Notes on Western Europe/Eastern Europe and Russia | GEOG 1014, Study notes of Political Geography

Download Notes on Western Europe/Eastern Europe and Russia | GEOG 1014 and more Study notes Political Geography in PDF only on Docsity! 10/27/08 World Regions- lecture 10 News:  20 killed in U.S. strike in Pakistan- American drone aircraft blew up a compound-Pakistan is mad and reaching breaking point  Syria seethes at deadly US incursion vows to resist further ‘terrorist aggression’- important because we are in waning days of presidency—rare US raid into Syria marks shift in Iraq tactics  Pakistan and Syria governments will claim that all injured and dead in US attacks were civilians, not terrorists  The US will not confirm or deny any of these attacks- when US breaks international law it will not confirm or deny anything  Why is it that the US keeps crossing international sovereign borders to bomb people? To get terrorists- the greater war on terrorism.  Russian bank manager is shot dead, reporter’s death ‘tragic’ --Putin, the hit man who stalks Russia—all related to the Russian mafia today. Western Europe/Eastern Europe/Russia:  Russia: now a super-power again!  Physically Russia: big, huge, cold, ice, vodka  Russia IS the LARGEST country on the planet- twice as big as Canada(second largest)  Russia crosses 11 time zones!  Motivation for moving= coastlines  In terms of latitude- Russia is above almost all of US and Canada border  Western Russia- weather is more moderated  Russia is brutal weather in winter  Russia is rich in resources  A resource of particular interest to the world… oil  Russia in top 2 or 3 for biggest daily producers of oil now  Russia supplies 1/3 of all its energy needs  True or False: Russia gets more oil every year- TRUE—because of global warming  Why are some oil wells in Russia never set off? You cant turn it off because you wont be able to turn it back on again ( it will shatter from rapid temp change)  Where do all the rivers run in Russia? South-North! Run to north pole  Rivers have not been a big attribute to Russia  Moscow- always has been the center of Russian culture  Why has Russia been sweeping across the continent? FUR  1800- Eastward Ho! Sweep across continent eastward  1945- control all central Asian countries  Post 1991- 15 new countries when USSR died  US bought Alaska from Russia  This eastward expansion of Russia is extremely similar to US’s westward expansion.  Our histories are more similar than people want to think  The peasant emancipation of 1861= way late!  Romanovs rule from 1613 to 1917= way late!  20th century events: o 1905 Russo-Japanese war- the most one-sided naval battle in history-shocks Russia because they lost to Japan. Europe and US were shocked too. Russia was behind technologically and economically. o 1914-1917 WWI- 1917 is when Russia got out of the war o 1917- Russian Revolution- One of the reasons that Vladimir Lenin got into power was he promised to get Russia out of WWI, which he did o 1917- Bolshevik/soviet/commie revolution- Lenin brings back commie ideas – a sub-part of the Russian revolution. Czar Nicholas quit and Lenin got in charge and had a commie revolution. o 1918-1920- civil war- not everyone agreed with communism- Reds Vs Whites. Reds= Commies and whites = loyalists- civil war to decide who won- commies won o 1921-1923- starvation. Millions died. o 1924- Lenin dies. One of the PIVITOL points in Russian history- Stalin then takes power o 1924-1953- Stalin in power. Under Stalin Russia becomes a dictatorship. Stalin + the great purge- millions died. Stalin also catches Russia up. Under his reign Russia industrializes, the technology advances and economy booms. o 1939-1945 WWII (non-aggression pact/then allies) Russia + Germany signed pact- credit Russians with victory of Europeans in WWII. The Russians took the brunt of the German attack. Millions of Russians died and they killed millions of Germans. – reclaimed territory and European ‘buffer zone’ after WWII ended. o Communist party won every free election in Russia o 1950-1989- Cold War—growth of USSR as a global power. Becomes the other sole super-power. U.S. vs USSR o 1979-1989 in Afghanistan—global over-extension o 1989/90/91- fall of the wall—the beginning of the end  What did Lenin do as soon as civil war started- killed royal family  The original term ‘third world’ had nothing to do with economics, they were merely countries that were not aligned with the first or second ‘teams’ in the WWII  How the cold war was won-: 1989 fall of the wall- the beginning of the end o Commies vs global democracies o Soviet economy- economic planning, collective agriculture, speed industrialization- what did/do they produce?- weapons  Russia is number one producer of weapons on the planet  The soviet economy doesn’t have time to dabble with consumer goods, they produce food and big ticket items