Question by Peter: Why were the Russian and American Calenders different during the Russian Civil War?
If I’m not mistaken, I believe that America marks the end of the Russian Civil war 10-13 days later than the Russians. Ex: American Calender= January 21 (not sure if the date is accurate), Russian Calender= January 10 (not sure if the date is accurate). Does anybody know the reason for this? Any helps/ hints are greatly appreciated.
Answers and Views:
Answer by avalonadam
The russian Orthodox World used the Julian calender and te Catholic and Protestant world used the gregorian calender. it sort of stuck even though Communism was officially atheist
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TM says
Russia used the Julian calendar until a little after the October Revolution, which was in 1917. The new Bolshevik government adopted the Gregorian calendar in early 1918. Dates in the Julian calendar are denoted beside important Russian dates as "Old Style" or "OS".
The Julian calendar had been in use since the Roman period, but in the late 1500s, Pope Gregory XIII suggested calendar reform. "On average, the astronomical solstices and the equinoxes advance by about 11 minutes per year", which the Julian calendar did not take into account. This meant that, over the years, dates on the Julian calendar were no longer "accurate"; in other words, the Julian Easter no longer fell on the Spring Equinox. Also, because the old calendar did not take into account astronomical movements, the calendar gained an extra day every 134 years. This may not seem like much, yet by Gregory's time, the calendar had already gained an extra 10 days (as measured against the solar year). By the time of the Russian Revolution, the Julian calendar was 13 days off of the Gregorian (solar) calendar.