Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
1915
The first suprematist art show takes place in Petrograd, showcasing Malevich's infamous Black
Square, creating a critical storm and putting the Russian avant-garde firmly on the map.
1916
After evoking the ire of aristocrats, Grigory Rasputin (the Mad Monk) is invited to Yusupov Palace
for cyanide-laced tea by a group of plotters, who then drown him in the icy Moyka River.
1917
The February Revolution results in the abdication of Nicholas II, followed by the Bolshevik coup in
October. Vladimir Ilych Lenin seizes power and civil war ensues.
1918
Lenin pulls Russia out of WWI and moves the capital to Moscow. Civil war continues throughout the
country, and Petrograd enters a period of political and cultural decline.
1920
The ongoing civil war and the change of capital take their toll in St Petersburg. The population falls
to 722,000, one-third of the prerevolutionary figure.
1921
Kronshtadt sailors and soldiers rebel against the increasingly dictatorial regime. They are brutally
suppressed and this is the last uprising against Communist rule until the Soviet collapse.
1922
The Soviet Union is officially created, merging Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and the Caucasus into one
federal socialist state.
1924
Lenin dies without designating a successor. The city's name is now Leningrad in his honour. Power is
assumed by a 'triumvirate' but Stalin increasingly takes control.
