Chapter 15

Section 1

1. After the fall of the USSR in 1991, people are able to explore their faiths and traditions and express them, because during the time of the Soviet Union, people were encouraged to take up atheism and not practice their former religions.

2. Russia's major ethnic groups include the Slavs, the Caucasians, and the Turks.

Creative Writing: The practices of post-Soviet Russia have improved greatly compared to the limited action allowed in the USSR. Now that our schooling is more free, we are able to take classes to learn of our heritage and our history as Russians, rather that simply focus on math and science. We can now also take our expressive ideas and use them for our future in arts, now that the Soviet government is no longer limits our art to glorifying the government. As you can see, our country, now, is able to show its true opinions, making this era the better one for Russia.

Section 2

1. The ancestors of the ancient Russians were the Slavs.

2. The causes of the breakup of the USSR include the weakened economy, disagreements between the wages of the workers and the luxuries that their leaders enjoyed, and the conflict that the Soviet Union had with the US.

Creative Writing: During the Cold War, the Soviet Union and America had a virtual "race" as to who could make the best nuclear weapon and were trying to control other countries by their influences of communism and capitalism, respectively. Both of these countries wanted to uses these questionably real weapons as a threat towards the countries that did not follow them. As these countries continually tried to make better weapons, Russia found themselves steadily losing funds that were going to this as well as other causes. With their economy in shambles, the USSR broke apart into several independent countries.