By Tim Lambert
862
The Vikings capture Novgorod
882
The Vikings capture Kyiv. The Vikings create the nation of Rus, which grows rich and powerful.
988
Prince Vladimir converts to Christianity
1054
Yaroslav the Wise dies and Rus breaks up
1237
The Mongols invade Russia
1240
The Mongols capture Kyiv
1242
The Principality of Novgorod defeats the Teutonic Knights
1263
Daniel becomes Prince of Moscow, which expands its territory
1326
The Metropolitan moves to Moscow
1359-1389
Dmitry Donoskoy increases Russia’s territory
1389-1425
Vasily takes more territory
1449
The Russian Orthodox Church splits from the Greek Orthodox Church
1480
The Tartars (descendants of the Mongols) lose their grip on Russia
1547
Ivan the Terrible takes power in Russia
1554-56
Ivan conquers Astrakhan
1563
The printing press is introduced in Russia
1565
Ivan forms a private army called the Oprichnina
1570
Novgorod is sacked
1582
Ivan conquers the Khanate of Sibir
1584
Ivan dies
1601-03
Russia is struck by famine
1613
Michael Romanov becomes Tsar of Russia
1667
Russia takes most of Ukraine
1689
The border between Russia and China is fixed
1694
Peter the Great takes power in Russia
1703-1712
Peter builds St Petersburg
1709
The Swedes invade Ukraine but are defeated at the battle of Poltava
1721
The Russians and Swedes make peace. Russia takes Estonia.
1724
The Russian Academy of Sciences is founded
1725-1727
Catherine I is the first woman to rule the Russian Empire
1730-1740
Anna Ivanova is Empress of Russia
1741
Elizabeth seizes power
1755
The first Russian university is founded
1762
Catherine the Great seizes power in Russia
1772-95
Russia takes parts of Poland
1773-74
Pugachev leads a rebellion
1783
Russia takes the Crimea
1801
Tsar Paul is assassinated
1809
Russia captures Finland
1812
Napoleon invades the Russian Empire
1825
The Decemberists lead a rebellion that fails
1853-56
The Russian Empire fights the Crimean War
1861
Serfdom is abolished in the Russian Empire
1881
The Tsar is assassinated
1890
The Russian Empire begins to industrialize
1904-05
The Russian Empire fights Japan and loses
1905
The trans-Siberian railway is completed. Strikes and demonstrations sweep the Russian Empire after troops open fire on marchers on 22 January 1905. The Tsar is forced to call an elected assembly called a Duma.
1914
The Russian army is badly defeated at Tannenberg
1916
Rasputin is assassinated
1917
In March the Tsar abdicates and Kerensky becomes prime minister. In November the Communists lead a revolution.
1918-1921
Civil War in Russia between Reds and Whites
1924
Lenin dies
1928
Stalin becomes the dictator of the Soviet Union (successor to the Russian Empire)
1929
Trotsky is banished from the Soviet Union
1934
Stalin begins a series of purges in which millions of innocent people die
1937-38
Stalin purges the Red Army
1939
Stalin signs a non-aggression pact with Hitler. The Soviet Union invades Poland from the east. The Soviet Union also invades Finland.
1940
The Soviet annexes Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia
1941
Germany invades the Soviet Union
1943
The Soviet Union wins the battles of Stalingrad and Kursk
1945
The Red Army captures Berlin
1953
Stalin dies
1956
Nikita Khrushchev becomes the leader of the Soviet Union. He denounces Stalin.
1957
The Soviet Union launches the first satellite
1961
Yuri Gagarin is the first man in space
1964
Khrushchev is deposed and replaced by Brezhnev
1970s
Consumer goods become more common in the Soviet Union
1980s
The Soviet economy stagnates
1986
There is an explosion at a nuclear power plant at Chernobyl
1987
Gorbachev relaxes censorship
1991
Hard-line Communists attempt a coup but fail. Communism ends and the Soviet Union breaks up.
2000
The Russian economy begins to recover
2022 Russia invades Ukraine
