KingiseppKingisepp (Ки́нгисепп or Кингисе́пп), formerly Yamburg (Я́мбург), Yam (Ям), and Yama (Я́ма; Votic: Jaama), is an ancient town and the administrative center of Kingiseppsky District of Leningrad Oblast, Russia, located along the Luga River southwest of St. Petersburg, east of Narva, and south of the Gulf of Finland. Population: The town was first documented in 1384, when the Novgorodians under Patrikas built there a fortress against the Swedes. It was called Yama or Yamsky Gorodok, after the Izhorian (ethnic Finnic group) name Jaama.
PerestroikaPerestroika (ˌpɛrəˈstrɔɪkə; перестройка) was a political reform movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) from 1987 onward widely associated with CPSU general secretary Mikhail Gorbachev and his glasnost (meaning "transparency") policy reform. The literal meaning of perestroika is "restructuring", referring to the restructuring of the political and economic systems of the Soviet Union, in an attempt to end the Era of Stagnation. Perestroika allowed more independent actions from various ministries and introduced many market-like reforms.
Russian famine of 1921–1922The Russian famine of 1921–1922, also known as the Povolzhye famine, was a severe famine in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic that began early in the spring of 1921 and lasted until 1922. The famine resulted from the combined effects of economic disturbance from the Russian Revolution, the Russian Civil War, and the government policy of war communism (especially prodrazvyorstka). It was exacerbated by rail systems that could not distribute food efficiently.
SaratovSaratov (UKsəˈrɑːtɒf , US-təf ; Сара́тов, sɐˈratəf) is the largest city and administrative center of Saratov Oblast, Russia, and a major port on the Volga River upstream of Volgograd. Saratov had a population of 901,361, making it the 17th-largest city in Russia by population. Saratov is from Volgograd, from Samara, and southeast of Moscow. The city stands near the site of Uvek, a city of the Golden Horde. Tsar Feodor I of Russia likely developed Saratov as a fortress to secure Russia's southeastern border.
EconomismEconomism, sometimes spelled economicism, is "the most orthodox [position in Marxism which] provides one-to-one correlations between the socio-economic base and the intellectual superstructure". Economism refers to the distraction of working-class political activism from a global political project to purely economic demands. The concept encompasses rewarding workers in socialism with money incentives, rather than incentivizing workers through revolutionary politics. The term is originally associated with Vladimir Lenin's critique of trade unionism.
April ThesesThe April Theses (апрельские тезисы, transliteration: ) were a series of ten directives issued by the Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin upon his April 1917 return to Petrograd from his exile in Switzerland via Germany and Finland. The theses were mostly aimed at fellow Bolsheviks in Russia and returning to Russia from exile. He called for soviets (workers' councils) to seize state power (as seen in the slogan "all power to the soviets"), denounced liberals and social revolutionaries in the Provisional Government, called for Bolsheviks not to cooperate with the government, and called for new communist policies.
Barrier troopsBarrier troops, blocking units, or anti-retreat forces are military units that are located in the rear or on the front line (behind the main forces) to maintain military discipline, prevent the flight of servicemen from the battlefield, capture spies, saboteurs and deserters, and return troops who flee from the battlefield or lag behind their units. According to research by Jason Lyall, barrier troops are more likely to be used by the militaries of states that discriminate against the ethnic groups that comprise the state's military.
Treaty of Brest-LitovskThe Treaty of Brest-Litovsk was a separate peace treaty signed on 3 March 1918 between Soviet Russia and the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire, and Bulgaria), by which Russia withdrew from World War I. The treaty, which followed months of negotiations after the armistice on the Eastern Front in December 1917, was signed at Brest-Litovsk (now Brest, Belarus). The Soviet delegation was initially headed by Adolph Joffe, and key figures from the Central Powers included Max Hoffmann and Richard von Kühlmann of Germany, Ottokar Czernin of Austria-Hungary, and Talaat Pasha of the Ottoman Empire.
UfaUfa (Öfö; Уфа́) is the largest city in and the capital of Bashkortostan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Belaya and Ufa rivers, in the centre-north of Bashkortostan, on hills forming the Ufa Plateau to the west of the southern Ural Mountains, with a population of over 1.1 million residents, up to 1.4 million residents in the urban agglomeration. Ufa is the tenth-most populous city in Russia, and the fourth-most populous city in the Volga Federal District.
Latvian War of IndependenceThe Latvian War of Independence (Latvijas Neatkarības karš), sometimes called Latvia's freedom battles (Latvijas brīvības cīņas) or the Latvian War of Liberation (Latvijas atbrīvošanas karš), was a series of military conflicts in Latvia between 5 December 1918, after the newly proclaimed Republic of Latvia was invaded by Soviet Russia, and the signing of the Latvian-Soviet Riga Peace Treaty on 11 August 1920.
