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Jan 8, 600
Slavic settlements of the 600s
Russia's historical roots go back to when the Slavs farmers, hunters, and fishers settled near waterways of the North European Plain; but later they seperated in distincet cultural groups. The West Slavs became the Poles, Czechs, and Slovaks. The South Slavs became the Bulgarians, Croats, Serbs, and Slovenes. The East Slavs became the Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians; remaining along the Dnieper River in the west and the Volga River in the east. -
Jan 8, 1162
Mongol Invasion
When the Mongols first overran Kiev, many Slavs fled in nearby forests, and some of them later settled along the Moskva River to the northeast. For two centuries, Muscovy's princes kept peace with the Mongols. Their territory grew in power as the princes helped the Mongols collect taxes from Slav territories. By the late 1400s, the Muscovites became strong enough to refuse payments to the Mongols and to drive them out. -
Jan 8, 1400
The Rise of Muscovy
In the fourteenth century, when the grand prices of Muscovy began gathering Russian lands to increase the population and wealth under their rule. Muscovy gained full sovereignty over the ethnically Russian lands, when Mongol overlordship ended. By the beginning of the sixteenth century virtually all those lands were united. -
Jan 8, 1462
Ivan III
Ivan III (known as Ivan the Great) was the grand duke of Moscow from 1462 to 1505, Ivan completed the unification of Russian lands; his reign marks the beginning of what is known as Muscovite Russia. He was determined to enlarge the territory he inherited from his father; he also led good millitary campaigns against the Tatars. -
Jan 8, 1533
Ivan IV
He was often known as 'Ivan the Terrible". He was the grand prince of Moscow and the first to ever be proclaimed tsar of Russia. During his reign, he saw the completion of the construction of a centrally administered Russian state and also the creation of an empire that included non-slavs. -
Time of Troubles
The period of political crisis in Russia that followed the demise of the Rurik dynasty and ended with the establishments of the Romanov dynasty. During this period native interventions, peasant uprisings, and pretenders trying to seize the throne threatining to destroy the state itself and caused major social and economic disruptions. -
Beginning of Romanov dynasty
After Ivan's reign, the country faced foreign invasion, economic decline, and social upheval. When the Romanov dynasty came to power, the government gradually tightened its grip on the people. By 1650 many peasants had become serfs, a virtually enslaved workforce bound to the land and under the control of nobility. -
Peter the Great
Czar Peter I came to power determined to modernize Russia. Under him, Russia enlarged its territory, built a strong military, and developed trade with Europe. To acquire seaports, Peter gained land along the Baltic Sea from Sweden. He also strengthened Russia's comtrol of Siberia. -
Catherine the Great
She was a German princess who becam Empress of Russia after disposing of her ineffectual husband, who was one of the most successful European monarchs. She followed Peter the Great in seeing Russia, which had been part of an Asain Empire for centuries, as European Power. Among her other achievements, she added about 200,000 square miles to the territory of the Russian empire. -
Socialism/Communism-Karl Marx
Marx was a German philosopher, social scientist, and professional revolutionary. He was the chief founder of the two most powerful mass movements in history, democratic socialism and revolutionary communism. Many of the social sciences (mainly sociology) have been influenced by his theories. Many important social scientists of the late 1800's and 1900's can be fully understood only by realizing how much they were reacting to Marx's beliefs. -
Russification Policies
Spurred by increasing nationalism, the government introduced the policy of Russification, which required everyone to speak Russian and follow Eastern Orthodox Christianity. People who refused were often persecuted. Harsh treatment was directed especially toward Jews, who were often blamed for Russia's problems. -
Russo-Japanese War
The military conflict when a victorious Japan forced Russia to abandon its expansionist policy in the far east, becoming the first Asian power in modern time to defeat a European war. The war developed out of the rivalry between Russia and Japan for dominances in Korea and Machuria. After a long time of fighting and heavy casualities on both sides, the Russian commander, General A.N. Kuropatkin, broke off fighting and withdrew his forces north from Mukden, falling into the hands of the Japanese. -
1905 Revolution
In the early 1900s, discontent with the iron rule of czars spilled into the streets. Strikes and demonstrations in 1905 nearly ended the reign of Czars Nicolas II. A event called Bloody Sunday began with a peaceful crowd of workers desiring better work conditions and personal freesoms marching to the czar's palace in St. Petersburg; but the march ended abruptly when soldiers fired into the marchers, killing about 1,000 people. -
World War I
An extremely bloody war that engulfed Europe with huge losses of life and little ground lost or won. Fought mostly by soldiers in trenches, WW1 saw about 10 million miliary deaths and another 20 million wounded. The Bolsheviks withdrew Russia from this war, surrendering much territory to Germany. -
March 1917
Russia's Revolution began with rioting strikes in St. Petersburg. The unrest was started mainly by food shortages in the city, which were caused by the wider problems of an economy that is already getting worse; and also repeated failures on the battlefields of WW1. Moderates joined Russian radical elements, calling for the overthrow Czar. Russian army at petrograd switched their support to the demonstrators, the imperial government was forced to resign and a provisional government established. -
Bolsheviks
This is a member of a wing of the Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party. The group was led by Lenin, who took control of the Russian government and made the group become the dominant political power. The group originated really at the party's second congress when Lenin's followers insisted that party membership be restricted to professional revolutionaries, won a temporary majority of the party's central comittee and was on the editorial board of its newspaper 'Iskra'. -
October 1917
The Russian Revolution of that year had established a representative government, but it was too weak to control the passion for change that had taken over Russia. In November, the Bolsheviks took control. They believed in communism; promising peace, they got Russia out of WW1, surrenduring territory to Germany. Not all Russians liked the Bolsheviks, so a civil war soon divided the country, pitting the Bolshevik Red Army against the anti-Bolsheviks White Army. -
Russification Policies
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Adoption of Eastern Orthodoxy (Christianity)
Most Slavs practice Eastern Orthodoxy, a form of Christianity brought to Russia from the eastern Mediterranean area. Eastern Orthodoxy is the second largest christian church in the world. It teaches that it is the one, holy, and apostolic church established by Jesus Christ and his Apostles. -
Kievan Rus
This was the first slavic state. Founded by Viking Oleg, who seized Smolensk and Kiev, which became the capital of Kievan Rus. Kievan Rus peaked in the 10th and 11th centuries under Vladimir and Yaroslar, becoming eastern Europe's chief political and cultural centre. At Yaroslav's death in 1054, his sons diveded into warring factions.
