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Ostrog (fortress)
Ostrog ( rus, острог, p=ɐˈstrok) is a Russian term for a small fort, typically wooden and often non-permanently staffed. Ostrogs were encircled by 4–6 metres high palisade walls made from sharpened trunks. The name derives from the Russian word строгать (strogat'), "to shave the wood". Ostrogs were smaller and exclusively military forts, compared to larger kremlins that were the cores of Russian cities. Ostrogs were often built in remote areas or within the fortification lines, such as the Great Abatis Line. History From the 17th century, after the start of the Russian conquest of Siberia, the word ''ostrog'' was used to designate the forts founded in Siberia by Russian explorers. Many of these forts later transformed into large Siberian cities. When later Siberia became a favourite destination for criminals sent there to serve katorga, Siberian ostrogs became associated with imprisonment, and in the 18th and 19th centuries the word ''ostrog'' often meant ''p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fort
A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ("strong") and ("to make"). From very early history to modern times, defensive walls have often been necessary for cities to survive in an ever-changing world of invasion and conquest. Some settlements in the Indus Valley Civilization were the first small cities to be fortified. In ancient Greece, large cyclopean stone walls fitted without mortar had been built in Mycenaean Greece, such as the ancient site of Mycenae. A Greek '' phrourion'' was a fortified collection of buildings used as a military garrison, and is the equivalent of the Roman castellum or fortress. These constructions mainly served the purpose of a watch tower, to guard certain roads, passes, and borders. Though smaller than a real fortress, they acted as a bor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palisade
A palisade, sometimes called a stakewall or a paling, is typically a row of closely placed, high vertical standing tree trunks or wooden or iron stakes used as a fence for enclosure or as a defensive wall. Palisades can form a stockade. Etymology ''Palisade'' derives from ''pale'', from the Latin word ', meaning stake, specifically when used side by side to create a wood defensive wall. In turn, ''pālus'' derives from the Old Italic word ''palūts'', which may possibly derive from the Proto-Indo-European word ''pelh'', meaning pale or gray. It may be related to the Proto-Uralic word ''pil'me'' (uncertain meaning) or the word ''pilwe'', meaning cloud. (see wikt:pale#Etymology_2, 'pale', English: Etymology 2 on Wiktionary). Typical construction Typical construction consisted of small or mid-sized tree trunks aligned vertically, with as little free space in between as possible. The trunks were sharpened or pointed at the top, and were driven into the ground and sometimes rein ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kremlin (fortification)
A kremlin ( ; rus, кремль, r=kreml’, p=ˈkrʲemlʲ, a=LL-Q7737 (rus)-Cinemantique-кремль.wav) is a major fortified central complex found in historic Russian cities. The word is often used to refer to the Moscow Kremlin and metonymically to the Government of Russia, government based there. Other such fortresses are called ''detinets'', such as the Novgorod Detinets. Etymology The Russian word is of uncertain origin. Different versions include the word originating from the Turkic languages, the Greek language or from Baltic languages. The word may share the same root as ''kremen ( rus, кремень, r=kremenj, p=krʲɪˈmʲenʲ, a=LL-Q7737 (rus)-DomesticFrog-кремень.wav), meaning 'flint'. History Kremlins in Rus' The Slavs began to build fortresses to protect their lands from enemies in the ninth century. It is known that the Scandinavians called the Slavic lands the land of fortresses—"Garðaríki, Gardariki". Arabic geographer Al-Bakri wrote: "And ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Great Abatis Line
The Zasechnaya cherta () was a chain of fortification lines, created by Grand Duchy of Moscow and later the Tsardom of Russia to protect it from the Crimean-Nogai Raids that ravaged the southern provinces of the country via the Muravsky Trail during the Russo-Crimean Wars. It was south of the original line along the Oka River. It also served as a border between the Muscovite State and the steppe nomads. As a fortification line stretching for hundreds of kilometers, the Great Abatis Border is analogous to the Great Wall of China and the Roman limes. Abatis is a military term for a field fortification made by cutting down trees. The line was built from the felled trees arranged as a barricade and fortified by ditches and earth mounds, palisades, watch towers and natural features like lakes and swamps. The width of the abatis totalled up to several hundred meters. In the most dangerous places the abatis was doubled, trebled etc., the gates and small wooden fortresses were created ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Russian Conquest Of Siberia
The Russian conquest of Siberia took place during 1581–1778, when the Khanate of Sibir became a loose political structure of vassalages that were being undermined by the activities of Russian explorers. Although outnumbered, the Russians pressured the various family-based tribes into changing their loyalties and establishing distant forts from which they conducted raids. It is traditionally considered that Yermak Timofeyevich's campaign against the Siberian Khanate began in 1581. The annexation of Siberia and the Far East to Russia was resisted by local residents and took place against the backdrop of fierce battles between the indigenous peoples of Siberia and the Russian Cossacks, who often committed atrocities against indigenous Siberians. The conquest of the region was a spontaneous event organized by a group of adventurers; it is one of the early European colonial campaigns. Conquest of the Khanate of Sibir The Russian conquest of Siberia began in July 1581 when so ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Siberia
Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states since the lengthy conquest of Siberia, which began with the fall of the Khanate of Sibir in 1582 and concluded with the annexation of Chukotka in 1778. Siberia is vast and sparsely populated, covering an area of over , but home to roughly a quarter of Russia's population. Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, and Omsk are the largest cities in the area. Because Siberia is a geographic and historic concept and not a political entity, there is no single precise definition of its territorial borders. Traditionally, Siberia spans the entire expanse of land from the Ural Mountains to the Pacific Ocean, with the Ural River usually forming the southernmost portion of its western boundary, and includes most of the drainage basin of the Arctic Ocean. I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Russian Explorers
The history of exploration by citizens or subjects of the Russian Federation, the Soviet Union, the Russian Empire, the Tsardom of Russia and other Russian predecessor states forms a significant part of the history of Russia as well as the history of the world. At , Russia is the largest country in the world, covering more than a ninth of Earth's landmass. In the times of the Soviet Union and the Russian Empire, the country's share in the world's landmass reached 1/6. Most of these territories were first discovered by Russian explorers (if indigenous peoples of inhabited territories are not counted). Contiguous exploration in Eurasia and the building of overseas colonies in Russian America were some of the primary factors in Russian territorial expansion. Apart from their discoveries in Alaska, Central Asia, Siberia, and the northern areas surrounding the North Pole, Russian explorers have made significant contributions to the exploration of the Antarctic, Arctic, and the Paci ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Katorga
Katorga (, ; from medieval and modern ; and Ottoman Turkish: , ) was a system of penal labor in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union (see Katorga labor in the Soviet Union). Prisoners were sent to remote penal colonies in vast uninhabited areas of Siberia and the Russian Far East where voluntary settlers and workers were never available in sufficient numbers. The prisoners had to perform forced labor under harsh conditions. Etymology The term "katorga" (Russian: ) originated from the Ottoman Turkish word "kadırga," which means "galley" (a type of ship). This transition reflects the historical practice where, among others, Ukrainian and Russian slaves, were subjected to severe penal labor on galleys or in similar harsh conditions. In the Crimean Khanate and the Ottoman Empire, the practice of forcing slaves to work on galleys was common, and the suffering endured by these individuals was often depicted in Ukrainian dumas (songs). In the Russian language, "katorga" evolve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Imprisonment
Imprisonment or incarceration is the restraint of a person's liberty for any cause whatsoever, whether by authority of the government, or by a person acting without such authority. In the latter case it is considered " false imprisonment". Imprisonment does not necessarily imply a place of confinement with bolts and bars, but may be exercised by any use or display of force (such as placing one in handcuffs), lawfully or unlawfully, wherever displayed, even in the open street. People become prisoners, wherever they may be, by the mere word or touch of a duly authorized officer directed to that end. Usually, however, imprisonment is understood to imply actual confinement against one's will in a prison employed for the purpose according to the provisions of the law. Generally gender imbalances occur in imprisonment rates, with incarceration of males proportionately more likely than incarceration of females. History Africa Before colonisation, imprisonment was used in sub-Saharan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blockhouse
A blockhouse is a small fortification, usually consisting of one or more rooms with loopholes, allowing its defenders to fire in various directions. It is usually an isolated fort in the form of a single building, serving as a defensive strong point against any enemy that does not possess siege equipment or, in modern times, artillery, air force or cruise missiles. A fortification intended to resist these weapons is more likely to qualify as a fortress or a redoubt, or in modern times, be an underground bunker. However, a blockhouse may also refer to a room within a larger fortification, usually a battery or redoubt. Etymology The term '' blockhouse'' is of uncertain origin, perhaps related to Middle Dutch '' blokhus'' and 18th-century French '' blocus'' (blockade). In ancient Greece Blockhouses existed in ancient Greece, for example the one near Mycenae. Early blockhouses in England Early blockhouses were designed solely to protect a particular area by the use of a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
