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Lieutenant General Mikhail Grigoryevich Yefremov (also Efremov) (February 22, 1897–April 19, 1942) was a military commander of the Soviet Union. He took part in the October Revolution, joined the Bolshevik Party in 1919, and became a division commander in 1921. He also became a military advisor to the National Government of China in 1928. During World War II, he commanded the Soviet Central Front in August 1941, and the Soviet 33rd Army from October 1941. After that army was surrounded and partially destroyed at Vyazma in March-April 1942, he committed suicide to avoid being taken prisoner by the Germans. There is a monument to him in Vyazma.
Just in case you mistakenly heard that it was all ice and snow in Russia, take a peek at the Big Bikini Exposition. This is right on the river Moskva in Moscow!Moscow has been the capital of Russia for almost its entire history. The exception is during the period of the Russian Empire, which lasted from 1721 until the Russian Revolution 1917. For these two centuries the capital was St. Petersburg. The Russian Empire was the second largest contiguous Empire in world memory; only the Mongol Empire had been greater.Check out what's happening north of Mongolia these days, in ChitaAlthough you may not have heard of Sochi, on the Black Sea, they're building up quickly and hope to host the 2014 Olympics.Other periods of Russian history include the Tsardom of Russia, from Ivan IV to Peter the Great, and the Grand Duchy (14th-16th centuries).The earliest period of Russian history was ruled by the Novgorod Republic and Kievan Rus, which was the first Russian state dating back to 800AD in Kiev.Modern Russia remains one of the world's superpowers. They launched the earth's second satellite, called Sputnik 1, and were the first country to put a human being into orbit around earth. (The first one is called the Moon.)After the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russia became a federal republic of 83 states.Text by Steve Smith.
