1.
Racha
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Racha is a highland area in western Georgia, located in the upper Rioni river valley and hemmed in by the Greater Caucasus mountains. Under Georgia’s current subdivision, Racha is included in the Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti region as the municipalities of Oni, Racha occupies 2,854 km2 in the north-eastern corner of western Georgia. On the east, Racha is bordered by breakaway South Ossetia, Racha had been part of Colchis and Caucasian Iberia since ancient times and its main town Oni was said to have been founded by King Parnajom of Iberia in the 2nd century BC. Upon creation of the unified Georgian kingdom in the 11th century, Rati of the Baghvashi family was the first duke appointed by King Bagrat III. Descendants of Rati and his son Kakhaber, eponymous father of Racha’s ruling dynasty of Kakhaberisdze, in 1278 King David VI Narin abolished the duchy during his war against the Mongols. In the mid-14th century, the duchy was restored under the rule of the Charelidze family, the next dynasty of Chkhetidze governed Racha from 1465 to 1769. Vassals of the King of Imereti, they revolted several times against the royal power, the 1678-1679 civil war resulted in the most serious consequences. In this war, Duke Shoshita II of Racha supported Prince Archil, on the defeat of Archil, Racha was overrun and plundered by an Ottoman punitive force. Under Rostom, the duchy became virtually independent from Imereti, however, towards the end of 1769, King Solomon I of Imereti managed to arrest Rostom and to abolish the duchy. In 1784, King David II of Imereti revived the duchy, local opposition attempted to use an Ottoman force to take control of Racha, but the victory of King David at Skhvava temporarily secured his dominance in the area. In 1789, the next Imeretian king Solomon II finally abolished the duchy, prokofy Dzhaparidze, a communist revolutionary and one of the 26 Baku Commissars
2.
Kutais Governorate
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The Kutaisi Governorate was a governorate of the Russian Empire. It roughly corresponded to most of western Georgia and most of Artvin Province of Turkey between 1878 and 1917 and it was created out of part of the former Georgia-Imeretia Governorate in 1846. It also included Akhaltsikhe uzeyd before its cession to the Tiflis Governorate in 1867, as of 1897,1,058,241 people lived in the oblast. Georgians constituted the majority,82. 1% of the population and this includes Imeretians and Mingrelians, who were separated in the census based on their dialect and language, respectively
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.
Tbilisi
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Tbilisi, commonly known by its former name Tiflis, is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of roughly 1.5 million inhabitants. Founded in the 5th century by the monarch of Georgias ancient precursor the Kingdom of Iberia, Tbilisi has since served, with intermissions, as the capital of various Georgian kingdoms and republics. Under Russian rule, from 1801 to 1917 Tiflis was the seat of the Imperial Viceroy governing both sides of the entire Caucasus. Tbilisis varied history is reflected in its architecture, which is a mix of medieval, classical, Middle Eastern, Art Nouveau, historically, Tbilisi has been home to people of diverse cultural, ethnic, and religious backgrounds, though it is overwhelmingly Eastern Orthodox Christian. Archaeological studies of the region have indicated human settlement in the territory of Tbilisi as early as the 4th millennium BC, according to an old legend, the present-day territory of Tbilisi was covered by forests as late as 458. One widely accepted variant of the legend of Tbilisis founding states that King Vakhtang I Gorgasali of Georgia went hunting in the wooded region with a falcon. The Kings falcon allegedly caught or injured a pheasant during the hunt, King Vakhtang became so impressed with the hot springs that he decided to cut down the forest and build a city on the location. The name Tbilisi derives from Old Georgian Tbilisi, and further from Tpili, the name Tbili or Tbilisi was therefore given to the city because of the areas numerous sulphuric hot springs that came out of the ground. King Dachi I Ujarmeli, who was the successor of Vakhtang I Gorgasali, Tbilisi was not the capital of a unified Georgian state at that time and did not include the territory of Colchis. It was, however, the city of Eastern Georgia/Iberia. During his reign, King Dachi I oversaw the construction of the wall that lined the citys new boundaries. From the 6th century, Tbilisi grew at a steady pace due to the favourable and strategic location which placed the city along important trade. Tbilisis favourable and strategic location did not necessarily bode well for its existence as Eastern Georgias/Iberias capital, in the year 627, Tbilisi was sacked by the Byzantine/Khazar armies and later, in 736–738, Arab armies entered the town under Marwan II Ibn-Muhammad. After this point, the Arabs established an emirate centered in Tbilisi, in 764, Tbilisi, still under Arab control was once again sacked by the Khazars. In 853, the armies of Arab leader Bugha Al-Turki invaded Tbilisi in order to enforce its return to Abbasid allegiance, the Arab domination of Tbilisi continued until about 1050. In 1068, the city was again sacked, only this time by the Seljuk Turks under Sultan Alp Arslan. In 1122, after fighting with the Seljuks that involved at least 60,000 Georgians and up to 300,000 Turks. After the battles for Tbilisi concluded, David moved his residence from Kutaisi to Tbilisi, making it the capital of a unified Georgian State, from 12–13th centuries, Tbilisi became a dominant regional power with a thriving economy and a well-established social system/structure
5.
Joseph Stalin
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Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the leader of the Soviet Union from the mid-1920s until his death in 1953. Holding the post of the General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, he was effectively the dictator of the state. Stalin was one of the seven members of the first Politburo, founded in 1917 in order to manage the Bolshevik Revolution, alongside Lenin, Zinoviev, Kamenev, Trotsky, Sokolnikov, and Bubnov. Among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who took part in the Russian Revolution of 1917 and he managed to consolidate power following the 1924 death of Vladimir Lenin by suppressing Lenins criticisms and expanding the functions of his role, all the while eliminating any opposition. He remained General Secretary until the post was abolished in 1952, the economic changes coincided with the imprisonment of millions of people in Gulag labour camps. The initial upheaval in agriculture disrupted food production and contributed to the catastrophic Soviet famine of 1932–33, major figures in the Communist Party and government, and many Red Army high commanders, were arrested and shot after being convicted of treason in show trials. Stalins invasion of Bukovina in 1940 violated the pact, as it went beyond the Soviet sphere of influence agreed with the Axis, Germany ended the pact when Hitler launched a massive invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941. Despite heavy human and territorial losses, Soviet forces managed to halt the Nazi incursion after the decisive Battles of Moscow, after defeating the Axis powers on the Eastern Front, the Red Army captured Berlin in May 1945, effectively ending the war in Europe for the Allies. The Soviet Union subsequently emerged as one of two recognized world superpowers, the other being the United States, Communist governments loyal to the Soviet Union were established in most countries freed from German occupation by the Red Army, which later constituted the Eastern Bloc. Stalin also had relations with Mao Zedong in China and Kim Il-sung in North Korea. On February 9,1946, Stalin delivered a public speech in which he explained the fundamental incompatibility of communism and capitalism. He stressed that the system needed war for raw materials. The Second World War was but the latest in a chain of conflicts which could be broken only when the economy made the transformation into communism. Stalin led the Soviet Union through its post-war reconstruction phase, which saw a significant rise in tension with the Western world that would later be known as the Cold War, Stalin remains a controversial figure today, with many regarding him as a tyrant. However, popular opinion within the Russian Federation is mixed, the exact number of deaths caused by Stalins regime is still a subject of debate, but it is widely agreed to be in the order of millions. Joseph Stalin was born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili, the Russian-language version of his birth name is Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili. Ioseb was born on 18 December 1878 in the town of Gori, Georgia and his father was Besarion Jughashvili, a cobbler, while his mother was Ekaterine Keke Geladze, a housemaid. As a child, Ioseb was plagued with health issues
6.
Yakov Dzhugashvili
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Yakov Iosifovich Jugashvili was the eldest of Joseph Stalins three children, the son of Stalins first wife, Kato Svanidze. His younger half-siblings were Svetlana Alliluyeva and Vasily Dzhugashvili and he served in the Red Army during the Second World War, and was captured, or surrendered, in the initial stages of the German invasion of the Soviet Union. While there has been dispute over the circumstances of his death, Dzhugashvili was born in the village of Baji, in the Kutaisi Governorate, then part of Imperial Russia, and was baptised in the local church. His mother died of typhus when he was less than a year old, until the age of 14, Dzhugashvili was raised by his aunts and grandmother in Tiflis. In 1921, Dzhugashvilis uncle Alexander Svanidze urged him to leave for Moscow to acquire a higher education, Dzhugashvili only spoke Georgian, so, after his arrival in Moscow, he commenced with learning the Russian language, aiming to apply for university studies. Dzhugashvili and his father Stalin never got along, allegedly once Stalin referred to Dzhugashvili as a mere cobbler. Their tense relationship was exacerbated when Dzhugashvili and his Jewish fiancée, Zoya Gunina, according to Dzhugashvilis stepmother Nadezhda Alliluyeva, she saw a young woman running away from the familys Moscow dacha in tears. When Alliluyeva entered the house, she saw a despairing Dzhugashvili and it was revealed that when Dzhugashvili and Gunina told Stalin of their engagement, he became enraged. Stalins rage caused Guninas flight from the dacha, and Dzhugashvili to attempt suicide in his room via firearm. He missed his heart and hit his lung instead, while his stepmother Alliluyeva tended to his wound and called the doctor, his father is quoted as saying, Dzhugashvili married Yulia Meltzer, a well-known Jewish dancer from Odessa. After meeting Yulia at a reception, Yakov fought with her husband, NKVD officer Nikolai Bessarab. Yakov was survived by two children, a daughter in 1938 by Yulia, Galina, who died in 2007. and a son born in 1936, Yevgeni, gave many interviews about his grandfather. Dzhugashvili served as an officer in the Red Army and was captured on 16 July 1941 in the early stages of the German invasion of USSR at the Battle of Smolensk. According to some sources, there was another proposition as well, that Hitler wanted to exchange Yakov for Hitlers nephew Leo Raubal, Stalin, she wrote, had Yulia imprisoned and interrogated as a result. In February 2013 Der Spiegel printed evidence that it interpreted as indicating that Yakov surrendered, until recently, it was not clear when and how he died. According to the official German account, Dzhugashvili died by running into a fence in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Some have contended that Yakov committed suicide at the camp, while others have suggested that he was murdered, currently, declassified files show that Dzhugashvili was shot by a guard for refusing to obey orders. While Dzhugashvili was walking around the camp he was ordered back to the barracks under the threat of being shot, the guard shot him in the head
7.
Nikolai Svanidze
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Nikolay Karlovich Svanidze is a Russian TV and radio host and member of the Public Chamber of Russia. He was married to Zilya Isaakovna Luskina, also a Bolshevik revolutionary of Jewish origin who worked at the Zhenotdel structure, in 1937 he was arrested and executed among other Georgian officials who promoted exclusive rights for the Georgian SSR, including xenophobic laws for non-Georgian residents. Mother of Nikolay Karlovich was Adelaida Anatolievna Svanidze, a Soviet and Russian historian, nikolai Svanidze graduated from the History Department of Moscow State University in 1977. In 1977-1990 he was a fellow in the Institute for US. Since 1991 he has worked for the All-Russia State Television and Radio Company and has been a host on its Russia TV channel, both of his grandfathers were executed under Stalins regime in 1937. The rest of his family, during the repressions of 1939, was sent to the Gulag, in February 1997 - May 1998 Svanidze was the chairman of the company, appointed by President Boris Yeltsin. In 2005 he became a member of the Public Chamber of Russia, in 2008 together with his wife Marina Svanidze, he published the book Medvedev based on interviews with the Russian president Dmitry Medvedev
8.
Georgian language
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Georgian is a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians. It is the language of Georgia. Georgian is written in its own writing system, the Georgian script, Georgian is the literary language for all regional subgroups of Georgians, including those who speak other Kartvelian languages, Svans, Mingrelians and the Laz. Georgian is the most pervasive of the Kartvelian languages, a family that also includes Svan and Megrelian and Laz. Dialects of Georgian are from Imereti, Racha-Lechkhumi, Guria, Adjara, Imerkhevi, Kartli, Kakheti, Saingilo, Tusheti, Khevsureti, Khevi, Pshavi, Fereydan, Mtiuleti and Meskheti. Georgian as separate from the other Kartvelian languages would have emerged in the 1st millennium BC in the area known later as the Kingdom of Iberia, the evolution of Georgian into a written language was a consequence of the conversion of the Georgian elite to Christianity in the mid-4th century. The first Georgian texts are inscriptions and palimpsests dating to the 5th century, Georgian has a rich literary tradition. The oldest surviving work in Georgian is the 5th century Martyrdom of the Holy Queen Shushanik by Iakob Tsurtaveli. In the 11th century, Old Georgian gives rise to Middle Georgian, the Georgian national epic, Shota Rustavelis The Knight in the Panthers Skin, dates from the 12th century. This marked the beginning of the modern Georgian language, symbols on the left are those of the IPA and those on the right are of the modern Georgian alphabet. Opinions also differ on the aspiration of /t͡sʰ, t͡ʃʰ/, as it is non-contrastive, a former distinction between /x/ and /qʰ/ has been lost. Prosody in Georgian involves stress, intonation, and rhythm, stress is very weak, and linguists disagree as to where stress occurs in words. Jun, Vicenik, and Lofstedt have proposed that Georgian stress and intonation are the result of pitch accents on the first syllable of a word, the rhythm of Georgian speech is syllable-timed. Georgian contains many harmonic clusters involving two consonants of a type which are pronounced with only a single release, e. g. ბგერა bgera, ცხოვრება tskhovreba. There are also frequent consonant clusters, sometimes involving more than six consonants in a row, as may be seen in words like გვფრცქვნი gvprtskvni and მწვრთნელი mtsvrtneli. Vicenik has observed that Georgian vowels following ejective stops have creaky voice, Georgian has been written in a variety of scripts over its history. Currently the Mkhedruli or Military script is almost completely dominant, the others are used mostly in religious documents, Mkhedruli has 33 letters in common use, a half dozen more are obsolete in Georgian, though still used in other alphabets, like Mingrelian, Laz, and Svan. The letters of Mkhedruli correspond closely to the phonemes of the Georgian language, however, the first examples of a Georgian script date from the 5th century AD
9.
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
10.
Purges of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
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Purges of the Communist Party in the Union were a key ritual in which periodic reviews of members of the Communist Party were conducted to get rid of the undesirables. According to Sheila Fitzpatrick, in her book Everyday Stalinism, such purges were conducted especially during the cultural revolution, such reviews would start with a short autobiography from the reviewed person and then interrogation of him or her by the purge commission as well as by the attending audience. Although the term purge is mostly associated with Stalinism, the first major purge of the party ranks was performed by Bolsheviks as early as 1921, about 220,000 members were purged or left the party in 1921. The purge was justified by the necessity to get rid of the members who joined the party simply to be on the winning side, the major criteria were social origins and contributions to the revolutionary cause. The first purge of the Joseph Stalin era took place in 1929–1930 in accordance with a resolution of the XVI Party Conference, more than 10 percent of the party members were purged. At the same time a significant number of new members, industrial workers, over 3,000 people were estimated to be executed and tens of thousands lost their positions and privileges. The next systematic party purge in the Soviet Union was declared in December 1932 to be performed during 1933, during this period new memberships were suspended. Also, this purge concerned members of the Central Committee, Central Revision Committee, in particular, Nikolai Bukharin, Alexei Ivanovich Rykov, and Mikhail Tomsky had to try hard to defend themselves during this purge. At this time, of 1.9 million members, about 18 percent were purged. In itself, the term was innocent enough, between 1921 and 1933 in the Soviet Union, for example, some 800,000 people were purged or left the party, but suffered no worse fate. But from 1936 onwards, during the Great Purge, the connotations of the term changed, because being expelled from the party came to mean almost certain arrest, imprisonment or even execution. Following Stalins death in 1953, purges as systematic campaigns of expulsion from the party stopped, many victims of the purges were eventually rehabilitated. Moscow Trials Purge of the Red Army in 1941 Political repression in the Soviet Union
11.
Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti
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Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti is a region in northwestern Georgia which includes the historical provinces of Racha, Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti. It covers an area of 4,954 km² and has a population of 31,927 and it is the most sparsely populated region in the country. The region comprises four municipalities, Ambrolauri Lentekhi Oni Tsageri Racha-Lechkhumi, the easternmost part is controlled by South Ossetia. Racha, historic region abolished at the end of the 18th century Subdivisions of Georgia Svaneti Ru
12.
Georgia (country)
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Georgia is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. The capital and largest city is Tbilisi, Georgia covers a territory of 69,700 square kilometres, and its 2016 population is about 3.72 million. Georgia is a unitary, semi-presidential republic, with the government elected through a representative democracy, during the classical era, several independent kingdoms became established in what is now Georgia. The kingdoms of Colchis and Iberia adopted Christianity in the early 4th century, a unified Kingdom of Georgia reached the peak of its political and economic strength during the reign of King David IV and Queen Tamar in the 12th and early 13th centuries. Thereafter the kingdom declined and eventually disintegrated under hegemony of various powers, including the Mongols, the Ottoman Empire. Russian rule over Georgia was eventually acknowledged in various treaties with Iran. Since the establishment of the modern Georgian republic in April 1991, post-communist Georgia suffered from civil, the countrys Western orientation soon led to the worsening of relations with Russia, culminating in the brief Russo-Georgian War in August 2008. Georgia is a member of the United Nations, the Council of Europe, and it contains two de facto independent regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which gained limited international recognition after the 2008 Russo-Georgian War. Georgia and a part of the international community consider the regions to be part of Georgias sovereign territory under Russian military occupation. Georgia probably stems from the Persian designation of the Georgians – gurğān, in the 11th and 12th centuries adapted via Syriac gurz-ān/gurz-iyān, starting with the Persian word gurğ/gurğān, the word was later adopted in numerous other languages, including Slavic and West European languages. This term itself might have established through the ancient Iranian appellation of the near-Caspian region. The self-designation used by ethnic Georgians is Kartvelebi, the medieval Georgian Chronicles present an eponymous ancestor of the Kartvelians, Kartlos, a great-grandson of Japheth. However, scholars agree that the word is derived from the Karts, the name Sakartvelo consists of two parts. Its root, kartvel-i, specifies an inhabitant of the core central-eastern Georgian region of Kartli, ancient Greeks and Romans referred to early western Georgians as Colchians and eastern Georgians as Iberians. Today the full, official name of the country is Georgia, before the 1995 constitution came into force the countrys name was the Republic of Georgia. The territory of modern-day Georgia was inhabited by Homo erectus since the Paleolithic Era, the proto-Georgian tribes first appear in written history in the 12th century BC. The earliest evidence of wine to date has found in Georgia. In fact, early metallurgy started in Georgia during the 6th millennium BC, the classical period saw the rise of a number of early Georgian states, the principal of which was Colchis in the west and Iberia in the east
13.
Tbilisi Spiritual Seminary
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Tbilisi Spiritual Seminary is a spiritual training institution, which operated from 1817 to 1919 in the Georgian Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox church. When Joseph Stalin was sixteen in 1895, he received a scholarship, the language of instruction was Russian, and the Georgian language was disparaged by the Russian priests who taught there. Stalin was a reader in both languages. He became a Georgian cultural nationalist and he anonymously published poetry in Georgian in the local press and engaged in student politics. Although his performance had been good, he was expelled in 1899 after missing his final exams, in 1993 it reopened as a higher educational institution of the Georgian Orthodox Church
14.
Demonym
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A demonym is a word that identifies residents or natives of a particular place, which is derived from the name of that particular place. It is a neologism, previously gentilic was recorded in English dictionaries, e. g. the Oxford English Dictionary, thus a Thai may be any resident or citizen of Thailand, of any ethnic group, or more narrowly a member of the Thai people. Conversely, some groups of people may be associated with multiple demonyms, for example, a native of the United Kingdom may be called a British person, a Brit, or a Briton. In some languages, when a parallel demonym does not exist, in English, demonyms are capitalized and are often the same as the adjectival form of the place, e. g. Egyptian, Japanese, or Greek. Significant exceptions exist, for instance the adjectival form of Spain is Spanish, English widely includes country-level demonyms such as Ethiopian or Guatemalan and more local demonyms such as Seoulite, Wisconsinite, Chicagoan, Michigander, Fluminense, and Paulista. Some places lack a commonly used and accepted demonym and this poses a particular challenge to those toponymists who research demonyms. The word gentilic comes from the Latin gentilis and the English suffix -ic, the word demonym was derived from the Greek word meaning populace with the suffix for name. National Geographic attributes the term demonym to Merriam-Webster editor Paul Dickson in a recent work from 1990 and it was subsequently popularized in this sense in 1997 by Dickson in his book Labels for Locals. However, in What Do You Call a Person From, a Dictionary of Resident Names attributed the term to George H. Scheetz, in his Names Names, A Descriptive and Prescriptive Onymicon, which is apparently where the term first appears. Several linguistic elements are used to create demonyms in the English language, the most common is to add a suffix to the end of the location name, slightly modified in some instances. Cairo → Cairene Cyrenaica → Cyrene Damascus → Damascene Greece → Greek Nazareth → Nazarene Slovenia → Slovene Often used for Middle Eastern locations and European locations. Kingston-upon-Hull → Hullensian Leeds → Leodensian Spain → Spaniard Savoy → Savoyard -ese is usually considered proper only as an adjective, thus, a Chinese person is used rather than a Chinese. Monaco → Monégasque Menton → Mentonasque Basque Country → Basque Often used for French locations, mostly they are from Africa and the Pacific, and are not generally known or used outside the country concerned. In much of East Africa, a person of an ethnic group will be denoted by a prefix. For example, a person of the Luba people would be a Muluba, the plural form Baluba, similar patterns with minor variations in the prefixes exist throughout on a tribal level. And Fijians who are indigenous Fijians are known as Kaiviti and these demonyms are usually more informal and colloquial. In the United States such informal demonyms frequently become associated with mascots of the sports teams of the state university system. In other countries the origins are often disputed and these will typically be formed using the standard models above
15.
Atelier
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This was the standard vocational practice for European artists from the Middle Ages to the 19th century, and common elsewhere in the world. Apprentices usually began young, working on tasks, and after some years became journeymen. This very word has taken on other similar meanings, indicating a place of work and study of the haute couture fashion designer, hair stylist. Atelier schools can be found around the world, particularly in North America and they traditionally include sessions for drawing or painting nude art. Sight-Size is a method of drawing and painting an object exactly as it appears to the artist, the artist first sets a vantage point where the subject and the drawing surface appear to be the same size. When properly done, sight-size drawing can result in extremely accurate and it can also be used to draw the exact dimensions for a model in preparation for a painting. Using this method, students progress through a series of such as cast drawing, cast painting, drawing and painting from the live model. Students must complete each task to the instructors satisfaction before progressing to the next and this system is referred to as systematic progression or systematic teaching and learning. Atelier students often begin this progression by drawing plaster casts and these casts are usually faces, hands, or other parts of the human anatomy. Plaster casts provide some of the benefits of live, human models and they also have their own distinct advantages, they remain perfectly still and their white color allows the student to focus on the pure, grayscale tones of shadows. One goal for sight-size students is to gain enough skill to transfer an image to the paper or canvas without the aid of a mechanical device. Sight-size can be taught and applied in conjunction with a sensitivity to gesture to create life-like imagery, especially when applied to portraiture. Darren R. Rousar, former student of Richard Lack and Charles Cecil as well as the author of Cast Drawing Using the Sight-Size Approach and he says that a fully trained artist who uses Sight-size might never use a plumb line or even consciously think about literal measuring. He or she will strive toward achieving the same retinal impression in the painting as is seen in nature, Art school owner Charles H. Cecil writes, In reviving the atelier tradition, R. H. Ives Gammell adopted sight-size as the basis of his teaching method. He founded his studio on the precedent of private ateliers, such as those of Carolus-Duran and these French masters were accomplished sight-size portraitists who conveyed to their pupils a devotion to the art of Velázquez. It should be noted that Sargent was trained by painters and that, in turn, his use of sight-size had a major influence in Great Britain. Art from ateliers using the method is often reminiscent of Greek and Roman sculpture from classical antiquity. Paintings may favor the visual imagery of the Neoclassical art of the mid-18th to 19th century, the comparative measurement method requires proportional accuracy, but allows the artist to vary the size of the image created
16.
Early life of Joseph Stalin
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Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union in the mid-20th century, was born on 18 December 1878 to a Georgian cobbler in Gori, Georgia. After leaving school, he embraced Marxism and became a follower of Vladimir Lenin. After being marked by Russian secret police for his activities, he became a full-time revolutionary and he became one of the Bolsheviks chief operatives in the Caucasus, organizing paramilitaries, spreading propaganda, raising money through bank robberies, and kidnappings and extortion. He was captured and exiled to Siberia numerous times, but often escaped and he became one of Lenins closest associates, which helped him rise to the heights of power after the Russian Revolution. Stalins birth name in Georgian was Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili and he was born an ethnic Georgian, but Georgia at the time was part of the Russian Empire. The Russian version of his name was Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili. Stalin was born in Gori in the Tiflis Governorate of the Russian Empire, to Besarion Jughashvili, a Georgian cobbler who owned his own workshop, and Ekaterine Geladze and he was the youngest of their three boys, their two previous sons died in infancy. Initially, the Jughashvili family prospered, but Josephs father became an alcoholic, as their financial situation grew worse, Stalins family moved homes at least nine times in Stalins first ten years of life. The town where Joseph grew up was a violent and lawless place and it had only a small police force and a culture of violence that included gang warfare, organized street brawls and wrestling tournaments. Joseph was frequently involved in brawls with other children, at the age of seven, Joseph fell ill with smallpox and his face was badly scarred by the disease. He later had photographs retouched to make his pockmarks less apparent, Josephs native tongue was Georgian, he did not start learning Russian until he was eight or nine years old, and he never lost his strong Georgian accent. At the age of ten, Joseph received a scholarship to the Gori Theological School and his peers were mostly the sons of affluent priests, officials, and merchants. He and most of his classmates at Gori were Georgians and spoke mostly Georgian, however, at school they were forced to speak Russian. Ioseb proved one of the best students in the class, earning top marks across the board and he became a very good choir-singer and was often hired to sing at weddings. He also began to write poetry, something he would develop in later years, Iosebs father had always wanted his son to train as a cobbler rather than become educated. He was infuriated when the boy was accepted into the school, in a drunken rage he smashed the windows of the local tavern, and later attacked the town police chief. Out of compassion for Iosebs mother, the chief did not arrest Besarion. He moved to Tiflis where he work in a shoe factory
17.
Freedom Square, Tbilisi
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Under the Soviet Union, the square was renamed, first Beria Square, and then Lenin Square. The location was first named Freedom Square in 1918, during the foundation of the First Georgian Republic following the collapse of the Russian Empire, Freedom Square was the site of the 1907 Tiflis bank robbery. Freedom Square has also been the site of mass demonstrations including those for Georgias independence, the Rose Revolution. During this event, Georgian-Armenian Vladimir Arutyunian threw a grenade at President Bush while he was speaking in an unsuccessful attempt to assassinate him. Abutting the north side of Freedom Square is an open space with a fountain. Nearby the famous communist Kamo was once buried, but during Stalins rule his remains were moved to an undisclosed location, Tbilisi City Hall is situated on the Square. Other buildings include the former Bank of Georgia head office and the Marriott International Tiblisi, the square will also accommodate the Old Tbilisi local government office, the building works of which are already started. During the Soviet period, the featured a large statue of Vladimir Lenin. On November 23,2006, the Liberty Monument depicting St George slaying the dragon, branching out from this square are six streets, Rustaveli Avenue, Pushkin Street, Leselidze Street, Shalva Dadiani Street, Galaktion Street, and Leonidze Street
18.
Caucasus Military District
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The Caucasus Military District was a military formation of the Imperial Russian Army. It was created in 1865 as the successor to the Caucasus Army, the Caucus Military District was created as part of the military reforms of the minister Dmitry Milyutin. During the entire existence of the District, the District Commander in Chief was also supreme civil authority in the Caucasus, in 1865 -1881 and again in 1905 -1917, the District Commander in Chief was also His Majestys Viceroy in the Caucasus. On the formation of the District, the Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolayevich became its first Commander in Chief, on August 23,1915, the Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich was appointed to this post, a post he held until February 3,1917. The Caucasus Army was formed in July 1914 from units of the Caucasus Military District and this Front in turn dissolved and formally ceased to exist in March 1918. I Caucasus Army Corps II Caucasus Army Corps III Caucasus Army Corps Fortress of Alexandropol Fortress of Kars Fortress of St
19.
Mikhail Tskhakaya
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Mikhail Grigoryevich Tskhakaya, also known as Barsov, was a Georgian communist. Barsov was a leader in the Bolshevik movement in Georgia. He was born in 1865 in Martvili Municipality, in 1892 he helped found Mesame Dasy, the first Georgian Socialist party. When the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party was founded, he joined it and he saved the young Joseph Stalin from expulsion for Georgian nationalism in 1904. However, Barsov made Stalin write a credo renouncing his views, in July 1906 Tskhakaya was Stalins witness at his wedding to Ekaterina Dzhugashvili. On September 9 Tskhakaya and Stalin were among just six Bolsheviks at the Social Democratic conference in Tbilisi and they shared a room at the 5th Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party in London. Neither were allowed to vote owing to Bolshevisms weakness in Georgia, in 1907, after a series of arrests and deportations, he went into exile in Switzerland where he visited Lenin in Geneva. He returned to Russia in 1917, alongside Lenin on the sealed train. From that point onwards, he was a leader of the Georgian Communist Party. He is buried at the Mtatsminda Pantheon
20.
Keke Geladze
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Ekaterine Keke Geladze was the mother of Joseph Stalin. Her husband and Stalins father was Besarion Jughashvili, Keke was born to a family of Georgian Orthodox Christian serfs in Gambareuli near Gori in 1858. Her father, Glakh Geladze, was a belonging to Prince Amilakhvari. He died young and the family was poor, but somehow her mother Melania ensured that Keke learned to read. At 17, Keke met and married Besarion Jughashvili and her first two children died shortly after birth—Mikhail in 1876 and Georgy the following year from measles. Her third son, Joseph, was born on December 18,1878, nicknamed Soso, Joseph grew up in a violent home, his father was incessantly drunk and beat his mother and him frequently. Once Joseph was beaten so hard there was blood in his urine for just over a week, when Stalins father beat Keke, Keke occasionally fought back. Once, a blood soaked Joseph ran to the Gori police chief Davrichewy crying, Joseph even threw a knife at his father while defending his mother. Before Joseph was 10, Beso left the family home, to support herself and her son, Keke took on any menial job available, mainly housework, sewing and laundering. They had nine homes in the next decade and she returned once when Beso promised to improve, but she soon left to live with Father Charkviani. Keke often worked in the houses of rich Jewish traders in Gori and she did housework for Davrichewy, laundered for Egnatashvili, with whom she may have had an affair. Beso would smash his tavern windows when he heard and she eventually settled in a couture shop where she worked for 17 years. Joseph was said to have been a child and he entertained some of the householders, including David Pismamedov who encouraged the young Stalin to study. His mothers ambition was for Joseph to become a bishop and she accumulated enough money for his education. She had made sure he was the best dressed of the boys on his first school day despite being the poorest, in 1890 Josephs father kidnapped him after a serious street accident and made him work in the Adelkhanov shoe factory. His horrified mother fought desperately to send him back to school, appealing to all her friends, Keke now laundered for the chairman of the school board at a salary of 10 roubles a month. Keke was so angry with Joseph when he was expelled from the seminary that he hid outside Gori for a while, friends brought him food. Later in life, when Stalin achieved prominence in the communist regime in the 1920s, his mother was installed in a palace in the Caucasus, there she is said to have occupied only one tiny room from where she wrote frequent letters to her son and daughter-in-law
21.
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
22.
Mtatsminda Pantheon
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The Mtatsminda Pantheon of Writers and Public Figures is a necropolis in Tbilisi, Georgia, where some of the most prominent writers, artists, scholars, and national heroes of Georgia are buried. It is located in the churchyard around St. David’s Church Mamadaviti on the slope of Mount Mtatsminda and was established in 1929. Atop the mountain is Mtatsminda Park, an amusement park owned by the municipality of Tbilisi, the first celebrities to be buried at this place were the Russian writer Alexander Griboyedov and his Georgian wife Nino Chavchavadze. The Pantheon was officially opened in 1929 to celebrate a 100-year anniversary of Griboyedov’s death in Iran, since then, several illustrious Georgians have been buried or reburied there. The Pantheon is administered by the Government of Tbilisi and is frequented by locals as well as the city’s visitors
23.
Tamada
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A tamada is a Georgian toastmaster at a Georgian supra or at a wedding, corresponding to the symposiarch at the Greek symposion or the thyle at the Anglo-Saxon sumbel. At all supras regardless of size, there is a tamada, or toastmaster, Georgians like to say that the tamada is dictator of the table, but it would be more appropriate to compare him to a leader or even a teacher. At the Georgian table, a tamada is considered to help bridge the gap between past, present and future, toasting ancestors and descendants as well as the guests at the table. A toast can be proposed only by a tamada, the rest are to develop the idea, some toasts take a traditional form, for example, for some toasts all men have to stand up and drink wine in silence. In many cases, however, the guests vie to say something more original and emotional than the speaker. Historically the tamada had more control over the table than he does today, for example, members of the supra were supposed to ask permission before leaving the table and the party. If they got the permission they could be toasted by the tamada, if the first toast is to the tamada, it is proposed by someone else, generally by the host, who proposes the nomination of the tamada. If the supra is very small, in home with only a few guests, the role of tamada wont be specially assigned. At very large occasions, such as wedding or funeral banquets, the tamada is chosen in advance by the family, at mid-size occasions, however, the people of the table themselves choose the tamada. The choice depends on several factors, there may be a senior person at the table to whom the role naturally falls. In some groups there will be one man who regularly is the tamada because he enjoys it and is good at it, sometimes groups of friends who gather frequently will rotate the responsibility of being tamada. Others express agreement and, if Kote raises no serious objections, the supra participants do the same. The newly toasted tamada initiates new toasts from then on and it might be the case, however, that Kote doesnt want to be tamada. Perhaps he feels that the person is suggesting his name ought to be the tamada. Maybe he was tamada last night and has a hangover, or is driving and cant drink, or would like to leave the gathering early and he would refuse the job, perhaps pleading some excuse. Following the proposal of this first toast, each member of the supra toasts the tamada with a phrase or two and drinks his glass. On this toast people drink quite quickly, almost in unison, some frequently heard phrases on this first toast include “Kotes Gaumarjos”, where Kote is the name of the person who will be tamada, or “Kargad chaatarebinos es supra”. There is only one common circumstance where the first toast is not to the tamada, in that case, the host simply assumes the role, as noted above, and proposes the first toast to a particular theme
24.
Kamo (Bolshevik)
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Kamo, real name Simon Arshaki Ter-Petrosian, was an Old Bolshevik revolutionary and an early companion to Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. He is best known for his role in the 1907 Tiflis bank robbery. For his militant activities he was arrested in Berlin in 1907 and he was recaptured in 1912 after another attempted armed robbery and sentenced to death. The death sentence was commuted to imprisonment as part of the celebrations of the Romanov dynasty tricentennial. Kamo was released after the February 1917 Russian Revolution and he died in 1922 after being hit by a truck while riding a bicycle in Tiflis. The name Kamo originated from Ter-Petrosians lack of fluency in the Russian language, during school lessons as a child, Ter-Petrosian attempted to ask the teacher, What. But instead replied with to whom. Kamo and this error entertained his friends so much that he was known as Kamo for the rest of his life. Simon Ter-Petrosian was born in Gori, Tiflis Governorate, to an Armenian father and his father was a wealthy contractor. As a child, Kamo liked to get into fights with his peers, when he was 7, his parents hired a personal tutor who tried to teach him how to read and write Russian. In 1892, when he was 10 years old, he witnessed an execution of two people in Gori, ordered to hang by the local Georgian noble. Stepan Shahumyan, who also became a notable Bolshevik, saw the scene as well. Kamos grandfather, a priest, wanted to him to the Tiflis Theological Seminary. As a result, Kamo stayed at home and was enrolled in 1895 in a local school, I forgot entirely how to speak Russian and I was a terrible student. In my spare time, I would go fishing or steal fruit, on a few occasions I was almost caught. But when I reached high school, I grew fond of geography, I loved to read about wars and heroes. I was deeply religious and sang in the church choir, after being expelled, Kamo was sent off to Tiflis to enter the seminary as his grandfather had desired. In Tiflis, Ter-Petrosian met Joseph Stalin, whose mother, Ketevan, was a friend of Kamos father, Stalin was a day student at the seminary and helped Ter-Petrosian prepare to enter the seminary. Stalin was expelled from the seminary in 1899, followed by Kamo, Kamo rejoined Stalin, who tried to teach him Marxism and better Russian but gave up in despair
25.
Stephen Kotkin
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Stephen Mark Kotkin is an American historian, academic and author. He is currently a professor in history and international affairs at Princeton University, kotkins most recent book is his first of three planned volumes, which discuss the life and times of the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin, Stalin, Volume I, Paradoxes of Power, 1878–1928. Kotkin graduated from the University of Rochester in 1981 with a B. A. in English. He studied Russian and Soviet history under Reginald E. Zelnik and Martin Malia at the University of California, Berkeley, starting in 1986, Kotkin traveled to the former Soviet Union multiple times for academic research and fellowships. He was a scholar at the Russian Academy of Sciences, and its predecessor. He is currently the John P. Birkelund 52 Professor in History and he is also a W. Glenn Campbell and Rita Ricardo-Campbell National Fellow at Stanford Universitys Hoover Institution. He published Armageddon Averted, a history of the fall of the Soviet Union. He also contributed as a commentator for NPR and the BBC and his first volume on the life of Joseph Stalin, a 900-page biography analyzing his life through 1928, received strong reviews. Jennifer Siegel of The New York Times called the biography a riveting tale, one written with pace and aplomb. This first volume leaves the reader longing for the still to come. )Kotkin is currently writing the second and third volumes on Stalin, Waiting for Hitler and Miscalculation. He is also working on a history of Siberia, focusing on the Ob River Valley. His literary agent is Andrew Wylie
26.
Svetlana Alliluyeva
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Svetlana Iosifovna Alliluyeva, later known as Lana Peters, was the youngest child and only daughter of Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin and Nadezhda Alliluyeva, Stalins second wife. She later went back to the United States and also spent time in the United Kingdom and she was the last surviving child of Stalin. Svetlana was born on 28 February 1926, like most children of high-ranking Soviet officials, Svetlana was raised by a nanny and only occasionally saw her parents. Her mother, Nadezhda Alliluyeva, died on 9 November 1932, the death was officially ruled as peritonitis resulting from a burst appendix. However, there were other theories as to the cause of her death, murder on the orders of Stalin. On 15 August 1942 Winston Churchill saw her in Stalins private apartments in the Kremlin, describing her as a handsome red-haired girl, who kissed her father dutifully. Churchill says Stalin looked at me with a twinkle in his eye as if, so I thought, to convey You see, at 16, Svetlana fell in love with Aleksei Kapler, a Jewish Soviet filmmaker who was 40 years old. Her father vehemently disapproved of the romance, later, Kapler was sentenced to ten years in exile in the industrial city of Vorkuta, near the Arctic Circle. At age 17, Svetlana received a proposal from Grigory Morozov. Her father grudgingly allowed the couple to marry, although he made a point of never meeting the groom, a son, Iosif, was born in 1945. The couple divorced in 1947 but remained friends for decades. Svetlanas second marriage was arranged for her to Yuri Zhdanov, the son of Stalins right-hand-man Andrei Zhdanov, in 1950, Svetlana gave birth to a daughter, Yekaterina. The marriage was dissolved soon afterward, in 1962, Svetlana married Ivan Svanidze, the nephew of Stalin through his first wife, Ekaterine Svanidze. The brief marriage ended in 1963, in 1963, Svetlana lived with an Indian Communist politician named Brajesh Singh. They were not officially married, but they lived together for four years until she left for the United States in 1967 following his death, from 1970 to 1973, she was married to American architect William Wesley Peters, with whom she had a daughter, Olga. After her fathers death in 1953, she worked as a lecturer and her training was in history and political thought, a subject she was forced to study by her father, although her passion was literature and writing. Stalin forbade her to be taught in these subjects and she had also studied four languages since childhood, including German, French, and English, and was fluent in all. She was granted a pension with which she supported herself and her two Russian-born children, in 1963, while in hospital for the removal of her tonsils, Svetlana met Kunwar Brajesh Singh, an Indian Communist from the Kalakankar Rajput Zamindar family visiting Moscow
27.
Okhrana
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Formed to combat political terrorism and left-wing revolutionary activity, the Okhrana operated offices throughout the Russian Empire and satellite agencies in a number of foreign nations. It was concerned primarily with monitoring the activities of Russian revolutionaries abroad, including Paris, the task was performed by multiple methods, including covert operations, undercover agents, and perlustration—reading of private correspondence. Even the Foreign Agency served this purpose, the Okhrana was notorious for its agents provocateurs, including Dr. Jacob Zhitomirsky, Yevno Azef, Roman Malinovsky and Dmitry Bogrov. The Okhrana tried to compromise the labour movement by creating police-run trade unions, other controversial activities included alleged fabrication of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and fabrication of the antisemitic Beilis trial. Suspects captured by the Okhrana were passed to the Russian judicial system, the Okhrana never received more than 10% of the police budget, the most it ever received being five million rubles in 1914. Its street address, Fontanka,16, was known in the Russian Empire. The position of Chief of Gendarmes was merged with the Minister, still, these measures did not prevent the assassination of Alexander II in March 1881. The Imperial Gendarmerie still operated as security police in the rest of the country through their Gubernial, the rise of the socialist movements called for the integration of security forces. Since 1898, the Special Section of the Department of Police succeeded the Gendarmes in gaining information from domestic and foreign agents, perhaps most paradoxical of all was the Okhrana’s collaboration with revolutionary organizations. Sudeykin and his colleague, a revolutionary-turned-police-informant named Sergey Degayev, passed drafts of the publication through Okhrana censors before printing and this episode marked the beginning of the Okhrana’s efforts to surreptitiously observe, but also influence and undermine, revolutionary movements. To this end, Zubatov created the Moscow Mechanical Production Workers’ Mutual Aid Society in May 1901, after Zubatov was made head of the Special Section in 1902, he expanded his trade unions from Moscow to St. Petersburg and Southern Russia. Although the police-run unions continued to operate after Zubatov’s ousting, without Okhrana funding, Petersburg and were fired upon by Imperial soldiers. K. Plehve on July 15,1904, for over twenty years, the Okhrana had focused on interfering with the activities of relatively small, and distinct, revolutionary groups. The Revolution of 1905, characterized by seemingly spontaneous marches and strikes, not only did the Okhrana lack the capacity to prevent the mass movements of 1905, or even to contain them once they began, the Okhrana’s misguided attempts may even have worsened the unrest. D. F. Trepov, the Assistant Minister of the Interior in charge of police affairs, in October of that year, Trepov again attempted a violent repression of the revolution only to call off the effort for lack of manpower. Since these attempts at repression never reached fruition, they served to aggravate the already enraged Russian populace. Durnovo in late-October ushered in a period of even more repression of the Revolution. Indicative of this new period is the head of the St. Petersburg Special Section, gerasimov’s, strike on the St. Petersburg Soviet
28.
1907 Tiflis bank robbery
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The 1907 Tiflis bank robbery, also known as the Yerevan Square expropriation, was an armed robbery on 26 June 1907 in the city of Tiflis. A bank cash shipment was stolen by Bolsheviks to fund their revolutionary activities, the attack killed forty people and injured fifty others, according to official archive documents. The robbers escaped with 341,000 rubles, as a result, Lenin and Stalin tried to distance themselves from the robbery. The events surrounding the incident and similar robberies split the Bolshevik leadership, with Lenin against Bogdanov, Kamo was caught in Germany shortly after the robbery but successfully avoided a criminal trial by feigning insanity for more than three years. He managed to escape from his psychiatric ward but was captured two years later while planning another robbery, Kamo was then sentenced to death for his crimes including the 1907 robbery, but his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, he was released after the 1917 Revolution. None of the major participants or organizers of the robbery were ever brought to trial. After his death, a grave and monument to Kamo was erected near Yerevan Square in Pushkin Gardens and this monument was later removed, and Kamos remains moved elsewhere. The RSDLP, the predecessor to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, was formed in 1898, the goal of the RSDLP was to change the economic and political system in the Russian Empire through a proletarian revolution in accordance with Marxist doctrine. From 1903 onwards, the RSDLP were divided between two groups, the Bolsheviks and the Mensheviks. One issue that separated the two groups was the divergence of their views on militant activities, and in particular, expropriations. This resolution passed with 65 per cent supporting and 6 per cent opposing with all Mensheviks, the Bolshevik Centre was headed by a Finance Group consisting of Lenin, Leonid Krasin and Alexander Bogdanov. Before the 5th Congress met, high-ranking Bolsheviks held a meeting in Berlin in April 1907 to discuss staging a robbery to obtain funds to purchase arms, attendees included Lenin, Krasin, Bogdanov, Joseph Stalin, and Maxim Litvinov. The group decided that Stalin, then known by his nom de guerre Koba. The 29-year-old Stalin was living in Tiflis with his wife Ekaterina, Stalin was experienced at organizing robberies, and these exploits had helped him gain a reputation as the Centres principal financier. Kamo, four years younger than Stalin, had a reputation for ruthlessness, at the time of the conspiracy, Kamo ran a criminal organization called the Outfit. Stalin said that Kamo was a master of disguise, and Lenin called Kamo his Caucasian bandit, Stalin and Kamo had grown up together, and Stalin had converted Kamo to Marxism. After the April meeting, Stalin and Litvinov travelled to Tiflis to inform Kamo of the plans, in Tiflis, Stalin began planning for the robbery. Voznesensky later stated that he had helped out in the out of admiration for Stalins romantic poetry
29.
Baku
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Baku is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located 28 metres below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world and it is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, alongside the Bay of Baku. At the beginning of 2009, Bakus urban population was estimated at just over two million people, officially, about 25 percent of all inhabitants of the country live in Bakus metropolitan area. Baku is divided into administrative districts and 48 townships. Among these are the townships on the islands of the Baku Archipelago, the Inner City of Baku, along with the Shirvanshahs Palace and Maiden Tower, were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000. According to the Lonely Planets ranking, Baku is also among the top ten destinations for urban nightlife. The city is the scientific, cultural and industrial center of Azerbaijan, many sizeable Azerbaijani institutions have their headquarters there. The Baku International Sea Trade Port is capable of handling two million tons of general and dry bulk cargoes per year, in recent years, Baku has become an important venue for international events. The city is renowned for its winds, which is reflected in its nickname. Indeed, the city is renowned for its fierce winter snow storms and this is also reflected in the citys nickname as the City of Winds. A less probable folk etymology explains the name as deriving from Baghkuy, baga and kuy are the Old Persian words for god and town respectively, the name Baghkuy may be compared with Baghdād in which dād is the Old Persian word for give. Arabic sources refer to the city as Baku, Bakukh, Bakuya, around 100,000 years ago, the territory of modern Baku and Absheron was savanna with rich flora and fauna. Traces of human settlement go back to the Stone age, from the Bronze age there have been rock carvings discovered near Bayil, and a bronze figure of a small fish discovered in the territory of the Old City. These have led some to suggest the existence of a Bronze Age settlement within the citys territory, further archeological excavations revealed various prehistoric settlements, native temples, statues and other artifacts within the territory of the modern city and around it. In the 1st century, the Romans organized two Caucasian campaigns and reached Baku, near the city, in Gobustan, Roman inscriptions dating from 84–96 AD were discovered. This is one of the earliest written evidences for Baku, during the 8th century Baku was the realm of the Shirvanshahs. The city frequently came under assault of the Khazars and the Rus, shirvanshah Akhsitan I built a navy in Baku and successfully repelled another Rus assault in 1170. After a devastating earthquake struck Shamakhy, the capital of Shirvan, the Shirvan era greatly influenced Baku and the remainder of Azerbaijan
30.
Alphonse de Rothschild
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Mayer Alphonse James Rothschild, was a French financier, vineyard owner, art collector, philanthropist, racehorse owner/breeder and a member of the prominent Rothschild banking family of France. Known as Alphonse, he was the eldest son of James Mayer de Rothschild and his mother was Betty de Rothschild, the daughter of Salomon Mayer von Rothschild from the Austrian branch of the family. Alphonse was educated to take his place at the head of de Rothschild Frères bank, in France he soon became a major force in the financial world and in 1855 was appointed a regent of the Banque de France, a position he held for the remainder of his life. In 1857 Alphonse de Rothschild married a cousin, Leonora Laure de Rothschild and their firstborn, Bettina Caroline, married Albert Salomon von Rothschild. Alphonse and his brother Gustave developed somewhat of a rivalry with their English cousin Nathaniel de Rothschild who had moved to Paris after marrying their sister Charlotte. Nathaniel worked at de Rothschild Frères bank and in 1853 he purchased the Château Brane Mouton vineyard in Pauillac in the Médoc wine growing region, nathaniels Mouton vineyard received a second-growth ranking in the Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855. Just three months before their father died in 1868, Alphonse and Gustave convinced him to buy the more prestigious First Growth Château Lafite vineyard in Pauillac when it came up for sale, on the death of their father in 1868, Alphonse and Gustave inherited the Château Lafite-Rothschild vineyard. However, they lived in Paris and the vineyard was not significant relative to their investments in banking. As such, they visited the Pauillac vineyard occasionally, maintaining little more than an arms-length interest. On their deaths, the Rothschild brothers willed the property to a son, Alphonse de Rothschild inherited a large fortune on the death of his father in 1868, including share positions in de Rothschild Frères bank and the Northern Railway company. He began his training in finance at an age and his father put him in charge of the banks gold bullion operations. During the 1860s, great debates raged across Europe and the United States as to a monetary system for the changing times. In France, the prominent Péreire brothers bankers were proponents of paper money in contrast to Alphonse de Rothschild who defended preservation of Frances bimetallism system, however, as part of the Latin Monetary Union France joined most of the rest of Europe and adopted the gold standard by 1873. In 1880, Alphonse de Rothschild put together the deal saw the family take control of Société Le Nickel. During the Franco-Prussian War, Alphonse de Rothschild had guarded the ramparts of Paris on the eve of the Prussian siege, in contrast though, that same year, both the Berlin and Vienna stock markets crashed, plunging all of Central Europe into an economic depression. However, in less than a decade Alphonse de Rothschild would witness considerable economic upheaval in France, the collapse of the investment bank Société de lUnion Générale precipitated the 1882 stock market crash that triggered a downturn in the economy. His intense pressure pushed back the project of the décret Crémieux filed by the chief of the provisional government. Alphonse de Rothschild was a supporter of thoroughbred horse racing who in 1852 at the age of twenty-four became a member of the Paris Jockey Club
31.
International Socialist Congress, Stuttgart 1907
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The International Socialist Congress, Stuttgart 1907 was the Seventh Congress of the Second International. The gathering was held in Stuttgart, Germany from 18 to 24 August 1907 and was attended by nearly 900 delegates from around the globe, the 1907 Congress of the Second International was convened on Sunday,18 August 1907 at the Liederhalle of Stuttgart, Germany. The Congress was the seventh international conclave held by the Second International and the first since the Amsterdam Congress, which met three years earlier. Sunday night was occupied with a propaganda meeting, held at the Stuttgart Volksfestplatz. For two hours prior to the start of the meeting a mass of humanity streamed into this military drill grounds, the gathering was addressed by a series of leading orators of the international socialist movement and was held without incident. The formal work of the Congress began the morning of 19 August following another significant address, bebels keynote address dealt with a country-by-country report on the progress of the international socialist movement. The actual work of the Congress was conducted in five select committees, Militarism, Colonialism, Woman Suffrage, Immigration, each country had the right to seat four of its members on each committee. This resulted in a set of groups, likened by American delegate A. M. Simons to miniature Congresses, and made for a slow and methodical pace of work, each speech was delivered in three languages, German, French, and English — the original plus two translations. The main agenda item of the 1907 Congress was the construction of a policy to deal with what was seen as the growing menace of militarism. Debate on the matter was held for five days in the commission named to decide the question. This was the most hotly contested topic of discussion, called by one observer a royal battle, in the Militarism Commission there were three competing resolutions presented, including two by the French delegation and one by the German. This tense domestic situation faced by the SPD was accented by the expulsion of British delegate Harry Quelch by German authorities during the course of the Congress. Quelch, editor of the London socialist newspaper Justice, had referred to the 1907 Hague Peace Conference as a thieves supper during the course of debate in Stuttgart. The government had taken offense to the reference and had instructed Quelch to withdraw his statement or exit Germany within 8 hours. Faced with the choice, Quelch refused to accede to government pressure and he returned to London, after protracted debate suitable language was agreed upon for passage of a resolution by the Congress. War was declared to be the end product of the competition of capitalist nations in the world market, bolstered by national prejudices systematically cultivated in the interests of the ruling classes. In the event of imminent war, the class was mildly beseeched to do all they can to prevent the breaking out of this war
32.
Simon Sebag Montefiore
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Simon Jonathan Sebag Montefiore is a British historian, television presenter and award-winning author of popular history books and novels. Simon Montefiore was born in London and his father was Stephen Eric Sebag Montefiore and his brother is Hugh Sebag-Montefiore. They are descended from a line of wealthy Sephardi Jews who were diplomats and bankers all over Europe, at the start of the 19th century, his great-great-uncle, Sir Moses Montefiore, was an international financier who worked with the Rothschild family and who became a philanthropist. His mother, Phyllis April Jaffé, comes from a Lithuanian Jewish family of scholars and her parents fled the Russian Empire at the beginning of the 20th century. They bought tickets for New York City, but were cheated, being dropped off at Cork. Due to the Limerick boycott in 1904 his grandfather Henry Jaffé left the country and moved to Newcastle, Montefiore was educated at Ludgrove School and Harrow School. He read history at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge where he received his Doctorate of Philosophy and he won an Exhibition to Caius College. Montefiore worked as a banker, a foreign affairs journalist, montefiores book Catherine the Great & Potemkin was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize, the Duff Cooper Prize, and the Marsh Biography Award. Stalin, The Court of the Red Tsar won History Book of the Year at the 2004 British Book Awards, jerusalem, The Biography was a number one non-fiction Sunday Times bestseller and a global bestseller and won The Book of the Year Prize from the Jewish Book Council. His latest history is The Romanovs, 1613–1918, montefiores debut novel Kings Parade was published in 1991. The Spectator called the book embarrassing and extremely silly, Montefiore is also the author of the acclaimed novels Sashenka and One Night in Winter. One Night in Winter won the Political Novel of the Year Prize and was longlisted for the Orwell Prize and he is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and Visiting Professor of Humanities at the University of Buckingham. Montefiore lives in London with his wife, the novelist Santa Montefiore, and their two children
33.
Saint Nino
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Saint Nino Equal to the Apostles and the Enlightener of Georgia was a woman who preached Christianity in Georgia, that resulted from the Christianization of Iberia. According to most widely traditional accounts, she belonged to a Greek-speaking Roman family from Kolastra, Cappadocia, was a relative of Saint George, other sources claim she was from Rome, Jerusalem or Gaul. Mirian declared Christianity the official religion and Nino continued her missionary activities among Georgians until her death and her tomb is still shown at the Bodbe Monastery in Kakheti, eastern Georgia. St. Nino has become one of the most venerated saints of the Georgian Orthodox Church and her attribute, many sources agree that Nino was born in the small town of Colastri, in the Roman province of Cappadocia, although a smaller number of sources disagree with this. On her family and origin, the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church have different traditions, according to the Eastern Orthodox Church tradition, she was the only child of a famous family. Her father was Roman general Zabulon and her mother Sosana, on her fathers side, Nino was related to St. George, and on her mothers, to the patriarch of Jerusalem, Houbnal I. During her childhood, Nino was brought up by her relative, nino’s uncle who was as the patriarch of Jerusalem oversaw her traditional upbringing. Nino went to Rome with the help of her uncle where she decided to preach the Christian gospel in Iberia, by the strength of this cross, you will erect in that land the saving banner of faith in My beloved Son and Lord. Saint Nino entered the Iberian Kingdom in Caucasus from the Kingdom of Armenia and she had belonged to a community of virgins numbering 37, along with martyr Hripsime, under the leadership of St. Gayane, who preached Christianity in the Armenian Kingdom. But they were persecuted and beheaded by King Tiridates, all 37 of the virgins were soon canonised by the Armenian Apostolic Church including St. Nune. Contrasting with this, the Roman Catholic tradition, as narrated by Rufinus of Aquileia, says Nino was brought to Iberia not by her own will, but as a slave, Nino reached the borders of the ancient Georgian Kingdom of Iberia from the south about 320. There she placed a Christian cross in the town of Akhalkalaki and started preaching the Christian faith in Urbnis. The Iberian Kingdom had been influenced by the neighbouring Persian Empire which played an important role as the power in the Caucasus. The Iberian King Mirian III and his nation worshiped the syncretic gods Armazi, soon after the arrival of Nino in Mtskheta, Nana, the Queen of Iberia requested an audience with the Cappadocian. Queen Nana, who suffered from an illness, had some knowledge of Christianity but had not yet converted to it. Nino, restoring the Queens health, won to herself disciples from the Queens attendants, including a Jewish priest and his daughter, Abiathar, Nana also officially converted to Christianity and was baptized by Nino herself. Mirian, aware of his wife’s religious conversion, was intolerant of her new faith, persecuting it and he secluded himself, however, from Nino and the growing Christian community in his kingdom. His isolation to Christianity did not last long because, according to the legend, while on a hunting trip, as soon as he finished his prayer, light appeared and the king hastily returned to his palace in Mtskheta
34.
Avel Enukidze
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Avel Safronovich Enukidze was a prominent Old Bolshevik and, at one point, a member of the Soviet Central Committee in Moscow. In 1932, along with Mikhail Kalinin and Vyacheslav Molotov, Enukidze co-signed the infamous Law of Spikelets, soon he was accused of having deliberately diminished Joseph Stalins contributions to the printing press and the Bolshevik movement in Baku. In fact, Stalin had little to do with these things, but revolutionary contributions were important to a Bolsheviks prestige, and Stalin did not like Enukidze outshining him. Enukidze was rehabilitated as a victim of Stalins purges and his family name in Russian is transliterated incorrectly as Ienukidze, and his given name as Avel in Alan Bullocks Hitler and Stalin, Parallel Lives. Bullock also transliterates Enukidze as Yenukidze, transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic Leon Trotsky, Behind the Kremlin Walls
35.
Great Purge
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The Great Purge or the Great Terror was a campaign of political repression in the Soviet Union which occurred from 1936 to 1938. In Russian historiography, the period of the most intense purge, 1937–1938, is called Yezhovshchina, after Nikolai Yezhov and it has been estimated between 600,000 and 3 million people died at the hands of the Soviet government during the Purge. In the Western world, Robert Conquests 1968 book The Great Terror popularized that phrase, Conquests title was in turn an allusion to the period called the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution. The term repression was used to describe the prosecution of people considered counter-revolutionaries and enemies of the people by the leadership of the Soviet Union. The purge was motivated by the desire to remove dissenters from the Communist Party, most public attention was focused on the purge of the leadership of the Communist Party, as well as of government bureaucrats and leaders of the armed forces, most of whom were Party members. The campaigns also affected many other categories of the society, intelligentsia, peasants and especially those branded as too rich for a peasant, a series of NKVD operations affected a number of national minorities, accused of being fifth column communities. Due legal process, as defined by Soviet law in force at the time, was largely replaced with summary proceedings by NKVD troikas. Hundreds of thousands of victims were accused of political crimes, they were quickly executed by shooting. Many died at the labor camps of starvation, disease, exposure. Other methods of dispatching victims were used on an experimental basis, one secret policeman, for example, gassed people to death in batches in the back of a specially adapted airtight van. The campaigns were carried out according to the line, and often by direct orders. The threat of war heightened Stalins perception of marginal and politically suspect populations as the source of an uprising in case of invasion. He began to plan for the elimination of such potential recruits for a mythical fifth column of wreckers, terrorists. The term purge in Soviet political slang was an abbreviation of the purge of the Party ranks. In 1933, for example, the Party expelled some 400,000 people, but from 1936 until 1953, the term changed its meaning, because being expelled from the Party came to mean almost certain arrest, imprisonment, and often execution. Stalins opponents on both sides of the political spectrum chided him as undemocratic and lax on bureaucratic corruption and these tendencies may have accumulated substantial support among the working class by attacking the privileges and luxuries the state offered to its high-paid elite. The Ryutin Affair seemed to vindicate Stalins suspicions and he enforced a ban on party factions and banned those party members who had opposed him, effectively ending democratic centralism. In the new form of Party organization, the Politburo, and this required the elimination of all Marxists with different views, especially those among the prestigious old guard of revolutionaries
36.
Nadezhda Alliluyeva
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Nadezhda Sergeevna Alliluyeva was the second wife of Joseph Stalin. She was the youngest child of Russian revolutionary Sergei Alliluyev, a worker, and his wife Olga, a woman of German and Georgian ancestry. Sergei Alliluyev was Russian but had found work and a home in the Caucasus. During Stalins time of exile, the Alliluyev family was a source of assistance and refuge, Nadezhda first met Stalin as a child when her father, Sergei Alliluyev, sheltered him after one of his escapes from Siberian exile during 1911. After the revolution, Nadezhda worked as a code clerk in Lenins office. She eschewed fancy dress, makeup, and other trappings that she felt un-befitting of a proper Bolshevik, the couple married in 1919, when Stalin was already a 41-year-old widower and father of one son, born to his first wife, who died of typhus years earlier. Nadezhda and Joseph had two children together, Vasily, born in 1921, who became a pilot at Stalingrad. According to her friend, Polina Zhemchuzhina, the marriage was strained. While she was friendly with Vasily, she was not close to Svetlana and was stern with both children, after a public spat with Stalin at a party dinner, Nadezhda shot herself in her bedroom. The official announcement was that Nadezhda died from appendicitis, accounts of contemporaries and Stalins letters indicate that he was much disturbed by the event. Svetlana, Nadezhdas daughter, defected to the US in 1967, where she published her autobiography. Alliluyeva was portrayed by Julia Ormond in the 1992 television film Stalin
37.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
38.
Andrei Sakharov
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Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov was a Russian nuclear physicist, Soviet dissident, an activist for disarmament, peace and human rights. He became renowned as the designer of the Soviet Unions RDS-37, Sakharov later became an advocate of civil liberties and civil reforms in the Soviet Union, for which he faced state persecution, these efforts earned him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1975. The Sakharov Prize, which is awarded annually by the European Parliament for people and organizations dedicated to human rights, Sakharov was born in Moscow on May 21,1921. His father was Dmitri Ivanovich Sakharov, a school physics teacher. His father later taught at the Second Moscow State University, andreis grandfather Ivan had been a prominent lawyer in the Russian Empire who had displayed respect for social awareness and humanitarian principles that would later influence his grandson. Sakharovs mother was Yekaterina Alekseyevna Sakharova, a great-granddaughter of the prominent military commander Alexey Semenovich Sofiano, Sakharovs parents and paternal grandmother, Maria Petrovna, largely shaped his personality. Although Sakharovs paternal great-grandfather had been a priest in the Russian Orthodox Church, however, he did believe that a guiding principle governed the universe and human life. Sakharov entered Moscow State University in 1938, following evacuation in 1941 during the Great Patriotic War, he graduated in Aşgabat, in todays Turkmenistan. He was then assigned to work in Ulyanovsk. In 1943, he married Klavdia Alekseyevna Vikhireva, with whom he raised two daughters and a son before she died in 1969 and he returned to Moscow in 1945 to study at the Theoretical Department of FIAN. He received his Ph. D. in 1947, after World War II, he researched cosmic rays. In mid-1948 he participated in the Soviet atomic bomb project under Igor Kurchatov, Sakharovs study group at FIAN in 1948 came up with a second concept in August–September 1948. This idea of a layered fission-fusion-fission bomb led Sakharov to call it the sloika, the first Soviet atomic device was tested on August 29,1949. Before his Third Idea, Sakharov tried a layer cake of alternating layers of fission and fusion fuel, the results were disappointing, yielding no more than a typical fission bomb. However the design was seen to be worth pursuing because deuterium is abundant and uranium is scarce, Sakharov was surprised by the size of the explosion and realized that the Americans had harnessed the power of a separate fission explosion to compress the fusion fuel. Sakharov realised that in order to cause the explosion of one side of the fuel to symmetrically compress the fusion fuel, Sakharovs idea was first tested as RDS-37 in 1955. A larger variation of the design which Sakharov worked on was the 50 Mt Tsar Bomba of October 1961. Sakharov saw striking parallels between his fate and those of J. Robert Oppenheimer and Edward Teller in the USA, in both cases, the reaction would have been the same – avoid the trap and immediately take advantage of the enemys stupidity
