After reading Durnovo’s stunning foresight on the eve of World War I, I wanted to understand how the war was being conveyed to imperial subjects. After all, Durnovo believed that the war was hopeless. However, imperial subjects still went to … Read more

The attached photos are satirical image of who I believe to be Sergei Witte. Throughout the satirical articles, a man with a full beard and slight balding kept reappearing. Because of his reappearances, I knew he was an important person … Read more

Pictured above is a postcard kept in the East Asia Image Collection at Lafayette University. The attached images depict the front and back of the postcard, respectively. The title of the postcard is “War Against Russia”. I, of course, cannot … Read more

While reading Tolstoy’s The Kreutzer Sonata, I was struck by the looming nature of religion. In the beginning of the novella, the old man characterizes marriage as an institution ordained by God. As an holy ordained institution, marriage therefore cannot … Read more

Throughout his life, Nietzsche openly shared his opinions on religion, especially Christianity. Christianity, to Nietzsche, was a religion of shame. It alienated people from their desires, their drive to have more and their motivation to improve themselves. Christianity was a … Read more

Since we have discussed Russification in class, I wanted to touch on some themes that I discussed in one of my earlier posts. In my earlier post on Leskov, I discussed how Russian authors saw themselves as Russian – an … Read more

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/6255221/czar_alexander_ii_of_russia/ Attached is a link to the article by the Brooklyn Daily Eagle about the assassination of Alexander II. In the article, the author struggles to balance a critique of Russia’s government while remaining sensitive to the tragic event. While … Read more

Pictured above is an Orthodox Church in Aulie-Ata, a city in the Syr Darya Oblast or what is now Taraz, Khakastan. The church adheres to features of Eastern Orthodox Church architecture:  a rounded rectangular shape symbolizing a ship as a … Read more

https://www.prlib.ru/en/history/619634 According to a Russian website called Presidential Library, the Crimean War started because of English and French aggression. During the mid 19th century, Britain and France controlled the Ottoman Empire and the Middle East. As a result of their … Read more