Russia is the largest country in the world. It spans eleven time zones and contains 148 million people, making it sixth largest nation in terms of population. It borders fourteen countries—eight of which were, like Russia, former members of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)—and the Arctic and North Pacific oceans. It is rich in natural resources, but its northern climate limits the amount of land available for cultivation and habitation. Russia's historic capital is Moscow. Peter the Great (1672–1725) moved the capital to his new city of St. Petersburg in 1712, and Vladimir Lenin (1870–1924) returned the government to Moscow in 1918.

Until the twentieth century Russia was an autocracy ruled by czars. In March 1917, as the economy collapsed, popular unrest mounted, and casualties rose in World War I (1914–1918), Czar Nicholas II (1868–1918) abdicated. A provisional government assumed control, but before a constitutional assembly could convene the Bolsheviks, led by...