Saint Petersburg in History

Founds the new capital at Saint Petersburg

Peter founds the Peter and Paul Fortress on Hare Island.

Menshikov supervises early building and military work around the new fortress.

Peter lays the foundation of the first wooden Peter and Paul Church.

Peter marks the consecration of the new fortress and raises the naval flag.

Peter I begins construction of the vast Peterhof Palace, St. Petersburg, to rival Versailles

Lomonosov returned from scientific training in Germany to work at the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences.

Anna Leopoldovna was arrested with her family after Elizabeth seized power.

The infant Ivan VI was deposed during Elizabeth’s coup and removed from the throne.

Elizabeth secured the support of Guards regiments and overthrew the regency of Anna Leopoldovna.

Elizabeth was proclaimed Empress of Russia following the successful palace coup.

Vorontsov supported Elizabeth during the coup that ended Anna Leopoldovna’s regency.

Elizabeth inherited the continuing war with Sweden after taking the Russian throne.

Founds the Academy of Fine Arts

Lomonosov observes a luminous arc during the transit of Venus and concludes that the planet possesses an atmosphere.

The Winter Palace, triumph of lavish rococo style, is begun in St. Petersburg

Saves Frederick from almost total defeat, Peter loans Frederick a Russian army corp. Ends the war between Prussia & Russia

Russia, Austria and Prussia hold a convention in Petersburg to finalize the 3rd division of the Polishn Republic

Russia, Austria and Prussia hold a convention in Petersburg to finalize the 3rd division of the Polishn Republic

Russia, Prussia and Austria sign an act that terminates the Lithuanian-Polish state

Russia, Prussia and Austria sign an act that terminates the Lithuanian-Polish state

Appointed Governor of Saint Petersburg

Creates an informal advisory circle with Stroganov, Kochubey, Novosiltsev and Czartoryski to discuss reform.

Replaces many collegial administrative bodies with ministries responsible directly to the emperor.

Reorganises the Senate and clarifies its supervisory role within the imperial administration.

Receives Mikhail Speransky's constitutional reform plan proposing representative institutions and a clearer separation of governmental functions.

Establishes the State Council as a central advisory body for reviewing legislation and administration.

Reorganises the ministries as part of continued efforts to improve central government administration.

Refuses to negotiate peace after Napoleon occupies Moscow, forcing the French to continue the campaign without a settlement.

Dismisses reformer Mikhail Speransky as conservative opposition and wartime political pressures intensify.

Responds to the catastrophic Saint Petersburg flood, which causes widespread destruction and loss of life.

Russia and Britain sign a convention defining the boundary between Russian America and British possessions in northwestern America.

First day of the uprising of young Russian aristocratic army officers

Rebels proclaim Constantine Emperor & demand a Constitution

The Decembrists are fired on at Saint Petersburgs Senate Sqr leaving many dead. The Decembrist rebellion is suppressed. Rebels proclaim Constantine Emperor & demand a Constitution

5 of the leaders are hanged & 100 conspirators sent to Siberia

Supports Russian adherence to the agreement with Britain and France for the pacification of Greece.

Birth of Alexander Borodin

Writes Death of the Poet after Alexander Pushkins fatal duel.

Condemns court society and becomes widely known through the circulated poem.

Leaves Russia on his way to London

Conducts Russian diplomacy during the dispute over the Ottoman Empire and the Orthodox protectorate question.

Becomes Tsar after the death of Nicholas I during the Crimean War.

Accepts the need for peace after military reverses, economic strain and the threat of Austrian intervention.

Reorganises the central machinery supervising preparation of the emancipation settlement.

Supports the editing commissions that turn provincial emancipation proposals into draft legislation.

His youngest son, Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich, is born.

Appointed Chief of the Saint Petersburg Police

Establishes the State Bank of the Russian Empire as part of wider financial modernisation.

Authorises publication of the state budget, increasing transparency in imperial finances.

The achievement marks inhibitory brain reflexes as an important Russian scientific milestone.

Publishes a physiological explanation of reflex activity in the brain.

Begins assuming broader state and dynastic responsibilities after becoming heir to the throne.

Welcomes Princess Dagmar of Denmark into the Russian Orthodox Church before their marriage.

Alexander II maintains Russian neutrality and declines to rescue Austria from Prussian pressure.

Develops a general bound for deviations from a probability distribution's mean.

The achievement marks probability bounds as an important Russian scientific milestone.

His eldest surviving son Nicholas, the future Nicholas II, is born.

His second son Alexander Alexandrovich is born but dies in infancy the following year.

Backs the declaration that Russia will no longer observe the Black Sea restrictions imposed after the Crimean War.

His son George Alexandrovich is born and later becomes second in line to the throne.

The achievement marks eka-element predictions as an important Russian scientific milestone.

Publishes detailed predictions for elements missing from the periodic table.

His daughter Maria Alexandrovna marries Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh.

Supports diplomatic efforts to address unrest in the Ottoman Balkans while initially avoiding immediate war.

His daughter Xenia Alexandrovna is born into the imperial family.

The Treaty of Saint Petersburg gives Russia undisputed possession of Sakhalin while Japan receives the Kurile Islands.

Japan recognizes the sovereignty of Russia over the Kurile Islands & Sakhalin

His son Michael Alexandrovich is born and later becomes a prominent member of the imperial family.

Views the diplomatic reduction of Russian gains after the Russo-Turkish War with deep dissatisfaction.

Survives an assassination attempt when Alexander Soloviev fires repeatedly at him near the Winter Palace.

Abolishes the Third Section and transfers political policing functions to the Ministry of the Interior.

Relies increasingly on Konstantin Pobedonostsev, whose conservative views reinforce his commitment to autocracy.

Creates the Supreme Executive Commission under Mikhail Loris-Melikov to coordinate action against political violence.

Survives a bomb explosion in the Winter Palace planted by revolutionary Stepan Khalturin.

Refuses clemency for leading conspirators convicted of participating in the assassination of Alexander II.

Approves a proposal for limited consultative participation in legislation shortly before his assassination.

Rejects plans associated with Loris-Melikov for a limited national consultative body.

Helps coordinate the assassination of Tsar Alexander II.

Is fatally wounded in a bombing organized by People's Will.

Dies in Saint Petersburg after being mortally wounded in a People's Will bomb attack.

Dies after a second bomb explodes near his carriage.

Begins a reign marked by political reaction and stronger autocracy.

Signals the attackers as the imperial carriage approaches.

Succeeds his assassinated father as Tsar of Russia.

Is executed for participating in Alexander II's assassination.

She is hanged with other convicted People's Will conspirators.

Rejects expectations of constitutional reform after his father's assassination.

Takes office as the government adopts a more conservative direction.

Becomes Minister of the Interior under Alexander III.

Issues a manifesto affirming the principle of autocratic rule.

His youngest daughter Olga Alexandrovna is born into the imperial family.

Police uncover a student plot to assassinate him before the conspirators can carry out their planned attack.

Allows the execution of convicted assassination conspirators, including Alexander Ulyanov, elder brother of Vladimir Lenin.

Death of Alexander Borodin

Joins the Finance Ministry as director of railway affairs.

Trains at the Mikhailovsky Artillery School in Saint Petersburg.

Publishes arguments for protective tariffs and industrial development.

Describes formation of quaternary ammonium salts from tertiary amines and alkyl halides.

The achievement marks quaternary ammonium formation as an important Russian scientific milestone.

Russia's Reinsurance Treaty with Germany lapses, encouraging Alexander to consider closer relations with France.

1st performance of, "Sleeping Beauty"

Supports the Trans-Siberian Railway project as a national priority.

Approves a political understanding under which Russia and France agree to consult when either faces a threat of war.

Appoints Sergei Witte as finance minister, strengthening the government's emphasis on industrial and railway development.

The achievement marks discovery of filterable virus as an important Russian scientific milestone.

Begins policies later called the Witte System.

Shows that tobacco mosaic disease passes through filters retaining bacteria.

Appointed Minister of Railways before moving to finance.

Permits Russian and French military representatives to conclude a defensive military convention.

Appointed Minister of Finance.

Takes charge of finance, industry and commercial policy.

Death of Peter Tchaikovsky

Encourages foreign capital to support Russian industrialisation.

Uses state finance to accelerate railway construction.

Ratifies the military convention with France, advancing the defensive alliance between the two powers.

Uses protective tariffs to encourage domestic industry.

The exchange of diplomatic approval formally establishes the Franco-Russian alliance.

Studies at the Nikolaev General Staff Academy.

Promotes factories, railways and state-supported industrial growth.

Founds the Saint Petersburg Union of Struggle for the Liberation of the Working Class

Introduces a state alcohol monopoly to increase revenue.

Promotes construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway as finance minister.

Demonstrates a radio-wave receiver to the Russian Physical and Chemical Society.

The achievement marks wireless signal detection as an important Russian scientific milestone.

Helps build the Saint Petersburg Marxist workers' network.

Works with Lenin in the League of Struggle before party formation.

Supports underground organisation among workers and Marxist activists.

Helps organise the League of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class.

Police repression strikes Lenin's League of Struggle circle.

Witte accumulates gold reserves and prepares the legislation needed to make the ruble convertible.

Helps maintain contacts in the illegal Marxist network.

Continues agitation among workers before the party is created.

China agrees to allow a Russian railway route through Manchuria.

Secures rights linked to the Chinese Eastern Railway.

A decree introduces gold coinage and establishes a ruble parity of 0.77 grams of fine gold.

Supports limits on factory working hours.

Reforms commercial and industrial taxation.

Promotes commercial and technical schools for industrial labour.

Industrial production rises under his finance ministry.

Supports creation of the Saint Petersburg Polytechnical Institute.

Publishes The Development of Capitalism in Russia under the name Vladimir Ilyin.

Warns that reckless Far Eastern expansion could endanger Russia.

Uses state borrowing and foreign loans to fund railway building.

Links state finance to rapid industrial development.

Recognises rural poverty as a danger to state stability.

Continues directing industry and commerce through the Finance Ministry.

Organizes a major industrial strike

Questions policies that risk conflict over Manchuria.

Appointed chairman of the Committee of Ministers.

Moves from finance to the chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers.

Leaves direct control of the Finance Ministry.

Birth of Kosigyn, son of a working class family

Begins practising law in Saint Petersburg, defending political activists and opponents of imperial authority before becoming a prominent revolutionary lawyer.

Calls a strike after 4 Assembly of Russian Workers members of the Putilov works sacked. 110,000 workers go on strike

110,000 workers go on strike

The war strains the financial system built during his ministry.

Watches war begin after earlier warnings about Far Eastern risks.

Mensheviks emphasise broad workers' organisation during the revolution.

Called by the Tsar to address unrest after Bloody Sunday.

Supports Bolshevik organisation during the revolutionary year.

Supports the Bolsheviks

Develops ideas shaped by the Saint Petersburg Soviet experience.

Supports political prisoners and radical opposition after 1905.

Supports political prisoners and radical opposition after the revolution.

Warns against premature seizure of power by social democrats.

Supports the Bolsheviks

Writes The Events in Petersburg during the revolutionary crisis that brings him back into Russian political activity.

Uses the crisis to press demands for constitutional reform.

Warns that repression alone cannot stabilise the empire.

Russia's defeat at Port Arthur deepens pressure on the government.

Putilov dismissals help ignite the strike wave before Bloody Sunday.

Appeals to workers to stay away from the demonstrations threatening to use force

Gapon asks the Tsar to reduce the working day to 8 hrs and improve conditions and wages. 82,000 workers go out on strike

More than 80,000 workers go on strike in Saint Petersburg

Sends out orders to arrest Gapon but Gapon goes into hiding

Attempts to contain the strike and petition movement before the march.

Permits a petition but tries to restrict the workers' route.

120,000 workers go out on strike

Troops open fire and 200 are killed and 800 injured

Military repression helps turn protest into revolution.

Earlier police-union experiments collapse under the crisis.

Bloody Sunday turns reform pressure into national crisis.

Encourages women and families to join the peaceful procession.

Becomes associated with repression after the massacre.

Denounces the shootings and is arrested during the aftermath.

Is arrested after condemning the Bloody Sunday shootings.

Liberal opposition gains strength after the massacre.

The Government appeals in vain for the workers to return to work

Loses authority after the failure to contain the crisis.

Is dismissed after the crisis caused by Bloody Sunday.

Allows the demonstration but forbids demonstrators to go near the Winter Palace

Appointed Governor General of Saint Petersburg

Is appointed governor general to restore order.

Troops fire on workers marching to the Winter Palace.

Troops fire on demonstrators, helping spark the 1905 Revolution.

The Union of Liberation presents a petition to the Tsar

Returns secretly to Russia after Bloody Sunday.

Returns to Russia after the revolutionary crisis begins.

Urges reform as disorder spreads after Bloody Sunday.

Develops proposals for a consultative Duma.

Becomes minister of the interior during the revolutionary crisis.

Closes universities and secondary schools amid unrest.

The Potemkin mutiny is followed by strikes across Russia.

Is selected to negotiate peace with Japan.

Proposes a consultative assembly without full legislative power.

Approves a consultative Duma proposal that fails to satisfy opposition.

Receives the title count after the Portsmouth negotiations.

Interprets the new Soviet movement as a revolutionary opportunity.

Later leads the Soviet born from the revolutionary wave.

Attempts to create a more coordinated ministerial government.

Tries to manage promises of civil liberties amid unrest.

Influences Trotsky and Soviet revolutionary strategy.

Influences socialist strategy around the workers' Soviet.

Is appointed chairman of the workers' Soviet during the 1905 Revolution.

Supports socialist activity around the workers' Soviet.

Is called upon as the general strike paralyses the empire.

The general strike forces Nicholas II to seek Witte's advice.

Argues that only constitutional concessions can restore order.

Helps lead the workers' Soviet created during the 1905 Revolution.

Chairs the Saint Petersburg Soviet of Workers' Deputies.

Drafts concessions intended to end the general strike.

Drafts the manifesto promising liberties and representation.

Submits draft concessions to end the strike and save the monarchy.

Military dictatorship is rejected as constitutional concessions are accepted.

Issues the October Manifesto promising civil liberties and a Duma.

Nicholas II issues the October Manifesto, promising civil rights and a Duma.

Nicholas II signs the October Manifesto under Witte's influence.

Persuades Nicholas II to accept concessions during the revolutionary crisis.

The manifesto promises basic rights and an elected legislature.

Witte argues that concessions are needed to end the general strike.

Witte's advice shapes Nicholas II's constitutional concessions.

Helps secure the manifesto during the revolutionary strike wave.

Nicholas II issues the October Manifesto, promising civil rights and a Duma.

Nicholas II signs the October Manifesto under Witte's influence.

Persuades Nicholas II to accept concessions during the revolutionary crisis.

The manifesto promises freedom of conscience speech meeting and association.

Witte persuades Nicholas II to avoid a military dictatorship.

Witte's programme offers constitutional concessions to calm the empire.

Begins organising government after the October Manifesto.

Forms the new government after the October Manifesto.

Becomes chairman of the Council of Ministers.

Appointed Russia's first chairman of the Council of Ministers.

Heads the new Council of Ministers after the manifesto.

Warns Nicholas II that Russia is close to revolution.

Becomes a central organiser and speaker in the Soviet.

Becomes a major speaker and organiser in the 1905 Soviet.

Emerges as a leading figure in the workers' Soviet.

Helps found the Saint Petersburg Soviet, 50 such Soviets are soon founded all over Russia

Issues a manifesto granting the right of Labour to organize. Issues a manifesto granting freedom of speech, conscience and Assembly. Issues a manifesto granting a suffrage law for elections to the Duma

Issues a manifesto granting a suffrage law for elections to the Duma

Issues a manifesto granting a suffrage law for elections to the Duma

Builds Bolshevik organisation during the upheaval after January.

Helps organise Bolshevik activity during the revolution.

Works on arrangements for the promised State Duma.

Returns from exile during the 1905 Revolution.

Returns from exile during the revolutionary upheaval.

Studies the Soviet as a new form of revolutionary organisation.

Organises monarchist reaction against revolutionary movements.

Is arrested as the government attacks the Soviet.

Is arrested as the government attacks the Soviet.

Assumes leading authority after Khrustalev-Nosar's arrest.

Faces prosecution after the suppression of the Soviet.

Supports the Soviet appeal against tsarist finances.

Is arrested after chairing the revolutionary workers' Soviet.

Is arrested after the Soviet is suppressed.

Is arrested when the 1905 Soviet is suppressed.

Is arrested after chairing the revolutionary workers' Soviet.

Is arrested after the Soviet is suppressed.

Is arrested when the 1905 Soviet is suppressed.

Government repression follows the arrest of Soviet leaders.

Authorities arrest Soviet leaders in Saint Petersburg.

Authorities move against the Saint Petersburg Soviet.

Helps implement electoral law for the first Duma.

Works to implement the Duma promised in the manifesto.

Issues electoral rules for the new State Duma.

Defends revolutionaries in court and gains recognition for challenging the Tsarist government's treatment of political prisoners.

Defends the actions of the Saint Petersburg Soviet in a major speech during the trial of its deputies.

Attempts to stabilise the regime before the first Duma meets.

Represents political opponents of the imperial government.

Supports reforms creating an upper legislative chamber.

Nicholas II accepts Witte's resignation under conservative pressure.

Resigns as chairman of the Council of Ministers.

Leaves office as the new constitutional framework is imposed.

Represents Social Democratic activity around the First Duma period.

The first Duma opens shortly after Witte's fall.

Moves into political semi-retirement after resignation.

Russia and Great Britain sign the Convention of Saint Petersburg, in which Afghanistan is declared outside Russias sphere of influence

Russia and Great Britain sign the Convention of Saint Petersburg, in which Afghanistan is declared outside Russias sphere of influence

The achievement marks institute of brain research as an important Russian scientific milestone.

Begins shaping memoir accounts of his political career.

Founds the Psychoneurological Institute for interdisciplinary study of the brain.

Russia and Great Britain sign the Convention of Saint Petersburg, in which Afghanistan is declared outside Russias sphere of influence

Criticises conservative court influence after leaving office.

Records his view of the October Manifesto and 1905 crisis.

His finance policies remain central to debate on Russian industrialisation.

Observes later reform politics from outside government.

Kerensky uses his new parliamentary position to champion civil rights and challenge official misconduct, strengthening his standing among reformers and socialist opposition deputies.

Kerensky is elected to the Fourth State Duma on the Trudovik ticket, beginning his formal parliamentary career as a moderate socialist and outspoken critic of autocratic government.

Kerensky reports on the Lena investigation and uses the case to attack administrative abuses and defend the rights of workers before the Duma and the public.

Reflects on autocracy, reform and Russia's constitutional experiment.

Kerensky joins the Trudovik parliamentary group, representing the populist and moderate socialist opposition within the Fourth Duma.

Works with Bolshevik press activity around Pravda.

Leads the Bolshevik Duma group while secretly serving police interests.

Kerensky repeatedly attacks ministers and administrative abuses from the Duma platform, becoming one of the most prominent speakers on the radical opposition benches.

Kerensky delivers forceful parliamentary speeches against autocratic practices and restrictions on political liberty, increasing his national reputation as a Trudovik spokesman.

Kerensky works with other opposition deputies to expose government abuses while maintaining the Trudovik commitment to representative government and social reform.

Kerensky continues advocating legal protections for political defendants and prisoners, linking his work as a lawyer with his Trudovik parliamentary activity.

Lives through the Romanov tercentenary under diminished political influence.

The achievement marks four-engine passenger aircraft as an important Russian scientific milestone.

Leads the first flight of the Ilya Muromets four-engine aircraft.

Kerensky publicly denounces the war and warns that military conflict will deepen Russia's political and social crisis.

Russia suspends redemption of State Bank notes in gold after entering the First World War.

Kerensky supports the Trudovik decision to abstain when the Duma considers government war credits, refusing unconditional endorsement of imperial wartime policy.

Kerensky opposes enthusiastic support for the First World War and criticises the conflict as destructive to Russian society and democratic reform.

Debates Russia's response to the outbreak of war.

Is arrested with other Bolshevik Duma deputies.

The Bolsheviks open the 2nd Congress of Soviets

The military revolutionary Council troops seize the Winter Palace

The Bolsheviks open the 2nd Congress of Soviets

The people of Leningrad vote by 55% to 43% to change their city name to Saint Petersburg

The people of Leningrad vote by 55% to 43% to change their city name to Saint Petersburg

The people of Leningrad vote by 55% to 43% to change their city name to Saint Petersburg