St. Petersburg is one of the most wonderful cities in Europe, deservedly called the Northern Palmyra. You can write whole volumes, telling how this second capital of the state was created. No less interesting is the whole history of St. Petersburg. Briefly try to consider it.
North War
The war with the Swedish king Kalu XII, later called the North, was planned by Peter I to open Russia's access to the Baltic Sea, and thus, “to cut through the window to Europe”, which the Tsar reformer wanted to do.
During this protracted campaign, many great victories were won, which Russians are still proud of: near Narva, Shlisselburg and, of course, Poltava. In the end, Peter managed to win a final victory in the war in 1721 and achieve Russia's access to the Baltic Sea.
How is the history of the creation of St. Petersburg connected with these events? This will be briefly described below.
Plans for the construction of a new capital
Tsar Peter I understood that Russia needed fundamental reforms, and in almost all areas, from management to production technology. But he could not fail to understand that surrounded by the boyars in their old nest, Moscow, he would not be able to completely break the chains of past foundations. Therefore, even at the beginning of the reign, he had the idea of building a new capital, from where he would already rule not the Russian kingdom, but the Russian Empire.
Later, Peter visited the Netherlands and was imbued with European culture, so he wished that his new capital was exactly at the western borders of the state.
In 1703, Peter I managed to recapture a piece of ancient Russian land, which was once captured by the Swedes. By that time, this land was already called in the German manner - Ingermanland.
It was here that Peter decided to build his new capital. Thus began the thirteen-year history of the founding of St. Petersburg. A brief discussion of this will be given below.
City name
As already mentioned, Peter I visited Holland in his youth, where he masterfully learned to build ships, learned the local language and, most importantly, was imbued with European culture. He was fascinated by Europe so much that in Russia he tried to arrange everything in a European manner, introduced new laws, made the boyars cut their beards. It is not surprising that he tried to make his new capital similar to Amsterdam - the Dutch trading city.
The city was named after the patron saint of the king - the apostle Peter. Naturally, he gave the name to his capital in the Dutch manner - St. Peter Burch. It was with this name that the history of St. Petersburg was connected until 1914. Briefly about what happened and why the name changed, you will learn a little later.
The foundation of St. Petersburg
Thirteen years passed from laying the first stone of the fort, which was named St. Peter Burch, in 1704 and until 1717, when the fortress turned into a real full-fledged city. During this period, construction was carried out mainly by ordinary workers. Peter himself also took part in the construction, since from his youth he had joined the ax, helping to build ships for his own fleet, which later became invincible.
Meanwhile, the city was growing, and Peter won one victory after another: both in war and in creation. But his real pearl was precisely St. Petersburg. The history of the city will be briefly told by us further.
Capital of the empire
So, St. Petersburg grew from a small fort into a city truly worthy of becoming the capital of the empire. In 1712, the official transfer of the capital city was made. Various official institutions, foreign embassies and the royal court began to move from Moscow to St. Petersburg.
After, in 1717, when construction work was generally completed, the real masters of their craft, naturally invited from Europe, took up the decoration of the capital. St. Petersburg is all good. In 1725, the Academy of Sciences was opened here, which made the city not only state, but also the cultural capital of the empire.
After the death of Peter I, St. Petersburg did not stop developing as a world center, overshadowing many European cities with its beauty. Yes, this is not surprising, because such great sculptors and architects as Rastrelli, Bazhenov, Felten and many other world-famous geniuses worked in the city.
In the 19th century, the city flourished in all its glory. But the history of St. Petersburg does not stop there. Briefly about what happened next, there will be the following story.
Petrograd: the death of the empire
In 1914, the First World War began. The Russian Empire, together with England and France, entered the struggle against Germany and Austria-Hungary. In the wake of patriotic sentiment, the question arose of why the name of the Russian capital is pronounced in the German manner. So it was decided to rename St. Petersburg to Petrograd.
But the new name did not take root for a long time. In October 1917, the October Revolution took place , which destroyed the Russian Empire. A new state, the USSR, arose on its ruins. Due to the proximity of the front, the Soviet government was afraid to be in Petrograd, so in 1918 it was decided to relocate the capital to Moscow again.
But the story of St. Petersburg does not end there. Briefly about how this city was renamed again, you will learn further.
Leningrad and again Petersburg
In 1924, the city was expecting a new renaming. It was connected simultaneously with the death of Lenin, the desire of the Soviet leadership to perpetuate his memory and with the general policy of renaming cities bearing tsarist names. So Petrograd was renamed Leningrad. A similar fate awaited Alexandrovsk, Yekaterinburg, Yekaterinburg, Yekaterinodar and other cities bearing the names of the Romanovs.
In the Soviet period, the city lost its capital status, but still remained the second largest and most important settlement of the USSR. It developed the architecture of the Soviet style, opened cultural institutions, built new residential quarters of high-rise buildings.
Although Leningrad knew the bitter years. The fate of the city residents was especially tragic during the blockade of 1941-1944.
Finally, in 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed. This gave rise to a wave of new renaming in the country. But this time, "from above" no one imposed what the city should be called. The name offered to choose the residents themselves. And in a referendum, more than 50% of Leningrad residents decided to return the city to its original name - St. Petersburg. Stages of history we briefly covered in this review. But the main thing is that the city continues to live, new people are born in it, buildings are being built, infrastructure is developing.