USSR AND RUSSIA

Regions of Russia

1.  European plains

1. Densely populated, flat - Germany to Russia 

2. Mild to cold climate- central piece of cultural 

2. Ural Mountains - old, weathered down, not very big 

   1. Divides the Europe Continent and Asia - very unusual; unclear boundary 

   2. Separates west Russia from East Russia 

      1. Very diff culture 

3. Diverse southern areas

   1. Mountains, desert (father east) 

4. Siberia ----Former old kingdom 

   1. Diverse Massive,  Harsh Conditions 

      1. No close oceans - as you move north east the father harsh and population density 

      2. The coast of pacific coast - isolated and far off- prevailing westerlies direction current; warm currents are going away from you 

         1. Natural prison

   2. Untapped, natural resources- tons of value but conditions and hard to reach 

Vegetation

1. : Steps- farmland: most fertile land 

1. Taiga - largest coniferous forest 

2. Tundra - no trees- coldest parts of country 

   1. Permafrost - soil underground. Top layer thaw when sun hits, and slushy and moist : layer under frozen har

Bodies of water

1. Oceans: 2- arctic ocean and pacific 

2. Seas:

   1.  Baltic sea - st. Petersburg, largest city in the world

      1. Milder climate, and trade for Euro countries 

      2. Kalindingard: escalade of Russia tiny ireland like - sandwiched between Lithuania and Poland 

   2. Black sea coast- most pleasant - connects to the mediterranean sea

      1. Resources in area 

3. Lakes

   1.  Caspian sea - actually lake largest lake, because it is enclosed- world borders problem

   2. Lake Baikal - deepest lake in world  

      1. 20% of world freshwater

      2. Remote and removed - southern part of siberia 

      3. Top of the lake will freeze with ice - very choppy frigid 

4. Rivers: 

   1. Dnieper , - empty to black sea - community that begins origin of russia 

   2.  Volga- longest river in europe - empty to caspian - a canal that connects black sea -

      1.  used for trade

   3. Danube - 2nd longest river in europe -very ;beautiful 

Population

1. Over 80% ethnic Russians 

—Slavic (people who migrated to Europe after fall of Roman empire), Orthodox

2. Up to 100 ethnic groups in and around Russia -extensive borders 

3. 75-80% urban(35 cities over 500 000)-Biggest

4. Moscow And St Petersburg - petersburg is more tourist the ;Moscow is ,more traditional 

5. Urban vs. Rural - more father east harder  kace

 History

1.  Kiev

   1. The rise of Kiev - 800s (modern capital of ukraine)

      1. Roots in slavic and viking

      2. Grows to Kievan Rus - central most powerful city-state 

      3. St Vladimir 1 - 1st christian leader 

   2. Rule of Mongols 1236-1480 - impacts and related group are huge impacts 

      1. Brutal warrior , enormous empire 

      2. While Europe is in renaissance; Russia is still under harsh control - no russian age of exploration 

      3. Late 1300s Kiev starts to drop in power; towards Moscow 

2.   Moscow 

(back in Mongol time the rich essentially owned everything ; russian citizens/regular people have no rights ) - czar; serfdom (people who go into debt , they must be bound to the land as servants,norights )

1. Ivan III -  pushed out the mongols 

2. Ivan IV - the terrible , 1533-1584 (set precedents) -torturous,crazy(maybe schizophrenic) ,murdered millions

   1. Time of troubles - 1584-1613 - Ivan IV killed his heir - city into chaos 

3. Romanov Dynasty(1613-1917)

   1. Peter the Great(1682-1725) 

      1. obsessed with european expansion

      2. wanted to have the “enlightenment” in russia; made connections  with euro 

         1.  moved the capital to St. Petersburg

   2. Catherine the Great (not a russian; married in) - women, 

      1. Men felt scared of her being a powerful women 

   3. Alexander II (1855-1881) - russia is lagging behind the rest of europe

      1. No russian industrial age ; while europe has 

      2. Serfdoms have no rights or any power 

      3. 1860- serfdom is abolished - just because it's in law ; real life doesn't change; takes years 

   4. Finial Czar- Nicholas II - still have not industrialized 

      1. Russian population revolts

      2. Even though the country is in bad condition, he still takes them to war. No modern machinery/development 

         1. Underfeed ,underequipt  

         2. 1891 russia leaves WW1

      3. Influence of Rasputin

         1. Seen as wild and dangerous

         2. He wonders siberia town to town; know for physic ability 

         3. Ventures to the capitol; rasputin convinces to help the sickly prince 

         4. Deep ties with the royal family 

            1. The wife takes control while the king is at war.

            2. Wife takes horrible advice from rasputin and becomes very hated in russia 

            3. Many people try to kill him 

            4. Cause NIcholas to look bad 

3. Rise of Communism 

   1. Revolution of 1917

      1. March - Nicholas abdicates 

      2. provisional government - makeshift - instability

      3. October - bolsheviks (communism) - take gov’t by force

         1. Kicks out civil war

4. Communism

5. WWII II

   1. 1939 Molotov - Ribbentrop pact 

      1. Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia would not invade each other 

   2. 1941 Nazi invasion

      1. Hitler breaks pact

   3. Largest and deadliest theater in history 

   4. Soviet Union lost most lives out of any county

6. Cold War

7. Gorbachev (1985-1991) - still cold war era #ending

• The Soviet economy is struggling due to overspending in the military, and competition with the U.S.A (these spending don't really get rid of social classes and doesn't really benefit everyday people)... 

- peak USSR is 50s- by 80s the economy is dreadful 

1. USSR get reputation for being old, desperate and unhopeful 

2. Gorbachev wants to bring greatness to communism 

2. Policis  

   1. Perestroika(reconstructing) - loosing of strict policy - to westernize

   2. Glasnost (openness) - less censorship, corruption, transparency in gov’t  

   3. Effects cause people to see how bad the USSR really is. 

3. He lead to the end of USSR - stuck in the middle of benefiting citizens and hurting the conservatives

4. ChErNoByl Nuclear Disaster 

• Shows the level of anarchy state of soviet union 

• $700 billion USD - worst nuclear disaster in history,

1. Soviets butchered the procedure to control situation 

5. Effects on Soviet Bloc

   1. Berlin Wall falls

   2. Polish new political party - Solidaro 

   3. Czechia - mass gathering at Prague  

6. Fall of Gorbachev - rise of Yeltsin (‘91-’99)

   1. Failed coup by the conservatives of communism 

      1. Military try to retake control of gov’t

   2. Yeltsin is the new man of the people and for the people who want more reform 

      1. First Russian democratic president 

      2. Gorbachev is known as the “sitting duck”

      3. Yelsin is tasked with rewriting the constitution

      4. Gorbachev exit causes “Russian Federation”

   3. USSR falls apart 

      1. Border countries and satellite are starting to become independent

   4. Democratic Constitution finalized in 1993 

7. Economy Reformation 

   1. privatization of market  - extremely difficult, slow, and lengthy 

      1. Eastern european of satellite countries start privatization much faster than russia 

      2. Russia gov’t sells off parts of economy  

      3. Yeltsin become very unpopular 

      4. Inflation / collapse of the RUBLE (Russian Dollar)

      5. Yeltsin resign a year early because of immense pressure of people 

   2. Shift toward western expansion and partnership

8. Vladimir Putin (1999 - 2008)

   1. Vladimir could not run 2 terms consecutively - so he enlist Dmitry Medvedev (2008 -2012) and gets it again in 2012

   2. Russia is not communist but still  “democratic” and capitalist 

   2. Amends constitution 

      1. Term length from 4 => 6 years 

      2. Pres can be in office for consecutive years 

   3. When he is challenges he strikes him - silence them

      1. No free speech, if so you will be jailed

      2. Control the media and censorship 

   4. Ukraine / annexation of Crimea 

      1. 2014 - putin stole crimea from them

COmmunism 

• Essential base of Communism

  • Equality for everyone ; no advantages - everyone is surf w/no rights, so communism sounds like a great idea 

1. Origins of the principle of COMMUNISM 

   1. Karl Marx - 1848 - German - political theorist 

      1. Communist Manifesto

      2. Take the traditional historicity on human interaction - proposes completely new ideas  about humanity

   2. He is a byproduct of industrialization - divided between poor and rich

   3. bourgeoisie - the elite and wealthy - privileged; powerful; born into wealth (throughout all time)

      1. Control of the “means of production” - own and profit from capability of economy 

      2. Control political power - Goal is to keep their power 

   4. proletariat - poor; works for Bourgeoisie (throughout all time)

      1.  blind to their own oppression 

   5. New Communist Party lead by Lenin in Russia believes they are following the rules of  Communist Manifesto

   6. Bolshevik revolution 1917 with lenin 

•  Post Cold war - competition between Russia and United States 

     US and Russian people are conditioned to despise each other and their parties 

humanity 

2. Vladimir Lenin(1917-1924)

   1. Was the first to try to make a communist state 

      1. “ALL THE  POWER TO THE SOVIETS” - nations of workers 

      2. Believes he needs extreme rule to guarantee change 

         1. The proletariat only can have communist faith 

         2. Soviets would be in chargeWhen Lenin died Joseph Stalin, who Lenin did not want to lead, took power

3. Josef Stalin (1924 - 1953) - he is completely different from Lenin. 

   1. He puts himself above the communist party

2. Wants to turn russia into world power

2. Policies 

   1. Collective farms - forced collectivization of farmer     

      1. farmers start to lose individuality. 

      2. All under the government and forced into a community of other farmers 

         1. They must farm land together 

         2. Must farm for whole population 

   2. Seizure of property - all of the individual owned things are stripped away and put under control to the soviet government 

      1. Many people are unmotivated by just alone helping the country

   3. Pushes rapid industrialization

      1. Know as 5  years plan

      2. Meant to compliment farming

      3. Heavy industry - needed for wellbeing for country

   4. Purges - to cleans the population of unwanted; troubled features

      1. Any person to challenged the government and/or Stalin himself - 

         1. Millions of his own citizens - even if they are made up

      2. Censorship - no free speech; no real rights

      3.  NKVD - stalin police force that directed stalin’s plan

      4. KGB- secret service, espionage, police, 

         1. They're Everywhere ; know always watching and hiding

         2. Their prisons would be in siberia ; harsh cold ; not survivable 

         3. Murder and jailed millions   
            

Cold War 

-Definition: a war without shots fired or violence; 

-Purpose :Two world powers United States and Soviet Union: it is a ‘war’ for world domination and industrialization   

- every aspect if daily life becomes about the competition and rapid improvement

- after WWII so much of things need to be rebuilt ; almost helps

1. Cold War Setup

   1. Ending in europe 

1. Almost all of the nazi-german land is squeezed and Germany and Europe liberates most of nazi grasp 

1. Soviets become very close to the land they freed 

2. The allies are not really close to Soviet ; tons of distrust  

2. Pacific/Asia  Ending 

US drops bombs ; Stalin is bitter is salty because he feels they are betraying him 

Distrust

3. Mood is set as untrustworthy and divided

Marshall Plans: U.S is offering help (hand out money) to east europe  

1. Help rebuild - any country accepting is  affirming alliance with us 

2. Most countries accepting are more democratic ; more american esk  

3. Ussr Liberated countries all turned down the marshall because of their own soviet 

Nato and Warsaw pact 

4. Nato for west europe - against soviets 

5. Warsaw Act for russian areas 

6. Europe divided  and Divided Germany post war rebuilding era 

   1. The allies occupy ½- east and west of germany

      1. Capital of germany Berlin is UNion occupied but surrounding it is USSR occupied 

   2. Cold war - eruption 

7. Iron curtain , satellite nations

   1. A nation that held together by Soviet Union - USSR has a very tight grip over them

   2. Countries in the Soviet Style have their own gon’t. - each one has their own division of soviet. EX: poland is ruled by polish soviet division 

8. Eastern Bloc: name of the whole group of all soviet ruling countries 

2. Competition - all out military and army expansion 

   1. Nuclear Arms Race 

   2. 1st county -U.S.A 

   3. Soviet gets jealous 

   4. When USSR makes more America make more , so on and so forth

      1.  both sides use suspicious tactics to de

   5. M.A.D - Mutual Assured Destruction

   6. Both countries spend so much money to make weapons

      1. Contributes to fall of USSR because their econ is horrible when they make nuke weapons  

7. Space Race

   1. National pride and massive science development

   2. 1957- Soviets launch 1st man made satellite - Sputnik 

      1. USA military is sent into panic

         1. Largest education system revamp 

   3. 1961 - Yuri Gagarin - 1st human in orbit of earth

   4. 1960’s peak nasa

      1. Apollo mission

      2. Apollo 11-1969 ;1st man on moon

8. World wide wars

9. Proxy wars- Ex: Vietnam and Korea

10. Olympics - carried intense patriotism and national pride

    1. Any professional does not represent the US global 

    2. Soviet hockey is fantastic because they cannot leave their county / go overseas 

    3. Usually either soviet of USA are top medal winners 

    4. All satellite nations had a Different team than ussr team