Continuity and Change in Russia

• 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

\