Saint Petersburg History. Saint Petersburg was founded in 1703 by Tsar Peter the Great. Tsar Peter the Great was eager to have a great metropolis and port city. To achieve his ambition, then he labored plenty foreign workers to build the city. As soon as the city was completely built, he began to transfer the Government from Moscow to it. From then on, Saint Petersburg became the capital of all Russia.

Catherine the Great (1762-1796) continued to build the City into a major European capital and imported many foreign architects and artist to help. She founded the Hermitage Museum and bought vast treasures of art work from all over Europe, helping to make this one of the greatest collections in the world. In 1812 Napoleon invaded Russia but was driven back. By the end of the 1820’s nearly all of Russia’s foreign maritime trade had become concentrated in the City, and it was the base for many industrial enterprises; shipbuilding, arms and gunpowder plants and other large manufacturing industries.

In 1914 Russia entered World War I on the side of the Allies and Saint Petersburg changed its name to Petrograd. In 1917, in the October Revolution the Bolsheviks, Lenin’s Communist Party seized power. From then on, the Soviet State was established. In 1918 the seat of Government was moved from the City to Moscow. When Lenin died in 1924, Petrograd was renamed Leningrad to honor him.

During World War II Leningrad withstood a 3 year siege by the Germans. It is estimated that one million people died from hunger and freezing weather. The City was rebuilt into a major industrial and scientific center.

In 1991 the Soviet Union disintegrated. Boris Yeltsin became president in the first democratic election and the people of the City voted to change the name of Leningrad back to Saint Petersburg.