Kyiv vs Lázaro Cárdenas

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Kyiv or Kiev (Ukrainian: Київ) is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. Its population in July 2015 has been 2,887,974 (though greater estimated numbers have been cited in the media ), making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe.Kyiv is an important industrial, scientific, educational and cultural center of Eastern Europe. It is home to many high-tech businesses, higher education institutions, and historical landmarks. The town has an extensive system of public transport and infrastructure, including the Kyiv Metro. The city's name is said to derive from the name of Kyi, one of its four legendary creators. During its history, Kyiv, one of the oldest cities in Eastern Europe, passed through several phases of prominence and obscurity. The city probably existed as a commercial centre as early as the 5th century. A Slavic settlement on the wonderful trade route between Scandinavia and Constantinople, Kyiv was a tributary of the Khazars, until its capture by the Varangians (Vikings) in the mid-9th century. Under Varangian rule, the town became a capital of the Kievan Rus', the first East Slavic state. Completely destroyed during the Mongol invasions in 1240, the city lost most of its influence for the centuries to come. It was a provincial capital of marginal value in the outskirts of the lands controlled by its powerful neighbours, first Lithuania, then Poland and Russia.

The city prospered again during the Russian Empire's Industrial Revolution in the late 19th century. In 1918, following the Ukrainian People's Republic declared independence from Soviet Russia, Kyiv became its capital. From 1921 onwards Kyiv was a town of Soviet Ukraine, which was proclaimed by the Red Army, and, from 1934, Kyiv was its capital. The town was almost completely ruined during World War II but quickly recovered from the postwar years, remaining Soviet Union's third-largest city. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and Ukrainian independence in 1991, Kyiv remained Ukraine's capital and experienced a steady influx of cultural migrants from different regions of the country. During the country's transformation into a market economy and electoral democracy, Kyiv has continued to be Ukraine's biggest and wealthiest city. Its armament-dependent industrial output fell after the Soviet collapse, adversely affecting science and technology, but new sectors of the economy such as services and finance facilitated Kyiv's increase in salaries and investment, as well as providing continuous funding for the development of housing and urban infrastructure. Kyiv emerged as the most pro-Western area of Ukraine; parties advocating tighter integration with the European Union dominate during elections.

Source: Wikipedia

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Lázaro Cárdenas del Río (Local Spanish pronunciation: [ˈlasaɾo ˈkaɾðenas] (listen); May 21, 1895 – October 19, 1970) was a general in the Constitutionalist Army during the Mexican Revolution and a statesman who served as President of Mexico between 1934 and 1940. He is best known for nationalization of the oil industry in 1938 and the creation of Pemex, the government oil company. He also revived agrarian reform in Mexico, expropriating large landed estates and distributing land to small holders in collective holdings (ejidos). Although he was not from the state of Sonora, whose generals had dominated Mexican politics in the 1920s, Cárdenas was loyal to Sonoran general and former president Plutarco Elías Calles (1924–28). Calles had founded the National Revolutionary Party (PNR) in the wake of the assassination of Sonoran general Alvaro Obregón, who served as president (1920–24) and was president-elect in 1928. Cárdenas was Calles's hand-picked candidate in 1934 to run for the presidency. While Calles did not hold the title of president, he had remained the power behind the presidency, and expected to maintain that role when Cárdenas took office. However, Cárdenas out-maneuvered him politically and eventually forced the former president into exile, establishing Cárdenas's legitimacy and power in his own right during his remaining time in office.

In 1938, Cárdenas transformed the structure of the party Calles founded, creating the Partido de la Revolución Mexicana (PRM), based on sectoral representation of peasants via peasant leagues, unionized workers, professionals, and the Mexican army. Cárdenas's incorporation of the army into the party structure was a deliberate move to diminish the power of the military and prevent their traditional intervention in politics through coups d'état. An important political achievement of Cárdenas was his complete surrender of power in December 1940 to his elected successor, Manuel Ávila Camacho, who was a political moderate without a distinguished military record. Cárdenas has been revered as "the greatest constructive radical of the Mexican Revolution," for reviving its ideals, but he has also been criticized as an "authoritarian populist." According to numerous opinion polls and analysts, Cárdenas is the most popular Mexican president of the 20th century.

Source: Wikipedia