Stalin and Tsar Nicholas II neck and neck for title of greatest Russian

Times of London ^ | 07/16/08 | Tony Halpin

[jude24]

That might not be that unreasonable. He did, for good or ill, guide Russia/the Soviet Union through their greatest existential threat. He may have been brutal. His ideology may have been bankrupt. But Stalin was the reason Russia doesn't speak German today - and the reason why a developing country became a credible rival to the US for world influence.

This is not to say Stalin was a good person - but a "great" Russian? Sure - in the same sense Hitler could be Time's Man of the Year. Great but terrible.

[jude24]

That might not be that unreasonable. He did, for good or ill, guide Russia/the Soviet Union through their greatest existential threat. He may have been brutal. His ideology may have been bankrupt. But Stalin was the reason Russia doesn't speak German today - and the reason why a developing country became a credible rival to the US for world influence.

This is not to say Stalin was a good person - but a "great" Russian? Sure - in the same sense Hitler could be Time's Man of the Year. Great but terrible.

[Forward the Light Brigade]

I would vote for Ivan the Terrible—his nick name would better be translated into “awesome” As a Tsar he was one of the few who really gave a d*mm about his nation. Autocrat, yes, but he built the foundations of Russia for all of its glories and all of its sins.

[Freelance Warrior]

Very interesting story. I didn’t knew that a German prince had such power on his serfs in XVIII century.

[Freelance Warrior]

The site has stopped voting, according to a notice there.

Russians want a Khan who make outsiders quaking in their boots at the mere mention of 'Mighty Russia.' It does not matter how many Russians or outsiders get slaughtered because of it. That's not a correct conclusion. Outsiders behaving in such way is the only result that can be taken for a political success in the XX century. That's why it's mentioned that much.

[Freelance Warrior]

Excluding the WWII victory, of course.

[Freelance Warrior]

Not to this degree. The site allows to vote multiple times, so it suffers from flash-mob wars between communists and anti-communists.

[Stonewall Jackson]

Her father, Christian August, was the ruler of the Principality of Anhalt-Zerbst and a field marshall in the Prussian Army. Apparently, during the War of Austrian Succession (1740-1748), a large number of serfs fled the fighting and took shelter in Anhalt-Zerbst, overwhelming the small principality's food supplies, and threatening everyone with famine.

From what I've been able to find out, Field Marshall Prince Christian August offered these refugees a choice, they could either go to Russia, where there was plenty of farmland and not a lot of warfare, or they could leave Anhalt-Zerbst and take their chances with the various armies that were marching through the area.

[Freelance Warrior]

Thank you for claryfing this. When I’ve just read your message, I thought that he presented those people as a Roman slaveowner would do. Or a Russian or Polish landlord.

[Freelance Warrior]

Catherine II was made popular in Russia by a novel by Valentin Pikul’ “The Favorite”. He wrote that she had to wear darned tights in childhood so poor was her father.

[eleni121]

Well considering the fact that neither of them were really Russian...certainly the czar is Russian in that he practiced Christian Orthodoxy rather than slaughtering its adherents like Stalin did.

[Freelance Warrior]

There are currently 50 persons to choose from, 2 of them are saints.

[dfwgator]

I would have voted for the T.a.T.u chicks, but that’s just me.

[eleni121]

Lukyanov, of the All-Russia Monarchist Centre, is right:

“There are Soviet people and there are Russian people and the two are absolutely different. Unfortunately, the majority now are Soviet...”

This is the ultimate tragedy.

[Freelance Warrior]

“There are Soviet people and there are Russian people and the two are absolutely different. Unfortunately, the majority now are Soviet...”

The majority of Russian adults were brought up and went to school at the Soviet time. It's true.

But the poll doesn't reflect the true picture of the Russian society's opinions. At least, pro-Stalin flash-mobbers are in loose to the anti-Stalin's according to the latest figures.

And those voting for Stalin aren't all his fans. Practically all outsiders (living outside Russia) don't understand that the view from inside differs. E.g. Yeltsyn and his followers have much to be blamed for.

[Borges]

Well a lot of pinncales of Western Culture have come from Russia...Tolstoy, Tchaikovsky...

[Fiji Hill]

Your great grandmother—and you—were lucky. In 1941, Stalin deported the Volga Germans and other Voksdeutschen remaining in the Soviet Union to Siberia, Kazakhstan, and other inhospitable places.

[RightWhale]

We might be loosely knit, but they are in a different league.

[eleni121]

Russia is NOT, and has NEVER BEEN a WESTERN COUNTRY.

---

That’s the most RIDICULOUS STATEMENT I’ve read in a while.

First you do not define “western” -— What - western as in abortion, Nazism, porn, secular humanism, Marxism, etc.??

OR western as in Dostoyevsky, Solzhenitsyn, Tolstoy, Yevtushenko, Rostropovich, Chagall, Stravinsky, Rimsky Korsakov, etc etc.

[Clemenza]

All of those people you describe are from the Slavic/Asiatic culture that is Russia.

Again, for many centuries, Russia had closer cultural/political relations with the east and south. Peter's aggressive westernization campaign was conducted due precisely to the fact that western Europe was emerging as the main political power, while its traditional allies to the south and east were either waning and/or being conquered by Russia.

Russians never historically saw themselves as part of the west. They were under neither the influence of Rome, nor under the Holy League. They developed a highly unique culture apart from the west.

The inclusion of Russia as part of the "west", only among a minority of scholars, was a late 19th century phenomenon. Tolstoy, the Russian nationalist to end all Russian nationalists, would have been appalled at being called a westerner.