Russia And The Soviet Union

Russia was for many centuries separated, geographically and politically from the development of Western civilization and culture. By the time the country was overtaken by the First World War, its situation was not entirely discouraging. Industrialization was proceeding at a level only two or three decades behind that of the United States. In 1918 which is when the First World War ended, was when the Bolsheviks became the ruling party of Russia, they changed their organizations name to the All-Russian Communist Party; it was renamed after the founding of the U.S.S.R and finally came

Petersburg was the center and symbol of Peter’s Cultural Revolution. Even so, were Peter’s reforms the equivalent to a revolution; if so, was the most momentous aspect of the reforms, the “transcending culture” revolution that transformed Russian society and culture forever?

Steven G. Marks, asserts that Russia significantly influenced the modern world with its innovations on: politics, culture, society, fashion, economics, and arts, particularly between 1880 and 1980 in How Russia Shaped the Modern World. Normally Russia is left out of the world history rhetoric, but doing so is incorrect as its conflicting ideals with Western values has two notable significances: the animosity toward Russia by Western society created a series of reactions that impacted the world, and the hostility of others towards the West meant they were rather welcoming to Russian ideas. He begins with the theory of anarchism developing in Russia, from where it would spread to the world. Next he focuses on critical figures in Russian history

When one thinks of Russian culture, it generally is associated with the keeping of tradition. It is not a country that evokes much change from century to century but when taking a closer look into the country, this is a rather bias view compared to just how much the country has constantly been evolving. The biggest push of cultural change happened during the reign of Peter the Great. Peter came to power in 1682, a time when the Russian court was unreliable to one true leading family until Peter’s ruling when that changed. This was a man who saw that his country needed to break from the tradition and emerge into a western society. This was not an easy change considering the remote location that Russia had to Europe and the deep traditional ways of the people. With this in mind, he created many changes that Russia was to undergo to become this powerhouse country that Peter envisioned for his people. With so much change to happen, the movement was a slow process but with Peter’s motivation, nothing seemed to stop the man. Peter the Great’s efforts to Westernize Russia unified Russia through his military ambitions, his cultural ambitions and his finally the creation of his city, St. Petersburg. All of these are major developments created a new version of Russia that has created the country that it is today.

The central planning and authoritarian control of the past have shaped most of the region’s political, economic, and social conditions of today. Russia is closely associated with post-Soviet states economically, but no longer legally has control over these territories. Russia and the post‐Soviet states are associated today as a region, primarily because of their history from the nineteenth century onward (Pulsipher 2011).

Russia had many complications before Mikhail Gorbachev came into power for the Soviet Union. During 1939 through 1945, Russian took part in World War II heavily and were led by Dictator Joseph Stalin. Following the war, Russia was in a nuclear arms race with America, riding on everyone’s fear of there being a World War III and a nuclear war. Post World War II Russia and the rest of the Soviet Union had very poor living conditions due to the mass of poverty. In 1962, the Cuban Missile Crisis took place, which was also known as the October Crisis. This was when American President John F. Kennedy was informed that there were Soviet nuclear-tipped missiles in Cuba where he then made a deal with Soviet President Nikita Khrushchev where America would not invade Cuba as long as the Soviet Union withdrew its missiles. Following this was the Brezhnev Era, Soviet Union circa 1964 through 1982, in the Soviet Union.

Throughout Russia’s history of Tsarism and monarchy there has been an ever-present focus on nationalism and purity of the Russian people. Through the expansion of Russian borders, the introduction and formation of Russification from 1899-1917, and the oppression and marginalisation of ethnic minorities within the Russian empire, one is able to see the contribution of ethnic minorities in the development of opposition towards the Romanovs, and the subsequent demise of the century old monarchy.

From 1856 to 1964 Russia transformed from a backward, agriculturally based country, governed by an autocratic ruler and divided by the feudal system to a global superpower that had nuclear capabilities. These profound changes are attributed to many factors, however through closer examination it can be determined the extent to whether individuals, events such as wars or other circumstances, for example, the geography of Russia played the most significant role in Russia’s social, political and economic modernisation from 1856-1964.

There are many areas and factors to how Russia developed into an Enlightened Absolute and European country. In order to answer the question above I will need to understand Russia from the wider picture; how the Romanovs established authority, what was the significant changes in the Russian society, how did the economy develop, what was the ideology of the people and was foreign policies achieved by the monarchs of this century? These questions have opened up debates by many historians, such as Lucy Worsley, Lindsey Hughes and Matthew S. Anderson. Through the broad task at hand, and the potential to not display all knowledge of the time period, there will only be a few aspects that I will focus on. Increased centralisation of Royal authority,

It is special the way Russian religion was establishing through political individuals sacred belief. For example, when Russia has practiced paganism during several years. Until they forcefully were converted into Christian. Russia followed a religion called pagan. Paganism was based on believing in many gods. After communism terminated that caused people turning into atheism. In 1911, the revival of the orthodox Christian church started, it was unique because because its love for the poor and mercy. (pag.24). Until nowadays orthodox church is the largest religion in Russia.

Russia was challenged with many reforms during the time of Peter The Great. One of the important reforms was to westernize

The first group to move towards anything like nationalism was the Slavophile movement that grew during the nineteenth-century. Largely writers and newly graduated university elites, they developed as a reaction to the elites’ identity crisis resulting from increasing western influences in Russia.11 They elevated the peasantry and collective in an effort to bring Russia back to her true identity. What they held to be true “Russianness” was a return to rural, folk Russia of the pre-Petrine era, before Russia had been opened up to the west.12 In reality much of their beliefs about true Russianness were very esoteric.13 The psychology behind this obsession with the peasantry and rural village social structure was an identity crisis. Russian aristocracy

The meaning of culture is the characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people, defined by everything from language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music, and arts (Zimmermann, 2015). In this essay, I will be explaining Russia’s cultural characteristics and the everyday society in Russia. I will also be covering the geography of Russia and their lines of communication. Russia has multiple conflicts that the country has been a part of, but I will be discussing the Russian Civil War also known as the three-year war. Furthermore, I will be discussing how weather affects Russia’s population, agriculture, and insurgency. Finally, I will be covering Russia’s society, language, power and authority, etc.

These factors include “ideology… geography, geopolitics, economic and political structures, the specific conjunctures thrown up by revolution, civil war and a shattered economy” (159). Before (and after) the revolution, Russia was struggling economically. It was starving, figuratively and literally (6, 47, 84). Most of the population were poor peasants living in rural areas using outdated farming techniques and equipment (8, 102, 130). Industrialization was slow, in part because the transition of rural populations to towns was slow at first (5). Even when emigration to towns was prevalent, the towns had a hard time withstanding and compensating for the influx of people (8). This resulted in poor living conditions for workers, such as overcrowding and high rents (8). Culturally, there was a push against “backwardness” and toward “culturedness” (143). There was a boost in literacy and “artistic experiment” (123, 150). With this freer, more broad literature and expression came government censorship (153). Russia was far behind the rest of Europe and struggled to maintain footing as a major power in regard to economics and military (6). Internationally, Russia was somewhat of an outcast and it became isolated (112). The country, particularly the Bolshevik regime, were waiting for revolution in the rest of Europe that would never come (40). Regarding this issue, Marxist/socialist ideology, perpetuated by

Russian identity is an enigma. From the scattered city-states of Kievan Rus to the downfall of the Romanov dynasty, the history of Russia has been defined by various narratives. These narratives come from multiple ethnic groups, religious groups, writers, and leaders, which can be illustrated as the puzzle pieces that construct the enigma of Russian identity. Throughout the history of Russia there too has been a push to centralize Russian identity through the principle of Russification. Furthermore it was the push for these multiple narratives to assimilate into one narrative that was the product of the Tsar. While Russification has taken various forms throughout history it has never been successful in unifying a centralized Russian identity because the narrative of the Tsar has never been static. Looking at the various forms of unification the autocrats take during the Enlightenment Era, Napoleonic Era, and the Conservative Era, one can see the changing narratives of the autocrats and their different definitions of a uniform Russian identity.