Cultural and historical presentation of Russia

1. WELCOME TO
THE
RUSSIAN FEDERATION !

2. LINK
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVTaZv9ClG8

3. - Total area is 6,592,771 sq. miles.
- From north to south the country
stretches for over 2485 miles; from
east to west – around 6214 mi.
- Has borders with 14 countries –
Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia,
Lithuania, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine,
Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan,
Mongolia, The People’s Republic of
China and North Korea. Russia also
shares water borders with Japan and
United States.
- Almost 2/3 of Russia is
surrounded by water. 13 seas and
part of of three oceans wash
Russian shores.
- Official language of country is
Russian.
Did you know that Russia is the largest country
in the world ?

4. Some Facts about the Russian Federation
- Political system – Federation.
- Russia federal government is composed of three branches of government.
- Head of the State – The President.
- Legislative Branch is represented by The Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation which is consists
of The State Duma, the Federation Council and the Head of the Government - The Prime Minister.
- Population of Russian Federation (March 2016) – 146.6 million people.
- There are 11 time zones in Russia.
- About 160 different ethnic groups live within Russian borders.
- Russia covers 1/7 part of the world.
- Baikal lake is the world largest lake (it’s area is 12248 sq. mi , the depth is 5387 feet ), it contains
about 20% of the world fresh unfrozen water supply.
- Ladoga Lake is the largest lake in the Europe ( it’s area is 6800 sq. miles , depth is 750 feet)
- Ural Mountains, are one of the world oldest mountain ranges ( elevation -6217 feet, length – 1600 miles, width - 93 miles) ,
are forming part of the boundaries between Europe and Asia)

6. World Famous Names…
Leo Tolstoy
Peter Tchaikovsky Yuri Gagarin – The First Man in Space. Alexander Pushkin
Maya Plisetskaya Georgy Zhukov Valentina Tereshkova
Dmitry Mendeleev

7. The original design of the Russia Flag was
Created by the first emperor of Russia,
Peter The Great in 1699.
There are several meaning of the colors of
the Russian flag. Most common is :
White – color of purity and honor,
Blue – color of the faith,
Red – symbol of the great power and strength.
St. Andrew’s Naval Flag Presidential Flag of Russian
Federation

8. Moscow (Москва) – the capital of Russia.
The first know reference of Moscow dates 1147.
Later , The Grand Duchy of Moscow and
The Tsardom of Russia were formed around this city.
Moscow There are 12.2 million residents of Moscow
live with the city limits.

9. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCqxh_cxMUw
The Honor Guard at the Eternal Fire. The Red Square, Moscow.

10. Saint Petersburg is the cultural capital of Russia. It was founded by
Peter The Great on May 16th, 1703 as the new westernized capital of
The Russian Empire. From 1703 until 1918 St. Petersburg served as
the Imperial capital of Russia. In 1914 St. Petersburg’s name was
changed to Petrograd, in 1924 it was renamed once again to Leningrad.
In 1991 St. Petersburg got it’s original name back.
St. Petersburg is the home of The Hermitage – one of the world’s
largest art museums. To get around all the exhibits of Hermitage, you
will have to spend 11 years of your life and walk 22 kilometers.
Saint Petersburg / Санкт-Петербург .

12. Russia’s Wild Life
Kamchatka Brown Bear The Polar BearThe Snow Leopard
Siberian Tiger (aka Amur Tiger)
Black Capped Marmot
Russian Sea Eagle

13. Russian Culture and Traditions.

16. The Land of Slavs in it’s early times.
The ancestors of modern Russians were Slavic tribes. From the 7th century the Eastern Slavs began to settled on the territory of modern West
Russia.
Unlike ancient Greek or Egyptian mythology, there no first hand records to study Slavic mythology since there is not evidence that Slavs had
any sort of the organized writing system until Saint Cyril and Methodius arrived to the land of Slavs in 862 and introduced the Cyrillic
alphabet. Until that time all original religious believes were passed over the generations orally through folklore songs and fairy tales. Slavic
tribes or clans believed in several different Gods and spirits
Perun –the Slavic
God of thunder.
Yarilo – the God of Sun
and war.
Devana – the goddess of
the hunt.
Lada –the goddess of love
and the beauty

17. Fairy Tales and Bylinas
Fairy tales and Bylinas (oral narrative poems ) are taking a very important role in the formation of the Russian culture.

18. Kievan Rus / Киевская Русь
Kievan Rus / Киевская Русь began it’s formation in 9th century under the Rurik dynasty with
the center in Kiev (at the present day - Ukrainian capital ). Prince Oleg was the first ruler of the
Kievan Rus, who began to unite the multiple Slavs’ lands into the state.
In 988 Kievan Grand Prince Vladimir The Great or Vladimir The Red Sun introduced
Christianity to his country and got baptized as an Orthodox in Constantinople.

19. The Russian Orthodox Church

20. Tsardom of Russia /Русское царство .
The Grand Duke Ivan the IV, also know as Ivan The Terrible , had founded
The Tsardom of Russia with it’s capital in Moscow and was crowned as the first
Russian Tsar in 1547. During his reign Ivan established the new set of laws
called Sudebnik and held the first Zemskiy Sobor (or “assembly of the land”
with the legislative function .
Tsar Ivan the IV greatly expanded the area of Russia and nearly doubled it’s
size. He added Kazan, Astrakhan and the Siberian khanates added Northern
Caucasus region. He developed the new system of the regular army (Streltsy).
In foreign policy all his actions were directed toward establishing the
relationships between Russia and Europe—a line that Peter I the Great was to
continue.
Unfortunately, the unsuccessful Livonian War, which lasted for 24 years, drained
Russia’s economy and, contributed to the decline of his own Rurik dynasty and
the beginning of the Times of Trouble for Russia after his death.

21. Peter I The Great / Петр Алексеевиич Романов, Петр I Великий
The first Emperor of Russia.
Tsar Alexey Mikhailovich Tsarina Natalya Kirillovna
- Founded Russian Navy
- Developed science, technology
and improved trade.
- Expanded the borders of Russia,
acquired lands in Latvia, Finland and
Estonia, as well as the lands in the Caucasus
and Black sea region.
- Won the Northern War with Sweden
and gained access to the Baltic sea
- Remodeled administrative system of Russia
- “Tabel o rangakh” / Table of ranks
- Reforms in education
- New tax laws
- Established Russia’s first newspaper
“Vedomosti”
- Russian Academy of Science, Naval Academy
- Founded St. Petersburg and moved
Russia’s capital there.
- Remodeled Russia’s legislature,
founded Senate and Synod
- Calendar reform
- Assemblies, reforms in cultural
and social life, changing woman’s role

22. The era of Russian Palace Revolutions.
Peter The Great changed the rule of the succession to the throne. The new law stated that the tsar would have to name his successor himself.
Unfortunately, Peter the Great died before he was able to do so. This left the monarchy open to intrigues, plots and counterplots.
The crucial factor in the success of each of the Palace Revolution was the support of the Elite Palace Guard.
Catherine I, 1725-1727 Anna Ioannovna,
1730-1740
Peter II, 1727-1730
Ioann Antonovich,
1740-1741
Elizaveta Petrovna,
1741-1762
Peter III, 1762-1762

23. Catherine II The Great / Екатерина Алексеевна
The most know Russian Empress was born in Stettin, Prussia as Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst, was the longest ruled
Russian Empress. She was brought to Russia to marry the perspective Russian Emperor Peter III. On December 25 1761 Catherine
and her husband became Emperor and Empress of Russia. Peter ruled just 6 months before being overthrown by his wife ,
imprisoned in the fortress of Ropsha and, 8 days after that, was assasinated.
- During her reign Catherine expanded the borders of the Russian Empire to the south and
West, absorbing Novorossiya, Crimea, Caucasus, Lithuania and Courland.
Overall, she added around 200,000 square miles to the Russia’s territory.
- While believing in the absolute rule of the Russian Emperor, she created a document ,
called Nakaz or The Instruction, about how the country’s legal system should run.
It provided the equal legal protection to everyone – noble and not. But after few revolts ,
she took all the rights from serfs.
- Founded the Smolny Institute for the noble girls , promoting education for women.
- Established The Hermitage Museum.
- Opened The Bolshoy Theater in Moscow in 1776.
- Under her reign The Assignation Bank began to issue the first government paper money.
- She won The Russo-Turkish and The Russo-Swedish wars.

24. Alexander II / Александр Николаевич
- Alexander’s most significant reform was The Emancipation of Serfs in 1861.
For that he is know as “The Tsar Liberator”.
- Sold Alaska to the United States in 1867.
- Imposed military reform, Introduced universal military service.
- Judiciary reform, setting up an elected judge in each “zemstvo” (regional self-government)
- Promoted university education
- Expansion of Russia to Siberia, South of the Caucasus region and conquering of Turkestan
On March 1, 1881 members of the revolutionary terrorist organization “Narodnaya Volya”
(Peoples’ Will) assassinated the Emperor by throwing 2 bombs into his carriage as he
traveled through St. Petersburg. Tsar Liberator died several hours later from wounds
sustained during the attack.
The Church of the Savior on the Spilled Blood, erected on the site where the attack took
place, is today one of the symbols of St. Petersburg.

25. Alexander III The Peacemaker /Александр Александрович
Alexander became the Tsar of Russia after revolutionaries assassinated his father,
Alexander II, on 1st of March 1881. He was deeply shaken by his fathers’ death and this
caused a great change in the political course of the country. To him the murder of his father,
also hailed as “the Liberator,” who had freed the serfs and was on the verge of sign Russia’s
first constitution, proved fatal to these reforms.
Alexander declared that only “absolute autocracy” in the form it was practiced during Peter
I and Nicholas I could fight the revolutionary movement.
- Tightened police oppression and
increased censorship of the press.
- Encouraged the development of trade
and industry and imposed customs
duties on imported goods .
- Began the construction of the world
longest railroad – Trans-Siberian Rail
Road (5,772 mi), connecting Moscow
with Vladivostok.
- Highly supported Russia’s industrialization
- Increased the strength of Russia’s army and navy.
- During his reign Russia’s prestige abroad rose to unbelievably new heights and his
country thrived in peace and order.
- During all the years of his rule, Russia was not involved in a single major war.

26. The Last Romanovs.
Nicholas II / Николай Александрович

27. Russia’s Holy Man. Grigory Rasputin
Grigory Efimovich is one of the most
mysterious and controversial individuals in
history. He was born in Siberian village
Pokrovskoe. Even as a young man he
astonished people by his ability to heal and
was know to “have visions”. In 1905 he was
introduced to Emperor’s family as a man
who could attempt to heal their little son,
Alexey, who was a hemophiliac. For several
years Rasputin was the only one who
managed to help Alexey feel better.
Rasputin lived in an apartment on
Gorohovaya Street. There, peasants and
aristocrats came to visit him. Many people
worshiped Rasputin and believed in his
holiness , the others hated him for his
influence at the court and the royal couple.
On December 30th, 1916 Grigory Rasputin
was killed by the Emperor’s relative, Felix
Yusupov in the Yusupov palace in St.
Petersburg.
Felix Yusupov and his wife Irene
Yusupov Palace, St. Petersburg

28. The Russian Revolution . February 1917 and October 25, 1917.
The newly emancipated peasants had low wages, and were not allowed to sell or
mortgage their “allotted” lands, since the land did not belong to them. The industrial
working class resented the government for doing too little to protect them, banning their
strikes and labor unions. After the liberal reforms of Alexander II a lot of university
students got exposed to and began to spread radical ideas which allowed a new
consciousness to grow among young people. Finally, the government, in order to
finance the World War I, had been printing millions of ruble notes, and by 1917
inflation had made prices increase up to four times what they had been in 1914 and the
food shortage had become a considerable problem in Russia.
February revolution appeared to break out
spontaneously, without any real leadership
or formal planning. Workers of the Putilov
factory in Petrograd held a strike against the
government which , within a week , spread
throughout the capital. Immediate result of
the February revolution was Tsar Nicholas’
II abdication of the throne and creation of
The Provisional Government which was lead
by Prince Georgy Lvov and , later. By
Alexander Kerensky. It replaced the Council
of Ministers of The Russian Empire. Ex-
emperor Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra
Feodorovna and their children were arrested
in Alexander Palace in Tsarskoe Selo.

29. The provisional government was weak and riddled by internal conflicts. It
continued to wage World War I, which became highly unpopular. A nationwide
crisis had intensified , affecting social, economic, and political relations. in
industry and, and difficulties in obtaining provisions had increased. In the autumn
of 1917, as much as 50% of all industrial centers were closed down in the Urals,
the Donbas, and other regions. The Bolsheviks’ Party created a revolutionary
military committee within “the Petrograd Sovet (committee) and voted on a
resolution saying that “the time for another uprising is fully ripe”. On October 25,
1917, Bolsheviks led their forces towards The Winter Palace, which used to be the
residence of the Russian Emperors and now was the residence of the Provisional
Government, and announced the beginning of the new era.

30. The Civil War and formation of the Soviet Union.
- At the end of 1917 the Bolsheviks controlled only Petrograd and
Moscow.
- Right after the October Revolution many groups were formed to
oppose Lenin’s Bolsheviks. Collectively, these groups became
known as the Whites while the Bolsheviks were known as the
Reds.
- In the summer of 1918 the opposition to Lenin’s regime had
increased to the point where another revolution seemed likely.
Bolsheviks started “The Red Terror” - mass arrests and murders
of anyone who could be suspected to be against the Bolsheviks’
rules or policies. Ex-Emperor Nicholas along with his children,
his wife and few servants were executed on July 17th, so were the
most Romanovs. Historians are still debating on the number of
the victims of the Red Terror.
- The Civil War started in 1918 and lasted until 1921; ended by the
victory of The Bolsheviks.
- December 30th, 1922 - The Union of the Soviet Socialistic
Republics (or The Soviet Union) was formed.

31. - The Civil War ,the Wartime Communism and the New Economy Policy by 1924 had brought
Russia’s economy nearly to a bankruptcy.
- Stalin opted to finance industrialization by extracting wealth from the “kulaks”( rich peasants).
- In the late 1920s, Joseph Stalin launched a series of five-year plans to transform the Soviet Union
from a peasant society into an industrial superpower.
- Control of the economy and forced collectivization of Soviet agriculture.
The Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin.
- Women began occupying leadership roles in education and industry.
- Day care systems were establish across the country.
- People equally got the access to the system of free education and healthcare.
- 100% literacy of the Soviet population was introduced..
- Public transportation system was heavily upgraded through out the county.
The Soviet Union was transformed from a chiefly agricultural society, to one of the leading economies at the time, within a span of two
and a half decades.

32. The Soviet Union during World War II and The Great Patriotic War 1941-1945.
In 1939 The Soviet Union and Nazi Germany concluded The Molotov-Ribbentrop pact of non-aggression between the two countries.
That allowed the Soviet Union return the lands they lost as a result of the October Revolution and the Peace treaty at the end of the
World War I, part of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Bessarabia (part of Romania) were added in 1939-1940. Finland refused to
return 25 km of it’s land back to the Soviet Union and Stalin ordered to invade Finland.
The Soviet-Finnish War (November 1939- March 1940) lasted
much longer than USSR was expecting. Soviet army
experienced heavy losses and lost it’s prestige in the world
after the end of The Winter War. That allowed Nazi Germany
to believe that invading the Soviet Union will be an easy task.
On June 22nd, 1941 Hitler’s army attacked the Soviet Union .
In USSR this part of the World War II has been named
The Great Patriotic War.

34. - Population of Leningrad before the Siege – 3.5 million.
- 900 days Leningrad was cut off from the rest of the world by Germans
- 300,000 Soviet soldiers died defending Leningrad and attempting to lift
the Siege.
- The Road of Life was established across the Ladoga Lake to bring
food to Leningrad and to evacuate some civilians.
- From November 1941 to February 1942 the only food available to
people was 125 grams /4.4 oz. of bread per day.
The Siege of Leningrad
- 1.2 million of civilians perished in the city during the siege.
- December 1941- 52,881 people died of starvation.
- January and February 1942 – 199,187 victims of starvation.
- 150,000 bombs and 107,000 shells were dropped on Leningrad.

36. Jenya died on
December 28
at 12;30 pm 1941
Grandma died on
January 25
at 3 pm, 1942
Leka died on
March 17
at 5 am 1942
Uncle Vasya died
on April 13
at 2 am 1942
Uncle Lesha –
May 10 at 4 pm 1942
Mama – on May 13
at 7:30am 1942
Savichevs died. Everyone died Only Tanya is left.

37. Leningrad Zoo during the siege. Belle The Hippo.
May 31, 1942. Football game in “The city of the dead”
Theater of the Music Comedy” never stopped it’s performances during the siege.

38. After the Khrushchev times and “The Brezhnev’s Era of
Standstill” the crumbling of the Soviet Union's economic
and political structures was approaching very quickly and
very obviously. To reverse the process some “patchwork”
reforms needed and were attempted to implement by new
Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. His changes in the
economy and the structure of the Communist Party called
“Perestroyka”.
Mikhail Gorbachev and the Dissolution of the Soviet Union.
The breakdown of economy that
followed the collapse of the Soviet
Union led to a severe economic crisis
and catastrophic fall in living standards
in post-Soviet states and the former
Eastern Bloc, which was even worse
than the Great Depression times.
- One of the first reforms was the policy of “Glasnost” allowing people to
access to information without the heavy censorship.
- End of the Cold War and demolishing The Berlin Wall.
- Liberal reforms in political and economical structures of the country.
- Soviet Republics began announcing their independence from the Soviet Union.
- On December 25th , 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev signed his resignation.
- December 26th, 1991 – The Soviet Union officially collapsed.

39. The Russian Federation in 21st century.

40. Holidays in Russia
The New Year, January 1.
Russian Orthodox Christmas, January 7.

41. The Baptism of Christ. January 19.
Maslenitsa /The Butter Week.

42. Defender of the Motherland Day. February 23.
The International Women’s Day. March 8.

43. Russian Orthodox Easter

44. Victory Day. May 9
Knowledge Day. September 1.

45. The School in Russia.

47. Popular Activities for Children.