PEOPLE AND NATION BIG HISTORY THE AGE OF EMPIRE In 2012 President Vladimir Putin made a Russia s story began in the Middle Ages speech about Russia s future He called on fifth to fifteenth centuries AD when a people to seek guidance from their cor patchwork of cities and small states grew up past Russia s eventful history certainly offers in the lands of the Eastern Slavs Over time many lessons the most powerful city became Moscow capital of Muscovy Its rulers forged all Russia into a single empire Over the centuries this empire expanded westward southward and eastward across Siberia Many of Russia s emperors or tsars were harsh rulers while other European peoples were gaining more rights and freedoms Russia s peasants remained serfs REVOLUTION AND CIVIL WAR Revolutions broke out in 1905 and in 1917 during World War IL A group called the Bolsheviks led by Vladimir Ilyich Lenin seized power They founded the Russian Communist Party which aimed to give power to the workers The ruling tsar Nicholas II was shot and killed in 1918 In a civil war that lasted until 1922 the communist Red Army defeated their opponents who were known as the Whites A new state was formed as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics USSR or Soviet Union Lenin 1870 1924 was a revolutionary His ideas influenced world politics throughout the 20th
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCING RUSSIA Joseph Dzhugashvili or Stalin 1878 1953 was a ruthless dictatorial leader COLD WAR AND REFORM After the war Soviet power dominated Eastern Europe The Cold War from 1945 to 1991 was a period of tension betwees the Soviet Union on one side and the United States and Western Europe on the other Political reform followed Stalin s death in 1953 But it was not until Mikhail During the Cold War both sides were Gorbachev was in power 1985 91 that Russia really began to change Gorbachev s aims included perestroika restructuring the system and glasnost openness and relations with the West began to thaw In 1991 a conservative group within the Communist Party tried to force Gorbachev from power They failed but the Soviet Union collapsed Fourteen regions broke away to become independent nations The new Russian Federation with a multiparty political system and a capitalist economy was born armed with nuclear weapons and developed rocket technology STALIN S RUSSIA Lenin died in 1924 Joseph Stalin cunning politician soon won control He pushed through reforms in industry and farming at great human cost Millions of people died in a famine in 1932 33 Many people were murdered or sent to grim labor camps At the start of World War II in 1939 Russia and Germany agreed not to attack each other But in 1940 Adolf Hitler ordered the invasion of the Soviet Union The extraordinary Russian resistance and counterattack was crucial to Germany s defeat in 1945 This Great Patriotic War is still commemorated across Russia every May
MEET THE PEOPLE 50L SD THE RUSSIANS CE PyceKne pronounced Ruskiye means the Russians The Russian language is written in a Cyrillic script Ethnic Russians a Slavic people from European Russia As you travel across Russia the forests seem make up about 80 percent of the national to stretch on forever Where are all the population Over the ages they have also people The population density is one of the settled in many other parts of the former lowest in the world with just 25 people per Russian empire and the Soviet Union as square mile 3 sq km well as overseas Russians buy fresh food HARSH TERRAIN UNITED OR DIVIDED at a local market in Preobrazhensky in Moscow Russia may be the worl's largest country he parts of the country non Russians but its population of 143 million is barely outnumber ethnic Russians These regions 11 percent of that in neighboring China are referred to as republics The local One reason for this is the difficulty of languages may be used as well as Russian making a home in Russia s harsher regions for schooling and government The law In Siberia winter temperatures can plunge guarantees the rights of minorities In to 76°F 60°C and permafrost makes the practice ethnic tensions are quite common deeper soil as hard as iron Eight out of ten Some of Russia's minorities have experienced Russians live in he west where the land is centuries of conquest or resettlement a better for farming and big cities are thriving racism Old grievances have been stirred up since the breakup of the old Soviet Union 10
CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCING RUSSIA CHECHEN WAR After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 the people of Chechnya demanded independence as did many bordering regions The government refused and sent in the army in a campaign against Chechen guerrillas and civilians A brutal Second Chechen War began in 1999 and lasted 10 years This led to terrorist attacks by Chechens in Russian cities Today the war is over but it has left lasting bitterness PART OF THE WHOLE The Russian Federation is comprised of over 180 ethnic groups in all Ukrainians who are Slavs like the Russians make up about 2 percent of the national population Turkic peoples such as the Tatars Bashkir and Chuvash account for over 6 percent Most of these minority peoples lead much the same kind of lives as ethnic Russians However some small Arctic groups such as the Nenets and Sami work to keep up their own traditions of herding reindeer or hunting and fishing for a living The Nenets have lived in Russias frozen northwest for thousands of years 11
