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The Legend of Russian Roulette

There are many legends about the creation of the Russian roulette. Most of the history of this infamous game took place in Russia thus the name. This 'game' was played mostly by the soldiers of Russia.

The standard revolver given to officers in Russia from 1895 until 1930 was the Nagant M1985. It was a revolver that acts for a double purpose; The cylinder would spin clockwise until the part of the hammer is cocked and while the cylinder doesn't swing out like that of the modern-hand style of ejector type of revolvers. It can also be spun around to make the results in random order but it has seven cartridges not six, which also throws off some doubts on the certainty and accuracy of the reference basis from Collier's.

While it is indeed possible that the Russian officers shoots six and kept live the seventh cartridge. The Nagant's cartridge because of the deep bullets seated unique only to the Nagant's. The primers are then concealed that it makes it very hard to detect from seeing it on the outside where the live bullet was and which ones were also spent, thus adding to the results being less accurate.

A legend in the nineteenth century tells that prisoners of Russia were forced to play roulette while the guards of the prison bet on the results. In another legend, the suicidal and desperate officers in the army of Russia played roulette to impress one another.

The earliest use of the term "Russian Roulette" was known from the short story written by Georges Surdez in January 1937 based in the issue of the Collier's Magazine. He was a Russian sergeant although he belonged in the French Foreign Legion.

It is not known if the Tsarist officers did actually play the game. It is unclear whether they played Russian roulette at all and many believe it is just historical fantasy.

John Bushnell, a Czarist officer and an expert on Russian history at the Northwestern University, cited two memoirs by Russian army veterans, The Duel in 1905 by Aleksandr Kuprin and From Double Eagle to Red Flag in 1921 by the Russian Pyotr Krasnov.

The memoirs tell of the officers' outrageous behaviors and suicidal tendencies, but the game of Russian roulette was not mentioned in any of the text. It is not determined whether the game did come from the behavior in real life and it was not written from a fiction viewpoint and it's not so likely that the Russian military started the said game.