Chapter 16

A Diverse Heritage

Western Republics

•Russia•Estonia•Lithuania•Belarus•Moldova•Ukraine

Transcaucasia

•Georgia•Armenia•Azerbaijan

Central Asia•Kazakhstan•Uzbekistan•Turkmenistan•Tajikistan•Kyrgyzstan

Russia & The Russia & The WestWest

• In the course of the 9th century, Viking tribes from Scandinavia moved southward into European Russia, tracing a path along the main waterway connecting the Baltic and Black Seas.

• Founded largest city at modern day Kiev

Mongolian Invaders

• In the 13th century, invaders from Mongolia called “Tartars” conquered the Vikings and Slavic people of Russia and sacked Kiev between 1237 and 1240

Ivan the Great

• Prince of Moscow, defeated the Mongols and drove them out in the 1500’s

• Russia continued to expand to the east reaching the Pacific Ocean

• Added more people with different ethnic backgrounds, religions and languages

Peter the Great

• Russia expands land, but falls behind in science and technology

• Peter the Great, czar of Russia from 1682 to 1725 moved the capital from Moscow to St. Petersburg. This allowed more access by sea to Western Europe.

• The Industrial Revolution was sweeping over most of Europe but Russia was falling behind. They did not modernize until the end of the 1800s.

• This resulted in harsh working conditions, low wages and other hardships. People directed their anger at the Czars (Emperor or Monarch).

Russian Revolution• During WWI (1914-1918)

people revolted against the Czars

• 1917- The Communist Party takes control led by Vladimir Lenin.

• 1922- Russia absorbs the surrounding areas and becomes the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)

World War II• Joseph Stalin takes over USSR prior to

1939

• WWII 1939-1945

• COLD WAR = Communist vs. Non-Communist (typically Democratic States). Never grew into all out war and ended in 1991.

Cold War Countries

Building a Command Economy

• Karl Marx, a German philosopher, wrote “The Communist Manifesto”; a guide on how capitalism is bad.

• Argued that in a communist system, citizens would own property together and everyone would share the wealth.

Command Economy

• Soviet government took control of the sources of the country’s wealth: land, farms, mines, factories, banks

• The government decided what crops farmers would grow and what price merchants could charge (command economy)

Collective Farms

• Stalin tried rapid industrialization

• Collective farms gathered large groups of laborers

• Industrial and Agricultural production increased, but at a great cost to workers and their families.

• Starvation and government crackdowns on civil liberties killed over 14 million

Russian Religion• The main religion of Russia is the Russian

Orthodox Church (form of Christianity, with half of Russia’s population belonging to that church.  Other churches are allowed to exist in Russia only if they can prove that they have been in Russia for a long time and are registered with the proper Russian authorities.  Other popular religions in Russia include Judaism and Islam.

Transcaucasia• “gateway of migration”

– Trade routes from the Black Sea to the Med

• Variety of cultures– More than 50 different cultures– Jabal Al-Alsun “Mountain of Languages”

• Migration brings religion– Area is close to where the two major religions started

Christianity and Islam

• Conflict– Ethnic differences give rise to violence after the collapse of

the USSR in 1991. – For example, Nagorno-Karabakh.

Economic Potential• Known for tea and fruits (grapes/wine)

because of subtropical lowlands

• During Soviet times industrial centers were built to produce iron, steel, and chemicals

• Significant OIL in the region and Azerbaijan means “land of flames”

• Is the Caspian a Lake or a Sea??

Central Asia: the “Stans”

• Historical crossroads: many traders traveled thru here from China to the Mediterranean Sea: the “Silk Road”

• Russia and England played the “Great Game” for control of this area in 19th century

• Region has good resources, but ethnic infighting hampers efforts to modernize

Central Asia• The Soviets used this area as a nuclear

test site, between 1949-1989 over 470 nuclear devises were exploded near Semey, Kazakhstan.

• The traditional life of nomads (people with no permanent home) is still very important to the way of life in the “Stans”