History of Russia

without delay." They carried over these habits into later centuries, making them excellent subjects for future czars,” (Esler). The year 1380, was when the princes of Muscovy rose to become the defenders of Russia. This cemented the belief that Moscow, an alternative name for Muscovy, was the country’s leading city. Using alliances with Russian vassals, the princes created an army that defeated the Golden Horde at the Battle of…

During the period 1855 – 1956 Russia was involved in many major wars, all of which played an important role in its development. With the exception of the Second World War many of the wars Russia was involved led to defeats for them and these defeats exposed the weakness of the Tsar or government in charge. War outlined the flaws in the presiding system and highlighted Russia’s faults, and thus placed a spotlight upon the shortcomings of the Russian leadership. Such pressure prompted the Tsars…

If one were to have asked a Russian peasant what revolution means to them, they might answer samovol’shchina, or, translated “doing what you want.” In Sheila Fitzpatrick’s book The Russian Revolution she traces three broad themes through the course of the revolution that existed before 1917 and would continue until about the time of 1934. She examines the class struggle that was an important part of the revolution as well as the leadership that lead the Russian citizens through these tumuloous…

the serfs were freed and issued with small amounts of land, but in return they had to pay back a sum to the government, and the result ended in a mass of small farms deeply in debt. Their life was a sharp contrast to the rich landowners, who held 20% of the land in large estates. Until 1861 they belonged to their masters, who could buy and sell them like cattle. They demanded the abolishment of serfdom and feudal dues. The inefficiency of peasant-based agriculture was one of the chief…

Grigori Rasputin and the 1917 Russian Revolution One of the most significant events of Russian history was the 1917 Revolution. Predating the revolution, Russia was formed of a hierarchy society consisting of four piers; royalty, aristocracy, middle class and peasantry. After the 1917 Revolution, Russia was dismantled and transformed into the Soviet Union under the governance of the Communist Party. The Communist Party consisted of socialists with the objective to modernize their country-as…

Conveniently for Stalin, a reform of the history curriculum would not only improve the student’s education about their mother country, it would also allow Stalin to impose his ideology and his heroic character on the students so that they would become passionate and supportive of the Communist Party and the Soviet Union as a whole. One of the primary methods of reforming the Soviet History curriculum was through the development of a new history textbook that would replace the old one, as this…

at York University. He specializes in Russian geography, ethnology and history research.1 In the article, Gibson demonstrated and expounded the true factors of Russia’s absence in the North Pacific discovery and exploration. He offers a detailed study in both of the Russian histories and geography. Throughout the article, he clearly identified with two main points that Russia was “lack of opportunity and lack of necessity”2 to be a sea power. Gibson provides new insights on many aspects of the…

In class, we defined autocracy as a system of government with a single ruler, for example, the Tsar. Autocracy can be beneficial in some instances, such as when decisions need to be made quickly without consulting with a large group of people. Autocracy sometime requires strong leader in order to get things accomplished quickly and efficiently. Autocracy in Russia can be seen as a progressive as: Peter the Great attempts to establish Russia as a great nation through reforms, Catherine the…

People have had a vast impact throughout history. People, especially Tsars have had a powerful effect on Russian history. Specifically, Ivan IV and Peter I have made significant impacts on Russian History. Ivan IV is also known as Ivan the Terrible. Ivan ruled through 1533 to March 18, 1584. Throughout his life, he first began to conquer remaining independent principalities such as Siberia, Kazan and Astrakhan. He also introduced self-government to the rural regions of Russia. Ivan accomplished…

The book Russia under the Bolshevik Regime written by Richard Pipes, who is a “Baird professor of History at Harvard University, and in 1981-82 he served on President Reagan’s national Security Council adviser on Soviet and East European affairs.” This book he wrote actually explained Russia government during the early 1900’s talking about the monarch being over thrown by the communist power the Bolsheviks. The book is a really interested reading if you love European history or if your major…