needs and desires, all feelings, all attachments and links should become a normal state of affairs, the everyday condition of all humanity. Out of that cruel renunciation and extreme fanaticism you now wish to make this a general principle applicable to the whole community. You want crazy things, impossible things, the total negation of nature, man, and society!” Here Bakunin seemed to be renouncing his own, earlier brief leanings toward authoritarianism before adopting his anarchist philosophy. For Bakunin, government of any kind, like religion, is oppressive. The church, he said, is a “heavenly tavern in which people try to forget about their daily grind.” In order for people to gain freedom, religion and the state must be swept away along with all forms of “power over the people.” Their place will be taken by a “free federation” of agricultural and industrial cooperative associations in which science reigns.
Bakunin spent much of his life abroad. He emigrated from Russia in 1840 to live in central and western Europe. There he formed close ties with other famous Russian ?migr?s, such as Alexander Herzen and Nikolai Ogarev.
Bakunin’s relations with the First International and Karl Marx were stormy. Resenting Marx’s high- handedness and authoritarian political ideology, Bakunin was finally expelled from the communist world organization in 1870. Soon after this, his The State and Anarchy was published in several languages. In this work, in quasi- Hegelian terms, he describes the historical process by which mankind evolves from “bestiality” to freedom. See also: ANARCHISM; HERZEN, ALEXANDER IVANOVICH; NECHAYEV, SERGEI GERADIEVICH; POPULISM
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Venturi, Franco. (1966). Roots of Revolution: A History of the Populist and Socialist Movements in Nineteenth Century Russia, trans. Francis Haskell. New York: Gros-set amp; Dunlap. Weeks, Albert L. (1968). The First Bolshevik: A Political Biography of Peter Tkachev. New York: New York University Press.
On October 25, 1854, Prince A. S. Menshikov, commander of Russian ground forces in Crimea, launched an attack on the British supply base at Balaklava to divert an allied attack on Sevastopol. The battlefield overlooked the Crimean Uplands, which dropped steeply onto the Plain of Balaklava. The plain was divided into two valleys by the Causeway Heights, occupied by a series of Turkish-held redoubts.
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The British cavalry was camped at the foot of the escarpment. The Russians, led by Prince R. R. Liprandi, captured four redoubts at dawn on October 25. Although the British Commander, Lord Raglan, had a commanding view, he was short of infantry. Russian hussars advancing toward Bal-aklava were driven off by his only infantry regiment. Another large Russian cavalry force was driven off by the British Heavy Brigade, leaving the battle stalled. When the Russians began to remove captured guns from the redoubts, Raglan, still lacking infantry reinforcements, ordered the cavalry to stop them.
In error, the 661-strong Light Brigade under Lord Cardigan advanced down the valley toward the main Russian batteries. British troopers came under fire from fifty-four cannons to the front and on both flanks. Reaching the guns at a charge, the brigade drove off the Russian cavalry before retiring slowly back to their starting line, having suffered grievous losses: 118 killed, 127 wounded, and 45 taken prisoner. This astonishing display of cool courage demoralized the Russians. Total battle casualties included 540 Russians killed and wounded; 360 British, 38 French, and 260 Turks. It was little more than a skirmish in the much larger war. See also: CRIMEAN WAR
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Adkin, Mark. (1996). The Charge. London: Leo Cooper. Anglesey, Marquis of. (1975). A History of the British Cavalry. London: Leo Cooper. Lambert, Andrew. (1990). The Crimean War: British Grand Strategy against Russia, 1853-1856. Manchester: Manchester University Press. Seaton, Albert. (1977). The Crimean War: A Russian Chronicle. New York: St. Martin’s.
The traditional balalaika’s popularity may have peaked in the last decades of the eighteenth century, when foreign travelers reported seeing one in every home, although as numerous references in the works of Leo Tolstoy, Nikolai Gogol, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and others attest, it remained in widespread if diminishing use during the nineteenth century. Most closely associated with the Russians, the instrument, likely a borrowing from the Tatars, was used to a lesser extent by Ukrainians, Gypsies, Belarussians, and other ethnic groups.
The modern balalaika originated from the work of Vasily Andreyev (1861-1918), who in the 1880s created a standardized, three-string chromatic triangular-bodied instrument with fixed metal frets and other innovations. Andreyev went on to develop the concept of the balalaika orchestra consisting of instruments of various sizes, for which he later reconstructed the long-forgotten domra, a favorite instrument of the skomorokhi, or minstrels.
The modern balalaika is a hybrid phenomenon incorporating elements of folk, popular, and art or classical music and is widely taught from music school through conservatory. In addition to its use in traditional-instrument orchestras and ensembles, the balalaika’s repertoire includes pieces with piano and other chamber works, a number of concertos with symphony orchestra, and occasional appearances in opera. A vanishing contemporary village folk tradition, while possibly preserving some pre-Andreyev elements, utilizes mass-produced balalaikas played with a pick. Throughout much of its history the instrument has been used as a symbol of Russian traditional culture. See also: FOLK MUSIC; MUSIC
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Kiszko, Martin. (1995). “The Balalaika: A Reappraisal.” Galpin Society Journal 48:130-155.
The balalaika is one of a family of Eurasian musical instruments with long necks, few strings, and a playing technique based on rapid strumming with the index finger. First mentioned in written records in 1688 in Moscow, the balalaika existed in various forms with triangular and oval bodies, differing numbers of strings, and movable tied-on string frets, and was mainly used for playing dance tunes.
Following the Bosnian crisis of 1908 to 1909 and the formal annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina by Austria- Hungary, Russia abandoned its policy of reaching a modus vivendi with Vienna on the Balkans. Weakened by the Russo-Japanese War of 1904 to 1905 and the Revolution of 1905, it now sought a
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Residents of Gumurdjina, Macedonia, drive away invading Bulgarians, c. 1913. © MARY EVANS PICTURE LIBRARY defensive alliance with Serbia and Bulgaria as a way to regain influence in the region. Although the diplomatic discussions that ensued were not intended to further the already fractious nature of Balkan rivalries, events soon ran counter to Russia’s intentions.
The Young Turk Revolution of 1908 had sought to revitalize the Ottoman Empire but instead hastened its dismemberment. In 1911 the Italian annexation of Tripoli laid bare the weakness of the Turks, and the remaining Ottoman holdings in Europe suddenly became inviting targets for the states in the region. With Russian encouragement, Serbia and Bulgaria joined in a pact in March 1912, the genesis of a new Balkan League. Two months later Albania revolted and called upon Europe for support. That same month, May 1912, Bulgaria and Greece entered into an alliance, and in October, Montenegro joined the partnership.
What Russian foreign minister Sergei Sazonov saw as an alliance to counter Austro-Hungarian influence in the Balkans was now a league bent upon war. The March pact between Serbia and Bulgaria had already presaged the conflict by calling for the partition of Macedonia. Reports of impending war in the Balkans during the summer and fall of 1912, and also of a belief that Russia would come to the aid of its Slavic brethren, led Sazonov to inform Sofia and Belgrade that theirs was a defensive alliance. Nonetheless, by autumn public sentiment in southeastern Europe left the Balkan allies little choice.
On October 8, 1912, Montenegro attacked Turkey. On October 17 Serbia and Bulgaria joined the conflict,
