On May 14, 1896, Nicholas II was crowned the tsar of Russia; as it would turn out, he'd be the last tsar. We're not interested today in the end of his reign. We're interested in his coronation.
A celebration of his coronation was held at Khodynka Field in northwest Moscow (now the site of an airport) four days later, to be attended by anyone that wanted to show up. It was to be followed by a ball at the French embassy; that was for the diplomats and aristocracy. The people attending the celebration at Khodynka were informed that there would be free stuff at this celebration. And there was. Everyone was to get a sausage, some gingerbread, some pretzels, a bread roll, and a beer mug. For free. What a deal. Estimates are that half a million people showed up. (To compare, remember that Obama's inauguration drew about half that.)
During the celebration, though, a rumor began to make its way through the crowd. A shocking rumor. A rumor that would rock the Russian people to their core.
There might not be enough free beer or pretzels for everybody. (There is also the account that the people were simply told of 'expensive gifts' and they thought 'the gifts' would soon run out. We're going here with the version that contends they knew what the gifts were.)
Now, let us reiterate, in case it hasn't drilled into your head yet, that this beer, these pretzels that the people MIGHT not get- that there's a CHANCE they won't get- is free. A normal person might respond 'Aw, man, that sucks. But it is a huge crowd, and hey, I'm still getting free sausage and gingerbread and a bread roll and perhaps still the mug even if there isn't any beer in it. So I'm still making out pretty well.' And even in the 'expensive gifts' version of the story, and they worried they might not get anything at all... free. That's the worry no matter what the story is. That there might- MIGHT- not be enough free stuff to accommodate half a million people.
But that is why you were not a Russian on May 18, 1896. The correct response to this rumor of a minor inconvenience is as follows:
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I WANT MY FREE BEEEEEEER! AND THE PRETZELS I GUESS! BRAIN! SHUTTING DOWN! ACTIVATING STAMPEDE MODE!"
There were about 1,800 policemen on hand. But there were 500,000 people to corral. 500,000 people rushing to the free beer are too many for 1,800 to handle. The exact number of dead varies, but seems to settle at 1,389, with 1,300 more injured.
Nicholas was shocked at the news. And not just because he had learned how nuts his people would go to make sure they got every single bit of the free stuff that was offered. He wanted to forget the rest of the ceremonies and head to the hospital to meet with some of the victims. He certainly didn't feel like attending the ball at the French embassy. However, the younger brothers of the previous tsar, Alexander III, basically forced him to go, because they figured not going would be an insult to France, and that would be even worse than ignoring the death of nearly 1,400 people.
Ultimately, Nicholas went to the ball. Wrong move. Even though he made sure to follow it up with plenty of aid to the victims and their families, not only did Nicholas catch harsh criticism for attending the ball, the disaster itself was enough to cripple Nicholas' approval rating right out of the gate. Some mystics took Khodynka as a bad omen for the rest of his reign. (Mystics were a thing back then; remember that Rasputin arrived later in Nicholas' reign.) It wouldn't have mattered if he had attended or not, but Nicholas didn't improve his image any.
All for having the audacity to maybe not provide enough free stuff.
Showing posts with label russia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label russia. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Random News Generator- Russia
A five-story mall in Ufa, Russia went up in flames yesterday, injuring 15 people and killing two, according to RIA Novosti. One of the injured, a 27-year-old man, is in serious condition with burns to 34% of his body. An official with the Emergency Ministry has stated a possibility of the roof collapsing.
Officials still aren't entirely sure what happened to trigger the fire, though it seems that whatever happened, it caused an explosion, perhaps from a gas tank in a restaurant. The possible causes appear to have been narrowed down, however, to either a short circuit, mishandling of fire, or violation of fire safety rules.
As RIA Novosti explains, this would make the Ufa fire an all-too-common incident in Russia. They atate an annual death toll of 15,000 Russians per year due to fires, which with an estimated national population of 141,850,000, works out to 10.57 deaths per 100,000 people. In comparison, page 6, table 4 of this PDF file shows the rates for 25 developed nations, the most deadly of which is Hungary at 1.98 deaths per 100,000, followed by Finland at 1.87 and Japan at 1.67. Singapore, the safest, shows at 0.19 deaths per 100,000, followed by the Netherlands and Switzerland at 0.47 each.
And that's a Russian source's death count. External sources seem to gravitate towards "up to 18,000" per year. That would push the total to a potential 12.69 per 100,000.
Why is Russia burning so brightly? The chief cause is subpar safety standards, aggravated by corruption and bribery. Barely a fire in Russia goes reported without some mention of the poor safety record. Stories like this occur with depressing regularity. The forests are prone as well, with a particularly bad heatwave last year leading to wildfires that wiped entire villages off the map. However, despite the continual pressure to improve matters, fires in Russia are something of a longstanding tradition, as Cathy A. Frierson explored in her 2004 book, All Russia Is Burning!
The tradition does not appear to be going away anytime soon.
Officials still aren't entirely sure what happened to trigger the fire, though it seems that whatever happened, it caused an explosion, perhaps from a gas tank in a restaurant. The possible causes appear to have been narrowed down, however, to either a short circuit, mishandling of fire, or violation of fire safety rules.
As RIA Novosti explains, this would make the Ufa fire an all-too-common incident in Russia. They atate an annual death toll of 15,000 Russians per year due to fires, which with an estimated national population of 141,850,000, works out to 10.57 deaths per 100,000 people. In comparison, page 6, table 4 of this PDF file shows the rates for 25 developed nations, the most deadly of which is Hungary at 1.98 deaths per 100,000, followed by Finland at 1.87 and Japan at 1.67. Singapore, the safest, shows at 0.19 deaths per 100,000, followed by the Netherlands and Switzerland at 0.47 each.
And that's a Russian source's death count. External sources seem to gravitate towards "up to 18,000" per year. That would push the total to a potential 12.69 per 100,000.
Why is Russia burning so brightly? The chief cause is subpar safety standards, aggravated by corruption and bribery. Barely a fire in Russia goes reported without some mention of the poor safety record. Stories like this occur with depressing regularity. The forests are prone as well, with a particularly bad heatwave last year leading to wildfires that wiped entire villages off the map. However, despite the continual pressure to improve matters, fires in Russia are something of a longstanding tradition, as Cathy A. Frierson explored in her 2004 book, All Russia Is Burning!
The tradition does not appear to be going away anytime soon.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Idiots Throughout History: Alexei Larionov
Okay, gang, it's time for a pop quiz, taken from information mostly supplied by the Guinness Book of Historical Blunders. Most of the online sources telling of it are in Russian, but they're there, sources of this Wikipedia page.
1. You are Alexei Larionov, leader of the Riazan oblast (an administrative division, like a state) in the Soviet Union. Nikita Khrushchev's 'Virgin Lands' policy of opening new regions to farming in order to increase agricultural production has, after a few years of miserable failure, gotten lucky with a good 1956 harvest. There was a lot of wasted resources eating up potential yields, but there was still enough through sheer velocity to blow by the goal of 20 million tons of grain. He has now turned his attention to increasing meat production. Do you:
A: Gauge your current situation and set ambitious but achievable and realistic goals.
B: Pledge to triple production in one year, from 48,000 tons in 1958 to 150,000 tons in 1959.
2. You have, against all common sense, chosen B. Khrushchev has dangled a nice promotion in front of you if you can pull it off. He's had your promise published in Pravda. He's given Riazan the Order of Lenin pre-emptively, showing up in person to present it. But when you slaughter all the cattle set to be sold as meat, it's not enough. Do you:
A: Bail out and take your lumps.
B: Slaughter the dairy herds and breeding stock too.
3. You've slaughtered the dairy herds and breeding stock. It's not enough. Do you:
A: Bail out.
B: Order all privately owned animals to be surrendered for slaughter.
4. You have slaughtered all the privately owned animals. It's not enough. Do you:
A: Bail out.
B: Buy meat from other oblasts and call it part of the harvest.
5. You've bought outside meat and called it part of the harvest. It's not enough. Do you:
A: Bail out.
B: Divert your entire oblast's budget for everything- machinery, creditors, even payroll- towards acquiring more meat from other oblasts through any means, legal, quasi-legal or otherwise.
6. The other oblasts are getting jittery about you and your insatiable thirst for meat. Do you:
A: Bail out.
B: Turn a blind eye to the Old West-style cattle-rustling and gunfighting.
7. No. No, it's still not enough. Do you:
A: Bail out.
B: Introduce new taxes payable only in meat.
8. You have the schools and hospitals and police paying you taxes in meat, buying meat from the state, giving it to you, with you then giving the meat back to the state. Despite this somehow counting, it's not enough. Do you:
A: Bail out.
B: Buy meat on the black market and sell it back to Khrushchev for pennies on the dollar.
9. You are buying black market meat. It finally pushes you over the top. You've stripped Riazan oblast pretty much barren of livestock, and of dairy products to boot, and pretty much are broke because you've spent all your money on meat, but you've reached 150,000 tons. Do you:
A: Bail out, realize you have pressing engagements in Brazil, and run like hell.
B: Promise 180,000 tons next year.
Needless to say, Larionov chose B every time. Also needless to say, he couldn't get anywhere close to 180,000; in fact, Riazan struggled to only 30,000. He was busted, and chose to shoot himself in his office rather than take his chances with Khrushchev.
1. You are Alexei Larionov, leader of the Riazan oblast (an administrative division, like a state) in the Soviet Union. Nikita Khrushchev's 'Virgin Lands' policy of opening new regions to farming in order to increase agricultural production has, after a few years of miserable failure, gotten lucky with a good 1956 harvest. There was a lot of wasted resources eating up potential yields, but there was still enough through sheer velocity to blow by the goal of 20 million tons of grain. He has now turned his attention to increasing meat production. Do you:
A: Gauge your current situation and set ambitious but achievable and realistic goals.
B: Pledge to triple production in one year, from 48,000 tons in 1958 to 150,000 tons in 1959.
2. You have, against all common sense, chosen B. Khrushchev has dangled a nice promotion in front of you if you can pull it off. He's had your promise published in Pravda. He's given Riazan the Order of Lenin pre-emptively, showing up in person to present it. But when you slaughter all the cattle set to be sold as meat, it's not enough. Do you:
A: Bail out and take your lumps.
B: Slaughter the dairy herds and breeding stock too.
3. You've slaughtered the dairy herds and breeding stock. It's not enough. Do you:
A: Bail out.
B: Order all privately owned animals to be surrendered for slaughter.
4. You have slaughtered all the privately owned animals. It's not enough. Do you:
A: Bail out.
B: Buy meat from other oblasts and call it part of the harvest.
5. You've bought outside meat and called it part of the harvest. It's not enough. Do you:
A: Bail out.
B: Divert your entire oblast's budget for everything- machinery, creditors, even payroll- towards acquiring more meat from other oblasts through any means, legal, quasi-legal or otherwise.
6. The other oblasts are getting jittery about you and your insatiable thirst for meat. Do you:
A: Bail out.
B: Turn a blind eye to the Old West-style cattle-rustling and gunfighting.
7. No. No, it's still not enough. Do you:
A: Bail out.
B: Introduce new taxes payable only in meat.
8. You have the schools and hospitals and police paying you taxes in meat, buying meat from the state, giving it to you, with you then giving the meat back to the state. Despite this somehow counting, it's not enough. Do you:
A: Bail out.
B: Buy meat on the black market and sell it back to Khrushchev for pennies on the dollar.
9. You are buying black market meat. It finally pushes you over the top. You've stripped Riazan oblast pretty much barren of livestock, and of dairy products to boot, and pretty much are broke because you've spent all your money on meat, but you've reached 150,000 tons. Do you:
A: Bail out, realize you have pressing engagements in Brazil, and run like hell.
B: Promise 180,000 tons next year.
Needless to say, Larionov chose B every time. Also needless to say, he couldn't get anywhere close to 180,000; in fact, Riazan struggled to only 30,000. He was busted, and chose to shoot himself in his office rather than take his chances with Khrushchev.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)