Russian history, the great Nation from 9th Century to Present Time!
Russian regions are few of the oldest settlements of human being on the world. The study of Russian history shows that this nation was established with the contribution of many rules and migrants from various countries of the world.
The ancient Russia came into existence by the combination of many civilizations, urban and rural states into one single empire. Here, we have gathered the contributions of most prominent and esteemed names from history of Russia.
Ancient time in Russian History
In the beginning of ninth century, the Scandinavian people who were recognized as the Varangian resided in Eastern Europe. The commander of the Varangian was Rurik.
In 862 Rurik came to the city of Novgorod along the Volkhov-River. Rurik further extended his empire by occupying more areas. In 882 he got the charge of Slavic city, Kiev. In this way he laid the foundation of the first organized and unified state in Russian history. Between Scandinavia and Constantinople Kiev became a sound means of trade.
Prince Vladamir
Later in 989, Vladimir I became the ruler of the state who occupied new areas across black sea, the Caucasus mountains and Volga river.
Vladimir believed in many faiths and personally was against Islam.Greek orthodoxy was the religion of the state.
Yaroslav defeated Kievan, flourished art, merged with other states and made new laws. Finally he handed over the kingdom to his own children who did not manage properly.
After the death of Yaroslav, the Kievan Rus was distributed in to regional power centers.
Mongols in Russian History (1237 to 1613)
The Kievan Rus was badly ruined by the arrival of Mongols. In 1237 the grandson of Jenghiz Khan, Batu Khan, entered in to Kievan Rus on the Volga.
Mongols Attack in Russia
Mongols wrecked almost all the big cities of Kievan Rus during the next few years. Only the Novgorod and Pskov cities were saved from the dreadful destruction.
In 1240 Swedes and in 1242 Livonian brothers of sword attacked on Russia. Both were defeated by a very brave prince of Novgorod Alexander Nevsky.
Gradually the southwest and north-eastern cities of Russia struggled to get power from Tatars. In 1380, a Muscovite prince Dmitri Donskoy dared to attack Tatars. He successfully defeated Tatars at Kulikov field. Tatar once again got their control in the next two years.
Ivan the Great was another strong ruler of Moscow in Russian history. He brought independence to the city. Later during the period of his grandson Russia became a unified state. At the very young age of 3 Ivan succeeded his father. The young grand duke achieved the title of tsar and ready army to fight against the Tatars. He had victory in 1552 and kept on occupying more and more areas in the coming years of Russian history.
Siberia was also merged in Russia afterwards. At his old age, Ivan turned to a very harsh and the most terrible ruler in Russian history. He led a campaign against the Boyers, even murdering or exiling them.
Ivan the Great
After Ivan’s death in 1584, his son Fyodor got the control who handed over most of the kingdom to his brother-in-law, Boris Godunov.
In 1591 Boris killed the younger brother of Fyodor. When Fyodor died in 1598, Godunov became Tsar but his rule was not appreciated in Russian history. After sometime a pretender appeared in Poland who claimed to be Dmitri and entered Russia in 1604.
The genuine and the fake Dmitri stroked together for throne. In 1613, the Michael Romanov, elected as tsar. The Romanov ruled over Russia for nearly 3 centuries. The Romanovs just focused on centralizing power, where they contributed a little for the progress and prosperity of Russia.
Era of Peter the Great in History of Russia
Peter the Greatx
Peter the Great! one of the most spoken rulers of Russia. Peter was the youngest son of the Tsar Alexis. After the death of Alexis Peter’s brother Feodor got the power but he could not survive for long time. Peter and his brother had a joint tsar ship under the administration of Ivan’s elder sister Sophia.
Peter attained the complete charge when Ivan died. He visited Europe for two years. Where he not only had meetings with various rulers but also traveled across Holland. He learned many industrial techniques and state managements. He was very passionate to bring a revolutionary change in Russian state.
In 1698, during Peter’s stay in Europe, a rebellion from the Kremlin Guard started. Peter came back and defeated all the rebels. He started to act upon his plan to modernize the Russia in the Western Europe image. Peter made many social and well-known economic reforms in Russian history. Peter changed the conventional dress by military conscription, organized technical schools, changed Calendar and made a number of other betterment.
During the next nine years of Peter’s rule, St. Petersburgwas established. Despite of all services and the great participation of Peter he was reminded as a controversial figures ion Russian history. After the death of Peter, Russia was ruled by many rulers.
Era of Catherine the Great in Russia
Catherine the Great in Russian History
Catherine was a German princess who was born in a small German state. She fully adopted Russian culture by learning the Russian language and doing a lot of reading.
Catherine became the ruler of Russia in 1762 when her husband Emperor Peter III was killed. Catherine implemented the strategies of Peter the Great and got the control in major provinces.
She had a great aesthetic sense and encouraged the art and craft in region. She constructed many museum, libraries, commission buildings in Russia.
During the French revolution Catherine faced intense criticism because of her policies. She made many alterations in her liberal reforms. The grandson of Catherine Alexander I became the head of the state afterwards.
Era of Napoleon In Russia
Napoleon started his terrific Russian campaign in 1812. In fact Napoleon had the control of all the European continents and intended to force Alexander I to accept the agreement, which was presented by Napoleon before 4 years.
The Portrait of Napolean
Napoleon attacked Russia with force of half a million army. Despite of fighting, Russia played tricks to defeat French soldiers. After all French army started to become the victim of hunger, raids and depression.
Finally the two forces faced each other in the field of Borodino. Thousands of soldiers were killed but the two forces could not overcome each other.
Napoleon realized that their stay in Russia was the wastage of time. So he decided to go back. The French troops were resisted by Kutuzov’s forces. The frustrated French were frightened of the upcoming frosting cold. Napoleon was defeated and Russia emerged as a stable and powerful state.
Revolution in Russia (1825 to 1920)
Almost all the rulers of Russia tried to impose their personal power either by crushing their opponents or by giving them decreased authority. Ivan the Great was the founder of serfdom.
This rule was further implemented by many Russian rulers. Nineteenth century was the era of revolution in history of Russia. Young and enthusiastic army officers struggled against the legal monarchy in Russia.
Unfortunately they failed and Nicholas succeeded. Although Russia was progressing but internal political tensions and problems were arousing day by day. The lower classes were motivated to have more independence from rulers.
Nicholas II
As the state of Russia expanded its borders were connected with Afghanistan and China. The Siberian railway attached eastern regions with European Russia. Nicholas II ruled Russia in 1894. He could not well manage the political matters.
In the meanwhile Japan attacked Russia and captured many areas. When the war with Japan ceased, Nicholas once again tried to maintain his government but his condition was worse than before. Social democrats distributed in two main camps, the radical Bolsheviks and the moderate Menshiviks.
The First World War affected the western part of Russia. This was the period of intense crisis and depression such as lack of food and economic downfall in Russian history. In 1917, certain riots emerged in St.Petersburg.
Nicholas was proved to be unable to manage the government and was replaced by his brother Michael.A provisional government was also maintained by Duma. He made efforts for the security of the workers’ rights.
Provisional government under the control of Prince Lvov was failed to manage properly. Bolsheviks had the strong support of soviets. First they had a sound position in St.Petersburg andMoscow after civil war they were dominated over the Russia.
The Soviet Era in Russian History (1920 to 1991)
Many rapid social and cultural changes took place during the Soviet rule. Lenin introduced a new economic party NEP. This resulted in a tremendous economical rise in Russian history.
After the Lenin’s death the party members quarreled with each other to have the power. Joseph Stalin, the next ruler made some changes in the system. The areas of agriculture were and huge states were into farms. Industrial products, art and craft were also flourished. Religious churches were badly ruined or used for other purposes.
Soviet Union was not ready for Second World War. The industrial
Joseph Stalin
production was decreased because of the military expenses. There was another unexpected attack by the Hitler on Soviet territory, St Petersburg and some area of Moscow.
Soon Germans captured the rail center of Stalingrad and Caucasus oil fields. The Russian army bravely resisted Germans and finally got rid of the attackers and Germans went back to Poland.
The strength of Soviet Union was increased after II world war. Even it became as stronger as United States. Due to large military budge a heavy amount was spent on army industrial and agricultural progress was decreased and the life standard was affected. Many policies presented by Stalin were rejected. Nikita Khrushchev was opposed and forced to resign.
In 1964 Leonid Brezhnev became the Soviet leader. Due to economic decline there was need of some reforms to improve the condition of country.
Yuri Andropov was yet another prominent name in Russian history. He joined Communist Party in 1939 and transferred to Moscow in 1951. He played a main role in Soviet invasion of Hungry as its ambassador. He then became the head of KGB. He is known for its suppressing political dissidents.
Andropov was selected by the Communist Party Central Committee after his resignation from KGB. He then succeeded Leonid Brezhnev, as the president on June 16, 1983.
Konstantin Chernenko was the next chief political leader of the Soviet Union (1984 -1985). He was among the most trustful person of Leonid Brezhnev. However, could not rule more than 1 year due to his declining health
Mikhail Gorbachev became the next general secretary after Chernenko. He welcomed new strategies and decreased some restrictions on economy. Glasnost became unpopular because of the nuclear explosion that caused radioactive emission. The issue like poverty, unemployment, corruption and depression were publicly discussed by the first time in Russian history.
Soviet Union
Boris Yeltsin and Andrei Sakharov presented their ideas. In 1989, Soviet forces were thrown out of Afghanistan. Voters were allowed to choose more than one candidate. Once again the problem about economy, shortage of food and corruption became severe. The radical reform movement defeated government.And media heavily criticized the Gorbachev.
Yeltsin won the June elections and became Russian president. At last Soviet Union was replaced by a commonwealth of independent states CIS.
Post Communism to Present Time
Russia experienced unexpectedly great revolutions in the period of the 1990s. Russia transformed from communist tyranny into a common democracy. Now it has become a place where bureaucrats are selected in regular elections. And the federal system governs the country.
The centrally strategic economy of Russia was remodeled into an industrial order. Today it is centered on markets and secluded possessions.
Modern Russia
The economy has translated into a market of mostly secluded businesses, manufacturing goods and services to gratify customers instead of personal digital assistants. The economy has developed at a remarkable pace making Russia as the 8th largest economy of the World!
Explore our sections of about Russia, to know more about the current system of Government of Russia and the progressing economy of Russia.
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