History of Latvia only St. Petersburg and Moscow by the number of industrial workers, and at the turn of the century over 90% of Latvians could read. In this regard, Latvia was equally primed for radical leftism and nationalism. In all, spearheaded by the Latvian Social Democratic Workers’ Party (LSDSP), the governorates making up what is now Latvia were probably the most ungovernable in the whole Russian Empire. Following the shooting of demonstrators in St. Petersburg on January 9, 1905 a wide-scale general strike began in Riga. On January 13 Russian army troops opened fire on demonstrators in Riga killing 73 and injuring
Henry of Latvia Henry of Latvia Henry of Latvia (, , , ; before 1188, Magdeburg, Landgraviate of Thuringia – after 1259 in Papendorf, Livonia, currently Rubene, Kocēni parish, Kocēni Municipality, Latvia), also known in the English-speaking world as Henry of Livonia, was a priest, missionary and historian. He wrote the Livonian Chronicle of Henry which describes the evangelization of the regions which are now part of Estonia and Latvia during the Northern Crusades. The chronicles say that Henry was a Catholic priest who witnessed most of events described. Henry is thought to have been born between 1180 and 1188. Henry was probably