History of Russia questions

Soviet historians portrayed Nicholas as a weak and incompetent leader whose decisions led to military defeats and the deaths of millions of his subjects.

A battle near a polish town Mosty is acknowledged as the start of the war. Noone ever declared it.

The Continuation War was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany, as co-belligerents, against the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1944, during World War II. Germany regarded its operations in the region as part of its overall war efforts on the Eastern Front and provided Finland with critical material support and military assistance.

Kalashnikov's Automatic Rifle; also known as the Kalashnikov and AK, is a gas-operated, 7.62×39mm assault rifle, developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov. It is the originating firearm of the "AK") family. Design work on the AK-47 began in 1945.

The borzoi, also called the Russian wolfhound , is a breed of domestic dog The borzoi was popular with the Tsars before the 1917 revolution. For centuries, Borzoi could not be purchased but only given as gifts from the Tsar. Grand Duke Nicholas Nicolaievich of Russia bred countless Borzoi at Perchino, his private estate.

Nicholas II (1868-1918) was the last Emperor of Russia, ruling from 1 November 1894 until his forced abdication on 15 March 1917. His reign saw the fall of the Russian Empire from one of the foremost great powers of the world to economic and military collapse. Soviet historians portray Nicholas as a weak and incompetent leader whose decisions led to military defeats and the deaths of millions of his subjects.

Only Peter I and Catherine II were nicknamed "the Great" in Russian history.

The tank presented in this picture is a KV-85, the last of KV series (from the surname of soviet marshal Kliment Voroshilov). As the name suggests it had a 85 mm gun. Only 148 of them were built.

The word "ruble" comes from the verb meaning "break" and refers to the Middle Ages, when pieces of silver were broken into smaller ones when changing money. The ruble was the world's first decimal currency: it was decimalised in 1704 when the ruble became legally equal to 100 kopeks.

The BT tanks (Russian: Bystrochodny tank, lit. "fast moving tank") were a series of Soviet light tanks produced in large numbers between 1932 and 1941. They were lightly armoured, but reasonably well-armed for their time, and had the best mobility of all contemporary tanks.