Leo Tolstoy left his home 100 years ago. “War and Peace” and history

When I started reading “War and Peace” one month ago, I didn't even remember about the upcoming hundredth anniversary of Tolstoy's death. Today, I finished reading it and it happens that this is the day when one hundred years ago (28 October Old Style, 10 November New Style), Leo Tolstoy left his home together with his personal doctor Makovitsky. Tolstoy planned to escape from the annoying life in the comfortable mansion and to spend his last years in poverty and honesty. The doctor didn't quite understand Tolstoy, he thought they are going to visit some family members and didn't take enough money. Tolstoy kissed his daughter, took the suitcase and they left. They took third class railway tickets and departed to Kozelsk. A lot of people smoked in the car and Tolstoy had to go outside for fresh air. He spent about 45 minutes outside and these three quarters of an hour were crucial. Ten days later Tolstoy died of pneumonia on the railway station Astapovo. So smoking killed one of the most famous Russian writers.

Well, the story of his life and death is more or less well known and you can read his biography in almost any language. I would like to talk today about his novel “War and Peace”. Tolstoy wrote later that the novel is fiction and that it may distort history to comply with the author's intentions. Indeed, there is a large number of inconsistencies, contradictions and anachronisms in the book. Let's have a look at some of them.

Do you know how the Russian text begins? Here's the first paragraph:

— Eh bien, mon prince. Gênes et Lueques ne sont plus que des apanages, des поместья, de la famille Buonaparte. Non, je vous préviens que si vous ne me dites pas que nous avons la guerre, si vous vous permettez encore de pallier toutes les infamies, toutes les atrocités de cet Antichrist (ma parole, j'y crois) — je ne vous connais plus, vous n'êtes plus mon ami, vous n'êtes plus мой верный раб, comme vous dites

This is the original Russian text, and I mean it :) Later in the novel, Tolstoy also mentions some noble whose patriotic feelings made him learn speaking Russian. Of course, Russian aristocrats of the 19th century usually spoke very good French, but Tolstoy is wrong here. In the first decade of the century, foreign-speaking aristocrats were rare. Those who lived in Russia, had to talk to their servants (and sometimes they spoke in a folksy manner for this reason). Only those who were born in abroad, spoke some foreign language sufficiently well. And this language was hardly ever French, because after the revolution of 1789 very few Russian aristocrats visited the lawless and rebellious France, they preferred Germany. Strange enough, but French became popular in the aristocratic salons after the Napoleonic wars, when children grew up who were raised in 1790s-1800s by French tutors, who fled from the revolution to Russia.

The family of Kuragins is painted by Tolstoy in a rather strange manner. Tolstoy dislikes them and his feelings are seen even in the names of the family members. So, the name Hippolyte is outstandingly unaristocratic. This name was typical for bourgeoisie, especially Polish. The title “prince Hippolyte” must have sounded absurd in 1805. His sister's name is Helene. Her name looks French, but it wasn't used among French nobility because of its foreign, Anglo-German sound. In Russia of the early 19th century, the name associated with Russified Germans. Just as often the name may be found in the form “Länchen”, purely German (the name of the wife of Faddey Bulgarin). The brother of Hippolyte and Helene has the name Anatole. The name is neutral, but extremely rare in all countries of that time.

The novel begins in the aristocratic salon of Anna Scherer, maid of honor of the Empress. Another one of Tolstoy's errors. You see, maid of honour was not just a title. She was a maid, she could not be married. And maids absolutely could not invite guests, except for close relatives, and only during the day. So, a salon of a maid would be a flagrant violation of the public norms.

Besides, in July 1805 the guests of Anna Scherer would be out of the city, all of them. The royal family with all the courtiers would leave St. Petersburg to the summer residence. Army officers (including, for example, Dolokhov) would be in the summer camps.

Anatole Kuragin asks princess Mary for her hand in marriage, but he was only twenty years old. It was too early for him to marry. Later, he tries to run away with Natasha Rostova, even though he knows he cannot marry her (he had been married by that time). He should have known that Natasha was not a plebeian gal, she was a lady and ladies were not that defenceless. Firstly, Natasha's brothers would have demanded satisfaction. Secondly, Rostovs were a noble family and could have complained to the emperor himself, and his rage would have been quick and merciless. So, prince S. Trubetskoy was deprived of his title and property and sent to the army as a mere soldier when he tried to run away with a married lady.

Helene Kuragin wanted to divorce Pierre Bezukhov so much that she converted to catholicism, writes Tolstoy. Well, actually, she didn't have to. She could have divorced without much problems, because of the long time they lived separately. It was a legitimate reason for divorce. On the other hand, in 1812 the number of conversions to catholicism, always very small, dropped to zero. The problem was that the order of Jesuits was disbanded by the Pope in 1773 and restored only in 1814. In the meanwhile, the Jesuits found a shelter in Russia and their situation was so unstable that they would not risk losing the favor of the emperor by proselytizing.

Tolstoy writes about Prince Andrew: “After the Austerlitz campaign Prince Andrew had firmly resolved not to continue his military service, and when the war recommenced and everybody had to serve, he took a post under his father in the recruitment so as to avoid active service.” It was hardly probably, since nobody could make a Russian aristocrat to serve unless he wanted to. This freedom was granted by the 1762 Manifesto of Peter III.

When Natasha Rostova visited her uncle, she danced in typical Russian manner, says Tolstoy: “Where, how, and when had this young countess, educated by an emigree French governess, imbibed from the Russian air she breathed that spirit and obtained that manner which the pas de chale would, one would have supposed, long ago have effaced? But the spirit and the movements were those inimitable and unteachable Russian ones... She did the right thing with such precision, such complete precision, that Anisya Fedorovna, who had at once handed her the handkerchief she needed for the dance, had tears in her eyes, though she laughed as she watched this slim, graceful countess, reared in silks and velvets and so different from herself, who yet was able to understand all that was in Anisya and in Anisya's father and mother and aunt, and in every Russian man and woman.”

But Natasha spent a large part of her life in village and she had to have seen the village girls dancing and, of course, she knew the folk style of dancing.

Now, Pierre Bezukhov. When he first appeared in the book, “Anna Pavlovna greeted him with the nod she accorded to the lowest hierarchy in her drawing room”, because he was a bastard, but the bastards were not treated this way even in the highest society. So, another bastard, N. Novosiltsev, the base son of the sister of the Count Stroganov, was one of the “young friends” of the emperor Alexander.

In the age of ten, Pierre left Russia and spent another ten years abroad, and yet, unlike Hippolyte Kuragin, he speaks Russian very well.

Pierre's ties with the freemasons do not look very trustworthy. By that time the old-fashioned rituals of freemasons were already looked upon sarcastically, their Golden Age was in mid-18th century.

The funny thing with all these (and many other) anachronisms is that even when you are aware of them, the novel remains a masterpiece. You understand the characters better, the storyline becomes straight and clear. After all, Tolstoy is still a great writer, even though his Russian style looks so awkward that many Russian readers turn to hatred. So, one of very good science fiction writers, Svyatoslav Loginov, agnrily criticizes “War and Peace” for the last fifty pages, where Tolstoy explain his philosophy of history. I agree, these final pages are unbearable (and I never read them to the end). And yet, the book is great. The battle scenes are overwhelming, the plot is absorbing, the characters are vivid and the language is unmistakably Tolstoyesque: awkward but precise.

If you ask me, the best character in the book is Kutuzov, the master of zen war, who defeated Napoleon by escaping him. Oh, and the best reason to love “War and Peace” is not in the book. She is in the movie, and you know her name: Audrey Hepburn :).

This post is heavily based on the information borrowed from the article “Historical Context in Fiction: Aristocratic Society in the Novel ‘War and Peace’” by Ye. Tsimbayeva, published in the magazine «Вопросы литературы» 2004, №5. The full text is available here: “Исторический контекст в художественном образе (Дворянское общество в романе «Война и мир»)”

November 24 in Russian history. Duel of the four. Griboyedov and Chavchavadze

(12 November Old Style)

One of the first articles I wrote here mentioned Avdotya Istomina, famous ballerina. Here's a story where she became the cause of one of the most famous duels in Russian history.

1817

Istomina was eighteen and she was beautiful. Well, you see her portrait and it would be better to say that she was considered beautiful, for some reason. Like many other eighteen-years old beauties, she was frivolous, puerile and a little bit cruel. By that time she had been living with 21-years old captain of cavalry of the Horse-Guardsmen Regiment Count Vasily Sheremetev. Sheremetev was hot-tempered and jealous. On 3 November 1817, Avdotya left him and moved to live with Maria Azarevicheva, her good friend. What caused this break-up is not known. Perhaps, it was just another scandal. She told later that she had planned to leave him for a long time. Rumors said that the young count was running out of money. On 5 November, one of her numerous acquantances, Alexander Griboyedov (the author of the magnificent play Woe From Wit), after an evening in the theatre, offered her to visit his good friend, Count Shakhovsky, who had something to do with the show business (the theater, ballet, and so on). Instead, he brought her to his friend Count Alexander Zavadovsky, kammerjunker (Gentleman of the Bedchamber). Griboyedov explained later that he just wanted to find out what happened between her and Sheremetev, but since he lived at Zavadovsky's, it was the only place where they could talk, and Zavadovsky arrived later.

When Zavadovsky came back, he, an egotistic playboy, thought that, of course, she must have come to see him. Later, during the investigation, Istomina confessed that during this evening Zavadovsky had offered her his love, but she didn't know whether he was serious or not. Something went wrong, so she left disappointed Zavadovsky and Griboyedov took her back to Azarevicheva's apartment. Soon Sheremetev came there, begged her to pardon him for his jealousy and then they departed to Sheremetev's. When they came back, though, he started inquiring where she had been, with whom, what did they talk about and what did they do and so on. When he finally learned that she payed a visit to Zavadovsky, he went mad. His friend, cornet of Life-Guard Alexander Yakubovich, being just as zippy as Sheremetev, convinced Sheremetev that Griboyedov was also guilty, that he had played the role of a pander in this affair. Yakubovich also told later that the cause of the duel between Sheremetev and Zavadovsky was some ungentlemanlike act of Zavadovsky, but refused to tell what it was, saying that he promised to Sheremetev not to disclose this matter.

On 9 November, at 4pm, they came to Zavadovsky and challenged him to shoot right now. Zavadovsky asked them to wait for a couple of hours, because he hadn't yet had his dinner, so they decided to postpone the duel to tomorrow, 10 November. Friend of Zavadovsky, second lieutenant of artillery baron Stroganov tried to reconcile the duellists, but failed. On the next day the place for the duel was not yet agreed upon, so they postponed all deaths till 11 November. On 11 November, it was snowing and windy and the duel was delayed again. On 12 November they came to the Volkovo cemetary. The distance was 18 steps and they agreed that the one who shoots first will have to come to the barrier in the middle.

Sheremetev, annoyed by Zavadovsky's lentitude, shot first, but the bullet only tore away a piece of Zavadovsky's collar. Sheremetev cursed and said that if Zavadovsky would miss, they will shoot again. Zavadovsky took aim for a long time, then his pistol misfired, then it misfired again, and finally he shot. The bullet hit Sheremetev in the belly. The duel between Yakubovich and Griboyedov was postponed and they took wounded Sheremetev to his home where he died on the next day.

Sheremetev's father asked emperor Alexander not to punish Zavadovsky. The emperor gave an audience to Zavadovsky and concluded that it was a lawful self-defense.

Playboy Zavadovsky was sent away from Russia. Yakubovich was arrested and transferred to Caucasus. Griboyedov was also sent away from Russia. He was offered a choice: he could join the Russian embassy in the USA or in Persia. He chose Persia. On his way there, in Tiflis, Griboyedov met Yakubovich and the postponed duel took place. The bullet of Yakubovich hit Griboyedov into his palm, damaging forever his pinkie. "At least, he'll stop playing piano", said the implacable Yakubovich.

Griboyedov became a good diplomat, he often came back to Russia and then returned to Persia to continue his work. In 1828, on his way from Russia to Tehran, he stopped in Tiflis again. There he met the beautiful Georgian duchess Nina Chavchavadze, daughter of his good friend, poet Alexander Chavchavadze, and fell in love with her, just like she did. They married and the happy couple went to Tehran. A week later Nina stayed in the city Tavriz on the border and Griboyedov went forward to prepare his apartments for the arrival of his lady.

There was an Armenian eunuch in Griboyedov's retinue, Mirza Yakub, and the rumors said that he planned to convert from islam to christianity. The leaders of the Tehran muslims decided to kill the apostate. The fanatics attacked the Russian embassy and killed everyone there. The body of Griboyedov was identified by the mutilated pinkie.

More about Griboyedov in a small, but well written article by Philip Henscher in the Spectator: The playing fields of Persia, review of "Diplomacy and Murder in Tehran: Alexander Griboyedov and Imperial Russia's Mission to the Shah of Persia" by Laurence Kelly

November 23 in Russian history. The man who raised Soviet children

1908

One hundred years ago Nikolay Nosov was born in Kiev. He wrote many children's books, read by hundreds of millions of Soviet children for decades. Those who haven't read his stories about Neznaika, heard the audio recordings or (in the late Soviet years) saw animated films. The trilogy about Neznaika, Vitya Maleev at School and at Home and short stories are his best known books.

You can find the full text of the first book about Neznaika here: The Adventures of Neznaika and His Friends. See also a very brief review of the trilogy here: Nikolay Nosov: Neznaika trilogy. The author of the review, Layla AbdelRahim, qualifies the books in the following way: the first book is a socialist anarchist utopia of Flower town, the second, Dunno in Sun City, reminds one of the communist state and the third one, Dunno on the Moon, describes harsh realities of the capitalist society on the moon. This is true, but this is not why we loved the books. I recall one of my friends (we were, probably, 7 or 8 years old then), who had borrowed my copy of all three books (and they were not easy to buy in the USSR!), once whispered to me in a conspiratorial way: "You know what? The third book is about America!". Well, we didn't like the way people lived on the capitalist Moon, but the books were incredibly popular. Most of all I loved the second one, about the communist Sun City :).

As for the other books, I strongly advice that you check the translations of some short stories by Nikolay Nosov made by Svet from Windows to Russia:

ZIS
Cucumbers
The crucian carp
The crucian carp (part 2)
Mishka's porridge
Mishka's porridge (part 2)
The Pistol
The Pistol (part 2)
Gardeners
Garderners (part 2)
Rat-Rat-Rat
Laddy
Laddy (part 2)

November 22 in Russian history. Death of Mikhail Yaroslavich, nephew of Nevsky

1318.

In the chapter on the rise of Muscovy, Sergey Platonov wrote:

The two first knyazes, Daniil Alexandrovich and his son Yuri, took the lands along the whole river Moscow, tearing the towns Kolomna from the Ryazan principality and Mozhaisk from Smolensk principality. Also, Daniil inherited Pereyaslavl-Zalessky from the childless knyaz of Pereyaslavl. Yuri Daniilovich became so influential that he decided to ask the Golden Horde for yarlyk to become the grand knyaz of Vladimir, competing with the knyaz of Tver Mikhail Yaroslavich (Mikhail was a nephew of Alexander Nevsky and an uncle of Yuri Daniilovich). Since the political struggle in the Horde was led by all means, including conspiracies and violence, both knyazes were murdered in the Horde.

The principality of Vladimir was about 3-3.5 times larger than the duchies of Tver or Moscow. The owner of the title of knyaz of Vladimir became also the grand knyaz, the chief ruler among all the knyazes of the North-Eastern Rus. He defined the joint foreign policy and was the chief military commander in the case of war. Even the free principality of Novgorod recognized the grand knyaz as their supreme ruler. But to become the grand knyaz, one had to obtain the yarlyk from the khan of the Golden Horde. So, since the times of Alexander Nevsky Russian knyazes competed for the yarlyk. In the early 14th century the knyazes of Muscovy and Tver were the strongest candidates.

In 1304 the grand knyaz of Vladimir Andrey Alexandrovich, or Andrey of Gorodets, the third son of Alexander Nevsky, died. His three sons had already died and his heritage produced a huge turmoil among the other knyazes. As a matter of fact, he had bequeathed the principality of Vladimir to his cousin, Mikhail Yaroslavich of Tver. In 1305, Mikhail left to the Horde for the yarlyk.

Yuri Danilovich, knyaz of Muscovy, a grandson of Nevsky, might think he was very unlucky. His father, Daniil, died just one year earlier, 1303. Had Daniil lived a bit longer, the complicated laws of accession would make Yuri Danilovich the grand prince. He was not a legitimate candidate for the princedom, but his principality was stronger than Tver. So, he decided to interfere. As soon as Mikhail of Tver left to the Horde, Yuri followed him. The Moscow boyars and even the Maxim, the metropolitan of Vladimir, insisted that he should stay. He said that he goes to the Horde on his own business, having nothing to do with the yarlyk and departed for good.

When both of them arrived to the Horde, khan Tokhta, a very practical ruler of the Golden Horde, said that the yarlyk will go to the one who offers a larger tribute. Yuri and Mikhail raised the stakes till Yuri gave up. Mikhail stayed in the Horde for some more days, while Yuri hurried back to Moscow. Having arrived there, he immediately sent his army to Pereslavl Zalessky, a town that used to belong to the knyazes of Moscow, but recently adjoined to the domain of the grand knyaz of Vladimir. The excuse used by Yuri was that the deceased knyaz of Pereslavl was an old ally of Moscow. Legally, though, it was a treason and the army of Tver moved to Pereslavl. Mikhail, though, was still absent and Yuri defeated the Tverians. As a matter of fact, the Mongols had to interfere and restore the law. But they were not interested in the rise of one strong grand prince, so they left the two to solve their problems. Besides, who knows who of the princes might offer more money? Having returned to Tver, Mikhail attacked Moscow and forced Yuri to abandon Pereslavl.

But the competition was not over yet. Yuri's brothers, Alexander and Boris, refused to support him, but he still conflicted with Tver time to time, raided his neighbors and his rather aggressive policy increased the strength of Muscovy. In 1306 he killed the knyaz of Ryazan Konstantin, but failed to adjoin Ryazan and had to suffice with Kolomna. In 1307, Yuri attacked Nizhny Novgorod, conflicting with Mikhail once again. In 1308 Nizhny Novgorod Mikhail became the prince of Nizhny Novgorod, but Yuri did not give up. He found a good ally for himself – the new metropolitan of Russia, Peter. In 1312, when khan Tokhta died and khan Uzbek became the new khan of the Golden Horde, Mikhail of Tver went to the Horde to pledge allegiance to the new khan, and Yuri attacked Nizhny Novgorod, where the situation was very similar to what had happened in Pereslavl in 1305. Mikhail wanted to send his army, but the metropolitan Peter intefered and banned him from attacking Yuri.

Uzbek, rather annoyed by that little restless pain in the neck, demanded that Yuri visit him immediately. So, in 1315, the two swapped their places: Mikhail came back from the Horde, and Yuri came there to talk to Uzbek khan. Mikhail took back Nizhny Novgorod and was pretty sure that he could sleep well, even though the Novgorodians didn't like him and revolted now and then. But Yuri did not waste the time. He made acquaintance with Konchaka, the daughter of Uzbek khan and very soon married her. It was a great move. In 1317, Yuri came back to Rus with a large Mongol regiment, led by Kavgadiy, with Konchaka, who was baptised and got the name Agafya, and with the yarlyk of the grand knyaz!

Mikhail immediately made peace with Nizhny Novgorod and went with his army to meet Yuri. They met near Kostroma. Long and tiresome negotiations followed. It seems that Mikhail Yaroslavich agreed to give up his claims. He understood that Yuri will never leave him alone and upon his return to Tver he began to enforce the city and to train the army. The conflict ensued and in December 1317 Yuri attacked Tver but was defeated and fled to Novgorod (not Nizhny Novgorod, but Great Novgorod). Konchaka-Agafya, Yuri's brother Boris, many knyazes and even Kavgadiy were captured. Kavgadiy, though, was soon released with many gifts. Yuri gathered a new army in Novgorod and Pskov and returned to Tver, but this time there were no battles. The knyazes met and agreed to ask the Mongols to end their strife.

In theory, Mikhail had good chances to win. He was richer, he had good contacts in the Horde and he had better support in Russia. Right after the truce, he sent his son Konstantin to the Horde to make arrangements for the dispute.

Suddenly, still imprisoned Konchaka died. Yuri accused Mikhail of poisoning her and left to the Horde. Mikhail didn't plan to follow him, but soon a messenger from Uzbek khan arrived, demanding that Mikhail go with him. By the time Mikhail came to Uzbek, the khan had already learned from Yuri and Kavgadiy a lot about the "evil" deeds of the knyaz of Tver. The slander worked and Mikhail was put on trial. Kavgadiy was both the prosecutor and the judge. On 27 October Mikhail was put in chains and on the next day he was chained to a heavy log. After the trial that took place on 20 November, though, Kavgadiy promised him that he would be released soon. On 22 November 1318, 690 years ago, Kavgadiy, Yuri and a large group of their people assaulted Mikhail in his tent. They threw him down and started kicking him. Then someone Romanets fished out his knife and stabbed Mikhail in his heart.

His body was sent to Tver and on 6 September 1319 a huge crowd of people attended his funeral in the Tver cathedral. They were so frightened by his death that soon they forgot Mikhail's feuds with other knyazes, the ransack of the civilians in Torzhok in 1316, forgot how he had brought the Mongols and so on. They even began worshipping him as a saint.

In 1319-1320 this story was written by hegumen Alexander, Mikhail's father-confessor.

On 21 November 1325, almost exactly 7 years after the death of Mikhail, Yuri of Moscow was killed in the Golden Horde by Dimitri Mikhailovich, knyaz of Tver, son of Mikhail of Tver. Dimitri was also killed on spot.

To make the story just a little bit easier to read, here's the family tree of Rurikids, the Russian knyazes:

November 18 in Russian history. Ekaterinburg.

1723

(7 November Old Style)

285th anniversary of Ekaterinburg, a legendary city near Urals mountains.

As it often happens, the date is conventional, but not totally arbitrary. The first village, Shartash, was founded there in 1642 by Starovery. Now a district of Ekaterinburg is called Shartash. In 1704 copper processing facilities were built on river Uktus. In 1720 Vasily Tatishchev inspected the facilities and proposed to relocate them to Shartash. In 1721 preparatory works began. The exact dates are not clear, but somewhere in January-March 1723 a regiment of soldiers arrived from Tobolsk and the construction works on the new factory were started. By November the first factory floors were ready and on 18 November the first two hammers were put to test. This day became the birthday of Ekaterinburg.

Since 1726 Ekaterinburg became the primary source of gemstones for the Russian Empire. In 1807 the city officially became the first and the only "mining city" and was granted certain freedoms and privileges.

The area was extremely rich in metals and gemstones: copper, gold, malachite, amethyst and all other kinds of quartz, agate, aquamarine, beryl and so on. When I was a boy, I was interested in geology and visited the a hobby group at the city Pioneers Palace. By the way, these palaces were a wonderful thing, a brilliant invention of the Soviets. We had a very good teacher, geologist Yuri Melkozerov (two years ago by sheer chance I found his grave on the local cemetery :( ). I don't remember when exactly it was, perhaps in 1981-1983, we went to Ekaterinburg (it was called Sverdlovsk then, after Yakov Sverdlov). I brought from that trip a lot of interesting minerals: jasper, quartz, tiny garnets and many others. A piece of raw, uncut and unpolished malachite from that trip is stil lying right now on my table. As far as I remember, I was not deeply impressed by the city: it was just another industrial town, just like Samara, a bit dirty, with its own little attractions, but the nature of the Urals was magnificent.

Ekaterinburg was the home town of Pavel Bazhov, Russian writer. In childhood, he lived not far from Ekaterinburg, in a little town called Polevskoy. In 1939 he published his wonderful collection of Urals legends and fairy-tales, The Malachite Casket. These legends are absolutely different from any other folk tales. They somehow remind of Die Bergwerke zu Falun (The Falun Mines) by E.T.A. Hoffmann, but at the same time they are in a class of their own. The stories of the Mistress of the Copper Mountain or the Stone Flower are just amazing. Unfortunately, they are written in such a vivid folk language that it's very difficult to translate them into English preserving the charms of the text. Anyway, here's a brief retelling of the Mistress of the Copper Mountain (please, disregard the awful pictures :)).

You can find some photos of Ekaterinburg here. The picture in the top was taken from here. Find more here and here.

7 November. One lesson with Lenin

The topic suggests itself. Just for a little diversity i won't stigmatize the bolsheviks. I'll write something about Lenin without exposing his guile and wile.

Many years ago i had a wonderful book, called "Friendly encounters with the English language", written by Maria Kolpakchi. When speaking about English pronouns, she quoted a book "Four lessons with Lenin" by Marietta Shaginyan. What's the link between Lenin and English pronouns?

We know that in 1902-1903 Lenin lived in London under the name of Jacob Richter. Lenin studied the British workers' movement and English language, wrote articles for "Iskra" newspaper, which was published in London those years, and visited the attractions of London, including the Speakers' Corner and the British Library. On 21 April, Lenin sent an application, asking the director of the British Library to allow him studies in the reading room of the Library. The text of the application is:

30. Holford Square. Pentonville W. C.

Sir,

I beg to apply for a ticket of admission to the Reading Room of the British Museum. I came from Russia in order to study the land question, I enclose the reference letter of Mr. Mitchell.

Believe me, Sir, to be Yours faithfully.

Jacob Richter.

April 21. 1902.

To the Director of the British Museum.

A recommendation from I.H.Mitchell, the General Secretary of the General Federation of Trade Unions was enclosed in the letter:

April, 20

Dear Sir,

I have pleasure in recommending Mr. Jacob Richter LLD. St. Retersburg for admission to the Reading Room. My friend's purpose in desiring admission is to study the Land Question.

I trust you will be able to comply with this request. Yours truly

I. H. Mitchell

Gen. Secretary General Federation of Trade Unions

168, Temple Chambers

Three days later, when Lenin did not receive a reply from the Library, he sent another recommendation. Written by the same Mitchell, it was typed on an official blank:

General Federation of Trade Unions

Chief Office: 168 - 170,

Temple Chambers Temple Avenue

London, April 23d 1902

Sir,

With reference to my recommendation of Mr. Richter for admission to the Reading Room, the difficulty no doubt arises through the street where I reside (Voltaire Street Clipham) being only recently buitl, and may not yet be in the Directory. I now desire to repeat the recommendation from the above address. Here again however you may not find it correct: in the Directory as prior to December 1901 the address was 40 Bridge House, 181 Queen Victoria Str. E. C.: that address will be found in the Directory.

Trust this may be satisfactory.

Yours truly

I. H. Mitchell

Lenin added his own little letter to this recommendation:

Sir,

In addition to my letter and with reference to Your information N 4332 I enclose the new recommendation of Mr. Mitchell.

Yours faithfully

Jacob Richter

24. April 1902.

On 29 April Lenin for the first time entered the British Library and wrote his pseudonym in the journal. Marietta Shaginyan looked a bit closer to the original letters that i quoted above and noted one little detail of the Lenin's writing. Every time he had to write a capital `I', he pedantically put a dot above the letter. Shaginyan writes:

...The proud single letter `I' is a personal pronoun in English. And this `I' is always written by English speakers as a capital letter, while `you', the second person pronoun, which we usually politely capitalize as `You', Englishmen write in lower-case. The obtrusive pole of `I' is not only capitalized in English, but it cannot be omitted and replaced by a single verb, as in Russian: `ask' instead of `I ask', `speak' instead of `I speak', and so on; and in a story told in first person this `I' always sticks out as a fence. To omit it would be an illiterate English, and Lenin could not decrease the number of `I's in his letters. In the very first letter he had to write it thrice, and not in the middle of the sentences, but right from the start: "I beg", "I came", "I enclose".

And now we come to this little peculiarity of the Lenin's writing style. The capital `I' has no dot above, only lower-case `i' may be dotted. The Englishmen write the `I' in various ways, it may look like a large horn, a whip, a semi-circle, but, from my experience, nobody ever puts a dot above. And Lenin in his applications always puts a tiny neat dot. And I begin to think that the English suddenly grown up `I' made him uneasy, especially when he had to write `you' in lower-case? And by dotting the large `I' Lenin wanted to equal this pronoun to the other words?

If you think it is a total fantasy, then why, why did Lenin, who knew perfectly the rules of the English orthography, in his second application write `Your' with capital Y, in the Russian way?

Frankly speaking, i also felt some uneasyness for a long time before i learned to write huge I's and small you's. So, here's my little tribute to Lenin, the modest tyrant: in this article i capitalized You instead of i. Hope, You liked it, dear readers. And as for You, comrade Lenin, sleep well. Don't wake up, i beg You.

November 6 in Russian history. The "Second Front" in WWII.

1942

During the meeting of the Moscow Council of Deputies with communist party organizations Stalin delivered a speech, devoted to the anniversary of the October revolution. Among other things, he said something that later annoyed the Western allies:

How can we explain the fact that the Germans managed to seize the initiative and to have victories on our front? The explanation is that they managed to collect all their reserves, throw them to the Eastern front and to build a numerical advantage on one of the directions. There's no doubt that without these measures they wouldn't reach their goals on our front.

But why did they succeed in building this advantage? Because the absence of the second front in Europe allowed them to to do so avoiding any risk.

...

Suppose, there would be a second front in Europe, as there was one during the First World War, and it would distract about 60 German divisions and about 20 divisions of the German allies. What would the situation look like then? It would become the beginning of the end of the German army, because the Red Army would have been somewhere near Pskov, Minsk, Zhitomir and Odessa instead of where it is now. It means that this summer the German-fascist army would have faced a catastrophe. But it did not happen because there was no second front in Europe.

...

In the First World War, when Germany fought on two fronts, 85 of 220 German divisions fought against Russia. If we add 37 Austrian divisions, 2 Bulgarian and 3 Turkish divisions, there will be 127 divisions. The remaining German forces fought against mostly British and French armies and served in the occupied countries.

Now, in total, 240 divisions are fighting now against us on the Eastern front. The other divisions are located in the occupied countries and some of them are fighting against England in Lybia and Egypt, and only 4 German and 11 Italian divisions are fighting on the Lybian front.

So, we have 240 divisions instead of 127 in the First World War, and instead of 85 German divisions we have 179.

This is the main cause of the tactical successes of the German-fascist army in this summer.

Earlier, in the beginning of 1942, during the public opinion poll in Britain the majority of participants voted for the beginning of the offensive operation on the continent. In April, President Roosevelt wrote to Churchill:

Your people and mine demand the establishment of a front to draw off pressure on the Russians, & these peoples are wise enough to see that the Russians are today killing more Germans & destroying more equipment than you & I put together.

On 22 May 1942, Soviet foreign minister Molotov on a meeting with Churchill, Attlee, Eden and others reported on the upcoming extremely important and large scale battles on the Eastern front. He asked whether the allies will be able to distract at least 40 German divisions to Europe. If they will, said Molotov, Germany may be defeated in this year. Churchill gave no answer.

On 29 May, Roosevelt told Molotov that by the end of the year the USA will have an army of 4 million people and a fleet with 600,000 people and in 1942 they will be ready to open the second front. It was too late, but Roosevelt also promised to discuss with the general staff the possibility of sending 6 to 10 divisions to France in 1942. On the next day, during a meeting with general Marshall, admiral King and Harry Hopkins, Molotov said that postponing the opening of the second front till 1943 will present a risk to the USSR and be dangerous for USA and Britain, too. Molotov asked for the clarification of the allies' position. Roosevelt answered that "We want to open the second front in 1942. This is our hope." On 30 May Molotov reported to Moscow that "Roosevelt and Marshall said that they want to open the second front, but the actions are stalled by the lack of transport ships".

On 28 May Churchill sent a telegram to Roosevelt, explaining the reasons why the opening of the second front doesn't seem possible in 1942. George Marshall was also skeptical on the dates. However, on 1 June Present Roosevelt repeated that he hoped to open the front in 1942. On the same day, the British general staff voted down the operation Sledgehammer.

On 11-12 May a joint Soviet-American communique was published, where both sides said that they agreed on necessity of opening the second front in Europe. The same statement was in the British-Soviet communique. A bit later Roosevelt said to King and Marshall that he just wanted to raise hopes of the Soviet government. Churchill said that the British government does not commit itself to doing so on any certain date.

In July, the governments of USA and Britain decided that instead of landing in France, they will open operations in North Africa. In August 1942, 62% of Americans said in poll that they believed that the second front in Europe will be opened in two or three months.

Well, it went on and on and by November the Soviets were really tired waiting and in on 6 November Stalin continued his speech:

People often ask, whether there will be the second front. Yes, earlier or later, it will be formed. Not only because we need it, but because our allies need it. Our allies understand that after the defeat of France the absence of the second front against Germany might end badly for all freedom-loving countries, including the allies themselves.

The second front was not opened till 6 June 1944, when the Soviets liberated a large part of Russia and Ukraine, including Novgorod, Leningrad, Odessa, Sevastopol and began the offensive that would not stop anymore.

1944

On a similar meeting with the deputies of the Moscow Soviet, Stalin mentioned for the first time "The ten blows of the Soviet army", which were promptly renamed into "Stalin's ten blows":

From Wikipedia:

1. Leningrad-Novgorod Strategic Offensive (14 January - 1 March, 1944). This, the second chronologically of the offensives, fully relieved the siege of Leningrad, which had started on August 30, 1941. Although the Germans resisted fiercely at first, having had years to prepare defensive rings including pillboxes and minefields around Leningrad, once the initial defenses were broken Soviet forces easily reached the border of Estonia. In Stalin's speech he called it the Lifting of the Leningrad Blockade. It was conducted by the Leningrad Front and the Volkhov Front.

2. Dnieper–Carpathian Offensive (24 January 1944 - 17 April 1944). This offensive was launched on Christmas Eve, 1943, the first chronologically of the 1944 offensives. It involved the clearing of Axis forces from Ukraine. It also resulted in the isolation of the German-controlled Crimea. It was called the Liberation of the Right-Bank Ukraine in Stalin's speech, and involved the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Ukrainian Fronts, and the 1st and 2nd Belorussian Fronts.

3. Odessa Offensive (26 March 1944 - 14 April 1944) which begun the third blow, and the Crimean Offensive (8 April - 12 May, 1944) which completed it. The third offensive cleared the Crimea of German and Romanian forces, and recaptured Sevastapol. Adolf Hitler had refused to allow Axis forces to evacuate, believing that retention of the Crimea was vital to maintaining Turkish neutrality. The Red Army attacked over the Perekop Isthmus, and quickly drove the German and Romanian forces back to Sevastopol, which surrendered on 8 May. Although Hitler had finally given permission for evacuation, the majority of soldiers were unable to escape in time and surrendered and went into captivity. Due to heavy casualties suffered by the Romanian forces, this battle was a major factor in their surrender. Stalin called it the Liberation of Odessa and Liberation of the Crimea in his speech. It was conducted by the 4th Ukrainian Front.

4. Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive (9 June - 9 August, 1944). This offensive against Finland recaptured the Karelian Isthmus and Vyborg. After having reached the 1940 border, the Soviet forces stopped voluntarily. It was successful in territorial gains, but due to Finnish fortifications, and German reinforcements was not as great a success as hoped by the Stavka. However, it was an cause of the eventual Finnish surrender on 19 September. Stalin dubbed it the Liberation of Karelia-Finland Soviet Republic. It was carried out by the Leningrad Front and the Karelian Front.

5. Operation Bagration (22 June - 29 August, 1944) Started exactly three years after the invasion of the Soviet Union, and named after Pyotr Bagration, a Russian general during the Napoleonic Wars, this drove the last remaining German forces from Soviet territory, recapturing all of Belarus. It inflicted extremely heave casualties upon the German Army Group Center, to the point of being called "The Destruction of Army Group Center,"and was undoubtedly one of Germany's worst defeats of the war. Soviet forces advanced past the Bobruisk-Mogilev-Vitebsk line, and nearly reached Warsaw before stopping. Almost 30 German divisions were encircled near Minsk, and the prewar border of East Prussia was reached. The Lublin–Brest Offensive is considered part of this operation. Stalin called the operation the Belorussian Operation, and liberation of Lithuania and significant parts of allied Poland, and advance to the borders of Germany." It was conducted by the 1st Baltic Front, and the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Belorussian Fronts.

6. Lvov–Sandomierz Offensive (13 July - 29 August, 1944). This offensive to the south of and concurrent to Operation Bagration advanced through Poland and past the Bug River. Although it made little progress at first, eventually it became successful, capturing Brody, Lvov, and Sandomierz. Called the Liberation of western Ukraine and crossing of the Vistula, it was carried out by the 1st Ukrainian Front. and, in conjunction with Operation Bagration, destroyed the German Army Group Centre

7. Jassy-Kishinev Offensive (19 August - 14 October, 1944). This offensive, beginning with the Jassy-Kishinev Offensive from 20 August to 29 August, and overlapped with the ninth victory by including the abortive East Carpathian Offensive. This offensive and its follow-ups were mainly conducted in the Balkans, and were targeted at German and Romanian formations in Army Group South Ukraine. About 15 or 16 German divisions were encircled with several Romanian divisions during the course of the Soviet advance. These operations, directly caused the capitulation of Romania and Bulgaria. It decimated the formations of Army Group South Ukraine, and Soviet forces advanced deep into Romania. In Stalin's speech, he referred to it as the "Forcing out of the war of Romania and Bulgaria, advancing to the borders of Hungary, and the possibility of offering assistance to allied Yugoslavia." It was carried out by the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts.

8. Baltic Offensive (14 September - 20 November, 1944). Recapturing the Baltic states, including most of Latvia and Estonia, this offensive isolated the Courland Pocket, where 30 divisions of Army Group North were cut off from Army Group Center till the end of the war in Europe. Stalin's speech called the offensive the Liberation of Estonia and Latvia, surrounding of Germans in Courland, and forced exit of Finland from the war. The 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Baltic Fronts, along with the Leningrad Front carried out this attack.

9. East Carpathian Offensive (8 September 1944 - 28 September 1944), Budapest Offensive (20 October, 1944 - 13 February 1945), and the Belgrade Offensive (14 September 1944 - 24 November 1944). These, the final of the successful 1944 offensives, resulted in the capture of Budapest, on 13 February 1945. Budapest was surrounded by Soviet forces on 26 December, 1944, and, after brutal street fighting, fell. The three offensives were regarded, and planned as a single continuous strategic advance that was also imbued with great political significance due to the participation of the Yugoslav communist forces in its final phase. Stalin called it the crossing of the Carpathian mountains, liberation of Belgrade and offering of direct help to Czechoslovakia, destruction of the Budapest group of Axis forces, and Liberation of Belgrade. It was conducted by the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Ukrainian Fronts.

10. Petsamo–Kirkenes Offensive (7 October - 29 October, 1944). This, the first and only large-scale Arctic military operation started after German forces did not evacuate from Finnish territory by 15 September, as dictated in the terms of the Moscow Armistice. It involved Soviet forces chasing retreating Germans into Norway, and was very successful for the Soviet Union. It led to the occupation of the nickel mines in Pechenga, which had been producing metal vital for the German war effort. Stalin called it the Removal of the threat from German forces to the Soviet northern shipping port of Murmansk and entry into Norway. It was conducted primarily by the Karelian Front, with assistance from Soviet naval forces.

November 5 in Russian history. The Moscow Planetarium.

1929

On 5 November 1929 the first planetarium in Russia was opened. The Moscow Planetarium was the 13th planetarium in the world, it was built only 6 years after the "Wonder of Jena" was opened in Munich. The Planetarium was an important ideological object. Its task was to spread the scientific knowledge and to become a centre of the anti-religious propaganda. One of the first lecture held there was titled "Was the world created in six days?". During the WWII, the planetarium was used as a learning center for pilots. Later, in 1960s, cosmonauts also spent a lot of time there, studying astronomy. In 1977, the new planetarium hardware made by Karl Zeiss Jena was installed. It included 119 lamps that produced images of 5400 moving stellar objects.

It was one of the largest planetaria in the world: 27 meters in diameter. In 1929, it took only one year to finish the construction. Now, the reconstruction has already taken more than 13 years and the end is not even near. The events that took place around the Planetarium, deserve to be described by Mikhail Bulgakov, so weird they are.

In the Soviet years, the Planetarium belonged to the All-Union Society "Znanie" (Knowledge). In 1994 a closed corporation "Moscovsky Planetariy" was established. The largest shareholder was a company named Twinz. It belonged to someone Mikitasov, a show-biz producer. It was the first time in post-Soviet Russia when an educational institution was handed over to a private company. In the next two years the building of the planetarium was sometimes used for fashion shows and paintball matches, but the planetarium itself continued its work. The hardware was in good condition, but the building was deteriorating. In 1994 the building was closed for reconstruction. The Moscow government questioned the rights of Twinz, but the court decided that there were no violations of the law and Twinz remained the owner of the building. In 1998, Twinz suddenly agreed to pass 61% of shares to the Moscow government. In 1999 the reconstruction plan was developed, but it was not approved by the Moscow authorities, who were afraid that too many entertainment might hurt the planetarium. It was planned that the reconstruction should be finished in 2006, but in 2006 (or 2007, it was difficult to find out exactly) the Moscow authorities stopped further financing. The work was frozen.

Now, a detective story begins. Of course, during all those years there was no profit from the planetarium. The Moscow government announced that the debt of the corporation "Moskovsky Planetariy" is 1.7 billion rubles (the sum invested by Moscow). On 11 March 2008, on a shareholder meeting, the authorities proposed to dismiss Mikitasov. It's not clear whether the decision was approved, because both sides demonstrate two different versions of the meeting's record. On 25 March the court decided the further examination is necessary and the decision should be postponed till May. On the next day, 26 March, a group of armed people in uniform attacked the planetarium, beat the guards and occupied the building. They confiscated all documents and computers. The web-site of the planetarium was down. Soon, a new director arrived. He promised that the reconstruction would be finished in 2008 and the planetarium will resume its normal activities. In May 2008, the corporation "Moskovsky Planetariy" was officially recognized a bankrupt. They appealed, but in October the court rejected the appeal, ruling that Mikitasov was dismissed in March by the shareholder meeting. The reconstruction is still frozen, the new owners are reviewing the reconstruction plan. Now they promise that the work will be over in September 2009, when the 80th anniversary of the planetarium will be celebrated. It's not yet clear, though, whether they will resume the work or the land lot will be simply sold. The site is located in one of the most commecially valuable districts of Moscow.

A conflict between "the spirit of free entrepreneurship" and the state? Or the war for money between two clans? Either way, this is one of those things why for almost one half of Russians the word "capitalism" is still insulting.

In the meanwhile, Russian ministry of education decided that our schoolchildren do not need astronomy and excluded this subject from the list of obligatory subjects in Russian schools.

November 29-30 in Russian history

This article was written by Mosquito and originally posted at Sima Qian Studio forum:

A little bit late but better late than never:

November Uprising and Polish-Russian war 1830-1831

After the fall of Napoleon, in 1815 after Congress of Vienna, on the part of the territory of Grand Duchy of Warsaw was created Kingdom of Poland. The kingdom was in personal union with Russia, Tsar of Russia was the king of Poland. Kingdom had its own constitution, administration, parliament and army.

In the third decade of 19th century violating the constitution by the tsar-king became notorious. The rights of opposition were being limited, Polish army was getting angry, especially because of the behaviour of Grand Duke Constantine – brother of tsar, Governor of Kingdom and Commander in chief of Polish army. Altough Constantine married Polish woman and often was showing pro-polish sympaties, he in the same time behaved in the way that Polish officers were not able to accept. In the Polish army with its old Commonwealth traditions and Napoleonic traditions it was not tolerated that Russian duke dare to insult or even slap in face a soldier or officer, what angry Constantine was sometimes doing. It was normal in the Russian army that generals, marshals or members of Tsar’s family could do everything with officers but in the Polish army it was the worst thing one could do to officer because it wasn’t possible to duel with the commander. When one slapped cadet committed suicide and shot himself, officer corps stared to plan rebellion.

Polish army was small (about 40.000 soldiers) but well trained, many of high rank officers were veterans of Napoleonic wars who were fighting against Russia in Napoleon’s Great army. For example general Josef Chlopicki was a general of Napoleonic army who fought in Spain and later in Russian campaign, was wounded at Borodino. General Jan Zygmunt Skrzynecki was an officer of Napoleonic army who in 1813 in the battle of Arcis-sur-Aube saved Napoleon from being killed or captured. General Dwernicki – also an officer of Napoleonic army was decorated by golden cross of Legion of Honour personally by Napoleon. So was general Pradzynski decorated by Napoleon with the golden cross of Legion of Honour for the bravery in the battle of Leipzig.

The year 1830 was very important in western Europe. There was revolution in France and also the Belgians revolted against the Dutch. To Poland came news that Tsar (and king of Poland in the same time) decided to sent Polish army to Belgium and France to put down the revolutions. On the 17 october 1830 Tsar ordered mobilistation of Polish army and preparation of finances of Kingdom for war. Using Polish Army to revolution in France and Belgium would have been another violation of the Polish constitution.

The whole situation, especially the news that Polish soldiers are supposed to fight against French (considered by Poles as friends) and Belgians, the behaviour of Constantine, the violation of law by tsar put the young officers on the verge of rebellion.

The revolt was started in the night 29th – 30th November in Cadet school. Lieutenant Piotr Wysocki leaded the cadets against Russian troops and took over Warsaw. The rebels took also the residence of Grand Duke Constantine but he escaped in women's clothing.

None in Warsaw was prepared for it. Polish government, Polish generals, most of the Polish people knew nothing about cadet’s plans. Polish people were divided. Many didn’t want the war with Russia. Many even didn’t want to get independence from Russia. Most of people agreed that Polish soldiers cannot be sent to France and Belgium and that Tsar must obey the constitution.

Constantine was ready to forgive the rebels and promised that the matter would be amicably settled, but radical parties objected and demanded a national uprising. Fearing an immediate break with Russia, the Government agreed to let Constantine depart with his troops.

General Chlopicki was given the office of “Dictator of Uprising”. Chlopicki didn’t belive in victory, but agreed to take command temporarily. He had retired from the army because of the chicanery of Constantine. He overestimated the power of Russia and underestimated the strength and fervor of the Polish revolutionary movement. He accepted the dictatorship essentially in order to maintain internal peace and to save the Constitution.

First Poles wanted to negotiate with Tsar and demanded that Lithuanian will be joined back to Polish Kingdom and that Tsar will obey constitution but Tsar refused and demanded the complete and unconditional surrender of Poland and announced that the “Poles should surrender to the grace of their Emperor”. Poles refused and general Chłopicki resigned the following day from the Dictator’s post.

The parliament was taken over by radical parties which passed the Act of Dethronization of Nicholas I, which ended the Polish-Russian personal union and was a declaration of war on Russia.

Poland wanted to move the war to Lithuania but Russians were faster. The Russian army of 115.000 soldiers under the command of Field Marshal von Diebitsch crossed the Polish border. The first major battle took place on 14 February 1831 at the village of Stoczek. General Josef Dwernicki defeated Russian division. The following battles of Wawer and Bialoleka were Polish victories too but not decisive enough to stop the advance of Russian army.

On 25th February Polish army of 40,000 fought a Russian army of 60,000 in the battle of Olszynka Grochowska. The battle was a tactical Polish victory. Both armies withdrew after two days of fighting. 7.000 Poles and 10.000 Russians died on the battlefield, Russian field marshal Diebitsch had to retreat and Warsaw was saved. But Polish army was much smaller than Russian and for Poles it was really a Pyhrric victory. Not only big part of the Polish army died but also general Chlopicki was wounded and general Skrzynecki took the command over the army.

Polish generals made the plan of counteroffensive but gen. Skrzynecki was afraid to take initiative and lost the best moment to defeat Russian army. Finally he agreed to attack Russian forces but it was too late. Polish armies took many victories over Russians but in the battle of Ostroleka numerically superior Russian army defeated Poles and broke the morale of Polish army.

In September 1831 Russians took Warsaw and majority of Polish army crossed the border with Prussia.

Alltogether in the war took part about 70.000 Polish soldiers and 180.000 Russian soldiers.

The war became famous in all the Europe. In most of the European countries public opinion was on the Polish side while goverments were supporting Russians.

French poet Casimir Francois Delavigne composed famous Warsaw Song of 1831 which that time became well know in all the Europe and was translated on many languages:

WARSAW SONG 1831
Today is a day of blood and glory,
That it be a day of resurrection!
Gazing at France’s star,
The White Eagle launches into flight.

And it, inspired by hope,
Calls to us from on high:
"Arise, oh Poland, break your chains,
Today is a day of victory or death!"

Hey, whoever is a Pole, to your bayonettes!
Live, freedom, oh Poland, live!
Let this worthy battle cry:
Sound forth to our foes!

Oh Frenchmen! Are our wounds
Of no value for you?
At Marengo, Wagram, Jena,
Dresden, Leipzig, and Waterloo
The world betrayed you, but we stood firm.
In death or victory, we stand by you!
Oh brothers, we gave blood for you.
Today you give us nothing but tears.

Hey, whoever is a Pole, to your bayonettes!
Live, freedom, oh Poland, live!
Let this worthy battle cry:
Sound forth to our foes!
Sound forth to our foes!

List of the more important battles:

• Battle of Stoczek – 14th February 1831 – Polish victory
• Battle of Dobre -17th February 1831– Polish victory
• I Battle of Wawer – 19th February 1831 – Polish victory
• Battle of Nowa Wies – 19th February 1831 – Polish victory
• Battle of Bialoleka – 24th February 1831 – Polish victory
• Battle of Olszynka Grochowska – 25th February 1831 – undecided, Polish tactical victory
• Battle of Pulawy – 2nd march 1831 – Polish victory
• Battle of Krukow – 3 march 1831 – Polish victory
• Battle of Markuszow – 3 march 1831 – Polish victory
• II Battle of Wawer – 31 march 1831 – Polish victory
• Battle of Dab Wielki – 31 march 1831 – Polish victory
• Battle of Domanice – 10th april 1831 – Polish victory
• Battle of Iganie – 10th april 1831 – Polish victory
• Battle of Poryck – 11th april 1831 – Polish victory
• Battle of Wronow – 17th april 1831 – Russian victory
• Battle of Kazimierz Dolny – 18th april 1831 – Russian victory
• Battle of Boreml – 18th april 1831 – Polish victory
• Battle of Sokolow Podlaski – 21th april February 1831 – Polish victory
• Battle of Mariampol – 21th april 1831 – Russian victory
• Battle of Firlej – 9 mai 1831 – Polish victory
• Battle of Polaga – 10 mai 1831 – Russian victory
• Battle of Tykocin – 21 mai 1831 – Polish victory
• Battle of Nur – 22 mai 1831 – Polish victory
• Battle of Ostroleka – 26 mai 1831 – Russian victory
• Battle of Rajgrod – 29 mai 1831 – Polish victory
• Battle of Vilnius – 17 August 1831 – Russian victory
• Battle of Rogoznica – 29 August 1831 – Polish victory
• Defence of Warsaw– beginning of September 1831 – Russian victory

November 30 in Russian history

1941

On the night 29-30 November, about 12,000-15,000 Jews from the Riga ghetto were taken to Rumbula forest and shot by the Sonderkommando Arajs, one of the bloodiest killing teams of the WWII, named after Viktors Arajs, a Latvian SS-Sturmbannführer. On December 8, the remaining Jews were also killed there. The total number of victims is not known precisely. The German officers told later that they used 25,000 bullets, one bullet per victim. Brigadenführer Walther Stahlecken spoke of 27,800 murdered people. Of all those who were taken to Rumbula, only 3 managed to escape. One of them, Margers Vestermanis, is the director of the Riga Jewish Museum now. He co-wrote the article about Riga ghetto at deathcamps.org:

On 19 November 1941, working Jews were separated from the rest of the ghetto population and moved to a section in the northeast corner of the ghetto that had been cleared for the purpose. This area became known as the “Small Ghetto.” On the night of 29-30 November, the western section of the “Large Ghetto” was surrounded and the Jews gathered into groups of 1,000. The Jews had been told that they were simply being sent to a new camp nearby and to pack a 20-kilogram suitcase for the trip. Some people who had heard about the “resettlement” and interpreted this in fact to mean the physical liquidation of the Jews, decided to commit suicide. The next morning the groups were taken to the Rumbula Forest, 8 km from Riga, and shot. Large pits had been prepared for the purpose. Many people were killed on the ghetto streets or in their houses in the course of the Aktion. The drunken Latvian policemen, commanded by Herbert Cukurs, a famous former Latvian pilot who in 1933 flew over Africa and during the war was a German auxiliary police officer known as “The Butcher of Riga”, killed all the elderly Jews from the old people’s home. On that day, and continuing on 8 and 9 December, the entire population of the “Large Ghetto” was murdered, including most of the members of the Ältestenrat, the historian Simon Dubnow, and Rabbi Manahem Mendel Zak, the Chief Rabbi of Riga. In total, 27,800 Jews were killed in the Rumbula Forest in these Aktionen. One of the few survivors was Frida Frid-Mikhelson:

“Our column was divided up and everyone was ordered to undress… The Germans kept prodding us with their rifle butts closer and closer to the pit… Jews were already walking there one at a time, and vanishing behind the precipice – one could only hear the rattle of automatic rifles…I ran up to the officer who was in charge of the execution…He hit me in the head with his pistol, and I fell down. I was right next to the pit where the dead were being thrown. I pressed myself to the ground and tried not to move. A half hour later I heard someone shout in German: `Put the shoes here!’ By this time I had already crawled back a little. Just then, something was being thrown at me. I opened one eye slightly and saw a shoe lying next to my face. I was being covered up with shoes…Shots resounded quite close to me, and I could distinctly hear the last cries of people, the moans of the wounded who were thrown alive into the common grave. Some died cursing at their executioners, others died remembering their children and parents, others read prayers aloud…

… By evening the shooting had stopped… I decided to crawl out from under the pile of shoes… I crawled over to another pile – it was men’s clothing… I put on someone’s trousers and jacket and tied a big kerchief around my head… I came across a blanket cover, wrapped myself in it and began to crawl…”

Frida Frid-Mikhelson was sheltered by two Latvian families, the Berzins’ and Mezulis’, and later by a group of Seventh Day Adventists, who hid her and supplied her with food throughout the entire period of German occupation.

In addition to the killing sites at Rumbula and Bikernieki, concentration or labour camps were established in the vicinity of Riga at Kaiserwald (Mezaparks), Salaspils and Jungfernhof (Jumpravmuita), where executions were also carried out.

See also the article Remembering Rumbula by Michael Tarm, who interviewed Margers Vestermanis. The author talks also on the further life of one of the murderers, someone Konrads Kalejs, and ponders on the implications of the Kalejs case for the Latvian society.

Another very good overview of the Holocaust in Latvia is the illustrated article The Killings at Riga at HolocaustResearchProject.org.

On November 29, 2002, the president of Latvia Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga and the prime-minister Einars Repše opened the memorial to the Jews of Riga ghetto and other victims of the Nazis killed in Rumbula.

November 29 in Russian history

Once again kudos to Jason, who runs ExecutedToday.com. Today he wrote an article about Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya.

Zoya was one of the most famous partisans in the USSR and, of course, her life and death were mythologized. So, in one of the first articles published in 1942, the author told that the during the tortures the fascists asked her where is comrade Stalin, and she replied that comrade Stalin is vigilant on his duty. In 1990s many newspapers (mostly tabloids) published articles about Zoya based on dubious new documents. Some of them concluded that her death was the result of the careless decision of the commanders who sent children to death, that it was some other girl, that there were no Nazis in the houses that she burned, others claimed that she was schizofrenic. These sensations were not confirmed later.

However, these fake stories launched some serious investigations. So, the facial expertise confirmed that it was really Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya. There were two versions of why she was caught. First, a member of her group, Klubkov, who was caught first but managed to escape later, was accused of betraying her. He was executed in 1942. However, he was, probably, forced to slander himself during the interrogations in the Soviet counter-intelligence. The German documents stated that she was captured after one of the village residents, Sviridov, noticed her and reported to the Germans. It became known that after she was seized, some women, who had earlier lived in the houses occupied by the Nazi soldiers and burnt by the partisans, attempted to attack her to avenge for their houses.

The remaining part of her story, including her last words, is true and complies with the testimonies of the residents of Petrishchevo.

Zoya's brother, Alexander, was killed in Vierbrudenkrug, near Königsberg, on 13 April 1945.

November 29 in Russian history

1941

The Soviet information agency Sovinformbureau published the report titled "Feeble-minded fascist counterfeiters":

The proverb says: "When god want to punish the people, he makes them demented." The Hitlerites who manage the fascist propaganda, have lost the last remainders of the sense of humour. The frauds they fabricate amaze with the stupidity and poverty of intellect. So, after the publication of the note of People's Commissar of Foreign Affairs comrade V. M. Molotov "On the disgusting atrocities of the German powers to the Soviet prisoners of war", which has denounced the murderous acts of the German fascist rascals, the Hitler's criminals attempt to diminish the impression produced by this truthful document on the international public opinion. They try to slip away by making silly and giftless excuses, like petty swindlers. This time they found no better idea than to use the son of the People's Commissar of Foreign Affairs comrade V. M. Molotov, allegedly taken prisoner, as a "disprover".

Picking a rascal who sold himself to Gestapo, the fascist fools proclaimed the scoundrel the son of Molotov, Georgy Molotov, and staged the following farce. The rascal was brought to the German journalist, in front of whom he began to "refute" the facts stated in the note of V. M. Molotov, that is, began to "prove" that the black is white and that the hitlerites are not animals and cannibals, but meek lambs.

The illiterate speech of that hitlerite broadcasted by radio demonstrates his obvious problems with Russian language. So, instead of the Russian word "zheleznodorozhniki" (railroad workers) he used the word "transportniki" (transportists), and so on.

When arranging this most stupid farce, the hitlerite counterfeiters failed to take into account the fact that V. M. Molotov does not have a son, and never had.

What a bad time the Hitler's gang has if they have to resort to so awkward tricks.

1963

The newspaper Vecherniy Leningrad published a satirical article titled "Near-literary drone".

Some years ago, a young man who called himself a poet has appeared in the near-literary circles of Leningrad. He wore velveteen trousers and always carried a briefcase stuffed with papers. In winter he didn't wear a hat and the snow fell freely onto his reddish hair.

The friends called him simply Osya. In other places he was titled with his full name — Iosif Brodsky.

Brodsky visited an association of beginning writers at the Culture Palace of the First Five Year Plan. But the poet in the velveteen trousers decided that working in the association was not a job for his generous nature. He even told the beginning writers that the study in this association allegedly constrains the creativity and he will climb the Parnassus alone.

What did this self-confident youngster have to bring into the literature? He had a dozen or two of verses written in a thin school notebook, and all of them demonstrated the deficiency of his worldview. "Cemetery", "I'll die…" — by these titles alone we can judge the works of Brodsky. He imitated the poets who advocate the pessimism and lack of trust into the man, his verses are a blend of decadence, modernism and unconcealed gibberish. His wretched imitations looked pathetic. Though, he could not create anything independent. He had neither knowledge nor culture for that. What knowledge can a man have, who did not graduate the secondary school?

…

Who are the supporters of Brodsky? Marianna Volnyanskaya, who abandoned her old mother for the bohemian life, her friend Nezhdanova, an evangelist of yoga and various mysticism. Vladimir Shveygoltz, whose face is often seen on the satirical posters published by the people's druzhina, criminal Anatoly Geyhman, parasite Yefim Slavinsky who prefers to lounge about in various expedition for a couple of months and not to work in the remaining time. Among the best friends of Brodsky there are a pathetic near-literary person Vladimir Gerasimov and a fence of foreign clothes Shilinsky, known simply as Zhora.

This group not only lauds Brodsky, but tries to disseminate his works among the youth. Someone Leonid Aronzon reprints them on a typewriter and others fob them off.

…

Brodsky self-esteem was demonstrated on February 14 during the young poets' party in the Gorky Palace of Culture, where Brodsky read his sepulchral verses. Someone in the hall correctly assessed them, shouting "This is gibberish, not poetry!" "What is allowed to Jupiter, is not allowed to the ox," he replied. What an impudence! A frog imagined itself Jupiter.

…

The gibberish is just one part of Brodsky's "innocent" hobby. In one of the verses he wrote: "I love the foreign homeland." You can see now that this pygmy climbing Parnassus is not that harmless. He is extremely candid. He doesn't love his homeland and does not hide it. More than that! For a long time he planned to betray his motherland. On invitation of his friend Shakhmatov, who is now sentenced to jail, Brodsky visited Samarkand, bringing his thin notebook with verses and a "philosphical" treatise by someone Umansky. The gist of that "treatise" was that the youth should not recognize their debt to the parents, the society, the state, because it would constrain their freedom. Shakhmatov and Brodsky met an American in the hotel Samarkand, who agreed to publish the treatise in USA. In the last moment, though, Brodsky and Shakhmatov chickened out.

There, in Samarkand, Brodsky attempted to bring into life his plan of the betrayal of his Motherland. Together with Shakhmatov, he visited the local airport to hijack an airplane and to leave the USSR. They even chose an airplane, but noticed that there is not enough fuel and delayed their plans.

…

Since Brodsky is still young, many his misdemeanours were pardoned. He was warned of the responsibility for his anti-social activity. However, he drew no conclusions. He continues to parasitize. This healthy 26-year old guy avoids the publicly useful work for four years.…

Obviously, we have to stop fussing over the near-literary drones. People like Brodsky have no place in Leningrad.

One month later, in January 1964, the same newspaper published the readers' letters: "Nothing will save Brodsky and his supporters from the judgment of public opinion. … The drone Brodsky has lived at the expense of society long enough. Let him work. And if he doesn’t want to, he has only himself to blame for the consequences."

Nine years later Iosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky, one of the greatest Russian poets, was expelled from the USSR. In 1987 Josef Brodsky, one of the greatest American writers, was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. When asked if he Russian or American, he usually replied: "I am Jewish — a Russian poet and an English essayist."

November 27 in Russian history

To Marc, the marine.

1705

(November 16 Old Style)

Peter I ordered to organize the first regiment of marines (naval infantry, as they are still called in Russian). The regiment included two battallions, five companies in each of them, 125 privates in each company. There were also 70 NCOs and 45 officers.

As a matter of fact, first detachments of marines appeared in Russia in 1668, when the first Russian navy ship, frigate Oryol (Eagle) was launched on river Oka. There were 35 riflemen (streltsy) on board of Oryol. Later, during the Azov campaigns, the "sea regiment" was formed from 4524 soldiers of Preobrazhensky and Semyonovsky regiments. Peter himself was the commander of the 4th company, under the name of Peter Alexeyev. During the Swedish war, since 1701, Russian army used special detachments on light boats to fight the Swedish ships on lakes Ladoga and Chudskoye. In 1703 Peter I participated in a boarding attack on two Swedish ships in the mouth of Neva river. Finally, after the defense of Kotlin island Peter decided to form a special regiment of naval infantry. Since then, November 16 is celebrated as the marine corps day in Russia.

By 1714, there were already 3,000 marines in the Russian army. During the battle of Gangut, the first major naval victory of Russia, they captured one Swedish frigate, six galleys and 6 lesser ships.

In 1799, the marines took hold of Corfu island and liberated the island from the Napoleon's troops. They participated in the battles on "dry land" during the 1812-1814 war, they fought during the battle of Borodino and finally entered Paris. After that war, the marine regiments were disbanded, but during the Crimean war 22 new battallions were formed. They played an important role during the Russo-Japanese war, in the WWI. After the Civil war, the bolsheviks disbanded the forces and they re-appeared only in 1939. During the WWII, almost 500,000 marines fought against the Nazis. They participated more than 100 landing operations. Currently, there are about 12,000 marines in the Russian army.

1971

Mars 2 descent module crashed on Mars. The module carried a small rover which had to move around and transmit the pictures of the surface. Because of the computer malfunction the descent was too steep, the parachute did not open and the module's speed was too hign when it hit the ground. This way or the other, it became the first man-made object on the surface of Mars. In spite of the crash, the program was not unsuccessful. The orbiter funcioned properly till next March and reported a large amount of data. The first successful landing on Mars was delayed till December 2, when the descent module of Mars 3 achieved a soft landing and transmitted the first picture of Mars. The picture was broken, but a part of it was readable.

November 23 in Russian history

1990

The Supreme Council of RSFSR (Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic) adopted the new music of the national anthem of Russia.

The tradition of anthems appeared in Russia in the early XVIII century, with the accession of Peter I. There was no single specific anthem, but a number of pieces were performed. One of the best known predecessor of the anthems was the march of the Preobrazhensky regiment. This music is still performed during some ceremonies, for example on the parade on the Victory Day, May 9, when the Victory banner is brought in. The author of the music is unknown. German historians thought that it was written by Ferdinand Haase, but it doesn't seem probable due to some historical reasons. The alternative name is "The march of Peter the Great". It was included in the imperial catalog of military marches (kaiserlich russische Marsch-Sammlung) which became the base for the German Königlich-Preußische Armeemarschsammlung (AMS). So, the march became known in Germany and became the official march of some German detachments (like Infanterie-Regiment Graf Schwerin Nr. 14 (3. Pommersches) in Bromberg). In Russia, it was also the march of 10th New Ingermanland infantry regiment, 147th Samara infantry regiment and Vyborg garrison infantry battalion. The Spanish king Alfonso XIII asked Nikolay II for permission to use it as the march of the Guardie de Alabarderos. Lord Mountbatten heard this march in 1928 and asked king Alfonso if he might use it for the Royal Marines, and received the permission. The commanders of the marines didn't like the idea, but Mountbatten introduced this music in 1942 as the official music for his inspections in he army. The US Marine Band also played the march when Mountbatten visited them. In 1970 sir Francis Vivian Dunn composed the Mountbatten March, borrowing the introduction from the Preobrazhensky March.

Another popular predecessor of the Russian anthems was the song "Let the thunder of victory sound" (see also the Wikipedia page Grom pobedy, razdavaysya!). However, when emperor Pavel I succeeded Catherine the Great, he introduced a new semi-official music, the song called "How Glorious is Our Lord in Zion". The author, Heraskov, like Pavel I, was a frank-mason and this song contains some references to the traditions of frank-masons. (The scores and the text is here, someone J. Jumba even managed to copyright the transliteration :)). The music is usually attributed to Dimitri Bortnyansky, but a very similar melody was recorded as a German Lutheran hymn "Ich bete an die Macht der Liebe". This song was used in together with the official anthems till 1917.

In 1815, when Russia, Britain, Austria and Prussia created the Holy Alliance, the four countries decided that they should have a single anthem, based on the British "God, Save the King!", but with four version of the lyrics in four languages. Russian lyrics, "The Prayer of Russians" were written by famous poet Vasily Zhukovsky. The anthem was used till 1833, when Nikolay I offered Alexey Lvov to write a new anthem. The lyrics for the new anthem were also written by Zhukovsky, who borrowed the first line of the Prayer of Russians: God, Save the Tsar! On November 23, the emperor approved the new anthem, and on December 11, the first public performance took place in Bolshoi theatre. On December 25, when the anniversary of the victory over Napoleon was celebrated, the anthem "Bozhe, Tsarya Hrani!" was proclaimed the official anthem of the Russian empire. It was the shortest anthem in the world — there were only six lines.

After the February revolution of 1917, the anthem was abolished. In the first months after the revolution, the so called Workers' Marseillaise was often used. It had the same melody as La Marseillaise, but different lyrics. On January 23 (Jan. 10 Old Style) the 3rd Congress of the Soviets adopted the new anthem of the new state — The Internationale (music by Pierre De Geyter, words by Arkady Kots).

On December 14, 1943, the Politbureau of the Central Committee of VKP(b) adopted a new anthem. The music was written in 1936 by Alexandrov and the lyrics were written by Lebedev-Kumach, the author of multiple super-optimistic Soviet songs. In 1943, S.Mikhalkov and G. El-Registan wrote the new text. The first public performance was on the New Year night, January 1, 1944. This anthem is also called the Stalin's anthem, because of the lines "The great Stalin raised us to be true to the people and inspired us to work and to perform feats". These same lines became the reason why since 1955 the anthem was performed without the lyrics, the music alone. In 1977, this verse was replaced by a new one, written by the same authors, Mikhalkov and El-Registan. The new verse contained no names.

At last, in 1991, when Russia was liberated from the Soviet power, the state commission chose a new anthem. It was the Patriotic Song, written in 1834 by famous composer Mikhail Glinka for his opera "Life for the Tsar". This anthem had no lyrics, even though one project was approved. On November 23 it was adopted by the Supreme Council, and on December 11 — by president Yeltsin.

When a new president came to power in 2000, he announced that a new anthem is needed. The opponents of the Patriotic song said that this song cannot be attributed to Glinka with certainty and that this was an unfinished work, which Glinka rejected. I have no idea how they managed to reconcile these two contradicting statements. Some people said that this anthem is a copy of a Polish religious hymn, that it has no Russian character. Since the new president never cared about logic and explanations, the "new" anthem was chosen, with the same Soviet music and almost the same words, slightly modified by the same S. Mikhalkov. This anthem was heavily criticized by Memorial society, Moscow Helsinki group and other anti-Soviet human rights activists. Grigory Yavlinsky from the Yabloko party said: " We protest against the adoption of the Stalinist anthem, which is stained with the blood of tens of millions of our citizens."

A radio programme broadcasted by the official Radio Russia in 2006, said that "no country, especially a great country, would use an unfinished work, whose author is not known and the artistic quality is dubious, as its anthem... The history of the state anthem of Russia will continue when the high idea of the state will finally be formed in the conscience of the Russian society. When such new state idea, uniting all citizens, will appear, a new anthem will become necessary."

I sincerely hope that this time will never come, but I still feel sick of the sound of the Soviet anthem and I think that the time to get rid of it has come a long time ago. Want to know my opinion on the best anthem? No problem. Here it is:

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

If some links do not work or if you want to find more recordings of all the anthems, see here.