ÇAĞDAŞ DÜNYA UYGARLIKLARI

After allying with the East Slavs, the Scandinavian newcomers had founded a state, called Kievan Rus, in the 9th century with its center at Kiev. The correct answer is A.

The principalities of Rus had to submit to the Mongol Empire and to become part of what was called the Golden Horde. The remaining vestiges of Kievan Rus in the west were absorbed by Poland and Lithuania. The only region that retained autonomy was the Republic of Novgorod. The correct answer is B.

If Kiev is called “the mother of Russian cities,” the city of Veliky Novgorod certainly deserves the name of “the father.” The correct answer is D.

In the years that followed, Russia fell behind again, as its humiliating defeat in the Crimean War (1853- 56) made abundantly clear. It was a war between an alliance of European powers, such as Great Britain, France and others on one side and Russia on the other, for the control of the territorial and spiritual domains of the Ottoman Empire. The correct answer is C.

The aristocracy class is on the top of the Russian Social Pyramid in 1900.

The 1905 “Bloody Sunday” massacre of a peaceful demonstration in Saint-Petersburg triggered nationwide strikes, which paralyzed the economy. This happened in the Moderate Phase. The correct answer is B.

The Soviet Union existed from 1922 to 1991.

On 24 August 1991, the Act of the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine was adopted by the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian Parliament). It re- established Ukraine as an independent state. The correct answer is D.

The USSR was the first state which attempted a complete switch to atheism, and churches were not built during the seventy years of the atheistic Soviet era. The correct answer is A.

The era of Czar-reformer Alexander II is the Golden Age of the Russian literature. In a short span of twenty years Lev Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Ivan Turgenev, and Ivan Goncharov created the genre of a Russian novel, Alexander Ostrovsky – Russian drama, Nikolay Nekrasov – folk poems, and Nikolai Leskov – folk stories. The correct answer is D.

The forces of the nomadic Mongol Empire overran Kievan Rus in the 13th century, devastating many cities, including Kiev itself. Excellent organization, mobility, numerical superiority, and fighting innovations such as the use of stirrups made the Mongol army the greatest war machine of its time.

The period between the demise of Feodor, the last Czar of the Rurik dynasty, in 1598 and the accession to the throne of Michael Romanov in 1613 even receives a special name – the Time of Troubles.

There were several reasons for Russia’s expansion. First of all, the landlocked nation needed access to the sea. Secondly, the ruling class of Russia was a land-rich aristocracy, which profits from territorial expansion. Sometimes, the expansion may have had ideological underpinnings, for example, the idea of Third Rome, Pan-Slavism, or later, Communism.

Peter understood that the alternative to Westernization for Russia was to be run over by its European neighbors. The six-feet eight-inch (203 cm) tall Czar energetically started to deal with the xenophobia and religiosity of the old Moscovy by trimming long beards and coats of his boyars. Russia had to become just like the West in all ways, even looks, however with one major exception – no parliamentary rule.

Politically, the empire operated as an absolute monarchy until the Revolution of 1905, when for a brief period it finally assumed trappings of a constitutional monarchy

The Soviet Union existed from 1922 to 1991.

Among other seminal events and processes that eventually led to the fall of the Soviet Union certainly was the Chernobyl nuclear meltdown. The episode embodies in itself a number of the systemic shortcomings of the Soviet “command economy” such as design flaws, low quality of equipment, personnel incompetence, “storming” to meet unwarranted deadlines, negligence of safety and security, as well as the state’s misinforming the public and unwillingness to admit the truth.

The evolution of religious beliefs within the Eastern Civilization has been gradual and has passed through several periods. As we already know, the East Slavic old religious beliefs were animistic. Animism perceives all things, for example, animals, plants, rocks, and rivers, as animated and alive. Gradually, however, the Eastern Civilization formed its identity around a mystical faith called Orthodox Christianity, which arrived from the Byzantine Empire. Other religions such as Islam, Buddhism, and Judaism proved essential in Russian history as well.

In the 17th century, Russia and its culture were still backward and medieval. The nation had not experienced the Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution of the 17th century as European countries did. Peter the Great dreamed about a westernized Russia, the land of order, progress, and power and an empire inspired by and inextricably connected to Europe. His new capital, the city of Saint Petersburg, was now not only the center of the new Russian Empire but also a foundation of a new, modern society. To visually dramatize the transformation of his realm, Peter erected a gilded showcase just outside of the city – the summer retreat Peterhof, now affectionately known as the “Russian Versailles.”

The dominant ideological doctrine of the Russian empire was formulated during the reign of Czar Nicholas I in the first half of the 19th century. It was known as “Official Nationality” and expressed in a triad: Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationality. Obviously, the key word here is Autocracy, since the triad is inherently unbalanced in favor of centralized autocracy.