A Troubled History

1. A Troubled History Chapter 8, Section 2

2. Early Russia • During the 800’s, early Slavic peoples built a civilization around the city of Kiev called KievanRus • They were attacked by the Mongols around the1200’s which greatly reduced Kiev’s wealth and power. The Mongols ruled for 200 years. • In 1480 Ivan III, a prince of Muscovy, drove out the Mongols. Russia started to become the country we know it as today. • Its leaders began to expand their power, build up armies, and seize more land and resources. • These Russian rulers called themselves czars, or emperors. They had complete and total control over the government. • Czars such as Peter the Great and Catherine the Great greatly expanded Russia’s territory. They tried to modernize the country and make it more like the rest of Europe. • Serfs, farm laborers who could be bought and sold with the land, were at the bottom of society. These people lived hard lives and worked the nobles’ land. Very few could read or write. • In 1861 Czar Alexander II freed the serfs from the land. Russia began to industrialize, or change its economy to rely more on manufacturing and less on farming.

4. The Soviet Era • World War I began in 1914, and the Russians fought many battles against the Germans. Russia suffered several defeats which caused food shortages that the people blamed on the czars. • In 1917 political leaders, soldiers, and factory workers forced Czar Nicholas II to give up the throne. • Vladimir Lenin led a Russian Revolution and seized control of the government. • Communist State – a country whose government has strict control over the economy and society as a whole. • The Soviet Union (U.S.S.R.) was formed in 1922 • Joseph Stalin took power several years after Lenin’s death • Under his rule the government took tighter control over the country, which caused many to suffer. • Anyone who disagreed were either killed or sent to prison camps in Siberia. • World War II began in 1939, and the Germans invaded Russia in 1941. • About 20 million Russians were killed. • Stalin set up communist governments in many neighboring Easter European countries. • After World War II, the Soviet Union entered into a Cold War with the United States • War in which they competed for world influence and nuclear stockpiles. • Most factories only produced heavy machinery and military items. Consumer goods weren’t given much priority.

7. The Soviet Era • The Soviet Union included many other ethnic groups other than just Russian’s. These other ethnic groups resented Soviet rule. • In 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev took power and relaxed Soviet control of the economy and society. • Perestroika – policy that allowed farmers and factory managers make more decisions on their own, moving more towards a free market economy. • Glasnost – people were given more rights to free speech. • The demands for change ultimately led to the collapse of communism and the soviet Union. • By 1991 all 15 members of the Soviet Union had declared independence bringing the Soviet Union to an end.