Brief History of St. Petersburg
18th Century
St. Petersburg was founded in 1703 by Peter the Great
as his "window on the west." It remained the capital
of the Russian Empire until the Bolshevik government
moved the capital back to Moscow in 1918, and has always
kept its 18th century character at the center of the
city. The original foundation of the city was Peter
and Paul Fortress and Cathedral, on Hare Island. Soon
after, early in the 18th Century, the Alexander Nevsky
Cathedral and Lavra were built, bringing the center
of Russian spiritual life to the city. In a few years'
time the Tsar's family, the entire Court, and many noble
families were relocated to the new capital, and a plan
was laid out for a European style city by Domenico Tresini.
The preeminent Frenchman Jean-Baptiste Leblon was Peter's
choice as architect. St. Petersburg soon developed into
the center of Russian economic, industrial, political,
and social life. During Peter's reign (1682-1725) the
Summer Gardens, the Kunstkammer, and the Menshikov Palace
were built, and many other public buildings and palaces
were planned. Under Empress Anna in 1730 the city was
divided into five parts, with the central focus shifting
from Peter and Paul Fortress to the Admiralty on the
opposite side of the Neva River. Three major streets
radiated outward from the Admiralty: Nevsky Prospekt,
Gorokhovaya Street, and Voznesensky Prospekt. But it
was under Catherine II (the Great), 1762-1796) that
St. Petersburg really flourished and Russia emerged
as a great European power. Catherine was brilliant,
well educated, and a patron of the arts. Many of St.
Petersburg's great architectural masterpieces: the Winter
Palace, Smolny Cathedral, St. Nicholas Cathedral, the
Marble Palace, the Admiralty, and the Stock Exchange,
were completed during her reign, as well as the world
famous Bronze Horseman statue to Peter the Great. Under
her son Paul the Mikhailovsky Palace was finished.
19th Century
The Nineteenth Century is remembered as the age both
of the height of military power of Russia and its cultural
emergence in literature, art, and music, all centered
in St. Petersburg. Russia's victory over Napoleon in
1812 under Alexander I resulted in a new surge of architectural
masterpieces: Kazan Cathedral, the Alexander Theatre,
the buildings of the Senate and Synod, the General Staff
of the Army headquarters, and the completion of Palace
Square ensemble. St. Isaac's Cathedral was planned,
and consecrated three decades later under Alexander's
brother Nicholas I. During Nicholas's reign (1825-1855)
not only did the great Russian geniuses Alexander Pushkin
and Nikolai Gogol live and write their incomparable
poetry and prose, but republican and revolutionary ideas
took root after the Decembrist uprising. These were
the years of great debates in Russia: the building of
universities, the discussion of directions for Russia's
future: Westernizers, Slavophiles, Populists and Marxists
lived wrote and argued. Literary criticism, newspapers,
journals, novels and epic poems vied for the St. Petersburg
reading public. Russia's defeat in the Crimean War and
the influx of ideas helped convince Alexander II (1855-1881)
that change was needed and the Tsar-Emancipator freed
the serfs, began the industrialization and modernization
of Russia, and brought about judicial reform, the rule
of law and local self-government to Russia's towns and
countryside. Cultural and ideological ferment continued,
with the great writers Ivan Turgenev, Fyodor Dostoevsky,
and Lev Tolstoy contributing masterpieces of world literature.
An anarchist's bomb ended the life of Alexander II,
and Alexander III (1881-1894) continued his modernization,
militarization and industrialization while doing little
to relieve the poverty of the countryside or the terrible
conditions of the new industrial cities.
20th Century
On Alexander III's death in 1894 the Russian throne
passed to Nicholas II, whose fate it was to see Russia
explode in War, and Revolution. Despite the promise
of a unified country demanding change in the Revolution
of 1905, and the growth of a true middle and professional
class, the resulting Constitutional settlement was never
really accepted by Nicholas. The rights of the people
and their representatives in the Duma, or Russian Parliament,
were constantly undermined. Not only did Russia lose
an ill-considered war with Japan (1904-05), but experienced
several other foreign policy failures in the early 20th
century before being drawn into perhaps its greatest
disaster, Europe's Great War (World War I). Although
this war began auspiciously, it soon turned into an
engine of revolution. Bread riots, strikes, and the
mutiny of the St. Petersburg garrison resulted in massive
social upheaval in February-March, 1917 and the abdication
of the tsar in favor of the Provisional Government of
the Duma and the simultaneous organization of the workers,
soldiers and peasants deputies into the Petrograd Soviet.
V. I. Lenin and the Bolsheviks took full advantage of
this instability with their slogans of "Peace, Land,
and Bread", and easily took power in an almost bloodless
coup in October, 1917, ushering in more than 70 years
of Communist rule. The twentieth century in St. Petersburg/Petrograd/Leningrad
has seen unbelievable tragedy but also great heroism,
much of which is reflected in the historical monuments
and buildings of this era. Construction and industry
have flourished, despite war, siege, death and terror.
The 900 Day siege of 1941-1945 immortalized Leningrad
forever, and poet Anna Akhmatova and composer Dmitry
Shostakovich will ever be remembered for their cultural
courage in resisting Stalinist terror and Nazi siege.
Most importantly, of course, the people of Leningrad
built the road of life across Lake Ladoga and kept the
city alive, to re-emerge in the 1970s and 1980s as an
industrial, educational, and cultural center, and to
take its rightful place again as St. Petersburg in 1991,
ever proud of its heritage and natural role as Russia's
gateway to the west.
|
