Questions tagged [russia]
The largest country in the world, spanning territory from the eastern edge of Europe to Siberia in northern Asia.
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Why does Russia have so many cities in Siberia and Far East?
If one takes a casual glance at the Russian population census data, he or she would be astonished to find that a significant part of the Russian population is actually not concentrated west of the ...
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3answers
381 views
Did Imperial Japan persecute Slavic people, as European fascists did?
Over the interwar period, fascist governments in Europe heavily promoted anti-Slavic propaganda. In Germany, they were labelled as Untermensch alongside the Jews, and in Italy, Slavic media, languages,...
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Telegraph availability in Russia around year 1875
Were there any telegraph lines available in late 19th century Russia (let's say year 1875), which would go deep into mainland Russia?
I can find some mentions about Moscow telegraph station being ...
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3answers
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Did the defense of the Brest fortress make sense?
I came across an opinion of an alternative "historian"/conspiracy theorist who claims that the defense of Brest fortress did not make sense. According to his theory, its inhabitants should have left ...
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What are the text and subtext of this 1949 Soviet cartoon?
Over on Wikipedia, we find this cover from the March 1949 issue of Soviet satire mag Krokodil:
The person who uploaded it to Wikipedia captioned it "Antisemitic caricature of rootless cosmopolitan." ...
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What's this flag flying on a fort at Kodiak, Alaska?
Naval captain Yuri Lisianskii drew a harbor scene in Alaska about 1805. It was engraved in England for an edition of his book.
(High-res version)
In the image, from left to right, there are flags ...
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1answer
55 views
Which Imperial Russian officials created and verified passports?
In Imperial Russia (as in other states) passports were required for interior travel. They were issued to individuals and had a finite duration. I'm guessing that being found away from home without a ...
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Which prayer did sailors in Russian America expect to hear?
Father Ioann Veniaminov (Saint Innocent) was a Russian Orthodox priest who ministered in Russian America. Leaving Sitka, he recorded the following in his journal:
Tuesday, June 30, 1836. Having ...
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1answer
139 views
Were “The People's Will” referred to as “terrorist” by their contemporaries?
Narodnaya Volya (The People's Will) was the organization responsible for the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in in March 1881. Is there any evidence (preferably online sources) which point to the ...
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What was the troop ratio between the red and white army in the Russian revolution?
I am making a game over the Russian Revolution for English class. I want to make this game a somewhat accurate representation of the Russian Revolution. I have been able find the answers to all of my ...
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146 views
How was money transferred in early 1900s' Russia?
I'm reading Young Stalin by Simon Sebag Montefiore. The book frequently quotes letters between him and fellow revolutionaries, often when he was in internal exile in some obscure corner of Siberia.
...
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Was slaughtering cows in Kamchatka prohibited in the 1820s?
In To the Pacific and Arctic with Beechey: The Journal of Lieutenant George Peard of HMS Blossom, 1825–1828, Peard claims that in Petropavlovsk, Kamchatka, "nearly every family possesses a Cow (...
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Kabris, the “half-wild Frenchman”, in Kamchatka
A Frenchman who had gone native in the Marquesas Islands, Jean Cabri or Kabris, returned to Europe in the early 1800s and became a well-known attraction and swimming teacher.
His return voyage ...
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1answer
141 views
Was The Great Game a war? [closed]
I know that The Great Game was between UK & Russia and done through parts of Asia, Middle East & Europe. I was wondering if the Great Game was basically two empires trying fighting each other ...
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2answers
443 views
Why is Russian far east less populated than Chinese north east regions?
I was comparing the Russia's Far Eastern zone with the equivalent Northeast China. Anyway the two regions have many difference but by comparing regions at the same latitude I found vast difference to ...
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1answer
252 views
Under Catherine the Great were all officers appointed for five years?
I noticed that the chief commandants of Kamchatka seemed to serve terms of about five years (Koselev 1802-1807, Petrovskii 1807-1813, Rudakov 1813-1817). These seem to have been Majors-General (rank ...
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What were Catherine the Great's orders to von Böhm?
In about 1773, Catherine the Great appointed Magnus Karl von Böhm (or Behm, depending on the roundtrip transliteration) governor of Kamchatka. The peninsula had been pacified and the natives were ...
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191 views
How did the Russian-American Company hire serfs?
In the Russian Empire until 1861 the estate of serfdom kept most of the country's population the property of others. This cheap labor was attractive to capitalist enterprises like the Russian-American ...
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How old were the youngest employees of the Russian-American Company?
The Russian-American Company, founded 1799, employed some real lowlifes. Golovnin about 1810 found them "composed for the most part of dissolute persons, many of whom have been flogged with the knout ...
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108 views
What would have been Napoleon's optimal strategy after Borodino? [closed]
There is a saying that everyone is a general after the battle, but I still could not figure out what could have Napoleon done differently in order to save his army and consequently empire after ...
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1answer
135 views
What did Russia do about Caucasus oil after the collapse of the Soviet Union?
During World War II, something like 72% of the Soviet Union's oil came from Baku, Azerbaijan, in the Caucasus. More like 86% if you count Grozny (Chechnya), and other Caucasus territories, leaving ...
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2answers
442 views
Has the training of Russian troops improved since 1989? [closed]
Recently, USA has excluded Pakistan from military training list. On the flip side, Pakistan has signed an agreement with Russian Federation for the training of its officers. My personal assessment is, ...
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178 views
What is Russia's official reason for invading Crimea? [closed]
I'm having trouble finding Russia's official reason for invading the Crimea region of Ukraine. If my memory serves me right, didn't they change the reason halfway through the invasion?
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How did Taganrog escape the devastation of the Stalingrad batlle of WW2?
About 30 years ago I visited Taganrog ( steel mill ), and drove through Rostov-on-Don. I did not realize how close Stalingrad was (I only saw Volograd on the map). We did pass a monument marking the ...
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2answers
636 views
Is this a true quote of Engels about vague Russian leaders and their vague followers?
In the recent movie "The Young Karl Marx", Engels refers to Russian communist leaders being confused and finding confused followers.
Is this a true quote and if yes, whom did he mean?
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Why did Russia accept the legal framework that led to Kosovo's independence?
Kosovo's unilateral secession was judged not illegal by the ICJ based on Security Council Resolution 1244 (1999) and the UNMIK (United Nations Mission in Kosovo) regulations promulgating the ...
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How literate were Kamchadal people?
Kamchatka was settled by Russians starting around 1700. I get the impression that by 1800 most people in Kamchatka had mixed heritages. According to UNESCO, Itelmen languages were already extinct. ...
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1answer
232 views
Origin of the Petropavlovsk artillery company
The frontier port of Petropavlovsk, Kamchatka, was an army outpost which acquired an artillery company at some point before the garrison was dissolved in 1812 and the port became regional capital in ...
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1answer
172 views
Were the officers assigned to Kamchatka being punished?
The Russian Imperial army and navy had to build frontier outposts in very remote locations such as Kamchatka. During the Catherine the Great/Paul/Alexander period (1762-1825), the few ostrogs and ...
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1answer
97 views
What was the first printed material owned and kept in Kamchatka?
Kamchatka today has cultural projects like universities and museums, but in the early Russian period it was considered a pretty desolate place. Among other deficiencies, there was very little for the ...
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9answers
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Did Russian winter seriously contribute to German defeat on the Eastern Front in WWII?
When people discuss the causes of Hitler's defeat in Russia, one topic is frequently mentioned: climate. People claim that winter contributed significantly to the problems of German army on the ...
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1answer
202 views
How to attack Fort Ross
Imperial Spain was upset when the Russian-American Company founded its Californian outpost Fort Ross. Local Spanish officials always stayed cordial with the Russians, though. Both sides were remote ...
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Are there notable incident(s) where Russia/SU was wrongfully accused by Western powers in the 20th century?
I would like to know incident(s) where SU/Russia was accused to have done something by Western powers where Western historians also came at least now to the conclusion that the accusation was ...
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142 views
Wreck of the Juno
K.T. Khlebnikov wrote a biography of his boss, Baranov: Chief Manager of the Russian Colonies in America. In this book he described the wreck of the Juno as taking place November 3, 1811 (O.S.), "not ...
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Who issued the passports for travel to Russian America?
Employees of the Russian-American Company were supposed to have seven-year passports to travel from Russia to the Company's colonies. The passports come up frequently in the Communications of the ...
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3answers
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When did Josef Wissarionowitsch become “sexy” Stalin?
According to KnowYourMeme, among others, a relatively young Stalin is so good looking in a certain picture that he is often referred to as "sexy Stalin":
This is indeed a pretty picture of a ...
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1answer
218 views
Help with identifying my great-grandfather's pre-WWI Cossack uniform
My great-grandfahter was a Cossack from "Then Russia" "Now Belarus" where the Belarus, Ukraine and Poland borders met, but I don't now which "type" like Don or Kuban etc. He fled from the place he ...
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1answer
313 views
Ideological differences between Mensheviks and Bolsheviks
As I understand from this brief explanation, the main doctrinal difference was that the Bolsheviks were more radical (class struggle) while the Mensheviks were more in favor of class cooperation and ...
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3answers
336 views
Why was Stalin chosen as the First General Secretary in 1922?
At the 11th Party Congress, Stalin was voted into the position of General Secretary. This was the first time the party had a General Secretary. This was in 1922 Mar/Apr.
Why was Stalin chosen? I ...
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1answer
638 views
Did the US military just kill more Russians in Syria than they ever did during the Cold War?
EDIT: It is understood that the US military generally was not in direct confrontation with the Soviets during the Cold War (hence it being Cold). It's also true that even during a cold war "things" ...
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1answer
112 views
When did Europeans make their first well-attested visit to mainland Alaska?
To my surprise, I could not find a straightforward answer to this question. When did Europeans first set foot in mainland Alaska? I could easily find that:
Vitus Bering, a Dane of Russian allegiance, ...
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Who was Krusenstern's scandalous priest?
Krusenstern, captain of the first Russian circumnavigation, wrote a refined book on the voyage. He visited Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky in about 1804 and remarked without any further detail that "The ...
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1answer
73 views
Location of Hagemeister's six-language diaries
Leontii A. Hagemeister (or Gagemeister) was a Baltic German navigator of the Russian navy and briefly governor of the Russian-American company. The best work on him in English is by Richard Pierce, ...
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The Russian-American Company in Valparaíso
The Russian-American Company bought a lot of grain in Spanish and Mexican California. In 1829 or 1830, not enough was available, and the ship Baikal under captain Etholén continued south to Chile. ...
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2answers
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Why was the Kamchatka Regiment sent?
About 1800, Major-General Andrey Somov headed a regiment sent from Irkutsk to reinforce Kamchatka. Soldiers were to take up positions in about five garrisons around the peninsula. Feeding them was a ...
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Are the U.S.A. and Russia in a conflict similar to the “Cold War” in 2018? [closed]
From my understanding the "Cold War" was not really a war in the traditional sense, but a term to describe the tension between the U.S.A. and U.S.S.R. as they attempted to destabilise and weaken each ...
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What made the Russian Fleet suspect Japanese Torpedo boats were in North Sea in 1904/5?
I'm finding several references that during the Russia - Japanese war of 1904/1905 that the Russians had intelligence that suggested the Japanese either had torpedo boats present in the North Sea or ...
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Did Peter the Great support a Russian circumnavigation?
Peter the Great modernized Imperial Russia, reforming both its army and navy. He was keen to catch up with other European powers and built the Baltic port Kronstadt, a shipyard at Arkhangelsk, and the ...
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Was Kaliningrad offered to the Lithuanian SSR; was this offer rejected; and if so, why?
This is a follow up to this other question Why was Kaliningrad placed under the Russian SFSR rather than the Lithuanian SSR?
Semaphore's answer states:
... a similar offer was made to give ...
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Why was Kaliningrad placed under the Russian SFSR rather than the Lithuanian SSR?
Kaliningrad was (and still is) Russia's only (non-trivial*) exclave. Why did Stalin and the Soviet leaders transfer Kaliningrad to the Russian SFSR rather than the Lithuanian SSR (with which ...
