Saint Petersburg was formerly referred to as Leningrad and was also the location of the Bloody Sunday Massacre in the year 1905. At the time, Russia was losing in a war against Japan in the east; depsite how large the frigid country was, word of that loss was able to travel to the larger cities, especially Saint Petersburg, which forced tensions to run high.

At the time, Czar Nicholas II had been in charge since the year 1894; he had caused Russia to become even more corrupt than it had been before. Vladimir Lenin was gathering forces at this time who were aimed at toppling Czar Nicholas II. A conference occurred in Saint Petersburg in the year 1904, instituted by Czar Nicholas II's grandfather, Alexander II; however, nothing came from that meeting. Instead, the reformers decided to take a more drastic route. Thus, on 22 January 1905, the priest named Georgy Apollonovich Gapon decided to gather his followers and conduct a march to the Czar's Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg. The imperial forces fired upon the crowd of reformists without warning; hundreds were either wounded or killed. This massacre of the priest's group of reformers was a butterfly effect; it caused multiple riots to occur throughout the country of Russia. Of course, the event was nicknamed as the Bloody Sunday Massacre since it occurred on a Sunday and was quite literally a massacre of people. Czar Nicholas II promised to form assemblies of people named Dumas who were tasked with working toward the reformation of the Russian government.

Of course, however, these Dumas did not accomplish that task of reforming the Russian government; in fact, the Dumas did not make much effort toward reform. Vladimir Lenin's group, named the Bolsheviks, would continue to grow in strength and power across the country and would swiftly seize power over the country after the First World War, when the country's resources were stretched as thin as paper.

Works Cited

“Bloody Sunday Massacre in Russia.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 28 Oct. 2009, https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/bloody-sunday-massacre-in-ru....

Yegorov, Oleg. “How Russia's Own Bloody Sunday Turned Nicholas II into a Public Enemy.” Russia Beyond, 15 July 2019, https://www.rbth.com/history/330664-russia-bloody-sunday-nicholas-ii-tsar.