Foundations 099-10 'Russia and the Internet'
The Geography of the U.S.S.R.

Professor Robert Beard



  1. GEOGRAPHICAL TOPOLOGY

    1. Size: 1/22 Earth's surface; 1/6 Earth's land mass; 24% arable at all; 11% commercially farmable (comparable to typical US farmland)

    2. Topography
      1. Largest open plain on earth offers no protection from Arctic air
        1. Eurasian plain interrupted only partially by the gentle Urals
        2. West Siberian plain west of the Urals; Turanian Plain south
      2. Mountains to the south and east stop moist air from Indian and Pacific oceans
        1. In the East: Chukhot, Chersk, Verkhoyansk, Stanovoi
        2. In the South: Khlngan, Yablonoi, Sayan, Altai, Tien Shan, Pamir, Hindukush, Caucasus
      3. Rivers run north and south while transportation problem is east-west
        1. Siberian rivers run into Arctic Ocean
        2. European rivers run into Black & Caspian seas
      4. Outlets to the sea are all choke-points
        1. Arctic Ocean - frozen 6 months
        2. Baltic Sea through Straits of Denmark
        3. Pacific through Kurile Islands past Japan
        4. Black Sea through Dardanelles

    3. Topographical Zones
      1. Tundra - No soil development, only lichens, scrub brush cannot support organized human life. Permafrost covers 47% of Soviet territory.
      2. Taiga - Coniferous forest. Land can be cleared but not rich; no deciduous trees
      3. Forest zone - largest in the world. 'Podzol', lacking plant food
        1. mixed deciduous/coniferous forest does not reach Siberia
        2. forest-steppe - narrow band runs to west Siberia
      4. Steppe - open plain. 'Chernozem', 2%-16% nutrient content from 2-6 feet
      5. Deserts and semideserts - from Caspian to Tien Shan Mountains
      6. Subtropics
        1. Eastern tip of Black Sea
        2. Lenkoran Lowland SE Azerbaijan

    4. Climate
      1. Temperature range 14O° F in Kyzyl Kum desert to -90° F in Verkhoyansk
        1. Dominated by cold air which does not hold as much moisture from Arctic.
        2. Continental Climate: short springs and falls, quick run-offs, hot summers, cold winters;
        3. Colder moving east rather than north
      2. Growing Season similar to Scandinavia a. 120-180 growing days per annum; mean average 140 (4.20 mos.)
        • Archangelsk 120
        • Moscow 130
        • Kazan 146
        • Ukraine 151
        • Saratov 161 (on the Volga)
        b. USA average 200 days (6.20 months)
        • Minnesota 100
        • Cotton Belt 200
        • Southern borders 260
        • Western Europe 240-280
      3. Precipitation
        1. Arctic air cold so holds little moisture; dries as blows southward (great distances)
        2. Mountain ranges to south prevent moisture: monsoons to south, deserts north; sukhoveys: long, stagnant wind storms; temperature range approximately same.
        3. More moisture from Gulf Stream but it must pass over Europe where most falls; remainder falls mostly in north where land poorest
        4. Highest mean ave. = 27" just east of Carpathians (minimum 20" required for effective farming)
          • Upper Dnepr 26" per annum
          • Caspian lowland 8"
          • Pechora tundra 12"
      4. By comparison: US 60", per annum mean ave.
      5. By comparison: Norway 100" per annum mean ave. (40-120)


  2. GEOECONOMIC STATUS

    1. Only self-sufficient nation on earth
      1. Largest producer of wheat, rye, cotton, etc. (high production costs)
      2. Largest producer of oil and natural gas with largest known reserves
      3. Largest producer of coal and steel
      4. Second largest producer of diamonds and gold
      5. Largest fur auction in the world in terms of sales
      6. Largest producer of hydroelectricity

    2. Major geoeconomic problems: transportation
      1. Great distances
      2. Raw materials and population centers do not coincide
        1. resources in east, industrial centers in west but
        2. rivers run N-S, not E-W
      3. Temperature extremes makes difficult
        1. movement
        2. maintenance of transportation networks
        3. rivers freeze in winter, roads deteriorate, rails


  3. GEOSOCIAL STATUS

    1. Multinational State: 120 recognized languages and dialects in USSR
      1. Orthodox, Jews, Moslem (catholic, Protestant)
      2. Socialist in form, nationalist in content
        1. political-economic system is socialist
        2. culture (education), publication, local language are all nationalist
        3. courts conducted in local language
      3. Russian official language of U.S.S.R.; required second language in schools
        1. Soviets created 48 new alphabets
        2. literature published in 77 languages

    2. Problems of Multinational States
      1. 89 oblasts in Russia
      2. 15 former republics
        1. Slavic: Russia (Moscow), Ukraine (Kiev), Belorussia (Minsk)
        2. Baltic: Latvia (Riga), Lithuania (Vilnius), Estonia (Tallin)
        3. Transcaucasian: Georgia (Tbilisi), Armenia (Yerevan), Azerbaijan (Baku)
        4. Moldavia (Chisinau), Kazakhstan (Almaty)
        5. Central Asian: Uzbekistan (Tashkent), Tajikistan (Dushanbe), Turkmenia (Ashgabat), Kyrgyzstan (Frunze)
      3. The Slavs:
          a. East Slavs-. Russians, Belorussians, Ukrainians b. West Slavs: Poles, (Czechs, Slovaks) c. South Slavs: (Serbs, Croatians), Slovenians, Macedonians, Bulgarians
      4. 3. Relatively small movement for succession except Ukraine and Baltic Republics (in Central Asia standard of living roughly 30% better in USSR)


  4. GEOPOLITICAL STATUS

    1. Security issue- CONTINENTAL POWER
      1. 9x longer borders than US
      2. 12 (13) mostly unfriendly neighbors: Korea, China, Mongolia, Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey, Romania, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Norway, Finland (Japan)
      3. Smaller portion protected by seas or oceans
      4. Choke points of navy: Dardanelles (Black Sea Fleet), Kurile Islands (Pacific Fleet), Danish Archepelago (Baltic Fleet)

    2. Industrial Base
      1. Central European Plain -- no natural defenses
        1. Poland invaded in 1611, 1920
        2. France invaded in 1812
        3. Germany 1914-1918, 1941-1945
      2. Heartland Theory (David Urquhart 1834; British consul in Istanbul) has nothing to do with Communism
        1. Slow, interminable expansion from the center outwards
        2. Seeking warm water ports
        3. Until it covers the entire globe
      3. Before the USSR collapsed, however:
        1. expansion stoppped at natural boundaries
        2. retracted from the western coast of North America
        3. retracted from Finland,
        4. retracted from Poland, Austria, Yugoslavia
        5. Russia has warm water ports in 3 locations already

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