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115-623: The Governorate of Livonia , also known as the Livonia Governorate , was a province ( guberniya ) and one of the Baltic governorates of the Russian Empire , Baltic Governorate-General until 1876. Governorate of Livonia bordered Governorate of Estonia to the north, Saint Petersburg and Pskov Governorates to the east, Courland Governorate to the south, and the Gulf of Riga to the west. In 1897,

230-597: A semi-presidential system . Under the leadership of Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924) and Leon Trotsky (1879–1940), the Bolsheviks established the Soviet state on 7 November [ O.S. 25 October] 1917. This happened immediately after the October Revolution toppled the interim Russian Provisional Government (most recently led by opposing democratic socialist Alexander Kerensky (1881–1970)) which had governed

345-593: A German protectorate. In agreements concluded in Berlin on 27 August 1918, Soviet Russia accepted the loss of the Autonomous Governorate of Estonia and the Governorate of Livonia. The United Baltic Duchy was nominally recognised as a sovereign state by Wilhelm II on 22 September 1918. On 5 November 1918, a temporary Regency Council ( Regentschaftsrat ) for the new state, led by Baron Adolf Pilar von Pilchau ,

460-649: A blunt cone. The highest plateau of the Livonian province, Gangof, stretches south from Mount Verro, descending to Lake Marienburg, its southwestern spurs connect with the Pebalga, or Aa plateau, between pp. Aa, Evst and Western Dvina. In the northern part of the Gangof plateau there is one of the highest points of the East European plain, Mount Munna-Megi, covered with forests and having a height of 323 m; near it - Vella-Megi, 228 m. To

575-490: A consequence of the scarcity of grasses in the province, an almost ubiquitous herb-growing has arisen, such as clover , timothy grass , corn pea . Vined grasses are abundant only on the island of Ösel. The most common fruits are various varieties of apples, cherries, pears and plums. From berries garden strawberries, raspberries, currants and others; hops are occasionally found. Guberniya Selected governorates were united under an assigned governor-general such as

690-448: A governor of an oblast or a krai . The Russian Empire had nine governorates in modern-day Ukrainian territories: Chernigov , Kharkov , Kherson , Kiev , Podolia , Poltava , Volhynia , Yekaterinoslav , and Taurida . Additional lands annexed from Poland in 1815 were organized into the Kholm governorate in 1912. After the events of 1917, which led to the declaration of independence of

805-830: A new Constitution of Russia was adopted. On 29 May 1990, at his third attempt, Boris Yeltsin was elected the chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR . The Congress of People's Deputies of the Republic adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Russian SFSR on 12 June 1990, which was the beginning of the " War of Laws ", pitting the Soviet Union against the Russian Federation and other constituent republics. On 17 March 1991, an all-Russian referendum created

920-468: A population of 1,299,365, including 629,992 men and 669,373 women. The largest segment of the population indicated Latvian to be their mother tongue, with significant Estonian , German , and Russian speaking minorities. The climate of the Livonian Province had a more continental character than one would expect from its position near the northern Baltic sea, which froze regularly. The climate

1035-546: A result of the October Revolution , the Russian Soviet Republic was proclaimed as a sovereign state and the world's first constitutionally socialist state guided by communist ideology . The first constitution was adopted in 1918. In 1922, the Russian SFSR signed a treaty officially creating the USSR. The Russian SFSR's 1978 constitution stated that "[a] Union Republic is a sovereign [...] state that has united [...] in

1150-466: Is also developing. The forestry in the state forests is especially rational, occupying the area of about 210 thousand dessiatinas (2294 km). A third of the entire area of the Livonian province, which is occupied by lowlands, is covered by bogs; of them the lowland meadow bogs (German: Wiesenmoor, Est. Soo, Lit. Purr) are passable only in summer and stretch along Lake Peipus and the Gulf of Riga, as well as

1265-459: Is engaged in seal fishing on Ruhnu-Runo and Schwarbe peninsula . Smaller industries such as trapping, poultry farming, trade and industry exist in the province. Mineral wealth - mainly clays , gypsum , peat , swamp ironstone found near the Riga sulphur springs. The flora of the province of Livonia is especially rich in summer around Fellin and Wenden . Of the islands of the Livonian province,

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1380-480: Is not as rich in fish as northern Russia. The main objects of fishing are: marine species salakushka , then perch , sturgeon ; and in smaller numbers burbot and flounder . Near the shores of Estland , near the Baltic port and near Riga large numbers of sprat are caught. River and lake species: salmon , lamprey , trout , vendace , navaga , perch , whitefish and others. Crayfish are abundant everywhere. In

1495-610: Is replete with many picturesque ruins of castles. On the Piebalga heights are the sources of the Gauja River and many of its tributaries and the Western Dvina. Wooded, covered with meadows, partly peat bogsand the richly irrigated lowlands of the Livland province are located: along the shores of Lake Peipus, around Lake Wirtz-Erva and Pernovskoye - along the shores of the Gulf of Riga and along

1610-573: Is very rich in water: in the west it is washed by the Gulf of Riga, everywhere abundantly irrigated by 325 rivers; and the lakes in it number up to 1000; of the latter more than half are in Venden County The vast Lake Peipus in the east washes the Livonian province for over 110 versts (117 km); in the center of the province is the great inland basin of Virz-Yerva; followed by the considerable lakes Burtnek, Luban, Marienburg, etc. - All these lakes are of little commercial and industrial importance for

1725-560: The Azerbaijan SSR ( Azerbaijan ), Georgian SSR ( Georgia ) and Kazakh SSR ( Kazakhstan ) to the south. Roughly 70% of the area in the RSFSR consisted of broad plains, with mountainous tundra regions mainly concentrated in the east of Siberia with Central Asia and East Asia. The area is rich in mineral resources, including petroleum, natural gas, and iron ore. The Soviet government first came to power on 7 November 1917, immediately after

1840-524: The Belovezh Accords . The document, consisting of a preamble and fourteen articles, stated that the Soviet Union no longer existed "as a subject of international law and geopolitical reality". However, based on the historical community of peoples and relations between the three states, as well as bilateral treaties, the desire for a democratic rule of law, the intention to develop their relations based on mutual recognition and respect for state sovereignty,

1955-658: The Communist Party of the Russian SFSR in the territory of Russia. On 6 November, he went further, banning the Communist Parties of the USSR and the RSFSR in the RSFSR. On 8 December 1991, at Viskuli near Brest (Belarus) , Yeltsin, Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk and Belarusian leader Stanislav Shushkevich signed the "Agreement on the Establishment of the Commonwealth of Independent States", known in media as

2070-637: The Constitution of the Russian SFSR . By 1918, during the Russian Civil War , several states within the former Russian Empire had seceded, reducing the size of the country even more, although some were conquered by the Bolsheviks. The Russian famine of 1921–22 , also known as Povolzhye famine, killed an estimated 5 million, primarily affecting the Volga and Ural River regions. The economic impact of

2185-589: The Democratic Russia pro-reform movement, was elected the first and only President of the RSFSR, a post that would later become the Presidency of the Russian Federation . The August 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt in Moscow with the temporary brief internment of President Mikhail Gorbachev destabilised the Soviet Union. Following these events, Gorbachev lost all his remaining power, with Yeltsin superseding him as

2300-688: The First Congress of the Soviets of the USSR approved the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR , by which Russia was united with the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic , Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic and Transcaucasian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic into a single federal state, the Soviet Union. The treaty was included in the 1924 Soviet Constitution , adopted on 31 January 1924 by

2415-711: The Grand Duchy of Finland , Congress Poland , Russian Turkestan and others. There were also military governors such as Kronstadt , Vladivostok and others. Aside from governorates, other types of divisions were oblasts (region) and okrugs (district). This subdivision type was created by the edict ( ukase ) of Peter the Great on December 18, 1708 "On the establishment of the gubernias and cities assigned to them", which divided Russia into eight governorates . In 1719, governorates were further subdivided into provinces ( Russian : провинции , romanized :  provintsii ). Later

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2530-778: The Kazakh SSR (now Kazakhstan ) and Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic ( Kyrgyzstan ). The former Karakalpak Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic was transferred to the Uzbek Soviet Socialist Republic ( Uzbekistan ). The final name for the republic during the Soviet era was adopted by the Russian Constitution of 1937, which renamed it the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR). Just four months after Operation Barbarossa ,

2645-627: The Kuril Islands off the coast of East Asia, north of Japan , making them part of the RSFSR. The status of the southernmost Kurils, north of Hokkaido of the Japanese home islands remains in dispute with Japan and the United States following the peace treaty of 1951 ending the state of war. On 17 April 1946, the Kaliningrad Oblast – the north-eastern portion of the former Kingdom of Prussia ,

2760-580: The Riga Governorate (Russian: Рижская губерния ) which also included Smolensk uezd, Dorogobuzh uezd, Roslavl uezd and Vyazma uezd of Smolensk Governorate . Smolensk Province was created from territory in Smolensk Governorate at that time. It was incorporated into Smolensk Governorate when it was reformed in 1726. Sweden formally ceded Swedish Livonia to Russia in 1721 with the Treaty of Nystad . In 1722 Dorpat County ( Estonian : Tartumaa )

2875-644: The Russian Soviet Republic and the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic , and unofficially as Soviet Russia , was an independent federal socialist state from 1917 to 1922, and afterwards the largest and most populous constituent republic of the Soviet Union (USSR) from 1922 to 1991, until becoming a sovereign part of the Soviet Union with priority of Russian laws over Union-level legislation in 1990 and 1991,

2990-654: The Second Congress of Soviets of the USSR . One of the early ambitious economic plans of the Soviet government was GOELRO , Russian abbreviation for "State Commission for Electrification of Russia" ( Го сударственная комиссия по эл ектрификации Ро ссии), which sought to achieve total electrification of the entire country. Soviet propaganda declared the plan was basically fulfilled by 1931. The national power output per year stood at 1.9 billion kWh in Imperial Russia in 1913, and Lenin's goal of 8.8 billion kWh

3105-726: The Ukrainian People's Republic , these governorates became subdivisions, which also annexed Ukrainian-inhabited parts of Mogilev , Kursk , Voronezh and Minsk governorates in 1918. By the end of the Soviet–Ukrainian War in 1920, the Bolsheviks had made them part of the Ukrainian SSR . Soviet Ukraine was reorganized into 12 governorates, which were reduced to nine in 1922 upon the Soviet Union 's founding, and then replaced with okruhas in 1925. The West Ukrainian People's Republic in former Austro-Hungarian Empire territory

3220-678: The Ukrainian SSR . On 8 February 1955, Malenkov was officially demoted to deputy Prime Minister. As First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, Nikita Khrushchev's authority was significantly enhanced by Malenkov's demotion. The Karelo-Finnish SSR was transferred back to the RSFSR as the Karelian ASSR in 1956. On 9 January 1957, Karachay Autonomous Oblast and Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic were restored by Khrushchev and they were transferred from

3335-577: The Vitebsk Governorate and united with Vidzeme, which by then was under control of the Bolshevik Iskolat . After the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on 12 April 1918, a Provincial Assembly ( Vereinigter Landesrat ), composed of 35 Baltic Germans, 13 Estonians, and 11 Latvians, passed a resolution calling upon the German Emperor to recognise the Baltic provinces as a monarchy and to make them

3450-614: The Wehrmacht was quickly advancing through the Russian SFSR, and was approximately 10 miles (16 km) away from Moscow. However, after the defeat in the Battle of Moscow and the Soviet winter offensive , the Germans were pushed back. In 1942, the Wehrmacht entered Stalingrad . Despite a deadly five-month battle in which the Soviets suffered over 1,100,000 casualties, they achieved victory following

3565-400: The then existing Constitution of 1978 , and were retained as such in the subsequent 1993 Constitution of Russia . At a total of about 17,125,200 km (6,612,100 sq mi), the Russian SFSR was the largest of the fifteen Soviet republics, with its southerly neighbor, the Kazakh SSR , being second. The international borders of the RSFSR touched Poland on the west; Norway and Finland on

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3680-523: The Civil War was devastating. A black market emerged in Russia, despite the threat of martial law against profiteering. The ruble collapsed, with barter increasingly replacing money as a medium of exchange and, by 1921, heavy industry output had fallen to 20% of 1913 levels. 90% of wages were paid with goods rather than money. 70% of locomotives were in need of repair , and food requisitioning, combined with

3795-570: The Congress of People's Deputies of Russia approved the renaming of the RSFSR into the Russian Federation, by making appropriate amendments to the Constitution, which entered into force since publication on 16 May 1992. The Government was known officially as the Council of People's Commissars (1917–1946) and Council of Ministers (1946–1991). The first government was headed by Vladimir Lenin as Chairman of

3910-638: The Congress. At the same time, a number of prominent members of the Left Socialist Revolutionaries had assumed positions in Lenin's government and lead commissariats in several areas. This included agriculture ( Kolegaev ), property ( Karelin ), justice ( Steinberg ), post offices and telegraphs ( Proshian ) and local government (Trutovsky). Lenin's government also instituted a number of progressive measures such as universal education , healthcare and equal rights for women . On 25 January 1918, at

4025-457: The Council of People's Commissars of the Russian SFSR and the last by Boris Yeltsin as both head of government and head of state under the title of president. The Russian SFSR was controlled by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union until the 1991 August coup , which prompted President Yeltsin to suspend the recently created Communist Party of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic . In

4140-570: The Estonian uplands forms in the Livland province a wide plateau up to 121 m in height, the middle of which is lost in the Wirtz-Erv lowland, but at the edges it is divided into two branches: the Fellin branch, which forms the western watershed of the Livland province, and the eastern one, which forms the watershed between Lake Wirtz-Erv and Chudsky  ; the first, reaching a height of 133 m, stretches east to

4255-591: The Georgian SSR back to the Russian SFSR . In 1964, Nikita Khrushchev was removed from his position of power and replaced with Leonid Brezhnev . Under his rule, the Russian SFSR and the rest of the Soviet Union went through a mass era of stagnation . Even after Brezhnev's death in 1982, the era did not end until Mikhail Gorbachev took power in March 1985 and introduced liberal reforms in Soviet society. On 12 April 1978,

4370-554: The Gulf of Riga and is connected to the Salis by the Neibach Channel. In addition, numerous lakes and coastal rivers 20–30 km long flow directly into the Gulf of Riga. The Livonian Aa, which is floating only for forests and only irrigates most of the southern half of the province in the spring, flows out into the Gulf of Riga. The Western Dvina River belongs to the Livonian province on its right bank only for 138 miles (147 km), from

4485-484: The RSFSR became an integral part of the economy of the USSR. The economic program of the RSFSR (NEP) was continued in all union republics. The Gosplan (State General Planning Commission) of the RSFSR, which replaced GOELRO, was reorganized into the Gosplan of the USSR. His early task was to develop a unified national economic plan based on the electrification plan and to oversee the overall implementation of this plan. Unlike

4600-819: The Soviet Union ), the Russian SFSR was renamed the Russian Federation . The next day, after the lowering of the Soviet flag from the top of the Senate building of the Moscow Kremlin and its replacement by the Russian flag , the USSR was self-dissolved by the Soviet of the Republics on 26 December, which by that time was the only functioning parliamentary chamber of the All-Union Supreme Soviet (the other house, Soviet of

4715-464: The Soviet Union into particular territorial units was subject to numerous changes, especially during the 1918–1929 period. Because of the Soviet Union's electrification program under the GOELRO plan , Ivan Alexandrov directed the Regionalisation Commission of Gosplan to divide the Soviet union into thirteen European and eight Asiatic oblasts , using rational economic planning rather than "the vestiges of lost sovereign rights". Eventually, in 1929,

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4830-413: The Union , had already lost the quorum after recall of its members by the several union republics). After the dissolution, Russia took full responsibility for all the rights and obligations of the USSR under the Charter of the United Nations, including the financial obligations. As such, Russia assumed the Soviet Union's UN membership and permanent membership on the Security Council , nuclear stockpile and

4945-428: The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Many regions in Russia were affected by the Soviet famine of 1932–1933 : Volga , Central Black Soil Region , North Caucasus , the Urals , the Crimea , part of Western Siberia , and the Kazakh ASSR . With the adoption of the 1936 Soviet Constitution on 5 December 1936, the size of the RSFSR was significantly reduced. The Kazakh ASSR and Kirghiz ASSR were transformed into

5060-451: The Union" and "each Union Republic shall retain the right freely to secede from the USSR". On 12 June 1990, the Congress of People's Deputies adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty , established separation of powers (unlike in the Soviet form of government ), established citizenship of Russia and stated that the RSFSR shall retain the right of free secession from the USSR. On 12 June 1991, Boris Yeltsin (1931–2007), supported by

5175-418: The Western Dvina River and Pernava harbor at the mouth of the river of the same name. The Baltic Sea on the coasts of the Livonian islands is full of small harbors, but uncomfortable due to the shallow water and many reefs and shoals, except Ahrensburg, which is more convenient and has a good roadstead. The main islands that lie in the Baltic Sea and belong to the Livonian province (Ezel, Moone) are separated from

5290-451: The basins of the Pernava and Salis rivers, as well as along the lower reaches of the rivers Aa and Zapadnaya Dvina. This lowland passes to the north into the Estonian, and in the south into the Courland province. Dunes stretch along the coast of the Gulf of Riga, of which the largest, near Gutmansbach, reaches 129 m in height. The lowlands in the eastern part of the province abound in swamps. Wirtz-Jerv lowland, expanding like Lake Wirtz-Jerv, to

5405-430: The coast of the Estonian province by the big strait, or Moone-Sund, and from each other by the Small-Sund. The rivers of Livonia province belong to the basins of the Gulf of Riga and the Gulf of Finland. The former include the navigable Pernava with its tributaries Navast, Hallist and Reio; the Salis River, the outlet of Lake Burtnek, into which the rivers Ruijen and Zedde flow; the Svent-Uppe River, which flows directly into

5520-411: The confluence of the Evsta to its mouth which is formed by the port of Riga and both banks of which are within the province. and from which flows the Great Embach River, which connects the Wirtz-Yerw with the Peipus; it is the only navigable river in this basin. The sponge soil is generally composed of sand, clay, marl, and chalk and should be termed sparsely fertile, only black earth occurs in places; in

5635-408: The control over the armed forces; Soviet embassies abroad became Russian embassies. The 1978 constitution of the Russian SFSR was amended several times to reflect the transition to democracy, private property and market economy. The new Russian constitution , coming into effect on 25 December 1993 after a constitutional crisis , completely abolished the Soviet form of government and replaced it with

5750-433: The denunciation of the union treaty was meaningless since it became invalid in 1924 with the adoption of the first constitution of the USSR . Although the 12 December vote is sometimes reckoned as the moment that the RSFSR seceded from the collapsing Soviet Union, this is not the case. It appears that the RSFSR took the line that it did not need to follow the secession process delineated in the Soviet Constitution because it

5865-462: The district. Each uchastok had two upper peasant court districts, with the exception of the Ezelsky uezd, which had only one uchastok. There were 17 uchastok commissioners in the counties, subordinate to the Livonian Peasant Affairs Commission. The Livonian province was divided into five judicial districts: the districts of Riga-Volmar, Venden-Valk, Jurjev-Verro, Pernov-Fellini, and Ezel. There were 42 electoral districts. The representative bodies of

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5980-501: The effects of seven years of war and a severe drought, contributed to a famine that caused between 3 and 10 million deaths. Coal production decreased from 27.5 million tons (1913) to 7 million tons (1920), while overall factory production also declined from 10,000 million roubles to 1,000 million roubles. According to the noted historian David Christian, the grain harvest was also slashed from 80.1 million tons (1913) to 46.5 million tons (1920). On 30 December 1922,

6095-454: The fifth All-Russian Congress of Soviets adopted both the new name, Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (RSFSR), and the Constitution of the Russian SFSR . Internationally, the Russian SFSR was recognized as an independent state in 1920 only by its bordering neighbors ( Estonia , Finland , Latvia and Lithuania ) in the Treaty of Tartu and by the short-lived Irish Republic of 1919–1922 in Ireland. On 30 December 1922, with

6210-410: The first years of the existence of the RSFSR, the doctrine of war communism became the starting point of the state's economic activity. In March 1921, at the X Congress of the RCP (B), the tasks of the policy of "war communism" were recognized by the country's leadership as fulfilled, and a new economic policy was introduced at Lenin's suggestion. After the formation of the Soviet Union, the economy of

6325-423: The formation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics during the Tenth All-Russian Congress of Soviets , the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, being a part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, devolves to the Union the powers which according to Article 1 of the Constitution of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics are included within the scope of responsibilities of the government bodies of

6440-413: The founding state of the German Empire (1871–1918) and later the German province of East Prussia including the capital and Baltic seaport city of Königsberg – was annexed by the Soviet Union and made part of the Russian SFSR. After the death of Joseph Stalin on 5 March 1953, Georgy Malenkov became the new leader of the USSR. In January 1954, Malenkov transferred Crimea from the Russian SFSR to

6555-483: The gentry, the county court ( Kreisgericht ) for the peasantry, the volost court ( Gemeindegericht ) and the parish court ( Kirchspielgericht ) for the peasantry as the lowest level of the court system. The Governorate of Livonia was divided into 9 uezds ("counties"). ( Valka ) ( Cēsis ) ( Valmiera ) ( Pärnu ) ( Viljandi ) ( Kuressaare ) ( Tartu ) The uezds were divided into uchastoks ("subcounties"), which were supervised by assistant chiefs of

6670-443: The gubernia and on the islands and consists of dolomites , marls , limestones and sandstones . The middle part of the northern part of the Livonian Gubernia belongs to the middle layer of the Silurian system. In the rest of Livonia the Devonian system of limestones, dolomites, clays with gypsum, marls, sandstones and sands is spread under dilluvial deposits, while the latter rocks form the lower tier of this system and occupy most of

6785-409: The gubernia so far (except for fishing), but they can be combined into a whole system of water communications, the projects of which have already arisen more than once. On the coastal strip of the Livonian gubernia the Gulf of Riga forms two harbors, accessible to large ships, although the entrance to them is hampered by bars and the tortuosity of the fairway. These harbors are Riga harbor at the mouth of

6900-496: The interim Russian Provisional Government headed by Alexander Kerensky , which governed the Russian Republic , was overthrown in the October Revolution , the second of the two Russian Revolutions . The state it governed, which did not have an official name, would be unrecognized by neighboring countries for another five months. The initial stage of the October Revolution which involved the assault on Petrograd occurred largely without any human casualties . On 18 January 1918,

7015-571: The island of Ösel stands out for its abundance of flora. As the bogs have been drained, land cultivation spread and the forests decreased, the number of wild animals in the Livonian province was considerably decreased and some species were extinct such as the wild boar. The most common animals are the following: bears , wolves , elk , foxes , martens and hares . Native birds include: eagles , falcons , hawks , crows , magpies , owls , sparrows , pigeons , grouse , snipes and others. There are storks on Esel island. The Livonian province

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7130-519: The last two years of the existence of the USSR. The Russian SFSR was composed of sixteen smaller constituent units of autonomous republics , five autonomous oblasts , ten autonomous okrugs , six krais and forty oblasts . Russians formed the largest ethnic group . The capital of the Russian SFSR and the USSR as a whole was Moscow and the other major urban centers included Leningrad (Petrograd until 1924), Stalingrad (Volgograd after 1961), Novosibirsk , Sverdlovsk , Gorky and Kuybyshev . It

7245-399: The late 19th century the governorate was not ruled by Russian laws but was administered autonomously by the local German Baltic nobility through a feudal Landtag ( Livonian Diet  [ lv ] ). German nobles insisted on preserving their privileges and use of the German language. In 1816 the serfs of Livonia were liberated by Tsar Alexander I , in a precursor to his plans for

7360-476: The lowlands the soil passes into meadow and moss bogs, and in places into peat bogs. Erratic masses reach 20 feet (6.1 m) in diameter; the boulders are mostly rounded. Pernov County is almost entirely covered by forests, passing also into the adjoining part of the Felin County. The forests extend from the border with the Governorate of Estonia in a wide strip to the south along the Pernov river basin, 400 (427 km) long and 70–90 miles wide in Volmari County to

7475-415: The middle part of the gubernia. This sandstone layer is remarkable for its caves. The middle layer of the Devonian system, made up of dolomites, limestone and clay with gypsum and marl, is spread in the southern part of the Livonian province. Between the rivers Zedde through the Abze and Ogre to the Western Dvina sandstones and sands and partly clay and marl form the upper tier of the Devonian system with

7590-441: The mocking label Sovdepia ( Russian : Совдепия ) for the nascent state of the Soviets of Workers' and Peasants' Deputies. Speakers of colloquial English coined the term "Bololand" to refer to the land of the Bolos (a term identified from 1919 onwards with the Bolsheviks). On 25 January 1918 the third meeting of the All-Russian Congress of Soviets proclaimed the establishment of the Russian Soviet Republic . In July 1918,

7705-493: The new Russian Republic after the abdication of the Russian Empire government of the Romanov imperial dynasty of Tsar Nicholas II the previous March (Old Style: February). The October Revolution was thus the second of the two Russian Revolutions of the turbulent year of 1917. Initially, the new Soviet state did not have an official name and was not recognized by neighboring countries for five months. Anti-Bolsheviks soon suggested new names, however. By 1919 they had coined

7820-438: The newly elected Constituent Assembly issued a decree, proclaiming Russia a democratic federal republic under the name "Russian Democratic Federal Republic". However, the Bolsheviks dissolved the Assembly on the following day and declared its decrees null and void. Conversely, the Bolsheviks also reserved a number of vacant seats in the Soviets and Central Executive for the opposition parties in proportion to their vote share at

7935-445: The north, tapering to the south of the Livland province is a vast plateau rising above the coastal lowland and separating terrace-like uplands from itself. Wavy hills in the east and southeast of the province have in their depths the sources of the main rivers and streams. Once connected with the province of Estland, as well as among themselves, the main islands of the province of Estland, Ezel and Moon, are very similar in their terrain to

8050-525: The northwest; and to its southeast in eastern Asia were the Democratic People's Republic of Korea ( North Korea ), Mongolian People's Republic ( Mongolia ) and the People's Republic of China (China, formerly the Republic of China ; 1911–1949). Within the Soviet Union, the RSFSR bordered the Slavic states: Ukrainian SSR ( Ukraine ), Belarusian SSR ( Belarus ), the Baltic states: Estonian SSR ( Estonia ), Latvian SSR ( Latvia ) and Lithuanian SSR ( Lithuania ) (Included in USSR in 1940) to its west and

8165-615: The number of governorates was increased to 23 . By the reform of 1775, subdivision into governorates and further into uezds ( Russian : уезды ), was based on population size, and the term guberniya was replaced by the synonym of Russian origin: namestnichestvo ( наместничество ), sometimes translated as "viceroyalty", other times as " vicegerency ". The term guberniya , however, still remained in use. These viceroyalties were governed by namestniki ( наместник ) (literal translation: "deputy") or " governors general " ( генерал-губернатор , general-gubernator ). Correspondingly,

8280-527: The parties agreed to the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States . On 12 December, the agreement was ratified by the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR by an overwhelming majority: 188 votes for, 6 against and 7 abstentions. The legality of this ratification raised doubts among some members of the Russian parliament, since according to the Constitution of the RSFSR of 1978 consideration of this document

8395-511: The past, this type of forest dominated in the gubernia; nowadays, the oak groves are preserved only in some places (the best in the Gokhrazen estate). At the present time, forest management and conservation works have been carried out everywhere in the Livonian province, which, however, started at the end of the last century. Forest easements, which have existed here for a long time, are also being eliminated vigorously. Artificial cultivation of forests

8510-465: The population of the governorate was 1,299,365, and it had an area of 47,030.87 square kilometres (18,158.72 sq mi). The administrative centre of the governorate was the Baltic Sea port of Riga . It roughly corresponded to most of the modern Vidzeme Region of Latvia and southern Estonia . Following the capitulation of Estonia and Livonia in 1710, Peter the Great, on 28 July 1713, created

8625-524: The post of President of the RSFSR and on 12 June, Boris Yeltsin was elected president by popular vote . During the unsuccessful 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt of 19–21 August 1991 in Moscow , the capital of the Soviet Union and Russia, Yeltsin strongly supported the President of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev. On 23 August, Yeltsin, in the presence of Gorbachev, signed a decree suspending all activity by

8740-515: The pre-eminent figure in the country. On 8 December 1991, the heads of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus signed the Belovezha Accords . The agreement declared dissolution of the USSR by its original founding states (i.e., renunciation of the 1922 Treaty on the Creation of the USSR) and established the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) as a loose replacement confederation. On 12 December, the agreement

8855-465: The predominance of fish fossils in it. The coastal formations of the province and the erratic boulders covering its surface belong to the latest, or dilluvial, system: under the former there are calcareous tuffs, peaty marls and marshy iron ores; between the latter crystalline rocks (gneiss, granites and syenites, diorites and porphyries) prevail; fossils of the Silurian period are rare. The continuation of

8970-406: The province of Estland: a flat hill ( German: Landrücken ) passes through both, and both on the northern slope of the coast abruptly break off above the sea, forming the so-called Glint (Glint). Moon Island is surrounded, just like Ezel Island, many small islands; near the latter there are also larger ones ( Abro, Filzand, etc.); in the Gulf of Riga - the island of Ruhnu . The province of Livonia

9085-470: The province. The Livonian province is very rich in bread products, of which the most used are: rye , barley everywhere, buckwheat in small quantities in the middle and southwestern parts. Root crops are bred in large numbers, of which the main one is potatoes . Of the fibrous and oily ones: flax and hemp . The former is one of the most important native plants. The herbs in the province of Livonia are unobtainable and of unsatisfactory quality. As

9200-488: The republic providing education in 47 languages to some 23,941,000 students. A network of territorially organized public-health services provided health care. The economy, which had become stagnant since the late 1970s under General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev , began to be liberalized starting in 1985 under Gorbachev's " perestroika " restructuring policies, including the introduction of non-state owned enterprises (e.g. cooperatives). On 7 November 1917 ( O.S. 25 October), as

9315-617: The rest of Russia. After the Russian February Revolution in 1917, the northern part of the Governorate of Livonia was combined with the Governorate of Estonia to form a new Autonomous Governorate of Estonia . In September 1917, Riga was occupied by German troops during World War I . On December 14, 1917, the Bolshevik government of Soviet Russia ruled that Daugavpils , Ludza and Rēzekne counties should be separated from

9430-624: The rest of the Livonian province. Draining the bogs every year greatly reduces the space they occupy. In general, the bogs, mostly bare and mossy, occupy about 360 thousand dessiatinas (3933 km), or 1/10 of the whole surface of the governorate. The courts consisted of the Livländisches Hofgericht (Livonian Court of Appeal, the highest court), the Landgericht (Courts of Appeal), the Ordnungsgericht (Courts of First Instance) for

9545-512: The rights and obligations of the USSR under the Charter of the United Nations, including the financial obligations, and assumed control over its nuclear stockpile and the armed forces; Soviet embassies abroad became Russian embassies. On 25 December – just hours after Gorbachev resigned as president of the Soviet Union – the Russian SFSR was renamed the Russian Federation (Russia), reflecting that it

9660-618: The river Aa, south to Lemsal. Here it is called the Lemsal Plateau ; on it is the "Blue Mountain" ( German: Blauberg ), once considered sacred and now still enjoying special respect among Latvians. The second branch is cut by the river Embach, to the south of which it is called the Odenpe Plateau. Near Arral, a plateau terrace of 100 feet (30 m) pushes out of itself in the middle of the swamps the mountain Munna-Megi (up to 800 feet (244 m)) with

9775-801: The rivers Pernava, Embachu, Dvina, and others; swampy meadows (Sumpfwiesen), mainly in the northern part of the province, follow the course of rivers; mossy bogs (Hochmoor) (German, Est. Hochmoor, Est. Rabba, Lit. Tirrul), actually peat bogs, are found in depressions and hollows mainly in Riga and Pernova counties, as well as on the south-western slopes of the Pebalga Heights; they are most common in Pernova (Netzi-Rabba, Laisma-Soo and Majamo-Soo) and Fellin (Pindrina-Soo and Pendara-Soo) counties, and least common in Vendena and Arensburg counties. The island of Ösel has fewer bogs than

9890-504: The same borders of the old Tsardom of Russia before the Great Northern War of 1700 to 1721. The RSFSR dominated the Soviet Union to a significant extent. For most of its existence, the Soviet Union was commonly (but incorrectly) referred to as "Russia". While the RSFSR itself was only one republic within the larger union, it was the largest, most powerful and most highly developed of the 15 republics. According to Matthew White it

10005-536: The sea, salakushka and flounder are caught in great numbers, in Lake Peipus, Virts-Järve, Luban and Burtnekskoe - whitefish , snets , vendace , ruffe , perch , sudak , koryushka and others. On Lake Peipus there are more than 100,000 fishermen, mostly Russians, catching up to 150,000 barrels of snets alone annually; in the rivers salmon , lamprey (in Dvina ). Salmon and snets are exported in large quantities outside

10120-487: The shores of the Gulf of Riga. They also cover part of Riga County and the southern part of Wenden County along the Evsta river basin 250 versts (267 km) long and up to 60 versts (64 km) wide. The island of Ösel is the least forested. The main forest species of the Livonian province are spruce and pine (reaching the size of a ship forest), birch, alder, ash, oak and willow. The preserved oaks of colossal size prove that in

10235-529: The southeast, the Gangof plateau through the Devil's Mountain continues to the Pskovand Vitebsk provinces. Piebalga heights are dotted with hundreds of lakes and form a very picturesque area. The highest point here is Mount Gaising-Kalns, 312 m. The slopes to the Gauja River near Sigulda, Turaida, Krimulda and the banks of the Western Dvina near Selburg and even more Koknese are especially beautiful. All this area

10350-403: The subdivision was replaced by the notions of oblast, okrug , and raion . Oblast as a unit was used even before the revolution, although unlike governorates it designated remote areas that usually incorporated huge swaths of land. In post-Soviet states such as Russia and Ukraine, the term Guberniya is considered obsolete, yet the word gubernator was reinstated and is used when referring to

10465-610: The surrender of the last German troops near the Volga River , ultimately pushing German forces out of Russia by 1944. In 1943, Karachay Autonomous Oblast was dissolved by Joseph Stalin (1878–1953), General Secretary of the Communist Party , later Premier, when the Karachays were exiled to Central Asia for their alleged collaboration with the invading Germans in the Great Patriotic War ( World War II , 1941–1945), and territory

10580-485: The term governorate general ( генерал-губернаторство , general-gubernatorstvo ) was in use to refer to the actual territory being governed. The office of governor general had more administrative power and was in a higher position than the previous office of governor. Sometimes a governor general ruled several governorates. By the ukase of the Russian Senate of December 31, 1796, the office of governorate general

10695-696: The third meeting of the All-Russian Congress of Soviets , the establishment of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic (RSFSR) was proclaimed. On 3 March 1918, the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was signed, giving away much of the westernmost lands of the former Russian Empire to the German Empire , in exchange for peace on the Eastern Front of World War I. In July 1918, the fifth All-Russian Congress of Soviets adopted

10810-674: The treaty on the creation of the Soviet Union , Russia (the RSFSR), alongside the Transcaucasian SFSR, the Ukrainian SSR and the Byelorussian SSR, formed the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics . The final Soviet name for the constituent republic, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, was adopted in the later Soviet Constitution of 1936 . By that time, Soviet Russia had gained roughly

10925-606: The volosts were the volost assemblies ( Gemeindeversammlung ), which consisted of all the taxpayers in the volost, or elected assemblies, elected by the taxpayers in the volost; the executive of the volost was the volost foreman. After the February Revolution the Russian Provisional Government issued the proclamation on 30 March 1917 "On the autonomy of Estland", according to which the Government of Livonia

11040-405: The west, and the Gulf of Riga to the west. The length of the western border (the seacoast) is 280 versts (299 km). The area of the Livonian province (according to Strelbitsky) is 41,325.4 square versts (47,030.87 km). Geologically the Livonian province and the island belongs to the Silurian , Devonian and modern (dilluvial) period. The first one is spread in the northernmost part of

11155-539: The will of the landlord, from that year they received some personal rights, and in 1819 they were freed from serfdom; the right to use peasant land was granted to them in 1849. Since that time, corvee began to be replaced by dues and a local peasant bank was established, with the help of which the peasants acquire land as property. According to the Russian Empire Census of 1897, the Livonia Governorate had

11270-527: Was added to Riga Governorate. In 1726 Smolensk Governorate was separated from Governorate, which now had five provinces: Riga , Wenden , Dorpat , Pernau and Ösel . In 1783 the Schlock County was added. On 3 July 1783 Catherine the Great reorganized Governorate into Riga Viceroyalty . Only in 1796, after the Third Partition of Poland this territory was renamed as the Governorate of Livonia. Until

11385-454: Was also applied to subdivisions of the Kingdom of Poland ("Russian Poland") and the Grand Duchy of Finland . After the February Revolution , the Russian Provisional Government renamed governors into governorate commissars . The October Revolution left the subdivision in place, but the governing apparatus was replaced by governorate soviets ( губернский совет ). Actual subdivisions of

11500-426: Was also greatly influenced by the extensive marshes and forests. The spring temperature was subject to the largest and sharpest fluctuations; the climate of the Livonian Province in general was unstable and the main reason was to be found in the wind which rarely became stormy, but blew almost continuously. Southwest winds prevailed. Rains were favorable by quantity, distribution and type; downpours were rare; snow cover

11615-405: Was an open secret that the country's federal structure was "window dressing" for Russian dominance. On 25 December 1991, during the collapse of the Soviet Union , which concluded on the next day, the RSFSR's official name was changed to the Russian Federation , which it remains to this day. This name and "Russia" were specified as the official state names on 21 April 1992, in an amendment to

11730-406: Was as a rule deep, frequent dense fogs occurred in the coastal strip and in the swampy areas and lowlands. Riga and Yuriyev characterized the climate of the lower parts of the south and north of the Livonian province. The climate in the northeastern part of the province was colder on the uplands and much warmer on the islands (e.g. Sõrve Lighthouse , at 58°N, January −2.1 °C). Precipitation

11845-478: Was demoted to the previous level of governorate, and Russia was again divided into governorates, which were subdivided into uezds, further subdivided into volosts ( волость ); nevertheless several governorates general made from several governorates existed until the Russian Revolution of 1917 . The governorate ( Russian : губе́рния , Polish : gubernia , Swedish : län , Finnish : lääni ) system

11960-704: Was divided: five northern counties ( Kreis ) with the Estonian population (Dorpat, Pernau, Fellin, Werro and Ösel) as well as the populated by the Estonians townships of Walk county were all included into the composition of the neighboring Governorate of Estonia . However the new border between the Governments of Estonia and Livonia was never properly demarcated. The bulk of the population were former landlord peasants, who were mainly engaged in arable farming and cattle breeding. Until 1804, they were completely dependent on

12075-419: Was formed on a joint basis from both local Land Councils. The province was a fairly rectangular in shape, with a maximum length of 246 versts (262 km) and a width of 198 versts (211 km). Its borders were the Governorate of Estonia to the north, Lake Peipus and the strait connecting it with Lake Pskov to the east, the Governorate of Pskov and Vitebsk to the south, the Governorate of Courland to

12190-535: Was in the exclusive jurisdiction of the Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR . However, by this time the Soviet government had been rendered more or less impotent, and was in no position to object. On the same day, the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR denounced the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR and recalled all Russian deputies from the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. A number of lawyers believe that

12305-618: Was incorporated into the Georgian SSR . On 3 March 1944, on the orders of Stalin, the Chechen-Ingush ASSR was disbanded and its population forcibly deported upon the accusations of collaboration with the invaders and separatism . The territory of the ASSR was divided between other administrative units of Russian SFSR and the Georgian SSR. On 11 October 1944, the Tuvan People's Republic

12420-590: Was joined with the Russian SFSR as the Tuvan Autonomous Oblast , becoming an Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in 1961. After reconquering Estonia and Latvia in 1944, the Russian SFSR annexed their easternmost territories around Ivangorod and within the modern Pechorsky and Pytalovsky Districts in 1944–1945. At the end of World War II Soviet troops of the Red Army occupied southern Sakhalin Island and

12535-410: Was more than 500 mm a year, much more in the south and west of the province than in the north and east; July was the rainiest month, but the next three months were also quite rainy, and there were often long rainy days in those months. On the whole, the Livonian province suffered from an excess of rain. The economy of the province came from shipbuilding, shipping, and fishing. Part of the population

12650-566: Was not possible to secede from a country that no longer existed. On 24 December, Yeltsin informed the Secretary-General of the United Nations that by agreement of the member states of the CIS the Russian Federation would assume the membership of the Soviet Union in all UN organs (including the Soviet Union's permanent seat on the UN Security Council ). Russia took full responsibility for all

12765-515: Was not subdivided into governorates, and would be annexed by the Second Polish Republic from 1920 until the Soviet invasion of 1939 . There is another meaning of the word as it denoted a type of estate in Lithuania of the until 1917. Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic ( Russian SFSR or RSFSR ), previously known as

12880-437: Was now a sovereign state with Yeltsin assuming the Presidency . That same night, the Soviet flag was lowered and replaced with the tricolor . The Soviet Union officially ceased to exist the next day. The change was originally published on 6 January 1992 ( Rossiyskaya Gazeta ). According to law, during 1992, it was allowed to use the old name of the RSFSR for official business (forms, seals, and stamps). On 21 April 1992,

12995-525: Was ratified by the Supreme Soviet (the parliament of the Russian SFSR); therefore the Russian SFSR had renounced the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR and de facto declared Russia's independence from the USSR itself and the ties with the other Soviet republics. On 25 December 1991, following the resignation of Gorbachev as President of the Soviet Union (and former General Secretary of the Communist Party of

13110-420: Was reached in 1931. National power output continued to increase significantly. It reached 13.5 billion kWh by the end of the first five-year plan in 1932, 36 billion kWh by 1937, and 48 billion kWh by 1940. Paragraph 3 of Chapter 1 of the 1925 Constitution of the RSFSR stated the following: By the will of the peoples of the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, who decided on

13225-469: Was the first socialist state in history. The economy of Russia became heavily industrialized, accounting for about two-thirds of the electricity produced in the USSR. By 1961, it was the third largest producer of petroleum due to new discoveries in the Volga-Urals region and Siberia, trailing in production to only the United States and Saudi Arabia. In 1974, there were 475 institutes of higher education in

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