Khanate, absorbed the western part of the khanate into his domains, and allowed the organization of the Khanate of Astrakhan to govern the rest. The Qipchaq Khanate, nonetheless, had lasted far longer as an independent political entity than any of the other ulus granted by Chinghis Khan to his sons. See also: ASTRAKHAN, KHANATE OF; BATU; CENTRAL ASIA; CRIMEAN KHANATE
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Fedorov-Davydov, G. A. (1984). The Culture of the Golden Horde Cities, tr. H. Bartlett Wells. Oxford: B.A.R. Fedorov-Davydov, G. A. (2001). The Silk Road and the Cities of the Golden Horde. Berkeley, CA: Zinat Press. Halperin, Charles J. (1985). Russia and the Golden Horde: Mongol Impact on Medieval Russian History. Bloom- ington: Indiana University Press. Schamiloglu, Uli. (1986). “Tribal Politics and Social Organization in the Golden Horde.” Ph.D. diss., Columbia University, New York. Schamiloglu, Uli. (2002). “The Golden Horde.” In The Turks, 6 vols., ed. Hasan Cel?l G?zel, C. Cem Oguz, and Osman Karatay, 2:819-835. Ankara: Yeni T?rkiye. Vernadsky, George. (1953). The Mongols and Russia. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
A gold standard is a monetary system in which a country backs its currency with gold reserves and allows the conversion of its currency into gold. Tsarist Russia introduced the gold standard in January 1897 and maintained it until 1914. The policy was adopted both as a means of attracting foreign capital for the ambitious industrialization efforts of the late tsarist era, and to earn international respectability for the regime at a time when the world’s leading economies had themselves
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adopted gold standards. Preparation for this move began under Russian Finance Minister Ivan Vysh- negradsky (1887-1892), who actively built up Russia’s gold supply while restricting the supply of paper money. After a brief setback, the next finance minister, Sergei Witte (1892-1903), continued to amass gold reserves and restrict monetary growth through foreign borrowing and taxation. By 1896, Russian gold reserves had reached levels commensurate (in relative terms) with other major European nations on the gold standard. The gold standard proved so controversial in Russia that it had to be introduced directly by imperial decree, over the objections of the State Council (Duma). This decree was promulgated on January 2, 1897, authorizing the emission of new five- and ten-ruble gold coins. At this point the state bank (Gos-bank) became the official bank of issue, and Russia pegged the new ruble to a fixed quantity of gold with full convertibility. This meant that the ruble could be exchanged at a stable, fixed rate with the other major gold-backed currencies of the time, which facilitated trade by eliminating foreign exchange risk.
Private foreign capital inflows increased considerably after the introduction of the gold standard, and currency stability increased as well. By World War I, Russia had been transformed from a state set somewhat apart from the international financial system to the world’s largest international debtor. Proponents argue that the gold standard accelerated Russian industrialization and integration with the world economy by preventing inflation and attracting private capital (substituting for the low rate of domestic savings). They also point out that the Russian economy might not have recovered so quickly after the Russo-Japanese war and civil unrest in 1904 and 1905 without the promise of stability engendered by the gold standard. Critics, however, charge that the gold standard required excessively high foreign borrowing and tax, tariff, and interest rates to introduce. They further charge that once in place, the gold standard was deflationary, inflexible, and too preferential to foreign investment. Economist Paul Gregory argues that the entire debate may be moot, inasmuch as Russia had no choice but to adopt the gold standard in an international environment that practically required it for countries wishing to take advantage of the era’s large-scale cross-border trade and investment opportunities. Russia abandoned the gold standard in 1914 under the financial pressure of World War I. See also: FOREIGN TRADE; INDUSTRIALIZATION; VYSHNE-GRADSKY, IVAN ALEXEYEVICH; WITTE, SERGEI YULIE-VICH
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Drummond, Ian. (1976). “The Russian Gold Standard, 1897-1914.” Journal of Economic History 36(4): 633- 688. Gerschenkron, Alexander. (1962). Economic Backwardness in Historical Perspective: A Book of Essays. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. Gregory, Paul. (1994). Before Command: An Economic History of Russia from Emancipation to the First Five-Year Plan. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Von Laue, Theodore. (1963). Sergei Witte and the Industrialization of Russia. New York: Columbia University Press.
(1643-1714), chief minister and army commander during the regency of Sophia Alekseyevna.
Prince Vasily Golitsyn was the eldest son of Prince Vasily Andreyevich Golitsyn and Tatiana Streshneva. Both his parents were from aristocratic clans with strong connections, which brought young Vasily the honorific posts of cup-bearer to Tsar Alexis in 1658 and coach attendant in 1666. In 1663 he married Avdotia Streshneva, who bore him six children. In 1675 he was posted to Ukraine, where he served intermittently during the Russo-Turkish war of 1676-1681, leading an auxiliary force, organizing fortification works and provisioning, and taking a major role in negotiations with Cossack leaders. He was appointed commander in chief of the southern army just before the truce of 1681. During visits to court, Golitsyn won the favor of Tsar Fedor (r. 1676-1682), who promoted him to the rank of boyar in 1676. He also held posts as director of the Artillery Chancellery and the Vladimir High Court. In 1681 he returned to Moscow to chair a commission on army reform, with special reference to regimental structure and the appointment of officers. The commission’s proposals led to the abolition in January 1682 of the Code of Precedence, although its scheme for provincial vice-regencies was rejected.
Following Tsar Fedor’s death in May 1682, Golitsyn rose further thanks to the patronage of
GONCHAROVA, NATALIA SERGEYEVNA
Tsarevna Sophia Alekseyevna, who became regent to the joint tsars Ivan V (r. 1682-1696) and Peter I (r. 1682-1725). Their relationship is said to have begun when Sophia was caring for the ailing Fe-dor, to whose bedchamber Golitsyn often reported, but contemporary Russian sources do not record any such meetings. The claim that the couple became lovers rests on hearsay and some coded letters dating from the later 1680s. Golitsyn was not closely involved in the intrigues with the Moscow militia (musketeers) that brought Sophia to power following a bloody revolt, but he remained close to the tsars during the so-called Khovanshchina and was appointed director of the important Foreign Office, and later accumulated the directorships of the Foreign Mercenaries, Cavalry, Little Russian (Ukrainian), Smolensk, Novgorod, Ustyug, and Galich chancelleries, which afforded him a substantial power base. In 1683 Sophia dubbed him “Guardian of the Tsar’s Great Seal and the State’s Great Ambassadorial Affairs.”
Golitsyn’s main talent was for foreign affairs. He was unusual among Russian boyars in knowing Latin and Greek and became known as a friend of foreigners. He was instrumental in negotiating the renewal of the 1661 Treaty of Kardis with Sweden (1684), trade treaties with Prussia (1689), and the important treaty of permanent peace with Poland (1686), by which Russia broke its truce with the Ottomans and Tatars and entered the Holy League against the infidels. In fulfillment of Russia’s obligations to the League, Golitsyn twice led vast Russian armies to Crimea, in 1687 and 1689, on both occasions returning empty-handed, having suffered heavy losses as a result of shortages of food and water. Golitsyn’s enemies blamed him personally for the defeats, but Sophia greeted him as a victor, thereby antagonizing the party of the second tsar Peter I, who objected to “undeserved rewards and honors.” Following a stand-off between the two sides in August-September 1689, Golitsyn was arrested for aiding and abetting Sophia, bypassing the tsars, and causing “losses to the sovereigns and ruin to the state” as a result of the Crimean campaigns. He and his family were exiled to the far north, first to Kargopol, then to Archangel province, where he died in 1714.
Historians have characterized Golitsyn as a “Westernizer,” one of a select band of educated and open-minded Muscovite boyars. His modern views were reflected not only in his encouragement of contacts with foreigners, but also in his library of books in foreign languages and his Moscow mansion in the fashionable “Moscow Baroque” style, which was equipped with foreign furniture, clocks, mirrors, and a portrait gallery, which included Golitsyn’s own portrait. The French traveler Foy de la Neuville (the only source) even credited Golitsyn with a scheme for limiting, if not abolishing, serfdom, which is not, however, reflected in the legislation of the regency. Golitsyn’s downfall was
