Paul von Hindenburg
August 30, 1914: The Battle of Tannenberg is fought at Allenstein, East Prussia -- now Olsztyn, Poland -- the first major battle of the Eastern Front in the Great War (World War I).
Tannenberg is actually about 20 miles to the west, but an aide to German General Erich Ludendorff, 2nd-in-command of the German forces, suggested putting an old name on the battle, to make it the "site" of a German victory, instead of one of a German defeat by Poles and Lithuanians in 1410.
About 25 miles to the east is Borki Wielkie, then under German control as part of East Prussia. Five years earlier, in 1909, my great-grandfather left that village as an 18-year-old hatmaker, and came to America. Had he not, he might well have been drafted into the Imperial German Army (Deutsches Heer), and he might have fought in that battle.
It may have been the largest battle, in terms of total men fighting, in human history to that point, with nearly 400,000 combined soldiers taking part. And it was a massacre: The Germans, under Paul von Hindenburg, killed 78,000 Russians (a lot more in 5 days than America lost in 8 years of combat in Vietnam), all but destroying Russia's Second Army, and leading to the suicide of its commander, Alexander Samsonov. Over the next few days, the mop-up led to the ruin of Russia's First Army as well.
Two days later, on September 1, 1914, the name of what was then the Russian capital was changed from St. Petersburg (Sankt-Peterburg) to Petrograd, to give it a less-German, more-Russian sounding name.
It was named for its founder, the early 18th Century Czar Peter I -- Peter the Great. After the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, the capital was moved to Moscow. After Vladimir Lenin died in 1924, the Soviet Union renamed the city Leningrad. It saw some of the worst fighting in World War II, due to a Nazi siege that was finally shaken off.
In spite of a couple of references to that name in the 23rd Century on Star Trek (by Chekov in "The Trouble With Tribbles") and by a weather analyst at Starfleet Command in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home), the St. Petersburg name was restored in 1991, after the Soviet Union was disbanded. As someone remarked at the time, "Better to have it named for a saint than a devil."
Today, the 2nd-largest city in the Russian Federation is home to 4.9 million people, more than any city in North America except New York (and, if you count it as North rather than Central, Mexico City). Moscow has a little over 13 million, more than New York (and more than Mexico City at 9.2 million).
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August 30, 1914 was a Sunday. This was one of the Federal League seasons, when what we now call Major League Baseball had 3 major leagues. No games were played in the American League. In the National League:
* The New York Giants beat the Chicago Cubs, 8-1 at the West Side Grounds in Chicago. Two years later, after the FL folded, Whales owner Charlie Weeghman was invited to buy the Cubs, and he moved them into his Weeghman Park, which eventually became Wrigley Field.
* The Philadelphia Phillies swept a doubleheader from the Cincinnati Reds, 4-2 at 2-1 at Redland Field (later renamed Crosley Field) in Cincinnati. Grover Cleveland Alexander was the winner in the opener. The nightcap went 10 innings, before Beals Becker tripled, and Bobby Byrne suicide-squeeze-bunted him home.
* And the Boston Braves beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 2-0 at Robison Field (not "Robinson") in St. Louis. George "Lefty" Tyler allowed only 1 hit, a single to Lee Magee in the 7th inning. The only run came in the 5th, when a Hank Gowdy single and an error by left fielder Albert "Cozy" Dolan allowed Walter "Rabbit" Maranville to score.
And in the FL:
* The Chicago Whales beat the St. Louis Terriers, 3-1 at Handlan's Park in St. Louis. Al Wickland tripled Art Wilson home with the winning run in the top of the 13th inning. Erv Lange went the distance for the win.
* And the Kansas City Packers swept a doubleheader from the Indianapolis Hoosiers, 6-4 and 6-1 at Gordon and Koppel Field in Kansas City.
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