Russia is a land that has been filled with turmoil and change. It is the largest country in the world spanning one sixth of the globe (Dunn). One hundred and forty million people live in eight hundred and fifty million square miles (Dunn). The Russian culture is very diverse ranging from Armenians, Balts, Finns, Jews, Germanc, Poles, Ukrainians, and more (Dunn). Russia has not developed like Western Europe due to Czarist rule and oppression (Dunn).
In the 1500’s Russia denounced its allegiance to the Mongols and became under the rule of a Czar.( http://www.pbs.org/weta/faceofrussia/text-only.html) Soon after a tyrant came into power at the age of three(Wallace). Ivan the Terrible ruled from 1533-1584 (Wallace). He defeated the Kazan Tartars in 1552 (Wallace). He ordered that the St. Basil’s Cathedral to be built to commemurate the event (Wallace). He then later then conquered the Austrakhan Tartars in the 155
Dissatisfaction with his rule led to many assassination attempts on his life (Dunn). In 1866 a student fired a pistol at him (Dunn). Finally, on March 1, 1881 an assassination attempt worked. Nicholas Ryskov tossed a bomb under Alexander’s carriage, which didn’t kill him, but as he escaped the first bombing Ignacy Grinevitsky which killed Alexander II.(Dunn)