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Tsar Dmitri's Propaganda Campaign

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In 1605 a man claiming to be Dmitri Ivanovich took the Russian throne after a military campaign. Only a year later Tsar Dmitri’s rivals assassinated him; however, there was a persistent myth among his supporters that he had escaped death and would eventually return to rule. In the following years other pretenders emerged claiming to be Dmitri, and to remove support for these false claimants Dmitri’s rivals manufactured a propaganda campaign to discredit Tsar Dimitri. The propaganda produced by Dimitri’s rivals denounced him as a sorcerer and heretic in an attempt to destroy his reputation. This paper will seek to understand how preexisting religious, political ideologies supported the narrative produced by the First False Tsar Dmitri’s rivals …show more content…

In this text Dunning attempts to argue that the conflict that Russia was facing was not based off class conflict or rebellion but instead it was political. Dunning uses a variety of primary and secondary sources to prove his arguments effectively. With Dunning’s focus on the various accessions to the throne, this text is useful for this research paper as he explores different mechanisms behind Dmitri’s reign, assassination, and later propaganda campaign. This analysis will be helpful this research papers examination of the campaign and why it was constructed using a religious narrative.

In “Who Was Tsar Dmitri?”, Chester Dunning reexamines the identity and character of ‘the false’ Tsar Dmitri. He attempts to break down the myths that have been recycled from Russian primary sources into Russian historiography. By using traditional Russian folklore and surviving propaganda produced by Dmitri’s rivals Dunning is able successfully call into question the characterization of Dmitri in traditional scholarship. This article will be useful for this research paper as it explores both the context of Dmitri’s reign and assassination and also the propaganda used to discredit …show more content…

This text works as a case study exploring how the traditional association between god and tsar could be used to justify new leadership and rule. Kivelson uses extensive primary sources to illustrate the widely held belief in this connection of Tsar and God. This text will help with this research paper’s own case study of Tsar Dmitri fall from rule and how the political religious ideology of the time was used in discrediting Tsar Dmitri.

In this article Ostrowski discusses the nature of the Tsar’s power in collaboration with other Russian institutions including the boyars and church in the 16th and 17th century. Ostrowski attempts to refute the traditional use of a absolutist or autocratic framework by historians when studying Russia by proving a level of collaboration or exchange between the Tsar and the elite. This article is a helpful addition to this research paper as it will help develop my analysis of the way Orthodox Russian’s viewed and interacted with their

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