In 1904, the Tsar nationalized the Russian vodka industry and Vladimir Smirnov was forced to sell his factory and brand. During the October Revolution of 1917, the Smirnov family had to flee the country. Vladimir Smirnov re-established a factory in 1920 in Constantinople, present day Istanbul. Four years later he moved to Lwów formerly Poland, now Lviv, Ukraine and started to sell the vodka under the contemporary French spelling of the name, “Smirnoff.” The new product sold marginally well but not nearly as it had in Russia prior to 1904. An additional distillery was founded in Paris in 1925. But by then, however, for many reasons, partly because of the still severe lingering after effects in France of the Great War, the company was a shadow of its former self.
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