***The direct line of the Romanov dynasty came to an end in 1761 with the death of Elizabeth, daughter of Peter I, but subsequent rulers of the "Holstein-Gottorp dynasty" (the first, Peter III, was son of Charles Frederick, duke of Holstein-Gottorp, and Anna, daughter of Peter I) took the family name of Romanov.
the territory of Russia was inhabited from ancient times by various peoples, including the Slavs. The area was overrun in the 8th century BC-6th century ad by successive nomadic peoples, including the Sythians, Sarmatians, Goths, Huns, and Avars. Kievan Rus, a confederation of prin¬ cipalities ruling from Kiev, emerged c. the 10th century; it lost supremacy in the 11 th— 12th century to independent principalities, including Novgorod and Vladimir. Novgorod ascended in the north and was the only Russian principality to escape the domination of the Mongol Golden Horde in the 13th century. In the 14th—15th century the princes of Mos¬ cow gradually overthrew the Mongols. Under Ivan IV (the Terrible), Rus¬ sia began to expand. The Romanov dynasty arose in 1613. Expansion continued under Peter I (the Great) and Catherine II (the Great). The area was invaded by Napoleon in 1812; after his defeat, Russia received most of the Grand Duchy of Warsaw (1815). Russia annexed Georgia, Arme¬ nia, and Caucasus territories in the 19th century. The Russian southward advance against the Ottoman Empire was of key importance to Europe (see Crimea). Russia was defeated in the Crimean War (1853-56). Chinese ces¬ sion of the Amur River’s left bank in 1858 marked Russia’s expansion in East Asia. Russia sold Alaska to the U.S. in 1867 (see Alaska Purchase). Defeat in the Russo-Japanese War led to an unsuccessful uprising in 1905 (see Russian Revolution of 1905). In World War I Russia fought against the Central Powers. The popular overthrow of the tsarist regime in 1917 marked the beginning of a government of soviets (see Russian Revolution of 1 917). The Bolsheviks brought the main part of the former empire under communist control and organized it as the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic (coextensive with present-day Russia). The Russian S.F.S.R. joined other soviet republics in 1922 to form the U.S.S.R. Upon the dissolution of the U.S.S.R. in 1991, the Russian S.F.S.R. was renamed and became the leading member of the Commonwealth of Independent States. It adopted a new constitution in 1993. During the 1990s and into the early 21st century, it struggled on several fronts, beset with economic difficulties, political corruption, and independence movements (see Chech¬ nya). See map on opposite page.
Russian Civil War (1918 -20) Conflict between the newly formed Bolshevik government and its Red Army against the anti-Bolshevik forces in Russia. The unfavourable Treaty of Brest- Litovsk concluded with Ger-
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Russian Formalism ► Russian Orthodox Church I 1655
many caused socialists opposed to Vladimir Lenin to break with the Bolsheviks and join the right-wing Whites and their volunteer army under Anton Denikin. In an attempt to create another front in World War I, the Allies gave limited support to the Whites. The Moscow gov¬ ernment responded to the growing anti-Bolshevik movement by expelling Menshevik and Social Revolutionary deputies from the government, and it began a campaign of “Red terror” that gave increased powers to the secret police (Cheka) to arrest and execute suspects. The Bolsheviks main¬ tained control over the heart of the country, but the anti-Bolsheviks gained power in Ukraine and Omsk, where Aleksandr Kolchak and other dissi¬ dent groups joined together to fight the Red Army. Confused by the struggles between communists, Russian Whites, and Ukrainian national¬ ists, the Allies withdrew their support by 1919. After early military suc¬ cesses against the Red Army, the White forces under Kolchak were defeated by early 1920. Other White troops under Nikolay Yudenich failed to take St. Petersburg. The last White stronghold in the Crimea under Pyotr Wrangel, Denikin’s successor, was defeated in November 1920, ending the Russian Civil War.
Russian Formalism See Formalism
Russian language East Slavic language spoken by about 170 million people in Russia, former republics of the Soviet Union, and emigre com¬ munities. For many non-Russian ethnic groups both within and outside contemporary Russia, it is a common second language and lingua franca. Since the Middle Ages, Russian has gradually expanded its speech area from its historical locus in the upper Volga and Dnieper River drainages northward and eastward. Russian speakers penetrated Siberia in the 16th century and reached the Pacific in the 17th century. Russian became a full-fledged literary language in the 18th century, when it finally displaced Church Slavonic (see Old Church Slavonic language). Dialect differences in Russian are not great, considering the enormous territory over which it is spoken, and the upheavals of the 20th century eroded such distinc¬ tions as exist. See table opposite.
Russian Orthodox Church Eastern Orthodox church of Russia, its de facto national church. In 988 Prince Vladimir of Kiev (later St. Vladimir) embraced Byzantine Orthodoxy and ordered the baptism of his popula-
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tion. By the 14th century, the metropolitan of Kiev and all Russia (head of the Russian church) was residing in Moscow; dissatisfied western Rus¬ sian principalities obtained temporary separate metropolitans, but author¬ ity was later recentralized under Moscow. In the 15th century the church, rejecting Metropolitan Isidore’s acceptance of union with the Western church (see Council of Ferrara-Florence), appointed their own indepen¬ dent metropolitan. Moscow saw itself as the “third Rome” and the last bulwark of true Orthodoxy; in 1589 the head of the Russian church obtained the title patriarch, putting him on a level with the patriarchs of Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem. The reforms of Nikon caused a schism within the church (see Old Believers), and Peter I
Russian Alphabet
Letters
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sound
Letters
English
sound
Letters
English
sound
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a
Kk
k
Xx
kh
B6
b
JIji
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EU
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Bb
V
M M
m
Hi
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pr
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Hh
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sh
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Oo
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mm
shch
Ee
e or ye
Tin
P
T,
(the hard sign)
Ee
o or yo
Pp
r
bl bl
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Cc
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(the soft sign)
33
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© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
1656 I Russian Revolution of 1905 ► Ruth
abolished the patriarchate in 1721, making church administration a depart¬ ment of the state. The patriarchate was reestablished in 1917, two months before the Bolshevik revolution, but under the soviets the church was deprived of its legal rights and practically suppressed. It saw a great resurgence following the collapse of the Soviet Union (1991). The Rus¬ sian Orthodox Church in the U.S. became independent from Moscow in
Russian Revolution of 1905 Unsuccessful uprising in Russia against the tsarist regime. After several years of mounting discontent, a peaceful demonstration was crushed by Tsar Nicholas II’s troops in the Bloody Sunday massacre. General strikes followed in St. Petersburg and other industrial cities. The revolt spread to non-Russian parts of the empire, including Poland, Finland, and Georgia. Antirevolutionary groups, including the Black Hundreds, opposed the rebellion with violent attacks on socialists and pogroms against Jews. By October 1905, general strikes had spread to all the large cities, and the workers’ councils or sovi¬ ets, often led by the Mensheviks, became revolutionary governments. The strikes’ magnitude convinced Nicholas II, advised by Sergey Witte, to issue the October Manifesto, promising an elected legislature. The con¬ cessions satisfied most moderates, though the more ardent revolutionar¬ ies refused to yield, and pockets of resistance in Poland, Georgia, and elsewhere were harshly suppressed as the regime restored its authority. While most of the revolutionary leaders, including Leon Trotsky, were arrested, the revolution forced the tsar to institute reforms such as a new constitution and a Duma, though he failed to adequately implement vari¬ ous promised reforms.