Medieval History
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Medieval History
Medieval prince overtakes Stalin as greatest Russian
The medieval prince Alexander Nevsky has been named the Greatest Russian of all times in a nationwide poll, leaving behind early 20th century reformer Pyotr Stolipin and Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.
Prince Nevsky, canonised by the Orthodox Church as saint in 1574, had a winning score of 524,575 votes, overtaking the early 20th century reformer Imperial Premier Pyotr Stolipin with 523,766 nominations trailed by Stalin with 519,071 votes.
The voters had more than six months to choose from among 500 names before the winner was announced last night.
The voting in the poll was suspended in August after Stalin clearly had a majority of the ballots cast the previous month.
The organisers 'zeroed' in the vote, claiming that spammers had attacked the site in order to give Stalin the victory.
This time viewers had a choice of voting method. They could use the phone, text message or the internet. Technically, however, each voter was not limited to one vote casting doubt on the fairness of the poll, conducted for the first time in the history of the country.
The organiser of the Greatest Ever Russian contest, Alexander Lyubimov, said Nevsky's victory in the poll "demonstrates that Russians are dedicated to their ancient history, starting 1,000 years ago."
A Russian prince from Novgorod, Alexander got the nickname "Nevsky" after his victory over an army of Swedes in a battle near the Neva river (in present day St Petersburg) in 1240.
One of the arguments for voting Nevsky was that he took the help of the Golden Horde to fight the West making Russia's choice for a Eurasian identity for the ages to come.
Organiser Alexander Lyubimov said there was awareness in modern Russia that the nation's ancestors "created a multi-ethnic community within the Russian State."
From: The Hindu News Update Service.com
- Alexander The Not So Great: History Through Persian Eyes
Alexander the Great is portrayed as a legendary conqueror and military leader in Greek-influenced Western history books but his legacy looks very different from a Persian perspective. Any visitor to the spectacular ruins of Persepolis - the site...
- Bannockburn Centre To Receive £3.7m In Funding
The site of one of Scotland?s greatest battles will celebrate its 700th anniversary with a new state-of-the-art visitor and interpretation centre as the Heritage Lottery Fund today announced its support for the multi-million pound Battle of Bannockburn...
- Russians To Mark Day Of Baptizing Of Kievan Rus
Russia is marking for the first time in its history the Day of Baptizing of Kievan Rus ? a new ?commemorative date? that has been established to commemorate the Grand Duke Vladimir, who adopted Eastern Orthodox Christianity as the official religion of...
- Holy Russia Exhibition Starts At The Louvre
The Louvre Museum in Paris unveiled to the public today its latest exhibition: Holy Russia: Russian Art from the Beginnings to Peter the Great. The exhibition focuses on the history of Christian Russia, from the 9th to the 18th century. The exhibition...
- The Possibilities Of Silence And Erasure
"The Great One, when he'd heard of Darius's passing, hastened his course with restless mind and washed the corpse with tears that flowed forth in a stream. Laying aside a prince's mien, he sat wringing his hands and grieving for the slain...