Although his paternal great-grandfather had been a priest in the Russian Orthodox Church, and his pious mother did have him baptised, he was an atheist in later life.

Although myths and speculation about a Terra Australis (" Southern Land ") date back to antiquity, the first confirmed sighting of the continent of Antarctica is commonly accepted to have occurred in 1820 by the Russian expedition of Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen and Mikhail Lazarev on Vostok and Mirny.

Although earlier precursors to this presentation exist, its invention is generally credited to Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev in 1869, who intended the table to illustrate recurring trends in the properties of the elements.

Although all three languages share a common ancestor, Proto-Indo-European, English and German also share a more recent common ancestor, Proto-Germanic, while Russian does not.

Although the Finns had accepted the liberating manifesto ( from the period of 1908-1916 ) of March 1917 issued by the Russian Provisional Government, they planned at least an expansion of the former autonomy.

Although some 60, 000 to 80, 000 Russian soldiers of the former Tsar's army remained stationed in Finland at the start of the Civil War, the Russian contribution to the Red Guards ' cause was to prove negligible.

Although the Soviet government denied these charges as recently as 1987, in recent years the Russian government has acknowledged the practice.

Although there still were battles such as Maloyaroslavets the Napoleonic army left Russia in late 1812 annihilated, most of all by the Russian winter, exhaustion, and scorched earth warfare.

Although a Russian army defeated the Golden Horde at Kulikovo in 1380, Mongol domination of the Russian-inhabited territories, along with demands of tribute from Russian princes, continued until about 1480.

Although the Russian Empire would play a leading political role in the next century, secured by its defeat of Napoleonic France, its retention of serfdom precluded economic progress of any significant degree.

Although it was intended to attract writers from both France and the German states, the Deutsch-Französische Jahrbücher was dominated by the latter, with the only non-German writer being the exiled Russian anarcho-communist Michael Bakunin.

Although Trotsky stated in his autobiography My Life that he was never perfectly fluent in any language but Russian and Ukrainian, Raymond Molinier wrote that Trotsky spoke fluent French.

Although most felt the Russian Revolution was working class in character, they believed that, since capitalist relations still existed ( because the workers had no say in running the economy ), the Soviet Union ended up as a state capitalist country, with the state replacing the individual capitalist.

Although these spontaneously created popular forces had participated in several major wars of the Russian Empire, including in combat, they were not obligated to serve for more than one year, and notably departed for home during the 1813 campaign in Germany.

Although Bukharin had not challenged Stalin since 1929, his former supporters, including Martemyan Ryutin, drafted and clandestinely circulated an anti-Stalin platform, which called Stalin the “ evil genius of the Russian Revolution ”.

Although European navigators visited the islands and explored their coastlines thereafter, little was known of the inhabitants by Europeans until the 1870s, when Russian anthropologist Nicholai Miklukho-Maklai made a number of expeditions to New Guinea, spending several years living among native tribes, and described their way of life in a comprehensive treatise.

Although precursors to this table exist, its invention is generally credited to Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev in 1869.

Although early Pan-Slavism had found interest among some Poles, it soon lost its appeal as the movement became dominated by Russia, and while Russian Pan-Slavists spoke of liberation of other Slavs through Russian actions, parts of Poland had been ruled by the Russian Empire since the Partitions of Poland.

Although not instantly received into the group, Diaghilev was aided by Benois in developing his knowledge of Russian and Western art.

Although most council communists felt the Russian Revolution was working class in character, they believed that the Soviet Union was a state capitalist country, with the state replacing the individual capitalists ( an additional argument in favour of that was the continued existence of capitalist relations, as manifested e. g. in the New Economic Policy ).

Although he published mostly in Russian which was not understood by most Western European chemists, the 1870 article in which he first stated his rule was written in German.

Although used during the Normandy landings, by that point German aircraft were contained by the Allies own air forces and they were largely unneeded.

Although the 1988 constitution preserves the external and internal roles of the armed forces, it places the military under presidential authority.

Although a considerable quantity of equipment was seized or destroyed by US and South Vietnamese forces, containment of North Vietnamese forces proved elusive.

Although prepared for an armed conflict with Nigeria in recent years, the Cameroon Army does not have operational experience against other forces, therefore, it is not possible to assess its ability to respond to changing threats and opposing tactics.

Although an amphibious invasion was never in question, blockading by Union naval forces was common, particularly at Halifax, where Confederate navy ships sought refuge and reprovisioning.

Although his reign ended abruptly, he achieved some notable successes, and his efforts failed as much due to the centrifugal forces of tribal Afghanistan and the machinations of Russia and Britain as to any political folly on his part.

Although the attacks did not pose a threat to the stability of the Government of Eritrea ( the infiltrators have generally been killed or captured by government forces ), the Eritreans believe the National Islamic Front ( NIF ) in Khartoum supported, trained, and armed the insurgents.

Although Eugene's forces inflicted double the number of casualties on the French the battle settled little except to deter Vendôme trying an all-out assault on Imperial forces that year, enabling Eugene to hold on south of the Alps.

Although these two forces appear very different at everyday low energies, the theory models them as two different aspects of the same force.

Although not participating at all in the opening days of the invasion, Prime Minister Jean Chrétien announced on October 7 that Canada would contribute forces to the international force being formed to conduct a campaign against terrorism.

Although Frederick was one of the most energetic, imaginative, and capable rulers of the time, he was not concerned with drawing the disparate forces in Germany together.

Although government policies supporting large military and internal security forces and allocating resources to key supporters of the Ba ' ath Party government hurt the economy, implementation of the United Nations ' corruption-plagued oil-for-food program in December 1996 was to have improved conditions for the average Iraqi citizen.

Although the Mekong was established as a border by French colonial forces, travel from one side to the other has been significantly limited only since the establishment of the Lao People's Democratic Republic ( LPDR, or Laos ) in 1975.

Although badly outnumbered, he escaped destruction from pursuing Bolshevik forces and laid siege to Ekaterinodar, the capital of the Kuban Soviet Republic, on 10 April.

Although the Mongols killed Henry and destroyed his forces, their advance into Europe was halted when they turned back to attend to the election of a new Khagan ( Grand Khan ) following the death in the same year of Ögedei Khan.

Although Malaysian politics has been relatively stable, critics allege that " the government, ruling party, and administration ... are intertwined with few countervailing forces.

This conjecture seems to be confirmed in the introduction of the first volume of the chronicles of Gallus Anonymus concerning the Pomeranians: Although often the leaders of the forces defeated by the Polish duke sought salvation in baptism, as soon as they regained their strength, they repudiated the Christian faith and started the war against Christians anew.

Although officially denied by the Nigerian government, Nigeria is known to have also provided secret military training at the Kaduna first mechanized army division and provided other material support to Joshua Nkomo and Robert Mugabe's guerrilla forces during the Rhodesian Bush War ( Renamed Zimbabwe in 1979 ) of independence against white minority rule of Prime Minister Ian Douglas Smith which was armed and financed by the regime in South Africa.

Although the Commander-in-Chief of the British Armed Forces is legally the Sovereign: under constitutional practice the Prime Minister can declare war, and through the Secretary of State for Defence ( whom he may appoint, dismiss or even appoint himself as ) as chair of the Defence Council the power over the deployment and disposition of British forces.

Although Classis was retaken in 728, fighting continued between Byzantine forces and the Lombards until 729, when Gregory brokered a deal between Liutprand and the Byzantine exarch, Eutychius, bringing about a temporary ceasing of hostilities that held until Gregory ’ s death.

Although some quantum gravity theories such as string theory and other unified field theories ( or ' theories of everything ') attempt to unify gravity with the other fundamental forces, others such as loop quantum gravity make no such attempt ; they simply quantize the gravitational field while keeping it separate from the other forces.