Another 23/02/20 What the ruler of Russia was the drinking
“There is in Russia fun to drink,” according to the legend, foreign ambassadors said the great Prince Vladimir the Red Sun. Russian rulers, as the people knew of intoxicating beverages, however, drinking was not an end in itself – it was rather a nice addition to a hearty meal.
Few of the Russian rulers was not seen in love to any hot beverage – preferred or brandy, or wine, or vodka. Except that Nicholas I was known as a staunch teetotaler: he even at official receptions alcohol asked to replace a glass of plain water.
it is not known how much he loved to drink alcohol, certain public figures, however, the memoirs of contemporaries partly fill this gap. For example, the first Tsar of the Romanov dynasty, Mikhail Fedorovich was hard on smokers, but had a weakness to alcohol. Whether a legend, or story tells us that one day the Emperor could drink up to two buckets of wine.
the Passion for intoxicants Russians instilled in Peter, in particular by introducing them to brandy and rum, but he claimed that “no one force did not drink to death, not walk”. The king himself chose the wine, which, according to rumors, during the day, could drink at least 30 glasses, and morning he usually started with shots of vodka, eating pickled cucumber.
Even during the longest of the feasts, Peter was able to keep a cool head. And got drunk there to the point that “lifeless” body of his serene Highness Prince Alexander Menshikov collapses under the table. They say that the husband of future Empress Anna Ioannovna Frederick William (Duke of Courland) died from the fact that he allowed himself to vie in drinking with Peter.
the grandson of the reformer Tsar Peter III in contrast to the grandfather was at least moderate in drinking. He loved the noisy and cheerful feast, accompanied by copious volianieat. Peter drank not only with the noble guests, but also with the footmen. During the day, according to eyewitnesses, the husband of Catherine II could consume up to one and a half liters of vodka.
About irrepressible passion for alcohol of Emperor Alexander III and there are plenty of stories, but it is clear that most of them are the product of national myth-making. Alexander to drink, of course, loved it, but “in blagovremeno”. Like Peter he drank a lot and almost never got drunk, were always cheerful and playful as a child.
in the Morning and afternoon, Alexander III did not allow himself to drink too much, keeping the mind fresh for work and only in the evening could to pamper yourself a favorite drink. Close the king said that in a close circle, he could drink a glass-another of vodka, liqueurs or cordials, and at official meetings is almost always used diluted with water champagne.
About the drinking habits of Alexander III your memories of life-physician, Professor of the Imperial Military medical Academy, Nikolai Velyaminov: “if he Drank the vodka for starters – I do not remember, think not, and if they drank, that not more than one small glass of vodka at the table he drank more beer, wine almost did not drink, and if you drink, then your favorite drink Russian kvass in half with champagne”. But most of all, in the words of her husband, the Emperor loved the icy water, which he in the evening was served in carafes and “did not drink ice water is really a lot, always complaining of an unquenchable thirst.”
I was Not a supporter of a sober lifestyle and Nicholas II. Especially a lot more than he could afford in his younger years. This is evident in his diaries. “I felt extremely unreliable all day, like a squadron of mouth spent the night,” we read in one of the notes. Recorded August 1904 already more specific information: “After touring all the dining rooms of the lower ranks and decent taking a lot of vodka, drove to the officers ‘Assembly”. Two years later, he writes: “I Tried 6 varieties of port wine and a little nakushalsya why slept fine.”
Nikoli II was very fond of all sorts of officers ‘ gatherings, where it overturned not just one “war Cup” for the health of their soldiers. Felt passion the Emperor and brandy. By the way, the tradition to eat a lemon brandy, sprinkled with sugar and crushed coffee went from him.
However, relatives of Nicholas II, noted a moderate amount of alcohol consumed by the king. So, lady-in-waiting of the Imperial court, the Countess Sofia buxhoeveden wrote that the king “drank a little wine, a little shot of vodka before Breakfast and a small glass of Madeira while eating”. Memoirists also note that during receptions Nicholas could drink two or three small glasses of champagne.
the leaders of the USSR, despite a number of alcohol companies, also knew a lot about alcoholic beverages. But a variety of booze (almost always domestic production) tables of senior party officials could boast only in the postwar period.
Stalin established himself as a social drinker, although his political career was exposed to the lush feasts. He preferred to drink more. According to the memoirs, the leader mostly drank wine – very weak, “Madzhari” thirty or pyatidesyatimetrovy cups.
“Madzhari” Stalin ordered, and on the eve of his death. “That night the Owner called me and said, “Give us the juice bottles two.” Then again, is: “bring More juice.” At six in the evening of the following day the leader was found dead,” we read in the memoirs of Stalin’s guard Lozgachev.
Pretty to drink, according to the observations of his contemporaries, was applied Khrushchev. Maybe that’s why at official receptions he had glasses with a double bottom. At first glance, it seemed that it is full, but in reality there were only a few drops of alcohol.
the Peak of alcohol consumption in the Soviet Union occurred in the period of Brezhnev stagnation, was not far behind from the people and Brezhnev. A drink Brezhnev – “the bison”, it had even washed down the pills. Marina Vlady remembered how the Secretary General had taught her to drink in three steps: “50 grams, then 100, after 150 more, and this stop”.
Legends never paid attention to the Soviet era. Rumors of Yuri Andropov, working for another Ambassador to Hungary, to dispute with the leader of this country by Janos Kadar, drank 4 glasses of vodka, not even eating. However, at the end of life, weakened by a serious illness, the Secretary General could only afford a small glass of wine “Milk beloved woman.”
But the drinking, the country’s leader had the reputation of Boris Yeltsin. In his youth, doing volleyball, he advised the team before the game to drink one hundred fifty grams, of course first setting an example. In the 70-ies during a visit to the Polish city of Zakopane, the then First Secretary of the Sverdlovsk regional Committee of the CPSU, Yeltsin shocked the audience that during formal dinners, drank a glass of vodka, but not in one gulp but in small SIPS, savoring it like a juice. After heart surgery, Yeltsin, already in the rank of the Russian President, on the recommendation of doctors restrict himself to small doses of red wine or beer.
Taras Repin
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© Russian Seven
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