CULTURE SMART: RUSSIA
INTRODUCTION
Russia is the largest country in the world, and one of the most enigmatic, complex, and difficult countries to write about. Several stereotypical impressions of Russia are imprinted on our psyche—be it an unsmiling babushka in a thin, shabby coat and headscarf or a glamorous model swathed in furs; the echoing crunch of boots on parade in Red Square, or the featherlight grace of ballerinas in Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker; the gold Rolex of a nouveau riche, or the shining domes of the Sergiyev Posad Lavra.
Everything in Russia is about contradictions, from its Eurasian geographical position and extremes of climate to its changing economic regimes and conflicting modern values.
Russia’s military and political power, as well as the rich contribution of its art and culture, are the result of an inner dynamic not always understood by outsiders. The Russian language and the Russian Orthodox religion are unique; Russian history is tragic; and the people are unpredictable.
It would, of course, be wrong to generalize or to try to pack 141 million people into a single box, extending from Europe to the Pacific. The Muscovite will not behave in the same way as the Kazakh from the southern region of Kuban, the hunter from the far north as the plant worker in the Urals. And yet politicians, writers, and philosophers keep returning to the “enigma of the Russian soul,” and referring to the uniquely “Russian way” of behavior and development. Despite the undoubted regional differences there is a shared base of history, tradition, and values.
Travelers to Russia seek answers to the same questions: “What should I expect? How do I make friends? Are there any particular ways of conducting business?” This completely revised edition of Culture Smart! Russia sets out to help you become a more perceptive and tolerant traveler, and to make your trip more personally fulfilling. It explores the connections between Russia’s turbulent past and its paradoxical present. Using illustrative anecdotes it describes presentday values and attitudes, and offers practical advice on what to expect and how to behave in different social circumstances. It aims to reintroduce the Russian people to you, their generous qualities of character, what they believe, aspire to, and feel, how they entertain, and how they conduct business. If your curiosity extends beyond matryoshka, troika, and balalaika, this book is for you. Dobro pozhalovat!
CHAPITER 1: LAND AND PEOPLE
GEOGRAPHY OF THE SOUL
Contradictions begin from the moment you look at the map. Some American geography books define Russia as “a country in the northern part of Asia.” President Putin recently declared that “Russia has extended European borders to the Pacific.” Russia has been described as being sandwiched between Asia and Europe, with the Ural Mountains serving as the geographical divide, though “sandwiched” is hardly an appropriate word for a country that stretches from the Baltic Sea to the Pacific Ocean, covers onesixth of the world’s landmass, and extends through eleven time zones.
“We are Scythians! Asians!” wrote the poet Aleksandr Blok in the early twentieth century, yet Russia’s contributions to European literature, art, and music are outstanding. While twothirds of Russia’s territory are in Asia, three quarters of the population live in the European part. Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Yekaterinburg are the largest cities.
Each September the first lesson of the Russian school year traditionally begins with a talk about “our Motherland, and its space one can’t embrace.” Vast open plains cover most of the territory: the Eastern European (Russian) Plain, the MidSiberian Plateau, and the Central Yakut Plain. It is an eighthour flight from Moscow to the Pacific coastal city of Vladivostok.
“There is a strong connection between physical geography and the geography of soul, a correlation between the boundlessness of the Russian lands and the Russian spirit. Russian people have in their souls enormous spaces, the boundless eternity of the Russian plains ...,” wrote the philosopher Nikolai Berdyayev.
“He has a wide soul,” Russians often say about somebody sympathetic and supportive.
The enormous Russian spaces have another effect. Visitors cannot but notice that everything is done on a large scale, from architecture to drinking. People you meet, when they open up to you, are larger than life, both in joy and in anger.
In that first lesson of the school year, you would also hear the teacher describe Russia as the richest country in the world, though only the most progressive teacher would add in a whisper, “potentially.” Russia has a quarter of the world’s mineral resources—from oil, gas, gold, and diamonds to nonferrous metals and timber—but the obstacles of a harsh climate, great distances, and a lack of human resources (Russia has only 2.5 percent of the world’s population) have hindered its development. Add to this the permafrost that covers half the landmass, leaving only 8 percent of the land arable; active volcanoes in the Kuril Islands; spring floods and summer forest fires throughout Siberia; and earthquakes on the Kamchatka Peninsula; and you will agree with that progressive teacher.
CLIMATE
Russia encompasses all climate zones except the tropical. Most of the country has a harsh continental climate, with a dramatic difference between summer and winter temperatures. The village of Oymyakon, in the autonomous Sakha Republic, for example, is one of the world’s coldest places, with an average winter temperature of 56.6°F (47°C). A monument there marks the day it fell to 96.16°F (71.2°C). Global warming might well change things: January 2007 was the first January on record in Moscow without snow.
Southern Russia has a subtropical climate, where yearround temperatures remain above 46°F (approx. 8°C), and summer temperatures range between 79° and 90°F (26° and 32°C), though occasional extreme heat waves might exceed 122°F (50°C).
Winter in Russia lasts much longer than in Europe, and there are only three or four summer months in which concentrated agricultural labor is possible. This may explain the characteristic Russian shturmovshina—short bursts of extremely intense work. Short harvest periods and unpredictable weather can lead to risk taking in sowing, and planting na avos—a “what if” approach—hoping for a good outcome. And besides, if the harvest fails one can always go fishing. This attitude may go some way to explaining the resilience that is part of the Russian character—the ability to bounce back after losing everything, after forceful relocation due to the whims of politicians, or after economic crises.
HYDROGRAPHY
Russia’s 120,000 rivers stretch for 1,864,114 miles (3 million km); two million fresh and saltwater lakes are scattered across the country. Volga Matushka, “Mother Volga,” the national symbol of Russia and the longest river in Europe, rises northwest of Moscow and flows all the way to the Caspian Sea. Rivers are extremely important in Russian life; they bring food, transportation, and trade (the famous Nizhny Novgorod trade fair, for example, grew up on the confluence of two major rivers, the Volga and the Oka).
Though Russia is surrounded by seas—the Arctic Ocean, the Black Sea, the Baltic Sea, and the Pacific Ocean—there are huge internal territories that do not have access to seaports. Sociologists talk about the “continental,” inward looking Russian mentality, typical in countries where the majority of the population is isolated from international influences. Most Russian territory is situated more than 250 miles (402 km) from the sea.
THE FEDERATION
The patchwork of climatic and ecological zones gives rise to different densities of population in the various Russian regions and, inevitably, to ethnic and cultural differences. Geographers have often tried to define those regional parameters. I. Ryazantsev and A. Zavalishin developed the interesting concept of the “Russian cross,” which divides the country into four major regions by climatic conditions, culture, and history.
The West: European Russia and the Urals
This area is the cradle of Russian civilization; it has the highest density of population and is the most economically developed. Fortyeight out of fiftyfive deposits of natural resources are in the Urals, as well as the major military plants and a huge industrial base. The area was the main laboratory of the Soviet and postSoviet social and economic experiments, and the main arena of the “battle of minds” between the reformist center and the conservative, provincial “red belt” of Communist supporters.
The East: Southern Siberia, Lake Baikal, and the Southern Part of the Far East
These are the areas around the TransSiberian railway and the Pacific coast. The population is less dense here, and there is a strong sense of regional identity. Those who live in Siberia are known as sibiryaky, and those who live in the Far East as dalnevostochniki.
The sibiryaky are tough and hardworking, with a strong survival instinct. They are either the descendants of the Siberian pioneers of the eighteenth century or the grandchildren or children of exprisoners: it was in Siberia that the majority of Stalin’s camps were situated, and onethird of those who survived their ordeal decided not to return (or were not allowed to return) to Central Russia. The social system of mutual support and camaraderie is stronger here than in other regions.
The dalnevostochniki, who live on the Pacific coast, are more detached and selfcontained. They are an eighthour flight away from the central government decision makers. Those who moved here were ready for startup difficulties, and relied on their own resources and skills.
The Eurasian North
This includes the territories north of around 60° latitude. Here normal agriculture is practically impossible due to the harsh winters, permafrost, and long polar nights. The population consists mainly of hunters, fishermen, deer herders, and those working in the mining industries.
The South
This includes the autonomous republics of the Northern Caucasus and the basin of the Don River. The local conflicts here go back more than a century. The Russian Empire gained political control of the Caucasus in the 1860s, and the region, especially the ChechenoIngush region, has been a constant source of conflict ever since.
The southern mentality represents a melting pot of 112 ethnic groups, mixing the customs of the Kazakhs, whose ancestors escaped from Ukraine in search of freedom, with the aspirations of the local ethnic minorities to preserve Caucasian customs, identity, and independence.
According to the 2002 census, the ethnic groups in the Russian Federation are: Russian, 79.8 percent; Tatar, 3.8 percent; Ukrainian, 2 percent; Bashkir, 1.2 percent; Chuvash, 1.1 percent; others, 12.1 percent.
The Federal Structure
The Russian Federation is divided into eightyseven administrative units officially known as “Federal Subjects.” Of these, thirty are defined by ethnicity, and fiftyseven by territory. According to the constitution all the regional units are equal in their relationship to the center; in reality, there are subtle differences in the degrees of autonomy they enjoy. They are divided into the following categories: twentyone republics; nine territories (krai); fortyeight regions (oblast), and nine autonomous regions (avtonomnaya oblast, or avtonomny okrug). Moscow and St. Petersburg are regional units in their own right and are called “Federal Cities.” If you find this confusing, imagine trying to manage and coordinate this entity in a unified way.
Since 2000, President Putin has overseen a sustained recentralization of power in the relations between the center and the “subjects of federation.” Russia has been divided into seven federal districts, overseen by presidential envoys (polpredi). Five out of those seven envoys are former officers of the security services. Their first task has been to harmonize federal and regional legislation, which in some cases had diverged widely in the 1990s. Budgetary relations between the center and the regions have shifted in favor of the federal government. In December 2004 the President abolished the direct election of regional leaders and reverted to the earlier system, whereby leaders are appointed by the President, subject to approval by the regional legislature. A process has begun of consolidating regions into larger, supposedly more manageable units. The first to merge were Perm Oblast and KomiPermyak Autonomous Okrug. Further mergers are in the pipeline. But despite those efforts, the relations between the federal center and the regions still follow the matryoshka, or Russian doll, principle: “subjects of federation” are self governing islands of various sizes within one big doll.
GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
Political analysts both in Russia and abroad have been struggling to find an accurate definition of the present state of the Russian political system. “Sovereign democracy” and “democratic autocracy” are just two attempts. The bottom line, however, remains the same: the Russian president has an enormous amount of power.
The President
The presidency is Russia’s key political institution. The president is head of state and commanderinchief of the armed forces. He has extensive powers to determine domestic and foreign policy. He submits draft legislation to parliament, and signs into law or vetoes the bills that parliament has adopted. He may also issue decrees and directives that have the force of law but do not require parliamentary approval. He is elected to a fouryear term by universal suffrage. No individual may serve more than two consecutive terms. In theory at least, this does not rule out the possibility that a president who has served two terms might cede power to a successor and later return to power for a third term. It does, however, mean that, in the current state of affairs, unless the constitution is amended, which Putin has said he does not intend to do, he will be obliged to leave office in early 2008. The constitution makes no provision for a vice president, and there is no specific procedure for determining whether or not the president is capable of carrying out his duties.
As commanderinchief of the armed forces, the president approves the defense doctrine, appoints and removes the high command of the armed forces, and confers high military ranks and awards. He can declare war, martial law, or a state of emergency on his own initiative and authority, but must obtain authorization from the Federation Council before ordering deployment of the armed forces outside Russian territory.
The Presidential Administration
The president relies for support on the Presidential Administration (PA), which has a staff of two thousand. In theory, the PA confines itself to setting overall policy, while the government implements policy on a daytoday basis. In practice, this division of labor is blurred, and the PA often intervenes in specific issues. Under Putin’s leadership, it has become the norm for federal legislation to be drafted by the PA.
According to Olga Kryshtanovskaya and Stephen White, who have researched the power struggles within the Kremlin, Putin’s administration is believed to be divided into several “clans,” all of which support a strong or even authoritarian state. On the one hand are the siloviki, representing mainly the law enforcement agencies, who favor strong state control of both economy and society but who are believed to be divided among themselves and jostling for power. On the other hand are the socalled liberals, who support a market economy and what they regard as a democratic path of development for Russia. While the siloviki support a strong state as a matter of course, even the liberals argue that Russia’s population is not ready for democratic reforms and that the state accordingly has no alternative but to control events from the top.
Parliament
The bicameral Federal Assembly (Federalnoje Sobranije) consists of the upper house—the Federation Council (Sovet Federatsii) with 174 seats, composed of members appointed from 87 regional “subjects of federation”—and the lower house—the State Duma (Gosudarstvennaja Duma), which consists of 450 elected deputies. Until recently half the members were elected by proportional representation from party lists winning at least 5 percent of the vote, and half from singlemember constituencies. The system changed in 2007 to party lists only. In order to qualify for seats, a party has to win at least 7 percent of the national vote.
In Russia executive and legislative power are totally separate; that is, members of parliament cannot become ministers.
Government
In 2004, the number of government ministries was cut from twentythree to fourteen. The powers of the remaining ministries were extended to include the
power to set policy and draft legislation, and they were made responsible for overseeing a number of subordinate agencies and federal services. The government is headed by the prime minister.
In a gesture toward democracy, the president has set up two other bodies: the State Council, representing the governors of the regions and the presidents of the republics; and the Public Chamber, which consists of Kremlin nominees, representatives of NGOs, and prominent public figures. However, the impact of the State Council on policy making has been small, and the role of the Public Chamber is purely consultative.
A BRIEF HISTORY
Recently a French publisher referred to Russia as “a civilization of tears.” Russia’s history is also one of spiritual strength, defiance against invaders, opposition to reforms from the top, and the ability to survive, live, and love, even through the hardest, darkest times of the police state.
Certain names and events from Russian history—Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, Rasputin, Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin, the October Revolution, the Battle of Stalingrad, the Cold War, perestroika—are familiar to us, even if we don’t know much about them. This is a brief introduction to the major events that have influenced and shaped the Russian psyche.
Kievan Rus
The Russians trace their ancestry to the Eastern Slavic tribes. According to legend, three brothers—Kiy, Shchek, and Khoryv, from the Slavic tribe of Polians—founded the settlement of Kiev in the sixth century CE. They built a town and called it Kyiv, after the eldest brother. In 882 the Scandinavian prince Oleg captured the town, killed the local Polian rulers Ascold and Dir, and proclaimed, “Here will be the mother of Rus cities.” (Rus was the dominant Viking clan.) Kiev became an important point on the Viking trade route, called “From Varangians to Greeks,” as it extended from the Baltic to the Mediterranean.
In the tenth century Kiev was the capital of the Kievan Rus, a powerful empire that extended from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Black Sea in the south. In 988 Prince Vladimir introduced Orthodox Christianity to Rus, albeit in a peculiar way. He announced his decision to be christened to the Byzantine Emperors Constantine and Basil, and took his fleet to Crimea, to the Byzantine city of Khersones, for the purpose. Then he returned to Kiev and ordered the pagan wooden idols to be cast down. His subjects watched in horror as the idols floated down the Dnieper River. Vladimir appeared on the hill with the council of Greek priests. At his signal, all the people there, adults and children, stepped into the freezing waters of the river to be baptized.
Kievan Rus flourished during the rule of Grand Prince Yaroslav (1019–54), son of Vladimir the Great. Known as Yaroslav the Wise, he was indeed one of the wisest statesmen of his time. He created the first legal code, called “the Russian truth,” carried out grand construction projects, and avoided wars by marrying his daughters to European monarchs. His eldest daughter, Anna, became the first literate queen of France, and signed decrees and letters for her husband.
The prosperity of Kievan Rus attracted invaders from the southern steppes. The city was destroyed by the Mongol chief Baty Khan in 1240. The siege of Kiev lasted several weeks. The Mongol army was so enormous that, according to the chronicler, “You could not hear anything for the creak of their carts, the roar of their camels ... The land of Rus was filled with the enemy.” The city was burned down, and thousands were killed. In the thirteenth century the lands of Kievan Rus became the principalities of Galicia, Volynia, and Muscovy—later Poland, Lithuania, and Russia.
The Tatar Invasion
The centurieslong Tatar invasion locked Russia away from Europe. Led by the mighty Mongol chief Genghis Khan (“Great leader”), the Tatars moved quickly through the steppes and plains and established khanates throughout southern Russia, exacting tribute (dan) from each principality. Three hundred years of Tatar reign (igo, as the Russians call it) left traces in the structure of the Russian language, music, and mentality. “With the Russian, scratch the surface—find a Tatar” is a popular Russian saying.
The Rise of Moscow
The emergence of Moscow as the leading Russian citystate began with the victory of Prince Dimitry of Muscovy (later known as Dimitry Donskoy) over the Tatars at the battle of Kulikovo on the Don River in 1380. This victory established the beginnings of Russian independence from the Tatars, though the yoke was not thrown off until the end of the fifteenth century by Ivan III (1462– 1505), known as Ivan the Great. The first Russian prince to call himself a Tsar (from the Roman Caesar), he conquered Novgorod and turned the Orthodox Church into an instrument of state. By 1505, with a population of 100,000, Moscow was one of the biggest cities in the world.
Ivan the Terrible
It seems that destiny laid a curse on the Russian nation. Its history has been shaped by a number of unstable, impulsive, volatile tyrants who based their reigns on fear. The first in this bloody list was Ivan IV, “the Terrible.” The English epithet does not convey the full weight of the Russian name, Grozny, which means “causing fear,” “threatening,” or “formidable.” It fully describes the violent, unpredictable character of this tsar, and his ways of dealing with the boyars, the Russian nobility. True to his suspicious nature, he would invite them to his palace for overnight feasts and give them only his famous honey brew without food; he hoped that the hungry boyars would get drunk faster and reveal their hidden plans and intentions. He was the first to become “Tsar of all the Russians,” and established the autocratic rule that lasted until the twentieth century.
The Romanov Dynasty
After a period of civil war and invasions by Sweden and Poland, stability returned to Russia in 1613 with the accession to the throne of Mikhail Romanov. The Romanov dynasty continued to rule Russia until the Revolution in 1917.
The three hundred years of the Romanov dynasty were approximately the years when Russia was looking inward, with its own form of Christianity, its own alphabet, and even its own form of slavery: serfdom replaced the Tatar tributes and remained a sad Russian reality until its abolition in 1861. Years later, Anton Chekhov admitted that he was still squeezing the slave mentality out of himself, drop by drop.
There was one Romanov Tsar who not only looked toward Europe himself, but who dragged Russia there with all his might and his ferocious temper, looming over his subjects from his immense height.
Peter the Great (1689–1725)
“Peter [the Great] accelerated the Westernization of barbaric Russia, not neglecting to use barbarian methods to fight its barbarity ...” said Lenin of his reforms.
When, after his factfinding, shipbuilding, carpentry, and statehoodlearning Grand Tour of Europe, Peter the Great decided to modernize Russia, he started with the most important concepts and institutions of Russian life: the calendar, clothing, beards, the army, and class privileges. He even established a “merriment police” to spy on people and ensure they were not complaining. Altogether, he introduced more than a hundred reforms and regulations.
His name is immortalized by the city he started building on the bones and blood of thousands of peasants at the mouth of the Neva River in 1703. The “window to Europe,” “the Baltic beauty,” and “the Venice of the North,” St. Petersburg is a city of elegant bridges and Italianate architecture.
Catherine the Great (1762–96)
The imposition of “Europeanness from the top” continued later with the reign of Catherine the Great, who made the Russian capital the center of sophistication, indulgence, art, and literature. Catherine expanded the Russian empire to the west and to the south, and increased Russia’s influence in Europe. The scope of her interests was enormous: legislation and medicine, education and architecture. Her decrees established academic centers and libraries not just in the capital, but across the whole empire.
Passion and Self Knowledge
Catherine once jokingly asked three ambassadors, who were accompanying her on a journey across the Empire, “If I hadn’t been an Empress, what do you think my fate would have been?”
“You would have become a wise legislator—but you are one already,” was the first answer.
“You would have become a great ambassador,” was the next suggestion.
“Or, if you had been a man, you would have been a famous commander,” came the third reply.
Catherine laughed. “Oh, my passionate nature would not have allowed me to do that! I would have risked anything for glory, and would have died in the first battle.”
Napoleon’s Invasion of Russia
The French emperor thought he had conquered Russia when he entered Moscow unopposed in September 1812 with his Grand Army of nearly seven hundred thousand soldiers—the largest European army there had ever been. He did not realize that he had fallen victim to Marshal Kutuzov’s cunning plan of strategic retreat. The French found Moscow without Muscovites or food supplies. Their lines were overstretched and their troops exhausted. When the city was destroyed by fire, and with winter approaching, they began their fivehundred mile march home. Kutuzov blocked retreat by a milder southern route, and forced the French to retrace their steps through the devastated countryside. What had been planned as a victorious summer campaign ended as a rout on the frozen fields of Russia. Around thirty thousand men were all that remained of this vast army. After this decisive victory there was a universal stirring in Europe against the French. Tsar Alexander I himself led Russia’s armies into Germany in 1813, where they took part in the battles of Dresden and Leipzig. In 1814 the Russian army entered Paris with the other victorious Allies.
There are stories about Russian Cossacks marching through Europe shouting “Bystro!” (“quickly!”) when they wanted a snack in a tavern, and allegedly thus giving the name to modern French bistros. For the young Russian officers commanding the troops this was an opportunity to experience life in countries without serfdom and autocracy. They brought new, democratic ideas home with them, and a growing dissatisfaction with the tsarist regime.
The Decembrists
In December 1825 a group of idealistic Russian officers attempted to overthrow Tsar Nicholas I in order to bring about the adoption of a constitutional monarchy. This was the first uprising of the ruling classes, as opposed to a peasant mutiny. The rebellion was doomed: the Decembrists were defeated by loyal troops and executed or exiled to Siberia. Nicholas I famously commented, “I hate those who oppose me and despise those who serve me ...”
The Abolition of Serfdom (1861)
In response to the growing demand for reform by the Russian intelligentsia, serfdom was abolished under Alexanders II and III. Peasants began leaving the land to work in the cities, factories, and on the railways, and industrial life developed.
Agriculture, however, remained backward. The abolition of serfdom encouraged liberal reformers and socialist revolutionaries alike. During this period Central Asia and the Far Eastern port of Vladivostok came under Russian control, and Russia sold Alaska (settled as a trading post in 1784) to the United States for 7.2 million dollars.
THE TRAGIC TWENTIETH CENTURY
The twentieth century is the darkest page in the Russian history of tears and a huge subject in its own right. Two world wars, the Revolution of 1905, and the Great October Socialist Revolution of 1917, the civil war between the Reds (the Bolshevik forces) and the Whites; the establishment of CheKaNKVDKGB, the rise of Stalin and his reign of terror, turning the whole country into a Gulag: there are millions and millions of lost lives behind the dry lines of the following paragraphs. If you wonder why Russians don’t smile in the streets, remember these pages.
The 1905 Revolution
At first the government’s policies to develop industry were successful. Then a series of poor harvests, an industrial slump, and hardship caused by a disastrous war with Japan brought social tensions to the boiling point. On January 22, 1905, a peaceful crowd of 200,000 people marched to the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg to deliver a petition to Tsar Nicholas II demanding better working conditions. They were cut down by his Cossack troops.
This massacre, known as “Bloody Sunday,” was the last straw. Within a week there were outbreaks of strikes all over the country, including mutinies in the navy. Activists in Moscow and St. Petersburg set up worker’s councils, called Soviets, with representatives chosen by popular acclaim. These became the foundation of the new revolutionary system of government after 1917.
In 1906 the Tsar gave way to the demand for representation by permitting an elected parliament, or Duma. Prime Minister Pyotr Stolypin introduced reforms that allowed peasants to buy large parcels of land. This led to the creation of a class of prosperous peasant farmers, the Kulaks.
The 1917 Revolution
When the First World War broke out in 1914, Russia joined Britain and France against Germany and the AustroHungarian Empire. A series of heavy defeats
exposed the ineffectiveness of the government. The war caused poverty and hunger, and support for the Tsar drained away. Two alternative power groups developed: the Duma, periodically disbanded by the Tsar, which attracted the educated and commercial classes, and which formed a Provisional Government; and the Soviets, which attracted soldiers and factory workers, that now sprang up all over the country. At first the two cooperated, demanding the abdication of the Tsar. Nicholas abdicated on March 15, 1917, in the face of the German threat of invasion and a revolt by his own troops.
The Provisional Government, led by Alexander Kerensky, decided to continue the war, which was a huge mistake. This unpopular policy was opposed by Lenin (Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov), leader of the Bolshevik wing of the Marxist Social Democratic Party, under the slogan “Bread, Peace, Land.” On November 6 and 7, 1917, the Bolsheviks seized power in Petrograd (as St. Petersburg had been renamed), and arrested the entire government. Kerensky escaped to exile, and Lenin became head of government.
In December 1917 the new Bolshevik government signed an armistice with Germany, set up a secret police force (the CheKa, forerunner of the NKVD and the KGB), and founded the Red Army. The Bolshevik Party renamed itself the Communist Party and moved the capital from St. Petersburg to Moscow.
The Communists were opposed by an alliance of antiBolshevik forces supported by Britain, France, Japan, and the USA. Under Leon Trotsky (Lev Bronstein), the Red Army became a formidable fighting machine. Fearing that the Tsar might become a rallying point, the Bolsheviks murdered the royal family at Yekaterinburg in the Urals in July 1918. The bitter civil war finally ended in 1921 with a Communist victory. In 1922 the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was formed, with Lenin as its head—a multinational, socialist empire based on the borders of Imperial Russia.
Joseph Stalin (1879–1953)
On Lenin’s death in 1924, Joseph Stalin (Iosif Dzhugashvili) outmaneuvered his charismatic rival Trotsky and became General Secretary of the Communist Party. He set out to transform Russia into a powerful modern industrial nation through centralized state planning. To feed the growing numbers of workers, he forced the peasants into collective farms (kolkhoz), and instituted three Five Year Plans, with the result that by 1939 the USSR was an industrial world leader. To enforce his goals, Stalin created a totalitarian state, purging the Party and the country of all who might oppose him. He used the NKVD to keep the population terrorized and extended the practice of exiling dissidents to labor camps by setting up the gulags, an acronym of Glavnoe Upravlenie Lagerey (Main Administration for Camps). By 1939 over twenty million Russians had been transported to labor camps, of whom about twelve million died. The last camp inmates were released only in 1992, by Boris Yeltsin.
The Great Patriotic War
Stalin signed a nonaggression pact with Hitler in 1939 that secretly ceded eastern Poland to Russia and gave Russia a free hand in the Baltic. Despite this, in June 1941 Hitler’s armies invaded Russia, only grinding to a halt at Stalingrad on the Volga in 1942, in one of the most savagely fought battles of the war. Like the French in 1812, the Germans were forced to retreat during the freezing Russian winter, the Red Army following them all the way and finally entering Berlin in 1945. Enormous sacrifices were made by Russia during the Second World War —at least twentysix million died, including a million at Stalingrad.
The Cold War
After the war, the Soviet Union controlled most of Eastern and Central Europe through puppet Communist regimes answerable to Moscow. To rival NATO, in 1955 the satellite Communist states were locked into a military alliance with the Soviet Union called the Warsaw Pact. The state of tension between the Soviet Union and the Western powers led by the USA became known as the Cold War —an ideological and military war with limited armed conflict, but overshadowed by the threat of nuclear weapons.
Glasnost and Perestroika
Following Stalin’s death in 1953 a collective leadership assumed power in Russia. Nikita Khrushchev introduced a policy of liberalization and denounced the errors and crimes of the Stalin era at the 1956 Party Congress. Despite a conservative backlash in the Party, ordinary people became increasingly aware of the scale of the failures and anomalies of the Communist system, and in 1986 the relatively young General Secretary, Mikhail Gorbachev, introduced reforms promoting glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring). He also moved to reduce the huge stockpile of nuclear weapons held by the USA and the USSR, and to withdraw troops from abroad.
The policy of glasnost fanned nationalist demands for independence among the Soviet republics of the Baltic and Transcaucasia. Gorbachev responded to these by declaring “the Sinatra doctrine”—letting them do it their way, after the Frank Sinatra song “My Way.”
In foreign policy, the Cold War was formally ended at the Malta summit between Gorbachev and President Bush in 1989, opening up the possibility of GATT membership and Western investment. This move was rapidly followed by the reunification of East and West Germany in 1990. Meanwhile the republics of the USSR were beginning to seize on changes being made in the constitution to flex their muscles.
The “reformcommunist” Boris Yeltsin took power as President in the Russian Federation, while many of the conquered states began to push for unilateral independence. In 1991 five republics—the Russian Federation, Kazakhstan,
Belorussia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan—signed a new, more truly federal Union Treaty, replacing the 1922 USSR treaty. It was accepted that Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Georgia, Armenia, and Moldova would not sign.
The Abortive Anti Gorbachev Coup
In 1991 an attempted coup d’état by the Communist Party old guard, the KGB, and the military was faced down in Moscow by Boris Yeltsin. He resisted them as head of a democratic “opposition state” based at the Duma building, known as “the White House,” just over a mile from the Kremlin.
Unable to capture the White House, or win public approval or international recognition, the coup collapsed. Over the next six months Yeltsin became the engine of radical democratic change. The old Communist structures began to crumble and a new dawn of grassroots capitalism emerged, from trading in Ismailovsky Park to setting up restaurants and canteens in student basements.
The failed coup hastened the disintegration of the USSR, and some of its constituent republics became independent states (Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, and Kazakhstan). The Soviet Union was formally dissolved on December 25, 1991, when Gorbachev resigned as president, and eleven of the former Soviet republics came together in the Confederation of Independent States (CIS), with Yeltsin as president and prime minister.
In Russia the Communist red flag with its hammer and sickle was replaced by the traditional Russian red, white, and blue tricolor. Russia was now a Federation, and a member of a loose confederation of some of the former republics of the Soviet Union. The new Russian constitution was formally promulgated in 1993.
Up to Date
“It is much easier to break than to build,” is a wellknown Russian proverb. The introduction of perestroika illustrates the point. The old Soviet system was demolished, but building a new one turned out to be a much harder task. In 1992 and 1993 the sudden abolition of price controls led to hyperinflation, wiping out all savings. In 1992 alone prices increased twentysix times. In 1998 people’s savings, and the emerging middle classes, were wiped out again with the ruble crash.
Disillusionment with the present led many to romanticize the past—both regretting the loss of the old “law and order,” and taking a nostalgic interest in all preSoviet Russian history. There is a continuing debate and reevaluation of various historic events in the press and in everyday conversation. If you are prepared to discuss history, tread carefully. It is a sensitive subject, and you might offend somebody without realizing it.
RUSSIAN SOCIETY TODAY
Demographic Trends
Data published by Goskomstat, the Russian Committee on Statistics, shows some disturbing demographic trends. In 2005 the population of Russia was 144.7 million. In 2013, according to the demographers, it will be 133 million. In the last thirteen years deaths exceeded births by 11 million. In the year 2000 life expectancy was 73 years for a woman and 58.9 years for a man. To counter this trend the President announced a new demographic program, “Give birth to a Patriot,” which offers financial benefits to mothers with two or more children.
Five million people, according to Goskomstat, moved above the poverty level in the last five years; this leaves 25 million people still below it.
Social Classes
The Elite
The prominent sociologist Tatyana Zaslavskaya describes the Russian elite as “a stratum of individuals and groups that have official or unofficial authority to make decisions at state level.” These several tens of thousands of politicians, top businessmen, and senior civil servants are the most powerful group in Russian society. The interests of big business and the state intertwine in a way not seen in the West. Loyalty to those in power is traded for favoritism and “special rules” for the leading corporations. Recent scandals demonstrate the repercussions for those who try to break this mold.
The “New Russians”
The “New Russians” are the main backers of the elite, and their support is rewarded: 15 percent of the population owns 57 percent of the national wealth, while 5 percent are classified as “wealthy.” However, this wealth is often relative to Russian, not Western, standards. Only 52 percent of this group own a
car; only 40 percent own computers. This is the class that has benefited from the recent market reforms. They are interested in strengthening their position and protecting their property, but have to face covert (and sometimes quite open) hostility from the majority of the population: the gap between the rich and the poor grows bigger every day. You have only to observe the number of Bentleys and Maybachs stuck in Moscow traffic jams, and then venture down into the underground passageways, to witness this stark reality.
The Middle Class
The Russian middle classes are the middle managers, officers, small businessmen, qualified specialists, and heads of department who have been able to adapt to the economic changes. Their problems are the cost and quality of services, health care, and accommodation, but not the cost of milk or bread. The newly born Russian middle class was wiped out by the financial crisis of 1998, and emerged again to constitute, according to various estimates, 15 to 20 percent of the population (in the developed countries it is 70 percent). Sociologists fear that if property prices continue to rise and the quality of health care continues to deteriorate, this class will “vote with their feet” and will make sure that at least their children have a safer, more stable life abroad. Alternatively, they will join the ranks of the 70 percent of the population who live between middleclass standards and poverty.
The Majority of the Russian Population
The bedrock of Russian society includes intellectuals, bluecollar workers, technical staff, and those working in services and agriculture. This is the social group that politicians try to influence, and the development of this class will determine Russia’s sociopolitical future.
According to Tatyana Maleva, the director of the Russian Independent Institute of Social Policy, “If this group develops successfully, and thirtyfive percent of this group join the middle class, it will tip the balance in the country. However, if these thirtyfive percent slide into poverty [where most retirees, disabled, and migrants already are], it will lead to a social catastrophe.”
The Generations
Twentiethcentury society in Russia underwent so many social transformations, with norms set and broken so many times, that nowhere else in the world does every new generation differ more from the previous one.
Retirees
Now in their seventies and eighties, this is the war generation. They remember the hardships of 1941–45 well enough still to live by the motto, “We’ll survive anything as long as there is no war.” They are nostalgic about Soviet times, guaranteed health care, and guaranteed waiting in line, and are traditionally the most politically active part of the population. No surprise, then, that the Pensioners’ party was strong and growing fast before merging with the Party of Justice.
The 1960s Youth
Now aged fifty to seventy, they have seen it all before: Stalin’s fear and denunciation, the thaw of the 1960s, when they were lulled into the false hope of “freedom of thought” by Khrushchev—new poems, new art, new ways of thinking—only to be pushed into the stagnation of the 1970s, and to become cynical and bitter. If they were allowed to think, they were not allowed to voice their ideas. Their hopes were crushed, and they either live for their children or try to adjust, again.
“Brains and Guts”
Aged thirtyfive to fifty, this is the generation of the market reforms. After the collapse of the centralized economy, when the opportunities were all there, they were the ones who created the market—if they had brains, guts, and enough resilience to pay off the bureaucrats and the mafia. Brought up by their 1960s parents, they were taught to be skeptical about the changes and expect the worst. This survival tactic has certainly helped them to succeed in today’s Russia.
The Lost Generation
Educated in 1991–95, the last generation brought up to believe in Communism
has ended up with a vacuum of faith. Their higher education began when the old textbooks and educational system were being withdrawn, and the new not yet approved. This generation has found it hardest to adjust; it has the highest number of drug addicts, alcoholics, criminals, and unemployed.
The Future of Russia
Those in their twenties and thirties are the first generation to grow up completely without Soviet ideology. This does not mean to say they are not absorbing other ideologies eagerly. This generation has both the largest number of skinheads and neonationalists, and pragmatic, goaldriven, highly educated workers. This generation is free not only of the Soviet legacy, but also of the memories of Soviet autocracy, war, and the adjustment to transition.
The sociologist Yury Levada warned about the “problem of memory loss” of the youngest Russian generation: “... the political and economic walls of their house were already built for them. The Soviet past is an insignificant part of their lives, if it exists at all. It is the first pragmatic Russian generation in a hundred years that does not possess a historical and social memory of the country’s events.” This is the generation that will build Russia’s future. Do they know what sort of Russia is it going to be?
О РОССИИ И РУССКИХ
ЧАСТЬ 1 ИСТОРИЯ С ГЕОГРАФИЕЙ
1. РОССИЯ НА КАРТЕ МИРА
1.1. РОССИЯ НА КАРТЕ МИРА
Россия расположена на востоке Европы и на севере Азии. Европейская часть страны (около 23 % площади) включает территории к западу от Уральских гор. Азиатская часть России занимает около 76 % территории и лежит к востоку от Урала. Общая длина границ России – 60 933 км (из них две трети – морские границы). Страна имеет сухопутные границы с Казахстаном (7598,6 км), Китаем (4209,3 км), Монголией (3485 км), Украиной (2245,8 км), Финляндией (1325,8 км), Белоруссией (1239 км), Абхазией (245,0 км), Южной Осетией (74,0 км), Грузией (561,0 км) , Эстонией (466,8 км), Азербайджаном (350 км), Литвой (288,4 км), Лат- вией (270,5 км), Польшей (236,3 км), Норвегией (219,1 км), КНДР (39,4 км); мор- ские границы с Японией (194,3 км) и США (49 км).
Географический центр России находится в Красноярском крае.
1.2 РОССИЯ: АДМИНИСТРАТИВНАЯ КАРТА
В 2014 году РФ включает 85 субъектов Федерации: 22 республики, 9 краёв, 46 областей, 4 автономных округа и 1 автономную область; Москва, Санкт-Петер- бург и Севастополь являются городами федерального значения – отдельными субъектами Российской Федерации.
В 2000 году территория РФ была разделена на 7 федеральных округов – Цен- тральный, Северо-Западный, Приволжский, Южный, Уральский, Сибирский и Дальневосточный. В январе 2010 года из состава Южного федерального округа был выделен новый, Северо-Кавказский федеральный округ. В марте 2014 года образован ещё один новый округ – Крымский федеральный округ, который включает город Севастополь и Республику Крым.
1.3. НЕМНОГО О ГЕОГРАФИИ РОССИИ
Россия, или Российская Федерация, является самым большим государством в мире. С севера на юг страна протянулась более чем на 4 тысячи километров, а с запада на восток – почти на 10 тысяч километров.
Россия расположена в Восточной Европе и Северной Азии. Географически страну можно разделить на три больших региона: Европейскую Россию, Сибирь и Дальний Восток.
В России 10 часовых поясов. Когда на востоке страны часы показывают 12 часов ночи и наступает новый день, на западе только 3 часа дня.
1.4. ПРИРОДНЫЕ РЕСУРСЫ
В России 14 морей. На её территории, в Сибири, находится самое глубокое озеро в мире – озеро Байкал. Самое большое озеро в Европе – Ладожское. Самые крупные реки России: в европейской части – река Волга, а в Сибири – Лена, Обь и Иртыш. На территории России расположены Кавказские, Алтайские, Уральские и другие горы. Уральские горы являются географической границей между Европой и Азией. Гора Эльбрус на Кавказе – самая высокая гора Европы.
В России есть нефть, газ, каменный уголь, железная руда, никель, алюминий, золото, алмазы и другие полезные ископаемые.
1.5. ПРИРОДА И КЛИМАТ
В России много лесов. В лесах водятся медведи, волки, лисицы, зайцы и другие животные.
Климат России достаточно разнообразный. Самым холодным регионом Рос- сии является Сибирь. В Якутии зимняя температура может достигать –50 (минус пятидесяти), а иногда и –70 (минус семидесяти) градусов.
В европейской части России климат более мягкий, но и здесь зима продолжа- ется довольно долго – 4–5 месяцев. Средняя январская температура в Москве составляет –7 (минус семь) градусов, а средняя июльская – +20 (плюс двадцать).
1.6. ВРЕМЕНА ГОДА. ЗИМА
В России можно увидеть все четыре времени года: зиму, весну, лето и осень. Дольше других сезонов продолжается зима – около 4,5 месяцев – с середины ноября и почти до конца марта. За Полярным кругом стоит полярная ночь, когда и днём темно, как ночью.
Зимой на большей части территории России лежит снег, а реки и озёра по- крыты льдом. В декабре почти нет солнца, пасмурно. Солнце начинает показы- ваться в январе. В феврале часто бывают метели (ветер и снег), день становится немного длиннее. В марте снег начинает таять, но ночью ещё стоят морозы.
1.7. ВРЕМЕНА ГОДА. ВЕСНА
После зимы наступает весна. С середины марта солнце светит ярче, а с середины апреля оно не только ярко светит, но и греет. Снег и лёд тают. Но настоящая весна в европейской части России приходит только в мае: деревья становятся зелёными, в полях появляются первые цветы, а в лесах и городских парках начи- нают петь птицы, которые прилетели с юга. В мае сеют рожь, пшеницу и другие культуры.
1.8. ВРЕМЕНА ГОДА. ЛЕТО
В конце мая – начале июня наступает тёплое, а иногда и жаркое лето. Оно продолжается три месяца – до начала сентября. Летом дни становятся длиннее, а ночи – короче. На севере летом бывают белые ночи, когда ночью светло почти как днём, а за Полярным кругом солнце не садится совсем, стоит полярный день. Лето – это время каникул и отпусков, а также пора (=время) активных работ в сельском хозяйстве.
1.9. ВРЕМЕНА ГОДА. ОСЕНЬ
С середины сентября становится прохладнее (=немного холоднее). Чаще (=более часто) идут дожди. Однако в середине сентября бывает короткий пери- од тёплой и приятной погоды. Это время в народе называют бабьим летом. В сентябре и первой половине октября природа в России очень красивая. В это время деревья становятся золотисто-жёлтыми и красными. Эту короткую, но прекрас- ную пору в России называют золотой осенью. В ноябре листья с деревьев уже опали, начинаются холодные дожди, рано темнеет. Выпадает первый снег. Птицы улетают на юг.
1.10. НАСЕЛЕНИЕ
Население современной России составляет 144 миллиона человек. В России проживает более ста разных народов, которые говорят на ста различных языках. Однако у них есть общий для всех язык – русский. Русские в настоящее время составляют более 80 % на- селения. В русском языке существуют два слова: россиянин и русский. Слово россиянин обозначает граждан России разных национальностей. Слово рус- ский обозначает национальность. Не каждый россиянин обязательно русский. Кроме русских, в России живут также татары – около 4 % населения, украинцы – примерно 3 % населения, белорусы – около 1 %, приблизитель- но 1миллион евреев, а также люди других национальностей.
1.11. ГОРОДА
Большая часть населения страны (70 %) живёт в городах. В России насчиты- вается более 1000 (тысячи) городов. Население 15 городов превышает 1 милли- он жителей. Самыми крупными и известными российскими городами являются: столица России Москва, бывшая столица России Санкт-Петербург, а также Ниж- ний Новгород, Екатеринбург, Казань, Новосибирск, Владивосток, Ростов-на-Дону, Красноярск, Пермь, Воронеж, Волгоград, Севастополь и другие.
1.12. МОСКВА
Самым большим городом России является её столица – город Москва. В Москве работает президент России и российское правительство. В Москве проживает более 12 миллионов человек. Сердце Москвы – Кремль и Красная площадь. Красная в древнерусском языке означало «красивая».
В Москве много интересных музеев и театров. Самыми известными музеями Москвы являются Кремль и Третьяковская галерея. А среди театров наиболее из- вестны Большой театр (оперы и балета) и драматические театры: Малый театр и МХТ – Московский художественный театр.
В Москве много университетов. Самыми известными являются МГУ – Московский государственный университет имени Ломоносова и РУДН – Российский университет дружбы народов.
1.13. САНКТ-ПЕТЕРБУРГ
Второй по величине город России – Санкт-Петербург. Петербург был осно- ван в 1703 году русским царём Петром Первым. С 1712 по 1918 год он был сто- лицей Российской империи. Петербург – один из самых красивых городов не только России, но и Европы. Его называют культурной столицей России.
В городе много прекрасных музеев и театров. Здесь находятся всемир- но известный музей Эрмитаж и Мариинский театр (оперы и балета). В Петербурге так же, как и в Москве, немало университетов, но самый известный– это СПбГУ, Санкт-Петербургский государственный университет. В пригородах Петербурга расположены всемирно известные дворцово-парковые ансамбли: Петергоф (Петродворец), Царское Село (Пушкин) и Павловск.
2. ИЗ ИСТОРИИ РОССИИ
2.1. КИЕВСКАЯ РУСЬ
Русское государство основано в 9 (IX) веке. Столицей первого русского го- сударства был Киев, как пишут хроники, «мать городов русских». Сегодня это столица Украины. Первой княжеской династией стала династия Рюриковичей.
Важным событием в истории Киевской Руси стало принятие христианства. Христиане привезли на Русь книги и алфавит – кириллицу. Это произошло в 988 году, когда киевским князем был Владимир. Большую роль в русской истории сы- грал и сын Владимира – князь Ярослав. Он был образованным человеком, много читал, собрал прекрасную библиотеку и развивал образование на Руси. За это народ назвал его Ярославом Мудрым.
Дети Ярослава начали воевать друг с другом, и Киевская Русь стала слабой. В 1240 году Киевскую Русь завоевали монголо-татары. Они разрушили многие русские города. Теперь монгольский хан в Золотой Орде решал, кто будет князем в Киеве и других городах. Русские княжества платили Орде большие налоги.
2.2. ВЕЛИКИЙ НОВГОРОД
На северо-западе Руси находилась богатая Новгородская республика. Это был большой торговый центр. Во главе Новгорода в 13 (XIII) веке стоял молодой князь Александр. В 1240 году на реке Неве князь одержал победу над шведами. За эту победу он получил имя Невский. В 1242 году Александр Невский одержал ещё одну важную победу: над немецкими рыцарями, которые напали на Русь с запада.
Александр умел не только воевать, но и успешно вёл мирные переговоры с монголами. Он получил в Орде право быть великим князем Киевским и собирать для Орды налоги. Монголы больше не приходили на Русь каждый год.
2.3. МОСКОВСКАЯ РУСЬ
В 14 (ХIV) веке новым религиозным, торговым и политическим центром Руси стала Москва. Московские князья стали собирать русские земли. В 1380 году на реке Дон русские под руководством московского князя Дмитрия одержали первую крупную победу над монголо-татарами. За эту победу князь получил имя Донской. Московский князь теперь сам решал, кому после себя оставить власть. Он, как и раньше, собирал налоги для Орды, но оставлял часть денег в Москве. На эти деньги Дмитрий перестроил деревянную крепость на каменную (Кремль).
Но окончательно Русь освободилась от Золотой Орды только в 1480 году, при московском князе Иване III (Третьем) – Иване Великом. На карте снова появи- лось единое русское государство – Московская Русь, или Россия.
2.4. СМУТНОЕ ВРЕМЯ
В 1598 году умер царь Фёдор – по- следний царь из династии Рюрикови- чей. У царя Фёдора не было детей, и царём стал Борис Годунов– муж се- стры царя. После смерти Бориса Году- нова началось время, которое историки назвали «смутное время». Москву захватили поляки.
В 1612 году русский народ под ру- ководством купца Минина и князя По- жарского освободил Москву. Памятник героям теперь стоит на Красной площа- ди. В 1613 году новым царём был избран Михаил Романов. Династия Романовых была на русском троне до 1917 года.
С 2004 года день освобождения Москвы, 4 ноября, стал праздником – Днём народного единства.
А в 1547 году московский князь Иван IV впервые назвал себя царём. За жестокий характер ему дали имя Грозный. Иван Грозный завоевал Казанское и Астраханское ханства на Волге, Урал и Сибирь.
2.5. ЦАРЬ ПЁТР I. Часть 1-я
В конце 17 (XVII) века русским царём стал Пётр I. Царь Пётр Великий вошёл в историю как царь-реформатор. Он много сделал для развития Российского государства, его армии, флота, для обра- зования. В войне со шведами, которая продолжалась 21 год, Россия одержала важную победу и вернула себе выход к Балтийскому морю, к торговым путям в Европу.
В 1703 году на реке Неве Пётр I основал город-порт и назвал его Санкт-Петербург. А в 1712 году Пётр сделал Санкт-Петербург новой столицей Рос- сии. В Петербурге при Петре появились первый русский музей, Академия наук.
2.6. ЦАРЬ ПЁТР I. Часть 2-я
При Петре Первом границы России расширились не только на запад, но и на восток: до Чукотки, Камчатки и Командорских островов. В состав России вошли современные Хакасия, Калмыкия, Архангельская область и часть Азербайджана. В 1721 году Пётр I объявил Россию империей, а себя – первым российским им- ператором.
Пётр Первый был очень высокого роста – около двух метров. Но имя Вели- кий он получил за свои великие дела, а не за свой высокий рост. В Петербурге есть памятник Петру Первому, который русский поэт Пушкин назвал «Медный всадник». Так петербуржцы называют его и сегодня. Но лучшим памятником им- ператору стала новая сильная Россия.
2.7. РУССКИЕ ЦАРИЦЫ
В середине 18 (ХVIII) века Россией правила дочь Петра I – Елизавета. При Елизавете в Петербурге был построен Зимний дворец, основан первый русский театр и Московский университет. В состав России вошли восточная Белоруссия, Алтай, часть Казахстана.
В 1762 году русской царицей стала Екатерина Вторая. Она правила Россией долго – 34 года. Екатерина II была умной и талантливой женщиной, поэтому её царствование называли «золотым веком». При Екатерине Великой в состав Рос- сии вошли Крым, Осетия, Прибалтика (Латвия, Литва, Эстония), Курилы, Аляска, Грузия, северная Армения, часть Азербайджана и Молдавии.
Екатерина II начала собирать коллекцию картин, с которой начался музей Эр- митаж. При ней были основаны Академия художеств, Большой театр и Мариинский театр. В Петербурге стоит памятник Екатерине II.
2.8. ВОЙНА 1812 ГОДА. НАЧАЛО ВОЙНЫ
В 1801 году русским царём стал Александр I (Первый)– внук Екатерины II (Второй). В 1812 году на территорию России вступила (вошла) французская армия под командованием Наполеона Бонапарта. Наполеон дошёл почти до Мо- сквы. Осенью 1812 года около деревни Бородино между русскими и французами произошло сражение. В этом сражении не было ни победителя, ни побеждённого обе армии остались на своих позициях. Но чтобы сохранить людей, главно- командующий русской армией М.И. Кутузов отдал приказ отступить, Наполеон вошёл в Москву.
2.9. ВОЙНА 1812 ГОДА. ОКОНЧАНИЕ ВОЙНЫ
Однако вдали от Франции французская армия оказалась в очень трудном положении, и Наполеон отдал приказ отступать. Французы ушли из горящей Москвы.
Началась русская зима. Голодные, без зимней одежды, французы отступали по той же дороге, по которой наступали на Москву. Во время похода в Россию Наполеон потерял почти всю свою армию. А в 1814 году русская армия вошла в Париж. В честь этой победы и императора-победителя Александра I в Петербур- ге, на Дворцовой площади, установлен памятник – Александровская колонна.
2.10. ЦАРЬ-РЕФОРМАТОР АЛЕКСАНДР II
В первой половине 19 (XIX) века в России существовало крепостное право. Крестьяне не были свободными – они принадлежали дворянам и должны были на них работать, потому что вся земля принадлежала дворянам.
Только в 1861 году русский царь Александр II отменил в России крепостное право, крестьяне остались без земли, но стали свободными. Царь получил имя «освободитель».
Александр провёл много реформ: судебную, финансовую, военную, административную, реформу образования.
Но в России активно действо- вали революционеры-террористы. 1 марта 1881 года они убили ца- ря-реформатора. Новым царём стал его сын Александр III (Третий). А на месте, где смертельно ранили Александра II (Второго), был построен прекрасный храм, который в народе называется «Спас на крови».
2.11. РОССИЯ НА КАВКАЗЕ
В 18 (XVIII) веке на Кавказе столкнулись интересы России, Персии (Ирана) и Турции. Эти страны спорили за экономическое, политическое и религиозное влияние в регионе. В 1783 году Грузия и Россия подписали договор, в котором Россия обещала Грузии защиту от Турции, а потом Грузия вошла в состав России. В результате двух русско-персидских войн 1814 и 1828 годов в состав России во- шли также азербайджанские ханства и восточная Армения.
Дорога в Закавказье шла через Северный Кавказ и была очень опасной. Россия должна была обеспечить себе безопасный проезд в Закавказье. Диплома- тические переговоры шли неудачно, и Россия перешла к военным действиям. Началась Кавказская война, которая продолжалась почти 50 лет (1817–1864). Против сильного влияния России на Кавказе были Турция и Великобритания, которые поддерживали борьбу горцев с Россией. После победы России многие тысячи горцев уехали в Турцию и на Ближний Восток. Отношение к России как к врагу осталось у некоторых народов Северного Кавказа надолго.
В советский период в Закавказье быстро развивались промышленность и сельское хозяйство: плодоводство и виноградарство, виноделие, чаеводство, пастбищное животноводство. Появилось много курортов, где на тёплом море от- дыхали жители всего Советского Союза.
2.12. РОССИЯ В СРЕДНЕЙ АЗИИ
Многочисленные народы Средней Азии были на разном уровне политического и экономического развития. Некоторые из них занимались кочевым скотовод- ством, другие – земледелием. В ряде районов процветали ремесло и торговля. Промышленного производства почти не было.
Россия начала развивать торговлю со своими соседями на юго-востоке только в первой половине 19 (XIX) века. Однако Россия в это время не вела серьёзной внешней политики в Средней Азии.
Во второй половине 19 (XIX) века ситуация изменилась, потому что Великобритания решила сделать Среднюю Азию своей колонией, чтобы контролировать путь в британскую Индию. Россия не хотела усиления Великобритании у своих южных границ. В 1863 году Россия перешла от политических переговоров к военным действиям. В 1866 году к России были присоединены Ташкент и часть Кокандского ханства.
В 1867–1868 годах русские войска под командованием К.П. Кауфмана вели во- енные действия с бухарским эмиром, которого поддерживала Великобритания, в результате между Россией и Бухарой был подписан мирный договор. В 1873 году к России была присоединена Хива. Коканд, Хива и Бухара сохранили статус самостоятельных государств, но их политика зависела от России.
В 1880–1881 годах русская армия во главе с генералом М.Д. Скобелевым совершила поход в Туркмению. Включение Туркмении в состав России в 1884 году завершило присоединение Средней Азии к России.
Присоединение Средней Азии можно оценивать по-разному. С одной сто- роны, эти земли Россия получила в основном в результате военных действий. С другой стороны, присоединение к России принесло в Среднюю Азию много прогрессивного. Русские построили здесь железные дороги, провели электри- чество. Из Америки они привезли новые сорта хлопка, и к началу 20 (XX) века. Средняя Азия стала основным поставщиком хлопка и шёлка для российской промышленности. Русские крестьяне, которые приехали в Среднюю Азию, привезли с собой новые сорта овощей и фруктов. Кончились постоянные войны между местными жителями, не стало рабства и работорговли. Средняя Азия получила единое с Россией современное законодательство. В городах стали открываться светские школы. Русские учёные начали изучение природы, истории и культуры Средней Азии. Особенно заметный вклад принадлежит П.П. Семёнову-Тян-Шан- скому, Н.М. Пржевальскому, В.В. Бартольду и др.
Русская администрация уважала местные обычаи и мусульманскую религию. Народы Средней Азии сохранили в составе России свои национальные, культур- ные и религиозные черты.
2.13. КОНЕЦ РОССИЙСКОЙ ИМПЕРИИ
В 1905 году в Москве произошла Первая русская революция. После револю- ции царь Николай II разрешил политические партии, появилась Государствен- ная дума, которая могла давать советы царю, но ещё не могла принимать законы. Премьер-министр П.А. Столыпин начал успешные реформы в сельском хозяй- стве. Русская экономика стала быстро развиваться.
Но в 1914 году началась Первая мировая война. Главными противниками в этой войне стали Россия и Германия. Немецкое название русской столицы Санкт-Петербург изменили на русское – Петроград. Жизнь во время войны ста- ла тяжёлой, народ был недоволен.
В феврале 1917 года началась революция, царь Ни- колай Второй отказался от власти. Так закончилась история династии Романовых.
В октябре 1917 года власть в стране взяла пар- тия большевиков во главе с В.И. Лениным. На местах власть была в руках советов рабочих и крестьянских депутатов, поэтому её назвали советской, а страну – Советской Россией.