Russia

Russia’s Geo• Bigger than the U.S., Mexico, & Canada

combined.• How does this massive amount of territory

affect human/enviro interaction?• 1. Affects Development of certain areas• 2. Some areas have dense pop others don’t2 Plains that connect Europe & Asia:1. Northern European Plain2. Western Siberian Plain

Russia’s Geo• Northern European Plain- center of economic

life of ¾ of the people of Russia & Eurasian Republics & contains 2 of Russia’s largest cities (Moscow & St. Petersburg)

Russia’s Geo• Western Siberian Plain- East of the Ural Mts. &

is the worlds flattest land. Made up of swamps, marshes & frozen land not good for farming.

Russia’s Geo

Turan Lowland- Lies tween the Caspian Sea & the Tian Shan Mt. range. Little land is suitable for living cause most of it is desert.

Russia’s Mts.• The Carpathian Mts. Boarder Ukraine &

are an extension of the Alps

Russia’s Mts.

• The Caucasus Mts help form Russia’s SW boarder

Black Sea

Caspian Sea

Russia’s Mts.• Ural Mts. Are rich in minerals & run

from the Arctic Ocean to near Aral Sea.

• They divide European Russia & Siberia.

Russia’s Climate• What has a great impact on climate in Russia?

•SIZE• 2 major kinds of climate found in Russia• 1- Humid Continental• 2- Subarctic

• Temperature variations are the craziest in the world.• Summers are warm but short.• Winters are long & always COLD.• More than ½ the land is covered in snow 6 months out

of the year & some of the land is considered permafrost- permanently frozen layer of soil beneath the ground.

Russia’s Waterways• 3 Main Rivers

• 1. Volga- Flows through Central Russia & is considered the National river.

• Even though its frozen 4-6 months out of the year it still is valuable to Russia.(hydro power & trade)

Russia’s Waterways• 2. Yenisei- Also

frozen much of the year it flows from Lake Baikal to the Arctic Ocean.

• It too provides hydro power to different parts of Russia.

Russia’s Waterways• 3. Lena- Eastern most of the 3 main

rivers.

Russia’s Seas & Lakes• Caspian Sea-

worlds largest inland body of water.

• Contains 1/3 of the salt water that sea water does.

• Used to be part of the Black Sea then plate tectonics got involved.

Aral Sea

• Shrinking due to the USSR diverting the flow of rivers for irrigation.

Lake Baikal• The world’s oldest & deepest lake @ an

average depth of 2,442 ft. (deepest part is 5,387 ft.)

• It is also the world’s largest Fresh water lake.

Russia Broken Down• 2 sections:• 1. European Russia- Area of Russia W of Ural Mts.• 2. Siberia- Lies tween the Ural Mts & the Pacific Ocean

in the East. It contains 71 % of Russia’s land mass.

Trans Siberian RR

• RR connecting Moscow to Far Eastern Russia.• Longest RR in the world @ 5,753 miles.

• Russia’s gov spent 1.455 billion rubles or $47.3 million btw 1891-1913 &Approved by Czar Alexander II

Reasons for RR

• In late 1800’s there weren’t many good roads in Siberia.

• This hurt development, transportation, & economic growth across Siberia.

• For about 5 months out of the year rivers were main transportation routes.

• During the winter months people & goods moved by horse drawn sleds over the ice covered rivers.

Construction• Started @ each end & met in the

middle.• Who would be a cheap labor

force?• 1. Convicts• 2. Soldiers• Had many rivers & lakes that had

to be crossed. Building the bridges slowed the process.

Effects of RR on Russia• Gave a positive boost to Siberian

agriculture & Russia’s overall economy.• Also allowed Russia to move Troops

& Equipment during WWI, the Russian Revolution, & WWII.• Today people can ride from one end

of Russia to the other in 8 days.

Russian History• Really started around 862

when civilizations from Europe moved into/invaded the area of what's now Russia.

• When they started getting established, trade routes started forming & more people started coming in & settling the area.

• Vladimir I brought the people together & started Russia’s 1st kingdom around 989 & lasted till around 1240

Russian History• Around 1240 the

Mongols came in & took over, burning most of the major cities on their way W to Europe.

• The Mongols ruled until around 1480.

• Just like the Dark Ages, most of Russian “enlightenment” disappeared from civilization.

Famous/Infamous Russians• Ivan IV the

terrible- The 1st to call himself “Tsar”. He too expanded Russia.

• Called this cause of how ruthless he was while in power.

• Some accounts have him suffering from mental illness.

• Actually killed his successor whom he chose and prepared for the role of Tsar.

Famous/Infamous Russians• Peter I the great- Credited for

making Russia an “Empire” He gave more power to the large landholders “modernizing” Russia

• After he died, 40 yrs went by before Russia had another strong ruler.

Famous/Infamous Russians• Catherine the great- married the heir to the

Russian throne but thought he wasn’t fit to rule so she had him killed.

• She was very skilled in foreign policy and expanding Russia even further.

Russian Revolution• Causes:• 1. Yrs of oppressing the poor folks.• 2. “Bloody Sunday” 1905- shooting of 100’s of

unarmed demonstrators in St Petersburg on Jan. 22 1905. Many workers went on strike cause of this.

• To stop the strikes Tsar, Nicholas II, executed over 1,000 folks & sent other 1,000’s to prison camps.

• The positives were that this up rise empowered the people & made Nicholas II give the people power in the Russian gov.

Russian Revolution• 3. WWI- 1917 were losing to the

Germans mainly because they lacked the modern industry to support its war effort & didn't have an good railroad system to get supplies to the front.

• This didn’t help the people’s confidence of Tsar Nicholas II.

• Sick of the Tsar the workers, peasants, & soldiers rose up and demanded the redistribution of land.

• Tsar Nicholas II left the throne in Feb 1917 & a provisional gov took over.

Russian Revolution• The Prov Gov only

lasted till October 1917 because it too was oppressive & cut out the working class folks.

• A dude named Vladimir Lenin led another Revolution.

• Lenin’s views on politics & rule led to what we now know as Communism.

Communism vs. Socialism• What is the difference?• Communism- is a political movement that

aims for a classless society structured on community ownership of the means of production & the end of wage labor & private property.

• Socialism- is an economic & political theory that supports public or common ownership & cooperative management of the means of production & allocation of resources.

Cold War• Mainly tween the U.S. & USSR.• The opposing sides were Communists vs.

Anti-Communists• During WWII, the U.S. & USSR became the

most powerful countries in the world. • Main Issues that started the CW:• 1. Treatment of occupied countries in E

Europe.• 2. Economic Reconstruction of Europe.• 3. Fate of Germany.

Cold War• Quickly all sides realized that the

former allies could quickly become enemies.

• U.S. President Harry Truman declared that the U.S. would, “Refuse to recognize any gov imposed on any nation by the force of any foreign power.”

• One of the main tension building events was the “German Question”

Cold War• German ? Back

ground:• The USSR didn’t want

another unified Germany that couldn’t be controlled.

• The U.S. & G.B. were afraid of a Soviet dominated Germany that wanted to destroy the balanced pwr in post war Europe & possibly threaten W Europe.

Questions

• 1. Why would the U.S. & G.B. be afraid of Russia?

• 2. How could Russia take over the rest of Europe?

• 3. What is keeping Russia from taking over?

Cold War• Marshall Plan- was the primary program,

1947–51, of the U.S. for rebuilding & creating a stronger economic foundation for the countries of Europe.

• USSR didn’t want any of their countries to participate in the program & this also led to the dividing of Germany’s capital city of Berlin.

• Berlin was divided into E & W sections. The USSR getting the E & the U.S. getting the W.

• Problem was that most of Germany’s food was in the Soviet occupied E.

Berlin Situation• The USSR began to restrict Traffic flow from W

Germany & all traffic tween E &W Berlin was stopped.

• USA & allies couldn’t get supplies or food into W Berlin.

• Thought about getting a convoy & busting through the blockade, setting up a counter blockade.

• Decided that an airlift would be the best solution to the problem.

Berlin Airlift• Carried out by the U.S. Air Force & began on

June 28, 1948 & stopped on May 12, 1949.• In all there were 277,264 flights & 2.5 million

tons of supplies carried.

Questions• Do you agree/disagree w/ President Truman's

handling of the Soviet Blockade of Berlin? Why/why not? Was it effective in solving the crisis?

• Should the Western powers have left Berlin to appease the Soviets?

Cuban Missile Crisis • Back Ground:• 1. U-2 affair- US spy plane was shot down in

Russia.• 2. Cuban Revolution- Fidel Castro over threw the

Cuban Gov. & was then supported by Communist Russia & their leader Nikita Khrushchev.

• 3. Bay of Pigs April 17, 1961: Plan that had approved by US President Eisenhower & acted upon by New US Pres John F. Kennedy.

• The US was going to support 1,500 Anti-Castro troops.

• US didn’t give them any military support & the Anti-Castro troops were crushed.

Bay of Pigs fall out• Former President Eisenhower told

Kennedy that "The failure of the Bay of Pigs will embolden the Soviets to do something that they would otherwise not do.“

• The half-hearted invasion left Soviet premier Khrushchev & his advisers with the impression that Kennedy was indecisive &, as one Soviet adviser wrote, "too young, intellectual, not prepared well for decision making in crisis situations ... too intelligent and too weak."

Cuban Missile Crisis • In 1962 the USSR was

behind the U.S. in weapons technology.

• Important cause Soviet missiles could only go so far & the range of the U.S. missiles could reach all of USSR.

• Nikita Khrushchev thought of the idea of placing intermediate-range missiles in Cuba.

• Cause of the Bay of Pigs, Castro was looking for a way to defend his island nation from an attack by the U.S.

Cuban Missile Crisis • The CMC

began for the U.S. in October of 1962 after the U-2 spy plane got photos of the launch sites JFK was forced to act.

Cuban Missile Crisis• What were JFK’s options?• Thought about attacking

Cuba from land & sea.• Ended up going for a Naval

blockade around Cuba.• The U.S. announced that it

would not let weapons to be delivered to Cuba.

• U.S. also demanded that the Soviets dismantle the missile bases already under construction or completed in Cuba & remove all weapons.

Cuban Missile Crisis• On October 27, JFK announced to the people of

the U.S. what was going on & gave a warning to the USSR that any nuclear missile launched from Cuba would be regarded as an attack on the United States by the Soviet Union.

• It was solved On October 28 when the US & USSR agreed on several things.

• 1. US would remove all missiles in Turkey & Italy.

• 2. USSR would remove all missiles from Cuba & dismantle bombing sites.

• 3. USSR would remove all light bomber planes from Cuba.

Cold War • Space Race- 1955-1975• Russians were the first to:• 1. Put a human into space (Yuri Gagarin)

• 2. Put a satellite into space (Sputnik)

Space Race• 1 week after Gagarin's time in space, in 1961

JFK asked vice President Lyndon B. Johnson to look into the US space program & how to best catch NASA up w/ the Russians

• Johnson came back & said that the US was way behind.

• Johnson did recommend that the US be the 1st to try to land on the moon.

• He thought that this goal was far enough into the future for the US to catch up & pass Russia in Technology.

Space Race• On May 25 JFK announced to Congress his

theory behind the moon race.• "I believe that this nation should commit

itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon & returning him safely to the earth."

• His justification for the Moon Race, was that it was both vital to national security & it would focus the nation's energies in other scientific & social fields

Space Race• Both sides had tragedies to start their races to

the moon. • Russia had a rocket explode killing up to 150

Russian military personnel.• US had Apollo 1 disaster where the Astronauts

were suffocated in a cabin fire during a ground test in 1967.

• After this Russia fell WAAAAAYYYYYY behind in Space technology.

• 1969 saw the final leg of the Moon Race, with the United States leading it after the flight of Apollo 8 (US Orbited the moon)

Space Race• The final straw for the Russians was the Apollo

11 moon landing on July 20, 1969.

Cold War• Tensions cooled a little tween US & USSR in

the 70’s until 1979.• Many issues re-lit the Cold War.• 1. War in Afghanistan- During December

1979, around 75,000 Soviet troops invaded Afghanistan in order to support the Communist gov.

• US stopped all trade w/ Russia & Pres. Jimmy Carter declared that it was the greatest “Threat to peace since the end of WWII.”

Cold War Economics• USSR had built up a military that used up

25% of its national spending.• The Soviet Armed Forces became the largest

in the world in terms of the # & types of weapons they possessed, & in the number of troops.

• Shortly after the Afghanistan invasion, Carter increased military spending.

• Ronald Reagan continued the military build up & began the Strategic Defense Initiative “Star Wars.”

• Missile could shoot other missiles down in flight.

End of the Cold War• Due to crazy spending on the

Military, Soviet Premiere Mikhail Gorbachev implemented his famous plan called “Perestroika” or restructuring.

• Main thing about Perestroika was that it gave more power to civilian market spending & lessened the amount of funds spent on the military.

• Once people saw that Gorbachev was opening the economy many things started to happen.– 1. Communist party gave up

control of Russia– 2. The Soviet Union dissolved– 3. The Berlin Wall was torn down