A few people were nobility, also called boyars. They were educated and held higher prestige. Towards the end of the 19th century many of the educated wanted to remove the Tsar and give people more power.
In 1917, World War I caused the bad conditions for workers in factories to become even worse with a food shortage. People blamed it on the Tsar and rebelled. There were riots in cities such as St Petersburg and Moscow. The Tsar was soon forced to abdicate in the February Revolution in 1917. After the October Revolution he was assassinated with his family. In 1922 most of the Russian Empire became the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or USSR when a communist government won the Russian Civil War. Some of the counties in the Empire escaped but the biggest ones were forced into the USSR.
International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a movement to save human life and health. Its headquarters are in Geneva, Switzerland.
Although it is a big international organisation, it is privately run. No government controls the Red Cross.
The Red Cross has a special job, given by international law. It is the only private group to have its jobs set out by international law.
Three things make up the movement:
The Red Cross, the Red Crescent and the Red Crystal,the three international symbols of the Red Cross
According to the Geneva conventions, there are five goals for International red cross and red crescent movements;
Cello
The cello is an instrument used to play music. Its name comes from the Italian language, so it is pronounced “chello”. The full word is violoncello, but when speaking, people normally call it the “cello”. A person who plays the cello is called a “cellist”. The cello is a very popular instrument. It belongs to the string family. It has many uses: as a solo instrument, in chamber music and also in orchestras. It is also occasionally used by pop musicians, e.g. by The Beatles, Björk and Jamiroquai.
The cello came into use in the 16th century. At that time there was a family of instruments called the viols. The instruments of the violin family were also developing and there were lots of experiments with instruments of different shapes and sizes. The violone was popular as a bass instrument. It was similar to a modern double bass. The name "violoncello", means "little violone". The cello also has 4 strings. The cello developed as the bass instrument in string groups (the double bass was added later, “doubling the bass” i.e. playing the same as the cello an octave lower). It was used to accompany in basso continuo, playing the same as the left hand of the harpsichord player. When composers started to write concerti grossi (pieces for orchestra and a small group of soloists), they started to give the cello small solos. In this way the cello started to be used as a solo instrument as well. Johann Sebastian Bach wrote six very famous suites for solo cello (unaccompanied). They are among the most beautiful pieces written for the cello.
Other composers started to write works for solo cello. Joseph Haydn wrote two solo concertos for the instrument. King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia loved the cello, and he inspired Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven to write music with interesting cello parts. The cello was now an equal with the other string instruments, no longer just playing a simple bass line.
In the 19th century many famous composers wrote cello music. A lot of them were cellists themselves e.g. Carl Davidov, David Popper and Julius Klengel. Some very famous composers who wrote important cello music were: Mendelssohn, Chopin, Schumann, Brahms, Dvořák, Fauré, Saint-Saëns, Elgar, Sergei Rakhmaninov. Two famous pieces written more recently for cello and orchestra are the "Cello Symphony" by Benjamin Britten and "The Protecting Veil" by John Tavener.
The parts of the cello are similar to those of the violin. The strings are tuned to C-G-D-A, (low to high). The cello is played sitting down and holding the instrument between the knees. There is an end-pin which rests on the ground. This is adjustable in height so that the player can put it in a position to make himself/herself comfortable. The cello is normally played with a bow.
The cello has a deep, rich sound. It starts two octaves below middle C, but can go very high. For the highest notes the player can use “thumb position” (a violinist cannot do this). This means that the left thumb is pressing down on one or two strings high up over the fingerboard (“high” means “nearer the bridge” where the high notes are. In fact, it is nearer to the floor). Although cello music is most frequently written in the bass clef, cello music often goes quite high so that the tenor clef is used especially in the solo repertory.
The most famous cellist of the early part of the 1900s was the Spanish cellist Pablo Casals. He made the cello popular as a solo instrument today. Casals also discovered the famous Suites for cello by J.S. Bach which had been lost.
Some other famous cellists of the last century include Emanuel Feuermann, Gregor Piatigorski, Paul Tortelier, Jacqueline du Pré and Mstislav Rostropovich.
Cellists of today include Yo-Yo Ma, Julian Lloyd Webber, Octavia Philharmonic, Mischa Maisky, Kirill Rodin, Tim Hugh, Robert Cohen, Ruslan Biryukov, Pieter Wispelwey and Truls Mørk.
European colonization of the Americas
European colonization of the Americas started with an attempt by the Vikings who came from Scandinavia, the north end of Europe around the year 1000. They explored and settled awhile in the colony they called Vinland in what was later called Newfoundland. However, they abandoned it.
In 1492 Columbus rediscovered America. Soon Spanish conquistadores and many other Europeans went to stay. Different European countries took different territories, and fought over who should get which land. Natives died in great numbers. The survivors lost most of their land, and most learned the language of their conquerors.
After a series of wars in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, most of the colonies became independent countries.
In the 15th century people in western Europe searched for trading routes between the Indies and Europe, because the old spice trade route was too hard and too long. Prices were also high because groups of merchants controlled the trade and could charge whatever they wished. Vasco da Gama had found a route around Africa that belonged to Portugal. Some geographers thought the world was so small, ships could sail west around the world to reach East Asia. The Genoese sea captain Christopher Columbus persuaded Queen Isabella of Castile to finance an expedition to do this.
In August 1492, Columbus left southern Spain with three ships: Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria. On October 12, after weeks at sea, the ships reached an island in the Bahamas. Columbus named this island San Salvador. He thought it was an island of India, so he called the people "Indians". Columbus next sailed farther into the Caribbean, reaching Cuba where he saw people smoking tobacco. Then he sailed back to Spain. The King and Queen gave Columbus many honors.
On his later voyages Columbus took more men, including missionaries. The ships also carried farm animals and supplies to establish colonies. He established a new settlement on an island that is now the Dominican Republic.
After they realized that they found a “New World” but not a new route to Asia, the main task of the Spanish was to gain the new lands. The conquistadors had permission from the Queen to explore and conquer the New World.