3

At the moment, tag has the following description:

The largest country in the world, spanning territory from the eastern edge of Europe to Siberia in northern Asia, except for the period 1918-1990, when it was known as the "Soviet Union"

How does this make any sense? Did Russia cease to exist during the Soviet period? Didn't the Russian SFSR ever exist? When did Soviet Russia and Soviet Union become synonyms? Should tag be applied in the context of Soviet Ukraine?

Let us take a look at Germany. There are tags , , and . The latter has the following description:

For questions on German Empire, Weimar Republic, German Democratic Republic and the modern Federal Republic of Germany. Questions regarding the Third Reich should be tagged with .

So, what is the History SE policy on this? Embarrassing regimes that fought the U.S. and lost should have their own tags?

12
  • Good points. However the last sentence... I don't believe Russia has ever actually fought the US, except arguably in Southeast Asia (where they arguably did not lose).
    – T.E.D. Mod
    Jun 1, 2020 at 15:12
  • @T.E.D. Not Russia! The Soviet Union!!! They fought via proxies and bankrupted themselves in the process.
    – Rodrigo de Azevedo
    Jun 1, 2020 at 15:15
  • Fighting via proxies is a whole different level of engagement than actual fighting (which is why proxies are used). For example, Persia kept Greece occupied quite successfully via proxies for the about 150 years between Xerxes and Alexander. Few refer to that as "Persia fighting Greece".
    – T.E.D. Mod
    Jun 1, 2020 at 15:31
  • @T.E.D. Polar Bear Expedition seems always to be forgotten? But I wonder why we need the "embarrassing regimes" in here? (And in that confrontation, the 'bolsheviks' did not 'loose'?
    – LаngLаngС
    Jun 1, 2020 at 17:17
  • @LаngLаngС - IMHO that's even more arguable, as they were fighting for some Russians against some other Russians. Thought about it, but discounted it.
    – T.E.D. Mod
    Jun 1, 2020 at 17:48
  • @T.E.D. Equally valid: Polar Bear meant US boots on Russian ground, unsuccessfully fighting for US interest against residents. — However the main point bugging me is 'embarrassing regimes': it lists soviet-russia and weimar republic in slander wording of provocative disapproval; despite Weimar, FRG (+ GDR?) clearly never fighting the US, hence also 'not loosing'. May be I don't get the humour there, but if it's just about the implied redundancy in tags, seeming inconsistencies, and overlaps, that might benefit from being spelled out in a matter of fact style before the going for the jokular?
    – LаngLаngС
    Jun 1, 2020 at 18:04
  • @LаngLаngС Am I missing something? From the tag descriptions, tag germany applies to all Germanies except the Nazi one. Tag russia applies to all Russias except the Soviet one.
    – Rodrigo de Azevedo
    Jun 1, 2020 at 18:09
  • 1
    I am missing your angle explained in the above comment as part of the question. And I now realize to have misread indeed a part of the Q as you meant it. But I remain skeptical that "embarrassing" is helpful in this case. Seems a valid point that the narrower defs should include Germany and Russia for 3rdR (there was 1st & 2nd after all) and SU for consistency across tags, but should be avoided for policy reasons and site tradition (definitions). If the latter are upheld, they'd benefit from explanation here?
    – LаngLаngС
    Jun 1, 2020 at 18:18
  • @LаngLаngС Most Germans I know consider 1933-1945 an embarrassment and would rather not be reminded of it. Russians and Soviet Russia seem to have a more complex relationship.
    – Rodrigo de Azevedo
    Jun 1, 2020 at 18:26
  • That may very well be the case. If it's important for the Q as you want it to read and avoid readers being misled as I was, then edit it in. However, at the time and afterwards, the country of the 3rdR was also called just simply Germany (in- & externally, the GDR being the biggest exception) and had some undeniable continuity from 1871–post-1990, despite some bumps and re-formations. If your goal is to just highlight inconsistent usage of tag construction & usage, go ahead, I see that, if it's something else, clarification edit is ever more urgent?
    – LаngLаngС
    Jun 1, 2020 at 18:40
  • @RodrigodeAzevedo: Of course, your formatting/language and your question. No disagreements there :) Please flag for deletion when you read this.
    – gktscrk
    Jun 28, 2020 at 8:13
  • I have proposed to simply delete that part saying "it was known as USSR".
    – cipricus
    Sep 11 at 15:33

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
7

Uffff. Where does Muscovy fall in this?..

Ideally, ... Oh, wait. Why does exist? Why does exist? Oh my... :) ...

There are 319 questions under . This is quite a few...

I propose a series of tags, much like in recent discussions for China and Japan:

  • : Russia in general; only to be used with the if the question focusses solely on the Russian SFSR.

And then the timeline:

  • //: For questions relating primarily to Medieval Russia, Kievan Rus, and other principalities (Novgorod, Vladimir, Pskov);

  • /: Covering the end of the Mongol yoke to Peter I's westernization;

  • : Russia from 1721 to 1917, Peter I to Nikolai II;

  • : A catch-all to cover the political and economical upheaval from the October Revolution to the proper establishment of the Soviet state;

  • : To go with the above but relating specifically to military questions; primarily also serves as the 'home' for questions relating to Kolchak and the whites and events relating to them;

  • : Questions relating to the federal political entity that existed from 1917 to 1991;

  • : Relating to events since 1991 in the Russian Federation.

3
  • 3
    @LаngLаngС & gktscrk: I went ahead and nuked both [bolshevism] and [bolshevik-chinese]. I also renamed [polish-bolshevik-war] into [polish-soviet-war] which is the more common name (in English at least), though I'm not sure if we need that tag.
    – Semaphore Mod
    Jun 2, 2020 at 3:24
  • 1
    medieval-russia/kievan-rus/russian-principalities: can we just combine these into a Rus tag? There was no concept of "Russia" in the medieval era before the Tsardom, which has its own separate tag. Also if one wanted to ask a question about Rurik, for example, we don't have a Novgorodian Rus tag...
    – SPavel
    Sep 9 at 15:29
  • Which monarch? When? What is the title in the original language?
    – SPavel
    Sep 9 at 16:12

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .