Life and customs of the 18th century in Russia: history

The epochal rule of Peter I, as well as his numerous reforms aimed at Europeanization and the eradication of medieval remnants in everyday life and politics, had a huge impact on the way of life of all classes of the empire.

Various innovations, actively introduced into everyday life and customs of Russians in the 18th century, gave a strong impetus to the transformation of Russia into an enlightened European state.

Reforms of Peter I

Peter I, as well as succeeded him on the throne, Catherine II, his main task was to involve women in secular life and to teach upper classes of Russian society to the rules of etiquette. Special instructions and manuals were created for this purpose; Young nobles learned the rules of court etiquette and went to study in Western countries, from where they came back inspired by the desire to make the people of Russia more enlightened and more modern. Most of the changes affected secular life, the family structure remained unchanged - the head of the family was a man, the rest of the family had to obey him.

Life and customs of the 18th century in Russia entered into an acute confrontation with innovations, because the flourished absolutism, as well as feudal-serf relations did not allow the painless and quick implementation of plans for Europeanization in life. In addition, there was a clear contrast between the life of wealthy estates and serfs.

Court life in the XVIII century

Life and customs of the royal court in the second half of the XVIII century were distinguished by an unprecedented luxury, which surprised even foreigners. The influence of Western trends was increasingly felt: in Moscow and St. Petersburg, there were educators-tutors, hairdressers, and mills; French became the language of study; Was introduced a special fashion for ladies who were to the court.

The innovations that appeared in Paris were necessarily adopted by the Russian nobility. The court etiquette was like a theatrical performance - courtesy, curtsy created an acute sense of controversy.

Over time, the theater became very popular. During this period, the first Russian playwrights also appeared (Dmitrievsky, Sumarokov).

There is an increasing interest in French literature. Representatives of the aristocracy pay more and more attention to the education and development of a multifaceted personality - this becomes a kind of sign of a good tone.

In the 30s - 40s of the XVIII century, during the reign of Anna Ioannovna, one of the popular entertainments, besides chess and drafts, was playing cards, which was previously considered indecent.

Life and customs of the 18th century in Russia: the life of noblemen

The population of the Russian Empire consisted of several estates.

In the most favorable position were the nobles of large cities, especially St. Petersburg and Moscow: material well-being and high status in society allowed them to lead an idle way of life, devoting all the time to organizing and attending secular receptions.

Close attention was paid to houses, the western traditions influenced their development.

The aristocracy's possessions were distinguished by luxury and sophistication: large halls, tastefully furnished with European furniture, huge chandeliers with candles, rich libraries with books by Western authors-all this was meant to show a sense of taste and to confirm the nobility of the family. The spacious rooms of the houses allowed the owners to organize large balls and social receptions.

The Role of Education in the 18th Century

Life and customs of the second half of the 18th century were even more closely connected with the influence of Western culture on Russia: aristocratic salons became fashionable, where disputes about politics, art, literature were heated, debates were held on philosophical themes. Great popularity was given to the French language, which children of nobles from childhood were trained by specially hired foreign teachers. After reaching the age of 15-17, the adolescents were sent to closed educational institutions: the young men were taught military strategy here , the girls learned good-order rules, the ability to play various musical instruments, the basics of family life.

Europeanization of everyday life and the foundations of the urban population was of great importance for the development of the whole country. Innovations in art, architecture, food, clothing quickly took root in the houses of the nobility. Interwoven with old Russian habits and traditions, they defined the way of life and customs of the 18th century in Russia.

At the same time, innovations did not spread throughout the country, but covered only the most developed regions, once again emphasizing the gap between prosperous strata and the poor.

Life of the provincial nobility

In contrast to the capital's nobility, the representatives of the provincial nobility lived more modestly, although they tried in every way to resemble a more prosperous aristocracy. Sometimes such a desire from the outside looked rather caricatured. If the metropolitan nobility lived at the expense of its vast estates and thousands of serfs working for them, then the families of provincial towns and villages received the basic income from taxation of peasants and incomes from their small farms. The noble estate was a kind of houses of the capital's nobility, but with a significant difference - next to the house were numerous farm buildings.

The level of education of provincial nobles was very low, the training was mainly limited to the basics of grammar and arithmetic. Men spent their leisure time hunting, and women gossiped about court life and fashion, without having a reliable idea about it.

Owners of rural estates were closely connected with peasants who served as workers and servants in their homes. Therefore, the rural nobility was much closer to commoners than the capital's aristocrats. In addition, poorly educated noblemen, as well as peasants, often found themselves far from innovating, and if they tried to keep up with fashion, it turned out to be more comical than exquisite.

Peasants: the way of life and customs of the 18th century in Russia

The hardest of all was the lowest class of the Russian Empire-serf peasants.

Work six days a week on the landlord did not leave the peasant time to arrange his daily life. Their own scraps of land they had to process on holidays and weekends, because the families of peasants were many children, and it was necessary at least somehow to feed them. With constant employment and the lack of free time and money, simple everyday life of peasants is connected: wooden huts, rough interior, meager food and simple clothes. However, all this did not stop them from inventing entertainment: on big holidays, mass games were organized, dances were circulated, songs were sung.

The children of the peasants, without receiving any education, repeated the fate of their parents, also becoming servants and servants at noblemen's estates.

The influence of the West on the development of Russia

The life and customs of the Russian people at the end of the 18th century were mostly influenced by the tendencies of the Western world. Despite the stability and stiffness of Old Russian traditions, the trends of developed countries gradually entered the life of the population of the Russian Empire, making its prosperous part more educated and literate. This fact is confirmed by the emergence of various institutions, whose service consisted of people who had already received a certain level of education (for example, city hospitals).

Cultural development and the gradual Europeanization of the population quite vividly testify to the history of Russia. Life and customs in the 18th century, modified due to the policy of enlightenment of Peter I, marked the beginning of the global cultural development of Russia and its people.