Russia…Past, Present, Future

Russia…Past, Present, Future

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Learning Targets• Trace and analyze the historical

changes that have occurred in Russia…– Politically?– Socially? – Economically? – Geographically?

• Identify key leaders in Russian history?– What contributions did they make to the

country overall?

Key Facts about Russia

• There are 14 former Soviet co-republics– Even without by far the world’s largest political entity

• Gulf of Finland to Alaska = 11 time zones• Twice as large as United States or China• Population - 150,000,000 - much of land empty– China - 1.2 billion, India - 900,000,000, US 300,000,000

• Population concentrated in European Russia• Both the tsars and the communists tried to

populate Siberia unsuccessfully

A Short History of Russia1. Russian history effectively began in 862,

which was a loose federation of cities (Slavs, Veps, Votes)

2. For most of Russia’s history it was ruled by a tsar (known as “Imperial Russia”)

3. 1917 the October Revolution occurred and the Soviets began to seize power– Soviet Empire emerges with Russia at

center– 14 Soviet Republics along with Russia made

up the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)• Breakdown of Soviet Union - 1991

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Former Soviet Republics

1. Armenia2. Azerbaijan3. Belarus4. Estonia5. Georgia6. Kazakhstan7. Kyrgyzstan

8. Latvia9. Lithuania10. Moldova11. Russia (duh!)12. Tajikistan13. Turkmenistan14. Ukraine15. Uzbekistan

Historical Geography

• Russia has always been a country of remoteness far from mainstreams of change and progress – Self-imposed isolation – Mistrust of the outside

Rulersof

Russia

Ivan IV (the Terrible)

Good stuff…• Came to the throne at age 3

and crowned tsar at age 16 (1547)– Revised the law code– Created a standing army– Established a council of

nobles– First printing press in Russia– He had St. Basil's Cathedral

constructed in Moscow • Barma and Postnik Yakovlev

Bad stuff…• Fought a 22 year war that

bankrupt the empire• Established serfdom• Created a secret police that

was estimated to kill upwards of 30-40,000 people

• In a fit of rage killed his own son, the heir to his thrown!– Zoinks!

Ivan the Terrible

Expansion of Russia Under Ivan

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Aerial View of St. Basil’s

Peter I (the Great)• Tsar of Russia from 1682 to 1696• Modernized Russia– Ordered men of the upper classes to

shave their beards, don western attire, send their sons abroad for schooling

– Refashioned the army and created a navy

– Moved capital from Moscow to St. Petersburg

– Expanded Russia’s empire in every way (geographically, economically & socially)

Catherine II (the Great)

• 1762-1796; longest-ruling female leader of Russia– Actually German and seized power from her

husband Peter III• Great admirer of Peter the Great– Culture was very important; Hermitage Museum

• Influence by the Enlightenment and proposed reformed legal code = equal protection for all

The State Hermitage

• Contains over 3 million items in 6 buildings– One of the buildings, the Winter Palace, was home

to many Tsars and Tsarinas• Largest painting collection in the world

Tsar Nicholas II (the Last Tsar)• Russia's last emperor • Resist ever-growing calls for increased

democracy within Russia– Supported the Boyars (wealthy nobles)

• Loses war with Japan in 1904-5– Becomes very unpopular– Workers of the world…UNITED!– Result: the communist workers overthrew

the government and assassinated the tsar and his entire family (Anastasia?!?)

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Worker demonstrations outside the Winter Palace in Petrograd, January 1917

Bolsheviks speaking at a meeting of workers and soldiers in Petrograd in 1917

Quick Review

• What is a tsar?• List one good thing and one bad thing about

Ivan the Terrible• What was Peter the Great known for?• What was Catherine the Great’s “passion”?– What did she build to commemorate this passion?

• What is notable about Tsar Nicholas II?– Who was his daughter?

Vocabulary• Proletariat - a term used to describe the class of

workers in a capitalist society whose only possession of significant material value is their ability to work; in Marxist theory they would overthrow the bourgeoisie

• Bourgeoisie - describes a social class characterized by their ownership of capital; a member of the wealthiest social class of a society

• Bolshevik - a member of the political party that started to rule Russia in 1917; they eventually become the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

Vladimir Iliach Lenin

• Led the Bolshevik Revolution.

• He believed that it was up to the peasants and farmers to unite and overthrow a government of the wealthy.

Lenin’s Tomb in Red Square

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Immediately after his death in 1924, a

wooden mausoleum was erected on the

square.

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Lenin’s Body Entombed

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Joseph Stalin, Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky, 1919.

Josef Stalin

• After Lenin's death in 1924, Stalin promoted himself as his political heir and gradually maneuvered his rivals to become dictator.– Forced collectivization of agriculture– Great Terror of the 1930s• Execution of thousands and the exile of millions to the

gulags (Siberia)

"Agriculture is developing slowly, comrades. This is because we

have about 25 million individually owned farms. They are the most primitive and undeveloped form

of economy We must do our utmost to develop large farms and

to convert them into grain factories for the country organized

on a modem scientific basis.”

Soviet Gulags

Russia

• What happened in 1991?– Soviet Union collapsed – Separated into 15 new countries– Started new Russian Federation

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Why Did the USSR Collapse?

1. Different ethnic groups (>50%) resisted assimilation to a “Russianized” state

2. USSR couldn’t meet the needs of the State (poverty, starvation)

3. Dictatorship – extremely harsh conditions; no personal freedoms

Why Did the USSR Collapse?4. Mikhail Gorbachev institutes new policies

that change the USSR– “Glasnost” – a policy that called for increased

transparency in government institutions and activities. Literally means “openness”

– “Perestroika” - The literal meaning is "restructuring", referring to the restructuring of the Soviet political and economic system.

5. Uprisings begin in Estonia, Latvia & Lithuania and spread to the other regions…the rest is history!