-1896. Russia began the reign of Tsar Nicholas II. On this occasion, on May 30th., At the outskirts of Moscow Chodyno field had to be held "people's fun", through which all arrivals promised to distribute gifts: Memorial Cup with the Czar's monogram, the emblem of gingerbread, sausages and sweets.
Chodina field, which exercises from time to time to prepare and the army, constructed across the marketing and distribution of gift pavilions. The people began to gather on the eve of frequent arrived with his family.
Clay cup of Czar Nicholas II, on the occasion of the coronation
By the way, gift bundles expense of the Treasury prepared quite a lot - several hundred thousand units. However Chodyne gathered about half a million people.
Chodyno field has long been preparing military training and parades, fairs, various public events.
Suddenly, on May 30th at dawn, someone released a rumor that gift splitters give a gift only for their own. " They say that you have a little gift for all is far from enough. A huge crowd began to gravitate to the pavilions, threw procedures for supervising police, created huge traffic jams.
Frightened that will simply trampled, gift splitters started throwing bundles into the crowd. This further complicated the situation, as the congestion increased. According to official figures 1,379 people were killed, many more injured, although the actual number of victims may be several times higher.
jam victims
Despite the terrible tragedy, the fun has not been canceled. Nicholas II, albeit shocked disaster Chodyno arrived at the field, where he was welcomed by sizable crowd. Witnesses said that one end of people making merry, and the other soldiers loaded the removal of dead bodies.
After the terrible tragedy of the Moscow police chief Alexander Vlasovski removed from office (except for his generous pension!), But basically no one seriously injured. The country has leaked that it started in the ill-fated reign of Czar Nicholas II, may not end well ... Time has shown that it was right.
jam victims
Memorial to the victims of the tragedy. The date referred to in 1896. May 18 th (according to the old style). According to a new tragedy occurred on 30 May.