Jānis Puriņš
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Jānis Puriņš
Jānis Puriņš was a Latvian Rifleman and later colonel (since 1925), commander of the 1st Kurzeme Division of the Latvian Army and commander of the Eastern Front during the Latgale liberation operation during the Latvian War of Independence. He received the Knight's rank of the Order of Lāčplēsis. Biography Puriņš was born on 25 April 1889 in the "Sakaiņi" homestead in Mārsnēni Parish near Priekuļi to the family of farmer Jānis senior. As a child, Puriņš studied at the Rauna Parish school and Valmiera city school. In November 1910, he was drafted into the army of the Russian Empire. He served as head of the Cēsis war district, then in the curatorium of the Vilnius Military District. At the beginning of the First World War, in 1915 he was transferred to the 173rd, later the 3rd Reserve Regiment in Toropec and Peterhof. From October 1916 to February 1917 he studied at the 1st Moscow Praporshchik School. He was the leader of the 4th Vidzeme Latvian Riflemen Regimen ...
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Mārsnēni Parish
Mārsnēni Parish () is an administrative unit of Cēsis Municipality in the Vidzeme region of Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t .... Towns, villages and settlements of Mārsnēni Parish * - parish administrative center. References Parishes in Cēsis Municipality {{Vidzeme-geo-stub ...
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Latvian Riflemen
The Latvian Riflemen (; ) were originally a military formation of the Imperial Russian Army assembled starting 1915 in Latvia in order to defend Baltic governorates against the German Empire in World War I. Initially, the battalions were formed by volunteers, and from 1916 by conscription among the Latvian population. A total of about 40,000 troops were drafted into the Latvian Riflemen Division. They were used as an elite force in the Imperial and Red armies. Background Towards the end of the 19th century, Riga, the future capital of Latvia, became one of the most industrialized cities in the Russian Empire. The Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party (LSDRP) was well organized and its leading elements were increasingly sympathetic to the Bolsheviks by the time of the 1905 Revolution. When punitive expeditions were mounted by the state following this, armed resistance groups - often affiliated to the LSDRP - were set up to conduct guerilla warfare against the Tsarist reg ...
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Līgatne
Līgatne (; ) is a town in Līgatne Parish, Cēsis Municipality in the Vidzeme region of Latvia. It is situated on the Gauja, Gauja River. The village of Līgatne was built around the paper mill, still extant, on the River Ligatne (river), Līgatne in the 19th century. Later it grew into a town and was then awarded city status in 1993. Līgatne Nature Trails The reserve known as the Līgatne Nature Trails is also located here, in the Gauja National Park, in the forest on the left bank of the Gauja River downstream from the paper mill. There are extensive paths through the nature reserve both for walking and for cycling, and there is a separate route for cars. There are also facilities for horse-riding and camping. The reserve was set up in 1975 for the protection and display of the diversity of species, both plant and animal, which are characteristic of Latvia. The animals here have been rescued from all over Latvia, either because they were injured, or because they had been ...
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Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People's Commissars to oppose the military forces of the new nation's adversaries during the Russian Civil War, especially the various groups collectively known as the White Army. In February 1946, the Red Army (which embodied the main component of the Soviet Armed Forces alongside the Soviet Navy) was renamed the "Soviet Army". Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union it was split between the post-Soviet states, with its bulk becoming the Russian Ground Forces, commonly considered to be the successor of the Soviet Army. The Red Army provided the largest land warfare, ground force in the Allies of World War II, Allied victory in the European theatre of World War II, and its Soviet invasion of Manchuria, invasion of Manchuria assisted the un ...
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Latvia
Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to the southeast, and shares a Maritime boundary, maritime border with Sweden to the west. Latvia covers an area of , with a population of 1.9million. The country has a Temperate climate, temperate seasonal climate. Its capital and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city is Riga. Latvians, who are the titular nation and comprise 65.5% of the country's population, belong to the ethnolinguistic group of the Balts and speak Latvian language, Latvian. Russians in Latvia, Russians are the most prominent minority in the country, at almost a quarter of the population; 37.7% of the population speak Russian language, Russian as their native tongue. After centuries of State of the Teutonic Order, Teutonic, Swedish Livonia, Swedish, Inflanty Voi ...
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Praporshchik
(, , ) is a rank used by the Russian Armed Forces and a number of former communist states. The rank is a non-commissioned officer's and is equivalent to in the corresponding navies. It is usually equivalent to warrant officer class 1 or sergeant major in English-speaking armies. Within NATO forces, the rank is rated as OR-7 or OR-8. Russia is a rank in the Russian military, also used in other uniformed services of the Russian government such as the police. It was a junior officer rank in Imperial Russia, but was abolished following the Russian Revolution. In 1940, the rank was restored as a separate career group between non-commissioned officers and officers. Imperial Russia was originally an Oberoffizer rank, as first introduced in Streltsy New Regiments. The name originates from Slavonic ''prapor'' (прапор), meaning flag; the ''praporshchik'' was a flag-bearer in Kievan Rus troops. In the New Regiments of the Streltsy and the "new army" of Peter the Great, '' ...
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Petergof
Petergof (), known as Petrodvorets () from 1944 to 1997, is a administrative divisions of Saint Petersburg, municipal town in Petrodvortsovy District of the federal cities of Russia, federal city of Saint Petersburg, St. Petersburg, located on the southern shore of the Gulf of Finland. The town hosts one of two campuses of Saint Petersburg State University and the Petrodvorets Watch Factory, one of the leading Russian watch manufactures. A Peterhof Palace, series of palaces and gardens, laid out on the orders of Peter I of Russia, Peter the Great and sometimes called the "Russian Palace of Versailles, Versailles", is also situated there. The Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments, palace-ensemble along with the city center is recognized as a World Heritage Site, UNESCO World Heritage Site. Palaces, fountains, and gardens Petergof is named after the Peterhof Grand Palace, a sixteen-meter-high Cliff, bluff lying less than a hundred meters from th ...
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Toropets
Toropets () is a town and the administrative center of Toropetsky District in Tver Oblast, Russia, located where the Toropa River enters Lake Solomennoye. Population: History In 1074, when the town was first mentioned in chronicles, Toropets belonged to the Princes of Smolensk. By 1167, it was large enough to have its own princes. The most famous of its rulers was Mstislav the Bold, whose grandson Alexander Nevsky wed Alexandra of Polotsk in Toropets in 1239. In the mid-14th century the town passed to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which had to surrender it to Ivan III following the Battle of Vedrosha in 1503. In the early 17th century, Toropets was ransacked by the Polish army. In the course of the administrative reform carried out in 1708 by Peter the Great, Toropets was included into Ingermanland Governorate (known since 1710 as Saint Petersburg Governorate). In 1727, separate Novgorod Governorate was split off. Toropets was included into Velikiye Luki ...
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First World War
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting took place mainly in European theatre of World War I, Europe and the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I, Middle East, as well as in parts of African theatre of World War I, Africa and the Asian and Pacific theatre of World War I, Asia-Pacific, and in Europe was characterised by trench warfare; the widespread use of Artillery of World War I, artillery, machine guns, and Chemical weapons in World War I, chemical weapons (gas); and the introductions of Tanks in World War I, tanks and Aviation in World War I, aircraft. World War I was one of the List of wars by death toll, deadliest conflicts in history, resulting in an estimated World War I casualties, 10 million military dead and more than 20 million wounded, plus some 10 million civilian de ...
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Vilnius
Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population was 607,667, and the Vilnius urban area (which extends beyond the city limits) has an estimated population of 747,864. Vilnius is notable for the architecture of its Vilnius Old Town, Old Town, considered one of Europe's largest and best-preserved old towns. The city was declared a World Heritage Site, UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1994. The architectural style known as Vilnian Baroque is named after the city, which is farthest to the east among Baroque architecture, Baroque cities and the largest such city north of the Alps. The city was noted for its #Demographics, multicultural population during the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, with contemporary sources comparing it to Babylon. Before World War II and The Holocaust in Lithuania, th ...
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Cēsis
Cēsis (; (, , , ) is a town in Latvia located in the northern part of the Central Vidzeme Upland. Cēsis is on the Gauja River valley, and is built on a series of ridges above the river, overlooking the woods below. Cēsis was selected to be one of the candidate cities for the title of the European Capital of Culture 2014 (Riga was the Latvian city that won the title), as well as for the European Capital of Culture 2027 (Liepāja took the title). Castle The oldest settlement in Cēsis is the hillfort on Riekstu Hill, a fortified wooden castle built by a tribe known as the Vends. The mound with its partly preserved fortification system can still be seen in the Castle park. This settlement was located near major trade routes from west to east and dominated the regional countryside. German crusaders known as the Livonian Brothers of the Sword began construction of Wenden Castle near the hill fort in 1209. When the castle was enlarged and fortified, it served as the resi ...
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