Change And Continuity Of Russia Essay

Although Russia’s name and boundaries have changed throughout the county’s history, a strong national identity and culture exist. The geography of Russia—straddling Asia and Europe—contributes to its history, politically and militarily, and the rise of a clear Russian cultural identity. National unity, a strong family, territorial integrity, maintaining personal integrity, and pride in Russia’s place on the global stage effects Russia’s approach to national security, including air defense. To understand Russian identity, it is imperative to understand the country’s history, geography and demographics. With the 1550s defeat of the Mongols in Kiev, Russia emerged as a nation and named its first tsar, Ivan IV. As tsar, Ivan unified the

After Lenin’s 1924 death, a hardliner, Joseph Stalin took the helm of the Party. Stalin tightened national control of the market, art, literature, and religion under the threat of violence (Curtis, 1998). When the Germans invaded in 1941, Russia aligned with the Allied forces. Russia pushed the Germans back to Poland by 1944 and by May 2, 1945 Allied forces had control of Berlin. Russia’s losses in World War II were devastating—more than twenty million lives (Curtis, 1998). Russia, now the Soviet Union, emerged from the war, however, with considerable gains in territory and as a world superpower (UCSF 2009). Stalin remained a hardline leader until his death in 1953. What followed is slow ebb and flow toward more openness (glasnost) and restructuring (perestroika). When Mikhail Gorbachev became leader in 1985 conditions – anger over poverty, mismanagement and corruption—were ripe for reform (Curtis, 1998; UCSF, 2009). In 1989 open elections were held for the first time in over 90 years. By early 1990 many of its republics declared their independence and by the end of that year the Soviet flag was replaced with the Russian flag on top of government buildings (UCSF,