http://travel-t-o-russia.blogspot.com/2011/10/short-history-of-russia-and-culture.html
Short History Of Russia and Culture
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Exactly when Russia first came into existence is something of a moot point, but with the nation having passed through several centuries of invasions, counter-invasions and medieval wrangling, the 1721 formation of the Russian Empire by Peter the Great forms arguably the most natural touchstone for the country we know today. As the largest state in the world, its power on the global stage became substantial, to the extent where it was able to roundly defeat Napoleon’s troops in 1812.
Russia’s vast and maltreated peasant population was granted rights by the Emancipation Reform of 1861, an important step towards the eventual downfall of the aristocracy through the 1917 Russian Revolution, which later saw the Bolsheviks take power.
The communist Soviet Union (USSR), as it then became, lasted until 1991, a lifespan which included the infamous oppressions of the Stalin era and the Cold War. The Russian Federation came into being when economic stagnation and political hand-forcing saw the collapse of the USSR.
In the modern era, former President Vladimir Putin stood down from the presidency in 2008 due to a two-term limit on holding office. His anointed successor and long-time protégé, Dmitry Medvedev, won a landslide victory, becoming Russia's third president and appointing Putin as his Prime Minister shortly afterwards.
