Aleksey Arakcheyev - Temper and "Arakcheevschina"

Temper and "Arakcheevschina"

Arakcheyev is said to have executed two junior officers by having them buried up to their necks and leaving them to die of starvation and thirst. On another occasion he is said to have personally cut off another officer's head with his sword after a perceived infraction. "Arakcheevschina" (Russian: аракчеевщина), roughly translated as "the Arakcheev regime", became a derogatory term for a military state, denoting "the atmosphere of reactionary repression closing over Russian society". This label was routinely applied by Soviets authors to characterize a regime of reactionary oppression. For instance, Joseph Stalin used the term "Arakcheevschina" to describe the sway held by Ivan Meshchaninov in the Soviet Institute of Language and Thought in 1950.

Read more about this topic:  Aleksey Arakcheyev

Famous quotes containing the words temper and and/or temper:

    “Is a man too strong and fierce for society, and by temper and position a bad citizen,—a morose ruffian, with a dash of the pirate in him;Mnature sends him a troop of pretty sons and daughters, who are getting along in the dame’s classes at the village school, and love and fear for them smooths his grim scowl to courtesy. Thus she contrives to intenerate the granite and the feldspar, takes the boar out and puts the lamb in, and keeps her balance true.”
    —Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    “The colicky baby who becomes calm, the quiet infant who throws temper tantrums at two, the wild child at four who becomes serious and studious at six all seem to surprise their parents. It is difficult to let go of one’s image of a child, say goodbye to the child a parent knows, and get accustomed to this slightly new child inhabiting the known child’s body.”
    —Ellen Galinsky (20th century)