History%20and%20Population:%20Russia

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History and Population Russia
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Early Peoples and States

• Russias history extends back to A.D. 600s
• Slav farmers, hunters, and fishers settled near
  the waterways of the North European Plain
• These people became, over time, distinct cultural
  groups
• West Slavs Poles, Czechs, Slovaks
• South Slavs Bulgarians, Croats, Serbs, and
  Slovenes
• East Slavs Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians
  
• Settled along the Dnieper River in the west and
  Volga River in the east

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Kievan Rus

• A.D. 800s
• Varagians (Scandinavian Warriors) settled among
  the Slavs along the Dnieper and Volga River
• They adopted the Slavs language and culture
• They organized Slav communities into a loose
  union of city-states ruled by princes
• Known as Kievan Rus
• Internal fighting weakened Kievan Rus, and in the
  early A.D. 1200s Mongols from central Asia
  conquered Kiev, and much of the region
• Mongols allowed the Slavs to self-rule

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The Rise of Russia

• As Mongols conquered Kiev, many Slavs fled into
  nearby forests
• Some of these people started a settlement along
  the Moskva River
• The settlements grew and the territory was called
  Muscovy, and at its center was the city of Moscow
• For nearly two centuries, Muscovy kept peace with
  the Mongols
• However, by the late 1400s, Muscovy became strong
  enough to overrun the Mongols, reclaiming much of
  the lost Slav territories

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Ivan III The Great

• During this period of conquest, Muscovy was led
  by Ivan III, aka Ivan The Great
• The land Ivan conquered eventually became known
  as Russia
• Ivan III built a huge fortress called the
  Kremlin, and filled it with churches and palaces

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Ivan IV, The Terrible

• In 1533, the grandson of Ivan III became the
  first crowned czar (supreme ruler) of Russia
• Ivan IV crushed all opposition to his power, and
  became a great conqueror, expanding Russias
  borders
• After Ivan IV reign, Russia faced foreign
  invasion, economic decline, and social upheaval
• When the Romanov dynasty came to power in 1613,
  they responded to this decline by tightening its
  grip on the Russian people
• This led to the oppression of the common people,
  and by 1650 many peasants had been forced into
  serfdom
• Serf laborer obliged to remain on the land
  where he or she works

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Peter the Great

• For years Russia continued to decline, being left
  behind in science and technology by its western
  European counterparts
• This began to change in the late 1600s as Czar
  Peter I, known as Peter the Great, came to power
• Peter I was determined to modernize Russia, and
  under him Russia
• Enlarged its territory, built a strong military,
  developed trade with Europe, acquired land along
  the Baltic Sea from Sweden, and strengthened
  Russias control over Siberia
• Peter also created a new capital, St. Petersburg,
  which was built along the Gulf of Finland
• St. Petersburg provided access to the Baltic Sea,
  and became Russias window to the west

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Empress Catherine the Great

• During the late 1700s, Empress Catherine
  continued to expand Russias empire
• Most importantly, Russia gained a warm-port on
  the Black Sea
• By this point Russian nobility had began to
  adopted western European culture
• This cultural gap, as well as the continued
  poverty of the common people, led to tensions
  between commoners and the nobility
• Tensions also rose between the nobility and
  non-Russians living in Russia, who were forced to
  adopt Russian culture (including language and
  religion) in a process called Russification.

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Socialism / Marxism

• This discontent amongst the commoners for the
  nobility, led to the Russian Revolution
• Many of the people, seeking greater equality
  amongst the Russian people, were favorable to
  socialism, especially the socialism preached by
  Germanys Karl Marx
• Karl Marx (Marxism) promoted public ownership
  of all land, and a classless society with an
  equal sharing of wealth
• Marx believed the tensions between the rich and
  the poor would eventually lead to a revolution by
  the working class, overthrowing the power of the
  wealthy

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The Russian Revolution

• In 1917, Marxs prophecy became reality in
  Russia, as Russians weary from World War I and
  poverty flooded the streets of the St.
  Petersburg, the capital
• By November of 1917, the Bolsheviks, led by
  Vladimir Lenin, had seized control
• They promoted a communist society in which the
  workers led the country
• The Bolsheviks withdrew Russia from WWI, and
  using their great power began to take over
  Russian industry, direct food distribution,
  established an 8 hr work day, and reformed the
  army
• The Bolsheviks were not without opposition in
  Russia, and a civil war soon broke out between
  the Bolshevik Red Army, and anti-Bolshevik White
  Army
• In 1921, the Bolsheviks, now called Communists,
  won the civil war
• The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)
  was established, with Moscow as its capital