160-447: Sidney Street may refer to: The Siege of Sidney Street , a notorious gunfight in London's East End in 1911 Sidney Street, Cambridge , England Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Sidney Street . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change
320-525: A "well-defined intensely Jewish district". Some of the expatriates were revolutionaries, many of whom were unable to adapt to life in the politically less oppressive London. The social historian William J. Fishman writes that "the meschuggena (crazy) Anarchists were almost accepted as part of the East End landscape"; the terms " socialist " and " anarchist " had been conflated in the British press, who used
480-529: A Western model. Alexander I ( r. 1801–1825 ) helped defeat the militaristic ambitions of Napoleon and subsequently constituted the Holy Alliance , which aimed to restrain the rise of secularism and liberalism across Europe. Russia further expanded to the west, south, and east, strengthening its position as a European power. Its victories in the Russo-Turkish Wars were later checked by defeat in
640-549: A barber, while another member of the gang was Max Smoller, also known as Joe Levi and "Josepf the Jew". He was wanted in his native Crimea for several jewel robberies. Three women members of the gang, or associates of members of the gang, were among those who faced charges arising from the Houndsditch robbery attempt: Nina Vassileva—who was convicted of a minor offence but was cleared on appeal—Luba Milstein and Rosa Trassjonsky. Following
800-507: A few were introduced , no major changes were attempted. The liberal Alexander I was replaced by his younger brother Nicholas I (1825–1855), who at the beginning of his reign was confronted with an uprising. The background of this revolt lay in the Napoleonic Wars , when a number of well-educated Russian officers travelled in Europe in the course of military campaigns, where their exposure to
960-490: A firefight broke out. Armed with inferior weapons, the police sought assistance from the army . The siege lasted for about six hours. Towards the end of the stand-off, the building caught fire; no single cause has been identified. One of the agitators in the building was shot before the fire spread. While the London Fire Brigade were damping down the ruins—in which they found the two bodies—the building collapsed, killing
1120-512: A fireman. The siege marked the first time the police had requested military assistance in London to deal with an armed stand-off. It was also the first siege in Britain to be caught on camera, as the events were filmed by Pathé News . Some of the footage included images of the Home Secretary , Winston Churchill . His presence caused a political row over the level of his operational involvement. At
1280-403: A firm hold and had spread to the other floors. A second detachment of Scots Guards arrived, bringing with them a Maxim machine gun , which was never used. Horse-drawn artillery field guns were also brought from St John's Wood barracks, but again not used. Shortly afterwards Sokoloff put his head out of the window; he was shot by one of the soldiers and he fell back inside. The senior officer of
1440-424: A gift, the freed peasants had to pay a special lifetime tax to the government, which in turn paid the landlords a generous price for the land that they had lost. In numerous cases the peasants ended up with relatively small amounts of the least productive land. All the property turned over to the peasants was owned collectively by the mir , the village community, which divided the land among the peasants and supervised
1600-605: A lodger, Betty Gershon, who was Sokoloff's mistress. The informant was persuaded to visit the property the following day to confirm the two men were still present. A meeting took place on the afternoon of 2 January to decide the next steps. Wensley, high-ranking members of the Metropolitan force and Sir William Nott-Bower , the Commissioner of the City Police, were present. Just after midnight on 3 January, 200 police officers from
1760-547: A major domestic factor with its support for liberating Balkan Christians from Ottoman rule and making Bulgaria and Serbia independent. In early 1877, Russia intervened on behalf of Serbian and Russian volunteer forces, leading to the Russo-Turkish War (1877–78) . Within one year, Russian troops were nearing Constantinople and the Ottomans surrendered. Russia's nationalist diplomats and generals persuaded Alexander II to force
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#17328510962281920-496: A mark of respect; the nearby London Stock Exchange ceased trading for half an hour to allow traders and staff to watch the procession along Threadneedle Street . After the service, when the coffins were being transported on an eight-mile (13 km) journey to the cemeteries, it was estimated that 750,000 people lined the route, many throwing flowers onto the hearses as they passed. Identity parades were held at Bishopsgate police station on 23 December. Isaac Levy, who had seen
2080-407: A result, there was a slow improvement in the living standards of Russian peasants in the empire's last two decades before 1914. Recent research into the physical stature of Army recruits shows they were bigger and stronger. There were regional variations, with more poverty in the heavily populated central black earth region ; and there were temporary downturns in 1891–93 and 1905–1908. By the end of
2240-504: A series of robberies, before arriving in London in June 1910. Another member was "Peter the Painter", a nickname for an man also known as Peter Piaktow (or Piatkov, Pjatkov or Piaktoff); his real name was Janis Zaklis. The police suggested he was the ringleader of the gang, although there is no evidence that he was present at Houndsditch or Sidney Street. William (or Joseph) Sokoloff (or Sokolow)
2400-519: A term in prison for his activities and had been tortured by the removal of his fingernails. Yourka Dubof was another Russian agitator who had fled to England after being flogged by Cossacks . Fritz Svaars ( Fricis Svars ) was a Latvian who had been arrested by the Russian authorities three times for terrorist offences, but escaped each time. He had travelled through the United States, where he undertook
2560-496: A very large and complex bureaucracy, and a court that rivaled those of Versailles and London . But the government was living far beyond its means, and 18th-century Russia remained "a poor, backward, overwhelmingly agricultural, and illiterate country". In 1801, over four years after Paul became the emperor of Russia, he was killed in Saint Michael's Castle in a coup. Paul was succeeded by his 23-year-old son, Alexander . Russia
2720-845: A wasteland and useless, and saw the government wasting money, but later, much gold and petroleum were discovered. In the late 1870s, Russia and the Ottoman Empire again clashed in the Balkans. From 1875 to 1877, the Balkan crisis intensified, with rebellions against Ottoman rule by various Slavic nationalities, which the Ottoman Turks had dominated since the 15th century. This was seen as a political risk in Russia, which similarly suppressed its Muslims in Central Asia and Caucasia. Russian nationalist opinion became
2880-415: A week later Svaars rented number 9 for a month, saying he needed it for storage. The gang were unable to rent number 10, which was directly behind their target, 119 Houndsditch, the jeweller's shop owned by Henry Samuel Harris. The safe in the jeweller's was reputed to contain between £20,000 and £30,000 worth of jewellery; Harris's son later stated the total was only around £7,000. Over the next two weeks
3040-560: Is also known for Russia's involvement in the Seven Years' War , where it was successful militarily, but gained little politically. Catherine the Great was a German princess who married Peter III , the German heir to the Russian crown. After the death of Empress Elizabeth, Catherine came to power after she effected a coup d'état against her very unpopular husband. She contributed to the resurgence of
3200-416: Is usually seen as the beginning of the "imperial" period of Russia. Following the reforms, the governance of Russia by an absolute monarch was enshrined. The Military Regulations made a note of the autocratic nature of the regime. During the reign of Peter I, the last vestiges of the independence of the boyars were lost. He transformed them into the new nobility , who were obedient nobles that served
3360-504: The 1828–1829 Russo-Turkish War , Russia invaded northeastern Anatolia and occupied the strategic Ottoman towns of Karin and Gümüşhane (Argiroupoli) and, posing as protector of the Greek Orthodox population , received extensive support from the region's Pontic Greeks . Following a brief occupation, the Russian imperial army withdrew back into Georgia. Russian emperors quelled two uprisings in their newly acquired Polish territories:
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#17328510962283520-611: The Battle of Stepney , was a gunfight in the East End of London between a combined police and army force and two Latvian revolutionaries. The siege was the culmination of a series of events that began in December 1910, with an attempted jewellery robbery at Houndsditch in the City of London by a gang of Latvian immigrants which resulted in the murder of three policemen, the wounding of two others, and
3680-529: The Boxer Rebellion . Japan strongly opposed Russian expansion, and defeated Russia in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904–1905. Japan took over Korea, and Manchuria remained a contested area. Meanwhile, France , looking for allies against Germany after 1871, formed a military alliance in 1894, with large-scale loans to Russia, sales of arms, and warships, as well as diplomatic support. Once Afghanistan
3840-577: The British domination. Peter I ( r. 1682–1725 ), also known as Peter the Great, played a major role in introducing the European state system into Russia. While the empire's vast lands had a population of 14 million, grain yields trailed behind those in the West. Nearly the entire population was devoted to agriculture, with only a small percentage living in towns. The class of kholops , whose status
4000-649: The Cheka , the Soviet secret police, and was executed in Joseph Stalin 's 1938 purge . Trassjonsky had a mental breakdown and was confined for a time at Colney Hatch Lunatic Asylum , where she died in 1971. Dubof and Federoff disappeared from the records; Vassilleva remained in the East End for the remainder of her life and died at Brick Lane in 1963. Hoffman moved to New York where he lived for many years with Luba Milstein, who had given birth to Fritz Svaars child. Smoller left
4160-727: The Coalition and joined the Continental System . By 1812, Russia had occupied many territories in Eastern Europe, holding some of Eastern Galicia from Austria and Bessarabia from the Ottoman Empire ; from Northern Europe, it had gained Finland from the war against a weakened Sweden ; it also gained some territory in the Caucasus. Following a dispute with Emperor Alexander I, in 1812, Napoleon launched an invasion of Russia . It
4320-606: The Crimean War (1853–1856), leading to a period of reform and intensified expansion into Central Asia . Alexander II ( r. 1855–1881 ) initiated numerous reforms , most notably the 1861 emancipation of all 23 million serfs. From 1721 until 1762, the Russian Empire was ruled by the House of Romanov ; its matrilineal branch of patrilineal German descent, the House of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov , ruled from 1762 until 1917. By
4480-554: The Crimean War , which Russia lost. The war was fought primarily in the Crimean peninsula , and to a lesser extent in the Baltic during the related Åland War . Since playing a major role in the defeat of Napoleon, Russia had been regarded as militarily invincible, but against a coalition of the great powers of Europe, the reverses it suffered on land and sea exposed the weakness of Emperor Nicholas I's regime. When Emperor Alexander II ascended
4640-499: The Enlightenment , the specter of revolution and disorder continued to haunt her and her successors. Indeed, her son Paul introduced a number of increasingly erratic decrees in his short reign aimed directly against the spread of French culture in response to their revolution . In order to ensure the continued support of the nobility, which was essential to her reign, Catherine was obliged to strengthen their authority and power at
4800-600: The Franco-Russian Alliance , to contain the growing power of Germany; completed the conquest of Central Asia ; and demanded important territorial and commercial concessions from China. The emperor's most influential adviser was Konstantin Pobedonostsev , tutor to Alexander III and his son Nicholas, and procurator of the Holy Synod from 1880 to 1895. Pobedonostsev taught his imperial pupils to fear freedom of speech and
4960-605: The Great Northern War , which ended in 1721 when an exhausted Sweden asked for peace with Russia. As a result, Peter acquired four provinces situated south and east of the Gulf of Finland , securing access to the sea. There he built Russia's new capital, Saint Petersburg , on the Neva river, to replace Moscow, which had long been Russia's cultural center. This relocation expressed his intent to adopt European elements for his empire. Many of
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5120-469: The Industrial Revolution , Russia began to lag ever farther behind, creating new weaknesses for the empire seeking to play a role as a great power. Russia's status as a great power concealed the inefficiency of its government, the isolation of its people, and its economic and social backwardness. Following the defeat of Napoleon, Alexander I had been ready to discuss constitutional reforms, but though
5280-609: The Italian and Swiss expedition ,—he inflicted a series of defeats on the French; in particular, the Battle of the Trebbia in 1799. Nicholas II Nicholas II, also known as Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov, was the final Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Poland, and Grand duke of Finland. His reign started on 1 November 1894 and ended with his abdication on 15 March 1917. Born on 18 May 1868 at Alexander Palace , Tsarskoye Selo, Russian Empire, he
5440-459: The London Fire Brigade present on the scene sought permission to extinguish the blaze, but was refused. He approached Churchill in order to have the decision overturned, but the Home Secretary approved the police decision. Churchill later wrote: I now intervened to settle this dispute, at one moment quite heated. I told the fire-brigade officer on my authority as Home Secretary that the house
5600-682: The Metropolitan Police Act 1829 and the City of London Police Act 1839, the capital was policed by two forces, the Metropolitan Police , who held sway over most of the capital, and the City of London Police , who were responsible for law enforcement within the historic City boundaries . The events in Houndsditch in December 1910 fell into the purview of the City of London service, and the subsequent actions at Sidney Street in January 1911 were in
5760-586: The November Uprising in 1830 and the January Uprising in 1863. In 1863, the Russian autocracy had given the Polish artisans and gentry reason to rebel, by assailing national core values of language, religion, and culture. France , Britain , and Austria tried to intervene in the crisis but were unable to do so. The Russian press and state propaganda used the Polish uprising to justify the need for unity in
5920-493: The Ottoman Empire . The foundations of a Russian national state were laid in the late 15th century during the reign of Ivan III . By the early 16th century, all of the semi-independent and petty princedoms in Russia had been unified with Moscow. During the reign of Ivan IV , the khanates of Kazan and Astrakhan were conquered by Russia in the mid-16th century, leading to the development of an increasingly multinational state. Much of Russia's expansion occurred in
6080-662: The Ottoman Empire . His attention then turned to the north. Russia lacked a secure northern seaport, except at Arkhangelsk on the White Sea , where the harbor was frozen for nine months a year. Access to the Baltic Sea was blocked by Sweden, whose territory enclosed it on three sides. Peter's ambitions for a "window to the sea" led him, in 1699, to make a secret alliance with Saxony , the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , and Denmark-Norway against Sweden ; they conducted
6240-467: The Partitions of Poland , Russia became the most populous state in Europe, ahead of France . The foundations of the Russian Empire were laid during Peter I 's reforms , which significantly altered Russia's political and social structure, and as a result of the Great Northern War which strengthened Russia's standing on the world stage. Internal transformations and military victories contributed to
6400-787: The Russian Provisional Government , and the proclamation of the first Russian Republic . Political dysfunction, continued involvement in the widely unpopular war, and widespread food shortages resulted in mass demonstrations against the government in July . The republic was overthrown in the October Revolution by the Bolsheviks , who proclaimed the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and whose Treaty of Brest-Litovsk ended Russia's involvement in
6560-587: The Russian nobility that began after the death of Peter the Great, abolishing State service and granting them control of most state functions in the provinces. She also removed the Beard tax instituted by Peter the Great. Catherine extended Russian political control over the lands of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , supporting the Targowica Confederation . However, the cost of these campaigns further burdened
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6720-634: The Russo-Persian War (1804–1813) , they clashed with Persia over control and consolidation of Georgia, and also became involved in the Caucasian War against the Caucasian Imamate . At the conclusion of the war, Persia irrevocably ceded what is now Dagestan , eastern Georgia, and most of Azerbaijan to Russia, under the Treaty of Gulistan . Russia attempted to expand to the southwest, at the expense of
6880-621: The State Duma , although he still retained absolute political power. When Russia entered the First World War on the side of the Allies , it suffered a series of defeats that further galvanized the population against the emperor. In 1917, mass unrest among the population and mutinies in the army culminated in the February Revolution , which led to the abdication of Nicholas II, the formation of
7040-487: The boyars , above whom was an absolute monarch titled the tsar . The groundwork of the Russian Empire was laid by Ivan III ( r. 1462–1505 ), who greatly expanded his domain, established a centralized Russian national state , and secured independence against the Tatars . His grandson, Ivan IV ( r. 1533–1584 ), became in 1547 the first Russian monarch to be crowned " tsar of all Russia ". Between 1550 and 1700,
7200-537: The collectivism of the medieval Russian obshchina or mir over the individualism of the West. More extreme social doctrines were elaborated by such Russian radicals on the left, such as Alexander Herzen , Mikhail Bakunin , and Peter Kropotkin . After Russian armies liberated the Eastern Georgian Kingdom (allied since the 1783 Treaty of Georgievsk ) from the Qajar dynasty 's occupation of 1802, during
7360-482: The liberalism of Western Europe encouraged them to seek change on their return to autocratic Russia . The result was the Decembrist revolt (December 1825), which was the work of a small circle of liberal nobles and army officers who wanted to install Nicholas' brother Constantine as a constitutional monarch. The revolt was easily crushed, but it caused Nicholas to turn away from the modernization program begun by Peter
7520-570: The 17th century, culminating in the first Russian colonization of the Pacific , the Russo-Polish War (1654–1667) which led to the incorporation of left-bank Ukraine , and the Russian conquest of Siberia . Poland was partitioned by its rivals in 1772–1815;most of its land and population being taken under Russian rule. Most of the empire's growth in the 19th century came from gaining territory in central and eastern Asia south of Siberia. By 1795, after
7680-653: The Act "gave official sanction to xenophobic reflexes which might ... have remained dormant". By 1910 Russian émigrés met regularly at the Anarchist Club in Jubilee Street, Stepney . Many of its members were not anarchists, and the club became a meeting and social venue for the Russian émigré diaspora , most of whom were Jewish. The small group of Latvians who became involved in the events at Houndsditch and Sidney Street were not all anarchists—although anarchist literature
7840-407: The Artillery or the Engineers. I was not consulted as to whether they should be sent for. Shooting between the two sides reached a peak between 12:00 and 12:30 pm, but at 12:50 smoke was seen coming from the building's chimneys and from the second floor windows; it has not been established how the fire was started, whether by accident or design. The fire slowly spread, and by 1:30 it had taken
8000-418: The City of London and Metropolitan forces cordoned off the area around 100 Sidney Street. Armed officers were placed at number 111, directly opposite number 100, and throughout the night the residents of the houses on the block were roused and evacuated. Wensley woke the ground floor tenants at number 100 and asked them to fetch Gershon, claiming that she was needed by her sick husband. When Gershon appeared she
8160-434: The East End, spreading details of those they were looking for. A local landlord, Isaac Gordon, reported one of his lodgers, Nina Vassileva, after she had told him she had been one of the people living at Exchange Buildings. Wensley questioned the woman, finding anarchist publications in her rooms, along with a photograph of Gardstein. Information began to come in from the public and the group's associates: on 18 December Federoff
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#17328510962288320-684: The Great Northern War, served as the state's capital. This concept of the triune Russian people, composed of the Great Russians , the Little Russians , and the White Russians , was introduced during the reign of Peter I, and it was associated with the name of Archimandrite Zacharias Kopystensky (1621), the Archimandrite of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra and expanded upon in the writings of an associate of Peter I, Archbishop Professor Theophan Prokopovich . Several of Peter I's associates are well-known, including François Le Fort , Boris Sheremetev , Alexander Menshikov , Jacob Bruce , Mikhail Golitsyn , Anikita Repnin , and Alexey Kelin. During Peter's reign,
8480-445: The Great and champion the doctrine of Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationality . In order to repress further revolts, censorship was intensified, including the constant surveillance of schools and universities. Textbooks were strictly regulated by the government. Police spies were planted everywhere. Under Nicholas I, would-be revolutionaries were sent off to Siberia, with hundreds of thousands sent to katorga camps. The retaliation for
8640-411: The King's Police Medal to the families of the three murdered policemen. For each child of the murdered policemen, the City of London Corporation gave five shillings a week until they reached the age of fifteen. The inadequacy of the police's firepower led to criticism in the press, and on 12 January 1911 several alternative weapons were tested. The trials resulted in the Metropolitan Police replacing
8800-405: The Latvian ). The siege was also the inspiration for two other novels, The Siege of Sidney Street (1960) by F Oughton and A Death Out of Season (1973) by Emanuel Litvinoff . In September 2008 Tower Hamlets London Borough Council named two tower blocks in Sidney Street, Peter House and Painter House; Peter the Painter was only involved in a minor capacity in the events and was not present at
8960-511: The Ottoman Empire . This resulted in a significant weakening of the Crimean Khanate , an Ottoman vassal and long-term Russian adversary. The discontent over the dominant positions of Baltic Germans in Russian politics resulted in Peter I's daughter Elizabeth being put on the Russian throne. Elizabeth supported the arts, architecture, and the sciences (for example, the founding of Moscow University ). But she did not carry out significant structural reforms. Her reign, which lasted nearly 20 years,
9120-406: The Ottoman Empire, respectively. As a result, Pan-Slavists were left with a legacy of bitterness against Austria-Hungary and Germany for failing to back Russia. Disappointment at the results of the war stimulated revolutionary tensions, and helped Serbia, Romania , and Montenegro gain independence from, and strengthen themselves against, the Ottomans. Another significant result of the war
9280-453: The Ottoman Empire, using recently acquired Georgia at its base for its Caucasus and Anatolian front. The late 1820s were successful years militarily. Despite losing almost all recently consolidated territories in the first year of the Russo-Persian War of 1826–1828 , Russia managed to favorably bring an end to the war with the Treaty of Turkmenchay , including the formal acquisition of what are now Armenia , Azerbaijan, and Iğdır Province . In
9440-430: The Ottomans to sign the Treaty of San Stefano in March 1878, creating an enlarged, independent Bulgaria that stretched into the southwestern Balkans. When Britain threatened to declare war over the terms of the treaty, an exhausted Russia backed down. At the Congress of Berlin in July 1878, Russia agreed to the creation of a smaller Bulgaria and Eastern Rumelia , as a vassal state and an autonomous principality inside
9600-399: The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth during the Partitions of Poland , alongside Austria and Prussia . As part of the Treaty of Georgievsk , signed with the Georgian Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti , and her own political aspirations, Catherine waged a new war against Persia in 1796 after they had invaded eastern Georgia . Upon achieving victory, she established Russian rule over it and expelled
9760-434: The Russian capital from Moscow to the new model city of Saint Petersburg , which marked the birth of the imperial era, and led a cultural revolution that introduced a modern, scientific, rationalist, and Western-oriented system. Catherine the Great ( r. 1762–1796 ) presided over further expansion of the Russian state by conquest, colonization , and diplomacy, while continuing Peter's policy of modernization towards
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#17328510962289920-438: The Russian managed to shoot him in the leg. Other members of the gang ran to Gardstein's assistance, shooting Choate twelve times in the process, but Gardstein was also wounded; as the policeman collapsed, Gardstein was carried away by his accomplices, who included Peters. As these men, aided by an unknown woman, made their escape with Gardstein they were accosted by Isaac Levy, a passer-by, whom they threatened at pistol-point. He
10080-418: The Russian state grew by an average of 35,000 km (14,000 sq mi) per year. Major events during this period include the transition from the Rurik to the Romanov dynasties, the conquest of Siberia , and the reign of Peter the Great ( r. 1682–1725 ). Peter transformed the tsardom into an empire, and fought numerous wars that turned a vast realm into a major European power. He moved
10240-422: The Senate that its mission was to collect taxes, and tax revenues tripled over the course of his reign. Meanwhile, all vestiges of local self-government were removed. Peter continued and intensified his predecessors' requirement of state service from all nobles, in the Table of Ranks . As part of Peter's reorganization, he also enacted a church reform . The Russian Orthodox Church was partially incorporated into
10400-404: The United Kingdom, mostly in England . The influx reached its peak in the late 1890s when large numbers of Jewish immigrants—mostly poor and semi-skilled or unskilled—settled in the East End of London . The concentration of Jewish immigrants into some areas was almost 100 per cent of the population, and a study undertaken in 1900 showed that Houndsditch and Whitechapel were both identified as
10560-453: The Webley revolver with the Webley & Scott .32 calibre MP semi-automatic pistol later that year; the City of London Police adopted the weapon in 1912. The members of the group dispersed after the events. Peter the Painter was never seen or heard from again. It was assumed he left the country, and there were several possible sightings in the years afterwards; none were confirmed. Jacob Peters returned to Russia, rose to be deputy head of
10720-447: The act was a pre-emptive one, designed to scare the locals into not informing on the anarchists. The police believed that the Clapham Common murder was not connected to the Houndsditch police murders. The posters of Gardstein proved effective, and late on New Year's Day a member of the public came forward to provide information about Svaars and Sokoloff. The informant told police that the men were hiding at 100 Sidney Street, along with
10880-438: The adjoining beats—constables Woodhams and Walter Choate—who watched 120 Houndsditch and 11 Exchange Buildings while Piper went to the nearby Bishopsgate Police Station to report. By 11:30 seven uniformed and two plain clothes policemen had gathered in the locality, each armed with his wooden truncheon. Sergeant Robert Bentley from Bishopsgate police station knocked at number 11, unaware that Piper had already done so, which alerted
11040-402: The aliases Garstin, Poloski, Poolka, Morountzeff, Mourimitz, Maurivitz, Milowitz, Morintz, Morin and Levi. Gardstein, who probably was an anarchist, had been accused of murder and acts of terrorism in Warsaw in 1905 before his arrival in London. Another member of the group, Jacob (or Yakov) Peters , had been an agitator in Russia while in the army and later as a dockyard worker. He had served
11200-438: The already oppressive social system, under which serfs were required to spend almost all of their time laboring on their owners' land. A major peasant uprising took place in 1773, after Catherine legalized the selling of serfs separate from land. Inspired by a Cossack named Yemelyan Pugachev and proclaiming "Hang all the landlords!", the rebels threatened to take Moscow before they were ruthlessly suppressed. Instead of imposing
11360-404: The area covered by the search. The police did not have any Russian, Latvian or Yiddish speakers on the force. In the early hours of the morning of 17 December Milstein and Trassjonsky became increasingly concerned as Gardstein's condition worsened, and they sent for a local doctor, explaining that their patient had been wounded accidentally by a friend. The doctor thought the bullet was still in
11520-578: The area. The Tottenham Outrage of January 1909, by two revolutionary Russians in London—Paul Helfeld and Jacob Lepidus—was an attempt to rob a payroll van, which left two dead and twenty injured. The event used a tactic often employed by revolutionary groups in Russia: the expropriation or theft of private property to fund radical activities. The influx of émigrés and the increase of violent crime associated with it, led to popular concerns and comments in
11680-591: The bed, Peters left his Dreyse pistol under the mattress, either to make it seem the wounded man was the one who had killed Tucker, or to enable him to defend himself against a possible arrest. Other policemen arrived in Houndsditch, and began to attend to the wounded. Tucker's body was put into a taxi and he was taken to the London Hospital (now the Royal London Hospital) in Whitechapel Road . Choate
11840-489: The betrayal of English traditions." The bill did not become law. Bryant and Woodhams were presented with the King's Police Medal for their bravery; Woodhams was still badly injured and had to be carried to the king on a stretcher for the presentation. Both Bryant and Woodhams were also promoted; as they were being invalided out of the force, the promotions ensured they were paid a higher pension. The Lord Mayor of London presented
12000-537: The building of the Trans-Siberian Railway , 1890 to 1904. This opened up East Asia ; and Russian interests focused on Mongolia, Manchuria , and Korea . China was too weak to resist, and was pulled increasingly into the Russian sphere. Russia obtained treaty ports such as Dalian / Port Arthur . In 1900, the Russian Empire invaded Manchuria as part of the Eight-Nation Alliance 's intervention against
12160-457: The burglary attempt. Rosen was arrested on 2 February at work in Well Street, Hackney , and Hoffman was taken into custody on 15 February. The committal proceedings spread from December 1910—with Milstein and Trassjonsky appearing—to March 1911, and included Hoffman from 15 February. The proceedings consisted of 24 individual hearings. In February Milstein was discharged on the basis that there
12320-442: The centenary of the events at Houndsditch, a memorial plaque for the three murdered policemen was unveiled near the location. Three weeks later, on the anniversary of the siege, a plaque was unveiled in honour of Pearson, the fireman who died because the building collapsed on him. 51°31′06″N 00°03′19″W / 51.51833°N 0.05528°W / 51.51833; -0.05528 Russian Empire The Russian Empire
12480-484: The chest—it was later found to be touching the right ventricle of the heart. The doctor wanted to take Gardstein to the London Hospital, but he refused; with no other course open to him, the doctor sold them pain medication and left. The Russian was dead by 9:00 that morning. The doctor returned at 11:00 am and found the body. He had not heard of the events at Exchange Buildings the night before, and so reported
12640-511: The country in 1911 and travelled to Paris, after which he disappeared; Milstein later emigrated to the United States. The siege was the inspiration for the final scene in Alfred Hitchcock 's original 1934 version of The Man Who Knew Too Much ; the story was heavily fictionalised in the 1960 film The Siege of Sidney Street . The novelist Georges Simenon drew on the story for his 1930 Maigret detective novel Pietr-le-Letton ( Pietr
12800-475: The country's administrative structure, in effect making it a tool of the state. Peter abolished the patriarchate and replaced it with a collective body, the Most Holy Synod , which was led by a government official . Peter died in 1725, leaving an unsettled succession. After a short reign by his widow, Catherine I , the crown passed to Empress Anna . She slowed the reforms and led a successful war against
12960-456: The crowd were unwelcoming to him, as he heard people asking "Oo let 'em in?", in reference to the Liberal Party's immigration policy that had allowed the influx from Russia. Churchill's role during the siege is unclear. His biographers, Paul Addison and Roy Jenkins , both consider that he gave no operational commands to the police, but a Metropolitan police history of the event states that
13120-554: The death of George Gardstein, a key member of the Latvian gang. An investigation by the Metropolitan and City of London Police forces identified Gardstein's accomplices, most of whom were arrested within two weeks. The police were informed that the last two members of the gang were hiding at 100 Sidney Street in Stepney . The police evacuated local residents, and on the morning of 3 January
13280-449: The death of Peter were returned in the 1732 Treaty of Resht and 1735 Treaty of Ganja as a deal to oppose the Ottomans. Peter reorganized his government based on the latest political models of the time, molding Russia into an absolutist state. He replaced the old Boyar Duma (council of nobles) with a nine-member Senate , in effect a supreme council of state. The countryside was divided into new provinces and districts . Peter told
13440-408: The death to the coroner, not the police. At midday the coroner reported the death to the local police who, led by Divisional Detective Inspector Frederick Wensley , went to Grove Street and discovered the corpse. Trassjonsky was in the next room when they entered, and she was soon found by the police, hastily burning papers; she was arrested and taken to the police headquarters at Old Jewry . Many of
13600-466: The defendants having a low standard of English, interpreters were used throughout the proceedings. At the end of the day the case was adjourned until 6 January 1911. On New Year's Day 1911 the body of Léon Beron, a Russian Jewish immigrant, was found on Clapham Common in South London. He had been badly beaten and two S-shaped cuts, both two inches long, were on his cheeks. The case became connected in
13760-416: The empire entered the 20th century in a perilous state. A devastating famine in 1891–1892 killed hundreds of thousands and led to popular discontent. As the last remaining absolute monarchy in Europe, the empire saw rapid political radicalization and the growing popularity of revolutionary ideas such as communism . After the 1905 revolution , Nicholas II authorized the creation of a national parliament,
13920-563: The empire. The semi-autonomous polity of Congress Poland subsequently lost its distinctive political and judicial rights, with Russification being imposed on its schools and courts. However, Russification policies in Poland, Finland and among the Germans in the Baltics largely failed and only strengthened political opposition. In 1854–1855, Russia fought Britain , France and the Ottoman Empire in
14080-489: The end his dynasty was overthrown by the Russian Revolution . The Industrial Revolution began to show significant influence in Russia, but the country remained rural and poor. Economic conditions steadily improved after 1890, thanks to new crops such as sugar beets, and new access to railway transportation. Total grain production increased, as well as exports, even with rising domestic demand from population growth. As
14240-452: The events of Sidney Street were "a very rare case of a Home Secretary taking police operational command decisions". In a subsequent letter to The Times , Churchill clarified his role while he was present: I did not interfere in any way with the dispositions made by the police authorities on the spot. I never overruled those authorities nor overrode them. From beginning to end the police had an absolutely free hand. ... I did not send for
14400-514: The events—either as lookouts or in unknown capacities—were Peter the Painter and Nina Vassilleva. On 16 December, working from the small yard behind 11 Exchange Buildings, the gang began to break through the back wall of the shop; number 10 had been unoccupied since 12 December. At around 10:00 that evening, returning to his home at 120 Houndsditch, Max Weil heard curious noises coming from his neighbour's property. Outside his house Weil found Police Constable Piper on his beat and informed him of
14560-499: The expense of the serfs and other lower classes. Nevertheless, Catherine realized that serfdom must eventually be ended, going so far in her Nakaz ("Instruction") to say that serfs were "just as good as we are" – a comment received with disgust by the nobility. Catherine advanced Russia's southern and western frontiers, successfully waging war against the Ottoman Empire for territory near the Black Sea , and incorporating territories of
14720-524: The gang brought in various pieces of necessary equipment, including a 60 foot (18 m) length of India rubber gas hose, a cylinder of compressed gas and a selection of tools, including diamond-tipped drills. Some of this equipment had been obtained from the Italian anarchist exile Errico Malatesta , who had a workshop in Islington; he was not aware it was for use in a robbery. With the exception of Gardstein,
14880-403: The gang. The door was answered by Gardstein, who made no response when Bentley asked if anyone was working there. Bentley asked him to fetch someone who spoke English; Gardstein left the door half-closed and disappeared inside. Bentley entered the hall with Sergeant Bryant and Constable Woodhams; as they could see the bottom of his trouser legs, they soon realised that someone was watching them from
15040-560: The government and other major buildings were designed under Italianate influence. In 1722, he turned his aspirations toward increasing Russian influence in the Caucasus and the Caspian Sea at the expense of the weakened Safavid Persians . He made Astrakhan the base of military efforts against Persia, and waged the first full-scale war against them in 1722–23 . Peter the Great temporarily annexed several areas of Iran to Russia, which after
15200-504: The group leaving Exchange Buildings, identified Peters and Dubof as the two he had seen carrying Gardstein. It was also ascertained that Federoff had been witnessed at the events. The following day Federoff, Peters and Dubof all appeared at the Guildhall police court where they were charged with being connected to the murder of the three policemen, and with conspiracy to burgle the jewellery shop. All three pleaded not guilty. On 27 December
15360-561: The high levels of criticism aimed at the Aliens Act , Churchill decided to strengthen the legislation, and proposed the Aliens (Prevention of Crime) Bill under the Ten Minute Rule . The MP Josiah C Wedgwood objected, and wrote to Churchill to ask him not to introduce the hard-line measures "You know as well as I do that human life does not matter a rap in comparison with the death of ideas and
15520-508: The identities of the gang members present in Houndsditch on the night of 16 December 1910 have never been confirmed. It is likely that as well as Gardstein, Fritz Svaars and William Sokoloff—the two gunmen who died in the Sidney Street siege—were present, along with Max Smoller and Nina Vassileva. Bernard Porter, writing in the Dictionary of National Biography , considers that Peter the Painter
15680-537: The implicit threat to India ; and decades of diplomatic maneuvering resulted, called the Great Game . That rivalry between the two empires has been considered to have included far-flung territories such as Outer Mongolia and Tibet . The maneuvering largely ended with the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907. Expansion into the vast stretches of Siberia was slow and expensive, but finally became possible with
15840-408: The jurisdiction of the Metropolitan force. Both services came under the political control of the Home Secretary , who in 1911 was the 36-year-old rising politician Winston Churchill . While on the beat, or in the course of their normal duties, the officers of the City of London and Metropolitan forces were provided with a short wooden truncheon for protection. When they faced armed opponents—as
16000-413: The largest multiple murders of police officers carried out in Britain in peacetime. The City of London police informed the Metropolitan force, as their protocol demanded, and both services issued revolvers to the detectives involved in the search. The subsequent investigation was challenging for the police because of the cultural differences between the British police and the largely foreign residents of
16160-430: The leg, which broke his femur; both collapsed. Although they survived, neither Bryant or Woodhams fully recovered from their injuries. As the gang exited the property and made to escape up the cul-de-sac, other police intervened. Sergeant Charles Tucker from Bishopsgate police station was hit twice, once in the hip and once in the heart by Peters: he died instantly. Choate grabbed Gardstein and wrestled for his gun, but
16320-437: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sidney_Street&oldid=1160983491 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Siege of Sidney Street The siege of Sidney Street of January 1911, also known as
16480-441: The men, Superintendent Charles Pearson, had a fractured spine; he died six months later. After shoring up the building, the firemen resumed their search; at around 6:30 pm the second body—that of Svaars—was found. The siege was captured by Pathé News cameras—one of their earliest stories and the first siege to be captured on film—and it included footage of Churchill. When the newsreels were screened in cinemas, Churchill
16640-583: The military, 20 percent to government economic activities, 12 percent to administration, and nine percent for the Imperial Court in St. Petersburg. The deficit required borrowing, primarily from bankers in Amsterdam ; five percent of the budget was allocated to debt payments. Paper money was issued to pay for expensive wars, thus causing inflation. As a result of its spending, Russia developed a large and well-equipped army,
16800-492: The minor members of the gang who was probably not present at either Houndsditch or Sidney Street. The murdered policemen and the fireman who died are commemorated with memorial plaques. In the 19th century, the Russian Empire was home to about five million Jews , the largest Jewish community at the time. Subjected to religious persecution and violent pogroms , many emigrated and between 1875 and 1914 around 120,000 arrived in
16960-701: The new parliament (the Duma). He signed the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907 to counter Germany's influence in the Middle East, ending the Great Game between Russia and the British Empire . However, his reign was marked by criticism for the government's suppression of political dissent and perceived failures or inaction during events like the Khodynka Tragedy , anti-Jewish pogroms, Bloody Sunday (1905) , and
17120-477: The newly established Persian garrisons in the Caucasus. Catherine's expansionist policy caused Russia to develop into a major European power, as did the Enlightenment era and the Golden age in Russia. But after Catherine died in 1796, she was succeeded by her son, Paul . He brought Russia into a major coalition war against the new-revolutionary French Republic in 1798. Russian commander Field Marshal Suvorov led
17280-448: The noises. Piper checked at 118 and 121 Houndsditch, where he could hear the noise, which he thought was unusual enough to investigate further. At 11:00 he knocked at the door of 11 Exchange Buildings—the only property with a light on in the back. The door was opened in a furtive manner and Piper became suspicious immediately. So as not to rouse the man's concerns, Piper asked him "is the missus in?" The man answered in broken English that she
17440-401: The obligation of the nobility to serve was reinforced, and serf labor played a significant role in the growth of the industry, reinforcing traditional socioeconomic structures. The volume of the country's international trade turnover increased as a result of Peter I's industrial reforms. However, imports of goods overtook exports, strengthening the role of foreigners in Russian trade, particularly
17600-523: The only one it conducted, found a population of 125.6 million with considerable ethnic, linguistic, religious, and socioeconomic diversity. The rise of the Russian Empire coincided with the decline of its rivals: the Swedish Empire , the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , Qajar Iran , the Ottoman Empire , and Qing China . From the 10th to 17th centuries, the Russians had been ruled by a noble class known as
17760-740: The papers recovered linked the suspects to the East End, particularly to the anarchist groups active in the area. Wensley, who had extensive knowledge of the Whitechapel area, subsequently acted as a liaison officer to the City of London force throughout the investigation. Gardstein's body was removed to a local mortuary where his face was cleaned, his hair brushed, his eyes opened and his photograph taken. The picture, and descriptions of those who had helped Gardstein escape from Exchange Buildings, were distributed on posters in English and Russian, asking locals for information. About 90 detectives vigorously searched
17920-421: The poster bearing Gardstein's picture was seen by his landlord, who alerted police. Wensley and his colleagues visited the lodgings on Gold Street, Stepney and found knives, a gun, ammunition, false passports and revolutionary publications. Two days later there was another hearing at the Guildhall police court. In addition to Federoff, Peters and Dubof, present in the dock were Milstein and Trassjonsky. With some of
18080-413: The press with the Houndsditch murders and the subsequent events at Sidney Street, although the evidence at the time for the link was scant. The historian F G Clarke, in his history of the events, located information from another Latvian who stated that Beron had been killed not because he was one of the informers who had passed on information, but because he was planning to pass the information on, and
18240-446: The press, as well as dislike democracy, constitutions, and the parliamentary system. Under Pobedonostsev, revolutionaries were persecuted—by the imperial secret police , with thousands being exiled to Siberia —and a policy of Russification was carried out throughout the empire. Russia had little difficulty expanding to the south, including conquering Turkestan , until Britain became alarmed when Russia threatened Afghanistan , with
18400-499: The press. The government passed the Aliens Act 1905 in an attempt to reduce immigration. The popular press reflected the opinions of many at the time; a leading article in The Manchester Evening Chronicle supported the bill to bar "the dirty, destitute, diseased, verminous and criminal foreigner who dumps himself on our soil". The journalist Robert Winder , in his examination of migration into Britain, opines that
18560-563: The redrawing of the map of Europe at the Congress of Vienna (1815), which ultimately made Alexander the monarch of Congress Poland . The " Holy Alliance " was proclaimed, linking the monarchist great powers of Austria, Prussia, and Russia. Although the Russian Empire played a leading political role in the next century, thanks to its role in defeating Napoleonic France, its retention of serfdom precluded economic progress to any significant degree. As Western European economic growth accelerated during
18720-488: The revolt made "December Fourteenth" a day long remembered by later revolutionary movements. The question of Russia's direction had been gaining attention ever since Peter the Great's program of modernization. Some favored imitating Western Europe while others were against this and called for a return to the traditions of the past. The latter path was advocated by Slavophiles , who held the "decadent" West in contempt. The Slavophiles were opponents of bureaucracy, who preferred
18880-461: The serfs, was the single most important event in 19th-century Russian history, and the beginning of the end of the landed aristocracy's monopoly on power. The 1860s saw further socioeconomic reforms to clarify the position of the Russian government with regard to property rights. Emancipation brought a supply of free labor to the cities, stimulating industry, while the middle class grew in number and influence. However, instead of receiving their lands as
19040-425: The shop of Henry Samuel Harris with intent to steal his goods". The case lasted for eleven days; there were problems with the proceedings because of the language difficulties and the chaotic personal lives of the accused. The case resulted in acquittals for all except Vassileva, who was convicted of conspiracy in the burglary and sentenced to two years' imprisonment; her conviction was overturned on appeal. After
19200-490: The siege. The name plaques on the buildings call Peter the Painter an " anti-hero "; the decision angered the Metropolitan Police Federation . A council spokesman said that "There is no evidence that Peter the Painter killed the three policemen, so we knew we were not naming the block after a murderer. ... but he is the name that East Enders associate with the siege and Sidney Street." In December 2010, on
19360-400: The stairs. The police asked the man if they could step into the back of the property, and he agreed. As Bentley moved forward, the back door opened and one of the gang exited, firing from a pistol as he did so; the man on the stairs also began firing. Bentley was shot in the shoulder and the neck—the second round severing his spine. Bryant was shot in the arm and chest and Woodhams was wounded in
19520-479: The start of the 19th century, Russian territory extended from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Black Sea in the south, and from the Baltic Sea in the west to Alaska, Hawaii, and California in the east. By the end of the 19th century, Russia had expanded its control over the Caucasus , most of Central Asia and parts of Northeast Asia . Notwithstanding its extensive territorial gains and great power status,
19680-538: The state for the rest of their lives. He also introduced the Table of Ranks and equated the votchina with an estate . Russia's modern fleet was built by Peter the Great, along with an army that was reformed in the manner of European style and educational institutions (the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences ). Civil lettering was adopted during Peter I's reign, and the first Russian newspaper, Vedomosti ,
19840-419: The structure of the building, which had a narrow, winding stairwell up which police would have to pass, meant any approach to the gang members was too perilous to attempt. It was decided to wait until dawn before taking any action. At about 7:30 am a policeman knocked on the door of number 100, which elicited no response; stones were then thrown at the window to wake the men. Svaars and Sokoloff appeared at
20000-565: The terms interchangeably to refer to those with revolutionary beliefs. A leading article in The Times described the Whitechapel area as one that "harbours some of the worst alien anarchists and criminals who seek our too hospitable shore. And these are the men who use the pistol and the knife." From the turn of the century, gang warfare persisted in the Whitechapel and Aldgate areas of London between groups of Bessarabians and refugees from Odessa ; various revolutionary factions were active in
20160-422: The throne in 1855, the desire for reform was widespread. A growing humanitarian movement attacked serfdom as inefficient. In 1859, there were more than 23 million serfs in usually poor living conditions. Alexander II decided to abolish serfdom from above, with ample provision for the landowners, rather than wait for it to be abolished from below by revolution. The Emancipation Reform of 1861 , which freed
20320-416: The time, nor do I understand now." Jenkins suggests that he went simply because "he could not resist going to see the fun himself". An inquest was held in January into the deaths at Houndsditch and Sidney Street. The jury took fifteen minutes to reach the conclusion that the two bodies located were those of Svaars and Sokoloff, that Tucker, Bentley and Choate had been murdered by Gardstein and others during
20480-489: The traditional punishment of drawing and quartering, Catherine issued secret instructions that the executioners should execute death sentences quickly and with minimal suffering, as part of her effort to introduce compassion into the law. She furthered these efforts by ordering the public trial of Darya Nikolayevna Saltykova , a high-ranking noblewoman, on charges of torturing and murdering serfs. Whilst these gestures garnered Catherine much positive attention from Europe during
20640-540: The transformation of Russia into a great power, playing a major role in European politics. On 2 November [ O.S. 22 October] 1721, the day of the announcement of the Treaty of Nystad, the Governing Senate and Synod invested the tsar with the titles of Peter the Great, Pater Patriae (father of the fatherland), and Imperator of all Russia . The adoption of the title of imperator by Peter I
20800-516: The trial in May 1911 of those arrested for the Houndsditch jewellery robbery, all but one of the accused were acquitted; the conviction was overturned on appeal. The events were fictionalised in film—in The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) and The Siege of Sidney Street (1960)—and novels. On the centenary of the events two tower blocks in Sidney Street were named after Peter the Painter , one of
20960-509: The two gunmen possessed superior weapons and ample ammunition. The police officers in charge on the scene, Superintendent Mulvaney and Chief Superintendent Stark, contacted Assistant Commissioner Major Frederick Wodehouse at Scotland Yard . He telephoned the Home Office and obtained permission from Churchill to bring in a detachment of Scots Guards , who were stationed at the Tower of London . It
21120-449: The various holdings. Although serfdom was abolished, its abolition was achieved on terms unfavorable to peasants; thus, revolutionary tensions remained. Revolutionaries believed that the newly freed serfs were merely being sold into wage slavery in the onset of the industrial revolution, and that the urban bourgeoisie had effectively replaced the landowners. Seeking more territories, Russia obtained Priamurye ( Russian Manchuria ) from
21280-719: The violent suppression of the 1905 Russian Revolution. The Russo-Japanese War , which resulted in the destruction of the Russian Baltic Fleet at the Battle of Tsushima , further eroded his popularity. By March 1917, public support for Nicholas II had dwindled, leading to his forced abdication and the end of the 304-year rule of the Romanov (dynasty) in Russia (1613–1917). Nicholas II was deeply devoted to his wife, Alexandra, whom he married on 26 November 1894. They had five children: Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, and Tsesarevich Alexei. The Russian Imperial Romanov family
21440-624: The war, but who nevertheless were opposed by various factions known collectively as the Whites . During the resulting Russian Civil War , the Bolsheviks conducted the Red Terror . After emerging victorious, they established the Soviet Union across most of the Russian territory; it would be one of four continental empires to collapse as a result of World War I , along with Germany , Austria–Hungary , and
21600-677: The weakened Manchu-ruled Qing China , which was occupied fighting against the Taiping Rebellion . In 1858, the Treaty of Aigun ceded much of the Manchu Homeland, and in 1860, the Treaty of Peking ceded the modern Primorsky Krai , also founded the outpost of future Vladivostok . Meanwhile, Russia decided to sell the indefensible Russian America to the United States for 11 million rubles (7.2 million dollars) in 1867. Initially, many Americans considered this newly gained territory to be
21760-410: The window and opened fire at the police. A police sergeant was wounded in the chest; he was evacuated under fire across the rooftops and taken to the London Hospital. Some members of the police returned fire, but their guns were only effective over shorter ranges, and proved ineffective against the comparatively advanced automatic weapons of Svaars and Sokoloff. By 9:00 am it was apparent that
21920-544: Was not at the property that night. Donald Rumbelow, a former policeman who wrote a history of the events, takes a different view. He considers that those present consisted of Gardstein, Smoller, Peters and Dubof, with a second group in case the work needed to continue into the following day, which included among their number Sokolow and Svaars. Rumbelow considers a third group on standby, staying at Hoffman's lodgings, to have comprised Hoffman, Rosen and Osip Federoff, an unemployed locksmith. Rumbelow also considers that present at
22080-542: Was a Latvian who had lived in Latvia and had been arrested in Riga in 1905 for murder and robbery before travelling to London. Another of the group's members was Karl Hoffman—whose real name was Alfred Dzircol—who had been involved in revolutionary and criminal activities for several years, including gun-running. In London he had worked as a decorator. John Rosen—real name John Zelin or Tzelin—came to London in 1909 from Riga and worked as
22240-658: Was a vast empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its proclamation in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about 22,800,000 km (8,800,000 sq mi), roughly one-sixth of the world's landmass, making it the third-largest empire in history , behind only the British and Mongol empires. It also colonized North America between 1799 and 1867. The empire's 1897 census,
22400-431: Was also taken there, where he was operated on, but he died at 5:30 am on 17 December. Bentley was taken to St Bartholomew's Hospital . He was half-conscious on arrival, but recovered enough to be able to have a conversation with his pregnant wife and answer questions about the events. At 6:45 pm on 17 December his condition worsened, and he died at 7:30. The killings of Tucker, Bentley and Choate remain one of
22560-665: Was arrested at home, and on 22 December Dubof and Peters were both captured. On 22 December a public memorial service took place for Tucker, Bentley and Choate at St Paul's Cathedral . King George V was represented by Edward Wallington , his Groom in Waiting ; also present were Churchill and the Lord Mayor of London . The crime had shocked Londoners and the service showed evidence of their feelings. An estimated ten thousand people waited in St Paul's environs, and many local businesses closed as
22720-479: Was assassinated by the Narodnaya Volya , a Nihilist terrorist organization . The throne passed to Alexander III (1881–1894), a reactionary who revived the maxim of "Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationality" of Nicholas I. A committed Slavophile, Alexander III believed that Russia could be saved from turmoil only by shutting itself off from the subversive influences of Western Europe. During his reign, Russia formed
22880-525: Was booed with shouts of "shoot him" from audiences. His presence was controversial to many and the Leader of the Opposition , Arthur Balfour , remarked, "He [Churchill] was, I understand, in military phrase, in what is known as the zone of fire—he and a photographer were both risking valuable lives. I understand what the photographer was doing, but what was the right hon. Gentleman doing? That I neither understood at
23040-427: Was catastrophic for France, whose army was decimated during the Russian winter . Although Napoleon's Grande Armée reached Moscow, the Russians' scorched earth strategy prevented the invaders from living off the country. In the harsh and bitter winter, thousands of French troops were ambushed and killed by peasant guerrilla fighters. Russian troops then pursued Napoleon's troops to the gates of Paris, presiding over
23200-469: Was clear to onlookers that the men were both dead; the fire brigade was allowed to start extinguishing the fire. At 2:40 Churchill left the scene, at about the time the Royal Horse Artillery arrived with two 13-pounder field artillery pieces. Sokoloff's body was found soon after the firemen entered. A wall collapsed on a group of five firemen, who were all taken to the London Hospital. One of
23360-402: Was close to that of slaves , remained a major institution in Russia until 1723, when Peter converted household kholops into house serfs , thus counting them for poll taxation. Russian agricultural kholops had been formally converted into serfs earlier in 1679. They were largely tied to the land, in a feudal sense, until the late 19th century. Peter's first military efforts were directed against
23520-604: Was executed by who were believed to be drunken Bolshevik revolutionaries under Yakov Yurovsky, as ordered by the Ural Regional Soviet in Yekaterinburg on the night of 16–17 July 1918. This marked the end of the Russian Empire and Imperial Russia. Russia was in a continuous state of financial crisis. While revenue rose from 9 million rubles in 1724 to 40 million in 1794, expenses grew more rapidly, reaching 49 million in 1794. The budget allocated 46 percent to
23680-410: Was grabbed by the police and taken to the City of London police headquarters; the ground floor lodgers also evacuated. Number 100 was now empty of all residents, apart from Svaars and Sokoloff, neither of whom seemed to be aware of the evacuation. The police's operating procedure—and the law which governed their actions—meant they were unable to open fire without being fired upon first. This, along with
23840-674: Was in a state of war with the French Republic under the leadership of the Corsica -born First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte . After he became the emperor , Napoleon defeated Russia at Austerlitz in 1805, Eylau and Friedland in 1807. After Alexander was defeated in Friedland, he agreed to negotiate and sued for peace with France; the Treaties of Tilsit led to the Franco-Russian alliance against
24000-569: Was informally partitioned by the Anglo-Russian Convention in 1907, Britain, France, and Russia came increasingly close together in opposition to Germany and Austria-Hungary. The three would later comprise the Triple Entente alliance in the First World War . In 1894, Alexander III was succeeded by his son, Nicholas II , who was committed to retaining the autocracy that his father had left him. Nicholas II proved as an ineffective ruler, and in
24160-577: Was insufficient evidence against her; Hoffman, Trassjonsky and Federoff were released in March on the same basis. The case against the four remaining arrested gang members was heard at the Old Bailey by Mr Justice Grantham in May. Dubof and Peters were accused of Tucker's murder, Dubof, Peters, Rosen and Vassilleva were charged with "feloniously harbouring a felon guilty of murder" and for "conspiring and agreeing together and with others unknown to break and enter
24320-426: Was later found among their possessions. Most members of the group were revolutionaries who had been radicalised by their involvement in the unsuccessful 1905 revolution in Latvia and its violent suppression. All had left-wing political views and believed the expropriation of private property was a valid practice. A leading figure in the group was George Gardstein, whose real name was probably Hartmanis; he also used
24480-431: Was out, and the policeman said he would return later. Piper reported that as he was leaving Exchange Buildings to return to Houndsditch he saw a man acting suspiciously in the shadows of the cul-de-sac. As the policeman approached him, the man walked away; Piper later described him as being approximately 5 feet 7 inches (1.70 m), pale and fair-haired. When Piper reached Houndsditch he saw two policemen from
24640-492: Was published. Peter I promoted the advancement of science, particularly geography and geology , trade, and industry, including shipbuilding, as well as the growth of the Russian educational system. Every tenth Russian acquired an education during Peter I's reign, when there were 15 million people in the country. The city of Saint Petersburg , which was built in 1703 on territory along the Baltic coast that had been conquered during
24800-688: Was the acquisition from the Ottomans of the provinces of Batumi , Ardahan , and Kars in Transcaucasia , which were transformed into the militarily administered regions of Batum Oblast and Kars Oblast . To replace Muslim refugees who had fled across the new frontier into Ottoman territory, the Russian authorities settled large numbers of Christians from ethnically diverse communities in Kars Oblast, particularly Georgians , Caucasus Greeks , and Armenians , each of whom hoped to achieve protection and advance their own regional ambitions. In 1881, Alexander II
24960-507: Was the case in Sidney Street—the police were issued with Webley and Bull Dog revolvers, shotguns and small-bore rifles fitted with .22 Morris-tube barrels , the last of which were more commonly used on small indoor shooting galleries. At the beginning of December 1910 Smoller, using the name Joe Levi, visited Exchange Buildings, a small cul-de-sac that backed onto the properties of Houndsditch. He rented No. 11 Exchange Buildings;
25120-433: Was the eldest son and successor of Aleksandr Aleksandrovich (later known as Alexander III of Russia ) and his wife Maria Fyodorovna (formerly Dagmar of Denmark ). During his rule, Nicholas II supported the economic and political reforms proposed by his prime ministers, Sergei Witte and Pyotr Stolypin . He favored modernization through foreign loans and strong ties with France, but was reluctant to give significant roles to
25280-510: Was the first time that the police had requested military assistance in London to deal with an armed siege. Twenty-one volunteer marksmen from the Guards arrived at about 10:00 am and took firing positions at each end of the street and in the houses opposite. The shooting continued without either side gaining any advantage. Churchill arrived on the scene at 11:50 am to observe the incident at first hand; he later reported that he thought
25440-452: Was the only witness to the escape who was able to provide firm details; other witnesses confirmed they saw a group of three men and a woman, and thought one of the men was drunk as he was being helped by his friends. The group went to Svaars' and Peter the Painter's lodgings at 59 Grove Street (now Golding Street), off Commercial Road, where Gardstein was tended by two of the gang's associates, Milstein and Trassjonsky. As they left Gardstein on
25600-414: Was to be allowed to burn down and that he was to stand by in readiness to prevent the conflagration from spreading. By 2:30 pm the shooting from the house had ceased. One of the detectives present walked close to the wall and pushed the door open, before retreating. Other police officers, and some of the soldiers, came out and waited for the men to exit. None did, and as part of the roof collapsed, it
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