Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The unpopular Russo-Japanese War provokes general strikes in Moscow and St
Petersburg. In Moscow street barricades are set up, and fighting takes place in
Presnya.
1914-17
Russia suffers immeasurably from losses in WWI. By 1916, Russia has sustained as
many as 1.6 million casualties. High prices and food shortages affect the population.
1917
Tsar Nicholas II succumbs to a mob of workers in St Petersburg and abdicates the
throne. A provisional government is set up in an attempt to restore order.
1918
The Bolshevik Party seizes power from the ineffective provisional government. In fear
of a German attack, Vladimir Ilych Ulyanov (Lenin) moves the capital back to Moscow.
1922-24
Lenin dies after a series of strokes and is succeeded by Josef Stalin. Nearly one milli-
on mourners arrive to pay their respects while Lenin lies in state.
1930s
Stalin launches a campaign of modernisation and a reign of terror. Moscow becomes
an industrial city, complete with poor workers and billowing factories.
1931
The massive Cathedral of Christ the Saviour is destroyed by dynamite to make way
for the Palace of Soviets, a Lenin-topped monument to socialism.
1935
Members of the Komsomol (Communist youth) pitch in to construct their Komsomol-
skaya metro station. The first line of the metro, the Sokolniki line, starts operation.
1941-44
Hitler defies a German-Soviet nonaggression pact and attacks Russia. The Nazi ad-
vance is halted by a severe winter, allowing the embattled Red Army to fight back.
1953
