In the political sense, absolutism is a form of government, in which all power is legally and practically in the hands of the monarch. In Russia, the absolute monarchy originated in the XVI century, in the first quarter of the XVIII century, Russian absolutism took its final form.
Prerequisites for the development of absolutism in Russia
In Russia, absolutism developed under the specific conditions of serfdom and the rural community, which at that time had already undergone serious decomposition. Not the last role in the formation of Russian absolutism was played by the policy of the reigning persons, seeking to strengthen their own power.
In the XVII century, significant contradictions arose between the posad population and feudal lords. The absolutism that was emerging at that time, in order to solve its internal and external problems, tried to encourage the development of industry and trade. Therefore, during the initial formation of absolute power, the monarch, in confrontation with representatives of the boyar aristocracy and church opposition, relies on the top of the posad: the merchants, the service class, the feudal nobility.
The emergence of absolutism in Russia was also facilitated by foreign economic reasons: the need to wage a struggle for the economic and political independence of the state and the possibility of access to the sea coast. The absolute monarchy turned out to be more prepared to wage such a struggle, and not an estate-representative form of government structure.
The emergence in the Russian Empire of an absolute monarchy was caused by the country's foreign policy, the course of socio-economic development, the emergence of contradictions between different classes of society, leading to the class struggle, as well as the emergence of bourgeois relations.
The establishment of an absolute monarchy
The development and establishment of absolutism as the main form of government led to the abolition of Zemsky Sobors in the second half of the 17th century, which limited the power of the reigning person. The tsar was pecking at previously inaccessible considerable financial independence, making profit from his own estates, customs duties, taxes from enslaved peoples, taxes from developing trade. The weakening of the political and economic role of the boyars led to the loss of the importance of the Boyar Duma. There was an active process of subordinating the clergy to the state. Thus, in the second half of the 17th century an absolute monarchy was established in Russia with the boyar Duma and the boyar aristocracy, which took shape completely during the reign of Peter the Great, in the first quarter of the 18th century.
In the same period, the Russian absolute monarchy received legislative consolidation. The ideological justification of absolutism was given in the book of Feofan Prokopovich, “True to the Will of the Monarch, ” created in accordance with the requirements of the special instruction of Peter I. In October 1721, after Russia's outstanding victory in the battles of the Northern War, the Spiritual Synod and Senate granted Peter I the honorary title of "Father of the Fatherland, Emperor of All Russia". The Russian state is becoming an empire.
The emergence of absolutism in Russia, as in many other countries, was a completely natural process. However, between the absolute monarchies of different countries there are both common and separate features determined by the local conditions for the development of a particular state.
Absolutism of different countries
Thus, in France and in Russia, the absolute monarchy existed in a fully completed form in which there was no body in the structures of the state apparatus that could limit the power of the reigning person. Absolutism of this form is characterized by a high degree of centralization of state power, the presence of a large bureaucratic apparatus and powerful armed forces. England was characterized by incomplete absolutism. There was a parliament, to a small extent, still limiting the power of the ruler, there were local self-government bodies, there was no large standing army. In Germany, the so-called "princely absolutism" only contributed to the further feudal fragmentation of the state.
