Russia And The Soviet Union

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?

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.

2. Russia has a long history of invasions, uprisings, external influences, and revolutions which have caused its borders to expand and contract over time.1 Heroes of mythic proportion such as Alexander Nevsky earned their fame by defending the homeland in these times of strife. Nevsky, in particular, inspired in the Russian people a strong sense of Slavic nationalism that persists to this day.2 Throughout Russia’s many fluctuations, however, some factors never changed. For the vast majority of its existence, Russia has been viewed as a global power. It was not until the fall of the Soviet Union that Russia lost its global eminence. Another constant has been the need for access to warm-water ports on the Baltic and Black Seas. Russia has fought many campaigns to push its borders to these waters.1 These campaigns along with expansion eastward to the Pacific have left modern day Russia with an important legacy – access to

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.

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

Russia welcomes the idea of westernization on the premise of Peter the Great seeking Western allies for crusades against Europe. Characteristics of Westernization include having a strong navy, a bureaucratic government, strong interest in science and technology, and luxury items that were imported from the West. Due to the small amount of the middle class citizens, Russia’s westernization was led by their government. Even though, Russia was

The history of Russia is wrought with inconsistencies and discord. Flawed with unjust social constructs and plagued constantly by the dichotomous relationship between authority and the people, Russia, since it’s upbringing, had always been one step behind it’s eastern neighbors. And in this rat race to stand among the Europeans, the identity and essence of Russia was always in a state of question. As a result, Russia was constantly struggling to find it’s place within a global narrative. It was Russian philosopher Petr Chaadaev, who in 1829, wrote, “We do not belong to any of the great families of the human race. We are neither of the West nor of the East, and we have the traditions of neither.” It is a wonder that Chaadaev, in the years of such turbulent changes, was able to identify such metaphysical traits of the nation. But while Chaadaev highlights the indisputable “sui generis" nature of Russia in context with the European nations, perhaps it was too presumptuous to say that this uniqueness resulted in the lack of culture and tradition from both East and West. As the three momentous periods of Russia, the formation, the imperial, and the formation of the soviet, may suggest, rather than a nation outside of East or West, Russia is an amalgamation of elements from both, existing between the dichotomous East and West.

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

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.

In the beginning of “Five Articles,” Dostoevsky talks about how Russia remains an enigma to the western world, and how the European view of Russia is narrow, stereotypical, superficial and largely imaginary. Dostoevsky claims that for Europeans, Russians seem to be barbarians and Europeans at the same time and their identities remain ambiguous for the Europeans, sometimes even for themselves. But generally, the idea of Russians for Europeans is that Russians are inferior to other Europeans, are unfaltering in battles, but are not intelligent and mostly uneducated. But this idea comes from a detached way of observation even for those Europeans who spend time in Russia studying this country.

Throughout Russian history, particularly the period after its full exposure to western civilization, people have debated the countries past, present, and future role in the world. This deliberation has taken place several times in the countries past, one of the most notable being in the 19th century. In the 1840s-1850s the Slavophile and Westernizer movements emerged in the Russian sphere. The Slavophiles, having developed their views along literary and academic lines, believed in a uniquely Russian development and future not influenced by the west. Westernizers, having been influenced by Russia’s previous ‘attempts’ to westernize, believed in development to European standards; they rejected traditionally Russian ideals such as feudalism, serfdom, and religious orthodoxy (Cite). It is from small salons, predominantly in Moscow, that these two intellectual movements clashed about the future development of Russia.