History of Russia
The war ended in 1721 when an exhausted Sweden sued for peace with Russia. Peter acquired four provinces situated south and east of the Gulf of Finland, thus securing his coveted access to the sea. There, in 1703, he had already founded the city that was to become Russia's new capital, Saint Petersburg, as a "window opened upon Europe" to replace Moscow, long Russia's cultural center. Russian intervention in the Commonwealth marked, with the Silent Sejm, the beginning of a 200-year domination of that region by the Russian Empire. In celebration of his conquests, Peter assumed the title of emperor, and the Russian Tsardom officially became the Russian Empire in 1721.
August curse
It has to be observed that tragic August events in Russia tended to occur before 1991 as well. For example, the Eastern Front of World War I was opened in August 1914 with German invasion of Congress Poland, part of the Russian Empire; subsequent victories of the Central Powers led to the collapse of the Empire, rise of the bolsheviks, Russian Civil War and the creation of the Soviet Union 8 years later. The bloody and devastating, though ultimately victorious to the Soviets, battle of Stalingrad also commenced in that month (23 August 1942), as did the disastrous Siege of Leningrad (22 August 1941).