Russia: A Comprehensive Look

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Russia A Comprehensive Look
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Russia/Geography

• Worlds 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

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Ural Mountains
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Siberia
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Geography

• Russia touches many inland bodies of water such
  as Black Sea, Caspian Sea, and Lake Baikal
• Lake Baikal Worlds deepest freshwater lake,
  holds almost 20 of the worlds supply of
  unfrozen freshwater
• Caucasus Mountains south of European Russia

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Lake Baikal
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Economy

• 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, Russias 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

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Moscow
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Inside the Kremlin
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Economy

• Siberia has the largest supply of minerals
• Volga River carries almost ½ of Russias river
  traffic and provides water for irrigation and
  hydroelectric power

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Volga River
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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 Russias
  top ballet companies

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Slavic Church Architecture Onion Domes
Urban
Rural
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Slavic Russian Orthodox Christians
Carrying Icons
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Typical Orthodox Icon
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Peter the Great
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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

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Soviet style apartment blocks
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Vladimir I Chose Eastern Orthodoxy
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History

• During Ad 800, Slavs built a civilization around
  the city of Kiev Kievan Rus
• Mongols swept in during the 1200s and greatly
  reduced Kievs 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

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IVAN III
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Catherine the Great
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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
  Czar-liberator, freed the serfs from being tied
  to the land
• In late 1800s, began to industrialize to rely
  more on manufacturing and less on farming

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Czar Alexander II
Freed the Serfs
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Czar Nicholas II
ANASTASIA
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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

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Communist Sniper
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Did you laugh?

• I hope you laughed.
• It felt good to laugh, didnt it?
• Laughing promotes good health.

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Vladimir Lenin
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Joseph Stalin
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An iron curtain descended across Europe!
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Soviet Era

• After WWII, Stalin set up communist governments
  in many neighboring Eastern European countries
• From late 1940s to late 1980s 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

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Cold War Movies
Rocky IV
13 Days
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Mikhail Gorbachev
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Soviet Era

• In late 1991, each of the 15 republics made up of
  Soviet Union declared independence and the Soviet
  Union dissolved
• Perestroika economic restructuring
• Glasnost increasing political openness and
  freedom of information
• Tore down the Berlin Wall

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Berlin Wall
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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

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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

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Fin