A Brief History of Russia

Over the centuries, numerous people invaded Russia including the Germanic Goths, the Asian Huns, and the Turkic Avars. By the 9th C, the Eastern Slavs had settled in many parts of Russia. The origin of the Russian state coincides with the arrival of Scandinavian traders and warriors, the Varangians. Under their reign, the Eastern Slavs were united. Christianity was made the state religion by Vladimir I (reigned 980–1015), who adopted the Greek Orthodox rite. So the Byzantine cultural influence became predominant. In 1237–40, the Mongols (or Tatars) under Batu Khan invaded Russia and destroyed most of the chief Russian cities. Their empire of the Golden Horde lasted until 1480 until Dmitri Donskoi won over the Tatars at Kulikovo in 1380.

Russia in the 17th C was still medieval in culture and outlook. The nobles were compensated with land grants and with increasing rights over the peasants. Thus, serfdom became a legal institution in Russia in 1649, included growing numbers of persons and became increasingly oppressive. The process of enserfment, which reached its peak in the 18th C resulted in several violent peasant revolts, notably those led by Stenka Razin (1667–71) and by Pugachev (1773–75).

The disastrous and unpopular Russo-Japanese War (1904–5) led to the Revolution of 1905. Nicholas II was forced to grant a constitution and a parliament (duma) was established. In 1917, Russia was officially proclaimed the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic, which in 1922 was united with the Ukrainian, Belorussian, and Transcaucasian republics to form the see Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

After more than seven decades of Soviet rule, the regime of President Gorbachev marked the end of repressive political controls and permitted nationalist movements to arise in the constituent republics of the USSR. In 1990, Boris Yeltsin and other nationalists and reformers were elected to the Russian parliament; Yeltsin was subsequently chosen Russian president.

Yeltsin and the leaders of eight other republics reached a power-sharing agreement with Gorbachev, but its imminent signing provoked a coup attempt by Soviet hard-liners. In the aftermath, the USSR disintegrated. With Ukraine and Belarus, Russia established the Commonwealth of Independent States. When Gorbachev resigned, Yeltsin had already taken control of most of the central government, and Russia assumed the USSR's UN seat.