156-479: The Russian Protective Corps ( German : Russisches Schutzkorps , Russian : Русский охранный корпус , Serbian : Руски заштитни корпус / Ruski zaštitni korpus) was an armed force composed of anti-communist White Russian émigrés that was raised in the German occupied territory of Serbia during World War II . Commanded for almost its whole existence by Lieutenant General Boris Shteifon , it served primarily as
312-465: A de facto official language of Namibia after the end of German colonial rule alongside English and Afrikaans , and had de jure co-official status from 1984 until its independence from South Africa in 1990. However, the Namibian government perceived Afrikaans and German as symbols of apartheid and colonialism, and decided English would be the sole official language upon independence, stating that it
468-661: A lieutenant-general in 1780, and general of infantry in 1783, on the conclusion of his work there. From 1787 to 1791 he again fought the Turks during the Russo-Turkish War of 1787–1792 and won many victories. Suvorov's leadership also played a key role in a Russian victory over the Poles during the Kościuszko Uprising . As a major European power, Russia could not escape the wars involving Revolutionary France and
624-402: A second language , and 75–100 million as a foreign language . This would imply the existence of approximately 175–220 million German speakers worldwide. German sociolinguist Ulrich Ammon estimated a number of 289 million German foreign language speakers without clarifying the criteria by which he classified a speaker. As of 2012 , about 90 million people, or 16% of
780-612: A "commonly used" language and the Pan South African Language Board is obligated to promote and ensure respect for it. Cameroon was also a colony of the German Empire from the same period (1884 to 1916). However, German was replaced by French and English, the languages of the two successor colonial powers, after its loss in World War I . Nevertheless, since the 21st century, German has become
936-647: A 2,400-strong Partisan force advancing towards Jošanička Banja on 31 March. On 28 April, the 1st Regiment prepared defences along the Drina in Zvornik, Bajina Bašta and Loznica areas expecting the 16th and 17th Partisan Divisions to attempt a crossing there. On 30 April, the headquarters of the 4th Regiment was moved to Aleksinac . On 1–2 May, the 5th Regiment fought the Partisans in the village of Mravinci, sustaining casualties of 11 killed and 25 wounded. That summer,
1092-586: A Mosin-Nagant rifle, while new recruits and younger reservists did not begin arriving until after the Battle of Mukden in February 1905. The mobilization for the Russo-Japanese War also brought large numbers of reservists into the ranks who were more politicized, and began spreading revolutionary ideas among the troops. There were over 400 mutinies from autumn 1905 to summer 1906. At the outbreak of
1248-742: A Russian defeat by the German Empire in the Battle of Tannenberg (1914). In the west, a Russian Expeditionary Force was dispatched to France in 1915. Amid the Russian Revolution of 1917 the Imperial Russian Army collapsed and dissolved . The rebellious remnants of the Imperial army evolved to become part of the new Red Army . The Imperial Russian Army entered the Napoleonic Wars organized administratively and in
1404-633: A Swiss officer in Russian service, to prepare General Staff officers, though it did not have a significant role in the army until the post-Crimean War reforms. Guards units were tasked with protecting the Russian Emperor (the tsar) and the Imperial family. Throughout the Napoleonic Wars the Imperial Russian Guard was commanded by Grand Duke Konstantin . The guard grew from a few regiments to two infantry divisions combined into
1560-516: A decree in 1699 that created the basis for recruiting soldiers, military regulations for the organization of the army in 1716, and creating the College of War in 1718 for the army administration. Starting in 1700 Peter began replacing the older Streltsy forces with new Western-style regiments organized on the basis of his already existing Guards regiments. After the Napoleonic Wars
1716-671: A dragoon regiment were formed. Initially, they recruited children of the landless boyars and streltsy , volunteers, Cossacks and others. Commanding officers comprised mostly foreigners. After the war with Poland, all of the regiments were disbanded. During another Russo-Polish War , they were created again and became a principal force of the Russian Army. Often, regular and dragoon regiments were manned with datochniye lyudi for lifelong military service . Reiters were manned with small or landless gentry and boyars' children and were paid with money (or lands) for their service. More than
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#17327724341531872-560: A fascist unit. Timofejev writes that the Corps consisted of 5,584 men by the end of the war. Between 1941 and 1945, 6,709 of its members were killed, wounded or went missing. In total, 17,090 men served in its ranks over the course of the war. According to Rogozhin, several hundred men and their families, who had fled the camp in Lienz and who were subject to forced repatriation to the USSR , joined
2028-559: A greater need for regularity in written conventions. While the major changes of the MHG period were socio-cultural, High German was still undergoing significant linguistic changes in syntax, phonetics, and morphology as well (e.g. diphthongization of certain vowel sounds: hus (OHG & MHG "house") → haus (regionally in later MHG)→ Haus (NHG), and weakening of unstressed short vowels to schwa [ə]: taga (OHG "days")→ tage (MHG)). A great wealth of texts survives from
2184-671: A guard force for factories and mines between late 1941 and early 1944, initially as the "Separate Russian Corps" then Russian Factory Protective Group . It was incorporated into the Wehrmacht on 1 December 1942 and later clashed with the communist -led Yugoslav Partisans and briefly with the Chetniks . In late 1944, it fought against the Red Army during the Belgrade Offensive , later withdrawing to Bosnia and Slovenia as
2340-407: A half of the commanding officers were representatives from the gentry. In times of peace, some of the regiments were usually disbanded. In 1681, there were 33 regular regiments (61,000 men) and 25 dragoon and reiter regiments (29,000 men). In the late 17th century, regiments of the new type represented more than a half of the Russian Army and at the beginning of the 18th century were used for creating
2496-739: A large size on the Cossack uniform. Most of the already disarmed ranks of the Russian Corps spent several years in the DP camp Kellerberg (Austria), which gave them the right to wear a second badge for those who were in this camp. Former members of the Corps were subsequently allowed to resettle in the West, mainly in the United States and Argentina . In exile, veterans formed the Union of Officials of
2652-458: A native tongue today, mostly descendants of German colonial settlers . The period of German colonialism in Namibia also led to the evolution of a Standard German-based pidgin language called " Namibian Black German ", which became a second language for parts of the indigenous population. Although it is nearly extinct today, some older Namibians still have some knowledge of it. German remained
2808-475: A noble title at the attainment of an officer's rank (such promotions were later abolished during the reign of Catherine the Great ). Conscription of peasants and townspeople was based on quota system, per settlement. Initially, it was based on the number of households, later it was based on the population numbers. The term of service in the 18th century was for life. In 1793, it was reduced to 25 years. In 1834, it
2964-597: A number of international conferences, ensured Russia's influence in Europe, if only because of the proven capability of its army to defeat that of Napoleon and to carry the war to Paris. After the allies defeated Napoleon, Alexander played a prominent role in the redrawing of the map of Europe at the Congress of Vienna in 1815. Many of the prominent Russian commanders were feted in the European capitals, including London. In
3120-537: A part of the Grande Armée to ultimately change sides in the Convention of Tauroggen . This soon forced Prussia to declare war on France, and with its mobilisation, for many Prussian officers serving in the Russian Army to leave, creating a serious shortage of experienced officers in the Russian Army. After the death of Kutuzov in early 1813, command of the Russian Army passed to Peter Wittgenstein . The campaign
3276-633: A popular foreign language among pupils and students, with 300,000 people learning or speaking German in Cameroon in 2010 and over 230,000 in 2020. Today Cameroon is one of the African countries outside Namibia with the highest number of people learning German. In the United States, German is the fifth most spoken language in terms of native and second language speakers after English, Spanish , French , and Chinese (with figures for Cantonese and Mandarin combined), with over 1 million total speakers. In
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#17327724341533432-647: A regular army. Conscription in Russia was introduced by Peter the Great in December 1699, though reports say Peter's father also used it. The conscripts were called "recruits" (not to be confused with voluntary army recruitment, which did not appear until the early 20th century). Peter formed a modern regular army built on the German model, but with a new aspect: officers not necessarily from nobility , as talented commoners were given promotions that eventually included
3588-483: A result, the surviving texts are written in highly disparate regional dialects and exhibit significant Latin influence, particularly in vocabulary. At this point monasteries, where most written works were produced, were dominated by Latin, and German saw only occasional use in official and ecclesiastical writing. While there is no complete agreement over the dates of the Middle High German (MHG) period, it
3744-560: A rudimentary military presence was possible due to the distance from Europe. The campaign in France was marked by persistent advances made by the Russian-led forces towards Paris despite attempts by Alexander's allies to allow Napoleon an avenue for surrender. In a brilliant deceptive manoeuvre Alexander was able to reach, and take Paris with the help of the surrender of Marshal Marmont's beleaguered exhausted troops, before Napoleon, who
3900-512: A scorched earth policy of retreat, broken only by the Battle of Borodino on 7 September, when the Russians stood and fought. This was bloody and the Russians eventually retreated, opening the road to Moscow. Field Marshal Mikhail Kutuzov made the decision in order to preserve the army. By 14 September, the French captured Moscow. The Russian governor Prince Rastopchin ordered the city burnt to
4056-581: A small amount of small arms to maintain order and protect against partisan attacks. After examining the history of the Corps, the British decided to demobilise it in October. Its members were then sent in the Kellerberg DP Camp northwest of Villach , Austria; Rogozhin on 1 November 1945 issued an order that notified his subordinates of demobilisation. The Corps' badge was a white militia cross, in
4212-468: A stroke at the French strategic left wing. The main force of the blow was evaded by the French at the Battle of Mohrungen in late January 1807. In response, Napoleon mounted a counterattack designed to cut off the Russians. Bennigsen managed to avoid entrapment and the two sides fought the Battle of Eylau on 7 and 8 February 1807. After this indecisive bloodbath both sides belatedly went into winter quarters. In early June, Bennigsen mounted an offensive that
4368-601: Is a recognized minority language in the following countries: In France, the High German varieties of Alsatian and Moselle Franconian are identified as " regional languages ", but the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages of 1998 has not yet been ratified by the government. Namibia also was a colony of the German Empire, from 1884 to 1915. About 30,000 people still speak German as
4524-559: Is also notable for its broad spectrum of dialects , with many varieties existing in Europe and other parts of the world. Some of these non-standard varieties have become recognized and protected by regional or national governments. Since 2004, heads of state of the German-speaking countries have met every year, and the Council for German Orthography has been the main international body regulating German orthography . German
4680-558: Is an Indo-European language that belongs to the West Germanic group of the Germanic languages . The Germanic languages are traditionally subdivided into three branches: North Germanic , East Germanic , and West Germanic . The first of these branches survives in modern Danish , Swedish , Norwegian , Faroese , and Icelandic , all of which are descended from Old Norse . The East Germanic languages are now extinct, and Gothic
4836-478: Is called the "German Sprachraum ". German is the official language of the following countries: German is a co-official language of the following countries: Although expulsions and (forced) assimilation after the two World wars greatly diminished them, minority communities of mostly bilingual German native speakers exist in areas both adjacent to and detached from the Sprachraum. Within Europe, German
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4992-430: Is complicated by the existence of several varieties whose status as separate "languages" or "dialects" is disputed for political and linguistic reasons, including quantitatively strong varieties like certain forms of Alemannic and Low German . With the inclusion or exclusion of certain varieties, it is estimated that approximately 90–95 million people speak German as a first language , 10–25 million speak it as
5148-535: Is generally seen as ending when the 1346–53 Black Death decimated Europe's population. Modern High German begins with the Early New High German (ENHG) period, which Wilhelm Scherer dates 1350–1650, terminating with the end of the Thirty Years' War . This period saw the further displacement of Latin by German as the primary language of courtly proceedings and, increasingly, of literature in
5304-611: Is generally seen as lasting from 1050 to 1350. This was a period of significant expansion of the geographical territory occupied by Germanic tribes, and consequently of the number of German speakers. Whereas during the Old High German period the Germanic tribes extended only as far east as the Elbe and Saale rivers, the MHG period saw a number of these tribes expanding beyond this eastern boundary into Slavic territory (known as
5460-565: Is less closely related to languages based on Low Franconian dialects (e.g., Dutch and Afrikaans), Low German or Low Saxon dialects (spoken in northern Germany and southern Denmark ), neither of which underwent the High German consonant shift. As has been noted, the former of these dialect types is Istvaeonic and the latter Ingvaeonic, whereas the High German dialects are all Irminonic; the differences between these languages and standard German are therefore considerable. Also related to German are
5616-435: Is one of the major languages of the world . German is the second-most widely spoken Germanic language , after English, both as a first and as a second language . German is also widely taught as a foreign language , especially in continental Europe (where it is the third most taught foreign language after English and French), and in the United States. Overall, German is the fourth most commonly learned second language, and
5772-597: Is one of the three biggest newspapers in Namibia and the only German-language daily in Africa. An estimated 12,000 people speak German or a German variety as a first language in South Africa, mostly originating from different waves of immigration during the 19th and 20th centuries. One of the largest communities consists of the speakers of "Nataler Deutsch", a variety of Low German concentrated in and around Wartburg . The South African constitution identifies German as
5928-401: Is partly derived from Latin and Greek , along with fewer words borrowed from French and Modern English . English, however, is the main source of more recent loanwords . German is a pluricentric language ; the three standardized variants are German , Austrian , and Swiss Standard German . Standard German is sometimes called High German , which refers to its regional origin. German
6084-525: Is the Sachsenspiegel , the first book of laws written in Middle Low German ( c. 1220 ). The abundance and especially the secular character of the literature of the MHG period demonstrate the beginnings of a standardized written form of German, as well as the desire of poets and authors to be understood by individuals on supra-dialectal terms. The Middle High German period
6240-776: Is the most spoken native language within the European Union . It is the most widely spoken and official (or co-official) language in Germany , Austria , Switzerland , Liechtenstein , and the Italian autonomous province of South Tyrol . It is also an official language of Luxembourg , Belgium and the Italian autonomous region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia , as well as a recognized national language in Namibia . There are also notable German-speaking communities in France ( Alsace ),
6396-578: Is the only language in this branch which survives in written texts. The West Germanic languages, however, have undergone extensive dialectal subdivision and are now represented in modern languages such as English, German, Dutch , Yiddish , Afrikaans , and others. Within the West Germanic language dialect continuum, the Benrath and Uerdingen lines (running through Düsseldorf - Benrath and Krefeld - Uerdingen , respectively) serve to distinguish
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6552-433: Is understood in all areas where German is spoken. Approximate distribution of native German speakers (assuming a rounded total of 95 million) worldwide: As a result of the German diaspora , as well as the popularity of German taught as a foreign language , the geographical distribution of German speakers (or "Germanophones") spans all inhabited continents. However, an exact, global number of native German speakers
6708-689: The Ostsiedlung ). With the increasing wealth and geographic spread of the Germanic groups came greater use of German in the courts of nobles as the standard language of official proceedings and literature. A clear example of this is the mittelhochdeutsche Dichtersprache employed in the Hohenstaufen court in Swabia as a standardized supra-dialectal written language. While these efforts were still regionally bound, German began to be used in place of Latin for certain official purposes, leading to
6864-639: The Alamanni , Bavarian, and Thuringian groups, all belonging to the Elbe Germanic group ( Irminones ), which had settled in what is now southern-central Germany and Austria between the second and sixth centuries, during the great migration. In general, the surviving texts of Old High German (OHG) show a wide range of dialectal diversity with very little written uniformity. The early written tradition of OHG survived mostly through monasteries and scriptoria as local translations of Latin originals; as
7020-748: The Baku area of the Caucasus from Qajar Iran as much due to the news of Napoleon's defeat in 1812 as the fear by the Shah of a new campaign against him by the resurgent Russian Army where the 1810 campaign led by Matvei Platov failed. This was immediately used to raise new regiments, and to begin creating a greater foothold in the Caucasus. By the early 19th century, the empire also was firmly ensconced in Alaska reached via Cossack expeditions to Siberia, although only
7176-568: The Czech Republic ( North Bohemia ), Poland ( Upper Silesia ), Slovakia ( Košice Region , Spiš , and Hauerland ), Denmark ( North Schleswig ), Romania and Hungary ( Sopron ). Overseas, sizeable communities of German-speakers are found in Brazil ( Blumenau and Pomerode ), South Africa ( Kroondal ), Namibia , among others, some communities have decidedly Austrian German or Swiss German characters (e.g. Pozuzo , Peru). German
7332-537: The Early Middle Ages . German is an inflected language , with four cases for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative); three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter) and two numbers (singular, plural). It has strong and weak verbs . The majority of its vocabulary derives from the ancient Germanic branch of the Indo-European language family, while a smaller share
7488-511: The Esplanade hotel ; Colonel Anatoly Rogozhin took over as commander. On 12 May, Rogozhin surrendered to the British near Klagenfurt . At the time of surrender, the Corps consisted of 4,500 men, according to Puškadija-Ribkin; 3,500 men, according to Granitov . Members of Russian Protective Corps, alongside members of Ustaše Militia and SDK, were exempt from amnesty given by new communist authorities on August 3, because they were volunteers in
7644-417: The European Union 's population, spoke German as their mother tongue, making it the second most widely spoken language on the continent after Russian and the second biggest language in terms of overall speakers (after English), as well as the most spoken native language. The area in central Europe where the majority of the population speaks German as a first language and has German as a (co-)official language
7800-483: The First French Empire , but as an adversary to Napoleon , the leadership of the new emperor, Alexander I of Russia (r. 1801–1825), who came to the throne as the result of his father's assassination (in which he was rumoured to be implicated) became crucial. The Russian Army in 1805 had many characteristics of Ancien Régime organization: there was no permanent formation above the regimental level, senior officers were largely recruited from aristocratic circles, and
7956-459: The German High Command . The Corps never operated as a unified force, the regiment being its largest operational unit. The regiments were later assigned to act as auxiliaries to German or Bulgarian occupying forces. During its existence, it was reinforced with younger émigrés and former Soviet prisoners-of-war (POW). Russian émigrés living in Bulgaria , the Axis puppet Independent State of Croatia (NDH) and Hungary also came to Belgrade to join
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#17327724341538112-455: The German states . While these states were still part of the Holy Roman Empire , and far from any form of unification, the desire for a cohesive written language that would be understandable across the many German-speaking principalities and kingdoms was stronger than ever. As a spoken language German remained highly fractured throughout this period, with a vast number of often mutually incomprehensible regional dialects being spoken throughout
8268-408: The German-occupied territory of Serbia . Over the course of the uprising in Serbia in the summer of 1941, communist-led partisans killed approximately 300 Russian émigrés and injured many more, sometimes in acts of vengeance. In response, local Russians began to organize themselves into self-defense units. At the time, there were an estimated 10,000 Russian men within the former borders of Yugoslavia,
8424-485: The Gulf of Bothnia . The eastern part became the Russian Grand Duchy of Finland . The Russo-Turkish War broke out in 1805–06 against the background of the Napoleonic Wars . The Ottoman Empire , encouraged by the Russian defeat in the Battle of Austerlitz , deposed the Russophile hospodars of its vassal states Moldavia ( Alexander Mourouzis ) and Wallachia ( Constantine Ypsilantis ). Simultaneously, their French allies occupied Dalmatia and threatened to penetrate
8580-554: The Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I , and the other being Meißner Deutsch , used in the Electorate of Saxony in the Duchy of Saxe-Wittenberg . Alongside these courtly written standards, the invention of the printing press led to the development of a number of printers' languages ( Druckersprachen ) aimed at making printed material readable and understandable across as many diverse dialects of German as possible. The greater ease of production and increased availability of written texts brought about increased standardisation in
8736-427: The Kingdom of Yugoslavia . Poorly equipped and poorly trained, the Royal Yugoslav Army was quickly defeated. The Axis powers then dismembered Yugoslavia, with Serbia being reduced to its pre-1912 borders and placed under German military occupation. The Germans selected General Milan Nedić , a pre-war politician who was known to have pro-Axis leanings, to lead the collaborationist Government of National Salvation in
8892-411: The Minister of War in 1810, he instituted further reorganization and other changes in the army, down to company level, that saw the creation of separate grenadier divisions, and dedication of one brigade in each division to the jaeger light infantry for skirmishing in open order formations. The Nikolaev General Staff Academy was established in 1832 with the involvement of Antoine-Henri Jomini ,
9048-420: The Oder , Napoleon pushed east to seize Warsaw . In late December, the initial clashes between the French and Russians at Czarnowo , Golymin , and Pułtusk were without result. The French emperor put his troops into winter quarters east of the Vistula River, but the new Russian commander Levin August von Bennigsen refused to remain passive. Bennigsen shifted his army north into East Prussia and launched
9204-439: The Old High German language in several Elder Futhark inscriptions from as early as the sixth century AD (such as the Pforzen buckle ), the Old High German period is generally seen as beginning with the Abrogans (written c. 765–775 ), a Latin-German glossary supplying over 3,000 Old High German words with their Latin equivalents. After the Abrogans , the first coherent works written in Old High German appear in
9360-400: The Russian Imperial Army , which had been defeated by the Red Army in the Russian Civil War twenty years earlier. The émigrés had been living in occupied Serbia, and sided with the Germans because of their opposition to communism , and because they believed that their only hope of a non-communist Russia lay in a German victory in World War II. Skorodumov's concept of the Corps was that once
9516-419: The Russian Invasion of Northern and Central Manchuria . The army's share of the budget fell from 30% to 18% in 1881–1902. By 1904 Russia was spending 57% and 63% of what Germany and Austria-Hungary were spending on each soldier, respectively. Army morale was broken by crushing over 1500 protests from 1883 to 1903. The Mosin–Nagant rifle was produced in 1891 and in the same year began to be used. The army
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#17327724341539672-431: The Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of regular troops and two forces that served on separate regulations: the Cossack troops and the Muslim troops. A regular Russian army existed after the end of the Great Northern War in 1721. During his reign, Peter the Great accelerated the modernization of Russia's armed forces, including with
9828-461: The Soviet Union and were eventually set free and allowed to resettle in the West. Before World War II there were approximately 15,000 White Russian émigrés in the Balkans - their families had fled there in the aftermath of the 1917 Russian Revolution . General Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel relocated 25,000 of his Southern White Army to Yugoslavia through negotiations with the Yugoslav government in 1921. On 6 April 1941, Axis forces invaded
9984-427: The Sprachraum in Europe. German is used in a wide variety of spheres throughout the country, especially in business, tourism, and public signage, as well as in education, churches (most notably the German-speaking Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (GELK) ), other cultural spheres such as music, and media (such as German language radio programs by the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation ). The Allgemeine Zeitung
10140-422: The Standard German language in its written form, and the Duden Handbook was declared its standard definition. Punctuation and compound spelling (joined or isolated compounds) were not standardized in the process. The Deutsche Bühnensprache ( lit. ' German stage language ' ) by Theodor Siebs had established conventions for German pronunciation in theatres , three years earlier; however, this
10296-400: The Upper German dialects spoken in the southern German-speaking countries , such as Swiss German ( Alemannic dialects ) and the various Germanic dialects spoken in the French region of Grand Est , such as Alsatian (mainly Alemannic, but also Central–and Upper Franconian dialects) and Lorraine Franconian (Central Franconian). After these High German dialects, standard German
10452-401: The V Infantry Corps commanded at Borodino by General Lieutenant Lavrov and two cavalry divisions with their own artillery and train by the conclusion of the 1814 campaign. At Austerlitz in 1805 the artillery of the Guard included the Lifeguard Artillery Battalion under General Major Ivan Kaspersky. At Borodino in 1812 the artillery of the Guard included the Lifeguard Artillery Brigade (now
10608-408: The pagan Germanic tradition. Of particular interest to scholars, however, has been the Hildebrandslied , a secular epic poem telling the tale of an estranged father and son unknowingly meeting each other in battle. Linguistically, this text is highly interesting due to the mixed use of Old Saxon and Old High German dialects in its composition. The written works of this period stem mainly from
10764-399: The 1st Battalion, Colonel Shatilov the second, Colonel Endrzheevskiy the third, and Colonel Nestrenko the fourth. A second regiment was set up on 18 October, commanded by Colonel Zhukov. At first, the group was an independent force reporting to the German plenipotentiary general for economic affairs, NSFK - Obergruppenführer Franz Neuhausen . Although its ultimate aim was to help defeat
10920-403: The 2nd Regiment. On 1 December 1942, the Corps was incorporated into the Wehrmacht and all its members were required to swear an oath to German leader Adolf Hitler . The Corps grew in numbers throughout 1942, following an influx of volunteers from Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and Greece. By late 1942, the Corps totalled about 7,500 men, all of whom were Russian. During the re-organization, an attempt
11076-525: The 3rd Regiment moved to Požega and on 11 September to Čačak. On 20 September, the 1st Regiment fought a group of Partisans south of Loznica. Major combat between the 1st Regiment and Partisans erupted in Loznica itself on 23 September, causing the regiment to fall back to Šabac with losses of 7 killed and 23 wounded. Combat continued daily throughout September with the 1st Regiment suffering up to 53 casualties per day. On 22 September, combined Soviet Red Army and Bulgarian People's Army forces began entering
11232-679: The 3rd Regiment. The 1st Regiment fought in Loznica in April and participated in a large operation in Zapolje just south of Krupanj over the border with the NDH on 11–15 May, where it engaged in heavy combat with Partisan forces. From 1–8 July, the regiment was again stationed in Loznica and Ljubovija, participating in the defence of the Drina Bridge at Zvornik against the Partisans. During this time
11388-503: The 4th Regiment fought advancing Soviet troops and Partisans and defended the Čačak-Kraljevo road. On 23 October, the 1st Regiment abandoned Šabac and Klenak and moved to Laćarak , and then to Tovarnik on 24 October where they were ordered to hold their ground. The 4th Regiment fought in the Čačak area from 27 October to 2 November. It faced the Red Army and the Chetnik 2nd Ravna Gora Corps before being overpowered and forced to abandon
11544-571: The Belgian campaign, re-entered combat against the minor French forces in the East and occupied several important fortresses. Following the Napoleonic Wars, Emperor Nicholas I maintained a large army to keep Russia as a major power in Europe, which at the start of the Crimean War in the 1850s numbered 1,151,319 troops. The main focus of the army was on parades and artificial war games overseen by
11700-617: The Corps and integrate it more closely with the Wehrmacht . After considerable discussion, on 29 October the German High Command ordered a re-organization, renaming it the "Russian Protective Corps" and subordinating it completely to the German Commanding General in Serbia. On 30 November, the 4th Regiment was disbanded, its 1st Battalion assigned to the 1st Regiment and the rest of its manpower assigned to
11856-523: The Corps had fulfilled its obligation to Serbia, the land that had taken its members in, they would go to Russia to fight. The force was renamed the "White Russian Factory Protection" (German: Weissrussischer Werkschutz ) on 2 October. Skorodumov was elderly, ill, and not well known to the rank-and-file of White Russian émigrés. Two days after the formation of his Corps, the Gestapo arrested him, and command passed to Lieutenant General Boris Shteifon , who
12012-564: The Corps mediated an agreement between one group of Chetniks and the Germans in which the two parties agreed to fight the Partisans in Serbia. On 18 July, the 5th Regiment fought in Jošanička Banja and its regimental headquarters was moved there from Obrenovac, with battalion headquarters being established in Zvečan , Jošanička Banja, Ušće and Vučitrn . Elements of the 3rd and 5th Regiments fought
12168-466: The Corps was divided into two brigades. The 1st Brigade was placed under the command of Major General Dratsenko and its headquarters was established in the town of Aranđelovac on 22 May. Also in May, Kewisch submitted a report stating that if he were permitted to recruit from all areas of Europe under German control, he could raise a force of about 25,000 men. He also urged the higher authorities to re-organise
12324-620: The Corps wore the uniform of the Russian Imperial Army from 12 September 1941 to 30 November 1942 as well as the Czechoslovakian helmet. The uniform was sometimes worn with pips of the Royal Yugoslav Army, alongside special rank insignia on the collar. Wehrmacht uniforms and insignia were adopted on 1 December 1942, but the old uniforms continued to be worn for some time. Collar patches and sleeves showed
12480-653: The Danubian principalities at any time. In order to safeguard the Russian border against a possible French attack and support the First Serbian uprising , a 40,000-strong Russian contingent advanced into Moldavia and Wallachia . The Sultan reacted by blocking the Dardanelles to Russian ships in 1807 and declared war on Russia. The war lasted until 1812. In the Finnish War Alexander wrested
12636-723: The Empire. Its use indicated that the speaker was a merchant or someone from an urban area, regardless of nationality. Prague (German: Prag ) and Budapest ( Buda , German: Ofen ), to name two examples, were gradually Germanized in the years after their incorporation into the Habsburg domain; others, like Pressburg ( Pozsony , now Bratislava), were originally settled during the Habsburg period and were primarily German at that time. Prague, Budapest, Bratislava, and cities like Zagreb (German: Agram ) or Ljubljana (German: Laibach ), contained significant German minorities. In
12792-748: The Frisian languages— North Frisian (spoken in Nordfriesland ), Saterland Frisian (spoken in Saterland ), and West Frisian (spoken in Friesland )—as well as the Anglic languages of English and Scots. These Anglo-Frisian dialects did not take part in the High German consonant shift, and the Anglic languages also adopted much vocabulary from both Old Norse and the Norman language . The history of
12948-632: The German forces retreated from Yugoslavia and Greece. After Shteifon′s death in Zagreb , the Independent State of Croatia , on 30 April 1945, Russian Colonel Anatoly Rogozhin took over and led his troops farther north to surrender to the British in southern Austria . Unlike most other Russian formations that fought for Nazi Germany, Rogozhin and his men, who were not formally treated as Soviet citizens, were exempt from forced repatriation to
13104-483: The German language begins with the High German consonant shift during the Migration Period , which separated Old High German dialects from Old Saxon . This sound shift involved a drastic change in the pronunciation of both voiced and voiceless stop consonants ( b , d , g , and p , t , k , respectively). The primary effects of the shift were the following below. While there is written evidence of
13260-451: The German states; the invention of the printing press c. 1440 and the publication of Luther's vernacular translation of the Bible in 1534, however, had an immense effect on standardizing German as a supra-dialectal written language. The ENHG period saw the rise of several important cross-regional forms of chancery German, one being gemeine tiutsch , used in the court of
13416-681: The Germanic dialects that were affected by the High German consonant shift (south of Benrath) from those that were not (north of Uerdingen). The various regional dialects spoken south of these lines are grouped as High German dialects, while those spoken to the north comprise the Low German and Low Franconian dialects. As members of the West Germanic language family, High German, Low German, and Low Franconian have been proposed to be further distinguished historically as Irminonic , Ingvaeonic , and Istvaeonic , respectively. This classification indicates their historical descent from dialects spoken by
13572-531: The Grand Duchy of Finland from Sweden in 1809, and acquired Bessarabia from Turkey in 1812. The requirement of joining France's Continental Blockade against Britain was a serious disruption of Russian commerce, and in 1810 Alexander repudiated the obligation. This strategic change was followed by a substantial reform in the army undertaken by Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly as the Minister of War. At
13728-498: The Great maintained professional hereditary musketeer corps known as streltsy . These were originally raised by Ivan the Terrible ; originally an effective force, they had become highly unreliable and undisciplined. In times of war, the armed forces were augmented by peasants. The regiments of the new order , or regiments of the foreign order ( Полки нового строя or Полки иноземного строя , Polki novovo (inozemnovo) stroya ),
13884-793: The Imperial Army swore loyalty to the Russian Provisional Government after the abdication of Emperor Nicholas II , though the official status of the monarchy was not resolved until September 1917, when the Russian Republic was declared. Even after the February Revolution , despite its ineffectiveness on the offensive, the majority of the army remained intact and the troops were still at the front lines. The "old army" did not begin disintegrating until early 1918. Russian tsars before Peter
14040-655: The Irminones (also known as the Elbe group), Ingvaeones (or North Sea Germanic group), and Istvaeones (or Weser–Rhine group). Standard German is based on a combination of Thuringian - Upper Saxon and Upper Franconian dialects, which are Central German and Upper German dialects belonging to the High German dialect group. German is therefore closely related to the other languages based on High German dialects, such as Luxembourgish (based on Central Franconian dialects ) and Yiddish . Also closely related to Standard German are
14196-518: The MHG period. Significantly, these texts include a number of impressive secular works, such as the Nibelungenlied , an epic poem telling the story of the dragon -slayer Siegfried ( c. thirteenth century ), and the Iwein , an Arthurian verse poem by Hartmann von Aue ( c. 1203 ), lyric poems , and courtly romances such as Parzival and Tristan . Also noteworthy
14352-610: The NDH on 13–18 December. Elements subsequently moved to nearby Kiseljak on 18 December, fighting Partisans in the Kiseljak- Busovača area on 26–27 December. During this time, the 1st Regiment and a battalion of the 2nd Regiment guarded a bridgehead north of Brčko in order to allow German forces to withdraw through the town. In January 1945, elements of the Corps participated in the German capture of Travnik , part of Operation Lawine . Afterwards, they withdrew to Slovenia. On 30 April, Shteifon died while passing through Zagreb , in
14508-565: The Partisans on 4–5 August near the village of Rudnik. The Partisans attacked the positions of the 5th Regiment in Leposavić on 24 August. In September, the Corps reached its peak of 11,197 members. Several skirmishes occurred between the 1st Regiment and the Partisans in the Zvornik and Valjevo areas that month. On 7/8 September, the 2nd Regiment fought Partisans at the Ibar River , trying to deny them crossing. On 9 September, elements of
14664-574: The Prussian model by the emperor's father Paul I against wishes of most of its officer corps, and with his demise immediate changes followed to remove much of the Prussianness from its character. Although the army had conventional European parts within it such as the monarch's guard, the infantry and cavalry of the line and field artillery, it also included a very large contingent of semi-regular Cossacks that in times of rare peace served to guard
14820-438: The Russian Corps (СЧРК- Союз Чинов Русского Корпуса), registered as the Union of St. Alexander Nevsky. At its maximum strength, the Russian Corps was composed of: In May 1942, the Corps was divided into two brigades. The 4th Regiment was disbanded on 30 November 1942, and re-established on 15 December 1943. The 5th Regiment was created on 18 January 1944. The Russian Corps had three commanders during its existence: Members of
14976-548: The Russian Corps from mid-June 1945 in order to avoid deportation to the Soviet Union. Rogozhin′s men were spared that fate because they were not regarded as Soviet citizens. Immediately after disarmament and transfer to Austrian territory, the Corps settled in the Viktring International Camp. Next, the Corps moved to a separate camp in the area of Kl. St. Veit - Tigring and received from the British
15132-558: The Russian Empire's southern borders, and in times of war served as fully-fledged light cavalry, providing invaluable reconnaissance service often far better than that available to other European armies due to the greater degree of initiative and freedom of movement by Cossack detachments. The Ukrainian lands of the Empire also provided most of the Hussar and Ulan regiments for the regular light cavalry . Another unusual feature of
15288-613: The Russian Protective Corps was renamed the "Russian Corps in Serbia". On 15 October, the headquarters of the 4th Regiment was moved to Čačak. Elements of the 2nd Regiment arrived in Šabac on 22 October, then moved to Hrvatska Mitrovica in the NDH on 23 October, Vukovar two days later, Osijek on 26 October and then to Vinkovci and Stari Jankovci two days later. Further parts of the regiment moved to Zemun on 13 October, Ruma on 14 October, Vinkovci on 16 October, and Stari Jankovci on 24 October. On 19–22 October,
15444-470: The Russian soldier, in line with 18th-century practice, was regularly beaten and punished to instill discipline. Furthermore, many lower-level officers were poorly trained and had difficulty getting their men to perform the sometimes complex manoeuvres required in a battle. Nevertheless, the Russians did have a fine artillery arm manned by soldiers trained in academies and who would regularly fight hard to prevent their pieces from falling into enemy hands. Both
15600-661: The Russians and Austrians met a decisive military defeat at the hands of Napoleon during the Battle of Austerlitz in 1805. The War of the Fourth Coalition (1806–1807) involving Prussia, Russia, Saxony, Sweden and the United Kingdom against France formed within months of the collapse of the previous coalition. In August 1806, King Frederick William III of Prussia made the decision to go to war independently of any other great power except neighbouring Russia. Another course of action might have involved declaring war
15756-460: The active Russian Army was maintained at just over 1 million men, which was increased to 1.7 million during the Crimean War . It remained at around this level until the outbreak of World War I , at which point Russia had the largest peacetime standing army in Europe, about 1.3 million. The wartime mobilization increased this to a strength of 4.5 million, and in total 15 million men served from 1914 to 1917. In March [ O.S. February] 1917
15912-594: The actual rank in the Corps, while those who have held Tsarist rank wore rank insignia in the form of traditional shoulder straps denoting their former rank. Both types of insignia were improvised using rank stars from the Royal Yugoslav Army. German language German (German: Deutsch , pronounced [dɔʏtʃ] ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family , mainly spoken in Western and Central Europe . It
16068-594: The agreement of the Nedić regime. The key German personality involved in organising the Corps was Danckelmann's chief of staff, Oberst Erich Kewisch. Recruitment and screening of volunteers was carried out by Major General Vladimir Kreyter , a White Russian émigré in German service who was the head of the Russian Intelligence Office (German: Vertrauensstelle ) in Serbia. The corps drew its initial manpower from émigré White Russians and officers of
16224-533: The areas within which they operated. The Corps was initially used to guard mines at Krupanj in the west of the territory, and later at Bor in the west and Trepča in the south. The 1st Regiment was initially deployed in Loznica , Ljubovija and other towns along the Drina river, which formed the western border of the occupied territory. The 2nd Regiment first operated in towns such as Negotin , Bor, and Majdanpek near
16380-671: The army that was seen twice during the period was the constitution of the Narodnoe Opolcheniye , for the first time since the coming to power of the Romanov dynasty . In 1806, most of the Inspections were abolished, and replaced by divisions based on the French model although still territorially based. By 1809, there were 25 infantry divisions as permanent field formations, each organised around three infantry brigade and one artillery brigade. When Barclay de Tolly became
16536-683: The borders of the occupied territory along the Danube and Drina rivers. They were often deployed alongside various Serbian collaborationist forces such as the Serbian State Guard (SDS) and the Serbian Volunteer Corps (SDK), with whom they were most closely allied. The Corps also closely cooperated with the Croatian fascist Ustaše when operating in the neighbouring NDH. Members of the Corps also plundered peasants in
16692-600: The centre of the occupied territory. From the spring of 1944, the Corps focused increasingly on fighting the Partisans penetrating Serbia from Bosnia and the Sandžak , and the first clashes with Chetnik groups did not occur until 1944. On 5 January 1944, combat with the Partisans in Klenak resulted in the deaths of three Cossacks of the 1st Regiment. On 18 January, the 5th Regiment was formed in Obrenovac . The 3rd Regiment outfought
16848-683: The city. The Chetniks captured 339 of its soldiers and turned them over to the Soviets. On 12 November, the 1st Regiment moved via railway through Vinkovci to Brčko , with elements deployed north across the Sava in Gunja . On 8 December it regrouped north of the Sava and on 11–13 December it fought the Partisans in and near the village of Vrbanja , killing forty-three. The 4th Regiment arrived in Sarajevo in
17004-543: The communist forces in the Soviet Union , the Corps was used almost exclusively to fight the Partisans in areas of occupied Yugoslavia, initially in a defensive role. At its maximum strength, it was composed of one cavalry regiment and four infantry regiments. Between the autumn of 1941 and the spring of 1944, the Corps was primarily responsible for protecting weapons factories, mines, roads, and railroads throughout occupied Serbia in accordance with priorities established by
17160-799: The defence of the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea littorals, and 17 infantry and 3.5 cavalry divisions were to be transported in from Siberia and Turkestan. Among the army's higher formations during the war were the Western Front , the Northwestern Front and the Romanian Front . The war in the East began with Russian invasion of East Prussia (1914) and the Austro-Hungarian province of Galicia . The first ended in
17316-430: The development of non-local forms of language and exposed all speakers to forms of German from outside their own area. With Luther's rendering of the Bible in the vernacular, German asserted itself against the dominance of Latin as a legitimate language for courtly, literary, and now ecclesiastical subject-matter. His Bible was ubiquitous in the German states: nearly every household possessed a copy. Nevertheless, even with
17472-456: The dialect so as to make the work as natural and accessible to German speakers as possible. Copies of Luther's Bible featured a long list of glosses for each region, translating words which were unknown in the region into the regional dialect. Luther said the following concerning his translation method: One who would talk German does not ask the Latin how he shall do it; he must ask the mother in
17628-462: The eastern border with Romania. At the time, the two regiments were operationally subordinated to the German 704th Infantry Division . In November 1941, the Corps began actively collaborating with the Chetniks of Draža Mihailović against the Partisans. On 8 December 1941, the Corps defended the Stolice mine near Krupanj against the Partisans. By late 1941, it had 1,500 members. The 3rd Regiment
17784-519: The eastern provinces of Banat , Bukovina , and Transylvania (German: Banat, Buchenland, Siebenbürgen ), German was the predominant language not only in the larger towns—like Temeschburg ( Timișoara ), Hermannstadt ( Sibiu ), and Kronstadt ( Brașov )—but also in many smaller localities in the surrounding areas. In 1901, the Second Orthographic Conference ended with a (nearly) complete standardization of
17940-428: The emperor approved a conscription statute that made military service compulsory for all 21-year-old males with the term reduced for land army to six years plus nine years in reserve. This conscription created a large pool of experienced military reservists who would be ready to mobilize in case of war. It also permitted the Russian Empire to maintain a smaller standing army in peacetime. The system of military education
18096-570: The emperor. Following Russia's defeat in the Crimean War during the reign of Emperor Alexander II , the Minister of War , Count Dmitry Milyutin , instituted a series of military reforms, which had their basis in the emancipation of the serfs in 1861 . The modernization of the Imperial Army included reorganizing the Ministry of War for better centralized leadership, the creation of new technical and support organizations, changes to finances, and
18252-468: The field on the same principles as it had been in the 18th century of units being assigned to campaign headquarters, and the "army" being known either for its senior commander, or the area of its operations. Administratively, the regiments were assigned to Military Inspections, the predecessors of military districts , and included the conscript training depots, garrisons and fortress troops and munitions magazines . The army had been thoroughly reorganised on
18408-480: The force. It was armed by the Germans with weapons captured from the Royal Yugoslav Army, and its command language was Russian . Throughout its existence it maintained good relations with the Nedić administration. While guarding facilities, members of the Corps were largely assigned to manning brick bunkers , protecting the railway in the Ibar River valley, the Bor , Trepča , Majdanpek , and Krupanj mines, as well as
18564-423: The ground and large parts of it were destroyed. Alexander I refused to capitulate, and with no sign of clear victory in sight, Napoleon was forced to withdraw from Moscow's ruins. So the disastrous Great Retreat began, with 370,000 casualties largely as a result of starvation and the freezing weather conditions, and 200,000 captured. Napoleon narrowly escaped total annihilation at the Battle of Berezina , but his army
18720-435: The home, the children on the streets, the common man in the market-place and note carefully how they talk, then translate accordingly. They will then understand what is said to them because it is German. When Christ says ' ex abundantia cordis os loquitur ,' I would translate, if I followed the papists, aus dem Überflusz des Herzens redet der Mund . But tell me is this talking German? What German understands such stuff? No,
18876-527: The imminent threat of Russian invasion of Poland. The Grande Armée, 650,000 men (270,000 Frenchmen and many soldiers of allies or subject powers), crossed the Neman on 23 June 1812. Russia proclaimed a Patriotic War, while Napoleon proclaimed a Second Polish war, but against the expectations of the Poles who supplied almost 100,000 troops for the invasion force he avoided any concessions toward Poland, having in mind further negotiations with Russia. Russia maintained
19032-481: The influence of Luther's Bible as an unofficial written standard, a widely accepted standard for written German did not appear until the middle of the eighteenth century. German was the language of commerce and government in the Habsburg Empire , which encompassed a large area of Central and Eastern Europe . Until the mid-nineteenth century, it was essentially the language of townspeople throughout most of
19188-506: The largest concentrations of German speakers are in the states of Rio Grande do Sul (where Riograndenser Hunsrückisch developed), Santa Catarina , and Espírito Santo . Russian Imperial Army The Imperial Russian Army or Russian Imperial Army ( Russian : Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия , romanized : Rússkaya imperátorskaya ármiya ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire , active from 1721 until
19344-575: The majority of whom lived in occupied Serbia. The Russian Protective Corps, founded in Belgrade under the command of General Mikhail Skorodumov on 12 September 1941, was initially known as the "Separate Russian Corps" ( German : Das Abgesonderte Russische Korps ; Russian : Отдельный русский корпус ). It was established by an order of the German Military Commander in Serbia, General der Flieger Heinrich Danckelmann , with
19500-436: The middle of which was a Gallipoli cross with the dates "1917-1921, 1941-1945", indicating two periods of the anti-communist struggle. The badge was established by Order to the Russian Corps N100 of July 26, 1945. Those who had the right to wear this sign received a corresponding certificate signed by the commander and with the seal of the Russian Corps. In emigration, these signs were worn in a miniature (“tailcoat”) version or in
19656-402: The mother in the home and the plain man would say, Wesz das Herz voll ist, des gehet der Mund über . Luther's translation of the Bible into High German was also decisive for the German language and its evolution from Early New High German to modern Standard German. The publication of Luther's Bible was a decisive moment in the spread of literacy in early modern Germany , and promoted
19812-423: The ninth century, chief among them being the Muspilli , Merseburg charms , and Hildebrandslied , and other religious texts (the Georgslied , Ludwigslied , Evangelienbuch , and translated hymns and prayers). The Muspilli is a Christian poem written in a Bavarian dialect offering an account of the soul after the Last Judgment , and the Merseburg charms are transcriptions of spells and charms from
19968-450: The occupied territory from the east, and joined Partisan forces as part of the Belgrade Offensive , aimed at capturing the Serbian capital. On 8 October, the 2nd Regiment headquarters in Požarevac was evacuated as Soviet armour approached the town. As parts of the regiment moved towards Belgrade and Grocka , they came into contact with Soviet troops and armour in the Ripanj area south of Belgrade, sustaining heavy casualties. On 10 October
20124-470: The previous year and joining Austria and Russia. This might have contained Napoleon and prevented the Allied disaster in the Battle of Austerlitz . In any event, the Russian Army, an ally of Prussia, still remained far away when Prussia declared war. Napoleon smashed the main Prussian armies at the Battle of Jena–Auerstedt on 14 October 1806 and hunted down the survivors during the remainder of October and November. Having destroyed all Prussian forces west of
20280-462: The pronunciation of the ending -ig as [ɪk] instead of [ɪç]. In Northern Germany, High German was a foreign language to most inhabitants, whose native dialects were subsets of Low German. It was usually encountered only in writing or formal speech; in fact, most of High German was a written language, not identical to any spoken dialect, throughout the German-speaking area until well into the 19th century. However, wider standardization of pronunciation
20436-446: The regiment allowed the passage of 379 wounded Croatian soldiers and civilians, 1,000 healthy soldiers and as many refugees, sustaining casualties of two killed and seventeen wounded. It clashed with the Partisans over the village of Nedelica on 19 July. Meanwhile, the 2nd Regiment clashed with the Partisans around the town of Negotin. The 4th Regiment was re-established on 15 December, and was based in Jagodina , Paraćin and Ćuprija in
20592-449: The same time, Russia continued its expansion. The Congress of Vienna created the Kingdom of Poland (Russian Poland), to which Alexander granted a constitution. Thus, Alexander I became the constitutional monarch of Poland while remaining the autocratic Emperor of Russia. He was also the Grand Duke of Finland, which had been annexed from Sweden in 1809 and awarded autonomous status. The Russo-French alliance gradually became strained. Napoleon
20748-474: The same year, under the influence of religious mysticism, Alexander initiated the creation of the Holy Alliance , a loose agreement pledging the rulers of the nations involved—including most of Europe—to act according to Christian principles. This emerged in part due to the influence religion had played in the army during the war of 1812, and its influence on the common soldiers and officers alike. The Russian occupation forces in France, though not participating in
20904-492: The states of North Dakota and South Dakota , German is the most common language spoken at home after English. As a legacy of significant German immigration to the country , German geographical names can be found throughout the Midwest region , such as New Ulm and Bismarck (North Dakota's state capital), plus many other regions. A number of German varieties have developed in the country and are still spoken today, such as Pennsylvania Dutch and Texas German . In Brazil,
21060-442: The system of military training getting a complete overhaul. The Main Staff of the Army was subordinated to the Ministry of War and the Department of the General Staff became the operations section of the Main Staff. The engineering, medical, supply, and ordnance services of the army were also placed under the Ministry of War. The last part of Milyutin's reforms focused on military recruitment and occurred in 1874. On 1 January 1874,
21216-449: The third most commonly learned second language in the United States in K-12 education. The language has been influential in the fields of philosophy, theology, science, and technology. It is the second most commonly used language in science and the third most widely used language on websites . The German-speaking countries are ranked fifth in terms of annual publication of new books, with one-tenth of all books (including e-books) in
21372-412: The treaty, and Alexander made use of his alliance with Napoleon for further expansion. Napoleon created the Duchy of Warsaw out of former Prussian territory. At the Congress of Erfurt (September–October 1808) Napoleon and Alexander agreed that Russia should force Sweden to join the Continental System, which led to the Finnish War of 1808–1809 and to the division of Sweden into two parts separated by
21528-533: The war, Emperor Nicholas II appointed his cousin, Grand Duke Nicholas as Commander-in-Chief. On mobilization, the Russian Army totalled 115 infantry and 38 cavalry divisions with nearly 7,900 guns (7,100 field guns, 540 field howitzers and 257 heavy guns). There were only 2 army ambulances and 679 cars. Divisions were allocated as follows: 32 infantry and 10.5 cavalry divisions to operate against Germany, 46 infantry and 18.5 cavalry divisions to operate against Austria-Hungary, 19.5 infantry and 5.5 cavalry divisions for
21684-438: The world being published in German. German is most closely related to other West Germanic languages, namely Afrikaans , Dutch , English , the Frisian languages , and Scots . It also contains close similarities in vocabulary to some languages in the North Germanic group , such as Danish , Norwegian , and Swedish . Modern German gradually developed from Old High German , which in turn developed from Proto-Germanic during
21840-415: The written form of German. One of the central events in the development of ENHG was the publication of Luther's translation of the Bible into High German (the New Testament was published in 1522; the Old Testament was published in parts and completed in 1534). Luther based his translation primarily on the Meißner Deutsch of Saxony , spending much time among the population of Saxony researching
21996-429: Was a "neutral" language as there were virtually no English native speakers in Namibia at that time. German, Afrikaans, and several indigenous languages thus became "national languages" by law, identifying them as elements of the cultural heritage of the nation and ensuring that the state acknowledged and supported their presence in the country. Today, Namibia is considered to be the only German-speaking country outside of
22152-417: Was also reformed, and elementary education was made available to all the draftees. Milyutin's reforms are regarded as a milestone in the history of Russia: they dispensed with the military recruitment and professional army introduced by Peter the Great and created the Russian army such as it continued into the 21st century. Up to Dmitry Milyutin's reforms in 1874 the Russian Army had no permanent barracks and
22308-407: Was an artificial standard that did not correspond to any traditional spoken dialect. Rather, it was based on the pronunciation of German in Northern Germany, although it was subsequently regarded often as a general prescriptive norm, despite differing pronunciation traditions especially in the Upper-German-speaking regions that still characterise the dialect of the area today – especially
22464-613: Was billeted in dugouts and shacks. The army saw service against the Turks during the Russo-Turkish War . During the Boxer Rebellion 100,000 Russian troops fought to pacify part of Manchuria and to secure its railroads. Some Russian military forces were already stationed in China before the war, and one of them met a grotesque end at the Battle of Pai-t'ou-tzu when the dead Russians were mutilated by Chinese troops, who decapitated them and sliced crosses into their bodies. Other battles fought include Boxers attacks on Chinese Eastern Railway , Defence of Yingkou , Battles on Amur River , and
22620-403: Was concerned about Russia's intentions in the strategically vital Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits. At the same time, Alexander viewed the Duchy of Warsaw , the French-controlled reconstituted Polish state, with suspicion. The result was the War of the Sixth Coalition from 1812 to 1814. In 1812, Napoleon invaded Russia to compel Alexander I to remain in the Continental System and to remove
22776-548: Was defeated by Japan during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–05, notable engagements being the Siege of Port Arthur and the Battle of Mukden . After the mobilizations in the spring of 1905, by the summer the Russian army in the Far East grew to a strength of almost one million well-equipped and -trained soldiers facing an exhausted Japanese army, but the Russian naval defeat at the Battle of Tsushima made peace talks more desirable. The first reservists to be mobilized were older men with minimal training, some of whom had never held
22932-443: Was established in Banjica near Belgrade on 8 January 1942, placed under the command of Colonel Shapilov, and deployed to Kosovska Mitrovica near the Trepča mines in the south, where it was operationally subordinated to the Bulgarian 1st Occupation Corps . The 4th Regiment was established on 29 April with General Cherepov as commander and was deployed to the central west region of the occupied territory area around Kraljevo . In May,
23088-427: Was established on the basis of public speaking in theatres and the media during the 20th century and documented in pronouncing dictionaries. Official revisions of some of the rules from 1901 were not issued until the controversial German orthography reform of 1996 was made the official standard by governments of all German-speaking countries. Media and written works are now almost all produced in Standard German which
23244-404: Was made to expand the Corps further by recruiting Soviet POWs, but the first experiment with 300 POWs proved unsuccessful and was not repeated. On 9 December 1942, the 1st Regiment started to be transformed with the arrival of Kuban Cossacks led by Major General Naumenko . By January 1943, it consisted entirely of Cossacks. On 17 March 1943, Major General Gontarev replaced Shapilov as commander of
23400-454: Was noted for the number of sieges the Russian Army conducted and a large number of Narodnoe Opolcheniye ( irregular troops ) that continued to serve in its ranks until newly trained recruits could reach the area of combat operations. Aleksey Petrovich Yermolov emerged as one of the leading and talented senior commanders of the army, participating in many important battles, including the Battle of Leipzig . In 1813 Russia gained territory in
23556-464: Was out of position and rushing to Paris to defend it, could reinforce its garrison, effectively ending the campaign. More pragmatically, in 1814 Russia, Britain, Austria, and Prussia had formed the Quadruple Alliance . The allies created an international system to maintain the territorial status quo and prevent the resurgence of an expansionist France. This included each ally maintaining a corps of occupation in France. The Quadruple Alliance, confirmed by
23712-466: Was quickly parried by the French. Napoleon launched a pursuit toward Königsberg but the Russians successfully fended it off at the Battle of Heilsberg . On 14 June, Bennigsen unwisely fought the Battle of Friedland with a river at his back and saw his army mauled with heavy losses. Following this defeat, Alexander was forced to sue for peace with Napoleon at Tilsit on 7 July 1807, with Russia becoming Napoleon's ally. Russia lost little territory under
23868-400: Was reduced to 20 years plus five years in the reserve, and in 1855 to 12 years plus three years in the reserve. The history of the Russian Army in this era was principally linked to the name of Russian General Alexander Suvorov , considered to be one of the few great generals in history who never lost a battle. From 1777 to 1783 Suvorov served in the Crimea and in the Caucasus , becoming
24024-400: Was said to have had "warm and friendly relations with [Milan] Nedić". The Germans envisaged a force 3,000-strong and organized into three regiments, tasked with protecting factories, other industrial concerns, and mines that were producing materials to support the German war-effort. The Corps initially consisted of a single regiment, organized into four battalions. Major General Egorov commanded
24180-447: Was the Russian term that was used to describe military units that were formed in the Tsardom of Russia in the 17th century according to the Western European military standards. There were different kinds of regiments, such as the regulars ( infantry ), dragoons , and reiters . In 1631, the Russians created two regular regiments in Moscow. During the Smolensk War of 1632–1634, six more regular regiments, one reiter regiment, and
24336-417: Was wrecked nevertheless. By December only 20,000 fit soldiers from the main army were among those who recrossed the Neman at Kaunas . By this time Napoleon had abandoned his army to return to Paris and prepare a defence against the advancing Russians. As the French retreated, the Russians pursued them into Poland and Prussia, causing the Prussian Corps under Ludwig Yorck von Wartenburg that had been formerly
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