Russia, USSR and the Cold War

Question 1

what is Russia’s location

Answer 1

Russia is a north Asian country at the foot of Eastern Europe. Located north of China and Central Asia.

Question 2

Russia borders

Answer 2

Russia borders the Arctic Ocean and extends from Georgia, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Belarus, Finland, Estonia, and Latvia to the North Pacific Ocean.

Question 3

What happened in 862 CE?

Answer 3

In 862 CE Vikings established (fonded) the Rus State with immigrants from Scandinavia.

Question 4

What did the Byzantine Empire do? and when?

Answer 4

In the year 988, the Byzantine Empire conquered the area and introduced Christianity.

Question 5

Which cities did the Mongols rule and from when?

Answer 5

Moscow, Russia’s capital and one of its largest cities, was ruled by the Mongols from the 13th to the 15th century.

Question 6

From where did the Romanov Dynasty take over and spread the borders? when?

Answer 6

By the 17th century, the Romanov Dynasty took over and spread the borders across Central Asia and eastward toward the Pacific Ocean, laying the geographic foundation for the Russian Empire.

Question 7

When was the Romanov Dynasty overthrown?

Answer 7

In 1917, the Romanov Dynasty was overthrown.

Question 8

What was the new form of government called that was introduced after the removal of the Romanov Dynasty?

Answer 8

A new form of government called Communism was introduced after the removal of the Romanov Dynasty under Vladimir Lenin, and Russia soon became known as the United Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR).

Question 9

Russia’s population and ethnic groups

Answer 9

Russia is a very large and diverse country with a population of over 141 million people. Over 200 ethnic groups live in Russia, including Tatar, Ukrainian, Bashkir, Chuvash, Chechen and others making up the majorities.

Question 10

What is Russia’s official language?

Answer 10

Russian is the official language, followed by Tatar and Chechen, however, due to the large amount of diverse ethnic groups, many other languages are widely spoken in regions.

Question 11

Russia’s population’s religious beliefs

Answer 11

Russian Orthodox Christianity makes up about 20% of the population’s religious beliefs, followed by Islam and other forms of Christianity. Although those religions make up the majority, the Russian state also recognizes Judaism, Buddhism and many other traditional religious.

Question 12

How is the large population scattered?

Answer 12

Although Russia is an extremely large country, most of its population is concentrated (most) in the western-most areas with smaller pockets of people living in scattered areas throughout other Russian territorial regions.

Question 13

Russia’s major cities population

Answer 13

Russia’s major cities are-
Moscow (roughly 12 million) Saint Petersburg (about 5 million)
Novosibirsk (1.6 million), Yekaterinburg (1.5 million), Kazan (1.2 million)
Nizhniy Novogorod (1.2 million).

Question 14

Natural resources in Russia-

Answer 14

Natural resources in Russia includes platinum, gold, diamonds, iron ore, titanium, copper and phosphates.

Question 15

Russia is described as a semi-

presidential federation what does that mean?

Answer 15

Russia is described as a semi-

presidential federation, which means that the president works alongside a prime minister and cabinet.

Question 16

Russia’s Political system

Answer 16

The current president of Russia is Vladimir Putin, who has served as both the second and fourth president, preceded by Boris Yeltsin (first president) and Dmitry Medvedev (third president). Before the current governmental system, Russia underwent numerous political systems which have had a significant impact on the fabric of the country.

Question 17

Which present-day countries were located in the USSR?

Answer 17

This massive federalist socialist state located in what is now present-day Russia, Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan.

Question 18

USSR stands for

Answer 18

United Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR)

Question 19

This state existed from ___ to ___ and was considered the ____ country in the world, occupying roughly
__- sixth of the Earth’s surface.

Answer 19

This state existed from 1922 to 1991 and was considered the largest country in the world, occupying roughly one-sixth of the Earth’s surface.

Question 20

Who founded theUnited Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR)?

Answer 20

Founded by Vladimir Lenin when the Russian Provisional Government was overthrown.

Question 21

What did the United Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR) promote?

Answer 21

The Soviet Union, promoted the social ownership of the production, distribution and exchange of the country’s resources.

Question 22

USSR became known as the first ______ country with a ____ transition into a ______ society.

Answer 22

USSR became known as the first socialist country with a planned transition into a communist society.

Question 23

What happened to the United Soviet Socialist Republic (USSR) after World War II?

Answer 23

After World War II, the USSR began to gain

power and expand further, eventually encompassing the countries in Eastern Europe.

Question 24

What are satellite states?

Answer 24

Although Soviet ideology spread extensively throughout the region, many countries that it absorbed became known as satellite states, which were able to keep their independence, but were controlled by the Soviet Union.

(A satellite state is an officially independent country that is strongly influenced or controlled by another country)

Question 25

What are the satellite states?

Answer 25

The satellite states included Poland Czechostovakia, Hungary, East Germany, Bulgaria, and Romania.

Question 26

By 1980s what happened to the USSr’s economy?

Answer 26

By the 1980s, the USSR’s economy began to suffer and many of the countries in the Union started to seek full independence.

Question 27

Who was the last leader of USSR’s last Head of State? Were his efforts intended to make improvements for the USSR achieve succses?

Answer 27

A political teader named Mikhail Gorbachev became the Soviet Union’s last Head of State and attempted to revive the economy. While his efforts were intended to make improvements, many members of the USSR became unhappy with the socialist styled government.

Question 28

When did USSR officially disband?

Answer 28

The USSR was officially disbanded in 1991.

Question 29

What happened after the collapse of the Soviet Union?

Answer 29

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Boris Yeltsin became the first president of the Russian state as it transitioned from socialism

Question 30

How did the Russian Empire influence Central Asia

Answer 30

Before Central Asia developed into distinct countries, the Russian Empire began to gain influence and eventual dominance over the area in the 18th century.

Question 31

What happenend in 1847

Answer 31

By 1847, Russia invaded the present-day Kazakh steppe area and had a strong military presence that spread toward the border of present-day Kyrgyzstan. This Russian dominance eventually spread throughout the entire Central Asian region as a way to halt (stop) British influence in the area.

Question 32

What is the ‘Great Game’ ?

Answer 32

During a series of conflicts known as the Great Game, Russia and Great Britain competed for dominance in the area which resulted in Britain’s East India Company gaining control over the indian subcontinent and Russian controlling Central Asia.

Question 33

What is National Territorial Delimitation (NTD).

Answer 33

After coming into power, Central Asia was divided into ethnically based republics. This division was a process called National Territorial Delimitation (NTD).

This not only created borders throughout Central Asia, it also separated countries into distinct groups under USSR rule. After years of subjugation, Central Asian countries began to achieve their own independence and are all sovereign countries in the present day.

Question 34

What was the Cold War?

Answer 34

The Cold War was characterized as a conflict between Western European government ideology and Eastern European socialist government ideology that lasted from 1945-1991.

Question 35

Which were the main countries involved in the Cold War?

Answer 35

USSR and United States of America were the main countires involved. At the time, the USSR and the United States were competing superpowers with very different leadership ideas. This clash between ideologies began as a way to slow the spread of communism throughout the world.

Question 36

How did proxy wars(a war fought between groups of smaller countries that each represent the interests of other larger powers, and may have help and support from these) take place?

Answer 36

Though neither country officially declared war on each other, a series of proxy wars took place, in which other allied countries would fight each other while being supported by either the USSR or United States.

Question 37

Why was the term “Cold War” used to describe the conflict between the two nations ?

Answer 37

Since the two countries never engaged in battle with each other, the term “Cold War” was used to describe the conflict between the two nations.

Question 38

How did the two countries fight in the Cold War?

Answer 38

One way that the two countries fought in the Cold War was through the use of influence. Events such as the “Race to Space” and the “Nuclear Arms Race” became competitions for the demonstration of power and influence. In these two “races” both superpowers competed with each other to show their technological and military power.

Question 39

When was the spread of their different forms of ideology throughout the world viewed as a mutual threat?

Answer 39

As both countries began to develop nuclear weapons, the spread of their different forms of ideology throughout the world was viewed as a mutual threat and the fight to slow the spread became an important issue on both sides.

Question 40

How did the idea of a communist superpower began to fade?

Answer 40

Due to the decline of the Soviet Union and subsequent independence of its member states, the idea of a communist superpower began to fade.

Question 40

How and when did the cold war end?

Answer 40

The Cold War came to an end in 1991 with the election of Boris Yeltsin.