Comments on "Stalin's Daughter - The Extraordinary and Tumultuous Life of Svetlana Alliluyeva" by Rosemary Sullivan
This book has about 632 pages of text plus about an additional 124 pages of family trees, preface, acknowledgements, list of characters{there are as many as 117}, sources, notes, bibliography, illustration credits, and index.
Besides that, roughly the first 190 pages contain a great deal of information about Joseph Stalin in the years leading up to his death in 1953. More information about the Bolsheviks and the soviet government continues for another 80, or more, pages until Svetlana Alliluyeva defects to America at the American embassy in India in 1967.
The author, Rosemary Sullivan, obviously has done an enormous amount of research and work, but her North American point of view, with its peculiarities, shows through nonetheless.
Is it fair to also point out that Rosemary Sullivan apparently did not think about writing a biography of Svetlana Alliluyeva until long after Svetlana's four books were published in 1967, 1969, 1984, and 1991; and after she had died in 2011?
Tuesday, September 4, 2018
Sunday, August 12, 2018
Experimental Blog # 226
Comments on "A Book for Granddaughters - Travelling to the Homeland" by Svetlana Alliluyeva
It turns out that the book "The Faraway Music", mentioned in the last blog # 225, was not Svetlana Alliluyeva's last published book. Her fourth and last published book, apparently, is this one, "A Book for Granddaughters - Travelling to the Homeland"; which was written in 1988 in Wisconsin.
It is mostly about her return to the USSR from England in October of 1984 with her American daughter Olga, who was about 13 years old. It is also true that they had gone to England, and not to Switzerland, which Svetlana preferred, not because Olga was not accepted in school there, but because Svetlana, herself, could not be a permanent resident in Switzerland.
Svetlana's decision to return to the USSR was provoked by telephone conversations with her son that were unexpectedly resumed from England in 1982.
Although Svetlana apparently happily, more or less, met other relatives and friends in Moscow, after an absence of 17 years, her hopes of reconnecting with her son and daughter, Katya, were not fulfilled; so Svetlana and her daughter, Olga, soon leave for Tbilisi, Georgia on December 1, 1984.
In Tbilisi matters go much better, especially for Olga, who easily makes friends and learns both Russian and Georgian fairly well in a year's time.
By December of 1985, however, Svetlana has decided that since she has been unable to reestablish friendly relations with her Russian son and daughter, who lives and is a scientific worker in Kamchatka, she wants to leave the USSR, again.
After travelling from Tbilisi to Moscow, and back again; and experiencing many difficulties, including very serious, and mysterious, health problems, they are allowed to leave on separate days and to separate destinations. In the spring of 1986 Olga goes first back to her school in England, and Svetlana, with Olga's dog, Maka, returns to the USA in Wisconsin.
Svetlana has written this book in 1988 in familiar surroundings in Spring Green, Wisconsin.
It seems that Svetlana Alliluyeva had been discouraged from writing any more books. When she finished writing this book she was around 62 years of age; but she will live for another 23 years to be 85 in different places in England and Wisconsin; and perhaps visiting other places as well.
It turns out that the book "The Faraway Music", mentioned in the last blog # 225, was not Svetlana Alliluyeva's last published book. Her fourth and last published book, apparently, is this one, "A Book for Granddaughters - Travelling to the Homeland"; which was written in 1988 in Wisconsin.
It is mostly about her return to the USSR from England in October of 1984 with her American daughter Olga, who was about 13 years old. It is also true that they had gone to England, and not to Switzerland, which Svetlana preferred, not because Olga was not accepted in school there, but because Svetlana, herself, could not be a permanent resident in Switzerland.
Svetlana's decision to return to the USSR was provoked by telephone conversations with her son that were unexpectedly resumed from England in 1982.
Although Svetlana apparently happily, more or less, met other relatives and friends in Moscow, after an absence of 17 years, her hopes of reconnecting with her son and daughter, Katya, were not fulfilled; so Svetlana and her daughter, Olga, soon leave for Tbilisi, Georgia on December 1, 1984.
In Tbilisi matters go much better, especially for Olga, who easily makes friends and learns both Russian and Georgian fairly well in a year's time.
By December of 1985, however, Svetlana has decided that since she has been unable to reestablish friendly relations with her Russian son and daughter, who lives and is a scientific worker in Kamchatka, she wants to leave the USSR, again.
After travelling from Tbilisi to Moscow, and back again; and experiencing many difficulties, including very serious, and mysterious, health problems, they are allowed to leave on separate days and to separate destinations. In the spring of 1986 Olga goes first back to her school in England, and Svetlana, with Olga's dog, Maka, returns to the USA in Wisconsin.
Svetlana has written this book in 1988 in familiar surroundings in Spring Green, Wisconsin.
It seems that Svetlana Alliluyeva had been discouraged from writing any more books. When she finished writing this book she was around 62 years of age; but she will live for another 23 years to be 85 in different places in England and Wisconsin; and perhaps visiting other places as well.
Sunday, July 22, 2018
Experimental Blog # 225
Notes and comments on and quotations from "Twenty Letters to a Friend" by Svetlana Alliluyeva, translated by Priscilla Johnson McMillan; "Only One Year" by Svetlana Alliluyeva, translated from the Russian by Paul Chavchavadze; and "The Faraway Music" by Svetlana Alliluyeva, author and translator.
The first book, "Twenty Letters to a Friend", was written by the author in the summer of 1963, about 10 years and 4 months after the death of her father, Joseph Stalin. At the time Svetlana had no ideas about publishing her manuscript as a book, or ever leaving the Soviet Union.
Svetlana left the USSR on December 19, 1966 to go to India with her late husbands ashes. She, and everybody else, expected that she would return in a month, or so; but she managed to extend her stay in India to March 1967. At that time Svetlana wanted to stay in India permanently, "forever", she says; but the government of India was afraid to let her do that, so Svetlana felt that she had no alterantive but to ask for help at the American embassy. After secret detours of a month, or so, she arrived in America in the middle of the international sensation that her defection, "the daughter of Stalin", had created.
During this time Svetlana had signed several documents that she very poorly understood that resulted in that she was completely deprived of any interference, or any other rights, over her manuscript, including the translation into English. Although her book became an international best seller, it produced many unpleasant and persistent "boomerang" effects for her.
Svetlana's second book, "Only One Year", was written within 2 years after her arrival in America; and this time she made very sure that she kept possession of the copyright, and she also approved of the translator.
The third book, "The Faraway Music", was written about 14 years later, in 1983, in Cambridge, England; where Svetlana had gone to live and to put her American daughter into a private school. Somewhat surprisingly, Svetlana wrote this book herself first in English.
It seems that soon after Svetlana wrote this third book, she and her daughter actually went back to the Soviet Union, where they restored Soviet citizenship to her, However, things did not work out for her, and her daughter, there either, and she was allowed to leave again after staying less than 2 years. She never says a word about this long trip.
In 1987 Svetlana herself translated her third, and apparently her last book, "The Faraway Music", into Russian.
Quotations from "Only One Year":
"...although I lived "at the top of the pyramid," < > my whole life, like that of the entire nation, became divided into two periods: before 1953 and after."
" ...in my early years, Communism was an unshakable stronghold. Unshakable remained my father's authority and the belief that he was right in everything without exception."
"Sometimes my father would suddenly say to me, "Why do you associate with children whose parents have been arrested?"
"In September 1957 I changed my name from "Stalina" to "Alliluyeva" - under Soviet law children could bear either their father's or their mother's name."
"My first impression of America was of the magnificent Long Island highways. < > The second thing I noticed < > was the number of women driving cars. < > it was the variety of feminine types at the wheel that struck me: pretty young girls, < > many Negroes, young and old; women in furs and extraordinary big hats ..."
Other sources say that Joseph Stalin was always reading, up to 400 pages a day. Although Svetlana relates an incident where Joseph Stalin is showing somebody his library and he says something like that although he is 70 years old; he is still learning.
""My father made up for his poor education only in the field of technical knowledge."
"He had a certain acquaintance with languages, dating back to his seminary days when he had studied Latin and Greek. He could read Georgian < > He knew Russian well in its simpler, conversational form < > With the help of a dictionary he could make out a simple German text."
Svetlana very distinctly complained about the translation of her first book, "Twenty Letters to a Friend", that was translated by Priscilla Johnson McMillan. However, a very amatuer comparison of the English and Russian editions of this book reveals that, although this English translation is not a very literal translation that some people prefer, it always seems that the translator was trying to say the same thing in American English that the original text says in Russian. Perhaps the translator was in a hurry to "get the job done", for some reason.
Svetlana also repeatedly makes it very clear that she has a very low opinion of all public schools; no matter that they are in America or the Soviet Union or anywhere else.That was why she moved to England. She seemed to think that Switzerland, where her daughter could not be accepted, and then England had the best private schools.
However, wouldn't many people say that no country, including America, can really be better than its public schools?
The first book, "Twenty Letters to a Friend", was written by the author in the summer of 1963, about 10 years and 4 months after the death of her father, Joseph Stalin. At the time Svetlana had no ideas about publishing her manuscript as a book, or ever leaving the Soviet Union.
Svetlana left the USSR on December 19, 1966 to go to India with her late husbands ashes. She, and everybody else, expected that she would return in a month, or so; but she managed to extend her stay in India to March 1967. At that time Svetlana wanted to stay in India permanently, "forever", she says; but the government of India was afraid to let her do that, so Svetlana felt that she had no alterantive but to ask for help at the American embassy. After secret detours of a month, or so, she arrived in America in the middle of the international sensation that her defection, "the daughter of Stalin", had created.
During this time Svetlana had signed several documents that she very poorly understood that resulted in that she was completely deprived of any interference, or any other rights, over her manuscript, including the translation into English. Although her book became an international best seller, it produced many unpleasant and persistent "boomerang" effects for her.
Svetlana's second book, "Only One Year", was written within 2 years after her arrival in America; and this time she made very sure that she kept possession of the copyright, and she also approved of the translator.
The third book, "The Faraway Music", was written about 14 years later, in 1983, in Cambridge, England; where Svetlana had gone to live and to put her American daughter into a private school. Somewhat surprisingly, Svetlana wrote this book herself first in English.
It seems that soon after Svetlana wrote this third book, she and her daughter actually went back to the Soviet Union, where they restored Soviet citizenship to her, However, things did not work out for her, and her daughter, there either, and she was allowed to leave again after staying less than 2 years. She never says a word about this long trip.
In 1987 Svetlana herself translated her third, and apparently her last book, "The Faraway Music", into Russian.
Quotations from "Only One Year":
"...although I lived "at the top of the pyramid," < > my whole life, like that of the entire nation, became divided into two periods: before 1953 and after."
" ...in my early years, Communism was an unshakable stronghold. Unshakable remained my father's authority and the belief that he was right in everything without exception."
"Sometimes my father would suddenly say to me, "Why do you associate with children whose parents have been arrested?"
"In September 1957 I changed my name from "Stalina" to "Alliluyeva" - under Soviet law children could bear either their father's or their mother's name."
"My first impression of America was of the magnificent Long Island highways. < > The second thing I noticed < > was the number of women driving cars. < > it was the variety of feminine types at the wheel that struck me: pretty young girls, < > many Negroes, young and old; women in furs and extraordinary big hats ..."
Other sources say that Joseph Stalin was always reading, up to 400 pages a day. Although Svetlana relates an incident where Joseph Stalin is showing somebody his library and he says something like that although he is 70 years old; he is still learning.
""My father made up for his poor education only in the field of technical knowledge."
"He had a certain acquaintance with languages, dating back to his seminary days when he had studied Latin and Greek. He could read Georgian < > He knew Russian well in its simpler, conversational form < > With the help of a dictionary he could make out a simple German text."
Svetlana very distinctly complained about the translation of her first book, "Twenty Letters to a Friend", that was translated by Priscilla Johnson McMillan. However, a very amatuer comparison of the English and Russian editions of this book reveals that, although this English translation is not a very literal translation that some people prefer, it always seems that the translator was trying to say the same thing in American English that the original text says in Russian. Perhaps the translator was in a hurry to "get the job done", for some reason.
Svetlana also repeatedly makes it very clear that she has a very low opinion of all public schools; no matter that they are in America or the Soviet Union or anywhere else.That was why she moved to England. She seemed to think that Switzerland, where her daughter could not be accepted, and then England had the best private schools.
However, wouldn't many people say that no country, including America, can really be better than its public schools?
Sunday, February 25, 2018
Experimental Blog # 224
Quotations from and comments on "Political Tribes" - Group Instinct and the Fate of Nations by Amy Chua
"Humans are tribal. We need to belong to groups. < > Almost no one is a hermit. Even monks and friars belong to orders. But the tribal instinct is not just an instinct to belong. It is also an instinct to exclude. < > once people belong to a group, their identities can become oddly bound with it. < > They will sacrifice, and even kill and die, for their groups."
"In many parts of the world < > the group identities that matter most < > are not national, but ethnic, regional, religious, sectarian, or clan based."
"A striking fact about terrorists is that, unlike serial killers, they are not generally psychopaths. Most serial murderers, experts agree, exhibit traits consistent with diagnosable psychopathic personality disorders. By contrast, psychologists studying terrorism have struggled in vain for years to identify deviant or abnormal personality traits typical of terrorists."
"Indeed, there is now consensus among researchers that "terrorists are essentially normal individuals.""
"Very few people, no matter how angry, impoverished, or degraded, actually engage in terrorist activity. For most of us, it is incomprehensible that seemingly normal, likeable young men and women, often from loving families, could blow themselves up or participate gleefully in gruesome beheadings."
There are very informative and thought provoking chapters{close to one half of this book} specifically devoted to Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Terror Tribes, and Venezuela.
The author's American chapters are entitled: "American Exceptionalism and the Sources of U.S. Group Blindness Abroad", "Inequality and the Tribal Chasm in America", and "Democracy and Political Tribalism in America". However, not all of this writing is entirely so informative or thought provoking. For instance, she writes a lot about the much talked about subjects of "race and racism", but not quite so much about the real significance of ancestry and related subjects.
None the less, Amy Chua has very interesting and thought provoking opinions and she expresses them very articulately.
"Humans are tribal. We need to belong to groups. < > Almost no one is a hermit. Even monks and friars belong to orders. But the tribal instinct is not just an instinct to belong. It is also an instinct to exclude. < > once people belong to a group, their identities can become oddly bound with it. < > They will sacrifice, and even kill and die, for their groups."
"In many parts of the world < > the group identities that matter most < > are not national, but ethnic, regional, religious, sectarian, or clan based."
"A striking fact about terrorists is that, unlike serial killers, they are not generally psychopaths. Most serial murderers, experts agree, exhibit traits consistent with diagnosable psychopathic personality disorders. By contrast, psychologists studying terrorism have struggled in vain for years to identify deviant or abnormal personality traits typical of terrorists."
"Indeed, there is now consensus among researchers that "terrorists are essentially normal individuals.""
"Very few people, no matter how angry, impoverished, or degraded, actually engage in terrorist activity. For most of us, it is incomprehensible that seemingly normal, likeable young men and women, often from loving families, could blow themselves up or participate gleefully in gruesome beheadings."
There are very informative and thought provoking chapters{close to one half of this book} specifically devoted to Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq, Terror Tribes, and Venezuela.
The author's American chapters are entitled: "American Exceptionalism and the Sources of U.S. Group Blindness Abroad", "Inequality and the Tribal Chasm in America", and "Democracy and Political Tribalism in America". However, not all of this writing is entirely so informative or thought provoking. For instance, she writes a lot about the much talked about subjects of "race and racism", but not quite so much about the real significance of ancestry and related subjects.
None the less, Amy Chua has very interesting and thought provoking opinions and she expresses them very articulately.
Tuesday, February 6, 2018
Experimental Blog # 223
Comments and notes on "Istanbul" - A Tale of Three Cities by Bettany Hughes
This book contains over 600 pages of text and maps. In addition to this there are 29 pages of timeline, 66 pages of notes, 58 pages of bibliography, and 37 pages of index. It is indeed a "colossal undertaking ... a notable achievement."
"Legend has it that{in 657 BC} Byzas from Megara founds Byzantion as a Greek colony on the west side of the Bosphorus."
"Byzantion is renamed Constantinople"{in 330 AD}.
"After the sack of Rome{in 410 AD by Goths led by Alaric} and the collapse of the machine whose constituent parts - the army, tax collectors, loyalty to an idea - had kept the pax Romana operative, the West fractured."
"On 16 July AD 1054 < > Thus began the so-called Great Schism. The impasse would not be resolved until 910 years later in 1964."
A chapter is entitled "The City of Crusades AD 1090 - 1203"; of which there were four.
In 1453 the Ottoman Empire led by Mehmed II conquers Constantinople; which is now also called Kostantiniyye or Islam-bol.
"After the fall of Constantinople in AD 1453 it was Russia which took on the mantle of Orthodoxy."
In AD 1683 occurs the Great Siege of Vienna by the Ottoman Sultan, Mehmed IV; but they are defeated.
"After the Viennese defeat{that is the Ottoman defeat at Vienna} < > The Russians, hearing reports of Ottoman distress, set off from Moscow with a million{!!} horses, 300,000 infantry and 100,000 cavalry." Don't these numbers sound too high to be true?
However, the author's many travels and other descriptions to the places, sites, and museums that she writes about make her book exceptionally interesting and vivid.
This book contains over 600 pages of text and maps. In addition to this there are 29 pages of timeline, 66 pages of notes, 58 pages of bibliography, and 37 pages of index. It is indeed a "colossal undertaking ... a notable achievement."
"Legend has it that{in 657 BC} Byzas from Megara founds Byzantion as a Greek colony on the west side of the Bosphorus."
"Byzantion is renamed Constantinople"{in 330 AD}.
"After the sack of Rome{in 410 AD by Goths led by Alaric} and the collapse of the machine whose constituent parts - the army, tax collectors, loyalty to an idea - had kept the pax Romana operative, the West fractured."
"On 16 July AD 1054 < > Thus began the so-called Great Schism. The impasse would not be resolved until 910 years later in 1964."
A chapter is entitled "The City of Crusades AD 1090 - 1203"; of which there were four.
In 1453 the Ottoman Empire led by Mehmed II conquers Constantinople; which is now also called Kostantiniyye or Islam-bol.
"After the fall of Constantinople in AD 1453 it was Russia which took on the mantle of Orthodoxy."
In AD 1683 occurs the Great Siege of Vienna by the Ottoman Sultan, Mehmed IV; but they are defeated.
"After the Viennese defeat{that is the Ottoman defeat at Vienna} < > The Russians, hearing reports of Ottoman distress, set off from Moscow with a million{!!} horses, 300,000 infantry and 100,000 cavalry." Don't these numbers sound too high to be true?
However, the author's many travels and other descriptions to the places, sites, and museums that she writes about make her book exceptionally interesting and vivid.
Wednesday, January 17, 2018
Experimental Blog # 222
Quotations from "What the Qur'an Meant - And Why It Matters" by Garry Wills
"... the Qur'an < > is a series of disjunct revelations made to Muhammad, as recorded by his followers on pottery shards or other handy surfaces. These were transferred to paper, then arranged by believers after Muhammad's death, not in chronological order but, < > according to length{longer ones earlier, shorter ones toward the end}."
"The oral traditions about Jesus and Muhammad did not take the forms we know for several decades after their death."
"A Desert Book"
"The Qur'an is haunted by < > the Arabian desert. < > One finds it in the yearning, everywhere, toward water < > Water as God's blessing. Water as miracle. Water creating oases. Water as reward. < > Water as the condition of happiness. Water as heaven."
"The Perpetual Stream of Prophets"
"People who have not read the Qur'an might be surprised at how much of it is devoted to prophets other than Muhammad. Over two dozen men{only men} are called prophets in the book. Each received a revelation from Allah, which he proclaimed by his preaching and his actions. From the time of Adam, these show a record of continual contact with all humankind..."
"... Muslims honor Mary, the mother of Jesus. < > She is the most honored women in the Qur'an - indeed she is the only woman named in the book."
"The Right Path{Shari'ah}"
"The word "shari'ah" occurs only once in the Qur'an, and there it does not mean "law". It is Allah's reassurance to Muhammad that he is traveling on the right "path"{shari'ah}. < > But the Qur'an does not furnish one with minute legal guidance."
"The economic world reflected in the Qur'an is not agrarian or industrial but commercial. Mecca < > dealt with merchant caravans coming and going, which involved the promises of payment < > and investment < > the instructions on Muslim business dealings show a hands-on expertise."
"God is a great accountant."
"The model for the true believers in Allah is the honest merchant."
"Muhammad < > did have thirteen wives{two marriages were unconsummated} and two concubines, and various women slaves. < > Like some Western monarchs, he had no male heirs < > and he had to rely on his own marriages and those of his four daughters to secure a legacy ..."
"Torah, Gospel, and Qur'an are all patriarchal, and therefore misogynist - as were the societies in which they took shape. But misogynism is not all that all of them are. In all three of them there are traces of dignity and worth intended by the Creator when he made women."
"Belief in women's inferiority is a long and disheartening part of each tradition's story."
"Reading the Qur'an is not initially an easy task. < > What is easy is to sense the overall tenor and priorities of the book. A few verses endlessly cited have to do with violence."
"The overall tenor is one of mercy and forgiveness, which are evoked everywhere, almost obsessively."
"... the Qur'an < > is a series of disjunct revelations made to Muhammad, as recorded by his followers on pottery shards or other handy surfaces. These were transferred to paper, then arranged by believers after Muhammad's death, not in chronological order but, < > according to length{longer ones earlier, shorter ones toward the end}."
"The oral traditions about Jesus and Muhammad did not take the forms we know for several decades after their death."
"A Desert Book"
"The Qur'an is haunted by < > the Arabian desert. < > One finds it in the yearning, everywhere, toward water < > Water as God's blessing. Water as miracle. Water creating oases. Water as reward. < > Water as the condition of happiness. Water as heaven."
"The Perpetual Stream of Prophets"
"People who have not read the Qur'an might be surprised at how much of it is devoted to prophets other than Muhammad. Over two dozen men{only men} are called prophets in the book. Each received a revelation from Allah, which he proclaimed by his preaching and his actions. From the time of Adam, these show a record of continual contact with all humankind..."
"... Muslims honor Mary, the mother of Jesus. < > She is the most honored women in the Qur'an - indeed she is the only woman named in the book."
"The Right Path{Shari'ah}"
"The word "shari'ah" occurs only once in the Qur'an, and there it does not mean "law". It is Allah's reassurance to Muhammad that he is traveling on the right "path"{shari'ah}. < > But the Qur'an does not furnish one with minute legal guidance."
"The economic world reflected in the Qur'an is not agrarian or industrial but commercial. Mecca < > dealt with merchant caravans coming and going, which involved the promises of payment < > and investment < > the instructions on Muslim business dealings show a hands-on expertise."
"God is a great accountant."
"The model for the true believers in Allah is the honest merchant."
"Muhammad < > did have thirteen wives{two marriages were unconsummated} and two concubines, and various women slaves. < > Like some Western monarchs, he had no male heirs < > and he had to rely on his own marriages and those of his four daughters to secure a legacy ..."
"Torah, Gospel, and Qur'an are all patriarchal, and therefore misogynist - as were the societies in which they took shape. But misogynism is not all that all of them are. In all three of them there are traces of dignity and worth intended by the Creator when he made women."
"Belief in women's inferiority is a long and disheartening part of each tradition's story."
"Reading the Qur'an is not initially an easy task. < > What is easy is to sense the overall tenor and priorities of the book. A few verses endlessly cited have to do with violence."
"The overall tenor is one of mercy and forgiveness, which are evoked everywhere, almost obsessively."
Sunday, January 14, 2018
Experimental Blog # 221
Quotations and notes from "Lost Kingdom" - The Quest for Empire and the Making of the Russian Nation - From 1470 to the Present, by Serhii Plokhy
"Despite what one reads < > and hears in official pronouncements, Russia < > is a relatively young state. Its history as an independent polity begins < > in the 1470s, when Ivan III, the first ruler of the Grand Duchy of Moscow < > challenged the suzerainty of the Mongol khans."
"By 1480, Ivan had successfully established his sovereignty over the lands of Mongol Rus' < > By 1490, Ivan's chancellery had begun to use the Kyivan descent of Muscovite princes as grounds to extend his claim < > to Kyiv itself."
More chronology:
"The Time of Troubles came to an end in 1613, when the Assembly of the Land elected the sixteen-year-old Mikhail Romanov to the Muscovite throne."
"During Catherine's long reign of almost thirty-five years{1762-1796}, the formation of the imperial Russian nation begun under Peter I and Elizabeth took on new impetus and new characteristics."
"What seemed to be the end of Russia in September 1812 - the surrender of Moscow to the French army - turned out to be the beginning of the end of Napoleon's empire."
"Nicholas's Easter 1915 visit to Galicia was filmed by a Russian crew < > It was a symbolic high point in the long campaign of Russian nationalists to gather the lands of the former Kyivan Rus', construct a big Russian nation, including Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians, and bring together monarchy, religion, and nation in the service of the state." However:
"In May 1915, barely a month after the tsar's triumphal entrance into Lviv, the Germans < > began their attack on the Russian armies in Galicia < > By the end of September the Russian armies had lost most of Galicia, a good part of Volhynia, all of Poland, western Belarus, and most of the Baltic provinces."
{by} "February 1917 < > The socialists created a soviet{council} that became the real power in the city{Petrograd}, making the tsarist government all but irrelevant."
"The most confusing aspect of the term "Russian Revolution" is that it obscures what actually took place in the multiethnic Russian Empire - a revolution of nations, of which the Russians were only one."
"The road to the formation of the Soviet Union began in April 1922..." An international conference took place in Genoa, Italy. "It was a major coup for the Bolshevik government, which had now been recognized for the first time as the legitimate successor to what remained of the Russian Empire. Diplomatic recognition would follow, starting with Britain and France in 1924; the United States didn't follow suit until 1933."
"Joseph Stalin died on March 5, 1953. < > He was mourned not just as the head of government but also as the leader of working people throughout the world."
"Despite what one reads < > and hears in official pronouncements, Russia < > is a relatively young state. Its history as an independent polity begins < > in the 1470s, when Ivan III, the first ruler of the Grand Duchy of Moscow < > challenged the suzerainty of the Mongol khans."
"By 1480, Ivan had successfully established his sovereignty over the lands of Mongol Rus' < > By 1490, Ivan's chancellery had begun to use the Kyivan descent of Muscovite princes as grounds to extend his claim < > to Kyiv itself."
More chronology:
"The Time of Troubles came to an end in 1613, when the Assembly of the Land elected the sixteen-year-old Mikhail Romanov to the Muscovite throne."
"During Catherine's long reign of almost thirty-five years{1762-1796}, the formation of the imperial Russian nation begun under Peter I and Elizabeth took on new impetus and new characteristics."
"What seemed to be the end of Russia in September 1812 - the surrender of Moscow to the French army - turned out to be the beginning of the end of Napoleon's empire."
"Nicholas's Easter 1915 visit to Galicia was filmed by a Russian crew < > It was a symbolic high point in the long campaign of Russian nationalists to gather the lands of the former Kyivan Rus', construct a big Russian nation, including Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians, and bring together monarchy, religion, and nation in the service of the state." However:
"In May 1915, barely a month after the tsar's triumphal entrance into Lviv, the Germans < > began their attack on the Russian armies in Galicia < > By the end of September the Russian armies had lost most of Galicia, a good part of Volhynia, all of Poland, western Belarus, and most of the Baltic provinces."
{by} "February 1917 < > The socialists created a soviet{council} that became the real power in the city{Petrograd}, making the tsarist government all but irrelevant."
"The most confusing aspect of the term "Russian Revolution" is that it obscures what actually took place in the multiethnic Russian Empire - a revolution of nations, of which the Russians were only one."
"The road to the formation of the Soviet Union began in April 1922..." An international conference took place in Genoa, Italy. "It was a major coup for the Bolshevik government, which had now been recognized for the first time as the legitimate successor to what remained of the Russian Empire. Diplomatic recognition would follow, starting with Britain and France in 1924; the United States didn't follow suit until 1933."
"Joseph Stalin died on March 5, 1953. < > He was mourned not just as the head of government but also as the leader of working people throughout the world."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)