1.
Baku
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Baku is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located 28 metres below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world and it is located on the southern shore of the Absheron Peninsula, alongside the Bay of Baku. At the beginning of 2009, Bakus urban population was estimated at just over two million people, officially, about 25 percent of all inhabitants of the country live in Bakus metropolitan area. Baku is divided into administrative districts and 48 townships. Among these are the townships on the islands of the Baku Archipelago, the Inner City of Baku, along with the Shirvanshahs Palace and Maiden Tower, were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000. According to the Lonely Planets ranking, Baku is also among the top ten destinations for urban nightlife. The city is the scientific, cultural and industrial center of Azerbaijan, many sizeable Azerbaijani institutions have their headquarters there. The Baku International Sea Trade Port is capable of handling two million tons of general and dry bulk cargoes per year, in recent years, Baku has become an important venue for international events. The city is renowned for its winds, which is reflected in its nickname. Indeed, the city is renowned for its fierce winter snow storms and this is also reflected in the citys nickname as the City of Winds. A less probable folk etymology explains the name as deriving from Baghkuy, baga and kuy are the Old Persian words for god and town respectively, the name Baghkuy may be compared with Baghdād in which dād is the Old Persian word for give. Arabic sources refer to the city as Baku, Bakukh, Bakuya, around 100,000 years ago, the territory of modern Baku and Absheron was savanna with rich flora and fauna. Traces of human settlement go back to the Stone age, from the Bronze age there have been rock carvings discovered near Bayil, and a bronze figure of a small fish discovered in the territory of the Old City. These have led some to suggest the existence of a Bronze Age settlement within the citys territory, further archeological excavations revealed various prehistoric settlements, native temples, statues and other artifacts within the territory of the modern city and around it. In the 1st century, the Romans organized two Caucasian campaigns and reached Baku, near the city, in Gobustan, Roman inscriptions dating from 84–96 AD were discovered. This is one of the earliest written evidences for Baku, during the 8th century Baku was the realm of the Shirvanshahs. The city frequently came under assault of the Khazars and the Rus, shirvanshah Akhsitan I built a navy in Baku and successfully repelled another Rus assault in 1170. After a devastating earthquake struck Shamakhy, the capital of Shirvan, the Shirvan era greatly influenced Baku and the remainder of Azerbaijan
2.
Azerbaijan
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Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a country in the South Caucasus region, situated at the crossroads of Southwest Asia and Southeastern Europe. It is bound by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west and Iran to the south. The exclave of Nakhchivan is bound by Armenia to the north and east, Iran to the south and west, the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic proclaimed its independence in 1918 and became the first democratic state in the Muslim orient world. The country was incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1920 as the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, the modern Republic of Azerbaijan proclaimed its independence on 30 August 1991, prior to the official dissolution of the USSR in December 1991. In September 1991, the Armenian majority of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region seceded to form the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, the region and seven adjacent districts outside it became de facto independent with the end of the Nagorno-Karabakh War in 1994. These regions are recognized as part of Azerbaijan pending a solution to the status of the Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan is a unitary semi-presidential republic, the country is a member state of the Council of Europe, the OSCE and the NATO Partnership for Peace program. It is one of six independent Turkic states, a member of the Turkic Council. Azerbaijan has diplomatic relations with 158 countries and holds membership in 38 international organizations and it is one of the founding members of GUAM, the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. Its term of office began on 19 June 2006, Azerbaijan is also a member state of the Non-Aligned Movement, holds observer status in World Trade Organization and is a correspondent at the International Telecommunication Union. The Constitution of Azerbaijan does not declare an official religion and all political forces in the country are secularist. However, the majority of the population are of a Shiite Muslim background, Azerbaijan has a high level of human development which ranks on par with most Eastern European countries. It has a rate of economic development and literacy, as well as a low rate of unemployment. According to the Davos World Economic Forum, Azerbaijans economy has scored 37th place within 138 countries in 2016, Global Competitiveness Index 2015 indicates that Azerbaijan scores highest in its region. ASAN services, established with Presidential Decree, are known for eliminating bribery. ASAN Service has been awarded with United Nations Public Service Award 2015, the ruling party, the New Azerbaijan Party, has been accused of authoritarianism and human rights abuses. The original etymology of name is thought to have its roots in the once-dominant Zoroastrianism. In the Avesta, Frawardin Yasht, there is a mention of âterepâtahe ashaonô fravashîm ýazamaide, the name Atropates itself is the Greek transliteration of an Old Iranian, probably Median, compounded name with the meaning Protected by the Fire or The Land of the Fire
3.
Tbilisi Sioni Cathedral
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The Sioni Cathedral of the Dormition is a Georgian Orthodox cathedral in Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. Following a medieval Georgian tradition of naming churches after particular places in the Holy Land and it is commonly known as the Tbilisi Sioni to distinguish it from several other churches across Georgia bearing the name Sioni. The Tbilisi Sioni Cathedral is situated in historic Sionis Kucha in downtown Tbilisi and it was initially built in the 6th and 7th centuries. Since then, it has been destroyed by invaders and reconstructed several times. The current church is based on a 13th-century version with changes from the 17th to 19th centuries. The Sioni Cathedral was the main Georgian Orthodox Cathedral and the seat of Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia until the Holy Trinity Cathedral was consecrated in 2004. According to medieval Georgian annals, the construction of the church on this site was initiated by King Vakhtang Gorgasali in the 5th century. A hundred years later, Guaram, the prince of Iberia, in c.575 began building a new structure, according to legend, both princes were buried in this church, but no trace of their graves has been found. This early church was destroyed by Arabs, and was subsequently built de novo. The cathedral was rebuilt by King David the Builder in 1112. The basic elements of the structure date from this period. It was heavily damaged in 1226, when its dome was ruined on the order of Jalal ad Din Mingburnu and it was subsequently repaired, but damaged again by Timur in 1386 and repaired by King Alexander I. It was again damaged during the Persian invasion in the 17th century, in 1657, the Metropolitan of Tbilisi, Elise Saginashvili, substantially restored the cupola and added the southern chapel, but the structure was again devastated in 1668, this time by earthquake. The regent of Kartli, batonishvili Vakhtang, carried out restorations of the cupola, however, the church was again damaged by the invasion of the Persians in 1795. A portion of the murals on the wall were executed by the Georgian artist Levan Tsutskiridze in the 1980s. The stone iconostasis dates to the 1850s and it replaced the wooden iconostasis burned during the Persian invasion in 1795. King Vakhtang III gave the reliquary itself in the early 14th century, the Sioni Cathedral was where the Russian Imperial manifesto on the annexation of Georgia was first published. On April 12,1802 the Russian commander-in-chief in Georgia, General Karl von Knorring, assembled the Georgian nobles in the Cathedral, the nobles were forced to take an oath to the Russian Imperial crown, any who disagreed were taken into custody
4.
Tbilisi
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Tbilisi, commonly known by its former name Tiflis, is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of roughly 1.5 million inhabitants. Founded in the 5th century by the monarch of Georgias ancient precursor the Kingdom of Iberia, Tbilisi has since served, with intermissions, as the capital of various Georgian kingdoms and republics. Under Russian rule, from 1801 to 1917 Tiflis was the seat of the Imperial Viceroy governing both sides of the entire Caucasus. Tbilisis varied history is reflected in its architecture, which is a mix of medieval, classical, Middle Eastern, Art Nouveau, historically, Tbilisi has been home to people of diverse cultural, ethnic, and religious backgrounds, though it is overwhelmingly Eastern Orthodox Christian. Archaeological studies of the region have indicated human settlement in the territory of Tbilisi as early as the 4th millennium BC, according to an old legend, the present-day territory of Tbilisi was covered by forests as late as 458. One widely accepted variant of the legend of Tbilisis founding states that King Vakhtang I Gorgasali of Georgia went hunting in the wooded region with a falcon. The Kings falcon allegedly caught or injured a pheasant during the hunt, King Vakhtang became so impressed with the hot springs that he decided to cut down the forest and build a city on the location. The name Tbilisi derives from Old Georgian Tbilisi, and further from Tpili, the name Tbili or Tbilisi was therefore given to the city because of the areas numerous sulphuric hot springs that came out of the ground. King Dachi I Ujarmeli, who was the successor of Vakhtang I Gorgasali, Tbilisi was not the capital of a unified Georgian state at that time and did not include the territory of Colchis. It was, however, the city of Eastern Georgia/Iberia. During his reign, King Dachi I oversaw the construction of the wall that lined the citys new boundaries. From the 6th century, Tbilisi grew at a steady pace due to the favourable and strategic location which placed the city along important trade. Tbilisis favourable and strategic location did not necessarily bode well for its existence as Eastern Georgias/Iberias capital, in the year 627, Tbilisi was sacked by the Byzantine/Khazar armies and later, in 736–738, Arab armies entered the town under Marwan II Ibn-Muhammad. After this point, the Arabs established an emirate centered in Tbilisi, in 764, Tbilisi, still under Arab control was once again sacked by the Khazars. In 853, the armies of Arab leader Bugha Al-Turki invaded Tbilisi in order to enforce its return to Abbasid allegiance, the Arab domination of Tbilisi continued until about 1050. In 1068, the city was again sacked, only this time by the Seljuk Turks under Sultan Alp Arslan. In 1122, after fighting with the Seljuks that involved at least 60,000 Georgians and up to 300,000 Turks. After the battles for Tbilisi concluded, David moved his residence from Kutaisi to Tbilisi, making it the capital of a unified Georgian State, from 12–13th centuries, Tbilisi became a dominant regional power with a thriving economy and a well-established social system/structure
5.
Georgia (country)
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Georgia is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. The capital and largest city is Tbilisi, Georgia covers a territory of 69,700 square kilometres, and its 2016 population is about 3.72 million. Georgia is a unitary, semi-presidential republic, with the government elected through a representative democracy, during the classical era, several independent kingdoms became established in what is now Georgia. The kingdoms of Colchis and Iberia adopted Christianity in the early 4th century, a unified Kingdom of Georgia reached the peak of its political and economic strength during the reign of King David IV and Queen Tamar in the 12th and early 13th centuries. Thereafter the kingdom declined and eventually disintegrated under hegemony of various powers, including the Mongols, the Ottoman Empire. Russian rule over Georgia was eventually acknowledged in various treaties with Iran. Since the establishment of the modern Georgian republic in April 1991, post-communist Georgia suffered from civil, the countrys Western orientation soon led to the worsening of relations with Russia, culminating in the brief Russo-Georgian War in August 2008. Georgia is a member of the United Nations, the Council of Europe, and it contains two de facto independent regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which gained limited international recognition after the 2008 Russo-Georgian War. Georgia and a part of the international community consider the regions to be part of Georgias sovereign territory under Russian military occupation. Georgia probably stems from the Persian designation of the Georgians – gurğān, in the 11th and 12th centuries adapted via Syriac gurz-ān/gurz-iyān, starting with the Persian word gurğ/gurğān, the word was later adopted in numerous other languages, including Slavic and West European languages. This term itself might have established through the ancient Iranian appellation of the near-Caspian region. The self-designation used by ethnic Georgians is Kartvelebi, the medieval Georgian Chronicles present an eponymous ancestor of the Kartvelians, Kartlos, a great-grandson of Japheth. However, scholars agree that the word is derived from the Karts, the name Sakartvelo consists of two parts. Its root, kartvel-i, specifies an inhabitant of the core central-eastern Georgian region of Kartli, ancient Greeks and Romans referred to early western Georgians as Colchians and eastern Georgians as Iberians. Today the full, official name of the country is Georgia, before the 1995 constitution came into force the countrys name was the Republic of Georgia. The territory of modern-day Georgia was inhabited by Homo erectus since the Paleolithic Era, the proto-Georgian tribes first appear in written history in the 12th century BC. The earliest evidence of wine to date has found in Georgia. In fact, early metallurgy started in Georgia during the 6th millennium BC, the classical period saw the rise of a number of early Georgian states, the principal of which was Colchis in the west and Iberia in the east
6.
Preobrazhensky Regiment
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Along with the Semyonovsky Regiment, the Preobrazhensky Regiment also served as a gendarmerie unit for the state Secret Chancellery in the 18th century, headed by the Prince Fyodor Romodanovsky. It was formed by Peter the Great in the late 17th century from his poteshnye voiska during his games in the village of Preobrazhenskoye. The Preobrazhensky regiment distinguished itself during the Great Northern War of 1700–1721, the Patriotic War of 1812, the regiment was disbanded by its last commander, Colonel Alexander Kutepov in December 1917. In the 18th and 19th centuries, membership was reserved to young Russian aristocrats and was considered a proof of loyalty to the government, among its membership was the Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky. 1683 - Peter the Great begins to assemble the droll regiments, initially the number of soldiers was fewer than fifty. 1687 - Droll regiments become the Semenovsky regiment and Preobrazhensky regiments of the regular army,1695 - Preobrazhensky regiment takes part in the Azov campaigns. 1696 - The regiment is divided into four battalions and two companies of bombardiers and grenadiers. 1700—1720 - Takes part in all battles of the Great Northern War. 1700 - Before the Battle of Narva is officially named Leib-Guard Preobrazhensky regiment,1706 - Tsar Peter the Great adopts the military rank of Colonel of Preobrazhensky regiment. 1722 - Takes part in the war against Persia,1722 - According to Russian Table of Ranks soldiers of Preobrazhensky regiment were to be considered two ranks higher than in ordinary units. 1726 - Moscow company of Preobrazhensky regiment becomes a separate Moscow leib-guard battalion, 1737—1739 - War against Ottoman Empire. 1737 - Takes part in the Battle of Ochakov,1762 - On 17 July declared first and highest in the military order of precedence in the Imperial Russian Army and the Imperial Russian Guard. 1808 - On 9 September the 2nd battalion of the regiment enters the Corps of Major-General Strogonov in Vilmanstrand,1811 - The regiment is transformed into 3 battalions, each battalion now comprises one grenadier company and three fusilier companies. During the French retreat from Moscow the regiment was in the all the time. 1877—1878 - War against Ottoman Empire, 1914—1917 - World War I.1917 - Participated in the February Revolution by their mutiny on Monday 12 March leading to the abdication of Tsar Nicholas II. Disbanded in December by Alexander Kutepov, its last commander and this colour was given to the regiment in order to celebrate its action at Kulm, where the outnumbered Preobrazhensky regiment withstood the charge of French troops. The well-known March of the Preobrazhensky Regiment was written in the time of Peter the Great and it was also used as an unofficial national anthem in imperial times. It is used often in Russia, also in the annual Victory Day parade for the trooping of the colours and it is also the slow march of the Royal Marines
General of the Infantry
