What are two history making events that occurred in the vicinity of Yekaterinburg during the 20th century?

star_gazer

Soon after the Russian Revolution, on July 17, 1918, Tsar Nicholas II, his wife, Alexandra, and their children Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, and Tsarevich Alexei were executed by Bolsheviks at the Ipatiev House in this city. On May 1, 1960 an American U-2 spy plane, piloted by Francis Gary Powers while under the employ of the CIA, was shot down over Sverdlovsk Oblast. The pilot was captured, put on trial, and found guilty of espionage. He was sentenced to seven years of hard labour, though he served only about a year before being exchanged for Rudolph Abel, a high-ranking KGB spy, who had been apprehended in the United States in 1957. The two spies were exchanged at the Glienicke Bridge in Potsdam, Germany, on February 10, 1962. Since the end of World War II, the Glienicke Bridge was the most popular captive-trading place when the west and the east felt it necessary to negotiate. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yekaterinburg Jul 16 09, 5:15 PM

unclerick

Very good. Check this satellite map out. Zero in on the crash site and then expand it to see Yekaterinburg. Please note that there no dispute that the crash site was in Yekaterinburg but the exact location is not confirmed 100%. That's why the link states "possible crash site". http://wikimapia.org/11629334/Possible-crash-site-of-the-U-2-on-1st-May-1960 Jul 16 09, 8:48 PM