| Russia |
The history of present day Russia can be traced back to the ninth century when Grand Prince Rurik founded the first "Russian empire" in Novgorod (862 AD), but he moved the capitol to Kiev already in 882 AD, which is seen as the official start of the Russian State. The capital was again moved to Vladimir (1154) and later to Moscow (1326).
Here in Moscow, Ivan IV (The Terrible) was the first to call himself "Tsar of All the Russians" in 1547.
By that time the territory ruled by the Grand Princes and Tsars was growing steadily, first only west of the Ural, but under the reign of Tsar Boris also into Siberia from around 1600, where eventually the Pacific Ocean was reached within 100 years.
In the 18th century though, most gains were again in Europe, where large portions of present day Poland, the Baltic States and Finland were conquered by Peter the Great (who incidentally moved the capitol again to Sankt Petersburg in 1712) and his successors, and the acquisition of Alaska in 1784.
From the late 18th century also new territories were captured to the south, first the Crimean region in 1783, later expanding to the Caucasus and from circa 1850 into the Turkestan region (present day Turkmenistan, Kazachstan etc.). By the end of the 19th century, the empire was at its largest, although Alaska was sold to the USA in 1867.
Also from the 1860s, the tsars took large parts of China and Manchuria. This included parts held by Japan, such as the harbor of Port Arthur in China, which was extorted in 1895. As a reaction to this, Japan started the Russo-Japanese war of 1904-1905. In this war the better part of the Russian navy was completely destroyed, and resulted in the loss of most of the Manchurian possessions (though some was regained again in 1945).
During the war, from 9th January 1905 ("Bloody Sunday") the first revolution was attempted in St Petersburg, as a reaction to the war and bad economical conditions, and spreading over the whole country in the months to follow. This included the famous Potemkin Mutiny in Odessa.
Although the revolution was crushed eventually, it resulted in a new constitution, effectively ending the despotism of the Tsars, but also in the exile of many of the revolutionary leaders, including Vladimir Lenin. And in the years that followed the first (secret) soviets were established all over the country.
When the first World War broke out, Russia invaded Prussia. At first the war was a success but after the Battle of Tannenberg in August 1914, chances turned. Within a month the Germans retook all ground lost during the initial stages. And by 1915 they were well advanced into Belorussia and the Baltics.
In September 1915 Tsar Nicolas II became supreme commander of the Russian Army. This failed to change the fortunes of the armed forces, but the tsar was now closely linked to the military failures and by 1917 support for the throne was strongly declined, resulting in strikes during February 1917. As a result, the tsar resigned on March 1st, leaving control of the country to the Provisional Government headed by Prince Lvov.
This new government didn't want to end the war effort or seek negotiations with Germany and Austria-Hungaria, much to the dismay of the soldiers and the population, with large portions of the army now deserting from the frontlines.
Lenin, returned from exile in Switzerland in April, and his followers saw the opportunity to start a new revolution, culminating in the overthrow of the Provisional Government on 24th and 25th October. On the 26th a new, Soviet, government came into being led by Lenin.
Although this effectively ended most war efforts, a treaty wasn't signed until 3rd March 1918, in which the Ukraine, Finland, the Baltic States, the Caucasus and Finland were surrendered to Germany and Austria-Hungaria. Although large portions of the Ukraine were returned after the armistice and the following civil war, several new independant states were formed, partly on former Russian territory, like Poland and Finland.
The following three years was a period of chaos, with a civil war fought between the Bolshevists (Red Army) en the opposing forces (White Army) which included Mensheviks, Socialist Revolutionaries, landowners, members of the Russian Orthodox Church and even royalists, helped by up to 200.000 regular troops from Britain, France, Japan and the United States. By mid 1920 the Bolshevists had complete control over what was now the Soviet Union.
Lenin was succeeded by Josef Stalin from 1922, who led the USSR through the Second World War and initiated the great economical and industrial reforms necessary, but probably will be remembered as one of the largest dictators in history. Tens of millions lost their lives from starvation, in the gulags or in front of the firing squad, apart from the millions killed during the war.
The Second World War started in September 1939, when both Germany and Russia invaded Poland, the cooperation made possible by the Molotov-Von Ribbentrop pact signed during August. During this invasion most of the territory was regained which was lost in 1917. After this Stalin decided also to retake Finland, which resulted in the Winter War starting in November 1939. When finally a treaty was signed in March 1940, some 16,000 square miles were surrendered to Russia, but the war also showed the Russian Army was poorly trained and equipped and lacked proper leadership after the purgation of the army staff in the late 1930s (And as a side effect, the Finnish government took the side of Germany when they attacked the Soviet Union, also because the Soviets had still expressed their intention to finish the job by capturing Finland entirely. This resulted in the Continuation War).
As a result, Stalin decided on firstly concentrating on reinforcing his armed forces as he expected Germany to attack the Soviet Union in 1942. But this attack did already take place in June 1941 when Operation Barbarossa started. The first months were disastrous for the Soviet Union with the capture of Minsk and Kiev and the surrounding of Leningrad. But thanks to the scorched earth policy, the oncoming winter and fresh troops reaching the front, the Germans were halted just before Moscow.
In the following summer the Germans started to advance again, with the largest success gained on the southern front, where they reached Stalingrad during September, which was the theatre of severe street fighting the following months. But in the meantime the German Army was surrounded, and despite attempts to rescue them, they surrendered in February 1943. This is generally seen as the turning point in the war. From then on the Germans were pushed back, eventually taking Berlin in April and May 1945. It is estimated that some 20 million Russians lost their live during the war.
After the war (although the Soviet Union shortly declared war on Japan), Europe was divided in a western and communist sphere of influence, effectively starting the Cold War, with "highlights" being the Berlin Blockade, the Korean War, the Cuba Crisis and the Vietnam War. But the only conflict where Soviet troops were deployed was the Afghan War, when in December 1979 invaded Afghanistan to support the communist government against the Mujahidin.
To be concluded....
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Photo: Erik Sleutelberg
Photo: Jeroen Nijmeijer
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You can find more about the Russian Air Arms on these pages. On the Order of Battle page we show you where the
main bases in Russia are. A country map of Russia is available. Click on an airbase to see what's there to be found. Also we present links to
Expediamaps services: with each airbase you can find a link to a map of the airbases' neighbourhood.
It is also possible to send updates to us!
And of course we present you some links to other Russian Aviation Pages.
Order of Battle
Links to Related Websites
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