The most popular online travel guide to Russia, since 2001.
 

Way to Russia Community and Forum


If you have a question or want to help someone, please, go to
Way to Russia Forum on our Facebook page.
 
We also invite you to join our Facebook community, where you can meet other travelers and read interesting news on topics ranging from visa regulations to culture and music.
 

 

We are currently moving the old forum to Facebook, so what you see below functions as an archive.

If you have a question, please, post it on
Way to Russia Facebook Discussions Page


 

 FAQFAQ   SearchSearch   MemberlistMemberlist   UsergroupsUsergroups 
 ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   ChatChat   Log inLog in 

What can we learn from the Russian people?
Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4, 5
 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Way to Russia Talk Lounge Forum Index -> Russian People
Author Message
Filimon
Lounge Lizard


Joined: 20 Dec 2004
Posts: 97

PostPosted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 7:52 pm    Post subject: Re: What can we learn from the Russian people? Reply with quote

patrick_b wrote:
[quote="Filimon]
I agree. If anyone asked me to name the longest lived empire off the top of my head, I would say "Romans".


Same one I was thinking of. I believe the Roman empire lasted 557 years.

I'm not sure how long imperial Japan lasted though.[/quote]

What about Chinese?
Back to top
patrick_b
Frequent Guest


Joined: 25 Jan 2005
Posts: 44

PostPosted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 8:16 pm    Post subject: Re: What can we learn from the Russian people? Reply with quote

Filimon wrote:
patrick_b wrote:
Filimon wrote:

I agree. If anyone asked me to name the longest lived empire off the top of my head, I would say "Romans".


Same one I was thinking of. I believe the Roman empire lasted 557 years.

I'm not sure how long imperial Japan lasted though.


What about Chinese?


I'm not so sure China was all that organized before the occupation by Kublai Khan that started the Yuan dynasty. That was in late 14th century, don't remember the exact dates. Prior to that, I don't know if there was anything there that could reasonably be called an empire. It was very fragmented. Perhaps the Shang dynasty - that lasted about 650 years - but it wasn't particularly widespread. I think it only covered about 1/3rd of modern day China, and didn't do a whole lot of the conquering and land grabs one would normally associate with an empire.

I could be wrong, though -- I'm not a historian.
Back to top
Filimon
Lounge Lizard


Joined: 20 Dec 2004
Posts: 97

PostPosted: Thu Jan 27, 2005 9:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

You certainly sound like you are Smile
Back to top
sputnik
Lounge Lizard


Joined: 02 Jan 2005
Posts: 141

PostPosted: Mon Apr 11, 2005 1:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

before the mongolian invasion there were 3 chinese kingdoms/empires.. 2 of which where already conquered by genghis khan before his death in 1227. the southern one was finally conquered by his grandson kublai, born in china and culturally already much more influenced by the chinese than by mongolian...
finally the mongolian empire fell apart because the mongolians just 'dissolved' into the local, much more developed, cultures of the conquered place. this happened in china, persia etc. a great example of how mere military power is insufficient to keep a vast empire together
Back to top
MrSpice
Lounge Wizard


Joined: 14 Jul 2003
Posts: 3431

PostPosted: Tue Apr 12, 2005 5:13 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

[quote]Do not forget the death toll in Europe in which many capable young men who were the future of their country died, like USSR. they had to buy goods somewhere and that was the west. So while USSR had to rebuild many ofits factories and West was supplying the world the goods to do so, thus an economic boom. USSR had to buy these goods and also lack many of labour force to work the factories. So USSR started the cold war weak and USA started strong as an economic force. THe previous problems that the USA had with a depression was quickly removed. USSR had a problem rebuilding its infrastructure. So life changed between the countries. [/quote]

You conveniently forgot about the fact that Sovient Union was a socialist country, and therefore, was extremely inefficient in its reconstruction activities. In fact, Stalin used millions of political prisoners to build and reconstruct the country. Western Germany was largely destroyed - morally and economically - after the war. It developed so quckly that was called a "German Miracle". You can also talk about Japan and Korea as two other examples on how one can qucikly and efficiently rebuild the economy. I think we can all learn from Russian history that communism and socialism lead to death, destruction and dessimation of human rights. Russian can teach us a simple lesson that democracy as imperfect as it may be is still the best system for duman kind because it provides choice, competition, freedom and efficiency. Regarding the fact that the west supplied Soviet Union with stuff after the War - most of the things consumed by Russians were produced in Russia. For Stalin it was a matter of pride that Russia can rebuild without anyone else's help. And that lead to starvation and misery for many people after the war.
Back to top
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Way to Russia Talk Lounge Forum Index -> Russian People All times are GMT + 3 Hours
Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Page 5 of 5