Russia Rise of Russia Geography Very favorable geographic

Russia

Rise of Russia • Geography • Very favorable geographic area (soil, rivers, etc) • Today would be Ukraine and Western Russia • Early Invaders • Huns, Vikings, Slavs, etc. . • Early History • Kiev: Rurik, leader of the Rus people, began ruling the area in 862 AD. • Yaroslav the Wise: 1019 AD…introduced Pravda Russika (Russian Justice) • Early Religion • Began to follow the Eastern Orthodox Church • Eventually tried to separate to form the Russian Orthodox Church (after Rome and Constantinople had fallen)

Russia and the Mongols • Attacks • Kiev was attacked by Mongol invaders from 1169 to 1203 AD. • Mongols came from east of the Ural Mountains (Mongolia and Kazakhstan) and controlled until the late 1400 s. • Slavs (people that lived in the area) were allowed to be free under the Mongols, as long as they paid taxes. • Slavs did not get along will with anyone.

Rise of Russia • Ivan III (Ivan the Great) • Ivan III began to push for complete independence from the Mongols (1480 AD). • Ivan III’s rule began the long line of absolute monarchy • Moscow became the major city of region • Ivan IV (Ivan the Terrible): Assumed the throne at 3, began actually ruling at age 17. • Took the title of czar (caesar) because he felt like he was the rightful ruler of the Romans and Byzantines • Exceptionally cruel…murdered many enemies, even killed his oldest son. • Did expand the Russia state (Ukraine to Siberia)

Russia Isolation and Growth • Why Isolated? • Alphabet and Religion • Landlocked by other empires • Michael Romanov • Grandnephew of Ivan IV, became czar in 1613 • Romanov Czar’s would rule Russia for the next 300 yrs. • Peter I (Peter the Great) • Became Czar @ 10 yrs old, ruled until 1725. • Thought Russia needed to be more like the rest of Europe • Peter went to Western Europe to get help against the Ottoman Empire. . wanted a warm water port. (Went as a normal guy) He learned many things about how Europe worked. (military strategy) • Won wars against Sweden, got access to Baltic Sea, created a new city and capital name St. Petersburg. Westernization!!!!

Russian Growth • Peter the Great • Followed the model of Louis XIV (France) and created a government where he had absolute control. • A lot of opposition from nobles, religious leaders, and serfs because their lives got worse • Peter was able to greatly expand the power of Russia. • Catherine the Great • Wife of Peter III (Peter the Great’s Grandson). Took crown when nobles murdered Peter III. (1762 -1796) • People remained very poor. • Won wars against Poland (disappeared until 1919) and the Turks. Gained control of better sea access • Also expanded East into Siberia and even to Alaska

Russian Empire • Russian Unification • Vast empire that included many different peoples who had different ethnicities, languages, and religious views • Made unification very difficult. • Nicholas I: Russification, tried to make all people of Russia follow the same language and religion. Done to prevent nationalism from spreading. • During the 1800 s, Russia was having problems uniting all the Slavic people and expanding due to losing the Crimean War

Russian Empire • Alexander II • Realized his country was not as advanced as it needed to be, decided to free the serfs (been forced to live and work in certain areas). • Emancipation Edict (1861) officially freed the serfs. . not 100% successful (really similar to US and Slavery) • Reformed elections and local governments (more democratic) also courts, education and military. • Not everyone liked these moves.

Russian Empire • Opposition to Alexander’s Reform • Many Radicals wanted more change. Wanted land divided equally, etc • Used terrorism to get some of those demands met. • Eventually Alexander II was killed by a bomb, set off by the People’s Will (Populist Revolutionary Party) • After Alexander II’s death • Rulers took away all freedom’s to stamp out liberalism • More and more workers began to demand change

Russian Revolution--1905 • Cause • Russia lost a war against Japan…humiliating • Bloody Sunday • Czar Nicolas II’s troops shot innocent people who were striking. This led to conflicts all over Russia. • The Revolutionary Forces failed to overthrow the Czar • Reasons: Army was loyal, French helped, not all radical groups were united. • These would change later!!

Russian Revolution • Basics • Years of war, poverty, and class struggle brought an end to the Czarist Regime in Russia. Revolution Time! • WWI showed how weak Russia was. After the war, the soldiers began to side with the demonstrators • Lenin and Bolsheviks • Soviets: Term meaning council…made up by groups that supported Socialism (govt. control of industry) • Bolsheviks: More radical group that won control of the Soviets • Vladimir Lenin: Leader of the Bolsheviks.

Russian Revolution • Vladimir Lenin: • • Socialist…all government was turned over to the Soviets Follower of Karl Marx. “Peace, Bread, Land” Would be a hero to all those wanting to lead communist revolutions • Communist Party • Were able to gain full control of the government in 1917 • Dissolved the constitutional assembly (democracy) • Civil War • Russia dropped out of WWI and immediately entered into a Civil War of their own (Communist vs other groups that wanted to restore a monarchy…some of which were Socialist) • By the end of 1922, the Communist Red Army had won and Russia became the USSR.

USSR • New Economic Policy (NEP) • Major industries remained under govt. control • Some smaller free enterprise • Collective Farms: Land labor being pooled together • Progress? ? • Soviets tried to fix social issues like women’s rights and education…. mixed results • Power Struggle • Lenin died, power struggle between Leon Trotsky (founder of Red Army) and Joseph Stalin (head of political party) • Different views: Trotsky (communism should spread all over the world. . more Marxist) vs Stalin (communism should be dominant in one country before spreading around the world) • By 1928, Stalin gained control of Party…Trotsky was murdered in Mexico

USSR • Stalin Economics • Stalin got rid of the NEP and created a command economy (where the government controls everything) • 5 Year Plan: Stalin’s plan to significantly increase the amount of things produced within the USSR. • Farmers did not want to give up land to collective farms. . millions of people starved to death b/c of lack of food production. • Other parts of economy grew rapidly

Stalin’s Dictatorship • Communist Control • Used fear to control the lives of the people • People were killed if they complained • Religion and art were eliminated from Soviet society • Government • Politburo: Political Bureau of Communist Party. Small group that made decisions that was controlled by Stalin • Purge: Large scale eliminations of communist party members that he thought were disloyal to him. • 5 million Soviets either arrested, deported or killed by 1939.

WWII • Stalin negotiated with both GB and Germany. Wanted to keep the Soviet Union’s options open • Soviet-German Non Aggression Pact: USSR and Germany agreed to split up Poland. • USSR and Middle East had a ton of oil that Germany desperately needed. The USSR was getting mad at Germany attacking areas that they thought were under Soviet control. • In June of 1941, Hitler decided to invade the USSR • The Soviets were on their heels for awhile, rebounded and held off the German attacks on Moscow and Stalingrad

• Results WWII • Stalingrad was a huge Soviet victory and a turning point in WWII. • Soviets held the Germans off and eventually began to push their Army back into Germany. • Over 20 million Soviets died as a result of WWII • USSR became increasingly upset at the lack of urgency displayed by the USA and GB to open a 2 nd front against Germany. Also mad about the creation and secrecy of USA with atomic bomb. • Soviets were allowed to capture the city of Berlin. • Yalta Conference: Leaders met to divide up Germany • Soviets killed and controlled the people of the land they advanced in during WWII.

Cold War • War of ideas and different beliefs between the USA and USSR. • Truman Doctrine: US would support any country in fighting against the spread of communism. Contain communism from spreading! • Cominform: Soviet response to Truman Doctrine. Alliance between all communist countries…not as successful as they hoped. • Soviets were very concerned about Central and Eastern Europe. Germany was split in half • Berlin Blockade: Don’t let anything come into from the West. This led to the Berlin Airlift…. the USSR eventually gave up the boycott.

Cold War • Cold War • Warsaw Pact: Military alliance between countries under the Soviet Bloc…in response to NATO • Significantly more numbers with Warsaw Pact…that’s why USA was so reliant on nuclear threats. • Continued to compete with the United States in a variety of other ways (athletics, space, education, etc) • Nikita Khrushchev • Took over when Stalin died in 1953 • Tried to eliminate a lot of the restrictions that Stalin had placed on all aspects of life. • Gave some control back to local farmers/workers to meet production quotas. • Major problem: Soviets were spending too much money on heavy industry and military. • Besides Sputnik (first satellite)…Soviet technology was behind USA • Berlin Wall (1961) and Cuban Missile Crisis (1962)…weakened relationship between USA and USSR

Cold War • Effects on Eastern Europe • Soviet Union controlled the governments of Eastern European countries in the Soviet Bloc (control) • Five-Year Plan to rebuild…some success • Just like in the USSR, farming struggled (collective farms) were no popular and consumer goods were rarely produced. Focused too much on military • Many revolts (Hungary, Poland)…violently put down

Fall of Communism • Leonid Brezhnev • Powerful leader, invaded Czech to put down protest • Brezhnev Doctrine: USSR would intervene with any satellite nation that appeared to be straying from communism • Restricted basic human rights • Strained relationship with the USA when the USSR invaded Afghanistan in 1979. • By Brezhnev’s death in 1982, USSR was struggling with agriculture, transportation and technology

Fall of Communism • Mikhail Gorbachev • Became the new leader of USSR in 1985 • Perestroika (restructuring) and glasnost (openness) • He relaxed government control on a lot of things, reduced military spending, and got out of Afghanistan. • Much better relations with USA • Opposition to his plans from Communist Party…led to a failed military coup on Gorbachev in 1991. Gorbachev resigned at the end of 1991 • Foreign Problems under Gorbachev • Freedom of Speech led to conflicts (Azerbaijan vs Armenia) • Baltic states began to demand independence (Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia)

Fall of Communism • Boris Yeltsin • Soviet Union fell apart by the start of 1992. • Became the new leader, began to slowly turn Russia into a democracy. • A LOT of problems getting along with different factions of new Russian government. • Problems • Organized crime rose dramatically! • People wanted independence from Russia (Chechnya) • Yeltsin was replaced by Vladimir Putin in 1999

Post Communist Problems • Problems Created • Czechoslovakia: Split into two countries, Czech Republic and Slovakia. • Yugoslavia: Serbs, Croats, Slovenians, Macedonians, and Albanians all lived there. All shared same language but different religions (Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Muslims). Croatia and Serbia broke apart in 1991. • Bosnia: Declared independence in 1992. Problem, 1/3 of population claimed they were Serbs who wanted to remain part of Serbian dominated Yugoslavia. • Ethnic Cleansing…attempt to get rid of Muslims in the area where the Bosnia Serbs wanted to control. US troops had to get involved.