The Lena massacre (Lena shootings) refers to the tragic events of April 4, 1912, at the mines of the Lena Goldfields Company, located in the area of the town of Bodaybo on tributaries of the Lena River—the Vitim and Olyokma rivers. As a result of a conflict among shareholders, a strike, and the shooting of a three-thousand-strong crowd of protesters by government troops, 372 people were injured, 170 of whom died from their wounds.
In 1912, Moscow widely celebrated the centenary of Napoleon’s expulsion from Moscow. For this anniversary, a number of drinks and dishes appeared, festively decorated. A new pastry also appeared—a cream-filled puff pastry made in the shape of a triangle, in which it was intended to see Napoleon’s famous triangular hat. The pastry quickly acquired the name “Napoleon” and won universal recognition. This name has survived to the present day, although the pastry’s shape has become rectangular.
On April 15, 1912, in the North Atlantic, the largest and most modern “unsinkable” passenger steamship of its time, the Titanic, sank. Nearly 1,500 people died in the disaster.
On October 10, 1912, Blok wrote the poem “Night, street, lamp, pharmacy...”
On November 17, 1912, Mayakovsky’s first public performance (at “The Stray Dog”)
Near the village of Golygino, Dmitrovsky Uyezd, on the highway, a car speeding from Sergiev Posad, driven by chauffeurs S. A. Trifonov and I. P. Teterkin, exploded. After the explosion, the gasoline tank instantly caught fire. The car burned to the ground. The chauffeurs escaped with difficulty.