1.
Russia
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Russia, also officially the Russian Federation, is a country in Eurasia. The European western part of the country is more populated and urbanised than the eastern. Russias capital Moscow is one of the largest cities in the world, other urban centers include Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod. Extending across the entirety of Northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe, Russia spans eleven time zones and incorporates a range of environments. It shares maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk, the East Slavs emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Founded and ruled by a Varangian warrior elite and their descendants, in 988 it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium. Rus ultimately disintegrated into a number of states, most of the Rus lands were overrun by the Mongol invasion. The Soviet Union played a role in the Allied victory in World War II. The Soviet era saw some of the most significant technological achievements of the 20th century, including the worlds first human-made satellite and the launching of the first humans in space. By the end of 1990, the Soviet Union had the second largest economy, largest standing military in the world. It is governed as a federal semi-presidential republic, the Russian economy ranks as the twelfth largest by nominal GDP and sixth largest by purchasing power parity in 2015. Russias extensive mineral and energy resources are the largest such reserves in the world, making it one of the producers of oil. The country is one of the five recognized nuclear weapons states and possesses the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, Russia is a great power as well as a regional power and has been characterised as a potential superpower. The name Russia is derived from Rus, a state populated mostly by the East Slavs. However, this name became more prominent in the later history, and the country typically was called by its inhabitants Русская Земля. In order to distinguish this state from other states derived from it, it is denoted as Kievan Rus by modern historiography, an old Latin version of the name Rus was Ruthenia, mostly applied to the western and southern regions of Rus that were adjacent to Catholic Europe. The current name of the country, Россия, comes from the Byzantine Greek designation of the Kievan Rus, the standard way to refer to citizens of Russia is Russians in English and rossiyane in Russian. There are two Russian words which are translated into English as Russians
2.
Moscow
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Moscow is the capital and most populous city of Russia, with 13.2 million residents within the city limits and 17.8 million within the urban area. Moscow has the status of a Russian federal city, Moscow is a major political, economic, cultural, and scientific center of Russia and Eastern Europe, as well as the largest city entirely on the European continent. Moscow is the northernmost and coldest megacity and metropolis on Earth and it is home to the Ostankino Tower, the tallest free standing structure in Europe, the Federation Tower, the tallest skyscraper in Europe, and the Moscow International Business Center. Moscow is situated on the Moskva River in the Central Federal District of European Russia, the city is well known for its architecture, particularly its historic buildings such as Saint Basils Cathedral with its brightly colored domes. Moscow is the seat of power of the Government of Russia, being the site of the Moscow Kremlin, the Moscow Kremlin and Red Square are also one of several World Heritage Sites in the city. Both chambers of the Russian parliament also sit in the city and it is recognized as one of the citys landmarks due to the rich architecture of its 200 stations. In old Russian the word also meant a church administrative district. The demonym for a Moscow resident is москвич for male or москвичка for female, the name of the city is thought to be derived from the name of the Moskva River. There have been proposed several theories of the origin of the name of the river and its cognates include Russian, музга, muzga pool, puddle, Lithuanian, mazgoti and Latvian, mazgāt to wash, Sanskrit, majjati to drown, Latin, mergō to dip, immerse. There exist as well similar place names in Poland like Mozgawa, the original Old Russian form of the name is reconstructed as *Москы, *Mosky, hence it was one of a few Slavic ū-stem nouns. From the latter forms came the modern Russian name Москва, Moskva, in a similar manner the Latin name Moscovia has been formed, later it became a colloquial name for Russia used in Western Europe in the 16th–17th centuries. From it as well came English Muscovy, various other theories, having little or no scientific ground, are now largely rejected by contemporary linguists. The surface similarity of the name Russia with Rosh, an obscure biblical tribe or country, the oldest evidence of humans on the territory of Moscow dates from the Neolithic. Within the modern bounds of the city other late evidence was discovered, on the territory of the Kremlin, Sparrow Hills, Setun River and Kuntsevskiy forest park, etc. The earliest East Slavic tribes recorded as having expanded to the upper Volga in the 9th to 10th centuries are the Vyatichi and Krivichi, the Moskva River was incorporated as part of Rostov-Suzdal into the Kievan Rus in the 11th century. By AD1100, a settlement had appeared on the mouth of the Neglinnaya River. The first known reference to Moscow dates from 1147 as a place of Yuri Dolgoruky. At the time it was a town on the western border of Vladimir-Suzdal Principality
3.
Napoleon
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Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led several successful campaigns during the French Revolutionary Wars. As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 until 1814, Napoleon dominated European and global affairs for more than a decade while leading France against a series of coalitions in the Napoleonic Wars. He won most of these wars and the vast majority of his battles, one of the greatest commanders in history, his wars and campaigns are studied at military schools worldwide. Napoleons political and cultural legacy has ensured his status as one of the most celebrated and he was born Napoleone di Buonaparte in Corsica to a relatively modest family from the minor nobility. When the Revolution broke out in 1789, Napoleon was serving as an officer in the French army. Seizing the new opportunities presented by the Revolution, he rose through the ranks of the military. The Directory eventually gave him command of the Army of Italy after he suppressed a revolt against the government from royalist insurgents, in 1798, he led a military expedition to Egypt that served as a springboard to political power. He engineered a coup in November 1799 and became First Consul of the Republic and his ambition and public approval inspired him to go further, and in 1804 he became the first Emperor of the French. Intractable differences with the British meant that the French were facing a Third Coalition by 1805, in 1806, the Fourth Coalition took up arms against him because Prussia became worried about growing French influence on the continent. Napoleon quickly defeated Prussia at the battles of Jena and Auerstedt, then marched the Grand Army deep into Eastern Europe, France then forced the defeated nations of the Fourth Coalition to sign the Treaties of Tilsit in July 1807, bringing an uneasy peace to the continent. Tilsit signified the high watermark of the French Empire, hoping to extend the Continental System and choke off British trade with the European mainland, Napoleon invaded Iberia and declared his brother Joseph the King of Spain in 1808. The Spanish and the Portuguese revolted with British support, the Peninsular War lasted six years, featured extensive guerrilla warfare, and ended in victory for the Allies. The Continental System caused recurring diplomatic conflicts between France and its client states, especially Russia, unwilling to bear the economic consequences of reduced trade, the Russians routinely violated the Continental System and enticed Napoleon into another war. The French launched an invasion of Russia in the summer of 1812. The resulting campaign witnessed the collapse of the Grand Army, the destruction of Russian cities, in 1813, Prussia and Austria joined Russian forces in a Sixth Coalition against France. A lengthy military campaign culminated in a large Allied army defeating Napoleon at the Battle of Leipzig in October 1813, the Allies then invaded France and captured Paris in the spring of 1814, forcing Napoleon to abdicate in April. He was exiled to the island of Elba near Rome and the Bourbons were restored to power, however, Napoleon escaped from Elba in February 1815 and took control of France once again. The Allies responded by forming a Seventh Coalition, which defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in June, the British exiled him to the remote island of Saint Helena in the South Atlantic, where he died six years later at the age of 51
4.
French invasion of Russia
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Napoleon hoped to compel Tsar Alexander I of Russia to cease trading with British merchants through proxies in an effort to pressure the United Kingdom to sue for peace. The official political aim of the campaign was to liberate Poland from the threat of Russia, Napoleon named the campaign the Second Polish War to gain favor with the Poles and provide a political pretext for his actions. The Grande Armée was a large force, numbering 680,000 soldiers. Napoleon hoped the battle would mean an end of the march into Russia, plans Napoleon had made to quarter at Smolensk were abandoned, and he pressed his army on after the Russians. As the Russian army fell back, Cossacks were given the task of burning villages, towns and this was intended to deny the invaders the option of living off the land. The actions forced the French to rely on a system that was incapable of feeding the large army in the field. Starvation and privation compelled French soldiers to leave their camps at night in search of food and these men were frequently confronted by parties of Cossacks, who captured or killed them. The Russian army retreated into Russia for almost three months, the continual retreat and the loss of lands to the French upset the Russian nobility. They pressured Alexander I to relieve the commander of the Russian army, Alexander I complied, appointing an old veteran, Prince Mikhail Kutuzov, to take over command of the army. However, for two more weeks Kutuzov continued to retreat as his predecessor had done, on 7 September, the French caught up with the Russian army which had dug itself in on hillsides before a small town called Borodino, seventy miles west of Moscow. The battle that followed was the bloodiest single-day action of the Napoleonic Wars until that point, involving more than 250,000 soldiers, the French gained a tactical victory, but at the cost of 49 general officers and thousands of men. The Russian army was able to extricate itself and withdrew the following day, Napoleon entered Moscow a week later. In another turn of events the French found puzzling, there was no delegation to meet the Emperor, the Russians had evacuated the city, and the citys governor, Count Fyodor Rostopchin, ordered several strategic points in Moscow set ablaze. Napoleons hopes had been set upon an end to his campaign. The loss of Moscow did not compel Alexander I to sue for peace, Napoleon stayed on in Moscow looking to negotiate a peace, his hopes fed in part by a disinformation campaign informing the Emperor of supposed discontent and fading morale in the Russian camp. After staying a month Napoleon moved his army out southwest toward Kaluga, the French advance toward Kaluga was checked by a Russian corps. Napoleon tried once more to engage the Russian army for an action at the Battle of Maloyaroslavets. Despite holding a position, the Russians retreated following a sharp engagement
5.
Battle of Borodino
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The Battle of Borodino was a battle fought on 7 September 1812 in the Napoleonic Wars during the French invasion of Russia. The fighting involved around 250,000 troops and left at least 70,000 casualties, Napoleons Grande Armée launched an attack against the Russian army, driving it back from its initial positions but failing to gain a decisive victory. Both armies were exhausted after the battle and the Russians withdrew from the field the following day, Borodino represented the last Russian effort at stopping the French advance on Moscow, which fell a week later. After a series of Russian retreats at the beginning of the campaign, Mikhail Kutuzov was appointed as his replacement. In a final attempt to save Moscow, the Russians made a stand near the village of Borodino and they fortified their positions and waited for the French to attack. The Russian right wing occupied ideal defensive terrain, so the French tried to press the Russian left for much of the battle, the highlight of the fighting became the bloody struggle for the large Raevsky redoubt near the village of Borodino. The French managed to capture this redoubt late into the day, the Russians suffered terrible casualties during the fighting, losing over a third of their army. French losses were heavy, exacerbating the logistical difficulties that Napoleon encountered in the campaign. Napoleons Imperial Guard, the unit on the battlefield that saw no fighting, was available to swing into action at a moments notice. In refusing to commit the Guard, some believe, he lost his one chance to destroy the Russian army. The capture of Moscow proved a pyrrhic victory since the Russians had no intention of negotiating with Napoleon for peace. The French evacuated Russias spiritual capital in October and conducted a retreat that only ended in December. Historical reports of the battle differed significantly depending on whether they originated from supporters of the French or Russian side, factional fighting among senior officers within each army also led to conflicting accounts and disagreements over the roles of particular officers. The French Grande Armée began its invasion of Russia on 16 June 1812, in response, Emperor Alexander I proclaimed a Patriotic War and prepared to face the French. However, Phulls plan soon proved to be a mistake, as the enormous Grande Armée was more than enough to separate. Furthermore, the participation of Tsar Alexander I as commander caused more chaos in the Russian army, the Russian forces which were massed along the Polish frontier were obliged to fall back in the face of the swift French advance. Napoleon advanced from Vitebsk, hoping to catch the Russian Army in the open where he could annihilate it, the French army was not positioned well for an extended overland campaign, it was 925 km from its nearest supply base at Kovno. French supply lines were vulnerable and Cossacks, light cavalry, guerrilla forces and even French deserters attacked and seriously depleted French supply columns
6.
Fyodor Rostopchin
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Count Fyodor Vasilyevich Rostopchin was a Russian statesman, who served as governor of Moscow during the French invasion of Russia. Rostopchin was born in Orel, the son of Vasily Fyodorovich Rostopchin, a officer in the Russian army, Lord of Livny and son of one Rastapcha. Feodor Rostopchin had great influence over the Tsar Paul I, who in 1796 made him adjutant general, grand-marshal of the court, in 1799 he was given the title of count. His opposition to the French alliance in 1801 resulted in his out of favor. Shortly thereafter he was appointed governor of Moscow. After the Battle of Borodino it was clear that the French could not be denied the city. Rostopchin had the city evacuated, including all the city administrators and officials, leaving only a few French tutors, foreign shop keepers. In addition, the prisons were opened and the prisoners set free by his order, no one met the Emperor Napoleon when he arrived at the city gates on 14 September. On the first night of French occupation a fire out in the bazaar and a number of small fires erupted in other quarters. The following day as Napoleon rode through the streets to the Kremlin he found the streets deserted and that night the city began to burn in earnest. Rostopchin had left a detachment of police, whom he charged with burning the city to the ground. Houses were prepared with flammable materials, fuses were left throughout the city to ignite the fires. He was disgraced shortly after the Congress of Vienna, to which he had accompanied Tsar Alexander I and he returned to Russia in 1825 and died in Moscow in February of the next year. He appears as a character in Leo Tolstoys War and Peace, citations Bibliography This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. article name needed
7.
Moscow Kremlin
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It is the best known of the kremlins and includes five palaces, four cathedrals, and the enclosing Kremlin Wall with Kremlin towers. Also within this complex is the Grand Kremlin Palace, the complex serves as the official residence of the President of the Russian Federation. It had previously used to refer to the government of the Soviet Union. Kremlinology refers to the study of Soviet and Russian politics, the site has been continuously inhabited by Finno-Ugric peoples since the 2nd century BC. Vyatichi built a structure on the hill where the Neglinnaya River flowed into the Moskva River. Up to the 14th century, the site was known as the grad of Moscow, the word Kremlin was first recorded in 1331. The grad was greatly extended by Prince Yuri Dolgorukiy in 1156, destroyed by the Mongols in 1237, dmitri Donskoi replaced the oak walls with a strong citadel of white limestone in 1366–1368 on the basic foundations of the current walls, this fortification withstood a siege by Khan Tokhtamysh. Dmitris son Vasily I resumed construction of churches and cloisters in the Kremlin, the newly built Annunciation Cathedral was painted by Theophanes the Greek, Andrei Rublev, and Prokhor in 1406. The Chudov Monastery was founded by Dmitris tutor, Metropolitan Alexis, while his widow, Eudoxia and it was during his reign that three extant cathedrals of the Kremlin, the Deposition Church, and the Palace of Facets were constructed. The highest building of the city and Muscovite Russia was the Ivan the Great Bell Tower, built in 1505–08, the Kremlin walls as they now appear were built between 1485 and 1495. Spasskie gates of the wall bear a dedication in Latin praising Petrus Antonius Solarius for the design. After construction of the new walls and churches was complete. The Kremlin was separated from the merchant town by a 30-meter-wide moat. The same tsar also renovated some of his grandfathers palaces, added a new palace and cathedral for his sons, and endowed the Trinity metochion inside the Kremlin. The metochion was administrated by the Trinity Monastery and boasted the graceful tower church of St. Sergius, during the Time of Troubles, the Kremlin was held by the Polish forces for two years, between 21 September 1610 and 26 October 1612. The Kremlins liberation by the army of prince Dmitry Pozharsky. During his reign and that of his son Alexis, the eleven-domed Upper Saviour Cathedral, Armorial Gate, Terem Palace, Amusement Palace, following the death of Alexis, the Kremlin witnessed the Moscow Uprising of 1682, from which czar Peter barely escaped. As a result, both of them disliked the Kremlin, three decades later, Peter abandoned the residence of his forefathers for his new capital, Saint Petersburg
8.
Sabotage
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Ecotage is direct action by extreme environmentalist groups in the Western world. All damage figures below are in United States dollars, some well-known acts of ecotage have included,1998 – Arson of buildings at Vail Mountain in the United States by the Earth Liberation Front. March 11,1999 – Genetically engineered potatoes uprooted at Crop, december 25,1999 – In Monmouth, Oregon, fire destroys the main office of the Boise Cascade logging company costing over $1 million. A 12-foot banner at the scene read If you build it, we will burn it, signed, ecotage was popularized in 1975 by Edward Abbeys book The Monkey Wrench Gang. It has also treated in novels by T. Coraghessan Boyle, Carl Hiaasen, Neal Stephenson, and Richard Melo. Ecotage. is also the title of a 1972 humor book by Sam Love, ecotage is mentioned in Mars trilogy of science fiction novels by Kim Stanley Robinson as a means of protest shown by the Red political party. Typically the Reds would destroy terraforming ventures in an effort to slow the terraforming of Mars, the Concrete mini series Think Like a Mountain is centred about ecotage aimed to protect first growth forests in the Pacific Northwest. Radical environmentalism Environmental movement Billboarding Sabotage Operation Backfire Green Scare Ecodefense, A Field Guide To Monkeywrenching - Online text
9.
Armand-Augustin-Louis de Caulaincourt
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Armand-Augustin-Louis, Marquis de Caulaincourt, Duke of Vicenza was a French soldier, diplomat, grand officer of the Grand Orient de France and close personal aide to Napoleon I. Armand de Caulaincourt was the eldest son of Louis Gabriel de Caulaincourt, the Marquis de Caulaincourt, born in Caulaincourt, Aisne in the French region of Picardy, he began service in the army at the age of 15, serving as an aide to his father. By the time of the declaration of war in 1792 Caulaincourt had been promoted to captain and was serving as an adjutant on the staff of his uncle, Harville. His lineage as a noble made him suspect by the revolutionaries, while on his way to join his regiment he was denounced as an aristocrat and thrown into prison. He escaped prison, and returned to serving in the army, in three years he had regained his previous rank and was serving General Lazare Hoche. He attained the rank of colonel in the Army of the Rhine, by 1801 Caulaincourt had been involved in thirteen campaigns and wounded twice. Caulaincourt was fluent in a number of languages, including Russian, after the peace of Lunéville in 1801 he was sent to Saint Petersburg by First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte. His mission was primarily to check British influence in the Russian court, on his return he was named aide-de-camp of Napoleon. At this juncture an event occurred which was to affect his life. In 1804 Caulaincourt had been sent by Napoleon across the Rhine to seize some agents of the British government who were in Baden and he was used to pass on orders calling for the seizure and transport to Paris of Louis Antoine de Bourbon, the Duke of Enghien. Once in Paris the Duke of Enghien was tried for treason by a military tribunal, Caulaincourt, an aristocrat, had been used as a means to deliver a fellow aristocrat to his death. When Caulaincourt returned to Paris he learned of the Dukes execution and he was incensed that he had been used in this way, and the event forever gave supporters of the Bourbon monarchy a means by which to impugn Caulaincourts integrity and honor. The shroud of idealism which had earlier colored his view of Napoleon was forever pulled away, the event was a point of shame that would haunt Caulaincourt for the rest of his days. After the establishment of the empire he received honors and in 1808 was given the title of Duke of Vicenza. In 1807, Napoleon sent him as ambassador to St. Petersburg, during this time he developed a friendship with the Tsar Alexander I. His tasks as ambassador included attempting to arrange a marriage between Napoleon and one of the sisters of the Tsar, though nothing came of it, he was able to manage the negotiations without engendering an embarrassing rebuff upon the Emperor. In 1811, with Napoleon preparing to declare a change in policy with Russia, Napoleon wrote the Tsar to say the Duke was recalled to France because of the Dukes poor state of health. In 1812, Caulaincourt strongly advised Napoleon against his campaign into Russia
10.
Lubok
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A lubok is a Russian popular print, characterized by simple graphics and narratives derived from literature, religious stories and popular tales. Lubki prints were used as decoration in houses and inns, early examples from the late 17th and early 18th centuries were woodcuts, then engravings or etchings were typical, and from the mid-19th century lithography. They sometimes appeared in series, which might be regarded as predecessors of the comic strip. Cheap and simple books, similar to chapbooks, which consisted of pictures, are called lubok literature or. Both pictures and literature are commonly referred to simply as lubki, the Russian word lubok derives from lub - a special type of board that pictures were printed on. Russian lubki became a genre of during the last half of the seventeenth century. Russian lubok was primarily influenced by the woodcuts and engravings done in Germany, Italy and its popularity in Russia was a result of how inexpensive and fairly simple it was to duplicate a print using this new technique. Luboks were typically sold at various marketplaces to the lower and middle classes and this type of art was very popular with these two social classes because the lubok provided them with an inexpensive opportunity to display artwork in their houses. The Koren Picture-Bible, 1692-1696 established the most prominent style, an Old Russian rendering of international iconography and subjects, by mid-18th century, however, the woodcuts were mostly replaced with engraving or etching techniques, which enabled the prints to be more detailed and complex. After printing on paper, the picture would be hand-colored with diluted tempera paints, while the prints themselves were typically very simplistic and unadorned, the final product, with the tempera paint added, was surprisingly bright with vivid colors and lines. The dramatic coloring of the early woodcut prints was to some extent lost with the transfer to more detailed engravings, in addition to the images, these folk prints would also include a short story or lesson that correlated to the picture being presented. Russian scholar Alexander Boguslavsky claims that the style is a combination of Russian icon and manuscript painting traditions with the ideas. Typically, the luboks artist would include minimal text that was supplementary to the illustration that would cover the majority of the engraving. Folklorist Dmitri Rovinsky is known for his work with categorizing lubok. Jewish examples exist as well, many luboks can be classified into multiple categories. Russian lubok The satirical version played an important role in the luboks from Russian wartime and it is used to present Napoleon in a satirical manner while portraying the Russian peasants as the heroes of the war. This also inspired other Russians to help fight the war by attempting to, the luboks presented a manner for the Russians to mock the French enemy, while at the same time display the ‘Russianness” of Russia. “These war luboks satirized Napoleon and depicted French culture as degenerate”, the lubok was a means of reinforcing the idea of defeating the French invaders and displaying the horrible destruction Napoleon and his army caused Russia. All the different representation of the Russian heroes helped define and spread the belief in Russian identity, the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905 began on February 8,1904, at Port Arthur with a surprise attack by the Imperial Japanese Navy
11.
Leo Tolstoy
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Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy, usually referred to in English as Leo Tolstoy, was a Russian writer who is regarded as one of the greatest authors of all time. Born to an aristocratic Russian family in 1828, he is best known for the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, often cited as pinnacles of realist fiction. He first achieved acclaim in his twenties with his semi-autobiographical trilogy, Childhood, Boyhood, and Youth. Tolstoys fiction includes dozens of stories and several novellas such as The Death of Ivan Ilyich, Family Happiness. He also wrote plays and numerous philosophical essays, in the 1870s Tolstoy experienced a profound moral crisis, followed by what he regarded as an equally profound spiritual awakening, as outlined in his non-fiction work A Confession. His literal interpretation of the teachings of Jesus, centering on the Sermon on the Mount, caused him to become a fervent Christian anarchist and pacifist. Tolstoy also became an advocate of Georgism, the economic philosophy of Henry George. Tolstoy was born at Yasnaya Polyana, a family estate 12 kilometres southwest of Tula, the Tolstoys were a well-known family of old Russian nobility, tracing their ancestry to a mythical Lithuanian noble Indris. He was the fourth of five children of Count Nikolai Ilyich Tolstoy, a veteran of the Patriotic War of 1812, Tolstoys parents died when he was young, so he and his siblings were brought up by relatives. In 1844, he began studying law and oriental languages at Kazan University and his teachers described him as both unable and unwilling to learn. Tolstoy left the university in the middle of his studies, returned to Yasnaya Polyana and then spent much of his time in Moscow, in 1851, after running up heavy gambling debts, he went with his older brother to the Caucasus and joined the army. It was about time that he started writing. Others who followed the path were Alexander Herzen, Mikhail Bakunin. During his 1857 visit, Tolstoy witnessed an execution in Paris. Writing in a letter to his friend Vasily Botkin, The truth is that the State is a conspiracy designed not only to exploit, henceforth, I shall never serve any government anywhere. Tolstoys concept of non-violence or Ahimsa was bolstered when he read a German version of the Tirukkural and he later instilled the concept in Mahatma Gandhi through his A Letter to a Hindu when young Gandhi corresponded with him seeking his advice. His European trip in 1860–61 shaped both his political and literary development when he met Victor Hugo, whose literary talents Tolstoy praised after reading Hugos newly finished Les Misérables, the similar evocation of battle scenes in Hugos novel and Tolstoys War and Peace indicates this influence. Tolstoys political philosophy was influenced by a March 1861 visit to French anarchist Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
12.
War and Peace
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War and Peace is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, which is regarded as a central work of world literature and one of Tolstoys finest literary achievements. The novel chronicles the history of the French invasion of Russia, portions of an earlier version, titled The Year 1805, were serialized in The Russian Messenger from 1865 to 1867. The novel was first published in its entirety in 1869, newsweek in 2009 ranked it first in its Top 100 Books. In 2007, Time magazine ranked War and Peace third in its poll of the 10 greatest books of all time while Anna Karenina was ranked first, Tolstoy said War and Peace is not a novel, even less is it a poem, and still less a historical chronicle. Large sections, especially the later chapters, are a philosophical rather than narrative. Tolstoy also said that the best Russian literature does not conform to standards and hence hesitated to call War, instead, he regarded Anna Karenina as his first true novel. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, no single English novel attains the universality of Leo Tolstoys War, War and Peace is perhaps best known as one of the longest novels ever written. Tolstoy began writing War and Peace in the year that he married and settled down at his country estate. The first half of the book was written under the name 1805, during the writing of the second half, he read widely and acknowledged Schopenhauer as one of his main inspirations. However, Tolstoy developed his own views of history and the role of the individual within it, the first draft of the novel was completed in 1863. In 1865, the periodical Russkiy Vestnik published the first part of this draft under the title 1805, Tolstoy was dissatisfied with this version, although he allowed several parts of it to be published with a different ending in 1867. He heavily rewrote the novel between 1866 and 1869. Tolstoys wife, Sophia Tolstaya, copied as many as seven separate complete manuscripts before Tolstoy considered it again ready for publication, the version that was published in Russkiy Vestnik had a very different ending from the version eventually published under the title War and Peace in 1869. Russians who had read the serialized version were anxious to buy the complete novel, the novel was translated almost immediately after publication into many other languages. It is unknown why Tolstoy changed the name to War and Peace and he may have borrowed the title from the 1861 work of Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, La Guerre et la Paix. The title may also be reference to Titus, described as being a master of war and peace in The Twelve Caesars. The completed novel was then called Voyna i mir, the 1805 manuscript was re-edited and annotated in Russia in 1983 and since has been translated into English, German, French, Spanish, Dutch, Swedish, Finnish, Albanian, Korean, and Czech. The existence of so many versions make this one of the best insights into the mental processes of a great novelist
13.
Carl von Clausewitz
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Carl Philipp Gottfried von Clausewitz was a Prussian general and military theorist who stressed the moral and political aspects of war. His most notable work, Vom Kriege, was unfinished at his death, Clausewitz was a realist in many different senses and, while in some respects a romantic, also drew heavily on the rationalist ideas of the European Enlightenment. He stressed the dialectical interaction of factors, noting how unexpected developments unfolding under the fog of war call for rapid decisions by alert commanders. He saw history as a check on erudite abstractions that did not accord with experience. In contrast to the work of Antoine-Henri Jomini, he argued that war could not be quantified or reduced to mapwork, geometry. Clausewitz had many aphorisms, of which the most famous is War is the continuation of politics by other means, Clausewitzs Christian names are sometimes given in non-German sources as Karl, Carl Philipp Gottlieb, or Carl Maria. He spelled his own name with a C in order to identify with the classical Western tradition. Carl Philipp Gottfried appears on Clausewitzs tombstone, Clausewitzs family claimed descent from the Barons of Clausewitz in Upper Silesia, though scholars question the connection. His grandfather, the son of a Lutheran pastor, had been a professor of theology, Clausewitzs father, once a lieutenant in the Prussian army of Frederick II of Prussia, held a minor post in the Prussian internal-revenue service. Clausewitz entered the Prussian military service at the age of twelve as a Lance-Corporal, Clausewitz served in the Rhine Campaigns including the Siege of Mainz, when the Prussian army invaded France during the French Revolution, and fought in the Napoleonic Wars from 1806 to 1815. Clausewitz, Hermann von Boyen and Karl von Grolman were among Scharnhorsts primary allies in his efforts to reform the Prussian army between 1807 and 1814, Clausewitz served during the Jena Campaign as aide-de-camp to Prince August. Clausewitz was held prisoner with his prince in France from 1807 to 1808, returning to Prussia, he assisted in the reform of the Prussian army and state. On December 10,1810 he married the socially prominent Countess Marie von Brühl and she was a member of the noble German von Brühl family originating in Thuringia. The couple moved in the highest circles, socializing with Berlins political, literary, Marie was well-educated and politically well-connected—she played an important role in her husbands career progress and intellectual evolution. She also edited, published, and introduced his collected works, like many Prussian officers serving in Russia, he joined the Russian-German Legion in 1813. In 1815 the Russian-German Legion became integrated into the Prussian Army and he was soon appointed chief-of-staff of Johann von Thielmanns III Corps. In that capacity he served at the Battle of Ligny and the Battle of Wavre during the Waterloo Campaign in 1815, Clausewitzs unit fought at Wavre, preventing large reinforcements from reaching Napoleon at Waterloo. After the war Clausewitz served as the director of the Kriegsakademie, in that year he returned to duty with the army
14.
Yevgeny Tarle
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Yevgeny Viktorovich Tarle was a Soviet historian and academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He is known for his books about Napoleons invasion of Russia and on the Crimean War, yevgeny Tarle was one of the founders of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, Russias diplomatic university. Tarle was a historian who lived and worked both under Tsarist and Soviet regimes and he witnessed the whole period in which Joseph Stalin held power. The Stalinist era had exceedingly strict ideological pressure on scholarly research in the Soviet Union in science, together with art, literature, education, thus, it was inevitable for historians to face that pressure while doing their scholarly works. The secrecy of the made the historical study of the Soviet Union, especially Stalin. In the Stalin era the Party’s total control of archives, journals, publishing houses, historians’ appointments, “History was the handmaiden of ideology and politics. The leader and his intimates could manipulate the historical record as it suited them in their struggle to gain and maintain power. ”When the Bolsheviks came to power in 1917, Tarle was born in Ukraine in a Jewish family on 8 November 1874. His father was a government official and he completed Gymnasium in Kherson in 1892 and afterward entered the University of Kiev to study history and philosophy. He was “the most distinguished student of Ivan Vasilevich Luchitski of the University of Kiev. ”After finishing his education at the University of Kiev. He defended his master’s thesis in 1901 and became a lecturer at the University of St. Petersburg in 1903, to achieve his doctoral degree, he completed a two-volume dissertation about France. His interest in France increased in time, he completed work on the economic history of France in 1916. Tarle was able to travel outside of Russia several times before the Revolution in 1917 and he had done research in the libraries and archives of Western Europe for all his early works. He even read a paper at the World Congress of Historical Studies held in London in 1913, the number of his works prior to the Revolution amounted to 211. The second and last time that Soviet historians appeared abroad was at the “Sixth International Congress of Historians” in Oslo in September,1928, Tarle had been proposed as a participant at the latter, but did not appear, as at the last moment he was recalled. Tarle’s Soviet biographers did not mention his political views prior the Bolshevik Revolution, “He had even held a rather negative attitude towards it at first. ”Russian historical scholarship was deeply affected by the Revolution. Despite this, Tarle remained at the University of St. Petersburg, however, in RAINON, “most researchers were specialists who had been trained under the old regime. The historians among them had to change their fields and study the movement or socio-economic problems. In 1921, he became a “corresponding member” of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, from 1922 to 1924, with F
15.
Joachim Murat
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Joachim-Napoléon Murat was a Marshal of France and Admiral of France under the reign of Napoleon. He was also the 1st Prince Murat, Grand Duke of Berg from 1806 to 1808 and he received his titles in part by being Napoleons brother-in-law through marriage to his younger sister, Caroline Bonaparte, as well as personal merit. He was noted as a daring, brave, and charismatic cavalry officer as well as a flamboyant dresser and was known as the Dandy King. In 1789, an affair forced him to resign, and he returned to his family, by 1790, he had joined the National Guard, and when the Fête of the Nation was organized on 14 July 1790, the Canton of Montaucon sent Murat as its representative. Then he became reinstated into his old regiment, an ardent Republican, Murat wrote to his brother in 1791 stating he was preoccupied with revolutionary affairs and would sooner die than cease to be a patriot. This garnered for him the support of the Republicans, for he rejoined his regiment and was promoted to Corporal in April of that year. By 19 November 1792, he was 25 years old and elated at his latest promotion. As a sous-lieutenant, he thought, his family must recognize that he had no tendency for the priesthood. One of the Ministers had accused him of being an aristocrat, confusing him with the family of Murat dAuvergne. In the autumn of 1795, three years after King Louis XVI of France was deposed, royalist and counter-revolutionaries organised an armed uprising, on 3 October, General Napoleon Bonaparte, who was stationed in Paris, was named commander of the French National Conventions defending forces. This constitutional convention, after a period of emergency rule, was striving to establish a more stable. Bonaparte tasked Murat with the gathering of artillery from a suburb outside the control of the governments forces, Murat managed to take the cannons of the Camp des Sablons and transport them to the centre of Paris while avoiding the rioters. The use of these cannons – the famous whiff of grapeshot – on 5 October allowed Bonaparte to save the members of the National Convention, for this success, Joachim Murat was made chef de brigade and thereafter remained one of Napoleons best officers. Murat then went with Bonaparte to northern Italy, initially as his aide-de-camp and these forces were waging war on France and seeking to restore a monarchy in revolutionary France. Thus, Murats skills in no small part helped establish Bonapartes legendary fame, Murat commanded the cavalry of the French Egyptian expedition of 1798, again under Bonaparte. The expeditions strategic goal was to threaten Britains rich holdings in India, however, the overall effort ended prematurely because of lack of logistical support with the defeat of the French fleet due to British sea power. After the sea battle, Napoleon led his troops on land toward Europe, the remaining non-military expedition staff officers, including Murat, and Bonaparte returned to France, eluding various British fleets in five frigates. A short while later, Murat played an important, even pivotal, role in Bonapartes coup within a coup of 18 Brumaire, along with two others, Napoleon Bonaparte set aside the five-man directory government, establishing the three-man French Consulate government
16.
Fili (Moscow)
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Fili is a former suburban village, now a neighborhood in the western section of Moscow, Russia, notable for the events of September 1812, following the Battle of Borodino. The village was located between the Moskva River and Poklonnaya Hill, near the present-day Fili station of Moscow Metro, the territory is administered by Filyovsky park District. The first mention of Fili is dated 1627, from 1689, Fili, Kuntsevo, and adjacent settlements were owned by Lev Naryshkin, brother of tsaritsa Natalia Naryshkina. By 1694, he completed the Intercession Church, with donations by Peter I, Naryshkin also established a new Fili village, closer to present-day Kutuzovsky Prospekt, the old Fili was remodelled into his personal estate. After the Battle of Borodino, the Russian army retreated east and they marched through Moscow on September 14, followed by Murats vanguard. Fili was heavily industrialized between the 1900s and the 1930s, and by 1926 it had 396 households and 1,342 residents, in 1935, a notable feature of Fili is the Khrunichev aerospace plant, its first stage was built before World War I by Roman Klein. In the 1920s, renamed State Aircraft Plant No,7, it acquired German technology in a joint venture with Junkers, producing local copies of Junkers K30 bomber, and vastly expanded afterwards. In 1926, this became Zavod 22, where the aircraft of Andrey Tupolev were developed, Church of the Intercession at Fili French invasion of Russia Kutuzovsky Prospekt District administration, official site
17.
Dorogomilovo District
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Dorogomilovo District is a district of Western Administrative Okrug of the federal city of Moscow, Russia. This section is based on P. V. Sytins History of Moscow Streets Original Dorogomilovo sloboda was located on the bank of the Moskva River. Peasants of this sloboda, personally free, were paying their taxes with Yam service on the old road to Smolensk, the main link between Moscow and Poland. Smolensk was annexed by Moscow in the course of the Russo-Polish War, and as a result the road was straightened, Dorogomilovo sloboda relocated to the western bank, to present-day Dorogomilovo. For the next two hundred years, the new and the old settlements shared the same name, the only other settlement on the western bank was a fishing village owned by Patriarch. In 1731–1742, when Moscow city boundary expanded to Kamer-Kollezhsky Val limits, gradually, the once-free coach-drivers were stripped of their liberties and reduced to taxpayer peasant status. Former sloboda population decreased from 117 households in 1699 to 24 in 1801, instead, Dorogomilovo acquired one of Moscows largest cemeteries. In 1812, old Smolensk road witnessed the retreat of Russian troops, the village of Fili, where Kutuzov made his decision to abandon Moscow, is situated just outside the modern Dorogomilovo District boundary. The French marched to Moscow in three columns, crossing the river in Fili, Dorogomilovo, and Luzhniki, meanwhile, wounded at Battle of Borodino where dying and buried at Dorogomilovo cemeteries. Industrial development of the 19th century was slow, due to the regular floods, the main employers in the area was a brewery set on a hill in 1875, still operating as Badayev Brewery, a dye factory, and a cement plant. Newspapers, describing 1879 flood, wrote that brewery workers managed to out a beer barrel. Development was boosted by construction of Bryansky railroad terminal, originally built in wood, in 1912, the city built new Borodinsky Bridge, which still stands. New Kiyevsky Terminal, designed by Ivan Rerberg and Vladimir Shukhov in 1912–1914, was completed during the Russian Civil War, Dorogomilovo used to have Moscows second largest cathedral, rated for 10,000 worshippers. It was set on the site of present-day corner block at 1 Bolshaya Dorogomilovskaya, there are no reliable explanations why it was built in such a remote, construction of Byzantine Revival Bogoyavlensky Church proceeded from 1898 to 1910. Originally modelled after Christ the Saviour, the design was changed from five-domed to a single dome. Starting in 1918, Bolshevik authorities began harassing the clergy, and in 1922 stripped the church of all silver and gold, after the demolition of Christ the Saviour, Dorogomilovo Cathedral was the main operating church of Russian Orthodox Church, until its destruction in 1938. In 1935, Dorogomilovo became the site of a major stalinist architecture project, a 2. 7-kilometer long stretch of Dorogomilovskaya Street and Mozhaysk highway was zoned for first-rate housing construction, half of the project was actually completed before June 1941. One of these apartment blocks,26 Kutuzovsky, is known as Leonid Brezhnevs Mikhail Suslovs, construction was completed during post-war years
18.
Ryazan
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Ryazan is a city and the administrative center of Ryazan Oblast, Russia, located on the Oka River 196 kilometers southeast of Moscow. It is argued that the Ryazan kremlin was founded in 800, by Slavic settlers, initially it was built of wood, gradually replaced by masonry. The oldest preserved part of the dates back to the 12th century. However, the first written mention of the city, under the name of Pereslavl, at that time, the city was part of the independent Principality of Ryazan, which had existed since 1078 and which was centered on the old city of Ryazan. The first ruler of Ryazan was supposedly Yaroslav Sviatoslavich, Prince of Ryazan, by the end of the 12th century, the capital of Duchy was burnt several times by the armies of Suzdal. Ryazan was the first Russian city to be sacked by the Mongol horde of Batu Khan, on December 21,1237, it was thoroughly devastated and never fully recovered. As result of the sack, the seat of the principality was moved about 55 kilometers to the town of Pereslavl-Ryazansky, the site of the old capital now carries the name of Staraya Ryazan, close to Spassk-Ryazansky. Late in the 13th century, the Princes of Ryazan moved their capital to Pereslavl, the principality was finally incorporated into that of Moscow in 1521. Immediately after World War II, rapid development of the city began, Ryazan became a major industrial, scientific, and military center of the European part of Russia. Massive factories were constructed in the city, occupying the urban areas. Leading areas of industry are heavy and non-ferrous metallurgy, oil refining and machine-tool industry, mechanical engineering, more than half of the plants produce for export. Several positioned MANPADS protect the urban sky, besides the Airborne School, Ryazan hosts the Automobile School and Institute of Communications, a regiment of railway troops, airbase strategic bombers, and a training center in Diaghilev. Ryazan developed particularly rapidly while Nadezhda Nikolaevna Chumakova served as Chair of the Council of Peoples Deputies of Ryazan and Ryazan mayor, under Chumakova, the citys population increased more than seven times, from 72 to 520 thousand people. Chumakova oversaw the construction of social and cultural amenities, more than 20 urban areas, landscaping became a fundamental strategy for the development of the city at that time. Ryazan repeatedly won recognition among the cities of the Soviet Union for its landscaping, during her 26 years in office, Nadezhda Chumakova often accepted awards of the Red Banner of the USSR on behalf of Ryazan. In September 1999, Ryazan became one of the involved in the Russian apartment bombings episode. In the Political system of Ryazan, the legislature, a city council is the Ryazan City Duma, kind of the lower house of the municipality - Youth Parliament, preparing draft legislative initiatives. Executive power in the city of Ryazan carried by the administration headed by the city manager, control over the activities of the authorities is administered by the Public Chamber of the city of Ryazan, work with youth involved in the headquarters of youth activists
19.
Moskva River
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The Moskva River is a river of western Russia. It rises about 140 km west of Moscow, and flows roughly east through the Smolensk and Moscow Oblasts, passing through central Moscow. About 110 km south east of Moscow, at the city of Kolomna, it flows into the Oka River, itself a tributary of the Volga, Moskva and Moscow are two different renderings of the same Russian word Москва. The city is named after the river, the origin of the name is unknown, although several theories exist. The river is 503 km long, with a drop of 155 m. The area of its basin is 17,600 km2. The maximum depth is 3 metres above Moscow city limits, normally, it freezes in November–December and begins to thaw around late March. In Moscow, the river freezes occasionally, during a warm winter in 2006–2007. The absolute water level in downtown Moscow is 120 metres above sea level, the main tributaries are the Ruza, Istra, Yauza, Pakhra, and Severka rivers. Sources of water are estimated as 61% thaw, 12% rain, since completion of the Moscow Canal, the Moskva River has also collected a share of Upper Volga water. This has enabled reliable commercial shipping, which was interrupted by summer droughts. The average discharge, including Volga waters, varies from 38 m3/s near Zvenigorod to 250 m3/s at the Oka inlet, the speed of the current, depending on the season, varies from 0.1 m/s to 1. 5–2.0 m/s. Moscow, the capital of Russia, is situated on its banks, the river also flows through the towns of Mozhaysk, Zvenigorod, Zhukovsky, Bronnitsy, Voskresensk, and — at the confluence of the Moskva and Oka — Kolomna. As of 2007, there are 49 bridges across the Moskva River and its canals within Moscow city limits, within the city, the river is 120–200 metres wide, the narrowest point being under the Kremlin walls. Drinking water for the city of Moscow is collected from five stations on the Moskva River, canals, built within Moscow city limits, have created a number of islands. Some of them have names in Russian, some have none, major, permanent islands are, Serebryany Bor. Separated from the mainland in the 1930s, tatarskaya Poyma, commonly known as Mnyovniki. Separated from the mainland in the 1930s Balchug Island, also known as Bolotny Ostrov, the island was formed by the construction of the Vodootvodny Canal in the 1780s, and has no official name in Russian
20.
Kitay-gorod
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It is separated from the Moscow Kremlin by Red Square. Kitay-gorod does not constitute a district, as there are no resident voters, thus, rather, the territory has been part of Tverskoy District, the Central Administrative Okrug authorities have managed the area directly since 2003. The etymology of the name is unclear, gorod is the Russian word for city, derived from the ancient gord. Note that Kitay is the modern Russian word for China, see Cathay, the walls were erected from 1536 to 1539 by an Italian architect known under the Russified name Petrok Maly and originally featured 13 towers and six gates. They were as thick as they were high, the average being six meters in both dimensions, the last of the towers were demolished in the 1930s, but small portions of the wall still stand. One of two remaining parts of the wall is located in Zaryadye and the other near the exit from the Okhotny Ryad station of Moscow Metro behind the Hotel Metropol, recently the mayor of Moscow announced plans for a full-scale restoration of the wall. City officials also plan to close Kitay-gorod to automobile traffic, since 1995 the wall has been extensively rebuilt, and a new tower has been added. Inside the tower are a couple of restaurants and bars, apart from Red Square, the quarter is bordered by the chain of Central Squares of Moscow, notably Theatre Square, Lubyanka Square, and Slavyanskaya Square. Bourse Square on Ilyinka Street is situated entirely within Kitay-gorod, Kitay-gorod, developing as a trading area, was known as the most prestigious business area of Moscow. Its three main streets — Varvarka, Ilyinka, and Nikolskaya — are lined with banks, shops, and storehouses like the historicistic shopping mall GUM which confines Kitay-gorod towards Red Square. One of the most beautiful churches in Moscow, St. Nicholas Church on the Ilyinka and this district also features the Trinity Church of Nikitniki, which today is nestled among city buildings. It was built in the 1630s on the land of Moscow merchant, Nikolskaya Street is famous for being the site of Moscows first university, the Slavic Greek Latin Academy, housed in extant Zaikonospassky monastery. Another monastery cathedral, the church of Epiphany Monastery, stands in the middle of Kitay-gorod in the eponymous Bogoyavlensky Lane. The 18th century survives in the walls of the otherwise rebuilt Gostiny Dvor by Giacomo Quarenghi. In the 19th century, Red Square was lined by a domed structure of Upper Trade Rows by Joseph Bove. However, in the 1890s it was torn down and replaced with the new, eclectic Upper Trading Rows, also in the 1890s, developers consolidated large land lots on the perimeter of Kitay-gorod. Since the early 1990s, many buildings have been torn down or rebuilt by facadist methods. Apart from the Gostiny Dvor, recent losses include the Tyoplye Trade Rows, the degree of destruction cannot be assessed in full, since many properties are operated by the federal government and closed to the general public
21.
Tagansky District
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Tagansky District is a district of Central Administrative Okrug of the federal city of Moscow, Russia, located between the Moskva and Yauza Rivers near the mouth of the latter. The district takes its name from the former Taganskaya sloboda, where the lived in the 16th century. Tagan is the old Russian word for their product, a trivet to set a pot on, the modern center of the Taganka district is the Taganskaya Square, where the Taganka Theatre is located. The skyline is dominated by the Kotelnicheskaya Embankment Building, once the tallest skyscraper in the Soviet Union, the area contains a fine set of pre-Petrine parish churches, including the Athonite metochion and the Bolvanovka church. Apart from Taganka proper, the district includes other historic neighbourhoods such as Kulishki in the eastern Bely Gorod, Khitrovka, Solyanka, Krutitsy. Major sights include the 18th-century Foundling Home and at least three walled monasteries — the Andronikov, the Pokrovsky, and the Novospassky
22.
Arbat Street
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Arbat Street, mainly referred to in English as the Arbat, is a pedestrian street about one kilometer long in the historical centre of Moscow, Russia. The Arbat has existed since at least the 15th century, which makes it one of the oldest surviving streets of the Russian capital and it forms the heart of the Arbat District of Moscow. Originally the street formed part of an important trade-route and was home to a number of craftsmen. In the 18th century, the Russian nobility came to regard the Arbat as the most prestigious living area in Moscow, almost completely destroyed by the great fire of 1812 associated with Napoleons occupation of Moscow, the street required rebuilding. In the 19th and early 20th centuries it became known as the a place where petty nobility, artists, in the Soviet period, it housed many high-ranking government officials. As of 2016, the street and its surroundings are undergoing gentrification, because of the many historic buildings, and due to the numerous artists who have lived and worked in the street, the Arbat has also become an important tourist attraction. The Arbat is in the centre of Moscow. It begins at Arbatskaya square,800 metres west of the walls of the Moscow Kremlin, Arbatskaya square is also the meeting point of the Boulevard Ring and Vozdvizhenka Street. The part of this square which is adjacent to the Arbat is called Arbat Gate, the wall, which was intact from the 16th to the 18th centuries, followed the path of the current Boulevard Ring. From this point the Arbat runs southwest, with a dozen side streets leading off, and ends at Smolenskaya Square, continuing on from the Arbat in a westerly direction is the eight-lane Smolenskaya Street. This street changes its name several times within the city limits, ultimately crossing the MKAD ring road, until the middle of the 20th century, the Arbat remained part of the main road from the Moscow Kremlin westwards. In the 1960s a parallel road, the New Arbat was built, the New Arbat with its wide sidewalks and 1960s tower blocks has no sidestreets. Two decades later the Arbat was made into the first pedestrian zone in Moscow, in order to avoid confusion with the New Arbat, people began to refer to the Arbat as the Old Arbat. The Arbat is one of the oldest surviving streets in Moscow, exactly when it came into existence is not recorded, but a document from July 28,1493 mentions it. The document describes a fire started in the wooden Church of Nicholas on the Sand. The fire spread throughout Moscow, devastating areas of the city. The original meaning of the place name Arbat remains unknown, several hypotheses attempt to explain it, Probably the most widespread hypothesis states that the name comes from the Arabic word أرباض arbāḍ, meaning suburb or outskirts. This fits with the fact that from the 16th century the surrounding the Arbat did form the outer district of the city
23.
Alexander I of Russia
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Alexander I reigned as Emperor of Russia from 23 March 1801 to 1 December 1825. He was the son of Paul I and Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg, Alexander was the first Russian King of Poland, reigning from 1815 to 1825, as well as the first Russian Grand Duke of Finland. He was sometimes called Alexander the Blessed and he was born in Saint Petersburg to Grand Duke Paul Petrovich, later Emperor Paul I, and succeeded to the throne after his father was murdered. He ruled Russia during the period of the Napoleonic Wars. As prince and emperor, Alexander often used liberal rhetoric, in the first years of his reign, he initiated some minor social reforms and major, liberal educational reforms, such as building more universities. He promised constitutional reforms and a desperately needed reform of serfdom in Russia, Alexander appointed Mikhail Speransky, the son of a village priest, as one of his closest advisors. The Collegia was abolished and replaced by the The State Council, plans were also made to set up a parliament and sign a constitution. In foreign policy, he changed Russias position relative to France four times between 1804 and 1812 among neutrality, opposition, and alliance and he fought a small-scale naval war against Britain between 1807 and 1812. He and Napoleon could never agree, especially about Poland, the tsars greatest triumph came in 1812 as Napoleons invasion of Russia proved a total disaster for the French. As part of the coalition against Napoleon he gained some spoils in Finland and Poland. He formed the Holy Alliance to suppress revolutionary movements in Europe that he saw as threats to legitimate Christian monarchs. He helped Austrias Klemens von Metternich in suppressing all national and liberal movements, in the second half of his reign he was increasingly arbitrary, reactionary and fearful of plots against him, he ended many earlier reforms. He purged schools of teachers, as education became more religiously oriented as well as politically conservative. Speransky was replaced as advisor with the artillery inspector Aleksey Arakcheyev. Alexander died of typhus in December 1825 while on a trip to southern Russia and he left no children as heirs and both of his brothers wanted the other to become emperor. After a period of confusion that included the failed Decembrist revolt of liberal army officers, he was succeeded by his younger brother. Alexander and his younger brother Constantine were raised by their grandmother, some sources allege that she planned to remove her son Paul I from the succession altogether. From the free-thinking atmosphere of the court of Catherine and his Swiss tutor, Frédéric-César de La Harpe, but from his military governor, Nikolay Saltykov, he imbibed the traditions of Russian autocracy
24.
Zamoskvorechye District
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Zamoskvorechye District is a district of Central Administrative Okrug of the federal city of Moscow, Russia. The district contains the half of historical Zamoskvorechye area. The boundary between Yakimanka and Zamoskvorechye districts follows Balchug Street and Bolshaya Ordynka Street, Korovy Val and Mytnaya streets. This section is based on P. V. Sytins History of Moscow Streets Territories on the bank of Moskva River. Two river crossings, west and east of the Moscow Kremlins walls, provide access to roads which continued south to Kaluga and Serpukhov. Bolshaya Ordynka Street, currently the western boundary of the district, is named after Orda, Golden Horde, regular floods and the north-south migration of Moskva river bed limited construction to a narrow, 500-700 meter wide strip of land between Ordynka and Tatarskaya streets. The development of Zamoskvorechye followed the expansion of the city on the northern bank. For example, present-day Pyatnitskaya Street emerged early in the 15th century, the fortified line on the site of the present-day Garden Ring was built in 1591-1592 during the reign of Feodor I. Within the fortress wall, life was organized in a patchwork sloboda system, the century was preceded by mass executions of Streltsy, all Streltsy troops were disbanded by 1720. Craftsmen lost their businesses when the court relocated to Saint Petersburg in 1713. Wealthier class concentrated in Pyatnitskaya and Ordynka streets, Zamoskvorechye became a quiet, country-like land of single-story houses and they gradually improved the area with new churches like the 1755 Church of the Savior on Bolvany. Administratively, Zamoskvorechye and Yakimanka were separated in 1782, when Catherine II divided territory of Moscow into 20 police districts, in 1783, Moscow was hit by a disastrous flood. As a consequence, the city cleared the old river bed, large areas east of Tatarskaya streets were flooded with an intention of building a river harbour and a fortified grain port on the eastern tip of the new island. These plans did not materialize, flooded lands were reclaimed in the 1820s, Sadovniki fort was built on a different site, closer to city center, as the New Kriegskomissariat, a neoclassical castle housing military offices and depots. Since that time, military has continuous presence in Sadovniki East, construction of Babiegorodskaya Dam and clearing of Vodootvodny Canal in the 1830s reduced the flood hazard, but the land remained cheap. This led to steady industrialization of Zamoskvorechye, starting with small home-based factories continuing the old sloboda traditions, soon after Emancipation reform of 1861, vacant lots in Sadovniki and Tatarskaya Streets became an industrialized, working-class area. These factories, from textile to turbine blades, were torn down or rebuilt into office space. Construction of Pererva and Kolomna dams in 1874-1877 attempted to improve shipping, however, at this time river shipping already lost competition to railroads, in 1857, English brothers Theodore and Edward Bromley set up a mechanical plant south from the Garden Ring, producing small hand tools
25.
Moscow State University
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Lomonosov Moscow State University is a coeducational and public research university located in Moscow, Russia. It was founded on January 25,1755 by Mikhail Lomonosov, MSU was renamed after Lomonosov in 1940 and was then known as Lomonosov University. It also claims to house the tallest educational building in the world and it is rated among the universities with the best reputation in the world. Its current rector is Viktor Sadovnichiy, ivan Shuvalov and Mikhail Lomonosov promoted the idea of a university in Moscow, and Russian Empress Elizabeth decreed its establishment on January 251755. The first lectures were given on April 26th, russians still celebrate January 25th as Students Day. Saint Petersburg State University and Moscow State University engage in rivalry over the title of Russias oldest university. The present Moscow State University originally occupied the Principal Medicine Store on Red Square from 1755 to 1787, in the 18th century, the University had three departments, philosophy, medicine, and law. A preparatory college was affiliated with the University until its abolition in 1812, in 1779, Mikhail Kheraskov founded a boarding school for noblemen which in 1830 became a gymnasium for the Russian nobility. The university press, run by Nikolay Novikov in the 1780s, published the most popular newspaper in Imperial Russia, in 1804, medical education split into clinical, surgical, and obstetrics faculties. During 1884–1897, the Department of Medicine -- supported by donations. The campus, and medical education in general, were separated from the University in 1918, as of 2015, Devichye Pole was operated by the independent I. M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University and by various other state and private institutions. The roots of student unrest in the University reach deep into the nineteenth century, in 1905, a social-democratic organization emerged at the University and called for the overthrow of the Czarist government and the establishment of a republic in Russia. The imperial government repeatedly threatened to close the University, after the October Revolution of 1917, the institution began to admit the children of the proletariat and peasantry. In 1919, the University abolished fees for tuition and established a facility to help working-class children prepare for entrance examinations. During the implementation of Joseph Stalins First Five-Year Plan, prisoners from the Gulag were forced to construct parts of the newly expanded University, after 1991, nine new faculties were established. The following year, the University gained a status, it is funded directly from the state budget. On March 19,2008, Russias most powerful supercomputer to date and its peak performance of 60 TFLOPS makes it the fastest supercomputer in the Commonwealth of Independent States. Since 1953, most of the faculties have been situated on Sparrow Hills, the main building was designed by architect Lev Vladimirovich Rudnev
26.
The Tale of Igor's Campaign
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The Tale of Igors Campaign is an anonymous epic poem written in the Old East Slavic language. The title is translated as The Tale of the Campaign of Igor, The Song of Igors Campaign, The Lay of Igors Campaign, The Lay of the Host of Igor. The poem gives an account of a raid of Igor Svyatoslavich against the Polovtsians of the Don River region. While some have disputed the authenticity of the poem, the current scholarly consensus is that the poem is authentic, the Tale of Igors Campaign was adapted by Alexander Borodin as an opera and became one of the great classics of Russian theatre. Entitled Prince Igor, it was first performed in 1890, the story describes a failed raid made in year 1185 by Kniaz Igor Svyatoslavich, Prince of Novgorod-Seversk on the Polovtsians tribe living in the southern part of the Don region. Other Rus historical figures are mentioned, including skald Boyan, the princes Vseslav of Polotsk, Yaroslav Osmomysl of Halych, the author appeals to the warring Rus princes and pleads for unity in the face of the constant threat from the Turkic East. The descriptions show coexistence between Christianity and ancient Slavic religion, Igors wife Yaroslavna invokes natural forces from the walls of Putyvl. Christian motifs are presented along with depersonalised pagan gods as among the artistic images, the Tale has been compared to other national epics, including The Song of Roland and The Song of the Nibelungs. The book however differs from contemporary Western epics on account of its numerous and vivid descriptions of nature, monastery superior Joel sold the manuscript to a local landowner, Aleksei Musin-Pushkin, as a part of a collection of ten texts. Aleksei realised the value of the book and made a transcription for the empress Catherine the Great in 1795 or 1796 and he published it in 1800 with the help of Alexei Malinovsky and Nikolai Bantysh-Kamensky, leading Russian paleographers of the time. The original manuscript was claimed to have burned in the great Moscow fire of 1812, the Russian-American author Vladimir Nabokov translated the work into English in 1960. Other notable editions include the standard Soviet edition, prepared with an extended commentary, according to the majority view, the poem is a composition of the late 12th century, perhaps composed orally and fixed in written form at some point during the 13th century. Some scholars consider the possibility that the poem in its current form is a national Romanticist compilation and it was not until 1951 that scholars discovered ancient birch bark documents with content in this medieval language. There are almost identical passages in both texts where only the names are different. The traditional point of view considers Zadonschina to be a late imitation, the forgery version claims the reverse, that Igors Tale was written using Zadonschina as a source. This fact is taken as evidence of Slovo being the original with respect to Zadonschina, proponents of the forgery thesis give sometimes contradictory arguments, some authors see numerous Gallicisms in the text, while others see Germanisms, yet others Bohemisms. Zimin is certain that the author could only be Ioil Bykovsky, current dialectology upholds Pskov and Polotsk as the two cities where the Tale was most likely written. Numerous persons have been proposed as its authors, including Prince Igor, other authors consider the epic to have emerged in Southern Rus, with many elements corresponding to modern Ukrainian language
27.
Moscow Orphanage
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The Moscow Orphanage or Foundling Home was an ambitious project conceived by Catherine the Great and Ivan Betskoy, in the early 1760s. Despite more than adequate staffing and financing, the Orphanage was plagued by high infant mortality, the complex was built in three stages over two centuries, from Karl Blanks master plan to its complete implementation in the 1940s. Today, the ensemble of the Orphanage houses the Academy of Missile Forces, an outgrowth of the Russian Enlightenment, the idea of a state-run orphanage in Moscow was proposed by educator Ivan Betskoy and endorsed by Catherine II of Russia on September 1,1763. Children born in slavery were automatically emancipated, and upon graduation could join the service or the merchant estate. The institution was set on a lot of land between Kitai-gorod, Solyanka Street, Moskva and Yauza rivers, site of a former armoury. Construction was financed through a public subscription, the Empress herself pledged 100,000 roubles, the largest private donations, from Prokofy Demidov and Ivan Betskoy, amounted to 200,000 and 162,995 roubles. The inauguration ceremony, attended by the Empress, was held on April 21,1764, the central building, constructed between 1771 and 1781, was surmounted by a square dome with a spire. The adjacent Moskva River embankment was paved in 1795–97 and set in granite in 1801–06, although the eastern wing did not materialize, the Orphanage expanded continuously, under the supervision of senior architects Giovanni Gilardi and Domenico Gilardi. Domenico and Afanasy Grigoriev designed and built the Board of Trustees building facing Solyanka Street, by the mid-19th century, the Orphanage had evolved into a city within a city – a largely independent and wealthy institution housing thousands of residents. The bulk of the Orphanage survived the Fire of 1812 and preserved its original aspect until the mid-20th century, in the 1940s, the missing eastern wing was finally constructed to a design by Alexander Loveyko, who generally followed Blanks original plans, albeit in a considerably simplified form. On the inauguration day,19 newborn babies were brought to the unfinished Orphanage, two of them were publicly baptized Catherine and Paul, after the Empress and her heir, but both died soon afterward. This was a portent of extremely high infant mortality that would be characteristic of the Orphanage in the 18th century. Of some 40,996 children admitted to the Orphanage during Catherine IIs reign,35,309, or 87%, as a result, the vast complex housed only a handful of survivors. A1792 report listed as few as 257 resident orphans who studied a variety of trades ranging from metallurgy to accountancy, several attempts to decrease mortality by passing infants on to foster families did not improve the survival rate. The aged Betskoy could not be relied on for managing the expanding faculty, children lived at the Orphanage until the age of 11, whereupon they were sent for training to local factories and government offices. Some were assigned to the Michael Maddox theater school, others managed to qualify for admission to Moscow State University. 180 students furthered their education in the universities of Western Europe, the majority, however, graduated with little more than a rouble in cash and a passport. The institution was managed by the Board of Trustees and financed by private donations, for nearly a century, all playing cards sold in Imperial Russia were taxed 5 kopecks per deck on domestic-made cards and 10 kopecks on imports
28.
Tverskaya Street
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Tverskaya Street, known as Gorky Street between 1935 and 1990, is the main and probably best-known radial street in Moscow. The street runs Northwest from the central Manege Square in the direction of Saint Petersburg, the route continues further as First Tverskaya-Yamskaya Street, Leningradsky Avenue and Leningradskoye Highway. Tourists are told that Tverskaya Street existed as early as the 12th century and its importance for the medieval city was immense, as it connected Moscow with its superior, and later chief rival, Tver. At that time, the crossed the Neglinnaya River. The first stone bridge across the Neglinnaya was set up in 1595, in the 17th and 18th centuries, Tverskaya Street was renowned as the centre of Moscows social life. The nobility considered it fashionable to settle in this district, among the Palladian mansions dating from the reign of Catherine the Great are the residence of the mayor of Moscow, and the English Club. The mayors residence among a number of historic buildings was moved about 14 meters for the widening of the Gorky Street during Stalins time. On the square before it stands a statue of the founder of Moscow, Yuri Dolgoruky. Several triumphal arches were constructed to commemorate coronation ceremonies, in 1792, the Tverskaya Square was laid out before the residence of the governor of Moscow as a staging ground for mass processions and parades. In 1947, the square was decorated with a statue of Prince Yury Dolgoruky. During Pushkins time, the Tverskaya was lined with five churches, towards the end of the 19th century, the street was reconstructed, with stately neoclassical mansions giving way to grandiose commercial buildings in an eclectic mixture of historical styles. A characteristic edifice of the time is the eclectic Hotel National, Moscow, the Society gave its last performance there on 3 January 1891 and the building burnt down on the night of January 10. Further expansion occurred in line with Joseph Stalins 1935 master plan, arkady Mordvinov, who handled this ambitious project, retained some historical buildings, like the ornately decorated Savvinskoye Podvorye by Ivan Kuznetsov. This building was moved to a new foundation North from the new street line, the project was only partially completed before World War II, more Stalinist blocks appeared in the 1940s and 1950s, still leaving a lot of 19th-century buildings. Most of them were torn down later, with a few exceptions like Yermolova Theatre still standing, intourist Hotel, a 23-story tower built in 1970, has been demolished in 2002 and replaced with an equally controversial hotel block. Tverskaya Street runs from the Manege Square through the Tverskoy District and its extension, First Tverskaya-Yamskaya Street, continues further on Northwest right up to Belorussky Rail Terminal, changing its name again into Leningradsky Prospekt. It keeps the same direction before diverging into Volokolamskoye Shosse and Leningradskoye Shosse, Tverskaya Street is the most expensive shopping street in Moscow and Russia. According to an index published by global real estate company Colliers International in 2008, it is now the third most expensive street in the world and it is the center of the citys nightlife and entertainment
29.
Patriarch Ponds
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Patriarshiye Ponds, also known in common language as Patriks Russian, Патрики), is an affluent residential area in downtown Presnensky District of Moscow, Russia. For the last 200 years, there has only one pond, although, as the name of Tryokhprudny Pereulok suggests. The area of the pond is 9,900 square metres. Because of the proximity to Tverskaya Street business district, the area is popular with expatriates. The Ponds area is accessible via the Moscow Metro Mayakovskaya and Pushkinskaya stations, the area is named after the seventeenth century Patriarchs Goat Sloboda located on the Goat Marsh. This marsh was once connected by a brook to the Presnya River west, by 1739, when the first topographic map was compiled, the brook disappeared and the marsh separated from Presnya. People considered the swamp as a zone, apparently this caused a proverb Фома поспешил. The pond acquired its present shape and was cleaned up in 1830-31, the buildings around the pond were wooden, stone construction proceeded slowly through the second part of nineteenth century. In winters, the Russian Gymnastic Society operated a skating rink on the frozen pond, at the turn of the century, cheap rental buildings around the pond were occupied by the University students. During the December 1905, the area was held by left-wing student militia, the Ponds also housed Moscows first hospital for children. After the revolution the spacious apartments in buildings occupied by merchants were converted to communal apartments with shared kitchens. Mikhail Bulgakov and his wife Yelena Shilovskaya lived in area in the 1930s. From the later 1930s to the 1950s, the buildings were torn down. The boathouse on the ponds was built in wood in 1946 and it was not until the 1980s that it was rebuilt in stone. In 2000-2002, the controversial Patriarch Apartments were built, this 13-story building, as of 2016 the neighborhood had become gentrified. Owners of the apartments had been bought out and the apartments reconverted into luxury residences. Fashionable shops, restaurants and bars serve crowds, the area is so popular that the upscale residents of the neighborhood complain. The Pond is one of the settings of Mikhail Bulgakovs novel The Master
30.
Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street
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Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street is a radial street that runs west from Mokhovaya Street to Garden Ring in Moscow, between Vozdvizhenka Street and Tverskaya Street. In the 16th century, Ivan IV of Russia established his Oprichnina Court on site of present-day University buildings, Nikitskaya name goes back to Nikitsky Convent that stood on site of present-day Subway Substation. The street housed various working communities serving the court, however, as soon as the 17th century, in Peter Is reign, it housed Peters statesmen like Jacob Bruce, Fyodor Romodanovsky and admiral Fyodor Apraksin. The Fire of Moscow destroyed only part of the street, the University burnt down, in the 1830s, the University expanded across the street south and acquired Saint Tatiana church by Yevgraph Tyurin. The streets most notable landmark is the Greater Ascension Church and it was started in the 1790s by Matvey Kazakov with funds provided by Prince Potemkin, after 1812, the church was redesigned by Joseph Bove and completed by Afanasy Grigoriev in the 1840s. It has been the site of Alexander Pushkins wedding, in the late 19th century, the central segment of Bolshaya Nikitskaya was built out with a tight pattern of 3-5 storey buildings, including Moscow Conservatory. Western part of the remains a quiet area of old mansions. In 1917, Nikitsky Gates Square on Boulevard Ring has been a site of war between Bolsheviks and government troops. The corner block on Tverskoy Boulevard, facing the square, burnt down
31.
Boulevard Ring
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The Boulevard Ring is Moscows second centremost ring road. The first of the boulevards, Tverskoy Boulevard, emerged in 1796 but the ring was developed in 1820s. The Ring replaced the walls of the White City in the 1820s. The wall itself was razed in 1760, and despite the royal decrees to keep the site clear, the Fire of Moscow destroyed many of those buildings, allowing the city planners to replace them with wide green boulevards. In the 20th century, the width of the Boulevard Ring was expanded, as the paved areas along the Pokrovsky Boulevard. Plans to complete the ring through Zamoskvorechye never materialized, however and these plans to properly terminate the ring through Yakimanka and Zamoskvorechye districts, proposed in 1935, periodically resurface in city planners discussions. Garden Ring in Moscow Third Ring Road in Moscow MKAD in Moscow
32.
Kuznetsky Most
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Kuznetsky Most is a street in central Moscow, that runs from Bolshaya Dmitrovka Street to Lubyanka Street. The name, literally Blacksmiths Bridge, refers to the 18th-century bridge over Neglinnaya River, now running in a tunnel, and a nearby foundry. Since the middle of 18th century, Kuznetsky Most was the street of fashion, the street is administered by Tverskoy District and Meshchansky District. Until the end of 15th century, Moscow was growing eastward, prince Ivan III of Russia established his arsenal in the west, beyond Neglinnaya river. Later, he set up a settlement of former Pskov residents. Population grew slowly until the 1737 fire which razed the area, soon after the fire, the territory was built out with upper-class buildings and shops. Large territories north from the street were consolidated by the Vorontsov family estate, in 1754-57, architect Semyon Yakovlev built a stone bridge over Neglinnaya River to a design by Dmitry Ukhtomsky. The bridge over Neglinnaya lowlands extended 120 meters long and 12 meters wide, the street was known as the home of notorious Darya Saltykova, condemned to life in prison for torturing her slaves. The Fire of Moscow spared Kuznetsky Most, where Napoleons Guards were stationed in defense of French colony in Moscow, in 1817-1819, the city locked Neglinnaya River in an underground tunnel and demolished the redundant bridge - excluding its norther wall that supported surviving buildings. Soon, the French colony returned and Kuznetsky Bridge became the street of bookstores, fashion and upper-class shopping, Kuznetsky Most became the symbol of French influence on Russians, immortalized in Woe from Wit by Alexandr Griboyedov. After Emancipation reform of 1861, Kuznetsky Most became the center of Moscow, with historical Juncker Bank Building. Art Nouveau landmark by Ivan Mashkov, the Sokol building was built in 1903-1904, however, at that time its address was Kuznetsky Lane, the part of Kuznetsky Most west of Petrovka Street was then known as Kuznetsky Lane, two streets were merged only in 1922. In the 1920s the Bolshevik administration demolished the church on the corner of Kuznetsky Most and Lubyanka Street, both these buildings were recently rebuilt. Since the 1980s, the street reacquired its status as an upper-class shopping lane, among cultural institutions located on the street are the Moscow Operetta Theater, Kuznetsky Most Exhibition Hall, as well as two major state libraries. Kuznetsky Most, Lubyanka and Okhotny Ryad stations of the Moscow Metro are located nearby, russian, П. В. Сытин, Из истории московских улиц, М,1948
33.
Jean Baptiste Antoine Marcellin de Marbot
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Jean Baptiste Antoine Marcellin Marbot, French soldier, son of General Jean Antoine Marbot, who died in the defence of Genoa under Masséna, was born at La Riviere. He joined the army as a volunteer in 1799. At the time there was no school for cadets. He rose rapidly to commissioned rank, and was aide-de-camp to Marshal Augereau, commanding the VII corps and he was exiled at the second restoration and only returned to France in 1819, after which, however, his intimacy with the duke of Orleans secured him important military positions. After the July revolution he was made maréchal-de-camp, and in this rank he was present at the siege of Antwerp in 1832 and he was promoted lieutenant-general in 1836. From 1835 to 1840 he served in various Algerian expeditions, three years later, at the fall of Louis Philippe, he retired into private life. Napoleon read the first pamphlet while in exile on St Helena and it is the one that has given me the greatest amount of pleasure. Marbot had no access to my own refutation of Rogniat, but I would be glad to let him have it for a second edition. He has expressed some things better than I did, he was familiar with them because, on the whole. Throughout the book he never refers to the Emperor and he wanted the King of France to give him an appointment with the rank of colonel, that is quite obvious. He uses Emperor once, so as not to look as though he were afraid to do so, or to appear cowardly and he mentions Massena and Augereau frequently, and he has described the Battle of Essling better than I could have done it myself. I should have liked to show Marbot my appreciation by sending him a ring, if I ever return to active life, I will have him attached to me as an aide-de-camp. Hes an educated man, who expresses himself simply, well and this pamphlet earned Marbot the distinction of being remembered in Napoleons will,31. To Colonel Marbot, one hundred thousand francs, I recommend him to continue to write in defense of the glory of the French armies, and to confound their calumniators and apostates. To ordinary readers and to students of history alike, these give a picture of the Napoleonic age of warfare which for vividness and his elder brother, Antoine Adolphe Marcelin Marbot, was also a military man of some note. As with a number of historical figures, de Marbot figures prominently in the Riverworld cycle of science-fiction novels by Philip Jose Farmer. De Marbot is first featured as the commander of Marines on Sam Clemens riverboat, de Marbot is thought to be the model for Brigadier Gerard in the short stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. In Virginia Woolfs Mrs. Dalloway, there are mentions of Clarissa reading Baron Marbot
34.
Ostankinsky District
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Ostankinsky District, also called simply Ostankino, is an administrative district of North-Eastern Administrative Okrug, and one of the 125 raions of Moscow, Russia. VDNH exhibition center and Ostankino Tower, the tallest structure in Europe, are located in Ostankinsky, the district is served by Moscow Monorail. Ostankinsky district is named after Ostankino village that existed on its site before urbanization
35.
Khimki
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Khimki is a city in Moscow Oblast, Russia,19 kilometres northwest of central Moscow. Khimki is asserted by many as the nearest point German forces reached in their advance on Moscow in World War II, Khimki was initially a railway station that existed since 1850 on the Moscow – Saint Petersburg Railway. The Moskva-Volga Canal was constructed between 1932 and 1937 on which Khimki lies on the west bank, Khimki was then officially founded in 1939. The German attack starting the Battle of Moscow began on 2 October 1941, the attack on a broad front brought German forces to occupy the village of Krasnaya Polyana to Moscows North West. Krasnaya Polyana was taken on 30 November, many sources state that at least one German army patrol visited Khimki. Similarly many sources state this as the closest point the Germans reached to Moscow, among the sources stating the Germans visited Khimki the details of the date and unit involved are inconsistent and disputed. One story of events asserts a skirmish took place in Khimki on 16 October at the Leningradskoe Shosse bridge involving a German motorcycle unit, another account is a patrol reached Khimki around 30 November or early December before returning to its main unit without combat. The dates mentioned for this second account vary, a myth surrounding this is that the Germans would have been able to see the Kremlin in the distance from Khimki. The Soviet Army counter offensive for removing the threat to Moscow started on 5 December on the North-Western Front. The South-Western Front and Western Fronts began their offensives on 6 December, the German forces were driven back. Moscow was never under such close land threat again during the war, a memorial in the form of a giant tank trap is located at the Kilometer 23 point 55°54′46. 103″N 37°24′10. 577″E) of Leningradskoye Highway. The memorial is one mile south east of Planernaya Railway Station, the memorial was unveiled on 6 December 1966 as a 25th anniversary recognition of the launch of the Soviet counter offensive. This location is just short of an intersection with the Moscow-St Petersburg railway and this memorial and shopping centre on the Northern side of Khimki has a direct distance of 22 kilometres from Moscow city centre. At the time of the conflict this location was outside Khimki and this memorial is different to the Khimki War Memorial moved in 2007 to in Novoluzhinskoe cemetery. Khimki was home to several Soviet aerospace defense development centers that became the principal employers for the majority of the city population, for this reason, Khimki was off limits for all foreigners visiting the country, despite its location on a highway between Moscow and its major international airport. In 2010 the city saw protests over the construction of the new Moscow–Saint Petersburg motorway through the Khimki Forest, currently, the city of Khimki is directly adjacent to the territory of the city of Moscow. Population,207,425,141,000,132, within the framework of administrative divisions, it is incorporated as Khimki City Under Oblast Jurisdiction—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the districts. As a municipal division, Khimki City Under Oblast Jurisdiction is incorporated as Khimki Urban Okrug, the city enjoys a great deal of commercial activity due to its location between Moscow and one of its main airports, Sheremetyevo
36.
William Heste
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William Hastie was a Russian architect, civil engineer and town planner of Scottish descent. His name is transliterated back from Russian as William Heste or, seldom. Because of his influence at court Hestes designs for buildings and whole towns can be seen throughout Russia, William Hastie was born in either 1753 or 1763 in Scotland. He came to Russia in 1784 with a group of 73 Scottish craftsmen hired in Edinburgh by Charles Cameron to work on sites in Tsarskoe Selo. Hastie and his compatriot Adam Menelaws made the most distinguished careers among this group, Hastie never returned to Scotland, and instead in 1792 he entered the service of the Russian Imperial Chancellery, designing model buildings for mass construction. In July 1795 he joined the Yekaterinoslav Governorate administration as its architect, in particular, in the Crimea Hastie surveyed the Bakhchisaray Palace and other Tatar. After serving in Yekaterinoslav Governorate, he back to Saint Petersburg in 1803. Hastie is credited with designing and erecting the plants administrative building and, together with Gascoigne, here Hastie acquired practical skills in metalworking and bridge engineering. In February 1805 Hastie returned to Saint Petersburg and was assigned to building bridges over the smaller rivers. He built the Blue, Green, Red and Potseluev bridges and they were the first in Saint Petersburg to be made from cast iron. From 1808 to 1832 Hastie was the architect of Tsarskoye Selo. He created a plan for construction in the town. From 1810 Hastie was involved in most urban construction projects in Russia, after the 1812 fire of Moscow which destroyed three quarters of the city Hastie was the first to propose a detailed redevelopment plan. This was, however, rejected for disregarding the historical background of the city, William Hastie died on June 4,1832, in Tsarskoye Selo, where he was buried in a Protestant cemetery. By the Banks of the Neva, Chapters from the Lives, architects of Tsarskoe Selo Heste on the site 300 years of St. Petersburg Kuznetsov, S. O. Adam Menelas na rossiyskoy zemle. Russia at the Time of Nicholas I, Science, Politics, ed. by T. Khartanovich, M. Mikeshin. The Empress & the Architect, British Architecture and Gardens at the Court of Catherine the Great
37.
Garden Ring
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The Ring consists of seventeen individually named streets and fifteen squares. It has a circumference of sixteen kilometres, at its narrowest point, Krymsky Bridge, the Ring has six lanes, at its widest, Zubovskaya Square, it has eighteen lanes. The Ring emerged in the 1820s, replacing fortifications, in the form of ramparts, Garden Ring is a direct descendant of the Skorodom and Earth Rampart fortifications, erected in the reign of Feodor I of Russia after a disastrous raid by Ğazı II Giray. Although Boris Godunov, de facto regent of Russia, prevented Crimeans from taking the city north of Moskva River, he anticipated future raids and arranged construction of another defence ring. When the Time of troubles ended, instead of rebuilding Skorodom, Mikhail Romanov government replaced it with a new, taller rampart known as Zemlyanoy Val and its name survives in present-day Zemlyanoy Val Street in the south-eastern segment of Garden Ring. Instead of towers, the Rampart had 34 gates for passage, as a defense measure, Streltsy slobodas were located next to these gates, especially in southern Yakimanka and Zamoskvorechye Districts. Effective against Tatar raiders, Streltsy were politically unstable, in 1683-1718, the Rampart served as Moscow customs border, traders, evading taxation, set numerous markets right outside of city gates, the last of these, Zatsepa Market, was closed in the 1970s. Eventually, Peter I lifted this taxation in 1722, but it resumed in the 1730s at the new city border, in the same 1775, local authorities entertained the idea of restoring the rampart but were set back by the number of state institutions that had to be demolished. The Fire of Moscow destroyed these properties, so nothing stood in the way of city development plans, instead of rebuilding the useless rampart, the city levelled it, census records set demolition date as 1818-1826. The new free land was developed according to social status, upper-class western segment of the Ring acquired central boulevards. Present-day streets in this segments are still called Boulevards, elsewhere, Garden Ring was set as a 10-20 sazhen wide street, unused side territories were allocated to existing homeowners on condition that they plant and maintain gardens at their own expense. These streets usually have a beginning with Sadovaya–, e. g. Sadovo–Triumphalnaya Street. By 1850, all buildings in this street were completely hidden from view by foliage, in south-eastern segment, the Ring was not as wide, thus Zemlyanoy Val name persisted. Largest square - actually, a combination of two market squares - was created at Red Gates in the north-eastern segment, in the 1830s-1862, Novinsky Boulevard has become a popular amusement park with cheap theaters and carousels. In 1841, local entrepreneurs set up a railroad with a real Mercury tank engine - a pleasure ride for the party crowds. Rails for horsecars were installed in Moscow since 1872, however, likewise, the first electrical tram was launched in 1899, but Garden Ring was electrified in 1907-1910. Circular line traversing the Ring was known as the B route, grand Stalinist buildings, envisioned on all the ring, were initially planned only for major squares like Kursky Rail Terminal Square and Triumphalnaya Square. However, one end-of-boulevard block survives, precisely on Triumphalnaya Square, the same plan required removal of tram tracks in line with Moscow Metro construction
38.
Aleksandr Vitberg
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Karl Magnus Vitberg was a Russian Neoclassical architect of Swedish stock. Vitberg was born in Saint Petersburg, as a young man he was a member of Alexander Labzins Masonic lodge, the Dying Sphinx, and studied Boehmist theosophy. The lodge, which had been the first to reopen, in 1800, was ordered closed in 1822, in order to undertake this project, Vitberg had converted to the Russian Orthodox Church, as stipulated by Tsar Alexander I. After his conversion, Vitberg changed his name from Karl Magnus to Aleksandr Lavrentyevich, though construction of Vitbergs cathedral on the Sparrow Hills was begun in 1826, a new emperor, Nicholas I abandoned the Masonic plan for a less Roman Catholic neo-Byzantine construction. The architect was accused of bribery and exiled to Vyatka, a city halfway between Moscow and the Ural Mountains. There his most successful work was accomplished, among which were his monumental gates for the Alexander Garden, a fellow-exile there was Alexander Herzen, who made friends with Vitberg, portrayed him sympathetically in My Past and Thoughts, and was briefly influenced by Vitbergs strain of mystical thought. Vitberg was eventually allowed to return to Moscow, but found little work, the Russian neoclassical revival in the late 19th century contributed to a reappraisal of his architectural legacy. En Arkitekurhistorisk Installation was mounted in Stockholm from 1993 to 1994, the Memoirs of Academician Vitberg Vitbergs Fateful Design, Moscows Cathedral of Christ the Savior, 36-58
39.
Sparrow Hills
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The observation platform, which gives a good panoramic view of the city, is on a steep bank 85 m above the river, or 200 m above sea level. The Luzhniki Stadium, where the opening and closing ceremonies for the 1980 Summer Olympics took place, is right below, next to it is the Novodevichy Convent, with its Naryshkin Baroque towers. Not far from the platform is the Luzhniki Metro Bridge. The two-level Metro-Bridge traverses the river to link Komsomolsky Prospekt with Vernadsky Prospekt and it serves two urban transport systems, motor vehicles and the Moscow Metro subway. The glass-walled subway station Vorobyovy Gory is at the level of the bridge. Alexander I of Russia wished to build the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour there, his successor had construction works suspended, the main landmarks of the hills are the Moscow State University and the Trinity Church. Собрание государственных грамот и договоров, хранящихся в коллегии иностранных дел, Москва, Издательство, Языки славянской культуры,2003 — ISBN 5-94457-165-9 Satellite picture by Google maps photographs and article by Ask Moscow
40.
Cathedral of Christ the Saviour
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The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour is a cathedral in Moscow, Russia, on the northern bank of the Moskva River, a few blocks southwest of the Kremlin. With an overall height of 103 metres, it is the tallest Orthodox Christian church in the world, the current church is the second to stand on this site. The original church, built during the 19th century, took more than 40 years to build and it was destroyed in 1931 on the order of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. The demolition was supposed to make way for a colossal Palace of the Soviets to house the countrys legislature, construction started in 1937 but was halted in 1941 when Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union during World War II. Its steel frame was disassembled the year, and the Palace was never built. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the current church was rebuilt on the site during 1995–2000, the original church was the scene of the 1882 world premiere of the 1812 Overture composed by Tchaikovsky, which became internationally famous. It took some time for work on the cathedral to get started. The first finished architectural project, by Aleksandr Lavrentyevich Vitberg, was endorsed by the Tsar in 1817 and it was a flamboyant Neoclassical design full of Freemasonic symbolism. Construction work was begun on the Sparrow Hills, the highest point in Moscow, in the meantime Alexander I was succeeded by his brother Nicholas I. Profoundly Orthodox and patriotic, the new Tsar disliked the Neoclassicism and he commissioned his favorite architect Konstantin Thon to create a new design, taking as his model Hagia Sophia in Constantinople, Turkey. Thons Russian Revival design was approved in 1832, a new site closer to the Moscow Kremlin was chosen by the Tsar in 1837. A convent and church on the site had to be relocated, the cathedral took many decades to build, the scaffolding was not taken down until 1860. Its painting was overseen by Evgraf Sorokin, and thereafter some of the best Russian painters continued to embellish the interior for another twenty years, the cathedral was consecrated on 26 May 1883, the day before Alexander III was crowned. Although Tchaikovskys 1812 Overture was written with the completion in mind. The inner sanctum of the church was ringed by a gallery, its walls inlaid with rare sorts of marble, granite. The ground floor of the gallery was a dedicated to the Russian victory over Napoleon. The walls displayed more than 1,000 square metres of Carrara bianca marble plaques listing major commanders, regiments, the second floor of the gallery was occupied by church choirs. The giant dome of the cathedral was gilded using the new technique of electroplating, replacing the older
41.
Red Square
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Red Square is a city square in Moscow, Russia. It separates the Kremlin, the royal citadel and currently the official residence of the President of Russia. Red Square is often considered the central square of Moscow since Moscows major streets, the name Red Square neither originates from the pigment of the surrounding bricks nor from the link between the colour red and communism. Rather, the name came about because the Russian word красная, several ancient Russian towns, such as Suzdal, Yelets, and Pereslavl-Zalessky, have their main square named Krasnaya ploshchad. The rich history of Red Square is reflected in paintings by Vasily Surikov, Konstantin Yuon. The square was meant to serve as Moscows main marketplace and it was also the site of various public ceremonies and proclamations, and occasionally a coronation for Russias Tsars would take place. The square has been built up since that point and has been used for official ceremonies by all Russian governments since it was established. The relevant decrees were issued in 1493 and 1495 and they called for the demolition of all buildings within 110 sazhens of the wall. Three square gates existed on this side of the wall, which in the 17th century, were known as, the last two are directly opposite Red Square, while the Konstantino-Elenensky gate was located behind Saint Basils Cathedral. In the early 19th century, the Arch of Konstantino-Elenensky gate was paved with bricks, from this gate, wooden and stone bridges stretched across the moat. Books were sold on this bridge and stone platforms were built nearby for guns – raskats, the Tsar Cannon was located on the platform of the Lobnoye mesto. The square was called Veliky Torg or simply Torg, then Troitskaya by the name of the small Troitskaya Church, after that, the square held the name Pozhar, which means burnt. It was not until 1661–62, when it was first mentioned by its contemporary Krasnaya – Red name, Red Square was the landing stage and trade centre for Moscow. Ivan the Great decreed that trade should only be conducted from person to person, but in time, after a fire in 1547, Ivan the Terrible reorganised the lines of wooden shops on the Eastern side into market lines. The streets Ilyinka and Varvarka were divided into the Upper lines, Middle lines and Bottom lines, after a few years, the Cathedral of Intercession of the Virgin, commonly known as Saint Basils Cathedral, was built on the moat under the rule of Ivan IV. This was the first building which gave the square its present-day characteristic silhouette, in 1595, the wooden market lines were replaced with stone. By that time, a platform for the proclamation of the tsars edicts. Red Square was considered a sacred place, during the expulsion of Poles from Moscow in 1612, Prince Dmitry Pozharsky entered the Kremlin through the square
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Joseph Bove
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Joseph Bové was an Italian-Russian neoclassical architect who supervised reconstruction of Moscow after the Fire of 1812. Bové was born in St. Petersburg in the family of Vincenzo Giovanni Bova and he had two younger brothers, Michaele and Alessandro, who also trained in architecture and later became his associates. Soon after Josephs birth, the moved to Moscow. From 1802 to 1807, he studied architecture, starting in 1807 he worked as an assistant to Matvei Kazakov and Carlo Rossi in Moscow and Tver. As a full-time employee of the Expedition, he was involved in various Kremlin maintenance jobs, the plan, however, was not finalized until 1817. Private builders were so numerous that Bové and the city failed to control them, while the Giliardi Family was rebuilding major public buildings like Moscow State University, Bové was in charge of designing and rebuilding the new Central Squares of Moscow and Red Square. His best known project, Theatre Square, was completed in 1825, gagarin family mansion in Novinsky Boulevard was destroyed by an air raid in 1941. Triumphal Arch by Tverskaya Zastava was demolished in 1938, a replica was built in the 1960s in Dorogomilovo District, listed memorial building at Tverskoy Boulevard,26 and nearby was razed by Konstantin Ernsts development company in 2003-2005. In 1824 and 1825, he participated in the reconstruction of Moscow Manege and he designed numerous private mansions in Moscow, but his most famous work remains the Bolshoi Theatre. Осип Бове, М, Стройиздат,1999, ISBN 5-274-00592-6 Official register of buildings in Moscow at The Academy of State Fire Service
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Neoclassicism
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The main Neoclassical movement coincided with the 18th-century Age of Enlightenment, and continued into the early 19th century, laterally competing with Romanticism. In architecture, the style continued throughout the 19th, 20th, European Neoclassicism in the visual arts began c.1760 in opposition to the then-dominant Baroque and Rococo styles. Each neo-classicism selects some models among the range of classics that are available to it. They ignored both Archaic Greek art and the works of Late Antiquity, the Rococo art of ancient Palmyra came as a revelation, through engravings in Woods The Ruins of Palmyra. While the movement is described as the opposed counterpart of Romanticism. The case of the main champion of late Neoclassicism, Ingres, demonstrates this especially well. The revival can be traced to the establishment of formal archaeology, the writings of Johann Joachim Winckelmann were important in shaping this movement in both architecture and the visual arts. With the advent of the Grand Tour, a fad of collecting antiquities began that laid the foundations of many great collections spreading a Neoclassical revival throughout Europe, Neoclassicism in each art implies a particular canon of a classical model. In English, the term Neoclassicism is used primarily of the arts, the similar movement in English literature. This, which had been dominant for decades, was beginning to decline by the time Neoclassicism in the visual arts became fashionable. Though terms differ, the situation in French literature was similar, in music, the period saw the rise of classical music, and Neoclassicism is used of 20th-century developments. Ingress coronation portrait of Napoleon even borrowed from Late Antique consular diptychs and their Carolingian revival, much Neoclassical painting is more classicizing in subject matter than in anything else. A fierce, but often very badly informed, dispute raged for decades over the merits of Greek and Roman art, with Winckelmann. The work of artists, who could not easily be described as insipid, combined aspects of Romanticism with a generally Neoclassical style. Unlike Carstens unrealized schemes, the etchings of Giovanni Battista Piranesi were numerous and profitable and his main subject matter was the buildings and ruins of Rome, and he was more stimulated by the ancient than the modern. Neoclassicism in painting gained a new sense of direction with the success of Jacques-Louis Davids Oath of the Horatii at the Paris Salon of 1785. Despite its evocation of republican virtues, this was a commission by the royal government, David managed to combine an idealist style with drama and forcefulness. David rapidly became the leader of French art, and after the French Revolution became a politician with control of government patronage in art
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Matvey Kazakov
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Matvey Fyodorovich Kazakov was a Russian Neoclassical architect. Most of his works were destroyed by the Fire of 1812 and his father was a government clerk and a former serf who earned his freedom by serving in the Navy. When Kazakov was twelve years old, he joined the school of Dmitry Ukhtomsky. After a devastating fire in Tver in 1761, Kazakov was assigned to rebuild Tver as an architect under P. R. Nikitin. The Travel, or Transit, Palace was completed by Kazakov in 1767, in 1768, Kazakov joined Vasili Bazhenov’s Great Kremlin Palace project. Both architects were the same age—30 years old—but had very different educations, Bazhenov received a formal European education, while Kazakov learned his trade repairing Kremlin relics and never traveled far from Moscow. His enormous utopian project dragged slowly until its dissolution in 1774, by this time, Kazakov was already working on private orders, architects were in high demand after a 1773 fire razed the wealthy Tverskaya Street. Kazakov stepped out of Bazhenov’s shadow, receiving his first personal royal commission to design a temporary Prechistenka palace for Catherine II and this job brought him a Crown Architect’s license and a steady flow of private orders. In 1775, Kazakov and Bazhenov worked together again on temporary royal pavilions for the celebration of peace with Turkey and these Gothic structures inspired Catherine II to award the architects two independent commissions in Gothic style—Tsaritsyno Palace to Bazhenov and Petrovsky Palace to Kazakov. Numerous private houses built by Kazakov shaped the city before 1812 and these were very simple classicist structures consisting of a symmetrical rectangular core with portico and very modest exterior decoration. Kazakovs Moscow disappeared in the fire of 1812, the few surviving houses were later altered, rebuilt, Kazakovs legacy remains in public buildings, country palaces and churches. Kazakovs major works, unlike Bazhenovs and the houses of his own design, are almost invariably centered on Kazakovs trademark rotunda halls. Petrovsky Palace or Petroff Palace was begun in 1776 and officially completed November 3,1780 and this palace was intended to be the last overnight station of royal journeys from St. Petersburg to Moscow. Catherine visited once, in 1785, Paul I abandoned it, Napoleon lived in it, and watched the city in flames, the palace was restored in the 1830s and again in 1874 with minor alterations. The red-brick castle with white detail originally had two royal apartments on the first floor and plenty of space on the ground floor. They all converge on a central rotunda hall, the building remained a royal hotel until 1918, but also housed a variety of non-royal residents, Lermontov used to stay in the castle at his friends apartment. Starting in 1920, the palace housed Zhukovsky Air Force Academy, as of today, the palace is closed, expecting a massive reconstruction or restoration. City Hall plans to convert it either to a luxury hotel or another Presidents lodge
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