"Бог благословит Россию!" ("God bless Russia!") | |||||
| Anthem | "God Save The Tsar!" | ||||
| Capital (and largest city) |
Moscow | ||||
| Other cities | Saint Petersberg | ||||
| Language official |
Russian | ||||
| others | English | ||||
| Religion main |
Christianity | ||||
| others | Irreligion and Islam | ||||
| Ethnic Groups main |
Russian | ||||
| others | Chinese and Korean | ||||
| Demonym | Russian | ||||
| Government | Constitutional Monarchy | ||||
| Legislature | State Assembly | ||||
| Prime Minster | Mikhail Gorbachev (2010 to date) | ||||
| State Assembly members | 54 (current) | ||||
| Population | 153,600,000 people (current) | ||||
| Established | February 18, 1905 | ||||
| Currency | Eurasian Bank Note | ||||
| Driving Side | right | ||||
| Calling Code | +7 | ||||
| Internet TLD | .ru | ||||
| Organizations | United Nations (UN), Eurasian Coalition (EC), European Union (EU) and Asian Union (AU) | ||||
Russia is a constitutional monarchy in Eurasia.
History
Formation
On February 18, 1905, inspired by the success of the Hundred Days' Reform in China, Tsar Nicholas II ratified a revised version of the Fundamental Laws of the Russian Empire, forcing him to share political power with a parliament. This document turned Russia into a constitutional monarchy, and relocated the capital to Moscow. Sergei Witte was selected as Prime Minister of Russia on June 18, 1905, though the Tsar promised to hold an election for prime minister in 5 years. On September 5, 1905, the Treaty of Portsmouth was signed, ending the Russo-Japanese War. Under pressure from the Duma, the Tsar implemented socialist policies intended to help the workers and peasants of Russia, with the hope of lowering dissent.
The new Constitutional government retained the Tsar's status as an advisor and autocratic The Tsar often vetoed decisions to play competing parliamentary factions against teach other.
World World I and support for American communists
When World World I erupted across Europe, Russia was only involved for 4 months before Lenin successfully sued for peace with Austria-Hungary and Germany.
Russia began an invasion of Austria-Hungary, despite protests by the Mensheviks and other leftist factions. However, after German intervention, it soon became clear a Russian defeat was inevitable as the Winter Army as too weak to win the war.
Deaths caused by the war were blamed on conservatives. The Mensheviks.and the leftist intellectual assumed control of the country.
Russia spent most of the war solving internal issues. Trotsky's reforms removed the last remaining traces and feudalism from Russia and began the process of industrialization. Riots broke out between Russians and nationalist separatist movements. This ended in the Tsar granting independence to Finland, Poland, and Armenia in 1922, though the Tsar remained head of state in these countries. After World War II, Finland and Armenia ended the Tsar's status of head of state, while Poland remained under heavy Russian influence.
Trotsky was elected prime minister in 1915, who began the program of "De-Russification" in an effort to stop Russian territory from receding any further, though, as with most of Trotsky’s actions, the program was later reversed by Stalin. Under Trotsky, Russia gave support for the American Workers' Party and Sarah Leslie, causing him to become unpopular within the country. This lead to the election of the leader of the Russia First Party, Joseph Stalin, who ended support for the communist faction in the Second American Civil War, damaging Russian-American relations. Despite this, supplies and weapons given to the communists under Trotsky allowed them to win the civil war.
Russia maintained a warmer relationship with the United States as they both were large continental superpowers threatened by empires who had smaller homelands but numerous international processions.
World War II
Cold War
Germany was divided among Russia, Britain, France, and America. While sections occupied by France, Britain, and Russia were reunited, the American-occupied section became the short-lived country of South Germany. The new country began invading the much larger "North Germany", and with help from the countries that previously occupied it, South Germany fell and was annexed by the "Federal Republic of Germany". This damaged Russian-American relations, and with the death of Leon Trotsky on November 15, 1951, remaining support for the American government waned away and lead to the start of the Cold War. Under Stalin, the Russian government conducted secret purges against communists, with an estimated 1,000,000 mass graves covered up by the government. Under his successor Khrushchev, millions more lost their jobs and homes an accusations of being communists. The clash between the capitalist economy of Russia and communist economy of America drove the Cold War between the two countries from 1945 to 1991, though this gradually ended with the increasing policy of détente between the two powers and the end of the one-party system in America.
Later history
Throughout the 1980s, the rise of nationalist moments lead to many regions of Russia breaking off into independent nations, which still recognize the Tsar as head of state. Under Gorbachev, Russia joined both the European Union and the Asian Union, founded the Eurasian Coalition, an economic and political union of members of the European Union and Asian Union, and cemented relations with America. By modern day, Russian citizens enjoy the fifth-highest standard of living, the third-lowest infant mortality rate, the world's fourth-largest industry, the nineteenth-least corrupt and twelfth-most stable government. In today's world, Russia benefits from the largest arsenal of nuclear weapons, a large military, and a large number of allies, but suffers from a stagnant population growth and struggling economy.
Government
Form of government
The current Tsar of Russia, Nicholas III
Russia is structured as a federal constitutional monarchy; a union of state subjects under the Tsar. State subjects are divided into 6 types: oblasts, provinces, krais, autonomous okrugs, autonomous oblasts, and state cities. It once contained 13 ethnically-based states, but the last of these, Ukraine, gained independence from Russia on November 12, 1991. State subjects are all equal subjects of the central government. Each subject is controlled by its own democratically-elected parliament, the chairman of which represents the subject in the State Council.
Branches of government
The federal government is comprised of 3 branches: the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the judicial branch. The executive branch is the prime minister and has cabinet, the legislature is comprised of the State Duma and State Council, which combine to form the bicameral State Assembly, and the judicial branch is the State Court. A system of "checks and balances" exists to prevent the power of 1 branch from overwhelming another. The Tsar serves as the unofficial fourth branch of government, whose power is determined by the prime minister.
- Prime Minister of Russia
- Sergei Witte (1905-1910)
- Vladimir Lenin (1910-1915)
- Leon Trotsky (1915-1935)
- Joseph Stalin (1935-1953)
- Nikita Khrushchev (1953-1955)
- Kliment Voroshilov (1955-1965)
- Leonid Brezhnev (1965-1975)
- Yuri Andropov (1975-1980)
- Andrei Gromyko (1980-1985)
- Mikhail Gorbachev (1985-1995)
- Boris Yeltsin (1995-2000)
- Dmitry Medvedev (2000-2005)
- Vladimir Putin (2005-2010)
- Mikhail Gorbachev (2010 to date)
Political parties
Russian politics is dominated by two parties: the left-wing Russian Social Democratic Labour Party and the right-wing Russia First Party. Throughout the first decades of its existence, Russia was dominated by left-wing groups, though right-wing groups gradually merged into a political party, the Russia First Party, by 1927. These groups gained popularity as they opposed Russia's involvement in American politics. However, as the American Workers' Party fell apart and American become less radical, the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party gained popularity again. Today, the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party is more popular, with prime minister Mikhail Gorbachev and the majority of the Federal Assembly belonging to it.