History of Russia

The History of Russia begins with that of the Eastern Slavs and the Finno-Ugric peoples.The traditional beginning of Russian history is 862 A.D. Kievan Rus', the first united East Slavic state, was founded in 882. The state adopted Christianity from the Byzantine Empire in 988 ... The Russian Revolution in 1917 was triggered by a combination of economic breakdown, war-weariness, and discontent with the autocratic system of government, and it first brought a coalition of liberals and moderate socialists to power, but their failed policies led to seizure of power by the Communist Bolsheviks on 25 October. Between 1922 and 1991, the history of Russia is essentially the history of the Soviet Union, effectively an ideologically based state which was roughly conterminous with the Russian Empire before the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. The approach to the building of socialism, however, varied over different periods in Soviet history, from the mixed economy and diverse society and culture of the 1920s to the command economy and repressions of the Joseph Stalin era to the "era of stagnation" in the 1980s. From its first years, government in the Soviet Union was based on the one-party rule of the Communists, as the Bolsheviks called themselves, beginning in March 1918.By the mid-1980s, with the weaknesses of its economic and political structures becoming acute, Mikhail Gorbachev embarked on major reforms, which led to the overthrow of the Communist party and the breakup of the USSR, leaving Russia again on its own and marking the start of the History of post-Soviet Russia. The Russian Federation began in January 1992 as the legal successor to the USSR. Russia retained its nuclear arsenal but lost its superpower status. Scrapping the socialist central planning and state ownership of property of the socialist era, new leaders, led by President Vladimir Putin, took political and economic power after 2000 and engaged in an energetic foreign policy. Russia's treatment of Ukraine led to severe economic sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union.In this application you will read about:PrehistoryEarly historyAntiquityEarly East SlavsKievan Rus' (882–1283)Mongol invasion (1223–1240)Russo-Tatar relationsGrand Duchy of Moscow (1283–1547)Rise of MoscowIvan III, the GreatTsardom of Russia (1547–1721)Ivan IV, the TerribleTime of TroublesAccession of the Romanovs and early ruleImperial Russia (1721–1917)PopulationPeter the GreatRuling the Empire (1725–1825)State budget18th–20th centuries (before the Soviet years)Founding Russian balletCatherine the GreatAlexander INicholas I and the Decembrist RevoltThe Russian ArmyRadicals and reactionariesAlexander II and the abolition of serfdomNihilismAutocracy and reaction under Alexander IIINicholas II and new revolutionary movementRevolution of 1905World War IRussian RevolutionRussian Civil WarSoviet Union (1922–1991)Creation of the Soviet UnionWar Communism and the New Economic PolicyChanges to Russian societyIndustrialization and CollectivizationSoviet Union on the international stageWorld War IICold WarDe-Stalinization and the era of stagnationBreakup of the UnionRussian Federation (1991–present)