Quizlet Chapter 17

Print Options

This box will be automatically hidden when printing. Return to Set Page


  1. Abdicate: give up, such as power, as of monarchs and emperors, or duties and obligations
  2. Bolsheviks: spreaders of communism in Russia
  3. Borscht: a Russian soup usually containing beet juice as a foundation
  4. Chernobyl: a city in north central Ukraine; site of a major disaster at a nuclear power plant (16 April 1986)
  5. Chernozem: the rich black topsoil found in the North European Plain, especially in Russia and Ukraine
  6. Cossacks: free groups and outlaw armies of peasants who fled the tzar and service nobility
  7. Cyrillic Alphabet: an alphabet drived from the Greek alphabet and used for writing Slavic languages
  8. Czars: emperors of Russia with complete and total control of the government
  9. Eurasia: the land mass formed by the continents of Europe and Asia
  10. Gulag: a Russian prison camp for political prisoners
  11. Heavy Industry: industry that produces manufactured goods such as machinery
  12. Ice Breaker: a ship that can break through ice, to allow ships to pass
  13. Joseph Stalin: Russian leader who succeeded Lenin as head of the Communist Party and created a totalitarian state by purging all opposition (1879-1953)
  14. Karl Marx: founder of modern communism
  15. Kremlin: citadel of Moscow, housing the offices of the Russian government
  16. Lake Baikal: deepest fresh water lake in the world; holds 20% of world's unfrozen fresh water
  17. Light Industry: production of consumer goods such as food products and household goods
  18. Murmansk: a port city in northwestern Russia on the Kola Peninsula; the largest city north of the Arctic Circle; an important supply line to Russia in World War I and World War II
  19. Orthodox Christianity: religion practiced by most greeks
  20. Rus: the medieval Russian state established by Scandanavian traders in the 9th century; the capital was first in Novgorod and then in Kiev
  21. Serfs: peasants that belong to the land
  22. Siberia: a vast Asian region of Russia; famous for long cold winters
  23. Slavs: a single people in central Europe who divided into 3 major groups: western, southern, and eastern
  24. Smelters: ore processing factories
  25. Soviets: the government of the Soviet Union
  26. Steppes: grassy plains, found south of the taiga in Russia,Ukraine, and parts of Eastern Europe.
  27. Taiga: a forest of evergreen trees growing south of the tundra in Russia
  28. Trans-Siberian Railroad: a railroad running from Murmansk to Vladivostak
  29. Ural Mountains: a mountain range in western Russia extending from the arctic to the Caspian Sea; forms part of the traditional boundary between Europe and Asia
  30. Vladimir Lenin: Russian founder of the Bolsheviks and leader of the Russian Revolution and first head of the USSR (1870-1924)
  31. Vladivostak: a big city at the end of the Trans-Siberian Railroad.
  32. Volga River: the longest river in Europe; flows into the Caspian Sea