ST. PETERSBURG / PETROGRAD / LENINGRAD

Perhaps if there is any other city that's as important as Moscow to Russia, it's St. Petersburg (or Saint Petersburg). Historically, known by names such as Petrograd and Leningrad, the city is relatively new with respect to European politics. The city was established in 1703 and we can find the name 'Petersſburg' written on the early 18th century maps in the historical region of Ingria. In fact, this was the site chosen for the capital of Ingria about a century ago and the city of Nyen was made the headquarters. Ingria was part of the Swedish Empire that at this time extended from Sweden, Finland to Estonia with a tiny enclave near Lake Ladoga. This tiny enclave would soon bring Russia into the European politics in the most dramatic way.

With the development of St. Petersburg in the coming centuries, it became an industrial hub for other European industrialists. With business flowing in from France, Italy, Germany and even USA, the city replaced Moscow as the capital of the Russian Empire between 1712 to 1918. In 1914 the city got its name changed to Petrograd [till 1924] and once again between 1924 to 1991 as Leningrad. For two centuries (that's roughly the timeline of the city) it served as the Russian capital and home to the imperial Romanovs, a dynasty that would be brutally murdered at the peak time of the Russian revolution of 1918. 

Interestingly, the surrounding region is still called as Leningrad Oblast. And when the mention of Lenin is made, the great Russian Revolution of 1917 has to be talked about. The revolution took place when the city was known as Petrograd. Iconic locations in the city witnessed the revolution such as the Vosstaniya Square (originally known as Znamenskaya Square) where mass protests had happened or the Finlyandski Station where Lenin had arrived from his exile on 16th April 1917. The Smolny Institute that served once as the Bolshevik headquarters and the command center of the revolution, also is in St. Petersburg. The Apartment Museum of the Alliluevs was considered as Lenin's secret flat and home to Nadezhda Allilueva (Stalin's second wife). The flat served as a hideout for both Lenin and Stalin at various time. The city is also the site where the Cruiser Aurora allegedly fired the first shot that launched the revolution. The ship had previously taken part in the Russo-Japanese War and later would also be involved in both the World Wars. The Tauride Palace, one of the oldest and largest in the city [between 1783 to 1789] was the building that held the provisional government during the revolution. It was also the site where the first and the last Constituent Assembly was held (in 1918). 

St. Petersburg was the hub of Marxism ideologies boosted especially by Lenin. And this could be seen when he established the SBORK (St. Petersburg League of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class) along with other socialists such as Julius Martov, Gleb Krzhizhanovsky, Anatoly Vaneyev, Alexander Malchenko, P. Zaporozhets, V. Starkov etc. in 1895. The basic motive was to promote socialism (and eventually communism) among the factory workers there. Prior to the 1917 revolution, St. Petersburg also was the starting of the 1905 revolution that was sparked by an event known as Bloody Sunday or Red Sunday. The massacre was a result of the clash between unarmed demonstrators led by Father Georgy Gapon and the soldiers of the Imperial Guard. The protests were directed against the government and the defeat in the Russo-Japanese battle, which formed the base for the future 1917 revolution. 

Vladimir Lenin's revolution in the same year following the February one is known as Bolshevik Revolution or the October Revolution or the Red October. It was his provisional government that led to the establishment of the Soviet Union that lasted till the 1990s. And it wasn't just Russians that formed the Soviet government, nations such as Hungary, Lithuania, Ireland, China, Iran, Belarus, Ukraine, Finland, Slovakia and even the former Emirate of Bukhara (in today's Uzbekistan) - all had Soviet governments at various times in history.

While it was the strong socialist influence of Vladimir Lenin that led to the renaming of the city 5 days after his death in 1924. St. Petersburg wasn't the only city renamed after Vladimir Lenin. From all the countries of the former Soviet Union to even African countries like Angola (Lenin Avenue, Luanda), Benin (Lenin Square, Cotonou), Mozambique (Vladimir Lenin Avenue, Maputo), South Africa (Lenin Street, Alberton), Somalia (Lenin Street, Mogadishu), Tunisia (Rue Lénine, Tunis) and even Asian countries like India, Malaysia (Lenin River) and Vietnam (Lenin Park, Hanoi); Lenin's influence is global. The following are the cities named after Lenin in India: 

1. Lenin Sarani, Kolkata
2. Lenin Street, Erode
3. Lenin Street, Puducherry
4. Lenin Centre, Vijaywada
5. Lenin Chowk, Muzaffarpur (in Bihar)
6. Leningrad Square, Mumbai

While Petrograd witnessed the First World War and the Russian Revolution of 1917, Leningrad saw one of the brutal and longest sieges of the world between 1941 to 1944, known as Siege of Leningrad. Leningrad of this time had nothing much to do with communism or Soviet politics, but it was a war declared by the combined Axis forces of Germany, Finland an Italy that lasted for 2 years, 4 months, 2 weeks and 5 days -  a total of 872 days. The battle although ended up in Soviet victory, but also added a total of 1.1 million casualties (combining both the parties). The siege was brutal as Adolf Hitler had ordered his soldiers to starve Russian civilians which led to people surviving on almost anything as food - wallpaper paste, shoe leather etc. The Germans forced the civilians to live in the freezing cold and diseases while the Luftwaffe would bomb the city everyday. The victory at the end wasn't something the people could celebrate. A German victory over Leningrad as well as Stalingrad (today's Volgograd) would have proved successful to Hitler in his final offensive in the East. But as fate would decide it, his this very act costed him a massive failure and shattered his plans of conquering Russia.  

Changing the name from Leningrad to St. Petersburg wasn't an easy task. This was the first time when a public referendum was held in Soviet Union (or USSR) to change a city's name. While the Communists were against the change and feeling the legacy of Lenin would be wiped out with renaming, the Orthodox Church favored renaming the city back to its original roots. This was also the time when communism was at a fall-out and Soviet Union had already disintegrated into 15 independent republics. Thus, on 6th September 1991 after a slim victory, the 'Window to Europe' got renamed to St. Petersburg. Below here is a map of Leningrad dating 1967.