Assassination of Tsar Alexander II
On 13 March 1881, the 26-year long reign of Tsar Alexander the 2nd came to an abrupt end when he was assassinated at the age of 62. There had been 5 attempts on the Russian emperor's life prior to this attack. Russian revolutionary Sophia Perovskaya and 9 other revolutionaries collaborate to kill the tsar. The attacks were carried out when Perovskaya blew her nose with her handkerchief at which point the assassins minus Timofey Makhailov got into their positions. When the tsar's carriage was 137 meters down Griboyedov Canal in St Petersburg, Nikolai Rysakov threw a handkerchief clad bomb under the carriage which killed a Cossack but as the carriage was bulletproof, Tsar Alexander II emerged from the carriage shaken but unscathed only for Ignacy Hryniewiecki to throw another bomb at the Tsar's feet. After the explosion Tsar Alexander II was rushed to the Winter Palace where he succumbed to his injuries. His son became Tsar Alexander the 3rd who had the assassins prosecuted and some of them hung.
An attempt on Alex the Third's life was stopped and saw the brother of Vladimir Lenin, Aleksandr Ulyanov (Ulyanov was Lenin's real surname) being hanged. The Church of the Saviour on Blood stands on the site of Tsar Alex II's assassination
What else happened on this day?
Dunblane Massacre (1996)
115 years later, a lone gunman entered Dunblane Primary School in Dunblane, Scotland and shot 16 children and their teacher before turning the gun on himself.
Election of Jorge Mario Bergoglio to the Papacy, he becomes Pope Francis (2013)
Following a conclave triggered by the resignation of Pope Benedict VIX, Argentinian born Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio is elected as his successor. He chose the papal name of Pope Francis after St. Francis of Assisi, the patron saint of animals and the founder of the Franciscan Order. His papacy lasted 12 years until his death in the early hours of 21st April 2025, Easter Monday.
This was published originally during Russcember 2020. Russcember sees a month of fact cards regarding to Russian history, geography, culture and politics. Click the scan above to see more Russcember entries.