Slava is also a popular name in Slavic Culture. For example the name of Russia's Head Coach when Canada was pwnd in 2008 was Slava Bykov
So with that fun fact, welcome to the Slavic thread. Who can post here? Well anyone, it's an NSG topic. Who's encouraged to post here? Slavs and those who are interested in Slavic Culture, and/or has views on Pan-Slavism. No, we're not currently working to take over the World. The World's too damn big to run, and we're lazy
From an essay of a student, (sent to me by one of my friends who teaches in Russia) "Slavs were very free loving people. Mongols tried to enslave them, but even there, Slavs refused to work."
I just find that hilarious. Anyways, here are the major Slavic Groups:
Russians: 150 million
Poles: 60 million
Ukrainians: 50 million
Belorussians: 10 million
Serbs: 10 million
Czechs: 11.5 million
Bulgarians: 9.5 million
Croats: 9 million
Slovaks: 6.5 million
Bosniaks: 3 million
Slovenes: 2.5 million
Macedonians: 2.5 million
Montenegrins: 1 million
Total: 325.5 million - yeah, we're a big deal
These are very rough estimates taken from Wikidorkia, so they might be off. But I think that saying that there are somewhere between 300 million and 350 million Slavs would be an accurate statement. Most Slavs are Christians. Russians, Ukrainians, Belorussians, Serbs, Bulgarians, Macedonians and Montenegrins, belong to the Orthodox Church, whereas Poles, Czechs, Slovaks, Croats and Slovenes belong to the Catholic Church. Since Orthodox Church is cooler, we have more adherents
Bosniaks are the only major Slavic Group whose religion is Sunni Islam. There was a time period when Russia could've acted as a unifying force for all Slavs. I'm referring to the time period of Csar Alexander I, the "Dude I just ... my country" Csar. Europe was falling into Napoleon's hands, and most of the Slavs were located either in the Russian Empire, or in parts of the Austro-Hungarian and German Empires, as well as the Ottoman Empire. After Ruymyantsev's Reforms, the Ottoman Empire was losing wars to Russia left and right. And this is pre-1815 period we're talking about, when the Russian Army was at one of its Zeniths. Taking on the Ottoman Empire would've been a breeze, as would allying with Napoleon and partitioning the German and Austro-Hungarian Empires, in exchange for Russia getting Poland from France. So it was definitely doable, and although the Prussians and Austro-Hungarians would've objected, if you combine the Franco-Russian Empires into a fighting force from 1800 until 1812 - well, the rest of Europe's Armies can take a break.
So I'm going to talk a bit about the Russians, and my fellow Slavs can talk about the ethnic groups, or add more about the Russians
The Russians were created as an intermarriage between the Rus and Slavic races. So, at the beginning, racism wasn't going to become a thing. I laugh at the morons who go "I am a pure blooded Russian," cause that's like going "I'm a pure blooded Anglo-Saxon" - nope, you're a mixture of two races. At least two races. And thus, Russians are, by definition, Slavs. Anyone who's read Nestor knows that Russes are distinct from Normans, so let's read Nestor and not get off on that tangent.
862-1054, from the Founding of Novgorod until the Start of the third mini-civil-war, was the period known as the Founding of Rus. Out of the first 9 rulers, 4 were great, 3 were meh, and 2 sucked. And the great ones ruled longer, so that helped
1054-1223 was the period where Russia resembled more of a Confederacy than anything else, and that failed, as was evident by Russia's first major military defeat in 1223. And I'm talking epic defeat here. It led to the 1223-1380 period - of Mongol domination, which was ended by the Battle of Kulikovo. Yeah, Mongols only ruled two-thirds of Russia, but it still sucked. After the Battle of Kulikovo came the Russian Resurgence, and a century later the Mongols were told quite bluntly to GTFO. Since Mongols weakened the tribes between Russia and Mongolia a great deal, the Expansion Period began, which ended in 1598, during the Time of Troubles. It was just a 15 year time period, but utterly devastating, and it started a major Slavic rivalry - the Russo-Polish Rivalry. During the Time of Troubles the Poles attacked the Russians and raided Moscow.
The Time of Troubles ended in 1613, with General Pozharsky and Kuzma Minin, (Kuzma's name, not a title,) kicking the Poles from Moscow. And the Russians held their first semi-democratic election, where a Romanov was elected, and thus the Romanov Period began. It can be split into several periods: the Early Period, 1613-1696, the Romanov Zenith, (from Peter the Great to Catherine the Great's son,) 1696-1801, and the Later period, 1801-1914, although until 1883 the House of Romanov could've still been saved. During this period, Russia conquered Poland, which should've ended the rivalry
1914-1921 was the Russian Civil War, and from 1921-1991 came Communism, so modern Russia only started in 1991, fairly young. Stability was only achieved in 2006, and like it or not, but Putin's the best Russian Csar, erm, Leader, since 1883.
So if you have any questions about the history, or just want to have a chat with a fellow Slav - please post here! I also know that other countries have amazing histories - so discuss away!
Edit: Slavic Chatroom linky: chat.mibbit.com/?server=irc.esper.net&channel=%23slavija
