Denis Ivanovich Fonvizin

Denis Fonzivin was a Russian writer during Catherine's time and is regarded as the creator of Russian comedy. He was born on April 14, 1745 in Moscow into a noble family and was educated at the University of Moscow in the Faculty of Philosophy. His comedy The Brigadier attacked the nobility's corruption and ignorance. The point of the satire in The Minor is directed against the brutish and selfish crudeness and barbarity of the uneducated country gentry. In 1777-78 he travelled abroad, and described his voyage in his Letters from France — one of the most elegant specimens of the prose of the period. 

 

Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin

Nikolay Mikhailovich Karamzin (1766-1826) was a Russian writer, poet, historian, critic and a Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He is best remembered for his History of the Russian State, a 12-volume national history. He is considered the founder of Russian sentimentalism (‘Letters of a Russian Traveler’, ‘Poor Liza’, etc.). He was the Editor of the ‘Moscow Journal’ (1791-92) and ‘The Messenger of Europe’ (1802-03). During his lifetime, Nikolai Karamzin was perceived as the highest moral authority and this opinion about him remains unchanged to this date. 

 

 

Ivan A. Krylov

Ivan Andreyevich Krylov is Russia's best known fabulist, writer and academician of Petersburg Academy of Sciences. He published the satirical magazine ‘The Spirit Mail’. He wrote tragedies, comedies and librettos for comic operas. In the period 1809 to 1843, he has created over 200 fables each imbued with the democratic spirit and different from each other in satirical sharpness and language. These fables exposed the social and human flaws. Gogol called his fables ‘the book of wisdom of the people’. In 1812, he published ‘The Wolf in the Kennel’ which depicted Napoleon and Kutuzov. In ‘The Swan, Pike and Cancer’, he depicted the dissatisfaction of the Russian society with the actions of the allies of Emperor Alexander I. During his life he wrote about two hundred fables which were compiled into nine books.

 

Alexander Pushkin

Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin, the great Russian poet, novelist, playwright, essayist and critic is considered by many to be the founder of modern Russian literature. Pushkin was born on 6 June 1799 in Moscow in the German settlement. He was raised by a French tutor and through his home schooling developed a great knowledge of French and a love of reading. Nowadays, Pushkin’s poems on love of nature and children’s poems are quite popular. In schools, the analysis of Pushkin’s poems is a compulsory part of the curriculum in all schools across the CIS. Short and detailed biographies of Alexander Pushkin are published in many languages. Pushkin's fairy tales (illustrations) have been published in the most countries. Many cultural institutions in the country are named after Alexander Pushkin.

 

Nikolai Gogol

Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol (1809-1852) was a Russian dramatist, novelist and short story writer. Gogol was born in a family of poor landowners in the village of Sorochyntsi in Poltava Governorate of the Russian Empire. From 1820 to 1828 Gogol went to a school of higher art in Nejinskaya and developed an interest in art and literature and displayed an extraordinary talent in acting. Gogol’s social attitude during this period was typified by his conduct in the ‘freethinking case’, when he took the side of Professor N. G. Belousov, who was being persecuted for disseminating progressive ideas. Gogol’s art has achieved worldwide fame, but its internal complexity has led to controversy in its critical evaluation. Various schools in Russian and foreign literary scholarship have proposed differing interpretations of the contradictory aspects of his art. The numerous works devoted to Gogol, the republication of his works, and the embodiment of his characters on the stage and screen and in music and painting, both in the USSR and abroad, affirm the unflagging interest throughout the world in the art of this great Russian writer.

 

Mikhail Lermontov

Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov, great Russian poet, writer, painter, playwright, and officer of the tsarist army of the Russian Empire studied at the Moscow University (1830-32). He graduated from the St. Petersburg School for second lieutenants in 1834. In 1837, for the poem "Death of a Poet" (about the death of Pushkin) Lermontov was exiled to serve in army in the Caucasus. During his exile, he met banished Decembrists and the Georgian intelligentsia and took a lively interest in the folklore, life, and language of the mountain peoples which took a permanent place in Lermontov’s work as writer and artist. Lermontov’s work was nurtured by the tradition of the romantic lyric poetry of the Decembrists, and he had an affinity for Byron’s stormy verse. The poem ‘The Demon’ is a powerful allegorical incarnation of the rebellion of the individual against the injustice of the ‘world order’. The novel A Hero of Our Time, profoundly accurate in its social and psychological insights, was the crowning achievement of Lermontov’s realism. Lermontov’s poems ‘The Demon’, ‘The Novice’, ‘Song of the Merchant Kalashnikov’; his novel ‘A Hero of Our Time’ and the play ‘Masquerade’ have all become masterpieces of Russian art.

 

Fyodor Dostoevsky

Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoyevsky was a prominent Russian novelist, short story writer, and essayist. He was born in Moscow in 1821 and moved to St. Petersburg in 1837. In 1843 he graduated from the St. Petersburg Military Engineering School. In 1846, he wrote his first novel ‘Poor Folk’. Since 1848, he became an active member of the revolutionary circles of NA Speshnev and SF Durov. In 1849 he was arrested and sentenced to death which was later commuted to four years of hard labor. On his release from prison, he began to write ‘The House of the Dead’, basing it on his experience in prison. In the second half of the 50’s Dostoyevsky along with his brother published magazines ‘Vremya’ and ‘Epoka’. In 1855, he wrote a poem dedicated to the widow of Nicholas I, in the hope of receiving amnesty in which he succeeded. In the 60's and 70's he wrote his most outstanding books like ‘Crime and Punishment’ in 1866, ‘The Idiot’ in 1868, ‘The Possessed’ in 1871-72, ‘Teenager’ in 1875 and ‘The Brothers Karamazov’ in 1879-80. 

In 1873-74 he edited the magazine ‘The Citizen’ which carried ‘Diary of a Writer’. In 1880, Dostoyevsky was invited to speak at the unveiling of the Pushkin memorial in Moscow. Dostoyevsky died suddenly in January 1881.

 

Nikolay Nekrasov

Nikolay Alexeyevich Nekrasov was a Russian poet, writer, critic, editor and publisher of ‘Sovremennik’ and the editor (with M E Saltykov) of ‘Notes of the Fatherland’. His early years were spent in the village Greshnev at the family estate of his father, who was of a tyrannical nature. Fyodor Dostoevsky later wrote of Nekrasov: This was a wound of the heart very early in his life; it will never heal and is the source of all the passion and suffering for the rest of his life as a poet. In his poetry, Nekrasov widely made use of popular language and folklore and boldly used different tones and styles speech. His poetry has had a long lasting benefit on the subsequent development of classical Russian and Soviet poetry.

Leo Tolstoy

Leo Tolstoy (1828 - 1910) was a great Russian writer born into an aristocratic family in the estate of Yasnaya Polyana in Tula Province. The relationship and atmosphere in his family (Leo had three brothers and a sister) is displayed in ‘Childhood, Adolescence and Youth’. When this novel was published, Tolstoy became a literary celebrity. In 1862, Tolstoy at the age of 34, married Sophia Bers, the 18-year old girl from a noble family. During the initial 10-12 years of marriage, Tolstoy composed ‘War and Peace’ and ‘Anna Karenina’.

In 1879 he began to write ‘Confessions’  in which he describes that he found the answer to his troubles in the deep orthodox religious convictions of ordinary citizens. He describes how he subdued his rational scepticism and abhorrence of ‘superstition within the Christian truths’ in order to gain the peace of mind that he needed to furnish his ‘survival’. In 1886, he wrote the drama ‘The Power of Darkness’ and ‘The Fruits of Enlightenment’ In 1899, he wrote the novel ‘Resurrection’, the drama ‘The Living Corpse’ in 1900 and ‘Hadji Murad’ in 1904.

In the autumn of 1910, he decided to abandon the circle of the rich and secretly left Yasnaya Polyana. He fell ill on the way and died. He was buried at Yasnaya Polyana. Books by Leo Tolstoy are considered the greatest treasure of Russian culture.

 

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860-1904) was a Russian physician, dramatist and author who is considered to be among the greatest writers of short stories in history. He was born in Taganrog. Chekov lived a very short but remarkable life and left a big mark in Russian history. Several generation of Russians have grown reading the works of this great writer. His works are relevant even in the present day and gives us a lot to think about ourselves. Several plays of Chekhov like ‘The Cherry Orchard’, ‘The Lady with the Dog’, his famous trilogy (The Man in a Case’, ‘Gooseberries’, and ‘About Love’), ‘Uncle Vanya’ and others are popular in many countries. 

Each of his characters is a result of his keen sense of observation as well as the ability of the writer to convey the thoughts of the heroes to the readers. Many of his works are still the main performances of various theaters around the world.

 

Sergey Alexandrovich Yesenin

Sergey Alexandrovich Yesenin (1895 - 1925) was a poet, born on September 21, 1895 in the province of Ryazan. Due to poverty in the family, he was brought up by his maternal grandparents since the age of two. He started to read at the age of five and started composing poems at the age of nine. Yesenin’s works vividly depicted the spiritual beauty of the Russian people. He was recognized as the finest lyric and a wizard of Russian landscape. His works were widely published – in eight years at least 30 books of his collections were published. He was tragically killed in Leningrad in 1925. His love for the peasants of Russia is seen in most of his works.

 

Great Generals and Military leaders:

 

Alexander Nevsky (1220 – 1253)

Nevsky was the Russian Commander and Grand Duke of Vladimir. He defeated the Swedes in the Battle of Neva in 1240 and the German Knights of the Livonian Order in the Battle of the Ice in 1942. He was glorified (canonized) by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1547.

 

 

Dmitry Donskoy (1350-1389)

Donaskoy was an outstanding Russian commander and the Grand Duke of Moscow and Vladimir. He led the army that defeated the Golden Horde in 1380.

Peter The Great

He was the last Russian Tsar and the first Russian Emperor. He was the commander and creator of the new Russian army and navy and the founder of Russian Military School. He was a participant in the Northern War and the victor of the Battle of Poltava.

 

Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov (1730-1800)

Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov was prominent Russian Commander, Field Marshal, Count of Rymnik, Prince of Italy, Count of the Holy Roman Empire and a Generalissimo of the Russian Empire. He has participated in many military campaigns and is considered to be one of the few generals in history who never lost a battle.

 

 

 

Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov (1745-1813)

Kutuzov was a great Russian commander and Field Marshal. He has participated in three Russian-Turkish Wars and the World War. He was the commander of all Russian armies (1812-1813)

Georgy Konstantinovich Zhukov (1896-1974)

Zhukov was an outstanding commander and Marshal of the Soviet Union; participated in the First World War, the Civil War and the Great Patriotic War. He was four times Hero of the Soviet Union.

 

 

 

 

 

Konstantin Konstantinovich Rokossovsky (1896-1968)

Konstantin Rokossovsky was a Soviet officer of Polish origin who became a Marshal of the Soviet Union, a Marshal of Poland and served as Poland's Defence Minister. He participated in The Civil War, the conflict on the Chinese-Eastern Railway and The Great Patriotic War. He was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Ivan Danilovich Chernyakhovsky (1906-1945)

Ivan Chernyakhovsky was a Soviet General of the Army, twice Hero of the Soviet Union and commander of the 3rd Belorussian Front during The Great Patriotic War.

 

 

 

Semyon Mikhailovich Budyonny (1883-1973)

Semyon Budyonny was a Soviet cavalryman and military commander. He was born into a peasant’s family and joined the army in 1903. During World War I, Budyonny was the senior non-commissioned officer and was awarded the 4th Class St. George Cross. In early 1918, Semyon Budyonny formed a Cavalry Force to drive the Whites operating on the Don. Since January 1919 he commanded a Cavalry Brigade and then a Cavalry Division. From November 1919 to October 1923 he was the commander of the 1st Cavalry Army.

Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel (1878-1928)

Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel was one of the leaders of the ‘White Movement’ in Russia during the Civil War. The Wrangel family was of the local Baltic German nobility. He graduated from the Institute of Mining Engineering in 1901 and the Mykolayiv Imperial General Staff Academy in 1910. He participated in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904 and the World War. Wrangel was assigned command of a cavalry squadron. After the October Revolution he went to the Crimea in August 1918 and joined the Volunteer Army. He became Lieutenant General in 1918.