Russia: history to 1922

The first states on the territory of what was to become the Russian Empire arose in Transcaucasia (for example, Urartu) and Central Asia (for example, Khorezm and Sogdiana) in the 9th–6th centuries BC. Constantly threatened by their stronger neighbours, the Assyrians and Persians, and periodically subdued by them as well as by conquerors from more distant lands (such as Alexander the Great and the Romans), the early Transcaucasian and Central Asian states nevertheless succeeded in evolving distinct cultural and political traditions, which they passed on to their successors in late antiquity and in the Middle Ages. See also Armenia and Georgia.

Another area of early political development was on the northern shores of the Black Sea, in what is now southern Russia and Ukraine. This area was populated in succession by the Kimmerians (see Cimmerii), Scythians (see Scythia), and Sarmatians, organized in loose tribal federations. In the 7th–6th centuries BC numerous Greek colonies were founded along the coast, which later fell under Roman and Byzantine domination (see also Bosporan Kingdom). In the first centuries AD the Black Sea steppes witnessed invasions from the west by the Goths, who set up a large but ephemeral state (2nd century AD). This was followed by invasions from the east of Huns (4th century) and Avars (6th century).

The peoples of Russia in the early Middle Ages
By the 6th century AD the forested country north of the steppes, in the Dnieper basin and farther north, was inhabited by the various eastern Slav tribes. In the west, beyond the Western Bug River , they bordered on the western Slavs. In the northwest, on the rivers Niemen and Western Dvina, lived the Lithuanian tribes, ancestors of the Lithuanians and Latvians. In the north, from the Gulf of Finland to the upper River Volga, lived various Finnish tribes, some of which survived to form the present Finnish peoples (see Finn), while others were later assimilated by the Slavs. In the east, powerful states were set up by two Turkic‐speaking peoples: the Volga Bulgarians on the middle Volga and the Khazars on the lower Volga. There were three early centres of political consolidation among the eastern Slavs: in Volhynia on the Western Bug, on the middle Dnieper around Kiev, and in the north around Lake Ilmen.

Kievan Russia
In the 9th century the north centre fell to the Swedish Vikings under Rurik. Rurik founded Novgorod in 862, and the Vikings soon extended their domination over the whole area of the eastern Slavs and some neighbouring tribes and thus founded the first all‐Russian state. The capital moved to Kiev (in what is now Ukraine) in 882, and this state is known as Kievan Rus (or Kievan Russia).

The powerful and prosperous Kievan state went on to destroy the Khazar Khanate, and kept in check the nomadic Pechenegs and Cumans, who constantly assailed it from the southern steppes. In due course Kievan Rus fell under Byzantine cultural influence, and in 988, under Vladimir I, embraced Christianity. Less than a century later, however, it began to split up, owing to the gradual weakening of the centre and constant feudal strife.

The 11th and 12th centuries witnessed the strengthening of territorial principalities, such as Chernihiv, Galicia, Polotsk, Smolensk, Suzdal, and Volhynia. By the early 13th century the grand principality of Vladimir in the northeast, the Novgorod republic in the north, and the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria (Volhynia) in the southwest dominated the region.

The Mongol–Tatar invasion
In 1236 the Mongol–Tatar armies appeared on the Volga. During the previous three decades the Mongols had conquered China, Central Asia, Iran, and Transcaucasia, and set up several semi‐independent states whose rulers recognized the suzerainty of the Great Khan. Now Batu Khan, who ruled over the steppes north of the Aral Sea and Lake Balkhash, rapidly extended his realm to the west. Within four years he conquered the Volga Bulgarians and one by one the disunited Russian principalities except Novgorod. The Russian princes became vassals of Batu's state, which is known as the Golden Horde.

A century later the Horde began to loosen its grip over the vassal territories. During the 14th century most western and southern Russian principalities escaped Tatar domination and passed under the new regional power, the grand duchy of Lithuania, which had been founded in the mid‐13th century and had grown into a vast empire. A parallel process took place in the territory still retained by the Horde, where the principality of Moscow (or Muscovy) absorbed many of its neighbours until it felt strong enough to challenge the Horde. Demetrius Donskoi, at the head of a coalition of Russian princes, defeated the Tatars in 1380.

The rise of Muscovy
The Golden Horde broke up into a number of khanates in the 15th century, and these continued to decline, although Moscow continued to pay tribute to the Tatars, until Ivan (III) the Great revolted against Tatar overlordship in 1480. The grand principality of Moscow continued to absorb its neighbours and rivals and finally proclaimed the unification of all Russian lands as its official policy.

Alongside the external growth of the Muscovite state went its internal consolidation. The feudal traditions and the power of the boyars (land‐owning aristocrats) were stamped out by the new coalition of monarchy and the lower gentry. Ivan (IV) the Terrible who assumed the title of ‘Tsar of All Russia’ in 1547, pursued this policy with exceptional cruelty. Under Ivan the Terrible Muscovy expanded its territory east into Siberia, and southeast to the Caucasus and the Caspian Sea.

Ivan was succeeded by his son Fyodor I (ruled 1584–98), who in turn was followed by the elected tsar, Boris Godunov (ruled 1598–1605). Boris's death was followed by the ‘Time of Troubles’ (1605–13), in which a violent reaction against the strengthening of the power of the tsar and the gentry led to a period of near‐anarchy and civil wars. Russia's powerful neighbours, Sweden and Poland, took the opportunity to mount invasions that nearly cost Russia its national survival. However, a patriotic alliance under Kuzma Minin and Prince Pozharsky defeated the Poles (1612), and the following year a representative assembly, the Zemsky Sobor, elected Michael Romanov as tsar.

Russia under the early Romanovs
The tsars of the new house of Romanov continued the policy of their predecessors. Under Michael Romanov (ruled 1613–45) territory was ceded to both Sweden and Poland. The Code of Law passed by the Zemsky Sobor in 1649 thoroughly applied the principle of universal service to the state by all classes, and finally reduced the peasants to serfdom. The peasants never reconciled themselves to their new status, and the following two centuries of serfdom were punctuated by several large‐scale peasant rebellions.

Russia did not escape the atmosphere of religious conflict prevalent in 17th‐century Western Europe. The reforming activities of Patriarch Nikon led to a split in the Orthodox Church that is still unhealed.

The religious issue played an important part also in Muscovy's relations with its western neighbour, Poland. Lithuania had been united with Poland in 1569, and the latter had taken over Lithuania's former role as Muscovy's rival for hegemony (dominance) in Russia. Catholic Poland was at a disadvantage in the struggle for the Orthodox population of Belorussia (Belarus) and Ukraine. The Ukrainian Cossacks under their ‘hetman’ (elected leader) Bohdan Khmelnytsky (died 1657) rose against the Poles in 1648, but having liberated their country they found themselves unable to preserve their independence, and they decided to join Muscovy (1654; see also Ukraine). However, half of Ukraine was soon again lost to Poland, and not regained until the partitions of Poland in the late 18th century.

Imperial Russia in the 18th century
A new epoch in the history of Russia was inaugurated by Peter (I) the Great (ruled 1682–1725), who transformed the old Muscovite state into a westernized empire. Peter modernized the bureaucracy and the army, founded a navy, and established St Petersburg as the new capital.

Peter embarked on campaigns of territorial expansion, a process continued by his successors, notably Catherine (II) the Great (ruled 1762–96). Through conquests from Sweden and Turkey, and the partitions of Poland, Russia extended its territory in the west and south to include parts of Finland, the Baltic States, parts of Poland, Belarus, Ukraine west of the Dnieper, and the Black Sea shores. By 1700 Russian colonists had also penetrated Siberia as far as the Pacific Ocean. Russia did not become involved in the main current of European affairs until the Seven Years' War (1756–63), when it fought against Prussia in alliance with Austria and France.

Internally the 18th century was a period of growth in manufacturing, education, and learning (Moscow University was founded in 1755). This period also witnessed the increasing influence of the westernized gentry, frequent palace revolutions, and the beginnings of modern literature and social criticism.

Alexander I and the Napoleonic Wars
The first half of the 19th century was in many ways a continuation of the 18th. New territory continued to be acquired, including the rest of Finland, more of Poland, Bessarabia, the Caucasus, and Transcaucasia.

Although Alexander I (ruled 1801–25) started off as a reformer, influenced by the ideas of the Enlightenment, he ended up a reactionary. It was during his reign that Russia became involved in the Napoleonic Wars. Defeated by Napoleon at Austerlitz (1805), Russia made peace with the French at the Treaty of Tilsit (1807). But following the opening of Russian ports to British shipping, Napoleon launched his disastrous invasion of Russia (1812), won a great victory at Borodino, and reached Moscow. However, the Russians refused to make peace, and with the onset of winter the French were eventually forced to retreat, losing some 90% of their army to the cold and the attacks of the Russians.

Nicholas I and the Eastern Question
The French Revolution and the experience of the Napoleonic Wars had an impact on political life. Close contact with Western Europe and the sense of the strength of the people gained in the victorious ‘Patriotic War’ of 1812 produced the first revolutionary movement, the Decembrists, who in 1825 launched an unsuccessful rebellion against the new tsar, Nicholas I (ruled 1825–55).

Nicholas's ambitions in the Balkans led to war with Turkey (1827–29) and the Crimean War (1853–56). Russia's defeat in the Crimea was blamed by public opinion on the conservative policies and the growing bureaucratization under Nicholas.

Alexander II and the Great Reform
The quest for reform, for a modernization of the social and political life of the country, was strong and widespread, and the reign of Alexander II (1855–81) was the time of the Great Reform, which began with the emancipation of the serfs in 1861, gaining Alexander the title of ‘Tsar Liberator’.

It was also the time when a new force appeared on the political scene: the ‘Intelligentsia’, who were inspired by the ideology of socialism. Russian socialism was partly liberal and reformist, partly radical and revolutionary. The liberals, who took an active part in introducing and implementing the reforms, were divided into two camps: the Westernists, who favoured the introduction of Western technology and industry, and Western liberal democracy; and the Slavophiles, who emphasized traditional Russian culture and the key role of the Orthodox Church.

The radicals mostly belonged to the agrarian socialist Populist Movement, of which the anarchist Mikhail Bakunin was a founder‐member. Some of the radicals, including the Nihilists, finally adopted the tactics of terror and assassinated the tsar (1881) before, to use the then current phrase, ‘the edifice of reforms could be crowned’ by the establishment of a representative assembly. From that point revolution remained a constant theme of Russian history.

Alexander III
The next two reigns were filled with efforts by the monarchy, increasingly estranged from public opinion, to reassert the principle of autocracy. Alexander III (ruled 1881–94) was firm in repression and on the whole successful. The last decades of the 19th century were a time of rapid industrial development behind protective tariffs. The industrial working class grew, and the period also saw the beginning of the labour movement and of modern factory legislation. The zemstvos (local government bodies) carried out effective work, particularly in the fields of education and medical services.

Yet the central government remained in the hands of a bureaucracy that was openly hostile to the very ideas of political freedom and popular representation, and which relied on the police to preserve the existing order. The regime was especially oppressive to the religious and linguistic minorities. In these conditions the first political parties – both those with all‐Russian aims, and those representing particular aims of minorities – were obliged to be semi‐conspiratorial illegal organizations.

Revolution and reform
The reign of Nicholas II (1894–1917) was by and large a disaster. His vacillating policy allowed the revolutionary parties and the constitutional movement (the latter depending largely on the zemstvos and professional associations) to gather momentum, which, together with the reverses in the Russo‐Japanese War, brought about the revolution of 1905 (see Russian revolution, 1905).

Russia emerged from two years of revolution with a new constitution, which was, however, still far from perfect. A new, elected legislative assembly, the Duma, was established, and political parties (such as the Octobrists) and trade unions were legalized. Although the government was still not responsible to the Duma, this reform seemed only a matter of time, and the foundation seemed to have been laid for a responsible and undogmatic liberal and labour opposition. Industry was booming, and the government of Petr Stolypin (prime minister 1906–11) inaugurated some agrarian reforms to remove the causes of peasant discontent. But all these promising developments were cut short by the outbreak of World War I.

The road to war
Russia had taken an active part in the imperialist rivalry among the Great Powers in the 19th century. Throughout the century Russia's expansionist ambitions in the Balkans, where it adopted the role of ‘liberator’ of its fellow Slavs from Ottoman Turkish rule, caused concern in the West, particularly in Britain (see Eastern Question). Britain was also alarmed by Russia's expansion into Central Asia (most of which was conquered by Russia under Alexander II), where it appeared to pose a threat to British India, and Britain backed Japan against Russia in eastern Asia.

In 1872 Russia had entered into the Dreikaiserbund (‘alliance of the three emperors’) with Germany and Austria‐Hungary; Alexander III had regarded the alliance as means of securing peace and stability in Europe. However, with the emergence of Germany as a strong imperialist power, and with Austro‐Hungarian rule extended over Bosnia‐Herzegovina in the Balkans by the Congress of Berlin (1878; see Berlin, Congress of), the alliance effectively came to an end.

The Franco‐Russian Dual Entente (1891) reversed the previous alignment of powers. Nicholas II continued his father's policy of peace in Europe, and took the initiative in calling the 1899 Hague Conference on international cooperation. But he was unable to resist the drift towards catastrophe. Following the assassination of the Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand by a Serb nationalist in June 1914, Austria‐Hungary went to war with Russia's Slav ally Serbia. Russia mobilized, and when it ignored the demand from Germany (Austria‐Hungary's ally) that it demobilize, Germany declared war. This brought Russia's ally, France, into the war, followed by Britain, when Germany violated Belgian neutrality during the course of its attack on France.

World War I and the February Revolution
For details of Russia's military involvement in the war see World War I. In Russia itself the war further exacerbated the relations between the mass of the people (now represented in the zemstvos and Municipal League, the War Industries Committee, and the Progressive Bloc in the Duma) and the court and the government (now increasingly dominated by the reactionary influence of the tsarina, Alexandra Feodorovna and Rasputin).

Mismanagement of the war (which had resulted in over 6 million Russian casualties), and food shortages led to the spread of revolutionary agitation. The bloodless February Revolution in 1917, which ousted the tsar, was welcomed by almost everyone (see Russian Revolution). But the democratically minded provisional government proved unequal to the tremendous task of building a new state on the ruins of the monarchy in the midst of an unprecedented war and, above all, in the face of a new phenomenon – the emergence on the political scene of a highly organized revolutionary party, the Bolsheviks.

The October Revolution
The Bolsheviks had originated as a radical wing of the Social Democratic Party in 1903. The founder and leader of the Bolsheviks, Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, had long concentrated on devising organizational and tactical methods of attaining and keeping power, and on training his followers in the implementation of these methods.

In the chaotic conditions following the February Revolution the Bolsheviks, led by Lenin and Leon Trotsky, and assisted financially by the German general staff, formed private armed detachments known as Red Guards, and gradually neutralized the armed forces and the majority of the population by propaganda. With the October Revolution of 1917 the Bolsheviks swept to power (see Russian Revolution). Shortly afterwards the Bolsheviks began armistice negotiations with the Central Powers, and peace was established by the Treaty of Brest‐Litovsk (3 March 1918).

The civil war
At first the Bolsheviks called their government the Provisional Workers' and Peasants' Government, but having suffered a decisive defeat in the elections to the Constituent Assembly they dispersed the Assembly and proclaimed a ‘dictatorship of the proletariat’. This dictatorship was to be exercised by the Communist Party (as the Bolsheviks now called themselves) through the soviets (councils) and the Cheka (secret police), as well as directly.

Armed resistance to the communist dictatorship developed into a civil war, which raged for three years (1918–21). In some parts of the country, such as Central Asia, the war continued until 1923, and local resistance to Soviet reforms went on even later. Thanks to their skill in propaganda, the communists mustered greater support, particularly among the peasants, than did their opponents, though the majority of the population remained passive. The disunity in the anticommunist camp – where sectional interests of party, class, or nationality often prevailed – also contributed to the eventual communist victory (for further details see Russian civil war).

Following the communist victory, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was formed in 1922, and a constitution adopted in 1923. For the subsequent history of the USSR see Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.