Notes 11/18

Class 11: The Russian Empireand the Cold War

GEO105: World Regional Geography

Michael T. WheelerSyracuse University, Geography

2

Global TectonicsLecture slide 02

2.5 Major tectonic plates (p. 39)

3

Physiographic RegionsLecture slide 03

4.3 Physiographic regions of the [former Soviet Union] (pp. 136-7)

4

13th Century, Mongol InvasionLecture slide 04

5

Mongols in EuropeLecture slide 05

6

Mongol StatesLecture slide 06

• Conquered Empires– China– Persia– Korea– Threatened Japan (‘Kamikazes’ – divine wind)

7

Russian RevivalLecture slide 07

• Under Mongols– Moscow occupied– Novgorod survived

• 15th-16th Centuries– Regional power: Poland /

Lithuania– Iberians discovering the

New World– Local kingdom of Muscovy

begins expansion of Slavic state

8

The Russian Empire15th-20th Centuries

Lecture slide 08

4.16 Territorial growth of the Muscovite/Russian state (p. 146)

9

The Russian Empire, until 1795Lecture slide 09

• Settlement– Almost all along the southern edge– Fortified towns (like Fort Apache)

10

Western Development until 1795Lecture slide 10

• Minerals• Brutal

regime• Peasant

uprisings• No

Finland • (or

Poland)

11

Napoleon Invades, 1812Lecture slide 11

• 1861 Minard Map– Six variables: location (2), direction (1), time (1), army size

(1), temperature (1)• Tufte, The Visual Display of Quantitative Information, 1983

12

Expansion until 1914Lecture slide 12

• Geography– Central Asia– Caucus– Alaska

• Economy– Minerals in the

shield– Pacific coast– Trans-Siberian

Railroad

13

Emigration to ‘Asiatic Russia’Lecture slide 13

• Attempted Modernization– Count Witte– Forcibly export

grain• December

Revolution, 1905

14

World War ILecture slide 14

15

The Russian Revolution, 1917-1921Lecture slide 15

• Bolsheviks– Dedicated to world-

wide revolution– Export Communism

• Other developed countries– Intervene to put down

Communists– Canada, France, Greece,

Great Britain, United States, Japan

• Civil War– Reds vs. Whites

• Geography– Other Europeans lopped

off big parts of former Russian Empire

16

World-Wide RevolutionLecture slide 16

• Socialist Parties– Almost all supported

World War One• Major countries

– France– Germany

• Rosa Luxemborg– China

• Mao Tse Tung• Chou En Lai

– United States• Eugene Debs

17

BreakLecture slide 17

4.20 Population density (p. 153)

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World War IILecture slide 18

19

Nazi-Soviet PactPopulation Movements

Lecture slide 19

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Post War Population MovementsLecture slide 20

21

The HolocaustLecture slide 21

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Unimaginable Destruction• People

– 7.5 million soldiers– 6-8 million civilians,

directly– “indirect losses”– Total: 20-25 m people!

• Agriculture– 7m out of (11.6m) horses– 20m (out of 23m) pigs– 137,000 tractors– 49,000 grain combines

• Transportation– 65,000 km of railroads– ½ of all railroad bridges– 15,800 locomotives

Lecture slide 22

– 428,000 wagons• Housing

– Almost 50% of all urban living space

– 1.2 urban houses– 3.5m houses in urban areas

• Other bloodlettings– World War One (8m?) – Russian Revolution (2-3 m

people?)– Collectivization and

Stalin’s pre-war purges (10m?)

– Post-War pogroms (5m)

23

The Soviet Empire, 1940s and 50sLecture slide 23

4.17 Soviet state expansionism, 1940s and 1950s (p. 148)

24

The Iron CurtainLecture slide 24

• Warsaw Pact– Military Alliance

• COMECON– Trading bloc

• Geography– Berlin, Vienna divided cities– Yugoslavia and Albania semi-

independent

1956

1968

25

Stand-Off in EuropeLecture slide 25

26

The Cold WarLecture slide 26

• Geography– Confrontation across

the North Pole– U.S. and NATO

‘contain’ Soviet Union (the Truman Doctrine)

• Asia– Wars and

revolutions– China and Vietnam

only nominal Allies of Soviet Union

27

The Cold War (Legend)Lecture slide 27

• Europe– Berlin (1948, 1961)– Hungary (1956)– Czechoslovakia (1968)

• Asia– Korean War– Vietnam War– Afghanistan

• Africa– Angola, 1974-90– Namibia, 1975-91

• Latin America– Cuba– Chile– (El Salvador)– Nicaragua

28

Nuclear WeaponsLecture slide 29

29

Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962Lecture slide 29

30

Berlin Wall Comes DownLecture slide 30

• Gorbachev– Perestroiyka (p. 156)

• Hungary– Reinterring the heroes of

1956– Open border with Austria– Tens of thousands from

around Eastern Europe fled west

• Berlin Wall– Call down November 09,

1989– Reunification of Germany– Break up of the Soviet

Union

31

The Former Soviet UnionLecture slide 31

4.1 The former Soviet Union (pp. 132-3)

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Break-Up of the Soviet UnionLecture slide 32

Also see 4.23 (p. 157) in WR

33

CaucasusLecture slide 33

34

Environmental DegradationLecture slide 34

4.15 Environmental degradation (p. 143)

35

Vital Rates, 20th CenturyLecture slide 35

4.20a Vital rates (p. 153)• Tragic history

– Massive bloodlettings– Post-Soviet male life expectancy

now 59! (U.S. ~ 77, Japan over 80)4.21 Russian Age-sex pyramid (p. 154)

36

Review• Physical Geography

– Land• Huge (almost 180 of

latitude!)• Cold• Flat

– No warm water ports• History

– Part of Europe or part of Asia?

– Oppressive military regimes

• People?• Land?

– Invasions• Mongols• Napoleon

Lecture slide 36

– Germans (two World Wars)

– Allies (after Russian Revolution)

• Soviet Union / Cold War– Military / political buffers– Economy

• State-run• Huge environmental

problems

• Break-up of the Soviet Union– Collapse of Russian

Empire– 400 years of antagonism

coming out

37

Next Week

• For next week:– Reading

• Chapter 2: 68-78• Chapter 13: 578-587, 591: Figure 13.12, 596-8: 'Sustainable

Development'– Review

• p. 79: – Testing Your Understanding: 10

• p. 604– Testing Your Understanding: 6 – Thinking Geographically: 4

• Web Page:– classes.maxwell.syr.edu/geo105_f04/class_notes/12-Review.htm

Lecture slide 37

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Happy Thanksgiving!Lecture slide 38