The Russian Civil War: The Meaning Of Culture

Being the world’s largest country by land area, nearly twice the size of Canada, Russia’s population ranks sixth in the world, and is spread across 5,000 miles from the Baltic Sea in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. Russia borders 14 other countries, spans 11 time zones and has a wide range of environments that include deserts, deep forests, and an arctic tundra. Russia contains Europe’s longest river, the Volga River, as well as its largest lake, Lake Ladoga. Its climate can be described as highly continental, from extreme cold in its northern regions and Siberia to subtropical in areas along the Black Sea. Russia’s capital and largest city is Moscow, followed by St. Petersburg. These cities combined are Russia’s most prominent

Mankind has always aspired to be the largest, biggest, strongest, highest, essentially the best in everything. This is not untrue for the Russians who have had the largest country in the world for quite some time now. Russia covers one-sixth of the entire world’s land mass and has had a significant part in modern history. However, in order to understand why a country has become what it is now, one must look at its culture. A country’s culture not only reflects its citizens now but also its history and future.

One country is comparable to the United States of America in terms of world power and prominence. Russia makes their name known beginning in World War 2 (WW2), later in the Korean War, Cold War, and today’s proxy war in the Syria. Russia’s culture, environment, politics, military, and economy do not just make Russia a regional powerhouse, but slowly becoming a region of influential power to surrounding countries with the end state of a global superpower. All the factors that make Russia the powerhouse that it is slowly becoming, highlights the impressive trend that supersedes the previous Soviet Union and past leaders.

Russia has many cultural characteristics that have shaped the country we know today. A nation 's culture can define its actions and make them more predictable as a state on the international level. Understanding a nation’s culture gives great insight into the motives and reasoning behind their aggression or acts of force. Factors such as geography, weather, political landscape, military, and key infrastructure provide a clear understanding of Russian culture and how it has shaped the nation over the past century.

Russia, as a country, has had a long and proud history. However, for a small time starting in 1917, things started to take a turn for the worse. There was widespread famine, disease, and killing by the instituted government. There was also no Russia. Instead, there was the glorious United Soviet Socialist Republics, or the USSR. This new country did not come around peacefully, but instead under the 1917 Russian Revolution and the revolting communist Bolsheviks. The Russian people were not in a better condition after the Russian revolution due to Stalin’s leadership of his country; the reason being the GULAGs that Stalin was sending his people to, the communes that the peasants were sent to, and the disastrous effects of his five year plans.

· The Russian Federation covers a large area (more than 10,000 kilometers east-west and more than 2500 kilometers north-south); it takes a full week to travel by train from St. Petersburg in the west to Vladivostok in the east. Russia is also predominantly northern, with nearly half its territory north of 60 degrees north latitude. Winters are generally long and cold, which keeps most ports and navigable rivers frozen or impassable for many months each year. With few peninsulas and with coastlines that are frozen for most of the year, Russia has

From its vast mountains to its extending rivers, Russia has been blessed with a variety of geographical features which have aided its preeminence in history. These features have immensely affected how Russia developed throughout the years. Russia is known to be the largest country in the world: it stretches about six thousand miles across Northern Asia and Eastern Europe. Because of its vast size and abundance of land, Russia has various different geographical features. It consists of the Eurasian steppes, the Dnieper, Neva, and Volga Rivers, and the Ural Mountains (Vodovozov). These geographic features have served as natural barriers, physical boundaries, and for agricultural purposes.

by the East Slavs who had pagan beliefs, but in the 10 th century adopted the

Even though Russia wasn’t founded until 25 December 1991, its history traces back to the 9th century. During this period, the first signs of the country’s infrastructure began. Creation of trade routes enabled empires being supplied, while leading to the country’s growth. When the 10th century hit, we got the first mention of Moscow. At the time, Moscow was a small settlement that would soon become the pre-eminent city in Russia (A Brief History of Russia). By the 15th century, Moscow became the capital of, which consequently became, Russia. Moreover, in the centuries that would follow, Russia would battle through many wars, variety of leaders who wanted to take the country in different directions, weak infrastructure, communism, and failures of economic growth.

Russia is a huge landmass and covers a vast amount of the earth’s surface area. Being so large, Russia contains a huge variety of different geographical features. There are several mountains, rivers, bodies of water, climate zones, and population centers in Russia. Most of the development in Russia is located in its core area, east of the Ural Mountains. There are several countries around Russia that used to be parts of a larger union called The Union of Soviet Socialists Republics, however, in 1991, the USSR broke apart into several other independent states. The new states that were formed are: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and

When discussing Russia’s demographics, it is important to note that it is the largest country in the world, ranging across 17.1 million square kilometers. Russia thus has many different ethnic groups, languages, and religions. Russia’s reported population from 2017 is 143.9 million which includes over 170 ethnic groups designating as their nationalities. Russia’s major ethnic groups are Russian and Tatar with their languages being the top two as well. As for religion, Russians are mostly Russian Orthodox or Muslim, and the 2% are other Christians. To top it all off, “Russia has one of the best mass-education systems in the world, producing a literacy rate of 98%” (higher than most Western European countries) (O’Connor), consisting of primary school, secondary school, and higher education.

When we hear the term Russian culture many Americans tend to have negative thoughts like the cold war, their government ruling with an iron hand, and the Red Scare. These thoughts do not do the justice to the Russian people or to their long history as a people dating back to INSERT DATE. One of the major themes throughout Russian history and this course is the idea that the Russian people value intangible things more than the tangible. The Russian people have a long rich heritage, they are deep in there Christian faith, and they pride themselves on hospitality and value there community, families, and fellow Russian people. They have learned how to sacrifice from the constant invasions and being forced farther and

Despite the fact that Russia is the most enormous country in the world, its population only reaches the ninth largest country with about 142,423,773 current residents living there, approximately one half of the population of the United States. ("United States Census Bureau.") However, although Russia has the ninth largest population, the population density is low because of the country’s large size ("Population Density (people per Sq. Km of Land Area)."). Due to the fact that a good portion of Russia’s territory is icy and cold, urbanization is well-maintained in Russia in which 74% of its population living in the cities and urban areas (“WPR.”). Russia has a great diversity among ethnicities in which approximately 190 ethnic groups settle there ("The People with the Reddest Hair in the World."). However, although there is a vast divergence, but the majority of its population, about 80%, are ethnic Russians. Most of the minor ethnicities live within Russia borders, such as Ukrainian, Bashkir, Tartar,

Russia, known by most as the Russian Federation, is a federal state in Eurasia. Russia is the largest country in the world at 17,075,200 square kilometres by surface area, covering more than one eighth of Earth 's inhabited land, and the ninth most populous, with over 146.6 million people as of end of March 2016. The European western part of the country is much more populated and urbanised than the East, with almost eight-tenths of the population living within the European region of Russia. Russia 's capital, Moscow is one of the largest cities in Europe and the world. Its ohter major urban cities include Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod and Samara.

Russia is a country in Northern Eurasia, bordered by the Arctic Ocean, and numerous countries such as China, Mongolia, and Georgia. The total area of Russia is 17,098,242 square kilometers (CIA.gov), making it the largest country in the world. The terrain of the country is “broad plain with low hills west of Urals; vast coniferous forest and tundra in Siberia; uplands and mountains along southern border regions” (CIA.gov) with a climate that ranges from humid and warm places to extremely frigid regions varying on its location. Russia is a federation