Moscow History, Russia

Moscow gets it name from the Moskva River. Moscow was founded by Russian prince Yury Dolgoruky. What actually happened was that the prince wanted to celebrate some successful negotiations and was looking for place to celebrate a feast. The place happened to be Moscow. Later, Mongols burnt the city to ashes in the 1237 thereby, ruining the city completely. It was in 1328 that Moscow earned the status of capital of the Russian region. Again in the year 1571; Mongols attacked the city and burnt it completely.

A severe plague ruined the city in 1654. It killed lot of inhabitants and the city came to a stand still. Unfortunately in 1712, Moscow lost its capital status to St. Petersberg. But the city kept on moving on the road to development. In the year 1713, first Russian university called Moscow University (MSU now) was founded which was the only university in Russia then. In the year 1812, the war with Napoleon lead to big fires in Moscow destroying almost everything that came in the process. Very few ancient buildings of that time are actually intact.

It was on 12th March, 1918, when once again, the city of Moscow became the capital of the Soviet Russia. Communists were then afraid to stay in St.Petersburg as it was closer to the borders of the nation. As Moscow again turned the capital, steps to improve its infrastructure and other facilities started in quick paces. On 21 August 1921, a small revolution was set out in the city. It brought about a major change in the politics in Moscow. This was a time when democracy was finally introduced and the old government rules put to an end. In 1935, the first line of metro was laid in Moscow. In 1939, TV transmissions entered into the households.

During Great Patriotic war which was a part of the Second World War in 1941, Moscow came out victorious defeating the German forces. But the war did quite a loss to the city. From the period from 1940 to 1980 there is not much to talk about Moscow as this was the period where it probably went a little lacks. However again in 1980, it came into limelight by organizing and carrying out XXII Olympic Games. When the USSR divided in the year 1991, the city continued to be the capital of Russia. Moscow celebrated its 850 Anniversary in 1997 and today is one of the more respected cities in the world!

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