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PreviewAdvancedSpecial charactersHelpHeadingLevel 2Level 3Level 4Level 5FormatInsertLatinLatin extendedIPASymbolsGreekGreek extendedCyrillicArabicArabic extendedHebrewBanglaTamilTeluguSinhalaDevanagariGujaratiThaiLaoKhmerCanadian AboriginalRunesÁáÀàÂâÄäÃãǍǎĀāĂ㥹ÅåĆćĈĉÇçČčĊċĐđĎďÉéÈèÊêËëĚěĒēĔĕĖėĘęĜĝĢģĞğĠġĤĥĦħÍíÌìÎîÏïĨĩǏǐĪīĬĭİıĮįĴĵĶķĹĺĻļĽľŁłŃńÑñŅņŇňÓóÒòÔôÖöÕõǑǒŌōŎŏǪǫŐőŔŕŖŗŘřŚśŜŝŞşŠšȘșȚțŤťÚúÙùÛûÜüŨũŮůǓǔŪūǖǘǚǜŬŭŲųŰűŴŵÝýŶŷŸÿȲȳŹźŽžŻżÆæǢǣØøŒœßÐðÞþƏəFormattingLinksHeadingsListsFilesDiscussionReferencesDescriptionWhat you typeWhat you getItalic''Italic text''Italic textBold'''Bold text'''Bold textBold & italic'''''Bold & italic text'''''Bold & italic textDescriptionWhat you typeWhat you getReferencePage text.<ref>[https://www.example.org/ Link text], additional text.</ref>Page text.[1]Named referencePage text.<ref name="test">[https://www.example.org/ Link text]</ref>Page text.[2]Additional use of the same referencePage text.<ref name="test" />Page text.[2]Display references<references />↑ Link text, additional text.↑ Link text== History == {{Main|History of Russia}} === Early history === {{further|Ancient Greek colonies||Early Slavs|Huns|Turkic expansion|Prehistory of Siberia}} {{See also|Proto-Indo-Europeans|Proto-Uralic homeland}} The first human settlement on Russia dates back to the [[Oldowan]] period in the early [[Lower Paleolithic]]. About 2 million years ago, representatives of ''[[Homo erectus]]'' migrated to the [[Taman Peninsula]] in southern Russia.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Shchelinsky |first1=V.E. |last2=Gurova |first2=M. |last3=Tesakov |first3=A.S. |last4=Titov |first4=V.V. |last5=Frolov |first5=P.D. |last6=Simakova |first6=A.N. |title=The Early Pleistocene site of Kermek in western Ciscaucasia (southern Russia): Stratigraphy, biotic record and lithic industry (preliminary results) |journal=[[Quaternary International]] |volume=393 |pages=51–69 |date=30 January 2016 |doi=10.1016/j.quaint.2015.10.032|bibcode=2016QuInt.393...51S }}</ref> [[Flint]] tools, some 1.5 million years old, have been discovered in the [[North Caucasus]].<ref>{{cite web |last1= Chepalyga |first1= A.L. |last2= Amirkhanov |first2= Kh.A. |last3= Trubikhin |first3= V.M. |last4= Sadchikova |first4= T.A. |last5= Pirogov |first5= A.N. |last6= Taimazov |first6= A.I. |year= 2011 |title= Geoarchaeology of the earliest paleolithic sites (Oldowan) in the North Caucasus and the East Europe |url= http://paleogeo.org/article3.html |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130520090413/http://paleogeo.org/article3.html |archive-date= 20 May 2013 |access-date= 18 December 2013 }}</ref> [[Radiocarbon dated]] specimens from [[Denisova Cave]] in the [[Altai Mountains]] estimate the oldest [[Denisovan]] specimen lived 195–122,700 years ago.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Douka |first1=K. |title=Age estimates for hominin fossils and the onset of the Upper Palaeolithic at Denisova Cave |journal=Nature |year=2019 |volume=565 |issue=7741 |pages=640–644 |doi=10.1038/s41586-018-0870-z |pmid=30700871 |url=https://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1559&context=smhpapers1 |bibcode=2019Natur.565..640D |s2cid=59525455 |access-date=10 January 2022 |archive-date=6 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200506140551/https://ro.uow.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1559&context=smhpapers1 |url-status=live }}</ref> Fossils of ''[[Denny (hybrid hominin)|Denny]]'', an [[archaic human]] hybrid that was half [[Neanderthal]] and half Denisovan, and lived some 90,000 years ago, was also found within the latter cave.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Warren |first=Matthew |title=Mum's a Neanderthal, Dad's a Denisovan: First discovery of an ancient-human hybrid |date=22 August 2018 |journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |volume=560 |issue=7719 |pages=417–418 |doi=10.1038/d41586-018-06004-0 |pmid=30135540 |bibcode= 2018Natur.560..417W |doi-access=free }}</ref> Russia was home to some of the last surviving Neanderthals, from about 45,000 years ago, found in [[Mezmaiskaya cave]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1= Igor V. Ovchinnikov |last2= Anders Götherström |last3= Galina P. Romanova |last4= Vitaliy M. Kharitonov |last5= Kerstin Lidén |last6= William Goodwin |date= 30 March 2000 |title= Molecular analysis of Neanderthal DNA from the northern Caucasus |journal= [[Nature (journal)|Nature]] |volume= 404 |issue= 6777 |pages= 490–493 |bibcode= 2000Natur.404..490O |doi= 10.1038/35006625 |pmid= 10761915 |s2cid= 3101375}}</ref> The first trace of an [[Ust'-Ishim man|early modern human]] in Russia dates back to 45,000 years, in [[Western Siberia]].<ref>{{cite journal|vauthors=Fu Q, Li H, Moorjani P, Jay F, Slepchenko SM, Bondarev AA, Johnson PL, Aximu-Petri A, Prüfer K, de Filippo C, Meyer M, Zwyns N, Salazar-García DC, Kuzmin YV, Keates SG, Kosintsev PA, Razhev DI, Richards MP, Peristov NV, Lachmann M, Douka K, Higham TF, Slatkin M, Hublin JJ, Reich D, Kelso J, Viola TB, Pääbo S|title=Genome sequence of a 45,000-year-old modern human from western Siberia |journal=Nature | issue= 7523| pages=445–449|date=23 October 2014|doi=10.1038/nature13810 | pmid=25341783 | volume=514 | pmc=4753769|bibcode=2014Natur.514..445F |hdl= 10550/42071}}</ref> The discovery of high concentration cultural remains of [[Human|anatomically modern humans]], from at least 40,000 years ago, was found at [[Kostyonki–Borshchyovo]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Dinnis |first1=Rob |last2=Bessudnov |first2=Alexander |last3=Reynolds |first3=Natasha |last4=Devièse |first4=Thibaut |last5=Pate |first5=Abi |last6=Sablin |first6=Mikhail |last7=Sinitsyn |first7=Andrei |last8=Higham |first8=Thomas |title=New data for the Early Upper Paleolithic of Kostenki (Russia) |pmid=30777356 |doi=10.1016/j.jhevol.2018.11.012 |journal=[[Journal of Human Evolution]] |year=2019 |pages=21–40 |volume=127 |s2cid=73486830 |url=https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01982049/file/Dinnis%20et%20al%202019%20New%20data%20for%20the%20EUP%20of%20Kostenki%20%28green%20open-access%20post-print%29.pdf |access-date=21 January 2022 |archive-date=5 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220405163036/https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01982049/file/Dinnis%20et%20al%202019%20New%20data%20for%20the%20EUP%20of%20Kostenki%20%28green%20open-access%20post-print%29.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> and at [[Sungir]], dating back to 34,600 years ago—both in [[European Russia|western Russia]].<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1126/science.aao1807 |pmid=28982795 |title=Ancient genomes show social and reproductive behavior of early Upper Paleolithic foragers |journal=Science |volume=358 |issue=6363 |pages=659–662 |year=2017 |vauthors=Sikora, Martin ''et al.'' |bibcode=2017Sci...358..659S |doi-access=free }}</ref> Humans reached [[Far North (Russia)|Arctic Russia]] at least 40,000 years ago, in [[Mamontovaya Kurya]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Pavlov |first=Pavel |author2=John Inge Svendsen |author3=Svein Indrelid |date=6 September 2001 |title=Human presence in the European Arctic nearly 40,000 years ago |journal=Nature |volume=413 |pages=64–67 | doi= 10.1038/35092552 |pmid=11544525 |issue=6851|bibcode=2001Natur.413...64P |s2cid=1986562 }}</ref> [[Ancient North Eurasian]] populations from Siberia genetically similar to [[Mal'ta–Buret' culture]] and [[Afontova Gora]] were an important genetic contributor to [[Ancient Beringian|Ancient Native Americans]] and [[Eastern Hunter-Gatherer]]s.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Balter |first1=M. |title=Ancient DNA Links Native Americans With Europe |journal=Science |date=25 October 2013 |volume=342 |issue=6157 |pages=409–410 |doi=10.1126/science.342.6157.409 |pmid=24159019 |bibcode=2013Sci...342..409B |doi-access=free }}</ref> [[File:Yamnaya Steppe Pastoralists.jpg|thumb|320px|left|Bronze Age spread of [[Yamnaya culture|Yamnaya]] [[Western Steppe Herders|Steppe pastoralist]] ancestry between 3300 and 1500 BC,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gibbons |first1=Ann |title=Thousands of horsemen may have swept into Bronze Age Europe, transforming the local population |journal=Science |date=21 February 2017 |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/thousands-horsemen-may-have-swept-bronze-age-europe-transforming-local-population |access-date=25 September 2022 |archive-date=25 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220925154535/https://www.science.org/content/article/thousands-horsemen-may-have-swept-bronze-age-europe-transforming-local-population |url-status=live }}</ref> including the [[Afanasievo culture]] of southern Siberia]] The [[Kurgan hypothesis]] places the Volga-Dnieper region of southern Russia and [[Ukraine]] as the [[urheimat]] of the [[Proto-Indo-Europeans]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Anthony |first1=David W. |last2=Ringe |first2=Don |date=1 January 2015 |title=The Indo-European Homeland from Linguistic and Archaeological Perspectives |journal=Annual Review of Linguistics |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=199–219 |doi=10.1146/annurev-linguist-030514-124812 |issn=2333-9683|doi-access=free }}</ref> Early [[Indo-European migrations]] from the [[Pontic–Caspian steppe]] of Ukraine and Russia spread [[Yamnaya culture|Yamnaya]] ancestry and [[Indo-European languages]] across large parts of Eurasia.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Haak|first1=Wolfgang|last2=Lazaridis|first2=Iosif|last3=Patterson|first3=Nick|last4=Rohland|first4=Nadin|last5=Mallick|first5=Swapan|last6=Llamas|first6=Bastien|last7=Brandt|first7=Guido|last8=Nordenfelt|first8=Susanne|last9=Harney|first9=Eadaoin|last10=Stewardson|first10=Kristin|last11=Fu|first11=Qiaomei|date=11 June 2015|title=Massive migration from the steppe was a source for Indo-European languages in Europe|journal=Nature|volume=522|issue=7555|pages=207–211|doi=10.1038/nature14317|issn=0028-0836|pmc=5048219|pmid=25731166|bibcode=2015Natur.522..207H|arxiv=1502.02783}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/nomadic-herders-left-strong-genetic-mark-europeans-and-asians |first=Ann |last=Gibbons |date=10 June 2015 |title=Nomadic herders left a strong genetic mark on Europeans and Asians |journal=Science |publisher=AAAS |access-date=25 September 2022 |archive-date=2 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220902191050/https://www.science.org/content/article/nomadic-herders-left-strong-genetic-mark-europeans-and-asians |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Nomadic pastoralism]] developed in the Pontic–Caspian steppe beginning in the [[Chalcolithic]].<ref name="Belinskij-1999">{{Cite journal |last1=Belinskij |first1=Andrej |last2=Härke |first2=Heinrich |title=The 'Princess' of Ipatovo |journal=Archeology |volume=52 |issue=2 |year=1999 |url=http://cat.he.net/~archaeol/9903/newsbriefs/ipatovo.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080610043326/http://cat.he.net/~archaeol/9903/newsbriefs/ipatovo.html |archive-date=10 June 2008 |access-date=26 December 2007}}</ref> Remnants of these steppe civilizations were discovered in places such as [[Ipatovo kurgan|Ipatovo]],<ref name="Belinskij-1999"/> [[Sintashta]],<ref name="mounted">{{Cite book |author=Drews, Robert |title=Early Riders: The beginnings of mounted warfare in Asia and Europe |year=2004 |publisher=Routledge |location=New York |page=50 |isbn=978-0-415-32624-7}}</ref> [[Arkaim]],<ref>{{cite web |author=Koryakova, L. |title=Sintashta-Arkaim Culture |publisher=The Center for the Study of the Eurasian Nomads (CSEN) |url=http://www.csen.org/koryakova2/Korya.Sin.Ark.html |access-date=13 May 2021 |archive-date=28 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190228104055/http://www.csen.org/koryakova2/Korya.Sin.Ark.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> and [[Pazyryk burials|Pazyryk]],<ref>{{cite web |title=1998 NOVA documentary: "Ice Mummies: Siberian Ice Maiden" |work=Transcript |url=http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/2517siberian.html |access-date=13 May 2021 |archive-date=16 April 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160416163503/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/2517siberian.html |url-status=live }}</ref> which bear the earliest known traces of [[horses in warfare]].<ref name="mounted"/> The genetic makeup of speakers of the [[Uralic language family|Uralic]] language family in northern Europe was shaped by migration from [[Siberia]] that began at least 3,500 years ago.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Lamnidis |first1=Thiseas C. |last2=Majander |first2=Kerttu |last3=Jeong |first3=Choongwon |last4=Salmela |first4=Elina |last5=Wessman |first5=Anna |last6=Moiseyev |first6=Vyacheslav |last7=Khartanovich |first7=Valery |last8=Balanovsky |first8=Oleg |last9=Ongyerth |first9=Matthias |last10=Weihmann |first10=Antje |last11=Sajantila |first11=Antti |last12=Kelso |first12=Janet |last13=Pääbo |first13=Svante |last14=Onkamo |first14=Päivi |last15=Haak |first15=Wolfgang |date=27 November 2018 |title=Ancient Fennoscandian genomes reveal origin and spread of Siberian ancestry in Europe |journal=Nature Communications |language=en |volume=9 |issue=1 |page=5018 |doi=10.1038/s41467-018-07483-5 |pmid=30479341 |pmc=6258758 |bibcode=2018NatCo...9.5018L |s2cid=53792952 |issn=2041-1723}}</ref> In the 3rd to 4th centuries CE, the [[Goths|Gothic]] kingdom of [[Oium]] existed in southern Russia, which was later overrun by [[Huns]]. Between the 3rd and 6th centuries CE, the [[Bosporan Kingdom]], which was a Hellenistic [[polity]] that succeeded the Greek colonies,<ref>{{Cite book |author=Tsetskhladze, G. R. |title=The Greek Colonisation of the Black Sea Area: Historical Interpretation of Archaeology |publisher=F. Steiner |year=1998 |page=48 |isbn=978-3-515-07302-8}}</ref> was also overwhelmed by nomadic invasions led by warlike tribes such as the Huns and [[Pannonian Avars|Eurasian Avars]].<ref>{{Cite book |author=Turchin, P. |title=Historical Dynamics: Why States Rise and Fall |publisher=Princeton University Press |year=2003 |pages=185–186 |isbn=978-0-691-11669-3}}</ref> The [[Khazars]], who were of [[Turkic peoples|Turkic origin]], ruled the steppes between the Caucasus in the south, to the east past the Volga river basin, and west as far as Kyiv on the Dnieper river until the 10th century.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Weinryb |first=Bernard D. |title=The Khazars: An Annotated Bibliography |journal=Studies in Bibliography and Booklore |publisher=[[Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion]] |volume=6 |number=3 |pages=111–129 |year=1963 |jstor=27943361}}</ref> After them came the [[Pechenegs]] who created a large confederacy, which was subsequently taken over by the [[Cumans]] and the [[Kipchaks]].<ref>Carter V. Findley, ''The Turks in World History'' (Oxford University Press, 2004) {{ISBN|0-19-517726-6}}</ref> The ancestors of [[Russians]] are among the [[List of ancient Slavic peoples|Slavic tribes]] that separated from the Proto-Indo-Europeans, who appeared in the northeastern part of Europe {{Circa|1500}} years ago.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Zhernakova |first1=Daria V. |display-authors=etal |title=Genome-wide sequence analyses of ethnic populations across Russia |volume=112 |number=1 |journal=Genomics |year=2020 |pages=442–458 |doi=10.1016/j.ygeno.2019.03.007 |doi-access=free |publisher=[[Elsevier]] |pmid=30902755}}</ref> The East Slavs gradually settled western Russia (approximately between modern [[Moscow]] and [[Saint-Petersburg]]) in two waves: one moving from [[Kyiv|Kiev]] towards present-day [[Suzdal]] and [[Murom]] and another from [[Polotsk]] towards [[Novgorod]] and [[Rostov, Yaroslavl Oblast|Rostov]].<ref>{{Cite book |author=[[David Christian (historian)|Christian, D.]] |title=A History of Russia, Central Asia and Mongolia |publisher=Blackwell Publishing |year=1998 |pages=6–7 |isbn=978-0-631-20814-3}}</ref> Prior to Slavic migration, that territory was populated by [[Finno-Ugrian]] peoples. From the 7th century onwards, the incoming East Slavs slowly assimilated the native Finno-Ugrians.<ref name="Curtis-1998">{{cite web |last=Curtis |first=Glenn E. |url=http://countrystudies.us/russia/2.htm |title=Russia – Early History |year=1998 |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Federal Research Division of the [[Library of Congress]] |access-date=29 June 2021 |archive-date=14 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230814163709/https://countrystudies.us/russia/2.htm |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>Ed. [[Timothy Reuter]], ''The New Cambridge Medieval History'', Volume 3, Cambridge University Press, 1995, pp. 494-497. {{ISBN|0-521-36447-7}}.</ref> === Kievan Rus' === {{Main|Rus' Khaganate|Kievan Rus'|List of tribes and states in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine}} [[File:Kievan-rus-1015-1113-(en).png|thumb|[[Kievan Rus']] after the [[Council of Liubech]] in 1097]] The establishment of the first East Slavic states in the 9th century coincided with the arrival of [[Varangians]], the [[Vikings]] who ventured along the waterways extending from the eastern Baltic [[From the Varangians to the Greeks|to the Black]] and [[Volga trade route|Caspian]] Seas. According to the ''[[Primary Chronicle]]'', a Varangian from the [[Rus' people]], named [[Rurik]], was elected ruler of [[Novgorod]] in 862. In 882, his successor [[Oleg of Novgorod|Oleg]] ventured south and conquered [[Kiev]], which had been previously paying tribute to the [[Khazars]].<ref name="Curtis-1998"/> Rurik's son [[Igor of Kiev|Igor]] and Igor's son [[Sviatoslav I of Kiev|Sviatoslav]] subsequently subdued all local [[East Slavs|East Slavic]] tribes to Kievan rule, destroyed the Khazar Khaganate,<ref>{{cite book |last=Plokhy |first=Serhii|author-link=Serhii Plokhy |title=The Origins of the Slavic Nations: Premodern Identities in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |date=2006 |page=13 |isbn=978-0-521-86403-9}}</ref> and launched several military expeditions to [[Paphlagonian expedition of the Rus'|Byzantium]] and [[Caspian expeditions of the Rus'|Persia]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Obolensky |first=Dimitri |url=https://archive.org/details/byzantiumslavs0000obol |title=Byzantium & the Slavs |date=1971 |isbn=978-0-88141-008-2 |pages=75–108 |publisher=St. Vladimir's Seminary Press |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author=[[Francis Donald Logan|Logan, Donald F.]] |url=https://archive.org/details/vikingsinhistory00loga |title=The Vikings in History|edition=2nd |date=1992 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-0-415-08396-6 |page=201 |url-access=registration}}</ref> In the 10th to 11th centuries, Kievan Rus' became one of the largest and most prosperous states in Europe. The reigns of [[Vladimir the Great]] (980–1015) and his son [[Yaroslav the Wise]] (1019–1054) constitute the [[Golden Age]] of Kiev, which saw [[Christianisation of Kievan Rus'|the acceptance of]] Orthodox Christianity from [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantium]], and the creation of the first East Slavic written [[legal code]], the ''[[Russkaya Pravda]]''.<ref name="Curtis-1998"/> The age of [[feudalism]] and decentralisation had come, marked by constant in-fighting between members of the [[Rurik dynasty]] that ruled Kievan Rus' collectively. Kiev's dominance waned, to the benefit of [[Vladimir-Suzdal]] in the north-east, the [[Novgorod Republic]] in the north, and [[Galicia-Volhynia]] in the south-west.<ref name="Curtis-1998"/> By the 12th century, Kiev lost its pre-eminence and Kievan Rus' had fragmented into different principalities.<ref name="Channon-1995"/> Prince [[Andrey Bogolyubsky]] sacked Kiev in 1169 and made [[Vladimir, Russia|Vladimir]] his base,<ref name="Channon-1995">{{cite book |last1=Channon |first1=John |title=The Penguin historical atlas of Russia |date=1995 |publisher=Penguin |location=London |isbn=0140513264 |page=16}}</ref> leading to political power being shifted to the north-east.<ref name="Curtis-1998"/> Led by Prince [[Alexander Nevsky]], Novgorodians repelled the invading [[Swedes]] in the [[Battle of the Neva]] in 1240,<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Battle of the Neva |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-the-Neva |access-date=22 June 2021 |archive-date=29 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220329054701/https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-the-Neva |url-status=live }}</ref> as well as the [[Northern Crusades|Germanic crusaders]] in the [[Battle on the Ice]] in 1242.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Ostrowski |first=Donald |year=2006 |title=Alexander Nevskii's "Battle on the Ice": The Creation of a Legend |journal=[[Russian History (Brill journal)|Russian History]] |volume=33 |pages=289–312 |doi=10.1163/187633106X00186 |jstor=24664446 |number=2/4}}</ref> Kievan Rus' finally fell to the [[Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus'|Mongol invasion]] of 1237–1240, which resulted in the [[Siege of Kiev (1240)|sacking of Kiev]] and other cities, as well as the death of a major part of the population.<ref name="Curtis-1998" /> The invaders, later known as [[Tatars]], formed the state of the [[Golden Horde]], which ruled over Russia for the next two centuries.<ref>{{cite book |last=Halperin |first=Charles J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kPwX2dW-V6sC&pg=PA7 |title=Russia and the Golden Horde: The Mongol Impact on Medieval Russian History |date=1987 |publisher=[[Indiana University Press]] |isbn=978-0-253-20445-5 |page=7 |access-date=24 July 2023 |archive-date=13 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230813152923/https://books.google.com/books?id=kPwX2dW-V6sC&pg=PA7 |url-status=live }}</ref> Only the Novgorod Republic escaped foreign occupation after it agreed to pay tribute to the Mongols.<ref name="Curtis-1998" /> Galicia-Volhynia would later be absorbed by [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania|Lithuania]] and [[Kingdom of Poland (1025–1385)|Poland]], while the Novgorod Republic continued to prosper in the north. In the northeast, the Byzantine-Slavic traditions of Kievan Rus' were adapted to form the Russian autocratic state.<ref name="Curtis-1998" /> === Grand Duchy of Moscow === {{Main|Grand Duchy of Moscow}} [[File:Lissner TroiceSergievaLavr.jpg|thumb|[[Sergius of Radonezh]] blessing [[Dmitry Donskoy]] in [[Trinity Sergius Lavra]], before the [[Battle of Kulikovo]], depicted in a painting by [[Ernst Lissner]]]] The destruction of Kievan Rus' saw the eventual rise of the [[Grand Duchy of Moscow]], initially a part of [[Vladimir-Suzdal]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Glenn E. |first=Curtis |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/97007563 |title=Russia: A Country Study |publisher=Federal Research Division, Library of Congress |year=1998 |isbn=0-8444-0866-2 |location=Washington DC |chapter=Muscovy |oclc=36351361 |access-date=24 August 2022 |archive-date=24 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220824200530/https://www.loc.gov/item/97007563 |url-status=live }}</ref>{{Rp|pages=11–20}} While still under the domain of the [[Mongol]]-[[Tatars]] and with their connivance, Moscow began to assert its influence in the region in the early 14th century,<ref>{{cite book |last=Davies |first=Brian L. |title=Warfare, State and Society on the Black Sea Steppe, 1500–1700 |publisher=Routledge |year=2014 |page=4 |url=http://www.reenactor.ru/ARH/PDF/Davies.pdf#page=20 |access-date=31 March 2021 |archive-date=9 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171009193828/http://www.reenactor.ru/ARH/PDF/Davies.pdf#page=20 |url-status=live }}</ref> gradually becoming the leading force in the "gathering of the Russian lands".<ref name="Curtis-1998-3"/> When the seat of the Metropolitan of the [[Russian Orthodox Church]] moved to Moscow in 1325, its influence increased.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gleason |first1=Abbott |title=A Companion to Russian History |date=2009 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |location=Chichester |isbn=978-1444308426 |pages=126}}</ref> Moscow's last rival, the [[Novgorod Republic]], prospered as the chief [[fur trade]] centre and the easternmost port of the [[Hanseatic League]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Halperin |first=Charles J. |title=Novgorod and the 'Novgorodian Land' |jstor=20171136 |volume=40 |number=3 |pages=345–363 |date=September 1999 |publisher=EHESS |journal=Cahiers du Monde russe}}</ref> Led by Prince [[Dmitry Donskoy]] of Moscow, the united army of Russian principalities inflicted [[List of conflicts in Eastern Europe during Turco-Mongol rule|a milestone defeat]] on the Mongol-Tatars in the [[Battle of Kulikovo]] in 1380.<ref name="Curtis-1998"/> Moscow gradually absorbed its parent duchy and surrounding principalities, including formerly strong rivals such as [[Principality of Tver|Tver]] and [[Novgorod Republic|Novgorod]].<ref name="Curtis-1998-3">{{cite web |last=Curtis |first=Glenn E. |year=1998 |title=Russia – Muscovy |url=http://countrystudies.us/russia/3.htm |access-date=25 June 2021 |publisher=Federal Research Division of the [[Library of Congress]] |location=Washington, D.C. |archive-date=6 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230606071001/https://countrystudies.us/russia/3.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Ivan III]] ("the Great") threw off the control of the [[Golden Horde]] and consolidated the whole of northern Rus' under Moscow's dominion, and was the first Russian ruler to take the title "Grand Duke of all Rus'". After the [[fall of Constantinople]] in 1453, Moscow [[Third Rome|claimed succession to the legacy]] of the [[Eastern Roman Empire]]. Ivan III married [[Sophia Palaiologina]], the niece of the last [[Byzantine emperor]] [[Constantine XI]], and made the Byzantine [[double-headed eagle]] his own, and eventually Russia's, coat-of-arms.<ref name="Curtis-1998-3"/> [[Vasili III of Russia|Vasili III]] united all of Russia by annexing the last few independent [[List of tribes and states in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine|Russian states]] in the early 16th century.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Anderson |first1=M.S. |title=The Origins of the Modern European State System, 1494–1618 |date=2014 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1317892755 |url={{GBurl|id=smCgBAAAQBAJ|pg=PT281}}}}</ref> === Tsardom of Russia === {{Main|Tsardom of Russia}} {{See also|Moscow, third Rome}} [[File:Ivan IV by anonim (18th c., GIM).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Ivan IV]] was the [[Grand Prince of Moscow]] from 1533 to 1547, then [[Tsar of Russia]] until his death in 1584.]] In development of the [[Moscow, third Rome|Third Rome]] ideas, the grand duke [[Ivan IV]] ("the Terrible") was officially crowned the first [[Tsardom of Russia|''tsar'']] of Russia in 1547. The tsar [[Promulgation|promulgated]] a new code of laws ([[Sudebnik of 1550]]), established the first Russian feudal representative body (the [[Zemsky Sobor]]), revamped the military, curbed the influence of the clergy, and reorganised local government.<ref name="Curtis-1998-3"/> During his long reign, Ivan nearly doubled the already large Russian territory by annexing the three Tatar khanates: [[Khanate of Kazan|Kazan]] and [[Astrakhan Khanate|Astrakhan]] along the [[Volga]],<ref>{{cite journal |last=Perrie |first=Maureen |title=The Popular Image of Ivan the Terrible |jstor=4207642 |journal=[[The Slavonic and East European Review]] |volume=56 |number=2 |date=April 1978 |pages=275–286 |publisher=[[Modern Humanities Research Association]]}}</ref> and the [[Khanate of Sibir]] in southwestern Siberia. Ultimately, by the end of the 16th century, Russia expanded east of the [[Ural Mountains]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Skrynnikov |first=R. G. |title=Ermak's Siberian Expedition |journal=[[Russian History (Brill journal)|Russian History]] |volume=13 |number=1 |pages=1–39 |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |jstor=24655823 |year=1986|doi=10.1163/187633186X00016 }}</ref> However, the Tsardom was weakened by the long and unsuccessful [[Livonian War]] against the coalition of the [[Crown of the Kingdom of Poland|Kingdom of Poland]] and the [[Grand Duchy of Lithuania]] (later the united [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]]), the [[History of Sweden (1523–1611)|Kingdom of Sweden]], and [[Denmark–Norway]] for access to the Baltic coast and sea trade.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Filyushkin |first=Alexander |title=Livonian War in the Context of the European Wars of the 16th Century: Conquest, Borders, Geopolitics |year=2016 |pages=1–21 |volume=43 |number=1 |journal=[[Russian History (Brill journal)|Russian History]] |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |doi=10.1163/18763316-04301004 |jstor=44647035}}</ref> In 1572, an invading army of [[Crimean Tatars]] were [[Russo-Crimean Wars|thoroughly defeated]] in the crucial [[Battle of Molodi]].<ref>{{cite book |date=2015 |last=Skrynnikov |first=R. G. |title=Reign of Terror: Ivan IV |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]] |isbn=978-9-004-30401-7 |pages=417–421}}</ref> The death of Ivan's sons marked the end of the ancient [[Rurik dynasty]] in 1598, and in combination with the disastrous [[Russian famine of 1601–03|famine of 1601–1603]], led to a civil war, the rule of pretenders, and foreign intervention during the [[Time of Troubles]] in the early 17th century.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Dunning |first=Chester |title=Crisis, Conjuncture, and the Causes of the Time of Troubles |jstor=41036998 |journal=Harvard Ukrainian Studies |year=1995 |publisher=[[Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute]] |volume=19 |pages=97–119}}</ref> The [[Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth]], taking advantage, occupied parts of Russia, extending into the capital Moscow.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Wójcik |first=Zbigniew |title=Russian Endeavors for the Polish Crown in the Seventeenth Century |journal=[[Slavic Review]] |jstor=2496635 |doi=10.2307/2496635 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |volume=41 |number=1 |year=1982 |pages=59–72|s2cid=164176163 }}</ref> In 1612, the Poles were forced to retreat by the Russian volunteer corps, led by merchant [[Kuzma Minin]] and prince [[Dmitry Pozharsky]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bogolitsyna |first1=Anna |last2=Pichler |first2=Bernhard |last3=Vendl |first3=Alfred |last4=Mikhailov |first4=Alexander |last5=Sizov |first5=Boris |title=Investigation of the Brass Monument to Minin and Pozharsky, Red Square, Moscow |journal=Studies in Conservation |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |year=2009 |volume=54 |number=1 |pages=12–22 |doi=10.1179/sic.2009.54.1.12 |jstor=27867061 |s2cid=138066784}}</ref> The [[Romanov dynasty]] acceded to the throne in 1613 by the decision of the Zemsky Sobor, and the country started its gradual recovery from the crisis.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Orchard |first=G. Edward |title=The Election of Michael Romanov |jstor=4210028 |publisher=[[Modern Humanities Research Association]] |journal=[[The Slavonic and East European Review]] |volume=67 |number=3 |date=July 1989 |pages=378–402}}</ref> Russia continued its territorial growth through the 17th century, which was the age of the [[Cossacks]].<ref name="Siberia">{{cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/collections/meeting-of-frontiers/articles-and-essays/exploration/russian-discovery-of-siberia/ |title=The Russian Discovery of Siberia |year=2000 |publisher=[[Library of Congress]] |location=Washington, D.C. |access-date=25 January 2022 |archive-date=30 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220330122944/https://www.loc.gov/collections/meeting-of-frontiers/articles-and-essays/exploration/russian-discovery-of-siberia/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1654, the Ukrainian leader, [[Bohdan Khmelnytsky]], offered to place Ukraine under the protection of the Russian tsar, [[Alexis of Russia|Alexis]]; whose acceptance of this offer led to another [[Russo-Polish War (1654–1667)|Russo-Polish War]]. Ultimately, Ukraine was split along the [[Dnieper]], leaving the eastern part, ([[Left-bank Ukraine]] and [[Kiev]]) under Russian rule.<ref>{{cite book |last=Frost |first=Robert I. |title=The Northern Wars: War, State and Society in Northeastern Europe, 1558–1721 |date=2000 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-0-58206-429-4 |page=13}}</ref> In the east, the rapid Russian exploration and colonisation of vast Siberia continued, hunting for valuable furs and ivory. [[List of Russian explorers|Russian explorers]] pushed eastward primarily along the [[Siberian River Routes]], and by the mid-17th century, there were Russian settlements in eastern Siberia, on the [[Chukchi Peninsula]], along the [[Amur River]], and on the coast of the Pacific Ocean.<ref name="Siberia"/> In 1648, [[Semyon Dezhnyov]] became the first European to navigate through the [[Bering Strait]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Oliver |first=James A. |title=The Bering Strait Crossing: A 21st Century Frontier between East and West |year=2006 |publisher=Information Architects |pages=36–37 |isbn=978-0-9546995-8-1}}</ref> === Imperial Russia === {{Main|Russian Empire}} [[File:Growth of Russia 1547-1725.png|thumb|upright=1.4|[[Expansion of Russia (1500–1800)|Expansion]] and [[Territorial evolution of Russia|territorial evolution]] of Russia from the [[Coronation of the Russian monarch|coronation]] of [[Ivan the Terrible|Ivan IV]] to the death of [[Peter the Great|Peter I]]]] Under [[Peter the Great]], Russia was proclaimed an empire in 1721, and established itself as one of the European great powers. Ruling from 1682 to 1725, Peter defeated Sweden in the [[Great Northern War]] (1700–1721), securing Russia's access to the sea and sea trade. In 1703, on the Baltic Sea, Peter founded [[Saint Petersburg]] as Russia's new capital. Throughout his rule, [[Government reform of Peter the Great|sweeping reforms were made]], which brought significant Western European cultural influences to Russia.<ref name="Curtis-1998-2">{{cite web |last=Curtis |first=Glenn E. |url=http://countrystudies.us/russia/4.htm |title=Russia – Early Imperial Russia |year=1998 |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress |access-date=25 June 2021 |archive-date=14 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230814170621/https://countrystudies.us/russia/4.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> He was succeeded by [[Catherine I of Russia|Catherine I]] (1725–1727), followed by [[Peter II of Russia|Peter II]] (1727–1730), and [[Anna of Russia|Anna]]. The reign of Peter I's daughter [[Elizabeth of Russia|Elizabeth]] in 1741–1762 saw Russia's participation in the [[Seven Years' War]] (1756–1763). During the conflict, Russian troops overran [[East Prussia]], reaching Berlin.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kohn |first=Hans |title=Germany and Russia |journal=Current History |volume=38 |number=221 |pages=1–5 |year=1960 |publisher=U of California Press |doi=10.1525/curh.1960.38.221.1 |jstor=45310370 |s2cid=249687838 }}</ref> However, upon Elizabeth's death, all these conquests were returned to the [[Kingdom of Prussia]] by pro-Prussian [[Peter III of Russia]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Raeff |first=Marc |title=The Domestic Policies of Peter III and his Overthrow |journal=[[The American Historical Review]] |volume=75 |number=5 |date=June 1970 |pages=1289–1310 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |jstor=1844479 |doi=10.2307/1844479}}</ref> [[Catherine the Great|Catherine II]] ("the Great"), who ruled in 1762–1796, presided over the [[Russian Enlightenment|Russian Age of Enlightenment]]. She extended Russian political control over the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and [[Partitions of Poland|annexed most of its territories into Russia]], making it the most populous country in Europe.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Perkins |first=James Breck |title=The Partition of Poland |jstor=1833615 |doi=10.2307/1833615 |doi-access=free |volume=2 |number=1 |date=October 1896 |pages=76–92 |journal=[[The American Historical Review]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]}}</ref> In the south, after the successful [[Russo-Turkish Wars]] against the [[Ottoman Empire]], Catherine advanced Russia's boundary to the Black Sea, by dissolving the [[Crimean Khanate]], and [[Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Empire|annexing Crimea]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Anderson |first=M.S. |jstor=4205010 |title=The Great Powers and the Russian Annexation of the Crimea, 1783–1784 |journal=[[The Slavonic and East European Review]] |date=December 1958 |volume=37 |number=88 |pages=17–41 |publisher=[[Modern Humanities Research Association]]}}</ref> As a result of victories over [[Qajar dynasty|Qajar Iran]] through the [[Russo-Persian Wars]], by the first half of the 19th century, Russia also [[Russian conquest of the Caucasus|conquered the Caucasus]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Behrooz |first=Maziar |title=Revisiting the Second Russo-Iranian War (1826–1828): Causes and Perceptions |jstor=24482847 |journal=[[Iranian Studies]] |year=2013 |volume=46 |number=3 |pages=359–381 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]|doi=10.1080/00210862.2012.758502 |s2cid=143736977}}</ref> Catherine's successor, her son [[Paul I of Russia|Paul]], was [[Personality and reputation of Paul I of Russia|unstable and focused predominantly on domestic issues]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Ragsdale |first=Hugh |title=Russia, Prussia, and Europe in the Policy of Paul I |year=1992 |pages=81–118 |journal=Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas |jstor=41046596 |volume=31 |number=1 |publisher=[[Franz Steiner Verlag]]}}</ref> Following his short reign, Catherine's strategy was continued with [[Alexander I of Russia|Alexander I's]] (1801–1825) [[Finnish War|wresting of Finland]] from the weakened Sweden in 1809,<ref>{{cite journal |title=Finland |jstor=1945868 |doi-access=free |doi=10.2307/1945868 |publisher=[[American Political Science Association]] |date=August 1910 |volume=4 |number=3 |pages=350–364 |journal=[[The American Political Science Review]]}}</ref> and of [[Bessarabia]] from the Ottomans in 1812.<ref>{{cite journal |last=King |first=Charles |title=Moldova and the New Bessarabian Questions |jstor=40396520 |journal=[[The World Today (magazine)|The World Today]] |volume=49 |number=7 |pages=135–139 |date=July 1993 |publisher=Royal Institute of International Affairs ([[Chatham House]])}}</ref> In North America, the Russians became the first Europeans to [[Russian America|reach and colonise Alaska]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/harriman/1899/exploration.html |title=Exploration and Settlement on the Alaskan Coast |publisher=[[PBS]] |access-date=13 January 2022 |archive-date=19 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220319205223/http://www.pbs.org/harriman/1899/exploration.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1803–1806, the [[first Russian circumnavigation]] was made.<ref>{{cite journal |last=McCartan |first=E. F. |title=The Long Voyages-Early Russian Circumnavigation |journal=[[The Russian Review]] |volume=22 |number=1 |year=1963 |pages=30–37 |doi=10.2307/126593 |jstor=126593}}</ref> In 1820, [[Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen#First Russian Antarctic expedition|a Russian expedition]] discovered the continent of [[Antarctica]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Blakemore |first=Erin |title=Who really discovered Antarctica? Depends who you ask. |date=27 January 2020 |access-date=12 January 2022 |work=[[National Geographic (magazine)|National Geographic]] |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/who-discovered-antarctica-depends-who-ask|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210305011853/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/who-discovered-antarctica-depends-who-ask|url-status=dead|archive-date=5 March 2021}}</ref> ====Great power and development of society, sciences and arts==== During the [[Napoleonic Wars]], Russia joined alliances with various European powers, and fought against France. The [[French invasion of Russia]] at the height of Napoleon's power in 1812 reached Moscow, but eventually failed as the obstinate resistance in combination with the bitterly cold [[Russian winter]] led to a disastrous defeat of invaders, in which the pan-European [[Grande Armée]] faced utter destruction. Led by [[Mikhail Kutuzov]] and [[Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly]], the [[Imperial Russian Army]] ousted Napoleon and drove throughout Europe in the [[War of the Sixth Coalition]], ultimately entering Paris.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kroll |first1=Mark J. |last2=Toombs |first2=Leslie A. |last3=Wright |first3=Peter |title=Napoleon's Tragic March Home from Moscow: Lessons in Hubris |date=February 2000 |journal=The Academy of Management Executive |jstor=4165613 |pages=117–128 |publisher=[[Academy of Management]] |volume=14 |number=1}}</ref> [[Alexander I of Russia|Alexander I]] controlled Russia's delegation at the [[Congress of Vienna]], which defined the map of post-Napoleonic Europe.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Ghervas |first=Stella |title=The Long Shadow of the Congress of Vienna |jstor=26266203 |publisher=[[SAGE Publishers]] |journal=Journal of Modern European History |volume=13 |number=4 |pages=458–463 |year=2015|doi=10.17104/1611-8944-2015-4-458 |s2cid=151713355 }}</ref> [[File:Napoleons retreat from moscow.jpg|thumb|''[[Napoleon]]'s retreat from Moscow'' by [[Albrecht Adam]] (1851)]] The officers who pursued Napoleon into Western Europe brought ideas of liberalism back to Russia, and attempted to curtail the tsar's powers during the abortive [[Decembrist revolt]] of 1825.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Grey |first=Ian |url=https://www.historytoday.com/archive/decembrists-russia%E2%80%99s-first-revolutionaries |title=The Decembrists: Russia's First Revolutionaries |magazine=[[History Today]] |date=9 September 1973 |volume=23 |issue=9 |access-date=23 November 2021 |archive-date=30 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220330122946/https://www.historytoday.com/archive/decembrists-russia%E2%80%99s-first-revolutionaries |url-status=live }}</ref> At the end of the conservative reign of [[Nicholas I of Russia|Nicholas I]] (1825–1855), a zenith period of Russia's power and influence in Europe, was disrupted by defeat in the [[Crimean War]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Vincent |first=J.R. Vincent |title=The Parliamentary Dimension of the Crimean War |journal=[[Transactions of the Royal Historical Society]] |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |pages=37–49 |volume=31 |year=1981 |jstor=3679044 |doi=10.2307/3679044|s2cid=153338264 }}</ref> ====Great liberal reforms and capitalism==== Nicholas's successor [[Alexander II of Russia|Alexander II]] (1855–1881) enacted significant changes throughout the country, including the [[emancipation reform of 1861]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Zenkovsky |first=Serge A. |author-link=Serge Aleksandrovich Zenkovsky |title=The Emancipation of the Serfs in Retrospect |jstor=126692 |doi=10.2307/126692 |publisher=[[Wiley (publisher)|Wiley]] |volume=20 |number=4 |journal=[[The Russian Review]] |date=October 1961 |pages=280–293}}</ref> These reforms spurred industrialisation, and modernised the Imperial Russian Army, which liberated much of the [[Balkans]] from Ottoman rule in the aftermath of the [[Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878)|1877–1878 Russo-Turkish War]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Gunter |first=Michael M. |author-link=Michael Gunter |title=War and Diplomacy: The Russo-Turkish War of 1877–1878 and the Treaty of Berlin |pages=231–233 |doi=10.1353/jwh.2013.0031 |journal=[[Journal of World History]] |publisher=[[University of Hawaiʻi Press]] |issn=1527-8050 |date=March 2013 |volume=24 |number=1 |s2cid=159687214}}</ref> During most of the 19th and early 20th century, Russia and [[British Empire|Britain]] colluded over [[Emirate of Afghanistan|Afghanistan]] and its neighbouring territories in [[Central Asia|Central]] and South Asia; the rivalry between the two major European empires came to be known as the [[Great Game]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Fromkin |first=David |author-link=David Fromkin |title=The Great Game in Asia |year=1980 |volume=58 |number=4 |pages=936–951 |jstor=20040512 |doi=10.2307/20040512 |journal=[[Foreign Affairs]]}}</ref> The late 19th century saw the rise of various socialist movements in Russia. Alexander II was [[Assassination of Alexander II of Russia|assassinated]] in 1881 by revolutionary terrorists.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Frank |first=Goodwin |journal= [[The Slavic and East European Journal]] |jstor=309128 |title=Review: [Untitled] |doi=10.2307/309128 |pages=641–43 |year=1995 |volume=39 |number=4}}</ref> The reign of his son [[Alexander III of Russia|Alexander III]] (1881–1894) was less liberal but more peaceful.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Taranovski |first=Theodore |title=Alexander III and his Bureaucracy: The Limitations on Autocratic Power |journal=[[Canadian Slavonic Papers]] |volume=26 |number=2/3 |year=1984 |pages=207–219 |doi=10.1080/00085006.1984.11091776 |jstor=40868293}}</ref> ====Constitutional monarchy and World War==== Under last Russian emperor, [[Nicholas II]] (1894–1917), the [[Revolution of 1905]] was triggered by the failure of the humiliating [[Russo-Japanese War]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Esthus |first=Raymond A. |title=Nicholas II and the Russo-Japanese War |jstor=129919 |doi=10.2307/129919 |volume=40 |number=4 |journal=[[The Russian Review]] |date=October 1981 |pages=396–411}}</ref> The uprising was put down, but the government was forced to concede major reforms ([[Russian Constitution of 1906]]), including granting [[freedom of speech|freedoms of speech]] and [[freedom of assembly|assembly]], the legalisation of political parties, and the creation of an elected legislative body, the [[State Duma (Russian Empire)|State Duma]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Doctorow |first=Gilbert S. |title=The Fundamental State Laws of 23 April 1906 |journal=[[The Russian Review]] |year=1976 |jstor=127655 |doi=10.2307/127655 |volume=35 |number=1 |pages=33–52}}</ref> === Revolution and civil war === {{main|Russian Revolution|Russian Civil War|Dissolution of the Russian Empire}} [[File:Russian Imperial Family 1913.jpg|thumb|left|Emperor [[Nicholas II of Russia]] and the [[House of Romanov|Romanovs]] were [[Execution of the Romanov family|executed]] by the Bolsheviks in 1918.]] In 1914, [[Russian entry into World War I|Russia entered World War I]] in response to [[Austria-Hungary]]'s declaration of war on Russia's ally [[Kingdom of Serbia|Serbia]],<ref>{{cite journal |last=Williamson|first=Samuel R. Jr.|author-link=Samuel R. Williamson Jr. |title=The Origins of World War I |jstor=204825 |doi=10.2307/204825 |journal=[[The Journal of Interdisciplinary History]] |year=1988 |publisher=The [[MIT Press]] |volume=18 |number=4 |pages=795–818}}</ref> and fought across multiple fronts while isolated from its [[Triple Entente]] allies.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Triple Alliance and Triple Entente, 1902–1914 |journal=[[The American Historical Review]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |jstor=1836520 |doi-access=free |doi=10.2307/1836520 |volume=29 |number=3 |pages=449–473 |date=April 1924 |last1=Schmitt |first1=Bernadotte E. |author1-link=Bernadotte Everly Schmitt }}</ref> In 1916, the [[Brusilov Offensive]] of the Imperial Russian Army almost completely destroyed the [[Austro-Hungarian Army]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Schindler |first=John |year=2003 |title=Steamrollered in Galicia: The Austro-Hungarian Army and the Brusilov Offensive, 1916. |journal=[[War in History]] |volume=10 |number=1 |pages=27–59 |doi=10.1191/0968344503wh260oa |jstor=26061940 |s2cid=143618581}}</ref> However, the already-existing public distrust of the regime was deepened by the rising costs of war, [[World War I casualties|high casualties]], and rumors of corruption and treason. All this formed the climate for the [[Russian Revolution]] of 1917, carried out in two major acts.<ref name="Curtis-1998-5">{{cite web |last=Curtis |first=Glenn E. |url=http://countrystudies.us/russia/8.htm |title=Russia – Revolutions and Civil War |year=1998 |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=Federal Research Division of the [[Library of Congress]] |access-date=25 June 2021 |archive-date=14 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230814182853/https://countrystudies.us/russia/8.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> In early 1917, [[Nicholas II of Russia|Nicholas II]] was [[February Revolution|forced to abdicate]]; he and his family were imprisoned and [[Shooting of the Romanov family|later executed]] during the [[Russian Civil War]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Walsh |first=Edmund |author-link=Edmund A. Walsh |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1928/03/the-last-days-of-the-romanovs/303877/ |title=The Last Days of the Romanovs |work=[[The Atlantic]] |date=March 1928 |access-date=14 January 2022 |archive-date=30 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220330124604/https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1928/03/the-last-days-of-the-romanovs/303877/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The monarchy was replaced by a shaky coalition of political parties that declared itself the [[Russian Provisional Government|Provisional Government]],<ref>{{cite journal |last=Mosse |first=W. E. |title=Interlude: The Russian Provisional Government 1917 |journal=Soviet Studies (Europe-Asia Studies) |jstor=149631 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |volume=15 |number=4 |pages=408–419 |date=April 1964}}</ref> and proclaimed the [[Russian Republic]]. On {{OldStyleDateNY|19 January|6 January}}, 1918, the [[Russian Constituent Assembly]] declared Russia a democratic federal republic (thus ratifying the Provisional Government's decision). The next day the Constituent Assembly was dissolved by the [[All-Russian Central Executive Committee]].<ref name="Curtis-1998-5" /> An alternative socialist establishment co-existed, the [[Petrograd Soviet]], wielding power through the democratically elected councils of workers and peasants, called ''[[Soviet (council)|soviets]]''. The rule of the new authorities only aggravated the crisis in the country instead of resolving it, and eventually, the [[October Revolution]], led by [[Bolshevik]] leader [[Vladimir Lenin]], overthrew the Provisional Government and gave full governing power to the soviets, leading to the creation of the world's first [[socialist state]].<ref name="Curtis-1998-5"/> The [[Russian Civil War]] broke out between the [[anti-communist]] [[White movement]] and the Bolsheviks with its [[Red Army]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Figes |first=Orlando |author-link=Orlando Figes |title=The Red Army and Mass Mobilization during the Russian Civil War 1918–1920 |jstor=650938 |journal=[[Past & Present (journal)|Past & Present]] |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |pages=168–211 |date=November 1990 |volume=129 |number=190|doi=10.1093/past/129.1.168 }}</ref> In the aftermath of signing the [[Treaty of Brest-Litovsk]] that concluded hostilities with the [[Central Powers]] of [[World War I|World War I]]; Bolshevist Russia surrendered most of its western territories, which hosted 34% of its population, 54% of its industries, 32% of its agricultural land, and roughly 90% of its coal mines.<ref>{{cite web |last=Figes |first=Orlando |author-link=Orlando Figes |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/history-magazine/article/russian-revolution-history-lenin |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210415111202/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/history-magazine/article/russian-revolution-history-lenin |url-status=dead |archive-date=15 April 2021 |title=From Tsar to U.S.S.R.: Russia's Chaotic Year of Revolution |work=[[National Geographic (magazine)|National Geographic]] |date=25 October 2017 |access-date=27 November 2021 }}</ref> [[File:Vladimir_Lenin_Speech_in_May_1920.jpg|thumb|[[Vladimir Lenin]] and [[Leon Trotsky]] during a 1920 speech in Moscow]] The [[Allies of World War I|Allied powers]] launched an unsuccessful [[Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War|military intervention]] in support of anti-communist forces.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Carley |first=Michael Jabara |date=November 1989 |jstor=40106089 |title=Allied Intervention and the Russian Civil War, 1917–1922 |journal=[[The International History Review]] |volume=11 |number=4 |pages=689–700 |doi=10.1080/07075332.1989.9640530 }}</ref> In the meantime, both the Bolsheviks and White movement carried out campaigns of deportations and executions against each other, known respectively as the [[Red Terror]] and [[White Terror (Russia)|White Terror]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/red-terror-set-macabre-course-soviet-union |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210222175025/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/red-terror-set-macabre-course-soviet-union |url-status=dead |archive-date=22 February 2021 |title=How the Red Terror set a macabre course for the Soviet Union |work=[[National Geographic (magazine)|National Geographic]] |first=Erin |last=Blakemore |date=2 September 2020 |access-date=26 June 2021}}</ref> By the end of the violent civil war, Russia's economy and infrastructure were heavily damaged, and as many as 10 million perished during the war, mostly civilians.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Russian-Civil-War/Foreign-intervention#ref283723 |title=Russian Civil War – Casualties and consequences of the war |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]] |access-date=14 January 2022 |archive-date=30 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220330124604/https://www.britannica.com/event/Russian-Civil-War/Foreign-intervention#ref283723 |url-status=live }}</ref> Millions became [[White émigré]]s,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Schaufuss |first=Tatiana |title=The White Russian Refugees |journal=The Annals of the [[American Academy of Political and Social Science]] |date=May 1939 |volume=203 |pages=45–54 |publisher=[[SAGE Publishing]] |doi=10.1177/000271623920300106 |jstor=1021884|s2cid=143704019 }}</ref> and the [[Russian famine of 1921–1922]] claimed up to five million victims.<ref>{{cite web |last=Haller |first=Francis |url=https://www.icrc.org/en/doc/resources/documents/article/other/5rfhjy.htm |title=Famine in Russia: the hidden horrors of 1921 |work=[[Le Temps]] |publisher=[[International Committee of the Red Cross]] |date=8 December 2003 |access-date=26 July 2021 |archive-date=14 March 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200314134441/https://www.icrc.org/en/doc/resources/documents/article/other/5rfhjy.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> === Soviet Union === {{Main|History of the Soviet Union}} [[File:Soviet Union - Russian SFSR (1936).svg|thumb|left|Location of the [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Russian SFSR]] (red) within the [[Soviet Union]] in 1936]] ====Command economy and Soviet society==== On 30 December 1922, Lenin and his aides [[Treaty on the Creation of the USSR|formed]] the [[Soviet Union]], by joining the [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic|Russian SFSR]] into a single state with the [[Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic|Byelorussian]], [[Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic|Transcaucasian]], and [[Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic|Ukrainian]] republics.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Szporluk |first=Roman |title=Nationalities and the Russian Problem in the U.S.S.R.: an Historical Outline |jstor=24356607 |publisher=Journal of International Affairs Editorial Board |journal=[[Journal of International Affairs]] |volume=27 |number=1 |pages=22–40 |year=1973}}</ref> Eventually internal border changes and annexations during World War II created a union of [[republics of the Soviet Union|15 republics]]; the largest in size and population being the Russian SFSR, which dominated the union politically, culturally, and economically.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Brzezinski |first=Zbigniew |title=The Soviet Union: World Power of a New Type |jstor=1174124 |doi=10.2307/1174124 |volume=35 |number=3 |year=1984 |pages=147–159 |journal=Proceedings of the Academy of Political Science |publisher=[[The Academy of Political Science]]}}</ref> Following [[Death and state funeral of Vladimir Lenin|Lenin's death]] in 1924, a [[List of Troikas in the Soviet Union|troika]] was designated to take charge. Eventually [[Joseph Stalin]], the [[General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union|General Secretary of the Communist Party]], managed to suppress all opposition factions and consolidate power in his hands to become the country's dictator by the 1930s.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Glassman |first=Leo M. |title=Stalin's Rise to Power |date=April 1931 |pages=73–77 |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |jstor=45336496 |journal=[[Current History]] |volume=34 |number=1|doi=10.1525/curh.1931.34.1.73 |s2cid=248843930 }}</ref> [[Leon Trotsky]], the main proponent of [[world revolution]], was exiled from the Soviet Union in 1929,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Getty |first=J Arch. |title=Trotsky in Exile: The Founding of the Fourth International |jstor=151989 |pages=24–35 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |volume=38 |number=1 |date=January 1986 |journal=Soviet Studies (Europe-Asia Studies)}}</ref> and Stalin's idea of [[Socialism in One Country]] became the official line.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://kar.kent.ac.uk/47659/1/Socialism%20in%20One%20Country%20Redacted.pdf |title=Socialism in One Country: A Study of Pragmatism and Ideology in the Soviet 1920s |publisher=[[University of Kent]] |last=Bensley |first=Michael |year=2014 |access-date=26 June 2021 |archive-date=26 June 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210626142120/https://kar.kent.ac.uk/47659/1/Socialism%20in%20One%20Country%20Redacted.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> The continued internal struggle in the Bolshevik party culminated in the [[Great Purge]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kuromiya |first=Hirosaki |title=Accounting for the Great Terror |jstor=41051345 |publisher=[[Franz Steiner Verlag]] |journal=Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas |year=2005 |pages=86–101 |volume=53 |number=1}}</ref> ====Stalinism and violent modernization==== Under Stalin's leadership, the government launched a [[command economy]], [[Industrialization in the USSR|industrialisation of the largely rural country]], and [[Collectivization in the USSR|collectivisation]] of [[Agriculture in the USSR|its agriculture]]. During this period of rapid economic and social change, millions of people were sent to [[Gulag|penal labour camps]], including many political convicts for their suspected or real opposition to Stalin's rule;<ref>{{cite journal |last=Rosefielde |first=Steven |title=An Assessment of the Sources and Uses of Gulag Forced Labour 1929–1956 |jstor=151474 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |pages=51–87 |volume=33 |number=1 |date=January 1981 |journal=Soviet Studies (Europe-Asia Studies)}}</ref> and millions were [[population transfer in the Soviet Union|deported and exiled]] to remote areas of the Soviet Union.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kreindler |first=Isabelle |title=The Soviet Deported Nationalities: A Summary and an Update |jstor=151700 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |journal=Soviet Studies (Europe-Asia Studies) |volume=38 |number=3 |date=July 1986 |pages=387–405}}</ref> The transitional disorganisation of the country's agriculture, combined with the harsh state policies and a drought,<ref>{{cite book | last=Zadoks | first=J.C. | title=On the political economy of plant disease epidemics: Capita selecta in historical epidemiology | publisher=Wageningen Academic Publishers | year=2008 | isbn=978-90-8686-653-3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EBLTDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA171 | access-date=8 December 2022 | page=171 | archive-date=25 December 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221225095407/https://books.google.com/books?id=EBLTDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA171 | url-status=live }}</ref> led to the [[Soviet famine of 1932–1933]]; which killed up to 8.7 million, 3.3 million of them in the Russian SFSR.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Wolowyna |first=Oleh |date=October 2020 |title=A Demographic Framework for the 1932–1934 Famine in the Soviet Union |journal=[[Journal of Genocide Research]] |volume=23 |number=4 |pages=501–526 |doi=10.1080/14623528.2020.1834741 |s2cid=226316468}}</ref> The Soviet Union, ultimately, made the costly transformation from a largely agrarian economy to a major industrial powerhouse within a short span of time.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Rosefielde |first=Steven |title=Excess Deaths and Industrialization: A Realist Theory of Stalinist Economic Development in the 1930s |jstor=260849 |journal=[[Journal of Contemporary History]] |year=1988 |volume=23 |number=2 |pages=277–289 |publisher=[[SAGE Publishing]]|doi=10.1177/002200948802300207 |pmid=11617302 |s2cid=26592600 }}</ref> ====World War II and United Nations==== {{main|Soviet Union in World War II}} [[File:RIAN archive 602161 Center of Stalingrad after liberation.jpg|thumb|The [[Battle of Stalingrad]], the largest and bloodiest battle in the history of warfare, ended in 1943 with a decisive Soviet victory against the [[German Army (1935–1945)|German army]].]] The Soviet Union entered [[World War II]] on 17 September 1939 with its [[Soviet invasion of Poland|invasion of Poland]],<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kornat |first=Marek |title=Choosing Not to Choose in 1939: Poland's Assessment of the Nazi-Soviet Pact |jstor=40647041 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |volume=31 |number=4 |date=December 2009 |journal=[[The International History Review]] |pages=771–797|doi=10.1080/07075332.2009.9641172 |s2cid=155068339}}</ref> in accordance with a secret protocol within the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact]] with [[Nazi Germany]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Roberts |first=Geoffrey |title=The Soviet Decision for a Pact with Nazi Germany |jstor=152247 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |volume=44 |number=1 |year=1992 |journal=Soviet Studies (Europe-Asia Studies) |pages=57–78}}</ref> The Soviet Union later [[Winter War|invaded Finland]],<ref>{{cite journal |last=Spring |first=D. W. |title=The Soviet Decision for War against Finland, 30 November 1939 |jstor=152247 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |volume=38 |number=2 |date=April 1986 |journal=Soviet Studies (Europe-Asia Studies) |pages=207–226}}</ref> and [[Soviet occupation of the Baltic states (1940)|occupied and annexed the Baltic states]],<ref>{{cite journal |last=Saburova |first=Irina |title=The Soviet Occupation of the Baltic States |journal=[[The Russian Review]] |volume=14 |number=1 |pages=36–49 |publisher=[[Wiley (publisher)|Wiley]] |doi=10.2307/126075 |jstor=126075 |date=January 1955}}</ref> as well as [[Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina|parts of Romania]].<ref>{{cite book |last=King |first=Charles |title=The Moldovans: Romania, Russia, and the Politics of Culture |date=1999 |publisher=[[Hoover Institution Press]] |url=https://archive.org/details/moldovansromania00king_0/page/n3/mode/2up |isbn= 978-0-817-99791-5}}</ref>{{rp|91–95}} On 22 June 1941, Germany [[Operation Barbarossa|invaded the Soviet Union]],<ref>{{cite journal |last=Stolfi |first=Russel H. S. |title=Barbarossa Revisited: A Critical Reappraisal of the Opening Stages of the Russo-German Campaign (June–December 1941) |jstor=1906049 |publisher=[[The University of Chicago Press]] |volume=54 |number=1 |pages=27–46 |journal=[[The Journal of Modern History]] |date=March 1982|doi=10.1086/244076 |s2cid=143690841 }}</ref> opening the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]], the largest theater of World War II.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wilson |first=David |title=The Eastern Front Campaign: An Operational Level Analysis |publisher=Eschenburg Press |date=2018 |isbn=978-1-789-12193-3}}</ref>{{rp|7}} Eventually, some 5 million [[Red Army]] troops were captured by the Nazis;<ref>{{cite book |last=Chapoutot |first=Johann |title=The Law of Blood: Thinking and Acting as a Nazi |date=2018 |publisher=[[Harvard University Press]] |isbn=978-0-674-66043-4}}</ref>{{rp|272}} the latter deliberately [[German mistreatment of Soviet prisoners of war|starved to death or otherwise killed]] 3.3 million Soviet [[Prisoner of war|POW]]s, and a vast number of civilians, as the "[[Hunger Plan]]" sought to fulfil [[Generalplan Ost]].<ref>{{cite book |last=D. Snyder |first=Timothy |location=New York |title=Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin |date=2010 |publisher=[[Basic Books]] |isbn=978-0-465-00239-9}}</ref>{{rp|175–186}} Although the [[Wehrmacht]] had considerable early success, their attack was halted in the [[Battle of Moscow]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Assmann |first=Kurt |title=The Battle for Moscow, Turning Point of the War |jstor=20030251 |doi=10.2307/20030251 |volume=28 |number=2 |pages=309–326 |publisher=[[Council on Foreign Relations]] |date=January 1950 |journal=[[Foreign Affairs]]}}</ref> Subsequently, the Germans were dealt major defeats first at the [[Battle of Stalingrad]] in the winter of 1942–1943,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Clairmont |first=Frederic F. |title=Stalingrad: Hitler's Nemesis |jstor=4413752 |volume=38 |number=27 |pages=2819–2823 |date=July 2003 |journal=[[Economic and Political Weekly]]}}</ref> and then in the [[Battle of Kursk]] in the summer of 1943.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Mulligan |first=Timothy P. |title=Spies, Ciphers and 'Zitadelle': Intelligence and the Battle of Kursk, 1943 |jstor=260932 |pages=235–260 |volume=22 |number=2 |journal=[[Journal of Contemporary History]] |publisher=[[SAGE Publishing]] |date=April 1987|doi=10.1177/002200948702200203 |s2cid=162709461}}</ref> Another German failure was the [[Siege of Leningrad]], in which the city was fully blockaded on land between 1941 and 1944 by German and Finnish forces, and suffered starvation and more than a million deaths, but never surrendered.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Krypton |first=Constantin |title=The Siege of Leningrad |journal=[[The Russian Review]] |volume=13 |number=4 |pages=255–265 |publisher=[[Wiley (publisher)|Wiley]] |doi=10.2307/125859 |jstor=125859 |date=January 1955}}</ref> Soviet forces steamrolled through Eastern and Central Europe in 1944–1945 and [[Battle of Berlin|captured Berlin]] in May 1945.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/history-magazine/article/soviet-victory-battle-berlin-finished-nazi-germany |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210320151932/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/history-magazine/article/soviet-victory-battle-berlin-finished-nazi-germany |url-status=dead |archive-date=20 March 2021 |title=The Soviet victory in the Battle of Berlin finished Nazi Germany |work=[[National Geographic (magazine)|National Geographic]] |first1=Neil |last1=Kagan |first2=Stephen |last2=Hyslop |date=7 May 2020 |access-date=29 May 2021}}</ref> In August 1945, the Red Army [[Soviet invasion of Manchuria|invaded Manchuria]] and [[Soviet–Japanese War|ousted the Japanese]] from Northeast Asia, contributing to the Allied victory over Japan.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Morton|first=Louis|title=Soviet Intervention in the War with Japan|volume=40|number=4|date=July 1962|pages=653–662|publisher=[[Council on Foreign Relations]]|journal=[[Foreign Affairs]]|doi=10.2307/20029588|jstor=20029588}}</ref> The 1941–1945 period of World War II is known in Russia as the [[Great Patriotic War (term)|Great Patriotic War]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-s-monumental-tribute-to-the-great-patriotic-war-/30599462.html |title=Russia's Monumental Tributes To The 'Great Patriotic War' |publisher=[[Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty]] |date=8 May 2020 |access-date=29 May 2021 |archive-date=31 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331102407/https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-s-monumental-tribute-to-the-great-patriotic-war-/30599462.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The Soviet Union, along with the United States, the United Kingdom and China were considered the Big Four of Allied powers in World War II, and later became the [[Four Policemen]], which was the foundation of the [[United Nations Security Council]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Gaddis|first=John Lewis|author-link=John Lewis Gaddis|title=The United States and the Origins of the Cold War, 1941–1947|url=https://archive.org/details/unitedstatesorig0000gadd|publisher=[[Columbia University Press]]|date=1972|location=New York|isbn=978-0-231-12239-9}}</ref>{{rp|27}} During the war, [[World War II casualties of the Soviet Union|Soviet civilian and military death were about 26–27 million]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ellman |first1=Michael |last2=Maksudov |first2=S. |author1-link=Michael Ellman |title=Soviet Deaths in the Great Patriotic War: A Note |journal=[[Europe-Asia Studies]] |year=1994 |volume=46 |issue=4 |pages=671–680 |doi=10.1080/09668139408412190 |pmid=12288331 |jstor=152934}}</ref> accounting for about half of all [[World War II casualties]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cumins |first=Keith |title=Cataclysm: The War on the Eastern Front 1941–45 |publisher=Helion and Company |date=2011 |isbn=978-1-907-67723-6}}</ref>{{rp|295}} The [[Economy of the Soviet Union|Soviet economy]] and infrastructure suffered massive devastation, which caused the [[Soviet famine of 1946–1947]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Harrison |first=Mark |date=14 April 2010 |title=The Soviet Union after 1945: Economic Recovery and Political Repression |url=https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/staff/mharrison/public/pp2011postprint.pdf |website=[[University of Warwick]] |access-date=26 May 2021 |archive-date=21 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211021204316/https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/staff/mharrison/public/pp2011postprint.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> However, at the expense of a large sacrifice, the Soviet Union emerged as a global superpower.<ref name="Reiman-2016">{{cite book |last=Reiman |first=Michael |title=About Russia, Its Revolutions, Its Development and Its Present |chapter=The USSR as the New World Superpower |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv2t4dn7.14 |date=2016 |publisher=[[Peter Lang (publisher)|Peter Lang]] |pages=169–176 |jstor=j.ctv2t4dn7.14 |isbn=978-3-631-67136-8 |access-date=26 May 2021 |archive-date=7 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220407051631/https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv2t4dn7.14 |url-status=live }}</ref> ====Superpower and Cold War==== [[File:Yalta Conference (Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin) (B&W).jpg|thumb|The "[[Grand Alliance (World War II)|Big Three]]" at the [[Yalta Conference]] in February 1945, [[Winston Churchill]], [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] and [[Joseph Stalin]]]] After World War II, according to the [[Potsdam Conference]], the [[Red Army]] occupied parts of Eastern and Central Europe, including [[East Germany]] and the eastern regions of [[Austria]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Wills |first=Matthew |url=https://daily.jstor.org/potsdam-origins-cold-war/ |title=Potsdam and the Origins of the Cold War |work=[[JSTOR]] Daily |date=6 August 2015 |access-date=28 January 2022 |archive-date=7 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220407051631/https://daily.jstor.org/potsdam-origins-cold-war/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Dependent communist governments were installed in the [[Eastern Bloc]] satellite states.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Bunce |first=Valerie |title=The Empire Strikes Back: The Evolution of the Eastern Bloc from a Soviet Asset to a Soviet Liability |jstor=2706633 |journal=[[International Organization]] |volume=39 |number=1 |year=1985 |pages=1–46 |publisher=The [[MIT Press]]|doi=10.1017/S0020818300004859 |s2cid=154309589 |doi-access=free }}</ref> After becoming the world's second [[Russia and weapons of mass destruction|nuclear power]],<ref>{{cite journal |last=Holloway |first=David |title=Entering the Nuclear Arms Race: The Soviet Decision to Build the Atomic Bomb, 1939–1945 |publisher=[[SAGE Publishing]] |volume=11 |number=2 |date=May 1981 |pages=159–197 |journal=[[Social Studies of Science]]|doi=10.1177/030631278101100201 |s2cid=145715873}}</ref> the Soviet Union established the [[Warsaw Pact]] alliance,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Wolfe |first=Thomas W. |title=The Warsaw Pact in Evolution |date=May 1966 |volume=22 |number=5 |pages=191–198 |publisher=Royal Institute of International Affairs ([[Chatham House]]) |journal=[[The World Today (magazine)|The World Today]] |jstor=40393859}}</ref> and entered into a struggle for global dominance, known as the [[Cold War]], with the rivalling United States and [[NATO]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wagg |first1=Stephen |last2=Andrews |first2=David |title=East Plays West: Sport and the Cold War |year=2007 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1-134-24167-5 |page=11}}</ref> ====Khrushchev Thaw reforms and economic development==== After [[Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin|Stalin's death]] in 1953 and a short period of [[Collective leadership|collective rule]], the new leader [[Nikita Khrushchev]] denounced [[On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences|Stalin]] and launched the policy of [[de-Stalinization]], releasing many political prisoners from the [[Gulag]] labour camps.<ref>{{cite book |first=Polly |last=Jones |title=The Dilemmas of De-Stalinization: Negotiating Cultural and Social Change in the Khrushchev Era |year=2006 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-28347-7 |pages=2–4}}</ref> The general easement of repressive policies became known later as the [[Khrushchev Thaw]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Reid |first=Susan E. |year=1997 |title=Destalinization and Taste, 1953–1963 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |jstor=1316131 |volume=10 |number=2 |pages=177–201 |journal=[[Journal of Design History]]|doi=10.1093/jdh/10.2.177 }}</ref> At the same time, Cold War tensions reached its peak when the two rivals clashed over the deployment of the United States [[PGM-19 Jupiter|Jupiter missiles]] in Turkey and Soviet [[Cuban Missile Crisis|missiles in Cuba]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Fuelling |first=Cody |url=https://digitalcommons.northgeorgia.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1218&context=issr |title=To the Brink: Turkish and Cuban Missiles during the Height of the Cold War |journal=International Social Science Review |publisher=[[University of North Georgia]] |volume=93 |number=1 |access-date=28 May 2021 |archive-date=13 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220313053405/https://digitalcommons.northgeorgia.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1218&context=issr |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1957, the Soviet Union launched the world's first artificial [[satellite]], ''[[Sputnik 1]]'', thus starting the [[Space Age]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/ussr-launches-sputnik/ |title=USSR Launches Sputnik |date=7 July 2021 |work=[[National Geographic (magazine)|National Geographic]] |access-date=15 January 2022 |archive-date=6 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220606045341/https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/ussr-launches-sputnik/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Russian [[cosmonaut]] [[Yuri Gagarin]] became the first human to orbit the Earth, aboard the ''[[Vostok 1]]'' crewed spacecraft on [[Cosmonautics Day|12 April 1961]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210409-yuri-gagarin-the-spaceman-who-came-in-from-the-cold |title=Yuri Gagarin: the spaceman who came in from the cold |last=Dowling |first=Stephen |date=12 April 2021 |access-date=15 January 2022 |publisher=BBC |archive-date=7 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220407051631/https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20210409-yuri-gagarin-the-spaceman-who-came-in-from-the-cold |url-status=live }}</ref> ====Period of developed socialism or Era of Stagnation==== Following the ousting of Khrushchev in 1964, another period of [[Collectivity of leadership|collective rule]] ensued, until [[Leonid Brezhnev]] became the leader. The era of the 1970s and the early 1980s was later designated as the [[Era of Stagnation]]. The 1965 [[Kosygin reform]] aimed for partial [[decentralisation]] of the [[Soviet economy]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kontorovich |first=Vladimir |title=Lessons of the 1965 Soviet Economic Reform |jstor=151112 |date=April 1988 |pages=308–316 |volume=40 |number=2 |journal=Soviet Studies (Europe-Asia Studies) |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]}}</ref> In 1979, after a [[Saur Revolution|communist-led revolution]] in Afghanistan, Soviet forces invaded the country, ultimately starting the [[Soviet–Afghan War]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Westad |first=Odd Arne |title=Prelude to Invasion: The Soviet Union and the Afghan Communists, 1978–1979 |jstor=40106851 |journal=[[The International History Review]] |volume=16 |number=1 |date=February 1994 |pages=49–69 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]|doi=10.1080/07075332.1994.9640668 }}</ref> In May 1988, the [[Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan|Soviets started to withdraw from Afghanistan]], due to international opposition, persistent anti-Soviet guerrilla warfare, and a lack of support by Soviet citizens.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Daley |first=Tad |title=Afghanistan and Gorbachev's Global Foreign Policy |jstor=2644534 |doi=10.2307/2644534 |journal=[[Asian Survey]] |volume=29 |number=5 |date=May 1989 |pages=496–513 |publisher=[[University of California Press]]}}</ref> [[File:President Reagan meeting with Soviet General Secretary Gorbachev at Hofdi House during the Reykjavik Summit Iceland.jpg|thumb|[[Mikhail Gorbachev]] in one-to-one discussions with [[Ronald Reagan]] in the [[Reykjavík Summit]], 1986]] ====Perestroika, democratization and Russian sovereignty==== From 1985 onwards, the last Soviet leader [[Mikhail Gorbachev]], who sought to enact liberal reforms in the Soviet system, introduced the policies of ''[[glasnost]]'' (openness) and ''[[perestroika]]'' (restructuring) in an attempt to end the [[Era of Stagnation|period of economic stagnation]] and to [[Demokratizatsiya (Soviet Union)|democratise the government]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=McForan |first=D. W. J. |title=Glasnost, Democracy, and Perestroika |jstor=41881835 |journal= International Social Science Review |volume=63 |year=1988 |number=4 |pages=165–174 |publisher=[[Pi Gamma Mu]]}}</ref> This, however, led to the rise of strong nationalist and separatist movements across the country.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Beissinger |first=Mark R. |url=https://scholar.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/mbeissinger/files/beissinger.ceh_.article.pdf |title=Nationalism and the Collapse of Soviet Communism |publisher=[[Princeton University]] |journal=[[Contemporary European History]] |volume=18 |number=3 |pages=331–347 |date=August 2009 |doi=10.1017/S0960777309005074 |access-date=25 June 2021 |jstor=40542830 |s2cid=46642309 |archive-date=24 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220224060339/https://scholar.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/mbeissinger/files/beissinger.ceh_.article.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> Prior to 1991, the Soviet economy was the world's second-largest, but during its final years, it went into a crisis.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Shleifer |first1=Andrei |last2=Vishny |first2=Robert W. |title=Reversing the Soviet Economic Collapse |year=1991 |pages=341–360 |journal=[[Brookings Papers on Economic Activity]] |publisher=[[Brookings Institution]] |volume=1991 |number=2 |doi=10.2307/2534597 |jstor=2534597 |s2cid=153551739 |url=http://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/30723290/1991b_bpea_shleifer_vishny.pdf |access-date=21 January 2022 |archive-date=31 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331081228/https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/30723290/1991b_bpea_shleifer_vishny.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> By 1991, economic and political turmoil began to boil over as the [[Baltic states]] chose to secede from the Soviet Union.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Dahlburg |first1=John-Thor |last2=Marshall |first2=Tyler |title=Independence for Baltic States: Freedom: Moscow formally recognizes Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, ending half a century of control. Soviets to begin talks soon on new relationships with the three nations |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-09-07-mn-1530-story.html |access-date=28 September 2021 |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=7 September 1991 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210603043522/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-09-07-mn-1530-story.html?_amp=true |archive-date=3 June 2021 |url-status=live}}</ref> On 17 March, a [[1991 Soviet Union referendum|referendum]] was held, in which the vast majority of participating citizens voted in favour of changing the Soviet Union into a [[Union of Sovereign States|renewed federation]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-19-mn-494-story.html |title=Vote Backs Gorbachev but Not Convincingly: Soviet Union: His plan to preserve federal unity is supported—but so is Yeltsin's for a Russian presidency. |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |first=Michael |last=Parks |date=19 March 1991 |access-date=30 May 2021 |archive-date=31 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331100735/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-03-19-mn-494-story.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In June 1991, [[Boris Yeltsin]] became the first directly elected [[President of Russia|president]] in Russian history when he was [[1991 Russian presidential election|elected]] president of the Russian SFSR.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1991/06/14/yeltsin-elected-president-of-russia/8b0dc76b-752c-4e28-a525-45ba6120ff24/ |title=Yeltsin Elected President of Russia |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |first=David |last=Remnick |date=14 June 1991 |access-date=6 June 2021 |archive-date=30 January 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200130025538/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1991/06/14/yeltsin-elected-president-of-russia/8b0dc76b-752c-4e28-a525-45ba6120ff24/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In August 1991, [[1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt|a coup d'état attempt]] by members of Gorbachev's government, directed against Gorbachev and aimed at preserving the Soviet Union, instead led to the end of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Gibson |first=James L. |title=Mass Opposition to the Soviet Putsch of August 1991: Collective Action, Rational Choice, and Democratic Values in the Former Soviet Union |journal=The American Political Science Review |publisher=[[American Political Science Association]] |date=September 1997 |volume=97 |number=3 |pages=671–684 |doi=10.2307/2952082 |jstor=2952082|s2cid=145141360 }}</ref> On 25 December 1991, following the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]], along with contemporary Russia, fourteen other [[post-Soviet states]] emerged.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/soviet-union-collapse-timeline/31487661.html |title=The Undoing Of The U.S.S.R.: How It Happened |publisher=[[Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty]] |last=Foltynova |first=Kristyna |date=1 October 2021 |access-date=15 January 2022 |archive-date=13 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220413175407/https://www.rferl.org/a/soviet-union-collapse-timeline/31487661.html |url-status=live }}</ref> === Independent Russian Federation === {{Main|History of Russia (1991–present)}} {{Further|Presidency of Boris Yeltsin|Russia under Vladimir Putin|Presidency of Dmitry Medvedev}} [[File:Vladimir Putin taking the Presidential Oath, 7 May 2000.jpg|thumb|right|[[Vladimir Putin]] takes the oath of office as president on his [[First inauguration of Vladimir Putin|first inauguration]], with [[Boris Yeltsin]] looking over, 2000.]] ====Transition to a market economy and political crises==== The economic and political collapse of the Soviet Union led Russia into a deep and prolonged depression. During and after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, wide-ranging reforms including [[Privatization in Russia|privatisation]] and [[free trade|market and trade liberalisation]] were undertaken, including radical changes along the lines of "[[shock therapy (economics)|shock therapy]]".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Shleifer |first1=Andrei |last2=Treisman |first2=Daniel |year=2005 |title=A Normal Country: Russia After Communism |url=https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/shleifer/files/normal_jep.pdf |journal=[[Journal of Economic Perspectives]] |volume=19 |number=1 |pages=151–174 |publisher=[[Harvard University]] |doi=10.1257/0895330053147949 |access-date=24 November 2021 |archive-date=12 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210112210023/https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/shleifer/files/normal_jep.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> The privatisation largely shifted control of enterprises from state agencies to individuals with inside connections in the government, which led to the rise of [[Russian oligarchs]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-01-02/rich-russians-the-rise-of-the-oligarchs/10626236|title=The rise of Russia's oligarchs – and their bid for legitimacy|work=[[ABC News (Australia)|ABC News]]|first=Joey|last=Watson|date=2 January 2019|access-date=28 May 2021|archive-date=21 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220321211740/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-01-02/rich-russians-the-rise-of-the-oligarchs/10626236|url-status=live}}</ref> Many of the newly rich moved billions in cash and assets outside of the country in an enormous [[capital flight]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Tikhomirov |first=Vladimir |title=Capital Flight from Post-Soviet Russia |journal=[[Europe-Asia Studies]] |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |volume=49 |number=4 |pages=591–615 |date=June 1997 |doi=10.1080/09668139708412462 |jstor=153715}}</ref> The depression of the economy led to the collapse of social services—the [[birth rate]] plummeted while the [[death rate]] skyrocketed,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Hollander |first=D. |title=In Post-Soviet Russia, Fertility Is on the Decline; Marriage and Childbearing are Occurring Earlier |jstor=2953371 |doi=10.2307/2953371 |pages=92–94 |volume=29 |number=2 |year=1997 |journal=Family Planning Perspectives |publisher=[[Guttmacher Institute]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Chen |first1=Lincoln C. |last2=Wittgenstein |first2=Friederike |last3=McKeon |first3=Elizabeth |title=The Upsurge of Mortality in Russia: Causes and Policy Implications |jstor=2137719 |doi=10.2307/2137719 |volume=22 |number=3 |pages=517–530 |date=September 1996 |journal=[[Population and Development Review]] |publisher=[[Population Council]]}}</ref> and millions plunged into poverty;<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Klugman |first1=Jeni |last2=Braithwaite |first2=Jeanine |title=Poverty in Russia during the Transition: An Overview |jstor=3986388 |volume=13 |number=1 |pages=37–58 |date=February 1998 |journal=The World Bank Research Observer |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|doi=10.1093/wbro/13.1.37 }}</ref> while extreme corruption,<ref>{{cite journal |last=Shlapentokh |first=Vladimir |title=Corruption, the power of state and big business in Soviet and post-Soviet regimes |journal=Communist and Post-Communist Studies |jstor=48610380 |volume=46 |number=1 |date=March 2013 |pages=147–158 |publisher=[[University of California Press]] |doi=10.1016/j.postcomstud.2012.12.010}}</ref> as well as criminal gangs and organised crime rose significantly.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Frisby |first=Tanya |title=The Rise of Organised Crime in Russia: Its Roots and Social Significance |date=January 1998 |volume=50 |number=1 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |journal=[[Europe-Asia Studies]] |pages=27–49 |doi=10.1080/09668139808412522 |jstor=153404}}</ref> In late 1993, tensions between Yeltsin and the Russian parliament culminated in [[1993 Russian constitutional crisis|a constitutional crisis]] which ended violently through military force. During the crisis, Yeltsin was backed by Western governments, and over 100 people were killed.<ref>{{cite web |last=Goncharenko |first=Roman |date=3 October 2018 |title=Russia's 1993 crisis still shaping Kremlin politics, 25 years on |work=[[DW News]] |publisher=[[Deutsche Welle]] |url=https://www.dw.com/en/russias-1993-crisis-still-shaping-kremlin-politics-25-years-on/a-45733546 |access-date=2 February 2022 |archive-date=14 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220414044222/https://www.dw.com/en/russias-1993-crisis-still-shaping-kremlin-politics-25-years-on/a-45733546 |url-status=live }}</ref> ==== Modern liberal constitution, international cooperation and economic stabilization ==== In December, a [[1993 Russian constitutional referendum|referendum]] was held and approved, which introduced a new constitution, giving the president enormous powers.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-players-1993-crisis/25125000.html |title=Who Was Who? The Key Players In Russia's Dramatic October 1993 Showdown |publisher=[[Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty]] |date=2 October 2018 |access-date=28 May 2021 |archive-date=12 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220412235932/https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-players-1993-crisis/25125000.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The 1990s were plagued by armed conflicts in the [[North Caucasus]], both local ethnic skirmishes and separatist [[Islamist]] insurrections.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Wilhelmsen |first=Julie |year=2005 |title=Between a Rock and a Hard Place: The Islamisation of the Chechen Separatist Movement |journal=Europe-Asia Studies |volume=57 |number=1 |pages=35–37 |doi=10.1080/0966813052000314101 |jstor=30043851 |s2cid=153594637 |issn=0966-8136}}</ref> From the time [[Chechnya|Chechen]] separatists declared independence in the early 1990s, an [[First Chechen War|intermittent guerrilla war]] was fought between the rebel groups and Russian forces.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1995/12/12/chechen-war-reveals-weaknesses-in-yeltsin-russias-new-democracy/073047c5-d04e-41bd-a2bc-d5e8e192d919/|title=Chechen War Reveals Weakness in Yektsubm Russia's New Democracy |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]|first=Lee|last=Hockstader|date=12 December 1995|access-date=6 June 2021}}</ref> [[Terrorism in Russia|Terrorist attacks against civilians]] were carried out by Chechen separatists, claiming the lives of thousands of Russian civilians.{{efn|Most notably the [[Budyonnovsk hospital hostage crisis]], the [[Russian apartment bombings]], the [[Moscow theater hostage crisis]], and the [[Beslan school siege]]}}<ref>{{cite journal |last=Sinai |first=Joshua |title=The Terrorist Threats Against Russia and its Counterterrorism Response Measures |journal=Connections |jstor=26326421 |volume=14 |number=4 |year=2015 |pages=95–102 |publisher=[[Partnership for Peace Consortium of Defense Academies and Security Studies Institutes]]|doi=10.11610/Connections.14.4.08 |doi-access=free }}</ref> After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia assumed responsibility for settling the latter's external debts.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/26-years-on-russia-set-to-repay-all-soviet-unions-foreign-debt |title=26 years on, Russia set to repay all Soviet Union's foreign debt |work=[[The Straits Times]] |date=26 March 2017 |access-date=11 December 2021 |archive-date=8 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220408173420/https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/26-years-on-russia-set-to-repay-all-soviet-unions-foreign-debt |url-status=live }}</ref> In 1992, most consumer price controls were eliminated, causing extreme inflation and significantly devaluing the rouble.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lipton |first1=David |last2=Sachs |first2=Jeffrey D. |last3=Mau |first3=Vladimir |last4=Phelps |first4=Edmund S. |year=1992 |title=Prospects for Russia's Economic Reforms |journal=[[Brookings Papers on Economic Activity]] |volume=1992 |issue=2 |page=213 |doi=10.2307/2534584 |issn=0007-2303 |jstor=2534584 |url=https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/1992/06/1992b_bpea_lipton_sachs_mau_phelps.pdf |access-date=24 September 2019 |archive-date=25 September 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200925170637/https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/1992/06/1992b_bpea_lipton_sachs_mau_phelps.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> High budget deficits coupled with increasing capital flight and inability to pay back debts, caused the [[1998 Russian financial crisis]], which resulted in a further GDP decline.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Chiodo |first1=Abbigail J. |last2=Owyang |first2=Michael T. |url=https://files.stlouisfed.org/files/htdocs/publications/review/02/11/ChiodoOwyang.pdf |title=A Case Study of a Currency Crisis: The Russian Default of 1998 |pages=7–18 |publisher=[[Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis]] |journal=[[Canadian Parliamentary Review]] |year=2002 |volume=86 |number=6 |access-date=11 December 2021 |archive-date=1 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220401061400/https://files.stlouisfed.org/files/htdocs/publications/review/02/11/ChiodoOwyang.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> ====Movement towards a modernized economy, political centralization and democratic backsliding==== On 31 December 1999, president Yeltsin unexpectedly resigned,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/dec/31/russia.marktran|title=Yeltsin resigns|website=[[The Guardian]]|date=31 December 1999|access-date=4 April 2023|archive-date=13 August 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230813133147/https://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/dec/31/russia.marktran|url-status=live}}</ref> handing the post to the recently appointed prime minister and his chosen successor, [[Vladimir Putin]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/01/01/world/yeltsin-resigns-overview-yeltsin-resigns-naming-putin-acting-president-run-march.html |title=Yeltsin Resigns: The Overview; Yeltsin Resigns, Naming Putin as Acting President To Run in March Election |work=[[The New York Times]] |first=Celestine |last=Bohlen |date=1 January 2000 |access-date=30 May 2021 |url-access=limited |archive-date=11 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220411205641/https://www.nytimes.com/2000/01/01/world/yeltsin-resigns-overview-yeltsin-resigns-naming-putin-acting-president-run-march.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Putin then won the [[2000 Russian presidential election|2000 presidential election]],<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/03/27/world/election-russia-overview-putin-wins-russia-vote-first-round-but-his-majority.html |title=Election in Russia: The Overview; Putin Wins Russia Vote in First Round, But His Majority Is Less Than Expected |work=[[The New York Times]] |first=Mark |last=Wines |date=27 March 2000 |access-date=30 May 2021 |url-access=limited |archive-date=15 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230715224429/https://www.nytimes.com/2000/03/27/world/election-russia-overview-putin-wins-russia-vote-first-round-but-his-majority.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and defeated the Chechen insurgency in the [[Second Chechen War]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=O'Loughlin |first1=John |last2=W. Witmer |first2=Frank D. |title=The Localized Geographies of Violence in the North Caucasus of Russia, 1999–2007 |jstor=27980166 |volume=101 |number=1 |date=January 2011 |journal=[[Annals of the Association of American Geographers]] |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |pages=178–201|doi=10.1080/00045608.2010.534713 |s2cid=52248942 }}</ref> Putin won a [[2004 Russian presidential election|second presidential term]] in 2004.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/15/world/as-expected-putin-easily-wins-a-second-term-in-russia.html |title=As Expected, Putin Easily Wins a Second Term in Russia |work=[[The New York Times]] |first=Seth |last=Mydans |date=15 March 2004 |access-date=30 May 2021 |url-access=limited |archive-date=17 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210817223858/https://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/15/world/as-expected-putin-easily-wins-a-second-term-in-russia.html |url-status=live }}</ref> [[Price of petroleum|High oil prices]] and a rise in foreign investment saw the [[Russian economy]] and living standards improve significantly.<ref name="Ellyatt-2021">{{cite web |last=Ellyatt |first=Holly |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/11/russias-economy-under-president-putin-in-charts.html |title=5 charts show Russia's economic highs and lows under Putin |date=11 October 2021 |access-date=19 January 2022 |work=[[CNBC]] |archive-date=8 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220408173641/https://www.cnbc.com/2021/10/11/russias-economy-under-president-putin-in-charts.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Putin's rule increased stability, while transforming Russia into an [[Authoritarianism#Examples|authoritarian state]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Kotkin |first=Stephen |title=The Resistible Rise of Vladimir Putin: Russia's Nightmare Dressed Like a Daydream |jstor=24483492 |volume=94 |number=2 |date=2015 |journal=[[Foreign Affairs]] |publisher=[[Council on Foreign Relations]] |pages=140–153}}</ref> In 2008, Putin took the post of prime minister, while [[Dmitry Medvedev]] was [[2008 Russian presidential election|elected president]] for one term, to hold onto power despite legal [[term limit]]s;<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/may/08/russia |title=Putin ever present as Medvedev becomes president |work=[[The Guardian]] |first=Luke |last=Harding |date=8 May 2008 |access-date=6 June 2021 |archive-date=21 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220321211752/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/may/08/russia |url-status=live }}</ref> this period has been described as a "[[Medvedev–Putin tandemocracy|tandemocracy]]".<ref>{{cite journal|last=Monaghan|first=Andrew|title=The vertikal: power and authority in Russia|volume=88|number=1|date=January 2012|pages=1–16|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|journal=[[International Affairs (journal)|International Affairs]]|doi=10.1111/j.1468-2346.2012.01053.x |jstor=41428537}}</ref> [[File:Annexation of Southern and Eastern Ukraine.svg|thumb|[[Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine]] as of 30 September 2022 at the time their [[Russian annexation of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts|annexation was declared]]]] Following a [[2008 Russo-Georgian diplomatic crisis|diplomatic crisis]] with neighbouring [[Georgia (country)|Georgia]], the [[Russo-Georgian War]] took place during 1–12 August 2008, resulting in Russia recognising two separatist states in the territories that it [[occupied territories of Georgia|occupies in Georgia]].<ref>{{cite book | last1=Harzl | first1=B.C. | last2=Petrov | first2=R. | title=Unrecognized Entities: Perspectives in International, European and Constitutional Law | publisher=Brill | series=Law in Eastern Europe | year=2021 | isbn=978-90-04-49910-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ECBXEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA246 | access-date=18 December 2022 | page=246 | archive-date=25 December 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221225095408/https://books.google.com/books?id=ECBXEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA246 | url-status=live }}</ref> It was the first [[List of conflicts in Europe|European war]] of the 21st century.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Emerson |first=Michael |date=August 2008 |title=Post-Mortem on Europe's First War of the 21st Century |url=http://aei.pitt.edu/9382/2/9382.pdf |magazine=CEPS Policy Brief |number=167 |publisher=[[Centre for European Policy Studies]] |access-date=6 April 2022 |doi=10.2139/ssrn.1333553 |s2cid=127834430 |ssrn=1333553 |archive-date=7 December 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141207214701/http://aei.pitt.edu/9382/2/9382.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> ====Invasion of Ukraine==== In early 2014, following [[Revolution of Dignity|a revolution]] in Ukraine, Russia [[Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation|occupied and annexed]] Crimea from neighbouring Ukraine following a [[2014 Crimean status referendum|disputed referendum]],<ref>{{cite book |last=Yekelchyk |first=Serhy |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1190722543 |title=Ukraine: What Everyone Needs to Know |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2020 |isbn=978-0-19-753213-3 |edition=2nd |location=New York |page=117 |oclc=1190722543}}</ref> then used Russian mercenaries and military forces, supported by local separatist militias, to start a [[War in Donbas|war in the Donbas region]] of eastern Ukraine where most of the inhabitants wanted to stay in Ukraine.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Plokhy |first=Serhii |title=The Russo-Ukrainian war: the return of history |date=2023 |publisher=WW Norton |isbn=978-1-324-05119-0 |location=New York, NY |pages=123–26}}</ref> In a major escalation of the conflict, Russia launched a full-scale [[Russian invasion of Ukraine|invasion of Ukraine]] on 24 February 2022.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/2/24/putin-orders-military-operations-in-eastern-ukraine-as-un-meets|title=Russian forces launch full-scale invasion of Ukraine|publisher=[[Al Jazeera Media Network|Al Jazeera]]|date=24 February 2022|access-date=5 April 2022|archive-date=24 February 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220224053027/https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/2/24/putin-orders-military-operations-in-eastern-ukraine-as-un-meets|url-status=live}}</ref> The invasion marked the largest [[conventional warfare|conventional war]] in Europe since World War II,<ref>{{cite news |last1=Herb |first1=Jeremy |last2=Starr |first2=Barbara |author-link2=Barbara Starr |last3=Kaufman |first3=Ellie |date=24 February 2022 |title=US orders 7,000 more troops to Europe following Russia's invasion of Ukraine |publisher=[[CNN]] |url=https://www.cnn.com/2022/02/24/politics/us-military-ukraine-russia/index.html |access-date=27 February 2022 |archive-date=27 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220227052443/https://edition.cnn.com/2022/02/24/politics/us-military-ukraine-russia/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref> and was met with [[Reactions to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine|international condemnation]],<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/02/united-nations-russia-ukraine-vote|title=UN votes to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine and calls for withdrawal|work=[[The Guardian]]|last=Borger|first=Julian|location=[[Washington, D.C.]]|date=2 March 2022|access-date=5 April 2022|archive-date=2 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220302171009/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/02/united-nations-russia-ukraine-vote|url-status=live}}</ref> as well as [[International sanctions during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine|expanded sanctions]] against Russia.<ref name="Walsh-2022">{{cite web|url=https://www.vox.com/22968949/russia-sanctions-swift-economy-mcdonalds|title=The unprecedented American sanctions on Russia, explained|work=[[Vox (website)|Vox]]|date=9 March 2022|last=Walsh|first=Ben|access-date=31 March 2022|archive-date=11 April 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220411000846/https://www.vox.com/22968949/russia-sanctions-swift-economy-mcdonalds|url-status=live}}</ref> As a result, Russia was expelled from the [[Council of Europe]] in March,<ref>{{cite press release |url=https://www.coe.int/en/web/portal/-/the-russian-federation-is-excluded-from-the-council-of-europe |title=The Russian Federation is excluded from the Council of Europe |publisher=Council of Europe |date=16 March 2022 |access-date=5 May 2022 |archive-date=10 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220510214508/https://www.coe.int/en/web/portal/-/the-russian-federation-is-excluded-from-the-council-of-europe |url-status=live }}</ref> and was suspended from the [[United Nations Human Rights Council]] in April.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/04/1115782 |title=UN General Assembly votes to suspend Russia from the Human Rights Council |website=United Nations |date=7 April 2022 |access-date=18 June 2022 |archive-date=7 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220407164712/https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/04/1115782 |url-status=live }}</ref> In September, following successful Ukrainian counteroffensives,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/putin-announces-partial-mobilization-russian-military-ukraine-war-rcna48585|title=Putin mobilizes more troops for Ukraine, threatens nuclear retaliation and backs annexation of Russian-occupied land|website=[[NBC News]]|date=21 September 2022|access-date=4 April 2023|archive-date=12 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230312142451/https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/putin-announces-partial-mobilization-russian-military-ukraine-war-rcna48585|url-status=live}}</ref> Putin announced a "[[2022 Russian mobilization|partial mobilisation]]", Russia's first mobilisation since World War II.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/21/putin-announces-partial-mobilisation-in-russia-in-escalation-of-ukraine-war|title=Putin announces partial mobilisation and threatens nuclear retaliation in escalation of Ukraine war|website=[[The Guardian]]|date=21 September 2022|access-date=4 April 2023|archive-date=14 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230114202406/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/21/putin-announces-partial-mobilisation-in-russia-in-escalation-of-ukraine-war|url-status=live}}</ref> By the end of September, Putin proclaimed the [[Annexation of southeastern Ukraine by the Russian Federation|annexation of four Ukrainian regions]], the largest annexation in Europe since World War II.<ref name="Landay-2022">{{cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/putin-host-kremlin-ceremony-annexing-parts-ukraine-2022-09-29/ |title=Defiant Putin proclaims Ukrainian annexation as military setback looms |website=[[Reuters]] |date=30 September 2022 |access-date=6 October 2022 |last=Landay |first=Jonathan |archive-date=6 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221006084106/https://www.reuters.com/world/putin-host-kremlin-ceremony-annexing-parts-ukraine-2022-09-29/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Putin and Russian-installed leaders signed treaties of accession, internationally unrecognized and widely [[United Nations General Assembly Resolution ES-11/4|denounced as illegal]], despite the fact that Russian forces have been unable to fully occupy any of the four regions.<ref name="Landay-2022" /> A number of supranational and national parliaments passed resolutions declaring Russia to be a [[state sponsor of terrorism]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/european-lawmakers-declare-russia-state-sponsor-terrorism-2022-11-23/|title=European Parliament declares Russia a state sponsor of terrorism|website=[[Reuters]]|date=23 November 2022|access-date=4 April 2023|archive-date=23 November 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221123121114/https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/european-lawmakers-declare-russia-state-sponsor-terrorism-2022-11-23/|url-status=live}}</ref> In addition, Russia was declared a terrorist state by Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.<ref>{{cite web | last=Fiedler | first=Tristan | title=Estonian parliament declares Russia a terrorist state | website=POLITICO | date=18 October 2022 | url=https://www.politico.eu/article/as-the-third-country-to-estonia-declares-russia-a-terrorist-state/ | access-date=1 June 2023 | archive-date=19 November 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221119101230/https://www.politico.eu/article/as-the-third-country-to-estonia-declares-russia-a-terrorist-state/ | url-status=live }}</ref> Hundreds of thousands are [[Casualties of the Russo-Ukrainian War|estimated to have been killed]] as a result of the invasion.<ref>{{cite news |title='Terrible toll': Russia's invasion of Ukraine in numbers |url=https://www.euractiv.com/section/global-europe/news/terrible-toll-russias-invasion-of-ukraine-in-numbers/ |work=[[Euractiv]] |date=14 February 2023 |access-date=12 March 2023 |archive-date=12 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230712061818/https://www.euractiv.com/section/global-europe/news/terrible-toll-russias-invasion-of-ukraine-in-numbers/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Hussain |first1=Murtaza |title=The War in Ukraine Is Just Getting Started |url=https://theintercept.com/2023/03/09/ukraine-war-russia-iran-iraq/ |work=The Intercept |date=9 March 2023 |access-date=12 March 2023 |archive-date=18 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230518234805/https://theintercept.com/2023/03/09/ukraine-war-russia-iran-iraq/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Troop Deaths and Injuries in Ukraine War Near 500,000, U.S. Officials Say |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/18/us/politics/ukraine-russia-war-casualties.html |work=The New York Times |date=18 August 2023 |access-date=30 August 2023 |archive-date=3 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230903175102/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/18/us/politics/ukraine-russia-war-casualties.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The war in Ukraine has further exacerbated Russia's [[Demographic crisis of Russia|demographic crisis]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Putin's War Escalation Is Hastening Demographic Crash for Russia |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-10-18/putin-s-war-escalation-is-hastening-demographic-crash-for-russia |work=Bloomberg |date=18 October 2022 |access-date=1 July 2023 |archive-date=22 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231122045038/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-10-18/putin-s-war-escalation-is-hastening-demographic-crash-for-russia |url-status=live }}</ref> In June 2023, the [[Wagner Group]], a private military contractor fighting for Russia in Ukraine, declared an [[Wagner Group rebellion|open rebellion against the Russian Ministry of Defense]], capturing [[Rostov-on-Don]], before beginning a march on Moscow. However, after negotiations between Wagner and the Belarusian government, the rebellion was called off.<ref>{{cite web | title=Armed rebellion by Wagner chief Prigozhin underscores erosion of Russian legal system | website=AP News | date=7 July 2023 | url=https://apnews.com/article/russia-prigozhin-wagner-mutiny-ukraine-putin-898d750e843aeb105a3c220bb917f606 | access-date=9 July 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=Rebel Russian mercenaries turn back short of Moscow 'to avoid bloodshed' | website=Reuters | date=24 June 2023 | url=https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/wagner-head-suggests-his-mercenaries-headed-moscow-take-army-leadership-2023-06-24/ | access-date=9 July 2023 | archive-date=24 June 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230624070212/https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/wagner-head-suggests-his-mercenaries-headed-moscow-take-army-leadership-2023-06-24/ | url-status=live }}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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