April 22 - a small historical oddity
is that it is the birthday of two important figures in Russian history. Vladimir Ulyanov, aka Nikolai Lenin, was born in the town of Simbirsk, on the Volga River, 1500 miles from Moscow, on this date in 1870. That is, on our calendar, it was April 22. Russia was style on the unreformed Julian calendar, so the date on his birth certificate would have been April 10.
Exactly 11 years later, IN THE SAME TOWN, was born Alexander Kerensky, who in 1917 was the Prime Minister who declared Russia a republic, but was forced to flee by the Bolsheviks.
In a further connection, Kerensky's father was the head of the gymnasium (high school) from which Lenin graduated.
Kerensky actually died in New York City in 1970. In one of my few brushes with early 20th Century history, I actually met him once in the late 1960s.
I am always intrigued by historical coincidences. In American history, Stephen A. Douglas had also courted Mary Todd before she married Abraham Lincoln, before they competed for the Senate with their famous debates
Exactly 11 years later, IN THE SAME TOWN, was born Alexander Kerensky, who in 1917 was the Prime Minister who declared Russia a republic, but was forced to flee by the Bolsheviks.
In a further connection, Kerensky's father was the head of the gymnasium (high school) from which Lenin graduated.
Kerensky actually died in New York City in 1970. In one of my few brushes with early 20th Century history, I actually met him once in the late 1960s.
I am always intrigued by historical coincidences. In American history, Stephen A. Douglas had also courted Mary Todd before she married Abraham Lincoln, before they competed for the Senate with their famous debates