Task
Explain the causes of the Stresses revolt in 1698.
Answer
There were many causes leading up to the second Stresses revolt in 1968. Peter left Russia almost immediately to go on his tour around the Great Embassy having no strong leader, rumors had circulated that he was not who he said he was, and when the Stresses went to ASAP they were very far away from Moscow so couldn’t see their families. Peter left Russia to try and westernizes it. He went on the Great Embassy traveling to countries such as England and Holland etc to see how their country was run. In doing so, he left Russia in a state.
There was no one running the country and there was no strong leadership or discipline therefore the Stresses had no threat. In addition, when the Streets were working in ASAP, it was run by westerners something they really did not like, as they didn’t want Russia to become westernizes. Another reason why the Stresses revolted in 1698 was due to rumors that Peter was actually the Anti-Christ and not himself. People believed that he had been bewitched and that was why he wanted to westernizes the country. The Stresses were not best pleased with this, as they thought their leader was therefore not very strong and loudest lead them to victory.
Also, rumors were made that Peter died in the west and that Sophia was going to become Tsarina again something that the public and the Stresses did not want. Furthermore, this was a key reason that pushed the Stresses over the edge and to revolt. When in ASAP, the Stresses were far away from Moscow so therefore could not see their families. They were treated very poorly when in ASAP also, so they didn’t really see a reason to be there as they couldn’t be with the people they loved the most and were treated horribly and had awful living conditions.
Many of them were also not paid at all, leaving the Stresses angry and unhappy. In conclusion, I believe that the Stresses had a right to revolt as they didn’t have a strong leader at the time when Peter was away so didn’t really know what they were supposed to be doing. The rumors that were circulated really didn’t help Peter in the running of Russia and how the Stresses saw him as a leader and finally, the Stresses were away from there family living in poor conditions without pay, pushing the Stresses over the edge to revolt.
