Russian History
Three Eras:
Czarist Russia, Soviet Union, & Russia Today
Czarist Russia Ivan III (Ivan the Great)
-conquered territory around Moscow, tripling the size of this state.
-liberated Russia from Mongols
-laid the foundation for absolute monarchy rule
Ivan the Terrible (ruled: 1547-1560)
Grandson of Ivan III
Strengthened the monarchy, first “official” czar of Russia. (word czar comes from latin caesar, meaning emperor).
Added territory, created a code of laws, unified Russia
Exiled or executed many of his nobles at the slightest provocation.
Became ill tempered as he got older, in a rage, kills oldest son at the age of 15.
Second son dies childless, leaving
Russia vulnerable to invaders.
Peter the Great (ruled: 1672-1725) Gains territory,
transformed Russia into a world power
Looks to Western Europe for changes Introduced the potato
Started a newspaper
Raised women’s status
Introduced western clothing to Russia
Opened schools – arts & sciences
Catherine the Great
Most admired of all the Russian rulers.
German princess who married a Russian prince.
Finding him incompetent, Catherine consented to his murder. It was announced that he had died of a disease & in 1762 she became ruler.
Educated and well read
Expands empire to Black Sea area
Nicholas II (rule:1894-
1917)
Accomplishments
Trans Siberian Railroad (see map below)
Factories doubled 1863-1900
His reign saw Russia go from a great power to
an economic & military disaster (WWI) leading up to a Revolution…
Events leading up to the Russian & Bolshevik Revolutions 1917
a series of revolutions that led to the dissolution of czarist Russia
Bloody Sunday 1905 demonstrators petitioning the palace were gunned down
Extreme Poverty of the freed serfs
Food Shortages
WWI Started in 1914, Russia forced into war, suffered huge losses & social & economic problems worsened.
Abdication of CzarNicholas II
Nicholas abdicated in 1917, and in 1918 he, and his family were murdered by the Bolsheviks (Communists).
It is thought by some historians that his daughter Anastasia might have escaped and her heirs may be alive today…
Lenin’s Take Over (chairman from 1917 to 1924)
The First Head of the Soviet Socialist Republic
New Economic Policy (NEP)
Allow individuals to buy and sell for profit
Gov’t controlled major industries, banks, communications
Farmland was seized from wealthy and divided among the peasants-encouraged collective farming
Lenin’s Russia (Soviet Union)
Women received equal pay
Granted time off to take care of newborn
Easier to obtain a divorce
Education important – stressed socialist doctrine, technical schools
Joseph Stalin (chairman: 1924-1953)
Stalin ended NEP –returned to command economy (gov’t controlled all economic decisions)
5 Year Plan Goal – turn Soviet Union
into a modern, industrialized society
Collective farming failed –famine crop failure millions died
Results: Caused hardships for people
Steel production increased significantly
Problem Attempted Solution
Results
Near economic collapse
Lenin’s NEP Moderate success
agriculture Collective farms Failed; famine
Power struggle –Stalin and Trotsky
Savage and brutal competition
Stalin emerged as victor
Little economic growth
Stalin’s first 5 year plan
Succeeded n reviving industry somewhat
No increase in consumer goods
Second 5 year plan
Industry grows –people starve
Problems of the New Soviet Union
Rule with Fear
Discouraged religion – seized property of church – churches became gov’t offices or destroyed
Rabbis, priests, and ministers imprisoned or executed
Purges – a large scale elimination of enemies – estimated 5 million were arrested, deported, or executed between 1934-1939
Fall of Communism
Mikhail Gorbachev head of the USSR from 1985-1991
began a series of reforms –glasnost (openess by the gov’t) and peristroika (political & economic reforms)
Relaxed economic control
Reduced military spending and signed arms reduction agreements
Results of reforms
Glasnost increased tensions between ethnic groups
Soviet republics began to demand independence
1991 Soviet Union ceased to exist
Yeltsin (president: 1991-1999)
First elected President
Transformation to democracy
High inflation
Unemployment
Food and housing shortages
Open Russia to foreign investment
Privatized industry
Economy Politics Religion Domestic Difficulties
Foreign Relations
•High inflation
•Food and housing shortages
•Slow to improve
•New class of entrepreneur becomes wealthy
Political turmoil
Power struggle between Yeltsin and legislature
Danger of coup
New growth and power for the Orthodox Church
Increase in organized crime
Increased separatist movement
Among minorities
Cooperation in the WEST
Arms reduction
Opposed expansion of NATO
Concern over the security of nuclear weapons
President Putin 2000-2008 Second president of Russia
Former head of the KGB
Economy thrived.
Government corruption increased.
Less freedom of press
Just before he left office in 2008, took steps to change the gov’t so that they reported to the Prime Minister, not the President. Putin is now the Prime Minster…
Russia Today
Geographically, Russia is the largest country in the world, with the 8th largest population. It encompasses 10 time zones stretching from Europe to Asia. It would be difficult to find a country with a bigger influence on the 20th Century than Russia. Its revolution, beginning in 1917, would last until the 1990s; at one point 1/3 of the world’s population was under its influence. Famous for its frozen tundra, many areas in Russia are actually quite warm. Some areas in the south of Russia have a subtropical climate, where year-round temperatures do not fall below +8 C. The average summer high temperature ranges between 26 C and 32 C (80 to 88 F) with occasional extreme heat in some interior locations exceeding 51 C (112 F)
Russia Today
It is difficlt to exactly place the founding of Russia as a country, but the Principality of Muscovy, was established in the 12th Century. Over the nest 200 years, Muscovy was able to emerge from Mongol domination (13th-15th centuries) and gradually conquer and absorb surrounding principalities. By the beginning of the 20th Century, a map of Russia would look very similar to a map of Russia today. At the beginning of the 20th Century, its power was beginning to decline, evidenced by its defeat in the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905). This weakening was made final during the First World War, when the Communist Revolution erupted in 1917.
Russia Today
The next 75 years was dominated by that philosophy and by men like Lenin and Stalin. By the 1980s the system, however, had grown stale. Hoping to revitalize it, Premier Gorbachev liberalized much in the country. He opened Pandora’s box. People across the Soviet Union, tasting freedom for the first time, began demanding more and more freedom and independence. Within years, Communism collapsed.
Russia Today
Russia has struggled in its efforts to build a democratic political system and market economy. While some progress has been made on the economic front, and Russia's management of its windfall oil wealth has improved its financial standing, recent years have seen a recentralization of power under Vladimir Putin and democratic institutions remain weak. Russia has severely disabled the Chechen rebel movement, although sporadic violence still occurs throughout the North Caucasus. During this time, poverty has declined steadily and the middle class has continued to expand.