By Kevin Liang and Fan Liu

The Slavs were a group of people who most modern Russians descended from. They set up a civilization called Kievan Rus, in Kiev, Ukraine in about 800 A.D They lived along the rivers in Ukraine and Russia. A painting of two Slavs in traditional Slavic dress. This is a map of where the Kievan Rus civilization was located in. All the red indicates where it was located in.

The Prince of Russia, Vladimir, had the Slavs switch to Eastern Orthodox Christianity in 988 to strengthen and protect land. The Slavs accepted it. Since they switched to Eastern Orthodox Christianity, they started prospering from trade from the Mediterranean world and Western Europe. The churches in which they worshiped were large and had grand domes. Some of them are pictured above. This is a picture of the interior of a Russian Church Saint Basil's Cathedral, a well- known Russian Orthodox church situated in Moscow.

Mongols Invade Slavic Territory ( ) In 1200 A.D., Mongols from Central Asia started taking over Kiev and its surrounding land. While the Mongols took over Kiev, Muscovy became the new Slavic territory. In 1480, King Ivan III, a prince of Muscovy, drove the Mongols away and made the territory independent. TOP: A painting of the Mongols army LEFT: A drawing of what Mongols dressed like when they went off to war.

Muscovy slowly developed into Russia. The Russian rulers enlarged their power. They killing people who got in their way, seizing land, and grabbed resources. These Czars had complete control of government. If you were a Russian noble, you would have adapted Western European ways. You would have spoken French as well as Russian. You also would have worn great fashionable dresses and suits instead of traditional Russian dress. Despite how richly the Czars lived, there was a lower class way below them. They were called serfs, farm laborers who were bought and sold along with land. They worked in lords farms. Although how sad they were, they remained strongly loyal to Russian ways. A painting to the right shows to fine life a czar lives. The bottom picture shows how miserable the serfs’ lives were.

The Patriotic War (1812) A French army lead by Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Russia in 1812.Since there was lack of food, lack of water, and bad weather, the soldiers and horses died. Some soldiers were forced to drink from dirty puddles and mud, which caused many to die from Waterborne disease. Napoleon decided to leave Russia on December 5, 1812, due to lack of food and water, lack of people, and bad weather. All of the abandoned soldiers died in the harsh snow. To this day, Russians consider the year of 1812 to be a symbol of patriotism. A photo of Napoleon’s army, some dead in the snow.

Economical and Social Changes ( ) In 1861, Czar Alexander II freed the serfs from being forced to do farming. His new law did not lift them from poverty, though. Russia started to begin industrializing, abandoning farming and agriculture for manufacturing. Yet with all of this new social and economical changes, Russia did not progress politically. The people started to get inspired from democratic ideas from Western Europe. A portrait of Alexander II, otherwise known as the czar-liberator.

Russian and German armies started fighting because Russia was friends with France, who was fighting to be the most powerful country at the time. Russia was defeated several times and only won a few victories. The Russian people started getting very discontent due to shortages of food, which caused starvation. A very sad photo of soldiers in Russia.

Inspired from democratic ideas from Western Europe, political leaders, factory workers, and soldiers forced czar Nicholas II to give up his throne. Vladimir Lenin, a political rebel, led the Revolution and seized control. He and his followers set up a communist state, a country whose government has control over society as a whole. Nicholas II was killed on July 16,1918 at around 2:00 AM in his basement. A street demonstration in Petrograd, Russia, June 18,1917.

Я ЛЮБОВЬ РОССИЯ! I LOVE RUSSIA!