Editing Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn (section)

=== Early years ===

Solzhenitsyn was born in [[Kislovodsk]] (now in [[Stavropol Krai]], Russia). His father, Isaakiy Semyonovich Solzhenitsyn, was of Russian descent, and his mother, Taisiya Zakharovna (née Shcherbak), was of Ukrainian descent.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.segodnya.ua/world/alekcandr-colzhenitsyn-chelovek-i-arkhipelah-120568.html | script-title=ru:Александр Солженицын: человек и архипелаг | language = ru |trans-title=Alexander Solzhenitsyn: A man and Archipelago | place = [[Ukraine|UA]] | publisher = Segodnya | date = 4 August 2008 | access-date = 14 February 2010}}</ref> Taisiya's father had risen from humble beginnings to become a wealthy landowner, acquiring a large estate in the [[Kuban]] region in the northern foothills of the [[Caucasus]]<ref>[[#Scammell|Scammell]], p. 30</ref> and during [[World War I]], Taisiya had gone to Moscow to study. While there she met and married Isaakiy, a young officer in the [[Imperial Russian Army]] of [[Cossacks|Cossack]] origin and fellow native of the Caucasus region. The family background of his parents is vividly brought to life in the opening chapters of ''August 1914'', and in the later ''[[The Red Wheel|Red Wheel]]'' novels.<ref>[[#Scammell|Scammell]], pp. 26–30</ref>

In 1918, Taisiya became pregnant with Aleksandr. On 15 June, shortly after her pregnancy was confirmed, Isaakiy was killed in a hunting accident. Aleksandr was raised by his widowed mother and his aunt in lowly circumstances.  His earliest years coincided with the [[Russian Civil War]]. By 1930 the family property had been turned into a [[kolkhoz|collective farm]]. Later, Solzhenitsyn recalled that his mother had fought for survival and that they had to keep his father's background in the old Imperial Army a secret. His educated mother encouraged his literary and scientific learnings and raised him in the [[Russian Orthodox Church|Russian Orthodox]] faith;<ref>O'Neil, Patrick M. (2004) ''Great world writers: 20th century'', p. 1400. Marshall Cavendish, {{ISBN|978-0-7614-7478-4}}</ref><ref>[[#Scammell|Scammell]], pp. 25–59</ref> she died in 1944 having never remarried.<ref>[[#Scammell|Scammell]], p. 129</ref>

As early as 1936, Solzhenitsyn began developing the characters and concepts for planned epic work on World War I and the [[Russian Revolution]]. This eventually led to the novel ''August 1914''; some of the chapters he wrote then still survive.{{citation needed| date= May 2011}} Solzhenitsyn studied mathematics and physics at [[Southern Federal University|Rostov State University]]. At the same time, he took correspondence courses from the {{interlanguage link|Moscow Institute of Philosophy, Literature, and History|hy|Մոսկվայի փիլիսոփայության, գրականության և պատմության ինստիտուտ|pl|Moskiewski Instytut Filozofii, Literatury i Historii|ru|Московский институт философии, литературы и истории|uk|Московський інститут філософії, літератури та історії}}, which by this time were heavily ideological in scope.  As he himself makes clear, he did not question the state ideology or the superiority of the Soviet Union until he was sentenced to time in the camps.<ref>{{Citation| title = The Gulag Archipelago | chapter = Part II, Chapter 4}}</ref>