Today, 100 years ago, the Russian Premier Pyotr Stolypin died after being shot at the Kiev Opera House.
Stolypin was the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the last Russian tsar, Nicholas II. He exercised this function from 1906 to 1911. He aimed to repress revolutionary groups, a continuing threat to Imperial Russia and its Tsar. He also aimed to reform the agrarian sector by creating a class of market-oriented smallholding landowners. With this aim he hoped to amicably settle the continuing peasant unrest.
His political agenda and vision were never truely implemented. He travelled to Kiev to attend an opera with the Tsar and his family. Eventhough he was aware of assassination plots he refused to wear his bullet-proof vest. On 14 September he was shot in the chest twice while attending the opera. He was very brave in his last concious moments and allegedly claimed he was 'happy to die for the Tsar'. Today, 100 years ago, Stolypin died of his injuries.
In 2008, Pyotr Stolypin came second in the polls for 'greatest Russian', with Alexander Nevsky taking first place.
The Kiev Opera House where Stolypin was assassinated
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