66-623: Mikhail Rodzianko Union of October 17 Mikhail Rodzianko Union of October 17 Legislative elections were held in the Russian Empire in September 1912 to elect the fourth State Duma . Around 51% of those elected were nobles, the highest during the Tsarist era. Both the right- and left-wing increased their representation in the Duma; right-wing candidates won 153 seats and left-wingers 152, whilst
132-567: A Russian Provisional Government was formed, which included members of the Social Revolutionary Party . Rodzianko appointed General Lavr Kornilov as head over the troops in Petrograd. In the evening Rodzianko led abdication talks with the Tsar, to satisfy the crowds. Early in the morning of 2 March ( Old Style ) or 15 March ( New Style ) the Tsar stepped down in favor of his son Alexei. As
198-668: A double-starred first in 1982. He wrote his undergraduate dissertation under Stone's guidance (with help from Isaiah Berlin ) on ' Ludwig Börne and the Formation of a Radical Critique of Judaism' and published it as a journal article in the Leo Baeck Institute Year Book in 1984. He completed his PhD on 'The political transformation of peasant Russia: peasant Soviets in the Middle Volga, 1917–1920' under Norman Stone's supervision at Trinity College, Cambridge in 1987. It
264-581: A "moral equivalence" between the economic achievements of the Soviet Union and the "murder and destruction" of Stalinism. In 1990, Figes married Stephanie Palmer, a senior lecturer in law at Cambridge University and barrister at Blackstone Chambers . They have two daughters. He divides his time between his homes in London and Umbria in Italy. On 13 February 2017, Figes become a German citizen . In 2023, Figes
330-555: A TV feature documentary for the BBC, The Tsar's Last Picture Show , about the pioneering colour photographer in Russia Sergei Prokudin-Gorsky . In 2007 he wrote and presented two 60-minute Archive Hour programmes on radio entitled Stalin's Silent People which used recordings from his oral history project with Memorial that formed the basis of his book The Whisperers . The programmes are available on Figes's website. Figes
396-558: A TV feature documentary for the BBC, The Tsar's Last Picture Show , about the pioneering colour photographer in Tsarist Russia Sergei Prokudin-Gorsky . His book The Whisperers Figes followed the approach of oral history . In partnership with the Memorial Society , a human rights non-profit organization, Figes gathered several hundred private family archives from homes across Russia and carried out more than
462-448: A family archive discovered by Memorial and delivered in three trunks to their Moscow offices in 2007. The letters are the largest known collection of private correspondence from the Gulag, according to Memorial. Figes was given exclusive access to the letters and other parts of the archive, which is also based on interviews with the couple when they were in their nineties, and the archives of
528-523: A few days. He succeeded in publishing an order for the immediate return of the soldiers to their barracks and to subordinate to their officers. To them Rodzianko was unacceptable as prime minister and Prince Georgi Lvov , a member of the Constitutional Democratic Party , became his successor. Together with Aleksandr Guchkov he founded a liberal republican party in the Summer of 1917. After
594-491: A lawsuit against Figes. In an interview with Andrew Marr in 1997, Figes described himself as "a Labour Party supporter and 'a bit of a Tony Blair man ', though he confessed, when it came to the Russian revolution, to being mildly pro- Menshevik ." In 2018, when asked to comment on the popularity of Marxism among the student supporters of Jeremy Corbyn , he expressed concern that British university textbooks were drawing
660-459: A thousand interviews with survivors as well as perpetrators of the Stalinist repressions. The material is stored by Memorial in its Moscow, St Petersburg and Perm offices, and a selection of the documents and interviews is available on Figes's personal website. Translated into more than twenty languages, The Whisperers was described by Andrey Kurkov as "one of the best literary monuments to
726-674: A whole, the arts thus became "a unifying force between nations" leading to the emergence of a modern European 'canon' so that, by 1900, "the same books were being read across the Continent, the same paintings reproduced, the same music played at home or heard in concert halls, and the same operas performed in all the major theatres of Europe". The Europeans was published in the United Kingdom in September 2019 and received positive reviews by William Boyd and Rupert Christiansen . Figes published The Story of Russia in September 2022. The book
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#1732844573306792-529: Is 'to chart one hundred years of history as a single revolutionary cycle. In this telling the Revolution starts in the nineteenth century (and more specifically in 1891, when the public's reaction to the famine crisis set it for the first time on a collision course with the autocracy) and ends with the collapse of the Soviet regime in 1991.' Published in 2002, Natasha's Dance is a broad cultural history of Russia from
858-527: Is a general history of Russia from the earliest times to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It focuses on the ideas and myths that have structured the Russians' understanding of their history, and explores what Figes calls the "structural continuities" of Russian history, such as the sacralisation of power and patrimonial autocracy. The Guardian described it as "An indispensable survey of more than 1,000 years of history [which] shows how myth and fact mix dangerously in
924-425: Is a panoramic history of the Revolution from 1891 to the death of Vladimir Lenin in 1924. It combines social and political history and interweaves through the public narrative the personal stories of several representative figures, including Grigory Rasputin , the writer Maxim Gorky , Prince Georgy Lvov and General Alexei Brusilov , as well as unknown peasants and workers. Figes wrote that he had "tried to present
990-410: Is about the financial crisis of the writer Gustave Flaubert in the last years of his life and the attempts of his literary friends, George Sand , Emile Zola and Ivan Turgenev , to find him a sinecure. Bob Barrett played the part of Flaubert and Philip Wilson directed. Everything Theatre described The Oyster Problem as "a remarkable pearl of a play; a patchwork of anecdotes that welcomes us into
1056-693: Is known for his works on Russian history, such as A People's Tragedy (1996), Natasha's Dance (2002), The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin's Russia (2007), Crimea (2010) and Just Send Me Word (2012). A People's Tragedy is a study of the Russian Revolution , and combines social and political history with biographical details in a historical narrative. Figes has also contributed on European history more broadly with his book The Europeans (2019). Born in Islington , London, on 20 November 1959, Figes
1122-428: Is the son of John George Figes and the feminist writer Eva Figes , whose Jewish family fled Nazi Germany in 1939. The author and editor Kate Figes was his elder sister. His father left the family when he was three. He attended William Ellis School in north London (1971–78) and studied History at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge , where his teachers were Peter Burke and Norman Stone , graduating with
1188-636: The Financial Times , Simon Sebag Montefiore called Just Send Me Word "a unique contribution to Gulag scholarship as well as a study of the universal power of love". Several reviewers highlighted the book's literary qualities, pointing out that it 'reads like a novel' Crimea: The Last Crusade is a panoramic history of the Crimean War of 1853–56. Drawing extensively from Russian, French and Ottoman as well as British archives, it combines military, diplomatic, political and cultural history, examining how
1254-554: The Belgrade New Cemetery in May 1924. [REDACTED] Media related to Mikhail Rodzianko at Wikimedia Commons Orlando Figes Orlando Guy Figes ( / ɔː ˈ l æ n d ə ʊ ɡ aɪ ˈ f aɪ dʒ iː z / ; born 20 November 1959) is a British and German historian and writer. He was a professor of history at Birkbeck College, University of London , where he was made Emeritus Professor on his retirement in 2022. Figes
1320-538: The Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan in Saint Petersburg shortly before the celebration of the tercentenary of Romanov rule over Russia. He had established himself in front of the seats which Rodzianko, after considerable difficulty, had secured for the Duma. According to Orlando Figes , "the members were to be seated at the back, far behind the places reserved for the state councilors and senators. This, he complained to
1386-697: The European University of St Petersburg . Figes's first three books were on the Russian Revolution and the Civil War . Peasant Russia, Civil War (1989) was a detailed study of the peasantry in the Volga region during the Revolution and the Civil War (1917–21). Using village Soviet archives, Figes emphasised the autonomous nature of the agrarian revolution during 1917–18, showing how it developed according to traditional peasant notions of social justice independently of
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#17328445733061452-624: The Novgorod Oblast . He was appointed as Marshall of the Gentry . Rodzianko served as Kammerherr in 1899. In 1900 he was elected in Yekaterinoslav Governorate . From 1903 until 1905 he was editor of a newspaper, called "Herald Katerynoslav zemstvos." In 1906 he was elected for the Zemstvo as Provincial Zemstvo Executive . In 1905 Rodzianko had been one of the founders and leaders of
1518-546: The October Revolution or shortly after the seizure of power by Lenin , he left Petrograd and moved to Rostov-on-Don and Crimea . Rodzianko supported Anton Denikin and Pyotr Wrangel but when it became clear the White Army had lost, he emigrated to Serbia in 1920. There he wrote his memoirs The Reign of Rasputin: an Empire's Collapse. According to Bernard Pares he died in great poverty. His remains were moved to
1584-679: The Octobrist party . He became a deputy in the Third Duma (1907), vice-president in 1909 and was elected Chairman on 22 March 1911 after the resignation of Aleksandr Guchkov , who was hated by the court as a "Young Turk." He then continued as the Chairman of the Fourth Duma from 15 November 1912 until its dissolution on 6 October 1917 (before the October Revolution ). Rodzianko thought the meeting between Grigory Rasputin and Emperor Nicholas II "marked
1650-609: The Provisional Government , the Bolsheviks or other urban-based parties. He also demonstrated how the function of the rural soviets was transformed in the course of the Civil War as they were taken over by younger and more literate peasants and migrant townsmen, many of them veterans of the First World War or Red Army soldiers, who became the rural bureaucrats of the emerging Bolshevik regime. A People's Tragedy (1996)
1716-512: The Second World War in 1941, when Lev was enrolled in the Red Army , they made contact in 1946, when he wrote from Pechora. Figes uses the letters to explore conditions in the labour camp and to tell the love story, ending in 1955 with Lev's release and marriage to Svetlana. The book documents five illegal trips made by Svetlana to visit Lev by smuggling herself into the labour camp. Writing in
1782-472: The Soviet people " In it Figes underlined the importance of oral testimonies for the recovery of the history of repression in the former Soviet Union. While conceding that, "like all memory, the testimony given in an interview is unreliable", he said that oral testimony "can be cross-examined and tested against other evidence". The Whisperers deals mainly with the impact of repression on private life. It examines
1848-616: The Stalinism that entered into all of us".' The book includes a detailed study of the Soviet writer Konstantin Simonov , who became a leading figure in the Union of Soviet Writers and a propagandist in the "anti-cosmopolitan" campaign during Stalin's final years. Figes drew on the closed sections of Simonov's archive in the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art and on the archives of
1914-403: The pan-European culture formed through new technologies (especially the railways and lithographic printing), mass foreign travel, market forces, and the development of international copyright , enabling writers, artists and composers as well as their publishers to enter foreign markets through the growth of literary translations, touring companies and international publishing. In the continent as
1980-458: The tsesarevich suffered from an incurable disease, hemophilia B , his life expectations were short. Then Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia came into the picture as the new heir to the throne, but was regarded as unacceptable. With Prince Lvov, Alexander Kerensky and Pavel Miliukov , Rodzianko visited Grand Duke Michael. The Grand Duke declined the crown after a long talk with Rodzianko. Rodzianko remained prime minister just for
2046-553: The Emperor's mother and sisters. To him, the Empress Alexandra clearly should not have been allowed to interfere in state affairs until the end of the war; she treated her husband as if he were a little boy, quite incapable of taking care of himself. On 7 January 1917, Rodzianko told the Tsar in regard of his government, "All the best men have been removed or have retired. There remain [only] those of ill repute." Mikhail Rodzianko
1912 Russian legislative election - Misplaced Pages Continue
2112-627: The Making of a Cosmopolitan Culture is a panoramic history of nineteenth-century European culture told through the biographies of Pauline Viardot , the opera singer, composer and salon hostess, her husband Louis Viardot , an art expert and theatre manager, and the Russian writer Ivan Turgenev , who had a long love affair with Pauline Viardot and lived with the couple in a ménage à trois for over twenty years. They lived at various times in Paris , Baden-Baden , London, Courtavenel and Bougival . Figes argues that
2178-691: The Ottoman Empire. He frames the war within a longer history of religious conflict between Christians and Muslims in the Balkans , southern Russia and the Caucasus that continues to this day. Figes stresses the religious motive of the Tsar Nicholas I in his bold decision to go to war, arguing that Nicholas was swayed by the ideas of the Pan-Slavs to invade Moldavia and Wallachia and encourage Slav revolts against
2244-660: The Ottomans, despite his earlier adherence to the Legitimist principles of the Holy Alliance . He also shows how France and Britain were drawn into the war by popular ideas of Russophobia that swept across Europe in the wake of the Revolutions of 1830 and 1848. As one reviewer wrote, Figes shows "how the cold war of the Soviet era froze over fundamental fault lines that had opened up in the 19th century." The Europeans: Three Lives and
2310-535: The Revolution who attempted to explain its political development in terms of social history. In 2008, The Times Literary Supplement listed A People's Tragedy as one of the "hundred most influential books since the war". In 2013 David Bowie named A People's Tragedy one of his 'top 100 books'. Interpreting the Russian Revolution: The Language and Symbols of 1917 (1999), co-written with Boris Kolonitskii [ ru ] , analyses
2376-527: The Stalinist regime . He organised an open protest letter to President Dmitry Medvedev and other Russian leaders, which was signed by several hundred leading academics from across the world. After several court hearings, the materials were finally returned to Memorial in May 2009. Figes saw his first Russian translation contract for The Whisperers cancelled in March 2009 by publisher Attikus [ ru ] , who cited commercial reasons. Figes suggested that
2442-697: The State Duma and advised the local governments to stay calm. On 1 March the power came entirely in the hands of the Petrograd Soviet . On that day Rodzianko assured general Mikhail Alekseyev that the Duma leaders, rather than the Soviet ones, would form the new government in Petrograd. Rodzianko discussed the situation with General Nikolai Ruzsky , who had the Imperial train stopped in Pskov . Nicholas II had no other choice than to follow Rodzianko's advice. On 2 March 1917
2508-583: The Supreme Command from Grand Duke Nicholas , according to M. Nelipa, Rodzianko suffered a heart attack. Somehow Rodzianko participated in the creation of the Progressive Bloc . For Rodzianko, Alexei Khvostov had broken his neck in combating the Rasputin clique and Prime Minister Boris Stürmer would become a dictator with full powers early in 1916. In the Summer of 1916, there was another crisis in
2574-589: The arrest by the FSB of historian Mikhail Suprun as part of a "Putinite campaign against freedom of historical research and expression". In December 2013, Figes wrote a long piece in the US journal Foreign Affairs on the Euromaidan demonstrations in Kyiv suggesting that a referendum on Ukraine's foreign policy and the country's possible partition might be a preferable alternative to
2640-487: The beginning of the decay of the Russian society and the loss of prestige of the throne and of the tsar himself." He gathered information on Rasputin and handed it to the Emperor. Rodzianko, who asked Rasputin to leave the capital, and Theofan of Poltava held Rasputin to be a Khlyst . "The emperor took no account of the report which nevertheless proved undoubtedly that Rasputin was not the holy man he claimed to be." On 21 February 1913, Rodzianko dismissed Rasputin from
2706-414: The book was "inconvenient" to Vladimir Putin 's government and that the real explanation for the refusal to publish lay in "political pressure". A second translation project was abandoned by the publisher Corpus [ ru ] and the rights owner Dynasty Foundation in 2010 after one of Memorial's researchers reported that she found anachronisms , incorrect interpretations and factual errors in
1912 Russian legislative election - Misplaced Pages Continue
2772-723: The book. Figes was notified of the decision in April 2011 in a letter which suggested that its publication would cause offence in Russia. Figes offered to revise the book, but his offer was ignored. Published in 2012, Just Send Me Word is a true story based on 1,246 letters smuggled in and out of the Pechora labour camp between 1946 and 1955 between Lev Mishchenko (a prisoner) and Svetlana Ivanova (his girlfriend in Moscow). There are 647 letters from Lev to Svetlana, and 599 from her to him. They form part of
2838-888: The building of St. Petersburg during the reign of Peter the Great in the early eighteenth century. Taking its title from a scene in Tolstoy 's War and Peace , where the young countess Natasha Rostova intuitively dances a peasant dance, it explores the tensions between the European and folk elements of Russian culture, and examines how the myth of the " Russian soul " and the idea of "Russianness" itself have been expressed by Russian writers, artists, composers and philosophers. It received positive reviews amongst British press. Figes has also written essays on various Russian cultural figures, including Leo Tolstoy , Dmitri Shostakovich , Sergei Prokofiev and Andrei Platonov . In 2003 he wrote and presented
2904-425: The centrists, including the Union of October 17 , were reduced to 130 seats. Following the elections, the Union of October 17 became an opposition party due to its harassment by the government during the election. Mikhail Rodzianko Defunct Mikhail Vladimirovich Rodzianko ( Russian : Михаи́л Влади́мирович Родзя́нко ; Ukrainian : Михайло Володимирович Родзянко ; 21 February 1859 – 24 January 1924)
2970-559: The government: Rodzianko proposed Alexander Protopopov to the Emperor and Protopopov hinted at Rodzianko as Premier and Foreign Minister. But after Protopopov had become Minister of the Interior and had expressed admiration for the ruling family, the Duma attacked him fiercely and called at once for his dismissal. Rodzianko demanded that the Empress be internally exiled to the Crimea until the end of
3036-455: The influence of the Soviet regime and its campaigns of terror on family relationships, emotions and beliefs, moral choices, issues of personal and social identity, and collective memory. According to Figes, 'the real power and lasting legacy of the Stalinist system were neither in structures of the state, nor in the cult of the leader, but, as the Russian historian Mikhail Gefter once remarked, "in
3102-607: The labour camp itself. Figes raised the finance for the transcription of the letters, which are housed in Memorial's offices in Moscow and will become available to researchers in 2013. According to Figes, "Lev's letters are the only major real-time record of daily life in the Gulag that has ever come to light." The book tells the story of Lev and Svetlana who met as students in the Physics Faculty of Moscow University in 1935. Separated by
3168-403: The master of ceremonies, was 'not following the dignity' of the parliament." Rasputin considered Rodzianko a personal enemy. "Rodzianko told the Tsar in March 1913: 'A war will be joyfully welcomed and it will raise the government's prestige.'" In April 1915, Rodzyanko visited to the Russian troops occupying Austrian Galicia . On 11 August 1915, the day the Emperor announced he would take
3234-431: The moniker "orlando-birkbeck" on the UK site of the online bookseller Amazon . The reviews criticised works by two other British historians of Russia, Robert Service and Rachel Polonsky , but praised other books, including one of his own. After initially denying that he wrote these reviews, Figes took full responsibility for them, apologized and agreed to pay for legal costs and damages to Polonsky and Service who launched
3300-418: The people and who would form a new Government. To wait is impossible." Nicholas refused to reply, instead he ordered the dissolution of the Duma and a military crackdown and in a conversation with Count Vladimir Freedericksz referred to Rodzianko, not very respectfully, as "fat-bellied Rodzianko". On 27 February he retired as Captain of the Guards. On 28 February he presided over the Provisional Committee of
3366-405: The poet's wife and son to produce his study of this major Soviet establishment figure. On 4 December 2008, the St Petersburg offices of Memorial were raided by the police and the entire electronic archive, including the materials collected with Figes for The Whisperers , was confiscated by the authorities. Figes condemned the police raid, accusing the Russian authorities of trying to rehabilitate
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#17328445733063432-432: The political language, revolutionary songs, visual symbols and historical ideas that animated the revolutionary crowds of 1917. Revolutionary Russia: 1891–1991 is a short introduction to the subject published as part of the relaunch of Pelican Books in the United Kingdom in 2014. In it Figes argues for the need to see the Russian Revolution in a longer time-frame than most historians have allowed. He states that his aim
3498-510: The possibility of civil war and military intervention by Russia. In June 2023, he said that Russia "needs to be completely defeated" in the Russo-Ukrainian War , "not just for Ukraine's sake, but for Russia's sake". In February 2024, Figes was sanctioned with denial of entry into Russia by Vladimir Putin 's government, together with other British academics and experts, for criticizing the war in Ukraine and allegedly demonizing Russia. In 2010, Figes posted several pseudonymous reviews under
3564-420: The post in 2022. He has served on the editorial board of the journal Russian History since at least 2011, writes for the international press, broadcasts on television and radio, reviews for The New York Review of Books , and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature . During his career, he was involved in an international summer school for history teachers in Russian universities organised by
3630-474: The private life of Gustave Flaubert and his literary contemporaries" Figes has contributed frequently to radio and television broadcasts in the United Kingdom and around the world. In 1999 he wrote a six-part educational TV series on the history of Communism under the title Red Chapters . Produced by Opus Television and broadcast in the UK, the 25-minute films featured turning-points in the history of Soviet Russia, China, and Cuba. In 2003 he wrote and presented
3696-439: The revolution not as a march of abstract social forces and ideologies but as a human event of complicated individual tragedies". Left-wing critics have represented Figes as a conservative because of his negative assessment of Lenin and his focus on the individual and "the random succession of chance events" rather than on the collective actions of the masses. Others have situated Figes among the so-called 'revisionist' historians of
3762-443: The tales this crucial country tells about itself" A reviewer in The Spectator called it "a saga of multi-millennial identity politics"; Figes argues that no other country has so often changed its origin story, its "[h]istories continuously reconfigured and repurposed to suit its present needs and reimagine its future". In 2023 Figes's debut play, The Oyster Problem , was produced by the Jermyn Street Theatre in London. The play
3828-409: The war left a lasting mark on the national consciousness of Britain, France, Russia and Turkey. Figes sets the war in the context of the Eastern Question , the diplomatic and political problems caused by the decay of the Ottoman Empire . In particular, he emphasises the importance of the religious struggle between Russia as the defender of the Orthodox and France as the protector of the Catholics in
3894-407: The war. The Empress demanded in response that Rodzianko's court rank be taken from him; she referred to him in her letters as a scoundrel. Zinaida Yusupova , Alexandra's sister Elisabeth , Grand Duchess Victoria , and the Emperor's own mother tried to influence the Emperor or his stubborn wife to remove Rasputin, but without success. Rodzianko told Nicholas the truth, after being urged by
3960-581: Was "too Jane Austen" and "too English". Figes's The Whisperers was adapted and performed by Rupert Wickham as a one-man play, Stalin's Favourite . Based on Figes's portrayal of the writer Konstantin Simonov , the play was performed in London at the National Theatre in November 2011 and at the Unicorn Theatre in January 2012. Figes has been critical of the Vladimir Putin government, in particular alleging that Putin has attempted to rehabilitate Joseph Stalin and impose his own agenda on history-teaching in Russian schools and universities. He condemned
4026-452: Was a Russian statesman of Ukrainian origin. Known for his colorful language and conservative politics, he was the State Councillor and chamberlain of the Imperial family, Chairman of the State Duma and one of the leaders of the February Revolution of 1917, during which he headed the Provisional Committee of the State Duma . He was a key figure in the events that led to the abdication of Nicholas II of Russia on 15 March 1917. Rodzianko
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#17328445733064092-438: Was appointed University Lecturer at the Faculty of History, University of Cambridge in 1987. His students at Cambridge included the historians Andrew Roberts and Tristram Hunt , the food writer Bee Wilson , the journalist James Harding , and the film producer Tanya Seghatchian . He succeeded Richard J. Evans as Professor of History at Birkbeck College, University of London in 1999. He announced his retirement from
4158-429: Was born in the village of Popasnoye, Yekaterinoslav Govnernorate [ uk ] . He came from an old and rich noble family of Ukrainian origin and was educated at the Corps des Pages . From 1877 until 1882 he served in Her Majesty's Regiment of the Cavalry of the Guard . In 1884 Rodzianko married Anna Nikolaevna Galitzine (1859-1929); the couple had three children. In 1885 he retired and lived on his estate in
4224-440: Was his supervisor who suggested the shift of topic from German-Jewish philosophy to Russian peasant history. He also claimed to have taken inspiration from the work of Teodor Shanin for his thesis, and received Shanin's recommendation to study with Viktor Danilov [ ru ] in Moscow . Danilov helped him get "unprecedented" access to the Soviet archives. Figes was a Fellow of Trinity College from 1984 to 1999. He
4290-412: Was one of the key politicians during the Russian February Revolution . On 26 February Rodzianko urged the Tsar to promulgate reforms in a telegram. "Serious situation in the capital, where anarchy reigns. General discontent was increasing. In the streets, uninterrupted firing, and one part of the troops is firing on the other. It is necessary to nominate without delay a person possessing the confidence of
4356-433: Was the historical consultant on the film Anna Karenina (2012), directed by Joe Wright , starring Keira Knightley and Jude Law with a screenplay by Tom Stoppard . He was also credited as the historical consultant on the 2016 BBC War & Peace television series directed by Tom Harper with a screenplay by Andrew Davies . Interviewed by the Sunday Telegraph , Figes defended the series against criticism that it
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