The Russian Imperial Army was the land army of the Russian Empire. Since the second half of the 19th century, the army was formed on the basis of conscription.

The entire male population was subject to compulsory military service from the age of 21. The term of active service in the land army was 6 years, in the Navy – 7 years.

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It is known that Nicholas II was a great family man, a caring husband and father. He didn’t like social events and was spending most of the time with his wife and children.

The whole family enjoyed photography: Nicholas II himself and all his children took a lot of pictures. We present you a collection of photographs from the family archives of the family of the last Russian emperor.

Greek Prince Nicholas and Russian Emperor Nicholas II (on the top) are fooling around

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The population of the Russian Empire for a period of two centuries of its existence was multinational. In 1917, the country had more than 100 nations, not counting the small ethnic groups.

The Slavic peoples (Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Poles, Bulgarians and others) accounted for about 75% of the population. In 1913, the total population of the country was about 174 million people; 24.5 million lived in the cities.

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Here is the second part of photos on the state of the Read Army just before the Second World War, in 1936. We can see the Red Army soldiers at study, rest and in combat. Pictures by humus

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Tags: propaganda · Soviet past

May 9 in Russia and some countries of the former Soviet Union is celebrated as the Day of Victory over Nazi Germany in the Second World War.

Paying tribute to those who died in the war, we want to share with you a number of unique photos from an album on the state of the Red Army just before the war, in 1936. Pictures by humus

The Red Army in 1936 – Part 2

Soviet young people go with joy to their Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army

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August 19, 1963 – the first cosmonauts of the world: Yuri Gagarin, Alexei Leonov, Boris Volynov, Victor Gorbatko.

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Konstantin Egorovich Makovsky (1839-1915) is a Russian artist. Many of his historical paintings show an idealized view of life in Russia in the past centuries.

The portrait genre took special place in the artist’s works. Largely thanks to it he achieved success by becoming a fashionable artist of his time.

His paintings are known for beautifully painted furnishings, clothes, expensive fabrics and furs. The artist tried to show portrayed in the most favorable light, while adhering to the exact similarity.

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Immediately after the October Revolution, the Soviet government took control of the fashion. In general, the changes occurred mostly in women’s fashion. Clothing was unpretentious, simpler than in the days of the Russian Empire. The woman was to look like as a citizen (“tovarisch”), who can “build” socialism.

However, during the Khrushchev thaw (late 1950s – 1960s), due to more openness in Soviet society, the western style in fashion began to spread. This catalog, published by Leningrad fashion house (Saint Petersburg today) in 1957, gives an idea of this time. Pictures by visualhistory

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Tags: Saint Petersburg city · Soviet past

Russia is a country with large reserves of various natural resources. The deposits of these resources are located mainly in underdeveloped regions of the country stretching from Siberia to the Far East.

Search for natural resources (mainly oil and natural gas) is made by special seismic prospecting crews. In these photos, taken in several regions of Russia, you can see scenes of life of these people and working conditions. Photos by donskoylis from yaplakal.com

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The pioneer camps in the USSR were educational and health institutions for pioneers of the Soviet Union Pioneer Organization named after Lenin and schoolchildren (7 to 15 years) organized usually during the school holidays by trade unions, the Communist Youth League, economic organizations, collective farms, and so on.

About 40,000 suburban pioneer camps for 10 million children were open in the USSR. The following unique photos were collected in pioneer camps that had been abandoned after the collapse of the USSR by Denis Spirin

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Tags: Soviet past