Encyclopedia of Russian History
Tsar, Tsarina
The term tsar and its variants derive from the Latin word caesar, or emperor. During the fifteenth century, Muscovite grand prince Ivan III began using the term to
introduce an added level power and majesty to his rule. In 1547 his son, sixteen-year
old prince Ivan IV, crowned himself tsar of all Russia. Indicating the increased significance of Orthodoxy, Ivan adopted other conventions from the Byzantine Empire
at the same time, including a variety of court rituals and the double-headed eagle
emblem. The eagle signified the uniting of eastern and western Christianity through
Ivan III’s marriage to Sophia Paleologue, a niece of the last Byzantine emperor, Constantine XI.
Russian leaders continued to be tsars until 1721, when Peter the Great styled himself
as “Emperor of All Russia.” Peter chose the more Western style because he wanted to
reflect Russia’s observance of the rule of law and entry into the Age of Reason. However, the term tsar remained in common usage to designate the Russian ruler.
Tsar is used for the male sovereign; his consort is the tsarina. In the event of a female
sovereign, such as Catherine the Great, she is crowned tsaritsa. The heir to the throne
is designated the tsarevich a word derived from tsar plus the male patronymic suffix
“evich.”
The term itself has outlived the Russian monarchy. Russian leaders who exhibit autocratic tendencies, most notably Boris Yeltsin, have been derided or lampooned as
tsars (e.g., Tsar Boris). Even in the United States, individuals with considerable personal authority have been dubbed tsar. For example, the leader of U.S. drug policy
was informally known as the drug tsar.
Bibliography
Iskenderov, A. A., and Raleigh, Donald J., eds. (1996). The Emperors and Empresses of
Russia: Rediscovering the Romanovs. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe.
Lincoln, W. Bruce. (1981). The Romanovs: Autocrats of All the Russias. New York: Dial Press.
—Ann E. Robertson
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“Outstanding Reference Source” by the American Library Association
Romanova, Anastasia Nikolayevna
(1901–c. 1918), youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra Fedorovna.
Encyclopedia of Russian History
Anastasia Nikolayevna’s place in history derives less from her life than from the legend that she somehow survived her family’s execution. The mythology surrounding her and the imperial family remains
popular in twentieth-century folklore.
Following the fall of the Romanov dynasty in 1917, members of the royal family were imprisoned, first
at the Alexander Palace outside Petrograd and later in the Siberian city of Tobolsk. Finally Nicholas
and his immediate family were confined to the Ipatiev House in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg (Sverdlovsk). According to official accounts, local communist forces executed Nicholas, Alexandra, their five
children, and four retainers during the night of July 16, 1918. Because no corpses were immediately
located, numerous individuals emerged claiming to be this or that Romanov who had miraculously
survived the massacre. Most claimants were quickly dismissed as frauds, but one “Anastasia” seemed
to have better credentials than the others.
The first reports of this “Anastasia” came in 1920 from an insane asylum in Berlin, where a young
woman was taken following an attempt to drown herself in a canal. Anna Anderson, as she came to be
known, was far from the beautiful lost princess reunited with her grandmother, as Hollywood retold
the story. Instead, she was badly scarred, both mentally and physically, and spent the remainder of her
life rotating among a small group of patrons, eventually marrying historian John Mahanan and settling
in Charlottesville, VA, where she remained until her death on February 12, 1984.
No senior surviving member of the Romanov family ever formally recognized Anderson as being
Anastasia. Instead, her supporters came largely from surviving members of the royal court, many of
whom were suspected of using Anderson for financial gain. Anderson did file a claim against tsarist
bank accounts held in a German bank. Extensive evidence was offered on her behalf, from eyewitness
testimony to photographic comparisons. The case lasted from 1938 to 1970, and eventually the German
Supreme Court ruled that her claim could neither be proved nor disproved.
Interest in Anderson’s case revived in 1991, following the discovery of the Romanov remains outside
Yekaterinburg. Two skeletons were unaccounted for, one daughter and the son. Anderson’s body had
been cremated, but hospital pathology specimens were later discovered and submitted for DNA testing in 1994. Although the results indicated that Anderson was Franziska Schanzkowska, a Polish factory worker, Anderson’s most die-hard supporters still refused to accept the results. The Yekaterinburg
remains were interned in the Cathedral of the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg on July 17, 1998,
eighty years after the execution.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Kurth, Peter. (1983). Anastasia: The Riddle of Anna Anderson. Boston: Little, Brown.
Massie, Robert K. (1995). The Romanovs: The Final Chapter. New York: Random House.
—Ann E. Robertson
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Named “Outstanding Academic Title” by Choice magazine and
“Outstanding Reference Source” by the American Library Association
Lukyanov, Anatoly Ivanovich
Encyclopedia of Russian History
(b. 1930), chair of the USSR Supreme Soviet during the August 1991 coup attempt.
Anatoly Lukyanov studied law at Moscow State University, graduating in 1953.
While at the university, he chaired the University Komsomol branch, and Mikhail
Gorbachev was deputy chair. Lukyanov joined the Party in 1955 and began a career
within the Party apparatus. He was appointed to the Central Committee Secretariat
in 1987. By 1988, Lukyanov was named a candidate member of the Politburo and first
deputy chair of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet.
The first USSR Congress of People’s Deputies elected Lukyanov chairman of the
newly reconfigured Supreme Soviet in 1990. This post allowed him to control the
parliamentary agenda. He was repeatedly accused of stonewalling legislation he did
not like and putting bills he supported to vote multiple times if they were voted
down.
Despite his close personal links with Gorbachev, Lukyanov sided with opponents
of Gorbachev’s policies. The hard-line Soyuz faction particularly favored Lukyanov
over Gorbachev. During his December 1990 resignation speech to the Congress, Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze specifically criticized Lukyanov for interfering
in Soviet-German relations and for his desire for a dictatorship.
As Gorbachev’s new Union Treaty neared ratification in summer 1991, hard-line
members of the Soviet leadership hierarchy staged a coup to overthrow Gorbachev
and prevent adoption of the treaty. Though Lukyanov was not a member of the State
Committee for the State of Emergency that briefly seized power August 19–21, 1991,
he supported their efforts. Lukyanov was arrested following the coup’s collapse,
then amnestied in February 1994 and elected to the Russian Duma in 1995 and 1999,
where he chaired the parliamentary committee on government reform.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Wishnevsky, Julia. (1991). “Anatolii Luk’yanov: Gorbachev’s Conservative Rival?” RFE/RL
Report on the USSR 3(23):8–14.
—Ann E. Robertson
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Encyclopedia of Russian History
Museum, Hermitage
Sitting on the bank of the Neva River in St. Petersburg, the Hermitage Museum houses one of the
world’s preeminent collections of artwork. Among its three million treasures are works by Leonardo
da Vinci, Rembrandt, Cézanne, and Picasso. The holdings range from Scythian gold to Impressionist
paintings. The word Hermitage is often used interchangeably with Winter Palace, but historically they
are distinct facilities. Built during the reign of Empress Elizabeth, between 1754 and 1762, the Winter
Palace was the official residence of the tsars. The Palace contains the imperial throne room and grand
staterooms such as the Hall of St. George. During the late eighteenth century Empress Catherine II
oversaw the construction of four additional buildings. Between 1765 and 1766 Yuri Velten began the
Small Hermitage, a pavilion near Palace Square, as Catherine’s intimate retreat from court life. Vallin
de la Mothe expanded the Small Hermitage from 1767 until 1769 with a second pavilion connected
by Hanging Gardens. Beyond the Small Hermitage to the east lies the New Hermitage (1839–1851) on
Palace Square. Along the Neva riverbank is the neoclassical Large Hermitage, designed by Yuri Velten
and built between 1771 and 1787 to house Catherine’s paintings, library, and copies of the Vatican’s
Raphael Loggias. The Winter Canal runs along the east side of the Large Hermitage and a gallery
spans the canal and connects the Neoclassical Theater (built 1785–1787 and designed by Giacomo
Quarenghi) to the rest of the complex.
Nicholas I ordered the New and Large Hermitages to be opened to the public and a new entrance was
constructed away from the Palace in 1852. Following the demise of the Romanov dynasty in 1917, the
Bolshevik government combined the Hermitage and Winter Palace into one large complex that was
designated as a public museum. The Bolsheviks nationalized the private collections of many wealthy
Russians, further enhancing the collection.
During the nine-hundred-day Nazi siege of Leningrad (the city’s Soviet-era name), the museum was
bombed nineteen times. Many holdings were evacuated to the Urals for safety, while curators moved
into the facility to protect the remaining treasures. Twelve air-raid shelters were constructed in the
basement, and at one point twelve thousand people were living in the museum complex. They planted
vegetables in the Hanging Gardens in order to feed themselves.
The eventual Soviet victory over Germany allowed many priceless works of art to fall into Soviet
hands, because Hitler had ordered the seizure of artwork from museums and private collections in
occupied lands. Some paintings were immediately placed on display in the USSR, while others were
hidden away and only revealed after the fall of the Soviet Union. Restitution of these trophies of war
became a contentious issue in Russian politics. While some political leaders thought restitution would
be morally and legally correct as well as positive for Russian–European relations, other politicians
insisted that they are legitimate reparation for the immense damage and suffering the Soviet people
experienced during World War II.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Eisler, Colin T. (1990). Paintings in the Hermitage. New York: Stewart, Tabori, and Chang.
Forbes, Isabella, and Underhill, William. (1990). Catherine the Great: Treasures of Imperial Russia from the
State Hermitage Museum, Leningrad. London: Booth-Clibborn Editions.
Gosudarstvennyi Ermitazh. (1994). Treasures of the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg. New York: Harry
N. Abrams.
Norman, Geraldine. (1997). The Hermitage: The Biography of a Great Museum. London: J. Cape.
Varshavsky, Sergei and Rest, Boris. (1986). Hermitage: The Siege of Leningrad, 1941–1944. New York:
Harry N. Abrams.
—Ann E. Robertson
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Named “Outstanding Academic Title” by Choice magazine and
“Outstanding Reference Source” by the American Library Association
Czechoslovakia, Relations with
Encyclopedia of Russian History
Both the Soviet Union and Czechoslovakia were born from the collapse of European empires at the
close of World War I. While the USSR rose directly from the rubble of the Russian Empire, the Paris
Peace Conference crafted Czechoslovakia from Austro-Hungarian lands. From the outset, the Czech
lands (Bohemia and Moravia) and Slovakia had as many differences as similarities, and tensions between the two halves of the state would resurface throughout its lifetime and eventually contribute to
its demise in 1992.
Under the leadership of President Tomas G. Masaryk, Czechoslovakia was spared many of the problems of the interwar period. Its higher levels of industrialization helped it weather the financial crises
of the 1920s better than its more agrarian neighbors. Czechoslovakia also remained a democracy, ruled
by the “Petka”—the five leading political parties. Democracy ended only when Czechoslovakia was
seized by Nazi Germany, first through the Munich Agreement of 1938, and later through direct occupation of Bohemia and Moravia in 1939. A separate Slovak state was established under Nazi protection in
1939. Ultimately, Soviet troops liberated Czechoslovakia in 1945.
Following World War II, Stalin moved to first install satellite regimes throughout Eastern Europe and
then mold them to emulate Soviet structures. Unlike other future members of the Warsaw Pact, however, Czechoslovakia’s communists were homegrown, not installed by Moscow. A Communist Party
of Czechoslovakia (CPCz) had been established in 1921 and had a much broader support base than the
Soviet party. Communists served in the first post-war government of President Eduard Benes, taking
a plurality (38 percent) of the vote in May 1946. They controlled key ministries, including the Interior,
Education, Information, and Agriculture. They also acceded to Soviet pressure to not participate in the
Marshall Plan reconstruction program. The CPCz seized power in February 1948, when non-Communist cabinet members resigned, hoping to force new elections. A handful of other parties competed in
the May 1948 election, but the Communists were in charge. Benes resigned the presidency in June and
was replaced by Communist Klement Gottwald.
Gottwald and CPCz First Secretary Rudolf Slansky then began a program of restructuring Czechoslovakia in the Soviet image. Noncommunist organizations were banned, economic planning was
introduced, agriculture was collectivized, and media and educational institutions were subjected to
ideological controls. Again emulating Stalin, the Czechoslovak communists used terror and purges to
consolidate their rule. Even Slansky succumbed to the purges; he was replaced by Antonin Novotny.
Following Gottwald’s death in 1953, Antonin Zapotocky became president.
The other major communist death of 1953, Stalin’s, had little effect on Czechoslovakia. Like hard-line
communist leaders in East Germany, officials in Prague did not embrace Nikita Khrushchev’s efforts
at liberalization and pluralism. They kept tight control over the Czechoslovak citizenry for the next
fifteen years, using the secret police as necessary to enforce their rule. Public protest was minimal, in
part due to the relative success—by communist standards—of Czechoslovakia’s economy.
In January 1968 the CPCz removed Novotny and replaced him with Alexander Dubcek, who finally
brought destalinization to Czechoslovakia. The CPCz now allowed broader political discussion, eased
censorship, and tried to address Slovak complaints of discrimination. This new approach, called “socialism with a human face” led to a resurgence in the country’s social, political, and economic life—an
era that came to be called the Prague Spring. Soon popular demands exceeded the Party’s willingness
to reform. The CPCz’s “Action Plan” was countered by “2,000 Words,” an opposition list of grievances
and demands.
The Kremlin kept a close eye on all developments in Czechoslovakia. Khrushchev had dispatched
tanks to Budapest in 1956 when Hungarian Communists took reform too far. His successor, Leonid
(continued)
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Czechoslovakia, continued
Encyclopedia of Russian History
Brezhnev, was even less inclined to allow for experimentation. By summer, Moscow worried that Dubcek had lost control. Moscow declared its right to intervene in its sphere of influence by promulgating
the Brezhnev Doctrine. On August 21, 1968, Warsaw Pact troops invaded to restore order. Dubcek was
summoned to Moscow but not immediately fired.
In 1969 “socialism with a human face” was replaced with a new policy: normalization. Gustav Husak
became the CPCz first secretary in April 1969, and Dubcek was dispatched to the forests of Slovakia to
chop wood. Husak took orders from Moscow, turning Czechoslovakia into one of the Soviet Union’s
staunchest allies. The Party purged itself of reformist elements, alternative organizations shut down,
and censorship was reimposed. In October 1969, Moscow and Prague issued a joint statement, announcing that their economies would be coordinated for the next six years.
The populace fell in line, quietly accepting the reversal of the Prague Spring. The communist leaders
tried to temper the political hard-line by maintaining a high standard of living and plentiful consumer
goods. As the shock of the crackdown faded, however, a handful of opposition movements emerged
trying to keep alive the spirit of 1968. The best-known of these groups was Charter 77, named for the January 1977 declaration signed by 250 dissidents, including playwright and future president Vaclav Havel.
The rise of Gorbachev in 1985 alarmed the CPCz. The hard-line communist leaders of Czechoslovakia
did not embrace Gorbachev’s brand of new thinking. They stubbornly held onto their austere rule,
while the economy began to skid. They had come to power in 1969 to block reform; they could hardly
shift and embrace it now. Gorbachev’s first official visit to Czechoslovakia, in 1987, raised hopes—and
fears—that he would call for a resurrection of the 1968 reforms, but instead he made rather bland
comments that relieved the Czech leaders. They believed they now had Moscow’s blessing to ignore
perestroika. Husak retired as First Secretary—but not President—in late 1987, apparently for personal
reasons rather than on Moscow’s order. His replacement, Milos Jakes, was another hard-line communist with no penchant for reform.
Czechoslovakia was one of the last states to experience popular demonstrations and strikes in the
cascading events of late 1989. The West German embassy in Prague was overrun by thousands of East
Germans seeking to emigrate. When the other hard-line holdout, East Germany, collapsed in October,
suddenly the end of communism in Czechoslovakia seemed possible. Unable to address popular demands, the Czechoslovak Politburo simply resigned en masse, after barely a week of demonstrations.
Havel became president; Dubcek returned from internal exile to lead parliament.
The Soviet Union collapsed in December 1991 and the Czech Republic and Slovakia divorced on December 31, 1992. Initially, the new Czech state tilted westward, whereas Slovakia leaned toward Moscow, in part because its economy was still oriented in that direction. As the 1990s unfolded, both countries maintained proper ties with Moscow, but also joined NATO: the Czech Republic in 1999, Slovakia
in 2002.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Brzezinski, Zbigniew K. (1967). The Soviet Bloc: Unity and Conflict. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University
Press.
Gati, Charles. (1990). The Bloc That Failed: Soviet-East European Relations in Transition. Bloomington:
Indiana University Press.
Skilling, H. Gordon. (1976). Czechoslovakia’s Interrupted Revolution. Princeton: Princeton University Press
Wolchik, Sharon L. (1991). Czechoslovakia in Transition: Politics, Economics, and Society. London: Pinter.
—Ann E. Robertson
Gale Macmillan , 4 vol. 2003
Named “Outstanding Academic Title” by Choice magazine and
“Outstanding Reference Source” by the American Library Association