Russian History Trivia Trivia Quiz

Answer: V.I. Lenin

The Socialist Revolutionary Party member, Fanny Kaplan, seriously wounded Lenin at a meeting with workers in Moscow. He survived, but died 5 years and 5 months later because of the consequences of the wound to the neck.
Between 1931 and 1943 there were about a dozen plots to eliminate Stalin, but none of them caused him any harm. He died of stroke in 1953 at his house in the suburbs of Moscow at the age of 74.
The last Russian Emperor Nicholas II was shot together with his wife, children and servants on the orders of the Urals Bolsheviks Committee in Ekaterinburg in July 1918. He was 50 years old. The order was inspired by Lenin, who often spoke in favor of a full-scale trial of the Romanovs, but also feared that they might be rescued by the White Army and become the living banner of the counter-revolution.
Grigory Rasputin was assassinated by a group of Russian politicians and nobles in December 1916.

Answer: Lenin

Both Lenin's and Stalin's names were on the Mausoleum from March 1953 till November 1961, when Stalin's mummified body was taken out and buried and his name removed.

Answer: Maxim Gorky

The street was called Tverskaya in the 12th century, then from 1932 till 1990 it was Gorky Street, then its old name was restored. It still has a monument to Gorky.
There are streets named after Pushkin and Chekhov, but they are in the distant suburbs of Moscow. Leo Tolstoy Street is downtown. There's a central square named after Pushkin and central underground stations Pushkinskaya and Chekhovskaya.
The name of Maxim Gorky is given to the famous 90-year old Leisure Park on the embankment of the Moskva River.

Answer: Saint Petersburg

Kiev was the capital of ancient Rus from the 9th till the 12th centuries.
Then the capital moved to Vladimir due to the attack and further destruction of Kiev by the nomadic hoards of Turco-Mongols.
In 1480 Grand Duke Ivan III had finally freed the Russians free from Tatar control and Moscow became the capital of Moscovy, which eventually grew into the Russian Empire.
St. Petersburg was proclaimed the capital by Peter the Great in 1713. After his and his wife-successor's death, the next Emperor, Peter's grandson, Peter II moved the capital back to Moscow in 1728 for two years. The capital returned to St. Petersburg in 1730, where it stayed until the Revolution of 1917. It still bears the title 'The cultural capital'.

Answer: double-headed eagle

The dragon is part of the coat of arms of Moscow, picturing St.George killing the dragon.
The double-headed eagle used to be the seal of the Byzantine Empire. It was adopted as the coat of arms of Moscovy in the 15th century after the fall of the Byzantine Empire and the marriage between the Grand Duke of Moscovy Ivan III and Byzantine Princess Sofia Palaiologos. (Moscow is sometimes referred to as 'The Third Rome').
The bear has never been the official symbol of Russia, but now it is the emblem of the ruling party United Russia.

Answer: The giant pendulum

The statue of Peter the Great is in Senate Square in St. Petersburg.
The Leon Foucault Pendulum illustrating Copernicus' theory was placed in St. Isaak's Cathedral and it was turned into the Museum of Atheism.
There used to be a huge bust of Lenin in Moscovsky Railway Station in St. Petersburg until 1993, when it was replaced by the bust of Peter the Great. The biggest bust of Lenin is still in the capital of Buriatia, Ulan-Ude. There are 16 monuments to Lenin in the Crimea. Moscow still has about 60 monuments to the founder of the Soviet Union.
There are plans to erect the 80-meter tall statue of Jesus Christ in the center of St. Petersburg, but the Russian Orthodox Church is against this 'masterpiece' by Zurab Tsereteli.

Answer: because of different calendars

The whole world changed the calendar in the 16-18th centuries from the one proposed by Julius Caesar to the one proposed by Pope Gregory XIII, which calculated the number of days each year with better adjustment of the rotation time (a day) and the revolving around the Sun (a year). Russia remained with the Julian calendar because of the Orthodox Church opposition.

By the 20th century the date difference between Russia and the rest of the world amounted to 13 days, so at the time the Revolution occurred on the 25th October.

Then the country switched to the New Style calendar, and this date became November 7th. In 1918 in Russia after the 31st January the next day was February 14th, and so we have the same calendar as the rest of the world!

Answer: the first man in space Yuri Gagarin

The first satellite was launched in October 1957, two months after I was born.
Belka and Strelka made their flight in August 1960. They returned and later had puppies!
Yuri Gagarin flew in April 1961.
Valentina Tereshkova flew in June 1963.

Answer: Vostok 1

Vostok 1 (east) carried the first man into space 12th April 1961.
Soyuz 1 (Union) crashed in April 1967 killing the cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov.
Sputnik 1 was a satellite, launched in October 1957.
Salyut 1 (Fireworks) was the first space station launched in April 1971.

Answer: Gagarin's untied shoelaces

We were holding our breath, afraid that Gagarin would trip on his untied shoelaces and fall over!
Khrushchev banged his boot on the desk during the UN General Assembly in 1960, as sign of protest. This incident was criticized by the members of the Communist Delegations.