1.
Vasily Tropinin
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Vasily Andreevich Tropinin was a Russian Romantic painter. Much of his life was spent as a serf, he didnt attain his freedom until he was more than forty years old, three of his more important works are a portrait of Alexander Pushkin and paintings called The Lace Maker and The Gold-Embroideress. Vasily was born as a serf of Count Munnich in the village Korpovo of Novgorod guberniya, soon he was sent to Saint Petersburg to study the trade of a confectioner. Instead of learning his trade Tropinin secretly attended free drawing lessons in the Imperial Academy of Arts, in 1799, his owner allowed Tropinins to study at the Academy as a non-degree student. He took lessons from S. S. Schukin and was supported by the President of the Academy Alexander Sergeyevich Stroganov, in 1804 Tropinins work Boy Grieving for a Dead Bird was exhibited in the Academys exhibition and was noted by the Russian Empress at the time. At the dawn of his success, Count Morkov recalled Tropinin from St. Petersburg to his Ukrainian estate Kupavka, Tropinin was appointed a confectioner and a lackey. Soon the owner changed his mind and assigned Tropinin to copy the works of European and Russian painters, Tropinin also painted the local church. Tropinin spent around twenty years of his life in Ukraine, and many of his works from that time were of Ukrainian people, still Tropinin continued to work and study. As a well-established portraitist, he wrote, The most notable works of that period are Portrait of A. I, tropinina, the Artists Wife, Portrait of Arseny Tropinin, son of the artist, Portrait of the Writer and Historian N. M. Karamzin. In 1823 at the age of 47 Tropinin at last became a free man, the same year he presented his paintings The Lace Maker, The Beggar and The Portrait of artist Skotnikov to the Imperial Academy of Arts and received the official certificate of a painter. In 1824 he was elected an Academician, since 1833 he mastered the Moscow Public Art Classes that later became the famous Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. In 1843 he was elected a member of the Moscow Art Society. He died in 1857 and was interred on Vagankovo Cemetery, during his life Tropinin painted more than 3,000 portraits. In 1969 the Tropinin Museum was opened in Moscow
2.
Kazan Governorate
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The Kazan Governorate, or the Government of Kazan, was a governorate of the Tsardom of Russia, the Russian Empire, and the Russian SFSR from 1708–1920, with its seat in the city of Kazan. These were the areas governed by the Kazan Palaces Prikaz. In 1717, Astrakhan Governorate was separated from Kazan Governorate, in 1719—Nizhny Novgorod, in 1744—Orenburg, in 1781—Vyatka, Simbirsk, under Catherine the Great Kazan was the center of a namestnichestvo, with Kazan, Penza, and Saratov Governorates as its integral parts. At first the governorate was divided into lots, then into provinces in 1719, prior to 1796, there were Kazan, Kozmodemyansk, Laishev, Mamadysh, Sviyazhsk, Spassk, Tetyushi, Tsaryovokokshaysk, Tsivilsk, Cheboksary, Chistopol, and Yadrin uyezds. In 1913, the area of the governorate comprised 55,900 square versts, its population was estimated at 2.85 million, the governorate was finally abolished during the Bolshevik administrative reform. Thereupon its Eastern part was proclaimed the Tatar ASSR, while the Western part was divided between Chuvashia and Mari El
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.
Saint Petersburg
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Saint Petersburg is Russias second-largest city after Moscow, with five million inhabitants in 2012, and an important Russian port on the Baltic Sea. It is politically incorporated as a federal subject, situated on the Neva River, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea, it was founded by Tsar Peter the Great on May 271703. In 1914, the name was changed from Saint Petersburg to Petrograd, in 1924 to Leningrad, between 1713 and 1728 and 1732–1918, Saint Petersburg was the capital of imperial Russia. In 1918, the government bodies moved to Moscow. Saint Petersburg is one of the cities of Russia, as well as its cultural capital. The Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments constitute a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Saint Petersburg is home to The Hermitage, one of the largest art museums in the world. A large number of consulates, international corporations, banks. Swedish colonists built Nyenskans, a fortress, at the mouth of the Neva River in 1611, in a then called Ingermanland. A small town called Nyen grew up around it, Peter the Great was interested in seafaring and maritime affairs, and he intended to have Russia gain a seaport in order to be able to trade with other maritime nations. He needed a better seaport than Arkhangelsk, which was on the White Sea to the north, on May 1703121703, during the Great Northern War, Peter the Great captured Nyenskans, and soon replaced the fortress. On May 271703, closer to the estuary 5 km inland from the gulf), on Zayachy Island, he laid down the Peter and Paul Fortress, which became the first brick and stone building of the new city. The city was built by conscripted peasants from all over Russia, tens of thousands of serfs died building the city. Later, the city became the centre of the Saint Petersburg Governorate, Peter moved the capital from Moscow to Saint Petersburg in 1712,9 years before the Treaty of Nystad of 1721 ended the war, he referred to Saint Petersburg as the capital as early as 1704. During its first few years, the city developed around Trinity Square on the bank of the Neva, near the Peter. However, Saint Petersburg soon started to be built out according to a plan, by 1716 the Swiss Italian Domenico Trezzini had elaborated a project whereby the city centre would be located on Vasilyevsky Island and shaped by a rectangular grid of canals. The project was not completed, but is evident in the layout of the streets, in 1716, Peter the Great appointed French Jean-Baptiste Alexandre Le Blond as the chief architect of Saint Petersburg. In 1724 the Academy of Sciences, University and Academic Gymnasium were established in Saint Petersburg by Peter the Great, in 1725, Peter died at the age of fifty-two. His endeavours to modernize Russia had met opposition from the Russian nobility—resulting in several attempts on his life
5.
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
6.
Ulyanovsk Oblast
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Ulyanovsk Oblast is a federal subject of Russia. It is located in the Volga Federal District and its administrative center is the city of Ulyanovsk. Ulyanovsk Oblast borders with the Chuvash Republic, the Republic of Tatarstan, Samara Oblast, Saratov Oblast, Penza Oblast, and it is located on the northern edge of Central Steppes. A quarter of its territory is covered with forests, the rest is covered with steppes. The oblast is divided in half by the Volga River, hilly areas to the west of the Volga are known as Volga Upland. Eastern part of the oblast is mostly flat, the water table occupies about 6% of territory. Ulyanovsk Oblast has moderately continental, highly volatile climate, temperature averages at +19 °C in July, and −11 °C in January. As weather systems move in and out of the area, average daily temperatures often change more than +25 °C in the matter of days, fixed snow cover is typically present from November to the beginning of April. Overnight frosts occur until late May, restricting agriculture to cold-resistant plants such as rye, annual precipitation drops out 400 mm a year. Ulyanovsk Oblast is located in the zones of wooded plain and broad-leaved scaffolding, in the northwest — large massifs of oak forest with the participation of linden, maple, in the Transvolga region — meadow steppes, separate pine borons. The area is inhabited by moose, marten, squirrel, hare as well as numerous planktonic, Kuybyshev Reservoir is home to fish such as bream, pike-perch, carp and others. Ulyanovsk Oblast also has a concentrated wasp population, the first settlements of Middle Volga people were established in this area of Volga according to archaeological science more than 100,000 years ago. The presence of groups in the Ulyanovsk Volga region in the Paleolithic show separate parking and location of stone tools. Cheremshan Tunguz on the peninsula, on the shores of the Volga in the region of Undory resort, in the 8th and 9th centuries Ulyanovsk Volga region became a part of the early Volga Bulgaria, as a union of nomadic Turkic and sedentary Finno-Ugric tribes. In the late 14th and early 15th century, the devastating Central Asian ruler Tamerlane began desolation territory of the Volga Ulyanovsk, since the late 1430s the region was a part of the Kazan Khanate. After the pacification of the territory of the future of his governorship Simbirsk gradually settled by Ruthenians, in the late 1640s, under the leadership of Bogdan Hitrovo, construction of the Karsunsky-Simbirsk defense line began. Twenty-two years after its founding, the city of Simbirsk had to withstand a siege of the Cossacks, Simbirsk began to lose its status of strategic military importance, but remained the provincial center. The Bolsheviks took power in Simbirsk one and a month after the October Revolution—December 10,1917
7.
Russia
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Russia, also officially the Russian Federation, is a country in Eurasia. The European western part of the country is more populated and urbanised than the eastern. Russias capital Moscow is one of the largest cities in the world, other urban centers include Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod. Extending across the entirety of Northern Asia and much of Eastern Europe, Russia spans eleven time zones and incorporates a range of environments. It shares maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk, the East Slavs emerged as a recognizable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries AD. Founded and ruled by a Varangian warrior elite and their descendants, in 988 it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the Byzantine Empire, beginning the synthesis of Byzantine and Slavic cultures that defined Russian culture for the next millennium. Rus ultimately disintegrated into a number of states, most of the Rus lands were overrun by the Mongol invasion. The Soviet Union played a role in the Allied victory in World War II. The Soviet era saw some of the most significant technological achievements of the 20th century, including the worlds first human-made satellite and the launching of the first humans in space. By the end of 1990, the Soviet Union had the second largest economy, largest standing military in the world. It is governed as a federal semi-presidential republic, the Russian economy ranks as the twelfth largest by nominal GDP and sixth largest by purchasing power parity in 2015. Russias extensive mineral and energy resources are the largest such reserves in the world, making it one of the producers of oil. The country is one of the five recognized nuclear weapons states and possesses the largest stockpile of weapons of mass destruction, Russia is a great power as well as a regional power and has been characterised as a potential superpower. The name Russia is derived from Rus, a state populated mostly by the East Slavs. However, this name became more prominent in the later history, and the country typically was called by its inhabitants Русская Земля. In order to distinguish this state from other states derived from it, it is denoted as Kievan Rus by modern historiography, an old Latin version of the name Rus was Ruthenia, mostly applied to the western and southern regions of Rus that were adjacent to Catholic Europe. The current name of the country, Россия, comes from the Byzantine Greek designation of the Kievan Rus, the standard way to refer to citizens of Russia is Russians in English and rossiyane in Russian. There are two Russian words which are translated into English as Russians
8.
Ulyanovsk
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Ulyanovsk is a city and the administrative center of Ulyanovsk Oblast, Russia, located on the Volga River 893 kilometers east of Moscow. The city, founded as Simbirsk, is the birthplace of Alexander Kerensky and Vladimir Lenin and it is also famous for its writers such as Ivan Goncharov, Nikolay Yazykov and Nikolay Karamzin and painters. Simbirsk was founded in 1648 by the boyar Bogdan Khitrovo, the fort of Simbirsk was strategically placed on a hill on the Western bank of the Volga River. The fort was meant to protect the frontier of the Russian Empire from the nomadic tribes. In 1668, Simbirsk withstood a siege by a 20. Also in Simbirsk another country rebel, Yemelyan Pugachev, was imprisoned before execution, at the time Simbirsk possessed a wooden kremlin, which was destroyed by a fire during the 18th century. As the eastern border of the Russian Empire was rapidly pushed into Siberia, Simbirsk rapidly lost its strategic importance, Simbirsk was granted city status in 1796. In the summer of 1864, Simbirsk was severely damaged by fire, however, it was quickly rebuilt, the Holy Trinity Cathedral was constructed in a restrained Neoclassical style between 1827–1841. The population of Simbirsk reached 26,000 by 1856 and 43,000 by 1897, in 1924, the city was renamed Ulyanovsk in honor of Vladimir Ulyanov, better known as Lenin, who was born in Simbirsk in 1870. Two other Russian political leaders, Alexander Kerensky and Alexander Protopopov, were born in Simbirsk. During the Soviet period, Ulyanovsk was an important tourist center, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the tourist importance of Ulyanovsk sharply decreased. In the 1990s, the city went through the hardest times—a slump in production in all branches, mass unemployment, and a population impoverishment. Besides the policy of the authorities of that time leaning against the grants. In the first decade of the 2000s the economy started to grow, Ulyanovsk slowly recovered from these downturns into regional manufacturing, educational and transportation clusters. The city is headed by a mayor who is the executive branch, the term of the mayor is five years. In 2010 the city abolished the direct elections to the mayor, replacing it with city manager. Then again, in April 2013 the city charter was amended to re-introduce the direct mayoral election, Ulyanovsk serves as the administrative center of the oblast. As a municipal division, the city of oblast significance of Ulyanovsk is incorporated as Ulyanovsk Urban Okrug, in 2008, there were registered 6,774 births and 8,054 deaths in Ulyanovsk
9.
Orenburg Oblast
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Orenburg Oblast is a federal subject of Russia. Its administrative center is the city of Orenburg, from 1938 to 1957, it bore the name Chkalov Oblast in honor of Valery Chkalov. The most important river of the oblast is the Ural, Orenburg is traversed by the northeasterly line of equal latitude and longitude. It is estimated that the proportion of ethnicities in this group is the same as that of the declared group, as of a 2012 official survey 40. Muslims constitute 13% of the population, 3% of the population are followers of the Slavic native faith,6. 8% are followers of other religions or did not give an answer to the survey. In addition, 20% of the population declares to be spiritual but not religious, Orenburg Oblast is one of the major agricultural areas of Russia. List of Chairmen of the Legislative Assembly of Orenburg Oblast Black Dolphin Prison
10.
Kapitan (rank)
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This article describes Kapitan as military rank, not to confuse with the title Kapitan. For the equivalent OF-2 rank in Anglophone armed forces see Captain, Kapitan is used manifold as rank, grade, or rank designation in the Army, Air Force or Navy of numerous countries and armed forces. In member countries of NATO-alliance Kapitan is an officer rank. The almost equivalent OF-2 officer, e. g. in the US Army, is the Captain rank, Kapitan was used first in the middle age in France in order to designate leaders of the military districts or regions. In the second half of the 16th century it came in use to specify commanding officers of company sized units, in 19th century it became gradually a military rank, and was used in combination with other noun, e. g. Stabs-kapitan Kapitan-leytenant. The rank designation Kapitan contains a common syllable and historical roots in a number of European countries at the one hand, slight national variations of spelling are for the sake of the historical and heraldic tradition, at the other hand. In Russia, the military rank Kapitan was introduced in the XVI century to foreign officers, in the XVII – XVII century this rank became open to all company commanders, serving in the regular army. In the cavalierly the equivalent to Kapitan was Rotmister, and in the Cossacks corps it was Yesaul, in the Russian Army and in the so-called White Army braid shoulder boards with one central stripe have been worn. As the Major-rank was abolished in May 1884, the Kapitan-rank was upgraded to level VIII in the rank table, however, the Guards kapitan became equivalent to generic Podpolkovnik in the Army. In the civil administration Kapitan of the infantry was equivalent to the Council assessor from 1884 and it was equivalent to the rank Kapitan-leytenant of the Navy. If military personnel serves in a formation, or on a guards war ship. Further adding to the rank designation might be retired or on retirement. Personnel serving in the executive of the Russian Federation might be specified by rank designation as follows
11.
Imperial Russian Army
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The Imperial Russian Army was the land armed force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian army consisted of more than 900,000 regular soldiers, the last living veteran of the Russian Imperial Army was the Ukrainian supercentenarian Mikhail Krichevsky, who died in 2008. Russian tsars before Peter maintained professional hereditary musketeer corps, known as streltsy and these were originally raised by Tsar Ivan IV, originally an effective force, they had become highly unreliable and undisciplined. In times of war the forces were augmented by peasants. There were different kinds of regiments, such as regulars, dragoons, in 1631, the Russians created two regular regiments in Moscow. During the Russo-Polish War of 1632–1634, six regular regiments, one reiter regiment. Initially, they recruited children of the boyars and streltsy, volunteers, Cossacks. After the war with Poland, all of the regiments were disbanded, during another Russo-Polish War, they were created again and became a principal force of the Russian army. Often, regular and dragoon regiments were manned with datochniye lyudi for lifelong military service, reiters were manned with small or landless gentry and boyars children and were paid with money for their service. More than a half of the officers were representatives from the gentry. In times of peace, some of the regiments were usually disbanded, in 1681, there were 33 regular regiments and 25 dragoon and reiter regiments. In the late 17th century, regiments of the new type represented more than a half of the Russian Army, Conscription in Russia was introduced by Peter I of Russia in December 1699, though reports say Peters father also used it. Conscription of peasants and townspeople was based on system, per settlement. Initially it was based on the number of households, later it was based on the population numbers, the term of service in the 18th century was for life. In 1793 it was reduced to 25 years, in 1834, it was reduced to 20 years plus five years in the reserve, and in 1855 to 12 years plus three years in the reserve. The history of the Russian army in this era was linked to the name of Russian General Alexander Suvorov, considered one of a few great generals in history who never lost a battle. From 1777 to 1783 Suvorov served in the Crimea and in the Caucasus, becoming a lieutenant-general in 1780, from 1787 to 1791 he again fought the Turks during the Russo-Turkish War of 1787–1792 and won many victories. Suvorovs leadership also played a key role in a Russian victory over the Poles during the Kościuszko Uprising, furthermore, many lower-level officers were poorly trained and had difficulty getting their men to perform the sometimes complex manoeuvres required in a battle
12.
Russian nobility
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The Russian nobility arose in the 14th century. Its members staffed most of the Russian government apparatus until the February Revolution of 1917, the Russian word for nobility, dvoryanstvo, derives from the Polish word dwor, meaning the court of a prince or duke and later, the court of the tsar or emperor. A nobleman is called a dvoryanin, pre-Soviet Russia shared with other countries the concept that nobility connotes a status or a social category rather than a title. The nobility arose in the 12th and 13th centuries as the lowest part of the military class. From the 14th century land ownership by nobles increased, and by the 17th century the bulk of feudal lords and they made up the Landed army —the basic military force of Russia. Peter the Great finalized the status of the nobility, while abolishing the boyar title, however, Russia’s existing economic system, which lacked a sizable middle class and which relied on forced labor, was an impassable obstacle to the development of a free market. Furthermore, the lower classes – the overwhelming majority of the Russian population – lived virtually isolated from the upper classes, thus, most of the nobility’s “western” tendencies were largely superficial and confined to a tiny portion of the populace. Ironically, by introducing the nobility to political literature from Western Europe, Catherine exposed Russia’s autocracy to them as archaic and illiberal. Although Peter the Great is considered by many to be the first westernizer of Russia, there were, in fact, ivan III, starting in 1472, sent numerous agents to Italy to study architecture. Both Michael Romanov and his son Alexis invited and sponsored European visitors – mostly military, medical, Peter the Great was, first and foremost, eager to do away with Russia’s reputation as an Asiatic land and to propel his new empire onto the political stage of Western Europe. In 1697, he began to send nobles on compulsory trips abroad to England, Holland, while the tsar primarily designed these expeditions for naval training, he also encouraged the noblemen to learn about the arts of the west. When the travelers returned to Moscow, Peter tested them on their training, insisting on further education for those whose accumulated knowledge was unsatisfactory. By 1724, he had established – for the purpose of study and discovery – the Academy of Sciences. Peter’s westernizing efforts became quite radical after 1698, when he returned from his expedition through Europe, upon arriving, Peter summoned the nobility to his court and personally shaved almost every beard in the room. In 1705 he decreed a beard tax on all ranked men in Moscow and he also reformed the clothing of the nobility, abandoning the long-sleeved, traditional Muscovite robes for European fashion. Beginning in 1699 the tsar decreed strict dress requirements borrowing from German, Hungarian, French, Peter himself, usually sporting German dress and a trimmed mustache, acted as a prime example. While the nobility universally followed Peter’s fashion preferences at court, they greatly resented these styles, away from St. Petersburg, very few noblemen followed Peter’s guidelines and enforcement was lax. Peter also demanded changes in mannerisms and language among nobles, in order to supply Russians with a basic set of “proper” morals and habits, he ordered publication of manuals on Western etiquette
13.
Nizhny Novgorod
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Nizhny Novgorod, colloquially shortened to Nizhny, is a city in the administrative center of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast and Volga Federal District in Russia. From 1932 to 1990, it was known as Gorky, after the writer Maxim Gorky, the city is an important economic, transportation, scientific, educational and cultural center in Russia and the vast Volga-Vyatka economic region, and is the main center of river tourism in Russia. In the historical part of the city there are a number of universities, theaters, museums. Nizhny Novgorod is located about 400 km east of Moscow, where the Oka empties into the Volga, the city was founded in 1221 by Prince Yuri II of Vladimir. In 1612 Kuzma Minin and Prince Dmitry Pozharsky organized an army for the liberation of Moscow from the Poles, in 1817 Nizhny Novgorod became a great trade center of the Russian Empire. In 1896 at a fair, an All-Russia Exhibition was organized, during the Soviet period, the city turned into an important industrial center. In particular, the Gorky Automobile Plant was constructed in this period, then the city was given the nickname Russian Detroit. During the World War II Gorky became the biggest provider of equipment to the front. Due to this, the Luftwaffe constantly bombed the city from the air, the majority of the German bombs fell in the area of the Gorky Automobile Plant. Although almost all the sites of plant were completely destroyed. After the war, Gorky became a city and remained one until after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1990. At that time the city was renamed Nizhny Novgorod once again, in 1985 the metro was opened. In 2016 Vladimir Putin opened the new 70th Anniversary of Victory Plant which is part of the Almaz-Antey Air, the Kremlin – the main center of the city – contains the main government agencies of the city and the Volga Federal District. Originally the name was just Novgorod, but to distinguish it from the other, older and well-known Novgorod to the west and this land was named lower because it is situated downstream, especially from the point of view of other Russian cities such as Moscow, Vladimir and Murom. Later it was transformed into the name of the city that literally means Lower Newtown. Later a major stronghold for border protection, Nizhny Novgorod fortress took advantage of a moat formed by the two rivers. With the agreement of the Mongol Khan, Nizhny Novgorod was incorporated into the Vladimir-Suzdal Principality in 1264, after 86 years its importance further increased when the seat of the powerful Suzdal Principality was moved here from Gorodets in 1350. Grand Duke Dmitry Konstantinovich sought to make his capital a rival worthy of Moscow, he built a stone citadel, the earliest extant manuscript of the Russian Primary Chronicle, the Laurentian Codex, was written for him by the local monk Laurentius in 1377
14.
Sergey Aksakov
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Sergey Timofeyevich Aksakov was a 19th-century Russian literary figure remembered for his semi-autobiographical tales of family life, as well as his books on hunting and fishing. According to the Velvet Book of Russian genealogy, the Aksakovs trace their line to Šimon, a Varangian nephew of Haakon the Old. Sergey was born in Ufa and brought up there and in the estate at Novo-Aksakovka in Orenburg guberniya. He was also introduced to literature by his mother at an age, and became especially fond of Kheraskovs Rossiada. He was educated at the Kazan Gymnasium and then, in 1805, at Kazan University and he was also distracted by his obsessive interest in the theater. He left the university in 1807, and the year went to St. Petersburg to take up government service. He resigned from the service in 1811 and moved to Moscow. In 1816 he married Olga Semenovna Zaplatina, and the couple had six sons and he began publishing translations, reviews, and articles in the early 1820s, though his important work came much later. He retired from the service in 1838. In 1832 he met Gogol and recognized in him what he had failed to see in Púshkin or any other man—a purely Russian genius, aksákovs house, a stronghold of pure Russianism in Moscow society, became the temple of the cult of Gógol, and Aksákov its high priest. It was Gogol who revealed to Aksakov the possibility of creating literature based directly on life, in 1834 Aksakov published his first realistic story, A Blizzard. Around 1840, encouraged by Gogol, he began writing the book that would make him famous, while he was working on that, he published books about two of his favorite activities since his youth, Notes on Fishing and Notes of a Hunter in Orenburg Province. In 1843 Aksakov settled in the village of Abramtsevo, where he entertained writers including Gogol, Turgenev, and Tolstoy, in the late 1850s he published his most enduring works, The Family Chronicle and Childhood Years of Bagrov Grandson. These reminiscences of a childhood spent in a Russian patriarchal family brought Aksakov recognition as a literary artist of the first rank, Aksakovs semi-autobiographical narratives are unmatched for their scrupulous and detailed description of the everyday life of the Russian nobility. Among Aksakovs other works are The History of My Acquaintance with Gogol, Memoirs and his fairy tale The Scarlet Flower was adapted into an animated feature film in the Soviet Union in 1952. New York,1961, tr. by M. C, enlightenment from the East, Early Nineteenth Century Russian Views of the East from Kazan University, Znanie. Umenie,13, 318–338, doi,10. 17805/zpu.2016.1.29, archived from the original on 5 May 2016, the memoir and autobiographical prose of S. T. Aksakov, problems of poetics. Thesis. in Russian Media related to Sergey Aksakov at Wikimedia Commons Works by Sergey Aksakov at Project Gutenberg Works by or about Sergey Aksakov at Internet Archive
15.
Mirza
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Mirza or Mirzā is a historical title of Persian origin, denoting the rank of a high nobleman or Prince. It is usually defined in English as a royal or imperial Prince of the Blood, today, Mirza is used as a name to identify patriarchal lineage to royal aristocracies of Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Indian Subcontinent. Historically, it was used as a title by and signified patriarchal lineage to the families of the Turkish Empire, Persia, Circassia, Shirvan, Mughals. It was also a title bestowed upon members of the highest aristocracies in Tatar states, under Catherine the Great, empress of Russia, the Mirzas gained equal rights with the Russian nobility due to their extreme wealth. In return, the Mirzas financed her Russo-Turkish war against the Ottoman Empire, abdul Mirza was given the title Prince Yusupov, and his descendant Prince Felix Yusupov married Princess Irina Alexandrovna of Russia, the only niece of Tsar Nicholas II. The word Mīrzā is derived from the Persian term ‘Amīrzāde which literally means child of the ‘Amīr or child of the ruler in Persian, ‘Amīrzād in turn consists of the Arabic title ‘Amīr, meaning commander and Prince, and the Persian suffix -zād, meaning birth or lineage. Due to vowel harmony in Turkic languages, the alternative pronunciation Morza is also used, the word Mirza means royalty in almost every old version of Persian, Arab, Caucasian, Turkish and Indian languages. Variant spellings in English include mirzya, miriza, mirize, mirze, morsey, mursay, murse, meirsa, mirzey, mursi, murze, the titles themselves were given by the Kings, Sultans and Emperors to their sons and grandsons, or even distant kins. Noblemen loyal to the kings also received this Title, although their usage differed, the title itself came from the title emir. Emir, meaning commander or Prince, -derived from the Semitic root Amr, originally simply meaning commander or leader, usually in reference to a group of people. It came to be used as a title of governors or rulers, usually in smaller states, the word entered English in 1595, from the French émir. Gasim Mirza Kavus Mirza Abu Bakr Mirza In the Indian Subcontinent and it was adopted as part of ones name, implying relationship to the Turk dynasties like the Mughal Dynasty. In the traditional naming sequence of the Indian royal families, the title can be placed both before the name and after it, such as Prince Mirza Mughal or Prince Kamran Mirza. Prince Khusrau Mirza was the grandson of Emperor Babur, son of Emperor Jahangir, Emperor Akbar Shah II was known as Prince Mirza Akbar before his coronation. Emperor Babur took the title of Padishah on 6 March 1508. Mirza Zahiruddin 1523–1530, first Mughal Emperor, Mirza Nasiruddin 1530–1539 & 1554–1555, second Mughal Emperor. Mirza Jalaluddin 1555–1605, third Mughal Emperor, Mirza Nuruddin 1605–1627, fourth Mughal Emperor. Mirza Khurram 1627–1658, fifth Mughal Emperor, Mirza Muhiuddin 1658–1707, sixth Mughal Emperor
16.
Tatars
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The Tatars are a Turkic people living in Asia and Europe who were one of the five major tribal confederations in the Mongolian plateau in the 12th century CE. The name Tatar first appears in form on the Kul Tigin monument as
17.
Kostroma
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Kostroma is a historic city and the administrative center of Kostroma Oblast, Russia. A part of the Golden Ring of Russian towns, it is located at the confluence of the Volga and Kostroma Rivers. The city was first recorded in the chronicles for the year 1213, like other towns of the Eastern Rus, Kostroma was sacked by the Mongols in 1238. It then constituted a small principality, under leadership of Prince Vasily the Drunkard, a younger brother of the famous Alexander Nevsky. Upon inheriting the grand ducal title in 1271, Vasily didnt leave the town for Vladimir, as one of the northernmost towns of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, Kostroma served for grand dukes as a place of retreat when enemies besieged Moscow in 1382,1408, and 1433. In 1375, the town was looted by Novgorod pirates, the spectacular growth of the city in the 16th century may be attributed to the establishment of trade connections with English and Dutch merchants through the northern port of Archangel. Boris Godunov had the Ipatiev and Epiphany monasteries rebuilt in stone, the construction works were finished just in time for the city to witness some of the most dramatic events of the Time of Troubles. Kostroma was twice ravaged by the Poles, it took a six-month siege to them from the Ipatiev monastery. The heroic peasant Ivan Susanin became a symbol of the resistance to foreign invaders. The future Tsar, Mikhail Romanov, also lived at the monastery and it was here that an embassy from Moscow offered him the Russian crown in 1612. It is understandable why the Romanov Tsars regarded Kostroma as their special protectorate, the Ipatievsky monastery was visited by many of them, including Nicholas II, the last Russian Tsar. The monastery had been founded in the early 14th century by a Tatar prince, the Romanovs had the magnificent Trinity Cathedral rebuilt in 1652, its frescoes and iconostasis are a thing of beauty. A wooden house of Mikhail Romanov is still preserved in the monastery, there are also several old wooden structures transported to the monastery walls from distant districts of the Kostroma Oblast. Town status was granted to Kostroma in 1719, in 1773, Kostroma was devastated by a great fire. Afterwards the city was rebuilt with streets radiating from a focal point near the river. They say that Catherine the Great dropped her fan on the city map, one of the best preserved examples of the 18th century town planning, Kostroma retains some elegant structures in a provincial neoclassical style. These include a palace, a fire tower, a rotunda on the Volga embankment. The First Workers Socialist Club based in Kostroma was one of the best documented workers clubs run by Proletkult, as an administrative division, it is incorporated separately as the city of oblast significance of Kostroma—an administrative unit with a status equal to that of the districts
18.
Praporshchik
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Praporshchik is a rank in the Russian military and is used in other uniformed services of the Russian government such as the Police. It was an officer rank in Imperial Russia and was restored in the 1970s as a separate career group between non-commissioned officers and officers. Praporshchik was originally an Ober-ofizer rank, in line to the Table of Ranks class XII/XIII in the military of the Russian Empire equivalent to an officer rank. The rank was abolished in 1917 by the Bolsheviks and restored in the 1970s in the former USSR for non-commissioned officers and it was first introduced in Streltsy New Regiments. The name originates from Slavonic prapor, meaning flag, the praporshchik was a flag-bearer in Kievan Rus troops. In the New Regiments of the Streltsy and the new army of Peter the Great, praporshchik was ranked as a officer of the lowest grade. By the 19th century, the rank was given to senior non-commissioned officers of the Russian army upon their retirement, from then on commissioned officers started service as Podporuchik. In spite of this, podpraporshchik was one of the NCO grades, originally below sergeant, from 1826 to 1884 it became the highest non-commissioned rank of the infantry, cavalry and the Leib Guard. From 1884 podpraporshchik ranked below the newly introduced NCO grade zauryad praporshchik, see further commentary on the rank at Carey Schofield, Inside the Soviet Army, Headline Book Publishing,1991, where long-service praporshchiks scrounging and repair skills were celebrated. Shoulder boards USSR and Russian Federation, Carey Schofields Inside the Soviet Army c.1990 provides a description of the place of the praporshchik within the Soviet military system. The praporshchik rank continues to be used in the armies of ex-Soviet states, Ministry of Defense on July 1, introduced a new staffing for the first time in five years there were special positions for warrant officers. This position generally divided into commander and technical, on December 1,2008, these positions were considered sergeant. State Secretary of the Ministry of Defense Nikolai Pankov, said that the positions warrant require special education, in the countries below spelling and position in the rank order are equivalent or almost similar. ⇒ Belarusian, Прапаршчык ⇒ Czech, Praporčík ⇒ Georgian, პრაპორშჩიკი ⇒ Kazakh, Прапорщик ⇒ Slovak, Práporčík ⇒ Slovene, Praporščak ⇒ Ukrainian, прапорщик, translit. Praporshchyk Countries with different rank designation Some member countries of the former Warsaw Pact followed the equivalent concept, Ranks and rank insignia of the Russian Federation´s armed forces 1994–2010 Ranks and rank insignia of the Soviet Army 1955–1991
19.
Colonel
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Colonel is a senior military officer rank below the general officer ranks. However, in small military forces, such as those of Iceland or the Vatican. It is also used in police forces and paramilitary organizations. Historically, in the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of a regiment in an army, the rank of colonel is typically above the rank of lieutenant colonel. The rank above colonel is typically called brigadier, brigade general or brigadier general, equivalent naval ranks may be called captain or ship-of-the-line captain. In the Commonwealth air force rank system, the equivalent rank is group captain, the word colonel derives from the same root as the word column and means of a column, and, by implication, commander of a column. The word colonel is therefore linked to the column in a similar way that brigadier is linked to brigade. By the end of the medieval period, a group of companies was referred to as a column of an army. Since the word is believed to derive from sixteenth-century Italian, it was presumably first used by Italian city states in that century. The first use of colonel as a rank in an army was in the French National Legions created by King Francis I by his decree of 1534. Building on the reforms of Louis XIIs decree of 1509. Each colonel commanded a legion with a strength of six thousand men. With the shift from primarily mercenary to primarily national armies in the course of the seventeenth century, the Spanish equivalent rank of coronel was used by the Spanish tercios in the 16th and 17th centuries. Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba, nicknamed the Great Captain, divided his armies in coronelías or colonelcies, however, the Spanish word probably derives from a different origin, in that it appears to designate an officer of the crown, rather than an officer of the column. This makes the Spanish word coronel probably cognate with the English word coroner and this regiment, or governance, was to some extent embodied in a contract and set of written rules, also referred to as the colonels regiment or standing regulation. By extension, the group of companies subject to a colonels regiment came to be referred to as his regiment as well, the position, however, was primarily contractual and it became progressively more of a functionless sinecure. By the late 19th century, colonel was a military rank though still held typically by an officer in command of a regiment or equivalent unit. As European military influence expanded throughout the world, the rank of colonel became adopted by every nation
20.
Szlachta
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The szlachta was a legally privileged noble class with origins in the Kingdom of Poland. It gained considerable institutional privileges between 1333 and 1370 during the reign of King Casimir III the Great, in 1413, following a series of tentative personal unions between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Crown Kingdom of Poland, the existing Lithuanian nobility formally joined this class. As the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth evolved and expanded in territory, its membership grew to include the leaders of Ducal Prussia, the origins of the szlachta are shrouded in obscurity and mystery and have been the subject of a variety of theories. Traditionally, its members were owners of landed property, often in the form of manor farms or so-called folwarks, the nobility negotiated substantial and increasing political and legal privileges for itself throughout its entire history until the decline of the Polish Commonwealth in the late 18th century. During the Partitions of Poland from 1772 to 1795, its members began to lose these legal privileges, the legal privileges of the szlachta were legally abolished in the Second Polish Republic by the March Constitution of 1921. The notion that all Polish nobles were social equals, regardless of their status or offices held, is enshrined in a traditional Polish saying. —which may roughly be rendered, The noble on the croft Is the voivodes equal, or the tenant farmer noble stands equal to the noble army commander. The term szlachta is derived from the Old High German word slahta, the Polish rycerz and the Polish herb. Poles of the 17th century assumed that szlachta came from the German schlachten, early Polish historians thought the term may have derived from the name of the legendary proto-Polish chief, Lech, mentioned in Polish and Czech writings. Some powerful Polish nobles were referred to as magnates and możny, see Magnates of Poland, the Polish term szlachta designated the formalized, hereditary noble class of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In official Latin documents of the old Commonwealth, hereditary szlachta are referred to as nobilitas and are indeed the equivalent in status of the English nobility. Today the word szlachta in the Polish language simply translates to nobility, in its broadest meaning, it can also denote some non-hereditary honorary knighthoods granted today by some European monarchs. Occasionally, 19th-century non-noble landowners were referred to as szlachta by courtesy or error, in the narrow sense, szlachta denotes the old-Commonwealth nobility. In the past, a misconception sometimes led to the mistranslation of szlachta as gentry rather than nobility. This mistaken practice began due to the status of some szlachta members being inferior to that of the nobility in other European countries. The szlachta included those almost rich and powerful enough to be magnates down to rascals with a lineage, no land, no castle, no money, no village. As some szlachta were poorer than some non-noble gentry, some particularly impoverished szlachta were forced to become tenants of the wealthier gentry. In doing so, however, these szlachta retained all their constitutional prerogatives, as it was not wealth or lifestyle, but hereditary juridical status, an individual nobleman was called a szlachcic, and a noblewoman a szlachcianka
21.
Mstsislaw
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Mstislaw or Mstislavl is a town in Mogilev Region, Eastern Belarus. It serves as the center of Mstsislaw Raion. As of 2009, its population was 10,804, Mstislavl was first mentioned in the Ipatiev Chronicle under 1156. It was initially included within the Principality of Smolensk, but had become the capital of the Principality of Mstislavl by 1180, in the Middle Ages, it was the family seat of Princes Mstislavsky. Pyotr Mstislavets is believed to have born in Mstislavl. In 1377 it was taken by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the first Lithuanian duke of Mstislavl was Karigaila, brother of Jogaila. The town remained part of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the Mścisław Voivodship until the Partitions of Poland in 1772, now it is a center of the district. The buildings of historic interest include the Carmelite church and the Jesuit cathedral, in 1939, there were 2,067 Jews living in Mstislavl which represented almost 20% of the local population. The German army occupied the town in July 1941, in early October, they killed 30 elderly Jews. On October 15,1941, together with the local police and it is the birthplace of Jewish historian and writer Simon Dubnow, Jewish statesman and Communist politician Yakov Chubin, and expressionist artist Abraham A. Manievich, among others. Photos on Radzima. org The murder of the Jews of Mstsislaw during World War II, at Yad Vashem website
22.
Ivan III of Russia
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Ivan III Vasilyevich, also known as Ivan the Great, was a Grand Prince of Moscow and Grand Prince of all Rus. He was one of the longest-reigning Russian rulers in history, Ivans rule is marked by what subsequent Russophile historians called the Gathering of the Russian Lands. Ivan brought the independent duchies of different Rurikid princes under the control of Moscow, leaving the princes. His first enterprise was a war with the Republic of Novgorod and these wars were waged over Moscows religious and political sovereignty, and over Moscows efforts to seize land in the Northern Dvina region. Ivan visited Novgorod Central several times in the several years, persecuting a number of pro-Lithuanian boyars. In 1477, two Novgorodian envoys, claiming to have been sent by the archbishops and the entire city, Ivan dispossessed Novgorod of more than four-fifths of its land, keeping half for himself and giving the other half to his allies. Subsequent revolts were punished by the en masse of the richest and most ancient families of Novgorod to Moscow, Vyatka. Archbishop Feofil was also removed to Moscow for plotting against the Grand Prince, the rival republic of Pskov owed the continuance of its own political existence to the readiness with which it assisted Ivan against its ancient enemy. The other principalities were eventually absorbed by conquest, purchase, or marriage contract, The Principality of Yaroslavl in 1463, Rostov in 1474, Tver in 1485, the eldest, Iurii, died childless on 12 September 1472. He only had a draft of a will that said nothing about his land, Ivan seized the land, much to the fury of the surviving brothers, who he placated with some land. Boris and Andrei the Elder signed treaties with Vasily in February and they agreed to protect each others land and not to have secret dealings with foreign states, they broke this clause in 1480, fleeing to Lithuania. It is unknown whether Andrei the Younger signed a treaty and he died in 1481, leaving his lands to Ivan. In 1491 Andrei the Elder was arrested by Ivan for refusing to aid the Crimean Tatars against the Golden Horde and he died in prison in 1493, and Ivan seized his land. In 1494 Boris, the only brother able to pass his land to his sons, however, their land reverted to the Tsar upon their deaths in 1503 and 1515 respectively. There was one semi-autonomous prince in Muscovy when Ivan acceded, Prince Mikhail Andreevich of Vereia, in 1478 he was pressured into giving Belozersk to Ivan, who got all of Mikhails land on his death in 1486. The character of the government of Moscow changed significantly under Ivan III and this was a natural consequence of the hegemony of Moscow over the other north-eastern Rus lands, but also to new imperial pretensions. Ivan himself appeared to welcome the idea, and he began to style himself tsar in foreign correspondence, fennell emphasizes Ivans success in centralizing control over local rulers, he adds, however, that his reign was also a period of cultural depression and spiritual barrenness. Freedom was stamped out within the Muscovite lands, by his bigoted anti-Catholicism Ivan brought down the curtain between Muscovy and the west
23.
Ivan Dmitriev
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Ivan Ivanovich Dmitriev was a Russian statesman and poet associated with the sentimentalist movement in Russian literature. Dmitriev was born at his fathers estate in the government of Simbirsk, in the matter of language he sided with Karamsin, and did good service by his own pen against the Old Slavonic party. His poems include songs, odes, satires, tales, epistles, several of his lyrics have become thoroughly popular from the readiness with which they can be sung, and a short dramatico-epic poem on Yermak, the Cossack conqueror of Siberia, is well known. His writings occupy three volumes in the first five editions, in the 6th there are only two and his memoirs, to which he devoted the last years of his life, were published at Moscow in 1866. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh
24.
Laurence Sterne
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Laurence Sterne was an Irish novelist and an Anglican clergyman. Sterne died in London after years of fighting consumption, Sterne was born in Clonmel, County Tipperary. His father, Roger Sterne, was an ensign in a British regiment recently returned from Dunkirk, within six months the family had returned to Yorkshire, and in July 1715 they moved back to Ireland, having decamped with Bag & Baggage for Dublin, in Sternes words. The first decade of Sternes life was spent moving from place to place as his father was reassigned throughout Ireland, during this period Sterne never lived in one place for more than a year. In addition to Clonmel and Dublin, his family lived in, among other places, Wicklow Town, Annamoe, Drogheda, Castlepollard. Sterne was admitted to a sizarship at Jesus College, Cambridge and his great-grandfather Richard Sterne had been the Master of the college as well as the Archbishop of York. Sterne graduated with a degree of Bachelor of Arts in January 1737, Sterne was ordained as a deacon in March 1737 and as a priest in August 1738. His religion is said to have been the centrist Anglicanism of his time, shortly thereafter Sterne was awarded the vicarship living of Sutton-on-the-Forest in Yorkshire. Sterne married Elizabeth Lumley in 1741, in 1743, he was presented to the neighbouring living of Stillington by Rev. Richard Levett, Prebendary of Stillington, who was patron of the living. Subsequently Sterne did duty both there and at Sutton and he was also a prebendary of York Minster. Sternes life at this time was tied with his uncle, Dr Jaques Sterne. Sternes uncle was an ardent Whig, and urged Sterne to begin a career of political journalism which resulted in some scandal for Sterne and, eventually, Jaques Sterne was a powerful clergyman but a mean-tempered man and a rabid politician. In 1741–42 Sterne wrote political articles supporting the administration of Sir Robert Walpole for a newspaper founded by his uncle and his uncle became his arch-enemy, thwarting his advancement whenever possible. In 1759, to support his dean in a squabble, Sterne wrote A Political Romance. At the demands of embarrassed churchmen, the book was burnt, having discovered his talent, at the age of 46, he turned over his parishes to a curate, and dedicated himself to writing for the rest of his life. Sterne was at work on his comic novel during the year that his mother died, his wife was seriously ill. He wrote as fast as he possibly could, composing the first 18 chapters between January and March 1759, an initial, sharply satiric version was rejected by Robert Dodsley, the London printer, just when Sternes personal life was upset. His mother and uncle both died and his wife had a nervous breakdown and threatened suicide
25.
A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy
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A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy is a novel by Laurence Sterne, written and first published in 1768, as Sterne was facing death. In 1765, Sterne travelled through France and Italy as far south as Naples, Sterne had met Smollett during his travels in Europe, and strongly objected to his spleen, acerbity and quarrelsomeness. He modeled the character of Smelfungus on him, the novel was extremely popular and influential and helped establish travel writing as the dominant genre of the second half of the 18th century. Throughout the 1770s female travel writers began publishing significant numbers of sentimental travel accounts, sentiment also became a favorite style among those expressing non-mainstream views including political radicalism. The narrator is the Reverend Mr. Yorick, who is represented to guileless readers as Sternes barely disguised alter ego. The book recounts his various adventures, usually of the amorous type, the book is less eccentric and more elegant in style than Tristram Shandy and was better received by contemporary critics. It was published on 27 February, and on 18 March Sterne died, Yoricks journey starts in Calais, where he meets a monk who begs for donations to his convent. Yorick initially refuses to him anything, but later regrets his decision. He and the monk exchange their snuff-boxes and he buys a chaise to continue his journey. The next town he visits is Montreuil, where he hires a servant to him on his journey. During his stay in Paris, Yorick is informed that the police inquired for his passport at his hotel, without a passport at a time when England is at war with France, he risks imprisonment in the Bastille. Yorick decides to travel to Versailles where he visits the Count de B**** to acquire a passport, when Yorick notices the count reads Hamlet, he points with his finger at Yoricks name, mentioning that he is Yorick. The count mistakes him for the kings jester and quickly procures him a passport, Yorick fails in his attempt to correct the count, and remains satisfied with receiving his passport so quickly. Yorick returns to Paris, and continues his voyage to Italy after staying in Paris for a few more days, along the way he decides to visit Maria—who was introduced in Sternes previous novel, Tristram Shandy—in Moulins. Marias mother tells Yorick that Maria has been struck with grief since her husband died, Yorick consoles Maria, and then leaves. After having passed Lyon during his journey, Yorick spends the night in a roadside inn, because there is only one bedroom, he is forced to share the room with a lady and her chamber-maid. When Yorick cant sleep and accidentally breaks his promise to remain silent during the night, during the confusion, Yorick accidentally grabs hold of something belonging to the chamber-maid. The last line is, when I stretchd out my hand I caught hold of the fille de chambres. End of vol II, the sentence is open to interpretation
26.
Ilya Muromets
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Ilya Muromets, or Ilya of Murom, sometimes Ilya Murometz, is a folk hero of Kievan Rus, a bogatyr and a character of many bylinas. In the legends he is featured alongside fellow bogatyrs Dobrynya Nikitich. Although Ilya Murometss adventures are mostly a matter of epic fiction, he is believed to have a prototype, a medieval warrior. Venerable Ilya Pechersky is beatified as a saint of the Orthodox Church. His relics are preserved in the Kiev Pechersk Lavra, according to legends, Ilya Muromets, the son of a farmer, was born in a village near Murom. He suffered an illness in his youth and was unable to walk until the age of 33. He could only lie on a Russian oven, until he was healed by two pilgrims. He was then given super-human strength by a knight, Svyatogor. Along the way he defended the city of Chernihiv from nomadic invasion and was offered knighthood by the local ruler. In the forests of Bryansk he then killed the forest-dwelling monster Nightingale the Robber, in Kiev, Ilya was made chief bogatyr by Prince Vladimir and he defended Rus from numerous attacks by the steppe people, including Kalin, the tsar of Golden Horde. Generous and simple-minded but also temperamental, Ilya once went on a rampage and he was soon appeased when Vladimir sent for him. It is generally believed that Murometss prototype was Venerable Ilya Pechersky, according to hagiography, before taking his monastic vows Ilya was a warrior famous for his strength. His nickname was Chobotok, Old East Slavic for boot, given to him after an incident when Ilya, caught by surprise, in 1988, Soviet archeologists exhumed Ilya Chobotoks remains, stored in Kiev Pechersk Lavra, and studied them. He is the epic hero canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church. Thus, Ilya supposedly served Prince Vladimir of Kiev, he fought Batu Khan, the founder of Golden Horde, he saved Constantine the God-Loving, catterino Cavoss 1807 opera Ilya Bogatyr Viktor Vasnetsovs 1898 painting Bogatyrs. Nicholas Roerichs 1910 painting Ilya Muromets Reinhold Glières 1911 Symphony No.3 in B minor, Viktor Vasnetsovs 1914 painting Ilya Muromets. Aleksandr Ptushkos 1956 film Ilya Muromets, konstantin Vasilyevs 1974 and 1977 paintings. Liz Williams Nine Layers of Sky writes an account of Ilya
27.
Gavrila Derzhavin
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Gavrila Romanovich Derzhavin was one of the most highly esteemed Russian poets before Alexander Pushkin, as well as a statesman. Although his works are considered literary classicism, his best verse is rich with antitheses and conflicting sounds in a way reminiscent of John Donne. His distant ancestor Morza Bagrim, who relocated from the Great Horde in the 15th century to Moscow, was baptized, nevertheless, by the 18th century Derzhavins father was just a poor country squire who died when Gavrila was still young. He received a formal education at the gymnasium there but left for Petersburg as a private in the guards. There he rose from the ranks as a soldier to the highest offices of state under Catherine the Great. He first impressed his commanders during Pugachevs Rebellion, politically astute, his career advanced when he left the military service for civil service. He rose to the position of governor of Olonets and Tambov, personal secretary to the Empress, President of the College of Commerce, and finally the Minister of Justice. He was dismissed from his post in 1803 and spent much of the rest of his life in the estate at Zvanka near Novgorod, writing idylls. At his Saint Petersburg house, he held meetings of the conservative Lovers of the Russian Word society. He died in 1816 and was buried in the Khutyn Monastery near Zvanka, reburied by the Soviets in the Novgorod Kremlin, Derzhavin is best remembered for his odes, dedicated to the Empress and other courtiers. He paid little attention to the system of genres, and many a time would fill an ode with elegiac, humorous. In his grand ode to the Empress, for instance, he mentions searching for fleas in his wifes hair, unlike other Classicist poets, Derzhavin found delight in carefully chosen details, such as a colour of wallpaper in his bedroom or a poetic inventory of his daily meal. He believed that French was a language of harmony but that Russian was a language of conflict, although he relished harmonious alliterations, sometimes he deliberately instrumented his verse with cacophonous effect. He also provided lyrics for the first Russian national anthem, Let the thunder of victory sound, in 1800, Derzhavin wrote the political work Opinion, an anti-Semitic tract in response to a request by Emperor Paul I to investigate recent famines in Belorussia. According to D. S. Mirsky, Derzhavins poetry is a universe of amazing richness, its only drawback was that the great poet was of no use either as a master or as an example. He did nothing to raise the level of taste or to improve the literary language. Nevertheless, Nikolai Nekrasov professed to follow Derzhavin rather than Pushkin, gde stol byl yastv, tam grob stoit Im a czar - Im a slave - Im a worm - Im a god …Heart of a lion, wings of an eagle Are no longer with us. The current of Times river Will carry off all human deeds And sink into oblivion All peoples, kingdoms, and if theres something that remains Through sounds of horn and lyre, It too will disappear into the maw of time And not avoid the common pyre
28.
Alexander Pushkin
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Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin was a Russian poet, playwright, and novelist of the Romantic era who is considered by many to be the greatest Russian poet and the founder of modern Russian literature. Pushkin was born into Russian nobility in Moscow and his matrilineal great-grandfather was Abram Petrovich Gannibal, who was kidnapped from Eritrea and raised in the household of Peter the Great. Pushkin published his first poem at the age of fifteen, and was recognized by the literary establishment by the time of his graduation from the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum. While under the surveillance of the Tsars political police and unable to publish, Pushkin wrote his most famous play. His novel in verse, Eugene Onegin, was serialized between 1825 and 1832, Pushkins father, Sergei Lvovich Pushkin, was descended from a distinguished family of the Russian nobility that traced its ancestry back to the 12th century. Pushkins mother, Nadezhda Ossipovna Gannibal, was descended through her grandmother from German and Scandinavian nobility. She was the daughter of Ossip Abramovich Gannibal and his wife, Abram wrote in a letter to Empress Elizabeth, Peter the Greats daughter, that Gannibal was from the town of Lagon. Largely on the basis of a biography by Gannibals son-in-law Rotkirkh. Vladimir Nabokov, when researching Eugene Onegin, cast serious doubt on this origin theory, after education in France as a military engineer, Gannibal became governor of Reval and eventually Général en Chef in charge of the building of sea forts and canals in Russia. Born in Moscow, Pushkin published his first poem at the age of fifteen, after school, Pushkin plunged into the vibrant and raucous intellectual youth culture of the capital, Saint Petersburg. In 1820 he published his first long poem, Ruslan and Ludmila, amidst much controversy about its subject, Pushkin gradually became committed to social reform and emerged as a spokesman for literary radicals. This angered the government, and led to his transfer from the capital in May 1820 and he went to the Caucasus and to Crimea, then to Kamianka and Chișinău, where he became a Freemason. Here he joined the Filiki Eteria, an organization whose purpose was to overthrow Ottoman rule in Greece. He was inspired by the Greek Revolution and when the war against the Ottoman Turks broke out he kept a recording the events of the great national uprising. He stayed in Chișinău until 1823 and wrote two Romantic poems which brought him acclaim, The Captive of the Caucasus and The Fountain of Bakhchisaray. In 1823 Pushkin moved to Odessa, where he clashed with the government. In Mikhaylovskoye, Pushkin wrote nostalgic love poems which he dedicated to Elizaveta Vorontsova, then Pushkin continued work on his verse-novel Eugene Onegin. In Mikhaylovskoye, in 1825, Pushkin wrote the poem To*** and it is generally believed that he dedicated this poem to Anna Kern, but there are other opinions
29.
Vladimir Nabokov
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Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov was a Russian-American novelist and entomologist. His first nine novels were in Russian, and he achieved prominence after he began writing English prose. He was a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction seven times, Nabokov was an expert lepidopterist and composer of chess problems. Nabokov was born on 22 April 1899, in Saint Petersburg, b to a wealthy and his father was a leader of the pre-Revolutionary liberal Constitutional Democratic Party and authored numerous books and articles about criminal law and politics. His cousins included the composer Nicolas Nabokov and his paternal grandfather, Dmitry Nabokov, had been Russias Justice Minister in the reign of Alexander II. His paternal grandmother was the Baltic German Baroness Maria von Korff, Vladimir was the familys eldest and favorite child, with four younger siblings, Sergey, Olga, Elena and Kiril. Sergey would be killed in a Nazi concentration camp in 1945, Olga is recalled by Ayn Rand as having been a supporter of constitutional monarchy who had first awakened Rands interest in politics. Nabokov spent his childhood and youth in Saint Petersburg and at the country estate Vyra near Siverskaya and his childhood, which he had called perfect and cosmopolitan, was remarkable in several ways. The family spoke Russian, English, and French in their household and he relates that the first English book his mother read to him was Misunderstood by Florence Montgomery. In fact, much to his fathers chagrin, Nabokov could read. While the family was nominally Orthodox, they felt no religious fervor, Nabokovs adolescence was also the period in which his first serious literary endeavors were made. In 1916, Nabokov had his first collection of published, Stikhi. At the time, Nabokov was attending Tenishev school in Saint Petersburg and they lived at a friends estate and in September 1918 moved to Livadiya, at the time part of the Ukrainian Republic, Nabokovs father became a minister of justice in the Crimean Regional Government. After the withdrawal of the German Army and the defeat of the White Army and they settled briefly in England and Vladimir enrolled in Trinity College, Cambridge, first studying zoology, then Slavic and Romance languages. His examination results on the first part of the Tripos, taken at the end of year, were a starred first. He sat the second part of the exam in his third year, Nabokov feared that he might fail the exam, but his script was marked second-class. His final examination result was second-class, and his BA conferred in 1922, Nabokov later drew on his Cambridge experiences to write several works, including the novels Glory and The Real Life of Sebastian Knight. In 1920, Nabokovs family moved to Berlin, where his set up the émigré newspaper Rul. Nabokov followed them to Berlin two years later, after completing his studies at Cambridge
30.
Alexander I of Russia
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Alexander I reigned as Emperor of Russia from 23 March 1801 to 1 December 1825. He was the son of Paul I and Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg, Alexander was the first Russian King of Poland, reigning from 1815 to 1825, as well as the first Russian Grand Duke of Finland. He was sometimes called Alexander the Blessed and he was born in Saint Petersburg to Grand Duke Paul Petrovich, later Emperor Paul I, and succeeded to the throne after his father was murdered. He ruled Russia during the period of the Napoleonic Wars. As prince and emperor, Alexander often used liberal rhetoric, in the first years of his reign, he initiated some minor social reforms and major, liberal educational reforms, such as building more universities. He promised constitutional reforms and a desperately needed reform of serfdom in Russia, Alexander appointed Mikhail Speransky, the son of a village priest, as one of his closest advisors. The Collegia was abolished and replaced by the The State Council, plans were also made to set up a parliament and sign a constitution. In foreign policy, he changed Russias position relative to France four times between 1804 and 1812 among neutrality, opposition, and alliance and he fought a small-scale naval war against Britain between 1807 and 1812. He and Napoleon could never agree, especially about Poland, the tsars greatest triumph came in 1812 as Napoleons invasion of Russia proved a total disaster for the French. As part of the coalition against Napoleon he gained some spoils in Finland and Poland. He formed the Holy Alliance to suppress revolutionary movements in Europe that he saw as threats to legitimate Christian monarchs. He helped Austrias Klemens von Metternich in suppressing all national and liberal movements, in the second half of his reign he was increasingly arbitrary, reactionary and fearful of plots against him, he ended many earlier reforms. He purged schools of teachers, as education became more religiously oriented as well as politically conservative. Speransky was replaced as advisor with the artillery inspector Aleksey Arakcheyev. Alexander died of typhus in December 1825 while on a trip to southern Russia and he left no children as heirs and both of his brothers wanted the other to become emperor. After a period of confusion that included the failed Decembrist revolt of liberal army officers, he was succeeded by his younger brother. Alexander and his younger brother Constantine were raised by their grandmother, some sources allege that she planned to remove her son Paul I from the succession altogether. From the free-thinking atmosphere of the court of Catherine and his Swiss tutor, Frédéric-César de La Harpe, but from his military governor, Nikolay Saltykov, he imbibed the traditions of Russian autocracy
31.
Tver
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Tver is a city and the administrative center of Tver Oblast, Russia. It is situated at the confluence of the Volga and Tvertsa Rivers, the city was known as Kalinin from 1931 to 1990. Tver’s foundation year is accepted to be 1135, although there is no universal agreement on this date. Originally a minor settlement of Novgorodian traders, it passed to the Grand Prince of Vladimir in 1209, in 1246, Alexander Nevsky granted it to his younger brother Yaroslav Yaroslavich, from whom a dynasty of local princes descended. Four of them were killed by the Golden Horde and were proclaimed saints by the Russian Orthodox church, formerly a land of woods and bogs, the Principality of Tver was quickly transformed into one of the richest and most populous Russian states. As the area was accessible for Tatar raids, there was a great influx of population from the recently devastated south. By the end of the century, it was ready to vie with Moscow for supremacy in Russia, both Tver and Moscow were young cities, so the outcome of their rivalry was far from being certain. Mikhail, the Grand Prince of Tver, who ascended the throne of Vladimir in 1305, was one of the most beloved of medieval Russian rulers and his policy of open conflict with the Golden Horde led to his assassination there in 1318. His son Dmitry the Terrible Eyes succeeded him, and, concluding an alliance with the mighty Grand Duchy of Lithuania, exasperated by Dmitrys influence, Prince Ivan Kalita of the Grand Duchy of Moscow engineered his murder by the Mongols in 1326. On hearing the news of crime, the city revolted against the Horde. The Horde joined its forces with Muscovites and brutally repressed the rebellion, many citizens were killed, enslaved or deported. This was the blow to Tver’s aspirations for supremacy in Russia. In the second half of the 14th century, Tver was further weakened by struggles between its princes. Two senior branches of the house, those of Kashin and Kholmsky. The claimers were backed up by Moscow and eventually settled at the Moscow Kremlin court, during the Great Feudal War in the Grand Duchy of Moscow, Tver once again rose to prominence and concluded defensive alliances with Lithuania, Novgorod, Byzantium, and the Golden Horde. Grand Prince Boris of Tver sent one of his men, Afanasy Nikitin, to search for gold, nikitin’s travelogue, describing his journey from 1466 to 1472, is probably the first ever firsthand account of India by a European. A monument to Nikitin was opened on the Volga embankment in 1955, at last, on September 12,1485, the forces of Ivan the Great seized the city. The principality was given as an appanage to Ivan’s grandson, only to be abolished several decades later, last scions of the ruling dynasty were executed by Ivan the Terrible during the Oprichnina
32.
Tsarskoye Selo
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Tsarskoye Selo was the town containing a former Russian residence of the imperial family and visiting nobility, located 24 kilometers south from the center of Saint Petersburg. It is now part of the town of Pushkin, Tsarskoye Selo forms one of the World Heritage Site Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments. During the Soviet times it was known as Detskoye Selo, in the 17th century, the estate belonged to a Swedish noble. Its original Finnish name is translated as a higher ground. Max Vasmer, on the hand, derives this toponym from the Finnish word for island, saari. By the 18th-century at the latest, it was called Tsarskoye Selo, in 1708, Peter the Great gave the estate to his wife, the future Empress Catherine I, as a present. She founded the Blagoveschensky church there in 1724, and changed the name of the settlement to Blagoveschenskoye and it was Catherine I who started to develop the place as a royal country residence. Her daughter, Empress Elizabeth and her architect Bartolomeo Rastrelli were largely responsible for the building of the Catherine Palace, later Empress Catherine II of Russia and her architect Charles Cameron extended the palace building that is now known as the Cameron Gallery. Currently, there are two palaces, the baroque Catherine Palace with the adjacent Catherine Park and the neoclassical Alexander Palace with the adjacent Alexander Park. The landscape Alexander Park has several Chinoiserie structures, notably the Chinese Village, by the end of the 18th century, Tsarskoye Selo became a popular place of summer residence among the nobility. The guards regiments were stationed to the south of Tsarskoye Selo, the five-domed neoclassical Ascension Cathedral, designed by Cameron, is the chief monument of that area. The Royal Forestry School, perhaps the first such school in Russia, was founded in Tsarskoye Selo in 1803, it was moved to Saint Petersburg in 1811, in 1808, Sophia and Tsarskoye Selo merged and became one town. In 1811, Alexander I opened the celebrated Lyceum next door to the Catherine Palace, among the first students of the Lyceum who graduated in 1817 were Aleksandr Pushkin and Alexander Gorchakov. Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin also graduated from the Lyceum, the literary traditions of Tsarskoye Selo were continued in the 20th century by such notable poets as Anna Akhmatova and Innokenty Annensky. The town escaped the 19th century industrialization, although it was between Tsarskoye Selo and St. Petersburg that the first Russian railway was built in 1837 and it was also known for its powerful government radio station that was set up here in 1917. In the spring of 1917, Emperor Nicholas II was held under arrest in his favourite residence, the Alexander Palace. In 1918, Tsarskoye Selo was renamed by the Bolsheviks into Detskoye Selo and in 1937 it was renamed again to the town of Pushkin, thus commemorating the centenary of the poets death. On September 17,1941, the Germans occupied the town of Pushkin, destroying and plundering many historical monuments, buildings and other cultural artifacts, the Red Army liberated the town on January 24,1944
33.
Michael I of Russia
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Michael I of Russia became the first Russian Tsar of the house of Romanov after the zemskiy sobor of 1613 elected him to rule the Tsardom of Russia. He was the son of Feodor Nikitich Romanov and of Xenia and he was also a nephew of Feodor I through his aunt Anastasia Romanovna and through marriage with Tsar Ivan IV of Russia. His accession marked the end of the Time of Troubles of 1598-1613, michaels grandfather, Nikita, was brother to the earlier Tsarina Anastasia and a central advisor to Ivan the Terrible. As a young boy, Michael and his mother had been exiled to Beloozero in 1600 and this was a result of the recently elected Tsar Boris Godunov, in 1598, falsely accusing his father, Feodor, of treason. This may have been partly because Feodor had married Ksenia Shestova against Boris wishes and he had been chosen after several other options had been removed, including royalty of Poland and Sweden. Initially, Martha protested, believing and stating that her son was too young and tender for so difficult an office, and in such a troublesome time. Michaels election and accession to the form the basis of the Ivan Susanin legend. He was crowned on 22 July 1613, the first task of the new tsar was to clear the land of the countries occupying it. Sweden and Poland were then dealt with respectively by the peace of Stolbovo, Tsar Michael suffered from a progressive leg injury, which resulted in his not being able to walk towards the end of his life. He was a gentle and pious prince who gave trouble to anyone. Sometimes they were relatively honest and capable men like his father, sometimes they were corrupted and bigoted and he was married off to Princess Maria Vladimirovna Dolgorukova in 1624, but she became ill, and died in early 1625, only four months after the marriage. In 1626, he married Eudoxia Streshneva, who bore him 10 children, of whom four reached adulthood, the future Tsar Alexis and the Tsarevnas Irina, Anna, the two government offices that were most important politically were Posolsky Prikaz and Razryadny Prikaz. Those offices could be pivotal in struggles between Boyar factions, so they were traditionally headed not by Boyars but by dyak, the first head of the Posolsky Prikaz under Michael was Pyotr Tretyakov until his death in 1618, he conducted policy of allying with Sweden against Poland. The next one, Ivan Gramotin had a reputation of a Poloniphile, in mid-20s Filaret began preparations for war with Poland, Gramotin fell in his disfavour and was fired and exiled in 1626. The same fate was shared by Efim Telepnev in 1630 and Fedor Likhachov in 1631 - they too tried to soothe Filarets belligerent approach, Ivan Gryazev, appointed in 1632, was promoted from second ranks of bureaucracy to fulfill Filarets orders. After Filarets and Gryazevs deaths the post was again assumed by Gramotin in 1634. Razryadny Prikaz was first headed by Sydavny Vasilyev, Filaret replaced him by his fellow in captivity Tomilo Lugovskoy, but the latter somehow caused Filarets anger and was exiled. In 1623 Fedor Likhachov was made head of Prikaz till his shift to Posolsky Prikaz, and in 1630 Razryad was given to Ivan Gavrenev, three other strategic offices were Streletsky Prikaz, Treasury, and Aptekarsky Prikaz
34.
Tauride Palace
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Tauride Palace is one of the largest and most historic palaces in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Prince Grigory Potemkin of Tauride commissioned his architect, Ivan Starov. Starovs design called for a park and harbour in front of the palace. Building work began in 1783 and lasted for six years, considered the grandest noblemans residence of 18th-century Russia, Tauride Palace served as a model for innumerable manors scattered across the Russian Empire. Shortly before his death, on 28 April 1791, Potemkin used the palace to host unprecedented festivities, the ball was described by Gavrila Derzhavin in the longest of his compositions. Notwithstanding all the expenses, Potemkin failed in his ambition and departed for Iaşi in despair, after the owners death several months later, Catherine II purchased his palace and ordered architect Fyodor Volkov to transform it into her summer townhouse. Volkov was responsible for improvements in the grounds, including the construction of the theatre in the east wing. In the garden, he designed the Admiralty Pavilion, gardener house, orangery, glass-houses, bridges, the sculpture named the Venus Tauride was kept in the palace from the end of the eighteenth century until the mid-nineteenth, and derives its name from it. The exterior appearance of the palace was rather plain and contrasted sharply with the riotous luxuriance of its interiors, the domed hall, one of the largest in Russia, was connected by a 75-meter-long columned gallery with a winter garden. In the 19th century, the palace was refurbished by Carlo Rossi and it had been used to host balls and exhibitions until 1906, when it was transformed into the seat of the first Russian parliament, the Imperial State Duma. Immediately after the February Revolution of 1917, Tauride Palace housed the Russian Provisional Government, the abortive Russian Constituent Assembly held its meetings there in 1918. In May 1918 Bolsheviks held here their 7th Congress, where they first named themselves the Russian Communist Party, in 1920-91 the Tauride Palace was used for the High Party School. Since the 1990s, Tauride Palace has been home to the Interparliamentary Assembly of Member Nations of the Commonwealth of Independent States, on this account, a large glass-covered annex was erected immediately behind the palace, in the Tauride Gardens. Media related to Tauride Palace at Wikimedia Commons Tauride Palace in Encyclopaedia of St. Petersburg Official website
35.
Yo (Cyrillic)
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Yo is a letter of the Cyrillic script. In Unicode, the letter ⟨Ё⟩ is named CYRILLIC CAPITAL/SMALL LETTER IO, in English, the letter Yo is romanized using the Latin ë, ë or yo for Russian, and as i͡o, yo, or ë for Belarusian. In international systems, Yo is romanized as ë and it was derived from the Greek letter Epsilon. This section describes the pronunciation in Russian, other languages may have subtle differences. The letter ⟨ё⟩ is always in a stressed syllable and it is a so-called iotated vowel. In initial or post-vocalic position, it represents the sounds /jo/, the same applies if any of ⟨ъ⟩, ⟨ь⟩ precede ⟨ё⟩. The letter ⟨ё⟩ also indicates the phoneme /o/ together with palatalization of the preceding consonant, no /j/ sound occurs between the consonant and the vowel in this case. Exact pronunciation of the sound of ⟨ё⟩ can vary because of allophony in Slavic languages. In Russian, it is pronounced, with a similar to bird in New Zealand or South African English. Yo was first used in Russian, but its status in language is now ambiguous. Yo occurs as a letter in the Cyrillic alphabets of Belarusian, Rusyn, Mongolian and many Caucasian. The letter Yo is the letter of the alphabet, but although it indicates a distinct sound from Ye, it is often treated as the same letter for alphabetisation. In the dictionary, ёж comes after едок and before ездить, ⟨Ё⟩ represents the phoneme /o/ after /j/ or a soft consonant, and it should always be stressed. It alternates with ⟨е⟩, written in non-stressed positions, in modern Russian, the reflex of Common Slavonic /e/ under stress and following a palatalized consonant but not preceding a palatalized consonant is /o/. Compare, for example, Russian моё moyo and Polish/Czech/Slovak/Serbo-Croatian/Slovenian moje, however, since the sound change took place after the introduction of writing, the letter ⟨е⟩ continued to be written in that position. It was not until the 18th century that efforts were made to represent the sound in writing, the letter ⟨ё⟩ was first used in print in 1795 by the poet Ivan Dmitriev. It was used by influential writers as Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin and Gavrila Derzhavin. The diaeresis ◌̈ does not appear any other letter in Russian
36.
Yu (Cyrillic)
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Yu is a letter of the Cyrillic script used in East Slavic and Bulgarian alphabets. In English, Yu is commonly romanized as ⟨yu⟩, in turn, ⟨ю⟩ is used, where is available, in transcriptions of English letter ⟨u⟩, and also of the ⟨ew⟩ digraph. The sound, like ⟨u⟩ in French and ⟨ü⟩ in German and it is a so-called iotated vowel, pronounced in isolation as /ju/, like the pronunciation of ⟨you⟩ in youth. After a consonant, no sound is pronounced, but the consonant is softened. The exact pronunciation of the sound of ⟨ю⟩, in Russian depends also on the succeeding sound because of allophony. Before a soft consonant, it is, the close central rounded vowel, if a hard consonant ⟨ю⟩ or nothing or at the end of a word, the result is a back vowel, as in Lewis. Apart from the form I-O, in early Slavonic manuscripts the letter appears also in a mirrored form O-I and it is the latter form that is probably the original, precisely displaying the Greek combination omicron-iota. At the time that the Greek alphabet was adapted to the Slavonic language giving rise to the Cyrillic alphabet, it denoted the close front rounded vowel /y/ in educated Greek speech. This digraphic representation of /y/ was so basic for speakers of Greek that the letter upsilon representing the same sound came to be called υ ψιλόν simple υ in contrast to complex οι. The close front rounded vowel does not appear in East Slavic, there was another way for it to lead to the modern form. By the analogy to several iotated letters Ѥ, ІА, Ѩ and Ѭ, also, the iotified big Yus ⟨Ѭ⟩ merged itself to ⟨ю⟩ in East Slavic languages
37.
Ye (Cyrillic)
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Ye is a letter of the Cyrillic script. In some languages this letter is called E and it commonly represents the vowel or, like the pronunciation of ⟨e⟩ in yes. Ye is romanized using the Latin letter E and it was derived from the Greek letter epsilon. At the beginning of a word or after a vowel, Ye represents the phonemic combination /je/, following a consonant, Ye indicates that the consonant is palatalized, and represents the vowel /e/, like the pronunciation of ⟨e⟩ in yes. Ukrainian uses the letter Ukrainian Ye in this way, in Russian, the letter ⟨е⟩ can follow unpalatalized consonants, especially ⟨ж⟩, ⟨ш⟩, and ⟨ц⟩. In some loanwords, other consonants before ⟨е⟩ are also not palatalized, the letter ⟨е⟩ also represents /jo/ and /o/ after palatalized consonants, ⟨ж⟩, and ⟨ш⟩. In these cases, ⟨ё⟩ may be used, see Yo, in unstressed syllables, ⟨e⟩ represents reduced vowels like, see Russian phonology and Vowel reduction in Russian. This letter is called E, and represents the vowel phoneme /e/, like the pronunciation of ⟨e⟩ in the word set
38.
Vasily Tatishchev
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Vasily Nikitich Tatishchev was a prominent Russian statesman, and ethnographer, best remembered as the author of the first full-scale Russian history. Throughout this work, he advocates his favourite idea that autocracy is the form of government for Russia. A male-line descendant of the 9th-century prince Rurik, Tatischev was born near Pskov on April 19,1686, having graduated from the Engineering school in Moscow, he took part in the 1700-1721 Great Northern War with Sweden. He was entrusted by Anna with an office of the management of Ural factories. At that post he founded the cities of Perm and Yekaterinburg, a monument to him was opened in Perm in 2003. During the Bashkir War of 1735-40 he was in command of Siberian operations from the winter of 1736-37 and he was removed from command after March 1739, nominally on charges of corruption, but mainly because he had made too many enemies. Tatischev finished his career as a governor of Astrakhan. He died at the Boldino estate near Moscow on July 15,1750, having retired from active service, the elderly statesman dedicated himself to scholarly pursuits. Feeling that the Russian historiography had been neglected, he discovered and published several legal monuments of great interest, e. g. Russkaya Pravda and Sudebnik of 1550. His magnum opus was the first sketch of Russian history, entitled Russian History Dating Back to the Most Ancient Times and he also compiled the first encyclopedic dictionary of the Russian language. The scientific merits of Tatischevs work were disputed even in the 18th century and it is also true that he could never tell a genuine work from a fake, and some incidents inserted in his history could have been products of his own fancy. Only recently some prominent historians have demonstrated that Tatischevs lost sources may actually be relied on, a settlement and a district in Saratov Oblast are named after Tatishchev. There are monuments to Tatishchev in Perm and Yekaterinburg and in 1998 a large statue of Tatishchev was estasblished in Tolyatti. Popov N. Tatischev and His Time, deutch G. M. Vasily Nikitich Tatischev. Peshtich S. L. Russian historiography of the 18th century, ideas Socioeconómicas en la Rusia de los Siglos XVIII y XIX, Editorial Progreso, pp. 34-37, URRSS, Moscú,1990. Russian biography with a portrait Tatischevs views on history History of Perm
39.
Walter Scott
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Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet, FRSE was a Scottish historical novelist, playwright and poet. Many of his works remain classics of both English-language literature and of Scottish literature, famous titles include Ivanhoe, Rob Roy, Old Mortality, The Lady of the Lake, Waverley, The Heart of Midlothian and The Bride of Lammermoor. A prominent member of the Tory establishment in Edinburgh, Scott was an member of the Highland Society. He survived a bout of polio in 1773 that left him lame. To cure his lameness he was sent in 1773 to live in the rural Scottish Borders at his grandparents farm at Sandyknowe, adjacent to the ruin of Smailholm Tower. Here he was taught to read by his aunt Jenny, and learned from her the speech patterns and many of the tales and legends that characterised much of his work. In January 1775 he returned to Edinburgh, and that went with his aunt Jenny to take spa treatment at Bath in England. In the winter of 1776 he went back to Sandyknowe, with another attempt at a cure at Prestonpans during the following summer. In 1778, Scott returned to Edinburgh for private education to him for school. In October 1779 he began at the Royal High School of Edinburgh and he was now well able to walk and explore the city and the surrounding countryside. His reading included chivalric romances, poems, history and travel books and he was given private tuition by James Mitchell in arithmetic and writing, and learned from him the history of the Church of Scotland with emphasis on the Covenanters. Scott began studying classics at the University of Edinburgh in November 1783, at the age of 12, in March 1786 he began an apprenticeship in his fathers office to become a Writer to the Signet. While at the university Scott had become a friend of Adam Ferguson, Scott met the blind poet Thomas Blacklock, who lent him books and introduced him to James Macphersons Ossian cycle of poems. During the winter of 1786–87 the 15-year-old Scott saw Robert Burns at one of these salons, for what was to be their only meeting. When Burns noticed a print illustrating the poem The Justice of the Peace and asked who had written the poem, only Scott knew that it was by John Langhorne, and was thanked by Burns. When it was decided that he would become a lawyer, he returned to the university to study law, first taking classes in Moral Philosophy, after completing his studies in law, he became a lawyer in Edinburgh. As a lawyers clerk he made his first visit to the Scottish Highlands directing an eviction and he was admitted to the Faculty of Advocates in 1792. He had an unsuccessful love suit with Williamina Belsches of Fettercairn, as a boy, youth and young man, Scott was fascinated by the oral traditions of the Scottish Borders
40.
Peter the Great
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Peter the Great, Peter I or Peter Alexeyevich ruled the Tsardom of Russia and later the Russian Empire from 7 May 1682 until his death, jointly ruling before 1696 with his elder half-brother, Ivan V. Through a number of successful wars he expanded the Tsardom into a larger empire that became a major European power. He led a revolution that replaced some of the traditionalist and medieval social and political systems with ones that were modern, scientific, westernized. Peters reforms made an impact on Russia and many institutions of Russian government trace their origins to his reign. From an early age, Peters education was put in the hands of tutors, most notably Nikita Zotov, Patrick Gordon. On 29 January 1676, Tsar Alexis died, leaving the sovereignty to Peters elder half-brother and this position changed when Feodor died in 1682. As Feodor did not leave any children, a dispute arose between the Miloslavsky family and Naryshkin family over who should inherit the throne, Peters other half-brother, Ivan V, was next in line for the throne, but he was chronically ill and of infirm mind. Consequently, the Boyar Duma chose the 10-year-old Peter to become Tsar with his mother as regent and this arrangement was brought before the people of Moscow, as ancient tradition demanded, and was ratified. Sophia Alekseyevna, one of Alexis daughters from his first marriage, in the subsequent conflict some of Peters relatives and friends were murdered, including Matveev, and Peter witnessed some of these acts of political violence. The Streltsy made it possible for Sophia, the Miloslavskys and their allies, to insist that Peter and Ivan be proclaimed joint Tsars, Sophia acted as regent during the minority of the sovereigns and exercised all power. For seven years, she ruled as an autocrat, a large hole was cut in the back of the dual-seated throne used by Ivan and Peter. Sophia would sit behind the throne and listen as Peter conversed with nobles, while feeding him information and giving him responses to questions and this throne can be seen in the Kremlin Armoury in Moscow. Peter was not particularly concerned that others ruled in his name and he engaged in such pastimes as shipbuilding and sailing, as well as mock battles with his toy army. Peters mother sought to force him to adopt a conventional approach. The marriage was a failure, and ten years later Peter forced his wife to become a nun, by the summer of 1689, Peter planned to take power from his half-sister Sophia, whose position had been weakened by two unsuccessful Crimean campaigns. When she learned of his designs, Sophia conspired with the leaders of the Streltsy, Sophia was eventually overthrown, with Peter I and Ivan V continuing to act as co-tsars. Peter forced Sophia to enter a convent, where she gave up her name, still, Peter could not acquire actual control over Russian affairs. Power was instead exercised by his mother, Natalya Naryshkina and it was only when Nataliya died in 1694 that Peter became an independent sovereign
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Ivan the Terrible
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Ivan IV Vasilyevich, commonly known as Ivan the Terrible or Ivan the Fearsome, was the Grand Prince of Moscow from 1533 to 1547, then Tsar of All the Russias until his death in 1584. The last title was used by all his successors, during his reign, Russia conquered the Khanates of Kazan, Astrakhan and Sibir, becoming a multiethnic and multicontinental state spanning approximately 4,050,000 km2. Ivan exercised autocratic control over Russias hereditary nobility and developed a bureaucracy to administer his new territories and he transformed Russia from a medieval state into an empire, though at immense cost to its people, and its broader, long-term economy. In one such outburst, he killed his son and heir Ivan Ivanovich and this left his younger son, the pious but politically ineffectual Feodor Ivanovich, to inherit the throne. Ivan was a diplomat, a patron of arts and trade. He was popular among Russias commoners, except possibly the people of Novgorod and surrounding areas, the English word terrible is usually used to translate the Russian word grozny in Ivans nickname, but this is a somewhat archaic translation. The Russian word grozny reflects the older English usage of terrible as in inspiring fear or terror, dangerous, powerful and it does not convey the more modern connotations of English terrible, such as defective or evil. Vladimir Dal defines grozny specifically in archaic usage and as an epithet for tsars, courageous, magnificent, magisterial and keeping enemies in fear, other translations have also been suggested by modern scholars. Ivan was the first son of Vasili III and his wife, Elena Glinskaya. When Ivan was three years old, his father died from an abscess and inflammation on his leg that developed into blood poisoning, Ivan was proclaimed the Grand Prince of Moscow at the request of his father. His mother Elena Glinskaya initially acted as regent, but she died of what many believe to be assassination by poison, the regency then alternated between several feuding boyar families fighting for control. According to his own letters, Ivan, along with his younger brother Yuri, on 16 January 1547, at age sixteen, Ivan was crowned with Monomakhs Cap at the Cathedral of the Dormition. He was the first to be crowned as Tsar of All the Russias, prior to that, rulers of Muscovy were crowned as Grand Princes, although Ivan III the Great, his grandfather, styled himself tsar in his correspondence. Two weeks after his coronation, Ivan married his first wife Anastasia Romanovna, a member of the Romanov family, who became the first Russian tsaritsa. By being crowned Tsar, Ivan was sending a message to the world and to Russia, he was now the one and only ruler of the country. The new title symbolized an assumption of powers equivalent and parallel to those held by former Byzantine Emperor, the political effect was to elevate Ivans position. The new title not only secured the throne, but it also granted Ivan a new dimension of power and he was now a divine leader appointed to enact Gods will, as church texts described Old Testament kings as Tsars and Christ as the Heavenly Tsar. The newly appointed title was passed on from generation to generation
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Conservatism
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Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes retaining traditional social institutions in the context of culture and civilization. The term, historically associated with right-wing politics, has since used to describe a wide range of views. There is no set of policies that are universally regarded as conservative, because the meaning of conservatism depends on what is considered traditional in a given place. Thus conservatives from different parts of the world—each upholding their respective traditions—may disagree on a range of issues. In contrast to the definition of conservatism, political theorists such as Corey Robin define conservatism primarily in terms of a general defense of social. In Great Britain, conservative ideas emerged in the Tory movement during the Restoration period, Toryism supported a hierarchical society with a monarch who ruled by divine right. Tories opposed the idea that sovereignty derived from the people, and rejected the authority of parliament, Robert Filmers Patriarcha, or the Natural Power of Kings, published posthumously in 1680 but written before the English Civil War of 1642–1651, became accepted as the statement of their doctrine. However, the Glorious Revolution of 1688 destroyed this principle to some degree by establishing a government in England. Faced with defeat, the Tories reformed their movement, now holding that sovereignty was vested in the three estates of Crown, Lords, and Commons rather than solely in the Crown, Toryism became marginalized during the long period of Whig ascendancy in the 18th century. Conservatives typically see Richard Hooker as the father of conservatism, along with the Marquess of Halifax, David Hume. Halifax promoted pragmatism in government, whilst Hume argued against political rationalism and utopianism, Burke served as the private secretary to the Marquis of Rockingham and as official pamphleteer to the Rockingham branch of the Whig party. Together with the Tories, they were the conservatives in the late 18th century United Kingdom, Burkes views were a mixture of liberal and conservative. He supported the American Revolution of 1765–1783 but abhorred the violence of the French Revolution and he insisted on standards of honor derived from the medieval aristocratic tradition, and saw the aristocracy as the nations natural leaders. That meant limits on the powers of the Crown, since he found the institutions of Parliament to be better informed than commissions appointed by the executive and he favored an established church, but allowed for a degree of religious toleration. Burke justified the order on the basis of tradition, tradition represented the wisdom of the species and he valued community. Burke was a leading theorist in his day, finding extreme idealism an endangerment to broader liberties, despite their influence on future conservative thought, none of these early contributors were explicitly involved in Tory politics. Hooker lived in the 16th century, long before the advent of toryism, whilst Hume was an apolitical philosopher, Burke described himself as a Whig. Shortly after Burkes death in 1797, conservatism revived as a political force as the Whigs suffered a series of internal divisions
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Karamzin, Nikolai Mikhailovich". Encyclopædia Britannica. 15 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 676.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the 