The 2nd World War, 2nd Half of the 20th Century, Modern Times
7:11 AM | 
Posted by
sawan Modi |
 (c) Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow |
Soviet leaders which followed Stalin followed his ideas – they developed the army and the industry and sciences whish served army needs. They regulated people’s day to day life with ideology and still proclaimed Communism as the nearest and desirable future of USSR. However they were different in a way. Khrushchev accepted that Stalin’s regime
was too cruel and tried to make everyday life of people better, Brezhnev was too conservative and inefficient, Andropov tried to make Russians effective workers but failed. Finally Gorbachov went in charge. He had an idea that the country must be reformed. He started with the policy of glasnost’– free public access to information and perestroika - implementing democratic principles into the state system. But instead of the reforming USSR this lead to the collapse of the state. When people found out what is going on in USSR they just gave it up and in the 1991 the country ceased to exist. Instead of USSR 15 independent states were proclaimed, Russian Federation became the largest successor of former Union and was headed by the president Boris Eltsin.
Eltsin ruled for 8 years. Under Eltsin the country completely changed. We accepted democracy and capitalism as well as new constitution. Everybody was free to choose life philosophy and ideology. Everyone was free to do anything. That was a time of unlimited freedom and almost no regulations of the state. This lead to the stagnation of economy, shocking price rise and mass unemployment. But by the end of the 90s the country passed through several crisises and steady economical growth has started. The second president of Russia Vladimir Putin is opt to make Russia powerful economy. We will see.
The Period of Expansion: 16th to 18th Century — Ivan Grozny, Peter the Great
Period of chaos and civil war has lasted from 1598 till 1613 and was called Time of Troubles (Smutnoye Vremya). There were many candidates who fought for the crown. People were unhappy and insecure, famine started. Unstable situation in Muscovy was used by Sweden and Poland to declare war on Russia. Muscovy lost control over western territories and even Moscow itself was captured be Poles in 1610. However Russia managed to survive. Russian army drove Poles out. Zemskiy Sobor was gathered (every area of Russia sent representative in Moscow to vote for new tsar) and proclaimed noble Mikhail Romanov to be a new tsar in 1613. The dynasty of Romanovs began their 300 years reign.
Early Romanovs had to restore the order in Muscovy. The peace treaties with Sweden and Poland were signed. The new legislation code was issued. According to the code every noble had to serve to the state. Landlords gained absolute power over their peasants. Peasants had no right to move from one landlord to another on
|
 (c) Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow |
In 1682 tsar Peter started to reign in Russia. He believed that only through intensive contacts with Europe and European style reforms Russia can be successfully developed. Peter stimulated Russian nobles to get education in Europe. He hired hundreds of officers, engineers and scientists all over Europe to serve in Russia. The connections with Europe though were unstable cause all the routes passed through Poland and Sweden which prevented the development of Russia. The only chance for Russia to get rid of their influence was to get access to Baltic sea, establish port there and acquire the direct link to Western Europe. However with the archaic Russian army and no navy at all Peter failed in the first attempts to conquered needed territories. He was forced to reform the army and equip it with modern weapon and tactics as well as establish Russian navy. The reorganized forces crashed Swedes and Russia acquired access to Baltic sea. The port of Saint-Petersburg was founded at the newly acquired territories in 1703 straight after the war. Saint-Petersburg was rapidly growing and in several years Peter moved capital here to his beloved city from conservative Moscow. Apart from successful foreign affairs, Peter developed the country much. He reformed government structure and system of courts. He put Orthodox Church under the state control. He obliged nobles to get education and founded national Academy of Science. Peter the Great forced the development of Russia, under his rule Russia became powerful state armed with modern institutions and technologies. In 1721 Peter proclaimed Russia an Empire and became the Emperor.
The Mongol Yoke: 13th to 15th Century
|
 (c) Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow |
Mongol occupation which lasted about 200 years is considered to be crucial for the development of Russia. This invasion lead to further disintegration of Kievan Rus’ – princes had no use cooperating with each other, all their problems were solved by Mongols.
Also, the two centuries of the occupation by Asian invaders influenced culture much and made Russia more different from the rest of Europe. The autocracy of Mongols easily implemented in our culture, we also gained the inclination to collective actions and decisions making, rather than to individual ones.
Under Mongols small regional center Moscow developed rapidly. Moscow was just one of many small towns at north east borders of Kievan Rus’. However several trade routes passed through the town. The other advantage of Moscow was a remote and forested location, which prevented frequent Mongol attacks. Prince Daniil inherited a tiny principality of Moscow in 1303. He widely used the advantages of Moscow and started the development of Moscow as a regional center. Daniil and his descendants managed to establish a good relations with Mongols and used the decline of old principalities to increase the wealth and power of Moscow. Finally, to the end of 15th century Muscovy gained control over the most of Russian lands. Muscovy became powerful enough to claim independence. The key battle versus Mongols took part in 1480 at Kulikovo field near Dnepr river. Russians defeated Mongols and Muscovy became independent state.
Muscovy consolidated all ethnically Russian lands in 16th century and started exploring further.
Brief History of Russia and Famous Russians — from the 7th century till nowadays
Dear WayToRussia.Net visitors. You are going to read the text on Russian History. Please keep in mind that this text was not written by a professional historian. I only tried to describe the main events of the history of my country. Do not blame me if you can’t find here an information about the event or personality which you think is very important. The full course of the Russian history in our universities lasts at least a year comparing with a single webpage on our site – it is impossible to publish here the complete history of Russia. However I tried to produce a relevant overview of the key events. Please consider this text like a story told by your Russian friend, who is trying to give you an image of Russian history, nothing more.
If you are looking for the professional researches on Russian history please refer to the following authors: Vladimir Soloveyv, Nikolay Karamzin, Vasily Kliuchevsky.
- Dan Perushev
The images are used with permission from the Tretyakov Gallery. You can see the originals in Moscow on Lavrushinsky pereulok (Tretyakovskaya metro)
The Ancient Ruses: 7th to 13th Century
The Tribes of Eastern Slavs – the ancient ancestors of Russians occupied Eastern European Valley around 7th century. Slavs were just one of the
|
 (c) Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow |
Russians or Ruses were one of the smaller Slavic tribes, but somehow this name was applied later for the great number of people who settled in the area between Baltic, White, Caspian and Black seas.
The Ruses ascribed supernatural powers to the nature and the Gods they believed in were all named after the sun, the water, the earth... There was a very strong connection to the land and nature and it can still be felt in the language: there are many words to describe forests, fields, sky, water, etc.
The first known East Slavic state emerged in 862 along the Dnepr river valley. Prince Rurik founded the state with the capital in town Kiev that is why the country was called Kievan Rus’. Other major cities of Slavs were Suzdal, Chernigov, Rostov, Vladimir, Novgorod. Kievan Rus’ soon united most of East Slavic lands. In 869 ruler of Kievan Rus’ prince Vladimir adopted Christianity as a dominant religion of the state. Rus’ adopted Christianity from Byzantium and with their religion we adopted much of their culture. It is believed that lack of personal freedom, domination of the state and absolute power of the leaders partly is a result of Byzantium influence.
Unfortunately Kievan Rus’ remained united just for two centuries. The ruling clan was rapidly growing and every prince wanted to get his part of the land. Moreover, regional centers became powerful enough to claim independence from Kiev. So, finally Kievan Rus’ transformed into the bulk of independent and aggressive principalities. The most powerful were Vladimirskoe principality, Galicia and Novgorod republic.
History Of Cricket
Cricket World Cup History
The length of test matches made any sort of knockout competition a logistical nightmare, as proved by the failure of the earliest attempts at organising a triangular test series between England, South Africa and Australia.
It took the invention of one-day international cricket at a rained-out test between Australia and England, to create the possibility of international cricket teams contesting anything other than the bi-lateral series’ that dominate test cricket to this day.
The Birth of ODI Cricket
In 1971 a test match between England and Australia was rescheduled as a single-day match to placate a crowd who had become frustrated by four days of rained out cricket. Each side was permitted to bowl for a maximum of 40 overs, with 8 balls bowled in each over.
This experiment proved to be a big hit with fans, and just 4 years later the first Cricket World Cup was held in England using the new one day format.
The early Cricket World Cups were known as the Prudential Cups and featured 8 teams playing in the traditional, white test regalia and using red cricket balls. The West Indies won the first two tournaments, before India announced its arrival as a cricketing power with a victory in the 1983 Cricket World Cup.
The Modern Game Takes Hold
In the next 3 Cricket World Cups, the tournament, as well as the one- day international format, evolved rapidly. The first modification to the tournament format came at the 1987 Cricket World Cup, where matches were cut to 50 over events to compensate for the shorter days on the Indian subcontinent, which hosted the event.
In the 1992 Cricket World Cup, the tournament was subjected to a massive face-lift by hosts Australia and New Zealand. The 1992 tournament also witnessed the first appearance by South Africa in a Cricket World Cup.
With the tournament format now established, cricket fans enjoyed a series of intriguing tournaments, which included Sri Lanka emerging as champions in an incident-packed World Cup on the subcontinent in 1996. Australia lost in the final of this World Cup, but was about to launch a record-breaking run in the tournament.
The Australian Treble
The Australians claimed the first Cricket World Cup title of their hat-trick at the 1999 Cricket World Cup in England. The tournament featured one of the most famous matches in Cricket World Cup history, when South Africa bungled a winning position in the final over of their semi-final match against Australia. Australia went on to win their first title by defeating Pakistan in the final.
Australia won again in 2003, this time winning the tournament in the backyard of their biggest ODI rivals, South Africa. Australia and India progressed to the final in which the Aussies took apart the Indian attack, eventually winning the match by 125 runs. This tournament was also notable for Kenya’s performance, as the minnows reached the semi-finals for the first time.
The 2007 Cricket World Cup was overshadowed by the death of Pakistan’s coach, Bob Woolmer, after his team’s unexpected group-stage loss to Ireland. Whilst a pall was cast over the tournament, the Australians were once again relentless, defeating Sri Lanka in a controversial final.