|
Licorne
Licorne (, ''Yedinorog'', 'unicorn') is the French name of an 18th- and 19th-century Russian cannon, a type of muzzle-loading howitzer, devised in 1757 by M.W. Danilov and S.A. Martynov and accepted by artillery commander, general Peter Ivanovich Shuvalov. The licorne was a hybrid between the howitzers and guns of the era (a gun-howitzer), with a longer barrel than contemporary howitzers, giving projectiles a flatter trajectory, but longer range. Similar to the howitzers, they had a powder chamber of smaller diameter than the gun caliber, but whereas a howitzer's chamber was cylindrical, a licorne's was conical, with its base diameter the same as the gun bore. The conical chamber was easier to load and facilitated the placement of the projectile perfectly in the center of the barrel. Licornes were able to fire both the solid shot used for cannons and howitzer shells, as well as grapeshot and canister. The length of the barrel was 9 or 10 calibres, and the weight of the pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Canon Obusier De 12
The Canon obusier de 12 (officially the "Canon obusier de campagne de 12 livres, modèle 1853"), also known as the "Canon de l’Empereur" ("emperor's cannon"), was a type of canon-obusier (literally "shell-gun cannon", "gun-howitzer") developed by France in 1853. Its performance and versatility (it was able to fire either ball, shell, canister or grapeshot) allowed it to replace all the previous field guns, especially the Canon de 8 and the Canon de 12 as well as the two howitzers of the Valée system. The cannon was known in the United States as the 12-pounder Napoleon after French President and Emperor Napoleon III. Characteristics The ''"canon obusier"'' was a smoothbore cannon firing either shells, balls, or canister. This was an improvement over previous cannon firing only balls, such as those of the Gribeauval system. The ''"canon obusier de 12 livres"'' is commonly described as a "12-pounder" in English, although the nominal rating was based on a slightly different mea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Secret Howitzer
The 95 mm howitzer M1753, called secret howitzer or Shuvalov's secret howitzer, was an 18th-century Russian cannon, a type of muzzle-loading howitzer, devised and introduced into service by artillery commander, General Peter Ivanovich Shuvalov. Shuvalov's gun had an unusual, oval bore, which was designed to facilitate shot dispersal while firing canisters and therefore to increase the beaten zone. A special canister round produced for the cannon contained 168 balls; a grapeshot version, with 48 larger balls, was also provided for shooting at 300–600 yards distance. The name of the gun comes from the great secrecy which surrounded it. While not in use, the muzzle was covered with a lid to hide its unusual shape. The death penalty was set as the punishment for revealing the secret of the weapon. History The first guns built used quoins for changing the elevation, but in 1753–1758 turnscrews were introduced. Originally they had cylindrical powder chambers like howitzer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aleksey Arakcheyev
Count Alexey Andreyevich Arakcheyev or Arakcheev (; b. in Garusovo – d. in Gruzino) was an Imperial Russian general and statesman during the reign of Tsar Alexander I. He served under Tsars Paul I and Alexander I as an army commander and Inspector of Artillery. He had a violent temper, but was a competent artillerist, and is known for his reforms of Russian artillery known as the "System of 1805". When Alexander was succeeded by Nicholas I, he lost all his offices. Early years Count Arakcheyev was born on his father's estate in Garusovo, in Vyshnevolotsky Uyezd (at the time a part of Novgorod Governorate, from 1796 part of Tver Governorate). He was educated in arithmetic by a priest, and though he shone at arithmetic, he never mastered writing and grammar. In 1783, with the help of General Peter Ivanovich Melissino, Arakcheyev enrolled in the Shlyakhetny artillery school in Saint-Petersburg. By 1787 he had become a lieutenant instructor, and gave artillery and fort ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Secret Howitzer
The 95 mm howitzer M1753, called secret howitzer or Shuvalov's secret howitzer, was an 18th-century Russian cannon, a type of muzzle-loading howitzer, devised and introduced into service by artillery commander, General Peter Ivanovich Shuvalov. Shuvalov's gun had an unusual, oval bore, which was designed to facilitate shot dispersal while firing canisters and therefore to increase the beaten zone. A special canister round produced for the cannon contained 168 balls; a grapeshot version, with 48 larger balls, was also provided for shooting at 300–600 yards distance. The name of the gun comes from the great secrecy which surrounded it. While not in use, the muzzle was covered with a lid to hide its unusual shape. The death penalty was set as the punishment for revealing the secret of the weapon. History The first guns built used quoins for changing the elevation, but in 1753–1758 turnscrews were introduced. Originally they had cylindrical powder chambers like howitzer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Unicorn
The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described since Classical antiquity, antiquity as a beast with a single large, pointed, spiraling horn (anatomy), horn projecting from its forehead. In European literature and art, the unicorn has for the last thousand years or so been depicted as a white horse- or goat-like animal with a long straight horn with spiraling grooves, cloven hooves, and sometimes a goat's beard. In the Middle Ages and Renaissance, it was commonly described as an extremely wild forest, woodland creature, a symbol of purity and grace, which could be captured only by a virgin. In encyclopedias, its horn was described as having the power to render poisoned water potable and to heal sickness. In medieval and Renaissance times, the tusk of the narwhal was sometimes sold as a unicorn horn. A bovine type of unicorn is thought by some scholars to have been depicted in Indus seal, seals of the Bronze Age Indus Valley Civilisation, Indus Valley civilization ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pood
''Pood'' ( rus, пуд, r=pud, p=put, plural: or ) is a unit of mass equal to 40 Funt (mass), ''funt'' (, Russian pound). Since 1899 it is set to approximately 16.38 kilograms (36.11 pound (mass), pounds). It was used in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. ''Pood'' was first mentioned in a number of 12th-century documents. Unlike ''Funt (mass), funt'', which came at least in the 14th century from , (formerly written * ) is a much older borrowing from Late Latin "pondo", from Classical "pondus". Use in the past and present Together with other units of weight of the Obsolete Russian weights and measures, Imperial Russian weight measurement system, the USSR officially abolished the ''pood'' in 1924. The term remained in widespread use until at least the 1940s. In his 1953 short story "Matryona's Place", Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn presents the ''pood'' as still in use amongst the Khrushchev-era Soviet peasants. Its usage is preserved in modern Russian in certain specific cases, e.g., in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coat Of Arms
A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full achievement (heraldry), heraldic achievement, which in its whole consists of a shield, supporters, a crest (heraldry), crest, and a motto. A coat of arms is traditionally unique to the armiger (e.g. an individual person, family, state, organization, school or corporation). The term "coat of arms" itself, describing in modern times just the heraldic design, originates from the description of the entire medieval chainmail "surcoat" garment used in combat or preparation for the latter. Roll of arms, Rolls of arms are collections of many coats of arms, and since the early Modern Age centuries, they have been a source of information for public showing and tracing the membership of a nobility, noble family, a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shuvalov
The House of Shuvalov () is the name of a Russian noble family, which was documented since the 16th century. The Shuvalov family rose to distinction during the reign of Empress Elizabeth and was elevated to the rank of count on 5 September 1746. Notable family members * Ivan Ivanovich Shuvalov (1727–1797), a lover of Empress Elizabeth and Maecenas of the Russian Enlightenment, who declined a comital title offered to him by the sovereign *Count Alexander Ivanovich Shuvalov (1710–1771), the latter's first cousin, a Field Marshal and head of the secret police *Countess Ekaterina Alexandrovna Shuvalova (1733 –1821), daughter of the above, state lady *Count Peter Ivanovich Shuvalov (1711–1762), the brother of Alexander, a Field Marshal and Minister of War, one of the most influential policy-makers during Elizabeth's reign *Countess Mavra Shuvalova (1708–1759), the latter's wife, who was a confidante of Empress Elizabeth of Russia *Count Andrey Petrovich Shuvalov (17 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Congress Poland
Congress Poland or Congress Kingdom of Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It was established when the French ceded a part of Polish territory to the Russian Empire following France's defeat in the Napoleonic Wars. In 1915, during World War I, it was replaced by the German-controlled nominal Regency Kingdom until Poland regained independence in 1918. Following the partitions of Poland at the end of the 18th century, Poland ceased to exist as an independent nation for 123 years. The territory, with its native population, was split among the Habsburg monarchy, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Russian Empire. After 1804, an equivalent to Congress Poland within the Austrian Empire was the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, also commonly referred to as " Austrian Poland". The area incorporated into Prussia initially also held autonomy ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Karađorđe
Đorđe Petrović (; ; – ), known by the sobriquet Karađorđe (; ), was a Serbian revolutionary leader who led a struggle against the Ottoman Empire during the First Serbian Uprising. He held the title of Grand Vožd of Serbia from 14 February 1804 to 3 October 1813. Born into an impoverished family in the Šumadija region of Ottoman Serbia, Karađorđe distinguished himself during the Austro-Turkish War of 1788–1791 as a member of the Serbian Free Corps, a militia of Habsburg and Ottoman Serbs, armed and trained by the Austrians. Fearing retribution following the Austrians' and Serb rebels' defeat in 1791, he and his family fled to the Austrian Empire, where they lived until 1794, when a general amnesty was declared. Karađorđe subsequently returned to Šumadija and became a livestock merchant. In 1796, the rogue governor of the Sanjak of Vidin, Osman Pazvantoğlu, invaded the Pashalik of Belgrade, and Karađorđe fought alongside the Ottomans to quash the inc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Crimean War
The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont from October 1853 to February 1856. Geopolitical causes of the war included the "Eastern question" (Decline and modernization of the Ottoman Empire, the decline of the Ottoman Empire, the "sick man of Europe"), expansion of Imperial Russia in the preceding Russo-Turkish wars, and the British and French preference to preserve the Ottoman Empire to maintain the European balance of power, balance of power in the Concert of Europe. The flashpoint was a dispute between France and Russia over the rights of Catholic Church, Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Church, Orthodox minorities in Palestine (region), Palestine. After the Sublime Porte refused Nicholas I of Russia, Tsar Nicholas I's demand that the Empire's Orthodox subjects were to be placed unde ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
