Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
- Messages
- 8,995
Coronation disaster ...!
On May 22, 1896, traditionally in the Uspensky Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin…
... the last Russian tsar, Nikolai II. and his wife Aleksandra Fjodorovna, were crowned splendidly.
This is followed by a series of glamorous receptions, balls and military parades...:
Four days later, on May 26, 1896, the common people should be allowed to celebrate - but instead it comes to a catastrophe!
An area on the outskirts of Moscow used as a military training area, the so-called "Chodynka Field", had been prepared for the public celebrations.
Here, the common people should have a happy festival according to old custom, with music, free food and drinks - and also small gifts, such as this enamelled tin cup, which reminds of the coronation, are distributed ...:
150 buffets and ten pavilions have been set up for this purpose.
As usual, the Russian authorities worked sloppily, they did not bother to fill in the trenches previously dug in the square by soldiers for exercise purposes, one of which is over 90 meters long and up to three meters deep...:
Far more than the 60,000 people actually expected come to the festival - over 500,000 are counted!
Many Muscovites came to the field during the night so as not to miss the gift distribution in the morning ...:
In der mondlosen Nacht lag völlige Dunkelheit auf dem Areal und viele Neuankömmlinge fallen bereits in die Gräben. Am Morgen drängen sich eine halbe Million Menschen auf dem Gebiet.
The far too few law enforcement officers quickly realize that the situation is threatening and that they cannot cope with such a crowd ...:
The disaster then happens at six in the morning.
Due to a rumor that gifts were already being distributed, the crowd rushed to the buffet.
Eyewitness and journalist Wladimir Giljarowskij ...
... worte abolut it:
“The crowd was terrible. Many got sick and some lost consciousness without having had the opportunity to come out or even to fall over "...
"Unconscious, with closed eyes, wedged as if in a vise, they swayed back and forth with the crowd ... A tall, shapely old man standing next to my neighbor had not breathed for a long time: he had suffocated in silence, died without a sound , and his cold corpse swayed to and fro with us. "
Officially, 1,389 deaths are admitted afterwards, in reality over 3,600 people are crushed or trampled to death by the crowd.
But the newly crowned tsar continues to celebrate!
On the evening of that day a ball is scheduled in the French embassy in Moscow - and at the urgent request of the French, the tsarist couple take part in the festival, while many of the dead are not even buried and the hospitals are literally overflowing with the injured.
Except for the "Bloody Sunday" of January 1906 ...
…and the Rasputin affair…
... nothing damaged the image of the tsar more than his behavior after the Chodynka catastrophe!
From now on he is seen as a ruler who does not care about the misfortunes of his people and prefers to celebrate instead.
In the public perception, the fact that the Tsar couple personally visits many injured people in the hospital, has a total of 1,000 bottles of Madeira wine delivered to others and the families of each person killed receive 1,000 rubles from the private fortune of Nikolay II.
Whereby one wonders: What should injured people do with Madeira wine?
The tsar also promises to have the case carefully investigated and to punish any guilty party.
But it soon emerges that the person primarily responsible is his own uncle, Grand Duke Sergei Aleksandrovich ...
... is. The Tsar shrinks from the consequences - the Grand Duke stays unpunished.
Instead, the Moscow police chief, Colonel Aleksandr Wlassow ...
... as well as his adjutant made a scapegoat as a "pawn sacrifice"!
Wlassow will be fired on July 15th (July 18th or August 1st, according to other sources). His annual pension of 3,000 rubles is being canceled completely arbitrarily.
Wlassow dies bitterly three years later.
But the vernacular has understood and immediately gives Grand Duke Sergei Aleksandrovich the name "Prince Chodynskij" ...
The Chodynka field is still there today - and it has remained undeveloped to this day, although the Moscow Moloch is growing in all directions ...:
Nobody would want to live there ...
By the way, on July 17, 1944, the Chodynka field made history again:
There the 57,000 captured survivors of the German "Army Group Center", which perished during Operation "Bagration", were rounded up ...
...bevor man sie in einer kilometerlangen Kolonne als Siegestrohäen durch Moskau trieb...:
On May 22, 1896, traditionally in the Uspensky Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin…
... the last Russian tsar, Nikolai II. and his wife Aleksandra Fjodorovna, were crowned splendidly.
This is followed by a series of glamorous receptions, balls and military parades...:
Four days later, on May 26, 1896, the common people should be allowed to celebrate - but instead it comes to a catastrophe!
An area on the outskirts of Moscow used as a military training area, the so-called "Chodynka Field", had been prepared for the public celebrations.
Here, the common people should have a happy festival according to old custom, with music, free food and drinks - and also small gifts, such as this enamelled tin cup, which reminds of the coronation, are distributed ...:
150 buffets and ten pavilions have been set up for this purpose.
As usual, the Russian authorities worked sloppily, they did not bother to fill in the trenches previously dug in the square by soldiers for exercise purposes, one of which is over 90 meters long and up to three meters deep...:
Far more than the 60,000 people actually expected come to the festival - over 500,000 are counted!
Many Muscovites came to the field during the night so as not to miss the gift distribution in the morning ...:
In der mondlosen Nacht lag völlige Dunkelheit auf dem Areal und viele Neuankömmlinge fallen bereits in die Gräben. Am Morgen drängen sich eine halbe Million Menschen auf dem Gebiet.
The far too few law enforcement officers quickly realize that the situation is threatening and that they cannot cope with such a crowd ...:
The disaster then happens at six in the morning.
Due to a rumor that gifts were already being distributed, the crowd rushed to the buffet.
Eyewitness and journalist Wladimir Giljarowskij ...
... worte abolut it:
“The crowd was terrible. Many got sick and some lost consciousness without having had the opportunity to come out or even to fall over "...
"Unconscious, with closed eyes, wedged as if in a vise, they swayed back and forth with the crowd ... A tall, shapely old man standing next to my neighbor had not breathed for a long time: he had suffocated in silence, died without a sound , and his cold corpse swayed to and fro with us. "
Officially, 1,389 deaths are admitted afterwards, in reality over 3,600 people are crushed or trampled to death by the crowd.
But the newly crowned tsar continues to celebrate!
On the evening of that day a ball is scheduled in the French embassy in Moscow - and at the urgent request of the French, the tsarist couple take part in the festival, while many of the dead are not even buried and the hospitals are literally overflowing with the injured.
Except for the "Bloody Sunday" of January 1906 ...
…and the Rasputin affair…
... nothing damaged the image of the tsar more than his behavior after the Chodynka catastrophe!
From now on he is seen as a ruler who does not care about the misfortunes of his people and prefers to celebrate instead.
In the public perception, the fact that the Tsar couple personally visits many injured people in the hospital, has a total of 1,000 bottles of Madeira wine delivered to others and the families of each person killed receive 1,000 rubles from the private fortune of Nikolay II.
Whereby one wonders: What should injured people do with Madeira wine?
The tsar also promises to have the case carefully investigated and to punish any guilty party.
But it soon emerges that the person primarily responsible is his own uncle, Grand Duke Sergei Aleksandrovich ...
... is. The Tsar shrinks from the consequences - the Grand Duke stays unpunished.
Instead, the Moscow police chief, Colonel Aleksandr Wlassow ...
... as well as his adjutant made a scapegoat as a "pawn sacrifice"!
Wlassow will be fired on July 15th (July 18th or August 1st, according to other sources). His annual pension of 3,000 rubles is being canceled completely arbitrarily.
Wlassow dies bitterly three years later.
But the vernacular has understood and immediately gives Grand Duke Sergei Aleksandrovich the name "Prince Chodynskij" ...
The Chodynka field is still there today - and it has remained undeveloped to this day, although the Moscow Moloch is growing in all directions ...:
Nobody would want to live there ...
By the way, on July 17, 1944, the Chodynka field made history again:
There the 57,000 captured survivors of the German "Army Group Center", which perished during Operation "Bagration", were rounded up ...
...bevor man sie in einer kilometerlangen Kolonne als Siegestrohäen durch Moskau trieb...:
