Post on 03-Apr-2018
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Russia in Eurasia
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A Three-Dimensional View
Interstaterelations - relations between the Russian state
and other states
Russias internal conditions social development and
transformation, social structure, ethnic composition,available resources, state-society relations, political
consciousness, balance of political forces, etc.
Transnationalrelations Russia has been involved in
movement of people, goods, information, technology,
money; ethnic, cultural (including religious), political ties
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To understand Russias international behaviour, wewill view it through this three-dimensional prism,
looking forhistorically-specific combinations and
interactions
of interstate,
internal,
and transnational factors at work
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Russias world status: geopoliticsvs. market power
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The Eurasian Context
Eurasia: a supercontinent consisting of two continents
Unity and divisions of the supercontinent
The Coastlands and the Heartland. The Heartland and
the Rimland Land
Rivers
Seas
WindsTemperature
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Human migration routes*
*The time frames are highly approximate
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Human settlement patterns
Search and struggle for resources
Potential for development Degree of security
http://stort.unep-
wcmc.org/imaps/gb2002/book/viewer.
htm
http://stort.unep-wcmc.org/imaps/gb2002/book/viewer.htmhttp://stort.unep-wcmc.org/imaps/gb2002/book/viewer.htmhttp://stort.unep-wcmc.org/imaps/gb2002/book/viewer.htmhttp://stort.unep-wcmc.org/imaps/gb2002/book/viewer.htmhttp://stort.unep-wcmc.org/imaps/gb2002/book/viewer.htmhttp://stort.unep-wcmc.org/imaps/gb2002/book/viewer.htmhttp://stort.unep-wcmc.org/imaps/gb2002/book/viewer.htm7/28/2019 Russia in Eurasia
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Security-development interactions
Costs of development and security: four basic
modes of interaction
D-costs high, S-costs high (Russia)
D-costs low, S-costs low (USA, Canada)
D-costs high, S-costs low (Scandinavia)
D-costs low, S-costs high (?)
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Eurasias political integration: historical phases
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EURASIA, 116 C.E.
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EURASIA, 8TH
CENTURY
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EURASIA, 1288
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Europes Eastern frontier The belt between the Baltic and the Adriatic
East European state-forming nations: Greeks
Germans
Slavs
Eastern: Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians
Western: Poles, Czechs, Slovaks Southern: Serbs, Croatians, Slovenians, Macedonians,
Montenegrins, Bosniaks, Bulgarians
Hungarians (Magyars)
Finns
Balts (Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians) Romanians (19th-century name)
Albanians
Turks
Tatars
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Russia
Russia is 1,200 years old
It has existed in 6 historical forms:
Kiev Rus (9th-13th centuries)
Domain of the Tatar-Mongol empire
(13th-15th centuries)
Moscovy (15th-17th centuries)
The Russian Empire (18th century-1917)
The Soviet Union (1917-1991)
The Russian Federation (1991- today)
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EUROPE 0001
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EUROPE 1000
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EUROPE 1600
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NATION-STATES VS. EMPIRES A 3-way conflict of civilizations for control of Eastern
Europe. Objects of the struggle:
Resources
Trade routes
Security
THE RISE OF EMPIRES
Western Christian (German)successors to the Western
Roman Empire, Holy Roman Empire, later the Habsburg
Empire (Austria-Hungary) and the Hohenzollern Empire
(Germany)
Orthodox Christian (Russian)successor to EasternRoman Empire (The Romanov Empire)
Muslim (Turkish)successor to the Arab Caliphate (The
Ottoman Empire)
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EUROPE 1900
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In the Modern Age, Russia expanded to takecontrol of most of the Eurasian Heartland
Gradually, it filled much ofthe space firstintegrated by the Mongols
Expansion was driven by:
Struggle forindependence and security
Struggle for control ofresources and trade routes
Human settlement Imperial inertia and the internal interests maintaining
it
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ChengizKhan
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Batu-
Khan, son
of
Chengiz,conqueror
of Kiev
Rus
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The Battle of Kulikovo Pole, 1380: Russians defeat Tatars
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Moscow: a Kremlin wall
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The Red Square
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Kremlin,
Tsar
Cannon
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The Church of Ivan the Great,
Moscow Kremlin
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The
Virgin of
St.
Vladimir
(13th
century)
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The
Saviour
GoldenHair
(13th
century)
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St. George
theVictorious
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Russian countryside
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THE RUSSIAN SYSTEM:
The state was huge, costly, militarized
Society (especially the peasantry) was heavily exploitedand closely controlled by the state
The political system was autocratic-patrimonial, with themonarch being the sole source of sovereignty
The church was subservient to the state Individual rights and liberties were severely curbed
Market economy had very limited potential for development
When reforms became overdue, the state acted as themain agent of change, usually with limited effect
Society had no legal means of influencing governmentpolicies the people had an impact on the state either byobedience to it or by resistance to it (passive or active)
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What kept the system going was its
battle order:
NO CITIZENS JUST SOLDIERS, OFFICERS,
AND WORKERS WHO FED THE ARMY
The system was designed primarily for war.
Successful wars kept it going.Failed wars undermined it.
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Tsar Ivan The Terrible Kills His Son (from Ilya Repins
painting)
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Cossacks are writing a letter to the Turkish Sultan
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Russia
under Polish
rule: FalseDimitry and
Marina
Mnishek
(1609)
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Kuzma Minin and Prince Pozharsky: leaders of the anti-
Polish revolution (1609)
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Tsar Mikhail, Founder of the Romanov Dynasty
(reign 1613-1645)
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Tsar Peter the Great,
Founder of the
Russian Empire
(reign 1682-1725)
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The Battle of Poltava, 1709: Russia defeats Sweden
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St. Petersburg
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Poseidon over St. Peterburg
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Emperor Alexander I (reign 1801-1825)
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Napoleon at the Battle of Borodino: Sept. 7, 1812
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The Battle of Borodino
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Borodino
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Moscow on Fire
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Napoleons retreat from Russia, winter of 1812
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An Imperial Russian Army officer, 1812
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St. Petersburg, December 18, 1825: A military rebellion against autocracy
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Tsar Nicholas I (reign 1825-1855)
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The Russian octopus a British 1850s cartoon
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British cavalry in the Crimean War, 1855
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Emperor Alexander II (reign 1855-1881)
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Emperor
Alexander III
(reign 1881-
1894)
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Nicholas II,
the last Tsar,Emperor of
all Russias
(reign 1894-
1917)
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Grain production in Russia, late 19th century*:
1/3 of the German level
1/7 of the British level
of the French and Austrian levels*Richard Pipes, Russia Under the old Regime. Penguin Books, 1974, p.8
The issue of the surplus.The costs ofsecurity and development
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Deceptive appearances of Russia:
The image ofstability vs.
The potential forrevolution
Lenins conversation with a police investigator:
Yes, it is a wall, but it is all rotten: just push it, and it will fall down
REFORM VS. REVOLUTION: IS THE SYSTEM REFORMABLE?
RUSSIAS REBELS
Cossack uprisings of 17th and 18th centuries
(Razin, Bolotnikov, Pugachev)
The Decembrists 1825 The Revolutionary Democrats (Chernyshevsky, Herzen)
The Populists
The Anarchists (Kropotkin, Bakunin)
The Social Democrats (Plekhanov, Lenin)
R i 19th t
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Russias 19th century
The apex of expansion and the lag behind the West
From the triumph of 1812 (victory over Napoleon) to thedisaster of 1855 (defeat in the Crimean War)
The pressures for change
The reforms of Alexander II
Development of capitalism
vs. Political modernization
Capitalism was creating new classes, new issues, newconflicts and the state was expected to evolve to beable to deal with them.
But the Russian state was not up to the task.
It was not part of the solution, it was the source ofadditional problems
By the end of the 19th century the flaws of the
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By the end of the 19th century, the flaws of theRussian system become manifest
The gap between Europe and Russia widens fast,the Russian system is too inefficient, too rigid,
resistant to reform
The 1904-05 war with Japan and then World War I
exhaust the Russian state and expose its flaws 1905-1917: 12 YEARS OF UPHEAVAL WHICH
DESTROYED THE RUSSIAN AUTOCRACY AND
EMPIRE