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Potemkin
Left: Poster for the Soviet propaganda movie based on the Potemkin Uprising; Right: Guilty Gear's Potemkin punching someone in the face.
Those
who have studied Russian history can probably find a familiar name among
the roster of fighters in the Guilty Gear series: one hulking character
from a rather Soviet Union-esque nation by the name of Potemkin. Considering the sheer size, and strength of the character in
question, Potemkin is a well-suited name indeed, considering it was
originally a Russian battleship, which in turn was the namesake of an 18th
Century Russian general, Grigori Aleksandrovich Potemkin, who helped to
lead Russian forces in the Crimean War.
The battleship earned its place in history during the Russian Revolution of 1905. As the country slowly drifted into chaos, the crew of the Potemkin mutinied after its first officer tried to make them eat rotten meat. This resulted in the killing of the ship’s captain, its second in command, and the ship’s medical officer, who, consequently, was the person to say that the meat was okay to eat in the first place. The remaining officers were rounded up, and placed under arrest. With that, the crew seized control of the Potemkin, and were joined by Russian torpedo boat 267, which was already accompanying the battleship on maneuvers.
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As
the day wound down, the Potemkin sailed into Odessa, which had begun a
general strike a few days earlier.
However, despite both the city and the sailors being in a
state of malcontent, neither side could agree on what to do.
Representatives for the groups organizing the strike wanted the
Potemkin to send soldiers into the city to help take control of key
areas, and procure weapons, but the sailors wouldn’t go along with it.
A
few days later, a funeral was held for one of the sailors who died
during the initial mutiny on the battleship.
It was at this time that things heated up further still in
Odessa, and the Potemkin fired at the headquarters for the Tsarist
military forces in the city. |
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By
this point the authorities were becoming increasingly concerned with the conduct
of the Potemkin crew, and thusly sent two naval squadrons after the
battleship with instructions to persuade the crew to give up, or,
failing that, sink the ship. When
the task force finally caught up with the renegade battleship, no one
fired upon one another, and the Potemkin sailed right through the ships,
and was even joined by one of the vessels sent to engage it.
However,
the crew of the Potemkin had a difficult time gaining widespread
support. While the Russian
Social Democratic Labour Party were eager to help, they were never able
to properly coordinate anything meaningful.
Also, the Potemkin had great difficulty in finding friendly ports
at which to refuel, and replenish supplies.
Eventually, the crew of the battleship gave themselves up to Romanian authorities, after which some immediately returned to Russian where they faced prompt arrests and prosecution, while others chose to return to their homeland only after the February Revolution of 1917.
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