History of Russia
This article is part of theHistory of Russia series. |
Early East Slavs |
Kievan Rus' |
Khazaria |
Mongol invasion of Russia |
Muscovy |
Imperial Russia |
Russian Revolution |
Russian Civil War |
|
USSR and Russia
|
Russian Federation |
The earliest Slavic state in the region was that of the Kievan Rus.
In the later Middle Ages it was the Muscovy principality that developed into an empire that from the 15th century onward slowly grew eastward into Asia.
Under the Tsars, Russia then became a major European power as Imperial Russia expanded westward from the 18th century onward.
Revolutionary activity in Russia began with the Decembrist Revolt, uncovered in 1825, and although serfdom was abolished in 1861, its abolition was achieved on terms unfavorable to the peasants and served to encourage revolutionaries.
A parliament, the Duma, was established in 1906, but political and social unrest continued and was aggravated during World War I by military defeat and food shortages. The February Revolution and October Revolutions (see Russian Revolution) brought the Bolsheviks to power in 1917.
The Russian Revolution was followed by a period of civil war (see Russian Civil War), after which communist control was complete.
The collapse of Tsarist rule was followed by the eviction of the landlord class and the subdivision of land among peasant families. Poor and middle peasants generally did not benefit from the latter until Lenin announced the New Economic Policy (NEP), which saw an end to government requisitioning of food during the civil war. Peasants marketed most of their produce at free prices during the years of the NEP.
After the death of the Soviet Union's revolutionary founding figure VI Lenin (1924), Joseph Stalin finally emerged as uncontested leader when Leon Trotsky had been exiled from the Soviet Union in 1929.
Under Stalin, who replaced Lenin's NEP with five year plans and collective farming, the Soviet Union (established 1922) became a major industrial power, but with effective political opposition eliminated during the 1930s by purges. World War II established the Soviet Union as one of the two major world powers, a position maintained for four decades through military strength, aid to developing countries, and scientific research, especially into space technology and weaponry. Growing tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States, its former wartime ally and the other superpower, led to the Cold War.
Communist Party General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev promoted Soviet glasnost (openness) and perestroika (economic restructuring). A U.S.-Soviet summit meeting in 1986 and 1987 and a meeting of U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Gorbachev in late 1988 brought arms control cuts in Europe.
As the Russian republic's Boris Yeltsin eclipsed Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in power, the disintegration of Communist allies in Eastern Europe eventually triggered the peaceful dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the independence of the Russian Federation.Early Russian East Slavs
For details see the main article Early Russian East Slavs.Kievan Rus'
For details see the main article Kievan Rus'.Khazaria
For details see the main article Mongol invasion of Russia.Muscovy
For details see the main article Muscovy.Imperial Russia
For details see the main article Imperial Russia.Russian Revolution
For details see the main article Russian Revolution.Russian Civil War
For details see the main article Russian Civil War.Soviet Union
For details see the main article History of the Soviet Union.Russian Federation
For details see the main article History of post-communist Russia.