkhozy between 1928 and 1940. It brought a huge gap between the elite and ordinary citizens. Stalin also initiated the Great Purge. As a result, hundreds of thousands were sentenced to hard labor in labor camps or to death. Nevertheless, despite turmoil of the Revolution, the Civil War, and the Great Purge, the Russian people and other ethnic groups showed a great heroism during World War II.

Under the guidance of Nikita Khrushchev and his successors, relative liberalization and stabilization occurred. The Soviet Empire consisted of 15 Soviet republics and 16 countries outside of the USSR proper. However, the failure of the outdated Marxism-Leninism ideology created powerful sociocultural strains. Starting in Poland, the wave of the Revolutions of 1989 removed the Soviet Union and brought the final in 1991. Among other seminal events and processes that eventually led to the fall of the Soviet Union certainly was the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown.

Ukraine: A Stage of the Eastern Civilization with a Different Fate?

Rich culture of Ukraine displays influences of many civilizations, like ancient Greece and Rome or the Russian, the Austro-Hungarian, etc. Ukrainian culture, art, and literary language underwent a process of rapid development and refinement, especially during the 19th. and the 20th. century.

In 1921 Ukraine was annexed by the Soviet Union. On 24 August 1991, the Act of the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine re-established Ukraine as an independent state. However, Ukraine descended to the level of the second poorest country in Europe. The results of the “Orange Revolution” in the years of 2004 and 2005 were largely canceled by various political brands. The economy was paralyzed by the oligarchs’ warfare, permeating corruption and internal discord. In 2013, the Ukrainian Revolution began with public demands for closer integration with Europe, which rapidly evolved into demands for better government. In 2014, closing to the EU brought a civil war and a foreign invasion. Diplomatic talks between Ukraine, Russia, the US, and the European Union in Geneva failed to achieve any meaningful results. However, they resumed in Minsk (Belarus) in 2014 and 2015 and it is new phase in an ongoing geopolitical battle between the West and Russia.

The Evolution of Religious Beliefs within the Eastern Civilization Through the Ages

The evolution of religious beliefs within the Eastern Civilization has been gradual and has passed through several periods; animistic, Orthodox Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and Judaism.

The Primary Chronicle mentions seven pagan divinities and Great Prince Vladimir I established a pantheon. But, pagan period was short-lived, for in 988 CE Christianity became the state religion. After the alliance with the Byzantines, Vladimir chose Orthodox Christianity. Byzantine missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius introduced Old Church Slavonic language. The USSR was the first state which attempted a complete switch to atheism, and churches were not built during the seventy years of the atheistic Soviet era.

Development of Other Cultural Practices within the Realm of the Eastern Civilization

As a core country of the Eastern Civilization, Russia were successful culture in many fields of culture, particularly in politics and philosophy, literature and cinema, classical music and ballet, architecture and painting. The country also has an impressive material culture and a longstanding tradition in science and technology. At different points in its history, the Eastern Civilization was also strongly influenced by the culture of the Western Civilization. There are two great perennial conflicts of the Russian culture: one between the creative artist and the authorities, the other between the Westernizers and the Slavophils.

In the 17th. century, Russia and its culture were still backward and medieval. Peter the Great westernized Russia. He established a new capital, St. Petersburg, and ave a powerful impetus to the evolution of science, scholarship, and innovation by establishing Saint Petersburg University and the Academy of Sciences. In the 18th. century, Empress Catherine the Great made significant improvements. The era of Czar-reformer Alexander II is the Golden Age of the Russian literature, Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Turgenev, etc.

The second great conflict in Russian culture was between the Westernizers and the Slavophils. Slavophilia was an intellectual movement originating in the 19th. century. In the mid-19th century, Russia began to absorb the ideas and culture of Western Europe at an accelerated pace. There was a tremendous growth in revolutionary activity accompanying a general restructuring of Czardom. The Romanov monarchy constantly fluctuated between extremes. For example, Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, Alexander I, and Alexander II were (to a degree, of course) “westernizers” and “progressives,” while Nicholas I, Alexander III, and Nicholas II - “conservatives” and “retrogrades.”

The dominant ideological doctrine of the Russian empire was formulated during the reign of Czar Nicholas I in the first half of the 19th. century. It was known as “Official Nationality” and expressed in a triad: Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationality.