1.
Peter the Great
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Peter the Great, Peter I or Peter Alexeyevich ruled the Tsardom of Russia and later the Russian Empire from 7 May 1682 until his death, jointly ruling before 1696 with his elder half-brother, Ivan V. Through a number of successful wars he expanded the Tsardom into a larger empire that became a major European power. He led a revolution that replaced some of the traditionalist and medieval social and political systems with ones that were modern, scientific, westernized. Peters reforms made an impact on Russia and many institutions of Russian government trace their origins to his reign. From an early age, Peters education was put in the hands of tutors, most notably Nikita Zotov, Patrick Gordon. On 29 January 1676, Tsar Alexis died, leaving the sovereignty to Peters elder half-brother and this position changed when Feodor died in 1682. As Feodor did not leave any children, a dispute arose between the Miloslavsky family and Naryshkin family over who should inherit the throne, Peters other half-brother, Ivan V, was next in line for the throne, but he was chronically ill and of infirm mind. Consequently, the Boyar Duma chose the 10-year-old Peter to become Tsar with his mother as regent and this arrangement was brought before the people of Moscow, as ancient tradition demanded, and was ratified. Sophia Alekseyevna, one of Alexis daughters from his first marriage, in the subsequent conflict some of Peters relatives and friends were murdered, including Matveev, and Peter witnessed some of these acts of political violence. The Streltsy made it possible for Sophia, the Miloslavskys and their allies, to insist that Peter and Ivan be proclaimed joint Tsars, Sophia acted as regent during the minority of the sovereigns and exercised all power. For seven years, she ruled as an autocrat, a large hole was cut in the back of the dual-seated throne used by Ivan and Peter. Sophia would sit behind the throne and listen as Peter conversed with nobles, while feeding him information and giving him responses to questions and this throne can be seen in the Kremlin Armoury in Moscow. Peter was not particularly concerned that others ruled in his name and he engaged in such pastimes as shipbuilding and sailing, as well as mock battles with his toy army. Peters mother sought to force him to adopt a conventional approach. The marriage was a failure, and ten years later Peter forced his wife to become a nun, by the summer of 1689, Peter planned to take power from his half-sister Sophia, whose position had been weakened by two unsuccessful Crimean campaigns. When she learned of his designs, Sophia conspired with the leaders of the Streltsy, Sophia was eventually overthrown, with Peter I and Ivan V continuing to act as co-tsars. Peter forced Sophia to enter a convent, where she gave up her name, still, Peter could not acquire actual control over Russian affairs. Power was instead exercised by his mother, Natalya Naryshkina and it was only when Nataliya died in 1694 that Peter became an independent sovereign
2.
Tsardom of Russia
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From 1551 to 1700, Russia grew 35,000 km2 per year. After a military victory over Sweden and Poland, he implemented substantial reforms and proclaimed the Russian Empire in 1721. While the oldest endonyms of the Grand Duchy of Moscow used in its documents were Rus and the Russian land, in the 1480s Russian state scribes Ivan Cherny and Mikhail Medovartsev mention Russia under the name Росиа, Medovartsev also mentions the sceptre of Russian lordship. In England of the 16th century, it was both as Russia and Muscovy. In Northern Europe and at the court of the Holy Roman Empire, however, muscovites refute this, saying that their country was originally called Russia. When they are asked what nation they are, they respond Russac, which means Russians, and when they are asked what place they are from, by the 16th century, the Russian ruler had emerged as a powerful, autocratic figure, a Tsar. By assuming that title, the sovereign of Moscow tried to emphasize that he was a ruler or emperor on par with the Byzantine emperor or the Mongol khan. At first, the Byzantine term autokrator expressed only the meaning of an independent ruler. Ivan IV was crowned Tsar and thus was recognized, at least by the Russian Orthodox Church and that concept was to resonate in the self-image of Russians in future centuries. The development of the Tsars autocratic powers reached a peak during the reign of Ivan IV, Ivan strengthened the position of the Tsar to an exceptional degree, demonstrating the risks of unrestrained power in the hands of a mentally unstable individual. Although apparently intelligent and energetic, Ivan suffered from breakdowns of paranoia and depression, Ivan IV became Grand Prince of Moscow in 1533 at the age of three. The Shuysky and Belsky factions of the boyars competed for control of the regency until Ivan assumed the throne in 1547, reflecting Moscows new imperial claims, Ivans coronation as Tsar was a ritual modeled after those of the Byzantine emperors. With the continuing assistance of a group of boyars, Ivan began his reign with a series of useful reforms, in the 1550s, he declared a new law code, revamped the military, and reorganized local government. These reforms undoubtedly were intended to strengthen the state in the face of continuous warfare, the key documents prepared by the so-called Select Council of advisors and promulgated during this period are as follows. Muscovy remained a fairly unknown society in Western Europe until Baron Sigismund von Herberstein published his Rerum Moscoviticarum Commentarii in 1549 and this provided a broad view of what had been a rarely visited and poorly reported state. In the 1630s, the Russian Tsardom was visited by Adam Olearius, whose lively, further information about Russia was circulated by English and Dutch merchants. One of them, Richard Chancellor, sailed to the White Sea in 1553, upon his return to England, the Muscovy Company was formed by himself, Sebastian Cabot, Sir Hugh Willoughby, and several London merchants. Ivan the Terrible used these merchants to exchange letters with Elizabeth I, despite the domestic turmoil of the 1530s and 1540s, Russia continued to wage wars and to expand
3.
Russian Empire
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The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until it was overthrown by the short-lived February Revolution in 1917. One of the largest empires in history, stretching over three continents, the Russian Empire was surpassed in landmass only by the British and Mongol empires. The rise of the Russian Empire happened in association with the decline of neighboring powers, the Swedish Empire, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Persia. It played a role in 1812–14 in defeating Napoleons ambitions to control Europe. The House of Romanov ruled the Russian Empire from 1721 until 1762, and its German-descended cadet branch, with 125.6 million subjects registered by the 1897 census, it had the third-largest population in the world at the time, after Qing China and India. Like all empires, it included a large disparity in terms of economics, ethnicity, there were numerous dissident elements, who launched numerous rebellions and assassination attempts, they were closely watched by the secret police, with thousands exiled to Siberia. Economically, the empire had an agricultural base, with low productivity on large estates worked by serfs. The economy slowly industrialized with the help of foreign investments in railways, the land was ruled by a nobility from the 10th through the 17th centuries, and subsequently by an emperor. Tsar Ivan III laid the groundwork for the empire that later emerged and he tripled the territory of his state, ended the dominance of the Golden Horde, renovated the Moscow Kremlin, and laid the foundations of the Russian state. Tsar Peter the Great fought numerous wars and expanded an already huge empire into a major European power, Catherine the Great presided over a golden age. She expanded the state by conquest, colonization and diplomacy, continuing Peter the Greats policy of modernisation along West European lines, Tsar Alexander II promoted numerous reforms, most dramatically the emancipation of all 23 million serfs in 1861. His policy in Eastern Europe involved protecting the Orthodox Christians under the rule of the Ottoman Empire and that connection by 1914 led to Russias entry into the First World War on the side of France, Britain, and Serbia, against the German, Austrian and Ottoman empires. The Russian Empire functioned as a monarchy until the Revolution of 1905. The empire collapsed during the February Revolution of 1917, largely as a result of failures in its participation in the First World War. Perhaps the latter was done to make Europe recognize Russia as more of a European country, Poland was divided in the 1790-1815 era, with much of the land and population going to Russia. Most of the 19th century growth came from adding territory in Asia, Peter I the Great introduced autocracy in Russia and played a major role in introducing his country to the European state system. However, this vast land had a population of 14 million, grain yields trailed behind those of agriculture in the West, compelling nearly the entire population to farm. Only a small percentage lived in towns, the class of kholops, close to the one of slavery, remained a major institution in Russia until 1723, when Peter I converted household kholops into house serfs, thus including them in poll taxation
4.
Western Europe
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Western Europe, or West Europe, is the region comprising the western part of Europe. Below, some different geographic and geopolitical definitions of the term are outlined, prior to the Roman conquest, a large part of Western Europe had adopted the newly developed La Tène culture. This cultural and linguistic division was reinforced by the later political east-west division of the Roman Empire. The division between these two was enhanced during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages by a number of events, the Western Roman Empire collapsed, starting the Early Middle Ages. By contrast, the Eastern Roman Empire, mostly known as the Greek or Byzantine Empire, survived, in East Asia, Western Europe was historically known as taixi in China and taisei in Japan, which literally translates as the Far West. The term Far West became synonymous with Western Europe in China during the Ming dynasty, the Italian Jesuit priest Matteo Ricci was one of the first writers in China to use the Far West as an Asian counterpart to the European concept of the Far East. In his writings, Ricci referred to himself as Matteo of the Far West, the term was still in use in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Post-war Europe would be divided into two spheres, the West, influenced by the United States, and the Eastern Bloc. With the onset of the Cold War, Europe was divided by the Iron Curtain, behind that line lie all the capitals of the ancient states of Central and Eastern Europe. Although some countries were neutral, they were classified according to the nature of their political. This division largely defined the popular perception and understanding of Western Europe, the world changed dramatically with the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989. The Federal Republic of Germany peacefully absorbed the German Democratic Republic, COMECON and the Warsaw Pact were dissolved, and in 1991, the Soviet Union ceased to exist. Several countries which had part of the Soviet Union regained full independence. Although the term Western Europe was more prominent during the Cold War, it remains much in use, in 1948 the Treaty of Brussels was signed between Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. It was further revisited in 1954 at the Paris Conference, when the Western European Union was established and it was declared defunct in 2011, after the Treaty of Lisbon, and the Treaty of Brussels was terminated. When the Western European Union was dissolved, it had 10 member countries, six member countries, five observer countries. The CIA divides Western Europe into two smaller subregions, regional voting blocs were formed in 1961 to encourage voting to various UN bodies from different regional groups. The European Union is an economic and political union of 28 member states that are located primarily in Europe, some Western and Northern European countries of Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein are members of EFTA, though cooperating to varying degree with the European Union
5.
Central Europe
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Central Europe lies between Eastern Europe and Western Europe. The concept of Central Europe is based on a historical, social and cultural identity. Central Europe is going through a phase of strategic awakening, with such as the CEI, Centrope. While the regions economy shows high disparities with regard to income, elements of unity for Western and Central Europe were Roman Catholicism and Latin. According to Hungarian historian Jenő Szűcs, foundations of Central European history at the first millennium were in connection with Western European development. The keyword of Western social development after millennium was the spread of liberties and autonomies in Western Europe and these phenomena appeared in the middle of the 13th century in Central European countries. There were self-governments of towns, counties and parliaments, in 1335 under the rule of the King Charles I of Hungary, the castle of Visegrád, the seat of the Hungarian monarchs was the scene of the royal summit of the Kings of Poland, Bohemia and Hungary. They agreed to cooperate closely in the field of politics and commerce, in the Middle Ages, countries in Central Europe adopted Magdeburg rights. Before 1870, the industrialization that had developed in Western and Central Europe, even in Eastern Europe, industrialization lagged far behind. Russia, for example, remained rural and agricultural. The concept of Central Europe was already known at the beginning of the 19th century, an example of that-time vision of Central Europe may be seen in J. Partsch’s book of 1903. On 21 January 1904, Mitteleuropäischer Wirtschaftsverein was established in Berlin with economic integration of Germany, another time, the term Central Europe became connected to the German plans of political, economic and cultural domination. The bible of the concept was Friedrich Naumann’s book Mitteleuropa in which he called for a federation to be established after the war. The concept failed after the German defeat in World War I, the revival of the idea may be observed during the Hitler era. According to Emmanuel de Martonne, in 1927 the Central European countries included, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, italy and Yugoslavia are not considered by the author to be Central European because they are located mostly outside Central Europe. The author use both Human and Physical Geographical features to define Central Europe, the interwar period brought new geopolitical system and economic and political problems, and the concept of Central Europe took a different character. The centre of interest was moved to its eastern part – the countries that have appeared on the map of Europe, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, however, the conflict of interests was too big and neither Little Entente nor Intermarium ideas succeeded. The interwar period brought new elements to the concept of Central Europe, after the war, the Eastern part of Central Europe was placed at the centre of the concept
6.
Ivan V of Russia
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Ivan V Alekseyevich was a joint Tsar of Russia who co-reigned between 1682 and 1696. He was the youngest son of Alexis I of Russia by his first wife Maria Miloslavskaya, Ivans reign was only formal, since he had serious physical and mental disabilities. He sat still for hours at a time and needed assistance in order to walk, Ivan V was the 12th child of Tsar Alexis, but he had only two older brothers who reached adulthood. His eldest brother, Alexei, died aged 16 in 1670, however, Feodor suffered from a disfiguring disease, probably scurvy, and it was feared that he would not be able to sire an heir. This meant that Ivan could well succeed his brother as Tsar, fortunately, Ivan had a younger half-brother, Peter, who was the son of his step-mother Natalia Naryshkina, and was healthy of mind and body. This did not happen, perhaps because Feodor III never gave up hope of producing a son, and this rumour fomented the Moscow Uprising of 1682, and major riots broke out in the city. These disturbances subsided only after Ivan appeared in person in the city and proved to everybody that he was alive, in fact, Ivan enjoyed a close relationship with his step-mother and young step-brother. Natalia Naryshkina, who had married Tsar Alexei when Ivan was only four years old, had grown fond and protective of her simple-minded. In any case, the fact was that during this period, it was not Ivans step-mother but his elder sister, Sofia Alekseyevna. That court was now in a dilemma, on the one hand, Ivan was genuinely and clearly incapable of running the government of Russia, and was not even interested in doing that. The good news was that Ivan himself was a boy who did not wish to cause trouble. Ivan did not really want to become Tsar, but was persuaded to agree to this plan and his full elder sister, Sofia Alekseyevna, was made regent in order to balance various factions at court and ensure that the Naryshkin family would not become too powerful. On 25 June 1682, less than two months after the death of Feodor III, Ivan and Peter were both crowned in the Cathedral of the Dormition as dvoetsarstvenniki, a special throne with two seats was commissioned for the occasion. While Ivan was 16 years old at time, his co-ruler Peter I was only ten. Although Ivan was considered the senior Tsar, actual power was wielded by his sister, Sophia Alekseyevna. It was she who ruled Russia for the seven years. Although Sophia was always considerate towards Ivan, he neither sought nor received any role in government, however, she was anxious that every outward sign of respect and deference be paid to Ivan, which was a subtle way of undermining the influence of Peters faction in court. Thus, every wish or opinion expressed by Ivan deferred to, as Peter the Great grew up, he and his faction, led by his mothers Naryshkin family, contended with Regent Sophia for influence and power
7.
Great Northern War
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The Great Northern War was a conflict in which a coalition led by the Tsardom of Russia successfully contested the supremacy of the Swedish Empire in Central, Northern, and Eastern Europe. The initial leaders of the alliance were Peter I of Russia, Frederick IV of Denmark–Norway. George I of Great Britain and of Brunswick-Lüneburg joined the coalition in 1714 for and for Hanover in 1717, Charles XII led the Swedish army. Swedish allies included Holstein-Gottorp, several Polish magnates under Stanisław I Leszczyński, the Ottoman Empire temporarily hosted Charles XII of Sweden and intervened against Peter I. The treaty also secured the extradition and execution of Johann Reinhold Patkul, the Ottoman Empire defeated the Russian-Moldavian army in the Pruth River Campaign, but that peace treaty was in the end without great consequence to Russias position. After Poltava, the anti-Swedish coalition revived and subsequently Hanover and Prussia joined it, the remaining Swedish forces in plague-stricken areas south and east of the Baltic Sea were evicted, with the last city, Riga, falling in 1710. The coalition members partitioned most of the Swedish dominions among themselves, Sweden proper was invaded from the west by Denmark–Norway and from the east by Russia, which had occupied Finland by 1714. Sweden defeated the Danish invaders at the Battle of Helsingborg, Charles XII opened up a Norwegian front, but was killed in Fredriksten in 1718. The war ended with Swedens defeat, leaving Russia as the new dominant power in the Baltic region, by these treaties Sweden ceded her exemption from the Sound Dues, and lost the Baltic provinces and the southern part of Swedish Pomerania. The peace treaties also ended her alliance with Holstein-Gottorp, Hanover gained Bremen-Verden, Brandenburg-Prussia incorporated the Oder estuary, Russia secured the Baltic Provinces, and Denmark strengthened her position in Schleswig-Holstein. In Sweden, the monarchy had come to an end with the death of Charles XII. Between the years of 1560 and 1658, Sweden created a Baltic empire centred on the Gulf of Finland and comprising the provinces of Karelia, Ingria, Estonia, and Livonia. During the Thirty Years War Sweden gained tracts in Germany as well, including Western Pomerania, Wismar, the Duchy of Bremen, during the same period Sweden conquered Danish and Norwegian provinces north of the Sound. However, the Swedish state ultimately proved unable to support and maintain its army in a prolonged war. The cost of the proved to be much higher than the occupied countries could fund, and Swedens coffers. The foreign interventions in Russia during the Time of Troubles resulted in Swedish gains in the Treaty of Stolbovo, the treaty deprived Russia of direct access to the Baltic Sea. In the late 1690s, the adventurer Johann Patkul managed to ally Russia with Denmark and Saxony by the secret Treaty of Preobrazhenskoye, Charles XII of Sweden succeeded Charles XI of Sweden in 1697, aged 14. From his predecessor, he took over the Swedish Empire as an absolute monarch, Charles XI had tried to keep the empire out of wars, and concentrated on inner reforms such as reduction and allotment, which had strengthened the monarchs status and the empires military abilities
8.
Baltic Sea
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The Baltic Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, enclosed by Scandinavia, Finland, the Baltic countries, and the North European Plain. It includes the Gulf of Bothnia, the Bay of Bothnia, the Gulf of Finland, the Gulf of Riga, the sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from 10°E to 30°E longitude. The Baltic Sea is connected by waterways to the White Sea via the White Sea Canal. Traffic history Historically, the Kingdom of Denmark collected Sound Dues from ships at the border between the ocean and the land-locked Baltic Sea and they were collected in the Øresund at Kronborg castle near Helsingør, in the Great Belt at Nyborg. In the Little Belt, the site of intake was moved to Fredericia, the narrowest part of Little Belt is the Middelfart Sund near Middelfart. Oceanography Geographers widely agree that the physical border of the Baltic is a line drawn through the southern Danish islands, Drogden-Sill. The Drogden Sill is situated north of Køge Bugt and connects Dragør in the south of Copenhagen to Malmö, it is used by the Øresund Bridge, including the Drogden Tunnel. By this definition, the Danish Straits are part of the entrance, but the Bay of Mecklenburg, another usual border is the line between Falsterbo, Sweden and Stevns Klint, Denmark, as this is the southern border of Øresund. Its also the border between the shallow southern Øresund and notably deeper water, hydrography and biology Drogden Sill sets a limit to Øresund and Darss Sill, and a limit to the Belt Sea. The shallow sills are obstacles to the flow of salt water from the Kattegat into the basins around Bornholm. The Kattegat and the southwestern Baltic Sea are well oxygenated and have a rich biology, the remainder of the Sea is brackish, poor in oxygen and in species. While Tacitus called it Mare Suebicum after the Germanic people called the Suebi, the origin of the latter name is speculative. Adam of Bremen himself compared the sea with a belt, stating that it is so named because it stretches through the land as a belt and he might also have been influenced by the name of a legendary island mentioned in the Natural History of Pliny the Elder. Pliny mentions an island named Baltia with reference to accounts of Pytheas and it is possible that Pliny refers to an island named Basilia in On the Ocean by Pytheas. Baltia also might be derived from belt and mean near belt of sea, meanwhile, others have suggested that the name of the island originates from the Proto-Indo-European root *bhel meaning white, fair. This root and its meaning were retained in both Lithuanian and Latvian. On this basis, a related hypothesis holds that the name originated from this Indo-European root via a Baltic language such as Lithuanian, yet another explanation is that the name originally meant enclosed sea, bay as opposed to open sea. Some Swedish historians believe the name derives from the god Balder of Nordic mythology, in the Middle Ages the sea was known by variety of names
9.
Sweden
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Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and Finland to the east, at 450,295 square kilometres, Sweden is the third-largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of 10.0 million. Sweden consequently has a low density of 22 inhabitants per square kilometre. Approximately 85% of the lives in urban areas. Germanic peoples have inhabited Sweden since prehistoric times, emerging into history as the Geats/Götar and Swedes/Svear, Southern Sweden is predominantly agricultural, while the north is heavily forested. Sweden is part of the area of Fennoscandia. The climate is in very mild for its northerly latitude due to significant maritime influence. Today, Sweden is a monarchy and parliamentary democracy, with a monarch as head of state. The capital city is Stockholm, which is also the most populous city in the country, legislative power is vested in the 349-member unicameral Riksdag. Executive power is exercised by the government chaired by the prime minister, Sweden is a unitary state, currently divided into 21 counties and 290 municipalities. Sweden emerged as an independent and unified country during the Middle Ages, in the 17th century, it expanded its territories to form the Swedish Empire, which became one of the great powers of Europe until the early 18th century. Swedish territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were gradually lost during the 18th and 19th centuries, the last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Norway was militarily forced into personal union. Since then, Sweden has been at peace, maintaining a policy of neutrality in foreign affairs. The union with Norway was peacefully dissolved in 1905, leading to Swedens current borders, though Sweden was formally neutral through both world wars, Sweden engaged in humanitarian efforts, such as taking in refugees from German-occupied Europe. After the end of the Cold War, Sweden joined the European Union on 1 January 1995 and it is also a member of the United Nations, the Nordic Council, Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Sweden maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides health care. The modern name Sweden is derived through back-formation from Old English Swēoþēod and this word is derived from Sweon/Sweonas. The Swedish name Sverige literally means Realm of the Swedes, excluding the Geats in Götaland, the etymology of Swedes, and thus Sweden, is generally not agreed upon but may derive from Proto-Germanic Swihoniz meaning ones own, referring to ones own Germanic tribe
10.
Eastern Europe
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Eastern Europe, also known as East Europe, is the eastern part of the European continent. There is no consensus on the area it covers, partly because the term has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, cultural. There are almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region, a related United Nations paper adds that every assessment of spatial identities is essentially a social and cultural construct. One definition describes Eastern Europe as an entity, the region lying in Europe with main characteristics consisting in Byzantine, Orthodox. Another definition was created during the Cold War and used more or less synonymously with the term Eastern Bloc, a similar definition names the formerly communist European states outside the Soviet Union as Eastern Europe. Historians and social scientists generally view such definitions as outdated or relegating, several definitions of Eastern Europe exist today, but they often lack precision or are extremely general. These definitions vary both across cultures and among experts, even scientists, recently becoming more and more imprecise. The Ural Mountains, Ural River, and the Caucasus Mountains are the land border of the eastern edge of Europe. Eurovoc, a multilingual thesaurus maintained by the Publications Office of the European Union, provides entries for 23 EU languages, of these, those in italics are classified as Eastern Europe in this source. Other official web-pages of the European Union classify some of the countries as strictly Central European. The East–West Schism is the break of communion and theology between what are now the Eastern and Western churches which began in the 11th century and lasts until this very day and it divided Christianity in Europe, and consequently the world, into Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity. Since the Great Schism of 1054, Europe has been divided between Roman Catholic and Protestant churches in the West, and the Eastern Orthodox Christian churches in the east, due to this religious cleavage, Eastern Orthodox countries are often associated with Eastern Europe. A cleavage of this sort is, however, often problematic, for example, Greece is overwhelmingly Orthodox, the fall of the Iron Curtain brought the end of the East–West division in Europe, but this geopolitical concept is sometimes still used for quick reference by the media. The Baltic states have seats in the Nordic Council as observer states and they also are members of the Nordic-Baltic Eight whereas Eastern European countries formed their own alliance called the Visegrád Group. Estonia Latvia Lithuania The Caucasus nations may be included in the definitions of Eastern Europe, the extent of their geographic or political affiliation with Europe varies by country and source. All three states are members of the European Unions Eastern Partnership program and the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly, on 12 January 2002, the European Parliament noted that Armenia and Georgia may enter the EU in the future. Georgia — in modern geography, Georgia has been classified as part of Eastern Europe. Under the European Union’s geographic criteria, Georgia is viewed as part of Eastern Europe and is the only Caucasus country to be actively seeking EU membership and it is a member of Council of Europe and Eurocontrol
11.
Grand Embassy of Peter the Great
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The Grand Embassy was a Russian diplomatic mission, sent to Western Europe in 1697–1698 by Peter the Great. Officially, the Grand Embassy was headed by the grand ambassadors Franz Lefort, Fedor Golovin, in fact, it was led by Peter himself, who went along incognito under the name of Peter Mikhailov. At 68 Peter was one of the tallest men in Europe, Peter conducted negotiations with Friedrich Casimir Kettler, the Duke of Courland, and concluded an alliance with King Frederick I of Prussia. He arrived in the Dutch Republic at the start of August 1697 and he later used the knowledge acquired during this period to modernise the Russian navy. He met with William III, who governed both the Netherlands and England, in September, and the States-General in October and they formed the basis of his modernizing the Russian army and navy. The embassy stayed in Sayes Court belonging to John Evelyn and did damage to both house and grounds. An intended visit to Venice was cancelled due to the news about the Streltsy Uprising in Moscow, history of Peter the Great, Emperor of Russia. Peter the Great, Emperor of All Russia pp 99–125 online, the Semiotics of Diplomatic Dialogue, Pomp and Circumstance in Tsar Peter Is Visit to Vienna in 1698. Hughes, Lindsey, ed. Peter the Great and the West, the Tsar in England, Peter the Greats Visit to London in 1698. Summit diplomacy of the century, William III and Peter I in Utrecht and London. Massie, Robert K. Peter the Great, his life, a popular biography based on limited sources
12.
Russian language
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Russian is an East Slavic language and an official language in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and many minor or unrecognised territories. Russian belongs to the family of Indo-European languages and is one of the four living members of the East Slavic languages, written examples of Old East Slavonic are attested from the 10th century and beyond. It is the most geographically widespread language of Eurasia and the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages and it is also the largest native language in Europe, with 144 million native speakers in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus. Russian is the eighth most spoken language in the world by number of native speakers, the language is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Russian is also the second most widespread language on the Internet after English, Russian distinguishes between consonant phonemes with palatal secondary articulation and those without, the so-called soft and hard sounds. This distinction is found between pairs of almost all consonants and is one of the most distinguishing features of the language, another important aspect is the reduction of unstressed vowels. Russian is a Slavic language of the Indo-European family and it is a lineal descendant of the language used in Kievan Rus. From the point of view of the language, its closest relatives are Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Rusyn. An East Slavic Old Novgorod dialect, although vanished during the 15th or 16th century, is considered to have played a significant role in the formation of modern Russian. In the 19th century, the language was often called Great Russian to distinguish it from Belarusian, then called White Russian and Ukrainian, however, the East Slavic forms have tended to be used exclusively in the various dialects that are experiencing a rapid decline. In some cases, both the East Slavic and the Church Slavonic forms are in use, with different meanings. For details, see Russian phonology and History of the Russian language and it is also regarded by the United States Intelligence Community as a hard target language, due to both its difficulty to master for English speakers and its critical role in American world policy. The standard form of Russian is generally regarded as the modern Russian literary language, mikhail Lomonosov first compiled a normalizing grammar book in 1755, in 1783 the Russian Academys first explanatory Russian dictionary appeared. By the mid-20th century, such dialects were forced out with the introduction of the education system that was established by the Soviet government. Despite the formalization of Standard Russian, some nonstandard dialectal features are observed in colloquial speech. Thus, the Russian language is the 6th largest in the world by number of speakers, after English, Mandarin, Hindi/Urdu, Spanish, Russian is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Education in Russian is still a choice for both Russian as a second language and native speakers in Russia as well as many of the former Soviet republics. Russian is still seen as an important language for children to learn in most of the former Soviet republics, samuel P. Huntington wrote in the Clash of Civilizations, During the heyday of the Soviet Union, Russian was the lingua franca from Prague to Hanoi
13.
Economic growth
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Economic growth is the increase in the inflation-adjusted market value of the goods and services produced by an economy over time. It is conventionally measured as the percent rate of increase in gross domestic product, or real GDP. Growth is usually calculated in real terms – i. e. inflation-adjusted terms – to eliminate the effect of inflation on the price of goods produced. Measurement of economic growth uses national income accounting, since economic growth is measured as the annual percent change of gross domestic product, it has all the advantages and drawbacks of that measure. The rate of economic growth refers to the annual rate of growth in GDP between the first and the last year over a period of time. Implicitly, this rate is the trend in the average level of GDP over the period. An increase in economic growth caused by efficient use of inputs is referred to as intensive growth. GDP growth caused only by increases in the amount of available for use is called extensive growth. The economic growth rate is calculated from data on GDP estimated by countries´statistical agencies, the rate of growth of GDP/capita is calculated from data on GDP and people for the initial and final periods included in the analysis. The rate of change of GDP/population is the sum of the rates of change of four variables plus their cross products. Increases in labor productivity have historically been the most important source of real per capita economic growth, increases in productivity lower the real cost of goods. Over the 20th century the price of many goods fell by over 90%. Economic growth has traditionally been attributed to the accumulation of human and physical capital, the rapid economic growth that occurred during the Industrial Revolution was remarkable because it was in excess of population growth, providing an escape from the Malthusian trap. Countries that industrialized eventually saw their population growth slow down, a known as the demographic transition. Increases in productivity are the factor responsible for per capita economic growth – this has been especially evident since the mid-19th century. Most of the growth in the 20th century was due to increased output per unit of labor, materials, energy. The balance of the growth in output has come from using more inputs, both of these changes increase output. The increased output included more of the goods produced previously and new goods
14.
Boyar
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The rank has lived on as a surname in Russia, Ukraine and Romania, and also in Finland, where it is spelled Pajari. Also known as bolyar, the various names in other languages include Bulgarian, боляр or болярин, Ukrainian, буй or боярин, Russian, боя́рин. Multiple different derivation theories of the word have been suggested by scholars and linguists, such as it having possible roots from old Turkic, bai and är. Another possible etymology of the term it may come from the Romanian word boi, the title entered Old Russian as быля. It was probably transformed through boilar or bilyar to bolyar and bolyarin, a member of the nobility during the First Bulgarian Empire was called a boila, while in the Second Bulgarian Empire, the corresponding title became bolyar or bolyarin. Bolyar, as well as its predecessor, boila, was a hereditary title, the Bulgarian bolyars were divided into veliki and malki. Presently in Bulgaria, the word bolyari is used as a nickname for the inhabitants of Veliko Tarnovo—once the capital of the Second Bulgarian Empire. In medieval Serbia, the rank of the Boyars was equivalent to the rank of the Baron, meaning free warrior, with the rule of the Ottoman Empire after 1450, the Ottoman as well as the Austro-Hungarian terms exchanged the Serbian one. Today, it is a term representing the aristocracy. Boyars 9th - 13th centuries, wielded power through their military support of the Kievan princes. Power and prestige of many of them, however, soon came to depend almost completely on service to the state, family history of service and, to a lesser extent, land ownership. Boyars of Kievan Rus were visually similar to knights, but after the Mongol invasion. The boyars occupied the highest state offices and, through a council and they received extensive grants of land and, as members of the Boyars Duma, were the major legislators of Kievan Rus. After the Mongol invasion in the 13th century, the boyars from central and southern parts of Kievan Rus were incorporated into Lithuanian, during the 14th and 15th centuries, the boyars of Moscow had considerable influence that continued from the Muscovy period. However, starting with the reign of Ivan III, the boyars were starting to lose that influence to the tsars in Russia. Because of Ivan III’s expansionist policies, administrative changes were needed in order to ease the burden of governing Muscovy, the face of provincial rule disappeared. What is interesting about the boyars is their implied duties, because boyars were not constitutionally instituted, much of their powers and duties came from agreements signed between princes. Agreements, such as one between Ivan III and Mikhail Borisovich in 1484 showed how allegiances needed to be earned and secured, instead of the grand prince personally overseeing his lands, he had to rely on his lieutenants and close advisors to oversee day-to-day operations
15.
Slavs
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Slavs are the largest Indo-European ethno-linguistic group in Europe. They are native to Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, Northeastern Europe, North Asia, Slavs speak Slavic languages of the Balto-Slavic language group. From the early 6th century they spread to inhabit most of Central, states with Slavic languages comprise over 50% of the territory of Europe, therefore it is the largest ethno-linguistic group in Europe by land area. Present-day Slavic people are classified into West Slavs, East Slavs, there are an estimated 360 million Slavs worldwide. The Slavic autonym is reconstructed in Proto-Slavic as *Slověninъ, plural *Slověne, the oldest documents written in Old Church Slavonic and dating from the 9th century attest the autonym as Slověne. The word slovo and the related slava and slukh originate from the Proto-Indo-European root *ḱlew-, cognate with Ancient Greek κλῆς, whence comes the name Pericles, Latin clueo, some other theories have limited support. The English term slave eventually derives from the ethnonym Slav, Slavs were captured and enslaved by the Muslims of Spain during the ninth century AD. The Slavs under name of the Antes and the Sclaveni make their first appearance in Byzantine records in the early 6th century. Procopius wrote in 545 that the Sclaveni and the Antae actually had a name in the remote past. He described them as barbarians, who lived under democracy, and that believe in one god. They lived in scattered housing, and constantly changed settlement, regarding warfare, they were mainly foot soldiers with small shields and battleaxes, lightly clothed, some entering battle naked with only their genitals covered. And they live a life, giving no heed to bodily comforts. Jordanes described the Sclaveni having swamps and forests for their cities, another 6th-century source refers to them living among nearly impenetrable forests, rivers, lakes, and marshes. Menander Protector mentions a Daurentius that slew an Avar envoy of Khagan Bayan I. The Avars asked the Slavs to accept the suzerainty of the Avars, he declined and is reported as saying, Others do not conquer our land. The relationship between the Slavs and a called the Veneti east of the River Vistula in the Roman period is uncertain. The name may refer both to Balts and Slavs, perhaps some Slavs migrated with the movement of the Vandals to Iberia and north Africa. Around the 6th century, Slavs appeared on Byzantine borders in great numbers, the Byzantine records note that grass would not regrow in places where the Slavs had marched through, so great were their numbers
16.
Ivan the Terrible
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Ivan IV Vasilyevich, commonly known as Ivan the Terrible or Ivan the Fearsome, was the Grand Prince of Moscow from 1533 to 1547, then Tsar of All the Russias until his death in 1584. The last title was used by all his successors, during his reign, Russia conquered the Khanates of Kazan, Astrakhan and Sibir, becoming a multiethnic and multicontinental state spanning approximately 4,050,000 km2. Ivan exercised autocratic control over Russias hereditary nobility and developed a bureaucracy to administer his new territories and he transformed Russia from a medieval state into an empire, though at immense cost to its people, and its broader, long-term economy. In one such outburst, he killed his son and heir Ivan Ivanovich and this left his younger son, the pious but politically ineffectual Feodor Ivanovich, to inherit the throne. Ivan was a diplomat, a patron of arts and trade. He was popular among Russias commoners, except possibly the people of Novgorod and surrounding areas, the English word terrible is usually used to translate the Russian word grozny in Ivans nickname, but this is a somewhat archaic translation. The Russian word grozny reflects the older English usage of terrible as in inspiring fear or terror, dangerous, powerful and it does not convey the more modern connotations of English terrible, such as defective or evil. Vladimir Dal defines grozny specifically in archaic usage and as an epithet for tsars, courageous, magnificent, magisterial and keeping enemies in fear, other translations have also been suggested by modern scholars. Ivan was the first son of Vasili III and his wife, Elena Glinskaya. When Ivan was three years old, his father died from an abscess and inflammation on his leg that developed into blood poisoning, Ivan was proclaimed the Grand Prince of Moscow at the request of his father. His mother Elena Glinskaya initially acted as regent, but she died of what many believe to be assassination by poison, the regency then alternated between several feuding boyar families fighting for control. According to his own letters, Ivan, along with his younger brother Yuri, on 16 January 1547, at age sixteen, Ivan was crowned with Monomakhs Cap at the Cathedral of the Dormition. He was the first to be crowned as Tsar of All the Russias, prior to that, rulers of Muscovy were crowned as Grand Princes, although Ivan III the Great, his grandfather, styled himself tsar in his correspondence. Two weeks after his coronation, Ivan married his first wife Anastasia Romanovna, a member of the Romanov family, who became the first Russian tsaritsa. By being crowned Tsar, Ivan was sending a message to the world and to Russia, he was now the one and only ruler of the country. The new title symbolized an assumption of powers equivalent and parallel to those held by former Byzantine Emperor, the political effect was to elevate Ivans position. The new title not only secured the throne, but it also granted Ivan a new dimension of power and he was now a divine leader appointed to enact Gods will, as church texts described Old Testament kings as Tsars and Christ as the Heavenly Tsar. The newly appointed title was passed on from generation to generation
17.
Duma
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A duma is a Russian assembly with advisory or legislative functions. The term comes from the Russian verb думать meaning to think or to consider, the first formally constituted duma was the State Duma introduced into the Russian Empire by Tsar Nicholas II in 1906. It was dissolved in 1917 during the Russian Revolution, since 1993, the State Duma is the lower legislative house of the Russian Federation. The term Boyar Duma is used by historians to denote the class of boyars, in 1721, Peter the Great transferred its functions to the Governing Senate. In contemporary sources it is called simply the boyars or the duma. Originally there were ten to twelve boyars and five or six okolnichii, by 1613 it had increased to twenty boyars and eight okolnichii. Lesser nobles, duma gentlemen and secretaries, were added to the duma, in 1676 the number of boyars was increased to 50 and was by then constituted only a third of the duma. Under the reign of Alexander II, several reforms were enacted during the 1860s and 1870s and these included the creation of local political bodies known as zemstvoes. All owners of houses, tax-paying merchants and workmen are enrolled on lists in a descending order according to their assessed wealth. The total valuation is then divided into three parts, representing three groups of electors very unequal in number, each of which elects an equal number of delegates to the municipal duma. The executive is in the hands of a mayor and an uprava. Under Alexander III, however, by laws promulgated in 1892 and 1894, in 1894 municipal institutions, with still more restricted powers, were granted to several towns in Siberia, and in 1895 to some in Caucasia. Under the pressure of the Russian Revolution of 1905, on 6 August 1905, Sergei Witte issued a manifesto about the convocation of the Duma, however, Nicholas II was determined to retain his autocratic power. Just before the creation of the Duma in May 1906, the Tsar issued the Fundamental Laws and it stated in part that the tsars ministers could not be appointed by, and were not responsible to, the Duma, thus denying responsible government at the executive level. Furthermore, the tsar had the power to dismiss the Duma, at this first meeting of the Duma members proposed that political prisoners should be released, trade unions given rights and land reform be introduced. Nicholas II rejected these suggestions and dissolved the assembly in July,1906, the imperial State Duma was elected four times, in 1906, twice in 1907, and in 1912. The State Duma in Russia is the house of the Federal Assembly of Russia. Under Russias 1993 constitution, there are 450 deputies of the State Duma, each elected to a term of four years, this was changed to a five-year term in late 2008
18.
Beard tax
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A beard tax is one of several taxes introduced throughout history on men who wear beards. In 1535, King Henry VIII of England, who wore a beard himself, the tax was a graduated tax, varying with the wearers social position. His daughter, Elizabeth I of England, reintroduced the beard tax, contemporary documentation of the Tudor beard tax, however, is lacking, and The National Archives has no record of such a tax having been instituted. In 1698, Emperor Peter I of Russia instituted a tax to bring Russian society in line with Western European models. To enforce the ban on beards, the tsar empowered police to forcibly and publicly shave those who refused to pay the tax, resistance to going clean shaven was widespread with many believing that it was a religious requirement for a man to wear a beard. Those who paid the tax were required to carry a beard token and this was a copper or silver token with a Russian Eagle on the reverse and on the obverse the lower part of a face with nose, mouth, whiskers, and beard. Several different versions were minted between the issuance of the decree and its lifting in 1772, the common round version was inscribed with the words money taken on the obverse and the date in Cyrillic numerals on the reverse. A rhomboid version issued in 1725 was smooth on the reverse with the beard tax taken on the obverse. Walter Hawkins published a paper in 1845 illustrating an example of the token from his own collection, and describing the history of the tax in Russia
19.
Governorate (Russia)
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A governorate, or a guberniya, was a major and principal administrative subdivision of the Russian Empire and the early Russian SFSR. The term is translated as government, governorate, or province. A governorate was ruled by a governor, a word borrowed from Latin gubernator, sometimes the term guberniya was informally used to refer to the office of a governor. Selected governorates were united under a governor general such as Grand Duchy of Finland, Tsardom of Poland, Russian Turkestan. There also were military governors such as Kronshtadt, Vladivostok, aside of governorates, other types of divisions were oblasts and okrugs. This subdivision type was created by the edict of Peter the Great on December 18,1708 On the establishment of the gubernias and cities assigned to them, in 1719, guberniyas were further subdivided into provinces. Later the number of guberniyas was increased to 23, the term guberniya, however, still remained in use. These viceroyalties were governed by namestniki or governors general, correspondingly, the term governorate general was in use to refer to the actual territory being governed. The office of general had more administrative power and was in a higher position than the previous office of governor. Sometimes a governor general ruled several guberniyas, for the guberniya as subdivisions of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Finland, see Administrative division of Congress Poland and Governorates of the Grand Duchy of Finland. For the guberniya as subdivisions of the Ukrainian Peoples Republic and the Ukrainian SSR, after the February Revolution, the Russian Provisional Government renamed governors into guberniya commissars. The October Revolution left the subdivision in place, but the apparatus was replaced by guberniya soviets. Actual subdivisions of the Soviet Union into particular territorial units was subject to numerous changes, eventually, in 1929, the subdivision was replaced by the notions of oblast, okrug, and raion. In post-Soviet republics such as Russia and Ukraine, the term Guberniya is obsolete, there is another archaic meaning of the word as the word denoted a type of estate in former Lithuania of the Russian Empire till 1917. History of the division of Russia List of governorates of the Russian Empire Governorate-General GOELRO plan Ignatov. History of state administration of Russia
20.
Moscow Governorate
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Moscow Governorate, or the Government of Moscow, was an administrative division of the Tsardom of Russia, the Russian Empire, and the Russian SFSR, which existed in 1708–1929. Moscow Governorate, together with seven other governorates, was established on December 29,1708, the governorate underwent numerous changes in the following years, and was finally abolished on January 14,1929 when modern Moscow Oblast was created. Population by mother tongue according to the Imperial census of 1897, according to the Imperial census of 1897. William Henry Beable, Governments or Provinces of the Former Russian Empire, Moscow, Russian Gazetteer and Guide, London, Russian Outlook – via Open Library Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Moscow
21.
Kiev Governorate
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Kiev Governorate was an administrative division of the Russian Empire and Ukraine in 1796 until the Soviet administrative reform of the 1920s. It was considered to be a Little Russian governorate due to majority of speaking in Little Russian dialect. The Kiev Governorate on the bank of Dnieper was officially established by Emperor Paul Is edict of November 30,1796. However it was not until 1800 when there was appointed the first governor, three existing Left-bank Ukraine viceroyalties were merged into one Little Russia Governorate centered on Chernigov, while the Kiev Governorate was now comprised on Right-bank Ukraine. The edict took effect on August 29,1797, bringing the number of uyezds to twelve. On January 22,1832, the Kiev Governorate, along with the Volhynia, at the time, Vasily Levashov was appointed the Military Governor of Kiev as well as the General Governor of Podolia and Volhynia. In 1845, the population of the Governorate was 1,704,661, by the 1897 Russian Census, there were 3,559,229 people in the guberniya making it the most populous one in the whole Russian Empire. There were 459,253 people living in cities, including about 248,000 in Kiev, by faith,2,983,736 census respondents were Orthodox Christians,433,728 were Jews and 106,733 were of the Roman Catholic Church. Kiev Governorate remained a constituent unit of the larger Governorate General with Kiev being the capital of both well into the 20th century, in 1915, the General Governorate was disbanded while the guberniya continued to exist. After the last Imperial governor, Alexey Ignatyev until March 6,1917, in the course of the Soviet administrative reform of 1923–1929 the Kiev Guberniya was transformed into six okruhas in 1923, and, since 1932, Kiev Oblast at the territory
22.
Smolensk Governorate
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Smolensk Governorate, together with seven other governorates, was established on December 29,1708, by Tsar Peter the Greats edict. On July 28,1713, Smolensk Governorate was abolished and its territory was divided between Moscow and Riga Governorates, the governorate was re-established in 1726. In 1775, it was included, along parts of Moscow and Belgorod Governorates. The governorate was again restored in 1796, eventually, on January 14,1929, Smolensk Governorate was abolished and its territory was included into Western Oblast. Population by mother tongue according to the Imperial census of 1897, according to the Imperial census of 1897. История Смоленской земли до начала XV столетия
23.
Archangelgorod Governorate
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Archangelgorod Governorate, or the Government of Archangelgorod, was an administrative division of the Tsardom of Russia and then the Russian Empire, which existed from 1708 until 1780. In the north, the governorate was limited by the White, Archangelgorod Governorate, together with seven other governorates, was established on December 29,1708, by Tsar Peter the Greats edict. On June 9,1719, the governorate was divided into provinces, Archangelgorod, Vologda, Galich, simultaneously, Yarensky Uyezd with the administrative center of Yarensk was moved from Siberia Governorate to Archangelgorod Governorate. The uyezds were transformed into districts, however, in 1727 the districts were transformed back into uyezds, the governorate existed until February 51780, when it was transformed into Vologda Viceroyalty. The administration of the governorate was performed by a governor
24.
Kazan Governorate
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The Kazan Governorate, or the Government of Kazan, was a governorate of the Tsardom of Russia, the Russian Empire, and the Russian SFSR from 1708–1920, with its seat in the city of Kazan. These were the areas governed by the Kazan Palaces Prikaz. In 1717, Astrakhan Governorate was separated from Kazan Governorate, in 1719—Nizhny Novgorod, in 1744—Orenburg, in 1781—Vyatka, Simbirsk, under Catherine the Great Kazan was the center of a namestnichestvo, with Kazan, Penza, and Saratov Governorates as its integral parts. At first the governorate was divided into lots, then into provinces in 1719, prior to 1796, there were Kazan, Kozmodemyansk, Laishev, Mamadysh, Sviyazhsk, Spassk, Tetyushi, Tsaryovokokshaysk, Tsivilsk, Cheboksary, Chistopol, and Yadrin uyezds. In 1913, the area of the governorate comprised 55,900 square versts, its population was estimated at 2.85 million, the governorate was finally abolished during the Bolshevik administrative reform. Thereupon its Eastern part was proclaimed the Tatar ASSR, while the Western part was divided between Chuvashia and Mari El
25.
Siberia Governorate
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Siberia Governorate was an administrative division of the Tsardom of Russia and then the Russian Empire, which existed from 1708 until 1782. The governorate was located in the east of Russian Empire and bordered China in the south, Kazan Governorate in the southwest, in the north and the east, the governorate was limited by the seas of the Arctic and Pacific Oceans. Siberia Governorate, together with seven other governorates, was established on December 29,1708, simultaneously, Yarensky Uyezd with the administrative center of Yarensk was moved from Siberia Governorate to Archangelgorod Governorate. In 1724, Tobolsk Province was split into Yeniseysk, Irkutsk, in 1727, Vyatka and Solikamsk Provinces were transferred to Kazan Governorate. In 1736, Okhotsky Uyezd was split off from Yakutsky Uyezd, in 1737, the areas in the South Urals were organized into Iset Province with the center in the town of Shadrinsk, and the province was transferred into Orenburg Governorate. In 1764, Irkutsk Governorate was established in place of the former Irkutsk Province, in 1782, Siberia Governorate was abolished, and its area split into Tobolsk Viceroyalty and Kolyvan Viceroyalty. Irkutsk Governorate was transformed into Irkutsk Viceroyalty, the administration of the governorate was performed by a governor
26.
German language
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German is a West Germanic language that is mainly spoken in Central Europe. It is the most widely spoken and official language in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol, the German-speaking Community of Belgium and it is also one of the three official languages of Luxembourg. Major languages which are most similar to German include other members of the West Germanic language branch, such as Afrikaans, Dutch, English, Luxembourgish and it is the second most widely spoken Germanic language, after English. One of the languages of the world, German is the first language of about 95 million people worldwide. The German speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of publication of new books. German derives most of its vocabulary from the Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, a portion of German words are derived from Latin and Greek, and fewer are borrowed from French and English. With slightly different standardized variants, German is a pluricentric language, like English, German is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects, with many unique varieties existing in Europe and also other parts of the world. The history of the German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the migration period, when Martin Luther translated the Bible, he based his translation primarily on the standard bureaucratic language used in Saxony, also known as Meißner Deutsch. Copies of Luthers Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region that translated words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Roman Catholics initially rejected Luthers translation, and tried to create their own Catholic standard of the German language – the difference in relation to Protestant German was minimal. It was not until the middle of the 18th century that a widely accepted standard was created, until about 1800, standard German was mainly a written language, in urban northern Germany, the local Low German dialects were spoken. Standard German, which was different, was often learned as a foreign language with uncertain pronunciation. Northern German pronunciation was considered the standard in prescriptive pronunciation guides though, however, German was the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire, which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe. Until the mid-19th century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of the Empire and its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. Some cities, such as Prague and Budapest, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain, others, such as Pozsony, were originally settled during the Habsburg period, and were primarily German at that time. Prague, Budapest and Bratislava as well as cities like Zagreb, the most comprehensive guide to the vocabulary of the German language is found within the Deutsches Wörterbuch. This dictionary was created by the Brothers Grimm and is composed of 16 parts which were issued between 1852 and 1860, in 1872, grammatical and orthographic rules first appeared in the Duden Handbook. In 1901, the 2nd Orthographical Conference ended with a standardization of the German language in its written form
27.
Civil service
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A civil servant or public servant is a person so employed in the public sector employed for a government department or agency. The extent of civil servants of a state as part of the service varies from country to country. In the United Kingdom, for instance, only Crown employees are referred to as civil servants whereas county or city employees are not, many consider the study of service to be a part of the field of public administration. Workers in non-departmental public bodies may also be classed as servants for the purpose of statistics and possibly for their terms. Collectively a states civil servants form its service or public service. An international civil servant or international staff member is an employee who is employed by an intergovernmental organization. These international civil servants do not resort under any national legislation but are governed by internal staff regulations, All disputes related to international civil service are brought before special tribunals created by these international organizations such as, for instance, the Administrative Tribunal of the ILO. Specific referral can be made to the International Civil Service Commission of the United Nations and its mandate is to regulate and coordinate the conditions of service of staff in the United Nations common system, while promoting and maintaining high standards in the international civil service. The origin of the modern civil service can be traced back to Imperial examination founded in Imperial China. The Imperial exam based on merit was designed to select the best administrative officials for the states bureaucracy and this system had a huge influence on both society and culture in Imperial China and was directly responsible for the creation of a class of scholar-bureaucrats irrespective of their family pedigree. In the areas of administration, especially the military, appointments were based solely on merit, after the fall of the Han Dynasty, the Chinese bureaucracy regressed into a semi-merit system known as the Nine-rank system. This system was reversed during the short-lived Sui Dynasty, which initiated a civil service bureaucracy recruited through written examinations, the first civil service examination system was established by Emperor Wen of Sui. The examination tested the candidates memorization of the Nine Classics of Confucianism and his ability to compose poetry using fixed and traditional forms, the system was finally abolished by the Qing government in 1905 as part of the New Policies reform package. The Chinese system was admired by European commentators from the 16th century onward. In the 18th century, in response to changes and the growth of the British Empire, the bureaucracy of institutions such as the Office of Works. Each had its own system, but in general, staff were appointed through patronage or outright purchase, by the 19th century, it became increasingly clear that these arrangements were falling short. The origins of the British civil service are better known, during the eighteenth century a number of Englishmen wrote in praise of the Chinese examination system, some of them going so far as to urge the adoption for England of something similar. The first concrete step in this direction was taken by the British East India Company in 1806, in that year, the Honourable East India Company established a college, the East India Company College, near London to train and examine administrators of the Companys territories in India
28.
Table of Ranks
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The Table of Ranks was a formal list of positions and ranks in the military, government, and court of Imperial Russia. Peter the Great introduced the system in 1722 while engaged in a struggle with the hereditary nobility. The Table of Ranks was formally abolished on 11 November 1917 by the newly established Bolshevik government, the table divided ranks in 14 grades, with all nobles regardless of birth or wealth beginning at the bottom of the table and rising through their service to the tsar. While all grades were open by merit, promotion required qualification for the next rank, peters intentions for a class of nobles bound to the tsar by their personal service to him were watered down by subsequent tsars. In 1762 Peter III abolished the compulsory 25-year military or civilian service for nobles, in 1767 Catherine the Great bought the support of the bureaucracy by making promotion up the 14 ranks automatic after seven years regardless of position or merit. Thus the bureaucracy became populated with time servers, achieving a certain level in the table automatically granted a certain level of nobility. A civil servant promoted to the 14th grade gained personal nobility, nicholas I raised this threshold to the 5th grade in 1845. In 1856 the grades required for hereditary nobility were raised to the 4th grade for the civil service, the father of Vladimir Lenin progressed in the management of education, reaching the 4th rank and becoming an active state councillor, which gave him the privilege of hereditary nobility. With occasional revisions, the Table of Ranks remained in effect until the Russian Revolution of 1917 and he laid down that fines of two months salary should be assessed against those falsely claiming a higher rank or gaining a rank without qualification. The first complete translation into English of the original Table of Ranks promulgated by Peter the Great in 1722 was presented by Brazilian historian Angelo Segrillo in 2016 and it is available online at http, //lea. vitis. uspnet. usp. br/arquivos/arttableofrankslea. pdf. The Social Reform — The Table of Ranks, Peter the Great, his life and work. Table of Ranks Peter Is originalTable of Ranks
29.
Russian Revolution
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The Russian Revolution was a pair of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which dismantled the Tsarist autocracy and led to the eventual rise of the Soviet Union. The Russian Empire collapsed with the abdication of Emperor Nicholas II, in the second revolution that October, the Provisional Government was removed and replaced with a communist state. The February Revolution was a revolution focused around Petrograd, then capital of Russia, in the chaos, members of the Imperial parliament assumed control of the country, forming the Russian Provisional Government. The army leadership felt they did not have the means to suppress the revolution, the February Revolution took place in the context of heavy military setbacks during the First World War, which left much of the Russian Army in a state of mutiny. During this chaotic period there were frequent mutinies, protests and many strikes, when the Provisional Government chose to continue fighting the war with Germany, the Bolsheviks and other socialist factions campaigned for stopping the conflict. The Bolsheviks turned workers militias under their control into the Red Guards over which they exerted substantial control, the Bolsheviks appointed themselves as leaders of various government ministries and seized control of the countryside, establishing the Cheka to quash dissent. To end Russia’s participation in the First World War, the Bolshevik leaders signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany in March 1918, soon after, civil war erupted among the Reds, the Whites, the independence movements and the non-Bolshevik socialists. It continued for years, during which the Bolsheviks defeated both the Whites and all rival socialists. In this way, the Revolution paved the way for the creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1922, the Russian Revolution of 1905 was said to be a major factor to the February Revolutions of 1917. The events of Bloody Sunday triggered a line of protests, a council of workers called the St. Petersburg Soviet was created in all this chaos, and the beginning of a communist political protest had begun. World War I prompted a Russian outcry directed at Tsar Nicholas II and it was another major factor contributing to the retaliation of the Russian Communists against their royal opponents. However, the problems were merely administrative, and not industrial as Germany was producing great amounts of munitions whilst constantly fighting on two major battlefronts, the war also developed a weariness in the city, owing to a lack of food in response to the disruption of agriculture. Food scarcity had become a problem in Russia, but the cause of this did not lie in any failure of the harvests. As a result, they tended to hoard their grain and to revert to subsistence farming, thus the cities were constantly short of food. At the same time rising prices led to demands for wages in the factories. The outcome of all this, however, was a criticism of the government rather than any war-weariness. The original fever of excitement, which had caused the name of St. Heavy losses during the war also strengthened thoughts that Tsar Nicholas II was unfit to rule, the Liberals were now better placed to voice their complaints, since they were participating more fully through a variety of voluntary organizations
30.
Ruble
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The ruble or rouble is or was a currency unit of a number of countries in Eastern Europe closely associated with the economy of Russia. Originally, the ruble was the unit of Imperial Russia and then the Soviet Union. The Russian ruble is used in the partially recognised states of Abkhazia. In the past, several other countries influenced by Russia and the Soviet Union had currency units that were also named rubles, one ruble is divided into 100 kopeks. According to one version, the ruble is derived from the Russian verb рубить, to cut, to chop, to hack. Rubles were parts of the grivna or pieces of silver with notches indicating their weight, each grivna was divided into four parts, the name ruble came from the word cut because the silver rod weighing 1 grivna was split into four parts, which were called rubles. Another version of the origin is that it comes from the Russian noun рубец. Therefore, the word means a cast with a seam. A popular theory deriving word ruble from rupee is probably not correct, the ruble was the Russian equivalent of the mark, a measurement of weight for silver and gold used in medieval Western Europe. The weight of one ruble was equal to the weight of one grivna, in Russian, a folk name for ruble, tselkovyj, is known, which is a shortening of the целковый рубль, i. e. a wholesome, uncut ruble. This name persists in the Mordvin word for ruble, целковой, the word kopek, kopeck, copeck, or kopeyka is a diminutive form of the Russian kopyo — a spear. The first kopek coins, minted at Novgorod and Pskov from about 1534 onwards, from the 1540s onwards the horseman bears a crown, and doubtless the intention was to represent Ivan the Terrible, who was Grand Prince of all Russia until 1547, and Tsar thereafter. Subsequent mintings of the coin, starting in the 18th century, since the monetary reform of 1534, one Russian accounting ruble became equivalent to 100 silver Novgorod denga coins or smaller 200 Muscovite denga coins or even smaller 400 polushka coins. Exactly the former coin with a rider on it became colloquially known as kopek and was the higher coin until the beginning of the 18th century. Ruble coins as such did not exist till Peter the Great, apart from one ruble and one kopek coins other smaller and greater coins existed as well. Both the spellings ruble and rouble are used in English, the form rouble is preferred by the Oxford English Dictionary, but the earliest use recorded in English is the now completely obsolete robble. The form rouble probably derives from the transliteration into French used among the Tsarist aristocracy, the Russian plurals that may be seen on the actual currency are modified according to Russian grammar. Numbers 1,21,31 etc. are followed by nominative singular рубль, numbers 2–4, 22–24, 32–34 etc. will be followed by genitive singular рубля, копейки
31.
Poll tax
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A poll tax, also known as head tax or capitation, is a tax levied as a fixed sum on every liable individual. Head taxes were important sources of revenue for many governments from ancient times until the 19th century, in the United Kingdom, poll taxes were levied by the governments of John of Gaunt in the 14th century, Charles II in the 17th and Margaret Thatcher in the 20th century. In the United States, voting poll taxes have been used to disenfranchise minority voters, the word poll is an archaic term for head or top of the head. The sense of counting heads is found in phrases like polling place, as prescribed in Exodus Jewish law imposed a poll tax of half-shekel, payable by every man above the age of twenty. 13 This they shall give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary,14 Every one that passeth among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering unto the LORD. 15 The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, the money was designated for the Tabernacle in the Exodus narrative and later for the upkeep of the Temple of Jerusalem. Priests, women, slaves and minors were exempted, although they could offer it voluntarily, payment by Samaritans or Gentiles was rejected. It was collected yearly during the month of Adar, both at the Temple and at special collection bureaux in the provinces, jizya was a poll tax imposed under Islamic law on non-Muslims permanently residing in a Muslim state as part of their dhimmi status. The tax is levied on free-born abled-bodied men of military age, the indigent were exempt, as well as slaves, women, children, the old, the sick, monks and hermits. Several rationales for the jizya have been advanced and they include the argument that jizya was a fee in exchange for the dhimma, and the argument that imposition of jizya on non-Muslims is similar to the imposition of zakat on Muslims. Although jizya is often called a tax, its assessment. Elsewhere, it is reported customary to partition into three classes, e. g.48 dirhams for the rich,24 for middle class and 12 for the poor. In 1855, the Ottoman Empire abolished the tax, as part of reforms to equalize the status of Muslims and non-Muslims. It was replaced by a tax on non-Muslims, the Bedel-i Askeri. The Chinese head tax was a fee charged to each Chinese person entering Canada. The tax was abolished by the Chinese Immigration Act of 1923, which stopped all Chinese immigration except for people, clergy, educators, students. All of the dynasties of Imperial China have a policy of tax, means the male. In 1713, a policy which is about the cancellation of tax of Kangxi Emperor
32.
Protectionist
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Protectionist policies protect the producers, businesses and workers of the import-competing sector in a country from foreign competitors. According to proponents, these policies can counteract unfair trade practices, protectionists may favor the policy in order to decrease the trade deficit, maintain employment in certain sectors, or favor the growth of certain industries. In recent years, protectionism has become closely aligned with the anti-globalization movement, There is a broad consensus among economists that the impact of protectionism on economic growth is largely negative, although the impact on specific industries and groups of people may be positive. The doctrine of protectionism contrasts with the doctrine of free trade, a variety of policies have been used to achieve protectionist goals. Tariff rates usually vary according to the type of goods imported, import tariffs will increase the cost to importers, and increase the price of imported goods in the local markets, thus lowering the quantity of goods imported, to favour local producers. Tariffs may also be imposed on exports, and in an economy with floating exchange rates, however, since export tariffs are often perceived as hurting local industries, while import tariffs are perceived as helping local industries, export tariffs are seldom implemented. Import quotas, To reduce the quantity and therefore increase the price of imported goods. The economic effects of a quota is similar to that of a tariff. Economists often suggest that import licenses be auctioned to the highest bidder, administrative barriers, Countries are sometimes accused of using their various administrative rules as a way to introduce barriers to imports. Anti-dumping legislation, Supporters of anti-dumping laws argue that they prevent dumping of cheaper foreign goods that would cause local firms to close down, however, in practice, anti-dumping laws are usually used to impose trade tariffs on foreign exporters. Direct subsidies, Government subsidies are given to local firms that cannot compete well against imports. These subsidies are purported to protect jobs, and to help local firms adjust to the world markets. Export subsidies, Export subsidies are often used by governments to increase exports, Export subsidies have the opposite effect of export tariffs because exporters get payment, which is a percentage or proportion of the value of exported. Export subsidies increase the amount of trade, and in a country with floating exchange rates, have similar to import subsidies. Exchange rate control, A government may intervene in the exchange market to lower the value of its currency by selling its currency in the foreign exchange market. Doing so will raise the cost of imports and lower the cost of exports, international patent systems, There is an argument for viewing national patent systems as a cloak for protectionist trade policies at a national level. Peter Drahos explains that States realized that patent systems could be used to cloak protectionist strategies, There were also reputational advantages for states to be seen to be sticking to intellectual property systems. In the modern trade arena many other initiatives besides tariffs have been called protectionist, for example, some commentators, such as Jagdish Bhagwati, see developed countries efforts in imposing their own labor or environmental standards as protectionism
33.
Serfs
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Serfdom is the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism. It was a condition of bondage, which developed primarily during the High Middle Ages in Europe, serfs were often required not only to work on the lords fields, but also his mines, forests and roads. The decline of serfdom in Western Europe has sometimes been attributed to the Black Death, Serfdom became increasingly rare in most of Western Europe after the Renaissance, but conversely, it grew strong in Central and Eastern Europe, where it had previously been less common. In Eastern Europe the institution persisted until the mid-19th century, in the Austrian Empire serfdom was abolished by the 1781 Serfdom Patent, corvée continued to exist until 1848. Serfdom was abolished in Russia in the 1860s, in Finland, Norway and Sweden, feudalism was never fully established, and serfdom did not exist, however, serfdom-like institutions did exist in both Denmark and its vassal Iceland. According to Joseph R. Strayer, the concept of feudalism can also be applied to the societies of ancient Persia, ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, Muslim India, China, james Lee and Cameron Campbell describe the Chinese Qing dynasty as also maintaining a form of serfdom. Tibet is described by Melvyn Goldstein to have had serfdom until 1959, bhutan is described by Tashi Wangchuk, a Bhutanese civil servant, as abolishing serfdom officially by 1959, but Wangchuk believes less than or about 10% of poor peasants were in copyhold situations. The United Nations 1956 Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery also prohibits serfdom as a form of slavery, the word serf originated from the Middle French serf and can be traced further back to the Latin servus. In Late Antiquity and most of the Middle Ages, what are now called serfs were usually designated in Latin as coloni. As slavery gradually disappeared and the status of servi became nearly identical to that of the coloni. Serfs had a place in feudal society, as did barons and knights, in return for protection. Thus the manorial system exhibited a degree of reciprocity, one rationale held that a serf worked for all while a knight or baron fought for all and a churchman prayed for all, thus everyone had a place. The serf was the worst fed and rewarded, but at least he had his place and, unlike slaves, had rights in land. A lord of the manor could not sell his serfs as a Roman might sell his slaves and this unified system preserved for the lord long-acquired knowledge of practices suited to the land. Further, a serf could not abandon his lands without permission, a freeman became a serf usually through force or necessity. Sometimes the greater physical and legal force of a local magnate intimidated freeholders or allodial owners into dependency, often a few years of crop failure, a war, or brigandage might leave a person unable to make his own way. In such a case he could strike a bargain with a lord of a manor, in exchange for protection, service was required, in cash, produce or labour, or a combination of all. These oaths bound the lord and his new serf in a feudal contract, to become a serf was a commitment that encompassed all aspects of the serfs life
34.
Age of Enlightenment
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The Enlightenment was an intellectual movement which dominated the world of ideas in Europe during the 18th century, The Century of Philosophy. In France, the doctrines of les Lumières were individual liberty and religious tolerance in opposition to an absolute monarchy. French historians traditionally place the Enlightenment between 1715, the year that Louis XIV died, and 1789, the beginning of the French Revolution, some recent historians begin the period in the 1620s, with the start of the scientific revolution. Les philosophes of the widely circulated their ideas through meetings at scientific academies, Masonic lodges, literary salons, coffee houses. The ideas of the Enlightenment undermined the authority of the monarchy and the Church, a variety of 19th-century movements, including liberalism and neo-classicism, trace their intellectual heritage back to the Enlightenment. The Age of Enlightenment was preceded by and closely associated with the scientific revolution, earlier philosophers whose work influenced the Enlightenment included Francis Bacon, René Descartes, John Locke, and Baruch Spinoza. The major figures of the Enlightenment included Cesare Beccaria, Voltaire, Denis Diderot, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, David Hume, Adam Smith, Benjamin Franklin visited Europe repeatedly and contributed actively to the scientific and political debates there and brought the newest ideas back to Philadelphia. Thomas Jefferson closely followed European ideas and later incorporated some of the ideals of the Enlightenment into the Declaration of Independence, others like James Madison incorporated them into the Constitution in 1787. The most influential publication of the Enlightenment was the Encyclopédie, the ideas of the Enlightenment played a major role in inspiring the French Revolution, which began in 1789. After the Revolution, the Enlightenment was followed by an intellectual movement known as Romanticism. René Descartes rationalist philosophy laid the foundation for enlightenment thinking and his attempt to construct the sciences on a secure metaphysical foundation was not as successful as his method of doubt applied in philosophic areas leading to a dualistic doctrine of mind and matter. His skepticism was refined by John Lockes 1690 Essay Concerning Human Understanding and his dualism was challenged by Spinozas uncompromising assertion of the unity of matter in his Tractatus and Ethics. Both lines of thought were opposed by a conservative Counter-Enlightenment. In the mid-18th century, Paris became the center of an explosion of philosophic and scientific activity challenging traditional doctrines, the political philosopher Montesquieu introduced the idea of a separation of powers in a government, a concept which was enthusiastically adopted by the authors of the United States Constitution. Francis Hutcheson, a philosopher, described the utilitarian and consequentialist principle that virtue is that which provides, in his words. Much of what is incorporated in the method and some modern attitudes towards the relationship between science and religion were developed by his protégés David Hume and Adam Smith. Hume became a figure in the skeptical philosophical and empiricist traditions of philosophy. Immanuel Kant tried to reconcile rationalism and religious belief, individual freedom and political authority, as well as map out a view of the sphere through private
35.
Dutch Republic
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It preceded the Batavian Republic, the Kingdom of Holland, the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, and ultimately the modern Kingdom of the Netherlands. Alternative names include the United Provinces, Seven Provinces, Federated Dutch Provinces, most of the Low Countries had come under the rule of the House of Burgundy and subsequently the House of Habsburg. In 1549 Holy Roman Emperor Charles V issued the Pragmatic Sanction, Charles was succeeded by his son, King Philip II of Spain. This was the start of the Eighty Years War, in 1579 a number of the northern provinces of the Low Countries signed the Union of Utrecht, in which they promised to support each other in their defence against the Spanish army. This was followed in 1581 by the Act of Abjuration, the declaration of independence of the provinces from Philip II. In 1582 the United Provinces invited Francis, Duke of Anjou to lead them, but after an attempt to take Antwerp in 1583. After the assassination of William of Orange, both Henry III of France and Elizabeth I of England declined the offer of sovereignty, however, the latter agreed to turn the United Provinces into a protectorate of England, and sent the Earl of Leicester as governor-general. This was unsuccessful and in 1588 the provinces became a confederacy, the Union of Utrecht is regarded as the foundation of the Republic of the Seven United Provinces, which was not recognized by the Spanish Empire until the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. During the Anglo-French war, the territory was divided into groups, the Patriots, who were pro-French and pro-American and the Orangists. The Republic of the United Provinces faced a series of revolutions in 1783–1787. During this period, republican forces occupied several major Dutch cities, initially on the defence, the Orangist forces received aid from Prussian troops and retook the Netherlands in 1787. After the French Republic became the French Empire under Napoleon, the Batavian Republic was replaced by the Napoleonic Kingdom of Holland, the Netherlands regained independence from France in 1813. In the Anglo-Dutch Treaty of 1814 the names United Provinces of the Netherlands, on 16 March 1815, the son of stadtholder William V crowned himself King William I of the Netherlands. Between 1815 and 1890 the King of the Netherlands was also in a union the Grand Duke of the sovereign Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. After Belgium gained its independence in 1830, the state became known as the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The County of Holland was the wealthiest and most urbanized region in the world, the free trade spirit of the time received a strong augmentation through the development of a modern, effective stock market in the Low Countries. The Netherlands has the oldest stock exchange in the world, founded in 1602 by the Dutch East India Company, while Rotterdam has the oldest bourse in the Netherlands, the worlds first stock exchange, that of the Dutch East-India Company, went public in six different cities. Later, a court ruled that the company had to reside legally in a city so Amsterdam is recognized as the oldest such institution based on modern trading principles
36.
Serfdom
–
Serfdom is the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism. It was a condition of bondage, which developed primarily during the High Middle Ages in Europe, serfs were often required not only to work on the lords fields, but also his mines, forests and roads. The decline of serfdom in Western Europe has sometimes been attributed to the Black Death, Serfdom became increasingly rare in most of Western Europe after the Renaissance, but conversely, it grew strong in Central and Eastern Europe, where it had previously been less common. In Eastern Europe the institution persisted until the mid-19th century, in the Austrian Empire serfdom was abolished by the 1781 Serfdom Patent, corvée continued to exist until 1848. Serfdom was abolished in Russia in the 1860s, in Finland, Norway and Sweden, feudalism was never fully established, and serfdom did not exist, however, serfdom-like institutions did exist in both Denmark and its vassal Iceland. According to Joseph R. Strayer, the concept of feudalism can also be applied to the societies of ancient Persia, ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, Muslim India, China, james Lee and Cameron Campbell describe the Chinese Qing dynasty as also maintaining a form of serfdom. Tibet is described by Melvyn Goldstein to have had serfdom until 1959, bhutan is described by Tashi Wangchuk, a Bhutanese civil servant, as abolishing serfdom officially by 1959, but Wangchuk believes less than or about 10% of poor peasants were in copyhold situations. The United Nations 1956 Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery also prohibits serfdom as a form of slavery, the word serf originated from the Middle French serf and can be traced further back to the Latin servus. In Late Antiquity and most of the Middle Ages, what are now called serfs were usually designated in Latin as coloni. As slavery gradually disappeared and the status of servi became nearly identical to that of the coloni. Serfs had a place in feudal society, as did barons and knights, in return for protection. Thus the manorial system exhibited a degree of reciprocity, one rationale held that a serf worked for all while a knight or baron fought for all and a churchman prayed for all, thus everyone had a place. The serf was the worst fed and rewarded, but at least he had his place and, unlike slaves, had rights in land. A lord of the manor could not sell his serfs as a Roman might sell his slaves and this unified system preserved for the lord long-acquired knowledge of practices suited to the land. Further, a serf could not abandon his lands without permission, a freeman became a serf usually through force or necessity. Sometimes the greater physical and legal force of a local magnate intimidated freeholders or allodial owners into dependency, often a few years of crop failure, a war, or brigandage might leave a person unable to make his own way. In such a case he could strike a bargain with a lord of a manor, in exchange for protection, service was required, in cash, produce or labour, or a combination of all. These oaths bound the lord and his new serf in a feudal contract, to become a serf was a commitment that encompassed all aspects of the serfs life
37.
Governing Senate
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It was chaired by the Procurator General, who served as the link between the sovereign and the Senate, he acted, in the emperors own words, as the sovereigns eye. Originally established only for the time of Peters absence, it became a permanent body after his return, the number of senators was first set at nine and, in 1712, increased to ten. Any disagreements between the Chief Procurator and the Senate were to be settled by the monarch, certain other officials and a chancellery were also attached to the Senate. While it underwent many subsequent changes, it one of the most important institutions of imperial Russia, especially for administration. The State Council, created by Alexander I, was supposed to inherit the executive power of the Senate, an envisioned parliament was to inherit legislative power, but that never happened. In the 19th century, the Senate evolved into the highest judicial body in Russia, as such, it exercised control over all legal institutions and officials throughout the country. The Senate was composed of departments, two of which were Courts of Cassation. It also included a Department of Heraldry, which managed matters relating to the rights of the nobles and honorary citizens
38.
Ukaz
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A ukase, or ukaz, in Imperial Russia, was a proclamation of the tsar, government, or a religious leader that had the force of law. Edict and decree are adequate translations using the terminology and concepts of Roman law, from the Russian term, the word ukase has entered the English language with the meaning of any proclamation or decree, an order or regulation of a final or arbitrary nature. Prior to the 1917 October Revolution, the term applied in Russia to an edict or ordinance, legislative or administrative, a ukase proceeded either from the emperor or from the senate, which had the power of issuing such ordinances for the purpose of carrying out existing decrees. All such decrees were promulgated by the senate, a difference was drawn between the ukase signed by the emperor’s hand and his verbal ukase, or order, made upon a report submitted to him. After the Revolution, a government proclamation of wide meaning was called a decree, both terms are usually translated as decree. According to the Russian Federations 1993 constitution, an ukaz is a Presidential decree, the English term Executive Order is also used by the official website as an equivalent of the Russian ukaz. As normative legal acts, such ukazes have a status of by-law in the hierarchy of legal acts, rule by decree Ukase of 1821 Decree of the President of Russia Ukase Bulgaro OED staff. Earlier version first published in New English Dictionary,1921, the dictionary definition of ukase at Wiktionary
39.
Tikhon Streshnev
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Several noted historians have suggested—citing the extreme height of both Peter and Tikhon—that Streshnev was the czars actual, biological father. Tikhon Streshnev was the son of boyar Nikita Streshnev, who was a distant relative of Eudoxia Streshneva and voevoda in Yefremov, in 1666 Streshnev was a solicitor, in 1668 he became a stolnik. Together with his uncle, boyar Rodion Streshnev, he mentored the young tsar, after his accession to the throne in 1682, Streshnevs influence grew considerably. The day after the coronation, he received the rank of okolnichiy, in 1690 Streshnev became as the head of the Razryadny prikaz the head of the military of Muscovy, although he never took part in the real military actions. To the period of his absence in 1697, Peter left to govern the state Prince Romodanovsky, when in 1711 Governing Senate was established, Streshnev became one of its members. In 1718 he participated in the trial of Tsarevich Alexei and he was one of those and this article includes content derived from the Russian Biographical Dictionary, 1896–1918. Tikhon Streshnev at the site of Moscow
40.
Prikaz
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Prikaz was an administrative, judicial, territorial, and executive offices earlier in Muscovy and Russia of 15th-18th centuries. The term is usually implies ministry, office or department, in modern Russian prikaz literally means an order. Most of Prikazes were subordinated to the Boyar Duma, some of them were subordinated to the Tayny Prikaz, or Privy Prikaz that answered directly to Tsar. The Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia had his own Prikazes, there was a large number of specialized Prikazes. The standard form of such complaint included the words Slave of God, in some cases new orders bore the name of this person. From 1512 on Prikaz was starting to be used as a name of constant offices, the classification of the various Prikazes is a very difficult task. In fact, each major historian tries to build their own system of classification, major variants include Prikazes of a territory, of a class of population, or of an area of affairs. Another method of classification is to rank Prikazes by subordination, the Prikazes were abolished by Peter the Great and replaced, beginning in 1717, with administrative organs known as collegiate. This process took a long time, the Siberian Prikaz, for example, was restored in 1730. At the beginning of the 18th century Peter the Great even established some new Prikazes, the system was only fully eliminated Catherine the Great in 1755. Dyak, clerk Podyachy, clerk assistant List of Russian foreign ministers State administration in Russia 16th-17th centuries, in Russian
41.
Posolsky Prikaz
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Prikaz was an administrative, judicial, territorial, and executive offices earlier in Muscovy and Russia of 15th-18th centuries. The term is usually implies ministry, office or department, in modern Russian prikaz literally means an order. Most of Prikazes were subordinated to the Boyar Duma, some of them were subordinated to the Tayny Prikaz, or Privy Prikaz that answered directly to Tsar. The Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia had his own Prikazes, there was a large number of specialized Prikazes. The standard form of such complaint included the words Slave of God, in some cases new orders bore the name of this person. From 1512 on Prikaz was starting to be used as a name of constant offices, the classification of the various Prikazes is a very difficult task. In fact, each major historian tries to build their own system of classification, major variants include Prikazes of a territory, of a class of population, or of an area of affairs. Another method of classification is to rank Prikazes by subordination, the Prikazes were abolished by Peter the Great and replaced, beginning in 1717, with administrative organs known as collegiate. This process took a long time, the Siberian Prikaz, for example, was restored in 1730. At the beginning of the 18th century Peter the Great even established some new Prikazes, the system was only fully eliminated Catherine the Great in 1755. Dyak, clerk Podyachy, clerk assistant List of Russian foreign ministers State administration in Russia 16th-17th centuries, in Russian
42.
Fyodor Alexeyevich Golovin
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Count Feodor Alekseyevich Golovin was the last Russian boyar and the first Chancellor of the Russian Empire, field marshal, general admiral. Until his death he was the most influential of Peter the Greats associates, Golovin stemmed from the family of Russian treasurers of Byzantine Greek descent. During the regency of Sophia Alekseyevna, sister of Peter the Great, in Peters Grand Embassy to the West in 1697 Golovin occupied the second place immediately after Franz Lefort. It was his duty to hire foreign sailors and obtain everything necessary for the construction. On Leforts death, in March 1699, he succeeded him as Field Marshal, the same year he was created the first Russian count, and was also the first to be decorated with the newly instituted Russian Order of St. Andrew. The conduct of affairs was at the same time entrusted to him. He also controlled, with ability, the operations of the brand new Russian diplomats at the various foreign courts. His superiority over all his Russian contemporaries was because he was already a statesman, in the modern sense and his death was an irreparable loss to the Tsar, who wrote the words upon the despatch announcing it in grief. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh, ed. Golovin
43.
Peter Shafirov
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Baron Peter Pavlovich Shafirov, Russian statesman, one of the ablest coadjutors of Peter the Great. Shafirov was born into a Polish Jewish family and his father Pavel Shafirov was a translator in the Russian Foreign Office, whose parents converted to Russian Orthodox Christianity after Smolensk was ceded to Russia by Poland in 1654. Peter Shafirov first made himself useful by his knowledge of foreign languages. He was the translator in the Russian Foreign Office for many years. Made a baron and raised to the rank of vice-chancellor, he displayed talents of the highest order. Shafirov concluded the Peace of the Pruth during the campaign of 1711, Peter left him in the hands of the Turks as a hostage, and on the rupture of the peace he was imprisoned in the Seven Towers. On the institution of the colleges or departments of state in 1718, Shafirov was appointed vice-president of the department of Foreign Affairs, in 1723, however, he was deprived of all his offices and sentenced to death. The capital sentence was commuted on the scaffold to banishment, first to Siberia, embezzlement and disorderly conduct in the senate were the offences charged against Shafirov, and with some justice. On the death of Peter, Shafirov was released from prison, the successful rivalry of his supplanter, Andrei Osterman, prevented Shafirov from holding any high office during the last fourteen years of his life. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh
