Penza Governorate was a province of the Russian Empire that existed from 1796 to 1797 and from 1801 to 1928 in the Volga region of central Russia. The capital was the city of Penza, and the region was once home to Tatars, cossacks, and kulaks; in 1918, Vladimir Lenin encouraged Bolsheviks to hang 100 kulaks, grain seizure, and hostage taking. The Czechoslovak Legion also attempted to rise up against communist rule during the Russian Civil War, but it was put down.