Questions tagged [russia]
The largest country in the world, spanning territory from the eastern edge of Europe to Siberia in northern Asia.
293
questions
11
votes
1answer
3k views
What are these hats and the function of those wearing them (worn by the Russian imperial army at Borodino)?
After the battle of Borodoni Franz Roubaud worked on a great panorama painting of 115 meters long.
looking at the big panorama painting by Franz Roubaud I noticed that some of the Russian imperial ...
23
votes
5answers
9k views
How did the Axis intend to hold the Caucasus?
We all know how the Axis offensive in 1942 led to the "turning point" battle of Stalingrad and the eventual defeat of the Third Reich, and that this offensive had been launched in order to capture and ...
4
votes
0answers
121 views
What is the context for Glennon's intelligence gathering trip to Russia in 1956
In 1956 my father, John J. Glennon (Librarian for the what is now the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics), was one of the few fluent Russian speakers in the US, as I was given to ...
4
votes
1answer
569 views
When did Tsar Nicholas II become Tsar of Russia?
I'm having trouble understanding the technicalities of throne inheritance in the Tsardom.
Did Nicholas II become Tsar after his fathers' death on the 1st of November 1894, or did he become Tsar after ...
3
votes
1answer
157 views
How long was a coach journey from Coburg to St Peterburg in 1790s?
If someone had to get from Coburg to St Petersburg in the 1790s? Would they travel overland by stagecoach or go up to the north German coast and get a boat round to the Gulf of Finland and enter ...
11
votes
3answers
3k views
Did the Russian Empire have a claim to Sweden? Was there ever a time where they could have pursued it?
Consider that Charles Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp and the one that all Russian emperors after Catherine were descended from, would have been king of Sweden had his aunt not stolen the throne ...
2
votes
2answers
320 views
Is this story about the Tsar's encounter with a sergeant true?
I once read a story (about why one should not be rude to strangers or rude in general) in a local magazine that,
once Tsar Peter I asked about directions from a Sergeant. Sergeant (not knowing whom ...
2
votes
0answers
59 views
What happened to the cavalry corps of Simon Boudienny?
According to this question, there was a campaign led by the Russians in Ukraine where they engaged a cavalry unit. I imagine it was in 1941, and according to Wikipedia research, it might be the ...
0
votes
0answers
39 views
For how many years in the eighteenth century were Russian soldiers present within the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth borders?
For modern Poland, the answer is rather simple. Russian, and later Soviet soldiers, were stationed inside the Polish borders for almost the whole 19th and 20th centuries (with a notable exception for ...
7
votes
1answer
808 views
Identification of a badge with Russian text
Here's a curious badge that I found somewhere years ago, but didn't know whom to ask.
(click to enlarge)
Could someone please identify it? I learnt the Cyrillic script and tried googling it, but ...
1
vote
0answers
40 views
Did Boris Tarasov return from Mexico to Russia?
Boris Tarasov, employee of the Russian-American Company, was arrested in San Pedro, California in 1815. As a prisoner of some political value, in 1816 he was sent from Monterey to San Blas and then ...
8
votes
1answer
749 views
Where can I find documents from the Nuremberg trials about war crimes of the Wehrmacht in the Soviet Union?
I want to read documents that were used to prove German war crimes in the Soviet Union, incl. crimes against civilians and treatment of Soviet prisoners of war.
So far I found the following:
...
21
votes
4answers
7k views
Why did the Germans forbid the possession of pet pigeons in Rostov-on-Don in 1941?
Photograph made by Max Alpert shows a dead boy holding a pigeon. It seems that the child has been tortured before he was killed.
Source: Federal Archive Agency of Russia, Russian state archive of ...
7
votes
1answer
1k views
What was the average age of first marriage in 18th century Russia?
I found the following claim on Wikipedia (Women in Russia) and I wonder if it is true:
Early in the eighteenth-century, the average age for peasant girls to marry was around twelve years old.
In ...
2
votes
1answer
76 views
Are the Zemstvo Statistics Digitized?
There were massive statistics collected during the late Russian Empire (1861-1917)-- the "Zemstvo Statistics." They are available on microform at Yale (http://www.library.yale.edu/slavic/microform/...
7
votes
2answers
677 views
Why did Russia set up 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 ...
8
votes
3answers
486 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,...
7
votes
1answer
217 views
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 ...
3
votes
3answers
423 views
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 ...
29
votes
6answers
6k views
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." ...
5
votes
0answers
182 views
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 ...
2
votes
1answer
64 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 ...
2
votes
0answers
97 views
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 ...
2
votes
1answer
143 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 ...
2
votes
0answers
108 views
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 ...
1
vote
2answers
165 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.
...
4
votes
1answer
132 views
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 (...
7
votes
1answer
163 views
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 ...
0
votes
1answer
156 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 ...
14
votes
2answers
558 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 ...
3
votes
1answer
307 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). Their rank (IV) qualified them to be made ...
5
votes
2answers
224 views
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 ...
3
votes
1answer
209 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 ...
1
vote
0answers
46 views
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 ...
2
votes
0answers
130 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 ...
2
votes
1answer
185 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 ...
2
votes
2answers
737 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, ...
0
votes
1answer
196 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?
5
votes
2answers
225 views
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 ...
3
votes
2answers
707 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?
7
votes
1answer
259 views
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 ...
7
votes
0answers
85 views
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. ...
5
votes
1answer
234 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 ...
6
votes
1answer
194 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 ...
4
votes
1answer
105 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 ...
80
votes
9answers
26k views
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 ...
3
votes
1answer
225 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 ...
5
votes
1answer
554 views
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 ...
2
votes
1answer
145 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 ...
4
votes
0answers
131 views
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. Officials endeavored to stay in compliance, though it's clear that ...
