Briefly describe the geographical position of the Russian Plain. East European Plain: Key Features

When I imagine in my mind a map of Russia and its European part, for some reason I imagine our territories that are directly adjacent to the western border. In fact, the European part extends right up to the borders of the Eastern Urals and includes several large federal districts. About 80% of the total population of our country lives on the European territory of Russia.

Features of the geographical location of the European part of the Russian Federation

It occupies its place almost entirely on the East European Plain. It consists of four federal districts:

Central.
Southern.
Northwestern.
Privolzhsky.

The climate of this Russian part is very heterogeneous: in the northern territories (Murmansk) in winter the temperature can reach -35 degrees Celsius, and in the southern - +6 (Krasnodar). And vice versa: in summer in the south the average temperature is +25, and in the north - +7. The northern regions of this part are washed by the waters of the Baltic and the Arctic Ocean. The developed river network contributed to the development of navigation, and the temperate climate of the middle zone of this part contributed to the good growth of forests there. mountain systems are poorly represented: in the south it is part of the Caucasus Mountains, and in the east - the Ural Mountains. The White Sea Canal is an economic attraction, it was built in 1933 and connects the waters of Lake Onega and the White Sea.

In addition to both capitals, large cities are located in this area:

Volgograd.
Permian.

Generally, geographical position can be assessed as beneficial, due to the available access to the sea, as well as a fairly favorable climate in the center of the territory.

Main economic objects

The exit of the European part to the sea from the north and from the south, the presence of an extensive river system, involves the construction of such important economic facilities as reservoirs. The largest of them in terms of volume will be:

Kuibyshevskoye (Samara region) - 58,000 million cubic meters m.
Volgograd (Volgograd region) - 31,450 million cubic meters m.
Rybinsk (Yaroslavl region) - 25,420 million cubic meters m.

All of these reservoirs, one way or another, are connected with the Volga River.

1. Geographic location.

2. Geological structure and relief.

3. Climate.

4. Internal waters.

5. Soils, flora and fauna.

6. Natural zones and their anthropogenic changes.

Geographical position

The East European Plain is one of the largest plains in the world. The plain goes to the waters of two oceans and extends from the Baltic Sea to the Ural Mountains and from the Barents and White Seas to the Azov, Black and Caspian. The plain lies on the ancient East European platform, its climate is predominantly temperate continental and natural zonality is clearly expressed on the plain.

Geological structure and relief

The East European Plain has a typical platform relief, which is predetermined by platform tectonics. At its base lie the Russian plate with a Precambrian basement and in the south the northern margin of the Scythian plate with a Paleozoic basement. At the same time, the boundary between the plates in the relief is not expressed. Phanerozoic sedimentary rocks lie on the uneven surface of the Precambrian basement. Their power is not the same and is due to the unevenness of the foundation. These include syneclises (areas of deep basement) - Moscow, Pechersk, Caspian Sea and anticlises (protrusions of the foundation) - Voronezh, Volga-Ural, as well as aulacogenes (deep tectonic ditches, on the site of which syneclises arose) and the Baikal ledge - Timan. In general, the plain consists of uplands with heights of 200-300m and lowlands. The average height of the Russian Plain is 170 m, and the highest, almost 480 m, is on the Bugulma-Belebeev Upland in the Ural part. In the north of the plain there are the Northern Ridges, the Valdai and Smolensk-Moscow stratal uplands, the Timan Ridge (Baikal folding). In the center are the uplands: Central Russian, Volga (layered, stepped), Bugulma-Belebeevskaya, General Syrt and lowlands: Oka-Don and Zavolzhskaya (stratified). In the south lies the accumulative Caspian lowland. Glaciation also influenced the formation of the relief of the plain. There are three glaciations: Okskoe, Dnieper with the Moscow stage, Valdai. Glaciers and fluvioglacial waters have created moraine landforms and outwash plains. In the periglacial (preglacial) zone, cryogenic forms were formed (due to permafrost processes). The southern boundary of the maximum Dnieper glaciation crossed the Central Russian Upland in the Tula region, then descended along the Don valley to the mouth of the Khopra and Medveditsa rivers, crossed the Volga Upland, the Volga near the mouth of the Sura, then the upper reaches of the Vyatka and Kama and the Urals in the region of 60˚N. Iron ore deposits (IMA) are concentrated in the foundation of the platform. The sedimentary cover is associated with reserves of coal (eastern part of the Donbass, Pechersk and Moscow region basins), oil and gas (Ural-Volga and Timan-Pechersk basins), oil shale (north-western and Middle Volga), building materials(wide distribution), bauxites (Kola Peninsula), phosphorites (in a number of areas), salts (Caspian region).

Climate

The climate of the plain is influenced by the geographical position, the Atlantic and Arctic oceans. Solar radiation changes dramatically with the seasons. In winter, more than 60% of the radiation is reflected by the snow cover. Throughout the year, the western transport dominates over the Russian Plain. The Atlantic air transforms as it moves east. During the cold period, many cyclones come to the plain from the Atlantic. In winter, they bring not only precipitation, but also warming. Mediterranean cyclones are especially warm when the temperature rises to +5˚ +7˚C. After cyclones from the North Atlantic, cold Arctic air penetrates into their rear, causing sharp cooling to the very south. Anticyclones in winter provide frosty clear weather. During the warm period, cyclones mix to the north; the northwest of the plain is especially susceptible to their influence. Cyclones bring rain and coolness in summer. Hot and dry air is formed in the cores of the spur of the Azores High, which often leads to droughts in the southeast of the plain. January isotherms in the northern half of the Russian Plain run submeridian from -4˚C in the Kaliningrad region to -20˚C in the northeast of the plain. In the southern part, the isotherms deviate to the southeast, amounting to -5˚C in the lower reaches of the Volga. In summer, the isotherms run sublatitudinally: +8˚C in the north, +20˚C along the Voronezh-Cheboksary line, and +24˚C in the south of the Caspian Sea. The distribution of precipitation depends on western transport and cyclonic activity. Especially a lot of them move in the 55˚-60˚N band, this is the most humid part of the Russian Plain (Valdai and Smolensk-Moscow Uplands): the annual precipitation here is from 800 mm in the west to 600 mm in the east. Moreover, on the western slopes of the uplands, precipitation is 100-200 mm more than on the lowlands lying behind them. The maximum precipitation occurs in July (in the south in June). In winter, a snow cover forms. In the northeast of the plain, its height reaches 60-70 cm and it occurs up to 220 days a year (more than 7 months). In the south, the height of the snow cover is 10-20 cm, and the duration of occurrence is up to 2 months. The moisture coefficient varies from 0.3 in the Caspian lowland to 1.4 in the Pechersk lowland. In the north, moisture is excessive, in the strip of the upper reaches of the Dniester, Don and the mouth of the Kama - sufficient and k≈1, in the south, moisture is insufficient. In the north of the plain, the climate is subarctic (the coast of the Arctic Ocean), in the rest of the territory the climate is temperate with varying degrees of continentality. At the same time, continentality increases towards the southeast.

Inland waters

Surface waters are closely related to climate, topography, and geology. The direction of rivers (river flow) is predetermined by orography and geostructures. The runoff from the Russian Plain occurs in the basins of the Arctic, Atlantic Oceans and in the Caspian basin. The main watershed runs along the Northern Ridges, Valdai, Central Russian and Volga Uplands. The largest is the Volga River (it is the largest in Europe), its length is more than 3530 km, and the basin area is 1360 thousand sq. km. The source lies on the Valdai Upland. After the confluence of the Selizharovka River (from Lake Seliger), the valley expands noticeably. From the mouth of the Oka to Volgograd, the Volga flows with sharply asymmetric slopes. On the Caspian lowland, branches of the Akhtuba separate from the Volga and a wide strip of floodplain is formed. The Volga Delta begins 170 km from the Caspian coast. The main food of the Volga is snow, so the flood is observed from the beginning of April to the end of May. The height of the water rise is 5-10 m. 9 reserves have been created on the territory of the Volga basin. The Don has a length of 1870 km, the basin area is 422 thousand sq. km. Source from a ravine on the Central Russian Upland. It flows into the Taganrog Bay of the Sea of Azov. Food is mixed: 60% snow, more than 30% groundwater and almost 10% rain. Pechora has a length of 1810 km, begins in the Northern Urals and flows into the Barents Sea. The area of the basin is 322 thousand km2. The nature of the current in the upper reaches is mountainous, the channel is rapids. In the middle and low reaches, the river flows through the moraine lowland and forms a wide floodplain, and a sandy delta at the mouth. Food is mixed: up to 55% falls on melted snow water, 25% on rainwater and 20% on groundwater. The Northern Dvina is about 750 km long and is formed from the confluence of the Sukhona, Yuga and Vychegda rivers. It flows into the Dvina Bay. The area of the basin is almost 360 thousand sq. km. The floodplain is wide. At the confluence of the river forms a delta. The food is mixed. Lakes on the Russian Plain differ primarily in the origin of lake basins: 1) moraine lakes are distributed in the north of the plain in areas of glacial accumulation; 2) karst - in the basins of the rivers of the Northern Dvina and the upper Volga; 3) thermokarst - in the extreme northeast, in the permafrost zone; 4) floodplain (oxbow lakes) - in the floodplains of large and medium-sized rivers; 5) estuary lakes - in the Caspian lowland. Groundwater is distributed throughout the Russian Plain. There are three artesian basins of the first order: Central Russian, East Russian and Caspian. Within their limits there are artesian basins of the second order: Moscow, Volga-Kama, Cis-Ural, etc. With depth, the chemical composition of water and water temperature change. Fresh waters occur at depths of no more than 250 m. Mineralization and temperature increase with depth. At a depth of 2-3 km, the water temperature can reach 70˚C.

Soils, flora and fauna

Soils, like vegetation on the Russian Plain, have a zonal distribution pattern. In the north of the plain there are tundra coarse-humus gley soils, there are peat-gley soils, etc. To the south, podzolic soils lie under the forests. In the northern taiga they are gley-podzolic, in the middle taiga they are typical podzolic, and in the southern taiga they are soddy-podzolic soils, which are also characteristic of mixed forests. Under deciduous forests and forest-steppe, gray forest soils are formed. In the steppes, the soils are chernozem (podzolized, typical, etc.). On the Caspian lowland, the soils are chestnut and brown desert, there are solonetzes and solonchaks.

The vegetation of the Russian Plain differs from the vegetation cover of other large regions of our country. Broad-leaved forests are common on the Russian Plain, and only here are semi-deserts. In general, the set of vegetation is very diverse from tundra to desert. In the tundra, mosses and lichens predominate; to the south, the number of dwarf birch and willow increases. Spruce with an admixture of birch dominates in the forest-tundra. In the taiga, spruce dominates, to the east with an admixture of fir, and on the poorest soils - pine. Mixed forests include coniferous-broad-leaved species, in broad-leaved forests, where they have been preserved, oak and linden dominate. These same rocks are also characteristic of the forest-steppe. The steppe occupies here the largest area in Russia, where cereals predominate. The semi-desert is represented by grass-wormwood and wormwood-saltwort communities.

In the animal world of the Russian Plain, western and eastern species are found. Forest animals are most widely represented and, to a lesser extent, steppe animals. Western species gravitate towards mixed and broad-leaved forests (marten, black polecat, dormouse, mole, and some others). Oriental species gravitate toward the taiga and forest-tundra (chipmunk, wolverine, Ob lemming, etc.). Rodents (ground squirrels, marmots, voles, etc.) dominate in the steppes and semi-deserts, and the saiga penetrates from the Asian steppes.

natural areas

Natural zones on the East European Plain are especially pronounced. From north to south, they replace each other: tundra, forest-tundra, taiga, mixed and broad-leaved forests, forest-steppe, steppes, semi-deserts and deserts. Tundra occupies the coast of the Barents Sea, covers the entire Kanin Peninsula and further to the east, to the Polar Urals. The European tundra is warmer and wetter than the Asian one, the climate is subarctic with maritime features. The average temperature in January varies from -10˚C near the Kanin Peninsula to -20˚C near the Yugorsky Peninsula. In summer around +5˚C. Precipitation 600-500 mm. The permafrost is thin, there are many swamps. On the coast, typical tundras are common on tundra-gley soils, with a predominance of mosses and lichens, in addition, arctic bluegrass, pike, alpine cornflower, and sedges grow here; from shrubs - wild rosemary, dryad (partridge grass), blueberries, cranberries. To the south, shrubs of dwarf birches and willows appear. The forest tundra extends south of the tundra in a narrow strip of 30-40 km. The forests here are sparse, the height is not more than 5-8 m, spruce dominates with an admixture of birch, sometimes larch. Low places are occupied by swamps, thickets of small willows or birch dwarf birch. There are many crowberries, blueberries, cranberries, blueberries, mosses and various taiga herbs. High-stemmed forests of spruce with an admixture of mountain ash (here it blooms on July 5) and bird cherry (blooms by June 30) penetrate along the river valleys. Of the animals of these zones, reindeer, arctic fox, polar wolf, lemming, hare, ermine, wolverine are typical. There are many birds in summer: eiders, geese, ducks, swans, snow bunting, white-tailed eagle, gyrfalcon, peregrine falcon; many blood-sucking insects. Rivers and lakes are rich in fish: salmon, whitefish, pike, burbot, perch, char, etc.

The taiga extends south of the forest-tundra, its southern border runs along the line St. Petersburg - Yaroslavl - Nizhny Novgorod - Kazan. In the west and in the center, the taiga merges with mixed forests, and in the east with forest-steppe. The climate of the European taiga is temperate continental. Precipitation on the plains is about 600 mm, on the hills up to 800 mm. Humidification is excessive. The growing season lasts from 2 months in the north to almost 4 months in the south of the zone. The depth of soil freezing is from 120 cm in the north to 30-60 cm in the south. The soils are podzolic, in the north there are peat-gley zones. There are many rivers, lakes, swamps in the taiga. The European taiga is characterized by dark coniferous taiga of European and Siberian spruce. To the east, fir is added, closer to the Urals, cedar and larch. Pine forests form on swamps and sands. On clearings and burnt areas - birch and aspen, along the river valleys alder, willow. Of the animals, elk, reindeer, brown bear, wolverine, wolf, lynx, fox, white hare, squirrel, mink, otter, chipmunk are characteristic. There are many birds: capercaillie, hazel grouse, owls, ptarmigan, snipes, woodcocks, lapwings, geese, ducks, etc. in swamps and reservoirs. Woodpeckers are widespread, especially three-toed and black, bullfinch, waxwing, smur, kuksha, tits, crossbills, kinglets and others. From reptiles and amphibians - vipers, lizards, newts, toads. In summer there are many blood-sucking insects. Mixed, and to the south broad-leaved forests are located in the western part of the plain between the taiga and the forest-steppe. The climate is temperate continental, but, unlike the taiga, it is milder and warmer. Winters are noticeably shorter and summers are longer. The soils are soddy-podzolic and gray forest. Many rivers begin here: the Volga, the Dnieper, the Western Dvina, and others. There are many lakes, there are swamps and meadows. The boundary between the forests is weakly expressed. With advancement to the east and north, the role of spruce and even fir in mixed forests increases, while the role of broad-leaved species decreases. There is linden and oak. To the southwest, maple, elm, ash appear, and conifers disappear. Pine forests are found only on poor soils. In these forests, undergrowth is well developed (hazel, honeysuckle, euonymus, etc.) and grass cover of goutweed, hoof, chickweed, some grasses, and where conifers grow, there are oxalis, maynik, ferns, mosses, etc. In connection with the economic development of these forests, the animal world has sharply decreased. There are elk, wild boar, red deer and roe deer have become very rare, bison only in reserves. The bear and lynx have practically disappeared. The fox, squirrel, dormice, forest polecat, beaver, badger, hedgehog, moles are still common; preserved marten, mink, forest cat, muskrat; muskrat, raccoon dog, American mink are acclimatized. From reptiles and amphibians - snake, viper, lizards, frogs, toads. Many birds, both sedentary and migratory. Woodpeckers, tits, nuthatch, blackbirds, jays, owls are characteristic, finches, warblers, flycatchers, warblers, buntings, waterfowl arrive in the summer. Black grouse, partridges, golden eagles, white-tailed eagles, etc. have become rare. Compared to the taiga, the number of invertebrates in the soil increases significantly. The forest-steppe zone extends south from the forests and reaches the line Voronezh - Saratov - Samara. The climate is temperate continental with an increase in the degree of continentality to the east, which affects the more depleted floristic composition in the east of the zone. Winter temperatures range from -5˚C in the west to -15˚C in the east. In the same direction, the annual amount of precipitation decreases. Summer is very warm everywhere +20˚+22˚C. Moisture coefficient in the forest-steppe is about 1. Sometimes, especially in last years, occur in the summer drought. The relief of the zone is characterized by erosional dissection, which creates a certain diversity of the soil cover. Most typical gray forest soils on loess-like loams. Leached chernozems are developed along the river terraces. The further south, the more leached and podzolized chernozems, and gray forest soils disappear. Little natural vegetation has been preserved. Forests here are found only in small islands, mainly oak forests, where you can find maple, elm, ash. Pine forests have been preserved on poor soils. Meadow forbs have been preserved only on lands that are not convenient for plowing. Animal world consists of forest and steppe fauna, but recently, in connection with economic activity the steppe fauna began to predominate. The steppe zone extends from the southern border of the forest-steppe to the Kumo-Manych depression and the Caspian lowland in the south. The climate is temperate continental, but with a significant degree of continentality. Summer is hot, average temperatures are +22˚+23˚C. Winter temperatures vary from -4˚C in the Azov steppes to -15˚C in the Trans-Volga steppes. Annual rainfall decreases from 500 mm in the west to 400 mm in the east. The moisture coefficient is less than 1, droughts and hot winds are frequent in summer. The northern steppes are less warm, but more humid than the southern ones. Therefore, the northern steppes are forb-feather grass on chernozem soils. The southern steppes are dry on chestnut soils. They are characterized by salinity. In the floodplains of large rivers (Don, etc.), floodplain forests of poplar, willow, alder, oak, elm, etc. grow. Among animals, rodents predominate: ground squirrels, shrews, hamsters, field mice, etc. From predators - ferrets, foxes, weasels . Birds include larks, steppe eagles, harriers, corncrakes, falcons, bustards, etc. There are snakes and lizards. Most of the northern steppes are now plowed up. The semi-desert and desert zone within Russia is located in the southwestern part of the Caspian lowland. This zone adjoins the coast of the Caspian Sea and merges with the deserts of Kazakhstan. The climate is continental temperate. Rainfall is about 300 mm. Winter temperatures are negative -5˚-10˚C. The snow cover is thin, but lies up to 60 days. Soils freeze up to 80 cm. Summer is hot and long, average temperatures are +23˚+25˚C. The Volga flows through the territory of the zone, forming a vast delta. There are many lakes, but almost all of them are salty. The soils are light chestnut, sometimes brown desert. The humus content does not exceed 1%. Solonchaks and salt licks are widespread. The vegetation cover is dominated by white and black wormwood, fescue, thin-legged, xerophytic feather grasses; to the south, the number of saltworts increases, a tamarisk shrub appears; tulips, buttercups, rhubarb bloom in spring. In the floodplain of the Volga, there are willow, white poplar, sedge, oak, aspen, etc. The animal world is represented mainly by rodents: jerboas, ground squirrels, gerbils, many reptiles - snakes and lizards. Of the predators, the steppe polecat, the corsac fox, and the weasel are typical. There are many birds in the Volga Delta, especially during the migration seasons. All natural zones of the Russian Plain have experienced anthropogenic impacts. Particularly heavily modified by man are the zones of forest-steppes and steppes, as well as mixed and broad-leaved forests.

Geographical position East European plain

The physical and geographical name of the Russian Plain is East European. The plain occupies about $4 million sq. km. and is the second largest in the world after the Amazonian lowland. Within Russia, the plain stretches from the coast of the Baltic Sea in the west to the Ural Mountains in the east. In the north, its border starts from the shores of the Barents and White Seas to the shores of the Azov and Caspian Seas in the south. From the northwest, the Russian Plain is bordered by the Scandinavian Mountains, in the west and southwest by the mountains of Central Europe and the Carpathians, in the south by the Caucasus Mountains and in the east by the Ural Mountains. Within Crimea, the border of the Russian Plain runs along the northern foot of the Crimean Mountains.

The following features defined the plain as a physiographic country:

The location of a slightly elevated plain on the slab of the ancient East European Platform;
Moderate and insufficiently humid climate, which is largely formed under the influence of the Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean;
The flatness of the relief had an impact on a clearly defined natural zonality.

Within the plain, two unequal parts stand out:

Socle-denudation plain on the Baltic crystalline shield;
The East European Plain proper with layered erosion-denudation and accumulative relief on the Russian and Scythian plates.

Relief crystal shield is the result of prolonged continental denudation. Tectonic movements recent times have already had a direct impact on the relief. In the Quaternary period, the territory occupied by the Baltic crystalline shield was the center of glaciation, so fresh forms of glacial relief are common here.

A powerful cover of platform deposits within actually East European Plain, lies almost horizontally. As a result, accumulative and layer-denudation lowlands and uplands were formed. The folded foundation protruding to the surface in some places formed socle-denudation hills and ridges - the Timan ridge, the Donetsk ridge, etc.

The East European Plain has an average height of about $170$ m above sea level. On the coast of the Caspian Sea, the heights will be the smallest, because the level of the Caspian Sea itself is $ 27.6 $ m below the level of the World Ocean. Elevations rise to $ 300 $ - $ 350 $ m above sea level, for example, the Podolsk Upland, whose height is $ 471 $ m.

Settlement of the East European Plain

The Eastern Slavs, according to a number of opinions, were the first to settle Eastern Europe, but this opinion, others believe, is erroneous. On this territory for the first time in the $ 30 millennium BC. Cro-Magnons appeared. To some extent, they were similar to modern representatives of the Caucasian race, and over time, their appearance became closer to characteristic features person. These events took place in a harsh winter. By the $X$ millennium, the climate in Eastern Europe was no longer so severe, and the first Indo-Europeans gradually began to appear on the territory of South-Eastern Europe. No one can say exactly where they were until that moment, but it is known that in the east of Europe they firmly settled in the $VI$-th millennium BC. e. and occupied a significant part of it.

Remark 1

The settlement by the Slavs of Eastern Europe occurred much later than the appearance of ancient people on it.

The peak of the settlement of the Slavs in Europe is considered $ V$-$VI$ centuries. new era and under the pressure of migration in the same period, they are divided into eastern, southern and western.

South Slavs settled in the Balkans and nearby territories. The tribal community ceases to exist, and the first similarities of states appear.

Simultaneously, settlement Western Slavs , which had a northwestern direction from the Vistula to the Elbe. Some of them, according to archaeological data, ended up in the Baltics. On the territory of modern Czech Republic in the $VII$ c. the first state appeared.

V Eastern Europe the resettlement of the Slavs took place without major problems. In ancient times, they had a primitive communal system, and later a tribal one. Due to the small population, there was enough land for everyone. Within Eastern Europe, the Slavs assimilated with the Finno-Ugric tribes and began to form tribal unions. These were the first state formations. In connection with climate warming, agriculture, cattle breeding, hunting and fishing are developing. Towards the Slavs was nature itself. East Slavs gradually became the most numerous group of Slavic peoples - these are Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians. The East European Plain began to be settled by the Slavs during the period early medieval, and to $VIII$ c. they already dominated it. On the plain, the Eastern Slavs settled in the neighborhood with other peoples, which was both positive and negative. negative traits. The colonization of the East European Plain by the Slavs took place over half a millennium and proceeded very unevenly. At the initial stage, land development took place along the path, which is called " from Varangians to Greeks". In a later period, the Slavs advanced to the east, west and southwest.

The colonization of the East European Plain by the Slavs had its own characteristics:

The process was slow due to the severity of the climate;
Different population densities in the colonized territories. The reason is the same - natural and climatic conditions, soil fertility. Naturally, there were few people in the north of the plain, and in the south of the plain, where conditions are favorable, there were much more settlers;
Since there was a lot of land, there were no confrontations with other peoples during the settlement;
Slavs imposed tribute on neighboring tribes;
Small peoples "merged" with the Slavs, adopting their culture, language, customs, customs, way of life.

Remark 2

In the life of the Slavic people, who settled on the territory of the East European Plain, began new stage associated with the rapid development of the economy, a change in the life system and way of life, the emergence of prerequisites for the formation of statehood.

Modern exploration of the East European Plain

After the settlement and settlement of the East European Plain Eastern Slavs, with the beginning of the development of the economy, the question of its study arose. Outstanding scientists of the country took part in the study of the plain, among which the name of the mineralogist V. M. Severgin can be mentioned.

studying the Baltics spring $1803$ V.M. Severgin drew attention to the fact that to the south-west of Lake Peipus, the character of the terrain becomes very hilly. To test his thoughts, he walked along the $24$ meridian from the mouth of the Gauja River to the Neman River and reached the Bug River, again noting many hills and sandy elevated fields. Similar "fields" were found in the upper reaches of the Ptich and Svisloch rivers. As a result of these works, in the west of the East European Plain, for the first time, an alternation of low-lying spaces and elevated "fields" was noted with the correct indication of their directions - from the southwest to the northeast.

Detailed study Polissya was caused by the reduction of meadow spaces due to plowing of land on the right bank of the Dnieper. For this purpose, in $1873$, the Western Expedition was created to drain the swamps. At the head of this expedition was the military topographer I. I. Zhilinsky. Researchers for $25$ summer period covered about $100$ thousand sq. km. territory of Polissya, $600$ of height measurements were made, a map of the region was compiled. On the materials collected I.I. Zhilinsky, the work was continued by A.A. Tillo. The hypsometric map he created showed that Polissya was a vast plain with raised edges. The results of the expedition were $300$ lakes and $500$ rivers of Polesye mapped with a total length of $9$ thousand km. A great contribution to the study of Polissya was made by the geographer G.I. Tanfiliev, who concluded that the drainage of the Polissya swamps would not lead to the shallowing of the Dnieper and P.A. Tutkovsky. He identified and mapped $5$ of highlands in the swampy areas of Polissya, including the Ovruch Ridge, from which the right tributaries of the lower Pripyat originate.

By studying Donetsk Ridge the young engineer of the Lugansk foundry, E.P. Kovalevsky, who found out that this ridge is geologically a huge basin. Kovalevsky became the discoverer of the Donbass and its first explorer, who compiled a geological map of this basin. It was he who recommended to engage in the search and exploration of ore deposits here.

In $1840$ for study natural resources country, the master of field geology R. Murchison was invited to Russia. Together with Russian scientists, a site was surveyed southern coast of the White Sea. In the course of the work carried out, rivers and uplands in the central part of the East European Plain were explored, hypsometric and geological maps of the area were compiled, on which the structural features of the Russian platform were clearly visible.

On the south of the East European Plain the founder of scientific soil science V.V. Dokuchaev. In $1883$, while studying chernozem, he came to the conclusion that there is a special chernozem-steppe zone in Eastern Europe. On the map compiled in $1900 by V.V. Dokuchaev allocates $5$ of the main natural zones on the territory of the plain.

In subsequent years, on the territory of the East European Plain and beyond, numerous scientific work according to her research, new scientific discoveries new maps were made.

Geographical position of the East European Plain

The following features defined the plain as a physiographic country:

The location of a slightly elevated plain on the slab of the ancient East European Platform;
Moderate and insufficiently humid climate, which is largely formed under the influence of the Atlantic and the Arctic Ocean;
The flatness of the relief had an impact on a clearly defined natural zonality.

Within the plain, two unequal parts stand out:

Socle-denudation plain on the Baltic crystalline shield;
The East European Plain proper with layered erosion-denudation and accumulative relief on the Russian and Scythian plates.

Relief crystal shield is the result of prolonged continental denudation. Tectonic movements of recent times have already had a direct impact on the relief. In the Quaternary period, the territory occupied by the Baltic crystalline shield was the center of glaciation, so fresh forms of glacial relief are common here.

Settlement of the East European Plain

The Eastern Slavs, according to a number of opinions, were the first to settle Eastern Europe, but this opinion, others believe, is erroneous. On this territory for the first time in the $ 30 millennium BC. Cro-Magnons appeared. To some extent, they were similar to modern representatives of the Caucasian race, and over time, their appearance became closer to the characteristic features of a person. These events took place in a harsh winter. By the $X$ millennium, the climate in Eastern Europe was no longer so severe, and the first Indo-Europeans gradually began to appear on the territory of South-Eastern Europe. No one can say exactly where they were until that moment, but it is known that in the east of Europe they firmly settled in the $VI$-th millennium BC. e. and occupied a significant part of it.

Remark 1

The settlement by the Slavs of Eastern Europe occurred much later than the appearance of ancient people on it.

South Slavs settled in the Balkans and nearby territories. The tribal community ceases to exist, and the first similarities of states appear.

Simultaneously, settlement Western Slavs, which had a northwestern direction from the Vistula to the Elbe. Some of them, according to archaeological data, ended up in the Baltics. On the territory of modern Czech Republic in the $VII$ c. the first state appeared.

V Eastern Europe the resettlement of the Slavs took place without major problems. In ancient times, they had a primitive communal system, and later a tribal one. Due to the small population, there was enough land for everyone. Within Eastern Europe, the Slavs assimilated with the Finno-Ugric tribes and began to form tribal unions. These were the first state formations. In connection with climate warming, agriculture, cattle breeding, hunting and fishing are developing. Towards the Slavs was nature itself. East Slavs gradually became the most numerous group of Slavic peoples - these are Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians. The East European Plain began to be settled by the Slavs in the early Middle Ages, and by the $VIII$ c. they already dominated it. On the plain, the Eastern Slavs settled in the neighborhood with other peoples, which had both positive and negative features. The colonization of the East European Plain by the Slavs took place over half a millennium and proceeded very unevenly. At the initial stage, land development took place along the path, which is called " from Varangians to Greeks". In a later period, the Slavs advanced to the east, west and southwest.

The colonization of the East European Plain by the Slavs had its own characteristics:

The process was slow due to the severity of the climate;
Different population densities in the colonized territories. The reason is the same - natural and climatic conditions, soil fertility. Naturally, there were few people in the north of the plain, and in the south of the plain, where conditions are favorable, there were much more settlers;
Since there was a lot of land, there were no confrontations with other peoples during the settlement;
Slavs imposed tribute on neighboring tribes;
Small peoples "merged" with the Slavs, adopting their culture, language, customs, customs, way of life.

Remark 2

In the life of the Slavic people, who settled on the territory of the East European Plain, a new stage began, associated with the rapid development of the economy, a change in the life order and way of life, the emergence of prerequisites for the formation of statehood.

Modern exploration of the East European Plain

After the settlement and settlement of the East European Plain by the Eastern Slavs, with the beginning of the development of the economy, the question of its study arose. Outstanding scientists of the country took part in the study of the plain, among which the name of the mineralogist V. M. Severgin can be mentioned.

Detailed study Polissya was caused by the reduction of meadow spaces due to plowing of land on the right bank of the Dnieper. For this purpose, in $1873$, the Western Expedition was created to drain the swamps. At the head of this expedition was the military topographer I. I. Zhilinsky. Researchers for $25$ summer period covered about $100$ thousand sq. km. territory of Polissya, $600$ of height measurements were made, a map of the region was compiled. Based on the materials collected by I.I. Zhilinsky, the work was continued by A.A. Tillo. The hypsometric map he created showed that Polissya was a vast plain with raised edges. The results of the expedition were $300$ lakes and $500$ rivers of Polesye mapped with a total length of $9$ thousand km. A great contribution to the study of Polissya was made by the geographer G.I. Tanfiliev, who concluded that the drainage of the Polissya swamps would not lead to the shallowing of the Dnieper and P.A. Tutkovsky. He identified and mapped $5$ of highlands in the swampy areas of Polissya, including the Ovruch Ridge, from which the right tributaries of the lower Pripyat originate.

In $1840$, a master of field geology R. Murchison was invited to Russia to study the natural resources of the country. Together with Russian scientists, a site was surveyed southern coast of the White Sea. In the course of the work carried out, rivers and uplands in the central part of the East European Plain were explored, hypsometric and geological maps of the area were compiled, on which the structural features of the Russian platform were clearly visible.

In subsequent years, numerous scientific studies were carried out on the territory of the East European Plain, new scientific discoveries were made, and new maps were compiled.

Poland Poland
Bulgaria Bulgaria
Romania Romania

East European Plain (Russian Plain)- a plain in Eastern Europe, an integral part of the European Plain. It extends from the coast of the Baltic Sea to the Ural Mountains, from the Barents and White Seas to the Black, Azov and Caspian. In the northwest it is bounded by the Scandinavian mountains, in the southwest by the Sudetenland and other mountains of central Europe, in the southeast by the Caucasus, and in the west the river Vistula serves as the conditional boundary of the plain. It is one of the largest plains in the world. The total length of the plain from north to south is more than 2.7 thousand kilometers, and from west to east - 2.5 thousand kilometers. The area is over 4 million square meters. km. . Since most of the plain is located within Russia is also known as Russian plain.

On the territory of the plain, in addition to Russia, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria are completely or partially located.

Relief and geological structure

The East European Plain consists of uplands with altitudes of 200-300 m above sea level and lowlands along which large rivers flow. The average height of the plain is 170 m, and the highest - 479 m - on the Bugulma-Belebeevskaya Upland in the Cis-Urals.

According to the features of orographic features within the East European Plain, three bands are clearly distinguished: central, northern and southern. A strip of alternating large uplands and lowlands passes through the central part of the plain: Central Russian, Volga, Bugulmin

To the north of this strip, low plains predominate, on the surface of which smaller hills are scattered in garlands and singly. From west to east-northeast, the Smolensk-Moscow, Valdai Uplands and Northern Uvals stretch here, replacing each other. The watersheds between the Arctic, Atlantic and internal drainless Aral-Caspian basins mainly pass along them. From the Northern Ridges, the territory descends to the White and Barents Seas. The southern part of the East European Plain is occupied by lowlands (Caspian, Black Sea, etc.), separated by low elevations (Ergeni, Stavropol Upland).

Almost all large uplands and lowlands are plains of tectonic origin.

At the base of the East European Plain lie Russian stove with Precambrian crystalline basement, in the south the northern edge Scythian plate with Paleozoic folded basement. The boundary between the plates in the relief is not expressed. On the uneven surface of the Precambrian basement of the Russian plate, strata of Precambrian (Vendian, in places Riphean) and Phanerozoic sedimentary rocks lie. Their thickness is not the same (from 1500-2000 to 100-150 m) and is due to the unevenness of the basement relief, which determines the main geostructures of the plate. These include syneclises - areas of deep foundation (Moscow, Pechora, Caspian, Glazov), anteclises - areas of shallow foundation (Voronezh, Volga-Ural), aulacogenes - deep tectonic ditches (Kresttsovsky, Soligalichsky, Moscow, etc.), ledges Baikal basement - Timan.

Glaciation strongly influenced the formation of the relief of the East European Plain. This effect was most pronounced in the northern part of the plain. As a result of the passage of the glacier through this territory, many lakes arose (Chudskoye, Pskovskoye, Beloe and others). In the south, southeast and eastern parts, which were subjected to glaciation in more than early period, their consequences are smoothed out by erosive processes.

Climate

The climate of the East European Plain is influenced by the features of its relief, geographical position in temperate and high latitudes, as well as neighboring territories (Western Europe and North Asia), the Atlantic and Arctic oceans, a significant length from west to east and from north to south. The total solar radiation per year in the north of the plain, in the Pechora basin, reaches 2700 mJ / m2 (65 kcal / cm2), and in the south, in the Caspian lowland, 4800-5050 mJ / m2 (115-120 kcal / cm2).

The smoothed relief of the plain contributes to the free transfer of air masses. The East European Plain is characterized by western transport of air masses. In summer, the Atlantic air brings coolness and precipitation, while in winter it brings warmth and precipitation. When moving east, it transforms: in summer it becomes warmer and drier in the surface layer, and colder in winter, but also loses moisture. During the cold season, 8 to 12 cyclones come from different parts of the Atlantic to the East European Plain. When they move to the east or northeast, there is a sharp change in air masses, contributing to either warming or cooling. With the arrival of southwestern cyclones, the warm air of subtropical latitudes invades the south of the plain. Then in January the air temperature can rise to 5°-7°C. The general continentality of the climate increases from the west and northwest to the south and southeast.

In summer, almost everywhere on the plain, the most important factor in the distribution of temperature is solar radiation, therefore, isotherms, unlike winter, are located mainly in accordance with geographic latitude. In the extreme north of the plain, the average July temperature rises to 8°C. The average July isotherm of 20°C goes through Voronezh to Cheboksary, roughly coinciding with the border between forest and forest-steppe, and the isotherm of 24°C crosses the Caspian lowland.

In the north of the East European Plain, more precipitation falls than can be evaporated under given temperature conditions. In the south of the northern climatic region, the moisture balance approaches neutral (atmospheric precipitation is equal to the evaporation rate).

Relief has an important influence on the amount of precipitation: on the western slopes of the uplands, precipitation is 150-200 mm more than on the eastern slopes and the lowlands shaded by them. In summer, on the uplands of the southern half of the Russian Plain, the frequency of rainy types of weather almost doubles, while the frequency of dry types decreases at the same time. In the southern part of the plain, the maximum precipitation occurs in June, and in the middle lane - in July.

In the south of the plain, the annual and monthly totals of precipitation fluctuate sharply, wet years alternate with dry ones. In Buguruslan (Orenburg region), for example, according to observations over 38 years, the average annual precipitation is 349 mm, the maximum annual precipitation is 556 mm, and the minimum is 144 mm. Droughts are a frequent occurrence for the south and southeast of the East European Plain. Drought can be spring, summer or autumn. About one year out of three is dry.

In winter, a snow cover forms. In the north-east of the plain, its height reaches 60-70 cm, and the duration of occurrence is up to 220 days a year. In the south, the height of the snow cover decreases to 10-20 cm, and the duration of occurrence is up to 60 days.

Hydrography

The East European Plain has a developed lake-river network, the density and regime of which change following climatic conditions from north to south. In the same direction, the degree of swampiness of the territory, as well as the depth of occurrence and the quality of groundwater, change.

Rivers

Most of the rivers of the East European Plain have two main directions - northern and southern. The rivers of the northern slope flow to the Barents, White and Baltic Seas, the rivers of the southern slope head to the Black, Azov and Caspian Seas.

The main watershed between the rivers of the sowing and southern slopes is stretched from the west-southwest to the east-northeast. It passes through the swamps of Polesie, the Lithuanian-Belarusian and Valdai Uplands, Northern Uvals. The most important watershed junction lies on the Valdai Upland. The sources of the Zapadnaya Dvina, the Dnieper and the Volga lie in close proximity here.

All rivers of the East European Plain belong to the same climatic type - predominantly snow-fed with spring floods. Despite belonging to the same climatic type, the rivers of the northern slope differ significantly in their regime from the rivers of the southern slope. The former are located in an area of positive moisture balance, in which precipitation prevails over evaporation.

With an annual precipitation of 400-600 mm in the north of the East European Plain in the tundra zone, the actual evaporation from earth's surface is 100 mm or less; in the middle lane, where the evaporation ridge passes, 500 mm in the west and 300 mm in the east. As a result, the share of river flow here is from 150 to 350 mm per year, or from 5 to 15 l / s per square kilometer of area. The crest of the runoff passes through the hinterland of Karelia (the northern coast of Lake Onega), the middle reaches of the Northern Dvina and the upper reaches of the Pechora.

Due to the large runoff, the rivers of the northern slope (Northern Dvina, Pechora, Neva, etc.) are full of water. Occupying 37.5% of the area of the Russian Plain, they provide 58% of its total runoff. The abundance of water in these rivers is combined with a more or less uniform distribution of runoff over the seasons. Although snow nutrition is in the first place for them, causing spring floods, rain and ground types of nutrition also play a significant role.

The rivers of the southern slope of the East European Plain flow in conditions of significant evaporation (500-300 mm in the north and 350-200 mm in the south) and a small amount of precipitation compared to the rivers of the northern slope (600-500 mm in the north and 350-200 mm in the south), which leads to a reduction in runoff from 150-200 mm in the north to 10-25 mm in the south. If we express the flow of rivers of the southern slope in liters per second per square kilometer of area, then in the north it will be only 4-6 liters, and in the southeast less than 0.5 liters. The insignificant size of the runoff determines the low water of the rivers of the southern slope and its extreme unevenness during the year: the maximum runoff falls on a short period of spring flood.

lakes

The lakes are located on the East European Plain extremely unevenly. Most of them are in the well-moistened northwest. southeastern part the plains, on the contrary, are almost devoid of lakes. It receives little atmospheric precipitation and, moreover, has a mature erosional relief, devoid of closed basin forms. Four lake regions can be distinguished on the territory of the Russian Plain: the region of glacial-tectonic lakes, the region of moraine lakes, the region of floodplain and suffusion-karst lakes, and the region of estuary lakes.

Region of glacial-tectonic lakes

Glacial-tectonic lakes are common in Karelia, Finland and the Kola Peninsula, forming a real lake country. Only in the territory of Karelia there are almost 44 thousand lakes with an area from 1 hectare to several hundred and thousand square kilometers. The lakes of this area, often large, are scattered along tectonic depressions, deepened and processed by the glacier. Their shores are rocky, composed of ancient crystalline rocks.

Region of moraine lakes Region of floodplain and suffosion-karst lakes

The inner central and southern regions of the East European Plain cover the area of floodplain and suffosion-karst lakes. This area lies outside the boundaries of glaciation, with the exception of the northwest, covered by the Dnieper glacier. Due to the well-pronounced erosion relief, there are few lakes in the region. Only floodplain lakes along river valleys are common; occasionally there are small karst and suffusion lakes.

Area of firth lakes

The area of estuary lakes is located on the territory of two coastal lowlands - the Black Sea and the Caspian. At the same time, estuaries are understood here as lakes of various origins. The estuaries of the Black Sea Lowland are sea bays (in the past, river mouths), fenced off from the sea by sand spits. Limans, or ilmens, of the Caspian Lowland are poorly formed depressions that are filled with water from the rivers flowing into them in spring, and in summer turn into swamps, salt marshes or hayfields.

The groundwater

Groundwater is distributed throughout the East European Plain, forming the East European platform artesian region. The depressions of the foundation serve as reservoirs for the accumulation of waters of artesian basins of various sizes. Within Russia, three artesian basins of the first order are distinguished here: Central Russian, East Russian and Caspian. Within their limits there are artesian basins of the second order: Moscow, Sursko-Khopyor, Volga-Kama, Cis-Ural, etc. One of the large ones is the Moscow basin, confined to the syneclise of the same name, which contains pressure waters in fractured carbonic limestones.

With depth, the chemical composition and temperature of groundwater change. Fresh waters have a thickness of no more than 250 m, and their mineralization increases with depth - from fresh hydrocarbonate to brackish and salty sulfate and chloride, and below - to chloride, sodium brines and in the deepest parts of the basin - to calcium-sodium. The temperature rises and reaches a maximum of about 70°C at depths of 2 km in the west and 3.5 km in the east.

natural areas

Almost all species exist on the East European Plain. natural areas available on the territory of Russia.

The most common natural areas (from north to south):

Tundra (northern Kola Peninsula)
Taiga - Olonets Plain.
Mixed forests - Central Berezinsky plain, Orsha-Mogilev plain, Meshchera lowland.
Broad-leaved forests (Mazowiecke-Podlaskie Lowland)
Forest-steppe - Oka-Don Plain, including the Tambov Plain.
Steppes and semi-deserts - Black Sea lowland, Ciscaucasian plain (Kuban lowland, Chechen plain) and Caspian lowland.

Natural territorial complex of the plain

The East European Plain is one of the large natural territorial complexes (NTC) of Russia, the features of which are:

large area: the second largest plain in the world;
Rich Resources: PTC has rich land resources, for example: minerals, water and plant resources, fertile soil, many cultural and tourism resources;
historical significance: many important events in the history of Russia took place on the plain, which is undoubtedly an advantage of this zone.

The largest cities of Russia are located on the territory of the plain. This is the center of the beginning and foundation of Russian culture. Great writers drew inspiration from the beautiful and picturesque places of the East European Plain.

The variety of natural complexes of the Russian Plain is great. These are flat coastal lowlands covered with shrub-moss tundra, and hilly-morainic plains with spruce or coniferous-broad-leaved forests, and vast swampy lowlands, erosion-dissected forest-steppe uplands and floodplains, overgrown with meadows and shrubs. by the most large complexes plains are natural areas. The features of the relief and climate of the Russian Plain determine a clear change within its natural zones from northwest to southeast, from tundra to deserts. temperate zone. The most complete set of natural zones can be traced here in comparison with other large natural regions of our country. The northernmost regions of the Russian Plain are occupied by tundra and forest tundra. The warming effect of the Barents Sea is manifested in the fact that the strip - tundra and forest-tundra on the Russian Plain is narrow. It expands only in the east, where the severity of the climate increases. The climate on the Kola Peninsula is humid, and winters are unusually warm for these latitudes. Plant communities are also peculiar here: shrub tundra with crowberry are replaced to the south by birch forest tundra. More than half of the plain area is occupied by forests. In the west they reach 50°N. sh., and in the east - up to 55 ° N. sh. There are zones of taiga and mixed and broad-leaved forests. Both zones are heavily swamped in the western part, where precipitation is high. Spruce and pine forests are widespread in the taiga of the Russian Plain. The zone of mixed and broad-leaved forests gradually wedges out to the east, where the continental climate increases. Most of this zone is occupied by the NTC of moraine plains. Picturesque hills and ridges with mixed coniferous-deciduous forests, which do not form large massifs, with meadows and fields alternate with monotonous sandy, often marshy lowlands. There are many small lakes filled with clear waters and intricately winding rivers. And a huge number of boulders: from large ones, the size of a truck, to very small ones. They are everywhere: on the slopes and tops of hills and hills, in the lowlands, on arable land, in forests, riverbeds. To the south, sandy plains - woodlands, remaining after the retreat of the glacier, appear. Broad-leaved forests do not grow on poor sandy soils. Pine forests dominate here. Large areas of woodlands are swamped. Among the swamps, low-lying herbaceous ones predominate, but there are also upland sphagnum ones. A forest-steppe zone stretches along the edge of the forests from that west to the northeast. Uplands and low plains alternate in the forest-steppe zone. The uplands are dissected by a dense network of deep gullies and ravines and are better moistened than the low plains. Prior to human intervention, they were predominantly covered by oak forests on gray forest soils. Meadow steppes on chernozems occupied smaller areas. The low plains are poorly dissected. There are many small depressions (depressions) on them. In the past, meadow forb steppes on chernozems dominated here. Currently in the forest-steppe zone large areas plowed up. This causes increased erosion. The forest-steppe is replaced by the steppe zone. The steppe spreads out as a wide boundless plain, more often completely flat, in places with mounds and small hills. Where areas of steppe virgin lands have been preserved, at the beginning of summer it seems silvery from flowering feather grass and worries like the sea. At present, fields are visible everywhere as far as the eye can see. You can drive tens of kilometers, and the picture will not change. In the extreme southeast, in the Caspian Sea, there are zones of semi-deserts and deserts. The temperate continental climate determined the dominance of spruce forests in the forest-tundra and taiga of the Russian Plain, and oak forests in the forest-steppe zone. The increase in continentality and dryness of the climate was reflected in a more complete set of natural zones in the eastern part of the plain, the shift of their boundaries to the north, and the wedging out of the zone of mixed and broad-leaved forests.

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Notes

Literature

Lebedinsky V.I. Volcanic crown of the Great Plain. - M .: Nauka, 1973. - 192 p. - (The present and future of the Earth and mankind). - 14,000 copies.
Koronkevich N. I. Water balance of the Russian Plain and its anthropogenic changes / USSR Academy of Sciences, Institute of Geography. - M .: Nauka, 1990. - 208 p. - (Problems of constructive geography). - 650 copies. - ISBN 5-02-003394-4.
Vorobyov V. M. Volokovye ways on the Main watershed of the Russian Plain. Tutorial. - Tver: Slavic world, 2007. - 180 p., ill.

An excerpt characterizing the East European Plain

- So, so, - said Bagration, thinking something, and drove past the limbers to the extreme gun.
While he was approaching, a shot rang out from this cannon, deafening him and his retinue, and in the smoke that suddenly surrounded the cannon, artillerymen were visible, grabbing the cannon and, hastily straining, rolling it back to its original place. A broad-shouldered, huge soldier of the 1st with a banner, legs wide apart, jumped back to the wheel. The 2nd, with a trembling hand, put a charge into the muzzle. A small, round-shouldered man, officer Tushin, stumbled on his trunk and ran forward without noticing the general and looking out from under his small hand.
“Add two more lines, that’s exactly what will happen,” he shouted in a thin voice, to which he tried to give a youthfulness that did not suit his figure. - Second! he squeaked. - Crush, Medvedev!
Bagration called out to the officer, and Tushin, with a timid and awkward movement, not at all like the military salute, but like the priests bless, putting three fingers to the visor, approached the general. Although Tushin's guns were assigned to bombard the hollow, he fired firebrandskugels at the village of Shengraben, which could be seen ahead, in front of which large masses French.
No one ordered Tushin where and with what to shoot, and he, after consulting with his sergeant major Zakharchenko, for whom he had great respect, decided that it would be good to set fire to the village. "Good!" Bagration said to the report of the officer and began to look around the entire battlefield that opened before him, as if thinking something. On the right side, the French came closest. Below the height on which the Kiev regiment stood, in the hollow of the river, the erratic rattle of guns was heard, and much to the right, behind the dragoons, the retinue officer pointed out to the prince at the French column that was bypassing our flank. To the left the horizon was limited to a close forest. Prince Bagration ordered two battalions from the center to go for reinforcements to the right. The retinue officer dared to remark to the prince that after the departure of these battalions, the guns would be left without cover. Prince Bagration turned to the retinue officer and looked at him with dull eyes in silence. It seemed to Prince Andrei that the remark of the retinue officer was just and that there really was nothing to say. But at that time an adjutant galloped up from the regimental commander, who was in the hollow, with the news that huge masses of the French were coming down, that the regiment was upset and was retreating to the Kiev grenadiers. Prince Bagration bowed his head in agreement and approval. He walked at a pace to the right and sent an adjutant to the dragoons with orders to attack the French. But the adjutant sent there arrived half an hour later with the news that the dragoon regimental commander had already retreated beyond the ravine, for heavy fire had been directed against him, and he was wasting people in vain and therefore hurried shooters into the forest.
- Good! Bagration said.
While he was driving away from the battery, shots were also heard to the left in the forest, and since it was too far to the left flank to have time to arrive on time himself, Prince Bagration sent Zherkov there to tell the senior general, the same one who represented the regiment to Kutuzov in Braunau, so that he retreats as quickly as possible behind the ravine, because the right flank will probably not be able to hold the enemy for a long time. About Tushin, and the battalion that covered him, was forgotten. Prince Andrei carefully listened to the conversations of Prince Bagration with the chiefs and to the orders he gave, and to his surprise he noticed that no orders were given, and that Prince Bagration only tried to pretend that everything that was done out of necessity, chance and the will of private chiefs, that all this was done, if not by his order, but according to his intentions. Thanks to the tact shown by Prince Bagration, Prince Andrei noticed that, despite this randomness of events and their independence from the will of the chief, his presence did an extremely great deal. The commanders, who drove up to Prince Bagration with upset faces, became calm, the soldiers and officers greeted him cheerfully and became livelier in his presence and, apparently, flaunted their courage in front of him.

Prince Bagration, riding out to the highest point of our right flank, began to descend, where erratic shooting was heard and nothing was visible from the powder smoke. The closer they descended to the hollow, the less they could see, but the more sensitive became the proximity of the real battlefield itself. They began to meet the wounded. One with a bloody head, without a hat, was dragged by two soldiers by the arms. He wheezed and spat. The bullet hit, apparently, in the mouth or throat. Another, whom he met, walked briskly alone, without a gun, groaning loudly and waving his hand in fresh pain, from which blood was pouring, like from a glass, onto his overcoat. His face looked more frightened than hurt. He was wounded a minute ago. Having crossed the road, they began to descend steeply and on the descent they saw several people who were lying; they met a crowd of soldiers, some of whom were not wounded. The soldiers walked uphill, breathing heavily, and, despite the appearance of the general, they talked loudly and waved their hands. Ahead, in the smoke, rows of gray overcoats were already visible, and the officer, seeing Bagration, ran screaming after the soldiers marching in a crowd, demanding that they return. Bagration rode up to the ranks, along which here and there shots quickly clicked, drowning out the conversation and shouts of command. All the air was saturated with gunpowder smoke. The faces of the soldiers were all smoked with gunpowder and animated. Others beat them with ramrods, others sprinkled them on the shelves, took out charges from their bags, and still others fired. But whom they were shooting at, this was not visible from the powder smoke, which was not blown away by the wind. Quite often, pleasant sounds of buzzing and whistling were heard. "What it is? - thought Prince Andrei, driving up to this crowd of soldiers. “It can't be an attack because they don't move; there can't be carre: they don't cost that much."
A thin, weak-looking old man, a regimental commander, with a pleasant smile, with eyelids that more than half covered his senile eyes, giving him a meek air, rode up to Prince Bagration and received him as the host of a dear guest. He reported to Prince Bagration that there was a French cavalry attack against his regiment, but that, although this attack was repulsed, the regiment lost more than half of its people. The regimental commander said that the attack was repulsed, giving this military name to what was happening in his regiment; but he really did not himself know what was going on during those half an hour in the troops entrusted to him, and could not say with certainty whether the attack was repelled or his regiment was defeated by the attack. At the beginning of the actions, he only knew that cores and grenades began to fly all over his regiment and beat people, that then someone shouted: “cavalry”, and ours began to shoot. And so far they have been shooting not at the cavalry, which disappeared, but at the French foot soldiers, who appeared in the hollow and fired at ours. Prince Bagration bowed his head as a sign that all this was exactly as he wished and assumed. Turning to the adjutant, he ordered him to bring two battalions of the 6th Chasseurs from the mountain, past which they had now passed. Prince Andrei was struck at that moment by the change that had taken place in the face of Prince Bagration. His face expressed that concentrated and happy determination that a person has when he is ready to throw himself into the water on a hot day and takes the last run. There were no sleepy dull eyes, no feigned thoughtful look: round, hard, hawk-like eyes looked ahead enthusiastically and somewhat contemptuously, obviously not stopping at anything, although his former slowness and measuredness remained in his movements.
The regimental commander turned to Prince Bagration, begging him to drive back, as it was too dangerous here. "Have mercy, your Excellency, for God's sake!" he said, looking for confirmation at the retinue officer, who was turning away from him. "Here, if you please, see!" He let them see the bullets, which incessantly squealed, sang and whistled around them. He spoke in such a tone of request and reproach, with which a carpenter says to a master holding an ax: “Our business is familiar, but you will get your hands wet.” He spoke as if he himself could not be killed by these bullets, and his half-closed eyes made his words even more convincing. The staff officer joined in the exhortations of the regimental commander; but Prince Bagration did not answer them and only ordered them to stop firing and line up in such a way as to make room for the two battalions that were approaching. While he was speaking, as if with an invisible hand stretched from right to left, from the rising wind, the canopy of smoke that hid the hollow, and the opposite mountain with the French moving along it, opened up before them. All eyes were involuntarily fixed on this French column, moving towards us and meandering along the ledges of the terrain. The furry hats of the soldiers were already visible; it was already possible to distinguish officers from privates; one could see how their banner fluttered on the staff.
“They are going well,” said someone in Bagration’s retinue.
The head of the column had already descended into the hollow. The collision must have taken place on this side of the descent...
The remnants of our regiment, which was in action, hastily forming up, retreated to the right; from behind them, dispersing the stragglers, two battalions of the 6th Chasseurs approached harmoniously. They had not yet reached Bagration, and already a heavy, heavy step was heard, beaten in the leg by the whole mass of people. From the left flank, the company commander walked closest to Bagration, a round-faced, stately man with a stupid, happy expression on his face, the same one who ran out of the booth. He apparently did not think of anything at that moment, except that he would pass by the authorities as a fine fellow.
With ruthless self-satisfaction, he walked lightly on muscular legs, as if he were swimming, stretching himself without the slightest effort and differing in this lightness from the heavy step of the soldiers walking along his step. He carried at his foot a thin, narrow sword (a bent skewer that did not look like a weapon) at his foot, and, looking now at his superiors, then back, without losing his step, flexibly turned around with his whole strong camp. It seemed that all the forces of his soul were aimed at the best way walk past the authorities, and feeling that he was doing this job well, he was happy. “Left ... left ... left ...”, he seemed to say inwardly every step, and according to this tact, with variously strict faces, a wall of soldier figures, weighed down with satchels and guns, moved, as if each of these hundreds of soldiers mentally sentenced every step: “ left ... left ... left ... ". The fat major, puffing and breaking his pace, went around the bush along the road; a lagging soldier, out of breath, with a frightened face for his malfunction, was trotting up to the company; the ball, pressing the air, flew over the head of Prince Bagration and his retinue and in time: “left - left!” hit the column. "Close up!" I heard the flaunting voice of the company commander. The soldiers arced around something in the place where the ball fell; the old cavalier, a flank non-commissioned officer, lagging behind the dead, caught up with his line, jumped up, changed his foot, fell into step and looked around angrily. “Left…left…left…” seemed to be heard from behind the menacing silence and the monotonous sound of feet hitting the ground at the same time.
- Well done guys! - said Prince Bagration.
"For the sake of ... hoo ho ho ho! ..." resounded through the ranks. The gloomy soldier who was walking on the left, shouting, looked round at Bagration with such an expression as if he were saying: "we know ourselves"; the other, without looking back and as if afraid of being entertained, with his mouth open, shouted and passed.
They were ordered to stop and take off their knapsacks.
Bagration rode around the rows that passed by him and dismounted from his horse. He gave the Cossack the reins, took off and handed over the cloak, straightened his legs and straightened his cap on his head. The head of the French column, with officers in front, appeared from under the mountain.
"With God blessing!" Bagration spoke in a firm, audible voice, turned for a moment to the front and, slightly waving his arms, with the awkward step of a cavalryman, as if laboring, went forward across the uneven field. Prince Andrei felt that some irresistible force was drawing him forward, and he experienced great happiness. [Here the attack occurred, about which Thiers says: “Les russes se conduisirent vaillamment, et chose rare a la guerre, on vit deux masses d" infanterie Mariecher resolument l "une contre l" autre sans qu "aucune des deux ceda avant d "etre abordee"; and Napoleon on St. Helena said: "Quelques bataillons russes montrerent de l" intrepidite ". [The Russians behaved valiantly, and a rare thing in war, two masses of infantry marched decisively against one another, and neither of the two gave way until the very collision. Napoleon's words: [Several Russian battalions showed fearlessness.]
The French were already close; already Prince Andrei, walking next to Bagration, clearly distinguished the bandages, red epaulettes, even the faces of the French. (He clearly saw one old French officer, who, with twisted legs in boots, was with difficulty walking uphill.) Prince Bagration did not give a new order and still silently walked in front of the ranks. Suddenly, one shot crackled between the French, another, a third ... and smoke spread through all the upset enemy ranks and the firing crackled. Several of our men fell, including the round-faced officer who walked so cheerfully and diligently. But at the same moment as the first shot rang out, Bagration looked around and shouted: "Hurrah!"
"Hurrah ah ah!" a drawn-out cry resounded along our line, and, overtaking Prince Bagration and each other, in a discordant, but cheerful and lively crowd, ours ran downhill after the upset French.

The attack of the 6th Chasseurs ensured the retreat of the right flank. In the center, the action of Tushin's forgotten battery, which managed to set fire to Shengraben, stopped the movement of the French. The French extinguished the fire carried by the wind and gave time to retreat. The retreat of the center through the ravine was carried out hastily and noisily; however, the troops, retreating, were not confused by teams. But the left flank, which was simultaneously attacked and bypassed by the excellent forces of the French under the command of Lann and which consisted of the Azov and Podolsky infantry and Pavlograd hussar regiments, was upset. Bagration sent Zherkov to the general of the left flank with orders to retreat immediately.
Zherkov briskly, without taking his hand off his cap, touched the horse and galloped off. But as soon as he drove away from Bagration, his forces betrayed him. An insurmountable fear came over him, and he could not go where it was dangerous.
Having approached the troops of the left flank, he did not go forward, where there was shooting, but began to look for the general and commanders where they could not be, and therefore did not give orders.
The command of the left flank belonged in seniority to the regimental commander of the very regiment that presented itself under Braunau Kutuzov and in which Dolokhov served as a soldier. The command of the extreme left flank was assigned to the commander of the Pavlograd regiment, where Rostov served, as a result of which there was a misunderstanding. Both commanders were greatly irritated against each other, and at the same time that the right flank had long been going on and the French had already launched an offensive, both commanders were busy with negotiations that aimed to offend each other. The regiments, both cavalry and infantry, were very little prepared for the upcoming business. The people of the regiments, from a soldier to a general, did not expect a battle and calmly engaged in peaceful affairs: feeding the horses in the cavalry, collecting firewood in the infantry.
“He is, however, older than me in rank,” said the German, a hussar colonel, blushing and turning to the adjutant who drove up, “then leave him to do as he wants. I cannot sacrifice my hussars. Trumpeter! Play Retreat!
But things were getting rushed. Cannonade and shooting, merging, thundered from the right and in the center, and the French hoods of Lannes' shooters were already passing the mill dam and lined up on this side in two rifle shots. The infantry colonel with a shuddering gait approached the horse and, mounting it and becoming very straight and tall, rode to the Pavlograd commander. The regimental commanders arrived with courteous bows and hidden malice in their hearts.
“Again, colonel,” said the general, “however, I cannot leave half the people in the forest. I beg you, I beg you,” he repeated, “take position and prepare for the attack.
“And I ask you not to interfere with your own business,” the colonel answered, getting excited. - If you were a cavalryman ...
- I'm not a cavalryman, Colonel, but I'm a Russian general, and if you don't know...
“Very well known, Your Excellency,” the colonel suddenly cried out, touching the horse, and turning red-purple. - Would you like to join the chains, and you will see that this position is worthless. I don't want to destroy my regiment for your pleasure.
“You are forgetting, Colonel. I do not observe my pleasure and I will not allow it to be said.
The general, accepting the colonel's invitation to the tournament of courage, straightening his chest and frowning, rode with him in the direction of the chain, as if all their disagreement was to be decided there, in the chain, under the bullets. They arrived at the chain, several bullets flew over them, and they silently stopped. There was nothing to see in the chain, since even from the place where they had previously stood, it was clear that it was impossible for the cavalry to operate through the bushes and ravines, and that the French were bypassing the left wing. The general and the colonel looked sternly and significantly as the two roosters, preparing for battle, looked at each other, waiting in vain for signs of cowardice. Both passed the test. Since there was nothing to say, and neither one nor the other wanted to give the other a reason to say that he was the first to get out from under the bullets, they would have stood there for a long time, mutually experiencing courage, if at that time in the forest, almost behind them, the rattle of guns and a muffled, merging cry were heard. The French attacked the soldiers who were in the forest with firewood. The hussars could no longer retreat with the infantry. They were cut off from the retreat to the left by a French line. Now, however inconvenient the terrain was, it was necessary to attack in order to make their way.
The squadron, where Rostov served, who had just managed to get on his horses, was stopped facing the enemy. Again, as on the Ensky bridge, there was no one between the squadron and the enemy, and between them, separating them, lay the same terrible line of uncertainty and fear, as it were, a line separating the living from the dead. All people felt this line, and the question of whether or not they would cross the line and how they would cross the line worried them.
A colonel rode up to the front, angrily answered something to the questions of the officers, and, like a man desperately insisting on his own, gave some kind of order. No one said anything definitive, but rumors of an attack swept through the squadron. There was a command to build, then sabers screeched out of their scabbards. But still no one moved. The troops of the left flank, both the infantry and the hussars, felt that the authorities themselves did not know what to do, and the indecision of the commanders was communicated to the troops.
“Hurry, hurry,” thought Rostov, feeling that at last the time had come to taste the pleasure of the attack, about which he had heard so much from his comrades hussars.
- With God, g "fuck," Denisov's voice sounded, - g "ysyo, magician" sh!
In the front row, the croups of horses swayed. Grachik pulled the reins and set off on his own.
On the right, Rostov saw the first ranks of his hussars, and even further ahead he could see a dark stripe, which he could not see, but considered the enemy. Shots were heard, but in the distance.
- Add lynx! - a command was heard, and Rostov felt how he was giving in backwards, interrupting his Grachik at a gallop.
He guessed his movements ahead, and he became more and more cheerful. He noticed a lone tree ahead. This tree was at first in front, in the middle of that line that seemed so terrible. And so they crossed this line, and not only was there nothing terrible, but it became more and more cheerful and lively. "Oh, how I will cut him," thought Rostov, clutching the hilt of the saber in his hand.
– Oh oh oh ah ah!! - voices boomed. "Well, now whoever gets caught," thought Rostov, pressing Grachik's spurs, and, overtaking the others, let him go all over the quarry. The enemy was already visible ahead. Suddenly, like a wide broom, something lashed the squadron. Rostov raised his saber, preparing to cut, but at that time the soldier Nikitenko, galloping ahead, separated from him, and Rostov felt, as in a dream, that he continued to rush forward with unnatural speed and at the same time remained in place. Behind him, the familiar hussar Bandarchuk galloped up at him and looked angrily. Bandarchuk's horse shied away, and he galloped past.
"What is this? am I not moving? “I fell, I was killed ...” Rostov asked and answered in an instant. He was already alone in the middle of the field. Instead of moving horses and hussar backs, he saw around him motionless earth and stubble. Warm blood was under him. "No, I am wounded and the horse is killed." Rook got up on his front legs, but fell, crushing his rider's leg. Blood was flowing from the horse's head. The horse struggled and could not get up. Rostov wanted to get up and fell too: the cart caught on the saddle. Where were ours, where were the French - he did not know. Nobody was around.
He freed his leg and stood up. “Where, on what side was now that line that so sharply separated the two troops?” he asked himself and could not answer. “Has something bad happened to me? Are there such cases, and what should be done in such cases? he asked himself, getting up; and at that time he felt that something superfluous was hanging on his left numb hand. Her brush was like someone else's. He looked at his hand, searching in vain for blood. “Well, here are the people,” he thought happily, seeing several people running towards him. “They will help me!” Ahead of these people ran one in a strange shako and in a blue overcoat, black, tanned, with a hooked nose. Two more and many more fled behind. One of them said something strange, non-Russian. Between the rear of the same people, in the same shakos, stood one Russian hussar. He was held by the hands; his horse was kept behind him.
“That's right, our prisoner ... Yes. Will they take me too? What kind of people are these? Rostov kept thinking, not believing his eyes. "Are they French?" He looked at the approaching French, and despite the fact that in a second he galloped only to overtake these Frenchmen and cut them down, their proximity now seemed to him so terrible that he could not believe his eyes. "Who are they? Why are they running? Really to me? Are they running towards me? And why? Kill me? Me, whom everyone loves so much? - He remembered the love for him of his mother, family, friends, and the intention of the enemies to kill him seemed impossible. "Or maybe - and kill!" He stood for more than ten seconds, not moving from his place and not understanding his position. The hump-nosed Frenchman in front ran so close that you could already see the expression on his face. And the heated, alien physiognomy of this man, who, with a bayonet in excess, holding his breath, easily ran up to him, frightened Rostov. He grabbed a pistol and, instead of firing it, threw it at the Frenchman and ran towards the bushes with all his strength. Not with that feeling of doubt and struggle with which he went to the Ensky bridge, he fled, but with the feeling of a hare running away from dogs. One inseparable feeling of fear for his young, happy life dominated his entire being. Quickly jumping over the fences, with the swiftness with which he ran, playing burners, he flew across the field, occasionally turning his pale, kind, young face, and a chill of horror ran down his back. "No, it's better not to look," he thought, but, running up to the bushes, he looked back again. The French lagged behind, and even at the moment he looked back, the one in front had just changed his trot to a step and, turning around, was shouting something loudly to his rear comrade. Rostov stopped. "Something's wrong," he thought, "it can't be that they want to kill me." Meanwhile, his left hand was so heavy, as if a two-pound weight was hung from it. He couldn't run any further. The Frenchman also stopped and took aim. Rostov closed his eyes and bent down. One, another bullet flew, buzzing, past him. He gathered the last of his strength, took his left hand into his right and ran to the bushes. There were Russian arrows in the bushes.

Infantry regiments, caught unawares in the forest, ran out of the forest, and companies, mingling with other companies, left in disorderly crowds. One soldier, in fright, uttered a terrible and meaningless word in the war: “cut off!”, And the word, along with a feeling of fear, was communicated to the whole mass.
- Bypassed! Cut off! Gone! shouted the voices of the fugitives.
The regimental commander, at the very moment he heard the shooting and shouting from behind, realized that something terrible had happened to his regiment, and the thought that he, an exemplary, who had served for many years, an innocent officer, could be guilty before his superiors in an oversight or indiscipline, so struck him that at that very moment, forgetting both the rebellious cavalry colonel and his general importance, and most importantly - completely forgetting about the danger and sense of self-preservation, he, grabbing the pommel of the saddle and spurring the horse, galloped to the regiment under a hail of bullets that sprinkled, but happily passed him by. He wanted one thing: to find out what was the matter, and to help and correct at all costs the mistake, if it was on his part, and not to be guilty of him, having served for twenty-two years as an exemplary officer, not noticed in anything.

Briefly describe the geographical position of the Russian Plain. East European Plain: Key Features

Features of the geographical location of the European part of the Russian Federation

Main economic objects

Settlement of the East European Plain

Modern exploration of the East European Plain

Settlement of the East European Plain

Modern exploration of the East European Plain

Relief and geological structure

Climate

Hydrography

Rivers

lakes

The groundwater

natural areas

Natural territorial complex of the plain

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An excerpt characterizing the East European Plain