The siege of Leningrad

During World War II, German forces begin their siege of Leningrad, a major industrial center and the USSR’s second-largest city. The German armies were later joined by Finnish forces (as well as the soldiers of the Division Azul, Spanish volunteers) that advanced against Leningrad down the Karelian Isthmus.

The siege of Leningrad is a key episode in the Second World War on Soviet territory. Lasting 900 days between September 1941 and January 1944, the siege of Leningrad claimed the lives of 800,000 of the city’s inhabitants, mainly through cold and hunger.

Leningrad, formerly St. Petersburg, capital of the Russian Empire, was one of the initial targets of the German invasion of June 1941. By the end of July, German forces had cut the Moscow-Leningrad railway and were penetrating the outer belt of the fortifications around Leningrad.

The siege began officially on September 8, 1941. German armies approached Leningrad from the west and south while their Finnish allies approached to the north down the Karelian Isthmus.

The people of Leningrad began building antitank fortifications and succeeded in creating a stable defense of the city, but as a result were cut off from all access to vital resources in the Soviet interior, Moscow specifically. B y early November it had been almost completely encircled, with all its vital rail and other supply lines to the Soviet interior cut off.

According to official data, some 2.8 million people, including 400,000 children, were trapped in the city at the outset of the Siege. On January 27, 1944, Soviet forces permanently break the Leningrad siege line, ending the almost 900-day German-enforced containment of the city, which cost hundreds of thousands of Russian lives.
The siege of Leningrad

History of Leningrad

Leningrad, formerly St. Petersburg, capital of the Russian Empire, was one of the initial targets of the German invasion of June 1941. It was the original capital of Russia. Shortly after the communist revolution of 1917, the city was renamed Petrograd in an attempt to remove the czarist links implied by its name.

The city was founded by Tsar Peter the Great on 27 May 1703 on the site of a captured Swedish fortress, and was named after apostle Saint Peter. Peter the Great moved the royal family and government from Moscow to this city, wanting to create a "window to the west".

For two centuries (1712–1918) it was the capital of the Russian Empire. The city is remembered for Revolutions of 1917 and its fierce defense while besieged during World War II.

When the world was at war with Germany in 1914, the Imperial Government in Russia changed St Petersburg's name to Petrograd. This was mainly due to the fact that Russia wanted to separate themselves from any German sounding name.

The chief architect of the revolution was the leader of the Bolshevik Party, Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov, who changed his name to Vladimir Lenin.

Five days after Lenin’s death on January 26, 1924, Petrograd’s name was changed to “Leningrad” to honor the late Marxist leader.

After the communist regime in the USSR fell, the city once again took its original name, St. Petersburg, in 1991.

Dropping Lenin's name meant abandoning the legacy of the Russian revolutionary leader. Communists fiercely opposed the change, but the Orthodox Church supported the idea.
History of Leningrad

Leningrad during World War II