Category Archive: History

Man’s interest in distant seas and unknown shores is indomitable. At the beginning of the XIX century, Russian sailors first went on an around the world trip to find out which countries were behind the horizon. The expedition was headed by Ivan Fedorovich Kruzenshtern.
Adam Johann von Krusenstern was born in the family of a judge. The boy dreamed of the sea and distant lands and read all the travel books he managed to find in his home library. Father supported his son’s enthusiasm and, when the time came, he sent Ivan to the Naval Cadet Corps in Kronstadt.
According to contemporaries, at the end of the 18th century the corps was a rather gloomy institution resembling a seminary. Of the subjects indicated in the schedule, only mathematics was taught at a decent level, and very few sciences. In addition, teachers were rude and corporal punishment in the corps was absolutely normal.
It is not known how such an upbringing would end for Ivan, but a serious threat loomed over Petersburg: the Russo-Swedish war began. Pupils of the Marine Corps were hastily mobilized to participate in hostilities, and Kruzenshtern was called up as midshipman. In the Gotland battle, the captain of the ship noted his courage, and for participation in the battles of Revel and Krasnaya Gorka, Kruzenshtern received the rank of lieutenant of the fleet.
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Sergei Yulyevich Witte, the future Russian reformer, graduated from the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics at the age of 21. And later he took the post of head of the Odessa Railway movement. At 40, he became director of the Department of Railways under the Ministry of Finance, three years later – Minister of Railways and Finance.
Witte introduced the “state monopoly of the trade in drinks” in the country. The state began to live not from the labor and talent of its subjects, but from alcoholism. So, the drunken revenue filled the budget for a quarter. Excise taxes on matches, tobacco, kerosene, sugar, tea, etc. were growing. Taxes grew, and the people, naturally, became poor.
Witte built the Trans-Siberian Railway Network so that, in his words, “Europe got a gate to the Asian East,” but Russia should be a gatekeeper at that gate. For this reason, he chose the road through Chinese Manchuria to the Pacific Ocean as the most interesting for western merchants.
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Kozma Prutkov is a unique phenomenon not only for Russian, but also for world literature. There are fictional heroes and people erect monuments, open museums in the houses where they “lived”. But none of them had their own biography, collected works, critics of their work and followers. Kozma Prutkov’s aphorisms were published in such well-known publications of the 19th century as Sovremennik, Iskra, and Amusement. Many famous writers of that time believed that this was a real person. This character appeared thanks to the joint prank of Alexei, Vladimir and Alexander Zhemchuzhnikov and Count Alexei Tolstoy. The Zhemchuzhnikov brothers came from an old Russian family, in which there were governors and senators. Alexey, Alexander and Vladimir were poets, and their brother Leo was a famous artist and engraver. Alexey Konstantinovich Tolstoy was a famous Russian writer, playwright and poet.
Kozma Prutkov, whose quotes and aphorisms were loved by many of their contemporaries, appeared due to the failure of the play, co-written by Tolstoy and Alexei Zhemchuzhnikov. Nicholas I, who was present at the performance, was dissatisfied, the play was removed from the repertoire, and the brothers began to write parodies.
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If you believe the chroniclers, Vasily II (or Basil II) was under the patronage of higher powers from the early days. According to legend, at the time of his birth, the Moscow priest heard the voice of heaven, which announced to him: “Go and give name to Grand Duke Vasily!” He went to Grand Duchess Sofia and was surprised to learn that she had just given birth to a son. When Vasily headed the state and his uncle Yuri tried to take power from him, a pestilence began in the city of the latter, and stopped only after he abandoned his claims to the throne. Once, during the reign of Vasily, the Lithuanian army attempted to invade Russia, but suddenly a storm began. Frightened Lithuanians immediately concluded peace with the prince. And yet, despite the intervention of higher powers, the fate of Vasily II was very tragic. After all, a third of his life he was blind.
The boy ascended the Muscovite throne at the age of ten. All his childhood and youth Vasily fought with his uncle, Yuri Dmitrievich, who tried to take the throne from his nephew. In 1434, Yuri succeeded. He defeated the army of 19-year-old Vasily and occupied the Russian throne. But Yuri ruled for only about two months and then he suddenly died.
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Only in old age, when life is lived, you really begin to appreciate the joys, given by fate, as well as bitterness of loss. (Ivan Bunin)

Ivan Alekseevich Bunin was born at dawn on October 10 (22), 1870 in the small Russian town of Yelets. It was an unusual autumn morning, like an omen, which opened the door to the life full of fame, love, despair and loneliness. Life on the edge: happiness and bitterness, love and hate, loyalty and betrayal, recognition in life and humiliating poverty at the end of the path. His muses were women, who gave him rapture, and troubles, and disappointments, and immeasurable love.
Four women were in the life of the great Russian writer, they left a huge trace in his soul, they tormented his heart, inspired, awakened the talent and desire to create.
Varvara Pashchenko was the first. Bunin wanted to marry her in 1891, at the age of twenty. Varvara worked as a proofreader in the Orlovsky Vestnik. She was older and more experienced, but, being afraid of her father, a well-known doctor in the city, she refused to marry Bunin. Although she promised that she would continue to live with him as a wife. By the way, she secretly met with the rich landowner Arseniy Bibikov, whom she married later.
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Nino Chavchavadze was called “the black rose of Tiflis”. This woman was mourning for 28 years after the death of her husband – Russian poet, diplomat and composer Alexander Griboyedov, the author of the immortal Woe from Wit.
The diplomat, writer and composer Alexander Griboyedov was 17 years older than Nino Chavchavadze. And he knew the girl from her childhood. Little Nino called the Russian diplomat Uncle Sandro. He often visited her father’s house. Alexander Chavchavadze was a Georgian poet and governor of several regions in Georgia. The friendship of two Alexanders was not accidental. Chavchavadze was one of the most educated people of his country and his time. Griboyedov showed himself as a unique personality.
In his youth, the future author of the play Woe from Wit studied at three faculties of the Moscow University. In addition, Griboyedov was an excellent musician: several works written by him, including two great waltzes, reached us.
Extraordinary abilities helped Alexander to become successful in his diplomatic career. In 1819, at the age of 24, Griboyedov liberated the Russian soldiers who were in Persian captivity. Since then he became a diplomat in Persia and quickly learned Persian.
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Anna Kern was a Russian noblewoman, author of memoirs. In history she is most known for the role she played in the life of great Russian poet Alexander Pushkin.
Anna Petrovna Kern was born on February 11 (22), 1800 in Orel. Anna’s parents belonged to wealthy bureaucratic nobility. Her father, Peter Poltoratsky, was a Poltava landowner and court counselor. And her paternal grandfather Mark Fyodorovich Poltoratsky was a Russian singer and state councilor.
The girl read a lot and was very beautiful. Her father found a husband for her, General Ermolai Fedorovich Kern. Anna was 17 years old, Ermolai Fedorovich was 52. Their wedding took place on January 8, 1817. In her diary Anna wrote: “It is impossible to love him. I can’t even respect him. To tell the truth, I almost hate him.” The girl gave birth to three children, but she was rather cold to them. Her daughter Ekaterina (born in 1818) was brought up in the Smolny Institute, daughter Anna (born in 1821) died at the age of 4, and the youngest daughter Olga (1826-1833) lived for only 7 years.
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