Flag of the Russian Federation courtesy of Wikipedia

Russia is the largest country in the world covering an amazing 1/8th of the world’s land mass that is inhabited, with a population of in excess of 150 million. The country spans 9, yes, 9 time zones, linking Eastern European with northern Asia.

The Crimean Peninsular is recognised as Ukrainian territory, but is administered by Russia,

There are key and distinct periods of time that influence the history of Russia, through a variety of political, social and economic influences.

• 1721 – Imperial Russia proclaimed by Peter the Great
• 1914 – Russian Republic formed
• 1918 – Soviet Russia, Civil War
• 1922 – Soviet Union (USSR)
• 1991 – Russian Federation

By the 18th Century Russia had expanded through a mixture of annexing and conquering to create an empire that was the third largest in history and stretched from Poland in the west and Alaska in the east.

The Russian Revolution was actually a succession of events, beginning in February 1917 and then subsequently again in November 1917 culminating in Civil War in 1922, though unrest against Soviet rule continued in Asia until the early 1930’s.  The unrest was an attempt to bring about change significant change to the Russian way of life. The Tsarist regime was plagued with unrest by those who were seeking a fairer Country structure. The Country was in chaos and then that was further compromised by the First World War, conscription and famine.

By 1990, the Country was the second largest economy. In 1991 the Soviet Union dissolved, and the emergence of 15 independent republics.

This is not a creative abridgement of a plotted history of Russia. It is a very brief (and I mean brief) look at the key indicators within a country’s history which will affect the lives of your ancestors if you have links to Russia or the countries that were dominated by a Russian mindset and that will determine where you look for traces for your ancestors.