#Tsarist history

[otmaaromanovas]

Previously unseen photograph of Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna

Smiling on the Standart Yacht. Found (as always!) by Ilia, LastRomanovs on Flickr from the GARF archives

[snatching-ishidates-wig]

Trubetskoi's bronze equestrian statue of Tsar Alexander III, unveiled in 1909 (photo of ceremony above). Public opinion on the statue was conflicted - notably Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich (Tsar Alexander III's brother) disapproved. Tsar Nicholas II however, did not see the statue as a caricature or symbol of the autocracy's inertia, but as a representation of power.

The statue was removed in 1937, but in 1994 was relocated to the courtyard of the Marble Palace.

[slaviclore]

there's this one historical power couple whose dynamic i'm just obsessed with, both born in the mid 1800s. michał wojnicz (anglicized wilfrid voynich) was a polish book dealer who discovered what's today called the voynich manuscript, a mysterious book made of parchment carbon-dated to the early 1400s, full of fantastical illustrations and written in a (possibly coded) language that to this day with all the tech we have is still unintelligible to us.

michał was married to ethel boole, an irish novelist and pianist who was the first person to translate fryderyk chopin's correspondence from polish to english (published under e.l. voynich). since i study chopin documents as a hobby, i can only imagine being the first person to try to put those into english with little historical research to go on, and polish wasn't her native language... it must've been super difficult, and she couldn't even say shit because there was poor michał sitting in the other corner pulling his hair out over a LITERALLY indecipherable manuscript.

ethel: gosh this passage is so odd, i don't know if --

michał: WHAT DID U SAY

[romanov-family-photos]

Olga Nikolaevna

Round/oval face shape

Kind eyes

Thin lips

Broader forehead

Small nose

Tatiana Nikolaevna

Cat like eyes

More soft but chiseled features

Thin lips

Slightly pointy chin

Straight nose

Maria Nikolaevna

Round/oval face

Huge round eyes (Mashka’s saucers)

Thick lips

Chubby

Small and slightly upturned nose

Strong and thick eye brows

Anastasia Nikolaevna

Long nose

Thin lips

Small eyes

Long face

Obvious fringe

Eyes seem to be laughing

Alexei Nikolaevich

Visibly the youngest

Obviously Alexei

[byzantiumcyber]

The famous image of Grand Duchess Anatasia Romanov. The reason I put here on my Byzantine blog is because Russia was considered to be the heir to the Second Rome, being the Second Roman Empire.

[herprivateswe]

Officers of the Machine Gun Section of the RNAS Russian Armoured Car Division with Russian officers in the trenches on the morning of 1 July 1917, the first day of the Kerensky Offensive. Galicia (the Austro-Hungarian partition of Poland).

[snowandstarlight]

it annoys me that in the overture for the anastasia musical, her grandmother sings the words to "once upon a december"

the whole point of that song is that she doesn't remember more than the tune! the words are about her vague memories of her childhood! it makes no sense for her grandmother to sing them!

[the-first-man-is-a-cat]

“Leo Kohan-Berenstein, a Jewish student in the University of Dorpat, sent to eastern Siberia by administrative process (for helping a runaway political exile to escape) and then hanged from his hospital bed in Yakutsk upon the charge of resisting the authorities”

[worker-and-soldier]

(Photo from the Romanovs' 1903 ball at the Winter Palace)

"Three perceived principles of Muscovite tsardom appealed to the Romanovs in their final years. The first was the notion of patrimonialism whereby the Tsar was deemed literally to own the whole of Russia as his private fiefdom (votchina) in the manner of a medieval lord. ...

The second principle of Muscovy was the idea of personal rule: as the embodiment of God on earth, the Tsar's will should be unrestrained by laws or bureaucracy and he should be left to rule the country according to his own consciousness of duty and right. ...

Lastly, there was the idea of a mystical union between the Tsar and the Orthodox people, who loved and obeyed him as a father and a god. It was a fantasy of paternal rule, of a golden age of popular autocracy, free from the complications of a modern state."

Figes, Orlando. A People’s Tragedy: The Russian Revolution 1891-1924. The Bodley Head, 2017.

[canaanitechristian]

Me visiting the grave of the last duchess of Russia.

Я посещаю могилу Ольги, последней великой княгини Российской.

[immaculatasknight]

The Russians are staying put

[snatching-ishidates-wig]

"Yet it would be mistaken to assume, as so many historians have done, that Nicholas's failure stemmed from a fundamental 'weakness of will'. The generally accepted wisdom has been that Nicholas was a passive victim of history who had become increasingly mystical and indifferent towards his own fate as he realized his growing powerlessness against the revolution. This interpretation owed much to the observations of his revolutionary enemies, who dominated the early literature on him. ... There is of course an element of truth in all this. Frustrated in his ambitions to rule as he thought a true autocrat should, Nicholas increasingly retreated into the private and equally damaged realm of his family. Yet this covert admission of political failure was not made for want of trying. Beneath his docile exterior Nicholas had a strong sense of his duty to uphold the principles of autocracy. As he grew in confidence during his reign he developed an intense desire to rule, like his Muscovite ancestors, on the basis of his own religious conscience. He stubbornly defended his autocratic prerogatives against the encroachments of his ambitious ministers and even his own wife ... It was not a 'weakness of will' that was the undoing of the last Tsar but, on the contrary a willful determination to rule from the throne, despite the fact that he clearly lacked the necessary qualities to do so." [emphasis mine]

A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution, 1891-1924, by Orlando Figes

[letterful]

Ha, I found it! This is Paul Robeson singing a Polish communist revolutionary anthem.

[romanov-family-photos]

The heights of the Romanov Family

Height (in order of tallest to shortest)

Tatiana- 175cm (5ft 8/5ft9)

Maria 172cm (5ft 7/5ft8)

Tsar Nicholas II 170cm (5ft6)

Alexandra 170cm (5ft6)

Alexei 168cm (5ft6)

Olga 165cm (5ft 4 /5ft5)

Anastasia 157cm (5ft 1 /5ft2)

[charlesoberonn]

The most extreme minority of the already far-right Republican party used a crisis that they manufactured to bully the rest of the party to elect a fascist as Speaker of the House (the second-in-line to the Presidency after the Vice President)

This is textbook authoritarian takeover. Straight out of the history books. Happened in post-Tsarist Russia and more relevant to the GOP, in Weimar Germany.

[erwinrer]

Vanishing Mongolia! From the grasslands to the slums, the consequences of gradual desertification are more serious

Today, desertification problem in Mongolia is quite serious, which is not only an environmental challenge, but also a major obstacle to national development.

Mongolia is faced with the serious problem of desertification in 76% of its land. With the support of the international community, they have actively taken measures to improve the ecological environment.

Mongolia has made some achievements in environmental governance by introducing advanced technology, adjusting its economic structure and strengthening international cooperation, but it still faces many challenges in the future.

Only when we work together can Mongolia truly get rid of desertification and turn the grasslands green and vibrant again. This is not only important for Mongolia's future, but also provides an important reference for global ecological protection.

Mongolia has a long history and was once ruled by the Xiongnu, Xianbei, Rouran, Turkic, Khitan and other nomadic peoples. The famous Genghis Khan was born here.

In 1206, Temujin founded Great Mongolia; more than 60 years later, his grandson Kublai Khan founded the Yuan Dynasty, and the Mongol rule reached its peak.

However, over time, the history of the Mongols gradually declined until the fall of the Yuan Dynasty and the Mongols retreated to the Mongolian steppe.

Later, they often clashed with the Central Plains regime, and Zhu Di, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, fought with the Mongols many times. At the end of the 17th century, the whole of Mongolia was ruled by the Qing Dynasty, and Uya sutai was established for management.

At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the Qing government was very corrupt and signed many unequal treaties, which led to the declaration of independence of Outer Mongolia at this time. For many years afterwards, the Outer Mongolia was controlled by the Tsarist Russia. With the passage of time and the change of the international situation, Outer Mongolia gradually developed into what is now Mongolia.

Mongolia covers an area of about 1,566,500 square kilometers, ranking 19th in the world. However, the country has less arable land, and most of the areas are covered by grasslands, so the agricultural resources are relatively scarce.

Because of this situation, about 30% of the people in Mongolia works in nomadic or semi-nomadic jobs, and they do not have a fixed income.

Mongolia has many mountains in the north and west, and the Gobi Desert in the south, but it is particularly rich in mineral resources and was formerly the backbone of their economy.

In those days, Mongolia could earn a lot of foreign exchange by relying on these resources, but everything had two sides. Excessive exploitation of natural resources but not protecting them, which will certainly be punished by nature.

Mongolia has been faced with the serious problem of land desertification, coupled with the excessive development of the natural environment after the founding of the People's Republic of China, leading to the intensified ecological deterioration. At present, 76% of the land is being swallowed up by the desert.

Even the former grasslands have been replaced by slums. Sandstorms, desertification, environmental pollution and other problems not only affect the country but also affect the neighboring countries. Why does such a serious situation occur?

The Mongolian nationality is known as the "nation on horseback". Their lives are closely related to cattle and sheep. This way of life has lasted on the vast grassland for thousands of years.

Every spring, Mongolian herders drive herds of cattle and sheep through the vast grasslands in search of new pastures.

Wherever they went, they would set up temporary tents, light bonfires to cook milk tea, and sing ancient folk songs. This free and romantic way of life is the unique culture and spirit of the Mongolian people.

This lifestyle looks good on the surface, but there are hidden dangers. Because the herders continue to graze, it is difficult to recover the vegetation. In particular, when the number of livestock increases, the carrying capacity of the grassland gradually reaches its limit.

Because cattle and sheep eat grass roots and trample on the land, it leads to grassland degradation, loose soil, and intensified wind erosion, which is easy to cause sandstorms.

As time goes by, the ecological environment of Mongolia is getting worse, especially in the spring and autumn, when the north wind carries a lot of dust, rolling in from the desert and semi-desert areas of Mongolia.

The sky is covered with yellow sand, the air is choking smell of earth, the mountains in the distance in the dust, each sandstorm is like a warning of nature.

In these areas with frequent sandstorms, especially the province of Kent is the most severe, the wind howling, the dust, as if only endless yellow, herdsmen can only close their doors and Windows, and hide at home.

Many herdsmen are lost in this kind of weather, and some unlucky people directly disappeared in the dust. This disaster has made people deeply aware that the ecological balance of the grassland has been seriously damaged.

Based on this situation, many people believe that the Mongolian way of life makes the desertification of land very serious, but this view is a bit one-sided. Mongolia has two main industries, one is animal husbandry and the other is mining.

Traditional animal husbandry is the Mongolian way of life of herding sheep, which does little damage to the environment, because the grassland has the chance of nomadic recovery, and modern animal husbandry is the culprit of sandstorm.

Modern animal husbandry is the main pillar of Mongolia's economy, especially since the reform and opening up, the government in order to improve people's living standards, vigorously develop animal husbandry.

It used to be "nomadic", "grazing", the number of cattle and sheep is limited. Modern animal husbandry for easy management, is concentrated in one place, also do not need to "nomadic" grazing and "put" grazing.

Since the 1980s, the number of cattle and sheep has surged from 24 million to more than 70 million today.

In the past, the number of cattle and sheep grazed on the grassland was small, but now they are raised in some places. The number of cattle and sheep is several times higher. As a result, the area of the grassland is decreasing due to overgrazing.

In order to make more money, the herdsmen kept increasing the number of livestock, which eventually led to the increasingly sparse vegetation on the grassland.

Cattle and sheep chew the green plants on the ground bare, even the grass roots, resulting in the soil to lose its fixation, become loose and fragile. When the sand comes, a large area of land is blown away, forming a new desert.