A bad year? (January-March, 1879)

Samara, Astrakhan and Saratov]

Members of the city of Vetlyanskaya were the first in Russia to report signs of a possible plague pandemic in what is the province of Astrakhan (fortunately there were no cases in the Caucasus and the transcaspian possessions that border with Persia, so until to some extent that policy was 'successful').

In court some members were trying to point out that Mikhail Loris-Melikov should be removed as governor of the Caucasus because of his apparent failure to deal with the plague.

"Have you executed those responsible for the failure to cordon off the border with Persia?" Tsar Alexander III asks Loris-Melikov.

The military man and administrator did not take long to respond. "I and the administration have investigated and corrected the matter in the best possible way. A judge is studying the case to introduce an appropriate punishment."

"Very good. I will give you a second chance in this matter Loris-Melikov, I want to avoid the worst for the Russian people." Tsar Alexander III ends.

*******

Loris-Melikov was given a budget of 2 million rubles to deal with the plague in Astrakhan province, the administrator and commander soon got to work, trying to prevent the administration from repeating the same mistakes as before.

Astrakhan, Saratov and Samara provinces were cordoned off to prevent the possibility of the plague spreading to other provinces, initiating a quarantine.

The medicine of the XIX century was not prepared to fight against the disease (in Russia or abroad), the cleaning of the corpses and the clean-up of much material that had been touched or used by them was organized (at that time it was unknown the exact nature of the plague so it was difficult).

Loris-Melikov lived in Vetlyanskaya itself to watch over and administer the quarantine, having gained almost-unlimited powers to deal with the plague.

From two million rubles, Loris-Melikov need only spend 300,000 thousand.

From the plague, 820 people recovered, 3000 died (out of a population of 16,000 that is a considerable percentage). The quarantine would not be lifted until April.

*******

[Sports Culture: Kulachniy Boy]

There is a Russian phrase that has its origins in Russian boxing, "Don't hit a man when he's down."

"Kulachniy Boy" (Кулачный бой), which can be translated as 'fist fighting', 'pugilism', Russian boxing. A tradition of bare knuckle fist fighting that was practiced in the Rus of Kiev and later in Russia.

Legends say that Russian boxing began as a celebration dedicated to the Slavic god Perun, before the people of Rus adopted Christianity as a religion. And since then (or at least the 13th century if we count the first written mention) the sport has survived in a sense.

The church of Kiril II, metropolitan of Kiev and All Rus, and the orthodox government of the 12th century did not oppose or support the sport but created many rules (for example a law of that time declaring the expulsion of Christianity for any of those who fight fist fighting and do not sing a prayer or hymn at the burial of someone who died during a fist fight).

Peter I liked to organize fist fights but Elizabeth of Russia banned them in Moscow and Saint Petersburg (not in the rest of the country though). They grew in popularity again during the reign of Catherine II (Count Orlov was a famous fist fighter) and in 1832 Tsar Nicholas I banned fist fighting as 'harmful fun'.

With the promotion of boxing by Emperor Alexander III obviously the ban on Nicholas I was lifted, with certain limitations (laws and security equipment).

At first to the urban mass of St. Petersburg, Westernizers and members of the nobility liked boxing imported from abroad.

However, the Slavophiles and the population of Tula, among some rural populations, were not entirely satisfied with foreign boxing. Tula above all for having the most famous Kulachniy Boy fighters in Russian chronologies.

That is why Slavophiles and some boxers from Tula called for the restoration of the Kulachniy Boy, which could even become a national sport once again.

*******

Although Alexander III accepted the creation of a Kulachniy Boy tournament in Tula, the sport did not have a totally unified system of rules, although the authorities set rules, each region had its own traditions.

So the government of Alexander III together with the government of Tula established the modern rules of the Kulachniy Boy and its tournaments:

* The Kulachniy Boy is practiced bare-arm.

* You cannot kick or hit when someone is on the ground.

* You cannot grab the opponent's clothing.

* Any part above the waist can be hit.

* Kulachniy Boy celebration-special days:

-Nikol Zimny (December 19).

-Christmastide (January 7-18).

-Vodokreshchi (January 19).

-Shrovetide (end of February).

-Bright week (March-April).

-Radunitskaya Week (first Sunday after Easter).

-Rusal week (end of May - beginning of June).

-Ivana Kupala (July 6-7).

-Peter's Day (July 8).

-Christmas and Maslenitsa.

* The sport was divided by weight and age (Youth: 15-17. Young adults: 18-21. Adults, the best according to tradition: 21+).

Among other.

In addition, the modules under which the Kulachniy Boy was divided were established.

The modules are:

* Fight one-on-one: There can be various victory conditions, loses the first to fall, the first to bleed or the first to surrender. It is subdivided into:

1-Singular fight: Fighters can hit each other whenever they want (and where they want from the waist up).

2-Turn-based fighting: The fighters take turns blow by blow, escaping or stepping aside with a punch and hitting out of turn is not allowed. You can only use your hands to defend your body.

* Wall-to-wall fight: Each 'wall' consists of 3 to 12 fighters divided into ranks (depending on the number), led by a "leader", "chieftain", "war chief", "leader" or "Old Cholovik "who sets the strategies and encourages his team.

* Fight "Catch drop": Fight of multiple fighters, 'all against all'.

The first Russian boxing tournament in Tula was particularly successful with the public, especially the wall-to-wall and the one-to-one.

******

[Sports Culture: Third Edition]

The third edition of the Russian Soccer League is being prepared, and the first four teams to participate (and possibly the first 16 to receive foreign attention) are chosen.

* Arkhangelsk.

* Kharkov.

* Soroca: Team of Moldovan origin sponsored by Moldovan gentlemen who want to get a little attention and the merchants of the city of Soroca.

* Siedlce: The Polish team of the third edition of the Russian Soccer League.

*******

[Moscow Metro]

Tsar Alexander III and members of his guard (some wearing public uniforms, others disguised among the public) got into the car of the first station of the Moscow Metro, accompanied by journalists and civilians.

The subway car then exited the station and moved, arriving at its destination on time, just as Emperor Alexander III had intended.

A smile formed on the sovereign's face as the newspapers spoke of the Moscow metro.

Still small at the time, but it was notable within Moscow architecture and became remarkably popular, in part for its architecture and artistic elements.

It was not long before he proposed the expansion of the Moscow metro, but everything would happen in time.

*******

[The Tower of the Sun]

After a little more than 6 months of work, Nikolai Nikolaevich Benardos and associates of the Imperial University of Saint Petersburg dedicated to electrical engineering (including Nikola Tesla) finished the 'electrohephaestus', wich was patented not much later in Russia.

This mean an arc weld. The original and most basic technique of Benardos uses carbon electrodes, although he would perfect this technology in later years, its first effective use was in the final stages of the 'Tower of the Sun' for the Universal Exhibition of Saint Petersburg.

Most of the tower was finished, but Benardos' new technology ensured that the Tower of the Sun will be completed before the deadline.

The Russian Empire was undoubtedly very excited and concerned about how the World's Fair in St. Petersburg would turn out, in part because it was the first event of its kind and magnitude in Russia.

Failure meant a loss of face, and would simply show that the Russians were as barbarous as Western Europe thought.

*******

[UK and Afghanistan]

* English perspective.

The British Raj considered that the English army had won over the Afghans without problems, although Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli had complaints about how he acted, Lord Lytton considered that the British objectives were met.

Until Sher Ali Khan died in April, and that was not the end of the Afghan rebellion against the illegal British occupation of Kabul. A group of angry natives lynched all the English in Kabul, in particular the English envoy Sir Neville Bowles Chamberlain.

Sir Pierre Louis Napoleon Cavagnari would be sent as second delegate, but he too was lynched in September 1879.

Sher Ali Khan's son, Mohammad Yaqub Khan, was promptly deposed by General Ghazi Mohammad Ayub Khan, but another movement formed from the north that soon took away his leadership.

Sher Ali Khan's nephew Abdur Rahman Khan has concentrated the army and population (tribal leaders, civilians, etc.) of Afghanistan against the English.

With Russian diplomatic support (and later information revealed that weapons, he is no surprise after living for years in Russian Turkestan).

The English armies had to face guerrilla warfare throughout 1879 and 1880 against the forces of Abdur Rahman Khan, a notable military and administrative leader.

*******

[International]

January 1, the Anglo-Zulu war begins.

On February 8, the British try to get Alexei Borisovich Lobanov-Rostovsky to help form a Russian-British summit to fix the situation in Afghanistan.

Lobanov-Rostovsky is the new Russian ambassador to London, but a conservative and supporter of the latest Russo-Turkish war does not have much sympathy for the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli and the mistreatment of the previous Russian ambassador.

March 3, finally after campaigns and various problems, King Carlos VII of the Kingdom of Spain has conquered the entire territory of the Iberian Peninsula dominated by the Kingdom of Spain under Alfonso XII.

This marks the victory of the Carlist suitors, and therefore the beginning of an official reign under Charles VII.

Of course, like France, Spain has only recently abandoned a civil war. Spain has lost a total of 230.000 men.

Now we must reestablish the administrative situation from a liberal model to a traditional model (as established by Carlism), reactivate the economy (which obviously suffered damage), solve the problems in internal politics of overseas territories (Cuba, Philippines, etc.), reactivate foreign policy, etc.

Busy...

March 11, in the Empire of Japan the Ryukyu Dominion ends and he becomes an official part of the Empire of Japan, the leader of the Ryukyu monarchy, Shō Tai, ends up in exile in Tokyo.