Mongol Invasions

• 862

  • The first major East Slavic state, Kievan Rus, is founded and led by the Viking Oleg of Novgorod

  • Kiev becomes the capital 20 years later

• 980-1015

  • Prince Vladimir the Great converts to Orthodox Christianity, rules the Rurik Dynasty, and spreads new religion

  • His son, Yaroslav the Wise, reigns from 1019-1054 and establishes a written code of law

  • Kiev becomes a center of politics and culture in Eastern Europe

• 1237-1240

  • Mongols invade Kievan Rus, destroying cities including Kiev and Moscow

  • The Khan of the Golden Horde rules Russia until 1480

• 1480-1505

  • Ivan III, also known as Ivan the Great, rules, freeing Russia from the Mongols, and consolidating Muscovite rule

• 1547-1584

  • Ivan IV, also known as Ivan the Terrible, become the first tsar of Russia

  • Expands the Muscovite territory into Siberia, while institution a reign of terror against nobility using military rule

Romanov Dynasty

• 1613

  • Mikhail Romanov is coronated as tsar at age 16, ending a long period of instability

• 1689-1725

  • Peter the Great introduces Western European culture and builds a new capital in St. Petersburg, modernizes the military, founds the Russian navy, and reorganizes the government

• 1762

  • Catherine the Great takes power in a bloodless coup and her reign marks Russia’s era of enlightenment

  • A champion of the arts, her 30-plus-year rule also extends Russia’s border

• 1853-1856

  • Stemming from Russian pressure on Turkey and religious tensions, the Ottoman Empire, along with the British and French forces, fights Russia and tsar Nicholas I in the Crimean War. Russia is crippled in its defeat

• 1861

  • Tsar Alexander II issues his Emancipation Reform, abolishing serfdom and allowing peasants to purchase land

• 1914

  • Russia enters WWI against Austria-Hungary in defense of Serbia