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Smolensk
Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, west-southwest of Moscow. First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest cities in Russia. It has been a regional capital for most of the past millennium, beginning as the capital of an eponymous principality in the 11th-15th centuries, then the Smolensk Voivodeship of Lithuania and Poland, and Smolensk Governorate and Oblast within Russia. It was the main stronghold of the Smolensk Gate, a geostrategically significant pass between the Daugava and Dnieper rivers, and as such was an important point of contention in the struggle for dominance in Eastern Europe, passing at various times between Lithuania, Poland and Russia. In more recent history, it was captured by Napoleon's Franco–Polish forces and Hitler's Germany during their marches towards Moscow, and was the place of the Smolensk air disaster of 2010. It has a population of Etymology The name of the c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Smolensk Air Disaster
On 10 April 2010, a Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft operating Polish Air Force Flight 101 crashed near the Russian city of Smolensk, killing all 96 people on board. Among the victims were the president of Poland, Lech Kaczyński, and his wife, Maria; the former president of Poland-in-exile, Ryszard Kaczorowski; the chief of the Polish General Staff and other senior Polish military officers; the president of the National Bank of Poland; Polish government officials; 18 members of the Polish parliament; senior members of the Polish clergy; and relatives of victims of the Katyn massacre. The group was arriving from Warsaw to attend an event commemorating the 70th anniversary of the massacre, which took place not far from Smolensk. The pilots were attempting to land at Smolensk North Airport — a former military airbase — in thick fog, with visibility reduced to about . The aircraft descended far below the normal approach path until it struck trees, rolled, inverted and crashed i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Smolensky District, Smolensk Oblast
Smolensky District () is an administrativeResolution #261 and municipalLaw #135-z district (raion), one of the twenty-five in Smolensk Oblast, Russia. It is located in the west of the oblast and borders with Demidovsky District in the north, Dukhovshchinsky District in the northeast, Kardymovsky District in the east, Pochinkovsky District in the south, Monastyrshchinsky District in the southwest, Krasninsky District in the west, and with Rudnyansky District in the northwest. The area of the district is . Its administrative center is the city of Smolensk (which is not administratively a part of the district). Population: 44,964 ( 2010 Census); Geography The district is split between the drainage basins of the Dnieper and the Daugava. The rivers in the northern part of the district flow into the Kasplya River, a left tributary of the Daugava. The Kasplya has its source in the district. The Dnieper crosses the district from east to west. The southern part of the district be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Principality Of Smolensk
The Principality of Smolensk (eventually Grand Principality of Smolensk) was a Ruthenian lordship from the 11th to the 16th century. Until 1127, when it passed to Rostislav Mstislavich, the principality was part of the land of Kiev. The principality gradually came under Lithuanian influence and was incorporated into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in 1404. The principality was reorganized into the Smolensk Voivodeship in 1508. The Principality of Moscow controlled the city from 1514 to 1611, then it was recaptured by the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Tsardom of Russia recaptured the city in 1654. History Located on the upper Dnieper river, Smolensk emerged as a centre of the Krivichi people, controlling access from Veliky Novgorod and Polotsk to the Dnieper downstream towards Kiev (modern Kyiv). Kievan Rus' Descendants of prince Yaroslav I of Kiev (died 1054) governed the principality until 1125, starting with Vyacheslav Yaroslavich. Following the death of prince ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Smolensk Oblast
Smolensk Oblast (), informally also called Smolenshchina (), is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative centre is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Smolensk. As of the 2021 Russian census, 2021 Census, its population was 888,421. Geography The oblast was founded on 27 September 1937.Исполнительный комитет Смоленского областного совета народных депутатов. Государственный архив Смоленской области. "Административно-территориальное устройство Смоленской области. Справочник", изд. "Московский рабочий", Москва 1981. Стр. 8 It borders Pskov Oblast in the north, Tver Oblast in the northeast, Moscow Oblast in the east, Kaluga Oblast in south, Bryansk Oblast in the southwest, and Mogilev Region, Mogilev and Vitebsk R ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Smolensk Governorate
Smolensk Governorate () was an administrative-territorial unit ('' guberniya'') of the Tsardom of Russia, the Russian Empire, and the Russian SFSR. It existed, with interruptions, between 1708 and 1929. Smolensk Governorate, together with seven other governorates, was established on , 1708, by an edict from Tsar Peter the Great.Указ об учреждении губерний и о росписании к ним городов As with the rest of the governorates, neither the borders nor internal subdivisions of Smolensk Governorate were defined; instead, the territory was defined as a set of cities, and section of lands adjacent to those cities. History On , 1713, Smolensk Governorat ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Smolensk Voivodeship
Smolensk Voivodeship (; ; ; ; ) was a unit of administrative division and local government in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and later the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. History The territory of Smolensk was part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania since 1404, but the voivodeship was established only in 1508. Just six years later, in 1514, it was lost to the Grand Duchy of Moscow during the Muscovite–Lithuanian Wars. The voivodeship was recaptured by the Commonwealth in 1611 during the Polish–Muscovite War (1605–18) and lost again in 1654 during the Russo-Polish War (1654–67). Even when the territory was under Russian control, Poland and Lithuania claimed it as a titular voivodeship. The capital of the voivodeship, and the seat of its governor (voivode), was in Smolensk. It was subdivided into two powiats: Smolensk and Starodub. Zygmunt Gloger in his monumental book Historical Geography of the Lands of Old Poland provides this description of the Smolensk Voivodeship: In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dormition Cathedral In Smolensk
The Cathedral Church of the Dormition (), dominating the city of Smolensk, Russia, from Cathedral Hill, has been the principal church of the Smolensk bishopric for 800 years. Monomakh Cathedral The first brick church on the spot was started by Vladimir Monomakh in 1101. The large six-pillared edifice, similar to Monomakh's cathedral in Vladimir, took several decades to complete. It was finally consecrated during the reign of Vladimir's grandson Rostislav of Smolensk in 1150. In the course of the following 500 years, the church survived numerous wars and fires. Especially serious was the damage inflicted during the great siege of Smolensk (1609–1611). According to the official legend, the remaining defenders of the city locked themselves in the cathedral and then set fire to the gunpowder in the ammunition depot in the church's basement on June 3, 1611. The explosion that followed caused the roof to collapse, killing all the people inside, who preferred death to being t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Smolensk Kremlin
The Smolensk Kremlin () is a fortified complex (kremlin (fortification), kremlin) enclosing the center of the city of Smolensk in western Russia. The partially preserved fortress wall was built between 1595 and 1602, during the reigns of the tsars Feodor I of Russia, Feodor I and Boris Godunov. The length of the walls is about , of which less than the half was preserved. The fortifications were built under the supervision of the architect Fyodor Kon. The Smolensk Kremlin is classified as an architectural monument protected at the federal level, and also has a great historical significance, in particular, as the fortress protecting the Russian state from the west over centuries. History Smolensk historically had a great significance for the defence of Russia, and this is why Russian rulers paid considerable attention to its fortifications. In the spring of 1554, Tsar Ivan the Terrible ordered to build a new tall wooden fortress. After the development of artillery, it became clear ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grand Duchy Of Lithuania
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 Partitions of Poland, partitions of Poland–Lithuania. The state was founded by Lithuanians (tribe), Lithuanians, who were at the time a Lithuanian mythology, polytheistic nation of several united Baltic tribes from Aukštaitija. By 1440 the grand duchy had become the largest European state, controlling an area from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Black Sea in the south. The grand duchy expanded to include large portions of the former Kievan Rus' and other neighbouring states, including what is now Belarus, Lithuania, most of Ukraine as well as parts of Latvia, Moldova, Poland and Russia. At its greatest extent, in the 15th century, it was the largest state in Europe. It was a multinational state, multi-ethnic and multiconfessionalism, multiconfessional sta ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career of Napoleon, a series of military campaigns across Europe during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars from 1796 to 1815. He led the French First Republic, French Republic as French Consulate, First Consul from 1799 to 1804, then ruled the First French Empire, French Empire as Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1814, and briefly again in 1815. He was King of Italy, King of Kingdom of Italy (Napoleonic), Italy from 1805 to 1814 and Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine, Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine from 1806 to 1813. Born on the island of Corsica to a family of Italian origin, Napoleon moved to mainland France in 1779 and was commissioned as an officer in the French Royal Army in 1785. He supported the French Rev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dnieper River
The Dnieper or Dnepr ( ), also called Dnipro ( ), is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. Approximately long, with a drainage basin of , it is the longest river of Ukraine and Belarus and the fourth- longest river in Europe, after the Volga, Danube, and Ural rivers. In antiquity, the river was part of the Amber Road trade routes. During the Ruin in the later 17th century, the area was contested between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and Russia, dividing what is now Ukraine into areas described by its right and left banks. During the Soviet period, the river became noted for its major hydroelectric dams and large reservoirs. The 1986 Chernobyl disaster occurred on the Pripyat River, a tributary of the Dnieper, just upstream from its confluence with the Dnieper. The Dnieper is an important navigable waterway for the economy of Ukraine and i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
