All Questions
11 questions
13
votes
0
answers
1k
views
Was the Russian Olympic Shooting Team 12 days late for the 1908 Summer Olympics due to a calendar mixup?
According to an article in Sports Illustrated, referred to by a reddit post, an article about programmer falsehoods, and elsewhere, the Russian Shooting team arrived 12 days late for the 1908 Summer ...
- 18k
8
votes
2
answers
795
views
Did Peter the Great just "return" lands that "belonged to Russia", in the Great Northern War?
According to the Guardian, in a recent speech/interview Putin said
“Peter the Great waged the great northern war for 21 years. It would seem that he was at war with Sweden, he took something from ...
5
votes
1
answer
549
views
Did British journalists keep silent about Russian defections to Germany in WW2?
In George Orwell's essay, The Prevention of Literature, he claims this:
When Germany collapsed, it was found that very large numbers of Soviet Russians — mostly, no doubt, from non-political motives —...
- 153
6
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Did Lenin ever say that you could "destroy society through music"?
I've seen the quote:
"One quick way to destroy a society is through its music."
Vladimir Lenin
on (Russian?) Facebook:
Spanish Twitter:
and is also mentioned in the book The Authentic ...
- 1,024
56
votes
1
answer
17k
views
Did the CIA blow up a Siberian pipeline in 1982?
The Telegraph claimed in 2004 that the CIA blew up a Russian gas pipeline in Siberia, by tricking the operator into installing booby-trapped software.
Thomas Reed, a former US Air Force secretary ...
- 3,111
15
votes
2
answers
2k
views
In the USSR's legal system, was everything illegal unless specifically allowed?
Alan Dershowitz was recently interviewed by Michael Tracey on the latter's podcast. At 09:20 into the interview, Dershowitz makes the following claim regarding the USSR legal system:
... unlike in ...
- 2,521
5
votes
2
answers
980
views
Did a NY Supreme Court judge give positive reviews about USSR prisons?
After writing (or perhaps, "collecting" or "curating") his work, "The Gulag Archipelago", Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn received a Nobel Prize: the book revealed a 20th century horror that claimed many ...
- 2,903
3
votes
1
answer
6k
views
Did Rasputin have an affair with Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna?
Grigori Rasputin was a trusted friend of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia around 1915.
There is a popular rumour that he was having an affair with Nicholas's wife, Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna
Wiki ...
- 31.4k
14
votes
1
answer
3k
views
Did Tsar Nicholas II write “1916 was cursed, 1917 will surely be better”?
Chess legend and political activist Gary Kasparov tweeted this New Year a claimed quote from Tsar Nicholas II’s diary: “The year 1916 was cursed; 1917 will surely be better!” (For those not versed in ...
- 365
33
votes
1
answer
11k
views
Did medieval Russia reject Islam because of its prohibition against alcohol?
For a long time, I have been aware of a historical anecdote about the attempt to convert Russia to Islam. I don’t know where I first heard the anecdote: I’m pretty sure it was oral, so I had to dig a ...
- 18k
9
votes
0
answers
1k
views
Did Governor of Moscow train bears to serve Vodka?
The Governor of Moscow trained a large bear to serve pepper Vodka to' his guests. If anyone showed reluctance in accepting the drink, the bear would remove the guest's clothes, an article at a time."
...
- 10.2k