From Founding Date to 1918 By Joe Carlyle and Megan Fox

The Founding of Russia An early group of people called Slavs built a civilization around the city of Kiev, now Ukraine’s capital city. This civilization was called Kievan Rus. By 1,000 A.D. Kievan Rus had accepted Eastern Orthodox religion of Christianity and prospered from trade.

The Beginning of The Beginning of In the 1200s, Mongols came in from Central Asia and took control of Kiev and its surrounding lands. The Mongols were very harsh people and their rule, which lasted about two hundred years, greatly reduced Kiev’s wealth and power. In the Meanwhile, a town called Moscow (now Russia’s capital) became the Center of the new Slavic territory called Muscovy.

In 1480, Ivan III, a prince of Muscovy, drove out the Mongols and made Muscovy an independent territory. But Muscovy bought its freedom for a high price; Ivan the first czar of the country now named Russia, and czars had complete control over the people. Ivan used a secret police force to help tighten his iron grip on peoples’ lives.

A reign continued… When Ivan III died, the reign of the czars did not end. Most czars pushed the borders of Russia southward and westward. They also tried to make Russia modern and more like Europe. Meanwhile, Russia’s peasant and all other civilians were suffering, and it was not just the work of the czars.

Russia’s Prolonged The czar and the nobles enjoyed rich and comfortable live, but most of the people were slaves that could be bought by nobles, and the czars did not care. A czar called Peter I built a new capital, St. Petersburg, in the early 1700s, while the peasants continued to suffer. Most peasants did not receive much education.

In 1812, a French army lead by Napoleon Bonaparte invade Russia, but this is where harsh Russian winters come in handy. The people suffered, but they still remained fiercely loyal to Russia, and helped by the Russian winters, the French were fought back to their own territory; but Russia had suffered many losses.

Napoleon Bonaparte

In 1914, WWI broke out in Europe. Russian and German armies fought every where, killing innocent citizens… and they showed no remorse. Russia was unprepared for war, and they suffered many casualties, with little victories. Russia entered the war with the largest army in the world: 1.4 million soldiers.

Russia fought alongside great countries well known and rich today because they won WWI and WWII. One of the reasons why Russia won the war was because of their massive army, and the U.K. was rich enough to provide food and ammo, but their was not enough rifles to go around. In WWI, they used chemical gases.

Russian weapons of WWI: machine guns, bayonets, flamethrowers, grenades, pistols, poison gas, rifles, tanks, and trench mortars.

In Russia, the war led to the Russian Revolution and a civil war which continued the conflict for three years beyond World War I. The civil war involved foreign intervention, almost total disintegration of the economy and, by 1921, massive famine. In Russia, the war led to the Russian Revolution and a civil war which continued the conflict for three years beyond World War I. The civil war involved foreign intervention, almost total disintegration of the economy and, by 1921, massive famine.

That eventually leaded to the start of the Soviet Union and the start of a communist Russia.