Scandinavian migration from northern Europe towards the north eastern parts of Eurasia were the beginnings of the behemoth that was to later become Russia. The founding father was the leader of the Varangians, the legendary Viking  Rurik of Jutland, who founded the city of Novgorod in 862 AD. This is taken as the birth of what was to later became the Russian Empire. Early Russia was not Russia as we know it but a collection of cities that gradually coalesced into an empire - the first few cities were Pskov, Chernigov, Smolensk and Novgorod. Rurik's successor Oleg acquired the Slavic city of Kiev and made it the commercial hub of his kingdom, relegating  Novgorod to a trading backwater. The empire came to be known as Kievan Rus and flourished as it opened up safer trade routes between Scandinavia and Constantinople.

The prosperity lasted till 1054 AD before the empire began to break up into many little princedoms. Even that was ultimately destroyed by the Mongolian Tatars in the 13th century, when internecine feuds between the various princes reached such proportions that the Mongols under Ghenghis Khan's grandson found it easy to conquer Russia and establish supremacy over the region, a domination that was to last for the next three centuries. The Mongols did not stay back to rule but forced the princes to send regular tribute to the Tatar Empire of the Golden Horde. Around this time, European kingdoms repeatedly invaded Russian border areas. Sweden too tried to annex the territory of Kievan Rus till the decisive battle of Chudskoe Lake in 1242 AD put paid to their ambitions. The Russian fightback was led by their first war hero, Alexander Nevskii.

Moscow became the capital of Russia during this period, although the exact dates are vague but the first mention of Moscow occurs in 1147. It wasn't until 1480 that Russia, under the rule of Ivan the Great, became strong enough to throw off Tatar rule for good. Russia became a unified state under Ivan's grandson, Ivan IV who unleashed his might on Poland, Sweden and Siberia with the intention of expanding his empire. Ivan adopted the title of Tsar in 1547 but his terrible temper that gained him the title of Ivan the Terrible saw to it that his successors were a weak and incompetent lot who could not hold his empire together. The Rurik dynasty ended after a 700 year reign with Prince Fyodor who was childless.  Consequently, both the Poles and the Swedes laid claim to the throne of Russia.

A time of uncertainity followed with the Poles setting up their own representative on the Russian throne. Finally matters came to a head, the Poles were evicted from Moscow and the Boyars elected the 16 year old Mikhail Romanov, king. The Romanov dynasty was to rule Russia for the next 304 years, until the Russian Revolution brought an end to the Tsarist state. One of the greatest of Romanov rulers was Peter the Great who did the groundwork of the modernisation of Russia in 1697. He became the first Tsar to visit Europe and signed strategic alliances with Poland and Denmark. He also built the city of St. Petersburg in 1712, a city that was to become symbolic of European Russia.

From the time of Ivan the Terrible, a conscientious  effort  had been made  to concentrate political power in the hands of the Tsars. The nobility were given land and workers in lieu of the power that was usurped from them by the Tsars.   rampant feudalism led to the extreme oppression of the serfs and peasants, who were considered devoid of any rights. But the 19th century saw the emergence of new philosophies, industrialisation gave the labour classes a voice and slowly the demand for basic human rights grew more and more vociferous.

The turn of the century found Russians embroiled in one war after the other, as Tsar Nicholas II began to loose control of his kingdom. World War I and its first three brutal years left the nation reeling; millions of poor Russians lost their lives and many millions were seriously affected, displaced or grievously injured. The Russian Army suffered terrible defeats and the country experienced extreme food shortages and the collapse of the economy. Workers and soldiers alike began to protest after tolerating these conditions for three years.

The Tsar tried to appease his people by conceding some democratic rights by way of the Russian Parliament, the Duma. But it was already too late for the monarchy. The Russian revolution took place in October 1917. It was an event that changed the entire makeup of Russia and affected the whole world. Under the aegis of Vladimir Lenin, the October Revolution of 1917 marked the beginning of the Soviet or communist era and the withdrawal of Russia from the World War I. The erstwhile Russian empire and all its territories became The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics under the Bolshevik government. Lenin's death in 1924 was followed by an extended and extremely divisive struggle for power in the Communist Party before Josef Stalin became party boss and supremo.

Despite a non aggression treaty with Hitler, the USSR found itself dragged willy-nilly into World War II. After initial defeats and loss of territory to the Germans, the Russian Red Army and the brutal Russian winter halted Hitler's onward march to Moscow. The aftermath of the war found the USSR in control of considerable territories in East Europe and one of the world's two super powers, alongside the USA.

Years of communist rule left the Russians both repressed and the economy at the mercy of whichever party boss was in power. Stalin was followed by Khruschev, Breshnev, Andropov, Chernenko and finally Mikhail Gorbachev. When Gorbachev came into power he introduced the new policies of 'Perestroika’ and 'Glasnost’ (restructuring and openness) in recognition of a changing global and regional ecnomic scenario and in consonance with the demands of the time.  His policies liberalised the Russian economy and brought about democratic changes in Russia. On the flip side it also fuelled the secessionist tendencies and led to the disintegration of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. By 1990, the erstwhile Soviet republics had broken away from Russia and declared their independence from the union.

In the summer of 1991, when  radical reform movements were on the upswing, rightwing communists fought back to regain control with the aid of the Russian Army. A coup against Gorbachev brought into the forefront Boris Yeltsin, who persuaded the armed forces to support the reformists. Yeltsin became the new president of Russia in December '91 and the Soviet hammer and sickle were replaced by the Russian tricolour. The breakaway states joined together to form the umbrella organisation, the Commonwealth of Independent States with the Russian Federation as one of the member states.

Democracy, free market economy and liberalisation have not made life any easier or even better for the average Russian. Food and fuel shortages are chronic, government resources are at an all time low, petty crime and organised crime is escalating out of control, corruption is commonplace while drugs and arms mafias run cities and secessionist movements like the one in Chechenya are extracting their pound of flesh from the exchequer and the nation. Under the current president, Vladimir Putin, national and internatonal efforts are underway to prevent the complete and total collapse of the former superpower.