SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES: February Revolution: On February 23, 1917 women in the streets of St. Petersburg filled the streets demanding bread, calling on factory workers to join them. Bolshevik,…
Category: Russian history
Alexander Kerensky
Kerensky was born into the Russian educated class in 1881. He became a lawyer specialising in ‘cases for the people’s good’, and became a revolutionary. When St. Petersburg…
Revolutions of 1830
France, Belgium, Poland & Central Italy: The July Revolution in France expelled Charles X and replaced him as King with Louis-Philippe. The Austrian Netherlands belonging to Belgium were…
What was the ‘Mir’
It was a commune of 19th century Russian peasants, dominating almost every aspect of rural life in that vast country. It is not generally known that the commune…
Field Marshal Montgomery (‘Monty’)
In practice, the nickname or epithet ‘Monty’ was not used when addressing Bernard Law Montgomery, except possibly by the few other soldiers senior to him in rank, and…
What was the Cheka?
This colourful European word in initials stood for ‘The Extraordinary Commission for combatting Counter-Revolution, Sabotage and Speculation’ and we will not attempt to put that in Russian. It…
The Trans-Siberian Railway
Only six years after the first trans-continental railway (Canadian Pacific q.v.) was opened, Russia followed suit with her very lengthy railroad built between Moscow (actually Chelyabinsk in the…
The last King of Poland
Poland is one of the European countries whose peoples have suffered terribly throughout the centuries simply because of the country’s geographical position on the map, or because of…
The Treaty of Trianon (1920) and its effect on Hungary
This treaty is another good example of the collateral damage to be expected when states join in wars with the express intention of gaining territory, though the war…