Five Things You May Not Know About Russians

How did Russians become Eastern Orthodox? Well, of course not all Russians are Eastern Orthodox, but in the beginning of pre-imperial Rus, Prince Vladimir had to choose a religion to unify the various kingdoms in Rus.  He could choose between Judiasm, Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Islam.  He didn’t think much about Judaism, he decided Catholicism was too plain, and knew that the no-drinking rule in Islam would seriously cramp the style of the Russian people.  He chose Eastern Orthodoxy because of its beauty. (Russia and The Russians, by Geoffery Hosking)

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How did the disaster at Chernobyl happen?  Could it have been prevented?  The disaster at Chernobyl was caused by faulty planning in the design of the nuclear reactor, which was not protected in the case of overheating.  The cooling was turned off for testing, but as a result the reactor overheated and exploded.  It could have been prevented, but Soviet Russia was very much about rapid efficiency without regard to health or human consequences.

How was Stalin’s moustache iconic? Stalin created a cult of personality, and his moustache seemed to be at the center.  On posters depicting perfect Soviet families, the men always had moustaches similar to Stalin’s.  However, in later years, moustachioed men in Russian movies were symbolic of Stalin, but not necessarily in a positive way.

When did Russians first buy televisions?  Russians first bought television during the Soviet era.  However, most televisions in Russia didn’t work–they were basically just boxes with fuzzy gray screens of nothing.  But the Russian people would pay tons of money to buy them, partially because they were new and exotic, and partially because it was a status symbol to have a television, even if it didn’t work.

Is it true that some Russian peasants turned to cannibalism during the Soviet era?  Surprisingly, yes.  During the Soviet era there were many famines, and it was impossible for some peasants to find food.  Although it wasn’t something everyone did, there were accounts of children’s bones and heads being found outside of people’s homes.  This has happened in many countries over the course of history.

What was the cause of childhood venereal disease in pre-Soviet Russia? This fact doesn’t only apply to Russia, but the sanitary conditions in Europe at the time were pretty bad all-around.  However, there wasn’t very much knowledge of what caused diseases in Russia at the time, so when children came down with syphilis, nobody knew how it happened, since the kids hadn’t been molested or raped.  At least not that the parents knew of–at the time it was common to suck on a baby boy’s penis or touch a baby’s genitals while the baby was crying from a toothache or headache.  It wasn’t seen as sexual, but it spread sexually transmitted diseases among children. (The Keys to Happiness, Laura Engelstein)

What did women like about Rasputin? Although Rasputin was known for being rude and strange, women were drawn to him, probably because he created a legend around himselves.  Even women who valued their sexual virtue would sleep with him because they believed that having sex with Rasputin would “purify” them.

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Did the Russian people know about Stalin’s purges? While the Russians had an idea of what Stalin was doing when he killed off all the people who he thought were plotting against him, they didn’t know for sure, and more importantly, the world didn’t know, until after Stalin’s death, when the new Soviet leader, Khrushchev, gave a shocking midnight “secret speech” to all the Communist world leaders in which he exposed all of Stalin’s wrongdoings.

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Whatever happened to Czar Nicholas’ family?  Did any of them survive? People like to say they did, but I think it’s dubious.  So one of the bodies of his children disappeared, but most likely it was just placed elsewhere.  People have come forth pretending to be Princess Anastasia, but so far they’ve all been hoaxes.  I have a feeling we would have known by now if someone had survived.