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.