On this day, 120 years ago, on February 17, 1905 (January 14, 1905), the Revolutionaries killed the Grand Duke of Russia. The Russian Revolutionaries assassinated the Grand Duke. On February 17, 1905, an assassin threw a bomb into the arms of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich as his carriage passed through the gates of the Moscow Kremlin. The Grand Duke was killed on the spot. Grand Duke Alexandrovich was the uncle of Tsar Nicholas II and one of his most influential intellectuals. The assassination was no surprise. His name was at the top of the death list drawn up by the Socialist Revolutionaries. The Socialist Revolutionaries had killed Minister of the Interior Prive the previous July. Few mourned the death of the Grand Duke. The flamboyant, reactionary governor of Moscow was notorious for his eerie cruelty and incompetence. On the contrary, his wife was much loved by the people. Grand Duchess Elisabeth Fyodorovna had been warned not to ride in the Grand Duke's carriage. She decided not to ride in the same carriage as her husband. Her own carriage was intact.