Human Geography of Russia and the Republics: A Diverse Heritage

1. Human Geography of Russia and the Republics: A Diverse Heritage Chapter 16 Section 1 Russia and the Western Republics

2. Russia today

3. A Human Perspective • In the 1500s, the Russian leader Ivan the Great put an end to two centuries of foreign rule in his homeland. • Russia then enter into a period of explosive growth. From Moscow, Russia expanded at a rate of 55 square miles a day for the next four centuries. It made so much advancement that they took control of Alaska by the late 18th century. • Alaska was sold to the U.S. in 1867.

4. A History of Expansion Russia’s growth had lasting effects on nearly lands and peoples. • 1. In the 9th century, Viking from Scandinavia through the Baltic sea to take advantage of the river trade. • They made settlement what is now Kiev & adopted the customs of the local Slavic population. • Expansion was halted in the 13th century with the arrival from Mongolia called Tatars. • The Mongol warriors is legendary. They sacked Kiev between 1237 and 1240. • They controlled the region until the 1500s, when Ivan the Great, prince from Moscow, put an end to their rule. • By the end of 17th century, Russia extended their empire to the Pacific Ocean. • It added more people who belong to different ethnic groups, with different language and different religions.

5. Peter the Great:1683 to 1725 • Peter was a grandson of Tsar Michael Romanov (who was crowned as Tsar in 1613). • In 1682 Peter was proclaimed Tsar at the tender age of 10. • But due to power struggles between different political forces in the country, the young Tsar was forced to rule jointly with his brother Ivan, under the patronage of their sister Sofia. • In 1689, after a failed coup d'etat, Sofia was overthrown and exiled to a convent. When Tsar Ivan died in 1696, Peter remained monarch and engineered a series of reforms that were to put Russia among the major European powers of the day. • 2. Peter opened Russia to the influences of the West and invited the best European engineers, shipbuilders, architects, craftsmen and merchants to come to Russia and modernize the country. • Hundreds of Russians were sent to Europe to get the best education possible and learn the different arts and crafts that would sustain Russia in its future growth.

6. Russia lags behind Western Europe • Russia’s territorial growth was rapid, but its progress in other ways less impressive. • In science and technology, it lagged behind Europe. • Peter the Great move the Russia’s capital from Moscow to the a city close to the Baltic Sea and name it St. Petersburg to provide direct access to Western Europe by Sea. • He made great strides to modernize Russia, but it still was behind the West. By the mid 1800s, the Industrial Revolution had arrived in many Western Europe, but it did not happen in Russia until the end of the century. • It resulted in harsh working conditions, low wages, and other hardships. • People, started getting upset with the czars who ruled Russia.

7. Russia and Soviet Expansion

8. The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union • Catherine II (Catherine the Great) defeated Napoleon and brought Russia closer to being a world power towards the end of the 18th century. • The period of the czars continued until the Russian Revolution of 1917. • 3. The Communist Party, led by V.I. Lenin, took control of the government. It also took control of the economy and gave is leaders control of all important economic decisions. • By 1922, the Communist Party had organized all the different people from the regions and created the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) or the Soviet Union for short. • They move the capital back to Moscow in 1918.

9. Building a Command Economy • Under Communist rule, a command economy was implemented. • 5. It had been inspired by the work of Karl Marx, a German philosopher who had studied the history of Economic Systems. • He believed the capitalist systems was doomed because it concentrated wealth in a few & left everyone else in poverty. • In a communist society, citizen would own property together and share the wealth. • The government took control of the state’s wealth, land, mines, factories, banks, and transportation systems. • 6. Collective farms were common. By 1939, 9 out 10 farms were collective. Large teams of laborers were moved to the farms to work together.

10. World War II Communism • After Lenin’s death in 1924, Joseph Stalin took control of the government. He was considered by most to be a ruthless dictator.His regime is known for Stalinism, which was the inhumane, rapid industrialization of the U.S.S.R. Stalin sent millions of Soviets who did not conform to the Stalinist ideal to forced-labor camps.Historians believe about 20 million Soviets died from starvation, executions,and life in the labor camps.

11. Cold War • Stalin installed pro-Soviet government in all countries that had been liberated from Germany. • 4. U.S. leaders fear a new expansion was beginning and that Stalin would be spreading communism. • Diplomats called it the Cold War. • The Cold War escalated numerous times to potential World Wars, but never reached that point. The most notable events were the Berlin Blockade, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Soviet-Afghan War.

12. Fall of the Soviet Union & The Russian Federation • The Cold War ended during the time of Mikhail Gorbachev’s reign as ruler. • Gorbachev introduced openness within the country and a time of restructuring to modernize the country. • The U.S.S.R. was the 2nd largest economy in the world before its collapse. • The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, forming 15 new and independent republics. • Boris Yeltsin was elected President of Russia in 1991, in the first direct presidential election in Russian history.

13. Russia Today • Prime Minister – Vladimir Putin • World’s leading natural gas exporter • World’s 2nd leading oil exporter • 7th highest GDP in the world • 2nd largest number of billionaires in the world (101), with Moscow being the city with the most billionaires. Moscow has been voted the 2nd most expensive city to live in the world two years in a row. • Currency is the ruble. ($1 U.S. dollar = $23.8 Rubles)

14. Russian Culture • Shrinking population (decreased over 200,000 people in 2007) • 1. Russians make up 70% of Russia, but 70 other nationalities also live there. • Russia has a free education system guaranteed to all citizens by the Constitution. (literacy rate – 99.4%). Competitive entry makes schooling very strong. • Free, universal health care for all citizens. • As a result of the large difference in life expectancy between men and women and because of the lasting effect of World War II, where Russia lost more men than any other nation in the world, the gender imbalance remains to this day and there are 0.859 males to every female.

15. Culture cont. • Virtually all Russians speak Russian, the official state language. Approximately 7 million speak English (2nd most spoken language) • 2. Religions (Orthodox Christian – 20%, Islam – 11%, other Christian – 2%, non-religious – 50-60%) • 3. onion-domed churches; Literature-Pushkin, Dostoyevsky; Music-Tchaikovsy, Stravinsky; Ballet-Baryshnikov. • Classical music and ballet are world famous in Russia. Tchaikovsky composed Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, and Sleeping Beauty. • 4. Dachas-small, plain houses, often with gardens for growing vegetables; Customs: Banyas, weekly cleaning rituals involving a dry sauna, a steam bath, and a plunge into ice-cold water.

16. Sports in Russia • 1980 Summer Olympics held in Moscow (boycott by U.S. due to Russian invasion of Afghanistan in 1979) • Since the 1952 Olympics, Soviet/Russian athletes have always been in the top 3 for the number of gold medals awarded in Summer Olympics. • The 2014 Winter Olympics will be held in Sochi, Russia. • Site of the 2007 World Ice1980 Summer Olympics held in Moscow (boycott by U.S. due to Russian invasion of Afghanistan in 1979)