From the History of Russia

ABOUT MYSELF

So, let me introduce myself. My name is Ekaterina, my surname is Pavlova. I’m 17 years old. As you might have already understood, I’m a student.

I have been studying at the College of Kazan Innovative University named after V.G. Timiryasov since 2016, and I’m going to be a qualified specialist in law. People say that I’m very respectful, sociable, flexible and caring. I hope that all these characteristics can help me to become a good lawyer. I’m absolutely sure, that when I complete my degree, I might get the opportunity to start a stable and fantastic career in companies in our city.

I grew up in a happy family. I had a sister and this brightened my childhood, as we were always together. It helped me to learn how to communicate and collaborate with people even if I don’t want to do it. My parents had perfect stable careers and this provided us with more opportunities to get everything we wanted: expensive toys, new gadgets, brand clothes, and traveling. When I was younger I used to go dancing lessons and my parents wanted me to become an artistic gymnast. But I decided to be a lawyer to help people.

As for my interests, I am fond of pop-music and history. Also, I devote much time to learning foreign languages because it’s important in nowadays.

I’m very sociable, that’s why I have a lot of friends. People who know me well, say that I am a reliable person. I appreciate sincerity and trust.

 

Cultural differences

    There are many cultures now and they are all different. Some of them are very archaic, others are considered to be rather new. Anyway, each culture is abundant. However, all cultures differ from each other. Some of them seem to be similar, others don’t correspond at all. Let’s take, for example, Italian and Russian cultures and compare them.

    On the one hand, they may seem a little bit close to each other as people in both countries tend to be open and careless sometimes. It is a result of the cultural effect and mentality.

    On the other hand, Italian culture pays much attention to food and to a sort of rite of eating. They have a lot of unspoken rules which are respected by native people. For instance, the Italians do great coffee and drink it a lot as well. However, they don’t drink all kinds of coffee during the day. Cappuccino, a famous type of coffee beverage, can be drunk only from 8:30 to 10:30. Moreover, in Italy people tend to eat at the same time. Almost everyone has lunch at 12-13 no matter where they are at that moment.

    In Russian culture, there are not such limits or strict rules that most people follow. There is hardly a food culture in Russia. People usually eat what they like and when they like. As for literature and art, Russia and Italy have a significant difference in this sense. The reason for this is that Russian and Italian cultures were generated in different historical circumstances.

    History has a profound effect on culture and human mentality, that’s why art is always a reflection not only of the author’s identity but also of the history.

 

Cultures and national stereotypes

 

A nation is a group of people who share common history and usually a language and usually, but not always, live in the same area. Culture can be described as our everyday life: how we communicate, what makes us happy and said. It also includes our language, religion, traditions, behavior, way of life – in other words, what we do each day. People that belong to various nations may differ and they always differ from one another.

For example, the Germans are regarded as scientifically-minded and industrious, they're always considered solid, intelligent and mathematical. And, for instance, Israeli are believed to be mercenary, industrious, shrewd, loyal to family, religious. There is a big amount of examples we can list about national character of different people. If we compare Russian and English nations, there are a lot of features that vary. The Russians are industrious, tough, brave. They are always considered to be over - patriotic (because of this reason they're good soldiers), they are willing to respect opinion of other people.

Speaking about Englishmen, they're reserved, tradition-loving, courteous, honest, extremely nationalistic and etc. They have a specific sense of humor. They say that they can't understand Russian jokes and anecdotes not only because of the different meanings of the words, but because of their humor is more delicate. Looking at these features of the Russians and the Englishmen it is not hard to mark out the differences. The Englishmen are reserved, but the Russians are open-hearted and communicative. There is a great majority of factors that influence the nations stereotype and its people's character. People that live in the southern countries have less problems than those who live in the North and because of this they're more cheerful and artistic. The history also has a great influence on the national character. The peoples in Asia are revengeful because their forefathers often were at war with others. In Africa many countries were colonies of the Great Britain, Holland, Spain and so on and they (Africans) were the slaves and because of this they're still hard-working and industrious. The National Character exists. It is not a myth, it's a reality. But the National Character doesn't describe the character of every person, it describes the character of people of nation in general. Every person has its own character, but according to the person's belonging to some nation many traits of character are similar and these features may be explained as the national character.

 

From the History of Russia

 

The history of Russia begins from the year 862. The first Russian state had the towns of Kiev, Novgorod, Vladimir. In the X century one of the Russian princes, Svyatoslav, began the process of assimilation of Russian lands. His son, Vladimir, introduced Christianity as the state religion. It happened in 988.

With the development of feudalism the country became separated into several parts. And Tatar-Mongols easily conquered the country. It happened in 1240. The occupation lasted for three hundred years.

The first tzar of Russia was Ivan the Fourth, or Ivan the Terrible. He was a talented military-man and a tyrant After his death there had been the Time of Troubles in 1598—1613. It ended with the election of Mikhail Romanov as a tzar.

Peter the Great, one of the tzars from the Romanov dynasty, introduced the European culture in Russia. He reformed Russian education and Russian army. He organized the Academy of Sciences and a lot of other institutions. He enlarged the borders of the Russian state. In 1721 he assumed the title of the Emperor. Since that time Russia was called the Russian Empire.

Many of his reforms were continued by the Empresses Elizabeth and Katherine. By the end of the XVIII century Russia had become a European state.

In the XIX century Russia had a great victory over the Napoleonic Army in 1812. And it had become one of the leading countries in Europe.

Tzar Alexander the II ended the institute of serfdom in 1861. And the country began developing the capitalist relations. Russia took part in many wars — the Napoleonic Wars, the Crimean War, the Balkan Wars and many others. The prestige of the Russian state grew.

But the World War I was a terrible event for the nation. Our country lost more than a million men at the war.

In February 1917 the Romanov dynasty was overthrown. And in October the Great October Revolution took place.

Russia withdrew out of the World War I, fought its enemies in the Civil War and at last the Soviet Union was formed.

In the 1930s the country underwent rapid industrialization and collectivization. A lot of factories and plants were built. The authority of our country in the world was hard to overestimate. The Soviet Union played the main part in the defeat of the fascist Germany. In the years 1960—1980 the influence of the Soviet Union was worldwide.

In the year 1985 Gorbachev started the restructuring process.

In the year 1991 the Soviet Union stopped its existence.

 

Moscow

 

    Moscow is the capital of Russia. And of course, it is the centre of Russian economy, politics, and culture. The city was built many centuries ago by Yuri Dolgorukiy, the Rurikid prince. It is situated on the banks of the Moscow River. Nowadays, Moscow is the largest city in the country with the population of more than 13 million residents. The Russian capital is also considered to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Red Square is the heart of the city in all senses. The Kremlin and St. Basil's Cathedral are situated there. These constructions are the outstanding examples of ancient Russian architecture. The Spasskaya Tower, which is the main tower of the Kremlin, is now a symbol of the country. However, on the territory of the Kremlin, you can also see other cathedrals, the Bell Tower, the Tzar-Cannon and the Tzar-Bell, and the Palace of Congress. Apart from the Kremlin, one of the most popular tourist attractions is the Lenin’s Mausoleum. It is also placed on Red Square. Hundreds of people wait in lines for hours in order to enter the tomb and to see Lenin’s body. In addition, Moscow is famous for theatres. Bolshoi Opera house is considered one of the best theatres in the world. There are over 80 universities in Moscow some of which are in the list of World’s prime higher education institutes. All in all, Moscow is a varied city that amazes with its sizes, culture, and people. Many foreigners come there not only as tourists but also to do business or to live in this vibrant capital.

 

St. Petersburg

 

    St. Petersburg is a large beautiful city in the north-western part of Russia. It is a city of white nights, green parks, numerous channels and bridges, granite embankments and railings. Many famous Russian and foreign architects created the face of the city in the 18th and 19th centuries.

    The St. Peter and Paul Fortress is located on the Hare Island. The foundation stone was laid by Peter the Great in Mai 1703. The fortress was always used only as political prison and never had any importance for military purposes. Such famous people as Gorki, Chernyshevski, Dostoyevski were also imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress.

    The foundation of the colossal St. Isaak`s cathedral produced many problems because of the soft soil. The construction of the cathedral lasted forty years and was finished in 1858. The French architect Monferrand erected the 101.5 meter building. The interior space of it reaches 4000 square meters.

    There are very many beautiful and interesting places in St. Petersburg. Among them are the Summer Garden with its famous railing, the Hermitage, the Kazan Cathedral, the Russian Museum, the Rostral Columns, the Alexander Nevski Monastery, the Alexander Column, the Palace Square, the Triumphal Arch, the Admiralty, the Field of Mars, etc.

    The Hermitage is one of the most interesting museums in St. Petersburg. It occupies six buildings. The largest and the most important building designed by Rastrelli is the Winter Palace. The St. Petersburger Hermitage has 365 rooms and more than 2.7 million various exhibits. It is the largest art museum in our country and one of the most famous art museums in the whole world.

 

Russian Traditions

 

It is a well-known fact that most Russians are patriots of their country: they are usually homesick when they leave Russia for a long period of time, and are usually keen supporters of traditions. Russian people keep up a lot of folk traditions. Many of them are of religious origin and were, actually, banned after the Russian Revolution of 1917 but survived and are now restored. These are all kinds of traditions based on Christianity and the Russian Orthodox Church, like those of Christmas, Lent and Easter. A well-known Easter tradition is, for example, painting eggs bright colours to symbolize springtime and life, and playing an Easter egg game in which each person takes a hard-boiled, coloured egg. Players make pairs and then tap the ends of their eggs together. First the wide ends of the two eggs are tapped together, then the narrow ends, and finally one wide and one narrow end. When a player's egg breaks, he or she leaves the game, which continues until one player is left with an unbroken egg. The one who wins is considered to be likely to have good luck in everything.

The second group is formed by folk traditions which date back to the times before Christianity, like fortune-telling, some wedding or funeral rituals. The third group is formed by traditions pertaining to official celebrations, like those of the Victory Day when World War II veterans meet in Moscow in front of the Bolshoi Theatre building, and people of all ages come to congratulate them and give them flowers.

The famous Russian folk tradition is Maslenitsa, or Pancake Week, which is a combination of Christian and pagan traditions and is the last week before the Lent. The Maslenitsa week is full of traditional Russian festival activities: masquerades, snowball fights, sledding and sleigh rides. Secondly, it is a chance to taste traditional Russian food which we don't very often cook nowadays, as we got used to buy ready-made food in supermarkets. The essential element of Maslenitsa celebration is Russian pancakes, made of rich foods like butter, eggs and milk. They are usually eaten with sour cream or caviar. For many Christians, Maslenitsa is the last chance to meet with the worldly delights before the fasting of Lent.

Kazan

Kazan is one of the largest (the population is over a million citizens) and the most ancient cities of Russia, the capital of the republic of Tatarstan. It is an important economic, scientific, religious, and cultural center where various cultures (Tatar, Russian, and European) and religions (Islam and Orthodox Christianity) coexist harmonically. Kazan is situated on the great river Volga; its river port and international airport are significant as trading and transport junctions. Some architectural objects of Kazan are in the list of UNESCO world heritage sites. Sports life of Kazan also develops quickly: there are famous local football, hockey and basketball clubs, and in recent years, the city held several large-scale competitions.

According to historians, Kazan was founded at the beginning of the 11^th century. In the Middle Ages Kazan became a trading (blacksmithing, leather production, etc.) and cultural center of the Golden Horde. Afterward, it became the capital of Kazan Khanate, but in the 16^th century, Ivan IV joined it to Russia by force. As a part of Russian Empire, Kazan improved its industry, education (the third university in the country was opened there), and the level of life. Although Kazan suffered during the Civil War, it grew in the 20^th century turning into a megacity.

Nowadays, due to numerous landmarks, Kazan is a popular tourism direction. The ensemble of its medieval Kremlin is very impressive, as well as fine mosque Qol Sharif. Everyone enjoy visiting parks, museums, theaters of Kazan; besides, the city is a center of many national and international festivals of classical and modern (including ethnic) music.

 

London

 

London, the capital of Great Britain, is situated on the Thames River. It is the largest city in Europe with a population of eight and a quarter million. It is divided into four parts: the City, Westminster, the West End and the East End.

The City is the business and commercial heart of London. Many banks, offices and firms are concentrated there. The Tower and St. Paul's Cathedral are in the centre. The Tower is about 900 years old. Many years ago it was a royal residence, then a prison. Now it is a museum.

St. Paul's Cathedral is very large and fine. It was completed in 1710. The famous English architect Christopher Wren planned and built St. Paul's Cathedral. If the City is the business part of London, Westminster is the centre of administration. We can see the Houses of Parliament there. It is a beautiful building with two towers and a very big clock called Big Ben. The Houses of Parliament stand in Parliament Square.

Westminster Abbey is opposite the Houses of Parliament. Many great Englishmen were buried in Westminster Abbey. To the west of Westminster Abbey you can see Buckingham Palace. It is the royal residence. The ceremony of the changing of the guards which takes place in front of Buckingham Palace is of great interest to the tourists.

Rich people live in the West End. The best and most expensive clubs, restaurants and theatres, beautiful houses and parks are there.

The East End — the district of plants, factories, slums and docks — is for the working people. London is unlike any other city in the world. It has rather wide streets but low houses. It looks very grey because there is so much rain and fog there. Only buses and pillar-boxes are red.

This city has never been planned and it has many parts which are different from each other.