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history essay about russia
world history russian revolution
world history russian revolution
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The Political Past, Present, and Future of Russia Russia never associated as a democracy in anyone's mind. It had always
been an authoritarian regime of different species and developed a
mentality, which creates an almost unsurpassable obstacle for
democratic development. Unlike Britain, which took gradual and
methodical steps towards democracy, Russia always had abrupt and
extreme changes that always created chaos and significantly slowed
down the development of the democratic system. By the end of the 20th
century Russia finally embarked on a pragmatic course towards
democracy, however it certainly prognosis a long establishment.
Russia's history and culture traces back for over a thousand years,
which left deep marks in the mentality of Russian people and certainly
had a great impact in Russia's political and cultural development.
Russia was always somewhat different from most of the European
countries; it was isolated by different political principals and
convictions.
From the early historical development Russia took a different route
from the rest of Europe. It adopted the orthodox religion from the
Byzantine Empire and became the center of orthodoxy, the main religion
of present Russian Federation, while most European states had Roman
Catholicism. Besides religion Russia also acquired the Cyrillic
alphabet that is still used today, instead of Latin alphabet that was
used throughout Western Europe. However, the biggest difference
between Rus...
... middle of paper ...
...o gear political development to a
dictatorship.
It is rather difficult to tell precisely where Putin's polity and
actions will take Russia in the future. Will he develop a democracy or
turn back to autocracy? Might sound a little poetic, but realistically
speaking Russia is still far to match the examples of western
democracies. The long established historical influence and mentality
must be cleared away through generations and generations, before the
people would be ready to accept democracy. For now Russia should
attempt to make smart choices, which would push it towards the
democratic dream. Who knows, maybe a several decades years later our
great grandchildren would be writing papers and doing studies on the
great Russian phenomenon: The great transition from complete autocracy
to a most successful democracy.
...oved to be singularly influential and daunting. This is, perhaps, the greatest obstacles to achieving true democracy in Russia—the authoritarian and repressive traditions that refuse to die out with the passage of time.
Russia in the 1930s By 1928, Stalin had ousted Trotsky and the rest of the Left opposition. In four years, Stalin had single handedly taken major steps away from Lenin’s collective leadership and free inter-party debate and replaced them with his autocratic dictatorship. Stalin began to secure predominant power over the communist party and the state by destroying passive opposition from the peasantry and former Lenin supporters. He won growing support from the working class, who were impressed with the initial five-year plan. It promised increased industrialization, which would lead to socialism in one country within their lifetime.
Corney, Frederick “What Is To Be Done With Soviet Russia? The Politics Of Proscription And Possibility.” Journal Of Policy History 21.3 (2009): 264 – 281. Political Science Complete. Web. 23 Nov. 2013.
The U.S. and Russia have cold war history and ideology still strong among their constituents. The Cold War was also never really over, hence why assuming geopolitics were no longer relevant was a mistake on behalf of Fukuyama’s The End of History. The history of the U.S. and the Soviet Union are described through international proxy wars heavily relying on strategic locations, geopolitics is imbedded in their relationship. They both are always competing for spheres of influence, now not only in regards to Crimea in Ukraine, but also in Syria. Russia will not forget the financial build up of Western states after WW II, the integration of Warsaw Pact states and the Baltic Republics into NATO (Mead, 2), and the containment policy of states around the world that lead to the dissembling of the Soviet
The Slavophile and westernizer conflict is an inherent cultural question that Russians must answer about their country. Russian thinkers have long been fragmented between the Westernizer and the Slavophile viewpoint. Both disagreed about the true nature of the country as well as its relation with the West. It is a problem that has plagued Russia for centuries, and continues to do so to this day. Adopting the mindset of recognizing this conflict is essential to better understanding Russian history as well as the motives and thought processes of Russian leaders today.
Kennedy-Pipe, Caroline. Stalin’s Cold War: Soviet Strategies in Europe, 1943 to 1956. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1995.
Russia has undergone many changes since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. It has gone through many key changes both politically and economically. The Russian government lies in between a democratic and a totalitarian system, with dissatisfaction from many of the citizens. Economically Russia’s transition has been more successful, but many of the citizen’s are in poverty and have low standards of living. In conclusion, the transition from the communist model a democratic, free market oriented model has not gone smoothly and has not been successful.
Historically, Russia’s relationship with the West has been shaky at best. From the Crimean War in the 1850’s to alienation following the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution all the way up to the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia has been “under attack.” This has forced them to adopt a mentality that is based in self sufficiency and autarky. As Western nations attempt to strengthen democracy in Russia in the 21st century, Russia has responded negatively to these perceived “intrusions.” Therefore it is important to ask what role the West should play in Russia’s development and what is hindering this from happening? In her book Russia: Lost in Transition, Lilia Shevtsova outlines two different ways the West can approach development with Russia: let them figure it out themselves or patiently create an international environment that the Russians feel comfortable in. Shevtsova clearly favors the latter. The West’s involvement is hindered however by double standards, ideological differences, and negative perceptions of the West’s motives by the Russian people. These must first be analyzed before showing how a cautious, assertive approach is the best way for the West to assist in Russian development.
...eved this state of mind through the geography, history and traditions of the nation. Russia, although having geography, history and traditional values standing against it, has made a significant effort to preserve strong features of democracy through recent decades. Bibliography Grudzinska-Gross, Irena. The Scar of Revolution: Custine, Tocqueville, and the Romantic Imagination. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1991. Gustafson, Thane, and Daniel Yergin. Russia 2010. New York: Random, 1993. Heywood, Andrew. Political Ideas and Concepts. New York: St. Martin's Press, 1994. McDaniel, Tim. The Agony of the Russian Idea. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996. Melvin, Neil. Russians Beyond Russians. London: Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1995. Rzhevsky, Nicholas. Cambridge Companion to Modern Russian Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Autocracy-A government system, where a person or group has total power over a country. The Russian autocrat at the time of the emancipation of the serfs was Alexander the Second who was assassinated.
Russia is generally apportioned the benefit of having introduced a political phenomenon that basically provided an alternative for capitalism; communism. Since this concept was only set in motion at the turn of the 20th century, we can therefore deduce that, to a large extent, Russia is, to most people, synonymous with leaders such as Lenin, Stalin, Khrushchev, and Gorbachev. This supposition is entirely based on the premise that the Russian revolution of 1914 inherently altered the socio-cultural and socio-political direction of the nation, bringing into birth a never before envisioned era where Russia was not ruled by the Tsars, but by simple men; men who spoke to and articulated the needs of the masses. To this extent, communism, therefore, is largely misconceived as having been the fulcrum of Russia’s civilization. Much of this misconception , as signaled earlier, is based on the growth and progression of the Russian society in the years after the revolution until 1990, when the Berlin wall fell, essentially bringing down with it decades of Soviet Union tradition based on communism.
The Russian Revolution was a turning point in history because it tried to use communism as its main principal. “Communism is the riddle of history solved, and it knows itself to be this solution” (Marx Quotes: Quotes from Karl Marx and Frederick Engels). In a communist society, everyone in that society receives equal shares of the benefits derived from labor. In a communist nation, there would be a classless society, and everyone would be happy to share their wealth. The government would own all means of production, and the government would redistribute the wealth from the rich to the poor. The Russian revolution started due to the lack of food in Russia, and the huge difference between the rich and the poor. The Russian people were also mad that Czar Nicholas II was keeping Russia in war. Thousands of Russian soldiers were being killed every week. At the end of the war, around 1,700,000 soldiers died (WWI Casualty and Death Tables). At least 1,500,000 Russians and possibly up to more than 5 million Russians were wounded. (WWI -- Russia).
After abandoning her allies in World War One, the Russians were hurled into a civil war. It is here that we first see the ideologies of Totalitarianism and Democracy clash. The democracies of Britain, France, and the United States all sent troops to Russia in the support of the Whites, or enemies of the Bolsheviks. Lenin took the poor country of Russia and turned it into the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or U.S.S.R. Through his policies of War Communism and its replacement the NEP Lenin was able to stand the newly formed U.S.S.R. on its own two feet.
"Everything about Russia (History Section)." Http://WWW.RUSSIA.NET Internet Web Page. " CNN Interactive (Russian Archive)". http://WWW.CNN.COM Minton F. Goldman, Russian and the Eurasian Republics - Building New Political Orders. PP 14-25 and 34-45.
democracy is failing in Russia, and one of democracy's flaws. Democracy is also a very slow