According to East Slavic chronicles, Oleg was supreme ruler of the Rus’ from 879 to 912. Introduction Oleg of Novgorod[1] was a Varangian prince (or konung) who ruled all or part of the Rus’ people during the late 9th and early 10th centuries. He is credited by Rus’ Chronicles with moving from either Staraya Ladoga[…]
The Rurik dynasty (or Rurikids) went on to rule the Kievan Rus’, and ultimately the Tsardom of Russia, until 1598. Introduction Rurik (c. 830 – 879), according to the 12th-century Primary Chronicle, was a Varangian chieftain of the Rus’ who in the year 862 gained control of Ladoga, and built Novgorod in the same year.[…]
The rebellion had a startling effect on Lenin, because the Kronstadt sailors had been among the strongest supporters of the Bolsheviks. Introduction The Kronstadt rebellion was an unsuccessful uprising of Soviet sailors, led by Stepan Petrichenko, against the government of the early Russian SFSR. The rebellion took place in the first weeks of March, 1921[…]
The Annals of St. Bertin refer to a group of Vikings, who called themselves Rhos (qi se, id est gentem suam, Rhos vocari dicebant). Introduction The Rus’ Khaganate was a polity that flourished during a poorly documented period in the history of Eastern Europe (roughly the late eighth and early to mid-ninth centuries C.E.).[1] A[…]
Tribal militia formed the basis of the army in Kievan Rus’ before the Mongol invasion. Introduction The Medieval Russian army, from the foundation of Kievan Rus’ till the reforms of Ivan the Terrible, can be roughly divided into the Kievan Rus’ period, between the 9th to 13th century, mainly characterized by infantry armies of town[…]
From Kievan Rus to the adoption of Christianity and Ivan the Great after the Mongol invasion. Introduction Background The first state-like formations, in the present-day territory of Russia, emerged around Novgorod and Kiev in the 9th century. Russia was then dominated by Vikings. After 250 years of Mongol supremacy, from the 13th century, Moscow became[…]
The St. Sophia Cathedral in Kiev is a sign of the city’s former historical significance. matt shalvatis The Kiev of ancient Rus was one of a number of fortified cities dotting the great plains that were watered by rivers debauching into the Black Sea or the Mediterranean. By Dr. Judith Armstrong / 08.05.2014 Honorary Associate Professor[…]
Set of Post Stamps “Kyivan Princesses on European Thrones”, Ukraine’s Postal Service, 2016 She was an influential advisor to both her husband and her son, inscribing many royal documents with her own name, and introducing the name Philip into the royal line. By Dr. Christian Raffensperger / 06.2017 Associate Professor of Pre-Modern and Ancient World Studies[…]
To try and understand the Russian revolution outside of the broader social context of the time is to neglect the development of nationhood in the region. Wikicommons The Russian Revolution – an event that affected more than Russia and was more than a revolution. By Dr. Mark Edele / 10.11.2018 Professor of History University of Western Australia For most people, the term[…]
Downtown Tokyo in the 1920s / Creative Commons During the 1920s, Soviet cultural authorities sought to develop a new, post-imperialist literature that would acknowledge a “new East”. By Dr. Katerina Clark Professor of :Comparative Literature and of Slavic Languages and Literatures Yale University Abstract Sergei Tretiakov (left) and Boris Pilniak (right) / Public Domain During[…]
Pskov Veche, by Apollinary Vasnetsov, 1908 / Tretryakov Gallery, Wikimedia Commons Kievan Rus′ was the early, mostly East Slavic state dominated by the city of Kiev from about 880 C.E. to the middle of the twelfth century. Edited by Matthew A. McIntosh / 09.26.2018 Historian Brewminate Editor-in-Chief Introduction Kievan Rus′ was the early, mostly East[…]
Kremlin. Voznesenskaya Square / Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons This article analyses the role of religion and moral values in the framework of Russian policies, the Kremlin intent to attract “people’s hearts, minds and souls” in different places all over the world, and the moral dimension of Moscow hybrid warfare against the West. By Dr. Juan[…]
Svjatoslav Svjatoslav’s lands were divided by his sons, who fought a war of succession. By Dr. Sanderson Beck Author and Historian The influence of the Vikings on the origins of the Russian state is still controversial, though it is generally recognized that Slavs had been living in the area for many generations. The legendary Varangian[…]
From The Rurik Dynasty Exhibition / Visit St. Petersbug The Varangians ruled the medieval state of Kievan Rus between the 9th and 11th centuries. Edited by Matthew A. McIntosh / 08.29.2018 Historian Brewminate Editor-in-Chief Rurik and the Foundation of Rus’ Introduction to Rurik Rurik (also spelled Riurik) was a Varangian chieftain who arrived in the Ladoga[…]
A Soviet anti-racism stamp from 1960 features a black child in typical blackface imagery / Wikimedia Commons When Langston Hughes traveled to Moscow in 1932 to film “Black and White” — a Soviet propaganda film about the horrors of American racism — he figured he had little to lose. By Dr. Jennifer Wilson / 08.31.2017[…]
Artistic impression of Bloody Sunday in St. Petersburg, Russia, when unarmed demonstrators marching to present a petition to Tsar Nicholas II were shot at by the Imperial Guard in front of the Winter Palace on 22 January 1905. / Imperial War Museum, Wikimedia Commons Looking at the ideologies of violence and violent practices driving the Russian[…]
Wikimedia Commons Exploring how women’s lives changed during the Russian Revolution, tracing the history of female revolutionaries in Russia and the different ways women documented and participated in events. By Katie McElvanney AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Candidate Queen Mary University What was life like for women before the Russian Revolution? The life experiences of women in the Russian[…]
Seduction, propaganda, and ultimate power and control. Edited by Matthew A. McIntosh / 08.05.2018 Historian Brewminate Editor-in-Chief Benito Mussolini and Fascism in Italy (1922-1939) Mussolini in an official portrait / Wikimedia Commons Benito Mussolini, born into a poor blacksmith’s family, was so named by his radically socialist father (his mother was a devout Catholic schoolteacher)[…]
Wikimedia Commons Looking at the various forms of propaganda in circulation during the Russian Revolution. By Dr. Katya Rogatchevskaia Lead Curator, East European Collections British Library Is there such a thing as ‘good’ propaganda? Over the 20th century, the word ‘propaganda’ acquired predominantly negative connotations and to many, it is associated with totalitarian regimes. Back in 1928,[…]
Public Domain Exploring how events of the Russian Revolution and civil wars were reported within Russia and abroad, and how the press was used to inform, persuade, or even repress, the masses. By Katie McElvanney AHRC Collaborative Doctoral Candidate Queen Mary University The two Russian revolutions of 1917, and subsequent civil wars, not only caused great political[…]
British supply convoy with Russian escorts in Iran, September 1941 / Public Domain At dawn on August 25, 1941, the people of Iran awoke to a full-scale invasion of their country by the combined forces of Britain and the Soviet Union. By Dr. Ursula Sims-Williams / 07.11.2018 Lead Curator, Persian Collections British Library At dawn[…]
Russia’s relations with various Kurdish groups date back almost two centuries. By Pietro A. Shakarian / 11.12.2017 PhD Candidate in Russian History The Ohio State University 1986 CIA map of Kurdish-inhabited areas in the Middle East and the Soviet Union (left), and 1960 Soviet ethnographic map of the Near East with Kurdish populations in[…]
100 years later we can see more clearly how the Romanov dynasty came to an end 100 years ago. By C.W. Gortner / 07.15.2018 Historian/Author This year marks the centenary of one of the defining events of the early 20th century. In the early morning of July 17, 1918, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, his[…]
Wikimedia Commons Stalingrad was hailed in February 3’s Pravda (Truth) newspaper as “the greatest battle in history” and “a catastrophe of titanic proportions” for the German invaders. By Dr. Ian Garner / 02.22.2018 Scholar of Russian Literature and History Queen’s University, Ontario February 3, 2018 marked 75 years since the conclusion of the Battle of Stalingrad. After almost[…]
Monument to the Soviet Army, Sofia / Photo by Bin im Garten, Wikimedia Commons What is the afterlife of an old communist statue? By Dr. Theodora Dragostinova / 11.04.2014 Associate Professor of History The Ohio State University What is the afterlife of an old communist statue? Just what to do with all the Soviet-era monuments[…]
Ariel view of the destroyed reactor, 1986 Hundreds of thousands of people, mostly military conscripts and reservists, were mobilized in a desperate struggle with the consequences of the explosion. By Dr. David Moon 11.28.2016 Anniversary Professor of History University of York Fire fighters and power station workers struggled to put out the fire. Two people were[…]
East Roman Empire, 6th century CE, showing the territories of the Avars, Goths, Franks, Lombards, Saxons, Thuringians, Slavs. / Image by William R. Shepherd, Wikimedia Commons The Avars were a confederation of heterogeneous people consisting of Rouran, Hephthalites, and Turkic-Oghuric races who migrated to the region of the Pontic Grass Steppe (an area corresponding to modern-day Ukraine. By Dr. Joshua J. Mark / 12.17.2014[…]
Denali is the highest peak in North America, and the tussle over its name symbolizes the U.S. relationship with Alaska’s Natives. Al Grillo/AP Photo The tale of how and why Russia ceded its control over Alaska to the U.S. 150 years ago is actually two tales and two intertwining histories. By William L. Iggiagruk Hensley / 03.29.2017 Visiting Distinguished Professor University of Alaska[…]
“Vasili Arkhipov is arguably the most important person in modern history, thanks to whom October 27, 2017 isn’t the 55th anniversary of WWIII.” – Max Tegmark, President of the Future of Life Institute, October 27, 2017. By Douglas Gilbert / 04.15.2018 Adjunct Professor of Mathematics York Technical College Two men fought. With explosions deafening their ears[…]
Soviet leaders Red Square, Moscow, USSR celebrating the second anniversary of the October Revolution / Photo by L.Y. Leonidov, Wikimedia Commons By Dr. Theodore R. Weeks / 12.03.2010 Professor of History Southern Illinois University Abstract Under tsarist and Soviet rule respectively, russification and sovietization were intended to ensure state control over a diverse population. The Russian[…]