bestseller in 1910, although it shocked readers unaccustomed to taboo topics like illicit love, female sexuality, and homosexuality. The novel was published in ten editions and was translated into French, Italian, German, and English. Ultimately the novel became a silent movie in theaters across two continents. The heroine of the story is Tatiana Kuznetsova, a painter who cheats on her supportive but boring fianc? when she meets a dashing, brilliant Englishman named Edgar Stark during a train ride. She begins an affair, but when Stark becomes too possessive, jealous even of her art, she pulls away. Accidentally impregnated by Stark, however, she later decides to stay with him and the baby. Another key character is her homosexual friend Latchinov. The highlight of the story is a dialog between Tatiana and Latchinov, in which the latter confronts Tatiana with her own homosexuality, explaining that she (a masculine woman) and Stark (an effeminate man) are inverted members of their respective genders, and thus complement each other as “normal” men and women do. Suffering from a terminal disease, Latchinov reveals to her his own sexual (but unconsummated) love for Stark, and bids her farewell. See also: NEKRASOV, NIKOLAI ALEXEYEVICH
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Barker, Adele Marie. (2002). A History of Women’s Writing in Russia. New York: Cambridge University Press. Nagrodskaia, Evdokia, and McReynolds, Louise. (1997). The Wrath of Dionysus: A Novel. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Von Geldern, James, and McReynolds, Louise. (1998). Entertaining Tsarist Russia: Tales, Songs, Plays, Movies, Jokes, Ads, and Images from Russian Urban Life, 1779-1917. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
As part of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Nakhichevan Republic is located in South Asia, west of Azerbaijan proper and separated from this main territory by the narrow strip of Armenia. The land-mass of Nakhichevan is 5,500 square kilometers, occupying the southern slopes of the Darlagez range and the southwestern slopes of the Zangezur Mountains. The Araz river valley extends between these two ranges. Almost 75 percent of the territory is located at an elevation of 1,000 meters. Gapydjik, located in the Zangezur range, is the highest peak in the region at 3,904 meters. The region is also known for its volcanic domes and its frequent, severe earthquakes.
The republic is rich in mineral deposits including marble, gypsum, lime, and sulfur. There are abundant mineral springs including Badamli, Sirab, Nagajir, and Kiziljir.
Nakhichevan’s climate is continental, its temperature ranging from 26 degrees Celsius in summer months to -6 degrees Celsius in winter. The pre-Arazian plains region can be described as semi-arid. The higher elevations of the mountainous areas are characterized as tundra, typically cold and dry. Precipitation is considerably light throughout the region, with 200 to 300 millimeters annually recorded in the plains region. Periodic flash flooding occurs due to topography and sparse vegetation. Aside from the Araz, there are about forty smaller rivers in the country fed by rain and the mountain runoff of melting snows.
According to legend, Noah’s ark is said to have first touched land along the submerged peaks of the Zangezur Mountains before reaching Mount Ararat. The Republic’s name is derived from this legend, as “Nakhichevan” is a corruption of Nukkhtchikhan, the colony of Noah. Like the surrounding region, Nakhichevan sits at a strategic crossroads and has been subject to military intervention throughout much of its history. In the mid-eighteenth century, after successive battles for supremacy between Iran and Russia, Nakhichevan came under Russian control, in accordance with the treaty of Turkmanchai in 1828. In 1924 Josef Stalin designated Nakhichevan an autonomous republic, a status it maintains today within Azerbaijan.
The economy, based on agriculture, food processing, and mining, has suffered substantially since 1988 with loss of markets and imports due to the Karabakh conflict. While trade corridors are being restored to neighboring Iran and Turkey, economic recovery is slow. Since 2000 almost three-quarters of the state budget has been provided by the central government in Baku. See also: AZERBAIJAN AND AZERIS; CAUCASUS
BIBLIOGRAPHY
“Azerbaijan and Iran deal in LNG.” Alexander’s Gas amp; Oil Connections. July 5, 2002. «http://www .gasandoil.com/goc/news/ntc22239.htm». Swietochowski,Tadeusz, and Brian Collins. (1999). Historical Dictionary of Azerbaijan. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press. Twyman, Gregory. (2001). “Geography and Climate.” In USACC Investment Guide to Azerbaijan, 2001. Washington, D.C.: USACC.
(1802-1855), commander of Black Sea Fleet in Crimean war.
Pavel Stepanovich Nakhimov was born into a naval family in Gorodok, Smolensk province. In 1818 he completed his studies in the Naval Cadet Corps and served aboard ships in the Baltic fleet. From 1822 to 1825 Nakhimov participated in a round-the-world cruise abroad the frigate Kreiser-36. Nakhimov served aboard Vice- Admiral Geiden’s flagship Azov-74 at the battle of Navarino on October 21, 1827. During the subsequent 1828-1829 Russo-Turkish War, Nakhimov served in the Russian Mediterranean squadron blockading the Dardanelles, commanding a corvette. Following the end of the war Nakhimov returned to the Baltic fleet base at Kronshtadt. In 1834 Nakhimov was transferred to the Black Sea Fleet, where he was given command of a ship of the line. During the 1840s Nakhimov participated in numerous amphibious landings on the eastern Black Sea Caucasian coast, where the Russian military constructed a chain of coastal forts to interdict arms smuggling to Muslim rebels. Nakhimov was promoted to rear admiral in 1845. Seven years later Nakhimov was promoted to vice admiral and given command of a fleet division. As relations between the Russian and Ottoman empires worsened in the early 1850s, Nakhimov argued for an aggressive naval policy toward the Ottoman Empire. On November 30, 1853,
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Nakhimov led a squadron into Sinope harbor on the southern Black Sea coast. Using shell-firing artillery instead of smoothbore cannons, his ships annihilated the Ottoman squadron moored there, producing outrage in Europe. Following the outbreak of the Crimean War in 1854, Nahkimov was appointed commander of the Black Sea Feet and military governor of Sevastopol port in February 1855. Nakhimov supervised the offloading of artillery from the fleet’s warships to be integrated in a series of land fortifications under the direction of engineer E. I. Totleben. Nakhimov was mortally wounded by enemy fire on the Malakhov redoubt on July 10, 1855, and interred in the Vladimir church. A monument was raised to Nakhimov in 1898 in Sevastopol on the forty-fifth anniversary of the Sinope battle. The Imperial Navy honored his memory by naming ships in his honor; an Admiral Nakhimov cruiser was sunk by her crew after the Tsushima battle on May 27, 1905. Despite the USSR’s disavowal of much of its imperial history, the Soviet government on March 3, 1944, established a first- and second-class Nakhimov military order for valor for officers; a Nakhimov medal for lower ranks was also established, and naval cadets attended Nakhimov naval academies. The post-Soviet navy also has a Kirov-class Admiral Nakhi-mov cruiser (formerly Kalinin, renamed in 1992). See also: BLACK SEA FLEET; CRIMEAN WAR; MILITARY, IMPERIAL ERA; SINOPE, BATTLE OF
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Daly, Robert Welter. (1958). “Russia’s Maritime Past.” In The Soviet Navy, ed. Colonel M. G. Saunders. New York: Praeger.
The Russian people first discovered Napoleon as the young and bright general who stood out during the military campaigns of Italy in 1796-1797 and of Egypt in 1798-1799. By that time, he was deeply admired in Russia for his military genius by both civilians and soldiers such as Alexander Su-vorov, who saw in him a “new Hannibal.” Later on, Napoleon’s victories over European armies reinforced the myth of his military invincibility, until the retreat of Berezina in October-November 1812. Politically, the coup d’?tat by which Napoleon came to power in October 1799 (Eighteenth Bru-maire) at first reassured the tsar Paul and the conservative and liberal elites, who saw in this new authoritarian regime the end of disorders and excesses brought by the French Revolution. But this feeling did not last: Napoleon’s proclamation of his First Consulate for life on August 4,1802, followed by the establishment of
