Moscow: Did you mean...?

The Battle of Smolensk in August to September 1943 was the second time the Soviet Union and the Third Reich fought over the city on the Dnieper during the Second World War (1939-45). By the summer of 1943...

The expansion and consolidation of the Russian Empire around 1725 marked a fundamental transformation in Russia’s place within Europe and Eurasia. During...

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) was a Corsican-born French general and politician who reigned as Emperor of the French with the regnal name Napoleon I from 1804 to 1814 and then again briefly in 1815. He established the largest...

Adolf Hitler (1889-1945) was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933. He gained power by making popular promises like improving Germany's economy and status in Europe, but when he took these policies too far, he was responsible more...

Timur (1336-1405), also known as Tamerlane, Temür, or Timur Leng, was the founder of the Timurid Empire (1370-1507), which had its heartlands in modern-day Uzbekistan and capital at Samarkand. A Muslim Turkic...

Catherine II of Russia (Catherine the Great) was empress regent of Russia from 1762-1796. She was born in Prussia to Prince Christian August of Anhalt-Zerbst (1690-1747) and Princess Johanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp (1712-1760...

Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, constructed 532-537, continues to be revered as one of the most important structures in the world. Hagia Sophia (Greek Ἁγία Σοφία, for 'Holy Wisdom') was designed to be the major basilica of the Byzantine...

Grigori Rasputin (1869-1916) was a self-styled holy man and faith healer from Siberia who ingratiated himself with the family of Tsar Nicholas II (reign 1894-1917). Rasputin was particularly valued by the empress Alexandra Feodorovna...

Byzantine art (4th - 15th century CE) is generally characterised by a move away from the naturalism of the Classical tradition towards the more abstract and universal, there is a definite preference for two-dimensional representations...

Lebensraum ('living space'), is a geopolitical concept which was adopted by Adolf Hitler (1889-1945), the leader of Nazi Germany, to justify the military domination of Central and Eastern Europe...