History Of Russia

Prehistory

45,000 BCE

The first human settlement on the territory of Russia dates back to the Oldowan period in the early Lower Paleolithic. The first trace of Homo sapiens on the large expanse of Russian territory dates back to 45,000 years - in central Siberia (Ust'-Ishim man). During the prehistoric eras the vast steppes of Southern Russia were home to tribes of nomadic pastoralists.

Antiquity

500

In the later part of the 8th century BCE, Greek merchants brought classical civilization to the trade emporiums in Tanais and Phanagoria. In the second millennium BC, the territories between the Kama and the Irtysh Rivers were the home of a Proto-Uralic-speaking population that had contacts with Proto-Indo-European speakers from the south. A Turkic people, the Khazars, ruled the lower Volga basin steppes between the Caspian and Black Seas through to the 8th century.

Early History

1100

Some of the ancestors of the modern Russians were the Slavic tribes, whose original home is thought by some scholars to have been the wooded areas of the Pripet Marshes. By the end of the 10th century, the minority Norse military aristocracy had merged with the native Slavic population, which also absorbed Greek Christian influences in the course of the multiple campaigns to loot Tsargrad, or Constantinople. The invading Mongols accelerated the fragmentation of the Rus'.

Grand Duchy of Moscow

1283

Daniil Aleksandrovich, the youngest son of Alexander Nevsky, founded the principality of Moscow (known as Muscovy in English), which first cooperated with and ultimately expelled the Tatars from Russia. In the 15th century, the grand princes of Moscow continued to consolidate Russian land to increase their population and wealth. Under Ivan III, the first central government bodies were created in Russia - Prikaz.

Tsardom of Russia

1547

The development of the Tsar's autocratic powers reached a peak during the reign of Ivan IV, known as "Ivan the Terrible". The death of Ivan's childless son Feodor was followed by a period of civil wars and foreign intervention known as the Time of Troubles. In February 1613, after the chaos and expulsion of the Poles from Moscow, a national assembly, composed of representatives from 50 cities and even some peasants, elected Michael Romanov, the young son of Patriarch Filaret, to the throne.

Russian Empire (1)

1721

Much of Russia's expansion occurred in the 17th century, culminating in the first Russian colonisation of the Pacific in the mid-17th century, the Russo-Polish War that incorporated left-bank Ukraine, and the Russian conquest of Siberia. Peter the Great (1672–1725) brought centralized autocracy into Russia and played a major role in bringing his country into the European state system. Catherine II, "the Great" (1762–1796), was a German princess who married the German heir to the Russian crown.

Russian Empire (2)

1825

Russian emperors of the 18th century professed the ideas of Enlightened absolutism. By the time of her death in 1796, Catherine's expansionist policy had made Russia a major European power. Following the defeat of Napoleon, Alexander I was willing to discuss constitutional reforms, and though a few were introduced, no thoroughgoing changes were attempted.

Russian Revolution

1918

The tsar and the aristocracy fell on 2 March, as Nicholas II abdicated. To fill the vacuum of authority, the Duma declared a Provisional Government, headed by Prince Lvov, which was collectively known as the Russian Republic. After many behind-the-scenes maneuvers, the soviets seized control of the government in November 1917 and drove Kerensky and his moderate provisional government into exile, in the events that would become known as the October Revolution.

Soviet Union

1922

The period from the consolidation of the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917 until 1921 is known as the period of war communism. Land, all industry, and small businesses were nationalized, and the money economy was restricted. The Soviet Union officially ended on 25 December 1991, and the Russian Federation (formerly the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic) took power on 26 December.

Russian Federation

1991

Although Yeltsin came to power on a wave of optimism, he never recovered his popularity after endorsing Yegor Gaidar's "shock therapy" of ending Soviet-era price controls, drastic cuts in state spending, and an open foreign trade regime in early 1992. In 2000, the new acting president defeated his opponents in the presidential election on 26 March and won in a landslide four years later.