1905 "Bloody Sunday" in St. Petersburg

110 years ago, on January 22, 1905 (January 9, old style), a demonstration of workers was shot at in St. Petersburg near the Winter Palace. These events were later called "Bloody Sunday". The workers were heading to the Winter Palace to present their demands to Tsar Nicholas II, the main of which was the convening of a popular representation in the form of a Constituent Assembly. The king was not in the palace at that moment, which the demonstrators did not know about. Up to 140,000 workers took part in the procession.

The tsar wrote in his diary that day: "A hard day! There were serious riots in St. Petersburg due to the desire of the workers to reach the Winter Palace. The troops had to shoot in different parts of the city, there were many killed and wounded. Lord, how painful and hard!" Presumably, the order to fire was given by the chief of staff of the guard troops, General Nikolai Meshetich. According to official figures, 130 people died, including two policemen killed by soldiers' bullets, and 299 people were injured. Historians estimate that the actual number of victims was between 150 and 200 killed and between 450 and 800 wounded.

Baron Nikolai Wrangel recalled: “One thing seems certain to me: if the Sovereign had come out onto the balcony, if he had listened to the people one way or another, nothing would have happened, except that the tsar would become more popular than he was ... How did the prestige of his great-grandfather, Nikolai, strengthen I, after his appearance during the cholera riot on Sennaya Square! But the Tsar was only Nicholas II, and not the Second Nicholas.

"Bloody Sunday" is considered the day of the beginning of the First Russian Revolution.