1.
Geographic coordinate system
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A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
Geographic coordinate system
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Longitude lines are perpendicular and latitude lines are parallel to the equator.
2.
Polish-Russian War (1605-1618)
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Sweden also participated in the conflict during the course of the Ingrian War, sometimes allying itself with Russia, and other times fighting against it. The war can be divided into four stages, the first wave of the Polish invasion began in 1605 and ended in 1606 with the death of False Dmitri I. The second wave started in 1607 and lasted until 1609, when Tsar Vasili made an alliance with Sweden. In response to this alliance, the Polish king Sigismund III decided to officially and to declare war upon Russia, aiming to weaken Swedens ally. After early Polish victories, which culminated in Polish forces entering Moscow in 1610, Sigismunds son, however, soon afterwards, Sigismund decided to seize the Russian throne for himself. This alienated the pro-Polish supporters among the boyars, who could accept the moderate Władysław, subsequently, the pro-Polish Russian faction disappeared, and the war resumed in 1611, with the Poles being ousted from Moscow in 1612 but capturing the important city of Smolensk. However, due to troubles in both the Commonwealth and Russia, little military action occurred between 1612 and 1617, when Sigismund made one final and failed attempt to conquer Russia. The conflict is referred to by different names, most common of them is the Russo–Polish War. According to Russian historiography, the events of the war fall into the Time of Troubles. The conflict with Poles is commonly called the Polish Invasion, Polish Intervention, in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, Russia was in a state of political and economic crisis. After the death of the Tsar Ivan IV in 1584, in 1598, Boris Godunov was crowned to the Russian throne, marking the end of the centuries long rule of the Rurikid dynasty. While Godunov managed to put the opposition to his rule under control, to add to his troubles, the first years of the 17th century were exceptionally cold. The drop in temperature was felt all over the world, and was most likely caused by an eruption of a volcano in South America. In Russia, it resulted in a famine that swept through the country from 1601 to 1603. They proposed that after one monarchs death without heirs, the other would become the ruler of both countries. However, Tsar Godunov declined the proposal and settled only on extending the Treaty of Jam Zapolski. This proved easy, as in the meantime many Russian boyars, disgruntled by the civil war, tried to entice various neighbors, including the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Some of them looked to their own profits, trying to support for their own ascension to the Russian throne
Polish-Russian War (1605-1618)
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False Dmitriy enters Moscow on 20 June 1605. Painting by
Klavdiy Lebedev.
Polish-Russian War (1605-1618)
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Map of the
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and western border of the
Russian Tsardom. Positions of military regiments during the war and important battles are marked with crossed swords.
Polish-Russian War (1605-1618)
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Last minutes of False Dmitriy I by Karl Wenig, painted in 1879. False Dmitriy tried to flee from the plotters through a window, but broke his leg and was shot. After cremation his ashes were shot from a cannon towards Poland.
Polish-Russian War (1605-1618)
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The defence of the
Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra by Orthodox monks led by the chronicler
Avraamy Palitsyn (September 1609 to January 1611). Painting by
Sergey Miloradovich.
3.
Hussar
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A Hussar was a member of any one of several types of light cavalry used during the 18th and 19th centuries, beginning in Central Europe. Historically, the term derives from the cavalry of late medieval Hungary, the title and distinctive dress of these horsemen were subsequently widely adopted by light cavalry regiments in European and European colonial armies in the late 17th and 18th centuries. A number of armored or ceremonial mounted units in modern armies retain the designation of hussars, the first written mention of the word Hussarones has been found in documents dating from 1432 in Southern Hungary. A type of light horsemen was already well-established by the 15th century in medieval Hungary. Etymologists are divided over the derivation of the word hussar, byzantinist scholars argue that the term originated in Roman military practice, and the cursarii. 10th-century Byzantine military manuals mention chonsarioi, light cavalry, recruited in the Balkans, especially Serbs and this word was subsequently reintroduced to Western European military practice after its original usage had been lost with the collapse of Rome in the west. According to Websters Dictionary, the word stems from the Hungarian huszár. On the other hand, husz means twenty in Hungarian whilst ar is a unit of measurement or acre. Hussars are so named as they were a form of military levy whereby any land owner with twenty acres was duty bound to provide a mounted and equipped soldier to the army at their own expense. The elaborate uniforms were based on traditional Magyar horsemans clothes with highly braided, tight riding breeches, close fitting pointed boots, the hussars reportedly originated in bands of mostly Serbian warriors, crossing into southern Hungary after the Ottoman conquest of Serbia at the end of the 14th century. Regent-Governor John Hunyadi created mounted units inspired by the Ottomans and his son, Matthias Corvinus, later king of Hungary, is unanimously accepted as the creator of these troops, commonly called Rac. Initially, they fought in bands, but were reorganised into larger. The first hussar regiments comprised the cavalry of the Black Army of Hungary. Under Corvinus command, the took part in the war against the Ottoman Empire in 1485 and proved successful against the sipahis as well as against the Bohemians. After the kings death, in 1490, hussars became the form of cavalry in Hungary in addition to the heavy cavalry. The Habsburg emperors hired Hungarian hussars as mercenaries to serve against the Ottomans, early hussars wore armor when they could afford to it like the later Polish hussars. Hungarian hussars abandoned using shields and later armors and became entirely light cavalry in the first half of the 17th century, initially the first units of Polish hussars in the Kingdom of Poland were formed in 1500, influenced by Serbian mercenaries. A small number of Serbian mercenaries were recruited and became citizens of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Polish heavy hussars of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth were far more manoeuvrable than the heavily armoured lancers previously employed
Hussar
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Hussar of the Magdeburg Hussar Commando (1763, drawing from Richard Knötel, Uniformenkunde, 1893)
Hussar
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Cornet Henry John Wilkin, a British Hussar from the
Crimean War
Hussar
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Uniform of
French Second Empire Hussar with the characteristic tight
dolman jacket and loose-hanging
pelisse over-jacket, as well as the famous
busby
Hussar
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Hungarian hussar in the 16th century. Woodcut by
Jost Amman
4.
Crown of the Kingdom of Poland
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The Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, or simply the Crown, is the common name for the historic Late Middle Ages territorial possessions of the King of Poland, including Poland proper. The kingdom has been dated back to c. 966, when Mieszko I and his pagan Slavic realm joined Christian Europe and his oldest son and successor, Prince Bolesław I Chrobry, Duke of Poland, became the first crowned King of Poland in 1025. The creation of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland was a milestone in the evolution of Polish statehood and it represented the concept of the Polish kingdom as distinctly separate from the person of the monarch. A related concept that evolved soon afterward was that of Rzeczpospolita, the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland was also related to other symbols of Poland, such as the capital, the Polish coat of arms and the flag of Poland. The concept of the Crown also had a geographical aspects, particularly related to the indivisibility of the Polish - Crown -territory. It can be seen as a unit of administrative division. Parts formed part at the early Kingdom of Poland, then, at the same time, the Crown also referred to all lands that the Polish state could claim to have the right to rule over, including those that were not within Polish borders. The term distinguishes those territories federated with the Crown Grand Duchy of Lithuania from various fiefdom territories, such as the Duchy of Prussia and the Duchy of Courland. Prior to the 1569 Union of Lublin, Crown territories may be understood as those of Poland proper, inhabited by Poles, with the Union of Lublin, however, most of present-day Ukraine, passed onto Polish administration, thus becoming Crown territory. During that period, a term for a Pole from the Crown territory was koroniarz - or Crownlander in English - derived from Korona - the Crown and this often meant a distinction between persons loyal to the elected King and persons loyal to Polish magnate. Crown lands were divided into two provinces, Lesser Poland and Greater Poland and these were further divided into administrative units known as voivodeships. Royal Prussia included Pomerelia, Chełmno Land, Malbork Voivodeship, Gdańsk, Toruń, Polish historian Henryk Wisner writes that Royal Prussia belonged to the Province of Greater Poland. The towns affected were, Biała, Lubica, Wierzbów, Spiska Sobota, Poprad, Straże, Spiskie Włochy, Nowa Wieś, Spiska Nowa Wieś, Ruszkinowce, Wielka, Spiskie Podgrodzie, Maciejowce, Twarożne. Wenceslaus I sold the Duchy of Siewierz to the Archbishop of Kraków, Zbigniew Cardinal Oleśnicki, after that point it was considered to be associated with the Lesser Poland Province and was the only ecclesiastical duchy in Lesser Poland. In 1641 it became part of the Pomeranian Voivodeship of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Duchy of Livonia was held as a condominium with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The Duchy of Courland and Semigallia was held as a condominium with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, jan Herburt, Statuta Regni Poloniae, in ordinem alphabeti digesta, Cracoviae 1563. Jan Dąbrowski, Korona Królestwa Polskiego w XIV wieku, studium z dziejów rozwoju polskiej monarchii stanowej, stanisław Szczur, Historia Polski Średniowiecze, Wydawnictwo Literackie 2002, ISBN 83-08-03272-9
Crown of the Kingdom of Poland
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Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, 1635
5.
Tsardom of Russia
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From 1551 to 1700, Russia grew 35,000 km2 per year. After a military victory over Sweden and Poland, he implemented substantial reforms and proclaimed the Russian Empire in 1721. While the oldest endonyms of the Grand Duchy of Moscow used in its documents were Rus and the Russian land, in the 1480s Russian state scribes Ivan Cherny and Mikhail Medovartsev mention Russia under the name Росиа, Medovartsev also mentions the sceptre of Russian lordship. In England of the 16th century, it was both as Russia and Muscovy. In Northern Europe and at the court of the Holy Roman Empire, however, muscovites refute this, saying that their country was originally called Russia. When they are asked what nation they are, they respond Russac, which means Russians, and when they are asked what place they are from, by the 16th century, the Russian ruler had emerged as a powerful, autocratic figure, a Tsar. By assuming that title, the sovereign of Moscow tried to emphasize that he was a ruler or emperor on par with the Byzantine emperor or the Mongol khan. At first, the Byzantine term autokrator expressed only the meaning of an independent ruler. Ivan IV was crowned Tsar and thus was recognized, at least by the Russian Orthodox Church and that concept was to resonate in the self-image of Russians in future centuries. The development of the Tsars autocratic powers reached a peak during the reign of Ivan IV, Ivan strengthened the position of the Tsar to an exceptional degree, demonstrating the risks of unrestrained power in the hands of a mentally unstable individual. Although apparently intelligent and energetic, Ivan suffered from breakdowns of paranoia and depression, Ivan IV became Grand Prince of Moscow in 1533 at the age of three. The Shuysky and Belsky factions of the boyars competed for control of the regency until Ivan assumed the throne in 1547, reflecting Moscows new imperial claims, Ivans coronation as Tsar was a ritual modeled after those of the Byzantine emperors. With the continuing assistance of a group of boyars, Ivan began his reign with a series of useful reforms, in the 1550s, he declared a new law code, revamped the military, and reorganized local government. These reforms undoubtedly were intended to strengthen the state in the face of continuous warfare, the key documents prepared by the so-called Select Council of advisors and promulgated during this period are as follows. Muscovy remained a fairly unknown society in Western Europe until Baron Sigismund von Herberstein published his Rerum Moscoviticarum Commentarii in 1549 and this provided a broad view of what had been a rarely visited and poorly reported state. In the 1630s, the Russian Tsardom was visited by Adam Olearius, whose lively, further information about Russia was circulated by English and Dutch merchants. One of them, Richard Chancellor, sailed to the White Sea in 1553, upon his return to England, the Muscovy Company was formed by himself, Sebastian Cabot, Sir Hugh Willoughby, and several London merchants. Ivan the Terrible used these merchants to exchange letters with Elizabeth I, despite the domestic turmoil of the 1530s and 1540s, Russia continued to wage wars and to expand
Tsardom of Russia
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Russia,
Mercator, 1595
Tsardom of Russia
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Flag
Tsardom of Russia
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Moscovia,
Herberstein, 1549
Tsardom of Russia
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Russia vulgo Moscovia,
Atlas Maior, 1645
6.
Sweden
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Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and Finland to the east, at 450,295 square kilometres, Sweden is the third-largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of 10.0 million. Sweden consequently has a low density of 22 inhabitants per square kilometre. Approximately 85% of the lives in urban areas. Germanic peoples have inhabited Sweden since prehistoric times, emerging into history as the Geats/Götar and Swedes/Svear, Southern Sweden is predominantly agricultural, while the north is heavily forested. Sweden is part of the area of Fennoscandia. The climate is in very mild for its northerly latitude due to significant maritime influence. Today, Sweden is a monarchy and parliamentary democracy, with a monarch as head of state. The capital city is Stockholm, which is also the most populous city in the country, legislative power is vested in the 349-member unicameral Riksdag. Executive power is exercised by the government chaired by the prime minister, Sweden is a unitary state, currently divided into 21 counties and 290 municipalities. Sweden emerged as an independent and unified country during the Middle Ages, in the 17th century, it expanded its territories to form the Swedish Empire, which became one of the great powers of Europe until the early 18th century. Swedish territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were gradually lost during the 18th and 19th centuries, the last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Norway was militarily forced into personal union. Since then, Sweden has been at peace, maintaining a policy of neutrality in foreign affairs. The union with Norway was peacefully dissolved in 1905, leading to Swedens current borders, though Sweden was formally neutral through both world wars, Sweden engaged in humanitarian efforts, such as taking in refugees from German-occupied Europe. After the end of the Cold War, Sweden joined the European Union on 1 January 1995 and it is also a member of the United Nations, the Nordic Council, Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Sweden maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides health care. The modern name Sweden is derived through back-formation from Old English Swēoþēod and this word is derived from Sweon/Sweonas. The Swedish name Sverige literally means Realm of the Swedes, excluding the Geats in Götaland, the etymology of Swedes, and thus Sweden, is generally not agreed upon but may derive from Proto-Germanic Swihoniz meaning ones own, referring to ones own Germanic tribe
Sweden
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A
Vendel-era helmet, at the Swedish Museum of National Antiquities.
Sweden
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Flag
Sweden
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A
romantic nationalist interpretation of
Valdemar IV taking control over
Gotland. The final battle outside the walls of Visby in 1361 ended with a massacre of 1,800 defenders of the city.
Sweden
–
Stockholm in mid-17th century
7.
Jacob De la Gardie
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Field Marshal and Count Jacob Pontusson De la Gardie was a statesman and a soldier of the Swedish Empire. He was appointed Privy Councilor in 1613, Governor of Swedish Estonia between 1619 and 1622, Governor General of Livonia in 1622, and Lord High Constable in 1620 and he introduced reforms based on the then novel Dutch military doctrine into the Swedish army. He commanded the Swedish forces in Russia and against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and he also served as one of the five regents jointly ruling Sweden during the minority of Queen Christina. Antoine Marie Jacob De la Gardie was born in Reval, Estonia, as a son of Pontus De la Gardie and Sofia Johansdotter Gyllenhielm and his mother died giving birth, and his father perished two years later in Narva. Jacob was raised in the Vääksy manor, Kangasala, Finland by his grandmother Karin Hansdotter, as a young adult, De la Gardie was held prisoner in Poland for four years, together with Carl Gyllenhielm. After being released, De la Gardie took part of the Dutch Revolt as a volunteer, between 1606 and 1608, De la Gardie served under the Dutch general Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange. Impressed with the Dutch way of waging war, De la Gardie began introducing Dutch methods into the Swedish army upon his return to the service of Sweden, during the Polish-Russian War, Sweden signed an alliance with tsar Vasili IV of Russia in 1609. Sweden promised to send troops to the tsar and gained, in return, De la Gardie was put in command of the Swedish force, which consisted of mostly mercenaries, but Swedish and Finnish soldiers as well. This campaign, which eventually took De la Gardie and his troops all the way to Moscow, is known as the De la Gardie Campaign. It ended with a defeat at the Battle of Klushino in the summer of 1610. Not long thereafter, the Ingrian War between Sweden and Russia was initiated, during which De la Gardie played a significant part militarily, after some negotiating, these plans were abandoned due to lack of engagement from Gustavus Adolphus and uncertainty on the Russian side. Between July 1619 and 1622 was Governor of the Swedish Estonia and in 1626 De la Gardie purchased an estate with a castle in Haapsalu. His time as governor of Estonia was followed by a time as Governor-General of Swedish Livonia 1622-1628, De la Gardie was an advocate of peace with Poland and acted as one of the Swedish negotiators at the Truce of Stuhmsdorf in 1635. De la Gardie became a member of the Swedish Privy Council in 1613, in 1620 he became Lord High Constable and, as such, he was later one of the five regents ruling Sweden during Queen Christinas minority. As De la Gardie supported many of Oxenstiernas other policies, eventually the two reconciled after Oxenstiernas return to Sweden in 1636. Count Jacob De la Gardie died in Stockholm in 1652 and is buried in Veckholm church in Uppsala County, the city of Jakobstad in Finland is named after him. A shopping mall in Old Tallinn is named De la Gardie in honour of Jacob De la Gardie, during the De la Gardie Campaign, the Finnish soldiers nicknamed their commander Laiska-Jaakko due to the unusually lengthy six-year occupation of Novgorod. This name is widely remembered in Finland
Jacob De la Gardie
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Jacob De la Gardie in 1606
Jacob De la Gardie
–
Jacob De la Gardie
8.
Siege of Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra
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The Siege of Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra was an abortive attempt of the Polish-Lithuanian irregular army supporting False Dmitri II to capture the Trinity Monastery. The siege lasted for 16 months, from 23 September 1608 until 12 January 1610, in December 1608, the Polish army of some 15,000 men laid siege to the fortress of the Trinity monastery, which had been protecting the northern approaches to Moscow. The Russian garrison consisted of dvoryane, streltsy, monastic servants, monks, in the early October 1608, the attackers began shelling and mining the monastery. Numerous assaults in October and November were repelled by the Russians, there had been no significant military activity from late November 1608 until May 1609, but the besieged garrison suffered many casualties due to an outbreak of scurvy. In May through July 1609, the Russians repelled a number of enemy attacks, on 19 October 1609, and 4 January 1610, auxiliary detachments under the command of David Zherebtsov and Grigory Voluyev managed to make their way into the fortress. Under the threat of the army of Mikhail Skopin-Shuisky, the Polish forces raised the siege on 12 January 1610. Time of Troubles Sigismund III of Poland
Siege of Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra
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Orthodox monks led by the chronicler
Avraamy Palitsyn defended the
Troitse-Sergiyeva Lavra against Polish troops from September 1609 to January 1611.
9.
Battle of Moscow (1612)
–
The Battle of Moscow was a series of two battles, which took place in Moscow, on September 1 and 3,1612, during the Polish–Muscovite War. Forces of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth were commanded by Field Hetman of Lithuania, Jan Karol Chodkiewicz, the battles ended in tactical Russian victory. On September 1,1612, Polish-Lithuanian forces unsuccessfully tried to break the siege of the Moscow Kremlin, and rescue the Commonwealth garrison under Mikolaj Strus, to achieve this, they attacked from west, towards the suburbs of Moscow. Polish hussars, backed by Polish, Hungarian and German infantry, at the same time, however, right wing of the Commonwealth forces was exposed, which was immediately noticed by Don Cossacks of Dmitry Trubetsky. Their cavalry attacked, managing to disperse Polish-Lithuanian forces, at the same time, Commonwealth units in the Kremlin tried to attack Russian positions, but also failed. On this day, both sides lost some 1000 men, on September 3 Chodkiewicz decided to attack Moscow via its southern suburb, the Zamoskvorechye District. Some 600 Hungarians infantrymen managed to reach the walls of the Kremlin and they were followed by main Commonwealth units, which however were halted in the narrow streets of the district. After a Russian counterattack, Chodkiewicz ordered a retreat, losing several hundred men, both battles ended in tactical victory of the Russians. They managed to repel the Commonwealth army, and the garrison of the Kremlin, news of the capitulation reached Polish King Sigismund III on December 8 at Volokolamsk, less than 30 kilometers away. Upon finding out about this, the king, who was on his way to help the garrison, decided to halt the march, andrzej Andrusiewicz, Dzieje Dymitriad 1602-1614, t. I, II, Warszawa 1990 Tomasz Bohun Moskwa 1612, Wydawnictwo Bellona 2005 ISBN 83-11-10644-4
Battle of Moscow (1612)
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Polish cavalry armour from the 16th or 17th century
10.
Time of Troubles
–
In 1601–03, Russia suffered a famine that killed one-third of the population, about two million. At the time, during the Polish–Muscovite War, Russia was occupied by the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Godunovs short reign was not as successful as his administration under the weak Feodor. Extremely poor harvests were encountered in 1601–03, with night temperatures in all summer months often below freezing, wrecking crops. The probable cause of changes was the eruption of Huaynaputina volcano in Peru in 1600. Under the influence of the nobles who had unsuccessfully opposed the election of Godunov. Rumours circulated that the tsars younger brother Dmitri, thought to be dead, was still alive. In 1603 a man calling himself Dmitri—first of the so-called False Dmitris—and professing to be the heir to the throne. He attracted support both in Russia and outside its borders, particularly in the Polish Commonwealth and the Papal States, False Dmitri was married per procura to Marina Mniszech, and immediately after Godunovs death in 1605, he made his triumphal entry into Moscow. The reign of False Dimitri was short, before a year had passed, Vasily Shuisky, an ambitious Rurikid prince, formed a conspiracy against him. His forces murdered False Dimitri soon after his marriage in the Moscow Kremlin, together with many of his supporters, Shuisky and his men were estimated to have killed 2,000 Poles. The reaction to the massacre in Poland was strong, but the government decided to postpone revenge against those responsible, like his predecessor, he enjoyed the protection and support of the Polish–Lithuanian magnates. After Shuisky signed an alliance with Sweden, the king of the Commonwealth, Sigismund III, seeing the Russian–Swedish alliance as a threat, resolved to intervene, Polish–Lithuanian troops crossed the Russian borders and laid siege to the fortress of Smolensk. After the combined Russo–Swedish forces were destroyed at the Battle of Klushino, before False Dmitri II could gain the throne, the Polish commander, voivode, and magnate Stanisław Żółkiewski, put forward a rival candidate, Sigismunds son, Władysław. Some people in Moscow swore allegiance to him on condition of his maintaining Orthodoxy, on this understanding, they allowed Polish troops to enter the city and occupy the Kremlin. The Polish king opposed the compromise, deciding to take the throne for himself, the contending factions were opposed and his plan aroused the anti-Catholic and anti-Polish feelings in Russia. The Swedes disapproved as they were rivals of the Poles on the Baltic coast and they declared war on Russia, supporting a false Dmitri of their choice in Ivangorod. Russia was in a critical condition, tens of thousands died in battles and riots, on 17–19 March 1611, the Poles and German mercenaries suppressed riots in Moscow, they massacred 7,000 Muscovites and set the city on fire. Many other cities were devastated or weakened
Time of Troubles
–
Minin appeals to the people of
Nizhny Novgorod to raise a volunteer army against the Poles
Time of Troubles
–
In the Time of Troubles by
Sergey Ivanov.
Time of Troubles
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Pozharsky and Minin monument (1804–1816) in front of
Saint Basil's Cathedral
Time of Troubles
–
Feodor Shalyapin as
Ivan Susanin in the opera
A Life for the Tsar
11.
Polish language
–
Polish is a West Slavic language spoken primarily in Poland and is the native language of the Poles. It belongs to the Lechitic subgroup of the West Slavic languages, Polish is the official language of Poland, but it is also used throughout the world by Polish minorities in other countries. It is one of the languages of the European Union. Its written standard is the Polish alphabet, which has 9 additions to the letters of the basic Latin script, Polish is closely related to Kashubian, Silesian, Upper Sorbian, Lower Sorbian, Czech and Slovak. It is also the second most widely spoken Slavic language, after Russian, in history, Polish is known to be an important language, both diplomatically and academically in Central and Eastern Europe. Today, Polish is spoken by over 38.5 million people as their first language in Poland. It is also spoken as a language in western parts of Belarus and Ukraine, west and central Lithuania, as well as the northern parts of the Czech Republic. There are 55 million Polish language speakers around the world, Polish began to emerge as a distinct language around the 10th century, the process largely triggered by the establishment and development of the Polish state. With Christianity, Poland also adopted the Latin alphabet, which made it possible to write down Polish, the precursor to modern Polish is the Old Polish language. Ultimately, Polish is thought to descend from the unattested Proto-Slavic language, Poland is the most linguistically homogeneous European country, nearly 97% of Polands citizens declare Polish as their first language. Elsewhere, Poles constitute large minorities in Lithuania, Belarus, Polish is the most widely used minority language in Lithuanias Vilnius County and is found elsewhere in southeastern Lithuania. There are significant numbers of Polish speakers among Polish emigrants and their descendants in many other countries, in the United States, Polish Americans number more than 11 million but most of them cannot speak Polish fluently. The largest concentrations of Polish speakers reported in the census were found in three states, Illinois, New York, and New Jersey. Enough people in these areas speak Polish that PNC Financial Services offer services available in Polish at all of their machines in addition to English and Spanish. According to the 2011 census there are now over 500,000 people in England, in Canada, there is a significant Polish Canadian population, There are 242,885 speakers of Polish according to the 2006 census, with a particular concentration in Toronto and Montreal. The geographical distribution of the Polish language was affected by the territorial changes of Poland immediately after World War II. Poles settled in the Recovered Territories in the west and north and this tendency toward a homogeneity also stems from the vertically integrated nature of the authoritarian Polish Peoples Republic. The inhabitants of different regions of Poland still speak standard Polish somewhat differently, first-language speakers of Polish have no trouble understanding each other, and non-native speakers may have difficulty distinguishing regional variations
Polish language
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The oldest printed text in Polish – Statuta synodalia Episcoporum Wratislaviensis printed in 1475 in
Wrocław by Kasper Elyan.
Polish language
–
Polish
Polish language
–
The
Jakub Wujek Bible in Polish, 1599 print
12.
Smolensk
–
Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River,360 kilometers west-southwest of Moscow. The walled city in the center of Smolensk was destroyed several times throughout its history because it was on the invasion routes of both Napoleon and Hitler. Today, Smolensk is noted for electronics, textiles, food processing, the name of the city is derived from the name of the Smolnya River. The origin of the name is less clear. One possibility is the old Slavic word смоль for black soil, an alternative origin could be the Russian word смола, which means resin, tar, or pitch. Pine trees grow in the area, and the city was once a center of resin processing, the Byzantine emperor Constantine VII recorded its name as Μιλινισκα. Within the city and its surroundings the river takes in small tributaries. In the valleys are stretched streets, high ridges, hills, Smolensk is situated on seven hills. The old part of the city occupies the high, rugged left bank of the Dnieper River, the area features undulating terrain, with a large number of tributaries, creeks and ravines. Smolensk is among the oldest Russian cities, the first recorded mention of the city was 863 AD, two years after the founding of Kievan Rus. According to Russian Primary Chronicle, Smolensk was located on the area settled by the West Slavic Radimichs tribe in 882 when Oleg of Novgorod took it in passing from Novgorod to Kiev, the first foreign writer to mention the city was the Byzantine Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus. In De Administrando Imperio he described Smolensk as a key station on the route from the Varangians to the Greeks. The Rus people sailed from the Baltics up the Western Dvina as far as they could then they portaged their boats to the upper Dnieper. It was in Smolensk that they supposedly mended any leaks and small holes that might have appeared in their boats from being dragged on the ground and they used tar to do that, the Principality of Smolensk was founded in 1054. Due to its position in Kievan Rus, the city developed rapidly. By the end of the 12th century, the princedom was one of the strongest in Eastern Europe, numerous churches were built in the city at that time, including the church of Sts. Peter and Paul and the church of St. John the Baptist, the most remarkable church in the city is called Svirskaya, it was admired by contemporaries as the most beautiful structure east of Kiev. Smolensk had its own veche since the beginning of its history
Smolensk
–
Smolensk railway station
Smolensk
–
St. Michael's Church (Svirskaya) was built in 1180–1197.
Smolensk
–
Uspensky Cathedral
Smolensk
–
Eagles monument in Smolensk, commemorating the centenary of the Russian victory over Napoleon
13.
Hetman
–
Hetman is a political title from Central and Eastern Europe, historically assigned to military commanders. For much of the history of the Principality of Moldavia, the Hetman was the second in rank in the army after the ruling prince, the Hetman was also the highest military officer in Ukraines Hetmanates, the Zaporizhian Host and the Ukrainian State. The title was used by Ukraines Cossacks from the 16th century, hejtman is today the term for the elected governor of a Czech region. One theory derives the word from the Early Modern High German Heubtmann, with Heubt meaning head, hauptmann was a common military title during medieval times, literally meaning captain but functionally corresponding rather to todays general. Moreover, it has suggested that the Czech language may have served as an intermediary. The first Polish title of Grand Crown Hetman dates from 1505, the title of Hetman was given to the leader of the Polish Army and until 1581 the Hetman position existed only during specific campaigns and wars. After that, it became a permanent title, as were all the titles in the Kingdom of Poland, at any given time the Commonwealth had four Hetmans – a Great and Field Hetman for each of both Poland and Lithuania. Hetmans were not paid for their job by the Royal Treasury, Hetmans were the main commanders of the military forces, second only to the monarch in the armys chain of command. The fact that they could not be removed by the monarch made them very independent and this system worked well when a Hetman had great ability and the monarch was weak, but sometimes produced disastrous results in the opposite case. The contrast with states bordering the Commonwealth, where sovereigns could dismiss their army-commanders at any time, was immense, in 1648 the Zaporizhian Host elected a Hetman of their own igniting the Ukrainian struggle for independence. The military reform of 1776 limited the powers of the Hetmans, the Hetman office was abolished after the third partition of Poland in 1795. At the end of the century, the commanders of the Zaporizhian Cossacks were called Koshovyi Otaman or Hetmans. In 1572, the hetman was a commander of the Registered Cossack Army of the Rzeczpospolita too, from 1648, the start of Bohdan Khmelnytskys uprising, a hetman was the head of the whole Ukrainian State — Hetmanshchyna. Although they were elected, Ukrainian Hetmans had very broad powers and acted as heads of the Cossack state, their military commanders. After the split of Ukraine along the Dnieper River by the 1667 Polish-Russian Treaty of Andrusovo, Ukrainian Cossacks became known as Left-bank Cossacks, in the Russian Empire, the office of Cossack Hetman was abolished by Catherine II of Russia in 1764. The last Hetman of the Zaporozhian Army was Kyrylo Rozumovsky, who reigned from 1751 until 1764, the title was revived in Ukraine during the revolution of 1917 to 1920. This regime lasted until late 1918, when it was overthrown by a new Directory of the re-established Ukrainian Peoples Republic, ataman Bulawa Hatman Hetmans sign Media related to Hetmans at Wikimedia Commons Hetman
Hetman
–
Ukrainian Hetman
Bohdan Zinoviy Khmelnytsky
14.
Polish hussars
–
The Polish Hussars, or Winged Hussars, were one of the main types of the cavalry in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth between the 16th and 18th centuries. Until the reforms of the 1770s, the banners were considered the elite of the Polish cavalry. Hussars originated in mercenary units of exiled Serbian warriors, the concept having originated in Serbia in the late 14th century, the oldest mention of hussars in Polish documents date to 1500, although they were probably in service earlier. In the 15th century, light based on those of King Mathias Corvinus were adopted by some European armies to provide light. Initially the first hussar units in the Kingdom of Poland were formed by the Sejm in 1503, soon, recruitment also began among Polish citizens. The hussars were the leading, or even elite, branch of cavalry in the Polish army from the 1570s until 1776, most hussars were recruited from the wealthier Polish nobility. Each hussar towarzysz raised his own poczet or lance/retinue, several retinues were combined to form a hussar banner or company. Over the course of the 16th century, hussars in Hungary became heavier in character, they abandoned wooden shields, by the reign of Batory, the hussars had replaced medieval-style lancers in the Polish Crown army, and they now formed the bulk of the Polish cavalry. By the 1590s, most Polish hussar units had reformed along the same heavy model. These heavy hussars were known in Poland as Husaria, with the Battle of Lubiszew in 1577, the Golden Age of the Husaria began. Between then and the Battle of Vienna in 1683, the Hussars fought many battles against various enemies, for instance, in the Battle of Kluszyn during the Polish–Muscovite War, the Russians outnumbered the Commonwealth army 5 to 1, yet were heavily defeated. The role of the Hussar evolved into a reconnaissance and advanced scout capacity and their uniforms became more elaborate as their armour and heavy weapons were abandoned. Instead of ostrich feathers, the men wore wooden arcs attached to their armour at the back. These arcs, together with bristling feathers sticking out of them, were dyed in colours in imitation of laurel branches or palm leaves. The Hussars were famous for their wings, a wooden frame carrying eagle, ostrich. In the 16th century, characteristic painted wings or winged claws began to appear on cavalry shields, the hussars represented the heavy cavalry of the Commonwealth. His lance was part of a unit known as a banner. Each banner had from 30 to over 60 kopia, the commander, per his contractual obligation, was called rotmistrz, while the de facto commander was often the porucznik
Polish hussars
–
Husarz (Polish Hussar) by
Józef Brandt.
Polish hussars
–
Grand Standard Bearer of the
Crown of the Kingdom of Poland (Chorąży Wielki Koronny) on the Stockholm Roll (c. 1605)
Polish hussars
–
Entrance of winged Polish hussar delegates in
La Rochelle,
France, in 1573, following the
Siege of La Rochelle (1572–1573) and their offering of the Polish throne to the
Duke of Anjou.
Polish hussars
–
Polish hussars during entry into
Kraków, detail of so-called Stockholm Roll, 1605.
15.
Mercenary
–
A mercenary is a person who takes part in an armed conflict who is not a national or party to the conflict and is motivated to take part in the hostilities by desire for private gain. Mercenaries fight for money or other recompense instead of fighting for ideological interests, in the last century, and as reflected in the Geneva Convention, mercenaries have increasingly come to be seen as less entitled to protections by rules of war than non-mercenaries. However, whether or not a person is a mercenary may be a matter of degree, Protocol Additional GC1977 is a 1977 amendment protocol to the Geneva Conventions. Article 47 of the protocol provides the most widely accepted definition of a mercenary, though not endorsed by some countries. The Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, a mercenary shall not have the right to be a combatant or a prisoner of war. All the criteria must be met, according to the Geneva Convention, according to the GC III, a captured soldier must be treated as a lawful combatant and, therefore, as a protected person with prisoner-of-war status until facing a competent tribunal. That tribunal, using criteria in APGC77 or some equivalent domestic law, may decide that the soldier is a mercenary. The only possible exception to GC IV Art 5 is when he is a national of the authority imprisoning him, if, after a regular trial, a captured soldier is found to be a mercenary, then he can expect treatment as a common criminal and may face execution. As mercenary soldiers may not qualify as PoWs, they cannot expect repatriation at wars end, the four mercenaries sentenced to death were shot by a firing squad on 10 July 1976. The legal status of civilian contractors depends upon the nature of their work, on 4 December 1989, the United Nations passed resolution 44/34, the International Convention against the Recruitment, Use, Financing and Training of Mercenaries. It entered into force on 20 October 2001 and is known as the UN Mercenary Convention. Article 1 contains the definition of a mercenary, Article 1.1 is similar to Article 47 of Protocol I, however Article 1. – under Article 1.2 a person does not have to take a part in the hostilities in a planned coup détat to be a mercenary. Critics have argued that the convention and APGC77 Art,47 are designed to cover the activities of mercenaries in post-colonial Africa and do not address adequately the use of private military companies by sovereign states. While the United States governed Iraq, no U. S. citizen working as a guard could be classified as a mercenary because he was a national of a Party to the conflict. S. However, those who acknowledge the United States and other forces as continuing parties to the conflict might insist that U. S. armed guards cannot be called mercenaries. The laws of countries forbid their citizens to fight in foreign wars unless they are under the control of their own national armed forces. If a person is proven to have worked as a mercenary for any other country while retaining Austrian citizenship, in 2003, France criminalized mercenary activities, as defined by the protocol to the Geneva convention for French citizens, permanent residents and legal entities
Mercenary
–
Leonardo da Vinci 's Profilo di capitano antico, also known as il
Condottiero, 1480. Condottiero meant "leader of mercenaries" in Italy during the Late Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
Mercenary
–
Frederick Russell Burnham in Africa
Mercenary
–
European mercenaries in the Katanga, 1960s
Mercenary
–
Turkish mercenary in Byzantine service c. 1436
16.
Cannon
–
A cannon is any piece of artillery that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellants to launch a projectile, which may or may not be explosive. The word cannon is derived from languages, in which the original definition can usually be translated as tube, cane. The Greeks invented the first type—a steam cannon—designed by Archimedes during the Siege of Syracuse, ctesibius built a steam cannon in Alexandria and in the fifteenth century Leonardo da Vinci designed another, the Architonnerre, based on Archimedes work. The earliest form of artillery was developed in Song China, over time replacing siege engines. In the Middle East, the first use of the cannon is argued to be during the 1260 Battle of Ain Jalut between the Mamluk Sultanate and Mongol Empire. The first cannon in Europe were in use in the Iberian Peninsula by the mid-13th century and it was during this period, the Middle Ages, that cannon became standardised, and more effective in both the anti-infantry and siege roles. After the Middle Ages most large cannon were abandoned in favour of greater numbers of lighter, Cannon also transformed naval warfare in the early modern period, as European navies took advantage of their firepower. In World War I, the majority of fatalities were caused by artillery. Most modern cannon are similar to those used in the Second World War, Cannon was widely known as the earliest form of a gun and artillery, before early firearms were invented. The word has been used to refer to a gun since 1326 in Italy, both Cannons and Cannon are correct and in common usage, with one or the other having preference in different parts of the English-speaking world. Cannons is more common in North America and Australia, while cannon as plural is more common in the United Kingdom, Cannon in general have the form of a truncated cone with an internal cylindrical bore for holding an explosive charge and a projectile. The thickest, strongest, and closed part of the cone is located near the explosive charge, as any explosive charge will dissipate in all directions equally, the thickest portion of the cannon is useful for containing and directing this force. Field artillery cannon in Europe and the Americas were initially made most often of bronze, though later forms were constructed of cast iron and eventually steel. However, cast iron cannon have a tendency to burst without having any previous weakness or wear. The following terms refer to the components or aspects of a classical western cannon as illustrated here. In what follows, the words near, close, and behind will refer to those parts towards the thick, closed end of the piece, and far, front, in front of, and before to the thinner, open end. Bore, The hollow cylinder bored down the centre of the cannon, including the base of the bore or bottom of the bore, the diameter of the bore represents the cannons calibre. Chamber, The cylindrical, conical, or spherical recess at the nearest end of the bottom of the bore into which the gunpowder is packed
Cannon
Cannon
Cannon
–
An illustration of an "eruptor," a proto-cannon, from the 14th-century Ming Dynasty book
Huolongjing. The cannon was capable of firing proto-shells, cast-iron bombs filled with gunpowder.
Cannon
–
Earliest known representation of a firearm (a
fire lance) and a
grenade (upper right),
Dunhuang, 10th century
17.
Cossack
–
Cossacks are a group of predominantly East Slavic-speaking people who became known as members of democratic, self-governing, semi-military communities, predominantly located in Ukraine and in Russia. The origins of the first Cossacks are disputed, though the 1710 Constitution of Pylyp Orlyk claimed Khazar origin, the Zaporizhian Sich were a vassal people of Poland–Lithuania during feudal times. Under increasing pressure from the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, in the century the Sich declared an independent Cossack Hetmanate. Afterwards, the Treaty of Pereyaslav brought most of the Ukrainian Cossack state under Russian rule, the Sich with its lands became an autonomous region under the Russian-Polish protectorate. The Don Cossack Host, which had established by the 16th century. Together they began a systematic conquest and colonisation of lands in order to secure the borders on the Volga, the whole of Siberia, and the Yaik, Cossack communities had developed along the latter two rivers well before the arrival of the Don Cossacks. By the 18th century, Cossack hosts in the Russian Empire occupied effective buffer zones on its borders, the expansionist ambitions of the Empire relied on ensuring the loyalty of Cossacks, which caused tension given their traditional exercise of freedom, democratic self-rule, and independence. By the end of the 18th century, Cossack nations had transformed into a special military estate. The government provided only firearms and supplies for them, Cossack service was considered the most rigorous one. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Tsarist regime used Cossacks extensively to perform police service and they also served as border guards on national and internal ethnic borders. During the Russian Civil War, Don and Kuban Cossacks were the first nations to open war against the Bolsheviks. By 1918, Cossacks declared the independence of their nations and formed the independent states, the Ukrainian State, the Don Republic. The Cossack troops formed the core of the anti-Bolshevik White Army. With the victory of the Red Army, the Cossack lands were subjected to Decossackization, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Cossacks made a systematic return to Russia. Many took a part in Post-Soviet conflicts and Yugoslav Wars. In Russias 2010 Population Census, Cossacks have been recognized as an ethnicity, there are Cossack organizations in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Poland, and the United States. Max Vasmers etymological dictionary traces the name to the Old East Slavic word козакъ, kozak, the ethnonym Kazakh is from the same Turkic root. In written sources the name is first attested in Codex Cumanicus from the 13th century, in English, Cossack is first attested in 1590
Cossack
–
Italian map of «European Tartaria» (1684).
Dnieper Ukraine is marked as « Ukraine or the land of
Zaporozhian Cossacks (Vkraina o Paese de Cossachi di Zaporowa)». On the east there is « Ukraine or the land of
Don Cossacks, who are subjects of
Muscovy (Vkraina ouero Paese de Cossachi Tanaiti Soggetti al Moscouita)».
Cossack
–
Cossack Mamay – the ideal image of Cossack in Ukrainian folklore.
Cossack
–
A Zaporozhian Cossack, 17th-18th century traditional clothing.
18.
Picket fence
–
Picket fences are a type of fence often used decoratively for domestic boundaries, distinguished by their evenly spaced vertical boards, the pickets, attached to horizontal rails. Picket fences are particularly popular in the United States, with the picket fence coming to symbolize the ideal middle-class suburban life. Until the introduction of advertising in the 1980s, cricket fields were surrounded by picket fences. Picket fences are particularly popular in the United States, where the style has been used since Americas earliest colonial era and they are a decorative way to contain pets and children without blocking views, and are used around both front and back yards. Traditionally picket fences were made out of wood and painted white, a picket fence is generally 36 to 48 inches tall. A horizontal top rail and bottom rail are attached to fence posts, evenly spaced boards are affixed vertically to the rails. What truly distinguishes a picket fence is the top, which is tapered or pointed and these boards with pointed tops are called pickets for their resemblance to the pointed stakes historically used by infantry to repel cavalry. Picket fences can be made of several types of materials, historically, wood has been the most popular material used for picket fences. This wood can be untreated, treated, or naturally insect, other non-wood options are available, including vinyl, aluminum, and PVC. The first step in installing a fence is to insert the posts into the ground. Traditionally this is done by digging deep holes either manually or with a power auger, the posts are then placed upright into the ground and concrete is poured to cement them into place. Once they are set, the rails are affixed to the posts using fasteners. By far the most time consuming part of installing a fence is setting the posts. There are some vinyl picket fence systems on the market that are installed without digging holes or pouring concrete and these are installed by driving pipe deep into the ground, which is how chain link fence has been installed for years. This is the most popular way to install vinyl fence in Western Canada, a picket fence, ideally white, has iconic status as Americana, symbolizing the ideal middle-class suburban life, with a family and children, large house, and peaceful living. This stems from the fact that houses in quiet, middle-class neighborhoods often have gardens enclosed by picket fences, in recent years, some people have associated picket fences with what they regard as the more negative aspects of this lifestyle. For example, the director David Lynch uses ironic images of the fence in his 1986 film Blue Velvet. The phrase picket fence also describes text without spaces between words, such texts are very common in Old Latin, with documents often lacking both spaces and punctuation
Picket fence
–
Classic picket fence next to a
sidewalk.
Picket fence
–
A simple picket fence.
Picket fence
–
Western Australian jarrah picket fence.
Picket fence
–
White picket fence surrounds a front-yard lotus pond in a
Hubei village.
19.
Reiter
–
The Reiters raised firearms to the status of primary weapons for cavalry, as opposed to earlier Western European heavy cavalry which primarily relied upon mêlée weapons. In general, commanders expected Reiters to be able to engage their opponents both with firearms and with swords, using either or both of these tactics, Reiters could be incredibly effective when properly employed. The Reiters mostly consisted of Germans and served in the armies of the German states, in Sweden as raitars, in Poland as Polish, rajtaria, Reiter regiments also operated in Russian armies between the 1630s and the early 18th century. In the later 17th century the Reiters gradually merged into generic cavalry regiments and were no longer seen as a class of horseman. Ruyters, a different spelling of Reiters, are used by the Dutch civilization in the strategy game Age of Empires III, in the grand strategy game Europa Universalis IV, Schwarze Reiter is a selectable type of cavalry
Reiter
–
German style reiter cavalry
circa 1577
Reiter
–
Reiter (1800) by
Piotr Michałowski
Reiter
–
A typical black'n'white armour worn by Schwarze Reiter at 16th century
Reiter
–
German: Reitschwert (Reiter swords)
20.
Sigismund III Vasa
–
He was the son of King John III of Sweden and his first wife, Catherine Jagellonica of Poland. Elected to the throne of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Sigismund sought to create a union between the Commonwealth and Sweden, and succeeded for a time in 1592. After he had deposed in 1599 from the Swedish throne by his uncle, Charles IX of Sweden. Shortly after his victory over his enemies, Sigismund took advantage of a period of civil unrest in Muscovy and invaded Russia. In 1617 the Polish–Swedish conflict, which had been interrupted by an armistice in 1611, while Sigismunds army was also fighting Ottoman forces in Moldavia, King Gustavus II Adolphus of Sweden invaded Sigismunds lands, capturing Riga and seizing almost all of Polish Livonia. Sigismund, who concluded the Truce of Altmark with Sweden in 1629 and his Swedish wars resulted, moreover, in Polands loss of Livonia and in a diminution of the kingdoms international prestige. Sigismund remains a controversial figure in Poland. His long reign coincided with the apex of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealths prestige, power, on the other hand, it was during his reign that the symptoms of decline leading to the Commonwealths eventual demise surfaced. However, the question of whether the Commonwealths decline was caused by Sigismunds decisions or had its roots in historical processes beyond his personal control and he was commemorated in Warsaw with Sigismunds Column, commissioned by his son and successor, Władysław IV. Sigismund was born on 20 June 1566 to Catherine Jagiellon and the Grand Duke John of Finland at Gripsholm and his parents, at the time, were being held prisoner by King Eric XIV, but despite the Protestant domination of Sweden young Sigismund was raised as a Roman Catholic. In 1567 Sigismund and his parents where released from prison, and in 1568 Erik XIV was deposed, from 1568 Sigismund was the crown prince of Sweden. His mother was the daughter of Polish king Sigismund I the Old, in 1587 Sigismund stood for election to the Polish throne after the death of his uncle, King Stephen Bathory. He was supported by his aunt Queen Anna, Hetman Jan Zamoyski and it seemed that the issue of who would be King of Poland had been settled when Maximilian III invaded Poland to claim the crown. Hetman Jan Zamoyski defeated Maximilian at the Battle of Byczyna and took him prisoner, however, at the request of Pope Sixtus V, King Sigismund III released Maximilian, who surrendered his claim to Poland in 1589. King Sigismund also tried to maintain peace with his neighbor by marrying Archduchess Anne Habsburg in 1592. It was always his intention to maintain an alliance with Catholic Austria against the Protestant forces, when his father died King Sigismund III asked the Sejm to be allowed to claim his inheritance as the rightful King of Sweden. When he promised to respect Lutheranism as the religion of Sweden. Sigismund was crowned King of Sweden in 1594 and he appointed his uncle, Duke Charles, to rule as regent on his behalf in Sweden while he remained in Poland, since Sweden and the Commonwealth were only in a personal union, not united in one state
Sigismund III Vasa
–
Sigismund III Vasa by
Pieter Soutman
Sigismund III Vasa
–
Signature
Sigismund III Vasa
–
Equestrian portrait of king Sigismund III Vasa by
Peter Paul Rubens.
Sigismund III Vasa
–
Portrait of Sigismund III Vasa, ca. 1590.
21.
Vasili IV
–
Vasili IV of Russia was Tsar of Russia between 1606 and 1610 after the murder of False Dmitriy I. His reign fell during the Time of Troubles and he was the only member of House of Shuysky to become Tsar and the last member of the Rurikid dynasty to rule. He was a son of Ivan Andreyevich Shuisky, born Prince Vasili Ivanovich Shuisky, he was descended from sovereign princes of Nizhny Novgorod and a 20th generation male line descendant of the Varangian prince Rurik. He was one of the boyars of Tsardom of Russia during the reigns of Feodor I. In all the intrigues of the Time of Troubles, Vasily and his younger brother Dmitry Shuisky usually acted together. Shuisky reported that it was a case of suicide, though rumors abounded that the Tsarevich had been assassinated on the orders of the regent Boris Godunov. Some suspected that Dmitry escaped the assassination and that boy was killed in his place. Shuisky recognized the pretender as the real Dmitry despite having earlier determined the boy had committed suicide, Shuisky then conspired against the false Dmitriy and brought about his death. After stating publicly that the real Dmitriy had indeed been slain and he reigned until 19 July 1610, but was never generally recognized. Even in Moscow itself he had little or no authority, in 1610, he was deposed by his former adherents Princes Vorotynsky and Mstislavsky. He was made a monk and eventually transported together with his two brothers to Warsaw by the Polish hetman Stanisław Żółkiewski and he died a prisoner in the castle of Gostynin, near Warsaw, in 1612, followed soon by his brother Dmitry. There they were forced to perform the Shuysky Tribute before the Polish King, the Romanovs, elected in 1613, did recognize Vasili posthumously as a legal tsar, and during their negotiations with the Polish authorities constantly demanded the right to rebury his body in Russia. Following the Treaty of Polyanovka in 1635, Vasilis remains were returned to Moscow. His first wife, Elena Mikhailovna Repnina, died prior his election to tsardom, after his coronation, Vasili remarried Princess Ekaterina Buynosova-Rostovskaya, whose name was changed to Maria, deemed more suitable for a tsarina consort. They had two daughters together, Princesses Anna and Anastasia of all the Russias, but both died in infancy during their fathers reign, and were buried in the Old Maidens Convent in Kremlin. As both brothers of Vasili, Princes Dmitri Shuisky and Ivan Shuisky the Button, died also childless, the future Tsar Vasili IV serves as a character in Alexander Pushkins blank verse drama Boris Godunov and Modest Mussorgskys opera of the same name. In both depictions, the character is an adviser to Boris Godunov and a master of palace intrigue, Pushkin later described his intention to write further plays about the Time of Troubles. About Vasili Shuisky, Pushkin wrote, I intend to return to Shuisky also, in the historical account he shows a singular mixture of audacity, flexibility, and strength of character
Vasili IV
–
Vasili Shuisky at the Warsaw
Sejm
Vasili IV
–
Portrait of Vasili IV
Vasili IV
–
Vasili Shuisky with his brothers at the Warsaw
Sejm on 29 October 1611 engraved by
Tomasz Makowski after lost picture of
Tommaso Dolabella
22.
Boyar
–
The rank has lived on as a surname in Russia, Ukraine and Romania, and also in Finland, where it is spelled Pajari. Also known as bolyar, the various names in other languages include Bulgarian, боляр or болярин, Ukrainian, буй or боярин, Russian, боя́рин. Multiple different derivation theories of the word have been suggested by scholars and linguists, such as it having possible roots from old Turkic, bai and är. Another possible etymology of the term it may come from the Romanian word boi, the title entered Old Russian as быля. It was probably transformed through boilar or bilyar to bolyar and bolyarin, a member of the nobility during the First Bulgarian Empire was called a boila, while in the Second Bulgarian Empire, the corresponding title became bolyar or bolyarin. Bolyar, as well as its predecessor, boila, was a hereditary title, the Bulgarian bolyars were divided into veliki and malki. Presently in Bulgaria, the word bolyari is used as a nickname for the inhabitants of Veliko Tarnovo—once the capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire. In medieval Serbia, the rank of the Boyars was equivalent to the rank of the Baron, meaning free warrior, with the rule of the Ottoman Empire after 1450, the Ottoman as well as the Austro-Hungarian terms exchanged the Serbian one. Today, it is a term representing the aristocracy. Boyars 9th - 13th centuries, wielded power through their military support of the Kievan princes. Power and prestige of many of them, however, soon came to depend almost completely on service to the state, family history of service and, to a lesser extent, land ownership. Boyars of Kievan Rus were visually similar to knights, but after the Mongol invasion. The boyars occupied the highest state offices and, through a council and they received extensive grants of land and, as members of the Boyars Duma, were the major legislators of Kievan Rus. After the Mongol invasion in the 13th century, the boyars from central and southern parts of Kievan Rus were incorporated into Lithuanian, during the 14th and 15th centuries, the boyars of Moscow had considerable influence that continued from the Muscovy period. However, starting with the reign of Ivan III, the boyars were starting to lose that influence to the tsars in Russia. Because of Ivan III’s expansionist policies, administrative changes were needed in order to ease the burden of governing Muscovy, the face of provincial rule disappeared. What is interesting about the boyars is their implied duties, because boyars were not constitutionally instituted, much of their powers and duties came from agreements signed between princes. Agreements, such as one between Ivan III and Mikhail Borisovich in 1484 showed how allegiances needed to be earned and secured, instead of the grand prince personally overseeing his lands, he had to rely on his lieutenants and close advisors to oversee day-to-day operations
Boyar
–
Portrait of Russian boyar
Pyotr Potemkin by
Godfrey Kneller
Boyar
–
Russian boyars in the 16th–17th centuries
Boyar
–
Mounted Russian boyar from 17th century
Boyar
–
Russian boyars celebrating a marriage
23.
Tsar of Russia
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This is a list of all reigning monarchs in the history of Russia. It includes titles Prince of Novgorod, Grand Prince of Kiev, Grand Prince of Vladimir, Grand Prince of Moscow, Tsar of All Rus, the land that is today known as Russia was populated by various East Slavic peoples from before the ninth century. Little is known of the Rus Khaganate beyond its existence, including the extent of its territory or any reliable list of its Khagans, traditionally, Russian statehood is traced to Rurik, a Rus leader of Holmgard, a different Rus state. Ruriks successor Oleg moved his capital to Kiev, founding the state of Kievan Rus, over the next several centuries, the most important titles were those of the Grand Prince of Kiev and Grand Prince of Novgorod whose holder could claim hegemony. By the early 11th century, however, the Rus state had fragmented into a series of petty principalities which warred constantly with each other, in 1097, the Council of Liubech formalized the federal nature of the Russian lands. By the 12th century, the Grand Duchy of Vladimir became the dominant principality, adding its name to those of Novgorod and Kiev, culminating with the rule of Alexander Nevsky. Following the Mongol conquests of the 13th century, all of the Russian principalities paid tribute to the Golden Horde, the Russians began to exert independence from the Mongols, culminating with Ivan the Great of Moscow ceasing tribute to the Horde, effectively declaring his independence. Last Grand Prince of Moscow Ivan the Terrible assumed the title Tsar of All Russias in 1547, in 1169 Vladimir-Suzdal troops took Kiev. This act underlined the importance of that city. After 1331, the title of the Grand Princes of Vladimir was assigned to the Princes of Moscow, daniels son Ivan I assumed the title of Vladimir himself, establishing Muscovy as the premier principality among the various Russian states. Later rulers of Muscovy would consolidate power, culminating with Ivan III who threw off the Mongol yoke and his son Vasili III completed the task of uniting all of Russia by eliminating the last few independent states in the 1520s. Vasilis son Ivan the Terrible formalized the situation by assuming the title Tsar of All Russias in 1547, dates are listed in the Old Style, which continued to be used in Russia until the revolution. Following the death of the Feodor I, the son of Ivan the Terrible, as Feodor left no male heirs, the Russian Zemsky Sobor elected his brother-in-law Boris Godunov to be Tsar. Devastated by famine, rule under Boris descended into anarchy, a series of impostors, known as the False Dmitriys, each claimed to be Feodors long deceased younger brother, however, only the first impostor ever legitimately held the title of Tsar. A distant Rurikid cousin, Vasili Shuyskiy, also took power for a time, as a child, Władysław was even chosen as Tsar by the Seven Boyars, though he was prevented by his father from formally taking the throne. The Time of Troubles is considered to have ended with the election of Michael Romanov to the throne, the Time of Troubles came to a close with the election of Michael Romanov as Tsar in 1613. Michael officially reigned as Tsar, though his father, the Patriarch Philaret initially held the real power, however, Michaels descendents would rule Russia, first as Tsars and later as Emperors, until the Russian Revolution of 1917. Peter the Great, a grandson of Michael Romanov, reorganized the Russian state along more Western lines, the Empire of Russia was declared by Peter the Great in 1721
Tsar of Russia
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Nicholas II
Tsar of Russia
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Imperial Coat of arms
Tsar of Russia
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Rurik
Tsar of Russia
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Oleg of Novgorod (
regent)
24.
Zygmunt III Waza
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He was the son of King John III of Sweden and his first wife, Catherine Jagellonica of Poland. Elected to the throne of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Sigismund sought to create a union between the Commonwealth and Sweden, and succeeded for a time in 1592. After he had deposed in 1599 from the Swedish throne by his uncle, Charles IX of Sweden. Shortly after his victory over his enemies, Sigismund took advantage of a period of civil unrest in Muscovy and invaded Russia. In 1617 the Polish–Swedish conflict, which had been interrupted by an armistice in 1611, while Sigismunds army was also fighting Ottoman forces in Moldavia, King Gustavus II Adolphus of Sweden invaded Sigismunds lands, capturing Riga and seizing almost all of Polish Livonia. Sigismund, who concluded the Truce of Altmark with Sweden in 1629 and his Swedish wars resulted, moreover, in Polands loss of Livonia and in a diminution of the kingdoms international prestige. Sigismund remains a controversial figure in Poland. His long reign coincided with the apex of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealths prestige, power, on the other hand, it was during his reign that the symptoms of decline leading to the Commonwealths eventual demise surfaced. However, the question of whether the Commonwealths decline was caused by Sigismunds decisions or had its roots in historical processes beyond his personal control and he was commemorated in Warsaw with Sigismunds Column, commissioned by his son and successor, Władysław IV. Sigismund was born on 20 June 1566 to Catherine Jagiellon and the Grand Duke John of Finland at Gripsholm and his parents, at the time, were being held prisoner by King Eric XIV, but despite the Protestant domination of Sweden young Sigismund was raised as a Roman Catholic. In 1567 Sigismund and his parents where released from prison, and in 1568 Erik XIV was deposed, from 1568 Sigismund was the crown prince of Sweden. His mother was the daughter of Polish king Sigismund I the Old, in 1587 Sigismund stood for election to the Polish throne after the death of his uncle, King Stephen Bathory. He was supported by his aunt Queen Anna, Hetman Jan Zamoyski and it seemed that the issue of who would be King of Poland had been settled when Maximilian III invaded Poland to claim the crown. Hetman Jan Zamoyski defeated Maximilian at the Battle of Byczyna and took him prisoner, however, at the request of Pope Sixtus V, King Sigismund III released Maximilian, who surrendered his claim to Poland in 1589. King Sigismund also tried to maintain peace with his neighbor by marrying Archduchess Anne Habsburg in 1592. It was always his intention to maintain an alliance with Catholic Austria against the Protestant forces, when his father died King Sigismund III asked the Sejm to be allowed to claim his inheritance as the rightful King of Sweden. When he promised to respect Lutheranism as the religion of Sweden. Sigismund was crowned King of Sweden in 1594 and he appointed his uncle, Duke Charles, to rule as regent on his behalf in Sweden while he remained in Poland, since Sweden and the Commonwealth were only in a personal union, not united in one state
Zygmunt III Waza
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Sigismund III Vasa by
Pieter Soutman
Zygmunt III Waza
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Equestrian portrait of king Sigismund III Vasa by
Peter Paul Rubens.
Zygmunt III Waza
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Portrait of Sigismund III Vasa, ca. 1590.
Zygmunt III Waza
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False Dmitriy I takes an oath of allegiance to Sigismund III, by
Nikolai Nevrev (1874).
25.
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Warsaw
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The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is a monument in Warsaw, Poland, dedicated to the unknown soldiers who have given their lives for Poland. It is one of such national tombs of unknowns that were erected after World War I. The monument, located at Piłsudski Square, is the surviving part of the Saxon Palace that occupied the spot until World War II. Since 2 November 1925 the tomb houses a body of a young soldier who fell during the Defence of Lwów. At a later date earth from numerous battlefields where Polish soldiers have fought was added to the urns housed in the pillars of the Saxon Palace. The Tomb is constantly lit by a flame and assisted by a guard post by the Representative Battalion of the Polish Army. It is there that most official military commemorations take place in Poland, the changing of the guard takes place on the hour of every hour daily and this happens 365 days a year. This initiative was taken up by several Warsaw newspapers and by General Władysław Sikorski, on April 4,1925, the Polish Ministry of War selected a battlefield from which the ashes of an unknown soldier would be brought to Warsaw. Of some 40 battles, that for Lwów was chosen, in October 1925, at Lwóws Cemetery of the Defenders of Lwów, three coffins were exhumed, those of an unknown sergeant, corporal and private. The coffin that was to be transported to Warsaw was chosen by Jadwiga Zarugiewiczowa, mother of a soldier who had fallen at Zadwórze, on November 2,1925, the coffin was brought to Warsaws St. Johns Cathedral, where a Mass was held. Afterward eight recipients of the order of Virtuti Militari bore the coffin to its resting place beneath the colonnade joining the two wings of the Saxon Palace. The coffin was buried along with 14 urns containing soil from as many battlegrounds, a Virtuti Militari medal, since then, except under German occupation during World War II, an honor guard has continuously been held before the Tomb. The Tomb was designed by the famous Polish sculptor, Stanisław Kazimierz Ostrowski and it was located within the arcade that linked the two symmetric wings of the Saxon Palace, then the seat of the Polish Ministry of War. The central tablet was ringed by 5 eternal flames and 4 stone tablets bearing the names and dates of battles in which Polish soldiers had fought during World War I and the Polish–Soviet War. Behind the Tomb were two steel gratings bearing emblems of Polands two highest Polish military decorations — the Virtuti Militari and Cross of Valor. During the 1939 invasion of Poland, the building was damaged by German aerial bombing. After the Warsaw Uprising, in December 1944, the palace was demolished by the Wehrmacht. Only part of the colonnade, sheltering the Tomb, was preserved
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Warsaw
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Tomb of the Unknown Soldier
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Warsaw
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Eternal flame and honor guard.
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Warsaw
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Some stone tablets
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Warsaw
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An original tablet from the Tomb
26.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
International Standard Book Number
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A 13-digit ISBN, 978-3-16-148410-0, as represented by an
EAN-13 bar code
Crown of the Kingdom of Poland
Tsardom of Russia
Sweden
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