Russia

Russia is the largest country in the world. It has an area of 17,075,400 square kilometres, almost twice that of Canada, the second largest country. A train trip be-

Land regions - Many scientists divide Russia into four zones accord­ing to soil conditions and plant life, which are based

A belt of rich farmland - stretches across Russia from east to west. In the photo­graph on the left, farmwork­ers harvest wheat on the Eu­ropean Plain. This mainly flat landform makes up most of the European part of Russia.

Fields of wheat spread over vast areas of Russian farmland. Russia is one of the world's major producers of wheat and other grains.

Russian ballet troupes perform throughout the world. They are famous for their skill and beauty.

Snow covers more than half of Russia for six months of the year. This village is near the city of Irkutsk in Siberia.

The Congress of People s Deputies is the highest legis­lative authority in Russia. It has more than 1,000 mem­bers, who are elected by the Russian people.

A Moscow family gathers for dinner at home. Most peo­ple in Russia eat their main meal at midday.

High-rise apartment buildings, house millions of people in Russia's cities. Nevertheless, a housing shortage persists in urban areas.

Shoppers wait to buy food. Such waiting is common in Russia's cities, which lack suf­ficient amounts of food and other consumer goods.

At outdoor markets, farm­ers sell produce that is fresher than that found in state shops, but more expen­sive. This market is in Krasno­dar, a city in southwestern Russia

Soccer is the most popular sport in Russia, among both participants and spectators. Russia has many sports camps and clubs, recreational cen­tres, and other athletic facili­ties for children and adults.

St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow has colourful onion-shaped domes that have made it one of the most widely recognized buildings in Russia. The Byzantine-style cathedral was built from 1555 to 1560 by Ivan the Terrible, Russia's first czar.

Religious paintings called icons dominated Russian art from the late 90tJs to the late 1600's. Icons were created for Russian Orthodox worship services and were considered sacred.

The East Siberian Uplands are mainly a wilderness of mountains and plateaus. The region has valuable mineral resources, but its harsh climate makes it difficult to use them. Small towns, such as the one shown above, are sparsely scattered throughout the East Siberian Uplands.

A belt of rich farmland stretches across Russia from east to west. In the photo­graph on the left, farmwork­ers harvest wheat on the Eu­ropean Plain. This mainly flat landform makes up most of the European part of Russia.

Thick forest blankets the northern part of Russia from Europe to the Pacific Ocean. It covers much of Siberia. Few people live in this vast area.

Lake Baikal, the deepest lake in the world, lies in Siberia. It has a depth of 1,620 metres. A small community is nestled between Lake Baikal and the surrounding moun­tains.

Red Square in Moscow, Russia's capital and largest city, is the site of such famous landmarks as St. Basil s Cathedral, V. I. Lenin's tomb, and the Kremlin. The large plaza took its name in Russian from an old word meaning both beautiful and red

Collective farms called kolkhozy are controlled by the Russian government but managed in part by farmers. This photograph shows a potato harvest at one such farm.

Long pipelines, such as the one shown above, transport natural gas from fields in Siberia to Eu­ropean Russia. The gas is burned to provide energy for industry and heat for homes. It is also a natural resource for the production of certain chemicals.

A fishing crew brings in sturgeon from the mouth of the Volga River. Sturgeon eggs are used to make caviar, a salty delicacy. Russia is famous for its flavourful caviar.

Important dates in Russia

A.D. 800's East Slavs established the state of Kievan Rus. 1237-1240 The Mongols conquered Russia, c. 1318 The Mongols appointed Prince Yuri of Moscow as the Russian grand prince.

1480 Ivan 111 broke Mongol control over Russia.

1547 Ivan IV became the first Russian czar.

1604-1613 Russia was torn by civil war, invasion, and politi­cal confusion during the Time of Troubles.

1613 Michael Romanov became czar. He started the Roma­nov line of czars, which ruled until 1917.

1703 Peter I founded St. Petersburg and began building his capital there.

1812 Napoleon invaded Russia. He was forced to retreat.

1861 Alexander II freed the serfs.

1905 japan defeated Russia in the Russo-Japanese War. A revolution forced Nicholas II to establish a parliament. 1914-1917 Russia fought Germany and Austria-Hungary in World War I.

1917 The February Revolution overthrew Nicholas II. The Bolsheviks (later called Communists) seized power in the October Revolution. V. I. Lenin became head of government. Russia withdrew from World War I. 1918-1920 The Communists defeated their anti-Communist opponents in a civil war.

1922 The U.S.S.R. was established.

1991 Communist rule ended, and the republics declared their independence. The Soviet Union was dissolved on December 25.

1993 President Boris Yeltsin dissolved parliament after par­liament blocked his reform policies.

V. I. Lenin, with raised arm, led the Bolshevik take-over of the Russian government in the October Revolution of 1917. He be­came the first leader of the Soviet Union.

Railways transport freight and passengers between Rus­sia's major cities, many of which are separated by vast distances. The phgtograph on the left shows a train on the Trans-Siberian Railway, which runs between Vladivostok in the southeast and Moscow in the west.

The Battle of Kulikovo in 1 380 was the first Russian victory over the Mongol forces. It took place near the Don River.

Ivan the Terrible became Russia's first czar in 1547. He expanded Russia's territory and made Moscow his capital. This painting shows Ivan after he killed his son in a fit of rage.

Peter the Great ruled Russia from 1682 until his death in 1725. Peter was a powerful ruler whose many conquests expanded Russia's empire. He also reorganized the government.

Catherine the Great became empress of Russia in 1762. She expanded the country's territory and encouraged the develop­ment of the arts. But she preserved and extended serfdom.

Expansionary of Russia This map shows the increase in territory that took place in Russia between 1462 and 1914. Russia gained these lands through wars, con­quests, and annexations. The boundary of present-day Rus­sia appears as a solid red line on the map.

Leonid Brezhnev pursued a policy of friendly relations with the West called detente. In the 1970's, Brezhnev  and U.S. President Richard Nixon signed an agreement limiting produc­tion of nuclear weapons as a result of a series of meetings called the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT).

Joseph Stalin one of the cruellest rulers in world history, was dictator of the U.S.S.R. from 1929 to 1953.

Mikhail Gorbachev headed the Soviet Union from 1985 until it ceased to exist in 1991. This photograph shows Gorbachev, greeting a crowd in Moscow.

Boris Yeltsin, the president of the former Russian republic, continued to serve as president of Russia following the collapse of the Soviet Union at the end of 1991.

Russia is the world's largest country in area. It is al­most twice as big as Canada, the second largest country. From 1922 until 1991, Russia was the biggest republic in the Soviet Union, the most powerful Communist country in the world. In the 1980's, many of the union republics began making strong demands for greater control of their own affairs or for independence. Independence moves by the republics gained strength after a failed coup in 1991. In that year, the Soviet Union broke apart, and Russia began to set up a new political, legal, and economic system.

Russia extends from the Arctic Ocean south to the Black Sea and from the Baltic Sea east to the Pacific Ocean. It covers much of the continents of Europe and Asia. Moscow, the capital, is one of the world's largest cities in population. St. Petersburg, on the coast of the Baltic Sea, is Russia's chief seaport.

Most of Russia's people are ethnic Russians— that is, descendants of an early Slavic people called the Rus­sians. More than 100 minority nationalities also live in Russia. Approximately three-quarters of the people

make their homes in urban areas. Russian cities have better schools and health-care facilities than the rural areas do. However, the cities suffer from overcrowding and from frequent shortages of many consumer goods, including food and clothing.

Russia has abundant natural resources, including vast deposits of petroleum, natural gas, coal, and iron ore. However, many of these reserves lie far from settled areas. Russia's harsh, cold climate makes it difficult to take advantage of many of the country's valuable re­sources.

Russia traces its history back to a state that emerged in Europe among the East Slavs during the 800's. Over time, large amounts of territory and many different peo­ples came under Russian rule. For hundreds of years, czars (emperors) and empresses ruled Russia. They had almost complete control over most aspects of Russian life. Under these rulers, the country's economic devel­opment lagged behind the rapid industrial progress that began in Western Europe in the 1700's. Most of the peo­ple were poor, uneducated peasants.

Russia made many great contributions to the arts dur­ing the 1800's. Such authors as Anton Chekhov, Fyodor Dostoevsky, and Leo Tolstoy wrote masterpieces of liter­ature. Russian composers, including Modest Mussorg­sky, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, and Peter llich Tchaikov­sky, created music of lasting greatness. Russians also made valuable artistic contributions in the fields of ar­chitecture, ballet, and painting.

Opposition to the czars' absolute power increased during the late 1800^rs and the early 190ffs. Revolution­aries overthrew the Russian government in 1917. The next year, Russia became the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (R.S.F.S.R.). In 1922, the R.S.F.S.R. and three other republics established a new nation called the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.), also known as the Soviet Union. The R.S.F.S.R. became the largest and most influential republic of the Soviet Union, which grew to 15 republics by 1956. In 1991, Communist

rule in the Soviet Union collapsed, and the country broke apart. Russia and 10 other republics formed a new, loose federation called the Commonweafth of In­dependent States.

After the breakup of the Soviet Union, Russia entered a transitional period. The Communist leaders of the So­viet Union had controlled all aspects of the country's economy and government. Russia's new national gov­ernment worked to transform the country from a state- controlled, managed economy to one based on private enterprise and a free market for goods and services. The government also began to establish new political and legal systems in Russia.

This article deals with Russia from its early history to the present. For more detailed information about the history of Russia between 1922 and 1991—when it was part of the Soviet Union—see Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

National government. In 1992, Russia established a transitional (temporary) government headed by Boris Yeltsin had been elected president of the R.S.F.S.R. in 1991. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, Yeltsin continued to serve as president of Russia.

The president of Russia is the head of state. A prime —minister acts as the head of government. The govern­ment has a cabinet called the Council of Ministers.

A parliament makes Russia's laws. It consists of the Congress of People's Deputies and the Supreme Soviet. Soviet is a Russian word meaning council. The Congress of People's Deputies has more than 1,000 members. This body is Russia's highest legislative authority. The Su­preme Soviet has two houses—the Council of the Feder­ation and the Council of Nationalities. The members of the Supreme Soviet are elected from among the mem­bers of the Congress of People's Deputies.

The transitional Russian government suffered from in­stability. Many former Communists and Soviet Union leaders opposed the economic and governmental re­forms proposed by President Yeltsin. These opponents included many members of parliament. In September 1993, Yeltsin dissolved the parliament. See The new na­tion section at the end of this article.

Local government. Russia contains 49 administrative units called oblasts (regions) and 6 large, sparsely set­tled krais (territories). Russia also has about 30 other ter­ritories, each of which has a dominant nationality group. These territories are known as autonomous republics and autonomous areas. There is also one autonomous region. Autonomous means self-governing, but these units actually had little control over their own affairs in the Soviet Union. The future of the autonomous units is unclear, because some of their populations are pressing for increased self-rule.

All of these divisions may contain smaller units called raions (districts). Councils called soviets manage local af­fairs in both urban and rural areas. In October 1993, Yelt­sin ordered these soviets to be replaced by newly elected, smaller councils.

Politics. The Communist Party was the only legal po­litical party in the U.S.S.R. until March 1990. At that time, the Soviet Constitution—which gave the Communist Party its broad powers—was amended. A loose coalition of political parties with a democratic platform, known as the Democratic Russia Movement, began to play a key role in the reform movement. The Democratic Russia Movement secured Yeltsin's victory in free presidential elections in June 1991. The collapse of the Communist Party and the Soviet Union caused the Democratic Rus­sia Movement to break apart. Croups that had opposed the Soviet Communist Party developed into separate po­litical parties.

The Russian Christian Democratic Party backs a parlia­mentary democracy with a monarchy, based on law and principles of Christian morality. The Social Democratic Party calls for a political, social, and economic democ­racy in which each ethnic group can maintain its iden­tity. It seeks to achieve its goals through social and legal revolution. The Democratic Party of Russia, which has at­tracted many intellectuals, wants to base the new Rus­sian government on individual freedom and on private ownership of property. The Republican Party of the Rus­sian Federation seeks political and economic freedom through rapid change to private ownership and a less centralized government. The People's Party of Free Rus­sia formed in 1991 as a democratic party of Communists within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. It later declared itself the sole successor to the Communist Party. A number of extremist groups, such as the Liberal Democratic Party, have also emerged.

New political parties continue to form in Russia to promote the interests of specific groups. However, Yelt­sin suspended a number of parties following his con­frontation with the parliament. AH Russian citiiens who

are 21 years of age or older may vote in elections.

Courts. The former Soviet government had a political police system called the Committee for State Security, known as the KGB. The KGB could interfere with and in­fluence the legal system, and major violations of human rights took place. The KGB no longer exists in Russia. Today, Russia has two security agencies. The Russian Security Services handles internal security, and the Foreign Intelligence Service collects information from other countries. In addition, new laws are being passed to protect the rights of all Russian citizens. The procurator-general, the chief legal officer of Russia, is nominated by the president and approved by the Con­gress of People's Deputies.

Russia's highest court is called the Constitutional Court. This court, which was established in 1992, rules on the constitutionality of the country's laws. However, President Yeltsin suspended the Constitutional Court in 1993 shortly after he dissolved parliament. See The new nation section at the end of this article.

The people in Russia are distributed unevenly throughout the country. Most of the population live in the western (European) part of Russia. The more rugged and remote areas to the east are sparsely inhabited. For the total population, see the Russia in brief table with this article.

Population. About 83 per cent of Russia's people are of Russian ancestry. These ethnic Russians make up the largest group of Slavic peoples. Members of more than 100 other nationality groups also live in Russia. The larg­est groups include Tatars (or Tartars), Ukrainians, Chu­vash, Bashkirs, Belarusians, Mordvins, Chechen, Ger­mans, Udmurts, Mari, Kazakhs, Avars, Armenians, and Jews, who are considered a nationality group in Russia. Many of them live in Russia's autonomous territories. Remote parts of the Far North are sparsely inhabited by small Siberian groups, including Aleuts, Chukchi, Eski­mos, and Koryaks. These northern peoples differ from one another in ancestry and language, but they share a common way of life shaped by the harsh, cold climate.

The government of the Soviet Union had granted Rus­sians special privileges. It repressed the distinctive cul­tures of other nationalities and did not always uphold their rights. This policy sharpened resentment among some peoples. Today, pride in their culture and the de­sire for greater independence are growing among the

Russia's local courts are called peoples courts. The judges of the local courts are elected by the people to five-year terms.

Armed forces. The Soviet Union had the largest armed forces in the world. About 4 million people served in its army, navy, and air force. Required military service for young men began at age 18 and lasted at least two years.

When the Soviet Union collapsed, command of the Soviet armed forces passed to the Commonwealth of In­dependent States. But several former republics—includ­ing Russia—also announced intentions to create their own armed forces. In 1992, Russia began to form its own armed forces and absorbed some of the former Soviet forces.

members of many nationalities, including Russians.

Ancestry. Ethnic Russians are descended from Slavs who lived in eastern Europe several thousand years ago. Over time, migration split the Slavs into three subgroups—the East Slavs, the West Slavs, and the South Slavs. The Russians trace their heritage to the first East Slav state, Kievan Rus. This state emerged in the 800's.

Kievan Rus suffered repeated invasions by Asian tribes, including the Pechenegs, Polovtsians, and Mon­gols. The Mongol invasions forced some people to mi­grate to safer, forested regions near present-day Mos­cow. Moscow became an important Russian state in the 1300s. This area has remained at the heart of Russia ever since. But people of many ethnic groups have lived in Russia, especially since the 1500's, when extensive ex­pansion and colonization began.

Language. Russian is the official language of Russia. Spoken Russian sounds fairly uniform from one end of the country to the other. Nevertheless, the language has three major regional accents—northern, southern, and central. The small differences rarely interfere with un­derstanding. Russian is written in the Cyrillic alphabet (see Alphabet [The Cyrillic alphabet!). Many minority na­tionality groups in Russia have their own language and speak Russian as a second language.

Way of life

The government of the Soviet Union controlled many aspects of life in the country. It exerted great influence over religion, education, and the arts. The independence of Russia following the breakup of the Soviet Union brought greater freedom and triggered many other changes in the lives of the people.

City life. About three-quarters of Russia's people live in urban areas. Approximately 35 cities in Russia have Populations over 500,000. Two of Russia's cities—Mos­cow and St. Petersburg—each have more than 4 million Inhabitants.

Russian cities are crowded. Beginning in the 1930’s, large numbers of people  migrated from the countryside to urban areas. During World War II (1939-1945), bombs destroyed many houses and other buildings. These cir­cumstances combined to create a housing shortage in Russian cities that continues to this day. Millions of city dwellers live in small apartments in high-rise buildings. The scarcity of housing forces some families to share kitchen and toilet facilities. Single-family houses are common in small towns and on the outskirts of large cit­ies. But some of these houses lack indoor plumbing and other modern conveniences.

Shortages of food, services, and manufactured goods have been common features of city life in Russia. The shortages were widespread in 1992, when the govern­ment lifted price controls. When goods are available, they are often too expensive for most people to afford. Russian cities also face urban problems such as in­creased crime and environmental pollution.

Rural life. About a quarter of the Russian population live in rural areas. Single-family housing is common in these areas, but the Soviet government built many city- style apartment buildings. In the most remote areas of Russia, some homes lack gas, plumbing, running water, and electricity. In addition, the quality of education, health care, and cultural life is lower than in the cities. Rural shops are poorly stocked, offering even less selec tion than city shops. But food is more plentiful in rural areas than in the cities.

During the existence of the Soviet Union, most rural people worked on huge farms run by the government. After the Soviet Union collapsed, Russia began to break up these farms. New laws allow people to withdraw from the government farms and set up private farms.

Clothing. Most people in the Soviet Union wore plain, simple clothes. Shops offered little variety in clothing styles, and most people had only a few differ­ent outfits. In the 1970's, consumers began to demand greater variety in apparel. People preferred to buy im­ported Western clothing whenever it was available. As a result, clothing manufacturers began to pay more atten­tion to style and quality. But scarcity, high cost, and Rus­sia's cold climate continue to affect Russian clothing styles. When possible, rural dwellers buy their clothes in cities, where they find a wider selection.

Traditional Russian clothing consists of colourfully embroidered shirts and blouses, embroidered head­wear, and shoes woven from bast, a tough fibre from the bark of certain trees. Rural dwellers wore these costumes on special occasions, such as weddings and holi­days. But, the traditional costume is rarely worn today.

Food and drink. The Russian diet is hearty. Russians eat bread at virtually every meal. Beef, chicken, pork, and fish are popular main dishes. The most commonly eaten vegetables include beets, cabbage, carrots, cu­cumbers, onions, potatoes, radishes, and tomatoes. Rus­sians are fond of soups and dairy products, and they

consume large quantities of sugar. Frying remains a widespread method of preparing food.

Many Russian dishes are popular around the world. They include blinis (thin pancakes served with smoked salmon or other fillings and sour cream) and beefStro- ganoff(beei strips cooked with onions and mushrooms in a sour cream sauce). Other favourite dishes include borscht (beet soup) and piroshkHbaked or fried dump­lings filled with meat and cabbage).

Typical breakfast foods include eggs, porridge, sau­sages, cheese, bread, butter, and jam. Most of the peo­ple eat their main meal at midday. It consists of a salad or appetizer; soup; meat or fish with potatoes.or kasha (cooked buckwheat); and dessert, such as stewed fruit or pastries. In the evening, most Russians eat a light sup­per.

Russians drink large quantities of tea. Many people enjoy coffee, but it is expensive and often unavailable. Kvass, a beerlike beverage made from fermented black bread, is especially popular in summer. Russians also enjoy soft drinks and mineral water.

Vodka is Russia's traditional alcoholic beverage. Rus­sians also drink wine, champagne, cognac, beer, and other alcoholic beverages. Alcohol abuse has been and remains a major social problem in Russia.

Health care in the Soviet Union was free. The Rus­sian government remains committed to meeting the basic health-care needs of its people. An insurance pro­gramme to finance health care was introduced in 1993.

A private health-care sector is emerging. The country has large numbers of doctors, nurses, hospitals, and other facilities. However, shortages of medicines and equipment, low wages, and bureaucracy continue to create problems. Bribery of health-care workers is com­mon. Conditions in the country's rural areas are worse than in the cities.

Recreation. Russians enjoy watching television, reading, playing chess, going to the cinema, watching plays, visiting museums, walking, and taking part in sports. The government actively promotes athletic activi­ties, especially team sports. Soccer is the most popular participant and spectator sport in Russia. Other popular sports include gymnastics, basketball, and such winter sports as ice hockey, ice skating, and skiing. Tennis is growing in popularity.

Russia has many athletic clubs, stadiums, recreational centres, and other sporting facilities. Schools provide physical education at all levels. There are also special sports camps and clubs for children and adults.

The people of Russia are avid nature lovers, and they enjoy spending time in the countryside. Many wealthy Russians have country cottages called dachas. There, they garden, hike, cycle, swim, fish, gather mushrooms, and take part in other outdoor activities.

Most people in Russia take holidays in the summer. Popular destinations include resort areas along the Black Sea, the Baltic Sea, and the Volga River, and in Si­beria. However, price increases and ethnic unrest have made holidays away from home less appealing.

Religion. The Soviet Union was hostile to religion.

But religion played an important role in the lives of many of the country's people. In the late 1980's, religious toleration began to increase dramatically. Churches re­covered property seized by the Soviet government Thousands of new parishes opened. Church attendance shot up. Sunday schools opened across the country, and churches took part in charity work. Publication of reli­gious literature resumed, and new seminaries opened. The celebration of Russian Orthodox Christmas on Janu­ary 7 was made a national holiday.

The Russian Orthodox Church is the largest religious denomination in Russia. Other important religious groups in the country include Muslims; Baptists, Pente- costalists, and other Protestant denominations; Roman Catholics; and Jews.

Education. The Soviet government controlled educa­tion and considered it a major vehicle of social advance­ment. As a result, almost all Russians can read and write. Today, public education in Russia remains free for all citizens. New private schools are also opening. The So­viet government had banned such schools.

Russian educators are changing the school curricu­lum to better prepare students for the new economy. They are working to remove the influence of Commu­nist Party ideology. Educators are also trying to better satisfy the interests of Russia's nationality groups.

All children attend school for 11 years, from age 6 to 17. Elementary education includes nine primary and in­termediate grades. When pupils finish ninth grade, they may choose to complete their schooling by enrolling in a secondary school or vocational school. The secondary schools emphasize science and mathematics. They also teach language, literature, history, social sciences, and physical education. English is the most widely taught foreign language. The vocational schools prepare young people for careers as technicians or in various branches of industry and agriculture.

Starting with the intermediate grades, pupils must pass annual exams to advance to the next grade. Stu­dents who pass a national examination upon the com­pletion of secondary school receive a certificate, and those who score well also receive a gold or silver medal. Schools use a number grading scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest.

Many gifted children attend special schools. These schools stress individual subjects such as mathematics or physics, languages, or the arts. Russia also has schools for children with physical or learning disabili­ties.

Students must pass an entrance exam to be admitted to a university or institute of higher education. Russia has 500 institutions of higher education equivalent to colleges and universities, with about 3 million students. Moscow State University, the largest university in Rus­sia, has 28,000 students.

Museums and libraries. The people of Russia spend more time in museums than do the people of most in­dustrial countries. Russia has more than 660 museums. The State Historical Museum in Moscow is the countrys chief historical museum. Several museums dealing with the history of the Russian Revolution. These muse­ums include the Central Museum of the Revolution, which is located in Moscow. The Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg has one of the world's largest art collec­tions.

Russia has about 62,000 libraries. Most towns and large villages have a public library. There are also librar­ies specializing in particular subjects and libraries run by factories, schools, trade unions, and professional and

civic organizations. The Russian State Library in Moscow is the largest library in Russia. Other major libraries in Moscow include the All-Russian State Library of Foreign Literature, INION (Institute of Scholarly Information for the Social Sciences of the Academy of Sciences), the State Historical Library, and the Gorki Library at Moscow State University. St. Petersburg is home to the Saltykov- Shchedrin State Library and the Library of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

Arts

The arts in Russia date back to the earliest days of the  country. But Russian artists did not produce internation­ally recognized works in many fields until the early 180ffs. Throughout much of the 1800's and the early 1900's, Russia became an international leader in classical music, ballet, drama, and literature. Several Russian painters and sculptors also gained worldwide fame.

This section discusses Russian architecture, music, ballet, painting, and sculpture. For information on Russian drama and literature, see Russian literature with its  list of Related articles.

Architecture in Russia has been shaped by religious and Western influences combined with local traditions. In 988, Grand Prince Vladimir I, ruler of the state of  Kievan Rus, was converted to the Byzantine (Eastern Orthodox Christian) faith. For hundreds of years, Russian architecture reflected the influence of the Byzantine style. The most important structures were churches, which had distinctive onion-shaped domes. The best known Byzantine church is St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow, built by the first czar, Ivan IV (also called Ivan the Terrible), from 1555 to 1560. See Byzantine art.

In 1682, Peter I, also known as Peter the Great, became czar. Peter introduced Western European artistic styles into Russia. He founded the city of St. Petersburg

in 1703 and brought Western European architects and artists to help design it. Many of the buildings dating from his reign and through the mid-1700s were de­signed in the Western European baroque style by Italian and French architects. A famous example is the Great Palace at Peterhof (now Petrodvorets).

Among the most widely recognized architectural works in Russia are the buildings within the enclosed fortress in Moscow called the Kremlin. The Kremlin in­cludes churches, palaces, and other buildings erected from the late 1400s to the mid-1900"s. Some Kremlin buildings house Russia's government, and others serve as museums. See Kremlin.

Music. Until the mid-1700s, Russian music consisted almost entirely of vocal music sung in church worship services and of folk music, which was also mainly vocal. Nonreligious music began to flower during the reign of Elizabeth, the empress of Russia from 1741 to 1762. She established the Academy of Arts in 1757, which taught music. Italian opera became popular during her reign. The popularity of music in Russia expanded further dur­ing the reign of Catherine II, known as Catherine the Great, who ruled from 1762 to 1796, The earliest written collection of Russian folk songs appeared in four vol­umes published between 1776 and 1795.

Mikhail Glinka is credited with founding a distinc­tively Russian school of classical music in the early and middle 1800's. He blended folk songs and religious music into his works and also introduced subjects from Russian history. Glinka's most influential work is proba­bly his second opera, Ruslan and Lyudmila (1842), based on a fairy tale written by the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin.

By the late 1800's, Russian music flourished. Such composers as Modest Mussorgsky, Nikolai Rimsky- Korsakov, Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky, and Alexander Boro­din wrote operas and instrumental music. Much of their work was based on Russian history and folklore. In the early 1900's, Sergei Rachmaninoff and Igor Stravinsky gained international fame for their musical composi­tions. Stravinsky wrote several influential ballet scores, including The Firebird 0), Petrouchka (1911), and The Rite of Spring (1913). See the list of Russian composers in the Related articles section of Classical music.

Ballet. Russian ballet became internationally famous starting in the mid-1800's. The leading ballet companies, which continue to perform today, are the Kirov Ballet (formerly the Russian Imperial Ballet) of St. Petersburg and the Bolshoi Theatre Ballet of Moscow. See Ballet (Russian ballet); Bolshoi Theatre Ballet.

Painting and sculpture. Until the early 1900s, the most important Russian paintings were created for reli­gious purposes. Russian artists decorated the interiors of churches with wallpaintings and mosaics. Stylized paintings called icons were produced for many centu­ries. An icon is A religious painting considered sacred in Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Icons were produced ac­cording to strict rules established by the church, and their style changed little over the years. See Icon.

By the mid-1800’s, Moscow and St. Petersburg had busy art schools. Russian artists also began to create paintings and sculptures on more varied subjects.

A burst of creativity in Russian art exploded during the years before the start of World War I in 1914. Rus­sian artists were strongly influenced by the modern art movements emerging in Western Europe. The painters Marc Chagall, Alexei von Jawlensky, and Wassily Kandinsky eventually settled in Western Europe.

Artists who remained in Russia developed two impor­tant modern art movements, suprematism and construc­tivism. Both movements produced paintings that were abstract— that is, they had no recognizable subject mat­ter. The leading suprematist was Kasimir Malevich. The major constructivists included Naum Gabo, Antoine Pevsner, and Vladimir Tatlin. See Chagall, Marc; Gabo, Naum; Kandinsky, Wassily; Pevsner, Antoine.

Land and Climate

Russia is the largest country in the world. It has an area of 17,075,400 square kilometres, almost twice that of Canada, the second largest country. A train trip between Moscow in the west and Vladivostok in the east takes seven days and passes through eight time zones.

Land regions

Many scientists divide Russia into four zones accord­ing to soil conditions and plant life, which are based mainly on climate. The zones form broad belts across Russia, and no sharp transitions separate them. From north to south, the zones are (1) the tundra, (2) the forest zone, (3) the steppes, and (4) the semidesert and moun­tainous zone.

The tundra lies in the northernmost part of Russia. It is largely a treeless plain. The tundra has short summers and long, severe winters. About half the region has per­manently frozen soil called permafrost. Few people live in this bleak area. Plant life consists chiefly of low shrubs, dwarf trees, and moss. Animals of the tundra in­clude reindeer, arctic foxes, ermines, hares, and lem­mings. Waterfowl live near the Arctic Sea in summer.

The forest belt lies south of the tundra. The northern part of this belt is called the taiga. It consists of conifer­ous (cone-bearing) trees, such as cedar, fir, pine, and spruce. This area has poor, ashy soil, known as podzol that makes it largely unfit for agriculture. Farther south, the coniferous forests give way to mixed forests of coni­fers, aspen, birch, elm, maple, oak, and other species. The soils in this zone support agriculture in some areas, and the area has a mild, moist climate. Brown bears, deer, elk, lynx, reindeer, and smaller animals such as beavers, rabbits, and squirrels roam the forests.

Grassy plains called steppes stretch across Russia south of the forests. The northern part of the steppe zone consists of wooded plains and meadows. The mas­sive southern part is largely a treeless prairie. The best soils in Russia—brown soil and black, rich soil called chernozem— are found there. Most of the steppe zone is farmland. Birds, squirrels, and mouselike mammals called jerboas live in the steppes. Antelope live in the eastern steppes.

The semidesert and mountainous zone, the southern­most zone in Russia, has diverse soils and climate due to variations in elevation. It includes the dry, semidesert lowlands near the Caspian Sea, as well as the lush vege­tation and mild climate of the Caucasus Mountains.

Geologists also divide Russia into five land regions that differ from the soil and vegetation zones. From west to east, the regions are (1) the European Plain, (2) the Ural Mountains, (3) the West Siberian Plain, (4) the Cen­tral Siberian Plateau, and (5) the East Siberian Uplands.

The European Plain makes up most of the European part of Russia. It is the most densely populated region in the country. The European Plain is predominantly flat to gently rolling, averaging about 180 metres above sea level. Most of the nation's industries are there, but the plain is poor in natural resources. Forest covers much of it. The region is home to a variety of animal life. The Caucasus Mountains rise at the southern edge of the plain, between the Black and the Caspian seas. The mountains include 5,642-metre Mount Elbrus, the high­est point in Europe.

The Ural Mountains form the traditional boundary between the European and Asian parts of Russia. These mountains, worn down by streams, reach an average height of only about 610 metres. The middle and south­ern Ural Mountains are rich in deposits of iron, copper, and other metals. The middle section is the most heavily populated and highly industrialiied'area. Major cities in the region include Yekaterinburg and Chelyabinsk.

The West Siberian Plain is the largest level region in the world. This enormous plain covers more than 2.6 million square kilometres and rises no more than 150 metres above sea level. It is drained by the Ob River sys­tem, which flows northward into the Arctic Ocean. But drainage is poor, and the plain is marshy. Rich in oil and natural gas deposits, the West Siberian Plain is being developed rapidly. The cities of Novosibirsk and Omsk lie in the region.

The Central Siberian Plateau slopes upward to­ward the south from coastal plains along the Arctic Ocean. It has an average height of about 610 metres. Streams cut deeply through the region. The Sayan and Baikal mountains rise more than 3,350 metres along the plateau's southern edge. Thick pine forests cover much of the Central Siberian Plateau, and its climate reaches extremes of heat and cold. The region has a wide variety of rich mineral deposits. Krasnoyarsk and Irkutsk are its largest cities.

The East Siberian Uplands are mainly a wilderness of mountains and plateaus. The mountains rise to 3,000 metres and form part of a series of ranges along the eastern coast of Asia and some offshore islands. About 25 active volcanoes are found on the Kamchatka Penin­sula. The tallest volcano, snow-capped Klyuchevskaya, rises 4,750 metres. The region has valuable mineral re­sources, but its harsh climate makes it difficult to tap

them. Vladivostok on the Pacific Ocean and Khabarovsk on the Amur River are the region's most important cities

Rivers and lakes

Russia's many large rivers have served as important means of communication and commerce. The construc­tion of canals further improved these activities.

The Lena River in Siberia, 4,400 kilometres long, is the longest river in Russia. It empties into the Arctic Ocean Other major rivers in Siberia include the Amur, Ob, and Yenisey rivers, all frozen seven to nine months a year. The Volga River is the longest river in European Russia. The river originates in the Valdai Hills northwest of Moscow and flows 3,531 kilometres to the Caspian Sea. The Volga freezes for about three months each year. The Don and Northern Dvina rivers are also in European Russia.

Russia has about 200,000 lakes. The Caspian Sea, a saltwater lake 28 metres below sea level, is the world's largest inland body of water. It touches the southern part of European Russia. Lake Ladoga, near St. Peters­burg, covers 17,703 square kilometres. It is the largest lake entirely in Europe. Lake Baikal, near the Baikal Mountains, is the deepest lake in the world. It plunges 1,620 metres deep.

Climate

Russia is known for its long and bitter winters. The country's hostile climate helped stop various invaders during its history, including the large armies of Napo­leon in 1812 and of Adolf Hitler in 1941 and 1942. In the Moscow region, snow covers the ground for about five months each year. In the northernmost part of Russia, snow abounds for eight to nine months a year. The small percentage of Russia's land that is fit for agricul­ture has a short growing season and insufficient rainfall. Half the land has permafrost beneath the surface. Most of the coastal waters, lakes, and rivers freeze for much of the year.

Russia's weather varies from extremely cold to ex­tremely hot. Northeastern Siberia is one of the coldest regions in the world. January temperatures there aver­age below —46 °C. Temperatures as low as —68 °C have been recorded. The average July temperature in this re­gion is 16 °C, but it can climb to nearly 38 °C. No other part of the world registers such a wide range of temper­atures.

Precipitation (rain, melted snow, and other forms of moisture) is light to moderate. The European Plain and parts of the East Siberian Uplands receive the most rain. Vast inland areas get little rain. The heaviest snowfalls— up to 120 centimetres of snow a year—occur in western and central Siberia.

Economy

In the Soviet Union, central government agencies planned almost all aspects of the economy. The govern­ment owned and controlled all factories and farms, and private businesses were illegal. Soviet leaders changed Russia from a farming country into an industrial giant. Heavy industry—such as chemicals, construction, ma­chine tools, and steel—developed rapidly. Government ministries supplied factories with materials, set produc­tion quotas, and told managers what to produce and to whom to sell their goods. This planning led to rapid in­dustrial development and impressive economic gains. But once the economy developed, central control began to suppress new ideas and discourage quality.

Russia inherited the successes and problems of the former Soviet Union's industrial policy. The Russian gov­ernment is working to convert state-owned property, in­cluding large factories and farms, to private ownership. Many small businesses and joint ventures with foreign partners have started. Russia turned to Western coun­tries and japan for assistance in modernizing and re­structuring its manufacturing sector.

When the Soviet Union collapsed, the economy was in a state of disarray. To stabilize the Russian economy, reduce inflation, and attract foreign investment, the gov­ernment plans to allow the conversion of the rouble into other forms of currency. This will enable it to be ex­changed for other currencies at international rates. The Russian government has also begun to set up a modern banking system. The government lifted price controls on most items in 1992, and prices soared. At that time, most people's incomes remained near previous levels, put­ting many items out of their reach. Though incomes have risen gradually in the mid-1990s, most Russians have not yet reached the standard of living that they had before the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The Russian government's bold break from past So­viet economic policies caused great instability in the early and mid-1990's. Industrial output fell, and inflation rose dramatically. The links between economy and gov­ernment that existed in the Soviet Union had broken down, but new institutions had not yet replaced them.

On the positive side, Russia has a skilled labour force and an abundance of natural resources. Many new busi­nesses have been started throughout the country, and about two-thirds of the state-owned businesses were privatized by the mid-1990s.

Natural resources. Russia is one of the richest coun­tries in terms of natural resources. It has the world's largest forest reserves, enormous energy supplies, vast stretches of farmland, extensive mineral deposits, and many potential sources of hydroelectric power. Russia also has a wide variety of plant and animal life.

Manufacturing. Heavy industry is the most highly developed sector of the Russian economy. The machine- building industry is concentrated in Moscow and St. Pe­tersburg, along the Volga River, and in the Ural Moun­tains. It makes various types of tractors and other heavy machinery and electrical equipment. The chemical in­dustry produces chemical fibres, mineral fertilizers, pet­rochemicals, plastics, soda ash, and synthetic resins. The construction materials industry is also important.

The Moscow area is Russia's leading manufacturing centre. Its factories produce chemicals, electrical equip­ment, electronics, motor vehicles, processed foods,

steel, and textiles. Ships and industrial equipment are manufactured in St. Petersburg. Metal processing and machinery production are important in the Urals. Most oil refining takes place in the Volga-Urals region. New industries are being developed in Siberia to make use of the region's mineral and hydroelectric resources Light industry, particularly textile production, is centred in the region around Moscow and along the Volga River. The paper industry operates along the southern edge of the forest belt.

Agriculture. Russia has a large amount of farmland But a short growing season, insufficient rainfall, and a lack of fertile soil make farming difficult. The Soviet Union's inefficient system of state-run farms added to Russia's agricultural problems.

There are about 15,000 large, state-controlled farms in Russia. About half are state farms operated like govern­ment factories, called sovkhozy. Workers on sovkhozy receive wages. The rest are collective farms called kol- khozy, which are government-controlled but managed in part by farmers.

By the mid-1990's, over 260,000 private farms had been established. But these farms included only a tiny percentage of Russia's farmland. New laws called for the breakup of unprofitable government farms and for more aid to independent farmers. Nevertheless, the transition to private farms proved to be slow and difficult.

Approximately 13 per cent of Russia's land is crop­land. One of the main agricultural regions is the Black Earth Belt, a portion of the steppes stretching from the Ukrainian border to southwestern Siberia that is famous for its dark chernozem soil. Other important farming re­gions are the Volga area, the northern Caucasus Moun­tains, and western Siberia. Russia is one of the world's major grain producers. However, the country still must import grain for food. Major crops grown in Russia in­clude barley, flax, fruit, oats, potatoes, rye, sugar beet, sunflowers; vegetables, and wheat. Russian farmers also grow many fodder crops— that is, food crops for ani­mals. Grasses and corn are the most important fodder crops.

Livestock breeding is another main component of Russian agriculture. Cattle, pigs, and sheep are the most important livestock raised in the country.

Mining. Russia has vast amounts of most of the min­erals used'in modern industrial production. The country has abundant coal deposits and huge reserves of petro­leum and natural gas. Other resources include calcium phosphate minerals and phosphorites, used in fertiliz­ers, and diamonds.

Russia is a major producer of iron ore, manganese, nickel, and the platinum-group metals, a group of rare metals including platinum and iridium. Nickel is mined in the Kola Peninsula, eastern Siberia, and the southern Urals. Platinum is mined in the Urals and in northern Si­beria. The country ranks as a leading producer of gold, lead, salt, tin, tungsten, and zinc. It is also an important source of copper and silver. Bauxite, a mineral used in making aluminium, is mined in western Siberia.

Fishing industry. In the northern Barents Sea and the White Sea, Russian fishing crews catch cod, haddock, herring, salmon, and other fish. Sturgeon are caught in the Caspian Sea. Caviar, the salted eggs of sturgeon, is a famous Russian delicacy. Crews also fish in inland waterways, the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and the Baltic and Black seas.

Service industries are industries that produce serv­ices, not goods. In the former Soviet Union, these indus­tries were underdeveloped. Most service-industry work­ers were poorly trained and underpaid. They had little incentive to satisfy their customers, who competed for services that were in short supply.

Today, private economic activity in the service sector is flourishing. Many individuals and families are starting small businesses such as restaurants, barbershops, dry cleaners, and taxi services.

Energy sources. Russia has enormous natural en­ergy reserves, especially petroleum and natural gas. The country is the world's largest producer of crude oil. Oil fields in western Siberia supply more than half of Rus­sia's petroleum. The Volga-Ural Oil-Gas Region, the Northern Caucasus, and the Timan-Pechora Oil-Gas Basin are also important. Russia also produces large amounts of coal and natural gas. Pipelines carry oil and natural gas from western Siberia to European Russia.

The country's largest coal mines lie in the Kuznetsk and Pechora basins. Peat bogs also furnish some fuel.

Most of Russia's electric power plants are steam- turbine plants. Huge hydroelectric plants also generate electricity. Russia also ranks as a major producer of nu­clear power.

Trade. The Soviet Union traded mainly with Commu­nist Eastern European countries such as Hungary, and Poland. Since the overthrow of the Communist regimes of Eastern Europe and the breakup of the Soviet Union, Russia's trading activity with those countries has de­clined. Russia's main trading partners today are the

other former Soviet republics, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States. Trade with some developing nonsocialist countries, such as Syria and Turkey, has increased. In addition, Russia exchanges goods with Cuba and Finland.

Russia exports mostly petroleum, natural gas, miner­als, machinery, chemicals, and wood and paper prod­ucts. Its major imports include consumer goods, indus­trial equipment, foods and beverages, and machinery.

Transportation and communication. Because of Russia's vast size and harsh climate, transportation facili­ties and communications systems are unevenly distrib­uted throughout the country. They are less efficient than the transportation and communications networks of Western Europe, the United States, and Japan.

Railways handle most freight transportation in Russia. But the system is heavily loaded and in urgent need of modernization. Russia's poorly developed road network, combined with the country's vast size, make truck trans­port ineffective and costly. It makes up only about 5 per cent of total freight movement. River transportation car­ries only a small percentage of Russia's freight traffic, because most rivers are frozen for much of the year. Ca­nals such as the Volga-Don Canal and the Moscow Canal, which connects Moscow with the Volga River, make an important contribution to river traffic.

Aeroflot is Russia's national airline, it had been the na­tional airline of the Soviet Union. Aeroflot carries freight and passengers between all major Russian cities and be­tween Russia and many other countries. Fuel shortages and rising ticket costs have reduced air traffic.

Russia's most important seaports—Arkhangelsk, Kali­ningrad, Murmansk, Nakhodka, St. Petersburg, and Vladivostok—handle a large portion of the country's for­eign trade. However, the water at many Russian ports is frozen for many months of the year.

Car production is increasing in Russia, but it remains small in comparison with other industrial nations. Only about 56 of every 1,000 Russians own cars. It is difficult for car owners to obtain servicing and spare parts na­tionwide.

Public transportation is modern and inexpensive, but crowded. Several large cities, including Moscow, have clean, efficient underground railway systems. Buses, trams, and trolleys also operate in the cities. Bicycles are seen in large cities, but they are more common in rural and holiday areas. Horse-drawn carriages can also be found in rural parts of Russia.

Russia has an underdeveloped telecommunications

system. It takes years to install telephones in new apart­ment complexes.

During most of the history of the Soviet Union, the government controlled all communications media, in­cluding broadcasting, film production, and publishing The government required all broadcasts and publica­tions to follow Communist Party policies. Such censor­ship began to ease in the late 1980s, and it no longer ex­ists in Russia. As a result, the number of independent newspapers and publishing houses has increased dra­matically. Most families own radios and television sets. Videocassette recorders are in great demand, but they are expensive and hard to find.

History

Russia's unique geographic location astride both Eu­rope and Asia has influenced its history and shaped its destiny. Russia never has been entirely an Eastern or a Western country. As a result, Russian intellectuals have long debated the country's development and contribu­tion to world history.

This section traces the major developments of Rus­sian history. In 1917, revolutionaries overthrew the Rus­sian czarist government. They changed Russia's name to the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (R.S.F.S.R.). In 1922, the R.S.F.S.R. and three other repub­lics formed a new nation called the Union of Soviet So­cialist Republics (U.S.S.RJ, also known as the Soviet Union. The U.S.S.R. broke apart in 1991, and Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine invited the other republics to join a federation called the Commonwealth of Independent States. For more detailed information about this period, see Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (History).

Early days. Beginning about 1200 B.C, the Cimmeri­ans, a Balkan people, lived north of the Black Sea in what is now southern Ukraine. They were defeated about 700 B.C by the Scythians, an Iranian people from central Asia. The Scythians controlled the region until about 200 b!g They fell to the Sarmatians, another Ira­nian group. The Scythians and the Sarmatians lived in close contact with Creek colonies—later controlled by the Romans—along the northern coast of the Black Sea. They absorbed many Creek and Roman ways of life through trade, marriage, and other contacts. See Cim­merians.

Germanic tribes from the West, called the Goths, con­quered the'region about A.D. 200. The Goths ruled until about 370, when they were defeated by the Huns, a war­like Asian people. The Huns' empire broke up after their leader, Attila, died in 453. The Avars, a tribe related to the Huns, began to rule the region in the mid-500s. The Khazars, another Asian people, won the southern Volga and northern Caucasus regions in the mid-60ffs. They became Jews and established a busy trade with other peoples. See Goths; Hun.

By the 800^rs, Slavic groups had built many towns in eastern Europe, including what became the European part of Russia. They had also developed an active trade. No one knows where the Slavs came from. Some histori­ans believe they came in the 400's from what is now Po­land. Others think the Slavs were farmers in the Black Sea region under Scythian rule or earlier. Slavs of what

are now Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine became known as East Slavs. See Slavs.

The earliest written Russian history of the 800s is the Primary Chronicle, written in Kiev, Ukraine, probably in 1111. It says that quarrelling Slavic groups in the town of Novgorod asked a Viking tribe to rule them and bring order to the land. The Vikings were called the Varangian Russes. Historians who accept the Primary Chronicle as true believe that Russia took its name from this tribe. Ac­cording to the Primary Chronicle, a group of related Va­rangian families headed by Rurik arrived in 862. Rurik settled in Novgorod, and the area became known as the "land of the Rus."

Many historians doubt that the Slavs of Novgorod in­vited the Vikings to rule them. They believe the Vikings invaded the region. Some historians claim the word Rus, from which Russia took its name, was the name of an early Slavic tribe in the Black Sea region. It is known, however, that the first state founded by East Slavs— called Kievan Rus—was established at present-day Kiev in the 800's. Kiev, now the capital of Ukraine, was an im­portant trading centre on the Dnepr River. Whether it had been developed by the Vikings is unclear.

The state of Kievan Rus. The Primary Chronicle states that Oleg, a Varangian, captured Kiev in 882 and ruled as its prince. During the 900's, the other principali­ties (regions ruled by a prince) of Kievan Rus recognized Kiev's major importance. Kiev lay on the main trade route connecting the Baltic Sea with the Black Sea and the Byzantine Empire. In addition, Kiev's forces de­fended Kievan Rus against invading tribes from the south and east. The ruler of Kiev came to be called grand prince and ranked above the other princes of Kievan Rus.

In 988, Grand Prince Vladimir I [Volodymyr in Ukrain­ian) became a Christian. At that time, the East Slavs wor­shipped the forces of nature. Vladimir made Christianity the state religion, and most people under his rule turned Christian. Vladimir later became a saint of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Several grand princes were strong rulers, but Kiev's power began to decrease after the mid-1 OOffs. The rul­ers of other Kievan Rus principalities grew in power, and they fought many destructive wars. In Novgorod and a few other towns with strong local governments, the princes were driven out. Badly weakened by civil wars and without strong central control, Kievan Rus fell to huge armies of Mongols called Tatars, or Tartars, who swept across Russia from the east during the 1200's (see Tatars).

Mongol rule. In 1237, Batu, a grandson of the con­queror Genghis Khan, led between 150,000 and 200,000 Mongol troops into Russia. The Mongols destroyed one Russian town after another. In 1240, they destroyed Kiev, and Russia became part of the Mongol Empire. It was in­cluded in a section called the Golden Horde. The capital of the Golden Horde was at Sarai, near what is now Vol­gograd. See Mongol Empire.

Batu forced the surviving Russian princes to pledge allegiance to the Golden Horde and to pay heavy taxes. From time to time, the Mongols left their capital and wiped out the people of various areas because of their disloyalty. The Mongols also appointed the Russian grand prince and forced many Russians to serve in their armies. But they interfered little with Russian life in gen­eral. The Mongols were chiefly interested in maintaining their power and collecting taxes.

During the period of Mongol rule, which ended in the late 1400s, the new ideas and reforming spirit of the Renaissance were dramatically changing many aspects of life in Western Europe. But under Mongol control, Russia was cut off from these important Western influ­ences.

The rise of Moscow. In the early 1300s, Prince Yuri of Moscow married the sister of the Golden Horde's khan (ruler). Yuri was appointed the Russian grand prince about 1318. Mongol troops helped him put down threats to his leadership from other principalities. The Mongols also began letting the grand prince of Mos­cow collect taxes for them. This practice started with Ivan I (called the Moneybag) about 1330. Ivan kept some of the tax money. He bought much land and expanded his territory greatly. Other princes and boyars (high- ranking landowners) began to serve in Moscow's army and government. In addition, Ivan persuaded the chief bishop of the Russian Orthodox Church to remain in Moscow. Until then, Kiev had been the spiritual centre of Russia.

Moscow grew stronger and richer. But the Golden Horde grew weaker, chiefly because of struggles for leadership. In 1380, Grand Prince Dmitri defeated a Mongol force in the Battle of Kulikovo, near the Don River. The victory briefly freed Moscow of Mongol con­trol. The Mongols recaptured Moscow in 1382, but they no longer believed they could not be beaten.

During the late 1400s, Moscow became the most powerful Russian city. Ivan III (called Ivan the Great) won control of Moscow's main rivals, Novgorod and Tver, and great numbers of boyars entered his service. In 1480, Ivan made the final break from Mongol control by refusing to pay taxes to the Golden Horde. Mongol troops moved toward Moscow but turned back to de­fend their capital from Russian attack.

Ivan the Terrible. After the rise of Moscow, its grand prince came to be called czar. In 1547, Ivan IV, also known as Ivan the Terrible, became the first ruler to be crowned czar. Ivan made the power of the czar over all Russia complete.

Ivan was brutal, extremely suspicious, and perhaps, at times, insane. He formed a special police force and began a reign of terror in which he ordered the arrest and murder of hundreds of aristocrats. Ivan gave his vic­tims' estates as payment to the service gentry (landown­ers serving in the army and government). He also estab­lished strict rules concerning the number of warriors and horses each landowner had to supply to the army. Ivan burned many towns and villages, and he killed church leaders who opposed him. In a fit of rage, Ivan even struck and killed his oldest son.

The number of service gentry increased rapidly. But their estates had no value unless the peasants remained on the land and farmed it. Ivan and later czars passed a series of laws that bound the peasants to the land as serfs. Serfdom became the economic basis of Russian power. The development of Russian serfdom differed sharply from changes occurring in Western Europe at the time. There, during the Renaissance, the growth of trade led to the use of money as royal payment. It also led to the disappearance of serfdom in Western Europe. See Serf.

Ivan fought Tatars at Astrakhan and Kazan to the southeast, and he won their lands. Russian forces then crossed the Ural Mountains and conquered western Si­beria. Ivan also tried to win lands northwest to the Baltic Sea, but he was defeated by Lithuanian, Polish, and Swedish armies. See Ivan.

The Time of Troubles developed because of a breakdown of the czar's power after Ivan's death. Theo­dore I, Ivan's second son, was a weak czar. His wife's brother, Boris Codunov, became the real ruler of Russia. Theodore's younger brother, Dmitri, was found dead in 1591, and Theodore died in 1598 without leaving a male heir.

The ZemskiiSobor (Land Council), a kind of parlia­ment with little power, elected Boris czar. But a man be­lieved to be Gregory Otrepiev, a former monk, posed as Dmitri. This False Dmitri claimed Dmitri had not died, and he fled to Lithuania to avoid arrest. In 1604, False Dmitri invaded Russia with Polish troops. The invaders were joined by many discontented Russians. This inva­sion marked the beginning of the Time of Troubles. Rus­sia was torn by civil war, invasion, and political confu­sion until 1613.

False Dmitri became czar in 1605, but a group of bo­yars killed him the next year. Prince Basil Shuisky then became czar. In 1610, Polish invaders occupied Mos­cow. They ruled through a powerless council of boyars until 1612. Meanwhile, a new False Dmitri and a number of other pretenders to the throne won many followers. Peasant revolts swept through Russia. Landowners and frontier people called Cossacks fought each other, and sometimes joined together to fight powerful aristocrats (see Cossacks). The Polish control of Moscow led the Russians to unite their forces and drive out the invaders. They recaptured the capital in 1612.

The early Romanovs. After the Poles were defeated, there was no one of royal birth to take the throne. In 1613, the Zemskii Sobor elected Michael Romanov czar. The Romanov czars ruled Russia for the next 300 years, until the February Revolution of 1917 ended czarist rule. See Romanov.

During the 1600s, Russia annexed much of Ukraine and extended its control of Siberia eastward to the Pa­cific Ocean. During this same period, the Russian Ortho­dox Church made changes in religious texts and cere­monies. People called Old Believers objected to these changes and broke away from the church. This group still follows the old practices today.

Peter the Great. In 1682, a struggle for power re­sulted in the crowning of two half brothers—Peter I (later known as Peter the Great) and Ivan V—as co-czars. Both were children, and Ivan's sister Sophia ruled as re­gent { temporary ruler) until Peter's followers forced her to retire in 1689. Peter made close contact with the many Western Europeans living in Moscow and absorbed much new information from them. He came into full power in 1696, when Ivan died.

Peter was greatly influenced by ideas of commerce and government then popular in Western Europe. A powerful ruler, he improved Russia's military and made many important conquests. During Peter's reign, Russia expanded its territory to the Baltic Sea in the Great Northern War with Sweden. In 1703, Peter founded St. Petersburg on the Baltic, and he moved the capital there in 1712. After travelling throughout Europe, he intro­duced Western-type clothing, factories, and schools in Russia, and reorganized Russia's government to make it run more efficiently.

Peter forced Russia's nobility to adopt many Western customs. He also increased the czar's power over the aristocrats, church officials, and serfs. He dealt harshly with those who opposed these changes. Under Peter, the legal status of serfs further deteriorated. See Peter I, the Great.

Catherine the Great. After Peter's death in 1725, a series of struggles for the throne took place. The service gentry and the leading nobles were on opposite sides. Candidates for the throne who were supported by the service gentry won most of these struggles and re­warded their followers. The rulers increased the gentry's power over the serfs and local affairs. The gentry's en­forced service to the state was gradually reduced. It was ended altogether in 1762.

Magnificent royal parties and other festivities, all in the latest Western fashion, took place during the 1700s. The arts were promoted, and many new schools were started, mainly for the upper classes. The Russian Impe­rial School of Ballet was founded, and Italian opera and chamber music were brought to Russia. It also became fashionable in Russia to repeat the newest Western ideas on freedom and social reform, especially during the rule of Empress Catherine II, known as Catherine the Great. In 1767, Catherine called a large legislative assem­bly to reform Russian laws. However, the assembly achieved nothing.

Most Russians remained in extreme poverty and igno­rance during this period. In 1773 and 1774, the peasants' discontent boiled over in a revolt led by Emelian Pug­achev, a Cossack. The revolt swept through Russia from the Ural Mountains to the Volga River. It spread almost to Moscow before being crushed by government troops. In 1775, Catherine further tightened the land­owners' control over the serfs.

Under Catherine the Great, Russia rose to new impor­tance as a major world power. In the late 1700s, Austria, Prussia, and Russia gradually divided Poland among themselves. Russia gained nearly all of Belarus, Lithua­nia, and Ukraine from Poland. In wars against the Otto­man Empire (based in present-day Turkey), Russia gained the Crimea and other Ottoman lands. Catherine died in 1796. She was succeeded by her son, Paul, who became czar. See Catherine.

Alexander I. Paul's five-year rule ended with his mur­der in 1801. Alexander I, Paul's son, became czar and talked about freeing the serfs, building schools for all young Russians, and even giving up the throne and mak­ing Russia a republic. He introduced several reforms, such as freeing many political prisoners and spreading Western ways and ideas. But he did nothing to lessen the czar's total power or to end serfdom. Alexander knew that Russia's military strength and its position as a major world power depended on income provided by serfdom. Under Alexander s rule, Russia continued to win territory from Persia, Sweden, and the Ottoman Em­pire.

In June 1812, Napoleon led the Grand Army of France into Russia. He wanted to stop Russian trade with Great Britain, France's chief enemy, and to halt Russian expan­sion in the Balkan region. The French swept forward and reached Moscow in September 1812. Most of the peo­ple had left the city, and Napoleon and his army entered easily.

Soon afterward, fire destroyed most of Moscow. His­torians believe the Russians themselves set the fire.

After 35 days, the French left the city because they feared they might not survive the approaching bitter Russian winter. They began a disastrous retreat with lit­tle food and under continual attack by the Russians. Of the estimated 600,000 French troops in Russia, about 500,000 died, deserted, or were captured. Russia then became a major force in the campaign by several Euro­pean countries that defeated Napoleon. See Napoleon I (Disaster in Russia).

Although Alexander had begun some reforms, harsh rule continued in Russia. Beginning in 1816, many young aristocrats became revolutionaries. They formed secret groups, wrote constitutions for Russia, and prepared to revolt. Alexander died in 1825, and Nicholas 1 became czar. In December of 1825, a group of revolutionaries, later called the Decembrists, took action. At the urging of the Decembrists, about 3,000 soldiers and officers gathered in Senate Square in St. Petersburg, and gov­ernment troops arrived to face them. After several hours, the Decembrists fired a few shots. Government cannons ended the revolt

Nicholas I. The Decembrist revolt deeply impressed and frightened Nicholas. He removed aristocrats, whom he now distrusted, from government office and re­placed them with professional military officers. He tight­ened his control over the press and education, reduced travel outside Russia, and prohibited organizations that might have political influence. He established six special government departments. These departments, which in­cluded a secret police system, handled important eco­nomic and political matters. Through the special depart­ments, Nicholas avoided the regular processes of Russian government and increased his control over Rus­sian life.

In spite of Nicholas' harsh rule, the period was one of outstanding achievement in Russian literature. Nikolai Gogol, Mikhail Lermontov, Alexander Pushkin, and oth­ers wrote their finest works. Fyodor Dostoevsky, Leo Tolstoy, and Ivan Turgenev began their careers. Many educated Russians began to debate the values of West­ernized Russian life against those of old Russian life. The pro-Western group argued that Russia must learn from and catch up with the West economically and politically. The other group argued for the old Russian ways, in­cluding the czarist system, a strong church, and the quiet life of the Russian countryside.

Nicholas became known as the "policeman of Europe” because he sent troops to put down revolutions in Po­land and Hungary. Nicholas also declared himself the defender of, the Eastern Orthodox Churches and fought two wars with the Muslim Ottoman Empire. In the war of 1828 and 1829, Russia gained much territory around the Black Sea. Russia also won the right to move mer­chant ships through the straits connecting the Black Sea with the Mediterranean Sea. The Ottoman Empire con­trolled these straits.

In 1853, the Crimean War broke out between Russia and the Ottoman Empire. Great Britain and France aided the Ottomans. These countries objected to Russian ex­pansion in the Black Sea region. Russia was defeated and signed the Treaty of Paris in 1856. This treaty forced Russia to give up some of the territory it had taken ear­lier from the Ottoman Empire, and the pact forbade war­ships on and fortifications around the Black Sea. See Crimean War; Russo-Turkish wars.

Expansion in Asia. After its defeat in the Crimean War, Russia began to expand in Asia. In the Far East, Russia won disputed territories from China. In 1858 and 1860, the Chinese signed treaties giving Russia lands north of the Amur River and east of the Ussuri River. By 1864, Russian forces defeated rebel tribes in the Cauca­sus. Central Asia was won during a series of military campaigns from 1865 to 1876. In 1867, Russia sold its Alaskan territory to the United States for $7,200,000 (see Alaska [History]).

Alexander II. Nicholas 1 died in 1855, during the Cri­mean War. His son, Alexander II, became czar. Russia's defeat in the Crimean War taught Alexander a lesson. He realized that Russia had to catch up with the West to re­main a major power. Alexander began a series of re­forms to strengthen the economy and Russian life in general. In 1861, he freed the serfs and distributed land among them. He began developing railways and organ­izing a banking system. Alexander promoted reforms in education, reduced controls on the press, and intro­duced a jury system and other reforms in the courts. He also established forms of self-government in the towns and villages.

But many young Russians believed that Alexander's reforms did not go far enough. Some revolutionary groups wanted to establish socialism in Russia. Others wanted a constitution and a republic. These groups formed a number of public and secret organizations. After a revolutionary tried to kill Alexander in 1866, the czar began to weaken many of his reforms. The revolu­tionaries then argued that Alexander had never been a sincere reformer at all. During the mid-1870's, a group of revolutionaries tried to get the peasants to revolt. They wanted to achieve either socialism or anarchism (ab­sence of government) for Russia (see Anarchism). After this effort failed, a terrorist group called the People's Will tried several times to kill the czar. Alexander then decided to set up a new reform programme. But in 1881, he was killed by a terrorist's bomb in St. Petersburg.

Alexander III, Alexander's son, became czar and soon began a programme of harsh rule. Alexander III limited the freedom of the press and of the universities,

and he sharply reduced the powers of Russia's local self- governments. He set up a special bank to help the aris­tocrats increase their property. He also appointed offi­cials called land captains from among the aristocrats and gave them much political power over the peasants. Alexander started some programmes to help the peas­ants and industrial workers. But their living and working conditions improved very little during his reign. See Al­exander III (czarl.

Nicholas II became Russia's next, and last, czar in 1894. The revolutionary movement had been kept in check until the 1890's, when a series of bad harvests caused starvation among the peasants. In addition, as in­dustrialization increased, discontent grew among the rising middle class and workers in the cities. Discon­tented Russians formed various political organizations, of which three became important. (1) The liberal consti­tutionalists wanted to replace czarist rule with a West­ern type of parliamentary government. 12) The social rev­olutionaries tried to promote a revolution among peasants and workers in the cities. (3) The Marxists wanted to promote revolution among the city workers. The Marxists followed the socialist teachings of Karl Marx, a German social philosopher (see Marx, Karl). In 1898, the Marxists established the Russian Social Demo­cratic Labour Party.

Between 1899 and 1904, the discontent of the Russian people increased. Worker strikes and other forms of protest took place. In 1903, the Russian Social Demo­cratic Labour Party split into two groups—the Bolsheviks (members of the majority) and the Mensheviks (mem­bers of the minority). V. I. Lenin was the leader of the Bolsheviks, later called Communists. See Bolsheviks; Mensheviks; Lenin, V. I.

The Revolution of 1905. On Jan. 22, 1905, thousands of unarmed workers marched to the czar's Winter Pal­ace in St. Petersburg. The workers were on strike, and they planned to ask Nicholas II for reforms. Government troops fired on the crowd and killed or wounded hun­dreds of marchers. After this Bloody Sunday slaughter, the revolutionary movement, led mainly by the liberal

constitutionalists, gained much strength. In February, Nicholas agreed to establish an elected Duma (parlia­ment) to advise him. However, more strikes broke out during the summer, and peasant and military groups re­volted. In part, the growing unrest was linked to the in­creasingly unpopular Russo-japanese War. This war had broken out in February 1904 after a Japanese attack on Russian ships. The war ended with Russia's defeat in September 1905.

In October 1905, a general strike paralysed the coun­try. Revolutionaries in St. Petersburg formed a soviet (council) called the Soviet of Workers' Deputies. Nicho­las then granted the Duma the power to pass or reject all proposed laws. Many Russians were satisfied, but many others were not. The revolution continued, espe­cially in Moscow, where the army crushed a serious up­rising in December.

Each of the first two Dumas, which met in 1906 and 1907, was dissolved after a few months. The Dumas could not work with Nicholas and his high-ranking offi­cials, who refused to give up much power. Nicholas ille­gally changed the election law and made-the,selection of Duma candidates less democratic. The peasants and workers were allowed far fewer representatives in the Duma than the upper classes. The third Duma served from 1907 to 1912, and the fourth Duma met from 1912 to 1917. During this period, Russia made important ad­vances in fields such as the arts, education, farming, and industry.

World War I. By the time World War I began in 1914, Europe was divided into two tense armed camps. On one side was the Triple Entente (Triple Agreement), con­sisting of Russia, France, and Great Britain. Russia and France had agreed in 1894 to defend each other against attack. France and Britain had signed the Entente Cor- diale (Friendly Understanding) in 1904, and Russia had signed a similar agreement with Britain in 1907. The Tri­ple Entente developed from these treaties. Opposing the Triple Entente was the Triple Alliance, formed in 1882 by Austria-Hungary, Germany, and Italy. See Triple Entente; Triple Alliance.

On Aug. 1,1914, Germany declared war on Russia. Soon afterward, Russia changed the German-sounding name of St. Petersburg to Petrograd. German troops crushed the Russian army at Tannenberg, in East Prussia. However, the Russians defeated an Austrian army in the Battles of Lemberg in the Galicia region of Austria- Hungary.

In 1915, Austrian and German forces drove back the Russians. The next year, the Russians attacked along a 113-kilometre front in Galicia. They advanced about 80 kilometres. Russian troops moved into the Carpathian Mountains in 1917, but the Germans pushed them back. For the story of Russia in the war, see World War I.

The February Revolution. During World War 1, the Russian economy could not meet the needs of the sol­diers and also those of the people at home. The railways carried military supplies and could not serve the cities. The people suffered severe shortages of food, fuel, and housing. Russian troops at the front were loyal, but the untrained soldiers behind the fighting lines began to question the war. They knew they would probably be sent to the front and be killed. The soldiers and civilians behind the lines grew increasingly dissatisfied.

By the end of 1916, almost all educated Russians op­posed the czar. Nicholas had removed many capable ex­ecutives from high government offices and replaced them with weak, unpopular officials. He was accused of crippling the war effort by such acts. Many Russians blamed his action on the influence of Grigori Rasputin, adviser to the czar and the czarina. The royal couple be­lieved that Rasputin was a holy man who was saving their sick son's life. In December 1916, a group of nobles murdered Rasputin. But the officials who supposedly had been appointed through his influence remained.

See Rasputin, Grigori E.

In March 1917, the people of Russia revolted. (The month was February in the old Russian calendar, which was replaced in 1918.) Violent riots and strikes over shortages of bread and coal accompanied the uprising in Petrograd, the capital of Russia. (Petrograd was known as St. Petersburg until 1914, was renamed Lenin­grad in 1924, and again became St. Petersburg in 1991.1 Nicholas ordered the Duma to dissolve itself, but it ig­nored his command and set up a provisional (tempo­rary) government. Nicholas had lost all political support, and he gave up the throne on March 15. Nicholas and his family were then imprisoned. Bolshevik revolution­aries almost certainly shot them to death in July 1918.

See Nicholas II (czar).

Many soviets were established in Russia at the same time as the provisional government was formed. The so­viets rivalled the provisional government. Workers and soldiers tried to seize power in Petrograd in July, but the attempt failed.

The October Revolution. In August 1917, General Lavr Kornilov tried to curb the growing power of the so­viets. But the attempt failed, and the Russian masses be­came increasingly radical. On November 7 (October 25 in the old Russian calendar), workers, soldiers, and sail­ors led by the Bolsheviks took over the Winter Palace, a former royal residence that had become the headquar­ters of the provisional government. They overthrew the

provisional government and formed a new government headed by Lenin. Lenin immediately withdrew Russia from World War I. The new government soon took over Russia's industries and also seized most of the peasants' farm products.

In 1918, the Bolsheviks made Moscow the capital of Russia. They also changed the name of the Russian So­cial Democratic Labour Party to the Russian Communist Party. This name was later changed to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. See Communism.

Civil war and the formation of the U.S.S.R. From 1918 to 1920, civil war raged between the Communists and the anti-Communists over control of Russia. The anti-Communists received support from several other countries, including France, Great Britain, Japan, and the United States. Nevertheless, the Communists defeated their opponents. They also established Communist rule in Georgia, Ukraine, eastern Armenia, Belarus, and Cen­tral Asia. The civil war contributed to the increasing dis­content among the Russian people.

In 1921, more peasant uprisings and workers' strikes broke out. That same year, Lenin established a New Eco­nomic Policy (NEP) to strengthen Russia. Under this pol­icy, the government controlled the most important as­pects of the economy, including banking, foreign trade, heavy industry, and transportation. But small businesses could control their own operations, and peasants could keep their farm products.

In December 1922, the Communist government cre­ated a new nation called the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.). It consisted of four republics—the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Byelorus­sia (as Belarus was renamed), Transcaucasia, and Ukraine. By late 1940, Transcaucasia had been divided into Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia, and 10 more re­publics had been established, for a total of 16 republics. The new republics included what are now Estonia, Ka­zakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova (then Moldavia), Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.

The Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic, established in 1940, was chanqed to an autonomous republic in 1956.

Stalin. Lenin died in 1924. Joseph Stalin, who had been general secretary of the Communist Party since 1922, rapidly gained power. He defeated his rivals one by one. By 1929, Stalin had become dictator of the So­viet Union.

In the late 192ffs, Stalin began a socialist economic programme. It emphasized the development of heavy in­dustry and the combining of privately owned farms into large, government-run farms. Many citizens of the So­viet Union opposed Stalin's policies. In the mid-1930’s, Stalin started a programme of terror called the Great Purge. His secret police arrested millions of people. Most of the prisoners were shot or sent to prison labour camps. Many of those arrested had helped Stalin rise to power. Stalin thus eliminated all possible threats to his power and tightened his hold over the Soviet Union. See Stalin, Joseph.

World War II. By the late 1930's, German dictator Adolf Hitler was ready to conquer Europe. In August 1939, the U.S.S.R. and Germany signed a nonaggression pact, a treaty agreeing that neither nation would attack the other. In September, German forces invaded Poland from the west. The Soviet Union's forces quickly occu­pied the eastern part of Poland.

In June 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union and began to advance into the country. The turning point of the war in the Soviet Union was the Soviet defeat of the Germans in the Battle of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) in 1943. Soviet troops then drove the Germans back out of the country and across eastern Europe. They attacked Berlin in April 1945. Berlin fell to the Soviets on May 2, and German troops surrendered to the Allies five days later. In August 1945, the U.S.S.R. declared war on Japan. Japan surrendered to the Allies on Sept. 2,1945, ending World War II. See World War II.

The Cold War. After World War II ended, the Soviet Union extended the influence of Communism into Eastern Europe. By early 1948, several countries had become Soviet satellites (countries controlled by the' Soviet Union). The Soviet satellites were Bulgaria, Czechoslova­kia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and—later—East Ger­many.

The U.S.S.R. also influenced Communist regimes in Albania and Yugoslavia. It cut off nearly all contact be­tween its satellites and the West Mutual distrust and suspicion between East and West developed into a ri­valry that became known as the Cold War. The Cold War shaped the foreign policy of the Soviet Union and of many Western countries until the late 1980's. See Cold War.

Stalin died on March 5, 1953. In September of that year, Nikita Khrushchev became the head of the Com­munist Party. In 1958, he also became premier of the So­viet Union. Khrushchev eased the terrorism that had characterized Stalin's dictatorship and relaxed some of the restrictions on communication, trade, and travel be­tween East and West. However, the U.S.S.R. continued working to expand its influence in non-Communist countries. Khrushchev improved Soviet relations with the West, but many of his other policies failed. See Khrushchev, Nikita S.

In 1964, the highest-ranking Communists overthrew Khrushchev. Leonid Brezhnev became Communist Party head, and Aleksei Kosygin became premier. Brezhnev and Kosygin increased the production of consumer goods and the construction of housing, and they ex­panded Soviet influence in Africa.

By the mid-1970's, Brezhnev was the most powerful Soviet leader. He sought to ease tensions between East and West, a policy that became known as detente. How­ever, detente began to collapse in the late 1970s. Rela­tions between the Soviet Union and the United States worsened over such issues as Soviet violations of human rights, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and an increase in the number of nuclear weapons by both na­tions. See Brezhnev, Leonid I.

The rise of Gorbachev. In 1985, Mikhail Gorba­chev became head of the Communist Party. Gorbachev instituted many changes in the U.S.S.R., including in­creased freedom of expression in politics, literature, and the arts. He worked to improve relations between the

Soviet Union and the West and to reduce government control over the Soviet economy. In 1989, the U.S.S.R. held its first contested elections for the newly created Congress of People's Deputies. The following year, the government voted to allow non-Communist political parties in the Soviet Union. Many Communist Party members and other Soviet officials opposed Gorba­chev's reforms. But in March 1990, Gorbachev was elected by the Congress of People's Deputies to the newly created office of president. See Gorbachev, Mikhail Sergeyevich.

The breakup of the U.S.S.R. During the late 1980's, people in many parts of the Soviet Union increased their demands for greater freedom from the central govern­ment. In June 1990, the Russian republic declared that laws passed by its legislature took precedence over laws passed by the central government. By the end of the year, all 15 Soviet republics had made similar decla­rations.

In July 1991, Gorbachev and the leaders of 10 repub­lics agreed to sign a treaty giving the republics a large amount of self-government. Five of the republics were scheduled to sign the treaty on August 20. But on Au­gust 19, conservative Communist Party leaders staged a coup against Gorbachev's government. They imprisoned Gorbachev and his family in their holiday home. The president of the Russian republic, Boris Yeltsin, led pop­ular opposition to the coup, which collapsed on August 21. After the coup, Gorbachev regained his office of president. But he resigned as Communist Party leader.

The collapse of the coup renewed the republics' de­mands for more control over their own affairs. In Sep­tember 1991, the Congress of People's Deputies estab­lished an interim government to rule until a new union treaty and constitution could be written and approved. This government included a State Council, made up of Gorbachev and the leaders of the republics.

On December 8, 1991, Yeltsin and the presidents of Belarus and Ukraine announced the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States (C.I.S.). They de­clared that the Soviet Union had ceased to exist and in­vited the remaining republics to join the common­wealth. The members would be independent countries tied by economic and defence links. Most of the repub­lics joined the Cl.S. Yeltsin took control of what re­mained of the central government of the Soviet Union, including the Kremlin. On December 25,1991, Gorba­chev resigned as Soviet president, and the Soviet Union ceased to exist.

The new nation. With the end of the Soviet Union, the Russian republic resumed its course as an inde­pendent nation. The breakup of the Soviet Union helped eliminate much of the friction that still remained be­tween the East and the West. The Russian government slashed military spending in 1992. The government also made significant cutbacks in the armed forces. The cut­backs, in turn, forced large numbers of former military personnel to find homes and jobs as civilians.

After the breakup of the Soviet Union, Russia agreed to maintain a supply of nuclear weapons. In 1992, the other former Soviet republics with nuclear weapons on their lands—Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan—agreed to eliminate all nuclear weapons on their territories within seven years.

Russia had to establish new relationships with the members of the C.I.S. Some Russian leaders wanted the country to take a leading role. However, the smaller states feared domination by Russia because of its great size and power.

In March 1992, all but two regions of Russia signed a treaty that formed the basis of the new Russian nation.

Those two regions—Tatar and Chechen-lngush—wanted greater independence. In May 1992, the Supreme Soviet voted to declare the Soviet government's 1954 grant of Crimea to Ukraine an illegal act. Russia and Ukraine have conducted negotiations on the issue.

Russia also faced the challenges of setting up new economic and governmental systems. The government ended price controls. This action caused prices to soar and resulted in a lower standard of living for the Russian people. The government issued certificates that citizens used to buy shares in state-owned firms. President Yelt­sin and his government also took other steps to increase private ownership of businesses.

Opposition to Yeltsin's economic policies grew in parliament, which included many former Communist Party members and Soviet Union leaders. In a referen­dum held in April 1993, a majority of the voters sup­ported Yeltsin and his economic policies. Opposition to Yeltsin in parliament continued, however. In September, Yeltsin suspended Vice President Alexander Rutskoi, who had become a leader of the anti-Yeltsin group.

Later that month, Yeltsin dissolved the parliament. Parlia­ment, in turn, voted to remove Yeltsin from office and to make Rutskoi acting president.

Rutskoi and many other foes of Yeltsin, including Rus­lan Khasbulatov and other members of parliament, barri­caded themselves in the parliament building in Mos­cow. At Yeltsin's order, police and interior ministry forces blockaded the building, which is known as the White House. In October, anti-Yeltsin crowds rioted in Moscow and tried unsuccessfully to break up the block­ade of the White House. The next day, Yeltsin ordered the military to take control of the White House. Rutskoi and other leaders of the movement against Yeltsin were arrested. Yeltsin then suspended the Constitutional Court—Russia's highest court—claiming it had backed the parliament in the dispute.

In December 1993, the Russian people elected a new parliament. In February 1994, parliament granted an am­nesty to Rutskoi and other opponents of Yeltsin.

Questions

Why did Russian soldiers and civilians grow increasingly dissat­isfied during World War I?

What is the most developed sector of the Russian economy? Who led the October Revolution?

What is Russia's most popular sport?

What is the most important type of building in Russian Byzan­tine architecture?

Who lives in Russia's autonomous territories?

In what part of Russia do most of the population live?

Why did Czar Alexander II enact reforms?

What are some major challenges facing Russia today?