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Article: Time of Troubles (Russia)
- Article from:
- Europe, 1450 to 1789: Encyclopedia of the Early Modern World
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TIME OF TROUBLES (RUSSIA)
TIME OF TROUBLES (RUSSIA).
The Time of Troubles (1598
–
1613), a complex political crisis manifested in repeated palace coups, civil war, and foreign occupation, nearly resulted in the shattering of the Muscovite state. The Time of Troubles
(smutnoe vremia)
had three interconnected causes.
The first and most crucial cause was the temporary delegitimation of royal authority following the extinction of the Riurikid dynasty in 1598, when Tsar Fedor Ivanovich died without an heir. Fedor's successor, Tsar Boris Godunov (ruled 1598
–
1605), was never able to fully legitimate himself because of court factionalism, his failure to marry into an eminent ...