Russia and the Republics

A Land of Extremes

• Northern Landforms• Northern European Plain

• Chernozem – black earth

• West Siberian Plain• Ural Mountains separate later and former• Central Siberian Plain – high plateaus (east of Yenisey

River)

• Russian Far East (east of Lena River) - Kamchatka Pen.

• Southern Landforms• Caucasus Mtns – Transcaucasia: Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia • Tian Shan Mtns – Central Asia: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan,

Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan

• Tural Plain – Kara Kum and Kyzyl Kum Deserts

A Land of Extremes

• Rivers drainages: Caspian, Black, Aral Seas + the Pacific and Artic Oceans

• Lakes: Some of the world’s longest lakes (Caspian and Aral Seas)

• Lake Baikal = deepest lake in the world

• Abundant Resources – coal, iron ore, oil and natural gas, forests and river for hydroelectric power• Difficulty with access – SIBERIA

• Climate: ranges from humid continental to subartic• Continentality - distance inland from moderating

influence of the sea

• Vegetation: Tundra, Forest (taiga), Steppe and Desert

History of Russia

• Early Kievan state of Rus (Eastern Slavs) 7th century• Between Black and Baltic Seas• Dnieper River settlement of Kiev• Mixed Slavs with Viking explorers who

settled and adopted local customs• Dominated local scene from 9th century to

11th century• Golden Age of Kiev - Vladimir the Great

(980-1015) &Yaroslav the Wise (1019-1054)

Orthodox Christianity from Byzantium – legal code ‘Russkaya Pravda’

History of Russia

• 11th and 12th Centuries see migrations north b/c of Turkic tribes

• 13th century brings Mongol Tatar (Golden Horde) invasions ending Kievan Rus (1237-1240AD)• Control region until 15th century

• Grand Duchy of Moscow asserts influence • Ivan the Great, Prince of Moscow

throws off Tatar dominance• Unites both Central and Northern Rus

and assumes legacy of ERE (Byzantines)

History of Russia

• Under Ivan the Great, Russia expanded east

• Empire extends to Pacific by end of 17th century

History of Russia

• Czar Peter the Great (1682-1725)• Moves capital to St. Petersburg

• Direct access to Western Europe• Builds a strong navy• Gains new lands and makes some

necessary reforms to align with West

• Serfs emancipated in 1861• Leads to rapid industrialization • Eventually leads to harsh working

conditions, low wages and other

hardships = unhappy Russians

History of Russia

• Russian Revolution (October Revolution), 1917• Began during WWI• Ends rule of czars (Nicholas and his family were

murdered)• Bolsheviks led by V.I.Lenin take power and control

economic decisions and government• Capitalism bad . . . Communism good (Karl Marx)

• U.S.S.R. created in 1922 by Communist Party • Moscow becomes official capital• Joseph Stalin ascends to power in 1924

History of Russia

• Command Economy• Gov’t owns the land, factories,

mines, banks and transpo• Collective Farms

• Gov’t determines what to grow

who to sell to and how much

it is worth

• What was the cost of this kind

economy??• Cost to the population under

Stalin’s harsh rule??

History of Russia

• World War II, 1939-1945• “The Enemy of my enemy is my friend”

– U.S. stance concerning the Soviet Union

and Stalin• As the war dragged on, relations

worsened• Post-war Europe split into

Eastern and Western

History of Russia

• Cold War, 1947-1991• Characterized by:

• Mutual distrust and espionage between 2 Superpowers• Nuclear arms proliferation and assured destruction• Split between Western ‘democratic/capitalist’ and Eastern

‘communist’ sides around world• Never turned hot (save for Korea 1951-1953, Vietnam 1965-

1975 and Cuba 1962)

• Détente (1985-1989)• Mikhail Gorbachev enforces reforms called perestroika • Also introduces glasnost within country opening up freedoms

• U.S.S.R. collapsed in 1991, creating a new Russian Federation and its independent republics