RUSSIA AND ITS RULERS DATES

1855

Alexander II becomes tsar

1861

Emancipation Edict announced

1881

Assassination of Alexander II

1894

Death of Alexander III; Nicholas II becomes tsar

1898

Socialist Democratic Workers' Party formed

1906

First Duma set up; Fundamental Laws passed

1917

Abdication of Nicholas II; formation of Provisional Government; revolutions

1918

Treaty of Brest-Litovsk signed

1924

Death of Lenin; power struggle ensued

1927

Stalin controlled Party Congress and expelled main rivals

1936

New constitution issued

1953

Death of Stalin

1953-56

Khrushchev took control of Russia

1956

De-Stalinisation begins

1964

Khrushchev removed from power

1853-56

The Crimean War

1877-78

The Russo-Turkish War

1904-5

The Russo-Japanese War

1914-18

World War One

1917

The Russian Revolution

1917-21

The Russian Civil War

1939-45

World War Two

1947-64

The Cold War

1866

Failed assassination of Alexander II by revolutionary former student Karakazov

March 1856

Treaty of Paris results in Russia - prohibited from maintaining a fleet in the Black Sea (logical importance, humiliating)

September 1854

Britain and France invade the Crimea but are slow to attack key Crimean port Sevastopol; allows Russia to regroup within it, leading to a siege

October 1854 - September 1855

Siege of Sevastopol, drawn-out affair due to adverse weather, port's fortifications and Russian resilience. Russians surrendered after severe bombardments, a major setback

1882

Alexander III removes the Council of Ministers, which discussed whether to pass draft legislation or send to Committee of Ministers

1861

Committee of Ministers established (Interior, Finance, War, Procurator of the Holy Synod)

1861

1000 peasant disturbances

1860s

1/3 government money spent on maintaining large army as government worried about returning trained serfs to their communities

1884

Expert JJ Hughes' coal/iron/rail making country was largest in whole Empire

1900

JJ Hughes' factory made 1/2 of Russia's steel

1830

Polish coup resulted in temporary independence

1850s

Russian troops in Poland not issued bullets or shells in case they fell into opposition's hands

Mid-1864

Russian army regains control of Poland and quashes rebels; no major battles

1863

Polish Revolt

1892

Polish Socialist Party formed

1893

Polish Social Democratic Party formed

1870s

Populists (nardoniks) revolutionary group emerge, believing in agrarian socialism based around peasant commune

1877

'Trial of the 50' and 'Trial of the 193' of the Populists leads to many getting ligjt treatments as court impressed by honesty and idealism

1879

Occasionally violent Land and Liberty revolutionary group split into 2 groups following Vera Zasulich's trial

26 August 1879

The People's Will condemn Alexander II to death for 'crimes against the people'

April 1877

Alexander II declares war on Turkey, neutral Austria agreed jurisdiction over Herzegovina and Bosnia. Russian intellectually happy as thought tsar finally protecting Slavs

March 1879

Treaty of San Stefano signed between Russia and Turkey (good terms for Russia); Russia worried if enforced Austria-Hungary and Britain woild declare war and defeat them. Agreed to allow Germany to negotiate peace settlement in Berlin

29 April 1881

Manifesto of Unshakeable Autocracy

1881

Statute of State Security reverses education and legal reforms, increases repression

1881

Okhrana secret police replace the Third Section

1890

Zemstva Act severely reduces zemstva's indpendence wotj provincial governors able to veto and amend decisions

1892

Municipal Government Act reduces zemstva franchise to upper classes (less peasant representation)

March 1882

Decree allowed Okhrana to declare any citizen subject to surveillance

1884

Education charter reduces autonomy, requiring all teaching appointments to be vetted by Ministry

1887

University Statute establishes State control, closing women's courses, church control of primaries, raising secondary school feee

1899

Disturbance at St Petersburg University subdued by Cossacks with whips

1900

Dissident students could be sent to an army disciplinary battalion, causing first examples in history of public demonstrations in Moscow and St Petersburg

1914

Delyanov's policies not followed entirely; 39% university students and 50% secondary students from poorer backgrounds

1880s

Jewish formed 5 million of Russian population

Early 1880

Pogroms against Jews supported by tsar and police

1905

Particularly bad pogroms after this

1897

Jews form own 'Bund' (Union) which helps develop social democratic movement

1 November 1894

Alexander III dies of a kidney complaint

1881-87

Nikolai Bunge as Finance Minister

1883

Peasants' Land Bank created

1883-85

Laws introduced improving work conditions for women and children

1886

Further labour legislation on payment and dismissal to protect workers

1911

State owned 69% of railways

1887-92

Ivan Vyshnegradsky as Finance Minister

1892

Russia has budget surplus for first time ever, but at massive social cost

1881-94

Coal production in Russia almost doubles

1861

Famine caused by grain exports results in Vyshnegradsky being made redundant

1891

Mendeleev Tariff increases trade and domestic industry

1892-1903

Sergei Witte as Finance Minister

1893-97

Income from industry increases from 42 million to 161 million roubles

1883-1900

Oil production in Baku rises by 1000%

1890s

Economy grows at about 8% per year

1906-14

After short freeze in early 1900s, economy increased further at 6% per year; Witte set this development firmly in motion

1890s-1908

Recession annoyed those who gave up land and farms to move to the city, with poor living and working conditions

1890s

Railway boom: At end of this time nearly 60% of all iron and steel was used by the railways

1891-1901

Total amount of railway track opened rose from 17264 miles to 31125 miles

1900

269 foreign companies, engineers and ezperts contribute commercial and technological expertise to Russia

1900

By this time, 20% of government budget had been used to pay off foreign debt (high interest rates), 10 times more than was spent on education

1894

State monopoly on vodka

1910

By this time vodka state monopoly produced 1/4 of state revenue

1894

Japan fight a limited war against China and win

1897

Germany invades Kiaochow in eastern China and the other Great Powers demanded a share of the spoils

1902

Japan forms an alliance with Britain as a result of Russia's refusal for diplomacy over the Korean issue

29 August 1905

Treaty of Portsmouth means Russia forced to withdraw from Port Arthur, South Sakhalin and south Manchuria; while Russian leaders had to acknowledge Japanese sovereignty in Korea

December 1905

Russians at Port Arthur surrender after Japan's siege isolates about 60,000 troops

May 1905

Russia's Baltic Squadron, on the way to relieve Port Arthur (taking over 6 months), is defeated by Admiral Togo's fleet at Tsushima Straits, emphasising the Japanese navy's technological superiority

1900

Productivity of peasants was 1/4 of Britain, while 22% of families had less land than they were entitled to

1902-3

Bad harvest

March 1905

Russian army defeated at Mukden

November 1905

National Zemstvo Conference is sent over 5,000 telegrams urging delegates to press for fundamental changes including extension of franchise/electorate, civil liberties and a national representative body

1903

Union of Liberation founded by Peter Struve to campaign for reform by organising 'banquets' where liberal intelligentsia discussed reforming the political system and extending civil rights; however it failed to gain peasants' and workers' support

7 January 1905

4 workers sacked at giant Putilov engineering workers, resulting in a strike of over 100,000 workers; at this point an economic on wages and working hours

9 January 1905

Bloody Sunday: Up to 150,000 men women and children peacefully march up to the Winter Palace to seek the tsar's help, led by Father Gapon. But as they approach the Cossacks opened fire, killing 130 and seriously wounding 300

May 1905

Union of Unions formed from professional (lawyers, engineers) and trade (clerks, book keepers) organisations, an umbrella body to press the cause of liberal political reform

June - July 1905

As mood of revolt spread to the countryside, peasants seized land, grain and animals, burned landlords' houses, illegally cut timber and refused to pay taxes

July 1905

At end of this time the All-Russian Peasant Union met near Moscow, with peasants setting up effectively peasant republics (self-government rather than overthrowing the tsar)

September 1905

General strike called, spreading from educated and skilled workers to railway workers who halted the central railway system