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Afghanistan
{{Infobox country
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Albania
Albania ( , , Gheg Albanian: Shqipnia/Shqypnia), officially known as the Republic of Albania (, pronounced ), is a country in South Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Montenegro to the northwest, Kosovo to the northeast, the Republic of Macedonia to the east and Greece to the south and southeast. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the west, and on the Ionian Sea to the southwest. It is less than from Italy, across the Strait of Otranto which links the Adriatic Sea to the Ionian Sea.
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Arctic Ocean
The Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the smallest, and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an ocean, although some oceanographers call it the Arctic Mediterranean Sea or simply the Arctic Sea, classifying it as one of the mediterranean seas of the Atlantic Ocean. Alternatively, the Arctic Ocean can be seen as the northernmost lobe of the all-encompassing World Ocean.
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Armenia
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Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan ( ; ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan (), is one of the six independent Turkic states in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, it is bounded by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west, and Iran to the south.
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Azerbaijan SSR
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Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad was a major battle of World War II in which Germany and its allies fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad (now Volgograd) in southwestern Russia. It took place between 17 July 1942 and 2 February 1943. The battle's outcome was disastrous for Germany, making its victory in the East impossible. The battle marked the turning of the tide of war in favour of the Allies. Contemporaries described the Soviet victory at Stalingrad as salvation of European civilization.
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Belarus
Belarus, ( ; , ), officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, bordered clockwise by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital is Minsk; other major cities include Brest, Grodno (Hrodna), Gomel (Homiel), Mogilev (Mahilyow) and Vitebsk (Viciebsk). Forty percent of its is forested, and its strongest economic sectors are agriculture and manufacturing.
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Belavezha Accords
The Belavezha Accords (, ,) is the agreement which declared the Soviet Union effectively dissolved and established the Commonwealth of Independent States in its place. It was signed at the state dacha near Viskuli in Belovezhskaya Pushcha on December 8, 1991, by the leaders of Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine.
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Bering Strait
[[Image:dateliner cam.jpg|thumb|200px|right|[http://209.165.175.132/sample/LvAppl/lvappl.htm A US-based webcam] providing a view across the Bering Strait]]
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Berlin Wall
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British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height it was the largest empire in history and, for over a century, was the foremost global power. By 1922 the British Empire held sway over about 458 million people, one-quarter of the world's population at the time, and covered more than 13 million square miles (34 million km2), almost a quarter of the Earth's total land area. As a result, its political, linguistic and cultural legacy is widespread. At the peak of its power, it was often said that "the sun never sets on the British Empire" because its span across the globe ensured that the sun was always shining on at least one of its numerous territories.
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Caucasus Mountains
The Caucasus Mountains are a mountain system in Eurasia between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea in the Caucasus region ( ).
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China
China is seen variously as an ancient civilization extending over a large area in East Asia, a nation and/or a multinational entity.
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Cuba
The Republic of Cuba (; , ) is an island country in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos.
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Czechoslovakia
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Demography of Russia
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East Germany
The German Democratic Republic (GDR; German: Deutsche Demokratische Republik or DDR), informally called East Germany by the West, was the socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany and in the East Berlin portion of the Allied-occupied capital city. The German Democratic Republic, which consisted geographically of northeast Germany rather than all of eastern Germany, had an area of 107,771 km2. (41,610 mi.2), bordering Czechoslovakia in the south, West Germany (officially: Federal Republic of Germany) in the south and west, the Baltic Sea to the north, and Poland in the east.
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East Prussia
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Estonian SSR
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Eurasian Union
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Finland
Finland (pronounced ), officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden on the west, Norway on the north and Russia on the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.
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Geography of Russia
The geography of Russia entails the physical and human geography of Russia, a country extending over much of northern Eurasia. Comprising much of eastern Europe and northern Asia, it is the world's largest country in total area. Due to its size, Russia displays both monotony and diversity. As with its topography, its climates, vegetation, and soils span vast distances. From north to south the East European Plain is clad sequentially in tundra, coniferous forest (taiga), mixed and broad-leaf forests, grassland (steppe), and semi-desert (fringing the Caspian Sea) as the changes in vegetation reflect the changes in climate. Siberia supports a similar sequence but is taiga. The country contains 40 UNESCO Biosphere reserves.
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Georgia (country)
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Hungary
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Iran
Iran ( ), officially the Islamic Republic of Iran is a country in Central Eurasia and Western Asia. The name Iran has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was also known to the western world as Persia. Both Persia and Iran are used interchangeably in cultural contexts; however, Iran is the name used officially in political contexts.
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Irtysh
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Kazakhstan
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Kirghiz SSR
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Kulak
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Laos
Laos (, , or ), officially the '''Lao People's Democratic Republic''', is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and People's Republic of China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west.
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Latvia
Latvia (; ), officially the Republic of Latvia () is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia (343 km), to the south by Lithuania (588 km), to the east by the Russian Federation (276 km), and to the southeast by Belarus (141 km). Across the Baltic Sea to the west lies Sweden. The territory of Latvia covers and it has a temperate seasonal climate.
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Leningrad
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Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and number of books. The head of the Library is the Librarian of Congress, currently James H. Billington.
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Lithuania
Lithuania (, U.S. usually ; ), officially the Republic of Lithuania () is a country in Northern Europe, the southernmost of the three Baltic states. Situated along the southeastern shore of the Baltic Sea, it shares borders with Latvia to the north, Belarus to the southeast, Poland, and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad to the southwest.
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Moldova
Moldova , officially the Republic of Moldova (Moldovan/) is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe, located between Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east and south. It declared itself an independent state with the same boundaries as the preceding Moldovan SSR in 1991, as part of the dissolution of the Soviet Union. A strip of Moldova's internationally recognized territory on the east bank of the river Dniester has been under the de facto control of the breakaway government of Transnistria since 1990.
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Mongolia
Mongolia (; ) is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and the People's Republic of China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulaanbaatar, the capital and largest city, is home to about 38% of the population. Mongolia's political system is a parliamentary republic.
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Moscow
Moscow ( or ; ; see also ) is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the world, a global city. Moscow is the most populous city on the continent of Europe and the seventh largest city proper in the world, a megacity. The population of Moscow (as of 1 January 2010) is 10,563,038.
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Nazi Germany
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NKVD
The '''People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs' ( Narodnyy komissariat vnutrennikh del''), abbreviated NKVD ( ) was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Stalin.
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North Korea
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North Vietnam
North Vietnam, also called the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV) (), was a communist state that ruled the northern half of Vietnam from 1954 until 1976 following the Geneva Conference and laid claim to all of Vietnam from 1945 to 1954 during the First Indochina War, during which they controlled pockets of territory throughout the country.
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Norway
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Poland
Poland (), officially the Republic of Poland (Rzeczpospolita Polska), is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north. The total area of Poland is , making it the 69th largest country in the world and the 9th largest in Europe. Poland has a population of over 38 million people, which makes it the 34th most populous country in the world and the sixth most populous member of the European Union, being its most populous Slavic member.
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Poznań 1956 protests
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Romania
Romania ( ; dated: Rumania; ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, north of the Balkan Peninsula, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea. Romania shares a border with Hungary and Serbia to the west, Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova to the northeast, and Bulgaria to the south.
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Russia
Russia (; ), also officially known as the Russian Federation (), is a state in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects. From northwest to southeast, Russia shares borders with Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland (both via Kaliningrad Oblast), Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, the People's Republic of China, Mongolia, and North Korea. It also has maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk and the United States by the Bering Strait. At , Russia is the largest country in the world, covering more than a ninth of the Earth's land area. Russia is also the ninth most populous nation with 142 million people. It extends across the whole of northern Asia and 40% of Europe, spanning 9 time zones and incorporating a wide range of environments and landforms. Russia has the world's largest reserves of mineral and energy resources. It has the world's largest forest reserves and its lakes contain approximately one-quarter of the world's fresh water.
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Saint Petersburg
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Saudi Arabia
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Siberia
Siberia ( ), is a vast region, constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union (USSR) from its beginning, as the preceding Russian Empire conquered it in the 16th century.
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Somalia
Somalia ( ; ; ), officially the Republic of Somalia (, ) and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under communist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is bordered by Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, the Gulf of Aden with Yemen to the north, the Indian Ocean to the east, and Ethiopia to the west. With the longest coastline on the continent, its terrain consists mainly of plateaus, plains and highlands.
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South Yemen
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Soviet Union
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Spain under Franco
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Tajik SSR
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Tajikistan
Tajikistan ( or ; ), officially the Republic of Tajikistan (, Jumhurii Tojikiston; , Respublika Tadzhikistan; Jomhuri-ye Tajikestan), is a mountainous landlocked country in Central Asia. Afghanistan borders it to the south, Uzbekistan to the west, Kyrgyzstan to the north, and People's Republic of China to the east. Tajikistan also lies adjacent to Pakistan and the Gilgit-Baltistan region, separated by the narrow Wakhan Corridor.
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Tsardom of Russia
http://wn.com/Tsardom_of_Russia -
Turkey
Turkey (), known officially as the Republic of Turkey (), is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe. Turkey is one of the six independent Turkic states. Turkey is bordered by eight countries: Bulgaria to the northwest; Greece to the west; Georgia to the northeast; Armenia, Azerbaijan (the exclave of Nakhchivan) and Iran to the east; and Iraq and Syria to the southeast. The Mediterranean Sea and Cyprus are to the south; the Aegean Sea to the west; and the Black Sea is to the north. The Sea of Marmara, the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles (which together form the Turkish Straits) demarcate the boundary between Eastern Thrace and Anatolia; they also separate Europe and Asia.
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Turkmen SSR
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Turkmenistan
The Turkmenistan (), also known as Turkmenia () is one of the Turkic states in Central Asia. Until 1991, it was a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic (Turkmen SSR). Turkmenistan is one of the six independent Turkic states. It is bordered by Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the south and southwest, Uzbekistan to the east and northeast, Kazakhstan to the north and northwest and the Caspian Sea to the west.
http://wn.com/Turkmenistan -
Ukraine
Ukraine ( ; , transliterated: , ), with its area of 603,628 km2, is the second largest country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by the Russian Federation to the east and northeast, Belarus to the northwest, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary to the west, Romania and Moldova to the southwest, and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south and southeast respectively.
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Ukrainian SSR
http://wn.com/Ukrainian_SSR -
United States
The United States of America (also referred to as the United States, the U.S., the USA, or America) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington, D.C., the capital district, lie between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to the east and Russia to the west across the Bering Strait. The state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific. The country also possesses several territories in the Caribbean and Pacific.
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Ural Mountains
The Ural Mountains (, Uralskiye gory) are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western Russia, from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the Ural River and northwestern Kazakhstan. Their eastern side is usually considered the natural boundary between Europe and Asia. The mountains lie within the Ural geographical region and significantly overlap with the Ural Federal District and Ural economic region. They are rich in various deposits, including metal ores, coal, precious and semi-precious stones, and since the 18th century have been the major mineral base of Russia.
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Uzbekistan
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Vienna
Vienna (; ; ) is the capital of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.7 million (2.3 million within the metropolitan area, more than 25% of Austria's population), and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre. It is the 10th largest city by population in the European Union. Vienna is host to many major international organizations such as the United Nations and OPEC.
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Vietnam
Vietnam ( ; , ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (, ), is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by People's Republic of China (PRC) to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea, referred to as East Sea (), to the east. With a population of over 86 million, Vietnam is the 13th most populous country in the world.
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West Germany
West Germany () is the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG () in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990. This period, during which Germany and Berlin were divided, ended when communist East Germany was dissolved and its five states joined the eleven states of the Federal Republic of Germany. The enlarged Federal Republic of Germany with sixteen states (known simply as "Germany") is thus the continuation of the pre-1990 Federal Republic of Germany, and not its successor.
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Winter Palace
The Winter Palace () in Saint Petersburg, Russia, was, from 1732 to 1917, the official residence of the Russian Tsars. Situated between the Palace Embankment and the Palace Square, adjacent to the site of Peter the Great's original Winter Palace, the present and fourth Winter Palace was built and altered almost continuously between the late 1730s and 1837, when it was severely damaged by fire and immediately rebuilt. The storming of the palace in 1917 became an iconic symbol of the Russian Revolution.
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Yale University
Yale University is a private Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States.
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Yalta Conference
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Aleksandr Chervyakov
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Alexey Leonov
Alexey Arkhipovich Leonov () (born 30 May 1934 in Listvyanka, Kemerovo Oblast, Soviet Union) is a retired Soviet/Russian cosmonaut and Air Force General who, on 18 March 1965, became the first human to conduct a space walk.
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Anatoly Lunacharsky
Anatoly Vasilyevich Lunacharsky (, born in Poltava, Ukraine – December 26, 1933, Menton, France) was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and the first Soviet People's Commissar of Enlightenment responsible for culture and education. He was active as an art critic and journalist throughout his career.
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Belarusians
Belarusians (, ) Bielarusy; also Belarussians, Belorussians, or Byelorussians) are an East Slavic ethnic group (or nationality) who populate the majority of the Republic of Belarus. Introduced to the world as a new state in the early 1990s, the Republic of Belarus brought with it the notion of a re-emerging Belarusian ethnicity, drawn upon the lines of the Old Belarusian language spoken by the Ruthenian ethnic group that ruled (together with ancestors of today's Lithuanians) the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. However, after the creation of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, many of the Old Belarusian-speaking Ruthenian nobles would be absorbed by the Polish szlachta in the West and, later, the Russian nobility in the East, leaving only a small rural-dwelling population to be the propagators of a distinct non-literary Belarusian language up until its revival.
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Bernard Comrie
Bernard Comrie (; born May 23, 1947 in Sunderland, England) is a British-born linguist. Comrie is a specialist in linguistic typology and linguistic universals, and on Caucasian languages.
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Boris Yeltsin
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Buddhism
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China
China is seen variously as an ancient civilization extending over a large area in East Asia, a nation and/or a multinational entity.
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Dmitry Orlov
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Donald Rayfield
Donald Rayfield (born 1942) is professor of Russian and Georgian at Queen Mary College, University of London. He is an author of books about Russian and Georgian literature, and about Joseph Stalin and his secret police. He is also a series editor for books about Russian writers and intelligentsia.
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Georgian people
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Georgians
The Georgians (, kartvelebi) are a South Caucasian people and nation mainly centered in Georgia. They also live in Turkey, Russia, the United States, Iran, and other countries.
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Georgy Malenkov
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Goryani
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Grigory Petrovsky
Grigory Ivanovich Petrovsky (, Hryhoriy Ivanovych Petrovsky) (January 23, 1878 - January 9, 1958) was a revolutionary of Ukrainian origin, who was the Chairman of the Central Executive Committee of the USSR from December 30, 1922, to January 12, 1938.
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Grigory Zinoviev
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Ivan Silayev
Ivan Stepanovich Silayev (; born on 21 October 1930 in Baktyzino, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia, USSR) is a Russian political figure. He served as the Prime Minister of Russia from 15 June 1990 to 26 September 1991 and was also the last Prime Minister of the Soviet Union from September 6, 1991 to December 25, 1991, and was effectively one of two Prime Ministers to control the Cabinet of Ministers of the USSR.
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Jimmy Carter
James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. (born October 1, 1924) served as the 39th President of the United States from 1977 to 1981 and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, the only U.S. President to have received the Prize after leaving office. Before he became President, Carter served two terms as a Georgia State Senator and one as Governor of Georgia, from 1971 to 1975, and was a peanut farmer and naval officer.
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John Dewey
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Joseph Stalin
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Konstantin Chernenko
Konstantin Ustinovich Chernenko (; 24 September 1911 – 10 March 1985) was a Soviet politician and the fifth General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. He led the Soviet Union from 13 February 1984 until his death thirteen months later, on 10 March 1985. Chernenko was also Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet from 11 April 1984 until his death.
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Kulak
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Laika
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Leon Trotsky
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Leonid Brezhnev
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Lev Kamenev
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List of Russians
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Madhavan K. Palat
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Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong (; December 26, 1893 September 9, 1976) was a Han Chinese revolutionary, political theorist and communist leader. He led the People's Republic of China (PRC) from its establishment in 1949 until his death in 1976. His theoretical contribution to Marxism-Leninism, military strategies, and his brand of Communist policies are now collectively known as Maoism.
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Mikhail Bulgakov
Mikhail Afanasyevich Bulgakov (, , Kiev – March 10, 1940, Moscow) was a Soviet Russian writer and playwright active in the first half of the 20th century. He is best known for his novel The Master and Margarita, which The Times of London has called one of the masterpieces of the 20th century.
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Mikhail Frunze
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Mikhail Gorbachev
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev ( Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachyov ; born 2 March 1931) was the sixth General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, serving from 1985 until 1991, and the last head of state of the USSR, serving from 1988 until its collapse in 1991.
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Mikhail Kalinin
Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin (; 18751946), known familiarly by Soviet citizens as "Kalinych," was a Bolshevik revolutionary and the nominal head of state of the Soviet Union from 1919 to 1946. From 1926 he was a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, where he was one of the inner circle of party leaders around Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.
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Mingrelians
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Murray Feshbach
Murray Feshbach (born August 8, 1929) is a scholar focusing on the demographics of the Soviet Union and demographics of Russia (population, health, and environment}. Currently, he is a Senior Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center where he conducts research on the policy implications of the demographic, health and environmental crises in Russia.
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Nikita Khrushchev
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Nikolai Yezhov
Nikolai Ivanovich Yezhov (sometimes known as Ezhov; ; May 1, 1895 – February 4, 1940) was a senior figure in the NKVD (the Soviet secret police) under Joseph Stalin during the period of the Great Purge. His reign is sometimes known as "Yezhovshchina" (), "The Yezhov era"; also "The Hedgehog Era," since the word Yezh () means hedgehog.
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Nikolas Gvosdev
Nikolas N. Gvosdev is the former Editor of the bi-monthly foreign policy journal, The National Interest. He was appointed to the post in 2005, after having been the journal's Executive Editor and the founding Editor of the journal's now-defunct separate web edition, In The National Interest[http://www.inthenationalinterest.com]. Upon leaving the editorship in 2008, he was succeeded by Justine Rosenthal; he remains associated with the journal as a contributing editor.
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Nikolay Gumilev
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Proto-Indo-Europeans
The Proto-Indo-Europeans were the speakers of the Proto-Indo-European language (PIE), a reconstructed prehistoric language.
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Richard Sakwa
Richard Sakwa (born 1953) is an expert in the field of Russian and Eastern European communist and post-communist politics.
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Ronald Reagan
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Russian Civil War
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Scythians
The Scythians or Scyths (, ) were an ancient Iranian people of horse-riding nomadic pastoralists who throughout Classical Antiquity dominated the Pontic-Caspian steppe, known at the time as Scythia. They were believed to have ranged west of the Altai Mountains until 2006, when a royal burial was found to the east in Mongolia. By Late Antiquity the closely-related Sarmatians came to dominate the Scythians in the west. Much of the surviving information about the Scythians comes from the Greek historian Herodotus (c. 440 BC) in his Histories and Ovid in his poem of exile Epistulae ex Ponto, and archaeologically from the depictions of Scythian life shown in relief on exquisite goldwork found in Scythian burial mounds in Ukraine and Southern Russia.
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Sergei Eisenstein
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Spanish Civil War
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Stanley Fischer
Stanley "Stan" Fischer () is an economist and the current Governor of the Bank of Israel.
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Ukrainians
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Uzbeks
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Valentina Tereshkova
Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova () (born 6 March 1937) is the first woman in space, now a retired Soviet cosmonaut. Out of more than four hundred applicants and then out of five finalists, she was selected to pilot Vostok 6 on 16 June 1963 and become the first woman to fly in space. This also made her the first civilian in space (she was only honorarily inducted into the USSR's Air Force as a condition on joining the Cosmonaut Corps). On this mission, lasting almost three days in space, she performed various tests on herself to collect data on the female body's reaction to spaceflight.
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Vladimir Ivashko
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Vladimir Lenin
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Warsaw Pact
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William Easterly
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Winston Churchill
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World War I
World War I was a military conflict centered on Europe that began in the summer of 1914. The fighting ended in late 1918. This conflict involved all of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Allies (centred around the Triple Entente) and the Central Powers. More than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, were mobilized in one of the largest wars in history. More than 9 million combatants were killed, due largely to great technological advances in firepower without corresponding ones in mobility. It was the second deadliest conflict in history.
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Yevgeniy Chazov
Yevgeniy Ivanovich Chazov (born June 10, 1929) () is a prominent physician of the Soviet Union and Russia, specializing in cardiology, Chief of the Fourth Directorate of the Soviet Ministry of Health, Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences and Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, a recipient of numerous awards and decorations, Soviet, Russian, and foreign.
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Yevgeny Zamyatin
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Yuri Andropov
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Yuri Gagarin
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Yury Trifonov
Yury Valentinovich Trifonov (; 28 August 1925 - 28 March 1981) was a leading representative of the so-called Soviet "urban prose", a 1970s movement inspired by the psychologically complicated works of Anton Chekhov and his 20th-century American followers. He was considered a close contender for the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1981.
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National Anthem of USSR
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:45
- Published: 04 May 2008
- Updated: 21 Sep 2012
The mighty anthem of USSR.
http://wn.com/National_Anthem_of_USSR
History of USSR for children
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:08
- Published: 14 Sep 2010
- Updated: 21 Sep 2012
fruktoza.com
http://wn.com/History_of_USSR_for_children
Eddy Huntington - USSR (best audio)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:57
- Published: 07 Jun 2009
- Updated: 20 Sep 2012
Own words: "Eddy Huntington or (Eddie or Edward, all of which are me) was born on the 29th October 1965 in the North East of England. I was born the son of a coal miner and a housewife. I have three sisters, Anne, Enid and Sheila. I went to local schools in Peterlee and then to the local grammar school. At 18 I left home to go and live in London. This was the start of a big change in my life. I started working in Pineapple Dance studios and did some work modelling and as a video extra. During this time I made contact with Baby Records in Italy. I listened to a demo of USSR and decided to record it. In Milano I made lots of new friends. Den Harrow, Tom Hooker, Jennifer Munday, Sharon, Baltimora and many others. The eighties were fantastic, with good music, lots of fun and a little madness. I remember running around the streets of Verona with Den in the early hours of the morning shouting and singing at the top of our voices. I met a lot of big stars and had the priveledge to work with some very professional people. My favourite Italo songs of that time would have been Spagna, Easy Lady; Tom Hooker, Looking for Love; Swiss Boy; and Sabrina, Boys Boys Boys. I had and still have a very commercial taste, which is probably why my songs all are fun and very commercial. In the nineties, I was working in America, and Japan with a more distinctive HINRG sound; Meet my Friend and May Day. I also met Paris who I later married and had a baby with. James Huntington, my son, was the <b>...</b>
http://wn.com/Eddy_Huntington_USSR_best_audio
USSR Anthem
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:13
- Published: 25 Jul 2006
- Updated: 19 Sep 2012
Anthem of the USSR.
http://wn.com/USSR_Anthem
Soviet Power of USSR
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:28
- Published: 13 Nov 2006
- Updated: 21 Sep 2012
The Great Soviet man Stalin, the Great Soviet Empire, the Great Soviet people, the Great RKKA.
http://wn.com/Soviet_Power_of_USSR
'I fought for USSR, but failed': RT talks to Mikhail Gorbachev
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 12:22
- Published: 02 Mar 2011
- Updated: 20 Sep 2012
The end of the Cold War, the reunification of Germany, liberalism and Perestroyka. The USSR's first and last president, Mikhail Gorbachev celebrates his 80th birthday today, and his legacy includes being hailed as the father of Russia's democracy. Mikhail Gorbachev was born in a small village in the south of the country, and became leader of the USSR in 1985. With his economic and political reforms, he paved the way for democracy in Russia. His best known reform is dubbed "Perestroyka", which aimed to revamp the country without destroying the basis of socialism. His initiatives also led to the abolishment of state censorship and the creation of free speech in the country. Gorbachev received the Nobel peace prize in 1990. A year later, however, he was removed from power in a coup which saw the collapse of the Soviet Union and Boris Yeltsin become president. But Mikhail Gorbachev still says his reforms were timely and necessary. "We realized from experience that it was dangerous to wait much longer, that we had to take a risk," he told RT in an interview. "But we couldn't postpone it, we needed changes." Gorbachev does not agree when people say that Perestroyka failed: "It didn't fail. It was disrupted, derailed, stopped. But still, Perestroyka achieved a lot. Inside Russia, we had democracy, free elections, freedom of consciousness, private property, freedom to travel abroad --everything. Also, glasnost. There was so much openness -- the entire country was affected. People <b>...</b>
http://wn.com/'I_fought_for_USSR,_but_failed'_RT_talks_to_Mikhail_Gorbachev
USSR ANTHEM IN ENGLISH
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:58
- Published: 01 May 2007
- Updated: 21 Sep 2012
USSR ANTHEM IN ENGLISH WITH SOVIET VIDEOS(VICTORY PARADE, 1945).BY PAUL ROBESON. ussr soviet union national anthem english lenin stalin red army victory parade
http://wn.com/USSR_ANTHEM_IN_ENGLISH
WoT Tips - Weakspot Video - USSR Tanks
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 6:43
- Published: 03 Feb 2012
- Updated: 19 Sep 2012
Here are the USSR weakspots. Learn where to hit those pesky russian tanks right in their exposed ammo rack! Specific tanks 0:46 - KV 1:06 - KV-1S 1:26 - KV-3 1:45 - IS 2:05 - IS-3 2:24 - IS-4 2:44 - IS-7 3:04 - T-34 3:24 - T-34-85 3:44 - KV-13 4:03 - T-43 4:23 - T44 4:43 - T-54 5:03 - SU-100 5:23 - SU-152 5:42 - ISU-152 6:03 - Object 704 Do you guys want me to make the US tanks aswell? Or are they too easy to penetrate anyways?
http://wn.com/WoT_Tips_Weakspot_Video_USSR_Tanks
Back in the USSR - The Beatles
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:40
- Published: 22 May 2007
- Updated: 21 Sep 2012
I don't intend to make money off of this song or any of these pictures. This is for entertainment purposes only.
http://wn.com/Back_in_the_USSR_The_Beatles
Soviet/ USSR Anthem [Red Army Choir]!
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:46
- Published: 07 Apr 2007
- Updated: 21 Sep 2012
Soviet/ USSR Anthem [Red Army Choir]! soviet ussr cccp national anthem hymn red army choir lenin stalin ww2 wwii victory parade
http://wn.com/Soviet_USSR_Anthem_Red_Army_Choir_!
Surfing USSR - Ray Stevens Comedy Classics
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:57
- Published: 11 Dec 2006
- Updated: 20 Sep 2012
Surfing USSR - Ray Stevens Comedy Classics comedic music video about the cold war.
http://wn.com/Surfing_USSR_Ray_Stevens_Comedy_Classics
U2 in USSR: Spy plane crash still a mystery 50 years on
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:55
- Published: 01 May 2010
- Updated: 14 Sep 2012
Its fifty years since US pilot Francis Gary Powers was shot down over the Soviet Union, marking a Cold War turning point. His U-2 spy plane was on a mission to film Soviet military bases, when the aircraft was hit by a surface-to-air missile.
http://wn.com/U2_in_USSR_Spy_plane_crash_still_a_mystery_50_years_on
Paul McCartney — Back In The USSR (Live in Kiev 2008)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:03
- Published: 15 Jun 2008
- Updated: 18 Sep 2012
Paul McCartney's "Back In The USSR" in Kiev's historic Independence Square 14.06.2008 This RIP was made from NOVY TV Channel (www.novy.tv )
http://wn.com/Paul_McCartney_—_Back_In_The_USSR_Live_in_Kiev_2008
Born in the USSR - 28 Up (28th May 2012)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 65:37
- Published: 04 Jun 2012
- Updated: 21 Sep 2012
Following in the tradition of the original UK Up Series, this documentary revisits a group of Soviet children, who were seen every 7 years of their development on TV since the age of 7. The following who took part in this programme were: Anton Ivanov Stas and Dennis Obrazstov (Identical Twins) Tanya Svetlova Almaz Tyumenbayev Rita Seleznyova Andrei Yudin Asya Zimina This was broadcast in the UK on 28th May 2012. Previous episodes were broadcast in 2005 (Born in the USSR - 21 Up), 1998 (Born in the USSR - 14 Up) and 1991 (Born in the USSR - 7 Up).
http://wn.com/Born_in_the_USSR_28_Up_28th_May_2012
The Cold War Game: The USSR
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 61:49
- Published: 15 May 2009
- Updated: 20 Sep 2012
After Renny Bartlett made the Cold War Game the USA for Triple Vision and Channel 4, Ch4 decided that to balance the books there should be a programme on the USSR - which is what this documentary is - I directed this project and we made Pick of the Day in every national newspaper at the time (1988) so I must have done something right ! The idea was that as Soviet history in the west had been characterised by the use of drama as documentary (Eisenstein's footage for instance) that we should re-tell that history in that form but make a twist at the end to show how that characterisation was a wrong one....
http://wn.com/The_Cold_War_Game_The_USSR
The Beatles - Back In The USSR (2009 Stereo Remaster)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 2:46
- Published: 29 Sep 2009
- Updated: 20 Sep 2012
It comes from 'The Whte Album" (Disc 1) "2009 Stereo Remastered"
http://wn.com/The_Beatles_Back_In_The_USSR_2009_Stereo_Remaster
![Soviet/ USSR Anthem in English [by Paul Robeson]](http://web.archive.org./web/20120922013532im_/http://i.ytimg.com/vi/LtU3vUOa2sw/0.jpg "Soviet/ USSR Anthem in English [by Paul Robeson]")
Soviet/ USSR Anthem in English [by Paul Robeson]
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 4:00
- Published: 10 Mar 2007
- Updated: 21 Sep 2012
Soviet/ USSR Anthem in English, with Soviet Videos (recorded from Victory Parade of 1945). By Paul Robeson. English lyrics of this version United forever in friendship and labour, Our mighty republics will ever endure. The great Soviet Union will live through the ages. The dream of a people their fortress secure. CHORUS: Long live our Soviet Motherland, built by the people's mighty hand. Long live our People, united and free. Strong in our friendship tried by fire. Long may our crimson flag inspire, Shining in glory for all men to see. Through days dark and stormy where Great Lenin led us Our eyes saw the bright sun of freedom above and Stalin our Leader with faith in the People, Inspired us to build up the land that we love. CHORUS: Long live our Soviet Motherland, built by the people's mighty hand. Long live our People, united and free. Strong in our friendship tried by fire. Long may our crimson flag inspire, Shining in glory for all men to see. We fought for the future, destroyed the invader, and brought to our homeland the Laurels of Fame. Our glory will live in the memory of nations and all generations will honour her name. CHORUS: Long live our Soviet Motherland, built by the people's mighty hand. Long live our People, united and free. Strong in our friendship tried by fire. Long may our crimson flag inspire, Shining in glory for all men to see. PLEASE SEE ALSO!!! Soviet Victory Parade of 1945 in color[Part I] www.youtube.com Soviet Victory Parade of 1945 in color <b>...</b>
http://wn.com/Soviet_USSR_Anthem_in_English_by_Paul_Robeson_
Eddy Huntington - USSR Italo Disco Dance Classics 80s
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:18
- Published: 04 Jul 2008
- Updated: 12 Sep 2012
Eddy Huntington - USSR Italo Disco Dance Classics 80s
http://wn.com/Eddy_Huntington_USSR_Italo_Disco_Dance_Classics_80s
Soviet TV morning exercise program (1987)
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:34
- Published: 14 May 2007
- Updated: 03 Sep 2012
During the heyday of Richard Simmons, this is what people in the USSR had every morning for an exercise program. Have a look, and judge for yourself whether this or "Sweatin' to the Oldies" looks more dated 20 years later. Raz, dva, tri, chetyre.
http://wn.com/Soviet_TV_morning_exercise_program_1987
Eddie Huntington - USSR - Eddie Huntington
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:27
- Published: 18 Jul 2007
- Updated: 14 Sep 2012
Eddie Huntington - USSR - Eddie Huntington - From the same guys who brought you Gazebo, Den Harrow and Tom Hooker (who co-wrote this song) - Baby Records - Eddie Huntington was a really English nice guy who had several hits in Italy - where are you now Eddy? Mail me... Eddie Huntington
http://wn.com/Eddie_Huntington_USSR_Eddie_Huntington
Back in the USSR - Red Square
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 3:01
- Published: 04 Mar 2006
- Updated: 20 Sep 2012
Paul in the Red Square 2003 **actually i can upload the better quality version to youtube now..this old low quality was uploaded long time ago when i was still young...do you need a better quality one?**
http://wn.com/Back_in_the_USSR_Red_Square
Eddy Huntington-USSR
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 5:23
- Published: 21 Jun 2007
- Updated: 18 Sep 2012
Video music
http://wn.com/Eddy_Huntington-USSR
Sigourney Weaver sings "Back in the USSR"
- Order: Reorder
- Duration: 1:10
- Published: 24 Jul 2006
- Updated: 18 Sep 2012
From the 2001 film 'Heartbreakers', Sigourney Weaver sings a cod-Russian version of the Beatles classic "Back in the USSR"
http://wn.com/Sigourney_Weaver_sings_Back_in_the_USSR
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Creative Commons / Flickr upload bot![The Tank, Infantry, Mk III, Valentine was an infantry tank produced in the United Kingdom during the Second World War. More than 8,000 of the type were produced in 11 different marks plus various purpose-built variants, accounting for approximately a quarter of wartime British tank production[1]. Over its lifetime it went from a riveted construction to entirely welded, and from a petrol powerplant to a safer, less ignitable, two stroke diesel engine produced by GMC. It was supplied to the USSR a](http://web.archive.org./web/20120922013532im_/http://cdn2.wn.com/pd/58/9c/9a5568fd34a67237305b8bd2bc54_small.jpg "The Tank, Infantry, Mk III, Valentine was an infantry tank produced in the United Kingdom during the Second World War. More than 8,000 of the type were produced in 11 different marks plus various purpose-built variants, accounting for approximately a quarter of wartime British tank production[1]. Over its lifetime it went from a riveted construction to entirely welded, and from a petrol powerplant to a safer, less ignitable, two stroke diesel engine produced by GMC. It was supplied to the USSR a")
Creative Commons / Saiga20K
Creative Commons / Dmottl![The Antonov An-26 (NATO reporting name: Curl) is a twin-engined light turboprop military transport aircraft, designed and produced in the USSR from 12 March 1968.[1]](http://web.archive.org./web/20120922013532im_/http://cdn2.wn.com/pd/bf/0d/20a4249816d2516b2e705dec852b_small.jpg "The Antonov An-26 (NATO reporting name: Curl) is a twin-engined light turboprop military transport aircraft, designed and produced in the USSR from 12 March 1968.[1]")
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Creative Commons / Ipaat
Creative Commons / Dmitry G
Creative Commons / Balcer![Hrazdan Stadium (Armenian: Հրազդան մարզադաշտ) is a multi-use, all-seater stadium in Yerevan, Armenia, built in 1972 with the financial support of Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation[2]. It is the largest stadium in Armenia, currently used for football matches. Hrazdan is the home stadium for the Armenia national team and Kilikia FC. The stadium is able to host 58,000[1], after the most recent reconstruction in 2008 which converted the stadium to an all-seater one. Before the reconstruction, the Hrazd](http://web.archive.org./web/20120922013532im_/http://cdn1.wn.com/pd/ea/6f/f919f69f8ba30b18af8a05374563_small.jpg "Hrazdan Stadium (Armenian: Հրազդան մարզադաշտ) is a multi-use, all-seater stadium in Yerevan, Armenia, built in 1972 with the financial support of Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation[2]. It is the largest stadium in Armenia, currently used for football matches. Hrazdan is the home stadium for the Armenia national team and Kilikia FC. The stadium is able to host 58,000[1], after the most recent reconstruction in 2008 which converted the stadium to an all-seater one. Before the reconstruction, the Hrazd")
Creative Commons / Gikü
Creative Commons / Neftchi
Creative Commons / Eugene Zelenko
Creative Commons / Alesseus
Creative Commons / Dmitry A. Mottl
NASA
![The Tank, Infantry, Mk III, Valentine was an infantry tank produced in the United Kingdom during the Second World War. More than 8,000 of the type were produced in 11 different marks plus various purpose-built variants, accounting for approximately a quarter of wartime British tank production[1]. Over its lifetime it went from a riveted construction to entirely welded, and from a petrol powerplant to a safer, less ignitable, two stroke diesel engine produced by GMC. It was supplied to the USSR a](http://web.archive.org./web/20120922013532/http://cdn6.wn.com/pd/58/9c/9a5568fd34a67237305b8bd2bc54_medium.jpg "The Tank, Infantry, Mk III, Valentine was an infantry tank produced in the United Kingdom during the Second World War. More than 8,000 of the type were produced in 11 different marks plus various purpose-built variants, accounting for approximately a quarter of wartime British tank production[1]. Over its lifetime it went from a riveted construction to entirely welded, and from a petrol powerplant to a safer, less ignitable, two stroke diesel engine produced by GMC. It was supplied to the USSR a")
![The Antonov An-26 (NATO reporting name: Curl) is a twin-engined light turboprop military transport aircraft, designed and produced in the USSR from 12 March 1968.[1]](http://web.archive.org./web/20120922013532/http://cdn6.wn.com/pd/bf/0d/20a4249816d2516b2e705dec852b_medium.jpg "The Antonov An-26 (NATO reporting name: Curl) is a twin-engined light turboprop military transport aircraft, designed and produced in the USSR from 12 March 1968.[1]")
![Hrazdan Stadium (Armenian: Հրազդան մարզադաշտ) is a multi-use, all-seater stadium in Yerevan, Armenia, built in 1972 with the financial support of Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation[2]. It is the largest stadium in Armenia, currently used for football matches. Hrazdan is the home stadium for the Armenia national team and Kilikia FC. The stadium is able to host 58,000[1], after the most recent reconstruction in 2008 which converted the stadium to an all-seater one. Before the reconstruction, the Hrazd](http://web.archive.org./web/20120922013532/http://cdn5.wn.com/pd/ea/6f/f919f69f8ba30b18af8a05374563_medium.jpg "Hrazdan Stadium (Armenian: Հրազդան մարզադաշտ) is a multi-use, all-seater stadium in Yerevan, Armenia, built in 1972 with the financial support of Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation[2]. It is the largest stadium in Armenia, currently used for football matches. Hrazdan is the home stadium for the Armenia national team and Kilikia FC. The stadium is able to host 58,000[1], after the most recent reconstruction in 2008 which converted the stadium to an all-seater one. Before the reconstruction, the Hrazd")
Photo: AP / Bill Ingalls
19 Sep 2012
It wouldn't be a trip to Southern California without a visit to Disneyland. The Anaheim park is one of several Los Angeles-area landmarks that space shuttle Endeavour will fly over before landing...
Photo: WN / Ahmed Deeb
20 Sep 2012
In the recent wave of anti-Western demonstrations, political Islam has operated globally. The West's response has been mired in the local politics of its separate nation-states. It is a curious...
Photo: AP / Bassem Tellawi
20 Sep 2012
Iran has been using civilian aircraft to fly military personnel and large quantities of weapons across Iraqi airspace to...
Photo: DOD / Public Domain
20 Sep 2012
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan | It was nearly 2 a.m. when Army Pfc. Zach Randle jumped out of his bulky armored vehicle in southern Afghanistan for what he hoped would be the last time. “I don’t...
More than 3 million depositors of the USSR Sberbank had already received compensation (15929577)
19 Sep 2012
noodls
(Source: Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine) As ofSeptember 18institutionsSavings Bank(Oshchadbank) hadcompensationof more than 3million 207thousand depositors totaling $ 3billion34 millionUAH.This wasstarted during a press briefingat the Government Houseon September 19saidby the Chairmanof the Head of...(size: 2.8Kb)
noodls
(Source: Government of the Russian Federation) The message reads, in part: "Your professional career began after the Great Patriotic War, during which you courageously fought at the front for the liberation of our homeland. It...(size: 1.5Kb)
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev congratulates People’s Artist of the USSR Iosif Kobzon on his 75th birthday
11 Sep 2012
noodls
The message reads, in part: "Your concert repertoire includes hundreds of songs which are loved by representatives of various...(size: 0.9Kb)
Sherrington: 40 years after Olympic loss to USSR, there’s no silver lining for U.S. men's basketball team
26 Aug 2012
The Dallas Morning News
A basketball team celebrated its 40-year reunion this weekend in Lexington, Ky., marking the first time the players have convened since lodging the most famous protest in Olympic history. And, no, they don’t want their silver medals now, either. Of the 12 U.S. basketball players who lost gold in the...(size: 5.5Kb)
The USSR would have dominated this Olympics
13 Aug 2012
Foreign Policy
Vladimir Putin once famously said that the collapse of the Soviet Union was the "greatest geopolitical catastrophe" of the 20th century. That may not be true, but from the Kremlin's point of view, it was inarguably an Olympic...(size: 1.6Kb)
Huffington Post
Mitt Romney and the Republican National Committee have a new ad up on the air. I'll just provide some of the details and hold my comments until you've had a chance to read them. I'm not providing the video here but you can see it, if you truly must, at the link above. The narration begins:...(size: 3.6Kb)
The Guardian
Even with blocked ears, misuse of language by athletes and commentators at London 2012 can make you feel like you are in another world...(size: 6.5Kb)
The Daily Mail
PETER HITCHENS: From the moment...(size: 0.2Kb)
noodls
The message reads, in part: "You belong to the galaxy of stars of entertainment whose popularity does not...(size: 0.7Kb)
IMDb
President Barack Obamaâs supporters have been vocally critical of Mitt Romneyâs...(size: 0.6Kb)
"USSR" and "CCCP" redirect here. For other uses, see USSR (disambiguation) and CCCP (disambiguation).
"Soviet" redirects here. For other uses, see Soviet (disambiguation).
| Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Other names Союз Советских Социалистических Республик Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik |
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| Motto Пролетарии всех стран, соединяйтесь! (Translit.: Proletarii vsekh stran, soyedinyaytes'!) English: Workers of the world, unite! |
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| Anthem "The Internationale" (1922–1944)  "National Anthem of the Soviet Union" (1944–1991) |
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| Capital | Moscow | ||||
| Language(s) | Russian, many others | ||||
| Religion | Atheism | ||||
| Government | Union, Marxist–Leninist single-party socialist state |
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| General Secretary | |||||
| - 1922–1952 | Joseph Stalin (first) | ||||
| - 1991 | Vladimir Ivashko (last) | ||||
| Head of State | |||||
| - 1922–1938 | Mikhail Kalinin (first) | ||||
| - 1988–1991 | Mikhail Gorbachev (last) | ||||
| Head of Government | |||||
| - 1922–1924 | Vladimir Lenin (first) | ||||
| - 1991 | Ivan Silayev (last) | ||||
| Legislature | Supreme Soviet | ||||
| - Upper house | Soviet of the Union | ||||
| - Lower house | Soviet of Nationalities | ||||
| Historical era | Interwar period / Cold War | ||||
| - Treaty of Creation | 30 December 1922 | ||||
| - Union dissolved | 26 December 1991 | ||||
| Area | |||||
| - 1991 | 22,402,200 km2 (8,649,538 sq mi) | ||||
| Population | |||||
| - 1991 est. | 293,047,571 | ||||
| Density | 13.1 /km2 (33.9 /sq mi) | ||||
| Currency | Soviet ruble (руб) (SUR) | ||||
| Internet TLD | .su2 | ||||
| Calling code | +7 | ||||
| 1On 21 December 1991, eleven of the former socialist republics declared in Alma-Ata (with the 12th republic – Georgia – attending as an observer) that with the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ceases to exist. 2Assigned on 19 September 1990, existing onwards. |
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| Soviet Union |
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Atlas USSR Portal |
The Soviet Union (Russian: Советский Союз, tr. Sovetsky Soyuz), officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR; Russian: Сою́з Сове́тских Социалисти́ческих Респу́блик, tr. Soyuz Sovetskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik; IPA: [sɐˈjus sɐˈvʲetskʲɪx sətsɨəlʲɪˈstʲitɕɪskʲɪx rʲɪsˈpublʲɪk] (
listen); abbreviated СССР, SSSR), was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991.
The Soviet Union was a single-party state ruled by the Communist Party from its foundation until 1990.[1] A union of 15 subnational Soviet republics, the Soviet state was structured under a highly centralized government and economy.
The Russian Revolution of 1917 caused the downfall of the Russian Empire. Following the Russian Revolution, there was a struggle for power between the Bolshevik party, led by Vladimir Lenin, and the anti-communist White movement. In December 1922, the Bolsheviks won the civil war, and the Soviet Union was formed with the merger of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic and the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic.
Following the death of Vladimir Lenin in 1924, Joseph Stalin came to power,[2] leading the USSR through a large-scale industrialization program. Stalin established a planned economy.[2]
In June 1941, Nazi Germany and its allies invaded the Soviet Union, breaking the non-aggression pact, which the latter had signed in 1939. After four years of fighting, the Soviet Union emerged victorious as one of the world's two superpowers, the other being the United States.
The Soviet Union and its Eastern European satellite states, known as the Eastern Bloc, engaged in the Cold War, a prolonged global ideological and political struggle against the United States and its Western allies, which it ultimately abandoned in the face of economic troubles and both domestic and foreign political unrest.[3][4] In the late 1980s, the last Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev tried to reform the state with his policies of perestroika and glasnost, but the Soviet Union collapsed and was formally dissolved in December 1991 after the abortive August coup attempt.[5] The Russian Federation assumed its rights and obligations.[6]
Contents |
Geography, climate and environment[link]
Main article: Geography of the Soviet Union
With an area of 22,402,200 square kilometres (8,649,500 sq mi), the Soviet Union was the world's largest state. The world's largest state, incidentally, today is Russia, which emerged from the USSR after it ended. Covering a sixth of the Earth's land surface, its size was comparable to that of North America. The European portion accounted for a quarter of the country's area, and was the cultural and economic center. The eastern part in Asia extended to the Pacific Ocean to the east and Afghanistan to the south, and was much less populous. It spanned over 10,000 kilometres (6,200 mi) east to west across 11 time zones, and almost 7,200 kilometres (4,500 mi) north to south. It had five climate zones: tundra, taiga, steppes, desert, and mountains.
The Soviet Union had the world's longest border, measuring over 60,000 kilometres (37,000 mi), two-thirds of it a coastline of the Arctic Ocean. Across the Bering Strait was the United States. The Soviet Union bordered Afghanistan, China, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Hungary, Iran, Mongolia, North Korea, Norway, Poland, Romania, and Turkey from 1945 to 1991.
The Soviet Union's longest river was the Irtysh. Its highest mountain was Communism Peak (now Ismail Samani Peak) in Tajikistan, at 7,495 metres (24,590 ft). The world's largest lake, the Caspian Sea, lay mainly within the Soviet Union. The world's largest freshwater and deepest lake, Lake Baikal, was in the Soviet Union.
History[link]
Main article: History of the Soviet Union
The last Russian Tsar, Nicholas II, ruled the Russian Empire until his abdication in March 1917, due in part to the strain of fighting in World War I. A short-lived Russian provisional government took power, to be overthrown in the 1917 October Revolution (N.S. November 1917) by revolutionaries led by the Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin.
The Soviet Union was officially established in December 1922 with the union of the Russian, Ukrainian, Byelorussian, and Transcaucasian Soviet republics- each ruled by local Bolshevik parties. Despite the foundation of the Soviet state as a federative entity of many constituent republics, each with its own political and administrative entities, the term "Soviet Russia" – strictly applicable only to the Russian Federative Socialist Republic – was often incorrectly applied to the entire country by non-Soviet writers and politicians.
Revolution and foundation[link]
Main articles: History of Soviet Russia and the Soviet Union (1917–1927), Russian Revolution (1917), February Revolution, Russian Provisional Government, October Revolution, and Russian Civil War
Modern revolutionary activity in the Russian Empire began with the Decembrist Revolt of 1825. Although serfdom was abolished in 1861, it was done on terms unfavorable to the peasants and served to encourage revolutionaries. A parliament—the State Duma—was established in 1906 after the Russian Revolution of 1905, but the Tsar resisted attempts to move from absolute to constitutional monarchy. Social unrest continued and was aggravated during World War I by military defeat and food shortages in major cities.
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A spontaneous popular uprising in Petrograd, in response to the wartime decay of Russia's economy and morale, culminated in the February Revolution and the toppling of the imperial government in March 1917. The tsarist autocracy was replaced by the Russian Provisional Government, which intended to conduct elections to the Russian Constituent Assembly and to continue fighting on the side of the Entente in World War I.
At the same time, workers' councils, known as Soviets, sprang up across the country. The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, pushed for socialist revolution in the Soviets and on the streets. In November 1917, during the October Revolution, the Red Guards stormed the Winter Palace in Petrograd, ending the rule of the Provisional Government and leaving all political power to the Soviets. In December, the Bolsheviks signed an armistice with the Central Powers, though by February 1918, fighting had resumed. In March, the Soviets quit the war for good and signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk.
A long and bloody Russian Civil War ensued between the Reds and the Whites, starting in 1917 and ending in 1923 with the Reds victorious. It included foreign intervention, the execution of Nicholas II and his family, and the famine of 1921, which killed about five million.[7] In March 1921, during a related conflict with Poland, the Peace of Riga was signed, splitting disputed territories in Belarus and Ukraine between the Republic of Poland and Soviet Russia. The Soviet Union had to resolve similar conflicts with the newly established Republic of Finland, the Republic of Estonia, the Republic of Latvia, and the Republic of Lithuania.
Unification of republics[link]
On 28 December 1922, a conference of plenipotentiary delegations from the Russian SFSR, the Transcaucasian SFSR, the Ukrainian SSR and the Byelorussian SSR approved the Treaty of Creation of the USSR[8] and the Declaration of the Creation of the USSR, forming the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.[9] These two documents were confirmed by the 1st Congress of Soviets of the USSR and signed by the heads of the delegations,[10] Mikhail Kalinin, Mikha Tskhakaya, Mikhail Frunze, Grigory Petrovsky, and Aleksandr Chervyakov,[11] on 30 December 1922.
On 1 February 1924, the USSR was recognized by the British Empire. The same year, a Soviet Constitution was approved, legitimizing the December 1922 union.
An intensive restructuring of the economy, industry and politics of the country began in the early days of Soviet power in 1917. A large part of this was done according to the Bolshevik Initial Decrees, government documents signed by Vladimir Lenin. One of the most prominent breakthroughs was the GOELRO plan, which envisioned a major restructuring of the Soviet economy based on total electrification of the country. The plan was developed in 1920 and covered a 10-to 15-year period. It included construction of a network of 30 regional power plants, including ten large hydroelectric power plants, and numerous electric-powered large industrial enterprises.[12] The plan became the prototype for subsequent Five-Year Plans and was fulfilled by 1931.[13]
Stalin era[link]
Main article: History of the Soviet Union (1927–1953)
From its creation, the government in the Soviet Union was based on the one-party rule of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks).[14] After the economic policy of "War Communism" during the Russian Civil War, as a prelude to fully developing socialism in the backward country, the Soviet government permitted some private enterprise to coexist alongside nationalized industry in the 1920s and total food requisition in the countryside was replaced by a food tax (see New Economic Policy).
The stated purpose of the one-party state was to ensure that capitalist exploitation would not return to the Soviet Union and that the principles of Democratic Centralism would be most effective in representing the people's will in a practical manner. Debate over the future of the economy provided the background for a power struggle in the years after Lenin's death in 1924. Initially, Lenin was to be replaced by a "troika" consisting of Grigory Zinoviev of Ukraine, Lev Kamenev of Moscow, and Joseph Stalin of Georgia.
On 3 April 1922, Stalin was named the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Lenin had appointed Stalin the head of the Workers' and Peasants' Inspectorate, which gave Stalin considerable power. By gradually consolidating his influence and isolating and out-maneuvering his rivals within the party, Stalin became the undisputed leader of the Soviet Union and, by the end of the 1920s, established totalitarian rule. In October 1927, Grigory Zinoviev and Leon Trotsky were expelled from the Central Committee and forced into exile.
In 1928, Stalin introduced the First Five-Year Plan for building a socialist economy. While encompassing the internationalism expressed by Lenin throughout the Revolution, it also aimed to build socialism in one country. In industry, the state assumed control over all existing enterprises and undertook an intensive program of industrialization. In agriculture, rather than adhering to the "lead by example" policy advocated by Lenin,[15] forced collectivisation of farms was implemented all over the country.
Famines ensued, causing millions of deaths; surviving kulaks were persecuted and many sent to Gulags to do forced labour.[16] Social upheaval continued in the mid-1930s. Stalin's Great Purge resulted in the execution or detainment of many "Old Bolsheviks" who had participated in the October Revolution with Lenin. According to declassified Soviet archives, in 1937 and 1938, the NKVD arrested more than one and a half million people, of whom 681,692 were shot – an average of 1,000 executions a day.[17] The excess deaths during the 1930s as a whole were in the range of 10–11 million.[18] Yet despite the turmoil of the mid-to-late 1930s, the Soviet Union developed a powerful industrial economy in the years before World War II.
The 1930s[link]
The early 1930s saw closer cooperation between the West and the USSR. From 1932 to 1934, the Soviet Union participated in the World Disarmament Conference. In 1933, diplomatic relations between the United States and the USSR were established. In September 1934, the Soviet Union joined the League of Nations. After the Spanish Civil War broke out in 1936, the USSR actively supported the Republican forces against the Nationalists, who were supported by Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany.
In December 1936, Stalin unveiled a new Soviet Constitution. The constitution was seen as a personal triumph for Stalin, who on this occasion was described by Pravda as a "genius of the new world, the wisest man of the epoch, the great leader of communism." By contrast, western historians and historians from former Soviet occupied countries have viewed the constitution as a meaningless propaganda document.
The late 1930s saw a shift towards the Axis powers. In 1938, after the United Kingdom and France had concluded the Munich Agreement with Germany, the USSR dealt with the Nazis as well, both militarily and economically during extensive talks. The two countries concluded the German–Soviet Nonaggression Pact and the German–Soviet Commercial Agreement. The nonaggression pact made possible Soviet occupation of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Bessarabia, northern Bukovina, and eastern Poland. In late November of the same year, unable to coerce the Republic of Finland by diplomatic means into moving its border 25 kilometres (16 mi) back from Leningrad, Joseph Stalin ordered the invasion of Finland.
In the east, the Soviet military won several decisive victories during border clashes with the Japanese Empire in 1938 and 1939. However, in April 1941, USSR signed the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact with the Empire of Japan, recognizing the territorial integrity of Manchukuo, a Japanese puppet state.
World War II[link]
Main article: Eastern Front (World War II)
Although it has been debated whether the Soviet Union intended to invade Germany once it was strong enough,[19] Germany itself broke the treaty and invaded the Soviet Union on 22 June 1941, starting what was known in the USSR as the "Great Patriotic War". The Red Army stopped the seemingly invincible German Army at the Battle of Moscow, aided by an unusually harsh winter. The Battle of Stalingrad, which lasted from late 1942 to early 1943, dealt a severe blow to the Germans from which they never fully recovered and became a turning point of the war. After Stalingrad, Soviet forces drove through Eastern Europe to Berlin before Germany surrendered in 1945. The German Army suffered 80% of its military deaths in the Eastern Front.[20]
The same year, the USSR, in fulfillment of its agreement with the Allies at the Yalta Conference, denounced the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact in April 1945[21] and invaded Manchukuo and other Japan-controlled territories on 9 August 1945.[22] This conflict ended with a decisive Soviet victory, contributing to the unconditional surrender of Japan and the end of World War II.
The Soviet Union suffered greatly in the war, losing around 27 million people.[23] Despite this, it emerged as a superpower in the post-war period. Once denied diplomatic recognition by the Western world, the Soviet Union had official relations with practically every nation by the late 1940s. A member of the United Nations at its foundation in 1945, the Soviet Union became one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, which gave it the right to veto any of its resolutions (see Soviet Union and the United Nations).
The Soviet Union maintained its status as one of the world's two superpowers for four decades through its hegemony in Eastern Europe, military strength, economic strength, aid to developing countries, and scientific research, especially in space technology and weaponry.
Cold War[link]
Main article: Cold War
During the immediate postwar period, the Soviet Union rebuilt and expanded its economy, while maintaining its strictly centralized control. It aided post-war reconstruction in the countries of Eastern Europe, while turning them into satellite states, binding them in a military alliance (the Warsaw Pact) in 1955, and an economic organization (The Council for Mutual Economic Assistance or Comecon) from 1949 to 1991, the latter a counterpart to the European Economic Community.[24] Later, the Comecon supplied aid to the eventually victorious Chinese Communist Party, and saw its influence grow elsewhere in the world. Fearing its ambitions, the Soviet Union's wartime allies, the United Kingdom and the United States, became its enemies. In the ensuing Cold War, the two sides clashed indirectly using mostly proxies.
Khrushchev era[link]
Main article: History of the Soviet Union (1953–1964)
Stalin died on 5 March 1953. Without a mutually agreeable successor, the highest Communist Party officials opted to rule the Soviet Union jointly. Nikita Khrushchev, who had won the power struggle by the mid-1950s, denounced Stalin's use of repression in 1956 and eased repressive controls over party and society. This was known as de-Stalinization.
Moscow considered Eastern Europe to be a buffer zone for the forward defense of its western borders, and ensured its control of the region by transforming the East European countries into satellite states. Soviet military force was used to suppress anti-communist uprisings in Hungary and Poland in 1956.
In the late 1950s, a confrontation with China regarding the USSR's rapprochement with the West and what Mao Zedong perceived as Khrushchev's revisionism led to the Sino–Soviet split. This resulted in a break throughout the global Communist movement, with Communist regimes in Albania, Cambodia and Somalia choosing to ally with China in place of the USSR.
File:Lunokhod hires.jpg
Lunokhod 1 rover landed on the moon on 17 November 1970
During this period, the Soviet Union continued to realize scientific and technological exploits: Launching the first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1 in 1957; a living dog, Laika in 1957; the first human being, Yuri Gagarin in 1961; the first woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova in 1963; Alexey Leonov, the first person to walk in space in 1965; and the first moon rovers, Lunokhod 1 and Lunokhod 2.[25]
Khrushchev initiated "The Thaw" better known as Khrushchev's Thaw, a complex shift in political, cultural and economic life in the Soviet Union. That included some openness and contact with other nations and new social and economic policies with more emphasis on commodity goods, allowing living standards to rise dramatically while maintaining high levels of economic growth. Censorship was relaxed as well.
Khrushchev's reforms in agriculture and administration, however, were generally unproductive. In 1962, he precipitated a crisis with the United States over the Soviet deployment of nuclear missiles in Cuba. The Soviet Union backed down after the United States initiated a naval blockade, causing Khrushchev much embarrassment and loss of prestige. He was removed from power in 1964.
Brezhnev era[link]
Main articles: History of the Soviet Union (1964–1982) and Era of Stagnation
Following the ousting of Khrushchev, another period of collective leadership ensued, consisting of Leonid Brezhnev as General Secretary, Alexei Kosygin as Premier and Nikolai Podgorny as Chairman of the Presidium, lasting until Brezhnev established himself in the early 1970s as the preeminent Soviet leader. In 1968 the Soviet Union and its Warsaw Pact allies invaded Czechoslovakia to halt the Prague Spring reforms.
Brezhnev presided over a period of détente with the West (see SALT I, SALT II, Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty) while at the same time building up Soviet military might.
In October 1977, the third Soviet Constitution was unanimously adopted. The prevailing mood of the Soviet leadership at the time of Brezhnev's death in 1982 was one of aversion to change. The long period of Brezhnev's rule had come to be dubbed one of "standstill", with an aging and ossified top political leadership.
Reforms and dissolution[link]
Main articles: Cold War (1985–1991), History of the Soviet Union (1982–1991), Dissolution of the Soviet Union, 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, and Commonwealth of Independent States
Two developments dominated the decade that followed: the increasingly apparent crumbling of the Soviet Union's economic and political structures, and the patchwork attempts at reforms to reverse that process. Kenneth S. Deffeyes argued in Beyond Oil that the Reagan administration encouraged Saudi Arabia to lower the price of oil to the point where the Soviets could not make a profit selling their oil, so that the USSR's hard currency reserves became depleted.[26]
Brezhnev's next two successors, transitional figures with deep roots in his tradition, did not last long. Yuri Andropov was 68 years old and Konstantin Chernenko 72 when they assumed power; both died in less than two years. In an attempt to avoid a third short-lived leader, in 1985, the Soviets turned to the next generation and selected Mikhail Gorbachev.
Gorbachev made significant changes in the economy and party leadership, called perestroika. His policy of glasnost freed public access to information after decades of heavy government censorship.
Gorbachev also moved to end the Cold War. In 1988, the Soviet Union abandoned its nine-year war in Afghanistan and began to withdraw its forces. In the late 1980s, he refused military support to the Soviet Union's former satellite states, resulting in the toppling of multiple communist regimes. With the tearing down of the Berlin Wall and with East Germany and West Germany pursuing unification, the Iron Curtain came down.
In the late 1980s, the constituent republics of the Soviet Union started legal moves towards potentially declaring sovereignty over their territories, citing Article 72 of the USSR constitution, which stated that any constituent republic was free to secede.[27] On 7 April 1990, a law was passed allowing a republic to secede if more than two-thirds of its residents voted for it in a referendum.[28] Many held their first free elections in the Soviet era for their own national legislatures in 1990. Many of these legislatures proceeded to produce legislation contradicting the Union laws in what was known as the "War of Laws".
In 1989, the Russian SFSR, which was then the largest constituent republic (with about half of the population) convened a newly elected Congress of People's Deputies. Boris Yeltsin was elected its chairman. On 12 June 1990, the Congress declared Russia's sovereignty over its territory and proceeded to pass laws that attempted to supersede some of the USSR's laws. The period of legal uncertainty continued throughout 1991 as constituent republics slowly became de facto independent.
A referendum for the preservation of the USSR was held on 17 March 1991, with the majority of the population voting for preservation of the Union in nine out of the 15 republics. The referendum gave Gorbachev a minor boost. In the summer of 1991, the New Union Treaty, which would have turned the Soviet Union into a much looser Union, was agreed upon by eight republics.
The signing of the treaty, however, was interrupted by the August Coup—an attempted coup d'état by hardline members of the government and the KGB who sought to reverse Gorbachev's reforms and reassert the central government's control over the republics. After the coup collapsed, Yeltsin was seen as a hero for his decisive actions, while Gorbachev's power was effectively ended. The balance of power tipped significantly towards the republics. In August 1991, Latvia and Estonia immediately declared the restoration of their full independence (following Lithuania's 1990 example), while the other twelve republics continued discussing new, increasingly looser, models of the Union.
On 8 December 1991, the presidents of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus signed the Belavezha Accords, which declared the Soviet Union dissolved and established the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in its place. While doubts remained over the authority of the accords to do this, on 21 December 1991, the representatives of all Soviet republics except Georgia signed the Alma-Ata Protocol, which confirmed the accords. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev yielded to the inevitable and resigned as the President of the USSR, declaring the office extinct. He turned the powers that had been vested in the presidency over to Yeltsin, the President of Russia.
The following day, the Supreme Soviet, the highest governmental body of the Soviet Union, dissolved itself. This is generally recognized as marking the official, final dissolution of the Soviet Union as a functioning state. The Soviet Army remained in place in the early months of 1992, but was thereafter absorbed into the different military forces of the newly independent states.
Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union on 26 December 1991, Russia was internationally recognized[29] as its legal successor on the international stage. To that end, Russia voluntarily accepted all Soviet foreign debt and claimed overseas Soviet properties as its own. Since then, the Russian Federation has assumed the Soviet Union's rights and obligations.
Politics[link]
Main articles: Politics of the Soviet Union and State ideology of the Soviet Union
There were three power hierarchies in the Soviet Union: the legislative branch represented by the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, the government represented by the Council of Ministers, and the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), the only legal party and the ultimate policymaker in the country.[30]
Communist Party[link]
Main article: Communist Party of the Soviet Union
At the top of the Communist Party was the Central Committee, elected at Party Congresses and Conferences. The Central Committee in turn voted for a Politburo (called the Presidium between 1952–1966), Secretariat and the General Secretary (First Secretary from 1953 to 1966), the highest office in the USSR.[31] Depending on the degree of power consolidation, it was either the Politburo as a collective body or the General Secretary, who always was one of the Politburo members, that effectively led the party and the country[32] (except for the period of the highly personalized authority of Stalin, exercised directly through his position in the Council of Ministers rather than the Politburo after 1941).[33] They were not controlled by the general party membership, as the key principle of the party organization was democratic centralism, demanding strict subordination to higher bodies, and elections went uncontested, endorsing the candidates proposed from above.[34]
The Communist Party maintained its dominance over the state largely through its control over the system of appointments. All senior government officials and most deputies of the Supreme Soviet were members of the CPSU. Of the party heads themselves, Stalin in 1941–1953 and Khrushchev in 1958–1964 were Premiers. Upon the forced retirement of Khrushchev, the party leader was prohibited from this kind of double membership,[35] but the later General Secretaries for at least some part of their tenure occupied the largely ceremonial position of Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet, the nominal head of state. The institutions at lower levels were overseen and at times supplanted by primary party organizations.[36]
In practice, however, the degree of control the party was able to exercise over the state bureaucracy, particularly after the death of Stalin, was far from total, with the bureaucracy pursuing different interests that were at times in conflict with the party.[37] Nor was the party itself monolithic from top to bottom, although factions were officially banned.[38]
Government[link]
Main article: Government of the Soviet Union
The Supreme Soviet (successor of the Congress of Soviets and Central Executive Committee) was nominally the highest state body for most of the Soviet history,[39] at first acting as a rubber stamp institution, approving and implementing all decisions made by the party. However, the powers and functions of the Supreme Soviet were extended in the late 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, including the creation of new state commissions and committees. It gained additional powers when it came to the approval of the Five-Year Plans and the Soviet state budget.[40] The Supreme Soviet elected a Presidium to wield its power between plenary sessions,[41] ordinarily held twice a year, and appointed the Supreme Court,[42] the Procurator General[43] and the Council of Ministers (known before 1946 as the Council of People's Commissars), headed by the Chairman (Premier) and managing an enormous bureaucracy responsible for the administration of the economy and society.[41] State and party structures of the constituent republics largely emulated the structure of the central institutions, although the Russian SFSR, unlike the other constituent republics, for most of its history had no republican branch of the CPSU, being ruled directly by the union-wide party until 1990. Local authorities were organized likewise into party committees, local Soviets and executive committees. While the state system was nominally federal, the party was unitary.[44]
The state security police (the KGB and its predecessor agencies) played an important role in Soviet politics. It was instrumental in the Stalinist terror,[45] but after the death of Stalin, the state security police was brought under strict party control. Under Yuri Andropov, KGB chairman in 1967–1982 and General Secretary from 1982 to 1983, the KGB engaged in the suppression of political dissent and maintained an extensive network of informers, reasserting itself as a political actor to some extent independent of the party-state structure,[46] culminating in the anti-corruption campaign targeting high party officials in the late 1970s and early 1980s.[47]
Separation of power and reform[link]
Main article: Perestroika
The Soviet constitutions, which were promulgated in 1918, 1924, 1936 and 1977,[48] did not limit state power. No formal separation of powers existed between the Party, Supreme Soviet and Council of Ministers[49] that represented executive and legislative branches of the government. The system was governed less by statute than by informal conventions, and no settled mechanism of leadership succession existed. Bitter and at times deadly power struggles took place in the Politburo after the deaths of Lenin[50] and Joseph Stalin,[51] as well as after Khrushchev's dismissal,[52] itself due to a coup in both the Politburo and the Central Committee.[53] All Soviet party leaders before Gorbachev died in office, except Georgy Malenkov[54] and Khrushchev, both dismissed from the party leadership amid internal struggle within the party.[53]
In 1988–1990, facing considerable opposition, Mikhail Gorbachev enacted reforms shifting power away from the highest bodies of the party and making the Supreme Soviet less dependent on them. The Congress of People's Deputies was established, the majority of whose members were directly elected in competitive elections held in March 1989. The Congress now elected the Supreme Soviet, which became a full-time parliament, much stronger than before. For the first time since the 1920s, it refused to rubber stamp proposals from the party and Council of Ministers.[55] In 1990, Gorbachev introduced and assumed the position of the President of the Soviet Union, concentrated power in his executive office, independent of the party, and subordinated the government,[56] now renamed the Cabinet of Ministers of the USSR, to himself.[57]
Tensions grew between the union-wide authorities under Gorbachev, reformists led in Russia by Boris Yeltsin and controlling the newly elected Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR, and Communist Party hardliners. On 19–21 August 1991, a group of hardliners staged an abortive coup attempt. Following the failed coup, the State Council of the Soviet Union became the highest organ of state power "in the period of transition".[58] Gorbachev resigned as General Secretary, only remaining President for the final months of the existence of the USSR.[59]
Judicial system[link]
Main articles: Law of the Soviet Union and Socialist law
The judiciary was not independent of the other branches of government. The Supreme Court supervised the lower courts (People's Court) and applied the law as established by the Constitution or as interpreted by the Supreme Soviet. The Constitutional Oversight Committee reviewed the constitutionality of laws and acts. The Soviet Union used the inquisitorial system of Roman law, where the judge, procurator, and defense attorney collaborate to establish the truth.[60]
Political divisions[link]
Main articles: Soviet Republic (system of government) and Republics of the Soviet Union
Constitutionally, the Soviet Union was a union of Soviet Socialist Republics (SSRs) and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR), although the rule of the highly centralized Communist Party made the union merely nominal.[30] The Treaty on the Creation of the USSR was signed in December 1922 by four founding republics, the RSFSR, Transcaucasian SFSR, Ukrainian SSR and Belorussian SSR. In 1924, during the national delimitation in Central Asia, the Uzbek and Turkmen SSRs were formed from parts of the RSFSR's Turkestan ASSR and two Soviet dependencies, the Khorezm and Bukharan SSR. In 1929, the Tajik SSR was split off from the Uzbek SSR. With the constitution of 1936, the constituents of the Transcaucasian SFSR, namely the Georgian, Armenian and Azerbaijan SSRs, were elevated to union republics, while the Kazakh and Kirghiz SSRs were split off from the RSFSR.[61] In August 1940, the Soviet Union formed the Moldavian SSR from parts of the Ukrainian SSR and parts of Bessarabia annexed from Romania. It also annexed the Baltic states as the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian SSRs. The Karelo-Finnish SSR was split off from the RSFSR in March 1940 and merged back in 1956. Between July 1956 and September 1991, there were 15 union republics (see map below).[62]
On 16 November 1988, the Supreme Soviet of the Estonian SSR passed the Estonian Sovereignty Declaration that asserted Estonia's sovereignty and declared the supremacy of Estonian laws over those of the Soviet Union.[63] In March 1990, the newly elected Supreme Soviet of the Lithuanian SSR declared independence, followed by the Georgian Supreme Soviet in April 1991. Although the symbolic right of the republics to secede was nominally guaranteed by the constitution and the union treaty,[30] Soviet authorities at first refused to recognize it. After the August coup attempt, most of the other republics followed suit. The Soviet Union ultimately recognized the secession of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania on 6 September 1991. The remaining republics were recognized as independent with the Soviet Union's final dissolution in December 1991.[64]
| # | Republic | Map of the Union Republics between 1956–1991 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Russian SFSR |
 |
| 2 |  Ukrainian SSR |
|
| 3 |  Belorussian SSR |
|
| 4 |  Uzbek SSR |
|
| 5 |  Kazakh SSR |
|
| 6 |  Georgian SSR |
|
| 7 |  Azerbaijan SSR |
|
| 8 |  Lithuanian SSR |
|
| 9 |  Moldavian SSR |
|
| 10 |  Latvian SSR |
|
| 11 |  Kirghiz SSR |
|
| 12 |  Tajik SSR |
|
| 13 |  Armenian SSR |
|
| 14 |  Turkmen SSR |
|
| 15 |  Estonian SSR |
Economy[link]
Main article: Economy of the Soviet Union
The Soviet Union became the first country to adopt a planned economy, whereby production and distribution of goods were centralized and directed by the government. The first Bolshevik experience with a command economy was the policy of War Communism, which involved nationalization of industry, centralized distribution of output, coercive requisition of agricultural production, and attempts to eliminate the circulation of money, as well as private enterprises and free trade. As it had aggravated a severe economic collapse caused by the war, in 1921, Lenin replaced War Communism with the New Economic Policy (NEP), legalizing free trade and private ownership of smaller businesses. The economy quickly recovered.[65]
Following a lengthy debate among the members of Politburo over the course of economic development, by 1928–1929, upon gaining control of the country, Joseph Stalin abandoned the NEP and pushed for full central planning, starting forced collectivization of agriculture and enacting draconian labor legislation. Resources were mobilized for rapid industrialization, which greatly expanded Soviet capacity in heavy industry and capital goods during the 1930s.[65] Preparation for war was one of the main driving forces behind industrialization, mostly due to distrust of the outside capitalistic world.[66] As a result, the USSR was transformed from a largely agrarian economy into a great industrial power, leading the way for its emergence as a superpower after World War II.[67] During the war, the Soviet economy and infrastructure suffered massive devastation and required extensive reconstruction.[68]
By the early 1940s, the Soviet economy had become relatively self-sufficient; for most of the period until the creation of Comecon, only a very small share of domestic products was traded internationally.[69] After the creation of the Eastern Bloc, external trade rose rapidly. Still the influence of the world economy on the USSR was limited by fixed domestic prices and a state monopoly on foreign trade.[70] Grain and sophisticated consumer manufactures became major import articles from around the 1960s.[69] During the arms race of the Cold War, the Soviet economy was burdened by military expenditures, heavily lobbied for by a powerful bureaucracy dependent on the arms industry. At the same time, the Soviet Union became the largest arms exporter to the Third World. Significant amounts of Soviet resources during the Cold War were allocated in aid to the other socialist states.[69]
From the 1930s until its collapse in the late 1980s, the way the Soviet economy operated remained essentially unchanged. The economy was formally directed by central planning, carried out by Gosplan and organized in five-year plans. In practice, however, the plans were highly aggregated and provisional, subject to ad hoc intervention by superiors. All key economic decisions were taken by the political leadership. Allocated resources and plan targets were normally denominated in rubles rather than in physical goods. Credit was discouraged, but widespread. Final allocation of output was achieved through relatively decentralized, unplanned contracting. Although in theory prices were legally set from above, in practice the actual prices were often negotiated, and informal horizontal links (between producer factories etc.) were widespread.[65]
A number of basic services were state-funded, such as education and healthcare. In the manufacturing sector, heavy industry and defense were assigned higher priority than the production of consumer goods.[71] Consumer goods, particularly outside large cities, were often scarce, of poor quality and limited choice. Under command economy, consumers had almost no influence over production, so the changing demands of a population with growing incomes could not be satisfied by supplies at rigidly fixed prices.[72] A massive unplanned second economy grew up alongside the planned one at low levels, providing some of the goods and services that the planners could not. Legalization of some elements of the decentralized economy was attempted with the reform of 1965.[65]
At the same time the party elite, aka "nomenclature", enjoyed separate system of supply of goods which provided them with ample supply of high quality goods under lowest prices, the very existence of which was kept secret from the general public.
Although statistics of the Soviet economy are notoriously unreliable and its economic growth difficult to estimate precisely,[73][74] by most accounts, the economy continued to expand until the mid 1980s. During the 1950s and 1960s, the Soviet economy experienced comparatively high growth and was catching up to the West.[75] However, after 1970, the growth, while still positive, steadily declined, much more quickly and consistently than in other countries, despite a rapid increase in the capital stock (the rate of increase in capital was only surpassed by Japan).[65]
Overall, between 1960 and 1989, the growth rate of per capita income in the Soviet Union was slightly above the world average (based on 102 countries).[citation needed] However, given the very high level of investment in physical capital, high percentage of people with a secondary education, and low population increase, the economy should have grown much faster.[dubious – discuss] According to Stanley Fischer and William Easterly, the Soviet growth record was among "the worst in the world". By their calculation, per capita income of Soviet Union in 1989 should have been twice as high as it was, if investment, education and population had their typical effect on growth. The authors attribute this poor performance to low productivity of capital in the Soviet Union.[76] Steven Rosenfielde states that the standard of living actually declined as a result of Stalin's despotism, and while there was a brief improvement following his death, lapsed into stagnation.[77]
In 1987, Mikhail Gorbachev tried to reform and revitalize the economy with his program of perestroika. His policies relaxed state control over enterprises, but did not yet allow it to be replaced by market incentives, ultimately resulting in a sharp decline in production output. The economy, already suffering from reduced petroleum export revenues, started to collapse. Prices were still fixed, and property was still largely state-owned until after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.[65][72] For most of the period after World War II up to its collapse, the Soviet economy was the second largest in the world by GDP (PPP),[78] though in per capita terms the Soviet GDP was behind that of the First World countries.[79]
Energy[link]
Main article: Energy policy of the Soviet Union
The need for fuel declined in the Soviet Union from the 1970s to the 1980s,[80] both per ruble of gross social product and per ruble of industrial product. At the start, this decline grew very rapidly, but gradually slowed down between 1970 and 1975. From 1975 and 1980, it grew even slower,[clarification needed] only 2.6 percent.[81] David Wilson, a historian, believed that the gas industry would account for 40 percent of Soviet fuel production by the end of the century. His theory did not come to fruition because of the USSR's collapse.[82] The USSR, in theory, would have continued to have an economic growth rate of 2–2.5 percent during the 1990s because of Soviet energy fields[clarification needed].[83] However, the energy sector faced many difficulties, among them the country's high military expenditure and hostile relations with the First World (pre-Gorbachev era).[84]
In 1991, the Soviet Union had a pipeline network of 82,000 kilometres (51,000 mi) for crude oil and another 206,500 kilometres (128,300 mi) for natural gas.[85] Petroleum and petroleum-based products, natural gas, metals, wood, agricultural products, and a variety of manufactured goods, primarily machinery, arms and military equipment, were exported.[86] In the 1970s and 1980s, the Soviet Union heavily relied on fossil fuel exports to earn hard currency.[69] At its peak in 1988, it was the largest producer and second largest exporter of crude oil, surpassed only by Saudi Arabia.[87]
Science and technology[link]
Main article: Science and technology in the Soviet Union
The Soviet Union placed great emphasis on science and technology within its economy,[88] however, the most remarkable Soviet successes in technology, such as producing the world's first space satellite, typically were the responsibility of the military.[71] Lenin believed that the USSR would never overtake the developed world if it remained as technologically backward as it was. Soviet authorities proved their commitment to Lenin's belief by developing massive networks, research and development organizations. By 1989, Soviet scientists were among the world's best-trained specialists in several areas, such as energy physics, selected areas of medicine, mathematics, welding and military technologies. Due to rigid state planning and bureaucracy, the Soviets remained far behind technologically in chemistry, biology, and computers when compared to the First World.
Project Socrates, under the Reagan administration, determined that the Soviet Union addressed the acquisition of science and technology in a manner that was radically different from what the US was using. In the case of the US, economic prioritization was being used for indigenous research and development as the means to acquire science and technology in both the private and public sectors. In contrast, the Soviet Union was offensively and defensively maneuvering in the acquisition and utilization of the worldwide technology, to increase the competitive advantage that they acquired from the technology, while preventing the US from acquiring a competitive advantage. However, in addition, the Soviet Union's technology-based planning was executed in a centralized, government-centric manner that greatly hindered its flexibility. It was this significant lack of flexibility that was exploited by the US to undermine the strength of the Soviet Union and thus foster its reform.[89][90][91]
Transport[link]
Main article: Transport in the Soviet Union
Transport was a key component of the nation's economy. The economic centralisation of the late 1920s and 1930s led to the development of infrastructure on a massive scale, most notably the establishment of Aeroflot, an aviation enterprise.[92] The country had a wide variety of modes of transport by land, water and air.[85] However, due to bad maintenance, much of the road, water and Soviet civil aviation transport were outdated and technologically backward compared to the First World.[93]
Soviet rail transport was the largest and most intensively used in the world;[93] it was also better developed than most of its Western counterparts.[94] By the late 1970s and early 1980s, Soviet economists were calling for the construction of more roads to alleviate some of the burden from the railways and to improve the Soviet state budget.[95] The road network and automobile industry[96] remained underdeveloped,[97] and dirt roads were common outside major cities.[98] Soviet maintenance projects proved unable to take care of even the few roads the country had. By the early-to-mid-1980s, the Soviet authorities tried to solve the road problem by ordering the construction of new ones.[98] Meanwhile, the automobile industry was growing at a faster rate than road construction.[99] The underdeveloped road network led to a growing demand for public transport.[100]
Despite improvements, several aspects of the transport sector were still riddled with problems due to outdated infrastructure, lack of investment, corruption and bad decision-making. Soviet authorities were unable to meet the growing demand for transport infrastructure and services.
The Soviet merchant fleet was one of the largest in the world.[85]
Demographics[link]
Main article: Demographics of the Soviet Union
The first fifty years of the 20th century in tsarist Russia and the Soviet Union were marked by a succession of disasters, each accompanied by large–scale population losses. Excess deaths over the course of World War I and the Russian Civil War (including the postwar famine) amounted to a combined total of 18 million,[101] some 10 million in the 1930s,[18] and more than 26 million in 1941–5. The postwar Soviet population was 45 to 50 million smaller than it would have been if pre-war demographic growth had continued.[23]
The crude birth rate of the USSR decreased from 44.0 per thousand in 1926 to 18.0 in 1974, largely due to increasing urbanization and the rising average age of marriages. The crude death rate demonstrated a gradual decrease as well – from 23.7 per thousand in 1926 to 8.7 in 1974. In general, the birth rates of the southern republics in Transcaucasia and Central Asia were considerably higher than those in the northern parts of the Soviet Union, and in some cases even increased in the post–World War II period, a phenomenon partly attributed to slower rates of urbanization and traditionally earlier marriages in the southern republics.[102] Soviet Europe moved towards sub-replacement fertility, while Soviet Central Asia continued to exhibit population growth well above replacement-level fertility.[103]
The late 1960s and the 1970s witnessed a reversal of the declining trajectory of the rate of mortality in the USSR, and was especially notable among men of working age, but was also prevalent in Russia and other predominantly Slavic areas of the country.[104] An analysis of the official data from the late 1980s showed that after worsening in the late-1970s and the early 1980s, adult mortality began to improve again.[105] The infant mortality rate increased from 24.7 in 1970 to 27.9 in 1974. Some researchers regarded the rise as largely real, a consequence of worsening health conditions and services.[106] The rises in both adult and infant mortality were not explained or defended by Soviet officials, and the Soviet government simply stopped publishing all mortality statistics for ten years. Soviet demographers and health specialists remained silent about the mortality increases until the late-1980s, when the publication of mortality data resumed and researchers could delve into the real causes.[107]
Education[link]
Main article: Education in the Soviet Union
Before 1917, education was not free in the Russian Empire and was therefore either inaccessible or barely accessible for many children from lower-class working and peasant families. Estimates from 1917 recorded that 75–85 percent of the Russian population was illiterate.
Anatoly Lunacharsky became the first People's Commissariat for Education of Soviet Russia. At the beginning, the Soviet authorities placed great emphasis on the elimination of illiteracy. People who were literate were automatically hired as teachers. For a short period, quality was sacrificed for quantity. By 1940, Joseph Stalin could announce that illiteracy had been eliminated. In the aftermath of the Great Patriotic War, the country's educational system expanded dramatically. This expansion had a tremendous effect. In the 1960s, nearly all Soviet children had access to education, the only exception being those living in remote areas. Nikita Khrushchev tried to make education more accessible, making it clear to children that education was closely linked to the needs of society. Education also became important in creating the New Soviet Man.[108]
Only 20 percent of all applicants were accepted. The rest entered the labor market or learned a skill at a vocational technical school or technicum[dubious – discuss]. Students from families of dubious political reliability were barred from higher education.[109] The Brezhnev administration introduced a rule that required all university applicants to present a reference from the local Komsomol party secretary.[110] According to statistics from 1986, the number of students per 10,000 population was 181 for the USSR, compared to 517 for the US.[111]
Ethnic groups[link]
The Soviet Union was a very ethnically diverse country, with more than 100 distinct ethnic groups. The total population was estimated at 293 million in 1991. According to a 1990 estimate, the majority were Russians (50.78%), followed by Ukrainians (15.45%) and Uzbeks (5.84%).[112]
All citizens of the USSR had their own ethnic affiliation. The ethnicity of a person was chosen at the age of sixteen[113] by the child's parents. If the parents did not agree, the child was automatically assigned the ethnicity of the mother. Partly due to Soviet policies, some of the smaller minority ethnic groups were considered part of larger ones, such as the Mingrelians of the Georgian SSR, who were classified with the linguistically related Georgians.[114] Some ethnic groups voluntarily assimilated, while others were brought in by force. Russians, Belarusians, and Ukrainians shared close cultural ties, while other groups did not. With multiple nationalities living in the same territory, ethnic antagonisms developed over the years.[115]
Health[link]
Main article: Health care in the Soviet Union
In 1917, before the Bolshevik uprising, health conditions were significantly behind the developed countries. As Lenin later noted, "Either the lice will defeat socialism, or socialism will defeat the lice".[116] The Soviet principle of health care was conceived by the People's Commissariat for Health in 1918. Health care was to be controlled by the state and would be provided to its citizens free of charge. Article 42 of the 1977 Soviet Constitution gave all citizens the right to health protection and free access to any health institutions in the USSR. However, the Soviet Union's health care system was not able to fulfill all the needs of its people.[117] Before Leonid Brezhnev rose to power, Soviet socialised medicine was held in high esteem by many foreign specialists. This changed however, from Brezhnev's accession and Mikhail Gorbachev's tenure as leader, the Soviet health care system was heavily criticised for many basic faults, such as the quality of service and the unevenness in its provision.[118] Minister of Health Yevgeniy Chazov, during the 19th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, while highlighting such Soviet success as having the most doctors and hospitals in the world, recognised the system's deficiencies and felt that billions of Soviet rubles were squandered.[119]
After the communist takeover, the life expectancy for all age groups went up. This statistic was used by authorities to prove that the socialist system was superior to the capitalist system. These improvements continued into the 1960s, when the life expectancy in the Soviet Union surpassed that of the United States. It remained stable during most years, although in the 1970s, it went down slightly, probably because of alcohol abuse. Most western sources put the blame on growing alcohol abuse and poor health care; this theory was also implicitly accepted by the Soviet authorities. At the same time, infant mortality began to rise. After 1974, the government stopped publishing statistics on this. This trend can be partly explained by the number of pregnancies rising drastically in the Asian part of the country where infant mortality was highest, while declining markedly in the more developed European part of the Soviet Union.[120]
Language[link]
Main article: Languages of the Soviet Union
The Soviet government headed by Vladimir Lenin gave small language groups their own writing systems.[121] The development of these writing systems was very successful, even though some flaws were detected. During the later days of the USSR, countries with the same multilingual situation implemented similar policies. A serious problem when creating these writing systems was that the languages differed dialectally greatly from each other.[122] When a language had been given a writing system and appeared in a notable publication, that language would attain "official language" status. There were many minority languages which never received their own writing system; therefore their speakers were forced to have a second language.[123] There are examples where the Soviet government retreated from this policy, most notable under Stalin's regime, where education was discontinued in languages which were not widespread enough. These languages were then assimilated into another language, mostly Russian.[124] During the Great Patriotic War (World War II), some minority languages were banned, and their speakers accused of collaborating with the enemy.[125]
As the most widely spoken of the Soviet Union's many languages, Russian de facto functioned as an official language as the "language of interethnic communication" (Russian: язык межнационального общения), but only assumed the de jure status as the official national language in 1990.[126]
Religion[link]
File:Brezhnev with priests and rabbi 1977.jpg
General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev makes a toast with Russian Orthodox clergymen and a rabbi at a celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution in 1977.
Main article: Religion in the Soviet Union
A.L. Eliseev writes that a meeting of the antireligious commission of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) took place on 23 May 1929 under the Chairmanship of E. laroslavskii. There, believers in the country were estimated at 80 percent. It cannot be ruled out that this percentage was somewhat understated, to prove the successfulness of the struggle with religion.[127]
Christianity and Islam had the greatest number of adherents among the Soviet state's religious citizens.[128] Eastern Christianity predominated among Christians, with Russia's traditional Russian Orthodox Church being the Soviet Union's largest Christian denomination. About 90 percent of the Soviet Union's Muslims were Sunnis, with Shiites concentrated in the Azerbaijani Soviet Socialist Republic.[128] Smaller groups included Roman Catholics, Jews, Buddhists, and a variety of Protestant sects.[128]
Religious influence had been strong in the Russian Empire. The Russian Orthodox Church enjoyed a privileged status as the church of the monarchy and took part in carrying out official state functions.[129] The immediate period following the establishment of the Soviet state included a struggle against the Orthodox Church, which the revolutionaries considered an ally of the former ruling classes.[130]
In Soviet law, the "freedom to hold religious services" was constitutionally guaranteed, although the ruling Communist Party regarded religion as incompatible with the Marxist spirit of scientific materialism.[130] In practice, the Soviet system subscribed to a narrow interpretation of this right, and in fact utilized a range of official measures to discourage religion and curb the activities of religious groups.[130]
The 1918 Council of People's Commissars decree establishing the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) as a secular state also decreed that "the teaching of religion in all [places] where subjects of general instruction are taught, is forbidden. Citizens may teach and may be taught religion privately."[131] Among further restrictions, those adopted in 1929, a half-decade into Stalin's rule, included express prohibitions on a range of church activities, including meetings for organized Bible study.[130] Both Christian and non-Christian establishments were shut down by the thousands in the 1920s and 1930s. By 1940, as many as 90 percent of the churches, synagogues, and mosques that had been operating in 1917 were closed.[132]
Convinced that religious anti-Sovietism had become a thing of the past, the Stalin regime began shifting to a more moderate religion policy in the late 1930s.[133] Soviet religious establishments overwhelmingly rallied to support the war effort during the Soviet war with Nazi Germany. Amid other accommodations to religious faith, churches were reopened, Radio Moscow began broadcasting a religious hour, and a historic meeting between Stalin and Orthodox Church leader Patriarch Sergius I of Moscow was held in 1943.[133] The general tendency of this period was an increase in religious activity among believers of all faiths.[134]
The Soviet establishment again clashed with the churches under General Secretary Nikita Khrushchev's leadership in 1958–1964, a period when atheism was emphasized in the educational curriculum, and numerous state publications promoted atheistic views.[133] During this period, the number of churches fell from 20,000 to 10,000 from 1959 to 1965, and the number of synagogues dropped from 500 to 97.[135] The number of working mosques also declined, falling from 1,500 to 500 within a decade.[135]
Religious institutions remained monitored by the Soviet government, but churches, synagogues, temples, and mosques were all given more leeway in the Brezhnev era.[136] Official relations between the Orthodox Church and the Soviet government again warmed to the point that the Brezhnev government twice honored Orthodox Patriarch Alexy I with the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.[137] A poll conducted by Soviet authorities in 1982 recorded 20 percent of the Soviet population as "active religious believers."[138]
Culture[link]
Main article: Culture of the Soviet Union
See also: Soviet cuisine
The culture of the Soviet Union passed through several stages during the USSR's 70-year existence. During the first eleven years following the Revolution (1918–1929), there was relative freedom and artists experimented with several different styles to find a distinctive Soviet style of art. Lenin wanted art to be accessible to the Russian people. On the other hand, hundreds of intellectuals, writers, and artists were exiled or executed, and their work banned, for example Nikolay Gumilev (shot for conspiring against the Bolshevik regime) and Yevgeny Zamyatin (banned).[139]
The government encouraged a variety of trends. In art and literature, numerous schools, some traditional and others radically experimental, proliferated. Communist writers Maksim Gorky and Vladimir Mayakovsky were active during this time. Film, as a means of influencing a largely illiterate society, received encouragement from the state; much of director Sergei Eisenstein's best work dates from this period.
Later, during Stalin's rule, Soviet culture was characterised by the rise and domination of the government-imposed style of socialist realism, with all other trends being severely repressed, with rare exceptions, for example Mikhail Bulgakov's works. Many writers were imprisoned and killed.[140]
Following the Khrushchev Thaw of the late 1950s and early 1960s, censorship was diminished. Greater experimentation in art forms were again permissible, with the result that more sophisticated and subtly critical work began to be produced. The regime loosened its emphasis on socialist realism; thus, for instance, many protagonists of the novels of author Yury Trifonov concerned themselves with problems of daily life rather than with building socialism. An underground dissident literature, known as samizdat, developed during this late period. In architecture the Khrushchev era mostly focused on functional design as opposed to the highly decorated style of Stalin's epoch.
In the second half of the 1980s, Gorbachev's policies of perestroika and glasnost significantly expanded freedom of expression in the media and press.[141]
See also[link]
References[link]
- ^ Bridget O'Laughlin (1975) Marxist Approaches in Anthropology Annual Review of Anthropology Vol. 4: pp. 341–70 (October 1975) (doi:10.1146/annurev.an.04.100175.002013).
William Roseberry (1997) Marx and Anthropology Annual Review of Anthropology, Vol. 26: pp. 25–46 (October 1997) (doi:10.1146/annurev.anthro.26.1.25) - ^ a b Robert Service (9 September 2005). Stalin: a biography. Picador. ISBN 978-0-330-41913-0. http://books.google.com/?id=ITKUPwAACAAJ.
- ^ Mr. David Holloway (27 March 1996). Stalin and the Bomb. Yale University Press. p. 18. ISBN 978-0-300-06664-7. http://yalepress.yale.edu/book.asp?isbn=9780300066647.
- ^ Turner 1987, p. 23
- ^ Iain McLean (1996). The concise Oxford dictionary of politics. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-285288-5. http://books.google.com/?id=UMuBAAAAMAAJ.
- ^ "Russia is now a party to any Treaties to which the former Soviet Union was a party, and enjoys the same rights and obligations as the former Soviet Union, except insofar as adjustments are necessarily required, e.g. to take account of the change in territorial extent. [...] The Russian federation continues the legal personality of the former Soviet Union and is thus not a successor State in the sense just mentioned. The other former Soviet Republics are successor States.", United Kingdom Materials on International Law 1993, BYIL 1993, pp. 579 (636).
- ^ Evan Mawdsley (1 March 2007). The Russian Civil War. Pegasus Books. p. 287. ISBN 978-1-933648-15-6. http://books.google.com/?id=LUhXZD2BPeQC&pg=PA287.
- ^ Richard Sakwa The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union, 1917–1991: 1917–1991. Routledge, 1999. ISBN 978-0-415-12290-2, ISBN 978-0-415-12290-0. pp. 140–143.
- ^ Julian Towster. Political Power in the U.S.S.R., 1917–1947: The Theory and Structure of Government in the Soviet State Oxford Univ. Press, 1948. p. 106.
- ^ (Russian) Voted Unanimously for the Union. Archived 22 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ (Russian) Creation of the USSR at Khronos.ru.[dead link]
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- ^ (Russian) On GOELRO Plan — at Kuzbassenergo. Archived 23 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ The consolidation into a single-party regime took place during the first three and a half years after the revolution, which included the period of War Communism and an election in which multiple parties competed. See Leonard Schapiro, The Origin of the Communist Autocracy: Political Opposition in the Soviet State, First Phase 1917–1922. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1955, 1966.
- ^ Lenin, V.I.. Collected Works. pp. pp. 152-164, Vol. 31.
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- ^ a b Geoffrey A. Hosking (2001). Russia and the Russians: a history. Harvard University Press. p. 469. ISBN 978-0-674-00473-3. http://books.google.com/?id=oh-5AAmboMUC&pg=PA469.
- ^ (Russian) Mel'tiukhov, Mikhail. Upushchennyi shans Stalina: Sovietskii Soiuz i bor'ba za Evropu 1939–1941. Moscow: Veche, 2000. ISBN 978-5-7838-1196-3.
- ^ William J. Duiker (31 August 2009). Contemporary World History. Wadsworth Pub Co. p. 128. ISBN 978-0-495-57271-8. http://books.google.com/?id=uqvgYtJHGSMC.
- ^ Denunciation of the neutrality pact 5 April 1945. (Avalon Project at Yale University)
- ^ Soviet Declaration of War on Japan, 8 August 1945. (Avalon Project at Yale University)
- ^ a b Geoffrey A. Hosking (2006). Rulers and victims: the Russians in the Soviet Union. Harvard University Press. p. 242. ISBN 978-0-674-02178-5. http://books.google.com/?id=CDMVMqDvp4QC&pg=PA242.
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- ^ The red blues — Soviet politics by Brian Crozier, National Review, 25 June 1990. Archived 28 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Origins of Moral-Ethical Crisis and Ways to Overcome it by V.A.Drozhin Honoured Lawyer of Russia.
- ^ Country Profile: Russia Foreign & Commonwealth Office of the United Kingdom.
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- ^ IMF and OECD (1991). A Study of the Soviet Economy. 1. International Monetary Fund. p. 9. ISBN [[Special:BookSources/978-0-14-103797-0|978-0-14-103797-0]]. http://books.google.com/?id=o8Z1QAAACAAJ&dq.
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- ^ a b Hanson, Philip. The Rise and Fall of the Soviet Economy: An Economic History of the USSR from 1945. London: Longman, 2003.
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- ^ Harrison, Mark (1993). "Soviet Economic Growth Since 1928: The Alternative Statistics of G. I. Khanin". Europe–Asia Studies 45 (1): 141–167. DOI:10.1080/09668139308412080.
- ^ Gvosdev, Nikolas (2008). The Strange Death of Soviet communism: A Postscript. Transaction Publishers. ISBN [[Special:BookSources/978-1-4128-0698-4|978-1-4128-0698-4]]. http://books.google.com/?id=Q_xTyZUEqkYC&dq.
- ^ Fischer, Stanley; Easterly, Willian (1994). "The Soviet Economic Decline, Historical and Republican Data". World Bank. http://www-wds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/IW3P/IB/1994/04/01/000009265_3961006063138/Rendered/PDF/multi0page.pdf. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
- ^ Steven Rosefielde (1996). "Stalinism in Post-Communist Perspective: New Evidence on Killings, Forced Labour and Economic Growth in the 1930s". Europe-Asia Studies (Taylor & Francis, Ltd.) 48 (6): 956–987. http://www.jstor.org/stable/152635. "The new evidence shows that administrative command planning and Stalin's forced industrialisation strategies failed in the 1930s and beyond. The economic miracle chronicled in official hagiographies and until recently faithfully recounted in Western textbooks has no basis in fact. It is the statistical artefact not of index number relativity (the Gerschenkron effect) but of misapplying to the calculation of growth cost prices that do not accurately measure competitive value. The standard of living declined during the 1930s in response to Stalin's despotism, and after a brief improvement following his death, lapsed into stagnation. Glasnost and post-communist revelations interpreted as a whole thus provide no basis for Getty, Rittersporn & Zemskov's relatively favourable characterisation of the methods, economic achievements and human costs of Stalinism. The evidence demonstrates that the suppression of markets and the oppression of vast segments of the population were economically counterproductive and humanly calamitous, just as anyone conversant with classical economic theory should have expected."
- ^ Central Intelligence Agency (1991). "GDP – Million 1990". The World Factbook. http://www.theodora.com/wfb/1990/rankings/gdp_million_1.html. Retrieved 12 June 2010.
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- ^ Wilson 1983, p. 295.
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- ^ "Science and Technology". Library of Congress Country Studies. http://rs6.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field%28DOCID+su0413%29. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
- ^ MacFarland, Margo (3 May 1990). "Global Tech Strategies Brought to U.S.". Washington Technology.
- ^ Deckert, R.A. (10 October 1990). "The science of uncovering industrial information". Business Journal of the Treasure Coast.
- ^ "U.S. Firms Must Trade Short-Term Gains for Long-Term Technology Planning". Inside the Pentagon. 7 March 1991.
- ^ Highman, Robert D.S.; Greenwood, John T.; Hardesty, Von (1998). Russian Aviation and Air Power in the Twentieth Century. Routledge. p. 134. ISBN 978-0-7146-4784-5. http://books.google.no/books?id=cpynoFM-Jf4C&dq.
- ^ a b Wilson 1983, p. 205.
- ^ Wilson 1983, p. 201.
- ^ Ambler, Shaw and Symons 1985, p. 166–67.
- ^ Ambler, Shaw and Symons 1985, p. 168.
- ^ Ambler, Shaw and Symons 1985, p. 165.
- ^ a b Ambler, Shaw and Symons 1985, p. 167.
- ^ Ambler, Shaw and Symons 1985, p. 169.
- ^ International Monetary Fund and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development 1991, p. 56.
- ^ Mark Harrison (18 July 2002). Accounting for War: Soviet Production, Employment, and the Defence Burden, 1940–1945. Cambridge University Press. p. 167. ISBN 978-0-521-89424-1. http://books.google.com/?id=yJcD7_Q_rQ8C&pg=PA167.
- ^ Government of the USSR (1977) (in Russian). Большая советская энциклопедия [Great Soviet Encyclopaedia]. 24. Moscow: State Committee for Publishing. p. 15.
- ^ Anderson, Barbara A. (1990). Growth and Diversity of the Population of the Soviet Union. 510. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences. pp. 155–77.
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- ^ Ryan, Michael (28 May 1988). Life expectancy and mortality data from the Soviet Union. 296. p. 1,513–1515.
- ^ Davis, Christopher; Feshbach, Murray. Rising Infant Mortality in the USSR in the 1970s. Washington, D.C.: United States Census Bureau. p. 95.
- ^ Krimins, Juris (3–7 December 1990). The Changing Mortality Patterns in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia: Experience of the Past Three Decades. Paper presented at the International Conference on Health, Morbidity and Mortality by Cause of Death in Europe.
- ^ Law, David A. (1975). Russian Civilization. Ardent Media. pp. 300–1. ISBN [[Special:BookSources/978-0-8422-0529-2|978-0-8422-0529-2]]. http://books.google.com/books?id=f3ky9qBavl4C&dq.
- ^ Shelley, Louise (1996). Policing Soviet Society: The Evolution of State Control. Routledge. p. 208. ISBN 978-0-415-10470-8. http://books.google.com/books?id=jla71nIxeBUC&dq.
- ^ Shlapentokh, Vladimir (1990). Soviet Intellectuals and Political Power: The post-Stalin Era. I.B. Tauris. p. 26. ISBN 978-1-85043-284-5. http://books.google.com/books?id=7VFqqE5995UC&dq.
- ^ Pejovich, Svetozar (1990). The Economics of Property Rights: Towards a Theory of Comparative Systems. Springer Science+Business Media. p. 130. ISBN 978-0-7923-0878-2. http://books.google.com/?id=ocQKHRReKdcC.
- ^ Central Intelligence Agency (1991). "Soviet Union – People". The World Factbook. http://www.theodora.com/wfb1991/soviet_union/soviet_union_people.html. Retrieved 25 October 2010.
- ^ Comrie 1981, p. 2.
- ^ Comrie 1981, p. 3.
- ^ Hosking, Geoffrey (13 March 2006). "Rulers and Victims: The Russians in the Soviet Union". History Today. http://www.historytoday.com/geoffrey-hosking/rulers-and-victims-russians-soviet-union. Retrieved 25 October 2010. (pay-fee)
- ^ Lane 1992, p. 353.
- ^ Lane 1992, p. 360.
- ^ Lane 1992, p. 352.
- ^ Lane 1992, p. 352–53.
- ^ Dinkel, R.H. (1990). The Seeming Paradox of Increasing Mortality in a Highly Industrialized Nation: the Example of the Soviet Union. pp. 155–77.
- ^ Comrie 1981, p. 3–4.
- ^ Comrie 1981, p. 4.
- ^ Comrie 1981, p. 25.
- ^ Comrie 1981, p. 26.
- ^ Comrie 1981, p. 27.
- ^ "ЗАКОН СССР ОТ 24.04.1990 О ЯЗЫКАХ НАРОДОВ СССР [Law of the USSR from 24.04.1990 On languages of the USSR]" (in Russian). Government of the Soviet Union. 24 April 1990. http://legal-ussr.narod.ru/data01/tex10935.htm. Retrieved 24 October 2010.
- ^ Religion and Politics in Russia: A Reader By Marjorie Mandelstam Balzer page 6-7
- ^ a b c Eaton, Katherine Bliss (2004). Daily life in the Soviet Union. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 285 and 286. ISBN [[Special:BookSources/978-0-313-31628-7|978-0-313-31628-7]]. http://books.google.com/books?id=VVFuYN8TS5AC&dq.
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- ^ a b c d Simon 1974, pp. 64–65.
- ^ Simon 1974, p. 209.
- ^ Atwood, Craig D. (2001). Always Reforming: A History of Christianity Since 1300. Macon, Georgia: Mercer University Press. p. 311. ISBN [[Special:BookSources/978-0-86554-679-7|978-0-86554-679-7]]. http://books.google.com/books?id=72Ulz0fpr4cC.
- ^ a b c Janz 1998, pp. 38–39.
- ^ Ro'i, Yaacov (1995). Jews and Jewish Life in Russia and the Soviet Union. London: Frank Cass. p. 263. ISBN [[Special:BookSources/978-0-7146-4619-9|978-0-7146-4619-9]]. http://books.google.com/books?id=bJBH5pxzSyMC.
- ^ a b Nahaylo, Bohdan & Victor Swoboda (1990). Soviet Disunion: A History of the Nationalities Problem in the USSR. London: Hamish Hamilton. p. 144. ISBN [[Special:BookSources/978-0-02-922401-2|978-0-02-922401-2]]. http://books.google.com/books?id=ZrG7vrPue4wC.
- ^ Mark D. Steinberg; Catherine Wanner (2008-10). Religion, morality, and community in post-Soviet societies. Indiana University Press. p. 6. ISBN 978-0-253-22038-7. http://books.google.com/?id=LR6X3EY8oPIC.
- ^ Janz 1998, p. 42.
- ^ McKay, George; Williams, Christopher (2009). Subcultures and New Religious Movements in Russia and East-Central Europe. Peter Lang. pp. 231–32. ISBN [[Special:BookSources/978-3-03911-921-4|978-3-03911-921-4]]. http://books.google.com/books?id=xpNBm-z7aOYC&dq.
- ^ 'On the other hand...' See the index of Stalin and His Hangmen by Donald Rayfield, 2004, Random House
- ^ Rayfield 2004, pp. 317–320.
- ^ "Gorbachev, Mikhail." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 2 October 2007 <http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9037405>. "Under his new policy of glasnost ("openness"), a major cultural thaw took place: freedoms of expression and of information were significantly expanded; the press and broadcasting were allowed unprecedented candour in their reportage and criticism; and the country's legacy of Stalinist totalitarian rule was eventually completely repudiated by the government."
Bibliography[link]
- Ambler, John; Shaw, Denis J.B.; Symons, Leslie (1985). Soviet and East European Transport Problems. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-0-7099-0557-8. http://books.google.no/books?id=Rpg9AAAAIAAJ&dq.
- Comrie, Bernard (1981). The Languages of the Soviet Union. Cambridge University Press (CUP) Archive. ISBN 978-0-521-29877-3. http://books.google.com/books?id=QTU7AAAAIAAJ&dq.
- Janz, Denis (1998). World Christianity and Marxism. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-511944-2. http://books.google.com/books?id=EUVwrcnXwBsC.
- Lane, David Stuart (1992). Soviet Society under Perestroika. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-07600-5. http://books.google.com/books?id=rcXafOqyxgQC&dq.
- Rayfield, Donald (2004). Stalin and His Hangmen: An Authoritative Portrait of a Tyrant and Those Who Served Him. Viking Press. ISBN 978-0-375-75771-6.
- Simon, Gerard (1974). Church, State, and Opposition in the U.S.S.R.. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-02612-4. http://books.google.com/books?id=sTLc8H3b4vUC.
- Wilson, David (1983). The Demand for Energy in the Soviet Union. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-0-7099-2704-4. http://books.google.no/books?id=1qgOAAAAQAAJ&dq.
- World Bank and OECD (1991). A Study of the Soviet economy. 3. International Monetary Fund. ISBN 9789264134683. http://books.google.com/books?id=fiDpE5M9jRAC&dq.
- Palat, Madhavan K. (2001). Social Identities in Revolutionary Russia. UK: Palgrave. ISBN 978-0-333-92947-6. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=T-d_QgAACAAJ. Retrieved 26 May 2012.
Further reading[link]
- Surveys
- A Country Study: Soviet Union (Former). Library of Congress Country Studies, 1991.
- Brown, Archie, et al., eds.: The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Russia and the Soviet Union (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1982).
- Gilbert, Martin: The Routledge Atlas of Russian History (London: Routledge, 2002).
- Goldman, Minton: The Soviet Union and Eastern Europe (Connecticut: Global Studies, Dushkin Publishing Group, Inc., 1986).
- Grant, Ted: Russia, from Revolution to Counter-Revolution, London, Well Red Publications,1997
- Howe, G. Melvyn: The Soviet Union: A Geographical Survey 2nd. edn. (Estover, UK: MacDonald and Evans, 1983).
- Pipes, Richard. Communism: A History (2003), by a leading conservative scholar
- Lenin and Leninism
- Clark, Ronald W. Lenin (1988). 570 pp.
- Debo, Richard K. Survival and Consolidation: The Foreign Policy of Soviet Russia, 1918–1921 (1992).
- Marples, David R. Lenin's Revolution: Russia, 1917–1921 (2000) 156pp. short survey
- Pipes, Richard. A Concise History of the Russian Revolution (1996) excerpt and text search, by a leading conservative
- Pipes, Richard. Russia under the Bolshevik Regime. (1994). 608 pp.
- Service, Robert. Lenin: A Biography (2002), 561pp; standard scholarly biography; a short version of his 3 vol detailed biography
- Volkogonov, Dmitri. Lenin: Life and Legacy (1994). 600 pp.
- Stalin and Stalinism
- Daniels, R. V., ed. The Stalin Revolution (1965)
- Davies, Sarah, and James Harris, eds. Stalin: A New History, (2006), 310pp, 14 specialized essays by scholars excerpt and text search
- De Jonge, Alex. Stalin and the Shaping of the Soviet Union (1986)
- Fitzpatrick, Sheila, ed. Stalinism: New Directions, (1999), 396pp excerpts from many scholars on the impact of Stalinism on the people (little on Stalin himself) online edition
- Hoffmann, David L. ed. Stalinism: The Essential Readings, (2002) essays by 12 scholars
- Laqueur, Walter. Stalin: The Glasnost Revelations (1990)
- Kershaw, Ian, and Moshe Lewin. Stalinism and Nazism: Dictatorships in Comparison (2004) excerpt and text search
- Lee, Stephen J. Stalin and the Soviet Union (1999) online edition
- Lewis, Jonathan. Stalin: A Time for Judgement (1990)
- McNeal, Robert H. Stalin: Man and Ruler (1988)
- Martens, Ludo. Another view of Stalin (1994), a highly favorable view from a Maoist historian
- Service, Robert. Stalin: A Biography (2004), along with Tucker the standard biography
- Trotsky, Leon. Stalin: An Appraisal of the Man and His Influence, (1967), an interpretation by Stalin's worst enemy
- Tucker, Robert C. Stalin as Revolutionary, 1879–1929 (1973); Stalin in Power: The Revolution from Above, 1929–1941. (1990) online edition with Service, a standard biography; online at ACLS e-books
- World War II
- Bellamy, Chris. Absolute War: Soviet Russia in the Second World War (2008), 880pp excerpt and text search
- Broekmeyer, Marius. Stalin, the Russians, and Their War, 1941–1945. 2004. 315 pp.
- Overy, Richard. Russia's War: A History of the Soviet Effort: 1941–1945 (1998) excerpt and text search
- Roberts, Geoffrey. Stalin's Wars: From World War to Cold War, 1939–1953 (2006).
- Seaton, Albert. Stalin as Military Commander, (1998) online edition
- Cold war
- Brzezinski, Zbigniew. The Grand Failure: The Birth and Death of Communism in the Twentieth Century (1989)
- Edmonds, Robin. Soviet Foreign Policy: The Brezhnev Years (1983)
- Goncharov, Sergei, John Lewis and Litai Xue, Uncertain Partners: Stalin, Mao and the Korean War (1993) excerpt and text search
- Gorlizki, Yoram, and Oleg Khlevniuk. Cold Peace: Stalin and the Soviet Ruling Circle, 1945–1953 (2004) online edition
- Holloway, David. Stalin and the Bomb: The Soviet Union and Atomic Energy, 1939–1956 (1996) excerpt and text search
- Mastny, Vojtech. Russia's Road to the Cold War: Diplomacy, Warfare, and the Politics of Communism, 1941–1945 (1979)
- Mastny, Vojtech. The Cold War and Soviet Insecurity: The Stalin Years (1998) excerpt and text search; online complete edition
- Nation, R. Craig. Black Earth, Red Star: A History of Soviet Security Policy, 1917–1991 (1992)
- Sivachev, Nikolai and Nikolai Yakolev, Russia and the United States (1979), by Soviet historians
- Taubman, William. Khrushchev: The Man and His Era (2004), Pulitzer Prize; excerpt and text search
- Ulam, Adam B. Expansion and Coexistence: Soviet Foreign Policy, 1917–1973, 2nd ed. (1974)
- Zubok, Vladislav M. Inside the Kremlin's Cold War (1996) 20% excerpt and online search
- Zubok, Vladislav M. A Failed Empire: The Soviet Union in the Cold War from Stalin to Gorbachev (2007)
- Collapse
- Beschloss, Michael, and Strobe Talbott. At the Highest Levels:The Inside Story of the End of the Cold War (1993)
- Bialer, Seweryn and Michael Mandelbaum, eds. Gorbachev's Russia and American Foreign Policy (1988).
- Garthoff, Raymond. The Great Transition: American–Soviet Relations and the End of the Cold War (1994), detailed narrative
- Grachev, A.S. Gorbachev's Gamble: Soviet Foreign Policy and the End of the Cold War (2008) excerpt and text search
- Hogan, Michael ed. The End of the Cold War. Its Meaning and Implications (1992) articles from Diplomatic History
- Kotkin, Stephen. Armageddon Averted: The Soviet Collapse, 1970–2000 (2008) excerpt and text search
- Matlock, Jack. Autopsy on an Empire: The American Ambassador's Account of the Collapse of the Soviet Union (1995)
- Pons, S., Romero, F., Reinterpreting the End of the Cold War: Issues, Interpretations, Periodizations, (2005) ISBN 978-0-7146-5695-X
- Remnick, David. Lenin's Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire, (1994), ISBN 978-0-679-75125-4
- Specialty studies
- Armstrong, John A. The Politics of Totalitarianism: The Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1934 to the Present. New York: Random House, 1961.
- Katz, Zev, ed.: Handbook of Major Soviet Nationalities (New York: Free Press, 1975).
- Moore, Jr., Barrington. Soviet politics: the dilemma of power. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1950.
- Dmitry Orlov, Reinventing Collapse, New Society Books, 2008, ISBN 978-0-86571-606-3
- Rizzi, Bruno: "The Bureaucratization of the World : The First English edition of the Underground Marxist Classic That Analyzed Class Exploitation in the USSR", New York, NY : Free Press, 1985.
- Schapiro, Leonard B. The Origin of the Communist Autocracy: Political Opposition in the Soviet State, First Phase 1917–1922. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1955, 1966.
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Library of Congress Country Studies.
External links[link]
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- Impressions of Soviet Russia, by John Dewey.
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This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Union
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
| Eddy Huntington | |
|---|---|
| Born | 29 October 1965 |
| Origin | England |
| Genres | Italo disco, Europop |
| Occupations | Singer, teacher |
| Years active | 1983–present |
| Labels | ZYX |
Edward "Eddy" Huntington (born 29 October 1965) is a pop singer from the UK, popular in Europe and the former USSR.
Huntington was born in the north east of England and moved to London at the age of 18, where he became a music video extra and model.
He was discovered by Baby Records, an Italian record label who took him to Milan to record the song "USSR" written by R. Turatti, M. Chieregato and T. Hooker.[1]
When "USSR" was released throughout Europe in 1986 on ZYX Records it became a hit in mainland Europe and in the Soviet Union and is widely popular to this day. Huntington went on to have other lesser known hits such as "May Day" and "Meet My Friend". He also released the album Bang Bang Baby in 1989.
Huntington left the music industry in the early 1990s and trained to become a primary school teacher in the UK. He taught at Eldon Grove Primary School in Hartlepool teaching children in year 1. He provided after school drama and singing lessons as well as everyday lessons. He then moved to Thailand for 2 years with his wife teaching at Bangkok Patana School. There his youngest son was born, which prompted a move back to England, where he is the deputy head of a community primary school.
In 2005 Huntington made a brief return to music opening the Discoteka '80s concerts in Russia. These were two performances of European and Soviet 1980s pop stars held in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Among the acts headlined were: Bonnie Tyler, Alphaville, Sabrina Salerno, Mike Mareen and Savage. Both concerts played to large stadium crowds, appeared on national television and were released on DVD.
Contents |
Discography[link]
Albums[link]
- 1989 – Bang Bang Baby
Singles[link]
- 1986 – "U.S.S.R."
- 1987 – "Up & Down"
- 1987 – "Meet My Friend"
- 1988 – "Physical Attraction"
- 1988 – "May Day"
- 1988 – "Bang Bang Baby"
- 1989 – "Shock In My Heart"
- 1990 – "Hey Senorita"
- 2009 – "Love For Russia"
References[link]
External links[link]
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Huntington, Eddy |
| Alternative names | |
| Short description | |
| Date of birth | 29 October 1965 |
| Place of birth | |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
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This page contains text from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddy_Huntington
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
"Gorbachev" redirects here. For other uses, see Gorbachev (disambiguation).
This name uses Eastern Slavic naming customs; the patronymic is Sergeyevich and the family name is Gorbachev.
| Mikhail Gorbachev Михаил Горбачёв |
|
|---|---|
.jpg) |
|
| Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987 | |
| Head of state of the Soviet Union (President of the Soviet Union from 15 March 1990) |
|
| In office 1 October 1988 – 25 December 1991 |
|
| Prime Minister | Nikolai Ryzhkov Valentin Pavlov Ivan Silayev |
| Vice President | Gennady Yanayev |
| Preceded by | Andrei Gromyko |
| Succeeded by | Office abolished |
| 6th General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union | |
| In office 11 March 1985 – 24 August 1991 |
|
| Deputy | Vladimir Ivashko |
| Preceded by | Konstantin Chernenko |
| Succeeded by | Vladimir Ivashko (Acting) |
| Member of the Politburo | |
| In office 27 November 1979 – 24 August 1991 |
|
| Member of the Secretariat | |
| In office 27 November 1978 – 24 August 1991 |
|
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1931-03-02) 2 March 1931 (age 81) Privolnoye, Stavropol Krai, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union |
| Political party | Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1950–1991) Social Democratic Party of Russia (2001–2004) Union of Social Democrats (2007–present) Independent Democratic Party of Russia (2008–present) |
| Spouse(s) | Raisa Gorbachova (d. 1999) |
| Alma mater | Moscow State University |
| Profession | Lawyer |
| Religion | See religious affiliation |
| Signature |  |
| Website | The Gorbachev Foundation |
Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev (Russian: Михаи́л Серге́евич Горбачёв, tr. Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachyov; IPA: [mʲɪxɐˈil sʲɪrˈɡʲejəvʲɪtɕ ɡərbɐˈtɕof] ( listen); born 2 March 1931) is a former Soviet statesman, having served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991, and as the last head of state of the Soviet Union, having served from 1988 until its dissolution in 1991. He was the only general secretary in the history of the Soviet Union to have been born during the Communist rule.
Gorbachev was born in Stavropol Krai into a peasant Ukrainian–Russian family, and in his teens operated combine harvesters on collective farms. He graduated from Moscow State University in 1955 with a degree in law. While he was at the university, he joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and soon became very active within it. In 1970, he was appointed the First Party Secretary of the Stavropol Kraikom, First Secretary to the Supreme Soviet in 1974, and appointed a member of the Politburo in 1979. Within three years of the deaths of Soviet Leaders Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov, and Konstantin Chernenko, Gorbachev was elected General Secretary by the Politburo in 1985. Before he reached the post, he had occasionally been mentioned in western newspapers as a likely next leader and a man of the younger generation at the top level.
Gorbachev's attempts at reform as well as summit conferences with United States President Ronald Reagan and his reorientation of Soviet strategic aims contributed to the end of the Cold War, ended the political supremacy of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), and led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union. For these efforts, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990 and the Harvey Prize in 1992 as well as Honorary Doctorates from Durham University in 1995,[1] Trinity College in 2002[2] and University of Münster in 2005, [3] and Eureka College in 2009.
In September 2008, Gorbachev and billionaire Alexander Lebedev announced they would form the Independent Democratic Party of Russia,[4] and in May 2009 Gorbachev announced that the launch was imminent.[5] This was Gorbachev's third attempt to establish a political party, having started the Social Democratic Party of Russia in 2001 and the Union of Social-Democrats in 2007.[6]
Contents |
Early life[link]
![[icon]](http://web.archive.org./web/20120922013532/http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} |
This section requires expansion. |
Gorbachev was born on 2 March 1931 in Stavropol, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union, into a mixed Russian-Ukrainian family[7] of migrants from Voronezh and Chernigov Governorates. As a child, Gorbachev experienced the Soviet famine of 1932–1933. Gorbachev recalled in a memoir that "In that terrible year [in 1933] nearly half the population of my native village, Privolnoye, starved to death, including two sisters and one brother of my father."[8] Both of his grandfathers were arrested on false charges in the 1930s; his paternal grandfather was sent to exile in Siberia.[9][10]
His father was a combine harvester operator and World War II veteran called Sergey Andreyevich Gorbachev. His mother, Maria Panteleyevna Gorbacheva (née Gopkalo), was a kolkhoz worker.[10] In his teens, he operated combine harvesters on collective farms. He graduated from Moscow State University in 1955 with a degree in law. In 1967 he qualified as an agricultural economist via a correspondence masters degree at the Stavropol Institute of Agriculture. While at the university, he joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and soon became very active within the party.
Marriage and family[link]
|
This section requires expansion. |
Gorbachev met his future wife, Raisa Titarenko, at Moscow State University. They married in September 1953 and moved to Stavropol upon graduation. She gave birth to their only child, daughter Irina Mikhailovna Virganskaya (Ири́на Миха́йловна Вирга́нская), in 1957. Raisa Gorbacheva died of leukemia in 1999.[11]
Rise in the Communist Party[link]
Gorbachev attended the important twenty-second Party Congress in October 1961, where Nikita Khrushchev announced a plan to surpass the U.S. in per capita production within twenty years. At this point in his life, Gorbachev would rise in the Communist League hierarchy and worked his way up through territorial leagues of the party. He was promoted to Head of the Department of Party Organs in the Stavropol Agricultural Kraikom in 1963.[12]
In 1970, he was appointed First Party Secretary of the Stavropol Kraikom, a body of the CPSU, becoming one of the youngest provincial party chiefs in the nation.[12] In this position he helped reorganise the collective farms, improve workers' living conditions, expand the size of their private plots, and gave them a greater voice in planning.[12]
He was soon made a member of the Communist Party Central Committee in 1971. Three years later, in 1974, he was made a Deputy to the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union and Chairman of the Standing Commission on Youth Affairs. He was subsequently appointed to the Central Committee's Secretariat for Agriculture in 1978, replacing Fyodor Kulakov, who had supported Gorbachev's appointment, after Kulakov died of a heart attack.[12][13] In 1979, Gorbachev was promoted to the Politburo, the highest authority in the country, and received full membership in 1980. Gorbachev owed his steady rise to power to the patronage of Mikhail Suslov, the powerful chief ideologist of the CPSU.[14]
During Yuri Andropov's tenure as General Secretary (1982–1984), Gorbachev became one of the Politburo's most visible and active members.[14] With responsibility over personnel, working together with Andropov, 20 percent of the top echelon of government ministers and regional governors were replaced, often with younger men. During this time Grigory Romanov, Nikolai Ryzhkov, and Yegor Ligachev were elevated, the latter two working closely with Gorbachev, Ryzhkov on economics, Ligachev on personnel.[15][page needed]
Gorbachev's positions within the CPSU created more opportunities to travel abroad, and this would profoundly affect his political and social views in the future as leader of the country. In 1972, he headed a Soviet delegation to Belgium,[12] and three years later he led a delegation to West Germany; in 1983 he headed a delegation to Canada to meet with Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and members of the Commons and Senate. In 1984, he travelled to the United Kingdom, where he met British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
Upon Andropov's death in 1984, the aged Konstantin Chernenko took power; after his death the following year, it became clear to the party hierarchy that younger leadership was needed.[16] Gorbachev was elected General Secretary by the Politburo on 11 March 1985, only three hours after Chernenko's death. Upon his accession at age 54, he was the youngest member of the Politburo.[14]
General Secretary of the CPSU[link]
Mikhail Gorbachev was the Party's first leader to have been born after the Revolution. As de facto ruler of the USSR, he tried to reform the stagnating Party and the state economy by introducing glasnost ("openness"), perestroika ("restructuring"), demokratizatsiya ("democratization"), and uskoreniye ("acceleration" of economic development), which were launched at the 27th Congress of the CPSU in February 1986.
Domestic reforms[link]
| Economic growth and regression[17] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Indicators | Growth (in %) | ||
| 1986 | GNP growth | 4.1 | ||
| Internal debt as % GDP | 20 | |||
| Budget deficit as % GDP | –2.4 | |||
| Balance payments in convertible currencies (US dollars billions) | 0.637 | |||
| 1987 | GNP growth | 1.3 | ||
| Internal debt as % GDP | 22 | |||
| Budget deficit as % GDP | –6.2 | |||
| Balance payments in convertible currencies (US dollars billions) | –2.3 | |||
| 1988 | GNP growth | 2.1 | ||
| Internal debt as % GDP | 36 | |||
| Budget deficit as % GDP | –8.8 | |||
| Balance payments in convertible currencies (US dollars billions) | –0.72 | |||
| 1989 | GNP growth | 1.5 | ||
| Internal debt as % GDP | 43 | |||
| Budget deficit as % GDP | –11 | |||
| Balance payments in convertible currencies (US dollars billions) | –3.7 | |||
| 1990 | GNP growth | –12 | ||
| Internal debt as % GDP | 55 | |||
| Budget deficit as % GDP | –14 | |||
| Balance payments in convertible currencies (US dollars billions) | –11.8 | |||
| 1991 | GNP growth | –13 | ||
| Internal debt as % GDP | — | |||
| Budget deficit as % GDP | –20 | |||
| Balance payments in convertible currencies (US dollars billions) | — | |||
Gorbachev's primary goal as General Secretary was to revive the Soviet economy after the stagnant Brezhnev years.[14] In 1985, he announced that the Soviet economy was stalled and that reorganization was needed. Gorbachev proposed a "vague programme of reform", which was adopted at the April Plenum of the Central Committee.[13] He called for fast-paced technological modernization and increased industrial and agricultural productivity, and he attempted to reform the Soviet bureaucracy to be more efficient and prosperous.[14]
Gorbachev soon realized that fixing the Soviet economy would be nearly impossible without reforming the political and social structure of the Communist nation.[18] Gorbachev also initiated the concept of gospriyomka (state acceptance of production) during his time as leader,[19] which represented state approval of goods in an effort to maintain quality control and combat inferior manufacturing.[20]
He made a speech in May 1985 in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) advocating widespread reforms. The reforms began in personnel changes; the most notable change was the replacement of Andrei Gromyko as Minister of Foreign Affairs with Eduard Shevardnadze. Gromyko, disparaged as "Mr Nyet" in the West, had served for 28 years as Minister of Foreign Affairs and was considered an 'old thinker'. Robert D. English notes that, despite Shevardnadze's diplomatic inexperience, Gorbachev "shared with him an outlook" and experience in managing an agricultural region of the Soviet Union (Georgia), which meant that both had weak links to the powerful military-industrial complex.[21]
A number of reformist ideas were discussed by Politburo members. One of the first reforms Gorbachev introduced was the anti-alcohol campaign, begun in May 1985, which was designed to fight widespread alcoholism in the Soviet Union. Prices of vodka, wine, and beer were raised, and their sales were restricted. It was pursued vigorously and cut both alcohol sales and government revenue.[22] It was a serious blow to the state budget—a loss of approximately 100 billion rubles according to Alexander Yakovlev—after alcohol production migrated to the black market economy. The program proved to be a useful symbol for change in the country, however.[22]
The purpose of reform, however, was to prop up the centrally planned economy, not transition to market socialism. Speaking in late summer 1985 to the secretaries for economic affairs of the central committees of the East European communist parties, Gorbachev said: "Many of you see the solution to your problems in resorting to market mechanisms in place of direct planning. Some of you look at the market as a lifesaver for your economies. But, comrades, you should not think about lifesavers but about the ship, and the ship is socialism."[23]
[edit] Perestroika
Main article: Perestroika
Gorbachev initiated his new policy of perestroika and its attendant radical reforms in 1986; they were sketched, but not fully spelled out, at the XXVIIth Party Congress in February–March 1986. The new policy of "reconstruction" was introduced in an attempt to overcome the economic stagnation by creating a dependable and effective mechanism for accelerating economic and social progress.[24]
According to Gorbachev, perestroika was the "conference of development of democracy, socialist self-government, encouragement of initiative and creative endeavor, improved order and disciple[verification needed], more glasnost, criticism and self-criticism in all spheres of our society. It is utmost respect for the individual and consideration for personal dignity."[24]
Domestic changes continued apace. In a bombshell speech during Armenian SSR's Central Committee Plenum of the Communist Party, the young First Secretary of Armenia's Hrazdan Regional Communist Party, Hayk Kotanjian, criticised rampant corruption in the Armenian Communist Party's highest echelons, implicating Armenian SSR Communist Party First Secretary Karen Demirchyan and calling for his resignation. Symbolically, intellectual Andrei Sakharov was invited to return to Moscow by Gorbachev in December 1986 after six years of internal exile in Gorky. During the same month, however, signs of the nationalities problem that would haunt the later years of the Soviet Union surfaced as riots, named Jeltoqsan, occurred in Kazakhstan after Dinmukhamed Kunayev was replaced as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan.
The Central Committee Plenum in January 1987 would see the crystallisation of Gorbachev's political reforms, including proposals for multi-candidate elections and the appointment of non-Party members to government positions. He also first raised the idea of expanding co-operatives at the plenum. Economic reforms took up much of the rest of 1987, as a new law giving enterprises more independence was passed in June and Gorbachev released a book, Perestroika: New Thinking for Our Country and the World, in November, elucidating his main ideas for reform. In 1987 he rehabilitated many opponents of Joseph Stalin, another part of the De-Stalinization, which began in 1956, when Lenin's Testament was published.
[edit] Glasnost
Main article: Glasnost
1988 would see Gorbachev's introduction of glasnost, which gave new freedoms to the Soviet people, including greater freedom of speech. This was a radical change, as control of speech and suppression of government criticism had previously been a central part of the Soviet system.[citation needed] The press became far less controlled, and thousands of political prisoners and many dissidents were released. Gorbachev's goal in undertaking glasnost was to pressure conservatives within the CPSU who opposed his policies of economic restructuring, and he also hoped that through different ranges of openness, debate and participation, the Soviet people would support his reform initiatives. At the same time, he opened himself and his reforms up for more public criticism, evident in Nina Andreyeva's critical letter in a March edition of Sovetskaya Rossiya.[13] Gorbachev acknowledged that his liberalising policies of glasnost and perestroika owed a great deal to Alexander Dubček's "Socialism with a human face".
The Law on Cooperatives enacted in May 1988 was perhaps the most radical of the economic reforms during the early part of the Gorbachev era. For the first time since Vladimir Lenin's New Economic Policy, the law permitted private ownership of businesses in the service, manufacturing, and foreign-trade sectors. The law initially imposed high taxes and employment restrictions, although these were ignored by some SSRs. Later the restrictions were revised to avoid discouraging private-sector activity. Under the provision for private ownership, cooperative restaurants, shops, and manufacturers became part of the Soviet scene. Under the new law, the restructuring of large 'All-Union' industrial organisations also began. Aeroflot was split up, eventually becoming several independent airlines. These newly autonomous business organisations were encouraged to seek foreign investment.
In June 1988, at the CPSU's Party Conference, Gorbachev launched radical reforms meant to reduce party control of the government apparatus. He proposed a new executive in the form of a presidential system, as well as a new legislative element, to be called the Congress of People's Deputies.[13] Elections to the Congress of People's Deputies were held throughout the Soviet Union in March and April 1989. This was the first free election in the Soviet Union since 1917. Gorbachev became Chairman of the Supreme Soviet (or head of state) on 25 May 1989.
Presidency of the USSR[link]
On 15 March 1990, Gorbachev was elected as the first executive President of the Soviet Union[13] with 59% of the Deputies' votes being an unopposed candidate. The Congress met for the first time on 25 May in order to elect representatives from Congress to sit on the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Nonetheless, the Congress posed problems for Gorbachev; its sessions were televised, airing more criticism and encouraging people to expect ever more rapid reform. In the elections, many Party candidates were defeated. Furthermore, Boris Yeltsin was elected in Moscow and returned to political prominence to become an increasingly vocal critic of Gorbachev.[13]
Foreign engagements[link]
In contrast to his controversial domestic reforms, Gorbachev was largely hailed in the West for his 'New Thinking' in foreign affairs. During his tenure, he sought to improve relations and trade with the West by reducing Cold War tensions. He established close relationships with several Western leaders, such as West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, U.S. President Ronald Reagan, and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher—who famously remarked: "I like Mr. Gorbachev; we can do business together."[25]
Gorbachev understood the link between achieving international détente and domestic reform and thus began extending 'New Thinking' abroad immediately. On 8 April 1985, he announced the suspension of the deployment of SS-20s in Europe as a move towards resolving intermediate-range nuclear weapons (INF) issues. Later that year, in September, Gorbachev proposed that the Soviets and Americans both cut their nuclear arsenals in half. He went to France on his first trip abroad as Soviet leader in October. November saw the Geneva Summit between Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan. Though no concrete agreement was made, Gorbachev and Reagan struck a personal relationship and decided to hold further meetings.[13]
January 1986 would see Gorbachev make his boldest international move so far, when he announced his proposal for the elimination of intermediate-range nuclear weapons in Europe and his strategy for eliminating all nuclear weapons by the year 2000 (often referred to as the 'January Proposal'). He also began the process of withdrawing troops from Afghanistan and Mongolia on 28 July.[13] Nonetheless, many observers, such as Jack F. Matlock Jr. (despite generally praising Gorbachev as well as Reagan), have criticized Gorbachev for taking too long to achieve withdrawal from the Afghanistan War, citing it as an example of lingering elements of 'old thinking' in Gorbachev.[26] Others, such as Heritage Foundation foreign policy analyst Michael Johns, criticized Gorbachev's military support for the Ethiopian regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam, which Johns argued was a contributing factor to Ethiopia's mass famine.[27]
On 11 October 1986, Gorbachev and Reagan met in Reykjavík, Iceland at Höfði to discuss reducing intermediate-range nuclear weapons in Europe. To the immense surprise of both men's advisers, the two agreed in principle to removing INF systems from Europe and to equal global limits of 100 INF missile warheads. They also essentially agreed in principle to eliminate all nuclear weapons in 10 years (by 1996), instead of by the year 2000 as in Gorbachev's original outline.[26] Continuing trust issues, particularly over reciprocity and Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), meant that the summit is often regarded as a failure for not producing a concrete agreement immediately, or for leading to a staged elimination of nuclear weapons. In the long term, nevertheless, this would culminate in the signing of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty in 1987, after Gorbachev had proposed this elimination on 22 July 1987 (and it was subsequently agreed on in Geneva on 24 November).[13]
In February 1988, Gorbachev announced the full withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan. The withdrawal was completed the following year, although the civil war continued as the Mujahedin pushed to overthrow the pro-Soviet Najibullah government. An estimated 28,000 Soviets were killed between 1979 and 1989 as a result of the Afghanistan War.
Also during 1988, Gorbachev announced that the Soviet Union would abandon the Brezhnev Doctrine, and allow the Eastern bloc nations to freely determine their own internal affairs. Jokingly dubbed the "Sinatra Doctrine" by Gorbachev's Foreign Ministry spokesman Gennadi Gerasimov, this policy of non-intervention in the affairs of the other Warsaw Pact states proved to be the most momentous of Gorbachev's foreign policy reforms. In his 6 July 1989 speech arguing for a "common European home" before the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France, Gorbachev declared: "The social and political order in some countries changed in the past, and it can change in the future too, but this is entirely a matter for each people to decide. Any interference in the internal affairs, or any attempt to limit the sovereignty of another state, friend, ally, or another, would be inadmissible." A month earlier, on 4 June 1989, elections had taken place in Poland and the communist government had already been deposed.
Moscow's abandonment of the Brezhnev Doctrine allowed the rise of popular upheavals in Eastern Europe throughout 1989, in which Communism was overthrown. By the end of 1989, revolts had spread from one Eastern European capital to another, ousting the regimes built in Eastern Europe after World War II. With the exception of Romania, the popular upheavals against the pro-Soviet Communist regimes were all peaceful ones (see Revolutions of 1989). The loosening of Soviet hegemony over Eastern Europe effectively ended the Cold War, and for this, Gorbachev was awarded the Otto Hahn Peace Medal in Gold in 1989 and the Nobel Peace Prize on 15 October 1990.
The rest of 1989 was taken up by the increasingly problematic nationalities question and the dramatic fragmentation of the Eastern Bloc. Despite international détente reaching unprecedented levels, with the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan completed in January and U.S.-Soviet talks continuing between Gorbachev and George H. W. Bush, domestic reforms were suffering from increasing divergence between reformists, who criticised the pace of change, and conservatives, who criticized the extent of change. Gorbachev states that he tried to find the middle ground between both groups, but this would draw more criticism towards him.[13] The story from this point on moves away from reforms and becomes one of the nationalities question and the eventual dissolution of the Soviet Union.
On 9 November, people in the German Democratic Republic (East Germany/GDR) were suddenly allowed to cross through the Berlin Wall into West Berlin, following a peaceful protest against the country's dictatorial administration, including a demonstration by some one million people in East Berlin on 4 November. Unlike earlier riots which were ended by military force with the help of USSR, Gorbachev, who came to be lovingly called "Gorby" in West Germany, now decided not to interfere with the process in Germany.[28] He stated that German reunification was an internal German matter.
Coit D. Blacker wrote in 1990 that the Soviet leadership "appeared to have believed that whatever loss of authority the Soviet Union might suffer in Eastern Europe would be more than offset by a net increase in its influence in Western Europe."[29] Nevertheless, it is unlikely that Gorbachev ever intended for the complete dismantling of Communism in the Warsaw Pact countries. Rather, he assumed that the Communist parties of Eastern Europe could be reformed in a similar way to the reforms he hoped to achieve in the CPSU. Just as perestroika was aimed at making the USSR more efficient economically and politically, Gorbachev believed that the Comecon and Warsaw Pact could be reformed into more effective entities. Alexander Yakovlev, a close advisor to Gorbachev, would later state that it would have been "absurd to keep the system" in Eastern Europe. In contrast to Gorbachev, Yakovlev had come to the conclusion that the Soviet-dominated Comecon was inherently unworkable and that the Warsaw Pact had "no relevance to real life."[30]
Dissolution of the Soviet Union[link]
Main article: Dissolution of the Soviet Union
While Gorbachev's political initiatives were positive for freedom and democracy in the Soviet Union and its Eastern bloc allies, the economic policy of his government gradually brought the country close to disaster. By the end of the 1980s, severe shortages of basic food supplies (meat, sugar) led to the reintroduction of the war-time system of distribution using food cards that limited each citizen to a certain amount of product per month. Compared to 1985, the state deficit grew from 0 to 109 billion rubles; gold funds decreased from 2,000 to 200 tons; and external debt grew from 0 to 120 billion dollars.
Furthermore, the democratisation of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe had irreparably undermined the power of the CPSU and Gorbachev himself. The relaxation of censorship and attempts to create more political openness had the unintended effect of re-awakening long-suppressed nationalist and anti-Russian feelings in the Soviet republics. Calls for greater independence from Moscow's rule grew louder, especially in the Baltic republics of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia which had been annexed into the Soviet Union by Joseph Stalin in 1940. Nationalist feeling also took hold in Georgia, Ukraine, Armenia and Azerbaijan.
In December 1986, the first signs of the nationalities problem that would haunt the later years of the Soviet Union's existence surfaced as riots, named Jeltoqsan, occurred in Alma Ata and other areas of Kazakhstan after Dinmukhamed Kunayev was replaced as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan. Nationalism would then surface in Russia in May 1987, as 600 members of Pamyat, a nascent Russian nationalist group, demonstrated in Moscow and were becoming increasingly linked to Boris Yeltsin, who received their representatives at a meeting.[13]
Glasnost hastened awareness of the national sovereignty problem. The free flow of information had been so completely suppressed for so long in the Soviet Union that many of the ruling class had all but forgotten that the Soviet Union was an empire conquered through military force and consolidated by the persecution of millions of people, and not a union voluntarily entered into by local populations. Thus, the extremity of local desire for independent control of their own affairs took these leaders by surprise, and the leaders were unprepared for the depth of the long pent-up feelings that were released.
Violence erupted in Nagorno-Karabakh—an Armenian-populated enclave of Azerbaijan—between February and April, when Armenians living in the area began a new wave of demands to transfer of NKAO from Azerbaijan to Armenia which eventually led to full scale Nagorno-Karabakh War.[31] Gorbachev imposed a temporary solution, but it did not last, as fresh trouble arose in Nagorno-Karabakh between June and July. Turmoil would once again return in late 1988, this time in Armenia itself, when the Leninakan Earthquake hit the region on 7 December. Poor local infrastructure magnified the hazard and some 25,000 people died.[13] Gorbachev was forced to break off his trip to the U.S. and cancel planned travels to Cuba and Britain.[13]
In March and April 1989 elections to the Congress of People's Deputies took place throughout the Soviet Union. This returned many pro-independence republicans, as many CPSU candidates were rejected. The televised Congress debates allowed the dissemination of pro-independence propositions. Indeed, 1989 would see numerous nationalistic protests; for example, beginning with the Baltic republics in January, laws were passed in most non-Russian republics giving precedence for the local language over Russian.
9 April would see the crackdown of nationalist demonstrations by Soviet troops in Tbilisi. There would be further bloody protests in Uzbekistan in June, where Uzbeks and Meskhetian Turks clashed in Fergana. Apart from this violence, three major events that altered the face of the nationalities issue occurred in 1989. Estonia had declared its sovereignty on November 16, 1988, to be followed by Lithuania in May 1989 and by Latvia in July (the Communist Party of Lithuania would also declare its independence from the CPSU in December). This brought the Union and the republics into clear confrontation and would form a precedent for other republics.
Around the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in July 1989, the Soviet government formally acknowledged that the plan had included the inclusion of the Baltic states into the Soviet sphere of influence, which preceded and paved the way for their annexation into the USSR in 1940. The revelation supported the long-denied proposition that the Baltic states had been involuntarily brought into the Soviet Union and substantially boosted the Baltic aspirations to re-establish their independence. Finally, the Eastern bloc fragmented in the autumn of 1989, raising hopes that Gorbachev would extend his non-interventionist doctrine to the internal workings of the USSR.[13]
Crisis of the Union: 1990–1991[link]
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1990 began with nationalist turmoil in January. Azerbaijanis rioted and troops were sent in to restore order; many Moldovans demonstrated in favour of unification with post-Communist Romania; and Lithuanian demonstrations continued. The same month, in a hugely significant move, Armenia asserted its right to veto laws coming from the All-Union level, thus intensifying the 'war of laws' between republics and Moscow.[13]
Soon after, the CPSU, which had already lost much of its control, began to lose even more power as Gorbachev deepened political reform. The February Central Committee Plenum advocated multi-party elections; local elections held between February and March returned a large number of pro-independence candidates. The Congress of People's Deputies then amended the Soviet Constitution in March, removing Article 6, which guaranteed the monopoly of the CPSU. The process of political reform was therefore coming from above and below, and was gaining a momentum that would augment republican nationalism. Soon after the constitutional amendment, Lithuania declared independence and elected Vytautas Landsbergis as Chairman of the Supreme Council (head of state).[13]
On 15 March, Gorbachev himself was elected as the only President of the Soviet Union by the Congress of People's Deputies and chose a Presidential Council of 15 politicians. Gorbachev was essentially creating his own political support base independent of CPSU conservatives and radical reformers. The new Executive was designed to be a powerful position to guide the spiraling reform process, and the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union and Congress of People's Deputies had already given Gorbachev increasingly presidential powers in February. This would be again a source of criticism from reformers. Despite the apparent increase in Gorbachev's power, he was unable to stop the process of nationalistic assertion. Further embarrassing facts about Soviet history were revealed in April, when the government admitted that the NKVD had carried out the infamous Katyn Massacre of Polish army officers during World War II; previously, the USSR had blamed Nazi Germany. More significantly for Gorbachev's position, Boris Yeltsin was reaching a new level of prominence, as he was elected Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR in May, effectively making him the de jure leader of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. Problems for Gorbachev would once more come from the Russian parliament in June, when it declared the precedence of Russian laws over All-Union level legislation.[13]
Gorbachev's personal position continued changing. At the 28th CPSU Congress in July, Gorbachev was re-elected General Secretary but this position was now completely independent of Soviet government, and the Politburo had no say in the ruling of the country. Gorbachev further reduced Party power in the same month, when he issued a decree abolishing Party control of all areas of the media and broadcasting. At the same time, Gorbachev was working to consolidate his presidential position, culminating in the Supreme Soviet granting him special powers to rule by decree in September in order to pass a much-needed plan for transition to a market economy. However, the Supreme Soviet could not agree on which program to adopt. Gorbachev pressed on with political reform, his proposal for setting up a new Soviet government, with a Soviet of the Federation consisting of representatives from all 15 republics, was passed through the Supreme Soviet in November. In December, Gorbachev was once more granted increased executive power by the Supreme Soviet, arguing that such moves were necessary to counter "the dark forces of nationalism". Such moves led to Eduard Shevardnadze's resignation; Gorbachev's former ally warned of an impending dictatorship. This move was a serious blow to Gorbachev personally and to his efforts for reform.[13]
Meanwhile, Gorbachev was losing further ground to nationalists. October 1990 saw the founding of DemRossiya, the Russian pro-reform coalition; a few days later, both Ukraine and Russia declared their laws completely sovereign over Soviet level laws. The 'war of laws' had become an open battle, with the Supreme Soviet refusing to recognise the actions of the two republics. Gorbachev would publish the draft of a new union treaty in November, which envisioned a continued union called the Union of Sovereign Soviet Republics, but, going into 1991, the actions of Gorbachev were steadily being overtaken by the centrifugal secessionist forces.[13]
January and February would see a new level of turmoil in the Baltic republics. On 10 January 1991 Gorbachev issued an ultimatum-like request[32] addressing the Lithuanian Supreme Council demanding the restoration of the validity of the constitution of the Soviet Union in Lithuania and the revoking of all anti-constitutional laws. In his Memoirs, Gorbachev asserts that, on 12 January, he convened the Council of the Federation and political measures to prevent bloodshed were agreed, including sending representatives of the Council of the Federation on a "fact-finding mission" to Vilnius. However, before the delegation arrived, the local branches of the KGB and armed forces had worked together to seize the TV tower in Vilnius; Gorbachev asked the heads of the KGB and military if they had approved such action, and there is no evidence that they, or Gorbachev, ever approved this move. Gorbachev cites documents found in the RSFSR Prokuratura after the August coup, which only mentioned that "some 'authorities'" had sanctioned the actions.[13]
A book called Alpha – the KGB's Top Secret Unit also suggests that a "KGB operation co-ordinated with the military" was undertaken by the KGB Alpha Group.[33] Archie Brown, in The Gorbachev Factor, uses the memoirs of many people around Gorbachev and in the upper echelons of the Soviet political landscape, to implicate General Valentin Varennikov, a member of the August coup plotters, and General Viktor Achalov, another August coup conspirator. These persons were characterised as individuals "who were prepared to remove Gorbachev from his presidential office unconstitutionally" and "were more than capable of using unauthorised violence against nationalist separatists some months earlier". Brown criticises Gorbachev for "a conscious tilt in the direction of the conservative forces he was trying to keep within an increasingly fragile coalition" who would later betray him; he also criticises Gorbachev "for his tougher line and heightened rhetoric against the Lithuanians in the days preceding the attack and for his slowness in condemning the killings" but notes that Gorbachev did not approve any action and was seeking political solutions.[34]
As a result of continued violence, at least 14 civilians were killed and more than 600 injured from 11–13 January 1991 in Vilnius, Lithuania. The strong Western reaction and the actions of Russian democratic forces put the president and government of the Soviet Union into an awkward situation, as news of support for Lithuanians from Western democracies started to appear. Further problems surfaced in Riga, Latvia, on 20 and 21 January, where OMON (special Ministry of the Interior) troops killed 4 people. Archie Brown suggests that Gorbachev's response this time was better, condemning the rogue action, sending his condolences and suggesting that secession could take place if it went through the procedures outlined in the Soviet constitution. According to Gorbachev's aide, Shakhnazarov (quoted by Archie Brown), Gorbachev was finally beginning to accept the inevitability of "losing" the Baltic republics, although he would try all political means to preserve the Union. Brown believes that this put him in "imminent danger" of being overthrown by hard-liners against the secession.[34]
Gorbachev thus continued to draw up a new treaty of union which would have created a truly voluntary federation in an increasingly democratised Soviet Union. The new treaty was strongly supported by the Central Asian republics, who needed the economic power and markets of the Soviet Union to prosper. However, the more radical reformists, such as Russian SFSR President Boris Yeltsin, were increasingly convinced that a rapid transition to a market economy was required and were more than happy to contemplate the disintegration of the Soviet Union if that was required to achieve their aims. Nevertheless, a referendum on the future of the Soviet Union was held in March (with a referendum in Russia on the creation of a presidency), which returned an average of 76.4% in the nine republics where it was taken, with a turn-out of 80% of the adult population.[34] Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Armenia, Georgia and Moldova did not participate. Following this, an April meeting at Novo-Ogarevo between Gorbachev and the heads of the nine republics issued a statement on speeding up the creation of a new Union treaty.
In May, a hardline newspaper published “Architect amidst the Ruins”, an open letter criticizing Yakovlev (often referred to as the Architect of Perestroika) which was signed by Gennady Zyuganov. Many also saw this publication as the start of a campaign to oust Gorbachev.
Meanwhile, on 12 June 1991 Boris Yeltsin was elected President of the Russian Federation by 57.3% of the vote (with a turnout of 74%).[13]
The August 1991 coup[link]
Main article: Soviet coup attempt of 1991
In contrast to the reformers' moderate approach to the new treaty, the hard-line apparatchiks, still strong within the CPSU and military establishment, were completely opposed to anything which might lead to the break-up of the Soviet Union. On the eve of the treaty's signing, the hardliners struck.
Hardliners in the Soviet leadership, calling themselves the 'State Emergency Committee', launched the August coup in 1991 in an attempt to remove Gorbachev from power and prevent the signing of the new union treaty. During this time, Gorbachev spent three days (19, 20 and 21 August) under house arrest at a dacha in the Crimea before being freed and restored to power. However, upon his return, Gorbachev found that neither union nor Russian power structures heeded his commands as support had swung over to Yeltsin, whose defiance had led to the coup's collapse.
Furthermore, Gorbachev was forced to fire large numbers of his Politburo and, in several cases, arrest them. Those arrested for high treason included the "Gang of Eight" that had led the coup, including Kryuchkov, Yazov, Pavlov and Yanayev. Pugo was found shot; and Akhromeyev, who had offered his assistance but was never implicated, was found hanging in his Kremlin office. Most of these men had been former allies of Gorbachev's or promoted by him, which drew fresh criticism.
Aftermath of the coup and the final collapse[link]
Following the coup, Boris Yeltsin ordered the CPSU to suspend its activities on the territory of Russia and closed the Central Committee building at Staraya Square. The Russian flag now flew beside the Soviet flag at the Kremlin. Gorbachev resigned as General Secretary of the CPSU on 24 August and advised the Central Committee to dissolve. Gorbachev's hopes of a new Union were further hit when the Congress of People's Deputies dissolved itself on 5 September. Though Gorbachev and the representatives of eight republics (excluding Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia) signed an agreement on forming a new economic community on 18 October, events were overtaking Gorbachev.[13]
With the country in a rapid state of deterioration, the final blow to Gorbachev's vision was effectively dealt by a Ukrainian referendum on 1 December, where the Ukrainian people voted for independence. The presidents of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus met in Belovezh Forest, near Brest, Belarus, on 8 December, founding the Commonwealth of Independent States and declaring the end of the Soviet Union in the Belavezha Accords. Gorbachev was presented with a fait accompli and reluctantly agreed with Boris Yeltsin, on 17 December, to dissolve the Soviet Union. Gorbachev resigned on 25 December and the Soviet Union was formally dissolved the following day on 26 December 1991. Two days after Gorbachev left office, on 27 December, Yeltsin moved into Gorbachev's old office.[13]
Gorbachev had aimed to maintain the CPSU as a united party but move it in the direction of social democracy. But when the CPSU was proscribed after the August coup, Gorbachev was left with no effective power base beyond the armed forces. In the aftermath of the coup, his rival Yeltsin quickly worked to consolidate his hold on the Russian government as well as the remants of the Soviet armed forces, paving the way for Gorbachev's downfall.
Post-Presidency[link]
Following his resignation and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Gorbachev remained active in Russian politics. During the early years of the post-Soviet era, he expressed criticism at the reforms carried out by Russian president Boris Yeltsin. When Yeltsin called a referendum for 25 April 1993 in an attempt to achieve even greater powers as president, Gorbachev did not vote and instead called for new presidential elections.[35]
Following a failed run for the presidency in 1996, Gorbachev established the Social Democratic Party of Russia, a union between several Russian social democratic parties. He resigned as party leader in May 2004 following a disagreement with the party's chairman over the direction taken in the 2003 election campaign. The party was later banned in 2007 by the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation due to its failure to establish local offices with at least 500 members in the majority of Russian regions, which is required by Russian law for a political organization to be listed as a party.[36] Later that year, Gorbachev founded a new political party, called the Union of Social-Democrats.[6] In June 2004, Gorbachev represented Russia at the funeral of Ronald Reagan.
Gorbachev has also appeared in numerous media channels since his resignation from office. In 1993, Gorbachev appeared as himself in the Wim Wenders film Faraway, So Close!, the sequel to Wings of Desire. In 1997, Gorbachev appeared with his granddaughter Anastasia in an internationally screened television commercial for Pizza Hut.[37] The U.S. corporation's payment for the 60-second ad went to Gorbachev's not-for-profit Gorbachev Foundation.[38] In 2007, French luxury brand Louis Vuitton announced that Gorbachev would be shown in an ad campaign for their signature luggage.
Following Boris Yeltsin's death on 23 April 2007, Gorbachev released a eulogy for him, stating that Yeltsin was to be commended for assuming the "difficult task of leading the nation into the post-Soviet era", and "on whose shoulders are both great deeds for the country and serious errors."[39]
On 16 June 2009, Gorbachev announced that he had recorded an album of old Russian romantic ballads entitled Songs for Raisa to raise money for a charity dedicated to his late wife. On the album, he sings the songs himself accompanied by Russian musician Andrei Makarevich.[40]
Since his resignation, Gorbachev has remained involved in world affairs. He founded the Gorbachev Foundation in 1992, headquartered in San Francisco. He later founded Green Cross International, with which he was one of three major sponsors of the Earth Charter. He also became a member of the Club of Rome and the Club of Madrid,[41] an independent non-profit organization composed of 81 democratic former presidents and Prime Ministers from 57 different countries.
In the decade that followed the Cold War, Gorbachev opposed both the U.S.-led NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999 and the U.S.-led Iraq War in 2003. On 27 July 2007, Gorbachev criticized U.S. foreign policy: “What has followed are unilateral actions, what has followed are wars, what has followed is ignoring the UN Security Council, ignoring international law and ignoring the will of the people, even the American people,” he said.[42] That same year, he visited New Orleans, a city hard-hit by Hurricane Katrina, and promised he would return in 2011 to personally lead a local revolution if the U.S. government had not repaired the levees by that time. He said that revolutionary action should be a last resort.[43]
Concerning the 2008 South Ossetia war, in a 12 August 2008 op-ed essay in The Washington Post,[44] Gorbachev criticized the U.S. support for Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili and for moving to bring the Caucasus into the sphere of its national interest. He later said the following:
Russia did not want this crisis. The Russian leadership is in a strong enough position domestically; it did not need a little victorious war. Russia was dragged into the fray by the recklessness of the Georgian president, Mikheil Saakashvili.... The decision by the Russian president, Dmitri Medvedev, to now cease hostilities was the right move by a responsible leader. The Russian president acted calmly, confidently and firmly... The planners of this campaign clearly wanted to make sure that, whatever the outcome, Russia would be blamed for worsening the situation. The West then mounted a propaganda attack against Russia, with the American news media leading the way."[45]
In September 2008 Gorbachev announced he would make a comeback to Russian politics along with a former KGB officer, Alexander Lebedev.[46] Their party is known as the Independent Democratic Party of Russia. He also is part owner of the opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta.[47]
On 20 March 2009, Gorbachev met with United States President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden in efforts to "reset" strained relations between Russia and the United States.
On 27 March 2009, Gorbachev visited Eureka College, Illinois, which is the alma mater of former U.S. president Ronald W. Reagan with whom he negotiated historic nuclear arms reduction treaties. Gorbachev toured the Reagan Museum on campus, met with students, and spoke at a convocation in the Reagan Center; he then traveled to the nearby Peoria Civic Center in Peoria, Illinois as the keynote speaker at the combined George Washington/Ronald Reagan Day Dinner where college president Dr. J. David Arnold named him an Honorary Reagan Fellow of Eureka College.[48]
To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Gorbachev accompanied former Polish leader Lech Wałęsa and German Chancellor Angela Merkel at a celebration in Berlin on 9 November 2009.[49]
On 7 June 2010, Gorbachev gave an interview before an "almost an annual pilgrimage" to London for a summer gala to raise money for The Raisa Gorbachev Foundation, which funds cancer care for children. The clinic in St. Petersburg can house 80 child patients. From the Interview: "Her death, after several years of ill-health, left Gorbachev bereft. He lives in Moscow, has not remarried and finds solace with his daughter and grand-daughters. He would not be coaxed to talk about Raisa, except fleetingly in the context of the charity. " [50]
Criticism of Vladimir Putin[link]
Although he has credited Vladimir Putin for stabilizing Russia in the aftermath of the initial and turbulent years of the post-Soviet era, Gorbachev has become critical of both Putin and his successor (and predecessor) Dmitry Medvedev since at least March 2011.[51] His main grievances about the "tandem" are backsliding on democracy, corruption and the dominance of security officers. Gorbachev is also dissatisfied by the fact that he has not been allowed to register his social democratic party.[52]
When being interviewed by the BBC to reflect on the 20th anniversary of the August Coup, Gorbachev again announced his dissatisfaction with the policies and rule of Putin. Speaking of the status of democracy in the Russian Federation, he proclaimed: "The electoral system we had was nothing remarkable but they have literally castrated it." Gorbachev also stated that he believes Putin should not seek a third term as the Russian president in 2012.[53]
In response to the 2011 Russian protests as a result of United Russia's controversial victory in the Russian legislative election, 2011, he called on the authorities to hold a new election, citing electoral irregularities and ballot box stuffing.[54]
Call for global restructuring[link]
Gorbachev calls for a kind of perestroika or restructuring of societies around the world, starting in particular with that of the United States, because he is of the view that the late-2000s financial crisis shows that the Washington Consensus economic model is a failure that will sooner or later have to be replaced. According to Gorbachev, countries that have rejected the Washington consensus and the International Monetary Fund approach to economic development, such as Brazil and China, have done far better economically on the whole and achieved far more fair results for the average citizen, than countries that have accepted it.[55]
Gorbachev is also a member of the Club de Madrid, a group of more than 80 former leaders of democratic countries, which works to strengthen democratic governance and leadership.[56]
Honours and accolades[link]
Soviet Union and Russia Decorations[link]
- Order of St. Andrew (2011), The highest state decoration of Russia. He was awarded because of his hard work during his USSR leadership.
- Order of Honour (2001)
- Order of Lenin (1971, 1973, 1981)
- Order of October Revolution (1978)
- Order of the Badge of Honour (1966)
- Order of the Red Banner of Labour (1947) He was awarded when he was only 16 and was one of the youngest recipient of the award.
- Medal "For Labour Valour"
- Medal "For Strengthening Military Cooperation"
- Medal "In Commemoration of the 1500th Anniversary of Kiev"
- Jubilee Medal "Forty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War 1941-1945"
Foreign decorations and awards[link]
- In 1987, Gorbachev was awarded the Indira Gandhi Prize from government of India
- In 1990, Gorbachev was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for "his leading role in the peace process which today characterizes important parts of the international community."[57]
- On 4 May 1992, Gorbachev was awarded the first ever Ronald Reagan Freedom Award at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.[58]
- On 6 May 1992, Gorbachev was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws from Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri.[59]
- In 1993 Gorbachev was awarded a Legum Doctor, honoris causa from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. He was also given an honorary degree from The University of Calgary in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. In the same year, he was conferred with the Freedom of the City of Aberdeen.
- Gorbachev was the 1994 recipient of the Grawemeyer Award for improving world order, awarded by the University of Louisville, Kentucky.
- In 1995, Gorbachev received an Honorary Doctorate from Durham University, County Durham, England for his contribution to "the cause of political tolerance and an end to Cold War-style confrontation".[60]
- For his historic role in the evolution of glasnost, and for his leadership in the disarmament negotiations with the United States during the Reagan administration, Gorbachev was awarded the Courage of Conscience award 20 October 1996.[61]
- In 2002, Gorbachev received an honorary degree of a Doctor in Laws (LL.D.) "in recognition of his political service and contribution to peace" from Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.[2]
- Gorbachev, together with Bill Clinton and Sophia Loren, were awarded the 2004 Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children for their recording of Sergei Prokofiev's Peter and the Wolf.
- In 2005, Gorbachev was awarded the Point Alpha Prize for his role in supporting German reunification. He also received an honorary doctorate from the University of Münster.[3]
- In 2011, Gorbachev was awarded a honoris causa doctorate from University of Liège in Liège, Belgium.
Religious affiliation[link]
Gorbachev was baptised in the Russian Orthodox Church as a child.
At the end of a November 1996 interview on CSPAN's Booknotes, Gorbachev described his plans for future books. He made the following reference to God: "I don't know how many years God will be giving me, [or] what His plans are."
In 2005, he said that Pope John Paul II's "devotion to his followers is a remarkable example to all of us" following the pontiff's death. "What can I say—it must have been the will of God. He acted really courageously."[62] In a 1989 meeting, he had told him "We appreciate your mission on this high pulpit, we are convinced that it will leave a great mark on history."[63]
Gorbachev was the recipient of the Athenagoras Humanitarian Award of the Order of St. Andrew Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople on 20 November 2005.[64]
On 19 March 2008, during a surprise visit to pray at the tomb of Saint Francis in Assisi, Italy, Gorbachev made an announcement which has been interpreted to the effect that he was a Christian. Gorbachev stated that "St Francis is, for me, the alter Christus, another Christ. His story fascinates me and has played a fundamental role in my life." He added, "It was through St Francis that I arrived at the Church, so it was important that I came to visit his tomb."[65]
However, a few days later, he reportedly told the Russian news agency Interfax, "Over the last few days some media have been disseminating fantasies—I can't use any other word—about my secret Catholicism, [...] To sum up and avoid any misunderstandings, let me say that I have been and remain an atheist."[66] In response, a spokesman for the Russian Orthodox patriarch Alexei II told the Russian media, "In Italy, he (Gorbachev) spoke in emotional terms, rather than in terms of faith. He is still on his way to Christianity. If he arrives, we will welcome him."[66]
Naevus flammeus[link]
Though some suggested that he might have his prominent port wine birthmark surgically removed, Gorbachev opted not to, as once he was publicly known to have the mark, he believed it would be perceived as his being more concerned with his appearance than other more important issues.[67]
See also[link]
- April 9 Tragedy - Soviet crackdown on Georgian protests in 1989
- Index of Soviet Union-related articles
- Sergei M. Plekhanov, other former Gorbachev advisor on the United States and Canada.
- Black January – Soviet crackdown on Azeri protests in 1990
References[link]
- ^ "Minutes of the Council Meeting". Durham University. http://www.dur.ac.uk/committees/Council/1995-11-28m. Retrieved 8 September 2011.
- ^ a b "Trinity College Honours Mikhail Gorbachev". Tcd.ie. http://www.tcd.ie/Secretary/Communications/Press_Releases/PRArchive/PR0102/PRGorbachev.html. Retrieved 3 November 2010.
- ^ a b "Reunification Politicians Accept Prize". Deutsche Welle. http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,1619484,00.html. Retrieved 22 May 2006.
- ^ Gray, Sadie (30 September 2008). "Gorbachev launches political party with Russian billionaire". The Guardian (UK). http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/sep/30/russia. Retrieved 1 October 2008.
- ^ "Mikhail Gorbachev will found new political party". mosnews.com. 13 May 2009. http://web.archive.org/web/20110716085011/http://mosnews.com/politics/2009/05/13/gorbiedem/. Retrieved 13 June 2009.
- ^ a b "Gorbachev sets up Russia movement". BBC News. 20 October 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7054274.stm. Retrieved 20 October 2007.
- ^ Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev, Daisaku Ikeda (2005). "Moral lessons of twentieth century: Gorbachev and Ikeda on Buddhism and Communism". I.B.Tauris. p. 11. ISBN 1-85043-976-1
- ^ Mikhail Sergeevich Gorbachev (2006). "Manifesto for the Earth: action now for peace, global justice and a sustainable future". CLAIRVIEW BOOKS. p.10. ISBN 1-905570-02-3
- ^ Mikhail Gorbachev (2000). Gorbachev: On My Country and the World. George Shriver (Translator). New York: Columbia University Press. p. 20. ISBN 978-0-231-11515-5.
- ^ a b "Biography of Mikhail Gorbachev". The Gorbachev Foundation. http://www.gorby.ru/en/gorbachev/biography/. Retrieved 13 January 2012.
- ^ "Raisa Gorbachyova's Biography on the Gorbachyov Foundation website". http://www.gorby.ru/en/gorbacheva/biography/.
- ^ a b c d e Current Biography, 1985. New York: The H. W. Wilson Co.. 1985.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Gorbachev, M. S., Memoirs, 1996 (London: Bantam Books)
- ^ a b c d e "Mikhail Gorbachev". Encyclopædia Britannica. http://www.britannica.com/nobelprize/article-9037405. Retrieved 2 April 2009.
- ^ Roxburgh, Angus (1991). The Second Russian Revolution: The Struggle for Power in the Kremlin. London: BBC Books.
- ^ "Mikhail Gorbachev Biography: Glasnost, Perestroika, and Leadership". American Academy of Achievement. 1 February 2005. http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/gor0bio-1. Retrieved 2 April 2009.
- ^ Oliver, Michael J.; Aldcroft, Derek Howard (2007). Economic Disasters of the Twentieth Century. Edward Elgar Publishing. p. 294. ISBN [[Special:BookSources/978-1-84844-158-4|978-1-84844-158-4]].
- ^ "Михаил Сергеевич Горбачёв (Mikhail Sergeyevičh Gorbačhëv)". Archontology.org. 27 March 2009. http://www.archontology.org/nations/ussr/ussr_state/gorbachev.php. Retrieved 3 April 2009.
- ^ Chiesa, Giulietto (1991). Time of change: an insider's view of Russia's transformation. I.B.Tauris. p. 30. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=tSSbOxweazoC&pg=PA30&lpg=PA30&dq=Gospriyomka+gorbachev&source=bl&ots=nVEFJGcYkZ&sig=YJfX2OWKd2OiMKPNV9jGFcaKjG0&hl=en&ei=pga6SoXLJJuQ6APF5bCdAg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2#v=onepage&q=Gospriyomka%20gorbachev&f=false.
- ^ Hosking, Geoffrey Alan (1991). The awakening of the Soviet Union. Harvard University Press. p. 139. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=bFQ6VO1sFGsC&pg=PA139&lpg=PA139&dq=Gospriyomka+gorbachev&source=bl&ots=WW4wBdy4fV&sig=xaYwfzlVh7PI-MJ4nZnP9J6Sro8&hl=en&ei=pga6SoXLJJuQ6APF5bCdAg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1#v=onepage&q=Gospriyomka%20gorbachev&f=false.
- ^ English, R., D, Russia and the Idea of the West: Gorbachev, Intellectuals and the End of the Cold War, 2000 (Columbia University Press)
- ^ a b Hough, Jerry F. (1997), pp. 124–125
- ^ Bialer, Seweryn, and Joan Afferica. "The Genesis of Gorbachev's World." Foreign Affairs 64, no. 3 (1985): 605–644.
- ^ a b Kishlansky, Mark (2001), p. 322
- ^ "Gorbachev becomes Soviet leader". BBC News. March 1985. http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/march/11/newsid_2538000/2538327.stm. Retrieved 22 May 2006.
- ^ a b Matlock, J. F. Jr., Reagan and Gorbachev: How the Cold War Ended, 2004
- ^ "Gorbachev's Holocaust: Soviet Complicity in Ethiopia's Famine", by Michael Johns, Policy Review, The Heritage Foundation, Summer 1988.
- ^ "Reuters, Moscow could have started WW3 over Berlin Wall: Gorbachev by Guy Faulconbridge". Reuters. 3 November 2009. http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSTRE5A23TB20091103. Retrieved 11 July 2009.
- ^ Coit D. Blacker. "The Collapse of Soviet Power in Europe." Foreign Affairs. 1990.
- ^ Steele, Jonathan. Eternal Russia: Yeltsin, Gorbachev and the Mirage of Democracy. Boston: Faber, 1994.
- ^ "CIA – The World Factbook – Armenia". https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/am.html. Retrieved 27 January 2007.
- ^ DR Radio reported 12/01 in its news broadcast on P3 at 13:00 hrs that the Ultimatum required a reply within 3 days
- ^ Boltunov, M., Alfa – Sverkhsekretnyi Otryad KGB [Alpha – The KGB's Top-Secret Unit], 1992, (Moscow: Kedr)
- ^ a b c Brown, A., The Gorbachev Factor, 1996, (New York: Oxford University Press). ISBN 0-19-288052-7
- ^ Maurizio Giuliano, Müssen schnell wählen (interview), Profil, nr. 19. 10 May 1993, page 61
- ^ Mosnews.com[dead link]
- ^ “” (1 April 2006). "Pizza Hut – Gorbachev". Youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9lvzzH0STw. Retrieved 3 November 2010.
- ^ Mikhail Gorbachev appears in Pizza Hut advertising campaign, PRNewswire, 23 December 1997. Retrieved on 3 August 2007.
- ^ "Ex-Russian Leader Boris Yeltsin Dies". CBS News. 23 April 2007. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/04/23/world/main2716114.shtml.
- ^ Odynova, Alexandra (19 June 2009). "Former Soviet Leader Gorbachev Records Album". The Saint Petersburg Times. http://www.sptimesrussia.com/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=29283. Retrieved 20 June 2009.
- ^ The Club of Madrid is an independent non-profit organization composed of 81 democratic former presidents and Prime Ministers from 57 different countries. It constitutes the world´s largest forum of former Heads of State and Government, who have come together to respond to a growing demand for support among leaders in democratic leadership, governance, crisis and post-crisis situations. All lines of work share the common goal of building functional and inclusive societies, where the leadership experience of the members is most valuable.
- ^ "Gorbachev says U.S. is sowing world ‘disorder’". MSNBC. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19994563/. Retrieved 4 August 2007.
- ^ Pitney, Nico. "Gorbachev Vows Revolution If New Orleans Levees Don't Improve". The Huffington Post. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2007/10/09/gorbachev-vows-revolution_n_67679.html. Retrieved 14 September 2007.
- ^ Gorbachev, Mikhail (12 August 2008). "A Path to Peace in the Caucasus". Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/11/AR2008081101372.html. Retrieved 12 August 2008.
- ^ Gorbachev, Mikhail. (2008-08-19) Russia Never Wanted a War. Nytimes.com. Retrieved on 2011-12-09.
- ^ Blomfield, Adrian (29 September 2008). "Mikhail Gorbachev returns to Russian politics". The Daily Telegraph (UK). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/3104623/Mikhail-Gorbachev-returns-to-Russian-politics.html. Retrieved 3 November 2010.
- ^ "Лебедев и Горбачев стали совладельцами Новой газеты". grani.ru. 7 June 2006. http://www.grani.ru/Society/Media/m.106813.html.
- ^ Morss, Gina, "Gorbachev Visits Eureka College", WEEK News 25, http://www.centralillinoisnewscenter.com/news/local/42019457.html, retrieved 24 March 2009
- ^ Kulish, Nicholas & Dempsey, Judy (9 November 2009), "Leaders in Berlin Retrace the Walk West", New York Times, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/10/world/europe/10germany.html
- ^ "Mikhail Gorbachev: Russia's elder statesman still at home with power". London: independent.co.uk. 7 June 2010. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/mikhail-gorbachev-russias-elder-statesman-still-at-home-with-power-1993279.html. Retrieved 19 August 2011.
- ^ Mikhail Gorbachev says Putin should not run for Russian presidency again. CSMonitor.com (2011-03-02). Retrieved on 2011-12-09.
- ^ Михаил Горбачев – про "дуумвират" и "штаны мотней назад" (видео). Радио Свобода. 15.02.2011. Svobodanews.ru. Retrieved on 2011-12-09.
- ^ "Gorbachev says Putin 'castrated' democracy in Russia". BBC.co.uk (BBC). 18 August 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14580709. Retrieved 18 August 2011.
- ^ UPDATE 1-Russian police block new anti-Putin rally. Reuters (2011-12-05). Retrieved on 2011-12-09.
- ^ Washington Post, 7 June 2009, "We Had Our Perestroika. It's High Time for Yours" Op-ed piece by Mikhail Gorbachev
- ^ http://www.clubmadrid.org/en/miembro/mikhail_gorbachev/programas
- ^ "The Nobel Peace Prize 1990". Nobelprize.org. 15 October 1990. http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/1990/press.html. Retrieved 3 November 2010.
- ^ Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Library
- ^ [1]
- ^ Honorary Degrees. dur.ac.uk
- ^ "The Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Recipients List". Peaceabbey.org. 20 November 2005. http://web.archive.org/web/20080216030548/http://peaceabbey.org/awards/cocrecipientlist.html. Retrieved 3 November 2010.
- ^ "Gorbachev: Pope was 'example to all of us'". CNN. 4 April 2005. http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/04/03/pope.gorbachev/. Retrieved 3 November 2010.
- ^ "Record of Conversation between M.S. Gorbachev and John Paul II" (PDF). http://www.wilsoncenter.org/cwihp/documentreaders/eotcw/891201a.pdf. Retrieved 3 November 2010.
- ^ Athenagoras humanitarian award to Nobel peace prize laureate Mikhail Gorbachev. goarch.org. 2 November 2005
- ^ Moore, Malcolm (19 March 2008). "Mikhail Gorbachev admits he is a Christian". The Daily Telegraph (London). http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/19/wgorbachev119.xml. Retrieved 24 March 2008.
- ^ a b "Gorbachev a closet Christian?". Chicago Tribune. 23 March 2008. http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-out_there_gorbachev_rodriguez_23mar24,1,4698255.story. Retrieved 24 March 2008. [dead link]
- ^ "den 11. time". 24 October 2007. Danmarks Radio. DR 2. http://www.dr.dk/odp/player.aspx?guid=D7C084E0-19DB-4131-8FB0-347755C011A7&surl=http%3A//www.dr.dk/Forms/Published/PlaylistGen.aspx%3Fqid%3D523179%26odp%3Dtrue&mt=programstab&furl=default.aspx%3Ftemplate%3Dprogramserie%26guid%3D3975AA2F-D06B-4A99-BD9B-99BE197DB000%26autoplay%3D1%26back%3Ddefault.aspx%253ftemplate%253dprogrammer&skin=default&template=se_seneste&guid=3975AA2F-D06B-4A99-BD9B-99BE197DB000.
Further reading[link]
- Gorbachev, Mikhail. Memoirs. Doubleday (1995). ISBN 0-385-40668-1
External links[link]
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Mikhail Gorbachev |
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Mikhail Gorbachev |
- Gorby80 Gorbachev 80th Birthday Gala Celebration at the Royal Albert Hall London
- The Gorbachev Foundation
- Green Cross International
- Column and op-ed archives at Journalisted
- Column and op-ed archives at Project Syndicate
- Column and op-ed archives at The Guardian
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- Mikhail Gorbachev on Charlie Rose
- Mikhail Gorbachev at the Internet Movie Database
- Mikhail Gorbachev collected news and commentary at The Guardian
- Mikhail Gorbachev collected news and commentary at The New York Times
- Works by or about Mikhail Gorbachev in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
- Mikhail Gorbachev on the website of Ukrainian Institute of New Virology
- Interviews and articles
- Public Opinion about Gorbachev
- The Encyclopaedia of Marxism, from which parts of this article have been taken.
- Out in the Cold Guardian interview 8 March 2005
- TIME 100 for 2004: Mikhail Gorbachev
- Biography, talks, tributes and quotes
- Ubben Lecture at DePauw University
- Commanding Heights: Mikhail Gorbachev (PBS interview), April 2001.
- USSR – USA: Summit Documents and Materials, Washington 30 May – 3 June 1990
- Gorbachev on 1989 – 2009 interview by The Nation
- Gorbachev's Legacy Examined, 25 Years After His Rise To Power article by Brian Whitmore
- Chernobyl 25 years later: Many lessons learned free article by Mikhail Gorbachev published in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, March 2011
| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Konstantin Chernenko |
General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union 1985–1991 |
Succeeded by Vladimir Ivashko (Acting) |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Andrei Gromyko as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet |
Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet (1988–1989) Chairman of the Supreme Soviet (1989–1990) President of the Soviet Union (1990–1991) 1988–1991 |
Succeeded by Office abolished |
| Awards and achievements | ||
| Preceded by Award created |
Recipient of The Ronald Reagan Freedom Award 1992 |
Succeeded by Colin Powell |
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Gorbachev, Mikhail |
| Alternative names | Горбачёв, Михаи́л Серге́евич (Russian); Gorbačëv, Mihail Sergeevič (alternate transliteration); Gorbachyov, Mikhail Sergeyevich (alternate transliteration) |
| Short description | leader of the Soviet Union |
| Date of birth | 2 March 1931 |
| Place of birth | Privolnoye, Russia |
| Date of death | living |
| Place of death | living |
http://wn.com/Mikhail_Gorbachev
Related pages:
http://de.wn.com/Michail Sergejewitsch Gorbatschow
http://es.wn.com/Mijaíl Gorbachov
http://ru.wn.com/Горбачёв, Михаил Сергеевич
http://cs.wn.com/Michail Sergejevič Gorbačov
http://pt.wn.com/Mikhail Gorbachev
http://pl.wn.com/Michaił Gorbaczow
http://hi.wn.com/मिखाइल गोर्बाचोफ
http://it.wn.com/Michail Gorbačëv
http://id.wn.com/Mikhail Gorbachev
http://nl.wn.com/Michail Gorbatsjov
http://fr.wn.com/Mikhaïl Gorbatchev
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For a complete listing of albums and singles by Ray Stevens, see Ray Stevens discography.
For other people named Ray Stevens, see Ray Stevens (disambiguation).
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| Ray Stevens | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Harold Ray Ragsdale |
| Born | (1939-01-24) January 24, 1939 (age 73) Clarkdale, Georgia, United States[1] |
| Genres | Country, pop, novelty |
| Occupations | Singer-songwriter, arranger, pianist |
| Instruments | Vocals, piano, keyboards |
| Years active | 1958–present |
| Labels | NRC, Mercury, Monument, Barnaby, Warner Bros., RCA, MCA, Curb, CBS, Janus |
| Website | RayStevens.com |
| Notable instruments | |
| Piano Banjo |
|
Ray Stevens (born Harold Ray Ragsdale, January 24, 1939[2]) is an American country music, pop singer-songwriter who has become equally well known for his serious material as he has for his novelty songs.
Contents |
Early life[link]
Stevens was born Harry Ray Ragsdale on January 24, 1939, in Clarkdale, Georgia. While attending high school, Stevens formed his first band, a rhythm and blues group he named the Barons. Following his graduation from high school, Stevens enrolled in Georgia State University as a music major.[3]
Career[link]
Early career[link]
Capitol Records signed Stevens to their Prep Records division in 1957,[3] and produced the singles "Silver Bracelet," that Billboard predicted to be a teen favorite, and "Rang Tang Ding Dong," about a Japanese sandman, for which Billboard credited the 16-year-old Stevens' vocals as "strong, attractive."[4] The latter song was a cover of a song recorded by Manhattan doo-wop group The Cellos in 1957, and written by Cellos bass singer Alvin Williams.[5]
In 1958, Bill Lowery created the National Recording Corporation (NRC), and brought Stevens on board playing numerous instruments, arranging music, and performing background vocals for its band. Around that time, he had adopted the professional name of "Ray Stevens," which was inspired by his middle name and his mother's maiden name. Lowery was unable to collect debts from his own accounts and was forced into bankruptcy.[6]
Stevens then signed with Mercury Records[7] with whom Stevens recorded a series of hit records in the 1960s that included songs such as "Ahab the Arab," "Harry the Hairy Ape," "Funny Man," the original recording of "Santa Claus Is Watching You," and "Jeremiah Peabody's Polyunsaturated Quick-Dissolving, Fast-Acting Pleasant-Tasting Green and Purple Pills." The song that introduced Stevens to most of his fan base is "Ahab the Arab," which reached number five on the Hot 100 in the summer of 1962.
In 1966, Stevens signed with Monument Records and started to release serious material such as "Mr. Businessman" in 1968, a Top 30 pop hit; "Have a Little Talk With Myself" and the original version of "Sunday Morning Coming Down" in 1969, which became Stevens' first two singles to reach the country music charts. O.C. Smith covered the Stevens-penned Isn't It Lonely Together while Sammy Davis, Jr. covered Have a Little Talk With Myself. Stevens continued releasing novelty songs, and in 1969 he had a Top 10 pop hit with "Gitarzan." Stevens also became a regular on The Andy Williams Show during the 1969–1970 season, and he hosted his own summer show, The Ray Stevens Show, in 1970. In Australia, Ross D. Wylie reached the top 20 with his cover of the Stevens-penned, Funny Man. Stevens' collection of Hot 100 hits is evenly divided between serious and novelty.
As an A&R man, music producer, songwriter, and music arranger he assisted countless artists in the recording studio during his years at Mercury Records and Monument Records, 1961 through early 1970. Some of the acts he was associated with during that time period were Brenda Lee, Brook Benton, Patti Page, Joe Dowell, Dusty Springfield, and Dolly Parton. Stevens was a writer or co-writer of several songs those particular acts recorded. My True Confession , a Top-10 on the R&B chart in 1963 for Brook Benton, was written by Stevens and Margie Singleton. Stevens was the arranger for an obscure Doyle Holly recording titled "My Heart Cries For You" which had been recorded previously by Stevens during the late 1950s.
1970s[link]
Starting in the 1970s, Stevens became a producer and well-known studio musician on the Nashville scene. He recorded songs for Barnaby Records and Warner Brothers during 1970–1979. Stevens' biggest hit in the United States was his gospel-inflected single "Everything Is Beautiful" (1970). The single won a Grammy Award, was the theme song for his summer 1970 TV show, hit number one on both the pop and Adult-Contemporary charts, and marked his first time in the Top 40 on the country charts, peaking at number 39. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.[8] His other 1970 singles were "America, Communicate With Me" and "Sunset Strip," both of which reached the Top 20 on the Adult-Contemporary lists. His novelty song "Bridget the Midget (The Queen of The Blues)" made number two on the United Kingdom chart in 1971 and in the US it reached number 50. Stevens had a gospel/country hit single in early 1972 with Albert E. Brumley's "Turn Your Radio On," reaching the country Top 20. Two more of Stevens' songs in 1971 were also minor pop hits, "A Mama and a Papa" and "All My Trials," but both crossed over to the Top 10 Adult-Contemporary lists. Stevens frequently toured Canada and went overseas to the UK. A rock-infected gospel arrangement accompanied his version of "Love Lifted Me" and it became a hit single in Bangkok in the fall of 1972, finding its way into the Top Five for the week ending September 30.
In 1973, Stevens had a top 40 country hit with the title track of his album, "Nashville," and increased his exposure on television by performing on a variety of prime-time programs of the era. In 1974, Stevens recorded perhaps his most famous hit, "The Streak," which poked fun at the early-1970s fad of running nude in public, known as "streaking." It made number one in both the UK and the US and No. 3 on the country chart. In 1975, he released the Grammy-winning "Misty," which became his biggest country hit (reaching number three on the country charts and number 14 on the pop charts); he also entered the country Top 40 with a doo-wop version of "Indian Love Call," "Everybody Needs a Rainbow," and a ballad version of "Young Love" in early 1976. Stevens' tenure with Barnaby came to an end in early 1976.
Stevens joined Warner Brothers in 1976, where his debut was a strong showing with three hit singles in a row. The first was the up-tempo version of "You Are So Beautiful," which reached the country Top 20, then "Honky Tonk Waltz," which reached the Top 30. He then released a novelty single: under the pseudonym "Henhouse Five Plus Too," Stevens recorded a version of Glenn Miller's "In The Mood" in the style of a clucking chicken; it became a Top 40 hit in the US and UK in early 1977. In 1978 he had a hit with "Be Your Own Best Friend" on the country charts, and in 1979 he had his last Hot 100 hit (to date) with the novelty "I Need Your Help, Barry Manilow," which he released from the album The Feeling's Not Right Again. In the US, Stevens' singles would reach only the country chart nationally thereafter. He joined RCA in late 1979, releasing new material in 1980.
1980s[link]
After joining RCA in 1980, Stevens continued having hit singles, but with somewhat less success than in the previous decade. His debut single, the Top 10 "Shriner's Convention" and then the Top 20 love ballad "Night Games" performed relatively well on the charts. In 1981, only one single made the charts, the Top 40 hit "One More Last Chance." In 1982, after he had released a few more singles, notably the Top 40 "Written Down in My Heart," Stevens left RCA and returned to Mercury Records, the label that made him a star in the early 1960s. This resulted in only one album, the 1983 project Me, and only one chart hit, "My Dad," in early 1984.
In 1985, Stevens sung the credits song for Stephen King's "Cat's Eye" (1985).
Stevens then joined MCA in 1984 as a "country comedy" act and thereafter released only novelty song albums. The fan-voted Music City News awards named Stevens Comedian of the Year annually for nine consecutive years from 1986 to 1994. A few of Stevens' commercial singles charted on the Single Sales charts during this time, but only one single, "Mississippi Squirrel Revival," made it to the Top 40. "Mississippi Squirrel Revival" reached the Top 20, making that his final single to hit the Top-40 portion of the country singles chart. "Would Jesus Wear a Rolex" is the only single during his 1984–1989 stint on MCA that came close to reaching the Top 40, stalling at number 41 in 1987. Second to that, the other single close to hitting the Top 40 on the country chart was the number 45 hit "The Haircut Song" in 1985.
His comedy albums were nonetheless enjoying widespread success. His first series of albums for MCA all made the country charts with several of them remaining on the charts for months at a time. His first two albums for MCA reached the Top-5 with I Have Returned hitting the top spot in early 1986. Afterward his albums routinely peaked in the middle of the charts. A 1987 Greatest Hits album became a platinum seller while several other releases achieved gold status. One of the trademarks of Stevens' string of comedy albums were the photo shoots. For example, on one album he's dressed up as Napoleon Bonaparte, on another he's Humpty Dumpty, and on another he's dressed as General Douglas MacArthur. Stevens' lack of airplay wasn't affecting his ability to sell records. National shows like Hee-Haw and a variety of programs on The Nashville Network frequently gave exposure to all forms of country music.
1990s[link]
Stevens left MCA in 1989 for Curb/Capitol Records. His first release arrived in 1990. The two labels split up soon after and Curb Records continued releasing material on Stevens. His All-Time Greatest Comic Hits, a compilation project released by Curb in 1990, became a gold album by mid-decade. Lend Me Your Ears and Number One With a Bullet were released in 1990 and 1991 respectively. The latter featured the satirical hit "Working for the Japanese" in which Stevens sings about the American economy and how dollars are boosting overseas economies instead of its own.
In the 1990s, Stevens took new directions. The most ambitious was the opening of his own theater in Branson, Missouri in 1991. The theater business had been steadily growing in the small Missouri town of Branson for a period of years and by the time Stevens began building his theater the area was reaching its peak. Stevens benefited from the theater boom largely because his stage show was different from others. His reputation as a comedian and as an all-around entertainer meant that for most tourists his show was one of the destination spots judging by the number of sold-out performances he gave at the theater. When crowds reacted favorably to his music videos being played on a large screen at his theater Stevens began selling videos for his fans to take home.
In the spring and summer of 1992, his Comedy Video Classics became a million-selling home video through direct marketing and television advertisements. Commercials for Stevens' home video aired countless times throughout 1992, mostly in the morning hours and often during late-night. Branson was also experiencing its highest commercial peak in the summer and fall of both 1992 and 1993. Ray Stevens was back in the national media once again with his enormously successful home video and music theater. In the midst of all the success, though, Stevens closed down his theater after the 1993 season citing exhaustion and monotony after doing two shows a day, six days a week, for five to six months at a time. Several of his performances at his theater were filmed and surfaced in home video form. Ray Stevens Live! became another home video mail-order success in 1993 following the same path of Comedy Video Classics.
Meanwhile, Comedy Video Classics had become available for retail distribution and it became a big seller again. In 1993, it was named Home Video of the Year by Billboard magazine in their annual end of the year publication which cites the most popular artists, songs, CDs, and video items of the year.
Classic Ray Stevens was issued in the early fall of 1993. This was the first audio release from Stevens since early 1991. The album's title was a reference to the classical-looking photo shoot which features a bust of Ray Stevens mocking Beethoven. The home video of Ray Stevens Live! was released to retail stores in 1994 and it became a Top-5 success on Billboard's Home Video chart. The concert video often ranked above or below Comedy Video Classics on the charts. In the late summer of 1995, the movie Get Serious! was released on home video.
The movie, which runs 1 hour and 50 minutes, offers several plots and a collection of newly-produced music videos which act as commentary to the action. One plot point of the movie centers on a fictional record company for which Stevens records being bought out by a Japanese conglomerate. This is a reference to the consolidation practices taking place in the music industry. Another plot-point deals with Stevens' reputation as a comical singer and how the new executive of the fictional record company, based vocally on Paul Lynde, wants Stevens to change his image from comedy to classical opera. Stevens refuses and this brings to the surface another plot-point of the movie: political correctness. Seeking revenge on Stevens, the executive hatches a plan to ruin Stevens’ career by labeling him politically incorrect. The last plot-point centers on character defamation as numerous characters from several Stevens songs turn out to really exist and they want to sue the singer for defamation. This plot is based on a song that Stevens recorded in 1986 entitled "Dudley Dorite of the Highway Patrol" where a local policeman stops Stevens for speeding and afterward informs the singer that he's in a whole lot of trouble for using easily identifiable people as characters in his songs. The song was re-recorded specifically for the movie as Dudley Dorite is one of the main characters in the movie. He's portrayed by Stevens' long-time songwriting partner, C.W. Kalb, Jr..
The home video became another mail-order success throughout 1995 and was released to retail stores, via MCA, late in 1996. The video hit the Top-5 on Billboard's Home Video chart early in 1997 during a more than 20 week chart run. Stevens had by this point exited Curb Records.
Stevens found a new home with his previous label, MCA. MCA was responsible for the retail distribution of Get Serious! and for marketing Ray as a comical singer for the first time in the mid-1980s.
The reunion with MCA consisted of the retail release of Get Serious! in late 1996 and two new audio CD's in 1997: Hum It and Christmas Through a Different Window, the latter release being a collection of Christmas novelty songs. After the MCA contract ended, Stevens became exclusive to his own label, Clyde Records, for a period of years.
On-line rumors began circulating about his death. The confusion may have arisen in the summer of 1996 following the death of a wrestler named Ray "The Crippler" Stevens. The singer Ray Stevens once recorded a wrestling song entitled "The Blue Cyclone." Stevens, the singer, reported to the media that his office had received thousands of sympathy cards due to the confusion.
In April 1999 Stevens was diagnosed with early stage prostate cancer and had to cancel his series of concerts at the Acuff Theatre that summer. Stevens received a clean bill of health upon successful surgery and returned to the stage in time to deliver his Christmas concert series.
2000s (2000–2009)[link]
After the partnership with MCA ended, he remained active on his own label, Clyde Records, until he found another home with Curb Records, returning to the label in 2001. Early in 2002, "Osama Yo' Mama" was released. It made the country Top 50, reached the Top-5 on the country single sales chart, achieved Gold selling status, and the album of the same name reached the country Top-30. After the release of this album Stevens returned to Branson, Missouri and re-opened his theater in 2004. He remained active there for three more seasons. He shut the theater down for good after the 2006 season, selling it off to cable network RFD-TV, which continues to operate it to this day.
An obscure release called "The New Battle of New Orleans" came along in 2005 as a response to the vandals and looters in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Many people confused the version of The New Battle of New Orleans by its principal writer, Chuck Redden, with the version by Stevens. The recording by the writer features much more pointed accusations and assertions and it is this version which appears on various web-sites specializing in lyric re-printing. The confusion arises when these web-sites credit Stevens as the singer of that version.
Ray and his songwriter friend Buddy Kalb removed a lot of the original lyrics in the song and supplied new lyrics in a more G-rated setting. In spite of the various lyrical re-writes by Stevens and Kalb, the overall point of the song that the locals expected and demanded too much from their government, is still clear. The song was issued as a single-only in 2005.
Curb Records, in the meantime, continued to release DVD music video collections on Stevens during this time. The music videos featured limited animation.
Stevens returned to releasing music once again in 2007, firstly in July 2007, with the single-only "Ruby Falls," a combination of jazz, blues, and country music, and secondly with the CD New Orleans Moon, released on his own label. This CD contains various songs in tribute and honor to New Orleans and Louisiana. Stevens covers "Louisiana Man," "Louisiana," "The Battle of New Orleans," "Way Down Yonder in New Orleans," "New Orleans," and several more.
The following year Stevens issued the album Hurricane, also on his own label. It was released in February 2008 at Stevens' on-line music store at his website then was released nationally in November of that year to a wider audience. This CD featured a wide array of comical songs including a pair of redneck anthems, "Hey Bubba, Watch This!" and "Bubba the Wine Connoisseur." The CD also marked the debut of "Sucking Sound," a political/economic song about Ross Perot and how his warnings of the flaws in a global economy, which were mocked in 1992, became somewhat of a reality by 2008, resulting in massive lay-offs and job losses.
Concurrently in 2008, a tribute to the songs of Frank Sinatra that Stevens recorded was also being offered at the web-site store during the latter half of 2008. The album is titled Ray Stevens Sings Sinatra...Say What?? and it became nationally distributed in February 2009. Stevens did not promote or publicize the tribute album. Later in 2009 he released One for the Road, a CD aimed primarily at truckers. It was sold exclusively at the Pilot truck stops for several weeks prior to its release nationally. The CD contains a mixture of material ranging from truck driver oriented songs to somber ballads. There are also several re-recordings of his greatest hits added into the equation. There are fifteen tracks featured on the trucker CD in which the first three tracks, in addition to track seven, specifically deal with situations while on the road: "Concrete Sailor," "Convoy," "Right Reverend Road Hog McGraw," and "Hang Up and Drive." "Mary Lou Nights" and "Oh, Lonesome Me." "Retired" originated as a duet between Stevens and Brent Burns but for this CD it is delivered solo.
In 2009 Stevens was inducted into the Christian Music Hall of Fame and he appeared on the PBS series Legends and Lyrics. A television show that Stevens stars in, We Ain't Dead Yet, became available to subscribers at his web page. The subscription is to an exclusive section of his web-page called "Ray Stevens Backstage" and each month a different episode becomes available. The series focuses on senior citizens and it usually features a special guest each episode stopping by the main set, a retirement home, to perform songs.
In the early fall of 2009 Stevens released a holiday collection of songs titled Ray Stevens Christmas. Late in November an EP became available featuring a couple of his serious Christmas songs but the main attraction was his cover of Seymour Swine's (a fictional group that recorded a stuttering rendition of "Blue Christmas") "Blue Christmas," complete with stutter. Stevens had also recorded a non-comical version of this song for his Ray Stevens Christmas release. The stuttering version can only be found on the EP release.
In December 2009, Stevens issued the single and on-line video "We the People," which quickly became a viral video and surpassed a million unique views in a month's time on YouTube. The video is critical of health care reform. Stevens followed this music video with "Caribou Barbie" in March 2010. This music video is supportive of Sarah Palin. The video uses a Palin impersonator and through the help of sight-gags it takes aim at several high-profile personalities on cable television.
2010s (2010–present)[link]
Stevens issued another music video on YouTube, "Throw the Bums Out!," as a direct response to the March 2010 passage of health care reform legislation in the House of Representatives.
In April 2010 Stevens released a collection that includes a CD and a DVD, titled We the People. The project features 22 political songs. The four music videos on the DVD are "We the People," "Caribou Barbie," "Throw the Bums Out!," and "Thank You," Stevens appeared in Washington, D.C., on April 15, 2010, as part of the tax day rally associated with the Tea Party. On April 24, 2010 the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum honored the career of Ray Stevens in the recurring series "Nashville Cats: A Celebration of Music City Musicians." The special focused mostly on Stevens' career as a Nashville-session musician during the 1960s and 1970s.
On May 13, 2010, the music video of "Come to the USA" was released. This is a song dealing with the hot button issue of illegal immigration. The song uses exaggeration and small doses of satire to comment on illegal immigration acceptance internationally compared with the United States’ more passive policy. The song was written and recorded before the Arizona illegal immigration bill, SB 1070, was introduced to the nation. The music video became Stevens' second to surpass a million unique views on YouTube; the first being "We the People." Following the release of the "Come to the USA" music video Stevens found himself being spotlighted again on the Fox News Channel and then by The New York Times. Stevens' We the People CD made its Top-10 debut on the Billboard Comedy Album chart for the week ending June 26, 2010, and it moved into the Top-5 for the week ending July 3, 2010. Meanwhile, a new music video, "The Global Warming Song," had become available on YouTube on June 29. The song, the sixth release from his We the People CD, is a broad exaggeration on the global warming topic, drawing inspiration from the concept of the Earth's temperature rising beyond control. The song depicts a couple of brothers who hold fort in a frozen wasteland with a money-making scheme of awaiting the arrival of climate change. The song is purposely silly and plays on the fears of global warming.
Starting in July 2010 and running through August most PBS stations aired a special titled Marvin Hamlisch Presents the 1970s: The Way We Were during pledge drive fundraisers. The special celebrates the music of the 1970s and Ray Stevens participated in the proceedings. Stevens' contributions include "Everything Is Beautiful," "The Streak," and "Misty." On July 31 Stevens made a guest appearance on the Grand Ole Opry.
On August 4, 2010 a new music video from Stevens made its debut on YouTube. This time around the subject matter is the Federal Government of the United States and the on-going war of words with Arizona over immigration. The song, "God Save Arizona," criticizes the policies of the Federal Government and it questions the competence of Eric Holder, the United States Attorney General with regards to the Federal lawsuit brought against Arizona. The beginning of the song starts out as a tribute to the U.S.S. Arizona during World War II before switching to a look at a modern-day verbal war between Arizona's State Government and the Federal Government.
Given the overall on-line popularity of his music videos on YouTube it enabled Stevens to reach a milestone in early September 2010. This milestone refers to the collective number of plays that all of his music videos had obtained up until that point in time. When the play totals for each officially-released music video were tallied the collective total reached ten million. "Come to the USA" obtained over four million YouTube unique views while "We the People" had obtained over three million.
Stevens returned to Branson, Missouri once again in mid September to kick off a nearly month-long engagement at The Welk Resort which ran through October 23. On the last date of his concert series at the Welk Theatre he participated in a Tea Party rally held in Branson earlier in the day. The rally was billed as 'the Pre-Election Pink Slip Rally and Concert' and it took place throughout most of the morning and into the afternoon. Stevens performed "We the People" and "Throw the Bums Out!" at the rally and that night wrapped up his concert series at the Welk Theatre.
On November 3, the day after the 2010 mid-term elections, Stevens uploaded a new music video on YouTube entitled "Nightmare Before Christmas." The song has nothing to do with politics or elections but instead deals with political correctness gone amuck as Santa Claus gets arrested and is charged with crimes against a politically correct society. In the video Stevens portrays himself, Santa, the prosecutor, and the Judge. Political correctness and the mockery of liberal-progressive special interest groups is at the crux of the song.
On November 29 Stevens alerted his audience via the social network site Twitter that he would be recording ten new political comedy songs. Several days prior, on November 23, Stevens announced on his Facebook page that he's in the process of recording a huge project of one hundred songs to be released at some point entitled The Encyclopedia of Musical Comedy Recordings. On December 2, "Bad Angel," a song that Stevens published and his daughter, Suzi Ragsdale, co-wrote, was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Country Collaboration category. The song's trio of artists are Dierks Bentley, Miranda Lambert, and Jamey Johnson. It is available on Bentley's CD Up on The Ridge.
On January 19, 2011 via Twitter, Stevens announced that he would take part in the annual CPAC gathering in Washington, D.C. The event takes place during February 10–12. On January 24 Stevens turned 72 years old and showing no signs of slowing down he embarked on what he referred to as a radio call-in tour. The first program that Stevens called was the Charlie Brennan radio show on KMOX in St. Louis on January 28 to promote a brand new recording about airport security and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Next, on February 2, Ray called in to KWEL in Texas to promote his TSA song and the latest happenings in his career.
Stevens called-in to the Jim Bohannon radio program on February 4 resulting in an interview that lasted about one hour. On February 7 he called-in to the Martha Zoller program and a radio program that aired on Minnesota's KLTF. On February 8 a CD single along with an Mp3 single of The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore became commercially available. On February 9 Stevens was spotlighted on the XM and Sirius satellite radio program Cruisin' with Cousin' Brucie which spotlights 1960s pop songs.
Stevens performed three songs while at CPAC on February 10, 2011. The airport security/TSA song entitled The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore kicked off the performance while he followed it with "We the People" and concluded the appearance with a song entitled "Mr. President-Mr. President" which takes a comical look at how President Barack Obama is viewed by a segment of the population amidst domestic and foreign turmoil. On February 17 Stevens called-in to WSGI radio's Steve Jarrell program, "Big Daddy-o on the Patio." Later that same day Stevens uploaded the much-anticipated music video of "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore."
On February 18 Stevens called radio stations KSCJ and KDWN to promote the music video and to talk about politics in general. By February 24 "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore" soared past the 52,000 play mark on YouTube.
On February 25 Stevens gave an interview on radio station WPTF's Bill Lumaye program and later the same day appeared on the Fox Business Network program, Freedom Watch, hosted by Judge Andrew Napolitano. In the television interview Stevens offered his opinions of the current political climate, the TSA, and announced that his next single would deal with President Obama's budget plan.
On February 27 the RFD-TV network reran a 1972 episode of Hee-Haw which featured Stevens as one of the guests. He performed Turn Your Radio On and Along Came Jones. On that same day, "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore" had amassed over 70,000 unique views on YouTube in a span of ten days. Continuing the mostly talk radio station promotion of his TSA song Stevens called the Daybreak USA program on February 28 and on March 2 he called in to Ed Morrissey's radio program. On March 17 one of Stevens' previous music videos, "Come to the USA," reached the five million mark on YouTube. On March 25, via Twitter, Stevens announced that he taped a performance for an upcoming television show hosted by country singer Ronnie McDowell titled Music City Late Night.
On April 14 Stevens decided to end his subscription-based web-site, Ray Stevens Backstage, after a two year run. The site was aimed at providing the most ardent of fans with exclusive content. Upon its cancellation it was revealed that elements of the Backstage site would be incorporated into the main Ray Stevens web-site. A classic music video from Ray uploaded on YouTube in 2009 but taped in 1992 entitled The Mississippi Squirrel Revival surpassed a million on-line views. This became the third music video from Stevens to obtain at least a million on-line views. On April 25 Stevens uploaded a new music video onto YouTube entitled "The Obama Budget Plan." A video clip was highlighted on The O'Reilly Factor. The same day, April 25, Stevens released his latest collection of songs, The Spirit of '76, which contains the previously mentioned "Obama Budget Plan," "God Save Arizona," and "The Skies Just Ain't Friendly Anymore."
The collection was available in its earliest weeks of release in digital download format. By May 1, Stevens' "Obama Budget Plan" on-line music video had generated over 95,000 unique views in less than a week's time. Later that same night news broke on the death of Osama bin Laden and as a result Stevens' music video from 2002 entitled "Osama Yo' Mama," which was uploaded on YouTube in 2009, experienced a resurgence in on-line activity. The video had received more than 990,000 unique views prior to the news of bin Laden's death and in the aftermath it received more than 20,000 additional plays causing it to surpass a million on-line views and as a result it became his fourth music video to surpass a million plays.
On May 5 Stevens called the Lars Larson show on radio station KXL to discuss current events. On May 11 he appeared at a conservative rally in Franklin, Tennessee billed as Conservatives on the Move. Stevens made the rounds of the Fox Business Network in early June during a trip to New York to promote the Obama budget music video and his Spirit of '76 collection. On June 2 Stevens made an appearance on America's Nightly Scoreboard, an economics program hosted by David Asman on the Fox Business Network. The following day, June 3, Stevens made an appearance on Freedom Watch hosted by Judge Napolitano.
On June 4 Stevens appeared on Huckabee, which airs on the Fox News Channel and is hosted by Mike Huckabee. It was on the latter program that Stevens performed "Obama Budget Plan" for the first time on television. On June 27 Stevens appeared at a star-studded reunion at the Quonset Hut Studio. Legendary session musicians and artists gathered to celebrate the studio's history, perform songs, and tell stories about the recording sessions.
After a low-key July, Stevens kicked off the month of August being interviewed on WSM radio. The interview took place on a program hosted by WSM DJ and Grand Ole Opry announcer, Eddie Stubbs, titled Intimate Evenings. The interview aired on August 1. The 2-hour series airs from the Country Music Hall of Fame. The host played several of Ray's songs and often mentioned how packed the venue was and how electric the atmosphere felt. A lot of time was spent on Ray's past (his career, after all, goes back to 1957) but yet there was also discussion of Ray's current recordings and activity. Ray offered his opinions on politics and other topical issues...bringing chuckles and cheers from the host and from the audience. Several days later, on August 9, the CD copy of his digital release from April, Spirit of '76, was released to wider distribution. Previously the CD copy had only been available at the singer's web-site store.
On August 12 the "Obama Budget Plan" music video surpassed half a million views and by the middle of September it had surpassed 700,000 on-line views. On September 27 Stevens uploaded the music video, "Mr. President - Mr. President," and it quickly amassed more than 200,000 unique views in a little more than a week's time. A snippet of the video, during the first days of its YouTube availability, was previewed on The O'Reilly Factor. On October 7 the song was heard on Mark Levin's nationally syndicated radio program. On October 10 Stevens announced that his upcoming novelty song encyclopedia will consist of nine CDs and will be released in January 2012. In December his music video, "Obama Budget Plan," obtained 1,000,000 on-line views. It happened on Christmas Eve.
The release date for The Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music was pushed back one month from January 2012 to February. The release date was February 28, 2012. Publicity for the collection started a week earlier when Stevens made an appearance on the GAC news/video program, On the Streets, on February 21. Stevens gave an interview for the radio series, American Country Countdown, hosted by Nashville songwriter and half of the Brooks and Dunn duo, Kix Brooks. The interview is part of a segment known as The Back Forty.
On February 27 Stevens uploaded a brief video on You Tube promoting the collection. In the video clip Stevens appears on camera and talks about the collection. There is also footage of him performing at his recording studio. On February 29, just a day after releasing the 9-CD encyclopedia box set, Stevens' on-line music video, "Mr. President - Mr. President," passed the half a million mark in YouTube views. On March 8 Stevens appeared on the RFD-TV series, Larry's Country Diner, and performed four songs: The Preacher and the Bear, I Still Write Your Name in the Show, Get a Job, and Mississippi Squirrel Revival. The songs are part of The Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music. Also on March 8 an article on Ray by a writer named Chuck Dauphin appeared on Billboard.com detailing the Encyclopedia's contents. The article also included Ray's feelings about the lack of an abundance of comedy songs on contemporary radio stations, the comedy song's lack of respect, and the unfounded stigma that exists about comedy songs.
April 5 saw the You Tube release of a live version of "We The People" recorded in Branson, Missouri during one of his series of concerts. The video's gotten more than 7,500 views with hardly any promotional hype behind it. A day later on April 6 a fast-paced four minute commercial was uploaded onto YouTube promoting the Encyclopedia of Recorded Comedy Music. The commercial features Buddy Kalb, one of Ray's business associates and songwriters, as well as Ray giving detail about the box set. On April 10 Stevens appeared on Fox and Friends and performed a brief medley of some of the songs on the Encyclopedia. Afterwards he appeared on their "After the Show show", and discussed more about the Encyclopedia and performed "Mississippi Squirrel Revival" in its entirety. Later that evening Stevens was a guest on the Fox Across America radio program hosted by Spencer Hughes. On April 14 Stevens was featured on the country music interview and lifestyle program, Crook and Chase. The syndicated series airs on Saturdays.
On May 6 comedian/actor George Lindsey passed away at the age of 83. A long-time friend of Ray's, Lindsey appeared at Ray's CD release party on February 28th when the 9-CD box set became available. Lindsey had also appeared with Stevens at the Country Music Hall of Fame during the induction of Sonny James in 2006. Stevens and Lindsey dressed up as Indians and performed the song, Running Bear, which had been a big hit for James. Prior to this, Lindsey made a cameo appearance in Stevens' 1995 direct-to-video movie, Get Serious!. Stevens attended George Lindsey's funeral on May 11th and performed "Everything Is Beautiful".
Videos[link]
Stevens' songs have been showcased in several videos. "Gitarzan" was featured on Disc 1 of "The Dr. Demento 20th Anniversary Collection." Stevens videos were frequently offered via television commercials. 1992's "Comedy Video Classics" contained 8 music videos, winning the Home Video of the Year in 1993 as well as other awards. Two videos filmed at his Branson, Missouri theatre "Ray Stevens Live!" and "More Ray Stevens Live!" were released in 1993, although the second collection was only available to fan club members at the time. In 1995 he released a movie, "Get Serious!," which contains ten music videos sandwiched within an actual movie. The film runs 110 minutes. The video collection "Latest and Greatest" was released in 1996. In 2000 he released "Funniest Video Characters" including the video to his 1985 song "The Ballad of the Blue Cyclone." In 2004 "Greatest Video Characters" was released...this was a large all-encompassing collection of music videos from Stevens that had been released on previous collections. Stevens' video albums are released by mail order on his own label, Clyde Records. Beginning in late 2009 Stevens began releasing new music videos directly to YouTube. A lot of the music videos released by Stevens since December 2009 are political in nature. The music videos, many of which have obtained more than half a million unique views, have helped establish Stevens as a legitimate political entertainer.
Grammy Awards[link]
Stevens has 11 Grammy nominations and won two Grammy Awards: one for "Everything Is Beautiful" and one for the arrangement of his country and western version of the jazz standard "Misty" (1975). Stevens was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1980 as well as the Georgia Music Hall of Fame.
Other awards and accomplishments[link]
- 1969: Gold Single — "Gitarzan"
- 1970: Gold Single — "Everything Is Beautiful"
- 1970: Grammy — "Everything Is Beautiful" (Best Male Pop Vocal Performance)
- 1974: Gold Single — "The Streak"
- 1975: Grammy — "Misty" (Best Arrangement of the Year)
- 1980: Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame
- 1980: Georgia Music Hall of Fame
- 1984: Gold Album — "He Thinks He's Ray Stevens"
- 1985: Gold Album — "I Have Returned"
- 1986: Music City News Comedian of the Year
- 1986: #1 Country Album Plaque from Billboard — "I Have Returned" (week ending March 15, 1986)
- 1987: Music City News Comedian of the Year
- 1987: Platinum Album — "Greatest Hits"
- 1987: Gold Album — "Greatest Hits, Volume Two"
- 1988: Music City News Comedian of the Year
- 1989: Music City News Comedian of the Year
- 1990: Music City News Comedian of the Year
- 1990: Gold Album — "All-Time Greatest Comic Hits"
- 1991: Music City News Comedian of the Year
- 1992: Music City News Comedian of the Year
- 1992: #1 Home Video Plaque from Billboard — "Comedy Video Classics"
- 1992: Ten Times-Platinum Home Video — "Comedy Video Classics"
- 1993: Billboard Home Video of the Year
- 1993: Music City News Comedian of the Year
- 1993: Platinum Home Video — "Ray Stevens Live!"
- 1994: Music City News Comedian of the Year
- 1995: Platinum Home Video — "Get Serious!"
- 1995: Country Weekly Golden Pick Award "Best Comedian"
- 2001: Atlanta Country Music Hall of Fame
- 2002: Gold Single — "Osama Yo' Mama"
- 2009: Christian Music Hall of Fame
Music City News was a monthly subscription magazine which reported on the latest happenings among country music celebrities. The magazine's subscribers for the most part voted in the annual awards. Years later fans from all over the country could call and vote for their favorite acts in addition to the subscribers who used voting ballots. The winners of the fan voted awards were showcased nationally in an awards gala broadcast on CBS and later, The Nashville Network. Stevens won in the Comedian of the Year category nine consecutive years and performed on their awards telecasts on a consistent basis.
Stevens was the recipient of several publisher awards from BMI Music for songs he either wrote, recorded, or published. Some of the recordings that received these citations were Everything Is Beautiful, The Streak, Shriner's Convention, Gitarzan, and several songs recorded by Sammy Kershaw and published by Stevens.
In July 2009 Stevens began uploading music videos onto YouTube for the first time. Many of the uploads were of music videos that were made in the early and mid-1990s. His user name, raystevensmusic, has since released quite a few music videos on YouTube and by late summer of 2010, a combined total of 10,000,000 unique views was obtained.
Discography[link]
References[link]
- ^ [1]
- ^ http://www.raystevens.com/bio/index.php
- ^ a b Woodstra, Chris; Erlewine, Steven Thomas; Bogdanov, Vladamir; Erlewine, Michael (1997). All Music Guide to Country: The Experts' Guide to the Best Country Recordings. Backbeat Books. p. 448. ISBN 978-0-87930-475-1.
- ^ "Reviews and Ratings". Billboard: 52. January 24, 1957.
- ^ Warner, Jay (2006). American Singing Groups: A History, From 1940 to Today. Hal Leonard. p. 100. ISBN 978-0-352-33533-3.
- ^ "King William-Atlanta's Music Business Leader". Billboard: 33, 34. August 8, 1970.
- ^ Wadhams, Wayne (2001). Inside the Hits: The Seduction of a Rock and Roll Generation (Pop Culture). Berklee Press. pp. 78–82.
- ^ Murrells, Joseph (1978). The Book of Golden Discs (2nd ed.). London: Barrie and Jenkins Ltd. p. 286. ISBN 0-214-20512-6.
- Roy, Don (1998). "Ray Stevens." In The Encyclopedia of Country Music, Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 507.
External links[link]
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | Stevens, Ray |
| Alternative names | Ragsdale, Harold Ray |
| Short description | American country and pop singer-songwriter |
| Date of birth | January 24, 1939 |
| Place of birth | Clarkdale, Georgia, United States |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
http://wn.com/Ray_Stevens
Related pages:
http://fr.wn.com/Ray Stevens
http://de.wn.com/Ray Stevens (Musiker)
http://es.wn.com/Ray Stevens
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This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license.
| Sir Paul McCartney MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM |
|
|---|---|
 McCartney performing in England, 2010 |
|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | James Paul McCartney |
| Born | (1942-06-18) 18 June 1942 (age 70) Liverpool, England, UK |
| Genres | Rock, pop, classical, electronica |
| Occupations | Musician, composer, music producer, film producer, businessman |
| Instruments | Vocals, bass guitar, guitar, keyboards, drums, ukulele, mandolin, recorder |
| Years active | 1957–present |
| Labels | Hear, Apple, Parlophone, Capitol, Columbia, Concord, EMI, One Little Indian, Vee-Jay |
| Associated acts | The Quarrymen, The Beatles, Wings, The Fireman, Linda McCartney, Denny Laine |
| Website | www.paulmccartney.com |
| Notable instruments | |
| Höfner 500/1 Rickenbacker 4001S Epiphone Texan Gibson Les Paul Epiphone Casino Martin D-28 |
|
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM (born 18 June 1942) is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of the Beatles (1960–1970) and Wings (1971–1981), he has been described by Guinness World Records as "The Most Successful Composer and Recording Artist of All Time", with 60 gold discs and sales of over 100 million albums and 100 million singles.[1] With John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, he gained worldwide fame as a member of the Beatles, and with Lennon formed one of the most celebrated songwriting partnerships of the 20th century. After leaving the Beatles, he began a solo career and later formed the band Wings with his first wife, Linda Eastman, and singer-songwriter Denny Laine.
According to the BBC, his Beatles song "Yesterday" has been covered by over 2,200 artists—more than any other song. Wings' 1977 release, "Mull of Kintyre", became one of the best-selling singles ever in the UK, and he is "the most successful songwriter" in UK chart history, according to Guinness.[2] As a songwriter or co-writer, he is included on thirty-one number one titles on the Billboard Hot 100, and as of 2012 he has sold over 15.5 million RIAA certified units in the United States.
He has composed film scores, classical and electronic music, and released a large catalogue of songs as a solo artist. He has taken part in projects to help international charities, and has been an advocate for animal rights, vegetarianism, and music education; he has been active in campaigns against landmines and seal hunting, and supported efforts such as Make Poverty History. His company MPL Communications owns the copyrights to more than 25,000 songs, including those written by Buddy Holly, as well as the publishing rights to the musicals Guys and Dolls, A Chorus Line, and Grease. He is one of the UK's wealthiest people, with an estimated fortune of £475 million in 2010. He has been married three times and is the father of five children.
Contents |
Childhood[link]
Main article: Jim and Mary McCartney
McCartney was born in Walton Hospital in Liverpool England, where his mother, Mary (née Mohin), had twelve years earlier, "satisfied her state registry requirements" for nursing, writes Beatles biographer Bob Spitz.[3] His father James, or "Jim" McCartney, was absent at his son's birth due to his work as a volunteer fire fighter during World War II.[3] McCartney has one brother, Michael, born 7 January 1944, and though they were baptised in their mother's Roman Catholic faith, "religion did not play a part in their upbringing" according to biographer Barry Miles, as McCartney's father was a Protestant turned agnostic.[4]
In 1947 he began attending Stockton Wood Road Primary School, by 1952 Joseph Williams Junior School,[5] where he passed the 11-plus exam in 1953 with three others out of ninety examinees, thus gaining admission to the Liverpool Institute.[6] However, when he took his A-level exams at age nineteen, he passed only one subject – Art.[7] In 1954, while taking the bus from his home in the suburb of Speke to the Institute, he met George Harrison,[8] who had also passed the exam, meaning they could both go to a grammar school rather than a secondary modern school, which the majority of pupils attended until they were eligible to work.[9]
In 1955 the McCartneys moved to 20 Forthlin Road in Allerton, where they lived through 1964.[10] Paul was the first member of his family to own a car and his mother rode a bicycle to houses where she worked as a midwife; he describes an early memory of her leaving at "about three in the morning" the "streets ... thick with snow".[11] On 31 October 1956, when he was fourteen, his mother died of an embolism after a mastectomy operation to stop the spread of her breast cancer.[12] The loss of his mother at fourteen was later a point of relation with John Lennon, whose mother Julia also died when he was young, after being struck by a car when he was seventeen.[13]
McCartney's father was a trumpet player and pianist who had led Jim Mac's Jazz Band in the 1920s and encouraged his son to be musical. He kept an upright piano in the front room that he purchased from Epstein's North End Music Stores.[14] His father, Joe McCartney, played an E-flat tuba.[15] Jim McCartney used to point out the bass parts in songs on the radio, and often took his son to local brass band concerts.[16] Jim gave his son a nickel-plated trumpet for his fourteenth birthday,[17] but when rock and roll became popular on Radio Luxembourg,[18] Paul traded it for a £15 Framus Zenith (model 17) acoustic guitar, realising it would be too difficult to sing, "with a trumpet stuck in your mouth."[17] Being left-handed, he found right-handed guitars difficult to play, but when he saw a poster advertising a Slim Whitman concert, he realised that Whitman played left-handed with his right-handed guitar strung the opposite way. He then restrung his guitar and after some adjustments, found it easier to play.[17] McCartney wrote his first song ("I Lost My Little Girl") on the Zenith, and an early tune which became, "When I'm Sixty-Four", on the piano, for which, despite his father's advice, he took only a couple of lessons for, preferring instead he says, to learn "by ear."[14] He was heavily influenced by American rhythm and blues music, and has stated that Little Richard was his idol when he was in school. The first song he ever sang on a stage in public was "Long Tall Sally", at a Butlins holiday camp talent competition.[19]
Musical career[link]
Main article: Paul McCartney's musical career
1957–1960: The Quarrymen[link]
Main article: The Quarrymen
McCartney met Lennon and the Quarrymen at the St. Peter's Church Hall fête in Woolton on 6 July 1957, when he was fifteen years old.[20] He joined the group soon after, and formed a close working relationship with Lennon. Harrison joined in 1958 as lead guitarist, followed in 1960 by Lennon's art school friend, Stuart Sutcliffe on bass.[21] By May 1960, they had tried several new names, including "Johnny and the Moondogs" and "the Silver Beetles", playing a tour of Scotland under that name with Johnny Gentle. They changed the name of the group to "the Beatles" in mid-August 1960 and recruited Pete Best on drums prior to the first of what would be five engagements in Hamburg, Germany.[22]
1960–1970: The Beatles[link]
Main article: The Beatles
From August 1960 the Beatles were booked by Allan Williams to perform in Hamburg, and during their extended stays there over the next two years, they performed as the resident group at two of Bruno Koschmider's clubs, the Indra, then the Kaiserkeller, and upon returns to Liverpool, at the Cavern Club.[23] In 1961 Sutcliffe left the band, and McCartney reluctantly became their bass player.[24] The Beatles recorded their first published music in Hamburg, performing as the backing band for Tony Sheridan on the single "My Bonnie".[25] The recording would later bring them to the attention of a key figure in their subsequent development and commercial success, Brian Epstein, who became their manager in January 1962.[26] Epstein eventually negotiated a record contract for the group with Parlophone in May of that year.[27] After replacing Best with Ringo Starr in August, they became increasingly popular in the UK during 1963 and in the US in 1964, in a frenzied adolation that became known as "Beatlemania",[28] during which McCartney was dubbed, "the cute Beatle", according to Miles.[29] In 1965 they were each appointed as a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE).[30]
After the recording of the Beatles hit "Yesterday" (1965), McCartney contacted the BBC Radiophonic Workshop in Maida Vale London, to ask if they would record an electronic version of the song, but he never followed up.[31] When visiting artist John Dunbar's flat in London, he would bring along tapes he had compiled at then girlfriend Jane Asher's home,[32] mixes of various songs, musical pieces and comments made by McCartney that Dick James made into a demo for him.[33] Heavily influenced by American avant-garde musician John Cage, he made tape loops by recording voices, guitars, and bongos on a Brenell tape recorder, and splicing the various loops together. He reversed the tapes, sped them up, and slowed them down to create the effects he wanted, some of which were later used on Beatles' recordings, such as "Tomorrow Never Knows" (1966). He referred to the tapes as "electronic symphonies".[34] In 1966 he rented a ground floor and basement flat from Starr at 34 Montagu Square, to be used as a small studio for spoken-word recordings by poets, writers (including William S. Burroughs) and avant-garde musicians.[35] The Beatles' Apple Records then launched a sub-label, Zapple with Miles as its manager, ostensibly to release recordings of a similar aesthetic, although few releases would ultimately come of the endeavour as Apple and the Beatles slid into business and personal difficulties.[35] After touring almost non-stop for a period of nearly four years, and giving more than 1,400 live performances internationally,[36] the group gave their final commercial concert at the end of their 1966 US tour.[37]
They continued to work in the recording studio and before their break-up in 1970 produced what some critics consider to be their finest material, including the innovative and widely influential albums Revolver (1966), Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967), The Beatles (1968) and Abbey Road (1969).[38] Between 1963 and 1970 the group released twenty-two UK singles and twelve LPs, of which seventeen of the singles and eleven of the LPs became number ones.[39] The band topped the US Billboard Hot 100 twenty times, and recorded fourteen number one albums.[40] Lennon and McCartney became one of the most celebrated songwriting partnerships of the 20th century.[41] McCartney's contributions to the band's hit song's include: "Can't Buy Me Love" (1964), "Yesterday" (1965), Paperback Writer" and "Eleanor Rigby" (1966), "Hello, Goodbye" (1967), "Hey Jude" (1968), "Get Back (1969)", "Let It Be" and "The Long and Winding Road" (1970).[42]
In March 1969 he married Linda Eastman, whom he first met in May 1967. The couple had their first child together, Mary, named after Paul's late mother, in August 1969.[43] In October 1969 a rumour surfaced that McCartney had died in a car crash, but it was quickly proven false when a November Life magazine cover featured him and his family with the caption, "Paul is Still With Us."[44]
1970–1981: Wings[link]
Main article: Wings (band)
After the Beatles break-up in 1970 McCartney continued his musical career, releasing his first solo album, McCartney, in 1970, which contained the stand-out track "Maybe I'm Amazed", written for Linda.[45] With the exception of some vocal contributions from her, it is a "one-man album with Paul playing all the instruments" himself, writes Beatles biographer Bill Harry.[46] In 1971 Paul collaborated with Linda on a second album, Ram, a UK number one which included the co-written US number one hit song, "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey".[47] Later that year, the pair were joined by ex-Moody Blues guitarist Denny Laine and drummer Denny Seiwell to form the group Wings, and release their first album together, Wild Life. In September 1971 the McCartney family added a second child, Stella, named in honour of Linda's grandmothers.[48]
In 1973 McCartney wrote Wings' first US number one, "My Love", included on their second LP, Red Rose Speedway, and his collaboration with Linda and former Beatles' producer George Martin resulted in the James Bond theme song and Wings hit, "Live and Let Die", which was nominated for an Oscar, and earned Martin a Grammy for his orchestral arrangement.[49] In 1974 Paul wrote a second US number one for Wings, "Band on the Run"; the acclaimed album of the same name, Wings' third, was a massive success that became their first platinum LP.[50] They followed with the chart topping LPs, Venus and Mars (1975) and Wings at the Speed of Sound (1976).[51] In September 1977 a third child was born to the McCartneys, a son they named James,[52] and in November, the Wings song "Mull of Kintyre" was fast becoming "the best-selling single in UK history", writes Beatles biographer Peter Doggett.[53] Achieving double the sales of the previous record holder, "She Loves You", the track would go on to sell 2.5 million copies, and hold the UK sales record until the 1984 charity single, "Do They Know It's Christmas?".[54] In 1977 he released Thrillington, an orchestral arrangement of Ram, under the pseudonym Percy "Thrills" Thrillington[55], with a cover designed by Hipgnosis.[56]
While London Town (1978) and Back to the Egg (1979) passed with little critical or commercial notice,[57] the latter involved McCartney's collaboration with a rock supergroup dubbed, "the Rockestra", though credited to Wings, that included Pete Townshend, David Gilmour, Gary Brooker, John Paul Jones, and John Bonham.[58] Active through 1981, Wings produced seven studio albums, five of which topped the US charts,[59] as well as their live triple LP, Wings over America,[60] one of few live albums ever to achieve the top spot in America.[61] They also recorded six US number one singles including, "Listen to What the Man Said", "Silly Love Songs, "With a Little Luck", and "Coming Up".[62]
1982–1989[link]
In 1980 he released his second solo LP, the self-produced McCartney II, and as with his first, he composed all the music and performed the instrumentation himself. The album contained the hit songs "Coming Up", "Waterfalls", and "Temporary Secretary".[63] In 1982 he collaborated with Stevie Wonder on the Martin produced number one hit, "Ebony and Ivory", included on McCartney's Tug of War LP, and with Michael Jackson on "The Girl Is Mine" from Thriller.[64] The following year he worked with Jackson on the US number one, "Say Say Say", and he earned a UK number one with the title track of his LP release that year, "Pipes of Peace".[65]
In 1984 he wrote, produced, and starred in the feature film Give My Regards to Broad Street, a musical which "was savagely panned by the critics" according to Harry; and described by Variety as: "Characterless, bloodless, and pointless."[66] Roger Ebert awarded the film a single star and wrote, "you can safely skip the movie and proceed directly to the sound track",[67] which fared much better, reaching number one in the UK, and producing the hit single, "No More Lonely Nights", featuring Gilmour on lead guitar.[68]
He collaborated with Eric Stewart on Press to Play (1986), who co-wrote more than half the songs on the LP, and in 1988, McCartney released Снова в СССР, a Russia-only title that contained eighteen covers which he recorded over the course of two days.[69] In 1989 he joined forces with fellow Merseysiders including Gerry Marsden of Gerry and the Pacemakers and Holly Johnson of Frankie Goes to Hollywood to record a new version of "Ferry Cross the Mersey", originally recorded twenty-five years earlier by Gerry and the Pacemakers, to generate money for the appeal fund of the Hillsborough disaster, which occurred in April that year when ninety-five Liverpool F.C. fans died as a result of their injuries. The recording was a number one hit in the UK.[70] In 1989 he released Flowers in the Dirt, a collaborative effort with Elvis Costello which included musical contributions from Gilmour and Nicky Hopkins.[71]
1990–2000[link]
In 1990 he released the triple LP, Tripping the Live Fantastic, which contained select performances from The Paul McCartney World Tour, his first in over a decade.[72] The following year he ventured into orchestral music, when the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Society commissioned a musical piece by him to celebrate its sesquicentennial. He collaborated with Carl Davis to release Liverpool Oratorio; involving opera singers Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, Sally Burgess, Jerry Hadley and Willard White, with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and the choir of Liverpool Cathedral.[73] The Guardian was critical of the work stating that the music is, "afraid of anything approaching a fast tempo", and the piece has "little awareness of the need for recurrent ideas that will bind the work into a whole".[74] In response, McCartney wrote a defensive letter to the paper, which they published, where he states: "Happily, history shows that many good pieces of music were not liked by the critics of the time so I am content to ... let people judge for themselves the merits of the work."[74]
During the 1990s he twice collaborated with Youth of Killing Joke under the alias the Fireman, and released the electronica albums: Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest (1993) and Rushes (1998).[75] Released in 1993, the rock album Off the Ground was supported by "The New World Tour", which produced the album, Paul Is Live later that year.[76] Starting in 1994 he took a four-year hiatus from his solo career to work on Apple's the Beatles Anthology project with Harrison, Starr and Martin. He recorded a radio series called "Oobu Joobu" in 1995, for the American network Westwood One, which he described as being "wide-screen radio".[77] Also in 1995 Prince Charles presented him with an Honorary Fellowship of The Royal College of Music, "kind of amazing for somebody who doesn't read a note of music", commented McCartney,[78] and in December 1996 he was informed that he was to be named in the 1997 New Year Honours and knighted for services to music; his ceremony took place in March 1997.[79]
In 1997 he released the rock album Flaming Pie, and the classical work Standing Stone; in 1998 Rushes, his second electronica album as the Fireman.[80] Run Devil Run (1999), featuring Ian Paice and Gilmour, was primarily an album of covers with three McCartney originals, something he said he had "wanted to do for years", having been previously encouraged to do so by Linda, who had died in April 1998 after losing a seventeen-month battle with cancer.[81] He contributed a song, "Nova", to a tribute album of choral music dedicated to her called, A Garland for Linda (2000).[82] He continued his experimentation with orchestral music on Working Classical (1999), and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist in March of the same year.[83] In May 2000 he was awarded a Fellowship by the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors, and in August he released the electronica album, Liverpool Sound Collage with Super Furry Animals and Youth, utilising the sound collage and musique concrète techniques that fascinated him in the mid-1960s.[84]
2001–present[link]
In 2001 McCartney released a live album of acoustic-only performances called, Unplugged (The Official Bootleg).[85] Having witnessed the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks from the JFK airport tarmac, he was inspired to take a lead role in organising The Concert for New York City, and his studio album release that year Driving Rain included the song "Freedom", written for the event as a response to the tragedy.[86] He toured in support of Driving Rain and in 2002 released the double live album Back in the U.S. (released internationally in 2003 as Back in the World.[87] In November 2002, on the first anniversary of Harrison's death, McCartney performed at the Concert for George.[88] He has also participated in the National Football League's Super Bowl, performing "Freedom" in the pre-game show for Super Bowl XXXVI[89] and headlining the halftime show at Super Bowl XXXIX.[90]
In 2005 he released the rock album Chaos and Creation in the Backyard, and the electronica offering, Twin Freaks; a collaborative project with bootleg producer and remixer Freelance Hellraiser, consisting of remixed versions of songs from throughout his solo career.[91] In 2006 he released the classical work Ecce Cor Meum; the rock album Memory Almost Full followed in 2007, and in 2008, his third Fireman release, Electric Arguments. In 2008 he performed at a concert in Liverpool to celebrate the city's year as European Capital of Culture.[92] In 2009, more than forty-five years after the Beatles first appeared on American television during The Ed Sullivan Show, he returned to the same New York theatre to perform on Late Show with David Letterman.[93] In 2010 he was honoured by Barack Obama with the Gershwin Prize for his contributions to popular music in a live show for the White House with performances by Stevie Wonder, Lang Lang and others.[94] He returned to the White House later that year as a recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors.
McCartney's enduring fame has made him a popular choice to open new venues. In 2009 he played three sold out concerts at the newly built Citi Field in Queens, New York, constructed to replace Shea Stadium, and he released a double live album culled from those performances called, Good Evening New York City later that year.[95] In 2010 he opened the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,[96] and in 2011 he performed the first concerts at the new Yankee Stadium, and released the classical work, "Ocean's Kingdom". He has been touring since 2001 with guitarists Rusty Anderson and Brian Ray, Paul "Wix" Wickens on keyboards and drummer Abe Laboriel, Jr. An upcoming tribute album is expected in June 2012, to coincide with his 70th birthday, featuring recordings of his songs by Kiss, Garth Brooks, Billy Joel, Brian Wilson, Willie Nelson, Steve Miller, B.B. King and others.[97] Kisses on the Bottom, a collection of standards, was released in February 2012,[98] that same month he was honoured as MusiCares Person of the Year, two days prior to his performance at the 54th Grammy Awards.[99]
Musicianship[link]
As a musician, McCartney was largely self-taught, musicologist Ian MacDonald describes his approach as, "by nature drawn to music's formal aspects yet wholly untutoured ... [He] produced technically 'finished' work almost entirely by instinct, his harmonic judgement based mainly on perfect pitch and an acute pair of ears."[100]
- Bass guitar
He has been acknowledged by a diverse group of bass players including, Sting, long-time Dr. Dre bassist Mike Elizondo, and Colin Moulding of XTC.[101] McCartney is known to play using a plectrum, or pick almost exclusively, but he occasionally plays fingerstyle as well.[102] During his early years with the Beatles he primarily used a Höfner 500/1 bass live and when recording, though in 1965 he began using a Rickenbacker 4001s for recording, while consistently using Vox amplifiers.[103] In recent years he has used Mesa Boogie bass amplifiers live and while recording. McCartney confirms the influence of Motown on his playing, in particular that of James Jamerson, whom he described as a "hero", and included with Brian Wilson as his "two biggest influences".[104]
"He's an egomaniac about everything else but his bass playing he'd always been a bit coy about".[105]
~ John Lennon
Whereas MacDonald identifies "She's a Woman" as the point in time which McCartney's bass playing began to evolve dramatically,[106] Beatles biographer Chris Ingham singles out Rubber Soul as the time when his bass playing, "began to come into its own", particularly on "The Word".[105] Authors Tony Bacon and Gareth Morgan agree, calling his "groove" on the track, "a high point in pop bass playing" and "the first proof on a recording of his serious technical ability on the instrument."[107] MacDonald infers the influence of James Brown's "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag", and Pickett's "In the Midnight Hour", American soul tracks from which McCartney absorbed elements and drew inspiration as he "delivers his most spontaneous bass-part to date". He also played piano on the recording.[108]
Bacon and Morgan describe his bassline for the Beatles' song "Rain" as "an astonishing piece of playing ... [McCartney] thinking in terms of both rhythm and 'lead bass' ... [choosing] the area of the neck ... he correctly perceives will give him clarity for melody without rendering his sound too thin for groove."[109] MacDonald calls it the Beatles "finest B-side", its "clangorously saturated texture resona[ting] around McCartney's bass".[110] He describes the bassline as "so inventive that it threatens to overwhelm the track", and he draws attention to the influence of Indian classical music in "exotic melismas in the bass part".[110]
- Acoustic guitar
Examples of his acoustic guitar playing on Beatles tracks include: "Yesterday", "I'm Looking Through You", "Michelle", "Blackbird", "I Will", "Mother Nature's Son" and "Rocky Raccoon".[111] He played an Epiphone Texan on many, if not most of his acoustic recordings, but he has also used a Martin D-28.[112]
- Electric guitar
He played lead electric guitar on several Beatles' recordings, including what MacDonald describes as a "fiercely angular slide guitar solo" on "Drive My Car",[113] which he played on an Epiphone Casino, about which McCartney said: "If I had to pick one electric guitar it would be this."[114] He also contributed what MacDonald calls "a startling guitar solo" on the Harrison composition, "Taxman", and the "shrieking" guitar on "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and "Helter Skelter", as well as "a coruscating pseudo-Indian" solo on "Good Morning Good Morning".[115] In recent years he has primarily used a Gibson Les Paul for electric work, particularly while performing live.
- Piano
He played a piano on many Beatles' songs including, "Every Little Thing", "For No One", "A Day in the Life", "Hello, Goodbye", "Hey Jude", "Lady Madonna", "Let It Be" and "The Long and Winding Road".[116]
Creative outlets[link]
During the 1960s, McCartney delved into the visual arts, becoming a close friend of leading art dealers and gallery owners, explored experimental film, and regularly attended movie, theatrical and classical music performances. His first contact with the London avant-garde scene was through artist John Dunbar, who introduced him to the art dealer Robert Fraser, who in turn introduced McCartney to an array of writers and artists.[117] He later became involved in the renovation and publicising of the Indica Gallery in Mason's Yard, London — where Lennon first met Yoko Ono.[118] The Indica Gallery brought McCartney into contact with Miles, whose underground newspaper, the International Times, McCartney helped to start.[119] Miles would become de facto manager of Apple's short-lived Zapple Records label,[120] and he wrote McCartney's official biography, Many Years From Now (1997).[121]
While living at then girlfriend Jane Asher's parent's house, he took piano lessons arranged by Jane's mother, provided by a teacher from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, a school Beatles' producer Martin had previously attended.[122] McCartney studied composers such as Karlheinz Stockhausen, and Luciano Berio.[123] He later wrote and released several pieces of modern classical music and ambient electronica, as well as writing poetry and painting. He is lead patron of the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, an arts school in the building formerly occupied by the Liverpool Institute for Boys. The 1837 building, which he attended during his schooldays, had become derelict by the mid-1980s, however, on 7 June 1996, Queen Elizabeth II officially opened the redeveloped building.[124]
- Painting
In 1966 he met art gallery-owner Robert Fraser, whose flat was visited by many well-known artists, some of which McCartney met, including; Andy Warhol, Claes Oldenburg, Peter Blake, and Richard Hamilton, and it was at Fraser's flat where McCartney first learned about art appreciation.[125] He later started buying paintings by Magritte, using his painting of an apple for the Apple Records logo, and McCartney now owns one of Magritte's easels and a pair of his spectacles.[126]
McCartney's love of painting surfaced after watching artist Willem de Kooning paint, in Kooning's Long Island studio.[127] He took up painting in 1983,[128] and in 1999, he exhibited his paintings (featuring McCartney's portraits of John Lennon, Andy Warhol, and David Bowie) for the first time in Siegen, Germany, and included photographs by Linda. He chose the gallery because Wolfgang Suttner (local events organiser) was genuinely interested in his art, and the positive reaction led to McCartney showing his work in UK galleries.[129] The first UK exhibition of his work was opened in Bristol, England with more than 50 paintings on display. McCartney had previously believed that "only people that had been to art school were allowed to paint" – as Lennon had.[129]
In October 2000, Ono and McCartney presented art exhibitions in New York and London. McCartney said, "I've been offered an exhibition of my paintings at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool where John and I used to spend many a pleasant afternoon. So I'm really excited about it. I didn't tell anybody I painted for 15 years but now I'm out of the closet."[130] McCartney designed a series of six postage stamps issued by the Isle of Man Post in 2002, and according to BBC News, he is the first major rock star in the world to do so.[131]
- Writing and poetry
When he was young, his mother read him poems and encouraged him to read books, and his father was interested in crosswords and invited he and his brother Michael to solve them with him, so as to increase their "word power", says McCartney.[132] He was later inspired – in his school years – by Alan Durband, an English literature teacher at the Liverpool Institute.[133] Durband was a co-founder and fund-raiser at the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool, where Willy Russell also worked, and introduced McCartney to Geoffrey Chaucer's works.[134]
In 2001 he published 'Blackbird Singing', a volume of poems and lyrics to his songs for which he gave readings in Liverpool and New York City.[135] In the foreword of the book, he explains: "When I was a teenager ... I had an overwhelming desire to have a poem published in the school magazine. I wrote something deep and meaningful——which was promptly rejected——and I suppose I have been trying to get my own back ever since."[136] Years later, he wrote a poem about the death of his childhood friend, Ivan Vaughan.[136] In 2005 he collaborated with author Philip Ardagh and animator Geoff Dunbar to write, High in the Clouds: An Urban Furry Tail, which The Guardian labelled an "anti-capitalist children's book".[137]
- Film
He was interested in animated films as a child, and in 1981 he asked Geoff Dunbar to direct a short animated film called Rupert and the Frog Song. McCartney was the writer and producer and he also added some of the character voices.[138] In 1992 he worked with Dunbar on an animated film about the work of French artist Honoré Daumier, which won both of them a BAFTA award.[139] In 2004 they worked together on the animated short film, Tropic Island Hum. In 1995 he made a guest appearance in the "Lisa the Vegetarian" episode of The Simpsons, and directed a short documentary about the Grateful Dead.[140]
In May 2000 he released Wingspan: An Intimate Portrait, a retrospective documentary that features behind-the-scenes film and photographs that he and Linda took of their family and bands.[141] Interspersed throughout the eighty-eight minute film is an interview by Mary McCartney with her father. Mary was the baby photographed inside McCartney's jacket on the back cover of his first solo album, McCartney, and was one of the producers of the documentary.[142]
Lifestyle[link]
- Drugs
McCartney's introduction to drugs started in Hamburg, Germany, when the Beatles would play for long hours and were often using Preludin to maintain energy, sometimes supplied by friend Astrid Kirchherr. According to McCartney, he would usually take only one, but Lennon would often take four or five by the end of a night.[143] He recalls getting "very high" and "giggling uncontrollably" when the Beatles were introduced to marijuana by Bob Dylan in a New York hotel room in 1964.[144] His use of which soon after became habitual,[145] and according to Miles, any future Beatles' lyrics containing the words "high", or "grass" were written specifically as a reference to cannabis, as was the phrase "another kind of mind" in "Got to Get You into My Life".[146] During the filming of Help!, he claims he occasionally smoked a joint in the car on the way to the studio during filming, which often made him forget his lines.[147] Director Dick Lester says that he overheard "two beautiful women" trying to cajole McCartney into using heroin, but he refused.[147] He was introduced to cocaine by art dealer Robert Fraser, and it was readily available during the recording of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.[148] McCartney admits that he used the drug for about a year but stopped because of his dislike of the unpleasant melancholy he felt after the drug wore off.[149]
While initially reluctant to try LSD, he eventually did so in the fall of 1966 with friend Tara Browne.[150] He took his second "acid trip" with Lennon on 21 March 1967 after a Sgt. Pepper studio session.[151] He later became the first Beatle to discuss the drug publicly, declaring in a magazine interview that "it opened my eyes" and "made me a better, more honest, more tolerant member of society."[152] His attitude about cannabis was made public in 1967, when he added his name to a 24 July advertisement in The Times which called for its legalisation, the release of all prisoners imprisoned because of possession, and research into marijuana's medical uses. The advertisement was produced by a group called Soma and was signed by sixty-five people, including Members of Parliament, the Beatles, Epstein, RD Laing, Francis Crick, and Graham Greene.[153]
Though never arrested by Norman Pilcher's Drug Squad, as Lennon, Harrison, and Mick Jagger had been,[154] in 1972 Swedish police fined him for cannabis possession, and soon after Scottish police found plants growing on his farm.[155] He was again arrested for marijuana possession in 1975, and in January 1980, when Wings flew to Tokyo for an eleven concert tour of Japan, as McCartney was going through customs, officials found approximately 8 ounces (218.3 g) of cannabis in his luggage, and he was arrested and taken to a local jail while the Japanese government decided what to do. After ten days, he was released without charge and deported.[156] He was again arrested for possession of marijuana in 1984 and in 1997, he spoke out in support of decriminalisation, stating "People are smoking pot anyway and to make them criminals is wrong."[157]
- Activism
Paul and Linda became outspoken animal rights activists after their vegetarianism was realised when Paul happened to notice through a window, lambs in a field, as they ate a meal of lamb.[158] He has also credited the 1942 Disney film Bambi, in which the young deer's mother is shot by a hunter, as the original inspiration for him to take an interest in animal rights.[159] In his first interview after Linda's death, he promised to continue working for animal rights.[160] In 1999 he spent £3,000,000 to ensure Linda McCartney Foods remained free of genetically engineered ingredients.[161]
Following his marriage to Mills, he joined her in a campaign against landmines, becoming patrons of Adopt-A-Minefield.[162] In 2003 he played a personal concert for the wife of a wealthy banker and donated his one million dollar fee to the charity.[163] He also wore an anti-landmines t-shirt during the Back in the World tour.[164] In 2006 the McCartneys travelled to Prince Edward Island to bring international attention to the seal hunt, this would be their final public appearance together. Their arrival sparked attention in Newfoundland and Labrador where the hunt is of economic significance.[165] The couple also debated with Newfoundland's Premier Danny Williams on the CNN show Larry King Live. They further stated that the fishermen should quit hunting seals and begin a seal watching business.[166] McCartney has also criticised China's fur trade[167] and supports the Make Poverty History campaign.[168]
He has been involved with several charity recordings and performances, such as the Concerts for the People of Kampuchea, Ferry Aid, Band Aid, Live Aid, and the recording of "Ferry Cross the Mersey" (1989) following the Hillsborough disaster.[169] In 2004 he donated a song to an album to aid the "US Campaign for Burma", in support of Burmese Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi,[170] and in 2008 he donated a song to Aid Still Required's CD to assist with the restoration of the devastation done to Southeast Asia from the 2004 Tsunami.[171]
In 2009, he wrote to the 14th Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso, and asked him why he wasn't a vegetarian, McCartney explains: "He wrote back very kindly, saying, my doctors tell me that I must eat meat. And I wrote back again, saying, you know, I don't think that's right. So we had a little correspondence [and] I think now he's vegetarian most of the time. I think he's now being told ... that he can get his protein somewhere else. It's a little old-fashioned to think that he can only get it from meat [and] It just doesn't seem right – the Dalai Lama, on the one hand, saying, 'Hey guys, don't harm sentient beings ... Oh, and by the way, I'm having a steak.'"[172]
- Football
He attended the 1968 FA Cup Final played by West Bromwich Albion against the Everton Football Club, and after the match, shared cigarettes and whisky with other fans.[173] Though he has publicly professed support for Everton,[174] he has also shown support for Liverpool F.C., as in 1968 when he was photographed wearing their rosette.[175] The ex-Liverpool footballer, Albert Stubbins, was shown on the Sgt. Pepper cover,[176] and the video for his song "Pipes of Peace" (1983) recreated the 1915 Christmas football game played between German and British troops during World War I.[177] At the end of "Coming Up (Live at Glasgow)" the crowd chants "Paul McCartney!" until McCartney takes over and changes it to "Kenny Dalglish!", referring to then Liverpool and Scotland striker. At the same concert, Gordon Smith, former football player for the Rangers and Brighton & Hove Albion, met the McCartneys, and later accepted an invitation to visit their home in East Sussex in 1980. Smith later said that McCartney was "thrilled I knew Kenny Dalglish"[178]
He attended the 1986 FA Cup Final between Liverpool and Everton,[173] and performed at the Liverpool F.C. Anfield stadium in 2008, as a part of Liverpool's European Capital of Culture year. Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters sang with McCartney on "Band on the Run", and played drums on "Back in the U.S.S.R.".[179] Ono and Olivia Harrison attended the concert, along with Ken Dodd, and the former Liverpool F.C. football manager Rafael Benítez.[180] In 2008 he ended speculation about his allegiance when he said: "Here's the deal: my father was born in Everton, my family are officially Evertonians, so if it comes down to a derby match or an FA Cup final between the two, I would have to support Everton. But after a concert at Wembley Arena I got a bit of a friendship with Kenny Dalglish, who had been to the gig and I thought 'You know what? I am just going to support them both because it's all Liverpool."[181]
- Meditation
On 24 August 1967, McCartney met the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi at the London Hilton, and later went to Bangor, in North Wales, to attend a weekend 'initiation' conference, at which time he and the other Beatles learned Transcendental Meditation (TM).[182] "The whole meditation experience was very good and I still use the mantra ... I find it soothing and I can imagine that the more you were to get into it, the more interesting it would get."[183] The time McCartney later spent in India at the Maharishi's ashram was highly productive, as nearly all of the songs that would later be recorded for The White Album and Abbey Road were composed there.[184] Although he was told never to repeat the mantra to anyone else, he admitted he told Linda, and said he meditated a lot while he was in jail in Japan.[185] In 2009 McCartney and Starr headlined a benefit concert at Radio City Music Hall, raising three million dollars for the David Lynch Foundation to fund instruction in Transcendental Meditation for at-risk youth.[186]
Personal relationships[link]
Main article: Personal relationships of Paul McCartney
Girlfriends[link]
- Dot Rhone
McCartney's first serious girlfriend in Liverpool was Dot Rhone, whom he met at the Casbah club in 1959.[187] According to Spitz, Rhone feels McCartney had a compulsion to control situations, chosing clothes and make-up for Rhone, encouraging her to grow her hair out like Brigitte Bardot's,[188] and at least once insisting she have it re-styled, to disappointing effect.[189] When he first went to Hamburg with the Beatles, he wrote to Rhone regularly, and she accompanied Cynthia Lennon to Hamburg when they played there again in 1962.[190] The couple had a two-and-a-half-year relationship, and were due to marry until Rhone's miscarriage, when according to Spitz, McCartney now "free of obligation", ended the engagement.[191]
- Jane Asher
He first met the British actress Jane Asher on 18 April 1963, when a photographer asked them to pose together at a Beatles performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London.[192] The two began a relationship and he took up residence with Asher at her parents' house at 57 Wimpole Street London, where he lived for nearly three years before the couple moved to McCartney's own house in St. John's Wood.[193] He wrote several songs while at the Ashers', including "Yesterday" and several inspired by Asher, among them "And I Love Her", "You Won't See Me", and "I'm Looking Through You".[194] They had a five-year relationship, and planned to marry, but Asher broke off the engagement after she discovered he had become involved with another woman, Francie Schwartz.[195]
Wives[link]
- Linda Eastman
Linda Eastman was a music fan who once commented: "All my teen years were spent with an ear to the radio", and who would at times be truant from school to instead see artists such as: Fabian, Bobby Darin, and Chuck Berry.[196] She was a popular photographer with groups such as: the Jimi Hendrix Experience, the Grateful Dead, the Doors, and the Beatles, whom she first met at Shea Stadium in 1966, about which she commented: "It was John who interested me at the start. He was my Beatle hero. But when I met him the facination faded fast and I found it was Paul I liked."[197] The pair first properly met in 1967 at a Georgie Fame concert at The Bag O'Nails club,[198] during her UK assignment to take photographs of rock musicians in London,[199] Paul remembers: "The night Linda and I met, I spotted her across a crowded club, and although I would normally have been nervous chatting her up, I realised I had to ... Pushiness worked for me that night!"[197] Linda said this about their meeting: "I was quite shameless really. I was with somebody else [that night] ... and I saw Paul at the other side of the room. He looked so beautiful that I made up my mind I would have to pick him up."[197] The pair were married in 1969; he describes their relationship: "We had a lot of fun together ... just the nature of how we are, our favourite thing really is to just hang, to have fun. And Linda's very big on just following the moment."[200] He also added, "We were crazy. We had a big argument the night before we got married and it was nearly called off ... [its] miraculous that we made it. But we did."[201]
They collaborated musically after the break-up of the Beatles, and later formed Wings together in 1971, a commercially successful band that was active through 1981.[202] They were both vegetarian and supported the animal rights organisation PETA.[203] They had four children – Linda's daughter Heather (legally adopted by Paul), Mary, Stella and James – and remained married until Linda's death from breast cancer in 1998.[204] After her death, Paul stated in The Daily Mail: "I got a counsellor because I knew that I would need some help. He was great, particularly in helping me get rid of my guilt [about wishing I'd been] perfect all the time ... a real bugger. But then I thought, hang on a minute. We're just human. That was the beautiful thing about our marriage. We were just a boyfriend and girlfriend having babies."[205]
- Heather Mills
In 2002 he married Heather Mills, a former model and anti-landmines campaigner.[206] In 2003, the couple had a child, Beatrice Milly, the first name in honour of Heather's late mother, the second for one of Paul's aunts.[207] They separated in April 2006 and were divorced in March 2008.[208] In 2004 he commented on media animosity toward his partners, "They [the British public] didn't like me giving up on Jane Asher", "I married a New York divorcee with a child, and at the time they didn't like that."[209]
- Nancy Shevell
He married New Yorker Nancy Shevell in a civil ceremony at Old Marylebone Town Hall, London on 9 October 2011. The wedding was a "low-key affair" attended by a group of around 30 family and friends.[210] The couple had been dating since November 2007.[211] A breast cancer survivor,[212] she is a member of the board of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority as well as vice president of a family-owned transportation conglomerate which owns New England Motor Freight.[213]
Beatles[link]
This section is about social and other general interactions. For creative collaborations, see Collaborations between ex-Beatles.
- John Lennon
Despite a strained relationship with Lennon, they briefly became close again in 1974, and played music together on two occasions, the only times since the Beatles break-up in 1970.[214] In later years however, the two grew apart.[215] While McCartney would often phone, he was apprehensive about the reception he would receive, as during one call when he was told, "You're all pizza and fairytales!"[216] In McCartney's effort to avoid talking with him only about business, they often spoke of cats, baking bread, or babies.[217]
On 24 April 1976,[218] the two were watching an episode of Saturday Night Live together at Lennon's home in New York City, during which Lorne Michaels made a $3,000 cash offer for the Beatles to reunite, and while they seriously considered going to the SNL studio just a few blocks away, they decided it was "too late" and according to Lennon, this was the last time he and McCartney ever spent time together.[219] This event was fictionalised in the 2000 television film Two of Us.[220] His last telephone call to Lennon, just days before Lennon and Ono released Double Fantasy, was friendly, he said this about the phone call: "[It is] a consoling factor for me, because I do feel it was sad that we never actually sat down and straightened our differences out. But fortunately for me, the last phone conversation I ever had with him was really great, and we didn't have any kind of blow-up."[221]
-
- Reaction to Lennon's murder
Main article: Death of John Lennon
On the morning of 9 December 1980, he awoke to the news that Lennon had been murdered the previous night, his death creating a media frenzy around the surviving members of the band.[222] During the evening of 9 December, as he was leaving an Oxford Street recording studio, he was surrounded by reporters and asked for a reaction. He was later criticised for what appeared, when published, to be a superficial response: "It's a drag".[218] He later explained, "When John was killed somebody stuck a microphone at me and said: 'What do you think about it?' I said, 'It's a dra-a-ag' and meant it with every inch of melancholy I could muster. When you put that in print it says, 'McCartney in London today when asked for a comment on his dead friend said, "It's a drag."' It seemed a very flippant comment to make."[218] He describes his first exchange with Ono after the murder, and his last conversation with Lennon:
I talked to Yoko the day after he was killed and the first thing she said was, "John was really fond of you." The last telephone conversation I had with him we were still the best of mates. He was always a very warm guy, John. His bluff was all on the surface. He used to take his glasses down, those granny glasses, and say, "It's only me." They were like a wall, you know? A shield. Those are the moments I treasure.[218]
In 1983, he said: "I would not have been as typically human and standoffish as I was if I knew John was going to die. I would have made more of an effort to try and get behind his "mask" and have a better relationship with him."[218] He said that he went home that night and watched the news on television – while sitting with his children – crying most of the evening. In 1997, he admitted the ex-Beatles were nervous at the time that they might be the "next" one murdered.[223] In 2002 he told Mojo magazine that Lennon was his greatest "hero".[224] In June 1981, six months after the murder, McCartney sang backup on Harrison's tribute to their ex-bandmate, "All Those Years Ago", which also featured Starr on drums.[225] In 1982 McCartney released "Here Today", a song musicologist Walter Everett describes as "a haunting tribute" to their friendship.[226]
- George Harrison
Harrison said this about working with McCartney: "Paul would always help along when you'd done his ten songs—then when he got 'round to doing one of my songs, he would help. It was silly. It was very selfish, actually ... There were a lot of tracks, though, where I played bass ... because what Paul would do—if he'd written a song, he'd learn all the parts for Paul and then come in the studio and say (sometimes he was very difficult): "Do this." He'd never give you the opportunity to come out with something.[227]
In late 2001, McCartney learned that Harrison was losing his battle with cancer, and upon his death on 29 November 2001, McCartney issued a statement outside his home in St. John's Wood, calling him "a lovely guy and a very brave man who had a wonderful sense of humour", "We grew up together and we just had so many beautiful times together – that's what I am going to remember. I'll always love him, he's my baby brother."[228] Harrison spent his last days in a Hollywood Hills mansion that was once leased by McCartney.[229] On the first anniversary of his death, McCartney played Harrison's "Something" on a ukulele at the Concert for George.[88] He also performed "For You Blue" and "All Things Must Pass", as well as playing the piano on Eric Clapton's rendition of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps".[230]
- Ringo Starr
Though Starr once described McCartney as "pleasantly insincere", the two generally enjoy each other's company, and at least once vacationed together in Greece, including stops in Athens and on the islands Corfu and Rhodes.[231] Starr recalls: "We couldn't understand a word of the songs the hotel band were playing, so on the last night Paul and I did a few rockers like "What'd I Say." [231] There was at times discord between them as well, particularly during Beatles' sessions for "The White Album", as Apple's Peter Brown recalls, "It was a poorly kept secret among Beatle intimates that after Ringo left the studio Paul would often dub in the drum tracks himself ... [Starr] would pretend not to notice".[232] In August 1968 the two got into an argument over McCartney's critique of Starr's drum part for "Back in the USSR", which led to Starr temporarily leaving the band.[232] He returned in September[233] to find bouquets of flowers on his drum kit. Starr comments on working with McCartney: "Paul is the greatest bass player in the world. But he is also very determined ... [to] get his own way ... [thus] musical disagreements inevitably arose from time to time."[232]
Recognition and achievements[link]
Main article: List of awards received by Paul McCartney
McCartney has been described by Guinness World Records as "The Most Successful Composer and Recording Artist of All Time", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100 million albums, 100 million singles, and a writer's credit on forty-three songs that have sold over one million copies each.[1] According to Guinness, he is "the most successful songwriter" in UK singles chart history, and has written or co-written "188 charted records, of which 129 are different songs. Of these records, 91 reached the Top 10 and 33 made it to No.1. In total, the songs have spent 1,662 weeks on the chart (up to the beginning of 2007)."[2] In 1986 he received acclaim from the Guinness Book of Records Hall of Fame, "as the most successful musician of all-time."[234]
In the US, as a songwriter or co-writer, he is included on thirty-one number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100; including twenty with the Beatles and nine solo and/or with Wings,[235] one as a co-writer on Elton John's cover of "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds",[236] and one as a co-writer of "A World Without Love", a number one single for Peter and Gordon.[237] As of 2012, he has sold 15.5 million RIAA certified units in the United States.[238]
Although Elvis Presley has achieved the most UK number-ones as a solo artist with eighteen,[239] McCartney has been involved in more number-ones in the UK than any other artist under a variety of credits, totalling twenty-four singles: including seventeen with the Beatles, one solo, and one each with Wings, Stevie Wonder, Ferry Aid, Band Aid, Band Aid 20 and one with "The Christians et all".[240] He is the only artist to reach the UK number one as a soloist ("Pipes of Peace"), duo ("Ebony and Ivory" with Wonder), trio ("Mull of Kintyre", Wings), quartet ("She Loves You", the Beatles), quintet ("Get Back", the Beatles with Billy Preston), and as part of a musical ensemble for charity (Ferry Aid).[241]
His song "Yesterday" is thought to be the most covered in history with more than 2,200 recorded versions,[242] and according to the BBC, "The track is the only one by a UK writer to have been aired more than seven million times on American TV and radio and is third in the all-time list ... [and] is the most played song by a British writer this century in the US."[243] His 1968 Beatles composition, "Hey Jude", is also a career highlight. It achieved the highest sales in the UK that year, and topped the US charts for nine weeks, longer than any other Beatles' single. It was also the longest single ever released by the band, and at seven minutes fifteen seconds was the longest of any number one to that point. Its been covered by several notable artists, including Presley, Bing Crosby, Count Basie, and Wilson Pickett.[244] It is the best-selling Beatles' single of all-time, with sales of over five million copies achieved soon after its release.[245]
He played for the largest stadium audience in history when 184,000 people paid to see him perform at Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on 21 April 1990,[246] that year the minor planet 4148, was named "McCartney" in his honour.[247] In July 2005 he was involved with the fastest-released single in history, when his performance of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" with U2 at Live 8 was released before the concert was over. The single reached number six on the Billboard charts, just hours after the single's release, and hit number one on numerous online download charts across the world.[248]
On 18 June 2006, McCartney celebrated his 64th birthday, a milestone that was the subject of a tune he wrote at the age of sixteen, which would later become the Beatles' song "When I'm Sixty-Four".[249] In 2008 he received a BRIT award for Outstanding Contribution to Music,[250] as well as an honorary Doctor of Music degree from Yale University.[251] In 2012 he became the last of the "Fab Four" to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.[252]
- Business
McCartney is one of the UK's wealthiest people, with an estimated fortune of £475 million in 2010.[253] In addition to an interest in Apple Corps, MPL Communications, an umbrella company for his business interests, owns a significant music publishing catalogue, with access to over 25,000 copyrights,[254] including the publishing rights to the musicals Guys and Dolls, A Chorus Line, and Grease.[255] He earned £40 million in 2003, making him Britain's highest media earner.[256] This rose to £48.5 million by 2005.[257] In 2006 the Trademarks Registry reported that MPL had started a process to secure the protections associated with registering the name "Paul McCartney" as a trademark.[258]
- Northern Songs
Northern Songs was established in 1963 by Dick James to publish the songs of Lennon–McCartney.[259] The Beatles' partnership was replaced in 1968 by a jointly held company, Apple Corps, which continues to control Apple's commercial interests. Northern Songs was purchased by Associated Television (ATV) in 1969, and was sold in 1985 to Michael Jackson. For many years McCartney was unhappy about Jackson's purchase and handling of Northern Songs.[260]
Despite the lack of publishing rights to most of his Beatles' songs, he continues to receive his respective share of the writers' royalties, which together are 33⅓% of total commercial proceeds in the US and which vary elsewhere around the world between 50 and 55%.[261] Two of the Beatles' earliest songs—"Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You"—were published by an EMI subsidiary, Ardmore & Beechwood, before signing with James. McCartney acquired their publishing rights from Ardmore in the mid 1980s,[262] and they are the only two Beatles songs owned by MPL Communications.[263]
Discography[link]
- Solo
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- Wings, live, and compilations
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Tours[link]
Main article: List of Paul McCartney concert tours
See also: List of The Beatles' live performances
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Arms[link]
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Citations[link]
- ^ a b Harry 2002, pp. 388–389.
- ^ a b Guinness: World Records 2009. Guinness World Records. 2008. p. 168. ISBN 978-1-904994-37-4.
- ^ a b Spitz 2005, p. 75.
- ^ Miles 1997, p. 4.
- ^ "Beatle's schoolboy photo auction". BBC. 16 August 2009. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/merseyside/8203923.stm. Retrieved 4 May 2012.
- ^ Miles 1997, p. 9.
- ^ Spitz 2005, p. 205.
- ^ Spitz 2005, p. 125.
- ^ Spitz 2005, pp. 82–83.
- ^ Harry 2002, pp. 340–341.
- ^ Miles 1997, p. 6.
- ^ Miles 1997, p. 20.
- ^ Miles 1997, p. 31.
- ^ a b Miles 1997, p. 22.
- ^ Spitz 2005, p. 71.
- ^ Miles 1997, pp. 23–24.
- ^ a b c Miles 1997, p. 21.
- ^ Spitz 2005, p. 86.
- ^ Harry 2002, pp. 509: McCartney: "The first song I ever sang in public was "Long Tall Sally"., 533–534: Harry: "Long Tall Sally", was "The first number Paul ever sang on stage".
- ^ Spitz 2005, p. 93.
- ^ Lewisohn 1992, p. 18.
- ^ Lewisohn 1992, pp. 17–25.
- ^ Lewisohn 1992, pp. 21–25: Hamburg, 31: the Cavern Club.
- ^ Miles 1997, p. 74: McCartney: "Nobody wants to play bass, or nobody did in those days."; Gould 2007, pp. 89: On McCartney playing bass when Sutcliff was indisposed., 94: "Sutcliff gradually began to withdraw from active participation in the Beatles, ceding his role as the group's bassist to Paul McCartney."
- ^ Spitz 2005, pp. 249–251.
- ^ Miles 1997, pp. 84–88.
- ^ Spitz 2005, p. 330.
- ^ Lewisohn 1992, pp. 75: Replacing Best with Starr., 88–94: "Beatlemania" in the UK., 136–140: "Beatlemania" in the US.
- ^ Miles 1997, p. 470.
- ^ Lewisohn 1992, p. 180.
- ^ Miles 1997, p. 207.
- ^ Miles 1997, p. 218.
- ^ Miles 1997, p. 217.
- ^ Miles 1997, pp. 219–220.
- ^ a b Miles 1997, pp. 238–239.
- ^ Gould 2007, p. 347.
- ^ Miles 1997, pp. 293–295.
- ^ Harry 2000a, pp. 1–3: Abbey Road, 107–109: The Beatles, 916–917: Revolver, 969–979: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band; Levy 2005, pp. 8–11: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, 14–15: Revolver, 28–29: The Beatles, 33: Abbey Road
- ^ Roberts 2005, p. 54.
- ^ Lewisohn 1992, pp. 350–351.
- ^ Gould 2007, p. 8–9: "one of the greatest phenomena in the history of mass entertainment", "widely regarded as the greatest concentration of singing, songwriting, and all-around musical talent that the rock'n'roll era has produced"; Spitz 2005, p. 856: "not anything like anything else ... [a] vastness of talent ... of genius, incomprehensible"
- ^ For song authorship see, Harry 2002, pp. 90: "Can't Buy Me Love", 313–316: "Eleanor Rigby", 358–359: "Get Back", 410–411: "Hello, Goodbye", 415–416: "Hey Jude", 508: "Let it Be", 533: "The Long and Winding Road", 678–679: "Paperback Writer", 925–929: "Yesterday". For release dates, US and UK peak chart positions of the preceding songs see, Lewisohn 1992, pp. 350–351
- ^ Sounes 2010, pp. 171–172: Paul and Linda's first meeting., 245–248: On their wedding., 261: On the birth of their first child Mary.
- ^ Gould 2007, pp. 593–594.
- ^ Harry 2002, p. 556.
- ^ Harry 2002, pp. 556–563.
- ^ Ingham 2009, pp. 105: Ram, 114–115: "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey".
- ^ Harry 2002, pp. 613–615.
- ^ Harry 2002, pp. 515–516: "Live and Let Die", 641–642: "My Love".
- ^ Harry 2002, pp. 51–54.
- ^ Harry 2002, pp. 882–883: Venus and Mars, 910–911: Wings at the Speed of Sound.
- ^ Harry 2002, p. 583–584.
- ^ Doggett 2009, p. 264.
- ^ Ingham 2009, pp. 107–108.
- ^ Lewisohn 2002, p. 168.
- ^ Harry 2002, pp. 840–841.
- ^ Ingham 2009, p. 108.
- ^ Harry 2002, pp. 42–43: Back to the Egg, 530–532: London Town, 758–760: the Rockestra.
- ^ Sounes 2010, pp. 326–327.
- ^ Harry 2002, pp. 904–910: Wings, 912–913: Wings over America.
- ^ Lewisohn 2002, p. 163.
- ^ Harry 2002, pp. 265–266: "Coming Up", 511–512: "Listen to What the Man Said", 788: "Silly Love Songs", 915: "With a Little Luck".
- ^ Harry 2002, p. 578.
- ^ Harry 2002, pp. 311: "Ebony and Ivory", 361–362: "The Girl Is Mine", 820: Eric Stewart.
- ^ Harry 2002, pp. 720–722: Pipes of Peace album and song., 776–777: "Say Say Say".
- ^ Harry 2002, pp. 365–374.
- ^ Ebert, Roger (1 January 1984). "Give My Regards to Broad Street review". Chicago Sun-Times. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19840101/REVIEWS/401010342/1023. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
- ^ Harry 2002, pp. 368–369.
- ^ Harry 2002, pp. 100: Снова в СССР, 728: Press to Play, 820: Eric Stewart.
- ^ Harry 2002, pp. 327–328.
- ^ Harry 2002, pp. 272–273: Elvis Costello, 337–338: Flowers in the Dirt.
- ^ Harry 2002, p. 851.
- ^ Harry 2002, pp. 526–528: Liverpool Oratorio, 861–862: Tripping the Live Fantastic.
- ^ a b Harry 2002, p. 528.
- ^ Harry 2002, pp. 332–334.
- ^ Harry 2002, pp. 656: Off the Ground, 685–686: Paul Is Live, 687: The New World Tour.
- ^ Miles 1997, pp. 218–219.
- ^ Sounes 2010, pp. 458: Honorary Fellowship, 477: McCartney; "Yeah, its kind of amazing for somebody who doesn't read a note of music".
- ^ Harry 2002, pp. 226–227.
- ^ Harry 2002, pp. 335–336: Flaming Pie, 807: Standing Stone, 770: Rushes.
- ^ Harry 2002, pp. 593–595: Linda's battle with cancer., 765–766: Run Devil Run.
- ^ Harry 2002, pp. 350–351.
- ^ Harry 2002, pp. 238: "as a solo artist", 710–711: Working Classical, 756–758: McCartney's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction.
- ^ Harry 2002, pp. 38, 242: Music fellowship, 528–529: Liverpool Sound Collage.
- ^ Harry 2002, pp. 873–874.
- ^ Harry 2002, pp. 268–270: The Concert for New York City, 346–347: "Freedom".
- ^ Sounes 2010, pp. 517–518.
- ^ a b Doggett 2009, pp. 332–333.
- ^ Harry 2002, pp. 825–826.
- ^ Sandford 2006, p. 396.
- ^ Raymer 2010, p. 82.
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- ^ Sounes 2010, p. 560.
- ^ Mervis, Scott (14 June 2010). "Paul McCartney sells out two shows at Consol". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10165/1065544-100.stm. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
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- ^ MacDonald 2005, p. 13.
- ^ Bacon & Morgan 2006, p. 8.
- ^ Bacon & Morgan 2006, p. 28.
- ^ Babiuk & Bacon 2002, pp. 16–17: Höfner 500/1, 44–45: Rickenbacker 4001, 85–86, 92–93, 103, 116, 134, 140, 173, 175, 187, 211: Vox amplifiers.
- ^ Bacon & Morgan 2006, pp. 38–39.
- ^ a b Ingham 2009, p. 299.
- ^ MacDonald 2005, pp. 133–134.
- ^ Bacon & Morgan 2006, pp. 10, 44: Rubber Soul as the starting point for McCartney's bass improvement, 98: "a high point in pop bass playing".
- ^ MacDonald 2005, pp. 178–180.
- ^ Bacon & Morgan 2006, pp. 112–113.
- ^ a b MacDonald 2005, pp. 196–198.
- ^ MacDonald 2005, pp. 157–158: "Yesterday", 174–175: "I'm Looking Through You", 175–176: "Michelle", 291–292: "Blackbird", 305–306: "Mother Nature's Son", 308: "Rocky Raccoon", 315: "I Will".
- ^ Babiuk & Bacon 2002, pp. 146–147, 152, 161, 164: Epiphone Texan. 215, 218, 222, 239: Martin D-28.
- ^ MacDonald 2005, pp. 166–167: "Drive My Car".
- ^ Babiuk & Bacon 2002, p. 149.
- ^ MacDonald 2005, pp. 200–201: "Taxman", 232–234: "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", 234–235: "Good Morning Good Morning", 297–298: "Helter Skelter".
- ^ MacDonald 2005, pp. 128–129: "Every Little Thing", 205–206: "For No One", 227–232: "A Day In The Life", 272–273: "Hello, Goodbye", 275–276: "Lady Madonna", 337–338: "Let It Be", 239–241: "The Long and Winding Road", 302–304: "Hey Jude".
- ^ Harry 2002, p. 307.
- ^ Harry 2000a, pp. 549–550.
- ^ Miles 1997, p. 232.
- ^ Harry 2000a, pp. 1196–1198.
- ^ Harry 2002, pp. 549–550.
- ^ Miles 1997, pp. 104–106: McCartney living at the Asher home. 110: Martin at Guildhall, 281: McCartney's piano lessons.
- ^ Spitz 2005, p. 597.
- ^ Harry 2002, pp. 517–526.
- ^ Miles 1997, p. 243.
- ^ Miles 1997, pp. 256–267.
- ^ Spitz 2005, p. 84.
- ^ Miles 1997, p. 266.
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- ^ Miles 1997, p. 12: "word power" (primary source); Spitz 2005, p. 82: "word power" (secondary source)
- ^ Miles 1997, p. 40.
- ^ Miles 1997, p. 41.
- ^ Horovitz, Michael (14 October 2006). "Roll over, Andrew Motion". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2001/mar/17/poetry.music. Retrieved 13 July 2009.
- ^ a b McCartney & Mitchell 2001, p. 13.
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- ^ Harry 2002, p. 767.
- ^ "McCartney releases frog follow-up". BBC News. 29 February 2004. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3520421.stm. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
- ^ Harry 2002, pp. 386–387: the Grateful Dead documentary, 789: "Lisa the Vegetarian", 862: Tropic Island Hum.
- ^ Harry 2002, p. 914.
- ^ Lewisohn 2002, p. 21.
- ^ Miles 1997, pp. 66–67.
- ^ Miles 1997, pp. 186–189.
- ^ Brown & Gaines 2002, p. 182.
- ^ Miles 1997, p. 190.
- ^ a b Miles 1997, pp. 67–68.
- ^ Miles 1997, p. 247.
- ^ Miles 1997, pp. 384–385.
- ^ Miles 1997, pp. 379–380.
- ^ Miles 1997, p. 382.
- ^ Brown & Gaines 2002, p. 228.
- ^ Miles 1997, pp. 386–387.
- ^ Harry 2000b, pp. 712–713.
- ^ Miles 1997, p. 395.
- ^ Harry 2002, pp. 459–461.
- ^ Harry 2002, pp. 300–307.
- ^ Harry 2002, pp. 880–882.
- ^ "'Bambi' was cruel". BBC News. 12 December 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4520658.stm. Retrieved 29 January 2007.
- ^ "McCartney vows to keep animal rights torch alight". BBC News. 5 August 1998. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/145974.stm. Retrieved 29 January 2007.
- ^ "GM-free ingredients". BBC News. 10 June 1999. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/365947.stm. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
- ^ "McCartney calls for landmine ban". BBC News. 20 April 2001. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1287128.stm. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
- ^ "McCartney plays for Ralph Whitworth". BBC News. 24 February 2003. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2793191.stm. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
- ^ "McCartney divorce battle: The full judgement part 2". Daily Mail (UK). 18 March 2008. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-538255/McCartney-divorce-battle-The-judgement-2.html. Retrieved 12 May 2012.
- ^ "Paul and Heather call for seal cull ban, Friday, 3 March 2006". BBC News. 3 March 2006. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/4769628.stm. Retrieved 27 January 2007.
- ^ "Interview transcript, McCartney and Heather, Larry King Live, Seal cull". CNN. 3 March 2006. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0603/03/lkl.01.html. Retrieved 22 May 2010.
- ^ Addison, Adrian (28 November 2005). "McCartney attacks China over fur". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4476664.stm. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
- ^ "Make Poverty History". http://www.makepovertyhistory.org/index.shtml?entry=cornerwhitebandsmallright&referrer=www.paulmccartney.com. Retrieved 2 December 2006.
- ^ Harry 2002, pp. 270: Concerts for the People of Kampuchea, 327–328: "Ferry Cross the Mersey", 514–515: Live Aid; Roberts 2005, pp. 49: Band Aid & Band Aid 20, 187: Ferry Aid
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- ^ a b Ingle, Sean; Turner, Georgina; Aldred), Tanya (9 January 2004). "The Beatles and Football: Part Two". The Guardian (UK). http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2004/jan/09/theknowledge.sport. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
- ^ "Macca's a blue". Everton Football Club. http://www.evertonfc.com/news/archive/macca-s-a-blue.html. Retrieved 8 March 2010.
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- ^ Lewisohn 1992, p. 261.
- ^ Miles 1997, p. 396.
- ^ Miles 1997, p. 397.
- ^ Miles 1997, pp. 396–404.
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- ^ Spitz 2005, p. 163.
- ^ Miles 1997, p. 69.
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- ^ Spitz 2005, pp. 239–240.
- ^ Spitz 2005, p. 348.
- ^ Miles 1997, pp. 101–102.
- ^ Miles 1997, p. 106.
- ^ Miles 1997, p. 108.
- ^ Harry 2002, pp. 27–32: Jane Asher, 777–778: Francie Schwartz.
- ^ Harry 2002, p. 585.
- ^ a b c Harry 2002, p. 587.
- ^ Harry 2002, p. 45.
- ^ Miles 1997, pp. 432–434.
- ^ Miles 1997, pp. 514–515.
- ^ Miles 1997, p. 525.
- ^ Harry 2002, pp. 904–910.
- ^ Harry 2002, pp. 716–718: PETA, 880–882: Vegetarianism.
- ^ Harry 2002, pp. 585–601.
- ^ Harry 2002, pp. 600–601.
- ^ Harry 2002, pp. 568–578.
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- ^ Sounes 2010, pp. 532: Separation, 546: Divorce.
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- Lewisohn, Mark (editor) (2002). Wingspan: Paul McCartney's Band on the Run. Little, Brown. ISBN 978-0-316-86032-1.
- MacDonald, Ian (2005). Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties (3rd (2007) ed.). Chicago Review Press. ISBN 978-1-55652-733-3. http://books.google.com/books?id=YJUWJhIbkccC&dq.
- McCartney, Paul; Mitchell, Adrian (editor) (2001). Blackbird singing: Poems and Lyrics 1965–1999. W.W. Norton and Company Inc.. ISBN 978-0-393-02049-6.
- Miles, Barry (1997). Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now (1st Hardcover ed.). Henry Holt & Company. ISBN 978-0-8050-5248-0. http://books.google.com/books?id=-eh8BedNtLgC&dq.
- Miles, Barry (1998). The Beatles: A Diary—An Intimate Day by Day History (2009 ed.). JG Press. ISBN 978-1-57215-010-2.
- Miles, Barry (2001). The Beatles Diary Volume 1: The Beatles Years. Omnibus. ISBN 978-0-7119-8308-3. http://books.google.com/books?id=trRB-lo4qR8C&dq.
- Raymer, Miles (2010). How to Analyze the Music of Paul McCartney. Abdo Publishing Company. ISBN 978-1-61613-531-7. http://books.google.com/books?id=23jlYDQOz2sC&dq.
- Roberts, David (editor) (2005). British Hit Singles & Albums (18 ed.). Guinness World Records Limited. ISBN 978-1-904994-00-8.
- Sandford, Christopher (2006). McCartney. Carroll & Graf. ISBN 978-0-7867-1614-2.
- Sounes, Howard (2010). Fab: An Intimate Life of Paul McCartney. Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0-306-81783-0. http://books.google.com/books?id=jQJk-qRy5IUC&dq.
- Southall, Brian; Perry, Rupert (contributor) (2006). Northern Songs: The True Story of the Beatles Song Publishing Empire. Omnibus. ISBN 978-1-84609-237-4. http://books.google.com/books?id=HWSRvGfa3-sC&dq.
- Spitz, Bob (2005). The Beatles: The Biography. Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 978-0-316-80352-6.
- The Beatles (2000). The Beatles Anthology. Chronicle Books. ISBN 978-0-8118-3636-4. http://books.google.com/books?id=HWuQu8EMDKcC&dq.
Further reading[link]
- Barrow, Tony (2005). John, Paul, George, Ringo & Me: The Real Beatles Story. Thunder's Mouth. ISBN 1-56025-882-9. http://books.google.com/books?id=BNnzcGw8JQsC&dq.
- Barrow, Tony (2004). Paul McCartney. Carlton Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84442-822-9.
- Benitez, Vincent Perez (2010). The Words and Music of Paul McCartney: The Solo Years. Praeger. ISBN 978-0-313-34969-0. http://books.google.com/books?id=bYxJWNiLO94C&dq.
- Davies, Hunter (2009). The Beatles: The Authorized Biography (3rd revised ed.). W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0-393-33874-4.
- Gambaccini, Paul (1993). Paul McCartney: In His Own Words. Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-86001-239-9. http://books.google.com/books?id=FikUAQAAIAAJ&q.
- Gambaccini, Paul (1996). The McCartney Interviews: After the Break-Up (2 ed.). Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-7119-5494-6. http://books.google.com/books?id=xKPEyk1WXFUC&q.
- Gracen, Jorie B. (2000). Paul McCartney: I Saw Him Standing There. Watson-Guptill Publications. ISBN 978-0-8230-8372-5.
- Kirchherr, Astrid; Voormann, Klaus (1999). Hamburg Days. Guildford, Surrey: Genesis Publications. ISBN 978-0-904351-73-6.
- Martin, George (1979). All You Need Is Ears. New York: St. Marten's Press. ISBN 978-0-312-11482-4. http://books.google.com/books?id=4Yoio9MewhcC&dq.
- McGee, Garry (2003). Band on the Run: A History of Paul McCartney and Wings. Taylor Trade Publishing. ISBN 978-0-87833-304-2. http://books.google.com/books?id=UG0IAQAAMAAJ&q.
- Pawlowski, Gareth L. (1989). How They Became The Beatles (1st ed.). E. P. Dutton. ISBN 978-0-525-24823-1. http://books.google.com/books?id=7IkIAQAAMAAJ&q.
- Peel, Ian (2002). The Unknown Paul McCartney: McCartney and the avant-garde. Reynolds & Hearn. ISBN 978-1-903111-36-9. http://books.google.com/books?id=uS4UAQAAIAAJ&q.
External links[link]
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Book: Paul McCartney |
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| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| Name | McCartney, Paul |
| Alternative names | Sir James Paul McCartney |
| Short description | English rock musician |
| Date of birth | 18 June 1942 |
| Place of birth | Liverpool, UK |
| Date of death | |
| Place of death | |
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