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Britannicci Encyclopa:dia Britannica, Inc., is a leader in reference and educa- tion publishing whose products can be found in many media, from the Internet to mobile phones to books. A pioneer in electronic publishing since the early 1980s, Britannica launched the first encyclopedia on the Internet in 1994. It also continues to publish and revise its famed print set, first released in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1768. Encyclopa:dia Britannica's contributors in- clude many of the greatest writers and scholars in the world, and more than 110 Nobel Prize winners have written for Britannica. A professional editorial staff ensures that Britannica's content is clear, current, and correct. This book is principally based on content from the encyclopedia and its contributors. Introducer Mary Dejevsky is chief editorial writer and columnist at the Independent. A Russia specialist by training, she witnessed the collapse of the Soviet Union as Moscow bureau chief for The Times. A regular visitor to Russia, as special correspondent for the Independent, she is a member of the Royal Institute of Inter- national Affairs (Chatham House) in London and of Russia's Valdai Club for international specialists in the region. Also available The Britannica Guide to the 100 Most Influential Americans The Britannica Guide to the 100 Most Influential Scientists The Britannica Guide to the Brain The Britannica Guide to Climate Change The Britannica Guide to the Ideas that Made the Modern World The Britannica Guide to India The Britannica Guide to the Islamic World The Britannica Guide to Modern China E CYCLQPAOO I A THE Britannica GUIDE TO RUSSIA The essential guide to the nation, its people, and culture Introduction by Mary Dejevsky Encyclop~dia Britannica, Inc. www.britannica.com First print edition publ ished in the UK by Robinson, an imprint of Constable & Robinson Ltd, 2009 Text © 2009 Encyclop",dia Britannica, Inc. Introduction © 2009 Mary Dejevsky The right of Encyclop",dia Britannica, Inc. and Mary Dejevsky to be ident ified as the authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs & Patents Act, 1988. Britannica, Encyclop~dia Britannica, and the Thistle logo are registered trademarks of Encyclopa::dia Britannica, Inc. This eBook edition published by Encyclop",dia Britan nica, Inc. ISBN 978-1-59339-850-7 No parr of th is work may be produced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechan ical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, wi thout permission in writing from the publisher. CONTENTS List of Illustrations and Maps Vll Introduction IX Part 1 Context Russia - Facts and Figures 3 1 The Place and the People 13 Part 2 History 2 Russia before and after the Revolution 33 3 Post-Stalin Russia to the Fall of Communism, 1953-91 82 4 Post-Soviet Russia 104 Part 3 Culture 5 The Development of the Arts in Russia 135 6 Literature 143 VI CONTE NTS 7 Music 173 8 The Visual Arts and Film 194 9 Theatre and Ballet 214 Part 4 Russia Today 10 Governance and the Economy 231 11 Everyday Life in Modern Russia 256 Part 5 Places 12 The Major Sites to Visit 277 Index 321 I LLUSTRATIONS AN D MAPS III ustrations Cathedral of St Basil the Blessed, Moscow © Corbis, courtesy of Encyclopeedia Britannica Inc. Red Square, Moscow © D. StaquetlDeA Picture Library, courtesy of Encyclopc:edia Britannica Inc. Portrait of Catherine the Great (1729-96) by Fyodor Rokotov (1735-1808). The Moscow State Tretyakov Gallery © RIA NovostiITopfoto.co.uk. Gallery in the Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg Richard Nowitz-National Geographic/Getty Images, courtesy of Ency- clopc:edia Britannica Inc. Demonstrators gathering in front of the Winter Palace in Petro- grad in January 1917, shortly before the Russian Revolution Hulton ArchivelGetty Images, courtesy of Encyclopc:edia Brit- annica Inc. Monument to the Third International; model designed by Vla- dimir Tatlin, 1920. Reconstruction by U. Linde and P. O. Ultvedt in the Modern Museum, Stockholm © Tatlin; photograph Mod- erna Museet, courtesy of Encyclopc:edia Britannica Inc. Soviet leader Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870-1924) addressing a crowd in 1920 © Photo.comIJupiterimages, courtesy of Ency- clopc:edia Britannica Inc. VII I ILLUST RATIONS A N D MAPS Joseph Stalin (1879-1953) cD Photo.comIJupiterimages, courtesy of Encyclopcedia Britannica Inc. Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin (1799-1837): portrait copied by Fyodor Igin from original by Orest Kiprensky cD RIA Novostil Topfoto.co.uk. Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) The Bettman Archive, courtesy of Encyclopcedia Britannica Inc. Boris Leonidovich Pasternak (1890-1960) with companion Olga Iwinskaja and their daughter Irina in the late 1950s cD ullstein- bildITopfoto.co.uk. Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn (1918-2008), August 30, 1970 cD Topfoto.co.uk. Yury Alekseyevich Gagarin (1934-68) in 1961 KeystonelHulton Archive/Getty Images, courtesy of Encyclopcedia Britannica Inc. Mikhail Gorbachev (b. 1931) on a state visit to Poland cD Bernard Bisson & Thierry OrbanlSygmalCorbis. Military parade in Moscow's Red Square in 1985 TasslSovfoto, courtesy of Encyclopcedia Britannica Inc. Vladimir Putin (b. 1952) President of Russia, The Kremlin, Courtesy of Encyclopcedia Britannica Inc. Maps Physical map of Russia 12 Political map of present-day Russia 230 Moscow 276 The Trans-Siberian Railway 307 INTRODUCTION MARY DEJEVSKY Russia can claim to be one of the most grievously misunder- stood countries of the early twenty-first century. A vast land mass, with a harsh climate and declining population, the country boasts as rich a history and as glorious a culture as any in the world. Yet the upheavals it experienced in the twentieth century - from the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 to the largely peaceful reversal of that revolution before the century was out - left the country and its people exhausted, while striving to catch up with a European and global main- stream that had largely passed them by. In between came a brutal civil war, mass emigration of the aristocracy and professional classes, enforced collectivization of agriculture, Stalin's purges, the battle for national survival that was Russia's experience ofthe Second World War, and ultimate defeat in the Cold War that pitted East against West. By the late 1980s, Russians could do little more than watch as the Soviet empire dissolved around them and the thought-system that had anchored so much of their lives was discredited. Few would