Russian History

Origins of Russian Culture

Russia's cultural history begins with Kievan Rus, a trading state centered around the modern Ukrainian city of Kiev. It was founded through a blending of native Slavic tribes and Norse Varangians led by a man named Rurik in the 9th century. Kiev rose to prominence thanks to its central position between Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, making it an ideal center for medieval trade. Byzantine monks brought the beginnings of Eastern Orthodox Christianity and a modified Greek alphabet, Cyrillic, to the region by the 10th century. Mounted Khazar warriors led raids from vast Eurasian steppes to the east. Farther south, the Islamic Abbasid Caliphate in Baghdad became a major trading partner. To the west, European powers like Poland and the Holy Roman Empire allied with Catholic Rome over Orthodox Constantinople, a divide that would shape relations between the regions to the present day.

Russia and the Golden Horde

In this environment, the princes of Kiev built a flourishing trade empire connecting the far corners of Eurasia and Africa. They faced growing competition from other principalities and duchies with similar backgrounds. These included Novgorod, the original seat of Varangian power, and Vladimir. Over time, political infighting and constant conflicts to the south eroded Kievan strength. Their independence ended in the 13th century through a series of invasions led by Tatar and Mongol forces under Batu Khan. Their armies represented an arm of the rapidly expanding Mongol Empire, which would extend from Kiev to modern Beijing. The conquest was not a smooth one. Kiev was all but destroyed after a siege in 1240, and Vladimir suffered a similar fate.

The Golden Horde had little interest in occupying their conquered lands. Instead, they administered their territories from Sarai, a capital near modern Astrakhan. Russian power shifted north to states like Moscow, Vladimir, Tver and Novgorod. The princes of this period, which is sometimes called the "Mongol yoke," owed fealty to the Khanate and periodically traveled to Sarai to offer tributes to the Khan.

The Russian Empire

During the 14th and 15th centuries, the Grand Duchy of Moscow slowly consolidated power. It began to push back against the Golden Horde with key military victories. By 1480, Ivan III, also known as Ivan the Great, had unified the Russian states and overthrown the ruling khanates. Ivan IV, or Ivan the Terrible, sought to build the ‘Third Rome’ in Moscow. He took the title of Tsar, or Caesar, in 1547. His reign saw a broad increase in Russian influence, including the conquest of Tatar states like Astrakhan. At the same time, his personal instability led to incidents like the apparent murder of his son. This left him with a single heir, Fyodor I, who ruled in the shadow of his brother-in-law, Boris Godunov, and died childless in 1598. Fyodor represented the last of Rurik's dynasty; Godunov then took over as tsar.

Godunov's reign proved turbulent. Russia reeled through natural disasters, foreign invasions, pretenders to the throne, and internal revolt. By 1613, Michael I of the Romanov family, a relative of the Rurikid tsars, had been elected to rule. The early Romanovs worked to reclaim territory lost in the decades prior, put down revolts by groups like the Cossacks, and strengthen the agricultural output of Russia. This included a shift from peasant farming to serfdom significantly later than most other European states. As the tsardom's borders expanded, its rulers looked to organize and contain the diverse communities it had absorbed.

In the 18th century, distinguished Romanov leaders like Peter and Catherine the Great turned their eyes to Europe and France in particular. Peter moved the capital from Moscow to St. Petersburg and oversaw its transition into an empire. Russia’s upper classes began adopting European-style arts, clothing, engineering, and philosophy. This was interrupted by the Napoleonic Wars of the early 19th century, which encouraged a backlash against French language and culture. But while the nobility of Russia dined in lavish palaces, its large class of serfs continued to lead feudal lifestyles. Growing rural unrest led to the emancipation of the serfs in 1861 and further restrictions on the power of the tsar.

The Russian Revolution

The modest concessions of Tsar Alexander II, Alexander III, and Nicholas II were not enough to quell popular unrest. Members of the empire's intellectual class, inspired by philosophers like Karl Marx, advocated for a system that rewarded all for their labor and eliminated the system of poverty. Although always controversial, their message resonated with the hard-pressed peasants of the World War I-era. Most prominent of these revolutionaries were Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, or Lenin, and Leon Trotsky.

After decades of famine, repression, costly wars, and general poverty, Russia’s commoners rose up against the Romanovs. The Russian Revolution of 1917 toppled the monarchy and installed a socialist system led by the Bolsheviks. The tsar and his family were killed in the violence, ending the Romanov dynasty. This prompted Russia’s withdrawal from World War I. After a period of civil war, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics emerged in 1922.

The Soviet Union

The Soviet Union industrialized Russia on a massive scale. Among its many reforms, the state nationalized most industries, promoted equality between genders, and rejected the once dominant Eastern Orthodox Church. These changes met fierce resistance from many sides, sometimes leading to violent crackdowns. After Lenin's death, a struggle ensued between Trotsky and Joseph Stalin, another revolutionary, over the course of the Soviet Union's future. This conflict ended with Trotsky's exile and later assassination. Stalin's leadership would eventually transform into a dictatorship.

In 1939, the Soviet Union entered a non-aggression pact with Germany under the Nazi Party. By 1941, however, Germany had launched a surprise invasion of Russia, causing the Soviets to join the Allies. A bitter, hard-won victory in World War II left the communist state devastated, but also a major military and economic power. Its largest competitor, the United States, was vehemently opposed to its communist ideology.

The Cold War grew over tensions between these two nuclear powers and soon played out across the globe. Stalin's death in 1953 ushered in an era of greater social freedoms but continued economic difficulties. The Cold War encouraged an explosion of scientific progress, including multiple innovations and successes in the Space Race. It also led to several disasters, such as the Chernobyl accident of 1986. After decades of proxy wars and espionage with the United States and its allies, the Soviet Union collapsed between 1989 and 1991.

Modern Russia

After the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia reformed as the Russian Federation. It lost much of its former territories, particularly in Eastern Europe and Western Asia. In its modern state, the nation has faced the challenge of overhauling its economy and settling into a unified national identity once more. This has included a return to older traditions suppressed by the communist government. Eastern Orthodoxy, for example, has seen increasing popularity in the wake of the Soviet Union. Russia today has been largely influenced by its most prominent leader, Vladimir Putin, who has more or less held power from 2000 to the present day.

References

Bushkovitch, Paul. A Concise History of Russia. Cambridge University Press. 2012.

Moon, David. The Russian Peasantry 1600-1930: The World the Peasants Made. Routledge. 2014.

Rowland, Daniel Bruce. Medieval Russian Culture. University of California Press. 1984.

“The World Factbook: Russia.” Central Intelligence Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, 29 May 2018, www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/rs.html.

Vernadsky, George. Kievan Russia. Yale University Press. 1973.

Ziegler, Charles. The History of Russia. ABC-CLIO. 2009.

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