8 unexpected facts from the history of Russia, which you were hardly told about at school

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

A fortress in Hawaii, a stake for Marshal Zhukov and other interesting facts that your teacher might have forgotten.

1. All daughters of Yaroslav the Wise became wives of European kings

The ancient Russian prince Yaroslav the Wise had seven children. After his death, four sons shared the rule of the Russian lands, but the daughters, while their father was still alive, successfully married and went abroad.

The eldest daughter Anastasia became the wife of the Hungarian Duke András. Nine years after the wedding, he ascended the throne, and the prince's daughter became Queen of Hungary. She managed to run the country herself. The story is complex, but in short - Andrash was killed by his brother Bela, who then ruled Hungary for a short time, but soon died: the legend says that the throne collapsed under him. Then the throne was taken by the eldest son of Anastasia Shalamon. The boy was only 10 years old, due to his age, he could not make serious decisions, so his mother helped him.

The middle daughter of Prince Elizabeth married Harald - he was the brother of the Norwegian king, and when he was killed, he entered the service of Yaroslav the Wise. When Harald first wooed the princess, he had neither money nor a high-profile title - Elizabeth's father did not like this. But Harald did not give up: he signed up as a mercenary to the emperor of Byzantium and fought in different countries to make a fortune. Already with money and status, Harald again came to ask for Elizabeth's hand. This time Yaroslav the Wise agreed. The newlyweds left for Scandinavia, a few years later Harald became king of Norway.

With the youngest daughter of Prince Anna, everything is much easier. The French king Henry I heard about the beauty of a young girl and in 1051 took her as his wife. Perhaps, Andrash had a hand in this union, with whom Anna's sister was married. The Hungarian king allegedly dreamed of concluding an alliance with France in this way. Nine years after the wedding, the king died, and Anne married Count Raoul de Crepy.

2. On behalf of Marshal Zhukov, a batch of colorless Coca-Cola was created

In the middle of the 20th century, trade relations between the USSR and the United States were tense. Perhaps, because of this, Georgy Zhukov suffered especially - the marshal was very fond of American soda. He tried it during World War II: for example, Zhukov drank cola at a meeting with American General Dwight Eisenhower. But in the USSR, the marshal could not appear with a drink in public - such behavior would be contrary to the official policy of the state.

However, he found a way out of the situation: the cola needed to get rid of its characteristic brown color. Zhukov asked his American colleagues to find out if this is possible. It turned out yes! At the factory, caramel was simply removed from the ingredients. Then the drink was poured into special unmarked bottles and sent to the addressee. It is unknown whether the marshal received the coveted parcel or not.

3. The Russian Empire had a fortress in Hawaii

It seems that everyone knows that Russia once belonged to Alaska. But some other US territories were also Russians, including part of the land on the island of Kauai in Hawaii.

The Russians first arrived there in 1804. The crew of the round-the-world expedition, which included Ivan Kruzenshtern (the same "man and steamer"), visited Hawaii and met the kings of Kamehamea and Kaumualia. The former ruled the six main islands of the archipelago, while the latter included only the islands of Kauai and Niihau. Kaumualii told the members of the expedition that he would like to become a citizen of the Russian Empire if she would help him defend himself from the attacks of King Kamehamea. But on this contact with the Hawaiian king was cut off.

It took about 10 years. On the shores of Kauai, the Russian ship "Bering" crashed and was captured by local residents. An armed expedition was sent to free him, which included the doctor Georg Schaeffer. He conducted successful negotiations with Kaumualii: the king returned the ship, took an oath of allegiance to the emperor, gave Russia a monopoly on the sandalwood trade and allocated 500 subjects of his kingdom for the necessary work.

The Hawaiians helped the Russians build three fortifications: two of them were simple earthen ramparts, and one was a stone wall-fortress, which was named Elizabethan, in honor of the wife of Emperor Alexander I. Schaeffer reported his successes to his superiors, but did not receive support. Meanwhile, the Americans and Europeans claimed Hawaii. In 1817, after an armed clash with opponents, Schaeffer left the island with his people.

After the Elizabethan fortress was briefly used by the Hawaiian kingdom, and then it was abandoned. In 1966, it was recognized as a historical monument in the United States.

4. Joseph Stalin has two birthdays

Stalin's official birthday is December 18 (6 according to the old calendar), 1878. This is stated in the metric book of the Assumption Cathedral of the hometown of the politician Gori, in Stalin's certificate of graduation from the Gori Theological School and in a number of other documents. However, in the USSR, he was congratulated on his birthday not on December 18, but on December 21. In addition, after 1917, Stalin suddenly became younger: from that time on, documents began to indicate 1879 as the leader's year of birth.

There are several versions of why such confusion occurred:

1. In 1928, due to a difficult political situation, Stalin considered it inappropriate to celebrate the anniversary. Therefore, he took and postponed the celebration to the next year.
2. The mystic and astrologer George Gurdjieff, with whom Stalin was allegedly familiar, advised him to change dates in order to attract good luck. The father of nations believed in the magic of numbers, and therefore listened to his friend.
3. Stalin, as a revolutionary, often used forged documents with false names, surnames and birthdays. When the wrong date got into the encyclopedia in 1922, he decided not to change anything.
4. The record in the birth register refers to another child. Just a complete namesake.

5. Kutuzov did not wear an eye patch

The black patch on the right eye is a favorite accessory of pirates and military leader Mikhail Kutuzov. At least we are used to seeing him like that in pictures and films. In fact, the commander did not cover his eyes with a blindfold.

The legendary detail in the image is an artistic fiction. Probably, it became popular after the release of Eldar Ryazanov's film "The Hussar Ballad", in which the commander appeared with such an accessory. In life, Kutuzov really had eye problems: in one of the battles with the Turks, he was wounded in the temple - a bullet passed next to his right eye. The eye survived, but began to squint, and the commander's eyesight fell. However, this did not force Kutuzov to get a bandage.

You will soon be able to learn more interesting historical facts in the multimedia parks "Russia is my history". On their territory there is a network of educational centers of the Russian society "Knowledge". There will be lectures, face-to-face and online meetings with historians, politicians, scientists and other events for schoolchildren and students. Lecturers of the project will be prominent scientists, representatives of business, culture and art.

6. The modern flag of Russia appeared under Peter I

The appearance of the Russian tricolor is associated with the development of the fleet: for the first time such a flag was raised on the mast of the Russian warship "Eagle" during the reign of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, the father of Peter I. background, a blue cross was superimposed on them.

The second version of the flag - the already familiar tricolor, but with a golden eagle in the center, was used by Peter I on his personal yacht. Then there were many options for flags for ships: the king himself created more than 30 sketches. They had white, red and blue stripes, various symbols of the state and St. Andrew's cross. Peter decided to go into minimalism after walking along the port. There were ships of different European states, the flags of each of them were different, but equally bright, simple, without unnecessary decor and drawings.

As a result, on January 20, 1705, he issued a royal decree, which stated that on merchant and other civilian ships it was necessary to lift a canvas with three stripes: white, blue and red. No other details. Two years later, he also decided to place the flag of St. Andrew the First-Called on military courts.

Alexander III decided to use the tricolor not only in the navy in the second half of the 19th century. And it became officially the state flag only in 1896, on the eve of the coronation of Nicholas II.

7. 1992 in Russia "came" a minute later

On December 26, 1991, the Soviet Union officially ceased to exist. The former republics turned into independent states, but television broadcasting was still common. The TV crew had a question: who will deliver the congratulatory speech before the chime? Mikhail Gorbachev had already resigned as head of state, and Yeltsin was the president of Russia - his speech could cause outrage among residents of other countries.

The issue was resolved outside the box: the role of the congratulator was offered to the host of "New Year's Eve" Mikhail Zadornov. But he was informed about this only on the morning of December 31 at the dress rehearsal, so the satirist had to improvise. He got carried away, didn't keep track of the time and ended up only finishing at 00:01. Then the chimes sounded for the audience.

By the way, that New Year is also significant by the fact that for the first time at midnight a festive fireworks thundered on Red Square.

8. Ivan Susanin did not lead Poles into the forest (possibly)

People's hero Ivan Susanin in 1613 really saved Tsar Mikhail Romanov from the attack of the Poles. This is evidenced by the royal charter, presented on November 30, 1619 to Susanin's son-in-law. But it is not known exactly what the peasant did. There are two versions. The most popular one, which is used, for example, in Mikhail Glinka's opera "A Life for the Tsar", says that the peasant agreed to become a guide for the Poles and took them to the forest thicket, although he knew the right way.

According to another version, the Poles came to the village of Domnino, where Susanin lived, and tried to find out from him where the king was. He refused to accompany them and even talk about the location of the head of state, despite the terrible torture. For example, the historian Nikolai Zontikov writes about this in his book "Ivan Susanin: Legends and Reality".

In both versions, the Poles eventually killed Susanin. By the way, other peasants did a similar heroic act. For example, according to the recollections of the Lithuanian nobleman Samuil Maskevich, in 1612 one villager agreed to lead the enemy troops along a safe route. In fact, he led them directly into the hands of the Russian army, for which he was killed.