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Russia in Eurasia

Russia in Eurasia. A Three-Dimensional View. Interstate relations - relations between the Russian state and other states

caleb-mcfadden
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Russia in Eurasia

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  1. Russia in Eurasia

  2. A Three-Dimensional View • Interstaterelations - relations between the Russian state and other states • Russia’s internal conditions – social development and transformation, social structure, ethnic composition, available resources, state-society relations, political consciousness, balance of political forces, etc. • Transnationalrelations Russia has been involved in – movement of people, goods, information, technology, money; ethnic, cultural (including religious), political ties

  3. To understand Russia’s international behaviour, we will view it through this three-dimensional prism, looking for historically-specific combinations – and interactions – of interstate, internal, and transnational factors at work

  4. Russia’s world status: geopolitics vs. market power

  5. The Eurasian Context • Eurasia: a supercontinent consisting of two continents • Unity and divisions of the supercontinent • The Coastlands and the Heartland. The Heartland and the Rimland • Land • Rivers • Seas • Winds • Temperature

  6. Human migration routes* *The time frames are highly approximate

  7. Human settlement patterns • Search and struggle for resources • Potential for development • Degree of security http://stort.unep-wcmc.org/imaps/gb2002/book/viewer.htm

  8. Security-development interactions • Costs of development and security: four basic modes of interaction • D-costs high, S-costs high (Russia) • D-costs low, S-costs low (USA, Canada) • D-costs high, S-costs low (Scandinavia) • D-costs low, S-costs high (?)

  9. Eurasia’s political integration: historical phases

  10. EURASIA, 116 C.E.

  11. EURASIA, 8TH CENTURY

  12. EURASIA, 1288

  13. Europe’s Eastern frontier • The belt between the Baltic and the Adriatic • East European state-forming nations: • Greeks • Germans • Slavs • Eastern: Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians • Western: Poles, Czechs, Slovaks • Southern: Serbs, Croatians, Slovenians, Macedonians, Montenegrins, Bosniaks, Bulgarians • Hungarians (Magyars) • Finns • Balts (Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians) • Romanians (19th-century name) • Albanians • Turks • Tatars

  14. Russia • Russia is 1,200 years old • It has existed in 6 historical forms: • Kiev Rus (9th-13th centuries) • Domain of the Tatar-Mongol empire (13th-15th centuries) • Moscovy (15th-17th centuries) • The Russian Empire (18th century-1917) • The Soviet Union (1917-1991) • The Russian Federation (1991- today)

  15. EUROPE 0001

  16. EUROPE 1000

  17. EUROPE 1600

  18. NATION-STATES VS. EMPIRES • A 3-way conflict of civilizations for control of Eastern Europe. Objects of the struggle: • Resources • Trade routes • Security THE RISE OF EMPIRES • Western Christian (German) – “successors” to the Western Roman Empire, “Holy Roman Empire”, later the Habsburg Empire (Austria-Hungary) and the Hohenzollern Empire (Germany) • Orthodox Christian (Russian) – “successor” to Eastern Roman Empire (The Romanov Empire) • Muslim (Turkish) – “successor” to the Arab Caliphate (The Ottoman Empire)

  19. EUROPE 1900

  20. In the Modern Age, Russia expanded to take control of most of the Eurasian Heartland • Gradually, it filled much of the space first integrated by the Mongols • Expansion was driven by: • Struggle for independence and security • Struggle for control of resources and trade routes • Human settlement • Imperial inertia and the internal interests maintaining it

  21. Chengiz Khan

  22. Batu-Khan, son of Chengiz, conqueror of Kiev Rus

  23. The Battle of Kulikovo Pole, 1380: Russians defeat Tatars

  24. Moscow: a Kremlin wall

  25. The Red Square

  26. Kremlin, Tsar Cannon

  27. The Church of Ivan the Great, Moscow Kremlin

  28. The Virgin of St. Vladimir (13th century)

  29. The Saviour Golden Hair (13th century)

  30. St. George the Victorious

  31. Russian countryside

  32. THE RUSSIAN SYSTEM: • The state was huge, costly, militarized • Society (especially the peasantry) was heavily exploited and closely controlled by the state • The political system was autocratic-patrimonial, with the monarch being the sole source of sovereignty • The church was subservient to the state • Individual rights and liberties were severely curbed • Market economy had very limited potential for development • When reforms became overdue, the state acted as the main agent of change, usually with limited effect • Society had no legal means of influencing government policies – the people had an impact on the state either by obedience to it or by resistance to it (passive or active)

  33. What kept the system going was its “battle order”: NO CITIZENS – JUST SOLDIERS, OFFICERS, AND WORKERS WHO FED THE ARMY The system was designed primarily for war. Successful wars kept it going. Failed wars undermined it.

  34. “Tsar Ivan The Terrible Kills His Son” (from Ilya Repin’s painting)

  35. Cossacks are writing a letter to the Turkish Sultan

  36. Russia under Polish rule: False Dimitry and Marina Mnishek (1609)

  37. Kuz’ma Minin and Prince Pozharsky: leaders of the anti-Polish revolution (1609)

  38. Tsar Mikhail, Founder of the Romanov Dynasty (reign 1613-1645)

  39. Tsar Peter the Great, Founder of the Russian Empire (reign 1682-1725)

  40. The Battle of Poltava, 1709: Russia defeats Sweden

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