From the mid-sixteenth century until the early twentieth century an autocratic tsar ruled Russia. In 1917 the Russian Revolution ousted the tsar and established a Russian republic, which, in 1922, became a union republic. During the post- Second World War era, Russia was a central player in international affairs, locked in a Cold War struggle with the United States. In 1991, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Russia joined with several other former Soviet republics to form a loose coalition, the Commonwealth of Independent
States (CIS). Although the demise of Soviet-style communism and the subsequent collapse of the Soviet Union brought profound political and economic changes, including the beginnings of the formation of a large middle class, for much of the post-communist era Russians had to endure a generally weak economy, high inflation, and a complex of social ills that served to lower life expectancy significantly. Despite such profound problems, Russia showed promise of achieving its potential as a world power once again, as if to exemplify a favourite proverb coined in the nineteenth century by Austrian statesman Klemens, Prince of Metternich: "Russia is never as strong as she appears, and never as weak as she appears."
Russia can boast a long tradition of excellence in every aspect of the arts and sciences. Pre-revolutionary Russian society produced the writings and music of such giants of world culture as Anton Chekhov, Aleksandr Pushkin, Leo Tolstoy, Nikolay Gogol, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The 1917 Revolution and the changes it brought were reflected in the works of such noted figures as the novelists Maksim Gorky, Boris Pasternak, and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, and the composers Dmitry Shostakovich and Sergey Prokofiev. The late Soviet and post-communist eras witnessed a revival of interest in once-forbidden artists such as the poets Vladimir Mayakovsky and Anna Akhmatova, as well as ushering in new talents such as the novelist Viktor Pelevin and the writer and journalist Tatyana Tolstaya.
The Country
Extending nearly halfway around the northern hemisphere and covering much of eastern and north-eastern Europe and all of northern Asia, Russia has a maximum east-west width of some 5,600 miles (9,000 km) and a north-south extent of 1,500 to 2,500 miles (2,500 to 4,000 km). Bounded to the north and east by the Arctic and Pacific oceans, the country has small frontages in the north-west on the Baltic Sea at St Petersburg and at the detached Russian oblast (region) of Kaliningrad, which also abuts Poland and Lithuania. To the south it borders North Korea, China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Georgia; to the south-west and west it borders Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia, and Estonia, as well as Finland and Norway.
There is an enormous variety of landforms and landscapes within this vast area. Arctic deserts lie in the extreme north, giving way southwards to the tundra and then to the forest zones, which cover about half of the country and give it much of its character. South of the forest zone lie the wooded steppe and the steppe, beyond which are small sections of semi-desert along the northern shore of the Caspian Sea. Much of Russia lies at latitudes where the winter cold is intense and where evaporation can barely keep pace with the accumulation of moisture, giving rise to abundant rivers, lakes, and swamps. Permafrost covers some 4 million square miles (10 million square km), making settlement and road building difficult across large regions.
On the basis of geologic structure and relief, Russia can be divided into two main parts - western and eastern - roughly along the line of the Yenisey River. These sections comprise six relief regions: the Kola-Karelian region, the Russian Plain, the Ural Mountains, the West Siberian Plain, the Central Siberian Plateau, and the mountains of the south and east.
Karelia, the smallest of Russia's relief regions, lies in the north-western part of European Russia between the Finnish border and the White Sea. Karelia is a low, ice-scraped plateau, for the most part below 650 feet (200 metres); low ridges and knolls alternate with lake- and marsh-filled hollows. The Kola Peninsula is similar, but the small Khibiny mountain range rises to nearly 4,000 feet (1,200 metres). Mineral-rich ancient rocks lie at or near the surface in many places.
The Russian Plain (also called the East European Plain) makes up the largest part of one of the great lowland areas of the world, extending from the western border eastwards to the Ural Mountains, and from the Arctic Ocean to the Caucasus Mountains and the Caspian Sea. About half of this vast area lies at less than 650 feet (200 metres) above sea level. North of Moscow lie morainic ridges, which stand out above low, poorly drained hollows interspersed with lakes and marshes. South of Moscow there is a west-east alternation of rolling plateaus and extensive plains. In the west the Central Russian Upland separates the lowlands of the upper Dnieper River valley from those of the Oka and Don rivers, beyond which the Volga Hills rise gently before descending abruptly to the Volga River. East of the Volga is the large Caspian Depression, parts of which lie more than 90 feet (25 metres) below sea level. The Russian Plain also extends southward through the Azov-Caspian isthmus (in the North Caucasus region) to the foot of the Caucasus Mountains, the crest line of which forms the boundary between Russia and the Transcaucasian states of Georgia and Azerbaijan; just inside this border is Mount Elbrus, which at 18,510 feet (5,642 metres) is the highest point in Russia.
Though the Ural Mountains form the traditional boundary between Europe and Asia, in terms of travel and transportation they do not present a significant challenge. The north- south spine of the Urals extends about 1,300 miles (2,100 km) from the Arctic coast to the border with Kazakhstan. The highest peak, Mount Narodnaya, reaches 6,217 feet (1,895 metres), but the system is largely composed of a lower series of broken, parallel ridges; several low passes cut through the system, particularly in the central section between Perm and Yekaterinburg, which carry the main routes from Europe into Siberia. Many districts contain mineral-rich rocks.
Russia's most extensive region, the West Siberian Plain, is the most striking single relief feature of the country and quite possibly of the world. Covering an area well in excess of 1 million square miles (2.6 million square km), one-seventh of Russia's total area, it stretches about 1,200 miles (1,900 km) from the Urals to the Yenisey, and 1,500 miles (2,400 km) from the Arctic Ocean to the foothills of the Altai Mountains. The region is characterized by vast floodplains and some of the world's largest swamps, particularly in the northern half. Slightly higher and drier territory is located south of latitude 55 N, where the bulk of the region's population is concentrated.
The Central Siberian Plateau, which takes up most of the area between the Yenisey and Lena rivers, comprises a series of sharply dissected plateau surfaces ranging in elevation from 1,000 to 2,300 feet (300 to 700 metres). Towards its northern edge rise the Putoran Mountains and on the southern side the Eastern Sayan and Baikal mountains; to the north it descends to the North Siberian Lowland, an eastward extension of the West Siberian Plain. Farther north the Byrranga Mountains reach 3,760 feet (1,146 metres) on the Taymyr Peninsula, which extends into the Arctic Ocean. On its eastern side the Central Siberian Plateau gives way to the low-lying Central Yakut Lowland.