Chechens. Chechens Lessons of family life

It is known that the Ingush and Chechens are one people, divided due to historical and socio-political reasons. Nevertheless, during the short period of their demarcation, the Chechens and Ingush managed to accumulate many differences.

Origins

In modern ethnology, it is customary to unite the Chechens and Ingush under the common term “Vainakh peoples” (Chech. “Vainakh”, Ingush. “Vainakh” - “our people”). This is exactly how representatives of the two Caucasian ethnic groups identify themselves.
The Chechens and Ingush did not create their own written language, and therefore their history was studied from the chronicles of neighboring peoples. Often this information was fragmentary and not always objective. However, today scientists can say with full confidence that the Chechens and Ingush are among the oldest inhabitants of the Caucasus, belonging to the Vainakh language group of the Nakh-Dagestan family.

Historians find the ancestors of the Ingush (self-name Galgai) among the tribal union of Alans, which took part in the Great Migration of Peoples.

Anthropologist Viktor Bunak is confident that among the Ingush the ancient Caucasian (or Caucasian) type has been preserved “more than among any of the other North Caucasian peoples.”

This is how he describes the Ingush Encyclopedic Dictionary Brockhaus and Efron: “In appearance, the Ingush is lean, slender, of average height, with sharp features and quick eyes on a pale, dark face; the hair color is predominantly black, the nose is aquiline, the movements are hasty and impetuous.”

The Chechens (self-name Nokhchi), according to one hypothesis, appeared on the historical stage before the Ingush. Some researchers, including anthropologist Valery Alekseev, consider the Chechens to be descendants of the Hurrians, who lived in northern Mesopotamia in the 2nd millennium BC.

In Armenian sources of the 7th century, the Chechens are referred to as “nakhcha matyan” (“speaking the Nokhchi language”). In documents of the 16th-17th centuries one can find the tribal names of the Chechens - Ichkerins, Okoks, Shubuts. In the Russian language, the word “Chechen” became a transliteration of terms that existed among neighboring peoples - “Tsatsans”, “Shashens”, “Chachans”.
The appearance of Chechens, according to the Brockhaus and Efron dictionary, is as follows: “tall and well built. Women are beautiful. Anthropologically, Chechens are a mixed type. Eye color varies from black to more or less dark brown and from blue to more or less light green. In hair color, transitions from black to more or less dark brown are noticeable. The nose is often turned up and concave."

Genetic studies have shown that modern Chechens and Ingush, although they belong to the same haplogroup, are ethnically heterogeneous. Geneticist Khusein Chokaev, based on the latest research data, writes that the common ancestor of a significant part of the Chechen-Ingush ethnic group is a representative of the J2a4b (M67) subgroup, which originated in the territory of modern Turkey approximately 11.8 thousand years ago. The carriers of this haplotype were, among others, the Carians, Minoans and Pelasgians. But if the Ingush correspond to the J2a4b (M67) group by 87%, then the Chechens correspond to only 58%.

Disengagement

Over time, the Chechens mostly settled along the right tributaries of the Sunzha and Terek. Equally, their places of residence were mountains, foothills and plains. The Ingush concentrated to the west of the Chechen settlements, mainly in the upper reaches of the Sunzha.

The first signs of the division of the single Vainakh ethnic group, according to researchers, emerged after 1770, when the Ingush accepted Russian citizenship. Joining the empire brought its own characteristics to the way of life of this people. The division between the Ingush and Chechens intensified even more during the Caucasian War, which lasted intermittently from 1817 to 1864.

During the war years, it was Chechnya that became the main stronghold of resistance and the center of the military-religious movement of muridism. According to this teaching, the moral and political revival of Islam was possible only after the overthrow of the heterodox Russian yoke. The Muridist propaganda of Kazi-Mulla, Gamzat and Shamil bore fruit on Chechen soil, while the Ingush remained aloof from the “war for faith.”

After the end of the Caucasian War, the places inhabited by the Ingush for border peace were inhabited by Cossacks, who remained there until the arrival of Soviet power in the Caucasus. In 1921, the Mountain Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic arose on the territory of the former Terek and part of the former Kuban regions of the Russian Empire, and in 1936 the Chechen-Ingush Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic appeared on the map.

After the breakup Soviet Union Chechens and Ingush again took different paths: radical movements calling for independence intensified in Chechnya, and Ingushetia decided to remain part of Russia. In the new situation, the border between Chechnya and Ingushetia ceased to be conditional and over time divided two subjects of the federation - the Republic of Ingushetia and the Chechen Republic.

Religion

The dominant religion of the Ingush and Chechens is Sunni Islam. However, the degree of its influence on both peoples is different. Despite the fact that Islam began to penetrate into the North Caucasus since the invasion of Genghis Khan, the majority of residents of Chechnya accepted it only in the 18th century. During the period of the Caucasian Wars, through the Muridist movement, Islam became so strong in Chechnya that it gave rise to real religious fanaticism there.

In Ingushetia, Islam adapted only by the middle of the 19th century, but did not allow deep roots. Until recently, many Ingush were still in the grip of ancient pre-Muslim beliefs, an integral part of which was the cult of family and ancestors. This cult obliged people to honor their shrines, such as the hearth and the hearth chain.

Near the hearth they prepared food, discussed important issues, and performed rituals. The suprachain chain has also retained its connection with traditions. When I entered the Ingush house stranger and grabbed the chain - he fell under the protection of the owner, and if a bloodline touched it, then he would get rid of revenge.

Modern Ingushetia largely lives in line with political and religious freedom, which also affects religion. If in Chechnya only Sufi Islam is officially recognized, then in Ingushetia there are a large number of supporters of Salafism, which is perceived by many as a radical movement of Islam.

Unlike the Ingush, the religious consciousness of the Chechens was influenced by the tense socio-political situation of recent decades, which is why Salafism did not take root in the public space of the Republic. In turn, especially among young people, there is a growing interest and desire for true Islam, in strict observance of all the prescriptions of the Koran and religious rituals.

Traditions

According to ethnographers, Chechen culture, to a greater extent than Ingush, has lost touch with the traditional rituals characteristic of the Vainakhs. Thus, the Ingush are outraged by the Chechen custom of giving a guest soup, rather than a special meat dish of lamb, chicken or turkey, which has been practiced for centuries.

The same can be said about family relationships. An Ingush man usually does not meet his mother-in-law, they do not see each other at matchmaking, and do not meet at family celebrations and other events. The Ingush are very proud of this fact and believe that their families are much stronger than the Chechen ones.

There are differences in wedding rituals. For example, if the Chechens, after showing the guests, the bride stays in a separate room all day, then the Ingush people have a custom for the bride to stand in the corner of the main hall until the evening and accept gifts. Ingush women often prefer national dresses to wedding dresses; Chechens are more modern in this regard.

The way of life of the Chechens and Ingush is largely determined by the teip (clan) structure. Ingush teips are also usually called “surnames”. If Chechen tape may number hundreds of surnames, then Ingush is most often limited to a few dozen, while Ingush surnames most often have pre-Islamic roots, while Chechen ones are predominantly Muslim.

The Ingush teip is usually exogamous. Marriages within the teip certainly occur, but are not encouraged. Chechens, on the contrary, prefer to create marriages within their teip in order to more firmly maintain family ties.
In Chechnya, teips are subordinate to large military-political associations - tukhums. There are nine of them in total. The Ingush have no such division. In the Vainakh environment, the Ingush are traditionally called the “tenth Tukkhum,” thereby emphasizing the closeness of the two neighboring peoples.

On at the moment There are about 1 million 700 thousand Chechens in the world. In addition to Chechnya, they live in Ingushetia, Dagestan, Stavropol Territory, Volgograd Region, Kalmykia, Astrakhan, Saratov, Tyumen Regions, North Ossetia, and abroad they are most numerous in Turkey, Kazakhstan, France, Austria, and Belgium.
The total number of Ingush people is about 700 thousand people. In addition to Russia, they also live in Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, and Lebanon.

From time immemorial, Chechens have been famous as hardy, strong, dexterous, inventive, tough and skillful warriors. The main features of the representatives of this nation have always been: pride, fearlessness, the ability to cope with any life difficulties, as well as high respect for blood kinship. Representatives Chechen people: Ramzan Kadyrov, Dzhokhar Dudayev.

Take it to yourself:

Origin of the Chechens

There are several versions of the origin of the name of the Chechen nation:

Most scientists are inclined to believe that the people began to be called this way around the 13th century, after the village of Bolshoi Chechen. Later, they began to call this not only the residents of this locality, but also all neighboring villages of a similar type.
According to another opinion, the name “Chechens” appeared thanks to the Kabardians, who called this people “Shashan”. And, allegedly, representatives of Russia simply slightly changed this name, making it more convenient and harmonious for our language, and over time it took root and this people began to be called Chechens not only in Russia, but also in other countries.
There is a third version - according to it, other Caucasian peoples initially called the inhabitants of modern Chechnya Chechens.

By the way, the word “Vainakh” itself translated from Nakh into Russian sounds like “our people” or “our people.”

If we talk about the origin of the nation itself, it is generally accepted that the Chechens have never been a nomadic people and their history is closely connected with the Caucasian lands. True, some scientists claim that in ancient times, representatives of this nation occupied larger territories in the northeastern Caucasus, and only then migrated en masse to the north of the Caucasus. The very fact of such a relocation of the people does not raise any particular doubts, but the motives for the move are not known to scientists.

According to one version, which is partly confirmed by Georgian sources, the Chechens at a certain moment simply decided to occupy the North Caucasus space, where no one lived at that time. Moreover, there is an opinion that the name Caucasus itself is also of Vainakh origin. Allegedly, in ancient times this was the name of the Chechen ruler, and the territory received its name from his name “Caucasus”.

Having settled in the North Caucasus, the Chechens led a sedentary lifestyle and did not leave their native places unless absolutely necessary. They lived in this territory for hundreds of years (from about the 13th century).

Even when in 1944 almost everyone indigenous people was deported due to an unfair accusation of supporting the fascists - the Chechens did not remain on “foreign” land and returned to their homeland.

Caucasian War

In the winter of 1781, Chechnya officially became part of Russia. The corresponding document was signed by many respectable elders of the largest Chechen villages, who not only put their signature on paper, but also swore on the Koran that they accepted Russian citizenship.

But at the same time, the majority of the nation’s representatives considered this document a mere formality and, in fact, intended to continue their autonomous existence. One of the most ardent opponents of Chechnya's entry into Russia was Sheikh Mansur, who had enormous influence on his fellow tribesmen, since he was not only a preacher of Islam, but was also the first imam of the North Caucasus. Many Chechens supported Mansur, which later helped him become the leader of the liberation movement and unite all the dissatisfied mountaineers into one force.

Thus began the Caucasian War, which lasted nearly fifty years. Ultimately, Russian military forces managed to suppress the resistance of the mountaineers, although extremely strict measures were taken to achieve this, including burning hostile villages. Also during that period, the Sunzhinskaya (named after the Sunzha River) line of fortifications was built.

However, the end of the war was very conditional. The established peace was extremely shaky. The situation was complicated by the fact that oil deposits were discovered on the territory of Chechnya, from which the Chechens received practically no income. Another difficulty was the local mentality, which was very different from the Russian one.

The Chechens then repeatedly staged various uprisings. But despite all the difficulties, Russia greatly valued the representatives of this nationality. The fact is that men of Chechen nationality were wonderful warriors and were distinguished not only by physical strength, but also by courage, as well as an unbending fighting spirit. During the First World War, an elite regiment was created, consisting only of Chechens and called the “Wild Division”.

The Chechens have indeed always been considered wonderful warriors, in whom composure is amazingly combined with courage and the will to win. The physical characteristics of representatives of this nationality are also impeccable. Chechen men are characterized by: strength, endurance, agility, etc.

On the one hand, this is explained by the fact that they lived in rather harsh conditions, where physically weak person it was extremely difficult to exist, and on the other hand, because almost the entire history of this people is connected with constant struggle and the need to defend their interests with arms in hand. After all, if we look at the events that took place in the Caucasus, both in ancient and modern times, we will see that the Chechen people always remained quite autonomous and, in case of dissatisfaction with certain circumstances, easily went into a state of war.

At the same time, the military science of the Chechens has always been very developed and fathers from early childhood taught their sons to wield weapons and ride horses. The ancient Chechens managed to do the almost impossible and create their own invincible mountain cavalry. They are also considered the founders of such military techniques as roaming batteries, the technique of blocking the enemy, or the deployment of “crawling” troops into battle. From time immemorial, the basis of their military tactics was surprise, followed by a massive attack on the enemy. Moreover, many experts agree that it was the Chechens, and not the Cossacks, who were the founders of the partisan method of warfare.

National characteristics

The Chechen language belongs to the Nakh-Dagestan branch and has more than nine dialects that are used in oral and written speech. But the main dialect is considered to be Planar, which in the 20th century formed the basis of the literary dialect of this people.

As for religious views, the overwhelming majority of Chechens profess Islam.

Chechens also attach great importance to observing the national code of honor “Konakhalla”. These ethical rules of behavior were developed in ancient times. And this moral code, to put it extremely simply, tells how a man should behave in order to be considered worthy of his people and his ancestors.

By the way, Chechens are also characterized by very strong kinship. Initially, the culture of this people developed in such a way that society was divided into various teips (tribes), belonging to which was of great importance for the Vainakhs. Attitude to one or another clan was always determined by the father. Moreover, to this day, representatives of this people, when meeting a new person, often ask where he is from and what teip.

Another type of association is “tukhum”. This is the name given to teip communities created for one purpose or another: joint hunting, farming, protecting territories, repelling enemy attacks, etc.

Chechen. Lezginka.

The national Chechen cuisine, rightfully considered one of the most ancient in the Caucasus, also deserves special attention. From time immemorial, the main products that Chechens used for cooking were: meat, cheese, cottage cheese, as well as pumpkin, wild garlic (wild garlic) and corn. Special significance it also comes with spices, which are usually used in huge quantities.

Chechen traditions

Living in the harsh conditions of mountainous terrain also left its mark on the culture of the Chechens and their traditions. Life here was many times harder than on the plain.

For example, mountaineers often cultivated the land on the slopes of peaks and, in order to avoid accidents, they had to work in large groups, tying themselves with one rope. Otherwise, one of them could easily fall into the abyss and die. Often half the village gathered to carry out such work. Therefore, for a true Chechen, respectable neighborly relations are sacred. And if there was grief in the family of people living nearby, then this grief was for the entire village. If a breadwinner was lost in a neighboring house, then his widow or mother was supported by the entire village, sharing food or other necessary things with her.

Due to the fact that work in the mountains is usually very hard, the Chechens have always tried to protect members of the older generation from it. And even the usual greeting here is based on the fact that an older person first they say hello, and then ask if he needs help with anything. Also in Chechnya, it is considered bad manners if a young man walks past an older man doing hard work and does not offer his help.

Hospitality also plays a huge role for Chechens. In ancient times, a person could easily get lost in the mountains and die from hunger or an attack by a wolf or bear. That is why it has always been unthinkable for Chechens not to let a stranger into their house who asks for help. It doesn’t matter what the guest’s name is or whether he knows the owners, if he is in trouble, he will be provided with food and lodging for the night.

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Mutual respect is also of particular importance in Chechen culture. In ancient times, mountaineers moved mainly along thin paths encircling peaks and gorges. Because of this, it was sometimes difficult for people to disperse on such paths. And the slightest careless movement could cause a person to fall from the mountain and die. That is why Chechens, from early childhood, were taught to respectful attitude to other people, and especially to women and the elderly.

The Chechens themselves call themselves Nokhchi. Some translate this as Noah's people. Representatives of this people live not only in Chechnya, but also in some regions of Dagestan, Ingushetia and Georgia. In total, there are more than one and a half million Chechens in the world.

The name “Chechen” appeared long before the revolution. But in the pre-revolutionary era and in the first decades of Soviet power, several other small towns were often called Chechens. Caucasian peoples- for example, Ingush, Batsbi, Georgian Kists. There is an opinion that these are essentially the same people, individual groups of which, due to historical circumstances, were isolated from each other.

How was the word “Chechen” born?

There are several versions of the origin of the word “Chechen”. According to one of them, it is a Russian transliteration of the word “shashan”, which was used to designate this people by their Kabardian neighbors. For the first time it is mentioned as the “people of the Sasan” in the Persian chronicle of the 13th-14th centuries by Rashid ad-Din, which talks about the war with the Tatar-Mongols.

According to another version, this designation comes from the name of the village of Bolshoy Chechen, where at the end of the 17th century the Russians first encountered the Chechens. As for the name of the village, it goes back to XIII century, when the headquarters of the Mongol Khan Sechen was located here.

Starting from the 18th century, the ethnonym “Chechens” appeared in official sources in Russian and Georgian, and subsequently other peoples borrowed it. Chechnya became part of Russia on January 21, 1781.

Meanwhile, a number of researchers, in particular A. Vagapov, believe that this ethnonym was used by the neighbors of the Chechens long before the Russians appeared in the Caucasus.

Where did the Chechen people come from?

The early stage of the history of the formation of the Chechen people remains hidden from us by the darkness of history. It is possible that the ancestors of the Vainakhs (the so-called speakers of Nakh languages, for example, Chechens and Ingush) migrated from Transcaucasia to the north of the Caucasus, but this is only a hypothesis.

This is the version put forward by Doctor of Historical Sciences Georgiy Anchabadze:
“The Chechens are the oldest indigenous people of the Caucasus, their ruler bore the name “Caucasus,” from which the name of the area came. In the Georgian historiographical tradition, it is also believed that the Caucasus and his brother Lek, the ancestor of the Dagestanis, settled the then uninhabited territories of the North Caucasus from the mountains to the mouth of the Volga River.”

There are also alternative versions. One of them says that the Vainakhs are the descendants of the Hurrian tribes who went north and settled Georgia and the North Caucasus. This is confirmed by the similarity of languages and culture.

It is also possible that the ancestors of the Vainakhs were the Tigrids, a people who lived in Mesopotamia (in the area of the Tigris River). If you believe the ancient Chechen chronicles - teptars, the point of departure of the Vainakh tribes was in Shemaar (Shemar), from where they settled to the North and North-East of Georgia and the North Caucasus. But, most likely, this applies only to part of the Tukhkums (Chechen communities), since there is evidence of settlement along other routes.

Most modern Caucasus scholars are inclined to believe that the Chechen nation was formed in the 16th-18th centuries as a result of the unification of the Vainakh peoples who were developing the foothills of the Caucasus. The most important unifying factor for them was Islamization, which occurred in parallel with the settlement of the Caucasian lands. One way or another, it cannot be denied that the core of the Chechen ethnic group is the Eastern Vainakh ethnic groups.

From the Caspian Sea to Western Europe

Chechens did not always live in one place. Thus, their earliest tribes lived in an area stretching from the mountains near Enderi to the Caspian Sea. But, since they often stole cattle and horses from the Greben and Don Cossacks, in 1718 they attacked them, chopped up many, and drove the rest away.

After graduation Caucasian war in 1865, about 5,000 Chechen families moved to the territory of the Ottoman Empire. They began to be called muhajirs. Today, their descendants represent the bulk of the Chechen diasporas in Turkey, Syria and Jordan.
In February 1944, more than half a million Chechens were deported by order of Stalin to the regions Central Asia. On January 9, 1957, they received permission to return to their previous place of residence, but a number of migrants remained in their new homeland - in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.

The first and second Chechen wars led to a significant number of Chechens moving to Western European countries, Turkey and Arab countries. The Chechen diaspora in Russia has also increased.

Empress Alexandra Fedorovna Romanova... Her personality in Russian history is very ambiguous. On the one side, loving wife, a mother, and on the other hand, a princess, categorically not accepted by Russian society. A lot of mysteries and secrets are associated with Alexandra Fedorovna: her passion for mysticism, on the one hand, and deep faith, on the other. Researchers attribute responsibility to her tragic fate imperial house. What mysteries does the biography of Alexandra Fedorovna Romanova hold? What is its role in the fate of the country? We will answer in the article.

Childhood

Alexandra Fedorovna Romanova was born on June 7, 1872. The parents of the future Russian empress were the Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt Ludwig and the English princess Alice. The girl was the granddaughter of Queen Victoria, and this relationship will play an important role in the development of Alexandra's character.

Her full name is Victoria Alix Elena Louise Beatrice (in honor of her aunts). In addition to Alix (as the relatives called the girl), the Duke’s family had seven children.

Alexandra (Romanova later) received a classical English education, she was brought up in strict traditions. Modesty was in everything: in everyday life, food, clothing. Even children slept in soldiers' beds. Already at this time, shyness can be traced in the girl; all her life she will struggle with natural suppression in an unfamiliar society. At home, Alix was unrecognizable: nimble, smiling, she earned herself a second name - “sunshine”.

But childhood was not so cloudless: first, his brother dies as a result of an accident, then his younger sister May and Princess Alice, Alix’s mother, die from diphtheria. This was the impetus for the six-year-old girl to withdraw into herself and become alienated.

Youth

After the death of her mother, according to Alexandra herself, a dark cloud and obscured all my sunny childhood. She is sent to England to live with her grandmother, the reigning Queen Victoria. Naturally, government affairs took up all of the latter’s time, so the upbringing of the children was entrusted to the governess. Later, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna would not forget the lessons she received in her youth.

Margaret Jackson - that was the name of her teacher and teacher - moved away from the prim Victorian mores, she taught the girl to think, reflect, form and voice her opinion. Classical education did not provide for diversified development, but by the age of fifteen, the future Empress Alexandra Romanova understood politics, history, played excellent music and knew several foreign languages.

It is in teenage years, at the age of twelve, Alix first meets her future husband Nikolai. This happened at the wedding of her sister and Grand Duke Sergei. Three years later, at the invitation of the latter, she again comes to Russia. Nikolai was captivated by the girl.

Wedding with Nicholas II

Nikolai's parents were not delighted with the union of young people - in their opinion, a wedding with the daughter of the French Count Louis-Philippe was more profitable for him. For the lovers, five long years of separation begin, but this circumstance brought them together even more and taught them to appreciate the feeling.

Nikolai does not want to accept his father’s will; he continues to insist on marrying his beloved. The current emperor has to give in: he senses an approaching illness, and the heir must have a party. But here, too, Alix, who after the coronation received the name Alexandra Fedorovna Romanova, faced a serious test: she had to convert to Orthodoxy and leave Lutheranism. She studied the basics for two years, after which she was converted to the Russian faith. It should be said that Alexandra entered Orthodoxy with an open heart and pure thoughts.

The wedding of the young people took place on November 27, 1894, again, it was performed by John of Kronstadt. The sacrament took place in the church Winter Palace. Everything happens against the backdrop of mourning, because 3 days after Alix arrived in Russia, Alexander III dies (many then said that she “came for the coffin”). Alexandra notes in a letter to her sister the striking contrast between grief and great triumph - this brought the spouses together even more. Everyone, even haters of the imperial family, subsequently noticed the strength of the union and the fortitude of Alexandra Feodorovna and Nicholas II.

The blessing of the young couple for their reign (coronation) took place on May 27, 1896 in the Assumption Cathedral in Moscow. From that time on, Alix the “sunshine” acquired the title Empress Alexandra Feodorovna Romanova. Later she noted in her diary that this was her second wedding - with Russia.

Place at court and in political life

From the very first day of her reign, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna was support and support for her husband in his difficult state affairs.

IN public life the young woman tried to encourage people to charity, because she had absorbed this from her parents as a child. Unfortunately, her ideas were not accepted at court; moreover, the empress was hated. The courtiers saw deceit and unnaturalness in all her proposals and even her facial expressions. But in fact, they were simply accustomed to idleness and did not want to change anything.

Of course, like any woman and wife, Alexandra Romanova had an effect on government activities spouse.

Many prominent politicians of that time noted that she had a negative influence on Nicholas. This was the opinion, for example, of S. Witte. And General A. Mosolov and Senator V. Gurko regretfully note its non-acceptance by Russian society. Moreover, the latter blames not the capricious character and some nervousness of the current empress, but the widow Alexandra III, Maria Feodorovna, who never fully accepted her daughter-in-law.

Nevertheless, her subjects obeyed her, and not out of fear, but out of respect. Yes, she was strict, but she was the same towards herself. Alix never forgot her requests and instructions, each of them was clearly thought out and balanced. Those who were close to the empress sincerely loved her and knew her not by hearsay, but deeply personally. For others, the empress remained a “dark horse” and the subject of gossip.

There were also very warm reviews about Alexander. So, the ballerina (by the way, she was Nikolai’s mistress before the latter’s wedding to Alix) mentions her as a woman of high morality and a broad soul.

Children: Grand Duchesses

The first Grand Duchess Olga was born in 1895. People's dislike for the empress increased even more, because everyone was waiting for a boy, an heir. Alexandra, not finding a response or support for her endeavors from her subjects, completely delves into family life, she even feeds her daughter on her own, without using the services of anyone, which was atypical even for noble families, not to mention the empress.

Later Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia are born. Nikolai Alexandrovich and Alexandra Fedorovna raised their children in simplicity and purity of spirit. It was ordinary family devoid of any arrogance.

Tsarina Alexandra Romanova herself was involved in education. The only exception was subjects with a narrow focus. Much attention was paid to outdoor sports and sincerity. The mother was the person to whom the girls could turn at any moment and with any request. They lived in an atmosphere of love and absolute trust. It was an absolutely happy, sincere family.

The girls grew up in an atmosphere of modesty and goodwill. Their mother independently ordered dresses for them in order to protect them from excessive wastefulness and to cultivate meekness and chastity. They very rarely took part in social events. Their access to society was limited only by the requirements of palace etiquette. Alexandra Fedorovna, the wife of Nicholas 2, was afraid that the spoiled daughters of the nobility would have a detrimental effect on the girls.

Alexandra Feodorovna coped with the function of a mother brilliantly. The Grand Duchesses grew up to be unusually pure, sincere young ladies. In general, an extraordinary spirit of Christian splendor reigned in the family. Both Nicholas II and Alexandra Romanova noted this in their diaries. The quotes below only confirm the above information:

“Our love and our life are one whole... Nothing can separate us or reduce our love” (Alexandra Fedorovna).

“The Lord blessed us with rare family happiness” (Emperor Nicholas II).

Birth of an heir

The only thing that darkened the life of the spouses was the absence of an heir. Alexandra Romanova was very worried about this. On such days she became especially nervous. Trying to understand the reason and solve the problem, the empress begins to get involved in mysticism and gets even more involved in religion. This also affects her husband, Nicholas II, because he feels the mental torment of the woman he loves.

It was decided to attract the best doctors. Unfortunately, among them there was a real charlatan, Philip. Arriving from France, he so inspired the empress with thoughts of pregnancy that she really believed that she was carrying an heir. Alexandra Fedorovna developed a very rare disease - “false pregnancy”. When it became clear that the Russian Tsarina’s belly was growing under the influence of a psycho-emotional state, an official announcement had to be made that there would be no heir. Philip is expelled from the country in disgrace.

A little later, Alix nevertheless conceives and gives birth to a boy, Tsarevich Alexei, on August 12, 1904.

But she did not receive the long-awaited happiness of Alexander Romanov. Her biography says that from that moment on, the empress’s life became tragic. The fact is that the boy is diagnosed with a rare disease - hemophilia. This is a hereditary disease, the carrier of which is a woman. Its essence is that blood does not clot. The person is overcome by constant pain and attacks. The most famous carrier of the hemophilia gene was Queen Victoria, nicknamed the grandmother of Europe. For this reason, this disease received the following names: “Victorian disease” and “Royal disease”. At the very better care the heir could live to a maximum of 30 years, but on average, patients rarely surpassed the age barrier of 16 years.

Rasputin in the life of the Empress

In some sources you can find information that only one person was able to help Tsarevich Alexei - Grigory Rasputin. Although this disease is considered chronic and incurable, there is a lot of evidence that " man of God“with his prayers he could allegedly stop the suffering of the unfortunate child. It is difficult to say how this is explained. It should be noted that the Tsarevich’s illness was a state secret. From here we can conclude how much the imperial family trusted this uncouth Tobolsk peasant.

A lot has been written about the relationship between Rasputin and the empress: some attribute to him exclusively the role of the savior of the heir, others - a love affair with Alexandra Feodorovna. The latest speculations are not unfounded - the society of that time was sure of the empress’s adultery, and there were rumors surrounding the tsarina’s betrayal of Nicholas II and Gregory. After all, the elder himself spoke about this, but then he was fairly drunk, so he could easily pass off wishful thinking. But it doesn’t take much to create gossip. According to those close to him, who did not harbor hatred for the august couple, the main reason for the close relationship between Rasputin and the imperial family was solely Alexei’s attacks of hemophilia.

How did Nikolai Alexandrovich react to rumors discrediting the pure name of his wife? He considered all this nothing more than fiction and inappropriate interference in privacy family. The emperor considered Rasputin himself “a simple Russian man, very religious and believer.”

One thing is certain: the royal family had deep sympathy for Gregory. They were one of the few who sincerely grieved after the murder of the elder.

Romanov during the war

The First World War forced Nicholas II to leave St. Petersburg for Headquarters. Alexandra Fedorovna Romanova took upon herself government concerns. The Empress pays special attention to charity. She perceived the war as her personal tragedy: she sincerely grieved as she saw off the soldiers to the front, and mourned the dead. She read prayers over each new grave of a fallen warrior, as if he were her relative. We can safely say that Alexandra Romanova received the title “Saint” during her lifetime. This is the time when Alix becomes more and more involved in Orthodoxy.

It would seem that the rumors should subside: the country is suffering from war. Far from it, they became even more cruel. For example, she was accused of being passionate about spiritualism. This could not possibly be true, because even then the empress was a deeply religious person who rejected everything otherworldly.

Help for the country during the war was not limited to prayers. Together with her daughters, Alexandra mastered the skills of nurses: they began to work at the hospital, helping surgeons (assisting in operations), and providing all kinds of care to the wounded.

Every day at half past nine in the morning their service began: along with other sisters of mercy, the Empress removed amputated limbs, dirty clothes, and bandaged severe wounds, including gangrenous ones. This was alien to representatives of the upper noble class: they collected donations for the front, visited hospitals, and opened medical institutions. But none of them worked in operating rooms, as the empress did. And all this despite the fact that she was tormented by problems with her own health, undermined by nervous experiences and frequent childbirth.

The royal palaces were converted into hospitals, Alexandra Feodorovna personally formed sanitary trains and warehouses for medicines. She made a vow that while the war was going on, neither she nor the grand duchesses would sew a single dress for themselves. And she remained true to her word to the end.

The spiritual appearance of Alexandra Romanova

Was Alexandra Romanova really a deeply religious person? Photos and portraits of the empress that have survived to this day always show the sad eyes of this woman; some kind of sorrow lurks in them. Even in her youth, she fully embraced the Orthodox faith, abandoning Lutheranism, the truths of which she had been brought up with since childhood.

Life's upheavals make her closer to God; she often retires to pray when she is trying to conceive a boy, and then when she learns about her son's fatal illness. And during the war, she frantically prays for the soldiers who were wounded and died for their Motherland. Every day before her service in the hospital, Alexandra Fedorovna sets aside a certain time for prayer. For these purposes, the Tsarskoye Selo Palace even has a special prayer room.

However, her service to God consisted not only in diligent prayers: the empress launched truly large-scale charitable activities. She organized an orphanage, a home for the disabled, and numerous hospitals. She found time for her maid of honor, who had lost the ability to walk: she talked with her about God, spiritually instructed and supported her every day.

Alexandra Fedorovna never flaunted her faith; most often, when traveling around the country, she visited churches and hospitals incognito. She could easily merge with the crowd of believers, because her actions were natural, coming from the heart. Religion was a purely personal matter for Alexandra Fedorovna. Many at court tried to find notes of hypocrisy in the queen, but nothing worked.

So was her husband, Nicholas II. They loved God and Russia with all their hearts, and could not imagine another life outside of Russia. They made no distinctions between people, did not draw a line between titled persons and ordinary people. Most likely, this is why an ordinary Tobolsk man, Grigory Rasputin, at one time “took root” in imperial family.

Arrest, exile and martyrdom

Finishes life path Alexandra Feodorovna suffered martyrdom in the Ipatiev House, where the emperor’s family was exiled after the 1917 revolution. Even in the face of approaching death, while being held at gunpoint by a firing squad, she made the sign of the cross.

The “Russian Golgotha” was predicted to the imperial family more than once; they lived with it all their lives, knowing that everything would end very sadly for them. They submitted to the will of God and thus defeated the forces of evil. The royal couple was buried only in 1998.

“The martyrdom of the royal family, and even more so the unspeakable moral torment it experienced, endured with such courage and high spirits, oblige us to treat the memory of the late Sovereign and his wife with special respect and caution.”

Gurko Vladimir Iosifovich

As you know, the wife of the last Emperor of Russia, Nicholas II, was the beloved granddaughter of Queen Victoria of England - Princess Victoria Alice Elena Louise Beatrice of Hesse-Darmstadt. She was the fourth daughter of the Grand Duke of Hesse and Rhine, Ludwig IV, and Duchess Alice, daughter of Queen Victoria of England.

In the history of Russia, the German princess Alice of Hesse is remembered as Alexandra Feodorovna - the last empress of Russia.

The magazine website has prepared 20 interesting and short facts about the life of one of the most powerful, noble, highly moral women of the 20th century - Empress Alexandra Feodorovna.

The name given to her consisted of her mother's name (Alice) and four names of her aunts. Alice was considered the favorite granddaughter of Queen Victoria, who called her Sunny("Sun"). Nicholas II very often called her Alix - a derivative of Alice and Alexander.

Kinship

Nicholas II and Princess Alice were distant relatives, being descendants of German dynasties; and their marriage, to put it mildly, “had no right to exist.” For example, on her father’s side, Alexandra Feodorovna was both a fourth cousin (common ancestor - Prussian king Frederick William II) and second cousin of Nicholas (common ancestor - Wilhelmina of Baden). In addition, the parents of Nicholas II were the godparents of Princess Alice.

Love story

The love story of the Russian Tsar and the granddaughter of the English Queen begins in 1884. He is a sixteen-year-old boy, slender, blue-eyed, with a modest and slightly sad smile. She is a twelve-year-old girl, like him, with blue eyes and beautiful golden hair. The meeting took place at the wedding of her older sister Elizabeth (the future great martyr) with Nicholas’s uncle, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich. Both Nicholas and Alice (that was the name of the future Russian Tsarina at that time) felt deep sympathy for each other from the very beginning. Nikolai gives her a precious brooch, and she, brought up in Puritan morality, in embarrassment and shyness, does not dare take it and returns it to him.

Their second meeting occurs only five years later, when Alice comes to Russia to visit her older sister. But all this time Nikolai remembers her. “I have loved her for a long time, and since she stayed in St. Petersburg for six weeks in 1889, I love her even more deeply and heartily.” Nikolai's cherished dream is to marry Alice. However, Nikolai's parents have other plans.

Marriage

In 1889, when the heir to the crown prince turned twenty-one, he turned to his parents with a request to bless him for his marriage to Princess Alice. The answer of Emperor Alexander III was brief: “You are very young, there is still time for marriage, and, in addition, remember the following: you are the heir to the Russian throne, you are engaged to Russia, and we will still have time to find a wife.”

Queen Victoria and the latter's parents were against the marriage of Alice and Tsarevich Nicholas, who hoped for his marriage with a more enviable bride - Helen of Orleans, daughter of Louis Philippe, Count of Paris. (Bourbon dynasty) However, Tsarevich Nicholas was soft and timid by nature, but in matters of the heart he was adamant, persistent and firm. Nikolai, always obedient to the will of his parents, in this case, with pain in his heart, does not agree with them, declaring that if he fails to marry Alice, he will never marry at all. In the end, the parents' consent to be related to the English crown was obtained... True, this was more facilitated by other circumstances - the sudden serious illness of Emperor Alexander III, who died suddenly a month before the lovers' wedding, and the full support of Princess Alice's sister - Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna and her husband Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich (5th son of Emperor Alexander II)

“I’m only happy when I’m surrounded by family and friends”

When the girl was 6 years old, a tragedy occurred in the family - her mother and sister fell ill with diphtheria and died. The girl remembered for the rest of her life how an oppressive silence reigned in the palace, which was broken by the cries of the nanny behind the wall of little Alice’s room. They took the girl’s toys and burned them - they were afraid that she might become infected. Of course, the next day they brought new toys. But it was no longer the same - something beloved and familiar was gone. The event associated with the death of his mother and sister left a fatal mark on the child’s character. Instead of openness, isolation and restraint began to prevail in her behavior, instead of sociability - shyness, instead of smiling - outward seriousness and even coldness. Only in the circle of her closest people, and there were only a few of them, did she become the same - joyful and open. These character traits remained with her forever and dominated even when she became the Empress. The Empress felt happy only among her own people.

"The Royal Disease"

Alice inherited the hemophilia gene from Queen Victoria.

Hemophilia, or “royal disease,” is a severe manifestation of genetic pathology that affected the royal houses of Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries. Thanks to dynastic marriages, this disease spread to Russia. The disease manifests itself in a decrease in blood clotting, so in patients any, even minor, bleeding is almost impossible to stop.

The difficulty of registering this disease is that it manifests itself only in men, and women, while remaining apparently healthy, transfer the affected gene to the next generation.

From Alexandra Fedorovna the disease was passed on to her son, Grand Duke Alexei, who suffered from severe bleeding from early childhood, and who, even with a successful combination of circumstances, would never have been able to continue great family Romanovs.

Grandmother and granddaughter

Queen Victoria and her relatives. Coburg, April 1894. Her daughter Vicki sits next to the queen with her granddaughter Feo. Charlotte, Feo's mother, stands right of center, third to the right of her uncle the Prince of Wales (he is wearing a white tunic). To the left of Queen Victoria is her grandson Kaiser Wilhelm II, directly behind them are Tsarevich Nikolai Alexandrovich and his bride, née Alice of Hesse-Darmstadt (six months later they will become the Russian Emperor and Empress)

The Queen of England loved her granddaughter very much and took every possible care of her upbringing. The castle of the Duke of Darmstadt was imbued with the “atmosphere of good old England.” English landscapes and portraits of relatives from Foggy Albion hung on the walls. Education was conducted by English mentors and mainly in English. The Queen of England constantly sent her instructions and advice to her granddaughter. Puritan morality was brought up in the girl from the very first years. Even the cuisine was English - almost every day rice pudding with apples, and at Christmas goose and, of course, plum pudding and traditional sweet pie.

Alice received the best education for those times. She knew literature, art, spoke several languages, and took a philosophy course at Oxford.

Beautiful and kind

Both in her youth and in adulthood, the Queen was very pretty. Everyone (even enemies) noted this. As one of the courtiers described her: “The Empress was very beautiful... tall, slender, with a superbly set head. But all this was nothing in comparison with the look of her gray-blue eyes, amazingly alive, reflecting all her excitement...” And here is a description of the Queen made by her closest friend Vyrubova: “Tall, with golden hair thick hair, reaching to her knees, she, like a girl, constantly blushed from shyness; Her eyes, huge and deep, became animated when talking and laughed. At home she was given the nickname “sunshine.” The Queen loved pearls most of all jewelry. She used it to decorate her hair, her hands, and her dresses.”

There was kindness main feature character of the Queen, and her desire to help everyone around her was constant.

Her kindness towards her husband and children exudes from every line of her letter. She is ready to sacrifice everything to make her husband and children feel good.

If any of the Queen’s acquaintances, not to mention the Queen’s relatives, had difficulties or misfortunes, she immediately responded. She helped with warm, sympathetic words and financially. Sensitive to any suffering, she took other people's misfortune and pain to heart. If someone from the infirmary where she worked as a nurse died or became disabled, the Tsarina tried to help his family, sometimes continuing to do this even from Tobolsk. The queen constantly remembered the wounded who passed through her infirmary, not forgetting to regularly remember all the dead.

When an accident happened to Anna Vyrubova (the Empress’s closest friend, an admirer of Grigory Rasputin) (she was in a train accident), the Tsarina sat at her bedside all day and actually took care of her friend.

"White Rose", "Verbena" and "Atkinson"

The Empress, like any woman “of position and opportunity,” paid great attention to her appearance. At the same time, there were nuances. Thus, the empress practically did not use cosmetics and did not curl her hair. Only on the eve of big palace appearances did the hairdresser, with her permission, use curling irons. The Empress did not get her nails done, “because His Majesty could not stand manicured nails.” Of the perfumes, the Empress preferred “White Rose” from the Atkinson perfume company. They, according to her, are transparent, without any impurity and infinitely fragrant. She used Verbena as eau de toilette.

Sister of Mercy

During the First World War, Alexandra Fedorovna took up activities that were simply unthinkable for a person of her rank and position. She not only patronized sanitary detachments, established and looked after infirmaries, including in the Tsarskoye Selo palaces, but together with her eldest daughters she graduated from paramedic courses and began working as a nurse. The Empress washed wounds, bandaged them, and assisted in operations. She did this not to advertise herself (which was the case with many representatives of high society), but at the call of her heart. The “infirmary service” did not evoke understanding in aristocratic salons, where they believed that it “detracts from the prestige of the highest authority.”

Subsequently, this patriotic initiative entailed many bad rumors about the indecent behavior of the queen and two senior princesses. The Empress was proud of her activities; in photographs she and her daughters were depicted in the uniform of the Red Cross. Postcards appeared with a photograph of the queen assisting a surgeon during an operation. But, contrary to expectations, this caused condemnation. It was considered obscene for girls to court naked men. In the eyes of many monarchists, the queen, “washing the soldiers’ feet,” lost her royalty. Some court ladies said: “The Empress was more suited to an ermine robe than to a nurse’s dress.”

Faith

According to contemporaries, the empress was deeply religious. The church was her main consolation, especially at a time when the heir’s illness worsened. The Empress held full services in the court churches, where she introduced the monastic (longer) liturgical regulations. Alexandra's room in the palace was a connection between the empress's bedroom and the nun's cell. The huge wall adjacent to the bed was completely covered with images and crosses.

Last will

Today it is reliably known that the royal family could have been saved by the diplomatic efforts of European countries. Nicholas II was laconic in his assessment of possible emigration: “In such difficult times, not a single Russian should leave Russia.” Alexandra Fedorovna’s sentiments were no less critical: “I prefer to die in Russia than to be saved by the Germans.” In 1981, Alexandra Feodorovna and all members of the royal family were canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, and in August 2000 by the Russian Orthodox Church.

"The intoxication of power"

Alexandra Feodorovna was full of initiative and thirsted for live action. Her mind constantly worked in the area of those issues to which she was concerned, and she experienced an intoxication with power, which her royal husband did not have. Nicholas II forced himself to engage in state affairs, but essentially they did not capture him. The pathos of power was alien to him. Ministers' reports were a heavy burden for him.

The Empress had an excellent understanding of all specific issues accessible to her understanding, and her decisions were as businesslike as they were definite.
All persons who had business relations with her unanimously asserted that it was impossible to report any matter to her without first studying it. She posed to her speakers many specific and very practical questions concerning the very essence of the subject, and went into all the details and in conclusion gave instructions that were as authoritative as they were precise.

Unpopularity

Despite the sincere efforts of the empress in the matter of mercy, there were rumors among the people that Alexandra Feodorovna defended the interests of Germany. By personal order of the sovereign, a secret investigation was carried out into “slanderous rumors about the empress’s relations with the Germans and even about her betrayal of the Motherland.” It has been established that rumors about the desire for a separate peace with the Germans and the transfer of Russian military plans by the Empress to the Germans were spread by the German General Staff.

A contemporary woman who personally knew the queen wrote in her diary: “Rumor attributes all failures, all changes in appointments to the empress. The hair stands on end: no matter what they accuse her of, each layer of society from its own point of view, but the common, friendly impulse is dislike and distrust.”

Indeed, the “German Queen” was suspected of Germanophilism. Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich wrote: “It’s amazing how unpopular poor Alyx is. One can, of course, argue that she did absolutely nothing to give reason to suspect her of sympathizing with the Germans, but everyone is trying to claim that she sympathizes with them. The only thing she can be reproached for is that she failed to be popular.”

A rumor arose about a “German party” rallying around the Tsarina. In such a situation, the Russian general said to the British at the beginning of 1917: “What can we do? We have Germans everywhere. The Empress is German." These sentiments also affected members of the royal family. Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich wrote to the Tsar’s mother in September 1914: “I made a whole graphic where I noted the influences: Hessian, Prussian, Mecklenburg, Oldenburg, etc., and I recognize the Hessian influences as the most harmful of all on Alexandra Feodorovna, who remained German at heart , was against the war until the last Minute and tried in every possible way to delay the moment of rupture.”

The Tsarina could not help but know about such rumors: “Yes, I am more Russian than many others...” - she wrote to the Tsar. But nothing could prevent the spread of speculation. The noblewoman M.I. Baranovskaya said in the volost government: “Our empress cries when the Russians beat the Germans, and rejoices when the Germans win.”

After the abdication of the sovereign, the Extraordinary Commission of Inquiry under the Provisional Government tried and failed to establish the guilt of Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna of any crimes.

Comparison with Catherine II

During the war years, the tsarina's interference in state affairs increased. This violated established traditions and undermined the authority of Nicholas II. But the rumors, of course, exaggerated the influence of the empress: “The Emperor reigns, but the Empress, inspired by Rasputin, rules,” the French ambassador M. Paleologue wrote in his diary in July 1916.

In post-revolutionary pamphlets she was called “All-Russian Autocrat Alice of Hesse.” Friends of the empress allegedly called her “the new Catherine the Great,” which was played out in satirical texts:

Ah, I made a series of plans,
To become “Catherine”,
And Hesse I am Petrograd
I dreamed of calling over time.

Comparison with Catherine II could give rise to other historical parallels. They said that the empress was preparing a coup in order to become regent for her young son: she supposedly “intends to play in relation to her husband the same role that Catherine played in relation to Peter III.” Rumors about a regency (sometimes even about a joint regency between the empress and Rasputin) appear no later than September 1915. In the winter of 1917, there were rumors that the empress had already assumed some formal function of regent.

After February, statements about the omnipotence of the queen were confirmed by the assessments of authoritative contemporaries. stated: “All power was in the hands of Alexandra Feodorovna and her ardent supporters. The Empress imagined that she was the second Catherine the Great and that the salvation and reconstruction of Russia depended on her.”

Family Life Lessons

In her diaries and letters, the empress reveals the secret of family happiness. Her lessons on family life are still popular today. In our time, when the most basic human concepts about duty, honor, conscience, responsibility, loyalty are questioned and sometimes simply ridiculed, reading these records can be a real event of a spiritual order. Advice, warnings to spouses, thoughts about real and imaginary love, reflections on the relationships of immediate family, evidence of the decisive importance of the home atmosphere in moral development the personality of the child - this is the range of ethical problems that concern the Queen.

Everyone is equal before God

Alexandra Fedorovna with her daughters

There is a lot of evidence that the tsar and queen were unusually simple in dealing with soldiers, peasants, orphans - in a word, with any person. It is also known that the Queen instilled in her children that everyone is equal before God, and they should not be proud of their position. Following these moral guidelines, she carefully monitored the upbringing of her children and made every effort to ensure their comprehensive development and strengthen the highest spiritual and moral principles in them.

Languages

As you know, before her marriage the Empress spoke two languages - French and English; about knowledge German language There is no information about German origin in the princess’s biography. Obviously this is due to the fact that Alix was raised personally by Queen Victoria, as the latter’s favorite granddaughter.

After her marriage, Princess Alix had to learn the language of her new homeland for a short time and get used to its way of life and customs. During the coronation in May 1896, after the disaster on the Khodynka Field, Alexandra Feodorovna went around the hospitals and “asked in Russian.” Baroness S.K. Buxhoeveden claimed (obviously exaggerating) that the Empress had mastered the Russian language perfectly and “could speak it without the slightest foreign accent, however, for many years she was afraid to conduct conversations in Russian, for fear of making some mistake.” Another memoirist, who also met Alexandra Feodorovna in 1907, recalled that “she speaks Russian with a noticeable English accent.” On the other hand, according to one of the people closest to the Empress, Captain 1st Rank N.P. Sablina, “she spoke Russian well, although with a noticeable German accent.”

Despite some discord among memoirists, we can confidently state that Alexandra Feodorovna coped with all the difficulties of the Russian language and spoke it confidently. Nicholas II contributed to this to a large extent; for many years he found time to read Russian classics aloud to her. This is how she acquired considerable knowledge in the field of Russian literature. Moreover, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna also mastered the Old Church Slavonic language. The pious Empress regularly attended church services, and the basis of her personal library in the Alexander Palace was made up of liturgical books.

Nevertheless, in most cases, the empress, for ease of communication with her husband, preferred English to the Russian language.

Charity

From the first days of her anointing, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna Romanova wanted to slightly change the life of high Russian society. Her first project was organizing a circle of needlewomen. Each of the court ladies in the circle had to sew three dresses a year and send them to the poor. True, the existence of the circle was short-lived.

Alexandra Fedorovna was an ascetic of charitable assistance. After all, she knew firsthand what love and pain were. In 1898, during the famine, she donated 50 thousand rubles from her personal funds for the hungry. She also provided all possible assistance to mothers in need. With the beginning of the First World War, the Empress donated all her funds to help the widows of soldiers, the wounded and orphans. At the height of the war, the Tsarskoye Selo hospital was converted to receive wounded soldiers. As mentioned above, Alexandra Fedorovna, together with her daughters Olga and Tatyana, were trained in nursing by Princess V.I. Gedrots, and then assisted her during operations as surgical nurses. On the initiative of the Empress, workhouses, schools for nurses, a school of folk art, and orthopedic clinics for sick children were created in the Russian Empire.

By the beginning of 1909, 33 charitable societies were under her patronage., communities of sisters of mercy, shelters, orphanages and similar institutions, including: the Committee for finding places for military ranks who suffered in the war with Japan, the House of Charity for crippled soldiers, the Imperial Women's Patriotic Society, the Guardianship of Labor Assistance, Her Majesty's School of Nannies in Tsarskoe Selo, Peterhof Society for Relief of the Poor, Society for Helping the Poor with Clothes of St. Petersburg, Brotherhood in the Name of the Queen of Heaven for Charity of Idiots and Epileptics, Alexandria Shelter for Women and others.

Alexandra Novaya

In 1981, Alexandra Feodorovna and all members of the royal family were canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, and in August 2000 by the Russian Orthodox Church.

During the canonization, Alexandra Feodorovna became Queen Alexandra Nova, since among the saints there was already a Christian saint with the same name, revered as the martyr Queen Alexandra of Rome...

The name “Chechen” appeared long before the revolution. But in the pre-revolutionary era and in the first decades of Soviet power, some other small Caucasian peoples were often called Chechens - for example, Ingush, Batsbi, Georgian Kists. There is an opinion that these are essentially the same people, individual groups of which, due to historical circumstances, were isolated from each other.

How was the word “Chechen” born?

According to another version, this designation comes from the name of the village of Bolshoy Chechen, where at the end of the 17th century the Russians first encountered the Chechens. As for the name of the village, it dates back to the 13th century, when the headquarters of the Mongol Khan Sechen was located here.

Meanwhile, a number of researchers, in particular A. Vagapov, believe that this ethnonym was used by the neighbors of the Chechens long before the Russians appeared in the Caucasus.

Where did the Chechen people come from?

From the Caspian Sea to Western Europe

After the end of the Caucasian War in 1865, about 5,000 Chechen families moved to the territory of the Ottoman Empire. They began to be called muhajirs. Today, their descendants represent the bulk of the Chechen diasporas in Turkey, Syria and Jordan.
In February 1944, more than half a million Chechens were deported by order of Stalin to areas of Central Asia. On January 9, 1957, they received permission to return to their previous place of residence, but a number of migrants remained in their new homeland - in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.

The first and second Chechen wars led to a significant number of Chechens moving to Western European countries, Turkey and Arab countries. The Chechen diaspora in Russia has also increased.

Today a friend called and said that they would soon publish an article on the topic I voiced "". And then I remembered that after that discussion () I wanted to write explanatory material. But I got wrapped up and forgot. Since there will be an article on this topic anyway, I won’t write out the whole material separately. But still, I will briefly outline some points.

There is no exact version of where the word “Chechen/Chechen” came from in Russian. There are two main ones. According to the first, the origin of the word is due to the settlement "Chechen-aul". According to the second, the word is a distorted Arabic “shishani” (“Chechen” in Arabic sounds like “shishani”).
How the Chechens were called in former (pre-Soviet) times is again unknown for sure. In the literature of those years, one can find both “Chechen” (in Lermontov’s “An angry Chechen crawls to the shore”) and “Chechen” (in the same Lermontov - “The old Chechen - a poor native of the Kazbek Ranges, When he accompanied me through the mountains, About the old days to me told the story..."; or in Zagoskin's "the son of Prince Mamstruk and a Chechen like him - he would have to cut everything") On what basis was it written "Chechen" or "Chechen" (based on the rhyme, or from the one prevailing at that time). word forms), unknown. modern dictionaries spelled "Chechen", outdated.

According to the spelling adopted during Soviet times, the word “Chechen” was used. This is what was written in books and newspapers, this is what was said in correct speech, this is what was studied in school. Based on what rules of the Russian language the word “Chechen” was derived is unclear. But apparently there were no special rules. Otherwise, it is difficult to combine in one rule such names as “Ossetian”, “Georgian” on the one hand, and “Kabardian”, “Dargin” on the other.

However, the word “Chechen” did not go away. It was used in everyday speech to emphasize the disdainful attitude towards the Chechens. It is not clear why “Chechen” was disparagingly. But apparently, distorting the name of a nationality in itself seemed offensive. An analogy is the use of the disparaging “Armenians” instead of the correct “Armenian”.

Why do today’s young people, not even always, know that the word “Chechen” was used? Perhaps for the reason that in the period before the beginning of the 90s in the USSR, little was known or heard about the Chechens.

The peak of recognition that there is such a nation as the Chechens occurred during the first war (94-96). And I think that it was precisely in those years that en masse it became customary in Russian society to call Chechens Chechens. This came, presumably, to a greater extent from the federal military that fought in Chechnya. It is clear that they used the word “Chechen” among themselves. From there it went exponentially. The soldiers left and spread the word “Chechen” - in their stories, books, songs about the war.

Moreover, because of all famous events, the number of people who learned that there is such a nation as the Chechens has increased by several orders of magnitude compared to Soviet times. And one of the common expressions about the Chechens was precisely Lermontov’s “the evil Chechen is crawling to the shore.” So, in the end, “Chechen” became fixed in the minds of many.

In the section on the question How to speak correctly? Chechens or Chechens? given by the author No one the best answer is: They will be more pleased if you call them Nokhchi (Chechen in the Chechen language) or Vainakh (this is what they call themselves proudly since ancient times!

At the end of the 12th or beginning of the 13th centuries, Christianity began to spread among the Chechens. Traces of it are still visible in the ruins of temples, in holidays: the Kists and Ingush celebrate New Year, the day of the prophet Elijah and Trinity Day. In many places they sacrifice rams in honor of the Holy Virgin, St. George and St. Marina.

At the beginning of the 18th century, Chechens converted to Sunni Islam. In their religious customs, in addition to Christian and Mohammedan elements, the Chechens retained many elements of primitive paganism, among other things, and the phallic cult. Small bronze naked priapic figurines, often found in the country, are worshiped by men as guardians of flocks, and by women who embrace them, begging for male children.

Among the Kists and Galgai we find an even more interesting custom. A childless woman goes to a hut with two exits, in which a priest, a representative of the matsel (Mother of God), sits in one shirt and asks him for the gift of children, after which she leaves through the other exit, always facing the priest.

During their independence, the Chechens, in contrast, did not know the feudal structure and class divisions. In their independent communities, governed by popular assemblies, everyone was absolutely equal.

We are all “uzdeni” (that is, free, equal), the Chechens say. Only a few tribes had khans, whose hereditary power dates back to the era of the Mohammedan invasion. This social organization (the absence of aristocracy and equality) explains the unparalleled resilience of the Chechens in the long struggle with the Russians, which glorified their heroic death.

The only unequal element among the Chechens were prisoners of war, who were in the position of personal slaves. They were divided into laevi yasirs; the latter could be ransomed and returned to their homeland. The legal system represents the usual features of tribal life. Blood feud Until recently it was in full force.

Men's clothing is the usual clothing of the Caucasian mountaineers: chekmen made of home-made yellow or gray cloth, beshmets or arkhaluks of different colors, mostly white in summer, cloth leggings and chiriki (a type of shoe without soles). An elegant dress is trimmed with braid. The weapons are the same as those of the Circassians; special attention is paid to their decoration. Women's costume is no different from the picturesque costume of Tatar women.

Chechens live in villages - auls. The houses are made of stone, neat and bright inside, while the mountain Chechens have stone houses and are less tidy. The windows are without frames, but with shutters to protect against cold and wind. On the entrance side there is a canopy for protection from rain and heat. For heating - fireplaces. In each house, the kunakskaya consists of several rooms, where the owner spends the whole day and only returns to his family in the evening. There is a courtyard next to the house, surrounded by fences.

Chechens are moderate in food, content with urek, wheat soup, shish kebab and corn porridge. Bread is baked in specially built round ovens in the yard.

The main occupations of the Chechens are cattle breeding, beekeeping, hunting and arable farming. Women, whose position is better than that of the Lezgins, are responsible for all the household chores: they weave cloth, prepare carpets, felts, burqas, and sew dresses and shoes.

Appearance

Chechens are tall and well built. Women are beautiful. Anthropologically, Chechens are a mixed type. Eye color, for example, varies (in equal proportions) from black to more or less dark brown and from blue to more or less light green. In hair color, transitions from black to more or less dark brown are also noticeable. The nose is often upturned and concave. The facial index is 76.72 (Ingush) and 75.26 (Chechens).

In comparison with other Caucasian peoples, the Chechen group is distinguished by the greatest dolichocephaly. Among the Chechens themselves, however, there are not only many subrachycephals, but also many pure brachycephals with a cephalic index from 84 and even up to 87.62.

Character

Chechens are considered cheerful, witty, impressionable people, but they enjoy less sympathy than the Circassians, due to their suspicion, tendency to treachery and severity, probably developed during centuries of struggle. Indomitability, courage, agility, endurance, calmness in the fight - these are the traits of the Chechens that have long been recognized by everyone, even their enemies.

Until recently, the ideal of the Chechens was robbery. Stealing cattle, taking away women and children, even if it meant crawling underground for dozens of miles and risking their lives during an attack, is a Chechen’s favorite thing to do. The most terrible reproach a girl can make to a young man is to tell him: “Get out, you’re not even capable of driving away a sheep!”

Chechens never beat their children, but not out of special sentimentality, but out of fear of turning them into cowards. The deep attachment of Chechens to their homeland is touching. Their songs of exile (“Oh birds, fly to Little Chechnya, bring greetings to its inhabitants and say: when you hear a cry in the forest, think of us, wandering among strangers without hope of an outcome!” and so on) are full of tragic poetry.

The Chechens are a Caucasian people of the Eastern Mountain group, who before the war occupied the territory between the Aksai, Sunzha and Caucasus rivers. Nowadays they live mixed with Russians in the Terek region, east of, between the Terek and the southern border of the region, from Daryal to the source of the Aktash River.
The Sunzha River divides the extremely fertile country of the Chechens into two parts: Greater Chechnya (upland) and Lesser Chechnya (lowland). In addition to the Chechens themselves (in the Grozny district), divided into several different tribes, they include:

Cysts;
Galgai;
Karabulaki;
The most hostile tribe to us, who moved entirely to ) and the Ichkerins.

All Chechens, not counting the Ingush, numbered 195 thousand people in 1887. The name “Chechens” originates from the name of the village of Bolshoi Chechen (on Argun), which once served as the central point for all meetings at which military plans against Russia were discussed. The Chechens themselves call themselves “nakhcha,” which translates as “people” or “people.” The closest neighbors of the Chechens call them “misdzhegs” (and kumuki) and “kists” ().

ABOUT ancient destinies There is no information about the Chechen tribe, except for fantastic legends about foreigners (Arabs), the founders of this people. Starting from the 16th century, the Chechens consistently fought against the Kumuks and, finally, against the Russians (from the beginning of the 17th century). In our historical acts, the name of the Chechens appears for the first time in the agreement between the Kalmyk Khan Ayuki and the Astrakhan governor Apraksin (1708).

Until 1840, the attitude of the Chechens towards Russia was more or less peaceful, but this year they betrayed their neutrality and, embittered by the Russian demand for weapons, went over to the side of the famous Shamil, under whose leadership for almost 20 years they waged a desperate struggle against Russia, which cost the latter enormous sacrifices. The struggle ended with the mass emigration of one part of the Chechens to Turkey and the resettlement of the rest from the mountains. Despite the terrible disasters that befell the first immigrants, emigration did not stop.