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Order Of Lāčplēsis
The Order of Lāčplēsis (also Lāčplēsis Military Order, ), the first and the highest Latvian military award, was established in 1919 on the initiative of Jānis Balodis, the Commander of the Latvian Army during the Latvian War of Independence. The Lāčplēsis Order is awarded in the first, second and third class. Initially, a holder of the order had to be a recipient of the third class before being promoted to a higher class. It was named after the Latvian epic hero, Lāčplēsis. As a young man, Lāčplēsis kills a bear with his bare hands and thus the order is also known as the Order of the Bearslayer. Description The medal of the Lāčplēsis Military Order is a white enameled Thunder and Fire Cross (Latvian left facing swastika) with red and golden edging. In the centre of the obverse there is a medallion with picture of the folk hero Lāčplēsis wrestling with a bear. On the reverse side there is the date 11 November 1919, the date when the Latvian Army expelled ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Order (honour)
An order is a visible honour awarded by a sovereign state, monarch, dynastic house or organisation to a person, typically in recognition of individual merit, that often comes with distinctive insignia such as collars, medals, badges, and sashes worn by recipients. Modern honour systems of state orders and dynastic orders emerged from the culture of orders of chivalry of the Middle Ages, which in turn emerged from the Catholic religious orders. Terminology The word order (), in the case referred to in this article, can be traced back to the chivalric orders, including the military orders, which in turn trace the name of their organisation back to that of the Catholic religious orders. Orders began to be created ''ad hoc'' and in a more courtly nature. Some were merely honorary and gradually the ''badges'' of these orders (i.e. the association) began to be known informally as ''orders''. As a result, the modern distinction between ''orders'' and ''decorations'' or ''insi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mārtiņš Peniķis
Mārtiņš Peniķis (1874–1964) was a Latvian general and commander in chief of Latvian Army from 1928 to 1934. He was awarded with Order of Lāčplēsis and Order of the Three stars. Biography Mārtiņš Peniķis was born 6 November 1874 at ''Atālmauli'' homestead, Turlava Parish, Courland Governorate in an ancient family of Curonian Kings. He studied at the Kuldīga city school. In 1896 he enlisted in the Russian Imperial Army and served in the 133rd Simferopole Infantry Regiment. In 1900 he started studies in the war school and graduated in 1902. He was promoted to the rank of podporuchik and deployed to 121st Harkov Infantry Regiment. During the Russo-Japanese war he saw action in many battles including the Battle of Mukden. In 1913 he was admitted to the Nikolai Military Academy. First World war In the early stages of the First World War Peniķis served as a company commander in Galicia and in battles around Kraków. He was wounded in December 1914. In 1915 he was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Belarusians
Belarusians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Belarus. They natively speak Belarusian language, Belarusian, an East Slavic language. More than 9 million people proclaim Belarusian ethnicity worldwide. Nearly 7.99 million Belarusians reside in Belarus, with the United States and Russia being home to more than 500,000 Belarusians each. The majority of Belarusians adhere to Eastern Orthodoxy. Name During the Soviet era, Belarusians were referred to as ''Byelorussians'' or ''Belorussians'' (from Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, Byelorussia, derived from Russian "Белоруссия"). Before, they were typically known as ''White Russians'' or ''White Ruthenians'' (from White Russia or White Ruthenia, based on "Белая Русь"). Upon Belarusian independence in 1991, they became known as ''Belarusians'' (from Belarus, derived from "Беларусь"), sometimes spelled as ''Belarusans'', ''Belarussians'' or ''Belorusians''. The term ''W ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jews
Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly interrelated, as Judaism is their ethnic religion, though it is not practiced by all ethnic Jews. Despite this, religious Jews regard Gerim, converts to Judaism as members of the Jewish nation, pursuant to the Conversion to Judaism, long-standing conversion process. The Israelites emerged from the pre-existing Canaanite peoples to establish Kingdom of Israel (Samaria), Israel and Kingdom of Judah, Judah in the Southern Levant during the Iron Age.John Day (Old Testament scholar), John Day (2005), ''In Search of Pre-Exilic Israel'', Bloomsbury Publishing, pp. 47.5 [48] 'In this sense, the emergence of ancient Israel is viewed not as the cause of the demise of Canaanite culture but as its upshot'. Originally, J ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polish People
Polish people, or Poles, are a West Slavic ethnic group and nation who share a common History of Poland, history, Culture of Poland, culture, the Polish language and are identified with the country of Poland in Central Europe. The preamble to the Constitution of the Republic of Poland defines the Polish nation as comprising all the citizenship, citizens of Poland, regardless of heritage or ethnicity. The majority of Poles adhere to Roman Catholicism. The population of self-declared Poles in Poland is estimated at 37,394,000 out of an overall population of 38,512,000 (based on the 2011 census), of whom 36,522,000 declared Polish alone. A wide-ranging Polish diaspora (the ''Polish diaspora, Polonia'') exists throughout Eurasia, the Americas, and Australasia. Today, the largest urban concentrations of Poles are within the Warsaw metropolitan area and the Katowice urban area. Ethnic Poles are considered to be the descendants of the ancient West Slavic Lechites and other tribes t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Russians
Russians ( ) are an East Slavs, East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. Their mother tongue is Russian language, Russian, the most spoken Slavic languages, Slavic language. The majority of Russians adhere to Eastern Orthodox Church, Orthodox Christianity, ever since the Middle Ages. By total numbers, they compose the largest Slavs, Slavic and Ethnic groups in Europe, European nation. Genetic studies show that Russians are closely related to Polish people, Poles, Belarusians, Ukrainians, as well as Estonians, Latvians, Lithuanians, and Finns. They were formed from East Slavic tribes, and their cultural ancestry is based in Kievan Rus'. The Russian word for the Russians is derived from the Names of Rus', Russia and Ruthenia, people of Rus' and the territory of Rus'. Russians share many historical and cultural traits with other European peoples, and especially with other East Slavic ethnic groups, specifically Belarusians and Ukrainians. The vast majority of Russians ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Germans
Germans (, ) are the natives or inhabitants of Germany, or sometimes more broadly any people who are of German descent or native speakers of the German language. The Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, constitution of Germany, implemented in 1949 following the end of World War II, defines a German as a German nationality law, German citizen. During the 19th and much of the 20th century, discussions on German identity were dominated by concepts of a common language, culture, descent, and history.. "German identity developed through a long historical process that led, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, to the definition of the German nation as both a community of descent (Volksgemeinschaft) and shared culture and experience. Today, the German language is the primary though not exclusive criterion of German identity." Today, the German language is widely seen as the primary, though not exclusive, criterion of German identity. Estimates on the total number of Germ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lithuanians
Lithuanians () are a Balts, Baltic ethnic group. They are native to Lithuania, where they number around 2,378,118 people. Another two million make up the Lithuanian diaspora, largely found in countries such as the Lithuanian Americans, United States, Lithuanians in the United Kingdom, United Kingdom, Lithuanian Brazilians, Brazil and Lithuanian Canadians, Canada. Their native language is Lithuanian language, Lithuanian, one of only two surviving members of the Baltic language family along with Latvian language, Latvian. According to the Lithuanian census of 2021, census conducted in 2021, 84.6% of the population of Lithuania identified themselves as Lithuanians. Most Lithuanians belong to the Catholic Church in Lithuania, Catholic Church, while the Lietuvininkai who lived in the northern part of East Prussia prior to World War II, were mostly Lutherans. History The territory of the Balts, including modern Lithuania, was once inhabited by several Baltic tribal entities (Sudovi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Estonians
Estonians or Estonian people () are a Finnic ethnic group native to the Baltic Sea region in Northern Europe, primarily their nation state of Estonia. Estonians primarily speak the Estonian language, a language closely related to other Finnic languages, e.g. Finnish, Karelian and Livonian. The Finnic languages are a subgroup of the larger Uralic family of languages, which also includes e.g. the Sami languages. These languages are markedly different from most other native languages spoken in Europe, most of which have been assigned to the Indo-European family of languages. Estonians can also be classified into subgroups according to dialects (e.g. Võros, Setos), although such divisions have become less pronounced due to internal migration and rapid urbanisation in Estonia in the 20th century. There are approximately 1 million ethnic Estonians worldwide, with the vast majority of them residing in their native Estonia. Estonian diaspora communities formed primarily in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Latvian Riflemen
The Latvian Riflemen (; ) were originally a military formation of the Imperial Russian Army assembled starting 1915 in Latvia in order to defend Baltic governorates against the German Empire in World War I. Initially, the battalions were formed by volunteers, and from 1916 by conscription among the Latvian population. A total of about 40,000 troops were drafted into the Latvian Riflemen Division. They were used as an elite force in the Imperial and Red armies. Background Towards the end of the 19th century, Riga, the future capital of Latvia, became one of the most industrialized cities in the Russian Empire. The Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party (LSDRP) was well organized and its leading elements were increasingly sympathetic to the Bolsheviks by the time of the 1905 Revolution. When punitive expeditions were mounted by the state following this, armed resistance groups - often affiliated to the LSDRP - were set up to conduct guerilla warfare against the Tsarist reg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jānis Puriņš
Jānis Puriņš was a Latvian Rifleman and later colonel (since 1925), commander of the 1st Kurzeme Division of the Latvian Army and commander of the Eastern Front during the Latgale liberation operation during the Latvian War of Independence. He received the Knight's rank of the Order of Lāčplēsis. Biography Puriņš was born on 25 April 1889 in the "Sakaiņi" homestead in Mārsnēni Parish near Priekuļi to the family of farmer Jānis senior. As a child, Puriņš studied at the Rauna Parish school and Valmiera city school. In November 1910, he was drafted into the army of the Russian Empire. He served as head of the Cēsis war district, then in the curatorium of the Vilnius Military District. At the beginning of the First World War, in 1915 he was transferred to the 173rd, later the 3rd Reserve Regiment in Toropec and Peterhof. From October 1916 to February 1917 he studied at the 1st Moscow Praporshchik School. He was the leader of the 4th Vidzeme Latvian Riflemen Regimen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oskars Dankers
Oskars Dankers (March 26, 1883 – April 11, 1965) was a Latvian general. He participated in World War I and in the Latvian War of Independence. He was a recipient of the Order of Lāčplēsis, 2nd and 3rd class. During the occupation of Latvia by Nazi Germany, Dankers was appointed head of the German-controlled Latvian Self-Government. Biography He was born in Irlava parish, Courland Governorate, Russian Empire. The first education he received was in Jelgava, where he studied at the Alexander School. He continued his education in Jelgavas Realschule and graduated in 1902. Dankers joined the 180th infantry regiment of the Russian Imperial Army, which was deployed in Jelgava. He graduated from the Vilnius Military Academy in 1906 and continued service in the 197th infantry regiment of the Russian Army, deployed near Helsinki. In 1913 Dankers received the rank of Stabskapitän. Dankers participated in World War I with the 197th infantry regiment. He initially commanded a compa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
