Russian History before the Revolutions

A Very Basic Outline

Russia: A Tale of Three Capitals

Kiev:1st Russian

State

Moscow:2nd Russian

State

St. Petersburg

:3rd Russian

State

Kievan Russia: c. 800-1200 CE

Rivers Slavs + Vikings Byzantine roots

Eastern Roman Empire

Greek cultural influence

Orthodox Christianity

Conquered by Mongols

Kievan Russia: Cyrillic Alphabet

Kievan Russia: Orthodox Christianity

Saint Sophia Cathedral , Ukraine, c. 1037

Baptism of Saint Prince Vladimir, by Viktor Vasnetsov, 1890

Orthodox Christianity

Muscovite Russia: c. 1500-1700

Moscow Political center:

Prince→ Czar (Tsar) Religious center:

Orthodox Christianity

Expanded Russian Empire

Ivan the Great Bell Tower, built 1505-1508,exact center of Moscow

Moscow’s Kremlin

Kremlin=fortress

Origin of Moscow

Home to Orthodox

Churches Czars Communist

leaders Presidents of

Russia Government

Moscow: Red Square

Next to the Kremlin

Red (krasnaya) can mean “beautiful”

Central square Department

Store Churches Museums Streets

Moscow: Red Square: St. Basil’s Cathedral

Powerful Nobles

Moscow: Expansion

Muscovy=Grand Duchy of Moscow

St. Petersburg: Peter the Great’s “window to the West”

Peter the Great More Expansion!

Baltic & Black Seas Enormous palaces

showed the wealth of the Czar

More Expansion!

St. Petersburg: Grand Capital

Palaces: Peterhof

Palaces: Winter Palace

Palaces: Catherine Palace

Palaces: Alexander Palace

St. Petersburg: Grand city of boulevards and water