Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
the site of one of the several naval mutinies that
took place during the 1905 Revolution.
With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991,
the status of Sevastopol, by 1996 a city of about
370,000 inhabitants, became a subject of dispute
between the successor states of Ukraine and Rus-
sia. In 1954, Nikita
KHRUSHCHEV
had arbitrarily
assigned Sevastopol and the entire Crimean
Peninsula to the Ukrainian S.S.R. In 1991, Sev-
astopol's status had the added complexity of
being the headquarters of the Soviet Black Sea
Fleet. Both Russia and Ukraine laid claim to the
fleet. In mid-1995 the two countries reached an
agreement dividing the fleet, but questions per-
sisted over the status of Sevastopol, with some
Russian politicians arguing that it should be a
part of Russia. A second accord was reached in
1997. Eighty percent of the fleet was given to
Russia while Russia dropped its claims to Sev-
astopol, agreeing instead to lease the port.
count on a reserve army of almost 40,000 men.
In the 1850s, Russian troops began making
inroads into his strongholds through a policy of
forest clearing and an “Advanced Chechen Line”
of fortresses. After Russian troops captured his
stronghold of Vedeno in spring 1859, Shamil
retreated for one final stand but surrendered a
few months later in August 1859 at Gunib in
Dagestan. Captured, he was taken to St. Peters-
burg, where
ALEXANDER II
complimented him on
his fight and gave him an estate in Kaluga, in
central Russia. On a pilgrimage to Mecca, he
died in Medina, where he is buried. At the time
of his surrender Shamil was considered a great
resistance fighter all over Europe, celebrated for
his courage.
Shchusev, Aleksei Viktorovich
(1873-1949)
architect
An established architect from the prerevolution-
ary period with an affinity for historical styles,
Shchusev survived the political and cultural
upheavals of the first revolutionary decades.
Born in Kishinev (now Moldava), he studied at
the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts and traveled
on scholarship around Russia and abroad
(1894-98). Among early works are churches
based on the Novgorod and Pskov styles of
medieval architecture; more ambitious was the
Kazan Railway Station in Moscow (1913-26),
done in 17th-century style. His prestige carried
over into the revolutionary period. After
LENIN
's
death, he was chosen to design the
LENIN MAU
-
SOLEUM
, first a provisional wooden structure
(1924), then the permanent one (1929-30) that
exists to this day on
RED SQUARE
. Although
Shchusev displayed an uncanny ability to reori-
ent his work to the prevailing styles of the day,
the socialist realism of the 1930s with its empha-
sis on historical, neoclassical forms was better
suited to his own preferences than the experi-
mental, modern styles of the 1920s. In addition
to large works in Moscow, such as the theater on
Mayakovsky Square and the Hotel Moskva near
Shamil, Imam
(1796?-1871)
resistance fighter
Known as the Lion of Dagestan, Shamil led the
resistance of north Caucasian Muslims to Rus-
sian conquest and colonization for more than 25
years. He built an Islamic ministate, defied death
and capture countless times, and fought one of
the longest guerrilla campaigns in history. Born
in 1796 or 1797, Shamil was a sickly boy until
age six, but then he grew to be a tall, athletic
man distinguished by his long, black beard. After
the first two imams died in 1832 and 1834,
Shamil was chosen third imam of Dagestan, a
title that combined religious and political leader-
ship. From 1834 to 1859, he led a successful
guerrilla war against the Russians, inflicting
humiliating defeats on czarist troops and pre-
venting the establishment of firm Russian con-
trol in the Caucasus. During these years he
created a virtual state in the lands he controlled
that was characterized by a harsh legal and
financial order in the name of fighting the Rus-
sians. At the peak of his power, he had a stand-
ing army of about 14,000 soldiers and could
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