2.  Built a new capital – St. Petersburg  “Venice of the North” Peter the Great, Early 1700s

3.   Built on more than 100 islands Peter the Great, Early 1700s

4.   Designed like a European city with elegant palaces, public squares and canals. Peter the Great, Early 1700s

5.  St. Petersburg

6.  Freed the serfs Alexander II, 1867

7.  Opened the way for industrial development. Alexander II

8.  “Father of Russian Revolution” Vladimir Lenin

9.  Headed the communist government and oversaw the Russian Empire's transformation into the USSR. Vladimir Lenin

10.  Joseph Stalin: Communist Leader 1924 - 1953 Stalin pursued an economic policy of mobilizing the entire country to achieve the goal of rapid industrialization.

11.  Joseph Stalin: Communist Leader 1924 - 1953 He guided Russian forces to victory in World War II.

12.  Joseph Stalin: Communist Leader 1924 - 1953 He helped create the Cold War.

13.  Leonid Brezhnev: Soviet Leader 1964 - 1982 He saw to it that the Soviet Union's military-industrial complex was greatly expanded and modernized.

14.  Leonid Brezhnev: Soviet Leader 1964 - 1982 His continual buildup of his defense and aerospace industries left other sectors of the economy increasingly deprived of funds. Soviet agriculture, consumer-goods industries, and health-care services declined throughout the 1970s and early '80s as a consequence.

15.  Leonid Brezhnev

16.  Mikhail Gorbachev: USSR Leader 1985 - 1991 Recognized that his nation was falling economically behind the rest of the world and could no longer afford to compete in the Cold War.

17.  Mikhail Gorbachev: USSR Leader 1985 - 1991 He introduced policies designed to decentralize the Russian economy and open up the state, called perestroika and glasnost, and ended the Cold War.

18.  Mikhail Gorbachev