History of Russian Roulette
May 2, 2009 by Orfej
Filed under Roulette strategy tips and roulette systems
Russian Roulette
There are several legends that attempt to explain the origin of Russian Roulette, most of which takes place in Russia or with the participation of Russian soldiers.
One such legend says that in the nineteenth century Russian prisoners were forced to play this game, while the guards were betting on the eventual outcome. Another legend says that desperate and suicidal Russian Navy officers were playing this game to impress your comrades.
The oldest record of the term comes from Russian Roulette, a short story by Georges Surdez, published in 1937 in the magazine Collier’s Magazine “.
A Russian sergeant in the Foreign Legion, the narrator asks: “Feldheim, ever heard talk about the Russian Roulette? When I said no, told me all about it. When he was in the Russian Navy in Romania, around 1917, and the situation was crumbling, the Russian officers felt they were losing not only their families, their money and their land, were also losing their honor.
They look bad standing in front of their colleagues, the Allies, so that some of these officers, from scratch, drew their revolvers, being in any event, in a bar or even in some family reunion, the bullets broke all but one turned the drum and shot his temples. They had five chances against one of the revolver firing. Sometimes going on, sometimes not.
It remains unclear whether it is true that the Tsarist officers were playing Russian Roulette. In a text from the tsarist officer corps, John Bushnell, a Russian history expert at Northwestern University, cited two reports about contemporary Russian Navy veterans, The Duel (1905) by Aleksandr Kuprin and Guile Turn Red Flag ( 1921) Petr Krasnov. Both books talk about the scandalous behavior and suicide of the Russian officers, but none of the texts referred to on the Russian Roulette.
If the game actually originated in real life and not as a result of a fiction, is equally unlikely to have had origin among the officers of the Russian Navy. The gun regulation Russian Navy between 1895 and 1930 was the M1895 revolver. The design of this gun made it impossible to turn the drum of the weapon in order to make the hazardous trip, making this model somewhat ineffective gun in the game.
The only reference like Russian roulette in Russian literature is in a book entitled “A hero of our time (1840) by Mikhail Lermontov, translated by Vladimir Nabokov in 1958, where a similar act is performed by a Serbian soldier. The challenge, however, is called Russian Roulette.
Moreover, Russian officials themselves playing a game called Cuckoo, which was played with a Nagant revolver. An officer stood on a stool or chair in a room that had the light off. In turn, other officers were shouting for the same quarter occasionally Cuckoo, the officer had to shoot the gun towards where the sound came.
In the film The Deer Hunter (1978), says that the game was played in the Vietnam War. Russian roulette in this case was used for gambling and for murder.
Incidents caused by playing Russian roulette:
- December 24, 1954: Johnny Ace musician killed in Texas, USA, playing Russian Roulette in the dressing room just before his concert.
- June 12, 2001: Clinton Pope, a criminal of 16 years, who had been drinking and smoking marijuana, killed when shot in the head while he was playing Russian Roulette with some friends in Florida, USA.
- March 29, 2003: Evan Below, 14-year-old is killed playing Russian Roulette with a friend. The weapon, a .38 revolver, belonged to the mother of his friend. Happened in Wyoming, USA.
- August 7, 2004: Nader Samantha Goodson, aged 16, killed her boyfriend, Michael Herald, 18 while playing a version of Russian Roulette in New York, USA. Was accused of murder and illegal possession of a firearm.
- August 23, 2004: Antonis Syros, 25 years of age and Greek soldier, dies playing Russian roulette with a friend called police Clorox Christ, while on duty in the Olympic Village in Athens, Greece.
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