Moscow
| Moscow (English) Москва (Russian) | |
|---|---|
| - Federal city - | |
 Top: Spasskaya Clocktower, St. Basil's Cathedral Center: Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, Ostankino Tower, Monument to Yuri Dolgoruki, Kotelnicheskaya Embankment Building, House on Embankment by Boris Iofan Bottom: Moscow International Business Center | |
| |
| Coordinates: 55°45′06″N 37°37′04″E / 55.75167°N 37.61778°ECoordinates: 55°45′06″N 37°37′04″E / 55.75167°N 37.61778°E | |
 Coat of Arms of Moscow |  Flag of Moscow |
| Federal city Day | The first Saturday and Sunday of September[1] |
| Political status | |
| Country | Russia |
| Statistics | |
| Population (2010 Census preliminary results)[2] |
11,514,300 inhabitants |
| - Rank within Russia | 1st |
| - Urban[2] | 100% |
| Government | |
| Official website | |
| http://www.mos.ru | |
Moscow (Moskva) (Russian: Москва́, romanised: Moskva) is the capital of Russia and the country's economic, financial, educational, and transportation centre. It is located on the Moskva River in the Central Federal District, in European Russia. Moscow is the most populous city in Europe, whose population constitutes about 7% of the total Russian population. It is famously known for its Kremlin, built as a fortress in 1367 upon earlier wooden fortifications, and rebuilt in the 15th century, which later included a palace[3] for the Russian Tsars, which now serves as the ceremonial residence of the President of Russia.
Contents
History
Prince George Dolgoruki, son of Vladimir II Monomakh, is said to have founded the city in 1147, when its name first appears in a Russian chronicle.[4] Anciently this region was populated by so-called Great Russians and known as Muscovy, which had its capital firstly at Novgorod, then Kiev, with Moscow situated in-between. In 1238 the Mongols invaded and burned Moscow. In 1240 they conquered and sacked Kiev.[5]
From this year until 1263, Alexander 'Nevski', Prince of Novgorod, ruled Muscovy.[6] Moscow was again twice burned in 1292-3. Muscovy had at this point sunk into the position of a mere vassal State of the Mongol Empire at this point, although Muscovite princes became specially favoured by the Mongol Khans. Gradually Muscovy raised itself up.
In 1326, the Metropolitan eventually transferred his See from Vladimir to Moscow, and from that point the interests of the State and the Church became entwined. In 1382, following a rebellion against the Mongols, Moscow was again burned, and in 1408 the Golden Horde again laid siege to the city but this time were bought off by the burghers with a ransom.
With the demise of Kiev due to Mongol devastation, war and then occupation by the Lithuanians, for centuries, Moscow replaced Kiev and became the capital of Russia.[7] In 1611 a great portion of the city was again destroyed by fire, when the invading Poles took possession of it under the pretense of defending the inhabitants from the adherents of a Pretender to the Crown. The Black Plague of 1771 diminished the population by thousands, and lastly in 1812, the Moscovites surrendered their city to invading armies of Napoleon.[8]
From the early Russian state of Muscovy grew the Tsarist Russian Empire (to 1917) and, from 1918-1992, the Soviet Union.
Moscow stood for centuries on the major overland trade routes and was always a hub of commerce. It remains a major economic centre and is today home to a large number of Russian billionaires; it was recently named as the most expensive city in the world for expatriate employees.
It is home to many scientific and educational institutions, as well as numerous sports facilities. It possesses a complex transport system that includes the world's busiest metro system - famous for its architecture.
Grand Duchy of Moscow
- The word "Rus" is widely believed to derive from the Finnish word "Ruotsi," meaning "Swedes" or "men who row," a reference to the seafaring Vikings who traveled through the river systems of Eastern Europe. The Varangians used the Dnieper, Volga, and other rivers to travel from Scandinavia to Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul), and it was along these routes that they established trade networks and settlements, ultimately forming Kievan Rus. After the decline of Kievan Rus in the 12th century, due in part to internal conflicts and external invasions (such as the Mongol invasion), the political center of the Eastern Slavs shifted northward. The Grand Duchy of Moscow, a successor state to Kievan Rus, began to rise in power during the late Middle Ages. Moscow's rulers saw themselves as the rightful heirs to the legacy of Kievan Rus and sought to unite the Eastern Slavic lands under their control. By the 15th century, the rulers of Moscow began to use the term "Rossiya" (Россия in Russian), derived from the Greek word "Ρωσία" (Rhōsía), which was used by the Byzantines to refer to the lands of the Rus. The adoption of this term signified the Moscow rulers' claim to the legacy of Kievan Rus and their desire to position themselves as the leaders of the Eastern Slavic world. In this sense, "Russia" is indeed connected to the Rus of Kyiv, but the term's meaning and significance evolved over time, shaped by the political ambitions of Moscow's rulers and the shifting power dynamics in Eastern Europe.[9]
1812
During the Patriotic War of 1812, when Napoleon Bonaparte and his "Grand Army" marched into Moscow, the city lost two-thirds of its buildings in a conflagration – residents set fire to their houses and fled the city. Due to the resulting shortage of supplies, the French army was forced to retreat about a month later, which ended with its defeat in the Battle of the Beresina.
Red Terror
Following the February Revolution of 1917, the Moscow State Assembly, with representatives from all estates, took place in Moscow in August 1917. From August 1917 to September 1918, the Russian Church Council took place in Moscow, at which the Moscow Patriarchate was restored. Following the October Revolution on 25 October/7 November 1917 in Petrograd, the Bolsheviks organized an armed uprising in Moscow, which was opposed by the Committee of Public Safety. The fighting for Moscow lasted from 25 October to 2 November 1917 and ended with a Bolshevik victory after the arrival of reinforcements. A final attempt at an uprising by the counterrevolutionary forces was crushed in 1919.
On 12 March 1918, the capital of the new Soviet state was moved back to Moscow, and the Bolshevik leadership moved into the Kremlin, which thus became the Russian center of power for the first time since the early 18th century. The Soviet Union was founded there on 30 December 1922.
1941/42
After the begin of Operation Barbarossa on 22 June 1941, their offensive on Moscow began on 30 September of that year. Around 80 divisions, including fourteen Panzer and eight mechanized divisions, as well as hundreds of aircraft, thousands of tanks, artillery pieces, and mortars, were deployed against the capital. On the night of July 21-22, 1941, a series of air raids began that lasted until April 5, 1942. On November 15, a second German offensive began, advancing into some western suburbs. The Soviet counterattack began on 5 December 1941 and pushed the Wehrmacht back by 100 to 300 kilometers. The Luftwaffe flew 12,000 sorties against Moscow, but only a portion of the aircraft managed to reach the city. In the Battle of Moscow, German troops lost 250,000 men, 1,300 tanks, 2,500 guns, more than 15,000 motor vehicles, and much other material. Approximately 700,000 Soviet soldiers were killed, wounded, or missing. This was the first major defeat of the German Wehrmacht against the Soviet Union and on the European mainland in general.
External links
Encyclopedias
References
- ↑ Holidays and significant dates of Moscow. Moscow City Government. Retrieved on 29 September 2010.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Федеральная служба государственной статистики (Federal State Statistics Service) (2011). Предварительные итоги Всероссийской переписи населения 2010 года (Preliminary results of the 2010 All-Russian Population Census) (Russian). Всероссийская перепись населения 2010 года (All-Russia Population Census of 2010). Federal State Statistics Service. Retrieved on 2011-04-25.
- ↑ Murray, John, Russia, Poland, and Finland, London, 1875, pps:226-238.
- ↑ Murray, 1875, p.222.
- ↑ Morfill, W.R., M.A., Russia, London, 2nd edition, 1891, p.38-41.
- ↑ Howe, S.E., A Thousand Years of Russian History, London, 1917, p.24.
- ↑ Howe, 1917, p.26.
- ↑ Murray, 1875, p.222.
- ↑ Vikings (Rus) and their impact on Ukraine and Russia
