Vladimir Lenin was very concerned about creating a free universal health care system for all, the rights of women, and teaching all Russian people to read and write.

In 1971, Brezhnev rose to become "first among equals" in a collective leadership. Brezhnev died in 1982 and was succeeded by Yuriy Andropov (1982-84) and Konstantin Chernenko (1984-85).

Most undergraduate courses require five years in Russia. As a result of great emphasis on science and technology in education, Russian medical, mathematical, scientific, and space and aviation research is generally of a high order.

Since gaining its independence, Russia claimed to be the legal heir to Soviet Union on the international stage.

Peter's the Great first military efforts were directed against the Ottoman Turks. His attention then turned to the north. Peter still lacked a secure northern seaport except at Archangel on the White Sea, whose harbor was frozen nine months a year. Access to the Baltic was blocked by Sweden, whose territory enclosed it on three sides.

Russia has remained a leading nation in literature since that time. Significant Russian writers of the Soviet period were Boris Pasternak, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Vladimir Mayakovski, Mikhail Sholokhov, and the poets Yevgeny Yevtushenko and Andrei Voznesensky.

Alexander I (1801-1825) began his reign as a reformer, but after defeating Napoleon's 1812 attempt to conquer Russia, he became much more conservative and rolled back many of his early reforms. During this era, Russia gained control of Georgia and much of the Caucasus.

From its first years, regime in the Soviet Union was based on the one-party rule of the communists, as the Bolsheviks called themselves beginning in March 1918.