A TIMELINE OF RUSSIA
By Tim Lambert
862 The Vikings capture Novgorod
882 The Vikings capture Kiev. The Vikings create the nation of Rus, which grows rich and powerful.
1054 Yaroslav the Wise dies and Rus breaks up
1088 Prince Vladimir converts to Christianity
1237 The Mongols invade Russia
1240 The Mongols capture Kiev
1242 The Principality of Novgorod defeats the Teutonic Knights
1263 Daniel becomes Prince of Moscow, which expands its territory
1326 The Metropolitan moves to Moscow
1359-1389 Dmitry Donoskoy increases Russia's territory
1389-1425 Vasily takes more territory
1449 The Russian Orthodox Church splits from the Greek Orthodox Church
1480 The Tartars (descendants of the Mongols) lose their grip on Russia
1547 Ivan the Terrible takes power.
1554-56 Ivan conquers Astrakhan
1563 The printing press is introduced into Russia
1565 Ivan forms a private army called the Oprichnina
1570 Novgorod is sacked
1582 Ivan conquers the Khanate of Sibir
1584 Ivan dies
1601-03 Russia is struck by famine
1613 Michael Romanov becomes Tsar
1667 Russia takes most of Ukraine
1689 The border between Russia and China is fixed
1694 Peter the Great takes power
1703-1712 Peter builds St Petersburg
1709 The Swedes invade Ukraine but are defeated at the battle of Poltava
1721 The Russians and Swedes make peace. Russia gains Estonia
1724 The Russian Academy of Sciences is founded
1741 Catherine I seizes power
1755 The first Russian university is founded
1762 Catherine the Great seizes power
1772-95 Russia takes parts of Poland
1773-74 Pugachev leads a rebellion
1783 Russia takes the Crimea
1801 Tsar Paul is assassinated
1809 Russia captures Finland
1812 Napoleon invades Russia
1825 The Decembrists lead a rebellion which fails
1853-56 Russia fights the Crimean War
1861 Serfdom is abolished
1881 The Tsar is assassinated
1890 Russia begins to industrialise
1904-05 Russia fights Japan and loses
1905 The trans-Siberian railway is completed. Strikes and demonstrations sweep Russia after troops open fire on marchers on 22 January 1905. The Tsar is forced to call an elected assembly called a Duma.
1914 The Russian army is badly defeated at Tannenberg
1916 Rasputin is assassinated
1917 In March the Tsar abdicates and Kerensky becomes prime minister. In November the Communists lead a revolution.
1918-1921 Civil War in Russia between Reds and Whites
1924 Lenin dies
1928 Stalin becomes dictator
1929 Trotsky is banished from Russia.
1932 Famine strikes the Ukraine (mostly due to Stalin)
1934 Stalin begins a series of purges in which millions of innocent people die
1937-38 Stalin purges the Red Army
1939 Stalin signs a non-aggression pact with Hitler. Russia invades Poland from the east. Russia also invades Finland.
1940 Russia annexes Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia
1941 Germany invades Russia
1943 Russia wins the battles of Stalingrad and Kursk
1945 The Russians capture Berlin
1953 Stalin dies
1956 Nikita Khrushchev becomes leader. He denounces Stalin.
1957 Russia launches the first satellite
1961 Yuri Gagarin is the first man in space
1964 Khrushchev is deposed and replaced by Brezhnev
1970s Consumer goods become common
1929 Trotsky is banished from Russia.
1980s The Russian economy stagnates
1986 There is an explosion at a nuclear power plant at Chernobyl
1987 Gorbachov relaxes censorship
1991 Hardline Communists attempt a coup but fail. Communism ends and the Soviet Union breaks up.
c. 2000 The Russian economy begins to recover