Headquarters of Communism

Headquarters of Communism
World War I strained Imperial Russia's governmental and social institutions to the breaking point, allowing a worker-led revolution to overthrow an unpopular government and form a socialist, one-party rule, resulting in a brutal civil war lasting until late 1920. After Lenin's death in 1924, a power struggle ensued, with Josef Stalin emerging as the new leader of the Soviet Union. Stalin's brutal rule (1928-53) introduced an economic system called "socialism in one country" that rapidly industrialised the country while completely abandoning all idealistic collectivist principals which the revolutionaries of October 1917 had fought for. Indeed, after Stalin's ascent to power, he had most of those involved in the Revolution killed (along with millions who resisted his efforts to collectivise the agricultural sector).

World War II, from a Soviet perspective, between June 1941 and May 1945, added to the woes of the Soviet peoples and led to the deaths of 25-30 million citizens. Their alliance with the Western nations in the fight against, and eventual defeat of, Nazism was a tremendous and courageous achievement, and their capture of Berlin their greatest moment in that War.

After Stalin's death in 1953, the Soviet economy continued to grow strongly under Georgy Malenkov (1953-1955) and Nikita Khrushchev (1955-1964), focusing more resources in prodcution of consumer goods. The Soviet Union eventually reached its political, military, and economic peak during the closing years of Leonid Brezhnev (1964-1982), but subsequent stagnation caused a crisis that would continue until General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev (1985-91) introduced glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) in an attempt to modernize the political system. His initiatives inadvertently released forces that by December 1991 splintered the USSR into 15 separate independent countries, matching those of the 15 republics of the USSR.
A Nascent Democracy
Since then, Russia has struggled in its efforts to rebuild a political system, with the old Soviet elites merely transferring their control of the country through a oligarchical market apparatus. Indeed, Russian organized crime and its links to the now explicitly market-oriented government were evident under the inept Yeltsin administration, even as political reforms were introduced. Subsequently, in recent years, the Putin government has worked hard to recentralize power, revitalise a comatose economy and stifle crime to a mere minimum, yet still well above 1990 levels. A determined guerrilla conflict still plagues Russia in Chechnya and its neighboring republics. As of 7 May 2008, Putin has transferred power to the new President Dimitri Medvedev.

Climate
Climate ranges from steppes in the south to humid continental in much of European Russia; subarctic in Siberia to tundra climate in the polar north; winters vary from cool along Black Sea coast to frigid in Siberia; summers vary from warm in the steppes to cool along the Arctic coast.

Terrain
The terrain consists of broad plains with low hills west of the Urals; vast coniferous forest and tundra in Siberia; uplands and mountains along southern border regions; mountainous and volcanic throughout much of Far Eastern Russia.

Regions

Russia's Federal Districts Northwestern Russia

Central Russia

Chernozemye (Black Earth)

Southern Russia

Volga Region

Urals Region

Siberia

Far Eastern Russia

Kaliningrad Oblast