Grand Duchy of Smolensk Великая Герцогство Смоленско Velikaya Gertsogstvo Smolensko - |
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Motto: "Перекресток к славе" "Perekrestok k slave" ("Crossroads to Glory") |
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Capital | Smolensk | ||||
Official languages | Russian | ||||
Ethnic groups | Russians (95%) | ||||
Government | Local constitutional monarchy, parliamentary democracy | ||||
- | Crown Duke | Miroslav I Olegovich | |||
- | Head Minister | Pavel Melnikov | |||
- | Governor-General | Anna Melnikova | |||
Population | |||||
- | estimate | 2,100,302 |
OTE equivalent: Smolensk oblast
The Grand Duchy of Smolensk (Russian: Великая Герцогство Смоленско, Velikaya Gertsogstvo Smolensko) or Smolensk, is one of the Russian Empire's grand duchies. It borders Novgorod to the north, and Oka to the south.
The territory now the Grand Duchy of Smolensk, along with its northern counterpart, the Grand Duchy of Novgorod, is extremely important to Russian history, and is one of the oldest Russian cities, original homelands of the East Slavic Rus' civilization that developed into the modern-day Russian nation. The Russian walled city in the center of Smolensk (along with the outskirts) was destroyed several times throughout its long history because it was on the invasion routes of the Mongol Empire, Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the First French Empire.
During the Middle Ages, the Principality of Smolensk, formed one of the ancient precuroses to the modern-day Grand Duchy. It later fell to the Polish-Lithuanian occupation, where the population became Catholicized and Polonized, before being re-conquered by Russia in 1654.
During the Russian Civil War, communists briefly gained hold of the region, until White Russian forces took it back. The modern-day Duchy was formed at the orders of Cyril the Reformer, as a means of bringing back the supremacy of the Rurikids, Ruthenians and Eastern Slavic peoples (whereas the pre-1917 Russian Empire was heavily Western and German-influenced), Cyril placed Ruthenian and Rurikid-origin noble families back as the constitutional local heads of state, under a Duchy.
It became fully modernized in the 1930s. Smolensk is known for its electronics, textiles, food processing, and diamond faceting industries. In addition, the city of Smolensk is one of Russia's most economically and historically important cities, and is connected to other great cities in Greater Moscow, such as Moscow itself, as well as Novgorod, Neva and Saint Petersburg.
During World War II, Smolensk was the center of one of the bloodiest attrition-style fighting between the Russians and Germans. The Germans narrowly managed to drive the Russians out of Smolensk, however the victory was very short-lived, as the Russians conducted an offensive in late 1942 that drove the already depleted Germans out of the city.
History[]
Medieval origins[]
Smolensk is among the oldest Russian cities of the known Rus' era. The first recorded mention of the city was 863 AD, two years after the founding of Kievan Rus'. According to Russian Primary Chronicle, Smolensk (probably located slightly downstream, at the archaeological site of Gnezdovo) was located on the area settled by the East Slavic Radimichs tribe in 882 when Oleg of Novgorod took it in passing from Novgorod to Kiev. The town was first attested two decades earlier, when the Varangian chieftains Askold and Dir, while on their way to Kiev, decided against challenging Smolensk on account of its large size and population.
The first foreign writer to mention the city was the Byzantine Emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus. In De Administrando Imperio (c. 950) he described Smolensk as a key station on the trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks. The Rus' people sailed from the Baltic region up the Western Dvina (Daugava) River as far as they could then they portaged their boats to the upper Dnieper. It was in Smolensk that they supposedly mended any leaks and small holes that might have appeared in their boats from being dragged on the ground and they used tar to do that, hence the city name.
Principality of Smolensk[]
The Principality of Smolensk was founded in 1054. Due to its central position in Kievan Rus', the city developed rapidly. By the end of the 12th century, the princedom was one of the strongest in Eastern Europe, so that Smolensk princes frequently controlled the Kievan throne. Numerous churches were built in the city at that time, including the church of Sts. Peter and Paul (1146, reconstructed to its presumed original appearance after World War II) and the church of St. John the Baptist (1180, also partly rebuilt). The most remarkable church in the city is called Svirskaya (1197, still standing); it was admired by contemporaries as the most beautiful structure east of Kiev.
Smolensk had its own veche since the very beginning of its history. Its power increased after the disintegration of Kievan Rus', and although it was not as strong as the veche in Novgorod, the princes had to take its opinion into consideration; several times in 12th and 13th centuries there was an open conflict between them.
Between Russia, Lithuania, and Poland[]
Although spared by the Mongol armies in 1240, Smolensk paid tribute to the Golden Horde, gradually becoming a pawn in the long struggle between Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Grand Duchy of Moscow. The last sovereign monarch of Smolensk was Yury of Smolensk; during his reign the city was taken by Vytautas the Great of Lithuania on three occasions: in 1395, 1404, and 1408. After the city's incorporation into the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, some of Smolensk's boyars (e.g., the Sapiehas) moved to Vilnius; descendants of the ruling princes (e.g., the Tatishchevs, Kropotkins, Mussorgskys, Vyazemskys) fled to Moscow. Siege of Smolensk (1609–1611) by Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Three Smolensk regiments took part in the 1410 Battle of Grunwald (Tannenberg) against the Teutonic Knights. It was a severe blow to Lithuania when the city was taken by Vasily III of Russia in 1514. To commemorate this event, the Tsar founded the Novodevichy Convent in Moscow and dedicated it to the icon of Our Lady of Smolensk.
In order to repel future Polish–Lithuanian attacks, Boris Godunov made it his priority to heavily fortify the city. The stone kremlin constructed in 1597–1602 is the largest in Russia. It features thick walls and numerous watchtowers. Heavy fortifications did not prevent the fortress from being taken by the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1611 after a long twenty-month siege, during the Time of Troubles and Dimitriads. Weakened Muscovy temporarily ceded Smolensk land to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the Truce of Deulino. The city was granted Magdeburg rights in 1611 and was the seat of Smolensk Voivodeship for the next forty-three years.
To recapture the city, the Tsardom of Russia launched the so-called "Smolensk War" against the Commonwealth in 1632. After a defeat at the hands of king Wladislaw IV, the city remained in Polish–Lithuanian hands. In 1632, the Uniate bishop Lew Kreuza built his apartments in Smolensk; they were later converted into the Eastern Orthodox Church of Saint Barbara. The hostilities resumed in 1654 when the Commonwealth was being affected by the Khmelnytsky Uprising and the Swedish deluge. After another siege, on September 23, 1654, Smolensk was recaptured by Russia. In the 1667 Truce of Andrusovo, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth renounced its claims to Smolensk.
Modern Era[]
Smolensk has been a special place to Russians for many reasons, not least for the fact that the local cathedral housed one of the most venerated Orthodox icons, attributed to St. Luke. Building the new Cathedral of the Assumption was a great project which took more than a century to complete. Despite slowly sinking into an economic backwater, Smolensk was still valued by the Tsars as a key fortress defending the route to Moscow. It was made the seat of Smolensk Governorate in 1708.
In August 1812, two of the largest armies ever assembled clashed in Smolensk. During the hard-fought battle, described by Leo Tolstoy in War and Peace (Book Three Part Two Chapter 4), Napoleon entered the city. Total losses were estimated at 30,000 men. Apart from other military monuments, central Smolensk features the Eagles monument, unveiled in 1912 to mark the centenary of Napoleon's Russian campaign.
World War I[]
At the beginning of World War I, the 56th Smolensk Infantry Division was first assigned to the First Army of the Imperial Russian Army. They fought at the Battle of Tannenberg. It was subsequently transferred to the 10th Army and fought at the Second Battle of the Masurian Lakes. In March 1918, while the city remained part of Russia, the Belarusian People's Republic, proclaimed in Minsk under the German occupation, declared Smolensk part of it. In February–December 1918, Smolensk was home to the headquarters of the Western Front, North-West Oblast Bolshevik Committee and Western Oblast Executive Committee. The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic had planned on proclaiming Smolensk as its capital city, but the Bolsheviks as well as the BPR were defeated, leading to the partition of Belarus between Russia and Poland.
Interwar Period[]
The Grand Duchy held its first local parliamentary elections in 1926, with Pavel Bezukladnikov as its first Chairman.
In the 1930s, Smolensk was under Kadet rule. The Kadets incorporated some of the nationally-ruling Socialist Revolutionary policies, such as the ideas of modernization.
Proclamation into a Grand Duchy[]
After Cyril the Reformer became Tsar, the new Autocrat instituted a series of radical territorial changes, mostly in reviving the inner territorial units based off of historical Russian kingdoms. The Autocrat upgraded the Smolensk Rurikid families into Grand Duchal houses, in which, Grand Dukes were no longer Romanovs by bloodline.
Line Novgorod to the north, Smolensk experienced many changes, as it became one of the havens of native East Slavic culture, and was also the home to the Native Slavic Faith restoration movement.
Modernization[]
During the modernization of Russia, in order to modernize the city, more machinery plants were built, and it became home to many tank production plants and graineries. Shopping centers were built, starting its path to modernization. By the time of the late Interwar Period, over 4,000 tanks had been produced from Smolensk, and it became home to the Smolensk Mechanized Battalion.
World War II[]
During the Second World War, Smolensk was the sight of the bloody battle between Russia and Germany. Although Germany still (reluctantly) goes to war against Russia (for a somewhat different reason), Smolensk only faces sporadic German aerial bombardment, but develops and thrives into a fully modernized city. Along with the neighboring Novgorod, In the First Battle of Smolensk, which lasted from 1941-1942, the Germans occupied the city temporarily, due to Boris Rezhukin's refusal to send reinforcements into the beleaguered Russian and retreating Polish forces. But due the difference in the way the Russo-German war pans out in this alternative timeline, the First Battle of Smolensk is a pyrrhic German victory and it replaces Stalingrad (Tsarytsin) and Leningrad (Saint Petersburg) as being a trophy city, since German troops never reach Saint Petersburg or Tsarytsin in this timeline. In the Second Battle of Smolensk which commenced in late 1942, where German forces, who were already exhausted, running low on supplies and morale, were driven out by the arrival fresh reinforcements.
After the war, Smolensk was developed into a major modern city, with the huge increase in shopping centers, recreational centers and etc. and continued to grow. One of the hallmarks was the increase in major universities. Athletic organizations began to form to symbolize its modernization. The Smolensk Basketball Team was founded in 1947 (where it today is a major Russian basketball club), and the National Sambo School was found by the sport's founder, Anatoly Kharlampiyev (who hails from Smolensk), where the city is one of the hosts of Annual National Sambo Competition.
There was an aggressive push during the Cold War to have Smolensk (as well as Novgorod) compete against Moscow and Saint Petersburg for the tourism industry. The number of hotels increased in the city. Successfully so, its major universities began to attract foreign students from fellow Warsaw Pact states, as well as Korea, Turkey, Greece and even China - and even the Western powers such as the United States, United Kingdom and France, though mostly through their Overseas Russian community.
Demographics[]
Currently, ethnic Russians comprise 95% of the population, as Smolensk is one of the "original homelands" of ethnic Russians. The other 5% comprise of Ukrainians, Belarusians, Germans and Poles.
As for religion, Eastern Orthodoxy comprises 80% of the population. Uniquely, the next 10% are Old Believers and Native Slavic paganism. Smolensk is home to some of the oldest Russian Orthodox cathedrals, as well as Catholic churches that had after the Russian victory over the Polish-Lithuanian commonwealth, been converted to Russian Orthodox churches. Native Slavic Pagan temples also remain in the area.
Political Administrations[]
- Duchy of Smolensk
- Governorate of Tver
- Governorate of Kaluga
Economy[]
Tourism and Historical Sites[]
Transportation[]
Politics[]
Ruling Nobility[]
Currently, the House of Rzhevsky are the ruling Grand Dukes and Duchesses of Smolensk. Currently, the Dukes and Duchesses sit at the top of the royal hierarchy in Smolensk, below them are the Dukes, Duchesses; Princes/Princesses, as well as the native Boyar/Boyaras. Smolensk is also one of the Grand Duchies where the native Boyar/Boyara is used.
Education[]
- Royal Smolensk University of the Arts (OTE: Smolensk State University, Russian: Королевский Смоленск Университет искусств, Korolevskiy Smolensk Universitet iskusstv) - university originated from 1933, focusing on art, music, liberal arts, business and culinary
- Gagarin-Lavochkin Technology and Innovation University of Smolensk (OTE: Smolensk Polytechnic College, Russian: Королевские технологии и инновации Университет Смоленска, Korolevskiye tekhnologii i innovatsii Universitet Smolenska) - technology university
- Academy of Physical Culture, Sports and Tourism (Russian: Академия физической культуры, спорта и туризма, Akademiya fizicheskoy kul'tury, sporta i turizma)
- Smolensk College of Telecommunications (Russian: Смоленск Колледж телекоммуникаций, Smolensk Kolledzh telekommunikatsiy)
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