Chapter 8 Russia’s Landscape and History

Chapter 8 Section 1: A Vast Land

 Russia is the world’s largest country  Nearly twice as large as the US  Spanning across parts of Europe and Asia, the Ural Mountains separate the two continents  Includes 11 time zones

European Russia  The Ural mountains are very old and worn  About 75% of the people live here  Includes Russia’s capital Moscow and other important cities such as St. Petersburg and Volgograd  The Steppe is a nearly treeless plain

East of the Urals  Known as Siberia  Northern Siberia is a Tundra with no trees and Permafrost - permanently frozen ground- covers 40% of Russia  The Taiga is the worlds largest forest

 Inland Water Areas  The Black Sea allows Russia to connect to the Mediterranean  The Caspian Sea is the largest inland body of water- salt water  Lake Baikal is the world’s deepest freshwater lake  Holds almost 20% of the world’s unfrozen fresh water  The Volga is the longest river in Europe

Chapter 8 Section 2: A Troubled History

Early Russia  Around 800AD Slavic people began to settle in Kiev- the modern capital of the Ukraine  Called Keivan Rus  By 1000AD the people had accepted Eastern Orthodox Christianity and traded with the Mediterranean and Western Europe

 In the 1200s AD the Mongols swept across Asia and came to rule the Kievan Rus  The cultural center switched from Kiev to a new territory called Muscovy  In 1480 Ivan III (The Great) drove out the Mongols and Muscovy became an independent kingdom

Rise of the Czars  Muscovy will become what we know today as Russia  The leaders came to call themselves Czars - the Russian word for Caesar  Ivan IV (The Terrible) was a complete ruler who ruled through fear and torture often using his secret police against Russian citizen in the 1500s AD

Peter the Great  Ruled Russia from was largely responsible for modernizing Russia  Studied in Western Europe  Modernized the Military and government  Long coats and beards became illegal  Expanded Russian territory  Built a new capital St. Petersburg

Catherine the Great  Ruled from  Continued to modernize Russia  Came to power after her husband was assassinated she led Russia to become one the great powers of the world  The borders of Russia expanded further South and East into Alaska

 After the defeat of Napoleon in 1812 Russia continued to advance and industrialize  Borders expanded even further and the Trans- Siberian Railroad connected Russia with thousands of miles of tracks

 Throughout most of Russian history the Russian economy relied on Serfs who were tied to the land  While the Czars and nobility lived in relative luxury and were well educated, the Serfs were very poor and uneducated  Life for Serfs was very difficult

The Soviet Era  1914 WWI breaks out  Russia industrialized and supplied the military  While Serfdom was largely a thing of the past, Russia still relied on the lower classes for production  Russia lost many battles and millions of soldiers fighting the Germans  Russian cities ran low on food and supplies  The Russians blamed the Czars

The Russian Revolution  1917 The Russian people led a revolt  Forced Czar Nicholas II to step down  The Bolshevik party led by Vladimir Lenin took control  They formed a Communist State in which the government has strong control over the economy and the people

 The capital was moved from St. Petersburg back to the traditional Moscow  After a Civil War the Communists formed the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)  After the death of Lenin, Joseph Stalin took control of Russia and took complete control of the economy and banned private property

 Businesses were forced to make whatever/however Stalin ordered them to  Any who resisted Stalin were killed or sent to labor camps in Siberia for “re-education”  Killed 20 million Russians  During WWII the Russians joined the Allies to fight Hitler where another 20 million Russians were killed before war’s end

 After WWII the conquered nations remained under Russia’s control to protect it from invasion- Satellite Nations  Russia cut off contact with the rest of the world behind the “Iron Curtain”  The US opposed Russia’s actions and a Cold War broke out with both competing for world influence

Cold War Economy  With no competition, Soviet controlled factories produced poor-quality goods and were inefficient  The government was more concerned with producing military goods instead of consumer goods  As a result many people suffered and had few goods

 Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in 1985 and began to loosen government control moving towards Free Enterprise  Business owners were allowed to make their own decisions and competition increased  As a result better products were created and the people benefitted

 Gorbachev also lifted restrictions on free speech  People began to question Communism openly  Eventually, the USSR collapsed in 1991  Russia emerged as a Republic after the Satellite States broke away declaring their independence

Chapter 9 The New Russia and the Independent Republics

Chapter 9 Section 1: From Communism to Free Enterprise

Difficult Changes in Russia  Russia has many natural resources  Factory managers choose what to produce, people decide what to buy and what careers they want  However, businesses can fail and people can lose their jobs  Under Communism everyone has a job

 Many Russians remain poor and can not afford some of the necessities  The free market should produce more goods at better prices over time as competition increases  Some government agencies still provide relief for the impoverished

Russia is divided into 4 different economic regions  The Moscow Region - the largest city and the political and cultural center of Russia  Many of Russia’s factories are located in this area  Some farming also takes place in the Moscow Region

 Port Cities  Russia has two important northwestern ports- Kaliningrad and St. Petersburg  Kaliningrad is the only port that is ice free year round- no taxes on imported goods  St. Petersburg is another vital port city and Russian cultural city  Actually over 100 islands connected by bridges

 Vladivostok is a port city in the far east of Russia  Russia’s largest port city for goods from the Pacific Ocean  Also a large base for Russia’s huge fishing industry

 Siberian Region  Contains the largest supply of minerals in Russia  Iron, uranium, gold, diamonds, and coal  Large deposits of oil and natural gas  Huge forests support the lumber industry  Siberia however is large and harsh and is therefore largely underdeveloped

 Volga and Ural Regions  The Volga River carries about half of Russia’s River traffic  Home to Russia’s most productive farmlands  The Ural Mountains are rich in minerals  Copper, gold, lead, nickel, and aluminum  Also contain coal, oil, and natural gas

Environmental Issues  Some factories can over harvest land causing erosion  Old nuclear plants are in disrepair  Air pollution plagues many of Russia’s larger cities  Chemicals often flow into the waterways from fertilizer and old chemical weapons stores from the Cold War

Chapter 9 Section 2: Russia’s People and Culture

Political Challenges  Under Communism people were told how to vote  Today, Russia is a Democracy - a government in which people freely elect their leaders and is ruled by law  It is also a Federal Republic - the power is divided between national and state governments with a president who leads them

 The Russian president has more power than in the US  The President can pass laws without the approval of the legislature  The Presidents use their power to strengthen Russia’s economy and democracy as well as its position in the world

Ethnic Challenges  Russia contains over 100 different ethnic groups  80% of whom are Slavs- descendants of northern Europe- who speak Russia  The are the Majority Group controlling most of the wealth and power  The other ethnic groups have their own culture and language and are the Minority Group because they do not control most of the wealth and power

 Under Communism ethnicity was seen as irrelevant but since its collapse old feuds resurfaced  Some minority groups want to form their own country such as Chechnya  Chechen forces want to break away in southern Russia and control the vast oil supplies there

Daily Life  About 75% of Russians live in cities  Cities are large and modern with tall concrete buildings  Most Russian apartments are small with one bedroom and bathroom  Grandmothers, or Babushkas, cook clean and take care of the children while the parents work

 Suburbs are a recent development in Russia  Many of the wealthy citizens build houses on the outskirts of Moscow  Russians that live in rural areas often live in wooden homes and have a lower standard of living than those in cities

Religion in Russia  Despite Communist laws that prohibited religion, Russian Orthodox is very popular with 70%  Headed by a figure called the Patriarch - Greek for father  St. Cyril is credited with helping create the Slavic alphabet

 Muslims, Roman Catholics, Protestants, and Buddhists also live in Russia  Only about a million Jews live in Russia  Most emigrated to other countries- sometimes by force

 Russian meals often start with Borscht, a soup made from beats  The main course often consists of meat, poultry, or fish with boiled potatoes  Caviar is a delicacy made from fish eggs in the Caspian Sea  Indoor winter sports are most popular due to the cold climate

Art and Culture  One of the greatest novels of all time War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy  The Russian Ballet is one of the most famous in the world  Peter Tchaikovsky composed pieces such as the Nutcracker  St. Petersburg contains many museums