Religions
Saturday, May 24, 2014
Population in Russia
Population
in Russia
The population of Russia is 141,927,297 as of 1 January
2010. The population hit a historic peak at 148,689,000 in 1991, just before
the breakup of the
Soviet Union. According to the 2002 census, Ethnic Russians make up 80% of the total population, while six other
ethnicities have a population exceeding 1 million - Tatars (3.8%), Ukrainians (2%), Bashkir (1.1%), Chuvash (1.1%), Chechens (0.9%) and Armenians (0.8%). In total, 160 different ethnic groups and
indigenous peoples live within the Russian federation's borders. 73% of the
population is urban.
The Russian Federation
The
Russian Federation
In 2000, Vladimir Putin became president. International observers were alarmed
by, averaging 6.7% annually since the financial crisis of 1998. Russia ended
2006 with its eighth straight year of growth.
In 2008 Dmitri Medvedev, was elected new President of Russia.
Although high oil
prices and a relatively cheap ruble initially drove this growth, since 2003
consumer demand and, more recently, investment have played a significant role.
Russia is well ahead of most other resource-rich countries in its economic
development, with a long tradition of education, science, and industry.
The Russian Federation
The
Russian Federation
In the 1990s Russia suffered an economic downturn that was, in some
ways, more severe than the United States or Germany had undergone six decades earlier in the Great Depression.
Russia came close to a serious civil conflict. The cohesion of the Russian
Federation was also threatened when the republic of Chechnya attempted to break
away, leading to the First and Second Chechen Wars.
Advised by Western governments, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund, Russia embarked on the largest and fastest privatization that
the world had ever seen in order to reform the fully nationalized Soviet
economy.
Economic reforms also consolidated a semi-criminal
oligarchy with roots in the old Soviet system. By the mid-1990s Russia had a system
of multiparty electoral politics. But it was harder to establish a
representative government because of two structural problems—the struggle
between president and parliament and the anarchic party system.
Breakup of the Union
Breakup of the Union
By the end of the 20th century, the Soviet Union faced economic and political problems.
Mickhail
Gorbachev announced two reforms: Perestroika and Glasnost. In the revolutions of 1989 the USSR lost its satellites (Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia) in Eastern Europe. Suffering from low pricing of petroleum
and natural gas, ongoing war in Afghanistan, outdated industry and pervasive
corruption, the Soviet planned economy proved to be ineffective, and by 1990 the Soviet
government had lost control over economic conditions. There were shortages of
almost all products. By December 1991, the shortages had resulted in the introduction of food
rationing in Moscow and Saint Petersburg for the first time since World War II.
Russia received humanitarian food aid from abroad. The Supreme Soviet of Russia
withdrew Russia from the Soviet Union on December 12. The Soviet Union officially ended on December 25,
1991, and the Russian Federation (formerly the Russian Soviet Federative
Socialist Republic) took power on December 26.
The Cold War
The Cold War
After the World War II there was a conflict between USSR and USA interests which is
known as the Cold War.
It emerged out of a conflict between Stalin and US president Harry Truman over
the future of Europe.
In April 1949 the US sponsored NATO. In 1955 the Soviet
Union established the Warsaw Pact as a counterpart to NATO.
US-Soviet relations deteriorated following the beginning
of the nine-year Soviet War in Afghanistan in 1979 and the 1980 election of Ronald Reagan, a
staunch anti-communist, but improved as the Soviet bloc started to unravel in
the late 1980s. With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia lost the
superpower status that it had won in the Second World War.
Russian revolution
Russian revolution
Russia entered the World War I, as an ally of France. Military failures and bureaucratic ineptitude turned
the population against the government. The war had a demoralizing impact.
Workers and peasants protested. On march, 8, 1917 working women walked out and other workers joined them
and eventually soldiers too. Tsar Nicolas II abdicated. Socialist created the soviet. In July, Alexander Kerensky became ruler. Economic conditions were not improved.
Bolsheviks organized a national movement. Lenin returned from Switzerland. The
soviets won and drove Kerensky into exile. These events are known as the October Revolution.
The National Constituent Assembly was dissolved by Lenin’s troops.
The
Decembrist Revolt
The background of this revolt lay in the Napoleonic Wars,
when a number of well-educated Russian officers traveled in Europe in the
course of the military campaigns, where their exposure to the liberalism of Western Europe
encouraged them to seek change on their return to autocratic Russia.
The result was the Decembrist Revolt (December 1825), the work of a small circle of liberal
nobles and army officers who wanted to install Nicholas' brother as a
constitutional monarch.
But, the revolt was easily crushed, leading Nicholas to
turn away from the Westernization program begun by Peter the Great and champion
the doctrine
"Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationality".
Peter I, the Great
Peter I, the Great (1672–1725), consolidated autocracy in Russia and played a major role in bringing his country into the European state system. Russia became the largest state in the world by Peter's time. He studied modern tactics and fortifications and built a strong army of 300,000. In 1697–1698, he became the first Russian prince to ever visit the West. In celebration of his conquests, Peter assumed the title of emperor.
Peter I, the Great (1672–1725), consolidated autocracy in Russia and played a major role in bringing his country into the European state system. Russia became the largest state in the world by Peter's time. He studied modern tactics and fortifications and built a strong army of 300,000. In 1697–1698, he became the first Russian prince to ever visit the West. In celebration of his conquests, Peter assumed the title of emperor.
Content
ØIntroduction
ØEarly History
ØTsardom in Russia
ØRussian Empire
ØDecembrist Revolt
ØRussian Revolution
ØThe Cold War
ØBreakup of the Union
ØRussian Federation
Introduction
The history of Russia begins with that of the Eastern
Slavs and the Finno-Ugric peoples. Kievan Rus', the first united East
Slavic state, was founded by the Rurik's successor Oleg of Novgorod in
882. After the 13th century, Moscow came to dominate the former cultural
center. By the 18th century, the Grand Duchy of
Moscow had become the huge
Russian Empire.
Between the abolition of serfdom and the beginning of
World War I in 1914, the Stolypin reforms, the constitution of 1906 and State Duma introduced notable
changes to the economy and politics of Russia. By the late 1980s, with the
weaknesses of its economic and political structures becoming acute, the
Communist leaders embarked on major reforms, which led to the collapse of the
Soviet Union. The history of the Russian Federation is brief, dating back only
to the collapse of the Soviet Union in late 1991.
Even today Russia shares much continuity of political
culture and social structure with its tsarist and Soviet past.
Early
history
During the prehistoric eras the vast steppes of Southern
Russia were home to tribes of nomadic pastoralists. In classical antiquity, the
Pontic
Steppe was known as Scythia.
A Turkic people, the Khazars, ruled the lower Volga basin steppes between the Caspian and Black Seas through to the 8th
century. They were important allies of the Byzantine
Empire, and waged a series
of successful wars against the Arab Caliphates.
In the 8th century, the Khazars embraced Judaism.
The ancestors of the Russians were the Slavic tribes.
From the 7th century onwards, the East Slavs constituted
the bulk of the population in Western Russia and slowly but peacefully
assimilated the native Finno-Ugric tribes.
Thus, the first East Slavic state, Kievan Rus', emerged in the 9th
century along the Dnieper River valley. The invading Mongols accelerated the
fragmentation of the Rus‘.
Tsardom
of Russia
Ivan
IV
The development of the Tsar's autocratic powers reached
a peak during the reign (1547–1584) of Ivan IV. He is often seen a farsighted statesman who reformed
Russia as he promulgated a new code of laws (Sudebnik
of 1550), established the
first Russian feudal representative body (Zemsky Sobor), curbed the
influence of clergy, and introduced the local self-management in rural regions.
The
Romanov Dynasty
The rule of this dynasty began in 1613 and ended in 1917. The Romanov
Dynasty:
•Restored peace with Sweden
•Recovered lost territories
•Cooperated with the nobles
•Established high taxes
Russian Empire
1721–1917
1721–1917
The Russian Empire was a state that
existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia, and the predecessor of the Soviet Union. It was the
second largest contiguous empire the world has ever seen, surpassed only by the
Mongol Empire, and the British
Empire. At one point in 1866, it stretched from eastern Europe, across Asia, and into North America.
Though the empire was
only officially proclaimed by Tsar
Peter I following the Treaty of Nystad (1721), some historians would argue that it was truly born when
Peter acceded to the throne in early 1682.
The Imperial Council consisted of 196 members. As a legislative body the powers of the
Council were coordinate with those of the Duma.
The Duma and the electoral system
Members of the Duma were chosen by electoral colleges and these, in their
turn, were elected in assemblies of the three classes: landed proprietors,
citizens and peasants. In these assemblies the wealthiest proprietors sat in
person while the lesser proprietors were represented by delegates.
The Senate was originally established during the Government reform
of Peter. It consisted of members nominated by the emperor. It had wide variety
of functions and was divided into departments.
It acted as: the Supreme Court of cassation; an audit office, a high
court of justice for all political offences; supreme jurisdiction in all
disputes arising out of the administration of the Empire.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)