Post on 06-Jan-2016
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History of Russia/the Soviet Union/Russia
Russia – 800-1300s
Modern Russians, decedents from the Slavic people , settled near present day Ukraine
Settled area called Kievan Rus Prospered trading between
Scandinavia and the Byzantines Converted to Eastern Orthodox in
A.D. 988 During the 1200s the Mongols lead
by Genghis Khan conquer basically all of Asia, and most of Europe, including Kievan Rus
Genghis Khan and his Empire
Russia 1300s - 1500s
Kiev lost most of its power, many Slavs moved north to get away from Mongols
They build a small trading post, Moscow and inside the new territory of Muscovy.
Ivan III, prince of Muscovy will begin to reject the Mongol’s rule, and declare independence
Ivan III (known as Ivan the Great) and his territory of Muscovy gains independence in 1480
Ivan III (Ivan the Great
Dark Green – Muscovy 1480Light Green – What Ivan took over during his reign
Russia 1500-1600s
Muscovy/Russia continues to grow after Ivan the Great
1547 – Ivan IV declares himself Czar, uses secret police to carry out his will, conquers neighboring territories, expands to the Caspian Sea and past the Ural Mountains.
Ivan IV (known as Ivan the Terrible) used violence, including killing his own son in an argument, used fear to gain and remain in power
Ivan the Terrible
Russia 1600s – 1800s
Russia continues to grow after Ivan the Terrible Late 1600s, “Peter the Great” expands Russia
westward towards Europe Moves capital to major port on European side Names it St. Petersburg (not after himself ),
mirrors it after European cities of trade Catherine the Great rules shortly after Peter,
continues building and expanding, soon Russia expands from Europe to the Pacific Ocean
During this time Muscovy changes name to Russia, albeit not abruptly
Dark Green– Ivan’s expansion during his 40 years in power
Light Green– Expansion under Peter the Great and later Catherine the Great
Peter the Great
St. Petersburg
Russia 1600s – 1800s
Despite its size and power, Russia did not go through the Renaissance, Reformation, Enlightenment, or any other ideological breakthroughs that Europe did.
For all tense and purposes, Russia was still stuck in the 13oos, even though it was in the early 1900s.
No industry, still used serfs/peasants Czars had absolute power, a European
idea that had was now all but extinct
Russia 1800s - 1917
Russian citizens remained poor and hungry Despite being backwards, had success
defeating Napoleon's French invasion by using its size
Joined WWI, but lost millions of soldiers and citizens starved as the country ran out of money and food
Russia pulls out of WWI in 1917, and revolted and forced Czar Nicholas II to step down
Russian Revolution, Rise of Communism
Vladimir Lenin leads a second revolution (shortly after the first), and establishes a communist state, where the government controls economy and society
Renames nation to Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, which includes 15 different nations and ethnic groups.
Lenin’s goal, to make all citizens equal, he stated that the rich owned too much
Vladimir Lenin
Soviet Union 1920s (after revolution)
Soviet Union
After Lenin’s death, Joseph Stalin takes over, and continues Lenin’s goals, only stricter and more violently, and from here until 1980s, all other dictators will take a violent approach, removing basic freedoms from its people (speech, press/media, ideas, etc).
Stalin used secret police to enforce his will
Banned religion and religious practices
Joseph StalinIn power from 1922 – 1952
Soviet Union under Stalin
WWII, Soviet Union sides with Allies (U.S., U.K., France) to fight Germany and Axis Powers after a “non-aggressive” pact with Hitler fails
Lost between 20-30 million soldiers/civilians (Stalin had many of his own civilians killed)
After WWII, Stalin kept Eastern Europe under his control, to prevent any future invasions into the main part of the Soviet Union
Soviet Union Under Stalin
Combined farms into a collectivization, which are large farms ruled by the government and it chooses what to grow
This allowed to have more people work in industry, to industrialize the nation, build factories quickly, and begin producing
Farms struggled without competition Industries succeeded, and Soviet Union will
become “Industrialized” but only because the amount of workers (still no competition, no motivation)
European Soviet Bloc Countries
Soviet Union
This struggle over Europe, caused the U.S. to become involved
The “Cold War” breaks out Cold War refers to when two or more countries have
major tensions, but are not fighting at the time, if they were, we would call it “hot”
Soviet Union controls the Soviet Bloc nations (Eastern Europe), called Warsaw Pact, up against the U.S.’s NATO (Western Europe, U.S., Canada)
Berlin Wall is dividing line, and is put up in Berlin Germany, becomes symbol of the Cold War
Berlin WallLiterally divides city in half, East Berlin is Soviet, West Berlin is NATO
Illegal to cross from East to West Berlin
Soviet Union
1940s-1990s – Cold War continues, small wars are fought, but not between each other directly, but instead through nations aligned with the Soviet Union and the U.S. (ex. Korean War, Vietnam War)
Nations almost go to nuclear war a couple of times, most notably Cuban Missile Crisis 1960s
U.S. and Soviet Union begin a space race, then later an arms race, building nuclear weapons
This causes the Soviet Union to go bankrupt, food shortages, oil shortages, gas shortages, etc.
Soviet Union Weakens
People become upset over shortages, and as media begins to leak into the Soviet Union, people begin to realize their lack of freedoms
Mikhail Gorbachev tries to change the Soviet Union
Glasnost – Soviets can say or write what they want without fear of punishment
Perestroika – Allowing owners more freedom to make economic decisions
People begin to doubt communism, protests begin throughout the Soviet Union, and communism falls in 1991 along with the tearing down of the Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall Falls
Communism Falls
European Eastern Bloc nations breakaway Gorbachev steps down, Boris Yeltsin takes
over and tries to reform Russia back into a democracy, giving people rights again
Communists try one last time to take over, but fails, the Soviet Union will be officially over in 1991
Yeltsin begins to build a market economy and privatization (where the people are in control)
Brief Russia Today
Yeltsin steps down, Vladimir Putin is elected in 2000, and has since put more control back into government
Putin was a former Soviet KGB, or secret police)
Ethnic groups continue to try and break away, only to have Russia fight back, leading to bloody conflicts (ex. Chechnya, Georgia-Ossetia, which is near Sochi)
1990s - Ethnic regions breakaway from Russia