I. The Russian Empire A. The Russian Empire traces its roots back to the principality of Muscovy, which began to expand in the 1400s. B.

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1 Unit 8 SG 2 Name Date I. The Russian Empire A. The Russian Empire traces its roots back to the principality of Muscovy, which began to expand in the 1400s. B. Ivan III (the Great) married Zoe Palaeologus, the niece of last Byzantine emperor (eastern half of old Roman empire). 1. Constantinople (present-day Istanbul) fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453, so Ivan was seen as the true inheritor of the Christian realm. 2. Ivan adopted the title (or tsar) derived from the Latin caesar for emperor. C. In 1613, Mikhail Romanov ascended the throne. The dynasty ruled Russia until the last czar, Nicholas II was deposed in D. Starting in 1480, the Russian Empire expanded east into Siberia & Central Asia, but also west bringing into contact with. E. By the early 1900 s, the Russian Empire achieved its greatest extent, stretching from Europe to East Asia & the Pacific Ocean. F. The Russian czars ruled with absolute power claiming to lead. This created an inefficient government that was decades behind Western Europe technologically. G. Peasants were in a system up through H. The different nationalities wanted independence and was rampant. II. The Founding of the USSR A. WWI exerted great stress on the Russian Empire. By 1917, mass starvation and the huge war death toll worked together with the long-standing opposition to czarist rule causing a revolt. B. Revolutionaries and set up what proved to be a weak provisional government. C. In late 1917, the, a group of Communists also known as Reds overthrew the provisional government. Civil war ensued between the anti-communists, the Whites and the Reds. D. In 1922, the Reds won. Their leader was and they established the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). Soviet means. E. This new country instituted new economic and governmental policies based on. F. The monarchy was abolished and soviets were to placed in charge. The new government was to be run by common citizens.

2 G. Religion was denounced because the clergy had supported the rule of the upper classes who oppressed the common people. Bolsheviks began attacking churches & mosques. Many were destroyed; others were turned into scientific institutions such as planetariums. H. After Lenin died, his successor, began a aggressively instituting Communist policies and anyone who went against him was. III. Human Rights in the USSR A. Joseph Stalin created (gulags), the Main Directorate for Corrective Labor Camps. In Russian the first letters spelled out GULAG. B. Stalin used these camps as places to send political opponents and made the prisoners into a force to enhance the of the USSR. C. It is estimated over 10 million people died in the gulags. Many of these people were considered enemies to Stalin whether they actually were, or were suspected and/or perceived to be. IV. Communism in the USSR (Stalin) A. The USSR began officially in 1922 with V.I. Lenin as the leader. During this time period, Transcaucasia (Caucasus Rep.), White Russia (Belarus), and Ukraine were brought in as part of the USSR. B. After the death of Lenin in 1924, Joseph Stalin fought and won power as the next leader of the USSR and the Communist Party. C. Stalin instituted the ideology of (which he created). 1. social welfare 2. Abolition of private property 3. Universal education (to follow the social norms of communism) 4. Classless society, including gender equality Massive industrialization & urbanization D. The was Stalin s answer to implementing his ideology. 1. The state assumed control over all existing businesses. Supply & demand did not dictate what was produced. 2. The state forced the collectivization of farms, as a way to urbanize and modernize food production. a. Farmers were treated like factory workers who were more sympathetic to Communist beliefs (the Communist movement had its basis in the Industrial Revolution).

3 b. Small family farms were merged to create thousands of acres in size. This was to enhance utilization of massive farming machinery. c. The government became the owner of the collectives and farmers the employees. 3. By 1950 the USSR had caught up technologically with the 1920s of the West. E. Stalin also in instituted what is known as, a campaign of political. He used the secret police, NKVD (later the KGB) to institute these purges. People were accused of, spying, and anyone trying to undermine his Five-Year Plan. They were executed, sent to gulags, or used in experiments. 1. Stalin wanted anyone disagreeing with him removed from the Communist Party, this included people part of the original Russian Revolution (Bolsheviks). Other groups purged included: a. the peasant class, who resisted worker harder for less results B. farmers deemed to rich to be peasants ( ) who resisted seizure of their farms b. the (artists, teachers, writers, journalists) c. the fictitious Polish Military Organization as an excuse to purge citizens of Polish origin (ethnic cleansing) d. some military leaders E. Russian Orthodox clergy and people who continued to worship actively V. WWII A. Stalin signed a with Hitler in Part of this was pact included the handing over of territory after Germany invaded Poland the current Baltic Republics & Moldava. B. In 1941, Hitler violated the pact and invaded the USSR. 1. Operation Barbarossa was an utter failure despite the Nazis gaining some land (temporarily) and millions of people in the USSR dying. C. Stalin moved his military production father east. Due to the sheer of Russia, German troops were unable to maintain the invasion. After two winters, the Germans began retreating after defeat in Stalingrad in D. Russia entered the war on the side of the Allies (Great Britain, France, & the U.S.A. E. The Soviet army began pushing into eastern Europe and entered the capital of Germany, Berlin in Allied troops in the west were also near Berlin as well. F. The Allied victory led to the USSR the Baltic countries & Moldova (former territories of the Russian Empire), as well as new territory (former east Prussia now and parts of Poland.

4 G. This victory also allowed Stalin to help Communist governments in East Central Europe (Poland, East Germany, Hungary, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Romania, & to some extent, Yugoslavia. 1. Germany was split into two separate countries by the Allies East (Communist) & West Germany. Berlin was split into East (Communist) & West Berlin. H. To counter NATO, Stalin formed the. To counter the Marshall Plan (economic aid to western Europe from the U.S, he formed COMECON). I. of those perceived to have committed treason during the war began in the USSR as well as purging of minority ethnic groups (Jews, Poles, etc many were forcibly relocated to Siberia). J. After Stalin died in 1953, his successors were deliberately less harsh, but his system of government and economy remained intact until the USSR ended in VI. The Cold War A. Western bloc vs. Eastern bloc countries B. Essentially lasted from After the USSR consolidated its power in Eastern Europe, the USA began a strategy of of Communism (the Marshall Plan, supporting anti- Communists). 2. The USA & the USSR for influence in Latin America, Africa, Middle East, & southeast Asia. 3. Major crises of the Cold War: a. Berlin Blockade ( ) b. the Korean Conflict (War) ( ) c. Berlin Crisis of 1961 (building of the ) d. Cuban Missile Crisis of 1963 e. Vietnam War ( ) f. KAL 007 (1983) VII. The End of the USSR A. Despite some technological advances in the sciences (the Space Race), the USSR was always behind the West. This was due to the rigid Stalinist economy that. B. Industry in the West advanced by leaps and bounds fueled by supply and demand in the marketplace (in the USSR government bureaucrats determined what was produced) C. Most of the production in the USSR was for the (Arms Race). D. Ownership by the government meant wasteful spending and inefficiency was rampant.

5 E. The Communist for everyone meant high labor costs for the government but low wages for the workers. F. No attempts were made to ; despite having vast natural resources, the means to exploit them did not exist. F. The USSR keep up economically with the capitalistic West. G. In 1985, was elected leader of the USSR by the Communist Party. He immediately set out to reform the country s political and economic systems. 1. He highlighted two concepts: a. informational openness goal to empower citizens with knowledge, however this freedom of information showed the people of the USSR how their government was, this caused people to start to turn against the central government in Moscow (the ) b. economic restructuring Gorbachev believed economics needed to be separated from politics; allowed for more local control over economic decisions government bureaucrats fought against it & because their was no banking system to support nongovernment businesses, the economy imploded. H. In 1989, a series of and events led to the beginning of the end of communism in Europe ( ): 1. Poland worker s strikes; ; Lech Walesa 2. Hungary dismantling of border fence with Austria; free movement allowed to other countries 3. East Germany May 2, 1989 dismantling of the Berlin Wall; German reunification in Czechoslovakia non-violent revolution; Communist leadership resigned 5. Bulgaria other parties allowed in elections; Communists voted out 6. Romania Communist leader Nicolae Ceausescu tried to hold on to power; ordered protestors shot; military abandoned him; Ceausescu & his wife were put on trial and executed. 7. Yugoslavia broke up into several countries after a series of wars in the 1990s. I. In 1991, led by Lithuania, the Soviet republics all declared their independence. The Soviet Union was officially dissolved December 8 th, J. Without the support of the USSR both politically & militarily, Communist regimes in Eastern Europe fell after the revolutions of 1989.