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itsagrimm · 1 year

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He Who Comes From Under The Water

Chapter 1 - The Promised Bride

Monster!König X she/her afab Reader

CN sexism & patriarchy, mentions of death, suicidal thoughts, accidental attempted drowning, arranged marriage, choking on water, mention of a human bodies decomposition

eventual smut.

Beta-read by @sandinthemachine and @queenquazar. Thank you both so much for supporting me with obsessing over fairy tales.

Masterlist

“So, you are a king without a queen?” The old man asked while throwing his rod back into the water. “I suppose you require a queen then, eh?”

The king, considering the old fisherman’s words, slowly nodded. “I suppose I do. But where does one get such a fine lady?”

The water below the wooden landing was dark and dirty. Frogs croaked and fireflies danced over the green sludge and water lilies, lively and playful like the flecks of sunlight that reached the surface through the thick forest trees. A pretty scene on any other day.

Not this one.

Your tears had long stopped flowing into the water of the deep pond. Now, you sat there, your hand tangled in the water and your thoughts lost, dark and deep like the water below you.

A few days ago, your grandfather died. A kind old man who had spent the last years of his life close to the warm oven in winter and fishing in the pond in the summertime.

You remembered bedtime stories as a child with sweets sneaked into your hands. You remembered kind eyes who watched out for you as you grew from child to maiden. You remembered worry in those same eyes when your father died in the forest chopping wood, when your brothers perished in a tavern fire, your uncle and your mother succumbing to sickness, and - finally - your cousin breaking his neck after climbing a tree.

Yes, there was a lot of pain in your grandfathers’ eyes. But even more to worry.

The old man had been your last living relative, and most importantly your last male relative.

And now you as an unmarried village girl from a clearly cursed family, had no one who could inherit your family’s house and support you.

It was only time until the village would shun you and chase you away to get rid of all the bad around you.

That is if you were lucky.

You could try to make it into the city where you would live for a while as a beggar or, if you were hungry and deemed pretty enough, work as a whore.

In his last days, your grandfather tried to arrange for a husband, but no one wanted a cursed girl, and so his last words to you were to visit his favorite fishing spot.

You sighed.

Now, you sat on the same spot where your grandfather had sat, catching fish, and gazing over the water.

Maybe that’s what he had meant, you mused. It would be easier to end it all here and jump into the pond only to never return to the surface, drowning your sorrows and yourself with your grandfathers’ blessings. At least you would choose your fate with your chin proudly raised and your dignity untouched, floating into the abyss in your best billowing skirts from the funeral and no more tears left to cry.

As much as that was possible considering your situation.

“It’s a good place to leave this world,” you spoke out loud to taste how it felt on your tongue. It resonated, with the forest, the pond, with you.

“Indeed, it is.”

You twitched in surprise, heart jumping into your throat.

“Who is this?” you called over the water, glancing around for whoever lurked within the trees, hiding between the ferns.

A hand, big and wet, snatched yours from the water and pulled you in with one strong tug.

You wailed in surprise before crashing into the pond and swallowing the muddy green water, gurgling and gasping for air. Something seized you – strong and solid. Instinctually you kicked and punched it.

Was this it?

NO!

Fighting for your life you thrashed around, struggling and trying to free yourself to get back up to the surface. But whoever had you in a hold only dragged you down, carrying you further into the dark.

Your panicked eyes widened, trying to see who attacked you, trying to see anything.

It was dark. Only the dark, green water around you.

No, no, no, no!

Your lungs heaved for air as your heart drummed painfully in your hurting chest.

A second hand twisted around your throat and over your face. Instinctually, you opened your mouth and bit down.

The hands jolted back with a howl reverberating in the water, releasing you from the deadly weight dragging you down. Hungry for air and with burning lungs you swam up with frenzied strokes, pushing through the surface. Gasping and coughing you breathed, feeding your body with much needed air.

Quickly, you glanced around. No one there. Was this someone from the village trying to get rid of you? Did you manage to drag your attacker down with you? Or was it an animal in the water?

Before you could move, something grabbed you again and lifted you a good length out above the water.

You screamed and kicked again only to have your legs and hands fixated in an iron grip.

“Hold still!” A voice commanded you, foreign and vibrating close. You struggled on, thrashing your body against the solid form behind your back, unwilling to take any chances and die here without a fight.

“I said, hold still!” the grip around your limbs tightened, forcing you into stillness. “There, finally.”

Slowly, you turned your head. You were caught in the grip of a dark, green form, pressed against what must be its chest and stared at by sharp, watery eyes from a nearly obscured face from tangled wet hair and a beard.

Who is this? You thought to yourself, still heaving for air.

“Why are you fighting me?” the strange being said, “I’m here to take you in as my bride. Just like I have promised.”

You coughed again, a bit of swamp water and spit running down your chin, splashing onto the being’s arm.

“What?” you cried and with your head still spinning.

“What what?” The large figure snapped back, “The old man asked me to take you as my wife, yet you bite me? Is that how you want to treat your future husband? Do you want me to let you go? I have no need for an unwilling bride.”

You blinked, your body slowing down and your mind starting to think clearly again.

“You nearly drowned me. Let me go!” you cried out as much as your abused lungs allowed.

The figure blinked and instantly dropped you.

With a loud splash you crashed back into the water.

Your body seized and your mind raced, struggling to comprehend and move your body up.

You made a few weak swimming strokes, but it wasn’t enough to move your still tired and abused body up. Water started filling your lungs again and you were about to dr-

Something grabbed you and lifted you. Again.

“Woman!” the strange being cried out in annoyance, “What are you doing?”

You coughed, swamp water from your hair dripping over your face, disorienting you further as you gasped for air.

“Wait, maiden, do you need to breathe?” the strange creature asked, “Make up your mind! I was just trying to take you home, but you don’t want that. So I did like you asked but then you started sinking like a stone back into my waters again, heaving for air!”

You shivered, “Of course I need to breathe! All humans need air, idiot! What kind of question is that?!”

The creature groaned and grumbled, “The old man forgot to mention you are a human. I thought you might be a nymph or a bigger frog lady. Well, that’s just bad luck.”

You snorted, “Oh, I am sorry that me needing air is inconvenient for you! I nearly died down there in those muddy waters!”

“Hey, those are mighty fine waters of mine, thank you very much. Besides, the second time was not my fault.”

“Your waters?” you managed.

“Who else’s waters?” the figure deadpanned as you’d asked the most obvious question, swayed, and started moving towards the landing before carefully putting you onto the planks instead of holding you like a cat holds its naughty young, “Stay. Let me take a better look at you.”

You huffed and collapsed onto the planks out of the wet arms. It wasn’t like you could run anyway with your body still shaky and weak from the near drownings. Instead, you lifted your head for a better look at the stranger as they studied you.

The strange being from the waters was built like a man, but huge and larger than the tallest man you had ever seen. And it had the face close to a man too under all that unkempt hair and beard. But its facial features were fine, much too fine for any man who could lurk in the waters, and slightly too angular and with eyes a bit too lively and sharp to belong to a human as they studied you.

“Pretty girl.” the man from the water finally grumbled, “A bit unruly but pretty. At least that the old man did not lie about it.”

You raised your eyebrows in surprise, “Thank you?”

The man shrugged, “Sorry for trying to drown you, apparently, I misunderstood your fragile physique.”

Fragile physique. He made it sound like an insult.

You took one final breath and summoned your strength to sit up to be on the same eye level as the large man from the water.

“Who are you?” you asked while trying to sort your wet skirts.

He snorted and waved slightly.

“I am König – king of all under the waters. Naturally. And you are the bride I was promised by the old fisherman a couple of days ago.”

Your eyes widened in surprise, “Do you mean my grandfather? He used to fish here.”

The man shrugged, causing little waves around his shoulders where he emerged from the pond, “Most humans all look and smell the same to me, honestly. He was old for a human, liked to share stories, and left me a bit of tobacco as offerings sometimes. Smelled of smoked fish.”

Memories of your grandfather flashed before your eyes where he sat on the bench in front of the house, smoking his pipe in the late hours of the day, watching the sun go down.

Your mouth went dry.

Had he? Did he really?

Did he, in all his misery and worry, promised your hand to a strange man from the pond – a huge and wet and cold and clearly dangerous monster.

You went stiff from the overwhelming thought of being given away like that to a stranger - to a monster.

“Well, you are a human but I’m not in the habit of breaking promises and I'm sure you would make a good enough queen,” König continued, “Unless you object of course. There is little as unhonourable as having an unwilling bride, not even the slimiest toad approves of that.”

König babbled on about waters and ponds and marriage but your head was spinning. Your grandfather arranged for you to marry an algae cover man from the pond who's idea of home nearly killed you. The painful absurdity of it made you consider jumping right back into the water.

The cold, dark and green water.

The buzzing of the summer insects and splashing of the little waves drowned everything else out, turning louder and louder and louder and-

“Maid?”

His hand touched your arm, slowly shaking you.

You jolted up only to fall back.

“Yes?” you managed while leaning back, away from the large, clawed hand.

König’s watery eyes shifted around you as if searching for the right words.

“Listen, I don’t know too much about you humans, “ König started, “but you look cold and miserable. Maybe let’s worry about that first and talk about our wedding later.”

You blinked as the realization in all its form settled in.

Marrying him?

He would drown you in this pond, your flesh rotting and being picked by the fishes until nothing but a pile of bones were left.

Your bones, your lovely bones.

No! You had felt your life slip out of your fingers, the precious air bubbles escaping your lungs bare moments ago. Your cold hands wandered around your pained body intuitively, cradling yourself and trying to protect you from the outside world. You weren’t ready to give up on this life - to give on your body - and you would keep yourself safe and alive. This was your skin, your hair and flesh and bones! Death would come to you one day but you would be damned if it came today at the bottom of a dark pond and by the hands of a man.

“Yes, you are right. I should get dry,” you managed, sensing a chance to escape.

With wobbly legs, you tried to get up only to sway and stumble down on your knees. You needed to leave this place.

König tilted his head, watching you.

You tried again; your muscles too weak to carry you.

“Dear,” König said with slight amusement in his voice, “Your will is admirable, pretty girl. But I doubt it will be enough to get you home.”

“So? Will you drag me back into the pond and finish your work?” you replied, considering the option to crawl home and far away from the water

“Why would I do that, bride?”, he chuckled before turning serious again, looking at you with those blue more than clear inhuman eyes, “I have heard it’s not customary but allow me to get you to your home before you hurt yourself. You humans take so long to heal and an injured bride during the wedding would be a nuisance.”

Fearful you tried to move again.

He watched, waiting for your answer.

You considered his words. Your home. And he clearly wanted you in one piece at least before the wedding.

“No pond?”, you asked with an oh so thin weak voice.

“No pond.” He reassured, “That’s clearly not your element, my little bride-to-be.”

Slowly, you nodded.

Carefully, as if not to spook you, he scooped you back into his arms once again and pressed you to his chest.

You felt yourself going stiff again from fear, but before you could cry out, König stepped out of the water and away from the dreaded pond.

“See, no pond,” König spoke soothingly, and you felt his voice vibrate in his chest as he moved and swayed to avoid branches while shielding you with his shoulders, “I’m keeping my promises, my little bride.”

#there will be a mix of folkloric elements in this since i grew up with both eastern and central european traditions and can do what i want #this was written with a special amount of love for my fellow slavs and hinterland fairy tales collectors #könig #könig cod #könig x reader #könig mw2 #könig call of duty #könig fanfiction #könig x you #call of duty #könig x oc #monster #monster x human #monster!könig

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clusterduck28 · 1 year

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Is that a fucking matryoshka???

#the owl house #toh spoilers #Slavic Collector confirmed #Taking him away from the Brazilians and claiming him for the slavs #His name is Николай now

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brexiiton · 24 days

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Why Russia fears the emergence of Tajik terrorists

By Richard Foltz

Mukhammadsobir Faizov, a suspect in Friday's shooting at the Crocus City Hall sits in a glass cage in the Basmanny District Court in Moscow. (AP: Alexander Zemlianichenko)

It has emerged that the four gunmen charged in the murder of at least 139 concert-goers at Moscow's Crocus City Hall theatre were all citizens of the small post-Soviet nation of Tajikistan in Central Asia.

Does their nationality have anything to do with their alleged terrorism? Many Russians probably think so.

Tajikistan, a landlocked country of 10 million sandwiched between Uzbekistan, Afghanistan and China, is the most impoverished of the former Soviet republics. Known for its corruption and political repression, it has chafed under the iron-fisted rule of President Emomali Rahmon since 1994.

There are estimated to be well over 3 million Tajiks living in Russia, about one-third of the total Tajik population. Most of them hold the precarious status of "guest workers," holding low-paying jobs in construction, produce markets or even cleaning public toilets.

While Russia's declining population has led to increasing reliance on foreign workers to fill such needs within its labour force, the attitude of Russians towards natives of Central Asia and the Caucasus region is generally negative.

It's similar to the American stereotype about Mexicans so infamously expressed by Donald Trump in 2015: "They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapists."

Non-Slavs are systematically discriminated against in Russia, and since 2022 they have been disproportionately conscripted and send to Ukraine to serve as cannon fodder at the front.

This photo was taken in April 2015. A Tajik migrant municipal worker carries Russian national and Moscow city flags to decorate a department store near Red Square in Moscow. (AP: Alexander Zemlianichenko)

Tajik exclusion

As I have described in a recent book, few nations in history have seen their standing so dramatically reduced as the Tajiks have over the past 100 years.

For more than millennium, the Tajiks -Persian-speaking descendants of the ancient Sogdians who dominated the Silk Road - were Central Asia's cultural elite.

Beginning with what's known as the New Persian Renaissance of the 10th century when their capital, Bukhara, came to rival Baghdad as a centre of Islamic learning and high culture, Tajiks were the principal scholars and bureaucrats of Central Asia's major cities right up to the time of the Russian Revolution.

The famous medieval polymath Avicenna was an ethnic Tajik, as were the hadith collector Bukhari, the Sufi poet Rumi, and many others.

But as the most significant purveyors of Central Asia's Islamic civilization, Tajiks were seen by the Bolsheviks as representing an obsolete legacy that socialism aimed to overcome.

This photo was taken in 2006. Residents of Dosti, a town in southern Tajikistan, press against a fence seeking government compensation for damages caused by a strong earthquake. (AP: Sergei Grits)

The Tajiks were virtually excluded from the massive social and political restructuring imposed on Central Asia during the early years of the Soviet Union, with most of their historical territory, including the fabled cities of Samarkand and Bukhara, being awarded to the Turkic-speaking Uzbeks who were seen as being more malleable.

Only as late as 1929 were the Tajiks given their own republic, consisting mostly of marginal, mountainous territory and deprived of any major urban centres.

An impoverished region

Throughout the 20th century, the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic was the most impoverished and underdeveloped region of the former Soviet Union, and it has retained that unfortunate status since independence in 1991.

From 1992-1997, the country was plunged into a devastating civil war that destroyed what infrastructure remained from the Soviet period. Since that time, Rahmon has used the threat of renewed civil conflict to vindicate his absolute rule.

The spectre of radical Islam emanating from neighbouring Afghanistan - where the Tajik population considerably outnumbers that of Tajikistan - has provided additional justification for Rahmon's repressive policies.

In today's Tajikistan even those with a university education find it almost impossible to earn a salary that would enable them to build a normal family life.

A Tajikistan family bakes bread in their home in the village of Dakhana Kiik. (AP: Sergei Grits)

Disempowered and humiliated by the system, they are easy prey for radical Islamic preachers who give them a sense of value and purpose.

The added backdrop of financial desperation makes for an explosive cocktail: one of the suspects in the recent Moscow attacks reportedly told his Russian interrogators that he was promised a cash reward of half a million Russian rubles (about US$5,300) to carry out his alleged atrocities..

Terrorism as desperation?

Normal, sane human beings everywhere are horrified by terrorist acts regardless of how they are justified by their perpetrators, and the long-suffering people of Tajikistan are no exception.

One of the four terrorism suspects Saidakrami Murodali Rachabalizoda sits in a glass cage in the Basmanny District Court in Moscow. (Reuters: Yulia Morozova)

But unfortunately, the conditions under which a small number of extremists can perceive the psychopathic murder of innocent civilians for cash or ideology as an attractive option show no signs of abating.

Russia's laughable attempt to somehow link the Moscow attacks to Ukraine is a clumsy diversion from the consequences of its relations with Central Asia.

#Saidakrami Murodali Rachabalizoda #terrorwave #terror wave #terror #news #russia

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rayoutside-blog · 3 months

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- Firstly, we are still recovering from the holidays and part of our team is away.

- Secondly, naturally we don’t sit idle. Therefore, I would like to say that we are preparing screenshots for the Vndb platform.

- Thirdly, our current main task is to create an animated opening for which the song is already ready, most likely you will hear it closer to the demo version release, which is planned in spring of 2024.

- Fourthly, today we came to a difficult decision: to make news on our website also in Russian. In order not to tell for a long time the course of our thoughts, we’ll just say that news will be published in English and Russian. It would not be fair not to provide news for those who are interested in our work in a language they understand. Therefore, from today, our website will have hashtag “UA”, which will allow you to sort news in a language accessible to the Slavs.

Naturally, our main audience is America, and if possible, Japan. We really hope that we made this decision not in vain and that “Town” is still interesting to someone among the Slavs.

- Fifthly, we are slowly returning to the main work with some new ideas. In particular, we decided that the notes from “Jannette” may not convey the desired atmosphere of the "Town" VN. To be more precise, the creative studio Rey-Out (the developers) does not consider it right to find notes from a dead girl to introduce the reader to a new interesting world. In the end, it was according to the results of social surveys that journalist Jeannette died. We are considering the idea of introducing a new character into the lore, who will be a kind of story collector and will become your guide to the town of Akunagi, as well as to our possible subsequent worlds...

#18+#ray out #town #visual novel

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zooterchet · 1 year

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Tanacharison: The identification of agents pressing fraud, as corporal surgeons claiming police license; hence identifying police, as medical agent. (Assassin's Creed)

Booth: The identification, of those attempting quotient of test, to place in care of wealthy, as poor, based upon intent of act necessitating psychiatric barrister; none given of purpose of test. (Quake)

Whisker: The difference viewed, between Irish as king, and Irish as Slav, however, sent from Britain, after offense to Jew; winning battle against Breton or British, not through honest asylum in English isle. (Resident Evil)

Oswald: The creation of a brand as necessary to steal, hence the application of loser, test already viewed, alcoholic, boycott already in family, and wash, removed from history as fictional character, viewed through eyes of Swede. (Doom)

King: The notice of management, as slave, hence any consumer, was leadership, in terms of positive response to firm, the further pressure of promotion, hence family, as trap at low income job, with promotion through proper work at academics, at upwards utility of age, not trap of prison inmate having failed same such test. (Super Mario Brothers)

Sirhan: The notice of police officer arresting self, having frauded self at own order through bank teller; through view of local programming news, held secret at false documentary, influenced through Jesuit of order, hence news was false in reversed report of import, to program subject matter labeled to control recruit of police in locality of political mayor's logic. (Pac-Man)

Jung: The notification of score of track, athletics, as unknown for police officer qualification, hence placement in arms dealership, as cartoon, by other arms dealer, labeled as Canadian Mounted; rather an uniform service, but uniform as name of wearing, actually a standard police federal, rather than a secret office name of state, controlled by own uniform officers as being the oversight byzantine of orchestrated force below. (Burger Man)

Simpson: The scholarship as necassery to pass, not to win, hence any placement of logo, is endorsement, admission of tantamont guilt of state; any such rig, a support of collector's item, the lowest admission of achievement, hence management over monetized sum collected of single in billions, but through tens of thousands, extended through abstract of economy, hence all sum of college, worthless, given athletic achievement in film or notoriety, through label on children's product. (Wolfenstein)

Charlebois: The view of circus, as draft of innocent, to serve convict, through notice of demographic upon software as essential, as test of compliance; therefore, any system of limited rapport, is not for open data, but rather for lack of mirth, the intelligence infrastructure to destroy a politician, through loss of life, through word applied, in ancient antiquity, creating an evil, through language applied to dictionary, removed upon consolidate, in common word of rumor, the high castled ivory tower of artistic claim to control poor through readership, not actual ability; therefore, ability of poor impossible, all art to be ignored in favor of finance; control of own family. (Halo)

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literaturoved · 2 years

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1894: Imperial Russia From the Baltic city of St. Petersburg, built on a river marsh in a far northern corner of the empire, the Tsar ruled Russia. So immense were the Tsar’s dominions that, as night began to fall along their western borders, day already was breaking on their Pacific coast. Between these distant frontiers lay a continent, one sixth of the land surface of the globe. Through the depth of Russia’s winters, millions of tall pine trees stood silent under heavy snows. In the summer, clusters of white-trunked birch trees rustled their silvery leaves in the slanting rays of the afternoon sun. Rivers, wide and flat, flowed peacefully through the grassy plains of European Russia toward a limitless southern horizon. Eastward, in Siberia, even mightier rivers rolled north to the Arctic, sweeping through forests where no human had ever been, and across desolate marshes of frozen tundra. Here and there, thinly scattered across the broad land, lived the one hundred and thirty million subjects of the Tsar: not only Slavs but Baits, Jews, Germans, Georgians, Armenians, Uzbeks and Tartars. Some were clustered in provincial cities and towns, dominated by onion-shaped church domes rising above the white-walled houses. Many more lived in straggling villages of unpainted log huts. Next to doorways, a few sunflowers might grow. Geese and pigs wandered freely through the muddy street. Both men and women worked all summer, planting and scything the high silken grain before the coming of the first September frost. For six interminable months of winter, the open country became a wasteland of freezing whiteness. Inside their huts, in an atmosphere thick with the aroma of steaming clothes and boiling tea, the peasants sat around their huge clay stoves and argued and pondered the dark mysteries of nature and God. In the country, the Russian people lived their lives under a blanket of silence. Most died in the villages where they were born. Three fourths of them were peasants, freed from the land a generation before by the Tsar-Liberator Alexander II’s emancipation of the serfs. But freedom did not produce food. When famine came and the black earth cracked for lack of rain, and the grain withered and crumbled to dust still on the stalks, then the peasants tore the thatch from their roofs to feed their livestock and sent their sons trudging into town to look for work. In famine, the hungry moujiks wrapped themselves in ragged cloaks and stood all day in silence along the snowy roads. Noble ladies, warm in furs, drove their troikas through the stricken countryside, delivering with handsome gestures of their slender arms a spray of silver coins. Soon, along came the tax collector to gather up the coins and ask for others. When the moujiks grumbled, a squadron of Cossacks rode into town, with lances in their black-gloved hands and whips and sabers swinging from their saddles. Troublemakers were flogged, and bitterness flowed with blood. Landowner, police, local governor and functionaries were roundly cursed by Russia’s peasants. But never the Tsar. The Tsar, far away in a place nearer heaven than earth, did no wrong. He was the Batiushka-Tsar, the Father of the Russian people, and he did not know what suffering they had to endure. “It is very high up to God! It is very far to the Tsar!” said the Russian proverb. If only we could get to the Tsar and tell him, our troubles would be at an end—so runs the plot of a hundred Russian fairy tales.

- Nicholas and Alexandra, Robert K. Massie.

#Nicholas and Alexandra #Robert K. Massie #quotes

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boldpreciousmetals · 2 years

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Germania Mint Silver Coins | BOLD Precious Metals

BOLD is very pleased to Introduce Germania Mint Silver Coins With all the best deals on popular Germania Mint coins series such as Germania, Allegories, Mythical Forest, Germania Beasts, Unspecified Series, Warriors, Autochthonous Croatia, Interkosmos, Knights of the Past

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Germania Mint is a manufacturer of modern collectible and investment products, characterized by unique design, high-quality workmanship, and innovative packaging. We are one of the fastest-growing mints in the world, constantly exploring new areas of the numismatic industry. Our brand name refers to the ancient land where Germania Mint is based.

Why Should you buy New Zealand Mint coins?

Historic Germania was located north of the Roman Empire. It stretched east of the Rhine River and north of the upper and middle Danube, encompassing what is now Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary. These lands were inhabited not only by Germans but also by other tribes, including Slavs, who were never completely subjugated by the Roman superpower.

The Germania Mint coat of arms symbolizes the values that guide our work, constantly seeking innovation and excellence in every detail.

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BOLD Precious Metals leverages our relationships with top suppliers around the world to offer a wide selection of modern coins, rounds, bars, and top-quality graded coins from PCGS and NGC at very competitive prices. We DO NOT hard sell our customers. It is our singular focus to have a well-informed customer group who understands what they are buying and is 100% satisfied with every purchase experience. We only source top-quality products that we would be happy to buy back in the future.

Check back often as we regularly add items to our inventory. We also offer unique gift sets and top-quality supplies that are sure to delight the special coin collectors in your life.

#Germania Mint Silver Coins

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danithevampi · 3 years

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So my friend heard about the new “The Collected” stills

You’ve seen this one, right? well...

#LMAOOOO #the collector 3 #the collected #the collector #slav collector #slav squat #slasher

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mishinashen · 3 years

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Girl with a Plate with a Folk Motif by Alphonse Mucha, 1920

Born in Ivancice in what is now Czechia, Alphonse Mucha began his artistic training in Prague and Munich before moving to Paris to enroll in the Académie Julien in 1888. Mucha is best remembered for the prominent role he played in shaping the aesthetics of French Art Nouveau at the turn of the century. In December of 1894, while the artist was at Lemercier’s printing workshop doing a favor for a friend, a call came in from Sarah Bernhardt, the greatest actress of her generation, who urgently needed a poster designed for her next performance. With the regular Lemercier artists on holiday, the printer turned to Mucha in desperation. It was a moment of happenstance that would change the artist’s life. While he had been working in relative obscurity for several years, Mucha’s poster for Berhardt’s production of Gismonda rocketed the artist to near-immediate fame. Though the printer was hesitant about Mucha's design because of its new, unconventional style, ‘La divine Sarah’ loved the image and the public followed suit. The posters immediately became collector’s items, and collectors went so far as to bribe bill posters and cut the posters down under cover of night in order to obtain them.

As a result, Le style Mucha, as Art Nouveau was known in its earliest days, was born. The success of the Gismonda poster resulted in a six-year contract between Bernhardt and Mucha, and the artist designed not only posters for her performances, but costumes and stage decorations as well. It was in the artist’s iconic images of Bernhardt that he also began to experiment with what would come to be one of the hallmarks of his later work – having his model directly engage the viewer’s gaze. This same powerful gaze is on full display in the present painting, as the beautiful young artist holds up the plate she has decorated with an Eastern European floral design while fixing the viewer with her piercing stare.

Girl with a Plate with a Folk Motif is typical of the direction of Mucha’s art after 1910, when he and his family returned to Prague and he was working on The Slav Epic, a series of 20 paintings depicting the history of the Czech lands and other Slavic countries which comprise his late masterpiece. As Mucha moved away from commercial work in the second half of his career to focus on patriotic history painting, he traveled through Russia and Poland to the Balkans, making sketches and taking photographs to document what he saw. As a result, Slavic costume, themes, and decorative elements became increasingly common in his work from this period outside of The Slav Epic as well. The luminous, fluid brushwork and the harmonious cool pastel color palette found in the present work are also hallmarks of Mucha’s late work. The sinuous line of Mucha’s Art Nouveau style is still evident in the sitter’s hair and in the folds of her voluminous garment, but it has been suffused through a symbolist bent – the delicate strokes of purple and blue which define the edges of the figure make her seem as if she is glowing, giving her an almost mystical quality.

#czech art #art noveau

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hunsa-jars · 2 years

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Almost 3 bingos!! But alas I cannot squat like the slavs TwT

Aw almost 3

Another trinket collector yissss!!

AND FINALLY ANOTHER BEAR ENJOYER THANK YOUUUU

Sending you this good boi to give you hugs and motivation

#*holds you like a hamburger bc you're neat*#thanks for the ask!

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honestsycrets · 4 years

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Rus | Sy’s Resource

Timeline

793 | Viking attack on Lindisfarne.

Late 8th-9th c | Vikings attacks on Europe- leading out into the Baltic sea, resulting in exploration through the Dvina river.

859-862 |The arrival of first Rus in E. Europe as raiders then leaders.

873 | Ivar the Boneless dies.

882 | Oleg expands from Novgorod to Kiev.

907 | Oleg attacks Constantinople, success. Results in a trading treaty giving Rus privileges in Constantinople.

912 | Oleg dies.

941 | Igor’s failed attacks Constantinople: failure, Byzantines has more success.

988-989 | Vladmier converts to Christianity in order to marry a Byzantine daughter. Upon his return he forcibly baptized Kiev.

1018-1054 | Golden age of the Rus: Interconnections with Europe, more Christianization.

Who were the Rus?

Most likely, Swedish Vikings, lasting from late 800s to early 1200s. In The Primary Chronicle, written by some monks est eleventh century, Slavics invited a Varangian Rurik and his brothers to rule over them. Sound funny? Yeah, probably is. This was probably written to legitimize their rule.

Rus Vikings popped up around 8th-9th c in Novgorod (hi Rurik)! But, these (most likely) Swedish Vikings interbred with Finns, Bals, Slavs, and Volga Bulgars. They concerned themselves with furs, slaves, and silver.

Lifestyle

Most of the Kievan Rus were probably farmers, hunters, trappers, beekeepers, and herdsmen with simple lives. They probably ate what they produced, got their wee butts taxed. Their goods included furs, honey, animal hides, and wax with trade to other areas like the Byzantines.

Kievan Rus were often banded together in farming families, sort of like most Viking communities, including extended families since farming ain’t no easy work. Especially when you have crap tools.

boyars | fighting men of Kiev. Nobles.

Slavic upper class. Small amount of members but important for the prince, towns, and states.

Merchants | Had a good amount of influence. At times political power. Often imported the luxury items: silk, fruit, spices, wines, metal, and pretty things.

Smerdy | peasants.

can i say this means “stinkers?”

Slaves | Important to early Kievan Rus.

Trade Route with Scandinavian Vikings

General trade during the Viking age included:

From Russia, as preciously stated, exports of slaves, furs, wax, and honey.

From Norway timber, iron, soapstone, whetstone, barley, tar.

From Sweden, Iron and Furs.

From Iceland: Fish, Animal Fat, Wool, Sulfur, FALCONS.

From England: Tin, What, Honey, Silver, Barley, Linen.

Most trading was done in short distances. as trading grew, Norse traders would trade widely. In trading to Russia, there were two main routes as well as two through central Europe to the Baltic. Both would drag ships up rapids and over land. Traders would begin in the Gulf of Finland, to Lake Ladoga (a major trading center c 9th-10th c), Then they would sail along the Volkhov river to the Lake Ilmen to Novgorod. Then the ships would row up rivers to be hauled to either Volga (to Caspian Sea) or the Dneiper (to the Black Sea).

Religion

Kievan Rus converted to Christianity in 988 after Vladmir smashed all pagan idols and uh, you know, forcibly baptized fuckers (The Primary Chronicle). But, heathen belief and practices still floated around after that. The Christian church was still one church. But in 1054, the Church split into the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church.

Orthodox Christianity enjoyed building churches, forming saints, and mass. many old pagan practices were adapted into Christianity. Most arts were religious.

Women and Marriage

Queen Olga rules in 855: the first female ruler, a Christian, but did not adopt Christianity for all the Christians. Well respected for legislation reform of the tribute system. She had a seal, indicating her power.

Most women were homebodies preoccupied with bringing up children and managing the household. Women could control lands in her dowry, lend money, donate to the church, buy or sell slaves. Women could speak on their own behalf or appear as witness. Restrictions depended more on class than gender. Princesses could be judges. Women could hire fighters if a duel came to pass, but if they were both women, they would do this themselves. There was intermarriage with families in German areas and Scandinavia.

Male infidelity was not grounds for divorce, but it was expected when a female was unfaithful female. Men could also divorce women for attempted murder or theft as well as a wife eating or sleeping, visiting public entertainment against her husband’s wishes. Rape and lying was grounds for a woman to divorce her husband. Being unable to conceive was also grounds for divorce. Physical abuse was not alone grounds for divorce.

Orthodox Church forbid marriage between social class, heathens, or those not of faith. Rape would result in the same fine as murder, as was infantcide, abortion, beating a pregnant woman which results in child loss. Birth control was also punished by the church.

Fashion

Previous Resource

Women’s Clothing in Early Rus

Women’s Clothing in Kievan Rus: Medieval Textiles

Writing

Tiiiinnnnny section of population was literate. They might use birch-bark for manuscript codices or waxed wooden tablets. They might use coins and seals, pictures to label or caption, and also had graffiti. Parchment was made from animal skin, birch bark (scraped and boiled) and wooden tablets. Writing included a stylus and ink. Wooden tablets could be reused by smoothing wax with the flat end of the stylus to renew the tablet. Literacy often related to the church; the purpose of books was often devotional. It was also used by rulers and traders to conduct their businesses.

Terminology

kniaz’ | prince or duke.

There is some debate on this term in relation to other ruling classes as it’s debated Rus rulers were not ‘kings’ in the sense of say English kingship so this titlature can be inconsistent.

The etymology of kniaz: comes from Germanic root *kun-ingaz, same roots for “konungr,” and English “king”. Kniaz often were rules of city based territories (Kiev, Novgorod) with surrounding regional control. Stress upon a right to rule rather than a birth right (later did become this).

Roles of kniazia: ruler, military leader, lawgiver, tax collector.

velikii kniaz’ | grand prince

Scholars disagree with its use. It’s not used frequently but may mean eldest member of kindred, regards a deceased ruler, or is similar to a tsar.

konungr | ruler (old norse) chief, king.

Problematic use of word as there was about 45 kings at one point who bore this title est 800. This word seems to have a loose meaning that can be applied to lesser known people and more well known such as Harald Bluetooth.

gardariki | name given to the Rus in Old Norse.

rex, reges p. | ruler (in relation to anglo-saxon england but also poland (who also used the term dux)).

Also another area where there was an excess of kings in areas like Wessex and Mercia.

rí | king (in relation to ireland).

More than 150 kings during the 5th-12th c. A rí would rule over his own people and were responsible for them. Another term of consideration is an ard-rí, a high king, but that concept is under debate.

How does Vikings (tv) fit into this?

In short, it doesn’t really fit well. But that’s TV for you. While Hirst does use important figures to pull a more well rounded experience for viewers, these dates do not correlate with the people who indeed lived within them. Christinization was not until 988, and when we start with Ragnar in the late 8th century, there would have been no successful wide spread Christianity. In conclusion, Hirst does bring important elements in... but its a bit disconnected over all.

Works Cited

Duczko, Wladyslaw. Viking Rus Studies on the Presence of Scandinavians in Eastern Europe. Leiden ; Boston: Brill, 2004. Northern World ; v. 12. Web.

Franklin, Simon. Writing, Society and Culture in Early Rus, c.950–1300, Cambridge University Press, 2002. ProQuest Ebook Central.

“Land Travel in the Viking Age.” Hurstwic, www.hurstwic.org/history/articles/manufacturing/text/land_travel.htm.

Thompson, John. Russia : A Historical Introduction from Kievan Rus' to the Present, Routledge, 2017. ProQuest Ebook Central.

Young, Matthew. Folk Epics and the Role of Gender in Medieval Kievan Rus. Simmons College, beatleyweb.simmons.edu/scholar/files/original/aea362ec44e5d72e3014bd40a9d07c6f.pdf.

#Sy's Resource #Sy's rant #Vikings Fandom #I tried #welcome to my ted talk

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cincinnatusvirtue · 4 years

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Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878. Bulgaria is liberated after 500 years of Ottoman rule and the Great Powers of Europe will stir the Balkans and each other one step closer to World War I.

Prior to the events of the war one needs to visit the history of the region. Bulgaria in the middle ages was a major power in Eastern and Southern Europe at varying times. In the 7th century a nomadic group of Turkic tribes from the Eurasian steppes north of the Black Sea had over time migrated westward and southward on down to the Balkans and south of the Danube. This group of Turkic tribes was called the Bulgars.

The Bulgars were led by Asparukh, who became Khan of Bulgaria. The Bulgars served as a military and political elite over the prior two major groups of people that had lived in this region of the eastern Balkans and south of the Danube by the time of their arrival. The first group were the Thracians who since ancient times were a separate Indo-European speaking group of tribes that interacted with the Persians, Greeks, Celts, Germans and Romans that all came to the region over the centuries. The Thracians had by the time of the arrival of the next group largely become culturally absorbed into the Hellenic and later Roman world. Thracians did maintain some of their language into this time and some cultural traditions but by and large had become Hellenized Thraco-Roman citizens. The next group were the Slavs, another Indo-European group that had somewhat uncertain origins, believed to be in the vicinity of modern Belarus and Ukraine, they had migrated in massive numbers throughout the Balkans, becoming the majority populace in many parts, forming the South Slav branch of Slavic peoples which exist in the present. They had warred off and on with the Eastern Roman Empire, known to history as the Byzantine Empire or Greek dominated half of the Roman Empire from its capital in Constantinople.

681 was the year the Bulgars rose against the Byzantine Empire with their Slav allies. The Byzantines were defeated and the First Bulgarian Empire was declared as a result with Asparukh as its Khan or ruler. Initially, the Bulgars, the Slavs and the Hellenized Thraco-Romans all had separate cultures living under one polity. The Slavs and Bulgars had their own pagan religions and the former Byzantine citizens were Orthodox Christians. The Slavs being the most numerous group, gradually assimilated the Thracians and the Bulgars into a Slavic ethnolinguistic group that formed the basis for the modern day Bulgarian people. They spoke a Slavic language and had a majority of the population but they took the name and cultural heritage of the Bulgars as well as the Thracians giving Bulgaria its own unique blend of traditions. Bulgaria also became the first Orthodox Christian Slavic state, taking on the Byzantine state religion as its own. The Bulgarians eventually developed the Cyrillic alphabet and spread the language known as Old Church Slavonic or Old Bulgarian among the clergy of Southern Slavs. The First Bulgarian Empire grew fairly expansive and over the centuries it continued to both rival and assist the Byzantine Empire. Though civil war and invasions from other powers weakened the Bulgarian state. In 1018, it was conquered by the Byzantine Empire under the rule of Basil II, Byzantine Emperor.

For the next 170 years until 1185, Bulgaria remained part of the Byzantine Empire. An uprising by two brothers, Ivan Asen & Peter lead to the reestablishment of the Bulgarian state, a Second Bulgarian Empire. It too clashed with the Byzantine Empire. It also clashed with the Latin Empire, made up of French, German and Italian Crusaders who forsake their original mission to go to the Holy Land and instead sacked Constantinople in 1204, temporarily breaking up the Byzantine Empire into several Greek rump states in Greece and Anatolia. The Second Bulgarian Empire, became a powerful state and cultural hub in the Middle Ages. However, it faced continual warfare with the Latin Crusaders, various Greek states including the restored Byzantine Empire as well as Serbia, Hungary and the Mongol Empire. This combined with civil war weakened the state once more. By the end of the 14th century in the year 1396, the Second Bulgarian Empire was overtaken by a new threat from the east, the Ottoman Empire.

The Muslim threat to Europe had been an issue off an on for centuries with the Arab Caliphates and the Seljuk Turks but none had the success of the Ottoman Empire, which started as an Turkic emirate under Osman I, that rose by gradual conquest in Anatolia. By the time Bulgaria had been conquered the Ottomans were using the Balkans as a launching pad to surround Constantinople and finish off the Byzantine Empire, which is finally did in 1453. From there the rest of the Balkans were virtually under its control, Bosnia, Serbia, Greece, Albania, Romania, Macedonia and Bulgaria all were effectively under the Ottomans rule.

For the next 500 years, there were a number of local rebellions but none were successful, and often the other European powers were busy fighting each other so the Balkans continued under Ottoman rule. In Bulgaria, as elsewhere the Ottomans imposed a new Turkish elite upon the native populace. The Ottomans didn’t divide typically along ethnic grounds but more religious ones. Muslims, Christians and Jews could coexist but the hierarchy clearly placed Muslims at the top. Christians tended to be Orthodox Christians and the Patriarch of Constantinople, a Greek Byzantine position tended to make all other Orthodox Christians subordinate to them, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church was under Greek auspices under the overall Turkish rule or Turkish Yoke as it became known. The Bulgarian culture and language was in danger of being subsumed if it were not in part for the local clergy who kept the language, culture and history alive in monasteries and among the rural populace who made up the country’s majority, typically these monasteries were found in relative isolation among Bulgaria’s many mountain ranges, safely tucked away from the Turkish run urban centers.

The Turks didn’t always require their subjects to convert to Islam but there many cases of forced conversion of Bulgarians along with other Balkan peoples to Islam. In Bulgaria, this most often occurred along with voluntary conversions or ones brought about by intimidation in the Rhodopes, a mountain range in Southern Bulgaria. A new community, known as Pomaks was formed out of this, Pomaks were ethnic Bulgarians who converted to Islam or who were culturally Turkified. Indeed, Turks also intermixed with the Bulgarian populace, contributing to the Pomak populace or sometimes just by force as conquerors often do. The Turks and Muslims in general nevertheless remained a minority in the province’s history but held the administrative dominance. Turkish nobles divided the land as powerful landlords with the Bulgarian populace being subjected to their landlord’s whims, but these lands were not hereditary and reverted to the Ottoman Sultan upon the landlord’s death. Turkish soldiers were garrisoned throughout the country and imposed harsh crackdowns during rebellions or at the Sultan’s order. One of the many impositions was the so called “blood tax” where young Christian boys were forcibly taken from their families, converted to Islam and forced to serve in the Ottoman army. Additionally, Bulgarian Christians paid a number other taxes, a land tax, commercial taxes, religious tithes and a capitation tax known as the jizya which confirmed their secondary status in the Ottoman Empire. The price for non-conversion was this tax to be paid to Ottoman tax collectors, this tax bought the people protection from the Sultan against harassment and forced conversion. The Ottomans imposed this throughout the empire as did other Muslim nations.

Legally speaking, there were separate courts of law as well. Muslims, Christians and Jews all had their own court system under the Ottomans. However, in cases where a Muslim was accused of an offense against a Christian, Christian testimony was not admitted in the court, allowing for discrimination and often unjust rulings to take place. Mosques also became the dominant religious center in Ottoman Bulgaria’s urban centers, churches still existed but were often found in rural areas and could sometimes be subject to destruction by Muslims.

The Ottoman Empire reached its zenith in the 16th and 17th centuries but found itself at war intractably in Europe with the Hapsburg dynasty of Austria and by the end of the 17th century and into the 18th century, it found a new rival to the north of the Black Sea, the Russian Empire. The Russian Empire under Tsar Peter the Great and his descendants became quite expansive in Eastern Europe as well as the Caucasus region. It took over the Crimean Peninsula and soon battled the Ottoman Turks for control of the Black Sea and surrounding region.

By the end of the 18th century and into the 19th century another issue other than Russian expansionism worsened the Ottoman Empire’s gradual decline, nationalism. In the wake of the French Revolution and the subsequent Napoleonic Wars, ideas of romantic nationalism swept across Europe. Creating a nostalgia that inflamed the cultural passions of many diverse peoples. The Balkans was hard hit by this and soon rebellions in Serbia and Greece took place. In both of these hard-fought wars which saw brutal reprisals from the Ottomans against the local Christian populace and likewise massacres of Muslims by Christians, Russia assisted the independence movements which were ultimately successful if somewhat limited in their initial aspirations. The Ottomans were now being driven from Europe altogether. Inspired by Serbian and Greek success, along with later Romanian independence, Bulgarian nationalists began to organize their own plans for independence. It was however a matter of decades of planning for the opportune moment. The Bulgarians were undergoing a literary, artistic and religious nationalist resurgence during this time, they also hoped for Russian support as fellow Orthodox Christians and ethnic Slavs.

Meanwhile, Russia and the Ottoman Empire continued their struggle for dominance in the east of Europe. However, by the mid 19th-century the geopolitics of the long anticipated collapse of the declining Ottoman state had troublesome considerations for the major western European powers, namely the British Empire and Second French Empire. If the Turks completely fell, the British and French, now allies, worried about the Russian takeover of the Balkans and Asia Minor. Britain and Russia were engaged in a geopolitical struggle called the Great Game which extended from the Balkans to Central Asia and British India and even into the Pacific Ocean. The ailing Ottoman Empire, or Sick Man of Europe as it was called or the Eastern Question, was another theater in this struggle. Things came to ahead when the British and French, allied with the Ottoman Empire in 1853 to repel a Russian invasion of the Danubian Provinces of Moldavia and Wallachia in Romania, areas which were nominally still part of the Ottoman Empire. This placed Russian troops on the north side of the Danube, north of Bulgaria. A push through there onto Constantinople might undo the whole empire. The Crimean War of 1853-1856 started as a result. Eventually, the Allied armies defeated the Russians on the Crimean Peninsula and forced Russia to dismantle its Black Sea navy, forbade its shipping through the Dardanelles and to respect the territorial integrity of the Ottoman Empire. The balance of power was restored for the time being.

However, the 1860′s and 1870′ saw the balance of power become even more complex. German unification under Prussian hegemony at the expense of the Danes, Austrians and later the French along with the unification of Italy at the expense of the Austrians introduced two new major players on the European scene. The German Empire and Kingdom of Italy now had their own interests and were forces the French and British had to deal with, not just Russia which sat in relative isolation. For the Ottomans, these developments only complicated matters more as it meant more voices at the power sharing table, for better or worse, the Ottomans had to adapt to it.

By 1876, unrest in the Balkans would cause more trouble for the Ottomans. A rebellion in Bosnia Herzegovina inspired a proposed general uprising by Bulgarian nationalists of the Bulgarian Revolutionary Central Committee in April. The uprising was ultimately launched too early and not nearly well coordinated as planned. It had some initial success and saw many Turkish soldiers, policemen and some Muslim civilians killed. However, the Turkish repression was swift and very harsh. The Sultan ordered the Turkish military supported by irregular Muslim militias, called bashi-bazouks to suppress the rebellion. Ultimately, they did with brute force and superior arms. The Ottomans then committed atrocities against Bulgarian population, killing thousands and burning whole towns. Men were shot and beheaded, groups of people locked in churches for sanctuary were burnt alive, women and girls raped or sold off into captivity and slavery and children were killed as well. The numbers ranged from 15,000-30,000 estimated dead. The town of Batak in particular became well associated with the general massacre. One last known act of resistance was a unit of Bulgarian rebels and exiles under the command of poet and nationalist Hristo Botev who crossed the Danube from Romania and launched a brief campaign across Northern Bulgaria before they were defeated in the Balkan mountain range. Botev himself was killed in battle. The Turks had more or less suppressed the rebellion by the end of May.

The Turks made some effort to conceal news of the atrocities but this was not successful and ultimately reports from many sources local and foreign picked up on the stories of massacres and wholesale destruction of Bulgarian towns and populaces. One famous foreign source was Januarius MacGahan, an American born reporter working for the British newspaper, London Daily News and stationed in Constantinople who arranged to tour Bulgaria and areas of the uprising. His reports from interviews with the locals who survived and witnessed the atrocities, along with the graphic evidence of burnt buildings, rotted corpses and stacks of skulls gave all the proof he needed to report this to the world. MacGahan and other reporters’ findings shocked the public in Western Europe, America and indeed in Russia. Britain and France condemned their nominal ally. Russia and Turkey which were antagonistic anyway now found themselves on a course for war.

The Russian leadership wanted to avenge the loss of the Crimean War, break out of their diplomatic isolation and create new states in the Balkans that would be friendly to them and allow a restoration of shipping from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, increasing their sphere of influence, they also wanted Constantinople for their own. The Russian public was outraged and saw the attacks against their fellow Orthodox Slavs in Bulgaria as an affront against Slavic peoples and Orthodox Christians everywhere and one that must be avenged.

To avoid a repeat of the Crimean War, the Russians had to bide their time and use every diplomatic nuance to their advantage. With Britain and France now at odds with the Ottomans due to the influence of negative public opinion in light of the Bulgarian massacres, there was no chance they would intervene on Turkey’s behalf. Germany preferred to stay neutral and the Austro-Hungarian Empire’s neutrality was bought out by Russian influence. The Ottomans would have to face the Russians alone. To make matters worse, the Russians established a coalition of South Slavs from Serbia and Montenegro along with Romania, all of which were semi-autonomous but tributaries of the Ottoman Empire and sought to sever their final Turkish connection once and for all. Russian Tsar Alexander II declared war in April of 1877 against Sultan Abdul Hamid II and the Ottoman Empire.

The Russians and Romanians crossed the Danube that spring under Turkish fire. The Russians were better prepared and the war’s outcome was more or less determined from the outcome, the Turks while they had modern weapons were in a poor financial state, had bad infrastructure and were spread out to fight on multiple fronts against the Serbs and Montenegrins in addition to the Russians and Romanians. Not to mention, a renewed Bulgarian insurgency, this time made up of far more volunteers angered by the atrocities of 1876 and now supplied and working with the Russians joined the allied coalition which would slow Turkish progress. The Russians initially did not send enough troops as expected due to overconfidence and their plan required a passive defense by the Turks, this was not always the case and long drawn out sieges by mid summer slowed their advance to the Balkan mountains in north central Bulgaria, namely the Siege of Pleven. The concern for both sides was that the Russians would have to contribute more troops to the Balkans to make a decisive breakthrough.

The Russians had their perennial logistical problems and more troops and supplies had to be rushed to Balkan front. Additionally, there was a front fought in the Caucasus region and eastern Anatolia as well, though this served more or less as a side theater, Bulgaria was the decisive theater of operations. The Russians were concerned the Turks might actually reinforce their troops under siege, relief them and drive the Allies back north of the Danube, by which time the major European powers might intervene and force an end to the war. The Turks likewise were concerned about the Russian reinforcements and considered time a factor here. If the besieged Turkish armies in Northern Bulgaria fell, the Thracian Plain of the country’s center would be open and then onto Rumelia and Constantinople itself.

The Turks understood the only way to relief Pleven and elsewhere was to pass through the Balkan Mountains. The quickest route was the Shipka Pass. The Russians had in July wrestled control of the strategic pass from the Turks. In August it was now occupied by a detachment of 2,000 Russians and 5,500 Bulgarian volunteers. The Turkish commander, Suleyman Pasha had a 40,000 strong force on its way to relief Pleven. He became aware of Shipka being in Russo-Bulgarian hands and decided out of necessity he would force his way through. Convinced his numbers, modern arms and low opinion of the Bulgarian volunteers fighting abilities would be sufficient to win the day. Upon securing Shipka, he would head north to relief the besieged Turkish armies. What followed would be the decisive moment in the war and a moment etched in Bulgarian historical memory, akin to Saratoga, Yorktown or Gettysburg in American military history. The Bulgarians and Russians lacked numbers but they held the high ground, always a textbook advantage in battle. They were also highly motivated. If they could deny the Turks passage through the mountains they would deny any relief to Pleven and save the Russian offensive by buying crucial time for reinforcements.

The Turks starting August 21st made several infantry charges against the Bulgarians and Russians numerous times up the mountains of Shipka Pass, each attack was repulsed with heavy losses on both sides. Only determination on the Allied side combined with a timely Russian reinforcement and a Bulgarian bayonet charge held off the Turks who by August 26th were exhausted and facing mounting casualties, decided to withdraw and regroup. The romantic and iconic image that emerged from Shipka Pass later used in Bulgarian nationalist circles really showed the desperate state they were in by battle’s end. Bulgarian and Russian troops by days five and six of the battle were so low on ammunition that they resorted to throwing rocks and the corpses of fallen comrades to kill, injure and deter the exhausted Ottoman troops. The timely arrival of reinforcements along coupled with the aforementioned Bulgarian bayonet charge is what saved the day in the end. Nevertheless, the bravery of the Bulgarian volunteers at Shipka showed the Ottomans they had underestimated their enemy.

in September 1877, Suleyman Pasha again attempted to take Shipka with reinforced artillery. They shelled the positions hoping to soften the Russian and Bulgarian defenses before another infantry charge would take the pass. The Russians had improved the defensive lines though in the preceding month. There wasn’t much in the way of reinforcement but some troops were fresh to replace those lost in August. The initial Ottoman charge worked but a Russian counterattack drove the Turks downhill, all subsequent Ottoman attacks were repulsed as well. Shipka remained in Russian and Bulgarian hands and with winter approaching, the Turks knew they couldn’t force another attack until the following spring. The Allies had denied the Turks the crucial relief force they needed and Pleven fell by December to the Russians, Romanians and Bulgarian Legions.

Having taken Pleven, the Russians swooped west and liberated Sofia from the Turks. The Turks were again camped in front of Shipka hoping to breakthrough and cutoff the Russian flow of troops. However the Russians already in Sofia swung east and south attacking the Turks and now cutting them off, the fourth and final battle of Shipka proved to be a defeat for the Turks again. Northern Bulgaria was secured and liberated.

The Russians now advanced to Plovdiv in Central Bulgaria, the last major Ottoman stronghold in the country. Russian dragoons were able to storm the defenses of the city in mid-January 1878 Eventually overwhelming Russians numbers turned the tide in their favor. The war was for intents and purposes over. The Turks in the coming weeks launched a confused and desperate fighting retreat, being pursued by the Allies across Southern Bulgaria into European Turkey itself. The Russians advanced to the outskirts of Constantinople. On January 31st, 1878 the Turks and offered a truce to the Russians. The Russians accepted and both sides agreed to a preliminary treaty signing.

The Treaty of San Stefano signed on March 3, 1878 agreed to the following, the Ottoman Empire agreed to full independence for Serbia, Montenegro and Romania. It also agreed to Bulgarian autonomy, meaning the Bulgarian state would become de-facto independent but would nominally still be a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire, like Serbia and Romania had been previously. The proposed Bulgarian borders were quite extensive granting access to the Aegean and Black Seas, parts of modern Greece and Serbia and almost all of Macedonia. Bulgaria would become the Principality of Bulgaria with its own Christian run government, army and internal control. It gave the Bulgarians there first measure of independence in nearly 500 years. It also granted minor territories to Russia in the Caucasus region and opened up neutral shipping in the Dardanelles during times of peace or war. The Russians however claim, this treaty was always a rough draft and knew the Great Powers of Europe, including the Ottomans would object for the purposes of balancing power. It granted too much potential Russian influence in other words.

German Chancellor, Otto Von Bismarck organized the Congress of Berlin in 1878 to address changes to the Treaty of San Stefano. The Congress included representatives from Germany, Britain, France, Italy, Austria-Hungary, Russia, Ottoman Empire as well as Greece, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro. Bulgarian representatives were not invited. It made many amendments to San Stefano since the other powers wanted to balance the changes the Russians had brought about while satisfying their own concerns. Romania, Serbia, Greece and Montenegro wanted territory for themselves and saw an enlarged Greater Bulgaria as an obstacle to that. Britain’s main concern was limiting Russian influence in the Balkans and access to the Mediterranean. France shared in these concerns. The Germans wanted to balance the Russians and Austrians needs. The Russians were granted territories from Romania. Romania’s independence was reaffirmed and they gained territory in Dobruja at Bulgaria’s expense. Serbia, Greece and Montenegro also gained territory at Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire’s expense and Serbia and Montenegro’s independence was reaffirmed. Britain also occupied Cyprus, taking over from the Ottomans, using it as a bulwark against the Russians and to protect the Suez Canal in Egypt under British administration. Austria-Hungary having previously lost territory to Italy and influence to Germany was looking for compensation, it found it when it was allowed to occupy Bosnia-Herzegovina at the expense of the Ottomans. The Ottomans for their part lost much of their European territory and had to accept the reality of their increasing decline with the full independence of three states and the new semi-independence of Bulgaria. as compensation and to offset total Russian influence, southern Bulgaria, called Eastern Rumelia was reverted to the Ottomans. This region had large Turkish and Muslim minorities so it seemed sensible to the Great Powers that this should happen.

The Congress of Berlin was meant to settle the balance of power in the Balkans and satisfy all participants. In reality, it sowed the seeds of further conflict, leaving the nationalist aspirations of all the Balkan nations blunted. It also put the Great Powers onto new collision courses. Italy was unsatisfied, it saw no real gains and still desired lands from Austria-Hungary with Italian speaking populations. Greece and the Ottoman Empire still had tensions over Crete and Thrace/Rumelia. Meanwhile, Austria-Hungary’s occupation of Bosnia didn’t create tension with the Ottomans so much as it created tensions with Serbia and Russia. Serbs wanted an enlarged state and saw Bosnia as its key to access to the sea and with a large Serbian populace it saw as its kindred people in need of liberation. Serbia now had to deal with Austria-Hungary and had to limit its territorial claims to suit Austria’s needs and as such Russia’s influence on Serbia was tempered, even though it remained its ally. Greece and Serbia also had claims on Macedonia and neither wanted a powerful Bulgaria to disrupt this, though Macedonia remained as part of the Ottoman Empire. Russia was mostly dissatisfied at the results despites it minor territorial gains, its long-term influence was curbed and kept in check. This created resentment towards Austria-Hungary and Germany and the whole Pan-Slavism movement it championed was setback Bulgaria for its part was glad to be relatively independent after 500 years but it was frustrated that many Bulgarians remained in foreign lands Turkish, Serbian, Romanian, Greek and Macedonian. Its foreign policy from then until World War II would be to unite these people. It would by decree undermine the Treaty of Berlin in 1885 and unilaterally declare a union with Eastern Rumelia. This wouldn’t lead to a clash with Turkey as expected but Serbia, its former ally and fellow South Slav state, creating a rivalry between the two lasting off and on until the Second World War. This war was brief and was a solid Bulgarian victory, Eastern Rumelia became part of Bulgaria thereafter and the Ottomans remained powerless to prevent its further decline. The subsequent Balkan Wars of 1912-1913 would showcase the friction the Congress of Berlin had started it also sowed the seeds of the Serbian-Austrian rivalry that culminated in Franz Ferdinand's fateful assassination in Sarajevo in 1914 that would trigger World War I...

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