Russia 

%%History%%

The Russian Czar

  • %%Czar:: National ruler with no limits on authority%%
  • 24 Czars ruled Russian between 1517-1917
    • Nicholas II: the last Russian czar who was removed from power during the Russian Revolution in 1917
    • Corruption, continual dissolution of the Russian Duma(parliament), and inefficent execution during WWI brought the people to the point of revolution

Soviet Rule

  • Vladimir Lenin overthrew the temporary Russian government in 1917 and civil war erupted in Russia
    • %%Leon Trotsky:: Leader of the Red Army and Lenin’s military general%%
  • He created the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics in 1922
  • After Lenin’s death in 1924, Joseph Stalin gained control of the U.S.S.R
    • Stalin extended the Soviet Union to its greatest size, and as far west as Germany
  • Stalin retained control through purges in which he executed, exiled, or imprisoned “enemies of the Soviet people”

Soviet Collapse

  • By 1980, the U.S.S.R. was trailing the west in industrial output and the people began to grow dissatisfied
  • Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev attempted to restructure communism and open the Soviet Union to more western ideas
    • %%Perestroika:: Restructuring%%
    • %%Glasnost:: Openness%%
  • New freedoms caused the republics of the Soviet Union to desire independence
  • By 1991, all of the republics had overthrown their soviet rulers
  • Boris Yeltsin was elected as the first president of the democratic nation of Russia following the fall of the Soviet Union
    • Created the Commonwealth of Independent States
%%Geography%%

Moscow

  • With 15 million people, Moscow is the largest city in Europe
  • The Moscow Kremlin is the largest “fortress inside a city”
    • Contains palaces, cathedrals, a helipad, and was formerly the residence of the Russian Czar
  • Red Square is considered to be the center of Moscow, and has historically served as a marketplace, site for public ceremonies, and meeting place for official proclamations

St. Petersburg

  • Russia’s 2nd largest city
  • Established by Peter the Great in 1703, and designed with a distinctly Italian influence
    • Home to the Hermitage- the 2nd largest art museum in the world