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Slavyanka's farewell
Jun. 28th, 2011 10:21 pmOn this date in the year 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the thrones of what was officially named "The Kingdoms and Lands Represented in the Imperial Council and the Lands of the Holy Hungarian Crown of Saint Stephen", was assassinated in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, touching off a chain of events that led to the start of the first World War later that summer.
Russian soldiers marched off amid the gathering storm clouds to this tune. Called "Прощание славянки", "The Slav woman's farewell", it was written in 1912 to comemmorate Bulgarians fighting against the Turks, but became a Russian patriotic march and the anthem of White armies fighting the Reds in the Russian Civil War. It was eventually embraced by the Soviets and is still played today, perhaps most notably at the end of the annual Victory Day parade on May 9, as the band marches out of Red Square.
Russian soldiers marched off amid the gathering storm clouds to this tune. Called "Прощание славянки", "The Slav woman's farewell", it was written in 1912 to comemmorate Bulgarians fighting against the Turks, but became a Russian patriotic march and the anthem of White armies fighting the Reds in the Russian Civil War. It was eventually embraced by the Soviets and is still played today, perhaps most notably at the end of the annual Victory Day parade on May 9, as the band marches out of Red Square.
