Chita Threatened with Bombardment After Bloody Sunday

In January 1906, tsarist generals threatened Chita with bombardment if rebels did not surrender, leading to the end of the Chita Republic.

Jan 29, 2026

An armed demonstration by workers in Chita took place on January 9, 1906, during the revolutionary events.
Source:
From the collections of the Transbaikal Regional Local History Museum named after A.K. Kuznetsov

On the anniversary of the revolution«s start, January 9, 1906, a meeting was held in the railway workshops. After it ended, a five-thousand-strong demonstration singing revolutionary songs headed to the city center. Armed militiamen and soldiers walked on both sides of the column, ready to suppress provocations.

And on January 22, 1906, to Chita, which remained the last revolutionary city in Siberia, trains with units of Generals P.K. Rennenkampf and A.M. Meller-Zakomelsky approached from east and west. The generals, fulfilling the tsar«s order to restore order along the Trans-Siberian Railway, acted quickly and decisively, conducting arrests and shootings, and if necessary, rolling out cannons. An ultimatum arrived in Chita demanding to lay down arms, and in case of non-compliance, the generals threatened to bombard the city.

The moment came when the city was on the brink of military action. At a general meeting of the rebels in the railway workshops, a decision was made to cease organized armed struggle. At the crossroads of city streets, members of the city militia laid down weapons seized from warehouses. Military Governor I.V. Kholshchevnikov was arrested and put on trial for aiding revolutionaries. General A.V. Sychevsky was appointed as the new head of the Transbaikal region.

Mass arrests and searches began in the city, newspapers «Asiatic Russia», «Transbaikal Worker», «Transbaikalia» were closed, and criminal cases were initiated against publishers and editors. About 400 Chita residents were exiled from the city, and the most active participants in the revolution were arrested and awaited the decision of a military court. Gallows were built on Atamanskaya Square (near the station). The city froze in anticipation of public execution.

Thus ceased to exist the Chita Republic, whose history began on November 22, 1905. It was a revolutionary-democratic dictatorship of workers and peasants, originating from the all-Russian political strike. Then in Chita, the number of mass unrest increased manyfold. Revolutionary ideas penetrated the army, spread among Cossacks and prisoners.