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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