| ||||||
| Anthem | "Slav'sya Otechestvo" | |||||
| Capital (and largest city) |
Moscow | |||||
| Language | Russian | |||||
| Religion | State atheism | |||||
| Government | All-Russian Congress of Soviets | |||||
| Head of State | Gennady Zyuganov | |||||
| Head of Government | Maxim Suraykin | |||||
| Area | 17,098,242 km² | |||||
| Population | 143,975,923 | |||||
| Established | November 9, 1917 | |||||
| Currency | Ruble | |||||
| Time Zone | (UTC+2 to +12) | |||||
| Abbreviations | RSFSR | |||||
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian: Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика Rossiyskaya Sovetskaya Federativnaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika), commonly referred to as the Russian SFSR, is the largest, most populous, and most economically developed republic of the Soviet Union. The Russian SFSR is comprised sixteen autonomous republics, seven autonomous oblasts, ten autonomous okrugs, six krais, and forty oblasts. Russians formed the largest ethnic group.
The international borders of the Russian SFSR are Poland on the west; Scandinavia, Estonia, Lithuania, and Finland on the northwest; and Altishahr, Tuva, Mongolia, Korea, and Manchuria on the southwest. Within the Soviet Union, the Russian SFSR is bordered by the Karelian, Ukrainian, Byelorussian, Malorussian, Novorussian and Latvian SSRs to its west and Abkhazian, Azerbaijan, Georgian and Kazakh SSRs to the south. Roughly 70% of the area in the RSFSR consisted of broad plains, with mountainous regions mainly concentrated in the east. The area is rich in mineral resources, including petroleum, natural gas, and iron ore.
The position of the Russian SFSR within the Soviet Union closely mirroring the status of England within the United Kingdom. Among all republics of the Soviet Union, only the Russian SFSR that does not have its own local party chapters of the All-Union Communist Party. As result, the members of Union-level leadership of the Soviet Union and of Republic-level leadership of the Russian SFSR are almost can not be distinguished at all since they share the same organization of the Communist Party.
History[]
Time of Troubles and the Three Tsars (1606–1661)[]
In the 15th century, the grand princes of Moscow went on gathering Russian lands to increase the population and wealth under their rule. Under the rule of Ivan III (1462-1505), the Grand Duchy of Moscow tripled its size by annexing the Novgorod Republic and the Principality of Tver. In development of the Third Rome ideas, Grand Prince Ivan IV the Terrible was officially crowned the first Tsar of Russia, rule from 1547 to 1584. During his long reign, Ivan nearly doubled the already large Tsardom by annexing the Khanates of Kazan, Astrakhan, and Siberia. Through these conquests, Russia was transformed into a multiethnic, multidenominational and transcontinental state.
The death of Ivan's sons marked the end of the ancient Rurik Dynasty in 1598 and followed by a period of civil wars and foreign intervention known as the "Time of Troubles" (1606–13). Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth occupied parts of Russia, including Moscow. In 1612, the Poles were forced to retreat by the Russian volunteer corps, led by merchant Kuzma Minin, Prince Dmitry Troubetskoy, and Prince Dmitry Pozharsky. Russia then became an elective monarchy from 1613 to 1661 under the rules of three elected Tsars: Troubetskoy (1613–1625), Pozharsky (1625–1642) and Boris Morozov (1642–1661). After Morozov's death, he placed his son-in-law, Alexei Romanov, as the hereditary Tsar of Russia, established the Romanov Dynasty that ruled until 1917.
Accession of the Romanov Dynasty (1661–1762)[]
Much of Russia's expansion occurred in the 17th century, culminating in the first Russian settlement of the Pacific in the mid-17th century, the incorporation of Left-bank Malorussia and the pacification of the Siberian tribes. In 1648, the Bering Strait between Asia and North America was passed for the first time by Fedot Popov and Semyon Dezhnyov.
Under Peter I the Great (1682–1725), Russia was proclaimed an Empire in 1721 and became recognized as a world power. Peter defeated Sweden in the Great Northern War and ceded West Karelia and Ingria that lost by Russia in the Time of Troubles, as well as Estonia and Livonia that securing Russia's access to the sea and sea trade. On the Baltic Sea, Peter founded a new capital called Saint Petersburg. Peter the Great's reforms brought considerable Western European cultural influences to Russia.
The reign of Peter I's daughter Elizabeth in 1741–62 saw Russia's participation in the Seven Years' War (1756–63). During this conflict, Russia annexed most of eastern part of Prussia, including Berlin. However, upon Elizabeth's death, all these conquests were returned to Kingdom of Prussia by Peter III of Russia that hold a pro-Prussian stance.
Imperial expansion (1762–1881)[]
Under Catherine II the Great (1762–96), Russia entered its Age of Enlightenment. Catherine successfully waged war against the Ottoman Empire and advanced Russia's southern boundary to the Black Sea. As a result of victories over the Ottomans, by the early 19th century Russia also made significant territorial gains in Transcaucasia. She also extended Russian political control over the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and incorporated most of its territories into Russia during the Partitions of Poland, pushing the Russian frontier westward into Central Europe. This continued with Alexander I's (1801–25) wresting of Finland from Sweden in 1809 and of Bessarabia from the Ottomans in 1812. At the same time Russians colonized Alaska and even founded settlements in California, like Fort Ross.
During the height of its rule, the French Empire was expanding into the Russian western border. In the middle for his preparation to invade the British isles, Napoleon concluded a non-aggression treaty with Alexander I, guaranteed the French rule over Prussian Poland through the French client state, the Duchy of Warsaw.
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The lesser coat of arms of the Russian Empire, showed the greatest extent of Russian imperial expansion.
However, while kept its neutrality during the Napoleonic War, Russia secretly supported Britain against France. Nevertheless, following the failure of French invasion to Britain, Prussia became increasingly aggressive to expand its rule eastward. Prussia's attempts to take the Duchy of Warsaw came into conflict with Russia, resulted to the Russo-Prussian War in 1813. Prussia and Russia finally concluded the war on the Congress of Vienna in 1815, where Prussia gained most of Polish-Lithuanian lands.
The loss of Russian Poland to Prussia triggered a liberal movement in Russia that attempted to curtail the Tsar's powers during the abortive Decembrist Revolt of 1825. At the end of the conservative reign of Nicolas I (1825–55), a zenith period of Russia's power and influence in Europe was once again disrupted by the defeat in the Crimean War. Between 1847 and 1851, a massive wave of Asiatic cholera swept over Russia, claiming about one million lives.
When Alexander II (1855–81) ascended the throne, he enacted significant changes in the country, including the emancipation of serfs 1861. Although serfdom was abolished, since its abolition was achieved on terms unfavorable to the peasants, revolutionary tensions were not cooled down, despite Alexander II's intentions. Nevertheless, these Great Reforms spurred industrialization and modernized the Russian army. Alexander II invaded Outer Manchuria from the Qing Dynasty between 1858–1860 and sold Russian America to the United States in 1867. Bulgaria was also successfully liberated from Ottoman rule in 1877–78 Russo-Turkish War.
The decline of the Empire (1881–1914)[]
The late 19th century saw the rise of various socialist movements in Russia. Alexander II was killed in 1881 by revolutionary terrorists, and the reign of his son Alexander III (1881–94) was less liberal but more peaceful. Unlike his father, Alexander III was a staunch reactionary that intensified the Tsarist absolute rule in Russia throughout his reign. During his reign, Russia declared the union with the French Republic to contain the growing power of the German Empire, completed the conquest of Central Asia and demanded important territorial and commercial concessions from China.
The last Russian Emperor, Nicholas II (1894–1917), was unable to prevent the events of the Russian Revolution of 1905, triggered by the unsuccessful Russo-Japanese War and the demonstration incident known as Bloody Sunday. The uprising was put down, but the government was forced to concede major reforms, including granting the freedoms of speech and assembly, the legalization of political parties, and the creation of an elected legislative body. Migration to Siberia increased rapidly in the early 20th century, particularly during the Stolypin agrarian reform. Between 1906 and 1914 more than four million settlers arrived in that region.
World War I (1914–1917)[]
In 1914, Russia entered World War I in response to Austria-Hungary's declaration of war on Russia's ally Serbia, and fought across multiple fronts while isolated from its Triple Entente allies. Later, military failures and bureaucratic ineptitude soon turned large segments of the population against the government. The German and Ottoman fleets prevented Russia from importing supplies and exporting goods through the Baltic and Black seas.
By the middle of 1915, the impact of the war was demoralizing. Food and fuel were in short supply, casualties kept occurring, and inflation was mounting. Strikes increased among low-paid factory workers, and the peasants, who wanted land reforms, were restless. Meanwhile, public distrust of the regime was deepened by reports that a semiliterate mystic, Grigori Rasputin, had great political influence within the government. All this formed the climate for the Russian Revolutions of 1917, that leading to the establishments of Russian Republic and of Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, the first communist nation in the world.
Russian Revolution (1917)[]
The coat of arms used by the Provisional Government.
General dissatisfaction over the autocratic Tsarist regime of the Russian Empire and decline of war morale and national economy due to World War I culminated in the February Revolution of 1917 in Petrograd. The Tsar abdicated in March 1917 and was replaced by the Russian Provisional Government presided first by Prince Georgy Yevgenyevich Lvov, then Aleksandr Kerensky. The Provisional Government then declared the creation of the Russian Republic (Российская Республика Rossiyskaya Respublika) on September 1 (September 14, N.S.). At the same time, the Socialists formed the rival political body: the workers' council, known in Russian as the "Soviet" (Russian: сове́т sovét).
The formation of the Petrograd Soviet resulted to the emergence of dual power in the country between the Provisional Government and the Petrograd Soviet. The Bolsheviks, under Leon Trotsky, quickly gained the power in the Petrograd Soviet. Returned from his exile in Switzerland, Bolshevik leader, Vladimir Lenin, wrote the April Theses that stressed the importance of Russian Revolution as a trigger for the international socialism and the need of the establishment of a dictatorship of the proletariat in Russia.
The conflict between two authorities erupted in July 1917 when the industrial workers and soldiers demanded the power be turned over to the Soviets. The demonstration was broken down by the Provisional Government and forced Lenin into hiding. In October 1917, Lenin returned from his hiding in Finland and directing the Red Guards to storm the Winter Palace, the seat of Russian Provisional Government, on October 25, 1917. This event would later be known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. The Council of People's Commissars was established shortly afterward and acted as the highest executive body of Soviet Russia with Lenin as its chairman. Six months after the abdication, the Republic was dissolved and replaced by the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic.
References[]
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