Viktor Vasnetsov, Ivan the Terrible, detail, 1897

2,888 words

Part 2 of 4

The Archetype of the Tyrant: Ivan the Terrible

While Ivan III laid the foundations of an independent Russian kingdom (or rather a Muscovite Orthodox khanate) it was his grandson Ivan IV Vasilyevich, better known as Ivan the Terrible who created tsarist Russia and began the real Muscovite expansions of the 16th century.

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4,747 words

Part 1 of 4

Алексей Широпаев
Тюрьма Народа. Русский взгляд на Россию
Москва 2001

[Alexiey Shiropayev, Prison of the Nation: The Russian Perspective on Russia (Moscow, 2001).]

There are different approaches to telling the history of Russia and the Russian people. (more…)

1,581 words

Frank Martell concludes his study of the Vanguard system—“the most important organizational advance since hierarchy.” Read Part 1 here.

The accomplishments of the Mongols in the thirteenth century illustrate the immense energy and efficiency unleashed by real meritocracy. Nor was this an accident; as already noted in the first part of this article, the Mongols deliberately created a system for developing military and political genius among their brightest youngsters. The effect was dramatic.

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Gerhard von Scharnhorst, 1755–1813

1,808 words

Frank Martell looks to military history for a model for superior political organization

Late in 1916, Lenin told his tiny group of Bolshevik cadres in Switzerland that it was clear to him that they would never be able to seize power in Russia in his lifetime. Nothing could make clearer the way in which even an experienced revolutionary leader cannot know when his time may come. Some great political changes come about within a few years, but most result from struggles which must be measured in terms of decades. (more…)