Vyborg

The history of Vyborg begins with the XI century, when a small settlement appeared on the site of the current Monrepo Park. Its inhabitants were engaged in hunting, fishing and agriculture, as well as trade with the countries of the Baltic coast. The Karelians, who make up the majority of the population, have long been friendly with the Novgorod Slavs, who in turn traded with German and Swedish cities through the Gulf of Finland and the Baltic Sea.

Sweden in the middle of the XII century tried to conquer these lands, and in 1293 the ruler of Sweden Torkel Knutson at the head of a large army invaded Karelia. In order to maintain an important strategic position, the Swedes built a stone castle on the small island of Linnan Saari in 1293. The Novgorodians tried several times to seize these lands, but in 1318 they succeeded, however, for a short time. In 1323, according to a peace treaty signed in the fortress of Oreshek, the Russian-Swedish border along the Sestre River was established. Novgorod ceded to Sweden part of the Karelian Isthmus with Vyborg, part of the land beyond Vuoksa and the land around Lake Saimaa, the eastern part of the Karelian Isthmus remained Novgorod. In the future, the Swedish owners of the city and their southern neighbors, the Novgorodians, continued to live peacefully as brothers. In 1351 and then in 1411 brothers from the south destroyed the town, and in 1475 brothers from the north began to build a wall around Vyborg, and as some historians testify, in great haste.

Meanwhile, in the territory of Russia there were some changes. In particular, Moscow became the largest, strongest and peace-loving city, replacing Novgorod in this field. At the end of the 15th century it was ruled by Ivan III, who became famous, as well as most subsequent and some of the previous princes, as the collector of Russian lands. No one in those years really did not know what land is actually worth collecting, which of them are “primordial”, so they took everything from the Arctic Ocean and the Urals, to Chernihiv and the Baltic Sea. In particular, it was decided to take Vyborg. In 1495 a large detachment of liberators approached the city and practically surrounded it. For 10 weeks from October, the army of Ivan III besieged the city, but it was not successful. The Swedes also had their own problems: the wall will collapse under the blows of Russian artillery, the fleet rushing to the rescue will be stopped by bad weather, the food will come to an end. Nevertheless, after a particularly unsuccessful assault, Ivan’s army withdrew from Vyborg, leaving it for the time being (for another 200-plus years) in the power of the Swedes.

In 1703, on the islands in the Neva Delta, Peter I founded St. Petersburg, the capital of the Russian Empire. Now, to ensure its safety, Peter I needed to seize the Karelian Isthmus and Vyborg, the main Swedish fortress on the northern coast of the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Finland. In 1706, an attempt was made to take Vyborg from land, but the Swedish fortifications resisted. Only after the Poltava "victory", in the spring of 1710, Peter I undertook a campaign to Vyborg. On the ice of the Gulf of Finland from the island of Kotlin to Vyborg approached 13 thousand Russian corps with artillery under the command of General Admiral F.M. Apraksin and began the siege of the city. In April, to help ground forces, breaking through the ice-covered bay, Peter I led a fleet of 250 sailing and rowing vessels to Vyborg. On June 12, 1710, the Swedish garrison of Vyborg surrendered, justice prevailed. Assessing the importance of the capture of the Vyborg fortress, Peter I said that “through the capture of this city to St. Petersburg, ultimate security was obtained.” The Nystadt Peace Treaty signed with Sweden in 1721 secured Russia’s access to the Baltic Sea. From 1710 to 1811, Vyborg and the surrounding lands were part of Russia. During this time, Vyborg became a port through which Russia traded with Western countries (England, Holland).

The last Russian-Swedish war of 1808-1809 decided the fate of Finland, which turned from a Swedish province into a Special Grand Duchy with its own constitution and Sejm and became part of Russia. In 1811, the Vyborg province was administratively annexed to the Grand Duchy of Finland. All this led to changes in the political and economic life of Vyborg and the entire province. After the construction of the Saimaa Canal in 1856, a huge amount of cargo passed through the berths of the Vyborg port. In 1870, a railway was built through Vyborg, linking Helsingfors with St. Petersburg, and later with other settlements. Trade became even more active, factories grew, new banks appeared. By 1912, the population of Vyborg was 32,000 people.

The revolutionary events of 1917, of course, touched on Vyborg, located in close proximity to the “cradle of the revolution” – Petrograd. The leader of the revolution V.I. Lenin visited Vyborg several times in 1906-1907 and in 1917. Since September 17, he lived in the working suburb of Talikkala in the house No. 15 on Alexandrovskaya Street (now Rubezhnaya Street). Here on the street. Border, 15, in 1958, a memorial museum was opened.

On December 18, 1917, V.I. Lenin in Smolny presented to the head of the Finnish delegation a resolution of the Council of People’s Commissars on the recognition of Finland’s independence. In March 1918, Russian troops were withdrawn from Finland. Subsequent government change operations in Finland and support for anti-government gangs did not fit into the peace-loving policy of the young Soviet state a victorious page and Finland remained an independent state.

To be fair, it should be noted that Finland, which included Vyborg, did not put a penny of friendship with its eastern neighbor, the USSR. Together with other weapon-rattling militarists from England, Belgium and France, the Finns dug up the entire Karelian isthmus, creating there a line of so-called defense, which later became known as the Mannerheim Line. Over 12 years of construction, more than two thousand dots and other fortifications were created. The structures stretch for 135 kilometers along the front (from the Gulf of Finland to Lake Ladoga) and had a depth of up to 95 kilometers. The line consisted of several lanes: first, a support lane consisting of fortified positions, barriers and obstacles, then there was a main defensive lane, which included 22 resistance knots. There was also a second defensive strip, a rear strip and the Vyborg fortifications themselves. From whom were going to “defend” the Finns on the border with the USSR is not clear. At the end of 1939, the Soviet Union launched new peace initiatives. Their essence was that Finland peacefully gave a large part of its territory near St. Petersburg.

On November 30, 1939, about one million Soviet soldiers, supported by nearly 2,000 tanks and nearly 1,000 aircraft, began to coax the Finns to solve the problem peacefully. The agreements went in three directions: on the Karelian Isthmus, to the North-East of Lake Ladoga and on the coast of the Arctic Ocean. Although the Finns had 60 tanks, 115 planes and more than three hundred thousand soldiers, the war ended on March 13. The border became a new place, and Vyborg withdrew to the USSR.

In 1941, the Finns decided to reverse the course of history. They managed in a short time to occupy all the lands belonging to them and reach the abolished border on the Sestre River. Vyborg was occupied by the enemy-repatriate on 21 August 1941. As a result of the offensive of the Leningrad Front on the Karelian Isthmus, on June 20, 1944, the city was again taken by storm, this time by Soviet troops. Finland was forced to withdraw from the war and on September 19, 1944, as a result of an armistice, Vyborg with the Karelian Isthmus was reunited with Russia (then the USSR). Vyborg was listed among 15 cities whose restoration was a priority.

By 1948, all industrial enterprises were restored, new factories were built, multi-storey residential and public buildings were built. The role of Vyborg as a railway hub and port city, as well as a cultural and tourist center of the region, has increased.