RussiaCHAPTER 20

Physical Characteristics

The highest mountain range is the Caucasus Mountains between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea.

However, most of Russia is flat. The plains lie on the western half of the country.

The Ural Mountains divide Europe from Asia and are important because they contain many valuable minerals

Russia also has the Volga River which is the longest river in Europe and drains into the Caspian Sea.

Ecosystems

Most of the climate in Russia is subarctic or continental since most parts are far from any oceans

The coldest temperature outside of Antarctica was in Russia -94⁰ Farenheit (-70⁰ C)

To the far north is a region called the Tundra.

Mostly treeless with very small plants and animals

Reindeer, rabbits, foxes and polar bears can survive in this region.

Ecosystems

The Taiga is a broad forested zone just south of the Tundra.

Taiga means “land of little sticks” because trees cannot grow very large.

These forests cover nearly 4 million square miles (10 million square kilometers)

Home to wolves, hares, and the brown bear which is the national symbol of Russia.

Ecosystems

South of the forests of the Taiga are the Steppes.

Steppes are the grasslands similar to the Prairies of North America and the Pampas of Argentina

Much of the grassland is gone, but the nutrients remain in the soil which makes for very productive agricultural lands.

Siberia

Siberia is most of the land that is in Asian Russia.

It is a very remote area

This area is cool and swampy and the soil can contain up to 5,000 feet of permafrost

Any tall buildings built here must be put on pillars to allow air to circulate underneath. Why?

Emergence of Russia

The Czars

A series of monarch (kings) called Czars (a variation on Ceasar) ruled Russia starting in the late 1600s and expanded it quite a bit.

From the Pacific in the east to the Baltic Sea in the west.

When Napoleon Bonaparte tried to challenge Russia’s power, he captured the city of Moscow with 600,000 soldiers (1812)

As the residents ran away, they set fire to the city and cut off food supplies to Napoleon’s troops.

Then winter came.

The cold and lack of supplies forced Napoleon to retreat back to France.

Of the 100,000 troops he left with, only 30,000 made it safely home.

The Czars

In the 100 years after, the Russian Czars consolidated their power.

Took control of Finland, the Crimean Peninsula and far eastern Siberia.

The Czars conquered and annexed the homelands of more than one hundred different ethnic groups

By the early 1900s, Russia controlled almost all of Northern Eurasia

The last Czar was Czar Nicholas II. His daughter was Anastasia who is famous today

for having disappeared after the Russian Revolution in 1917

DNA tests have proven she was actually killed in 1918, but the rumors existed because so few people knew where she was buried until 2007

Communist Russia

After many losses during World War I and major food shortages, the people of Russia started riots in St. Petersburg and forced the Czar to abdicate (give up) his crown.

The 1917 Russian Revolution established a new government based on the ideas of Karl Marx.

Believed that to achieve social equality, land and business should be owned by the people in common.

Each republic in Russia had its own soviet (governing council) and they all worked together to form the Soviet Union.

Communist rule

What is communism?

A central authority (government) decided what and how much to produce.

The government owned farms, mines and factories

Millions believed it would improve their lives, but it turned out to be the new master.

Standard of living remained poor

People had no freedom to make personal decisions or express opinions

If you resisted, you were sent to prison or forced labor camps.

The fall of communism

One of the problems with communism is that without private ownership, there is no motivation to work harder.

Without this motivation, there was still not enough food or supplies for the people of Russia.

In the 1980’s Mikhail Gorbachev began to reform the government and took away a lot of the punishments that had been in place and reorganized the economy

Factory managers could decided how much and what quality of goods to produce

Farmers were granted leases to the land hoping that they would begin to produce more.

The fall of Communism

With these new freedoms, people called for an end to communism

In 1991, Russians voted in their first democratic election and selected Boris Yeltsin

Some communist forces tried to reclaim control, but he defeated the threat.

Many of the republics that had been part of the Soviet Union began to declare their independence.

Mostly eastern European countries including Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania.

Russia Today

After communism, times were difficult. People wanted the benefits that capitalism provides, but they also missed the secure jobs and benefits that communism provided.

In 1999, the president (Boris Yeltsin) resigned and In 2000, Vladamir Putin was elected president. He worked hard to restore Russia’s image to the world.

He worked hard to build alliances with a range of groups (including the Communist party) other soviet republics and western nations (U.S.)

He has tried to form a more diplomatic relationship with the United States.

Russia Today

About one week after the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, Putin announced that Russia has annexed Crimea in the Ukraine.

This move was seen by many to be an invasion of an independent nation.

There is a lot of controversy and confusion about what is happening since Russia has been putting out propaganda saying that many of the Ukrainians there support the decision and want to be part of Russia again.

So what’s the story?

Russia claims that Crimeans want to be part of Russia again and that Ukrainian rebels that support Russia took over in order to make that happen.

It was revealed that Putin actually did deploy Russian troops to Crimea to take over this area and stop any protesting. Many people have been killed in the riots.

Last weekend (May 11, 2014) a vote was held for Crimeans to decide if they want to be part of Ukraine or Russia

The vote was in favor of annexation

It is believed that this vote was a lie

What do we do?

So far, the United States and other wealthy nations have placed sanctions on Russia as a punishment for their behavior.

They can’t buy or sell certain goods to these countries

They were kicked out of a group of the wealthiest nations (used to be the G8, but as of a few weeks ago, it is now the G7.)

 Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.

People all around the Ukraine have protested and rioted against Russia, and have even elected a new government that doesn’t fully support the decision.

There has been talk of the U.S. possibly sending in the army to defend the Ukraine.

What would you do?

After watching the news stories and hearing about the situation from a Ukrainian perspective, what would you do?

Support annexation of Crimea?

Support Ukraine being an independent country

How would you handle the situation? War? Sanctions? Nothing?

What do you think the possible outcomes of this situation might be?

Will Russia return to communism?

Will Ukraine fight for its independence, or stop existing?

STAY TUNED!