Enlightenment: 

comparison of Russia, Iran and England

2 The age of Enlightenment in history is called the XVIII century, and the time interval from the
beginning of the English Revolution (1640) to the end of the French Revolution (1799) is also often used
to designate this period.

During the reign of Peter's daughter Empress Elizabeth, the idea of enlightened absolutism was
picked up by her favorite Ivan Shuvalov. He was an enlightened courtier, helped found the Moscow
University and the Imperial Academy of Arts, which concentrated the intellectual life of many artists of
the last quarter of the XVIII century. Shuvalov also patronized the greatest of the Russian scientists of
that time, Mikhail Lomonosov, who did a lot in various fields of natural science, as well as in poetry,
religious philosophy and fine art.

3 England was the first to enter the age of Enlightenment. The events of the English Revolution
of the XVII century made thinkers think about many things. The civil War, the trial of King Charles I and
his execution, the restoration of the Stuarts and their subsequent exile, the invitation to the throne of
another monarch - ordinary people had something to think about. In some ways the views of English
thinkers converged, and in some ways they turned out to be opposite.

4 The age of Enlightenment in England was characterized by the development and spread of
natural sciences, the predominance of materialistic tendencies in philosophy, moderate criticism of
religion and the church. Unlike France, where the Enlightenment preceded the political revolution, here
everything was the opposite: first there was a revolution, and then came the age of Enlightenment. It is
represented by such personalities and schools as John Locke, deism, spiritualism, J.Berkeley, D. Hume's
skepticism, the philosophy of the Scottish school.

5 The ideas of the Enlightenment were initially accepted by Peter I and his associates. These
ideas influenced the sermons of Feofan Prokopovich, the satire of Antioch Kantemir, and the
historiography of Vasily Tatishchev.

6 As well as in the rest of Europe, the Russian Enlightenment was strongly influenced by the
Enlightenment of France. This influence was strongest during the reign of Catherine II. Catherine is
usually considered a model of an enlightened despot. As you know, she maintained a friendly
correspondence with Voltaire and Diderot, founded one of the largest museums in the world — the
Hermitage, the Free Economic Society and the Russian National Library in St. Petersburg, three
institutions important for the subsequent dissemination of education and enlightenment in Russia. Such
European figures as Denis Diderot, Leonard Euler, Peter Pallas and Alessandro Cagliostro aspired to
Catherine's court. When the publication of the Encyclopedia was banned in France, Catherine offered
Diderot to finish his work in Russia.

7 Academician Mikhail Lomonosov made a great contribution to the development of Russian

science. He laid the foundations of modern physical chemistry, molecular kinetic theory of heat,
manufactured telescopes of his own design, with which he discovered the atmosphere of the planet
Venus, and was also a gifted poet and one of the creators of the modern Russian language. Chemist
Toviy Lovits, naturalists and ethnographers Johann Georg and Johann Guldenstedt, botanist and
geographer Johann Falk, geographers N. Ya. Ozeretskovsky and P. I. Rychkov are also known among
Russian naturalists of the Enlightenment era.

8 The Iranian Enlightenment , sometimes called the first generation of intellectual movements
in Iran brought new ideas into traditional Iranian society from the mid-nineteenth to the early twentieth
century. During the rule of the Qajar dynasty, and especially after the defeat of Iran in its war with the
Russian Empire, cultural exchanges led to the formation of new ideas among the educated class of Iran.

9 After the defeat of Iran in the war of 1826–1828 with Russia, the military, scientific and
economic backwardness of Iran became clear to the educated class. As a result, a number of French-
speaking princes, students, and literates traveled to France in 1843 to study. Among them were a
number of great thinkers such as Mirza Malkam Khan and Abdul'Rahim Talibov. One of the most
important Iranian figures influencing the Iranian intellectual movement was Mirza Fatali Akhundov. A
native of Tabriz but a resident of Georgia, Russia, he nevertheless wrote important books in Persian,
including Mukatebat. This book can be considered an exciting statement against the Iranian traditions of
the Qajar era.

10 Throughout the history of Iran, women were deprived of many of their basic rights for many
years, but during the constitutional movement, secret and non-secret women's associations were
formed. The goals of these associations were more freedom for women in society and civil equality. At
this time, intellectual constitutionalist men such as Mirzadeh Eshghi, Mohammad-Taqi Bahar, Iraj Mirza,
and others also supported the women's rights movement, especially the right to education and the
abolition of the hijab. At a time when reading and writing were forbidden for women and women's
knowledge and research was considered a sin, Maryam Amid succeeded in launching one of first Iranian
women's magazines in 1910, called Shokufeh. The aim of the publication was to acquaint women with
literary works, superstition, housekeeping and childcare tips, and to try to improve women's morale.
Over time, the magazine's tone became sharper and its protests against the social situation more
explicit, such as criticizing the tradition of underage girls marrying and even protesting the interventions
of superpowers and encouraging national independence. One of the most important actions of Amid, as
the editor-in-chief of Shokufeh, was the introduction of female candidates in the third parliamentary
election.

11 Let's make comparisons: in England, the enlightenment came before all other European
countries, while in Russia it took place in parallel with the whole of Europe, and in Iran it was late. Only
in Russia the age of Enlightenment was not associated with major state upheavals, in England and Iran it
was preceded by coups. However, in all three cases, the peoples extracted only the best from this
period, entering a new, free era.

In my opinion, the "Russian" scenario of enlightenment is optimal. Russian Russian people

received the necessary civil and religious freedoms in a timely manner, and, having learned from the
experience of the English enlightenment, they managed to easily and almost painlessly introduce
enlightened absolutism into Russian society, thereby ensuring a real golden age of Russian culture and
science.