Although tourists who travel to Russia, and especially when they visit St. Petersburg, see many tourist attractions from the time of Nicholas II, this period has been dark for Nicholas II and his family. The reign of Nicholas II began with a tremendous economic boom that led to Russia's development and its capital, St. Petersburg, in various cases. Almost no one at the time imagined that the Romanov dynasty would soon relinquish control of the Russian Empire. Many tourists of St. Petersburg tour, seeing the tourist attractions left from that era, may not believe that Nicholas II was the last emperor in Russian history. However, a series of events led to the collapse of the Russian Empire in 1918 and the replacement of the Bolshevik revolutionary forces. Nicholas II himself did not at least believe that the events of 1905 in the country would lead to the overthrow of the Russian Empire in less than 15 years, but the revolt of the Russian Empire began in the early days of 1905.
The first spark for the collapse of the Russian Empire occurred in the early days of 1905 in the 1905 Russian Revolution, a movement also known as the First Russian Revolution. The movement, which consisted of a series of political and social protests, included workers' strikes, peasant unrest, and military uprisings throughout the Russian Empire, some of which directly targeted the government. One of the primary reasons for this wave of protests was Russia's defeat in the Russo-Japanese War, but social problems and the need for fundamental reforms in the government were among the main reasons. For more information on these events, tourists can visit the Museum of Political History during their tour to Russia. The protest movement, which lasted nearly two years, ended in complete defeat for the revolutionaries. Lenin, the Soviet government leader, later declared that it was like a rehearsal for the great revolution, without which a successful October Revolution would be impossible. At the end of these conflicts, the imperial forces had nearly 3,600 killed and wounded, while almost 15,000 killed, 20,000 wounded, and 38,000 prisoners were among the casualties of the revolutionary forces. If you visit the Field of Mars during your trip to St. Petersburg, you can find monuments to those who have killed during the first revolution.
Three hundred years after the end of the "Time of Trouble" by Peter the Great and the Romanov family, when Nicholas II traveled with his family to major Russian cities in 1913 to commemorate the event, he was greeted by a cheerful crowd. He had forgotten the problems of eight years ago and the first Russian revolution, and Russia had overcome the difficulties and unrest of those years and was recovering. Just a year later, when Europe was embroiled in World War I, people in Palace Square, one of the attractions of Russian tour in St. Petersburg, cheered on Nicholas II and his wife, after they had renamed Saint Petersburg of German origin to Petrograd, which was closer to the Russian origin in a nationalist act. No one expected the Russian Empire to disintegrate in less than five years. World War I started for Russia in the worst possible way. Nearly one million casualties in the first year of the war, the shortage of food and fuel, and political and social unrest within the country prompted Russia to withdraw from the WWI battlefield a year before the First World War finished. What was happening inside the country led everyone to believe in the beginning of a new era of the "time of trouble" that marked the beginning of the February Revolution in Russia. However, tourists who travel to St. Petersburg still can find several attractions from this era on their tour to Russia.
Russia's domestic problems in the last year of World War I progressed in such a way that the Romanov dynasty ended in the worst possible way after 304 years with the ouster of Nicholas II. In the unrestrained chaos following the overthrow of Nicholas II, an interim government of liberal political activists, reformist aristocrats and capitalists were formed. This Provisional Government faced significant opposition, the Soviet extremist group of workers, soldiers, peasants, and sailors. That, in turn, led to a civil war in Russia that eventually ended in victory for the Bolsheviks, and the group's leader, Lenin, a skilled revolutionary, became the leader of the largest government in history. This series of events marked one of the worst historical periods in St. Petersburg for the city since its establishment. St. Petersburg, one of Europe's three-largest European capitals until 1910, had seen its population shrink by million. With the departure of the government from the city and the relocation to Moscow, people's economic prosperity and living conditions also faced severe problems. The city's landmarks, now main parts of St. Petersburg tour, have seen the threat of demolition. Most of the treasures of St. Petersburg's private galleries and museums were driven out of the country by fugitive aristocrats or looted by Bolshevik forces. In general, the European face of the city was destroyed, and the royal names were removed from St. Petersburg. Almost anyone with ties to the monarchy who had not left Russia was executed or arrested by Bolshevik forces. In general, what we know today from St. Petersburg on the Russia Tour was in danger of being destroyed in the early days of the revolution. However, throughout history, multiple events had kept us the St. Petersburg we love, and we still have the opportunity to enjoy St. Petersburg's history when we travel to Russia.
We at the Star Travel Company recommend our travelers visiting the Museum of Political History on their trip to Russia to learn more about the events of the revolution. You can also get some of the facts about the revolution and St. Petersburg through our weblog. We also give useful advice about how to travel to Russia and tips on the best places that you should visit during your tour to Russia.
