Russia: A Comprehensive Look
Russia/Geography
• World’s largest country, lies on Europe and Asia
• Gigantic size and harsh climates make transportation
difficult
• Ural Mountains form border between Europe and
Asia
• European Russia is warmer than Asian Russia
• 75% of population live in European Russia
• Siberia = large part of land that crosses northern and
central Russia into Asia, people have to travel from
village to village by helicopter because it is so large
and is covered by ice
Ural Mountains
Siberia
Geography
• Russia touches many inland bodies of water such as
Black Sea, Caspian Sea, and Lake Baikal
• Lake Baikal = World’s deepest freshwater lake,
holds almost 20% of the world’s supply of unfrozen
freshwater
• Caucasus Mountains = south of European Russia
Lake Baikal
Mole Rats
Economy
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Russia has large deposits of coal, oil, and gas
Southwestern area can produce high yields of grains
Fishing industry is one of the largest in the world
Forests of Siberia provide plenty of timber
However, Russia’s economy is not strong due to
years of communist control of farms and factories
which denied people the experience of creating jobs,
starting businesses, and making money
• Moscow = political, economic, and transportation
center of Russia
• Kaliningrad and St. Petersburgh = northwestern
ports
Moscow
Inside the Kremlin
Economy
• Siberia has the largest supply of minerals
• Volga River carries almost ½ of Russia’s
river traffic and provides water for irrigation
and hydroelectric power
Volga River
Culture
• Over 145 million people and over 150
different ethnic groups
• 80% = Slavs
• Religions =Christian, Islamic, Buddhist, or
Jewish
• St. Petersburg = founded in 1703 by Peter
the Great whose goal was to make the city a
“Window of the West”
• St. Petersburg has many beautiful museums
and is home to the Marinsky Theatre = one
of Russia’s top ballet companies
Russian Slavs
Peter the Great
Culture
• Russians enjoy all kinds of literature, including
folktales called skazki
• Russian Orthodox Church = incredibly popular
and thriving even though communism tried to
eliminate it
• Russian Orthodoxy was responsible for a
Slavic alphabet called Cyrillic
• ¾ of Russian people live in cities, mostly in
large apartment blocks
• New Years is most festive holiday
• Russian workers are celebrated on May Day
Vladimir I Chose
Eastern Orthodoxy
History
• During Ad 800, Slavs built a civilization
around the city of Kiev = Kievan Rus
• Mongols swept in during the 1200’s and
greatly reduced Kiev’s wealth and power
• In 1480, Ivan III drove out the Mongols
• Russian rulers slowly expanded their power
and land size = called czars, had complete
and total control over the government
• Czars Peter the Great and Catherine the
Great expanded territory
IVAN III
Catherine the Great
History
• At the bottom of society were great masses
of people called serfs = farm laborers who
were attached to the land
• Serfs lived hard lives and few could read
and write
• In 1861, Czar Alexander II, known as Czarliberator, freed the serfs from being tied to
the land
• In late 1800’s, began to industrialize to rely
more on manufacturing and less on farming
Czar Alexander II
Freed the Serfs
Czar Nicholas II
ANASTASIA
Soviet Era
• In 1917, political leaders, soldiers, and factory
workers forced Czar Nicholas II to give up the
throne
• Vladimir Lenin led a second revolution and seized
control, set up a communist government, which had
strict control of the government and society
• In 1922 Russian Communist leaders formed the
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics = U.S.S.R
• Joseph Stalin took power after Lenin died,
government took tighter control of country and
many people suffered
Vladimir Lenin
Joseph Stalin
Communist Sniper
Soviet Era
• After WWII, Stalin set up communist governments
in many neighboring Eastern European countries
• From late 1940’s to late 1980’s US and USSR
waged a Cold War, in which both nations competed
for world influence without actually fighting each
other
• Cuban Missile Crisis = hottest point
• Soviet Union included Russians and people from
many other ethnic groups
• In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev took power and relaxed
Soviet control
Cold War Movies
Rocky IV
13 Days
Mikhail Gorbachev
Soviet Era
• In late 1991, each of the 15 republics made up of
Soviet Union declared independence and the Soviet
Union dissolved
• Perestroika =
• Glasnost
• Tore down the Berlin Wall
Berlin Wall
Change from Communism
• Changed from communism to free enterprise
immediately
• Under communism everyone had jobs, workers
today can lose their jobs when business is poor
• Without government controls, prices have risen
making it harder to buy necessities such as food,
clothing
• Major Environmental issues due to the old Soviet
government making factories and nuclear plants that
polluted the environment
• Diseases have resulted from air pollution
Challenges of Change
• Russia is a democracy today
• Russian president has more power than US,
can implement plans that are not passed by
legislature
• Facing challenges of learning how to be a
democracy
• Ethnic groups want to form their own
country
• Chechens of Chechnya want their own
nation, have used terrorism to get attention,
Russia has had to use force to keep them in
the country
Fin