Russia : what everyone needs to know / Timothy J. Colton.

Includes bibliographies and index.

Cover; Russia; Copyright; Contents; List of Maps; Acknowledgments; Russian Names and Terms; 1 Why the Russian Phoenix Matters; What is Russia and who are the Russians?; Why did Soviet Russia so perturb the West?; Is it worth paying attention to a downsized, post-​Soviet Russia?; Is Russia inscrutable?; 2 Foundations; How did geography influence Russia's development?; Why did Russia get so huge?; What was the import of being an empire?; What was distinctive about the Russian autocracy?; Was society in the old order smothered by the state?

Why did Imperial Russia go for revolution and not reform?3 Communism; Who were Lenin and the Bolsheviks?; Why did the Bolsheviks prevail in the Russian Revolution?; When and how did the Communist regime gel?; What were "socialism in one country" and "the revolution from above"?; Who was Stalin and what was his role?; Was Stalin's Soviet Union totalitarian?; How did World War II affect Soviet Communism?; What was the Cold War, and was there any connection with the internal system of rule?; Who was Khrushchev and what was "the thaw"?; Who was Brezhnev and what was "the epoch of stagnation"?

What were the pluses and minuses of the Soviet development model?Did factors other than economics undermine the regime?; What were the consequences of the death of Brezhnev?; Who was Gorbachev and what was perestroika?; 4 A New Russia; What went wrong with the attempt to reform Communism?; Who was Yeltsin and what enabled him to carry the day?; How was power transferred from the USSR to Russia and the other new states?; Why was the Soviet collapse relatively peaceful?; What was Russian "shock therapy"?; Why was there a constitutional crisis after 1991, and how was it resolved?

Was Yeltsin's Russia really a democracy?Was Yeltsin's Russia really a federation?; Why and with what results did war break out in Chechnya?; How did post-​Soviet Russia come to terms with its past?; How did post-​Soviet Russia come to terms with its place in the world?; Who were the oligarchs?; What were the causes and effects of the financial crash of August 1998?; Why did Yeltsin relinquish power?; 5 Transition within the Transition; Who is Putin and what were his credentials to be leader?; How did Putin consolidate his power?; How did Putin compare to Yeltsin in leadership goals?

How did Putin compare to Yeltsin in leadership style?Did Putin kill Russian democracy?; Did Putin kill Russian federalism?; What was behind the economic boom of the 2000s, and what difference did it make?; What happened to the oligarchs after 1999?; What made Putin and his policies so popular?; How did Russian foreign policy change under Putin?; Who is Medvedev and what was "the tandem" of 2008 to 2012?; Why and how did Putin's line harden after he recaptured the presidency in 2012?; 6 A Better Edition of Itself?; Why did Russia annex Crimea?; What are the repercussions of the Ukraine crisis?

A thorough exploration of Russia's rich history and an extensive account of the far-reaching changes surging through the country today.

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