Timeline of Russian history

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

This is a timeline of Russian history, comprising important legal and territorial changes and political events in Russia and its predecessor states. To read about the background to these events, see history of Russia. See also list of Russian monarchs and list of heads of state of Russia.

Dates before 31 January 1918, when the

Bolshevik government adopted the Gregorian calendar, are given in the Old Style Julian calendar
.

Centuries: 9th · 10th · 11th · 12th · 13th · 14th · 15th · 16th · 17th · 18th · 19th · 20th · 21st · See also · Further reading

9th century

Year Date Event
862
Rurikid Dynasty
.
882
Kiev
and moved the capital there.

10th century

Year Date Event
907 Rus'–Byzantine War (907): Oleg led an army to the walls of Constantinople.
Rus'-Byzantine War (907): A
Rus'-Byzantine Treaty allowed Rus'
merchants to enter the city under guard.
912
Oleg died and was succeeded by Igor, who was Rurik
's son.
941 May Rus'–Byzantine War (941): A Rus' army landed at Bithynia.
September Rus'–Byzantine War (941): The Byzantines destroyed the Rus' fleet.
945 Rus'-Byzantine War (941): Another Rus'-Byzantine Treaty was signed. Rus' renounced some Byzantine territories.
Igor died; his wife Olga became regent of Kievan Rus' for their son, Sviatoslav I.
957[1] or 962[2] Olga's regency ended.
965
Khazaria
.
968
Kiev. A Rus'
created the illusion of a much larger army, and frightened them away.
969 8 July .
971 The
Kiev
.
972 Sviatoslav was killed by the Pechenegs during an expedition on their territory.[3] His son Yaropolk I succeeded him.
978 Yaropolk was betrayed and murdered by his brother Vladimir the Great, who succeeded him as Prince of Kiev.[4]
981 Vladimir conquered Red Ruthenia from the Poles.
988
Dnieper River
.

11th century

Year Date Event
1015 15 July Vladimir died. He was succeeded by Sviatopolk I, who may have been his biological son by the rape of Yaropolk's wife. Sviatopolk ordered the murder of three of Vladimir's younger sons.
1016
Poland
.
1017 Yaroslav issued the first Russian code of law, the Russkaya Pravda.
1018
Polish Expedition to Kiev: Sviatopolk led the Polish army into Rus'. Red Ruthenia
returned to Polish possession.
14 August Polish Expedition to Kiev: The
Kiev; Yaroslav fled to Novgorod
.
1019 Yaroslav defeated Sviatopolk and returned to the princedom of Kiev. He granted autonomy to Novgorod as a reward for her prior loyalty. Sviatopolk died.
1030
Poles
.
1043 30 February Rus'–Byzantine War (1043): Yaroslav led an unsuccessful naval raid on Constantinople. According to the peace settlement, Yaroslav's son Vsevolod I married a daughter of the Byzantine emperor Constantine IX Monomachos.
1054 Yaroslav died. He was succeeded by his oldest son, Iziaslav I.
1068
Poland
.
1069
Kiev
and reestablished himself on the throne.
1073 Two of Iziaslav's brothers, Sviatoslav II and Vsevolod I, overthrew him; the former became prince of Kiev.
1076 27 December Sviatoslav died. Vsevolod I succeeded him, but traded the princedom of Kiev to Iziaslav in exchange for Chernigov.
1078 3 October Iziaslav died.[5] The throne of Kiev went to Vsevolod.
1093 13 April Vsevolod died. Kiev and Chernigov went to Iziaslav's illegitimate son, Sviatopolk II.
26 May
Stugna River
and were defeated.

12th century

Year Date Event
1113 16 April Sviatopolk died. He was succeeded by Vsevolod's son, his cousin, Vladimir II Monomakh.
1125 19 May Vladimir died. His oldest son, Mstislav I, succeeded him.
1132 14 April Mstislav died. His brother Yaropolk II followed him as prince of Kiev.
1136 Novgorod expelled the prince appointed for them by Kiev and vastly circumscribed the authority of the office.
1139 18 February
Chernigov, Vsevolod
.
1146 1 August Vsevolod died. His brother
boyars of Vsevolod. Igor swore to fulfill their request, but then reconsidered to do it. Citizens of Kiev considered that oath-breaker is not a legitimate ruler anymore and chose to summon prince Iziaslav of Pereyaslavl
to be a new prince of Kiev.
13 August Iziaslav overthrow Igor. A brother of Igor, Sviatoslav, prince of Novgorod-Seversk asked prince of Rostov-Suzdal Yuri Dolgorukiy for help in realising Igor from captivity.
1147 The first reference to Moscow when Yuri Dolgorukiy called upon Sviatoslav of Novgorod-Seversk to "come to me, brother, to Moscow".
1149 Yuri Dolgorukiy captured Kiev. Iziaslav escaped.
1150 With assistance of
Volodimirko of Galych
, Yuri took Kiev again.
1151 Hungarian king
Géza II helped Iziaslav
to return Kiev. Yuri escaped
1154 13 November Iziaslav II died. His brother, prince of Smolensk Rostislav was summoned to become a new prince of Kiev.
1155 Yuri Dolgorukiy expelled Rostislav with assistance of prince of Chernigov.
1157 Yuri I was intoxicated and died. Iziaslav of Chernigov became prince of Kiev.
1159 Iziaslav of Chernigov was overthrown by princes of Galych and Volyn. Allies called Rostislav to be prince of Kiev again.
1167 Rostislav died. His nephew, Mstislav of Volyn, became new ruler of Kiev.
1169 Andrey Bogolyubsky, the elder son of Yuri Dolgorukiy, prince of new strong principality of Vladimir-Suzdal attacked and plundered Kiev. A majority of Russian princes recognized him as a new grand prince. Unlike previous grand princes Andrey I did not move his residence to Kiev, instead remaining in Vladimir. Andrey appointed his brother Gleb as prince of Kiev. From this time, Kiev stopped being the center of Russian lands. The political and cultural center was moved to Vladimir. New princes of Kiev became dependent on the grand princes of Vladimir-Suzdal

13th century

Year Date Event
1223 Battle of the Kalka River: The warriors of Rus' first encountered the Mongol armies of Genghis Khan.
1227
Mstislav, the prince of Novgorod, to give the throne to his son-in-law Andrew II of Hungary
.
1236 Alexander Nevsky was summoned by the Novgorodians to become Grand Prince of Novgorod and, as their military leader, to defend their northwest lands from Swedish and German invaders.
1237 December
Mongol invasion of Rus: Batu Khan
set fire to Moscow and slaughtered and enslaved its civilian inhabitants.
1240 15 July
Neva Rivers
.
1242 5 April
Teutonic Knights on the frozen surface of Lake Peipus
.
1263 14 November Nevsky died. His appanages were divided within his family; his youngest son Daniel became the first Prince of Moscow. His younger brother Yaroslav of Tver had become the Grand Prince of Tver and of Vladimir and had appointed deputies to run the Principality of Moscow during Daniel's minority.

14th century

Year Date Event
1303 5 March Daniel died. His oldest son Yury succeeded him as Prince of Moscow.
1317 Yury married the sister of
Uzbeg Khan who was Mongolian prince. Uzbeg deposed the Grand Prince of Vladimir
and appointed Yury to that office.
1322
Uzbeg Khan that Yury
had been stealing from the khan's tribute money. He was reappointed to the princedom of Vladimir.
1325 21 November
Ivan I Kalita
succeeded him.
1327 15 August The ambassador of the Golden Horde of Mongolian Empire was trapped and burned alive during an uprising in the Grand Duchy of Tver.
1328 Ivan led a Horde army against the Grand Prince of Tver, also the Grand Prince of Vladimir. Ivan was allowed to replace him in the latter office.
1340 31 March Ivan died. His son
Simeon succeeded him both as Grand Prince of Moscow and as Grand Prince of Vladimir
1353
Ivan II, The Fair
, succeeded him as Grand Prince of Moscow.
1359 13 November
Dmitri Donskoi
, succeeded him.
1380 8 September Battle of Kulikovo: A Muscovite force defeated a significantly larger Blue Horde army of Mongolia at Kulikovo Field.
1382 The Mongol khan Tokhtamysh reasserted his power by looting and burning Moscow.
1389 19 May
Vasili I
.

15th century

Year Date Event
1425 February Vasili I died. His son
Yury Dmitrievich
of Zvenigorod, also issued a claim to the throne.
1430
Yury appealed to the khan of the Golden Horde
to support his claim to the throne. Vasili II retained the Duchy of Moscow, but Yury was given the Duchy of Dmitrov.
1432
Vasili II
was pardoned and made mayor of Kolomna.
1433 Muscovite Civil War: The exodus of Muscovite
boyars to Vasili II's court in Kolomna persuaded Yury to return Moscow to his nephew and move to Galich
.
1434 Muscovite Civil War: Vasily II burned Galich.
16 March Muscovite Civil War: The army of Yury Dmitrievich defeated the army of Vasily II. The latter fled to Nizhny Novgorod.
1 April Muscovite Civil War: Yury arrived in Moscow and again declared himself the Grand Prince.
5 July Yury died. His oldest son Vasily the Squint, succeeded him as Grand Prince.
1435 Muscovite Civil War: Yury's second son,
Kremlin
and blinded. Vasili II returned to the throne of the Grand Prince.
1438 Russo-Kazan Wars: The khan of the recently established Khanate of Kazan led an army towards Moscow.
1445 7 July Battle of Suzdal: The Russian army suffered a great defeat at the hands of the Tatars of Kazan. Vasili II was taken prisoner; operation of the government fell to Dmitry Shemyaka.
December Muscovite Civil War: Vasili II was ransomed back to Muscovy.
1446 Muscovite Civil War: Shemyaka had Vasili II blinded and exiled to Uglich, and had himself declared the Grand Prince.
1450 Muscovite Civil War: The
Kremlin
and recalled Vasili II to the throne.
1452 Muscovite Civil War: Shemyaka was forced to flee to the Novgorod Republic.
1453 Shemyaka was poisoned by Muscovite agents.
1462 27 March Vasili II died. His son Ivan III, The Great, succeeded him as Grand Prince.
1463 Grand Duchy of Moscow annexed the Duchy of Yaroslavl.
1471 14 July Battle of Shelon: A Muscovite army defeated a numerically superior Novgorodian force.
1474 Grand Duchy of Moscow annexed the Rostov Duchy.
1476 Ivan stopped paying tribute to the Great Horde.
1478 14 January The Novgorod Republic surrendered to the authority of Moscow.
1480 11 November
Akhmat Khan of the Great Horde
from invading Muscovy.
1485 Ivan annexed the Grand Duchy of Tver.
1497 Ivan issued a legal code, the
serfs
to leave their masters.

16th century

Year Date Event
1505 29 October Ivan died. He was succeeded as Grand Duke of Muscovy by his son, Vasili III.
1507 Russo-Crimean Wars: The Crimean Khanate raided the Muscovite towns of Belyov and Kozelsk.
1510 With the approval of most of the local nobility, Vasili arrived in the Pskov Republic and declared it dissolved.
1517 The last Grand Prince of the
Ryazan Principality
was captured and imprisoned in Moscow.
1533 3 December
Ivan IV, The Terrible, succeeded him. His wife Elena Glinskaya
became regent.
1538 4 April Glinskaya died. She was succeeded as regent by Prince Vasily Nemoy.
1547 16 January An elaborate ceremony crowned
Ivan the first Tsar of Russia
.
1552 22 August
Siege of Kazan (1552): Russian armed forces arrived at Kazan
.
2 October Siege of Kazan (1552): The Russian army breached the walls of Kazan.
13 October Siege of Kazan (1552): The civilian population of Kazan was massacred, the city occupied.
1553–1554 First book printed in Russia, the Narrow-typed Gospel Book.
1556 Russia conquered and annexed the Astrakhan Khanate.
1558
Ivan demanded a back-breaking tribute from the Bishopric of Dorpat
. The Bishop sent diplomats to Moscow to renegotiate the amount; Ivan expelled them and invaded and occupied the Bishopric.
1560 2 August
Ivan's army crushed the forces of the Livonian Order
.
1561 28 November Livonian War: The
Livonian Confederation was partitioned between Lithuania
, Sweden and Denmark. Lithuania and Sweden sent troops to liberate their new territories from Russian possession.
1565 February
Ivan established the Oprichnina
, a territory ruled directly by the tsar.
1569 1 July The ; Poland began aiding Lithuania in its war against Russia.
1572 The Oprichnina was abolished.
1581 16 November
Ivan killed his oldest son
.
1582 15 January Livonian War: The
Polatsk
.
23 October
Siberia Khanate from its capital, Qashliq
.
1583 Livonian War: The war was ended with the Treaty of Plussa. Narva and the Gulf of Finland coast went to Sweden.
1584 18 March
Ivan died. The throne fell to his intellectually disabled son Feodor I; his son-in-law Boris Godunov
took de facto charge of government.
1590 18 January Russo-Swedish War (1590–1595): The Treaty of Plussa expired. Russian troops laid siege to Narva.
25 February Russo-Swedish War (1590–1595): A Swedish governor on the disputed territory surrendered to Russians.
1591 15 May
Ivan the Terrible's
youngest son, died in exile from a stab wound to the throat. Long-regarded as murdered by agents of Boris Godunov, more recently scholars have begun to defend the theory that Dimitry's death was self-inflicted during an epileptic seizure.
1595 18 May Russo-Swedish War (1590–1595): The
Treaty of Tyavzino was signed. Ingria
went to Russia.
1598 7 January Feodor I died with no children giving a start to Time of Troubles
21 February A
Rurikid
tsar of Russia.

17th century

Year Date Event
1601–03 Devastating famine, that undermined Boris's authority.
1604 October
Ivan IV, invaded Russia with help of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
1605 13 April Boris died. His son Feodor II was pronounced tsar.
1 June A group of
Kremlin, and arrested Feodor
.
20 June False Dmitriy and his army arrived in Moscow. Feodor and his mother were strangled.
21 July False Dmitriy was crowned tsar.
1606 8 May False Dmitriy married a
Catholic, Marina Mniszech
, inflaming suspicions that he meant to convert Russia to Catholicism.
17 May Conservative
Kremlin and shot False Dmitriy
to death during his escape.
19 May Shuisky's allies declared him Tsar Vasili IV.
1607
magnates
1609 28 February Vasili Shuisky ceded border territory to Sweden in exchange for military aid against the government of False Dmitriy II; around this time Smolensk got besieged
September
Polish–Muscovite War (1609–1618): The Polish king Sigismund III
led an army into Russia;
1610 4 July Battle of Klushino: Seven thousand Polish cavalrymen defeated a vastly superior Russian force at Klushino.
19 July Vasili was overthrown. A group of nobles, the Seven Boyars, replaced him at the head of the government.
27 July Polish–Russian War (1609–1618): A truce was established. The boyars promised to recognize Sigismund's son and heir Władysław as tsar, conditional on severe limits to his power and his conversion to Orthodoxy.
August Polish–Russian War (1609–1618): Sigismund rejected the boyars' conditions.
December
Hermogenes, the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, urged the Muscovite people to rise against the Poles
.
11 December
False Dmitriy II
was shot and beheaded by one of his entourage.
1612 1 November Polish–Russian War (1609–1618): Muscovite populace rising against the Poles recaptured the
Kremlin
.
1613 Ingrian War: Sweden invaded Russia.
21 February A
Ivan the Terrible's
brother-in-law, the tsar of Russia.
1617 27 February Ingrian War: The
Livonia went to Sweden
.
1618 11 December Polish–Russian War (1609–1618): The
Czernihów Voivodeship to Poland
.
1619 13 February
Michael
's father, was released from Polish prison and allowed to return to Moscow.
1632 October Smolensk War: With the expiration of the Truce of Deulino, a Russian army was sent to lay siege to Smolensk.
1634 1 March Smolensk War: The Russian army, surrounded, was forced to surrender.
14 June Smolensk War: The Treaty of Polyanovka was signed, ending the war. Poland retained Smolensk, but Władysław renounced his claim to the Russian throne.
1645 13 July Michael died. His son,
Alexis
, succeeded him.
1648 25 January
Zaporizhian Sich
against the Polish Crown.
1 June
Salt Riot
: Upset over the introduction of a salt tax, the townspeople launched a rebellion in Moscow.
11 June Salt Riot: A group of nobles demanded a zemsky sobor on behalf of the rebellion.
3 July Salt Riot: Many of the rebellion's leaders were executed.
25 December Khmelnytsky Uprising:
Kiev
.
1649 January A zemsky sobor ratified a new legal code, the Sobornoye Ulozheniye.
1653
Nikon, the Patriarch of Moscow, reformed Russian liturgy to align with the rituals of the Greek Church
.
1654 January Khmelnytsky Uprising: Under the
Treaty of Pereyaslav, Left-bank Ukraine, the territory of the Zaporozhian Host
, allies itself with Russia.
March–April Raskol: Nikon arranges a church council, which decides to correct Russian divine service books using ancient Greek and Slavic manuscripts.
July Russo-Polish War (1654–1667): The Russian army invaded Poland.
1655 Swedish Deluge: Sweden invaded the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
3 July Russo-Polish War (1654–1667): Russian army captured Vilnius.
25 July Swedish Deluge: The voivode of Poznań surrendered to the Swedish invaders.
2 November Russia negotiated a ceasefire with Poland.
1656 July
Ingria
.
1658 26 February Dano-Swedish War (1657–1658): The Treaty of Roskilde ended Sweden's war with Denmark, allowing her to shift her troops to the eastern conflicts.
10 July Raskol: Patriarch Nikon leaves Moscow.
16 September Russo-Polish War (1654–1667): The Treaty of Hadiach established a military alliance between Poland and the Zaporozhian Host, and promised the creation of a Commonwealth of three nations: Poland, Lithuania and Rus'.
28 December Russo-Swedish War (1656–1658): The Treaty of Valiesar established a peace. The conquered
Ingrian
territories were ceded to Russia for three years.
1660 23 April Swedish Deluge: The Treaty of Oliva ended the conflict between Poland and Sweden.
1661 Russo-Polish War (1654–1667): Polish forces recaptured Vilnius.
1 July The Treaty of Valiesar expired. Russia returned
Ingria to the Swedish Empire by the Treaty of Cardis
.
1662 25 July Copper Riot: In the early morning, a group of Muscovites marched to Kolomenskoye and demanded punishment for the government ministers who had debased Russia's copper currency. On their arrival, they were countered by the military; a thousand were hanged or drowned. The rest were exiled.
1665
Lubomirski's Rokosz: A Polish nobleman launched a rokosz
(rebellion) against the king.
The pro-
Cossack noble Petro Doroshenko defeated his pro-Russian adversaries in the Right-bank Ukraine
.
1666 April–May Raskol: Great Moscow Synod deposed Nikon from the patriarchy. The Old Believers were anathematized.
1667 30 January Russo-Polish War (1654–1667): The
Czernihów Voivodships and acknowledged Russian control over the Left-bank Ukraine
.
1669 Doroshenko signed a treaty that recognized his state as a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire.
1670 The
Cossack Stenka Razin
began a rebellion against the Russian government.
1671 Razin was captured, tortured, and quartered in Red Square on the Lobnoye Mesto.
1674 The Cossacks of the Right-bank Ukraine elected the pro-Russian Ivan Samoylovych, Hetman of the Left-bank Ukraine, to replace Doroshenko and become the Hetman of a unified Ukraine.
1676
Russo-Turkish War (1676–1681): The Ottoman army joined Doroshenko's forces in an attack on the Left-bank city of Chyhyryn
.
29 January
Alexis died. His son Feodor III
became tsar.
1 February Raskol: The 8-year-long siege of Solovki ended.
1680 Russo-Crimean Wars: The Crimean invasions of Russia ended.
1681 3 January Russo-Turkish War (1676–1681): The war ended with the
Dnieper River
.
1682 January Feodor III abolished the mestnichestvo, an ancient, un-meritocratic system of making political appointments.
14 April Raskol:
Old Believer
movement, was burned at the stake.
27 April
Natalia Naryshkina
, was declared tsar. His mother became regent.
17 May
Sophia Alekseyevna
became regent.
1687 May
Crimean campaigns: Russian army launched an invasion against an Ottoman vassal, the Crimean Khanate
.
17 June Crimean campaigns: Faced with a burned steppe incapable of feeding their horses, Russians turned back.
1689 June
Peter
.
11 October Shaklovity was executed.
1696 29 January Ivan V died.
23 April
Second Azov campaign: Russian army began its deployment to an important Ottoman fortress, Azov
.
27 May Second Azov campaign: Russian navy arrived at the sea and blockaded Azov.
19 July Second Azov campaign: The Ottoman garrison surrendered.
1698 6 June
Sophia Alekseyevna
.
18 June Streltsy Uprising: The rebels were defeated.
1700 19 August Great Northern War: Russia declared war on Sweden.
16 October
Peter
prevented the election of a successor.

18th century

Year Date Event
1703 27 May Foundation of Saint Petersburg.
1707 8 October Bulavin Rebellion: A small band of Don Cossacks killed a noble searching their territory for tax fugitives.
1708 7 July Bulavin Rebellion: After a series of devastating military reversals, Bulavin was shot by his former followers.
18 December An imperial decree divided Russia into eight
guberniyas
(governorates).
1709 28 June Battle of Poltava: A decisive Russian military victory over the Swedes at Poltava marked the turning point of the war, the end of Cossack independence and the dawn of the Russian Empire.
1710 14 October The Russian
guberniyas were divided into lots according to noble
population.
20 November
Russo-Turkish War (1710–1711): Charles XII of Sweden persuaded the Ottoman
sultan to declare war on Russia.
1711 22 February
Peter established the Governing Senate
to pass laws in his absence.
21 July Russo-Turkish War (1710–1711): Peace was concluded with the Treaty of the Pruth. Russia returned Azov to the Ottoman Empire and demolished the town of Taganrog.
1713 8 May The Russian capital was moved from Moscow to Saint Petersburg.
17 July The
Livonia
.
The territory of the Smolensk Governorate was divided between the Moscow and Riga Governorates.
1714 15 January The northwestern territory of the Kazan Governorate was transferred to the newly established Nizhny Novgorod Governorate.
1715 11 October
tsarevich Alexei Petrovich
, endorse his reforms or renounce his right to the throne.
1716
Alexei fled to Vienna
to avoid military service.
1717 22 November The Astrakhan Governorate was formed on the southern lands of Kazan Governorate.
The territory of the Nizhny Novgorod Governorate was reincorporated into the Kazan Governorate.
12 December Government reform of Peter I:
Peter established collegia, government ministries that superseded the prikazy
.
1718 31 January
Alexei
returned to Moscow under a promise he would not be harmed.
18 February After torture,
Alexei
publicly renounced the throne and implicated a number of reactionaries in a conspiracy to overthrow his father.
13 June Alexei was put on trial for treason.
26 June Alexei died after torture in the Peter and Paul Fortress.
1719 29 May Lots were abolished; the
uyezds
. The district commissars were to be elected by local gentry.
The Nizhny Novgorod Governorate was reestablished.
The Reval Governorate was established on the conquered territory of Estonia.
1721 25 January
Peter established the Holy Synod, a body of ten clergymen chaired by a secular official, that was to head the Russian Orthodox Church
in lieu of the Patriarch of Moscow.
30 August
Ingria
to Russia.
22 October
Peter
was declared Emperor.
1722
Peter introduced the Table of Ranks, which granted the privileges of nobility
based on state service.
July
Armenia
.
1723 12 September Russo-Persian War (1722–1723): The
Astrabad
to the Russian Empire.
1725 28 January
Aleksandr Menshikov, convinced the Imperial Guard to declare in favor of Peter's wife Catherine I
.
1726 The Smolensk Governorate was reestablished.
8 February Catherine established an advisory body, the Supreme Privy Council.
1727
uyezds
were reestablished.
17 May Catherine died.
18 May According to
Peter the Great, became emperor. The Supreme Privy Council
was to hold power during his minority.
9 September The conservative members of the
Menshikov
.
1730 30 January Peter died of smallpox.
1 February The Supreme Privy Council offered the throne to Anna Ivanovna, the daughter of Ivan V, on the conditions that the Council retain the powers of war and peace and taxation, among others, and that she never marry or appoint an heir.
4 March Anna tore up the terms of her accession and dissolved the Supreme Privy Council.
1736 20 May Russo-Turkish War (1735–1739): The Russian army captured the Ottoman fortifications at Perekop.
19 June Russo-Turkish War (1735–1739): The Russians captured Azov.
1737 July Russo-Turkish War (1735–1739): Austria joined the war on the Russian side.
1739 21 August Russo-Turkish War (1735–1739): Austria agreed by the Treaty of Belgrade to end its participation in the war.
18 September Russo-Turkish War (1735–1739): The Treaty of Nissa ended the war. Russia gave up its claims on Crimea and Moldavia and its navy was barred from the Black Sea.
1740 17 October Anna died of kidney disease. She left the throne to her adopted infant son, Ivan VI.
18 October Anna's lover, Ernst Johann von Biron, was declared regent.
8 November
Burkhard Christoph von Munnich. Ivan's biological mother, Anna Leopoldovna
, replaced Biron as regent.
1741 8 August Russo-Swedish War (1741–1743): Sweden declared war on Russia.
25 November
Preobrazhensky regiment to the Winter Palace to overthrow the regency of Anna Leopoldovna
and install herself as empress.
2 December
Daugavgriva
fortress.
1742 4 September Russo-Swedish War (1741–1743): Encircled by the Russians at Helsinki, the Swedish army surrendered.
1743 7 August Russo-Swedish War (1741–1743): The
King of Sweden
.
1744 The Vyborg Governorate was established on conquered Swedish territories.
1755 Mikhail Lomonosov and Count Ivan Shuvalov founded the University of Moscow.
1756 29 August Seven Years' War: The Kingdom of Prussia invaded the Austrian protectorate of Saxony.
1757 1 May
Franco-Austrian
military alliance.
17 May Seven Years' War: Russian troops entered the war.
1761 25 December Miracle of the House of Brandenburg: Elizabeth died. Her nephew, Peter III, became emperor.
1762 5 May Seven Years' War: The Treaty of Saint Petersburg ended Russian participation in the war at no territorial gain.
17 July
Catherine II, The Great
, on her orders.
1764 5 July A group of soldiers attempted to release the imprisoned Ivan VI; he was murdered.
1767 10 August The Instruction of Catherine the Great is issued to the Legislative Commission.[6]
13 October
Nicholas Repnin were arrested by Russian troops and imprisoned in Kaluga
.
1768 27 February Repnin Sejm: Delegates of the Sejm adopted a treaty ensuring future Russian influence in Polish internal politics.
29 February Polish nobles established the Bar Confederation in order to end Russian influence in their country.
25 September
Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774): The Ottoman
sultan declared war on Russia.
1771 15 September
Kremlin and destroyed the Chudov Monastery
.
17 September Plague Riot: The army suppressed the riot.
1772 5 August The first partition of Poland was announced. Poland lost 30% of its territory, which was divided between Prussia, Austria, and Russia.
1773
Samara
.
18 September A confederated sejm was forced to ratify the first partition of Poland.
1774 21 July Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774): The Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca was signed. The portion of the Yedisan region east of the Southern Bug river, the Kabarda region in the Caucasus, and several Crimean ports, went to Russia. The Crimean Khanate received independence from the Ottoman Empire, which also declared Russia the protector of Christians on its territory.
14 September Pugachev's Rebellion: Upset with the rebellion's bleak outlook, Pugachev's officers delivered him to the Russians.
1783 8 April The Crimean Khanate was incorporated into the Russian Empire.
24 July Threatened by the
Kartl-Kakheti signed the Treaty of Georgievsk
under which it became a Russian protectorate.
1788 Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792): The Ottoman Empire declared war on Russia and imprisoned her ambassador.
27 June Russo-Swedish War (1788–1790): The Swedish army playacted a skirmish between themselves and the Russians.
6 July
Hogland in the Gulf of Finland
.
6 October Great Sejm: A confederated sejm was called to restore the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
1790 14 August Russo-Swedish War (1788–1790): The Treaty of Värälä ended the war, with no changes in territory.
1791 3 May Great Sejm: Poland's Constitution of 3 May was ratified in secret. The new constitution abolished the liberum veto, reducing the power of the nobles and limiting Russia's ability to influence Polish internal politics.
23 December
Catherine established the Pale of Settlement, an area in European Russia
into which Russian Jews were transported.
1792 9 January Russo-Turkish War (1787–1792): The Treaty of Jassy was signed, ending the war. The Russian border in Yedisan was extended to the Dniester river.
18 May Polish–Russian War of 1792: The army of the Targowica Confederation, which opposed the liberal Polish Constitution of 3 May, invaded Poland.
1793 23 January Polish–Russian War of 1792: The second partition of Poland left the country with one-third of its 1772 population.
23 November Grodno Sejm: The last sejm of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth ratified the second partition.
1794 24 March Kościuszko Uprising: An announcement by Tadeusz Kościuszko sparked a nationalist uprising in Poland.
4 November Battle of Praga: Russian troops captured the Praga borough of Warsaw and massacred its civilian population.
5 November Kościuszko Uprising: The uprising ended with the Russian occupation of Warsaw.
1795 11 September
Kartl-Kakheti
.
24 October The third partition of Poland divided up the remainder of its territory.
1796 April
Kartl-Kakheti
.
5 November
Catherine
suffered a stroke in the bathtub.
6 November
Catherine died. The throne fell to her son, Paul I
.

19th century

Year Date Event
1801 8 January
Kartl-Kakheti
into the Russian empire.
11 March Paul was killed in his bed.
23 March Paul's son, Alexander I, ascended to the throne.
1802 September Alexander established the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD).
1804
Üçkilise
.
1805 The Ottoman Empire dismissed the pro-Russian hospodars of its vassal states, Wallachia and Moldavia.
26 December
Treaty of Pressburg ceded Austrian possessions in Dalmatia to France
.
1806 October To counter the French presence in Dalmatia, Russia invaded Wallachia and Moldavia.
27 December Russo-Turkish War (1806–1812): The Ottoman Empire declared war on Russia.
1807 14 June Battle of Friedland: The Russian army suffered a defeat against the French, suffering twenty thousand dead.
7 July The
Napoleon promised to aid Russia in conflicts with the Ottoman Empire
.
16 November Alexander demanded that Sweden close the Baltic Sea to British warships.
1808 21 February Finnish War: Russian troops crossed the Swedish border and captured Hämeenlinna.
1809 29 March Diet of Porvoo: The four Estates of Finland swore allegiance to the Russian crown.
17 September Finnish War: The Treaty of Fredrikshamn was signed, ending the war and ceding Finland to the Russian Empire.
1810 The first military settlement was established near Klimovichi.
1 January
State Council, which received the executive powers of the Governing Senate
.
20 February The Russian government proclaimed the deposition of
Solomon II from the throne of Imereti
.
1811 27 March Regional military companies were merged into the
Internal Guard
.
1812 28 May Russo-Turkish War (1806–1812): The
Treaty of Bucharest ended the war and transferred Bessarabia
to Russia.
24 June
Neman River
into Russia.
14 September French invasion of Russia (1812): The French army entered a deserted Moscow, the high-water mark of their invasion.
14 December French invasion of Russia (1812): The last French troops were forced off of Russian territory.
1813 24 October Russo-Persian War (1804–1813): According to the
Persian Empire ceded its Transcaucasian
territories to Russia.
1815 9 June
Free City of Kraków and Congress Poland. The latter was a constitutional monarchy with Alexander
as its king.
1825 19 November
Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich. Constantine, however, following Alexander's choice of successor, swore allegiance to his younger brother, Nicholas I
.
12 December Under pressure from
Constantine, Nicholas published Alexander's
succession manifesto.
14 December
Constantine
and to the idea of a Russian constitution. When talk failed, the tsarist army dispersed the demonstrators with artillery, killing at least sixty.
1826 An imperial decree established the Second Section of His Majesty's Own Chancery, concerned with codifying and publishing the law, and the Third Section, which operated as the Empire's secret police.
July
Internal Guard
.
16 July
Persian army invaded the Russian-owned Talysh Khanate
.
1828 21 February Russo-Persian War (1826–1828) Facing the possibility of a Russian conquest of
Persia signed the Treaty of Turkmenchay
.
May The Russian army occupied Wallachia.
June Russo-Turkish War (1828–1829): The Russian armed forces crossed into Dobruja, an Ottoman territory.
1829 14 September Russo-Turkish War (1828–1829): The Treaty of Adrianople was signed, ceding the eastern shore of the Black Sea and the mouth of the Danube to the Russians.
1830 29 November November Uprising: A group of Polish nationalists attacked Belweder Palace, the seat of the Governor-General.
1831 25 January November Uprising: An act of the Sejm dethroned Nicholas from the Polish crown.
29 January November Uprising: A new government took office in Poland.
4 February November Uprising: Russian troops crossed the Polish border.
September Battle of Warsaw (1831): The Russian army captured Warsaw, ending the November Uprising.
1836 The
Internal Guard was spun off as the Special Corps of Gendarmes
.
1852 December The
Catholic Church over Christians in the Holy Land
.
1853 3 July Russia invaded the Ottoman provinces of Wallachia and Moldavia.
4 October Crimean War: The Ottoman Empire declared war on Russia.
1854 28 March Crimean War: Britain and France declared war on Russia.
August Crimean War: In order to prevent the Austrian Empire entering the war, Russia evacuated Wallachia and Moldavia.
1855 18 February Nicholas died. His son, Alexander II, became emperor.
1856 30 March Crimean War: The Treaty of Paris was signed, officially ending the war. The Black Sea was demilitarized. Russia lost territory it had been granted at the mouth of the Danube, abandoned claims to protect Turkish Christians, and lost its influence over the Danubian Principalities.
1857 The last military settlements were disbanded.
1858 28 May The
Amur
river; Tariff Act reduces import tax.
1860 18 October The Convention of Peking transferred the Ussuri krai from China to Russia.
1861 3 March Emancipation reform of 1861: Alexander issued a manifesto emancipating the serfs; Student Protests against the Tsar.
1863 22 January January Uprising: An anti-Imperial uprising began in Poland; girls allowed into secondary schools and standard curriculum set.
1864 1 January Zemstva were established for the local self-government of Russian citizens.
1 May The Russian army began an incursion into the Khanate of Kokand.
21 May Caucasian War: Alexander declared the war over.
5 August January Uprising: Romuald Traugutt, the dictator of the rebellion, was hanged.
20 November Judicial reform of Alexander II: A royal decree introduced new laws unifying and liberalizing the Russian judiciary.
1865 17 June The Russian army captured Tashkent
1867 The conquered territories of
Guberniya, the Russian Turkestan
.
30 March Alaska Purchase: Russia agreed to the sale of Alaska to the United States of America.
1868 The Khanate of Kokand became a Russian vassal state.
1870 More vocational subjects taught to girls in schools
1873 The
Narodnik
rebellion began.
The Emirate of Bukhara became a Russian protectorate.
18 May Khiva was captured by Russian troops.
12 August A peace treaty was signed that established the Khanate of Khiva as a quasi-independent Russian protectorate.
1876 March The Khanate of Kokand was incorporated into the Russian Empire.
20 April
April Uprising: Bulgarian nationalists attacked the Ottoman police headquarters in Oborishte
.
May Alexander signed the Ems Ukaz, banning the use of the Ukrainian language in print.
8 July A secret treaty prepared for the division of the Balkans between Russia and Austria-Hungary, depending on the outcome of local revolutionary movements.
6 December
Kazan Cathedral in Saint Petersburg marked the appearance of the revolutionary group Land and Liberty
.
1877 February The Trial of the 193 occurred, punishing the participants of the
Narodnik
rebellion.
24 April Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878): Russia declared war on the Ottoman Empire.
1878 3 March Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878): The
Slavic states, Montenegro, Serbia, Romania, and Bulgaria
, received independence or autonomy.
13 July Congress of Berlin: The Treaty of Berlin, imposed on Russia by the West, divided Bulgaria into Eastern Rumelia and the Principality of Bulgaria.
1879 August
People's Will
.
1880 6 August The
MVD
.
1881 Constitution proposed, Alexander II agrees to it but doesn't get a chance to sign it
10 March
People's Will. His son, Alexander III
, becomes emperor.
21 September
Persia officially recognized Russia's annexation of Khwarazm in the Treaty of Akhal
.
1882 Alexander III introduces factory inspections and restricts working hours for women and children
3 May Alexander III introduced the May Laws, which expelled Russian Jews from rural areas and small towns and severely restricted their access to education
1883 Peasant Land Bank set up
1890 12 June An imperial decree subordinated the zemstva to the authority of the appointed regional governors.
1891 Severe famine affects almost half of Russia's provinces
1892 Witte's Great Spurt increases industrial growth; women banned from mines and children under 12 banned from working in factories
1894 1 November
Nicholas II
succeeds him as emperor.
1898 1 March The Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) held its first Party Congress.
1900 16 July onward In response to a local trade blockade, Russia invades and occupies the
Amur River
, where most drown.
6 February As part of the
Nicholas
issues the Language Manifesto of 1900, making Russian the official language of Finnish administration.

20th century

Year Date Event
1901 30 June Russification of Finland: The Military Service Act incorporated the Finnish and Russian armies.
1902 Russification of Finland: Nikolay Bobrikov, the Governor-General of Finland, was given the power to dismiss opponents of Russification from the Finnish government.
January The Socialist Revolutionary Party was founded.[7]
1903 20 March Russification of Finland: The office of the Governor-General was given dictatorial powers.
6 April Kishinev pogrom: A three-day pogrom began, which would leave forty-seven Jews dead.[8]
17 November At the second congress of the RSDLP, the party split into two factions: the Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, and the less radical Mensheviks.
1904 8 February Russo-Japanese War: Japan launched a surprise torpedo attack on the Russian navy at Port Arthur.
1905 3 January
St. Petersburg
.
9 January Bloody Sunday (1905): Peaceful demonstrators arrived at the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg to present a petition to the emperor, leading was a priest named Georgi Gapon. The Imperial Guard fired on the crowd, killing around 200 and wounding 800.
27–28 May Russo-Japanese War: The
Russian Baltic Fleet was practically destroyed in the Battle of Tsushima
, effectively ending the Russo-Japanese War in Japan's favour.
28 May Russian Revolution of 1905: The first soviet was formed in the midst of a textile strike in Ivanovo-Voznesensk.
14 June Russian Revolution of 1905: A mutiny occurred aboard the battleship Potemkin.
25 June Russian Revolution of 1905: The Potemkin sailors defected to Romania.
5 September Russo-Japanese War: The Treaty of Portsmouth was signed, ceding some Russian property and territory to Japan and ending the war.
17 October Russian Revolution of 1905:
State Duma of the Russian Empire
.
1906 March 1906 Russian legislative election: The first free elections to the Duma gave majorities to liberal and socialist parties.
23 April The Fundamental Laws were issued, reaffirming the autocratic supremacy of the emperor.
The First Duma was called.
21 July The First Duma was dissolved.
23 July The Constitutional Democratic Party (Kadets) issued the Vyborg Manifesto, calling on the Russian people to evade taxes and the draft. All signatories to the Manifesto lost their right to hold office in the Duma.
9 November A decree by Prime Minister Pyotr Stolypin signaled the start of the Stolypin reform, intended to replace the obshchina with a more progressive, capitalist form of agriculture.
1907 9 February The secret police units of the MVD Department of State Police were unified under the authority of the new Okhrana.
20 February The Second Duma began. The Kadets dropped seats, benefiting the RSDLP and the Socialist Revolutionary Party.
3 June The Second Duma was dissolved.
Nicholas changed the electoral law and gave greater electoral value to the votes of nobility and landowners.
1 November The Third Duma began.
1912 4 April Lena massacre: The Russian army fired on a crowd of striking miners, killing 150.
9 June The Third
Duma
ended.
15 November The Fourth
Duma
was called.
1914 28 June Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand: Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was assassinated by Gavrilo Princip of the Bosnian separatist group Young Bosnia.
23 July World War I:
July Ultimatum to Serbia, demanding, among other things, the right to participate in the investigation into the assassination of Franz Ferdinand
, which Serbia refused.
28 July World War I: Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia.
30 July World War I: Russia mobilized its army to defend Serbia.
1 August World War I: Germany declared war on Russia in defense of Austria-Hungary.
1915 2 May Gorlice–Tarnów offensive: The German army launched an offensive across the length of the Eastern Front.
4 August Gorlice-Tarnów Offensive: Germany conquered Warsaw.
19 September Gorlice-Tarnów Offensive: German forces captured Vilnius.
1916 25 June
Basmachi Revolt: Nicholas issued a decree ordering the conscription of Central Asians
.
5 November By the Act of 5th November, the German government established the nominally independent Kingdom of Poland.
16 December Royal adviser Grigori Rasputin was murdered by a group of nobles in the house of Prince Felix Yusupov.
1917 22–23 February February Revolution: The workers at the Putilov Plant in Petrograd went on strike, demanding the end of the Russian autocracy and the end of Russian participation in World War I.
25 February February Revolution: A battalion of soldiers was sent to Petrograd to end the uprising.
26 February February Revolution:
Duma. The Duma ignored his order and decreed the establishment of a Provisional Government with Georgy Lvov as Prime Minister
.
27 February February Revolution: The soldiers sent to suppress the protestors defected and joined them. It started off as the "National Women's day" then, after two days, the women convinced the soldiers to join their revolution due to the fact that they were women and the soldiers did not want to kill them. On top of this, the Cossacks did not try to stop the protestors.
Menshevik leaders were freed from the Peter and Paul Fortress and founded the Petrograd Soviet
.
2 March February Revolution: Nicholas abdicated.
17 March A legislative council, the Central Rada, was founded in Ukraine.
30 March The
Maapäev
.
3 April Communist leader Vladimir Lenin returns to Petrograd after a 10-year exile from Russia and begins to rebuild his power as leader of the Bolsheviks.
10 May The Rumcherod, the Soviet government of southwestern Ukraine]and Bessarabia, was established.
23 June The Central Rada ratified Ukrainian autonomy.
3 July July Days: A spontaneous pro-soviet demonstration occurred on the streets of Petrograd.
6 July July Days: The rebellion was put down. The
Bolshevik
leaders.
14 July The
Maapäev
took office.
21 July Alexander Kerensky succeeded Lvov as Prime Minister.
27 August
Kornilov Affair: General Lavr Kornilov ordered an army corps to Petrograd to destroy the soviets
.
29 August Kornilov Affair: The Provisional Government armed tens of thousands of Red Guards to defend Petrograd.
31 August Kornilov Affair: Kornilov was arrested.
4 September Under public pressure,
Bolshevik
leaders were released from prison.
23 October Estonian Bolsheviks under Jaan Anvelt captured the capital, Tallinn.
25 October October Revolution: Soldiers directed by the Military Revolutionary Committee of the Petrograd Soviet captured the Winter Palace, ending the power of the Russian Provisional Government.
The Second
Sovnarkom, and Lenin
its first chairman, to run the country between sessions.
26 October The Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets issued the Decree on Peace, promising an end to Russian participation in World War I, and the Decree on Land, approving the expropriation of land from the nobility.
21 November The Moldavian legislature, the Sfatul Țării, held its first meeting.
5 December A local nationalist group, the
Alash Orda, established an autonomous government in Kazakhstan
.
6 December The
declaration of independence
.
7 December The Cheka was established.
12 December A Muslim republic, the Idel-Ural State, was established in central Russia.
25 December Ukrainian
Soviet Ukrainian Republic in Kharkiv
.
27 December Russian Civil War: The counterrevolutionary Volunteer Army was established.
1918 12 January The
Tsentralna Rada declared the independence of the Ukrainian People's Republic
.
14 January The Rumcherod declared itself the supreme power in Bessarabia.
15 January A decree of the
Sovnarkom established the Red Army
.
16 January The
Kishinev
and evicted the Rumcherod.
24 January The Moldavian Democratic Republic declared its independence from Russia.
28 January The Transcaucasian parliament held its first meeting.
18 February The Red Army conquered
Kiev
.
23 February Mass conscription to the Red Army began in Moscow and Petrograd.
24 February The Red Army retreated from Estonia in the face of the German armed forces.
3 March Soviet Russia signed the
Poland, Belarus, and Ukraine, and ceding to the Ottoman Empire all territory captured in the Russo-Turkish War
.
6 March Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War: Two hundred British marines arrived at Murmansk.
25 March The Belarusian Democratic Republic was established by the Second Constituent Charter.
April The Idel-Ural State was occupied and dissolved by the Red Army.
30 April The Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (ASSR) was established on the territory of the defunct Russian Turkestan.
26 May Russian Civil War: The Czecho-Slovak Legions began its revolt against the
Bolshevik
government.
28 May Armenia and Azerbaijan declared their mutual independence.
8 June Russian Civil War: An anti-
Samara
under the protection of the Czecho-Slovak Legions
28 June A decree by the Central Executive Committee made war communism, under which all industry and food distribution was nationalized, the economic policy of the Soviet state.
29 June Russian Civil War: The
Provisional Government of Autonomous Siberia was established in Vladivostok
.
July The Idel-Ural State was restored by the Czecho-Slovak Legions.
July Nestor Makhno declared his opposition to the Hetmanate regime by some operations in the southeastern Ukraine.
10 July The , which also received the power to pass constitutional amendments.
17 July
Nicholas
and the rest of the royal family were executed.
30 August After giving a speech at a Moscow factory, , but survived.
3 September Red Terror: Izvestia called on the Russian people to "crush the hydra of counterrevolution with massive terror."
23 September Russian Civil War: A meeting in
Ufa Directory
.
November
Oleksandrivsk and Katerynoslav
.
11 November World War I: An
armistice treaty
was signed, ending the war.
17 November Two Latvian political parties founded a provisional legislature, the People's Council of Latvia.
18 November A military coup overthrew the Ufa Directorate and established its war minister,
Aleksandr Kolchak
, as dictator.
19 November The
Maapäev
returned to power in Estonia.
22 November Estonian War of Independence: The Russian Red Army invaded Estonia.
24 November Béla Kun, a friend of Lenin, founded the Hungarian Communist Party.
29 November Estonian War of Independence: The Red Army captured the Estonian town of
Bolsheviks reestablished the Anvelt government as the Commune of the Working People of Estonia
.
December The Idel-Ural State was again occupied and dissolved by the Red Army.
8 December The Communist Party of Lithuania established a revolutionary government in Vilnius.
1919 1 January Local
Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR)
.
3 January Latvian War of Independence: The Red Army invaded Latvia.
5 January The Red Army occupied Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital, in support of the local Communist government.
The Red Army captured
Byelorussian SSR
.
16 January The Orgburo was established to oversee the membership and organization of the Communist Party.
14 February
Biaroza
.
27 February Lithuania was absorbed into the
Lithuanian-Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic
.
4 March The First Congress of the
Comintern
began in Moscow.
The White Army launches a Spring Offensive against the Red Army.
21 March Seeking a military alliance with Russia against the French, the Hungarian Social Democrats merged with the Communist Party, released Kun from prison and appointed him Commissar for Foreign Affairs. Kun dismissed the president and proclaimed the Hungarian Soviet Republic.
25 March The Eighth
Politburo as the central governing body of the Communist Party
.
16 April The Romanian army invaded Hungary.
21 April Polish–Soviet War: The Polish army consolidated its control of Vilnius.
28 April The Red Army counteroffensive in the Eastern front begins.
29 April The White Army Spring offensive ends.
30 May An anti-communist Hungarian government headed by Gyula Károlyi was established in Szeged.
16 June Hungarian occupiers established the Slovak Soviet Republic.
July The Red Army Counteroffensive ends.
7 July The Czechoslovak army reoccupied its territory and dissolved the Slovak Soviet Republic.
July Red Army detachments numbering some 40,000 troops in Crimea mutinied and deposed their commanders; many set out to join the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine.
1 August Threatened by the approach of the Romanian army, Kun fled to Austria.
14 August The Romanian army left the Hungarian capital, Budapest. Admiral Miklós Horthy stepped into the power vacuum with the army of the Károlyi government.
25 August Polish–Soviet War: After its total occupation by Polish forces, the Lithuanian-Byelorussian SSR was dissolved.
14 November Great Siberian Ice March:Admiral Kolchak's Army starts retreating from Omsk to Chita
1920 2 February Estonian War of Independence: Soviet Russia signed the
Treaty of Tartu
, renouncing all claims on Estonian territory.
An insurgency in the Khanate of Khiva forced the abdication of the Khan.
7 February Russian Civil War:
Bolshevik
military tribunal.
February The Makhnovshchina was inundated with Red Army troops, including the 42nd Rifle Division and the Latvian & Estonian Red Division – in total at least 20,000 soldiers. The Makhnovists disarmed the 10,000-strong Estonian Division in Huliaipole.
26 March Russian Civil War: The
Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel
.
25 April The Russian
Eleventh Army
invaded the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic.
26 April The
Khorezm People's Soviet Republic was established on the territory of the defunct Khanate of Khiva
.
28 April With the Azerbaijani capital
Azerbaijan SSR
.
12 June Soviet Russia recognized Lithuanian independence.
8 July Polish–Soviet War: The Galician Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR) was established in Ternopil.
11 August Latvian War of Independence: The
Treaty of Riga was signed. Soviet Russia renounced all claims on Latvian
territory.
13 August Battle of Warsaw: The battle began with a Bolsheviks' attack across the Vistula.
26 August The
Kyrgyz ASSR (1920–1925)
31 August Battle of Warsaw: The total defeat of the Russian Fourth, Fifteenth and Sixteenth Armies marked the end of the battle.
2 September The Red Army attacked Bukhara, the capital of the Emirate of Bukhara.
21 September Polish–Soviet War: The Polish army occupied
Galicia and ended the rule of the Galician SSR
.
25 September The Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine suddenly turned from south to east, attacking the main forces of General Denikin's army.
26 September The Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine routed elements of the
Battle of Peregonovka, Uman
(Ukraine).
8 October The Bukharan People's Soviet Republic was established.
14 November Russian Civil War: Pyotr Wrangel fled Russia.
29 November The
Armenia
.
1 December The ceded control of the country to the invading communists.
1921 16 February
Eleventh Army crossed into Georgia
.
22 February
Sovnarkom
.
25 February Red Army invasion of Georgia: The
Georgian SSR
.
28 February Kronstadt rebellion: The crews of the battleships Petropavlovsk and Sevastopol, harbored at Kronstadt, published a list of demands on the government.
16 March Treaty of Moscow is signed between Grand National Assembly of Turkey and Russian SFSR.
17 March Kronstadt rebellion: After over a week of fighting, government troops pacified Kronstadt.
21 March A decree of the Tenth Party Congress replaced war communism with the more liberal New Economic Policy.
18 March Polish–Soviet War: Poland and Soviet Russia signed the
Byelorussian SSRs
.
July The Red Army captured Ulaanbaatar, the Mongolian capital.
13 July
Russian famine of 1921: The writer Maxim Gorky
brought world attention to the looming famine.
August Nestor Makhno's headquarters staff and several subordinate commanders were arrested and executed on the spot by a Red Army firing squad: the Makhnovist treaty delegation, still in Kharkiv, was also arrested and liquidated. Makhnovist forces were defeated and dispersed by Red Army.
6 November East Karelian Uprising begins between Finnish and Karelian forces.
1922 23 February Russian famine of 1921: A decree published in Izvestia authorized the seizure of church valuables for famine relief.
12 March The
Transcaucasian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (SFSR)
.
21 March East Karelian Uprising ends between Finnish and Karelian forces.
3 April The Eleventh Communist Party Congress established the office of the General Secretary of the Communist Party and appointed Joseph Stalin to fill it.
16 May
Tikhon
, the Patriarch of Moscow, was put under house arrest.
4 August Basmachi Revolt: Enver Pasha was killed in Turkestan.
29 December The
Ukrainian SSRs, under the power of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
.
1923 3 May A council of the pro-government
Tikhon an apostate
and abolished the Patriarchate.
16 June Russian Civil War officially ends.
15 October The Declaration of 46 was written. The Declaration echoed earlier concerns expressed by Leon Trotsky, the Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council, that the Communist Party was insufficiently democratic.
1924 21 January Lenin died.
31 January The
1924 Soviet Constitution
came into effect.
18 February The Thirteenth
Politburo chairman Lev Kamenev, denounced Trotsky and his faction, the Left Opposition
.
10 October The territory of the
Khorezm SSR was incorporated into the Turkestan ASSR
.
12 October The
Ukrainian SSR
.
14 October The
Russian SFSR
.
27 October The
Uzbek SSR was spun out of the Turkestan ASSR
.
25 November The Mongolian People's Republic was established.
27 November The
Uzbek SSR
.
1925 6 January Trotsky was forced to resign his military offices.
19 February The lands of the
Kyrgyz ASSR (1920–1925)
.
7 April
locum tenens
according to his will.
19 April The
Kazakh ASSR
.
13 May The
Uzbek SSR joined the Soviet Union
.
The remainder of the
Turkmen SSR
.
10 December
locum tenens
.
23 December The Fourteenth Party Congress endorsed the leadership of Stalin and his rightist ally Nikolai Bukharin, soundly defeating the New Opposition faction of Kamenev and Zinoviev.
1926 11 February The
Kara-Kyrgyz Autonomous Oblast was reorganized into the Kyrgyz ASSR (1926–1936)
.
23 October Trotsky was expelled from the
Politburo
.
1927 25 February Article 58 of the RFSR Penal Code revised the penalties for counterrevolutionary activity.
29 July Sergius affirmed the loyalty of the Russian Orthodox Church to the Soviet government.
12 November Trotsky and Zinoviev were expelled from the Communist Party.
2 December The Fifteenth Party Congress expelled the remainder of the United Opposition from the Party.
1928 7 March Shakhty Trial: Police arrested a group of engineers in the town of Shakhty and accused them of conspiring to sabotage the Soviet economy.
1 October First five-year plan: Stalin announced the beginning of state industrialisation of the Soviet economy.
1929 17 November Bukharin was expelled from the Politburo.
Collectivisation in the USSR: A Central Committee resolution began the collectivisation of Soviet agriculture
.
5 December The
Tajik SSR
.
1930 15 April The Gulag was officially established.
20 July The
Russian SFSR
.
1932 20 March The Karakalpak Autonomous Oblast became the Karakalpak ASSR.
7 August Collectivisation in the USSR: The , under which any theft of public property was punishable by death.
11 September
Ukrainian SSR
.
27 December A decree by the
Sovnarkom established a passport system in the Soviet Union
.
31 December First Five-Year Plan: It was announced that the plan had been fulfilled.
1933 22 January Holodomor: Police were instructed to prevent
Ukrainian
peasants from leaving their homes in search of food.
1934 8 February Elections to the
Sergey Kirov, the chief of the Leningrad
Party, to be the most popular member.
10 July The
OGPU
.
1 December Kirov was murdered by Leonid Nikolaev, possibly at the behest of Stalin.
1935 31 August
Stakhanovite
movement.
1936 19 August
Moscow Trials
: The Trial of the Sixteen, in which Kamenev and Zinoviev were the primary defendants, began.
25 August Moscow Trials: The defendants in the Trial of the Sixteen were executed.
5 December The
Stalin Constitution came into effect. The Central Executive Committee was renamed the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union
.
The
Kyrgyz SSR
.
The
Kazakh SSR
.
The territory of the
Uzbek SSR
.
1937 23 January Moscow Trials: The Second Trial began.
30 January Moscow Trials: The Second Trial ended. Of seventeen defendants, all but four were sentenced to death.
22 May
Case of Trotskyist Anti-Soviet Military Organization: Mikhail Tukhachevsky, a Marshal of the Soviet Union and hero of the Russian Civil War
, was arrested.
12 June Case of Trotskyist Anti-Soviet Military Organization: Tukhachevsky was executed, with eight other military leaders.
30 July Great Purge: NKVD Order No. 00447 was issued. The order established a new judicial method, the NKVD troika, and set nationwide quotas for the execution and enslavement of "anti-Soviet elements."
11 August
Polish operation of the NKVD: The NKVD chief signed Order No. 00485
, classifying all potential Polish nationalists as enemies of the state.
15 August Great Purge:
NKVD Order No. 00486
made relatives of accused traitors subject to imprisonment in labor camps.
10 October Peter of Krutitsy was executed in solitary confinement.
1938 A new decree required the teaching of Russian in all non-Russian schools.
2 March
Moscow Trial
, at which Bukharin was the primary defendant, began.
15 March Trial of the Twenty One: The defendants were executed.
29 July Battle of Lake Khasan: The armed forces of Japanese Manchukuo attacked the Soviet military at Lake Khasan.
31 August Battle of Lake Khasan: The battle ended in a Japanese defeat.
1939 23 August The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact was signed, promising mutual non-aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union and agreeing to a division of much of Europe between those two countries.
17 September Soviet invasion of Poland: The Red Army invaded Poland.
22 October Elections were held to the Supreme Soviets of the
Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union
.
26 November Shelling of Mainila: The Red Army shelled the Russian village of Mainila and blamed the Finns for invented casualties.
30 November Winter War: The Soviet army attacked Finland.
1 December Winter War: The Soviet Union established the Finnish Democratic Republic in the border town of Terijoki.
1940 29 January Winter War: The Soviet Union recognized the Finnish government as the legitimate government of Finland, thereby abandoning the Finnish Democratic Republic, and informed the Finnish government that the Soviets were willing to negotiate peace.
5 March
Polish
nationals.
12 March Winter War: The Moscow Peace Treaty was signed, ending the war. Finland ceded 9% of its territory to the Soviet Union, leading to the evacuation of Finnish Karelia. The Soviet attempt to conquer Finland failed.
31 March The
Karelo-Finnish SSR
.
15 June The Red Army occupied Lithuania.
17 June The Red Army occupied Estonia and Latvia.
28 June
Soviet occupation of Bessarabia: Bessarabia and northern Bukovina
were occupied by the Soviet Union.
21 July Lithuania became the
Latvian SSR
.
2 August The
Moldavian SSR
, with much of its territory on the former Bessarabia and Bukovina. The old territory of the Moldavian ASSR remained in the Ukrainian SSR.
3 August The Lithuanian SSR was accepted into the Soviet Union.
5 August The Latvian SSR was annexed by the Soviet Union.
6 August Estonia became the
Estonian SSR
and was incorporated into the Soviet Union.
21 August Trotsky is assassinated by Ramón Mercader on Stalin's orders.
1941 13 April Soviet–Japanese border conflicts: A Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact was signed.
22 June
Axis
soldiers invaded the Soviet Union.
25 June Continuation War: The Soviet Union launched a major air offensive against Finnish targets.
28 June Operation Barbarossa: The Germans captured Minsk.
27 July Operation Barbarossa: The German and Romanian armies entered
Kishinev
.
21 August Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran: Three Soviet armies invaded Iran from the north.
8 September Siege of Leningrad: The Germans army cut the last land tie to Leningrad.
19 September Operation Barbarossa:
Kiev
fell to the Germans.
2 October Battle of Moscow: Three German armies began an advance on Moscow.
20 November Siege of Leningrad: The first food was carried into Leningrad across the Road of Life on the frozen Lake Ladoga.
5 December Battle of Moscow: The Soviet army launched a counterattack from Kalinin.
1942 7 January Battle of Moscow: The Soviet counteroffensive ended between sixty and one-hundred fifty miles from Moscow.
21 August Battle of Stalingrad: The German Luftwaffe began a bombing raid against Stalingrad.
19 November Operation Uranus: The Soviet army began a pincer movement against the German forces besieging Stalingrad.
22 November Operation Uranus: The German Sixth Army was surrounded.
1943 12 January
Operation Spark (1943): The Soviet army launched a military offensive to break the Siege of Leningrad
.
18 January Operation Spark (1943): The meeting of the Leningrad and Volkhov Front units opened a land corridor to Leningrad.
2 February Battle of Stalingrad: The German Sixth Army surrendered.
15 May The
Comintern
was dissolved.
8 September Stalin allowed a church council, which unanimously elected Sergius to the Patriarchate of Moscow.
6 November The Russians recaptured Kiev.
1944 6 January The Red Army crossed into Poland.
27 January Siege of Leningrad: The last German forces were expelled from the city.
15 May Patriarch Sergius died.
31 August Soviet occupation of Romania: The Red Army captured Bucharest.
12 September Romania signed an armistice with the Allies, placing itself under the command of an Allied Commission led by Marshal of the Soviet Union Rodion Malinovsky.
19 September Continuation War: The Moscow Armistice was signed, ending the war at roughly the prewar borders.
21 September Soviet and Czechoslovak partisan armed forces entered German-occupied Czechoslovakia.
14 November The Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia was established in Prague.
1945 17 January The Soviet Union captured Warsaw.
18 January The Soviet Union captured Budapest.
2 February Alexius I was elected Patriarch of Moscow.
11 February The Soviet Union gained the right to Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands at the Yalta Conference
20 April Battle of Berlin: The Soviet army began shelling Berlin.
2 May Battle of Berlin: The defenders of Berlin surrendered to the Soviet Union.
9 May The Soviet army captured Prague.
18 June
Polish Secret State were tried in the Soviet Union for collaboration
.
21 June Trial of the Sixteen: The defendants were sentenced.
16 August Invasion of Manchuria: Soviet armed forces landed on Sakhalin.
18 August Invasion of Manchuria: Soviet amphibious forces landed in Korea.
20 August Invasion of Manchuria: The Soviet Union captured Changchun, the capital of Manchukuo.
November The Soviet Union established the Azerbaijan People's Government in Iranian Azerbaijan.
1946 22 January The Soviet-backed
Kurdish Republic of Mahabad
declared its independence from Iran.
2 March Iran crisis: British troops withdrew from Iran. The Soviet Union violated its prior agreement and remained.
10 March The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church was liquidated by a rump synod in Lviv and driven underground.
9 May Iran crisis: The Soviet Union withdrew from Iran.
1947 5 October The Cominform was established in order to coordinate Communist parties under Soviet control.
1948 24 June Berlin Blockade: The Soviet Union blocked rail and road access to West Berlin.
25 June Berlin Blockade: The commander of the American
occupation zone ordered an airlift of supplies into West Berlin
.
28 June Yugoslavia was expelled from the Cominform.
9 September The Democratic People's Republic of Korea was established.
1949 11 May Berlin Blockade: The Soviets lifted the blockade.
29 August culminated in a successful test detonation.
1 October Chinese Civil War: Mao Zedong proclaims the establishment of the People's Republic of China, with the Soviet Union recognized it the next day.
1950 30 January Korean War: Regarding a mass invasion of the South, Stalin wrote to his ambassador to North Korea: "Tell him [Kim] that I am ready to help him in this matter."
25 June Korean War: The North Korean army launched a 135,000-man surprise assault across the
38th parallel
.
1 November Korean War: Soviet-piloted
MiG-15s first crossed the Yalu River
and attacked American planes.
1952 20 November
Prague Trials
: A series of show trials purged the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia of Jews and insufficiently orthodox Stalinists.
1953 13 January An article in Pravda accused some of the nation's most prominent doctors – particularly Jews – of participating in a vast conspiracy to poison top Soviet leaders.
1 March After an all-night dinner with party members , Stalin suffered a paralyzing stroke.
5 March Stalin died.
6 March Malenkov succeeded Stalin as Premier and First Secretary of the Communist Party.
14 March Khrushchev became First Secretary.
3 April The Presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party officially acquitted those arrested in connection with the so-called "doctors' plot".
16 June
Uprising of 1953 in East Germany: In response to a 10 percent increase in work quotas, between 60 and 80 construction workers went on strike in East Berlin
. Their numbers quickly swelled and a general strike and protests were called for the next day.
17 June Uprising of 1953 in East Germany: 100,000 protestors gathered at dawn, demanding the reinstatement of old work quotas and, later, the resignation of the East German government. At noon German police trapped many of the demonstrators in an open square; Soviet tanks fired on the crowd, killing hundreds and ending the protest.
26 June
Beria was arrested at a special meeting of the Presidium
.
27 July Korean War: An armistice was signed, ending the conflict.
7 September Khrushchev was confirmed as head of the Central Committee.
1954 16 May
Kazakh village of Kengir
occupied the camp's service yard.
25 June Kengir Uprising: The prison camp at Kengir was invaded and subdued by Soviet troops and tanks.
1955 2 June Khrushchev and Tito issued the Belgrade declaration, which declared that "different forms of Socialist development are solely the concern of the individual countries."
1956 25 February At a closed session of the
On the Personality Cult and its Consequences
, denouncing the actions of his predecessor Stalin. The speech weakened the hand of the Stalinists in the Soviet government.
17 April The Cominform was officially dissolved.
28 June
Poles
upset with the slow pace of destalinization turned to protests, and then to violent riots.
29 June Poznań 1956 protests: Konstantin Rokossovsky, the Polish minister of defense, ordered the military in to end the riots. At least 74 civilians were killed.
16 July The
Karelo-Finnish SSR
became the Karelian ASSR of the Russian SFSR.
19 October The liberal Władysław Gomułka was elected leader of the Polish Communist party.
23 October
Hungarian Security Police, they turned violent and began to arm themselves. An emergency meeting of the Central Committee appointed the reformist Imre Nagy
Prime Minister.
31 October 1956 Hungarian Revolution: Hungary under Nagy withdrew from the Warsaw Pact.
4 November 1956 Hungarian Revolution: A Soviet invasion, involving infantry, artillery, airstrikes, and some 6,000 tanks entered Budapest. 2,500 Hungarians were killed in the ensuing battle.
8 November 1956 Hungarian Revolution: Pro-Soviet János Kádár announced the formation of a new "Revolutionary Worker-Peasant Government," with himself as Prime Minister and leader of the Communist Party.
1957 18 June Led by the Stalinist Anti-Party Group, the Presidium voted to depose Khrushchev as First Secretary. The Presidium reversed its vote under pressure from Khrushchev and the defense minister and deferred the decision to a later meeting of the full Central Committee.
29 June A Central Committee vote affirmed Khrushchev as First Secretary and deposed
Secretariat of the CPSU Central Committee
.
4 October Sputnik was launched at 7:28 pm
1958 27 March Khrushchev replaced Bulganin as Premier of the Soviet Union.
1959 1 January Cuban Revolution: Revolutionaries led by Fidel Castro overthrow Fulgencio Batista.
1960 16 April
Sino-Soviet Split: The Chinese Communist Party
accused the Soviet leadership of "revisionism."
16 July Sino-Soviet Split: Moscow recalled thousands of Soviet advisers from China and ended economic and military aid.
1961 12 April Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human to travel into outer space.
13 August Construction began on the Berlin Wall.
1962 2 June Novocherkassk massacre: Soviet workers gathered in the town square of Novocherkassk to protest an increase in food prices and work quotas. Shots were fired at the rioters, killing 25 and injuring 87 people.
16 October Cuban Missile Crisis: President Kennedy is shown aerial photos from U-2 surveillance flights showing missile bases in Cuba. The thirteen days marking the most dangerous period of the Cuban Missile Crisis begin.
22 October Cuban Missile Crisis: Kennedy announced that any nuclear missile attack from Cuba would be regarded as an attack by the Soviet Union, and that the island would be placed under "quarantine" to prevent further weapons shipments.
26 October Cuban Missile Crisis: The Soviet Union offered to withdraw the missiles in return for a U.S. guarantee not to invade Cuba or support any invasion.
28 October Cuban Missile Crisis: Khrushchev announced that he had ordered the removal of the Soviet missiles in Cuba.
1964 14 October Khrushchev's rivals in the party deposed him at a Central Committee meeting. Leonid Brezhnev and Alexei Kosygin assumed power as First Secretary and Premier, respectively.
1967 7 February Sino-Soviet split: The Chinese government announced that it could no longer guarantee the safety of Soviet diplomats outside the embassy building.
10 June The Soviet Union severed diplomatic relations with
Soviet Union and the Arab-Israeli conflict
1968 5 January Prague Spring: The liberal Alexander Dubček was appointed to succeed Antonín Novotný as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia.
5 April Prague Spring: The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia published their
Action Programme. This document guaranteed a number of new freedoms including free speech, travel, debate and association
.
20 August Prague Spring: Between 200,000 and 600,000 Warsaw Pact troops crossed the Czechoslovakian border.
21 August Prague Spring: Leading KSČ liberals – including Dubček – were arrested, flown to Moscow and forced to repeal the reforms of the Prague Spring. They agreed to the presence of Soviet troops in Czechoslovakia.
1969 2 March Sino-Soviet border conflict: A Soviet patrol came into armed conflict with Chinese forces on Zhenbao Island.
1973 27 January Vietnam War: The Paris Peace Accords pledged the signatory parties to "respect the independence, sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity of Vietnam as recognized by the 1954 Geneva Agreements on Vietnam," and promised a complete withdrawal of United States forces from Vietnam and Laos.
1975 30 April Vietnam War: People's Army of Vietnam overrun and capitulate the city of Saigon, capital of South Vietnam.
1977 7 October Brezhnev Constitution adopted. The Communist Party was proclaimed "the leading and guiding force of the Soviet society".
1978 28 April
Mohammed Daoud Khan
.
1 May Saur Revolution: The PDPA installed its leader, Nur Muhammad Taraki, as President of Afghanistan.
July A rebellion against the new
Nuristan
.
5 December A treaty was signed that permitted deployment of the Soviet military at the Afghan government's request.
1979 14 September Taraki was murdered by supporters of Prime Minister Hafizullah Amin.
24 December Soviet–Afghan War: Fearing the collapse of the Amin regime, the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan.
27 December Operation Storm-333: Soviet troops occupied major governmental, military and media buildings in Kabul, including the Tajbeg Presidential Palace, and executed Prime Minister Amin.
1980 22 January Andrei Sakharov is exiled without charges to the closed industrial city of Gorky for opposing the invasion of Afghanistan.
6 February The
Moscow Olympics
because of the invasion of Afghanistan.
19 July – 3 August
1980 Summer Olympic Games
in Moscow.
1982 25 January Suslov died after a severe stroke.
10 November Brezhnev died of a heart attack.
12 November Yuri Andropov was elected General Secretary of the CPSU.
1983 1 September South Korean Boeing 747 was shot down by the Soviet Air Forces
1984 9 February Andropov died after a lengthy kidney disease and was succeeded as General Secretary by Konstantin Chernenko.
8 May Chernenko announces a Soviet-bloc boycott of the Los Angeles-held Summer Olympics, citing security concerns for its athletes.
1985 10 March Chernenko died of emphysema.
11 March The
Politburo unanimously supported Mikhail Gorbachev
as General Secretary of the Communist Party.
7 May Gorbachev launches an anti-alcohol campaign by decree of the Council of Ministers "On measures to overcome alcoholism".
1988 14 April Soviet–Afghan War: The Soviet government signed the Geneva Accords, which included a timetable for withdrawing their armed forces.
13 April Singing Revolution: The Popular Front of Estonia was founded.
3 June Singing Revolution: The liberalization movement Sąjūdis was founded in Lithuania.
9 October Singing Revolution: The Popular Front of Latvia was founded.
15 November
State of Palestine declared by the Palestine Liberation Organization
.
7 December An
Armenia
.
1989 15 February Soviet–Afghan War: The last Soviet troops left the country.
23 August Singing Revolution: Two million people joined hands to form the Baltic Way across Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to demonstrate for independence.
9 November The East German government loosened restrictions on travel into the West, effecting the end of the Berlin Wall.
28 November Velvet Revolution: The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia announced the end of its monopoly on political power.
1 December Mikhail Gorbachev meets with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican.
7 December Singing Revolution: The Lithuanian parliament ended the political monopoly of the Communist Party of Lithuania.
25 December
Nicolae Ceauşescu
and his wife, Elena, were captured in the countryside and executed.
1990 11 March Singing Revolution: The Lithuanian government declared its independence from the Soviet Union.
18 March Singing Revolution: Elections to the Latvian Supreme Soviet gave the majority of seats to a pro-independence coalition, led by the Popular Front of Latvia.
12 June The First Congress of People's Deputies of Russia issued the Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.
21 August
Moldavian
soil.
1991 11 January January Events: Soviet troops violently seized important buildings in cities throughout Lithuania.
17 March A referendum on the future of the Soviet Union was held, with nearly 70% of voters supporting the renewed New Union Treaty.
12 June
Russian SFSR
.
19 August
Soviet coup attempt of 1991: A group of high-ranking officials calling themselves the State Emergency Committee announced that Gennady Yanayev was to replace Gorbachev as President of the Soviet Union
.
20 August The Estonian government declared its independence.
21 August The government of Latvia declared its independence.
Soviet coup attempt of 1991: The military refused State Emergency Committee orders to take the capital. The leaders of the coup were arrested.
24 August The Ukrainian parliament adopted the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine.
27 August Moldova declared independence.
31 August The Republic of Kyrgyzstan declared independence.
6 September The Soviet Union recognized the independence of the Baltic states.
Militants belonging to the separatist
Chechen-Ingush ASSR. NCChP leader Dzhokhar Dudayev
was appointed to the presidency.
18 October
Soviet Union and the Arab-Israeli conflict: The Soviet Union restores full relations with Israel
.
27 October A national referendum confirmed Dudayev's presidency. Dudayev unilaterally declared the independence of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.
8 December The leaders of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine signed the
Belavezha Accords
, dissolving the Soviet Union.
26 December The Supreme Soviet confirmed the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
1992 2 January Centralized price controls have been canceled. "Liberalization of prices" started.
31 March Treaty of Federation signed by the representatives of the Russian federal government and regional authorities.
1 October Voucher privatization begins.
31 Oct–4 Nov
Ossetian–Ingush Conflict over the eastern parts of the autonomous republic of North Ossetia
1993 21 September
President of the Russian Federation
.
4 October Russian constitutional crisis of 1993: The army occupied the
parliament building
and arrested a number of its leaders.
12 December Russian constitutional crisis of 1993: A new
presidency
.
1994 2 August First Chechen War: The leader of the Russian-backed Provisional Council of the Chechen Republic announced his intention to overthrow Dudayev's government.
11 December First Chechen War: Russian troops entered Chechnya.
1996 3 July 1996 Russian presidential election: Yeltsin narrowly defeated his communist challenger, Gennady Zyuganov.
30 August First Chechen War: The
Khasav-Yurt Accord
was signed, signaling the end of the war.
1999 7 August
Dagestan War: A Chechnya-based militia invaded the Russian republic of Dagestan
in support of local separatists.
16 August The State Duma confirmed the appointment of Vladimir Putin as Prime Minister of Russia.
23 August Dagestan War: The militias began their retreat back into Chechnya.
26 August Second Chechen War: The militia that had invaded Dagestan was bombed inside Chechnya.
September Second Chechen War:
Russian apartment bombings
2 October Second Chechen War: Russian ground troops entered Chechnya.
8 December The treaty of creation of the
Union of Russia and Belarus
was signed.
31 December Boris Yeltsin resigned as
President of the Russian Federation. Prime Minister Putin became acting president
.
2000 26 March 2000 Russian presidential election: Putin was elected President of Russia with 53 percent of the vote.
12 August
Russian submarine K-141 Kursk
.

21st century

Year Date Event
2001 23 March Mir - the last national orbital station re-entered Earth's atmosphere.[9][10]
2002 23 October Moscow theater hostage crisis: Chechen rebels seized the Dubrovka theater in Moscow, taking approximately 700 theatergoers hostage, and demanded an immediate Russian withdrawal from Chechnya.
26 October Moscow theater hostage crisis: The police pumped anesthetic into the building, then stormed it from every entrance, executing all 42 terrorists. Over 120 hostages also died due to cumulative effects of intoxication, hunger and maltreatment by the terrorists.[11]
2003 September–October Russia-Ukraine territorial dispute over Tuzla Island
25 October Yukos affair: Khodorkovsky arrested.
2004 January Russia–Belarus energy dispute.[12]
14 March 2004 Russian presidential election: Putin won re-election to a second term, earning 71% of the vote.
24 August Russian aircraft bombings killed all 90 people on board.[13]
1–3 September Beslan school siege. A group of Chechen terrorists took approximately 1100 adults and children hostage at School Number One in Beslan, the ensuing battle left over 330 civilians, 31 of 32 hostage-takers and 10 policemen dead.[14]
September Vladimir Putin came up with an initiative to change the appointment procedure for governors, proposing to confirm them in office by decision of legislature from the candidates proposed by the President. Putin logically linked his initiative to the Beslan tragedy.
December A bill to abolish direct gubernatorial elections was drafted and adopted.
2005 13 October
2005 raid on Nalchik: A large group of terrorists assaulted and captured buildings throughout the city of Nalchik
. By afternoon, Russian soldiers surrounded and entered the city, forcing their enemies to retreat. Some 136 people were killed.
1 December Perm Oblast and Komi-Permyak Autonomous Okrug merged into Perm Krai.
2006 15–17 July
St. Petersburg
2007 23 April Boris Yeltsin died of congestive heart failure.
2008 2 March 2008 Russian presidential election: Deputy Prime minister Dmitry Medvedev won, earning 70.5% of the vote.
7 May Vladimir Putin becomes Prime Minister of Russia.
7–12 August Russo-Georgian War: Russia revoked Georgia's attempts to reintegrate breakaway republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
31 December 2008 Constitutional amendments extended the terms of the President and Parliament
2009 January 2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute
12–16 May Eurovision Song Contest 2009
17 August Sayano-Shushenskaya power station accident
5 December "Lame Horse" nightclub fire
2010 8 April The New START treaty, which would cut the nuclear arsenals of Russia and the United States by a third, was signed.
July–August 2010 Russian wildfires
2011 27 March Time zones reform reduced its number from 11 to 9
4 December 2011 Russian legislative election, that caused large protests against alleged vote fraud
2012 4 March 2012 Russian presidential election: Vladimir Putin won, earning 63.6% of the vote.[15]
1 June an Act came into force, which returns the direct election of Governors.
22 August Russia became a WTO member.
2013 6–17 July 2013 Summer Universiade in Kazan
August–September
Amur river
2014 7–23 February 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi
16 March Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation: Referendum on the political status of Crimea
18 March Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation: Putin and Crimean officials signed the
Treaty on Accession of the Republic of Crimea to Russia
.
26 October 2011 time zones reform was canceled
2015 1 January The Treaty on the Eurasian Economic Union came into force.
30 September
Russian military intervention in the Syrian civil war
begins
31 October Aircraft bombing over Sinai
24 November 2015 Russian Sukhoi Su-24 shootdown[16][17]
2016 8 September 2016 Russian legislative election
19 December Assassination of Andrei Karlov
2017 1–3 June St. Petersburg International Economic Forum[18]
17 June - 2 July 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup[19]
2018 18 March 2018 Russian presidential election[20]
25-26 March 2018 Kemerovo fire killed at least 60 people.[21]
14 June–15 July The 2018 FIFA World Cup was held in Russia.
July–November 2018 Russian pension protests
15 October 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism
17 October Kerch Polytechnic College massacre killed 21 people including the perpetrator.[22]
2019 8 September 2019 Moscow City Duma election preceded by massive public protests in support of unregistered opposition candidates.
23–24 October The first (inaugural) Russia-Africa Summit is held at Sochi.
2020 15 January 2020 Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly. Announcement of the constitutional reform. Resignation of the Cabinet.
1 July 2020 Russian constitutional referendum
2022 24 February Russian invasion of Ukraine begins
21 September 2022 Russian mobilization
30 September Russian annexation of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts
2023 23–24 June Wagner Group rebellion
2024 16 February Death and funeral of Alexei Navalny
22 March Crocus City Hall attack
6 August
Kursk offensive (2024–present)

See also

  • Years in Russia
    , 1991–present
Cities in Russia

References

  1. .
  2. .
  3. .
  4. .
  5. .
  6. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica: Instruction of Catherine the Great (https://www.britannica.com/event/Instruction-of-Catherine-the-Great)
  7. ^ Сообщение «Революционной России» об образовании партии социалистов-революционеров
  8. .
  9. ^ "Mir space station (27KS)". russianspaceweb.com. Retrieved 12 November 2018.
  10. ^ "Mir | Description, Launch, History, & Facts | Britannica". www.britannica.com. 25 January 2025. Retrieved 4 February 2025.
  11. ^ "Gas 'killed Moscow hostages'". 27 October 2002. Archived from the original on 31 July 2017. Retrieved 29 October 2002 – via news.bbc.co.uk.
  12. .
  13. ^ Myers, Steven Lee (28 August 2004). "Explosive Suggests Terrorists Downed Plane, Russia Says". The New York Times.
  14. ^ "Woman injured in 2004 Russian siege dies". The Boston Globe. 8 December 2006. Archived from the original on 17 October 2007. Retrieved 9 January 2007. bringing the total death toll to 334, a Beslan activist said. ... Two other former hostages died of their wounds last year and another died last August, which had brought the overall death toll to 333 -- a figure that does not include the hostage-takers.
  15. ^ "Putin wins election as Russian president; opponents claim widespread fraud". The Washington Post. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  16. ^ "What Is A Fencer Su-24? What To Know About The Russian Plane Shot Down By Turkey". International Business Times. 24 November 2015. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  17. ^ (www.dw.com), Deutsche Welle. "Turkish F-16 fighter jets shoot down Russian warplane after 'airspace violation' | DW | 24.11.2015". DW.COM. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  18. ^ "In Russia, France's Macron Tries His Next Charm Offensive On 'Cher Vladimir'". NPR.org. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  19. ^ FIFA.com (19 December 2014). "Ethics: Executive Committee unanimously supports recommendation to publish report on 2018/2022 FIFA World Cup bidding process". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on 12 May 2015. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  20. ^ "Explained: Russia's presidential election 2018". euronews. 17 March 2018. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  21. ^ "Russian shopping centre inferno kills 64". BBC News. 26 March 2018. Retrieved 19 August 2018.
  22. ^ "The victims of the massacre in Kerch: who they are. A PHOTO". ForumDaily. 18 October 2018. Retrieved 19 September 2023.

Further reading

Published in the 19th century

Published in the 20th century

Published in the 21st century