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SHORT HISTORY OF RUSSIA. SHORT HISTORY OF RUS. HISTORY OF RUSSIA. HISTORY OF RUS.
Main Events
Rulers
Fighting for power
Laws, politics, economics
Rebellions and Revolutions
WARS
Wars: Russia-Sweden-Finnish relations
Wars: West, North-West, South-West
Wars: Russian-Turkish wars
Wars: South borders and Mongol invasions
Wars: Eastern frontier
Society structure and classes
Literature
Religions
Technology and Science
800-899 900-999 1000-1099 1100-1199 1200-1299 1300-1399 1400-1499 1500-1599 1600-1699 1700-1799 1800-1899 1900-1999
9 century: Main events      to top table 10 century: Main events      to top table 11 century: Main events      to top table 12 century: Main events      to top table 13 century: Main events      to top table 14 century: Main events      to top table 15 century: Main events      to top table 16 century: Main events      to top table 17 century: Main events      to top table 18 century: Main events      to top table 19 century: Main events      to top table 20 century: Main events      to top table
Main events In 9c Krivichi, Slovenes, Mary and Chud (Finnish and Slavic tribes) paid tribute to the Vikings coming from overseas. The tribes were not happy to pay these tributes. Fights and conflicts began. To stop the enmity Slavics called the Vikings to rule.
Vikings Prince Rurik and his brothers Sineus and Truvor agreed to come. Rurik started to reign in Novgorod, Sineus - in Beloozero, Truvor - in Izborsk.
From the Baltic to the Black Sea to Constantinople the trade route flowed from the Vikings to the Greeks. The first ancient Rus cities appeared along the river banks.
Trade in the northern part of the path was controlled by Novgorod , in the southern part was controlled by Kiev. Due to a more favorable geographical position Kiev had a power over the lands from the middle reaches of the Dnieper to Lake Ladoga.
«Khazar Kaganat» (the state located between the Black and Caspian seas, created by the nomadic Khazars) collected tribute from the East Slavic tribes.
The nomadic Pecheneg tribes (Pecheneg Horde) lived from the lower Volga to the mouth of the Danube. The Pecheneg Horde bordered on Rus, Byzantium, the Tsardom of Bulgaria and the Khazar Khaganate.
Pechenegs started systematic raids to these states.
The state Volga Bulgaria was created in the north of the Volga and the Kama at the end of the 9th century. It had military and trade rivalry with Kievan Rus.
Due to its favorable commercial location and fertile lands Bulgaria eventually became the most powerful state in the Middle and Lower Volga region.
The outstanding commander of ancient Rus Prince Svyatoslav fought with the Volga Bulgaria, the Khazar Kaganate, the Bulgarian Tsardom and Byzantium.
Svyatoslav established control over the upper course of the Volga.
He created the conditions for the revitalization of the trade route along the Volga by defeating Volga Bulgaria and defeating the Khazar Khanate,
The conquest of Tmutarakan and Surkela made it possible to use the trade route from North-Eastern Rus to Constantinople along the Don, bypassing Kiev.
This way conditions were created for the successful economic development of the Rus North-Eastern lands.
The Pecheneg Horde continued to inflict enormous damage to the resources of Rus. Pechenegs main goal was to seizure slaves, livestock and property.
In 10c under Vladimir, the Red Sun, Orthodox Christianity became the official state religion of Rus.
The adoption of Orthodox Christian religion strengthened the ties of Rus with Byzantium. The new faith helped Greek culture, science and art to spread among the Slavs. The Slavic alphabet was created.
With Yaroslav the Wise Rus has become one of the largest states in Europe and Kiev became one of the largest cities in the world.
Kiev was called the 2nd Constantinople. Yaroslav was called the Tsar similar to the Byzantine emperors.
In 1097 Princes had a congress in Lyubech. At this congress the rule «Everyone keeps his fatherland» was adopted. This stated the beginning of political fragmentation of the Old Rus state.
The feudal fragmentation, internal instability and the constant struggle of Princely groups for the Kiev throne started. Princes in Kiev were changing one after another.
Siblings, uncles, and nephews became participants in internecine wars. They were killing each other struggling for power.
From the 11th to the 13th century the Polovtsy (the nomadic people of Turkic origin, who occupied the territory of the Great Prairies from the Danube to the Irtysh) became a serious political opponent of Ancient Rus.
The Polovtsy defeated the tribes of the Pechenegs and Turks. They constantly raided the Rus lands.
The disintegration of Kievan Rus led to the formation of principalities. The numerous descendants of Yaroslav the Wise were fighting for Kiev power.
Bloody feuds and Princely raids ravaged cities and villages. This was the cause of popular unrest and invasions of militant nomads.
In 1108 the Grand Prince Vladimir Monomakh (the grandson of Yaroslav) founded Vladimir city as the new center of the North-Eastern Rus.
In the middle of the 12th century Andrei Bogolyubsky (the grandson of Vladimir Monomakh) moved the capital of Rus to Vladimir city. Vladimir was located between Kiev (the southern center of Rus) and Ladoga (the Northern center of Rus).
The completion of the state formation of Rus predetermined the transfer of its center into the interior of the country.
It changed the role of Southern Kievan Rus. After for almost four centuries (9-12th centuries) Southern Kievan Rus stopped to be a focus of the historical development of Rus. And for almost next four centuries (12-17th centuries) was cut off from the center of Rus (first by Mongols, then by Lithuania and Poland).
From 1136 Novgorod became a republic ( Mr. Novgorod the Great ). Novgorod state administration was carried out using the system of veche bodies.
At the end of the 12th century Galitsky-Volyn principality was formed in the south-west by combining the Galitsky and Volyn principalities.
Galicia-Volyn principality was one of the largest principalities during the collapse of Kievan Rus.
At the beginning of the 13th century a huge army of Genghis Khan devastated Asia and Transcaucasia. In 1223 the Mongolian army defeated the combined forces of the Slavic Princes and Polovtsy on the Kalka river.
The army of Batu (the grandson of Chinggis Khan) defeated the troops of the Rus Princes in the east of Rus and in 1240 conquered Kiev. In 1243 Baty founded the state of the Mongol-Tatars Golden Horde and imposed a tribute to the Rus lands. The state was located in the lower reaches of the Volga.
This period is known in Rus history as the Mongol-Tatar yoke. Rus Princes could obtain the power over their lands only with the approval of the Khans of the Golden Horde.
Rus couldn't stand against Mongol-Tatars because of feudal fragmentation, Princely feuds and lack of political and military unity.
Mongol-Tatars did not reach Novgorod. Novgorod became the main custodian of Old Rus culture after the collapse of Kievan Rus.
In the 13th century German knights and Swedish feudal lords also began to make raids on Rus.
German Crusader Knights invaded the Baltic States after the Vatican proclaimed a crusade against the Northwest. Livonian Order was created. After strengthening their power in the Baltic States the knights turned their aggression against Novgorod and Rus.
At the North Swedish feudal lords laid claim to the territory of Novgorod and sought to conquer the Baltic coast.
Prince Alexander defeated the Swedes in 1240 at Neva river and became known as Alexander Nevsky. In 1242 Alexander army defeated the Livonian Order (Ice Battle).
From the beginning of the 14th century through the efforts of Ivan Kalita and his heirs Moscow as a new center of Rus principalities began to take shape.
By the end of the 14th century Moscow Rus openly opposed the Mongol-Tatar Horde. In 1380 Prince Dmitry defeated the army of Khan Mamai on Kulikovo Field.
In the 14th century a strong state of Grand Duchy of Lithuania appeared in Europe. The Grand Prince Gediminas were the founders of Lithuania.
Smolensk, Pskov, Galitsko-Volynsk and Kiev principalities became dependent on Lithuania. Many Rus lands joined Lithuania, seeTsar to find protection from the Mongol-Tatars.
In 1362 the Grand Duchy of Lithuania seized Kiev and cut off Kiev from the center of Rus. The independent Ukrainian nationality began to form with its own language and culture.
Until the end of the 14th century Rus regions within the Lithuanian principality did not experience national-religious oppression.
During the reign of Ivan 3 Moscow Rus gathered the Rus lands into a single state. Ivan 3 had the role of liberator from the Tatar-Mongolian yoke.
The end of vassal dependence on the Horde was «standing on the Ugra» in 1480. Soon after this the Great Horde was defeated by the Crimean Khanate and lost its independence.
Ivan 3 was the first of the Rus Princes to take the title «Sovereign of All Russia», and introduced the term «Russia».
Ivan 3 got the nickname «Great».
The new symbol of the country was double-headed eagle, the same as state symbol of Byzantium and the Holy Roman Empire. Ivan's 3rd wife, Sophia Paleolog, was the niece of the last Byzantine emperor. Russia was promoting the idea of the continuity of power from Byzantium.
In the 15th century Kazan (on the territory of the former Volga Bulgaria), the Astrakhan and Siberian Khanates separated from the Golden Horde.
The Moscow Princes tried to establish control over Kazan and Astrakhan.
At the beginning of the 16th century the Kazan Khanate entered into an alliance with the Muslim Crimea and Turkey, becoming an implacable opponent of the Moscow state.
In 1552 Ivan 4 the Terrible conquered the Kazan. In 1556 his army conquered the Astrakhan Khanate. In 1582-1598 the Siberian Khanate was conquered. Gradually other Islamic states were annexed to Orthodox Tsarist Russia by military means.
After the conquest of Kazan Russia wanted to gain access to the Baltic Sea. It put forward plans for the capture of Livonia. In 1561 the Livonian Order passed under the protectorate of Lithuania and Poland. Now Russia had to contend with a much stronger opponent. In 1569 Poland and Lithuania merged into the Commonwealth (Lublin Union).
After the Union of Lublin in 1569 South territories of Grand Duchy of Lithuania (the territory of modern Ukraine) passed to Poland. It strengthened the process of separation between Ukranian and Belorus nationalities.
Russia was defeated in the 25-year-old Livonian War without getting access to the Baltic Sea. The consequence of the Livonian war was the extremely difficult situation of Russia. The country was devastated.
In 1571 Moscow was burned by the army of the Crimean Khan Devlet-Girey. In the next 1572 the 120,000-strong Crimean-Turkish army was destroyed by Russia. It was the end to the many-century struggle between Russia and Khanate on the South.
With the death in 1598 of the son of Ivan the Terrible, Fedor, the dynasty of Rurikovich was interrupted. The Time of Troubles began.
The beginning of the 17th century was the «Time of Troubles» for Russia. It was characterized by: the unstable reign of Boris Godunov, the reign of Pretenders (False) Dmitry First and Dmitry Second, the invasions of the Polish gentry, the accession in 1613 of the new Romanov dynasty.
In the reign of Mikhail Romanov Russian expeditions began the development of Eastern Siberia, Russia went to the Pacific Ocean.
17century is known in history as the «Rebel century». The reasons for rebellions: instability, frequent changes of power, impoverishment of the population and economic backwardness.
The most famous riots were: Salt and Copper riots in Moscow, riots in Novgorod and Pskov, Stepan Razin uprising, Streltsy riot or «Khovanshchina».
The other very important event of the middle of 17century was the church reform of Patriarch Nikon. Nikon introduced many reforms which eventually led to a lasting schism known as Raskol in the Russian Orthodox Church. The groups rejecting the liturgical changes referred to as Old Believers. The Old Believers movement was cruely suppressed.
An important event for the further development of the state was the unification of Russia and Ukraine in 1654. As result of this was the close interaction of the culture of the Slavic peoples
At the end of the 16th century - the middle of the 17th century serfdom took shape in Russia .
Peter the Great ruled the Tsardom of Russia and later the Russian Empire from 1682 until his death in 1725, jointly ruling before 1696 with his elder half-brother, Ivan V.
Under Peter 1st (Peter the Great) radical reforms took place in the Russian state. With his transformations Peter 1st wanted to change Russia according to European style. The army, state administration, education system were modernized.
As a result of Northern War Russia returned the Russian lands seized by Sweden at the end of the 16th century. After Russia's victory over Sweden Peter 1 was proclaimed as the first Russian emperor. Under Peter 1st an absolute monarchy was established. The church began depend from the state.
The city St. Petersburg was founded at the mouth of the Neva. In 1712 the capital of Russia was moved to St. Petersurg.
Under Peter 1st rule the Vedomosti newspaper was published in Russia. From January 1st, 1700 a new calendar was introduced - starting this year the new year began in January (before that the year was counted from September 1st). Schools were opened: mathematical and navigational sciences, medical, engineering.
After Peter the Great began the Era of Palace Coups. It covered the period of Russian history between the reign of Peter the Great and Catherine the Great defined by rulers overthrowing each other from the throne with the help of elite palace guard.
Anna Ioanovna rule: some reforms were carried out such as the reform of the army, the Senate, the fleet, and others. The Office of Secret Investigation Affairs was established.
Elizaveta Petrovna continued the policy of her father, Peter the Great. Elizabeth conducted a population census, abolished customs duties within the country, conducted tax reform, expanded the rights of the nobility. Moscow University was founded .
The second enlightened monarch reformer of 18century after Peter the great was Catherine 2 (Catherine the Great). She carried out the provincial, judicial reforms, strengthened the army, navy, strengthened the bureaucracy, increased the exploitation of serfs.
Under Empress Catherine the Great, the conquest of America began. Russia conquered from Turkey access to the Black Sea.
The growth of the privileges of the nobility in the 2nd half of the 18th century and their actual release from compulsory service led to a tightening of serfdom.
In 1809 Russia seized the Swedish-owned Finland , which became part of the Russian Empire. In 1812 the Patriotic War with Napoleon , who declared himself emperor of France, began.
After the victory in the Patriotic War, a campaign of the Russian army took place, which liberated the European countries from the domination of Napoleon. After the end of the war revolutionary ideas that had penetrated into Russia in 1825 turned into a failed Decembrist uprising.
Fearing new uprisings, the state tightened control over the country's political, economic, and cultural life. Russia was called «The gendarme of Europe.»
After the Decembrist uprising, Nicholas 1st did not trust the nobility, and the officials became the ruling class. As a result the number of officials increased 6 times. In the course of long wars with the mountaineers in 19century Russia annexed the Caucasus. The territories of Central Asia were also annexed (Bukhara and Khiva Khanates, Kazakh zhuz).
In 1861 under Emperor Alexander 2nd serfdom was abolished in Russia. There were also a number of liberal reforms that accelerated the modernization of the country. These reforms radically changed society and were called the «revolution from above.»
Since the authorities feared the weakening of the foundations of autocracy, the reforms were not completed. Bureaucratic centralism was preserved, the agrarian question was not resolved, the constitution was not adopted, there were no legislative power or political parties.
The 70s of the 19th century were the period of the emergence of ideas about the revolutionary struggle. After the assassination of Alexander 2nd, Alexander 3rd ascended the throne, who during his reign did not conduct a single war, for which he was called «Peacemaker».
His task was to strengthen the economy and the development of large industrial enterprises. Alexander 3st developed a new «hard» course in all areas of public life, limiting the freedom of the press and the democratic nature of local self-government.
The period 1881-1917 was not only a reaction time, but also the spread of Marxism in Russia and formation of revolutionary parties: of the Russian Social-Democratic Workers Party (RSDLP) and the Socialist Revolutionary Party (SRs).
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries Russia began to actively explore the Far East, which caused Japan’s concern. In the course of Russian-Japanese War Russia was defeated due to the lack of modern technical equipment and incompetence of senior officers.
In 1914 Russia entered the 1st World War. The February Revolution of 1917 put an end to the monarchy: Tsar Nicholas 2nd abdicated the throne, power passed to the Provisional Government. After the October Revolution of 1917 the Russian Soviet Republic was proclaimed in . The Soviet Republic began to liquidate private property and nationalize it.
The Soviet Republic signed piece agreement with Germany to stop the war. The peace agreement with Germany cost the loss of Ukraine, the Baltic states, Poland, parts of Belarus and ~ 90 tons of gold, and served as one of the causes of the civil war. In March 1918 the Soviet government moved from Petrograd to Moscow, fearing the Germans would seize the city.
In 1922, USSR (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Transcaucasian Federation) was formed. In 1921–1929, the New Economic Policy ( NEP ) was carried out. In the 1930s Stalin carried out a «purge» of the party apparatus. A labor camp system was established ( GULag).
In 1939–1940 Western Belorussia, Western Ukraine, Moldavia, Western Karelia, and the Baltic states were annexed by the USSR.
In 1941 the surprise attack of Nazi Germany began the Great Patriotic War. The Second World War ended with the capture of Berlin in May 1945 and the surrender of Germany.
As a result of the war with Japan in 1945 South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands became part of Russia.
As a result of the Great Patriotic War the countries of Eastern Europe (Hungary, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, the GDR) fell into the Soviet zone of influence. Relations with the West have dramatically escalated.
The «cold war» began - the confrontation between the West and the countries of the socialist camp, which reached its peak in 1962. Then the intensity of the conflict gradually subsided, there was some progress in relations with the West, in particular, an agreement on economic cooperation with France was signed.
In the 70s the confrontation of the USSR and the USA weakened. Agreements on the limitation of strategic nuclear weapons were concluded.
The second half of the 70s was called the «era of stagnation» , when, with relative stability, the USSR gradually lagged behind the advanced countries of the West in terms of technology.
When Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in 1985, the Soviet Union declared the policy of restructuring, to solve problems in the social sphere and social production, and also to avoid the impending economic crisis caused by the arms race.
However this policy led to a deepening crisis, the collapse of the USSR and the transition to capitalism. In 1991 the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) was created, which included the RSFSR, Ukraine and Belarus.
9 century: The rulers      to top table 10 century: The rulers      to top table 11 century: The rulers      to top table 12 century: The rulers      to top table 13 century: The rulers      to top table 14 century: The rulers      to top table 15 century: The rulers      to top table 16 century: The rulers      to top table id="P17"17 century: The rulers      to top table 18 century: The rulers      to top table 19 century: The rulers      to top table 20 century: The rulers      to top table
The rulers KIEV RUS VLADIMIR-SUZDAL RUS (VLADIMIR IS CAPITAL STARTING 1157) MOSCOW RUSSIA (CAPITAL OF RUSSIA FROM 1547 TO 1712 AND FROM 1918 TO NOW)
862-879 The reign of Prince Rurik (Varyazhsky) in Novgorod.
Scientists do not know to what ethnic group belonged the family of Prince Rurik. None of the theories about its origin has yet been proved.
864 Beginning of the reign of Askold and Dir in Kiev (boyars (warriors) of the Prince of Novgorod Rurik).
879 Rurik died in military campaign. «Prophetic» Oleg (Prince Rurik relative, regent over young Igor Rurikovich) became Novgorod Prince.
882 Prince Oleg's campaign from Novgorod to Kiev. Kiev became the capital of the ancient Russian state. The murder of Kievan Princes Askold and Dir by Oleg.
882-912 Prince Oleg was ruling in Kievan Rus and died in military campaign.
912-945 Igor 1 Rurikovich «Old». Killed by the Drevlyane when collecting tribute.
945-964 The reign of his wife Princess Olga. Olga brutally avenged the death of her husband, Prince Igor, and forced the Drevlians into submission. She was appointed as a regent of their young son Svyatoslav. One of the most important actions of Princess Olga was her baptism in Constantinople in ~ 955. In 1547 Princess Olga was canonized.
964-972 Svyatoslav 1 Igorevich «the Great». Got the throne after the death of his mother, Princess Olga. Killed by the Pechenegs while returning from the Bulgarian campaign.
970-977 Oleg Svyatoslavich. Prince Drevlyansky.
972-978 Yaropolk Svyatoslavich. Got the power by the order of his father. Killed by brother Vladimir's vigilantes.
978-1015 Vladimir 1 Svyatoslavich «Red Sun». He seized the throne in a war against his brother Yaropolk. He died of his own death in Kiev.
1015-1016 1018-1019 Svyatopolk Vladimirovich 1 «Cursed». Captured power after the death of his father. Kicked out of Kiev by the troops of Yaroslav Vladimirovich.
1016-1018 1019-1054 Novgorod Prince Yaroslav 1 Vladimirovich «Wise» . He entered Kiev after his brother's escape. The division of Russia between his sons. Triumvirate of Yaroslavichi.
1054-1068 1069-1073 Izyaslav 1 Yaroslavovich. He received the throne by inheritance. He fled to Poland after the Kiev uprising in 1068.
1068-1069 Vseslav 1 «Wizard». Kiev people helped him to seize the power.
1073-1076 Svyatoslav 2 Yaroslavovich. He captured Kiev from Izyaslav with the help of his brother Vsevolod.
1076-1077 Vsevolod 1 Yaroslavovich «Peaceable.» He ascended the throne after the death of his brother Svyatoslav. Gave power to brother Izyaslav.
1077-1078 Izyaslav received reign (again) from his younger brother Vsevolod. Died in the battle on Nezhatinoy Niva.
1078-1093 Vsevolod 1 Yaroslavovich. Re-took the throne after the death of his brother Izyaslav. He died from a long illness.
1093-1113 Svyatopolk 2 Izyaslavich. He took the throne at the invitation of Vladimir Monomakh. He died from the disease.
1113-1125 Vladimir 2 Monomakh Vsevolodovich, in Kiev.
1125-1132 Mstislav Vladimirovich, in Kiev. The beginning of the collapse of Kievan Rus after the death of Mstislav Vladimirovich.
1149-1150 Yuri Vladimirovich Dolgoruky.
1157-1174 Prince Andrei «Bogolyubsky» (son of Yuri Dolgoruky) reign in He was killed in 1174.
1176-1212 Vsevolod «Big Nest» (son of Yuri Dolgoruky) reign in Vladimir-Suzdal (had 12 children).
1199 Unification of Volyn and Galitsky principalities.
1212-1216 1218-1238 Yuri 2 Vsevolodovich.
1216-1218 Konstantin Vsevolodovich «Kind».
1238-1246 Yaroslav Vsevolodovich - Prince of Pereyaslavl, Grand Prince of Kiev (1236-1238, 1243-1246), Grand Prince of Vladimir (1238-1246), Prince of Novgorod.
1246–1247 Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich.
1247–1248 Mikhail Yaroslavovich «Brave».
1249–1252 Andrey Yaroslavovich.
1252-1263 Alexander Yaroslavovich Nevsky.
1263-1272 Yaroslav 3 Yaroslavovich.
1272-1276 Vasily Yaroslavovich Kostroma.
1276-1281 1283-1294 Dmitry Alexandrovich Pereyaslavsky.
1281-1283 1293-1304 Andrey Alexandrovich «Gorodetsky».
1328-1341 Ivan 1 Daniilovich Kalita.
1341-1353 Simeon Ivanovich «Proud».
1353-1359 Ivan 2 Ivanovich «Merciful».
1359-1363 Dmitry Konstantinovich Suzdal, great grandson of Andrey Yaroslavich.
1363-1389 Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy.
1363 Approval of Dmitry Ivanovich at the Grand Duchy of Vladimir.
1389-1425 Vasily 1 Dmitrievich.
1425-1433 Vasily 2 Vasilyevich «The Dark».
1433-1434 Yury Dmitrievich Zvenigorodsky (Yury Galitsky), brother of Vasily Dmitrievich.
1434-1462 Vasily 2 Vasilyevich «The Dark».
1462-1505 Ivan 3 Vasilyevich «The Great».
1505-1533 Vasily 3 Ivanovich.
1533-1538 Elena Glinskaya.
1533-1537 The beginning of reign of Ivan 4 Vasilyevich «Terrible».
1538-1547 Boyar rule.
1547-1584 In 1547, upon reaching adulthood, Ivan was crowned Tsar of All Russia. Before him all rulers of Muscovy were Grand Princes. Ivan was the first to appoint himself tsar, «Caesar», in the European tradition of «emperor», whose power comes directly from God.
1584-1598 Fyodor Ivanovich «The Blessed».
The End of the Rurik Dynasty.
1598-1605 Boris Fedorovich Godunov.
Before 1613 Start of Time of Troubles.
April-June 1605 Fedor Borisovich Godunov.
1605-1606 False Dmitry 1.
1606-1610 Vasily 4 Shuisky.
1610-1613 Seven Boyars.
1613-1645 1st Tsar of the dynasty Romanovs - Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov.
1645-1676 Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov «Tishayshy» (most quiet).
1676-1682 Fedor Alekseevich Romanov.
1682-1696 Ivan 5 Alekseevich Romanov.
1682-1725 Peter 1 Alekseevich the Great.
1725-1727 Catherine 1 Alekseevna (wife of Peter 1).
1727-1730 Peter 2 Alekseevich (grandson of Peter 1 - 12-year-old son of Tsarevich Alexei).
1730-1740 Anna Ioanovna (Peter's niece 1 - came from Kurland).
1740-1741 Ivan 6 Antonovich (3-month-old nephew of Anna Ioannovna).
1741-1761 Elizaveta Petrovna (daughter of Peter 1).
1761-1762 Peter 3 Fedorovich (grandson of Peter 1, son of Anna Petrovna).
1762-1796 Catherine 2 Alekseevna (Peter's wife 3).
1796-1801 Pavel 1 Petrovich.
1801-1825 Alexander 1 Pavlovich. 1825-1855 Nikolai 1 Pavlovich.
1855-1881 Alexander 2 Nikolaevich.
1881-1894 Alexander 3 Aleksandrovich.
1894-1917 Nikolai 2 Aleksandrovich.
March-July 1917 Lvov Georgy Evgenievich.
July-November 1917 Kerensky Alexander Fedorovich.
1917-1924 Ulyanov ( Lenin ) Vladimir Ilyich.
1924-1953 Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich.
1953-1964 Khrushchev Nikita Sergeevich.
1964-1982 Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev.
1982-1984 Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov.
1984-1985 Chernenko Konstantin Ustinovich.
1985-1991 Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeevich.
1991-1999 Boris Yeltsin.
since 1999 Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich.
9 century: Fighting for power      to top table 10 century: Fighting for power      to top table 11 century: Fighting for power      to top table 12 century: Fighting for power      to top table 13 century: Fighting for power      to top table 14 century: Fighting for power      to top table 15 century: Fighting for power      to top table 16 century: Fighting for power      to top table 17 century: Fighting for power      to top table 18 century: Fighting for power      to top table 19 century: Fighting for power      to top table 20 century: Fighting for power      to top table
Fighting for power 860 Varyags (Normans) Askold and Dir, two warriors Rurik, led a campaign against Constantinople. On the their way to Constantinople they stopped in the city of Kiev, on the bank of the Dnieper. They helped the people of Kiev to free themselves from the power of the Khazars, gained a strong military support and established their power in Kiev.
882 Oleg approached Kiev in order to conquer the south. Oleg fighters presented themselfes as merchants. Askold and Dir came to meet them with no guardians. Oleg fighters rushed at Askold and Dir. «- You are not Princes and not a Princely family. Here is son of Rurik »- and Oleg pointed to little Igor. Oleg's warriors killed Axold and Dir.
972-978 Civil strife of the sons of Svyatoslav Igorevich - after the death of the Prince he had three sons who had the right to inheritance. The rules of inheritance from father to eldest son did not exist then. Yaropolk Svyatoslavich - received power in Kiev; Oleg Svyatoslavich - the territory of Drevlyan; Vladimir Svyatoslavich - Novgorod, and later - Kiev.
Vladimir and Oleg wanted to get complete independence from Kiev. They made the first campaigns against each other.
Yaropolk attacked Oleg, who was not prepared. Drevlyane, along with his Prince, were forced to retreat.
As a result, during the retreat, Prince Oleg died. Drevlyans began to obey Kiev. Prince Vladimir, having learned about the death of his brother and the outbreak of family strife, fled to the Varangians.
970e Vladimir returned to Russia with the Varangian army. As a result of the battles with the troops of Yaropolk, Vladimir managed to recapture Novgorod, Polotsk and moved towards Kiev.
One of the advisers of Yaropolk (the traitor) persuaded the Prince to leave Kiev and hide in the city of Rodna. On the way he was killed by two Varangian warriors.
Vladimir (1 Svyatoslavich «Red Sun») became a Prince in Kiev and ruled there until his death.
1015 Vladimir («Red Sun») died in 1015 without leaving the rule of inheritance.
The adopted nephew of Vladimir Svyatopolk seized power.
The son of Vladimir Boris was brutally murdered by Svyatoslav on the Alta River when he was returning from a hike with the Pechenegs.
After the murder of Boris Svyatopolk called his brother Gleb to Kiev and killed him (he was scared for Gleb revenge).
Boris and Gleb are canonized.
1015-1019 The war began between the sons of St. Vladimir («The Red Sun») - the struggle for power between Svyatopolk and Yaroslav («The Wise»).
1016 Yaroslav at the head of the 3,000-strong Novgorod army and Varangian troops moved against Svyatopolk, who called for help from the Pechenegs. Two troops met on the Dnieper near Lyubech, and for three months neither side risked crossing the river. Finally it was done by the Novgorodians, who got the victory. Yaroslav became Grand Prince of Kiev.
1018 A battle on the Bug River: Svyatopolk with the Polish Tsar Boleslav (father-in-law) opposed Yaroslav. Yaroslav was defeated, and Svyatopolk began to rule in Kiev.
1019 Jaroslav returned to Novgorod and gathered a new army.
The army of Yaroslav ("Wise") defeated the army of Svyatopolk on Alto.
Svyatopolk gave way to Yaroslav and fled to the Pechenegs.
Yaroslav («The Wise») began to rule in Russia, uniting under his rule Kiev and Chernihiv side of the Dnieper, when his brother Mstislav died in Chernihiv without heirs.
At the insistence of Yaroslav Svyatopolk («Cursed») is cursed by the Christian Church.
Yaroslav in advance established the order of power inheritance: from senior to junior.
1125 According to the rule of inheritance by Vladimir Monomakh, his son Yury Dolgoruky received Rostov and Suzdal.
Yuri was the seventh in the line of inheritance. The ambitious Rostov-Suzdal Prince was not pleased with this prospect.
Yuri Dolgoruky joined the internecine struggle, which struck all of Russia after the death of Monomakh.
Yuri Dolgoruky twice drove his nephews out of Kiev and became the Grand Prince, but in 1157 he was poisoned by the Kiev boyars. The son of Yuri Andrei Bogolyubsky in the last years of his father’s life reigned in Vladimir-Zalessky.
After the death of Yuri Dolgoruky Andrei became the sole ruler of Rostov, Vladimir and Suzdal and also began to claim the great reign. It was he who made North-Western Russia truly independent of Kiev.
During the reign of Vsevolod the Great Nest Great the principality of Vladimir reached the highest power.
1169 Twelve Princes appealed for help to Andrei Bogolyubsky against the rule of Mstislav Izyaslavich in Kiev. Andrei Bogolyubsky sent warriors, led by his son Mstislav Andreevich. Kiev was taken (burned) , and the Prince was replaced.
1211 Question of succession: the eldest son of Vsevolod Konstantin demanded authority over Vladimir and Rostov, and Yuriy should be given Suzdal.
Then Vsevolod deprived Constantine of the rights to a great reign in favor of Yuri: Yuri was appointed to Vladimir, and Constantine - to Rostov. This was the cause of the war between them after the death of Vsevolod.
In 1247 Prince Yaroslav, son of Vsevolod the Big Nest, died. The grand Prince's throne was inherited by his brother Svyatoslav. T he sons of Yaroslav longed for power- Alexander Nevsky and Andrei came to the Horde for a label to reign. As a result, Alexander received the great reign of Kiev and Novgorod , and Andrei - the Vladimir principality.
Alexander, desiring complete power, arrived at the Horde and reported that Andrei had hidden some of the tribute from him. As a result Mongolian troops moved into Russia, invaded Pereyaslavl-Zalessky and Galitsko-Volyn land. Andrei fled to Sweden.
1277 Alexander Nevsky's son Dmitry received the Vladimir principality.
But after 4 years his brother Andrei Gorodetsky received from Khan a label for reigning and drove Dmitry out of Vladimir. Between the brothers began a fierce struggle for reign.
1277-1294 In order to prevail over each other the brothers turned to the help of the Mongols. As a result during their reign 14 cities were destroyed.
Pereyaslavl passed to the youngest of the sons of Alexander Nevsky - Daniel of Moscow.
The southern and western regions of Russia became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. At the beginning of the 14th century the Grand Duchy of Lithuania became very powerful. Poland and Hungary got some of Kievan Rus lands.
Kiev lost its significance as a political center, and the Grand Prince Vladimirsky began to be recognized as the main Prince.
The struggle of the Moscow and Tver principalities for power began. In rivalry for power the Moscow principality won.
The population of Tver rebelled against the Horde. Moscow Prince Ivan Kalita united his forces with Khan against rebellions.
Brutal actions against Tver defended Ivan’s own principality.
The competent policy of Ivan Kalita and other Moscow Princes made Moscow the center of Russian lands.
Mid-14c In the Golden Horde, regular wars for the throne took place - «Great Jamming». From 1359 to 1380 more than 25 Khans changed on the Golden Horde throne, and many uluses tried to become independent. The territories subject to the Mongols also began to rebel.
In the period of the «Great Jamming» Dmitry Donskoy was able to defend the rights of the Russian Princes on Kulikovo Field and achieve independence.
In the period from 1380 to 1382 Russian Princes did not pay tribute.
The next ruler of the horde, Tokhtamysh, achieved the restoration of the payment of the tribute. Tokhtamysh united the White and Blue Hordes, forming the Golden Horde, and launched a massive military punitive campaign against the Russian principalities between 1381 and 1382, restoring Turco-Mongol power in Russia after the defeat in the Battle of Kulikovo.
1391-1396 Tamerlane, the Central Asian ruler, struck Tokhtamysh. The battle between the two Mongol rulers played a key role in the decline of the Mongol power over early Russian principalities.
1425 The reign of Vasily 2 Vasilyevich began in Moscow. His guardian became Vitovt, Grand Prince of Lithuania. He defended his heir from the claims of Yuriy Galitsky.
1425 Pskov came under the rule of Vitovt, Grand Prince of Lithuania.
1430 After the death of Vitovt, an armed clash took place between Vasily 2 and his uncle, Yuri Dmitrievich Galitsky, who claimed the throne of Moscow.
1432 Novgorod came under the patronage of Svidrigailo, Grand Prince of Lithuania.
1433-1453 The feudal war began in the Moscow principality for the right to inherit. On one hand: Yuri Dmitrievich and his sons Vasily Kosoy and Dmitry Shemyaka. On the other hand: Yuri's brother Vasily 1 and his son Vasily 2.
1434 After the death of Yuriy Galitsky his sons Vasily Kosoy and Dmitry Shemyaka continued to fight with Vasily 2 for possession of Moscow.
1446 Dmitry Shemyaka captured Moscow and blinded Vasily 2 (Dark).
1448 With the help of Kasim Khan and Yakub Vasily 2 the Dark conquered Moscow from Dmitry Shemyaka.
1449 With the help of the supreme clergy of Vasily 2 the Dark forced Dmitry Shemyaka abandon claims to Moscow.
1450 Dmitry Shemyaka last time attacked Moscow. Vasily the Dark captured Galich. Shemyaka disappeared in Novgorod.
1453 Dmitry Shemyaka was poisoned in Novgorod.
1471 The 1st campaign of Ivan 3 against Novgorod took place (Shelon Battle).
1478 Veliky Novgorod lost its independence and was attached to Moscow.
During the infancy of Ivan the Terrible his mother, Elena Glinskaya, ruled the state. In 1538 she died suddenly and the power actually passed to the Boyar Duma. In 1547 Ivan 4 was crowned as Tsar.
1549-1560 Ivan 4 was ruling the state, relying on the informal government - the «Elected Rada». As a result of government reforms a centralized state with developed legislation and public institutions was created.
1553, 1560 After the betrayal of Sylvestre and Adashev during a serious illness on the verge of life and death in 1553, and after the death of his beloved wife Anastasia in 1560, Tsar Ivan 4 turned from a pious and wise monarch into a tyrant and unbridled ruler.
1575-1576 Ivan 4 unexpectedly abandoned the royal throne and put the baptized Tatar, Kasimov's Khan Simeon Bekbulatovich, as the Grand Prince in Moscow. In 1576, Ivan 4 returned to the royal throne (Karamzin in The History of the Russian State does not mention the fact of ruling of Simeon Bekbulatovich).
Ivan the Terrible had 4 children from his first marriage with Maria: Dmitry (died as a baby), Ivan (Ivan the Terrible was accused of his death in 1582, but there is no consensus), Evdokia and Fyodor (according to Ivan the Terrible are weak-willed and unfit for power). From the 2nd marriage with Maria, Vasily was born (died 2 months old).
The last son Dmitry was born from an illegal marriage with Maria Naga. In the Time of Troubles the name of Tsarevich Dmitry became a cover for many impostors.
Before his death Ivan 4 established the Regent Council among the most influential boyars to help Fedor. The death of Ivan the Terrible marked the beginning of a intense struggle for power among the boyars.
From 1587 (during the reign of Tsar Fedor Ioannych) power in the country was actually concentrated in the hands of boyar Boris Godunov.
The younger brother of Fyodor Dmitry was sent by Boris Godunov to Uglich in 1584. Dmitry, even if he was illegitimate son, was the direct heir of Ivan the Terrible and could become a competitor to the power-loving Boris Godunov . He died in Uglich in 1591. Popular rumor blamed Boris Godunov for this death, but there was no direct evidence.
1598 Zemsky Sobor voted to secure Boris Godunov’s right to reign.
The beginning of the 17th century is called in Russia «Time of Troubles». The population was unhappy with the rule of Boris Godunov. During his reign a three-year famine began, during which up to a third of the total population died.
1601 Under these conditions a young person appeared in Poland, posing as miraculously escaping Tsarevich Dmitry, - False Dmitry 1. Vasily Shuysky (boyar, the last descendant of Rurikovich), began to prepare a plan against False Dmitry 1.
1603-1604 Poland began preparations for the «return» of False Dmitry to the Russian throne. False Dmitriy promised to introduce Catholicism , to assist Sigismund III in the conflict with Sweden. To Poland he promised to give Smolensk and Seversk lands.
1605 After the death of Boris Godunov and the transfer of his army to the side of False Dmitry, Tsar Fedor 2 Borisovich was overthrown. The False Dmitry 1 entered Moscow and the next day he was crowned Tsar.
As a result of the boyar conspiracy, False Dmitry 1 was killed during the riot of the townspeople. The body was later burned and with dust fired from a cannon in the direction of Poland.
1606-1610 The second stage of the Troubles: Vasily Shuisky was brought to power by the boyars after the murder of False Dmitry 1. Shuisky lost control of the country - Swedes invited by Shuisky occupied the north-western regions of Russia, and the Polish Tsar Sigismund III officially attacked Russia, seizing Smolensk and attacking Moscow.
1607 A False Dmitriy 2 appeared, nicknamed the Tushino thief. Supported by the Poles and declaring himself miraculously survived False Dmitriy 1, he marched on Moscow.
1610 Lzhedmitry 2 was killed. Polish army , taking advantage of the complete collapse of power in Russia, in September entered Moscow . As a result of the conspiracy, Tsar Vasily Shuisky was overthrown, the Boyar Duma took over and the Seven Boyars (a group of 7 boyars) took over.
Seven Boyars promised the Poles not to elect a representative of the Russian clans to the royal throne.
Seven Boyars invited to the throne the Polish Prince Vladislav with the condition of his conversion to Orthodoxy.
1610 The Polish Tsar Sigismund III demanded that not his son Vladislav, but himself was recognized the Tsar of all Russia. The government of Seven Boyars secretly let the Polish troops into Moscow - this fact became an act of national treason.
1611 Several Russian cities were preparing a new revolt against the Poles. Nizhny Novgorod became one of the centers of the resistance movement – its residents were constantly meeting to decide how and when to rise against the occupiers.
1612 The people's militia (Narodnoe Opolcheniye) headed by K. Minin and Prince D. Pozharsky liberated the Moscow. Exhausted by siege and famine, the Polish garrison surrendered to the victors.
1613 Zemsky Sobor elected to reign Mikhail Romanov, son of the boyar Fedor Romanov, nephew of Ivan the Terrible's wife, tonsured as a monk under the name of Philaret. Philaret was elevated to the rank of Metropolitan of Rostov.
1682 After the death of Tsar Fedor (Mikhail Romanov -> Alexey Mikhailovich -> Fedor Alexeevich) a sharp struggle of two court parties began - of the Miloslavskys and the Naryshkins.
Alexey Mikhailovich + Miloslavskaya = son Fedor, son Ivan, daughter Sofia;
Alexey Mikhailovich + Naryshkina = son Peter;
1682 After the Streltsy revolt Ivan (weak health) was crowned as the «first» Tsar , and his stepbrother Peter - the «second» Tsar. But the real power was concentrated in the hands of the elder sister of Princess Sophia.
1689 The marriage of Peter (to Lopukhina) deprived Sophia of custody.
1698 Strelets riot: Sophia's supporters intended to bring her back to power. Riot was suppressed by Peter. After the execution the body of the archers hung at the walls of the Novodevichy Monastery in front of the windows of the Sofia cell.
1718 In the Trubetskoy Bastion of the Peter and Paul Fortress the son of Peter 1 (28 years old) Alexei died (or was killed).
The version exists that Peter the Great killed his son. Possible reasons: the reformer-Tsar Peter 1 feared that his son Aleksey could oppose Peter's radical transformations such as multiple reforms, long war and the flow of foreigners.
Peter 1 did not leave a clear Will, and after his death began the Epoch of palace coups. After the death of Peter 1 the Guards regiments led by Menshikov raised to the throne Catherine the Great (wife of Peter 1).
After the death of Catherine 1 the argument began again who will rule. The 12-year-old grandson of Peter 1 - Peter 2 - became the emperor. On the night before the planned wedding Peter 2 died of smallpox.
Again, the argument arose who will rule. They recalled Anna Ioanovna (the Duchess of Courland from the Baltic States) - Peter's niece 1 from his stepbrother Ivan. Dying, in October 1740, Anna Ioannovna appointed her great-nephew 3-month-old Ivan Antonovich as emperor.
Elizaveta Petrovna, 30-year-old daughter Peter 1, also claimed the throne.
November 25, 1741 Elizabeth, wearing a cuirass (armor), appeared at the barracks of the Preobrazhensky Guards. At the head of several hundred guards and her small group of conspirators, she advanced to the Winter Palace, where the sentries were bloodlessly captured or joined the conspirators.
Ivan Antonovich was sent to prison and sat there separately from his parents.
Elizabeth Petrovna had no children. As an heir she brought her nephew from Europe - her sister Anna Petrovna’s son. Karl-Peter-Ulrich arrived to Russia at the age of 14, and was baptized under the name Peter 3. Peter 3 became emperor after the death of Elizabeth.
June 1762 On the birthday of Peter 3 Catherine 2 (Peter’s wife 3, German thoroughbred, Princess of Anhalt-Zerbst) carried out a Guards coup in her own favor. She forced Peter 3 to sign a renunciation of the throne and sent him into exile where he died.
With the agreement of Catherine 2 a jailbreak of legal heir, Ivan Antonovich, was organized. He was killed while trying to escape.
Paul 1, the son of Catherine 2, was her unwanted son. On the day of Catherine's death the publication of the manifesto on the removal of Paul was expected to be announced. It is widely believed that while Paul was waiting for his arrest, Catherine's Will was destroyed.
Emperor Paul 1 came to the throne at the age of 42 years.
Paul 1 was killed as a result of a palace coup March 11, 1801. Paul did not yield to the demand of the conspirators to agree to the abdication of the throne.
Alexander 1, son of Paul 1, died unexpectedly, far from Petersburg, in Taganrog. He had no son, and the heir to the throne was his brother Constantine, who abdicated the throne (he was married to a simple noblewoman, and this could have caused him to abdicate the throne).
Nicholas 1 began to rule - the third son of Paul 1. Many of the Tsar’s contemporaries believed that he committed suicide under the influence of bad news about the course of the Crimean War.
Alexander 2, son of Nicholas 1, became emperor in 1855. He maintained a generally liberal course. Despite this, he was a target for numerous assassination attempts (1866, 1879, 1880). The most significant attempts to kill Alexander 2: the revolutionary terrorist Karakozov, teacher and member of the society «Earth and Freedom» Solovyov, an attempt to undermine the train, on which the emperor and his family members were traveling, the explosion in the Winter Palace.
In 1881 members of the Narodnaya Volya (People's Will) party killed him with a bomb. The first bomb was thrown under the horses of the emperor's carriage, the second bomb, wrapped in a napkin, was thrown under the emperor’s feet. The Emperor had earlier in the day signed the Loris-Melikov constitution, which would have created two legislative commissions made up of indirectly elected representatives, had it not been repealed by his reactionary successor Alexander 3.
1887 Alexander 3, son of Alexander 2, was assassinated by a group of St. Petersburg students, called the Terrorist Fraction of the Narodnaya Volya Party.
1917 During the February Revolution, members of the State Duma announced the creation of a Provisional Government . In parallel, the Bolsheviks, Mensheviks and Social Democrats formed their own governing body - Council of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies, which also claimed leadership. Both authorities sat in the Tauride Palace. Despite various political goals, the both sides were waiting for the abdication of Nicholas 2 from the throne.
Nicholas 2 signed the abdication (including on behalf of his son, Tsarevich Alexei) in favor of his brother, Mikhail Alexandrovich, not knowing that his brother refused to accept the throne.
By the end of August the people had lost faith in the Provisional Government. The popularity of the Bolsheviks was growing in the country. Lenin decided to concentrate power in his hands through an armed uprising and the seizure of power. The October Revolution marked the transfer of power to the Bolsheviks.
1924 Lenin did not name anyone as his successor. The power was claimed by: Trotsky (army), Zinoviev (the Comintern), Stalin (General Secretary), Kamenev and Bukharin. The real struggle unfolded between Trotsky and Stalin.
1927 On the 10th anniversary of the revolution, the «Trotskyists» (Trotsky, Zinoviev and Kamenev) launched a mass agitation in favor of their slogans. The Stalin-Bukharin fraction turned to decisive measures to defeat the «Trotskyists», which marked their expulsion from the party. The power struggle was actually won by Stalin.
1953-1955 The struggle for power after Stalin’s death at the initial stage was waged between Malenkov and Beria. Beria was shot in 1953 as an enemy of the people . In 1954, Malenkov was removed from his post as head of government.
1955-1958 Malenkov teamed up with Molotov and Kaganovich ("opposition"). Khrushchev was removed from the post of Secretary General and appointed Minister of Agriculture. At the plenary meeting of the Central Committee «opposition» was dismissed. The power struggle was actually won by Khrushchev.
1964 The senior management was dissatisfied with Khrushchev’s policy. Khrushchev was summoned from his vacation in Pitsunda to an emergency meeting of the plenum of the Central Committee (conspiracy of Brezhnev, Kosygin, Suslov, Podgorny ). The KGB and the armed forces were actually controlled by the conspirators. After the removal of Khrushchev, Brezhnev took the post of first secretary of the CPSU Central Committee.
1991 The State Committee for the State of Emergency (Emergency Committee) tried to remove M. Gorbachev from the post of President of the USSR (August Putsch). The aim of the Emergency Committee was an attempt to change the course pursued by Gorbachev to Perestroika and publicity. Gorbachev refused to cooperate with the State Emergency Committee .
Boris Yeltsin, President of the RSFSR, arrived at the House of Soviets of the RSFSR (the White House), and refused to recognize the Emergency Committee. Yeltsin qualified the creation of the Emergency Committee as an attempted coup. State Emergency Committee members were arrested. Gorbachev resigned as secretary general of the CPSU.
Yeltsin headed the Russian government.
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Laws, Politics, Economnics Russia 9-12centuries represented a federation of city-states headed by the great Prince of Kiev. On Kievan Rus’ the term Grand prince is conventionally used to refer to the prince of Kiev. The title of «grand prince» designated the senior prince of the Rurikid dynasty in Rus principalities from the era of Kievan Rus’ until 1721.
Having secured control over the territory, landlords proceeded to introduce a system for the actual collection of tradables. Initially, this was based on mixed pattern of either «povoz», meaning that subdued tribes brought the tribute themselves, or «poludie», which means that the Prince and his retinue made a tour of the land to collect dues and taxes, tributes and tolls. Soon, however, there emerged a more structured system of tax administration that was based on old trading posts, know as «pogosti». In each district a special official was made responsible for the collection and timely transfer to Kiev of livied taxes.
During Polyudia the Prince dealt with complaints and ruled the court.
Druzhina, in early Rus, was a prince’s retinue, which helped him to administer his principality and constituted the area’s military force. The first druzhinniki (members of a druzhina) in Rus were the Norse Varangians, whose princes established control there in the 9th century. Soon members of the local Slavic aristocracy as well as adventurers of a variety of other nationalities became druzhinniki.
The druzhina was composed of two groups: the senior members (who became known as boyars) and the junior members. The boyars were the prince’s closest advisers; they also performed higher state functions. The junior members constituted the prince’s personal bodyguard and were common soldiers. All the members were dependent upon their prince for financial support, but each member served the prince freely and had the right to leave him and join the druzhina of another prince. As a result, a prince was inclined to seek the goodwill of his druzhina; he paid the druzhinniki wages, shared his war booty and taxes with them, and eventually rewarded the boyars with landed estates, complete with rights to tax and administer justice to the local population.
The ancient Russian legal process: if someone had a case against another, whom he considered guilty of theft, self-harm or murder, then he would summon him to the court of the Prince.
There was a judicial duel, during which both sides had to prove their case. The Prince decided the case with his sentence.
If both sides did not suit this sentence, then the final decision remained for the weapon.
As a result of the tax reform of Princess Olga, the polyudia system was abolished and replaced by paying fixed tribute. These tributes were gathered in the administrative centers by special Princely officials (by tiuni).
The veche - in ancient and medieval Rus’ a meeting of the people for the discussion of general affairs - arose from the tribal meetings of Slavs. With the formation of the old Russian state of Kievan Rus’, the feudal notables used the veche for limiting the power of the prince. Veche meetings became used on a wide scale in Rus’ with the weakening of the power of the princes in the period of feudal fragmentation (the second half of the 11th and the 12th centuries).
In the chronicle, the veche was referred to in Novgorod the Great in 1016, and in Kiev in 1068.The veches handled questions of war and peace; the calling and banishing of princes; the selection and removal of the posadnik, tysiatskii (thousand - the head of decimal military unit), and others, and in Novgorod, also of archbishops; the conclusion of treaties with other lands and principalities; and the passing of laws (for example, the Novgorod and Pskov law codes). The veche meetings were usually convoked by the ringing of the veche bell on the initiative of the representatives of the authorities or the population itself; the meetings were not held at regular intervals.
The proportion of estates was insignificant, and the main part of the territory was in the state property of military nobility, realized through the system of tributes.
Boyar, Russian Boyarin, plural Boyare, member of the upper stratum of medieval Russian society and state administration. In Kievan Rus during the 10th–12th century, the boyars constituted the senior group in the prince’s retinue (druzhina) and occupied the higher posts in the armed forces and in the civil administration. They also formed a boyar council, or duma, which advised the prince in important matters of state. The boyars in Russia were divided into «Princely people» - close to the Prince and «elders of the city» - descendants of tribal nobility.
The Boyars were getting the votchinas. Votchina or otchina or patrimony (о́тчина – from word Father) was a land estate that could be inherited. An owner of votchina (votchinnik) not only had property rights to it, but also some administrative and legal power over people living on its territory. These people, however, were not serfs, as they had a right to freely move to different votchinas.
First, Kievan Rus’ was a relatively free society, especially by the European standards of the time. Its princes, even within their individual principalities, did not have anything like the absolute power Russia's later czars would wield. Princely authority was limited by the power of boyars, who met in councils called dumas. Consulting with the boyars was the moral duty of the prince.
The jurisdiction of the church courts was controlled by Church Regulations (attributed to Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavovich).
1016-1054 The «Russkaya Pravda», an 11th century series of law codes written by the Grand Prince Yaroslav Vladimirovich of Kiev and Novgorod. This document, and its later additions, were the formation of jurisdiction and judicial systems. The Russkaya Pravda regulated crimes that were universally seen as grave offences, such as murder, beatings, mutilations, and robb12eries. The Russkaya pravda provided little evidence of any distinction between civil and criminal law. All offenses were conceptualized as simple torts, and detailed schedules of compensation provided a framework within which all disputes could be settled. The law codes have no capital punishment associated with them, but instead the perpetrator was charged a fine to the Prince. This system corresponds to the social hierarchy of early Rus society, and is different from the law codes of the surrounding areas, such as Byzantium. Yaroslav was responsible for introducing several more legislative documents in his life time, such as the Statue on Church Courts, but additional statues and laws were written into the Russkaya Pravda, and other documents, by Yaroslav’s children.
The central theme of the second main part of the Pravda was the protection of the Prince's own personnel and property. The Prince's personnel ranged from highest officials (the ognishchanin and the pod'ezdnoy) to slaves. The fine fo killing of high-ranking official was twice that imposed for a freeman (80 instead of 40 grivna). There is general agreement that this fine (vira, translated as bloodwite) was to be paid to the prince. Damage to the Prince's property (lifestock, boats, beehives, bordermarkers, etc) was also punished by a fine, usually called prodazha. A special official, the virnik or bloodwite collector, was in charge of collecting the fines imposed.
Russkaya Pravda defined different categories of citizens and their social status: noble people and privileged servants (Princes, warriors), then ordinary free citizens (dependent on the feudal lord), the lowest category — peasants, slaves, serfs.
There was a formation of a unified state and administration: posadniki - governors for management in cities (appointed by the Princes from among the senior members of the armed forces), governors - the leaders of military units, thousand (tysyatsky) - the highest officials in the decimal control system, land tax collectors, swordsmen, virniki, minor officials, mytniki, trade duties collectors. From the squad of the detachment corporation, the rulers of the Princely patrimonial economy — the tiuns and the headmen — stood out. The power of local feudal lords increased and a new authority appeared - feudal congress.
Feudal Congress addressed the issues of war and peace, land division, vassalage.
During the 11th and 12th centuries the veche acquired its greatest power. It was associated with the increased role of cities and the urban population in the political life of the principalities. Veche meetings were widely spread in Russia with the weakening of Princely power during the period of feudal fragmentation. But gradually veche lost importance with the decline of the old trading cities in the central Dnieper River region. The political centre of Russia was shifting to the northeastern region, where newer cities lacked the strong urban classes capable of developing their own political organs and of successfully competing with the authority of the princes.
There was not well-established government in Kievan Rus’. For a long time there was desiatinnaia system, which preserved the system of military democracy and performed administrative, financial and other functions. Over time, it was displaced by the palace-patrimonial system of governance. Prince's court was the management center. Grand Prince settled his armed forces on his lands for ruling there till they performed military service. At court there are various agencies to manage specific sectors of the economy. It was called posadnichestvo. Posadnik was a representative of the prince. He received one-third of the taxes levied on its content.
The princely palace was the center of the specific administration, and was ruled by the prince alone.
The patrimony of the boyars is the territory in which the palace (princely) administration and economy was entrusted to individual boyars, free servants or serfs. Princely officials were: voivode, tiuny, ognishchane, elders, etc. The palace control was presented as:
1) the palace;
2) the department of the Palace Routes, where the Routes are administrative and judicial authorities, they were headed by «worthy boyars» (huntsman, horseman and others).
In the folding of the local government system, the Feeding system played an important role, when representatives of the central government (governors, volosteli, etc.) salaries were not received from the treasury, but «fed» at the expense of the local population. Feeding was granted on the basis of certificates for Feeding. Feeding certificates gave the governors the right to rule. The Feed consisted of:
1) «inward feed» (at the start of their rule);
2) periodic (at Christmas, Easter, Petrov day);
3) trade duties from nonresident merchants;
4) judicial duties.
Feeders (Kormlenshchiki) were appointed for a year or two and were not interested in good management. Small landowners and landlords suffered especially from the Feeding system.
Revenues from the local government went into the pocket of the boyars, providing them with a great political weight. This caused discontent rising Dvoryanstvo (Russian nobility).
1245-1275 Mongol Census taken in Rus to streamline the collection of tribute.
The power of the Kiev princes more and more declined, the political significance of the landowning nobility grew.
1274 At the Vladimir Cathedral, differences in church law were eliminated and attention was paid to strengthening church discipline such as:
1. Limited simony - set out in san "on mzde" set a fixed fee for ordination;
2. Against violations listed in the rank that took place in some churches;
3. Against of drunkenness of clergyman;
The Russkaya pravda (Russian truth) survived in two fundamental redactions - Short and Expanded. The oldest of The Expanded Pravda, is extant in nearly 100 copies, included in the oldest Kormchaya kniga - Pilot's book (1282).
The gradual differentiation of criminal law from the civil law did take place in the Expanded redaction of the Russkaya pravda. Russkaya pravda devoted considerable space to inheritance law. Also of relevance to the development of civil law in medieval Russia is the Pravda's large codex on slavery. The statute defines the various types of slavery, conditions of enslavement, and a slave's legal responsibility.
Church guarantees flourished in the early Muscovite period. Churchmen, like many private landlords, enjoyed varying degrees of judicial immunity: no cleric would be subject to any secular court, and that certain offenses - principally offenses against marriage and morality - would be judged exclusively by churchmen. This way church had an immunity from secular jurisdiction for its own personnel and the exclusive right to adjudicate crimes of morality.
The Russian princes were required to go to Sarai to tender personal homage and to pay tribute to the khans. The Khans retained control over princely successions and exercised a veto over all major policy decisions. The collection of taxes was closely monitored by the Golden Horde through officials that were stationed in Russian towns. Russian princes were obliged to send recruits for the Mongol armies when ordered so by the Khans. In the beginning, the Mongols collected taxes from the Russians by means of their own agents.
The regional Princes fought against the Grand Princely power, who tried to constrain their political rights.
They concluded treaties among themselves, which established the boundaries of the principalities, the conditions for issuing runaway peasants and serfs,
rules of travel of merchants, and also determined the general line of foreign policy and diplomacy.
However, in the context of political fragmentation, these treaties were constantly violated.
Later, the Khans appointed one Russian ruler as Grand Prince and authorized him to maintain public order, law, and discipline.
The character of the government of Muscovy took on an autocratic form under Ivan 3 which it had never had before. After the fall of Constantinople, Orthodox canonists were inclined to regard the Muscovite grand dukes as the successors of the emperors. The boyars were no longer consulted on affairs of state. The sovereign became sacred, while the boyars were absolutely dependent on the wll of the sovereign.
The land management system was feudalism. Feudal lords had broad judicial and administrative rights to the population and troops (consisting of service people - Dvoryanstvo nobility).
The church was a large feudal organization with its own court and administration system. The head of the church - the metropolitan - had his own «court», boyars, army, service people.
Similar was the organization of local churches under the authority of the metropolitan and ruled by archbishops and bishops.
The secular power has judged the church people
1497 It was during the reign of Ivan 3 that the new Russian Sudebnik, or law code, was compiled. The 1497 Sudebnik was Russia's first national law code. Unlike earlier immunity charters, which pertained only to a private landholder and his land or to particular localities, it promulgated rules of general application for Muscovite courts. The Code is usually interpreted as part of Ivan's policy of nationbuilding.
Sudebnik contains relatively little substantive law. This has encouraged speculation that the Russkaya pravda and other customary norms continued to have the force of law in the overwhelmingly agrarian society of early Muscovy.
The territory of the Russia was divided into provincial districts, that were called «uyezd» in Muscovy and the later Russian Empire. Each uyezd had several «volosts» that were subordinated to the uyezd city.
In Muscovy and in Russia from the 15th to the 18th centuries, a Prikaz (in modern Russian, prikaz literally means an «order») was an administrative, judicial, territorial, or executive office functioning on behalf of palace, civil, military, or church authorities. It was replacing the palace-patrimonial system of governance. The term usually suggests the functionality of a modern ministry, office or department.
Most of the prikazes were subordinated to the Boyar Duma. Some of them (palace prikazes) were subordinated to the 1st prikaz, which answered directly to the tsar.
The Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia had his own prikazes.
1535 The first currency reform in Russia was held, giving birth to Russia’s smallest coin, the kopeck, the first all-Russia currency. The reform was carried out by Princess Elena Glinskaya, mother of Tsar Ivan 4 the Terrible.
1549-1560 In his youth Ivan 4 tried to govern in a progressive manner: he administered the country together with an informal government called the Elected Rada (a circle of confidants, young representatives of the aristocracy and the clergy).
The Rada implemented a series of important reforms, concentrated power in the hands of the tsar and limited the boyars' authority.
Reforms were carried out such as:
Military - the creation of Strelets troops to protect the sovereign and restore order in military service.
Financial - Entering a single state duty.
Ivan later dissolved Elected Rada (in 1560) and began governing alone.
1549 The 1st Zemsky Sobor. Zemsky sobor («assembly of the land»), in 16th- and 17th-century Russia, an advisory assembly convened by the tsar or the highest civil authority in power whenever necessary. It was generally composed of representatives from the ecclesiastical and monastic authorities, the boyar council, the landowning classes, and the urban freemen; elections for representatives and the sessions of each group were held separately.
1551 The Stoglavy Sobor was a church council, held in Moscow with the participation of Tsar Ivan 4, Metropolitan Macarius, and representatives of the Boyar Duma. The Tsar summoned a synod of the Russian Church to discuss the ritual practices that had grown up in Russia which did not conform with those of the Greek Church. The Stoglavy Sobor proclaimed the inviolability of church properties and the exclusive jurisdiction of church courts over ecclesiastical matters. By decisions of the Stoglavy Sobor, church ceremonies and duties in the whole territory of Russia were unified. The decisions of the Stoglavy Sobor that approved the native Russian rituals at the expense of those accepted in Greece and other Orthodox countries were cancelled by the Moscow Sobor of 1666–1667, leading to a great schism of the Russian church known as the Raskol.
1564-1572 Oprichnina regime. Russia was failing in the Livonian war and in the fight against the Crimea, and the Tsar suspected the boyars of treason. The term oprichnina refers to this reign of terror, which was conducted by the oprichniki, members of the tsar’s new court, who were primarily drawn from the lower gentry and foreign population. The policy reduced the boyars’ political power, disrupted the Russian economy, and contributed to the centralization of the Muscovite state. After 1572, when the oprichniki were disbanded, the term dvor (court) replaced oprichnina.
1597 A full enslavement of peasants. A temporary (Forbidden years) and later an open-ended prohibition for peasants to leave their masters was introduced by the ukase of 1597 under the reign of Boris Godunov, which took away the peasants' right to free movement around Yuri's Day, binding the vast majority of the Russian peasantry in full serfdom. These also defined the so-called fixed years (urochniye leta), or the 5-year time frame for search of the runaway peasants.
1607 A new ukase (order) defined sanctions for hiding and keeping the runaway peasants: the fine had to be paid to the state and pozhiloye – to the previous owner of the peasant.
1649 When the Time of Troubles was over, the Romanov dynasty began to rule the country taking active steps in lawmaking. In the mid-17th century there was a need to systematize orders and legislate on new socio-political system. In 1649 the Zemsky Sobor adopted a new code of laws of the Russian state — the Council Code of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich (Sobornoye Ulozheniye).
This unique code of laws of the Russian Empire developed and adopted by the Zemsky Sobor of 1649 as a result of the confrontation of different social groups of the Russian society, determined the law and order and social relations in the country during 200 years.
965 articles united into 25 chapters of the new code of laws in contrast to the previous documents of the kind contained the norms not just of the procedural law but also of the state, civil, administrative and criminal law. The code determined for the first time the status of the head of state, the order of the government service, the types of the state and penal crimes.
The code had approved the serfdom in the country, having abolished the fixed years and declared the search for the run-away serfs unlimited. From that time on peasants’ serfdom became hereditary and their property was acknowledged as the one belonging to the landowner.
All the tradespeople were now registered in their trading quarters and became a taxed estate. However it had a privilege to undertake the commercial and industrial activity.
The code seriously limited the rights of the clergy. Henceforth it was subject to trial without special preferences and could no more acquire ancestral lands for the exception of a patriarch and his retainers. The Monastery office was established to administrate the former ancestral lands of monasteries and clergy.
Law Code of 1649 carefully retained the distinction between the pomestie (Dvoryanstvo) and the votchina (Boyars), but the distinctions were fading in reality. During the first half of the 17th century, the pomestie essentially became hereditary property, but service still was compulsory and holders could not freely alienate it.
1653 In the New Trade Charter internal duties were abolished and uniform duties were established for merchants.
1654 Bureau of Secret Affairs (Prikaz Tainykh Del) was established. It supervised other central government offices, ambassadors, and military governors of cities and regimental military commanders. It directed important political investigations, organized expeditions to seek out valuable mineral resources throughout Russia, and administered the manufacture of weapons and cannons.
1652-1667 Nikon's reforms — the beginning of schism. Patriarch Nikon, desiring to change the ancient traditions, began to impose new ritual and liturgical practices onto Russia’s Church Together with Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, they decided to remake Russia’s Church along the lines of her contemporary Greek counterpart.
Ecclesiastical literature was the first target of reform. In 1654, Nikon summoned a synod to re-examine the service-books revised by the Patriarch Joasaf, and the majority of the synod decided that «the Greeks should be followed rather than our own ancients».
Nikon's patriarchal staff descended with crushing force upon those with whom he disagreed. Although they apparently consisted of mere external rituals, Nikon's reforms attacked the very essence of Orthodoxy in the view of many of his contemporaries. The opponents of the new reforms claimed to stand for the old faith and took the name «Old Believers». Despite their efforts, they failed to reverse the reforms. An international Orthodox church council met in Moscow in 1666-1667 to confirm the Nikonian reforms and anathematize the recalcitrant Old Believers.
1667 The Novgorod charter was adopted, which defined additional benefits for foreign trade.
1682 Mestnichestvo, by which a noble was appointed to a service position on the basis of his family’s rank in the hierarchy of boyars, was abolished.
Peter's 1 reforms
Military reform:
Military reform was designed to create a powerful permanently standing army and navy, was the central goal of all of Peter the Great's monumental reform:
- the creation of a navy that he used to great effect against the Ottomans in the sea of Azov and the Swedes in the Baltic during the Great Northern War;
- the creation of the Guard's Officer Corps, replaced by officers with General Staff training during the nineteenth century;
- a twenty-five year service requirement for peasants selected by lot to be soldiers;
- his codifying military's existence by personally writing a set of instructions in 1716 for the army and 1720 for the navy.
1711 A new state body was established by ukaz — The Governing Senate. All its members were appointed by Tsar Peter I from among his own associates and originally consisted of 10 people. All appointments and resignations of senators occurred by personal imperial decrees. The senate did not interrupt the activity and was the permanent operating state body.
Administrative reform:
1708 Old national subdivisions (uyezds) were abolished and established in their place eight governorates (guberniyas): Moscow, Ingermanland, Kiev, Smolensk, Archangelgorod, Kazan, Azov, and Siberian.
1713 Landrats were established (from the German word for «national council») in each of the governorates, staffed by between eight and twelve professional civil servants, who assisted a royally-appointed governor.
1717 Peter 1 established nine collegia or boards which replaced old Prikazs. Each collegium had a President and Vice-President, but some Vice-Presidents were never appointed.
1722 Table of Ranks - a formal list of ranks in the Russian military, government, and royal court. The Table of Ranks established a complex system of titles and honorifics, each classed with a number (1 to 14) denoting a specific level of service or loyalty to the Tsar. With minimal modifications, the Table of Ranks remained in effect until the Russian Revolution of 1917.
Also City, Class structure and Judicial reforms were carried out.
Financial reforms: monopolizing certain strategic industries, such as salt, vodka, oak, and tar. Peter also taxed many Russian cultural customs (such as bathing, fishing, beekeeping, and wearing beards) and issued tax stamps for paper goods.
Poll tax replaced household tax on cultivated land. Previously, peasants had skirted the tax by combining several households into one estate; now, however, each peasant was assessed individually for a tax of 70 kopeks, paid in cash. This was significantly heavier than the taxes it replaced, and it enabled the Russian state to expand its treasury almost sixfold between 1680 and 1724. (Peter's government was constantly in dire need of money for Great Northern War and other wars). Peter also pursued proto-protectionist trade policies, placing heavy tariffs on imports and trade to maintain a favorable environment for Russian-made goods.
Church reform: instead of being governed by a patriarch or metropolitan, the government of the church came under the control of a committee known as the Most Holy Governing Synod, which was composed both of bishops and lay bureaucrats appointed by the Emperor. The Holy Governing Synod was administered by a lay director, or Ober-Procurator. The Synod changed in composition over time, but basically it remained a committee of churchmen headed by a lay appointee of the Emperor.
Social reforms: education reform - civilian and military schools were opened, the Academy of Sciences was created; cultural; Medical - many new hospitals were opened.

Elizaveta Petrovna was the successor to the ideas of her father Peter the Great. Under Elizaveta, Russia's export economy blossomed, which, beginning in the early 1740s, systematically expanded the sale of agricultural goods abroad. The first noble land bank was established in 1753. Landlords could borrow money from the bank at below market rates.
The beginning of the epoch of the Enlightenment and the reorganization of military educational institutions are associated with the rule of Elizaveta 1 Petrovna.
1744 Elizaveta issued a decree on the extension of the network of primary schools. First gymnasiums were opened in Moscow (1755) and Kazan (1758).
1755 The Moscow University was founded.
1757 The Academy of Arts was founded.

Reforms of Catherine 2.
Catherine's major influences on her adopted country were in expanding Russia's borders and continuing the process of Westernisation begun by Peter the Great. During her reign she extended the Russian empire southwards and westwards, adding territories which included the Crimea, Belarus and Lithuania . Agreements with Prussia and Austria led to three partitions of Poland, in 1772, 1793, and 1795, extending Russia's borders well into central Europe.
1767 The Legislative Commission was convened to codify Russia's laws and in the process modernised Russian life. Catherine presented the commission with her Nakaz, (or 'Instruction'), a strikingly liberal document that presented the empress’s vision of the ideal government. This work was widely distributed in Europe and caused a sensation because it called for a legal system far in advance of the times. It proposed a system providing equal protection under law for all persons and emphasized prevention of criminal acts rather than harsh punishment for them.
1785 «Charter to the Nobility» established Dvoryanstvo nobility as a separate estate in Russian society and assured their privileges (one of the reasons was Catherine's heavy reliance on the nobility to control the country after the Pugachev Rebellion of 1774-1775). Therefore the serfs status and rights declined further.
Catherine's main interests were in education and culture. She read widely and corresponded with many of the prominent thinkers of the era, including Voltaire and Diderot. She was a patron of the arts, literature and education and acquired an art collection which now forms the basis of the Hermitage Museum.


Paul’s 1 reforms.
There was probably no sphere in state affairs which was not influenced by the Paul 1. Paul passed an incredible number of new laws – 595 in 1797, 509 in 1798, 330 in 1799, 469 in 1800. Thus, Paul averaged 42 decrees of new laws per month, where Catherine 2 had averaged only 12.
Army reforms: Paul strove to reshape the Russian army in the Prussian fashion, introducing strict discipline and ridiculous wigs for soldiers. These reforms fed discontent among officers and ordinary soldiers alike.
1797 A law of hereditary succession to the crown in the male line, and afterwards in the female, instead of leaving it to the caprice of the reigning sovereign.
1797 A manifesto on serfs and landlords, which was a starting point for easing serfdom’s rules.
Serfs’ forced labour for their landlord on Sundays was prohibited. For the first time in Russia history, peasants could be sworn in as witnesses. A special peasantry department was set up, the state peasants received plots of land, and all peasants were granted the right to appeal court decisions.
The Old Believers were allowed to practice and build their own churches.
Alexander's 1 reforms.
Two factors had a big impact on Czar Alexander 1 reign: the Enlightenment education he received from his grandmother, Catherine the Great, and the Napoleonic Wars . Alexander was brought up during the Enlightenment period of the late 18th century. As a result, the future czar was familiar with the most liberal, up-to-date views on European politics, history and philosophy.
After the darkness into which Paul had plunged Russia, Alexander wanted his reign to be a happy one and dreamed of great and necessary reforms. He formed the Private Committee (Neglasny Komitet). Its avowed purpose was to frame «good laws, which are the source of the well-being of the Nation».
Public education: involved the formation of many schools of different types, institutions for training teachers, and the founding of three new universities.
The idea of the abolition of serfdom. The institution of serfdom was, in the tsar’s own words, «a degradation» that kept Russia in a disastrously backward state. But to liberate the serfs (75% of the population), would arouse the hostility of their noble masters. Serfdom prevented modernization of the country, which was at least a century behind the rest of Europe. Despite the humanitarian ideas, Alexander lacked the energy necessary for the abolition of serfdom.
Preparation of a reforms by M. Speransky. The State Council was established - the legislative body since 1810. Alexander 1 gave Constitution to Poland and Bessarabia. A draft of the Russian Constitution and a program for the abolition of serfdom was prepared.
1820s The Final Decade of Alexander rule marked a turning point for the tsar. He had become religious; he read the Bible daily and prayed often. He left everything in Arakcheyev’s hands («arakcheevschina»). The establishment of military settlements - soldiers (yesterday’s peasants) were forced, along with military service, to engage in peasant labor. In the military settlements reigned tough barracks discipline and half-prison orders. For Russia, it was a period of reaction, obscurantism, and struggle against real and imagined subversion.

Nicholas 1 reforms.
Nicholas 1 often considered the personification of classic autocracy. For his reactionary policies, he has been called the emperor who froze Russia for 30 years. The new regime became preeminently one of militarism and bureaucracy. Thirty years on the throne earned him a reputation as the Gendarme of Europe.
The importance of the Committee of Ministers, the State Council, and the Senate decreased in the course of his reign.
Third Department. This political police (heads of the Third Department — Count Benckendorff and Prince Orlov) acted as the autocrat’s main weapon against subversion and revolution and as Nicholas principal agency for controlling the behaviour of his subjects and for distributing punishments and rewards among them. Peasant reform - the abolition of the physical punishments of landowners and the reduction of taxes.
1835 «The Code of laws of the Russian Empire» intended to replace the outdated Ulozhenie of 1649. The Code was elaborated by a prominent statesman M. Speransky. The Code of laws had two levels: the national Code of laws and the codes of local laws (civil law sources). The Code of laws contained 42 thousand articles united into 8 sections which comprised 15 volumes.
Industrial - there was a growth of factories and plants, construction of roads, and the 1st railway was opened in 1837.
In his final Years Nicholas 1, who was frightened by European revolutions, became completely reactionary. During the last years of the reign the emperor’s once successful foreign policy collapsed, leading to isolation and to the tragedy of the Crimean War.

Reforms of Alexander 2.
1861-1874 Alexander 2, «Tsar Liberator», decreed major reforms of Russia's social, judicial, educational, financial, administrative, and military systems. His program came to be known as the Great Reforms. These acts liberated roughly 40 percent of the population from bondage, created an independent judicial system, introduced self-governing councils in towns and rural areas, eased censorship, transformed military service, strengthened banking, granted more autonomy to universities, greater openness (glasnost) in official and civil affairs, and civic engagement of all members of society.
The overall goals were to accelerate economic development and restore Russia's military dominance as a Great Power after its sobering defeat in the Crimean War (1853–1856).
1861 Emancipation of proprietary/seigniorial serfs and establishment of volost courts. The reform effectively abolished serfdom throughout the Russian Empire. The 1861 Emancipation Manifesto proclaimed the emancipation of the serfs on private estates and of the domestic (household) serfs.
1862 State Treasury created; state budget hence forth published;
1863 Emancipation of appanage peasants; univer sity statute; abolition of dehumanizing corporal punishments in military;
1864 Zemstvo statute; judicial reform;
1865 Temporary regulations on censorship;
1866 Emancipation of state peasants; creation of State Bank;
1874 Universal military service statute.
As a consequence of the Great Reforms, the nobility lost two key defining features of their status: ownership of other human beings who provided them free labor and freedom from military service.
As the zemstvos and reformed courts took root, landowning gentry also lost their dominant roles in rural life, even finding that their former serfs could sit in judgment over them in jury trials. Emancipated peasants, however frustrated by the terms of the land reform, took advantage of the courts and zemstvos to pursue their interests and engage in public life. Many became landowners themselves.
Expanded educational opportunities through zemstvo schools, universities and institutes, and military service increased literacy among the peasantry and stimulated the growth of professions among the other social estates. The Russian Empire continued to be a predominantly agricultural, illiterate, and rural society (over 80 percent of the population still lived in the countryside in 1897), but state-sponsored industrialization and urbanization provided opportunities for all layers of society.
The Great Reforms, however, did not alter the political structure of the empire. The Russian tsar remained an autocrat, above the law and without any formal constraints on his personal will.
The tension between the social and economic transformations the Great Reforms introduced and the persistent patriarchal paternalism of the autocratic system worsened

Alexander 3 reforms.
The three principles of Alexander 3 rule: Orthodoxy, autocracy, and narodnost.
Alexander 3 condemned the influence of Western culture, ideas, and liberalist reforms supported by his father.
He believed that Russia had lost its domineering role in Eastern Europe due to Western liberalism.
Alexander's political ideal was a nation containing only one nationality, language, religion and form of administration; and he did his utmost to prepare for the realization of this ideal (the Policy of «Russification») by imposing the Russian language and Russian schools on his German, Polish and other non-Russian subjects, by fostering Eastern Orthodoxy at the expense of other religions, by persecuting Jews and by destroying the remnants of German, Polish and Swedish institutions in the outlying provinces.
1782 State for foreign affairs and a separate Foreign Office with the departments grouped into two categories: political and non-political.
All the internal reforms that he initiated were intended to correct what he considered the too liberal tendencies of the previous reign.
In his opinion, Russia was to be saved from anarchical disorders and revolutionary agitation not by the parliamentary institutions and so-called liberalism of western Europe.

Nicholas 2 reforms.
1896 Major currency reform by S. Witte to place the Russian ruble on the gold standard. This led to increased investment activity and an increase in the inflow of foreign capital.
1897 A law limiting working hours in enterprises by S. Witte.
1898 Commercial and industrial taxes reformed by S. Witte.

The reforms of Nicholas 2.
1905 The first representative body of legislative power was created as result of the revolution – the State Duma. The State Council of the Russian Empire became the second chamber.
1906-1917 P. Stolypin land reform in order to restructure the peasant land tenure system. They were instituted in the wake of the Revolution of 1905 in an effort to deal with the ongoing agrarian problem. Its aim was to encourage industrious peasants to acquire their own land, and ultimately to create a class of prosperous, conservative, small farmers that would be a stabilizing influence in the countryside and would support the autocracy.

The reforms after Great October Socialistic Revolution.
1918-1921 War communism: applied by the Bolsheviks during the period of the Russian Civil War (1918–20). The policy’s chief features were the expropriation of private business and the nationalization of industry throughout Soviet Russia, and the forced requisition of surplus grain and other food products from the peasantry by the state. Money had been abolished. The policy of War Communism brought the national economy to the point of total breakdown.
1921-1928 NEP (new economic policy) - the economic policy of the government, representing a temporary retreat from its previous policy of extreme centralization and doctrinaire socialism. The Kronshtadt Rebellion of 1921 convinced the Communist Party and its leader, Vladimir Lenin, of the need to retreat from socialist policies in order to maintain the party’s hold on power.
These measures included the return of most agriculture, retail trade, and small-scale light industry to private ownership and management while the state retained control of heavy industry, transport, banking, and foreign trade. Money was reintroduced. The peasantry were allowed to own and cultivate their own land, while paying taxes to the state. The NEP reintroduced a measure of stability to the economy and allowed the Soviet people to recover from years of war.
1924 1st Constitution of the USSR. Constitution legitimized the Creation of the USSR between the Russian SFSR, the Ukrainian SSR, the Byelorussian SSR, and the Transcaucasian SFSR to form the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). The USSR was in charge of: the army, foreign policy and trade, economic planning, the monetary system, civil and criminal legislation, labor, health and education laws.
1928-1990 Five-Year Plans - method of planning economic growth over limited periods, through the use of quotas. The Soviet state planning committee Gosplan developed these plans based on the theory of the productive forces that formed part of the ideology of the Communist Party for development of the Soviet economy. Fulfilling the current plan became the watchword of Soviet bureaucracy.
1936 Second USSR Constitution, also known as the Stalin Constitution, redesigned the government of the Soviet Union with the proclamation of the victory of socialism in the USSR and the consolidation of the leadership of the Communist Party.
It nominally granted all manner of rights and freedoms, and spelled out a number of democratic procedures such as: freedoms to work, to rest, to education, freedom of speech, press, rallies, street demonstrations, the integrity of the person and home, the privacy of correspondence.
In practice, by asserting the «leading role» of the Communist Party, it cemented the complete control of the party and its leader, Joseph Stalin.
1965-1970 Soviet economic reform, sometimes called the Kosygin reform: This liberman reform were a set of planned changes in the economy of the Soviet Union. A centerpiece of these changes was the introduction of profitability and sales as the two key indicators of enterprise success. Some of an enterprise's profits would go to reward workers and expand operations; most would go to the central budget.
1977 3rd Constitution of the USSR: «the constitution of developed socialism». The preamble stated that «the aims of the dictatorship of the proletariat having been fulfilled, the Soviet state has become the state of the whole people.» Compared with previous constitutions, the Brezhnev Constitution extended the scope of the constitutional regulation of society.

«Perestroika reforms».
Perestroika was a political movement for reformation within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during the 1980s and 1990s and is widely associated with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and his glasnost (meaning openness) policy reform.
1990 Dissolution of the USSR and the Establishment of Independent Republics.
The three Baltic states were the first to declare their independence, claiming continuity from the original states that existed prior to their annexation by the Soviet Union in 1940. The Baltic states focused on European Union and NATO membership.
1990 The Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Russian SFSR was a political act of the Russian SFSR (Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic), then part of the Soviet Union, which marked the beginning of constitutional reform in Russia. It proclaimed the sovereignty of the Russian SFSR and the intention to establish a democratic constitutional state within a liberalized Soviet Union. The declaration also states the following:
Priority of the constitution and laws of the Russian SFSR over legislation of the Soviet Union (sovereignty).
Equal legal opportunities for all citizens, political parties and public organizations (equality before the law).
The principle of separation of legislative, executive and judicial powers.
The need to significantly expand the rights of the autonomous republics, regions, districts, territories of Russia (federalism).
1991 The Belovezha Accords are the agreement that declared the USSR as effectively ceasing to exist and established the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in its place as a successor entity. It was signed by the leaders of three of the four republics-signatories of the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR.
1990-1995 Radical transformation. Price liberalization. «Shock therapy». Voucher privatization. Dollarization of the economy. Rising prices and falling levels of the population. Unemployment. «Black» market. Criminalization.
1993 Constitution of the RSFSR. According to the Constitution of Russia, the President of Russia is head of state, and of a multi-party system with executive power exercised by the government, headed by the Prime Minister, who is appointed by the President with the parliament's approval.The constitution provides for welfare protection, access to social security, pensions, free health care, and affordable housing; it also guarantees local self-governance.
1995-1999 Adjustment of the reform course and attempts at stabilization. De-industrialization and dependence on world energy prices.
Financial pyramids and mortgage auctions. The crisis of education and science. Religious renaissance.
1998 The Russian Default , when the Russian stock, bond, and currency markets collapsed as a result of investor fears that the government would devalue the ruble, default on domestic debt, or both. Annual yields on ruble- denominated bonds were more than 200 percent.
9 century: Rebellions. Revolutions.      to top table 10 century: Rebellions. Revolutions.      to top table 11 century: Rebellions. Revolutions.      to top table 12 century: Rebellions. Revolutions.      to top table 13 century: Rebellions. Revolutions.      to top table 14 century: Rebellions. Revolutions.      to top table 15 century: Rebellions. Revolutions.      to top table 16 century: Rebellions. Revolutions.      to top table 17 century: Rebellions. Revolutions.      to top table 18 century: Восстания, Революции 19 century: Rebellions. Revolutions.      to top table 20 century: Rebellions. Revolutions.      to top table
Rebellions. Revolutions. 864 soon after the calling of Vikings in 862, lots of Novgorod residents were unhappy with a despotic rule of Rurik and by the actions of his relatives.
Uprising for liberties was led by Vadim Brave and was lost. Vadim was killed by Rurik, along with many of his adherents.
945 The revolt of Drevlians against Igor's obligation to pay tribute.
The Drevlians were a neighboring tribe with which the growing Kievan Rus’ empire had a complex relationship. They stopped paying tribute upon Oleg’s death and instead gave money to a local warlord. Confronted by Igor’s larger army, the Drevlians backed down and paid tribute to Kievan Rus. As Igor and his army rode home, however, he decided the payment was not enough and returned, with only a small envoy, seeking more tribute. Upon his arrival in their territory, the Drevlians murdered Igor. According to the Byzantine chronicler Igor’s death was caused by a gruesome act of torture in which he was «captured by them, tied to tree trunks, and torn in two.»
Igor’s son Svyatoslav was only three years old at that time, so his widow Olga became a regent in 945. The Drevlians now saw Kievan Rus’ as an easy target and sent envoys to Olga to make her marry the Drevlian Prince Mal.
Olga's revenge:
Act 1. The Drevlians sent 20 of their envoys in two boats to meet Olga in Kiev. She gave them honorable welcome. Then the boats with all the men inside were tossed into the trench and they were all buried alive.
Act 2. Olga sent a message to the Drevlians that she is ready to marry Prince Mal but needs a delegation of 20 of their most distinguished men to persuade her people as well. The delegation was sent and Olga gave them a warm welcome. After their arrival, Olga first offered them to bathe in a fancy bathhouse to relax. After the men had entered, Olga ordered the doors be locked and the building was set on fire. All the men were burned alive.
Act3. To the rest of the Drevlians, Olga offered to come to them if they organized a funeral feast for her husband. She arrived at the feast in an apparent mourning, then waited until the Drevlians were all drunk and had her soldiers kill them. All 5,000 were slaughtered.
Act 4. While the remainder of the people were begging for mercy, Olga said she will impose an easy punishment on them: she needed just three pigeons and three sparrows from each household. The people, thankful for the reasonable terms, provided the birds. Olga then ordered her soldiers to attach a tiny piece of sulfur wrapped in cloth to every single pigeon and sparrow. At night all the birds returned to their homes and the whole town was set to fire that killed everyone.
In 11 century the first attempts of Novgorod to gain independence from the Old Russian state took place.
Novgorod boyars with the support of the urban population wanted to get rid of the tax burden of Kiev and create their own army.

1024 An uprising of Volkhvy (Slavic druids) in Suzdal lands in response to a crop failure and drought. Grand Prince Yaroslav the Wise was forced to intervene to end the rebellion.

1068 The Kiev uprising against Grand Prince Iziaslav Yaroslavich of Kiev in the aftermath of a Kievan Rus’ defeat to Polovtsy. The Kievans held a veche and sent the following communication to the Prince Iziaslav: «The Polovtsy have spread over the country. O Prince, give us arms and horses, that we may offer them combat once more.» Iziaslav, however, paid no heed to this request. The Kievan mob ransacked the general (voevoda) house, they then drove out Iziaslav and placed Sviatoslav on the Kievan throne in hopes that he could stop the Polovtsy. Iziaslav fled to Poland, where he was supported with arms, with which he returned to Kiev the following year and took back the throne.

1071 The Rostov Uprising led by Volkhy pagan priests as a result of famine in Yaroslavl.

1097 Liubech congress of princes - a conference of the princes of Kyivan Rus’, convened at the initiative of Volodymyr Monomakh. Its purpose was to end the conflicts among the princes and to unite them in the struggle against the Polovtsy. The congress abolished the seniority principle of succession and adopted the principle of patrimony, whereby each prince would possess the lands ruled by his father. The congress thereby transformed a formally unitary state into a group of independent states joined together in a unique kind of federation, in which issues of common interest were settled at princely congresses.
1113 Kiev Rebellion was an antifeudal uprising of the urban lower classes of Kiev, the slaves (kholopy), and perhaps the rural population of the Kievan region. The rebellion was caused by dissatisfaction with the policies of Prince Sviatopolk Iziaslavich, the rising cost of bread, and starvation and was directed against the abuses of the prince’s administrators, who speculated in bread and salt, and against the enslavement of free citizens by moneylenders.
The rebellion flared up immediately upon the death of Sviatopolk. The rebels destroyed the palace of the boyar Putiata Vyshatich and attacked the holdings of the Jewish moneylenders.
The frightened Kiev boyars were able to persuade Vladimir Vsevolodovich Monomakh to become prince of Kiev. Monomakh succeeded in placating the insurgents by promulgating laws that made some concessions to the rebels, known as the Statute of Vladimir Monomakh of 1113.

1136 Novgorod declared its independence from princely power, and it remained a sovereign city until conquered by Muscovy (Moscow).
The reason for it was the decline of power by Kiev and disintgreation of Kievan Rus.
Novgorod was governed by an oligarchy of great trading boyar families who controlled the exploitation of the hinterland. They chose (from among themselves) a mayor, a military commander, and a council of aldermen. There was in addition a veche (council), a town meeting.
A major role in politics was played by the archbishop, who after 1156 controlled the lands and incomes previously owned by the Kievan princes and who appears throughout Novgorod’s history as a powerful, often independent figure.

1173-1176 Vsevolod the Big Nest took part in struggle against the powerful boyars of Rostov and Suzdal. In 1176 Vsevolod succeeded him in Vladimir. He promptly subjugated the boyars and systematically raided the Volga peoples, notably Volga Bulgaria.
Vsevolod showed little mercy to those who disobeyed his commands. In 1180 and 1187 he punished the princes of Ryazan by ousting them from their lands.
1207 Vsevolod the Big Nest burnt to the ground both Ryazan and Belgorod (see 12th century). 1320s Absorbing of duchy of Vladimir-Suzdal by Grand Principality of Moscow (Muscovite Rus).

1327 The Tver Uprising was the first major uprising against the Mongol invasion of Rus' by the people of Vladimir. It was brutally suppressed by the joint efforts of the Golden Horde, Muscovy and Suzdal. At the time, Muscovy and Vladimir were involved in a rivalry for dominance in the northeast of Kievan Rus', and Vladimir's total defeat effectively ended the quarter-century struggle for power. The Golden Horde later became an enemy of Muscovy, and Russia did not become free of Mongol influence until the Great stand on the Ugra river in 1480, more than a century later.

1348 Pskov achieved full independence as a republic.
Pskov is one of the oldest Russian towns. The town became important in the Middle Ages as a centre for trade between the interior of Russia and the Hanseatic seaports of the Baltic.
Pskov was under the protection of the city of Novgorod in the 11th and 12th centuries. In the latter century monasteries were established on the left bank of the Velikaya. It became independent from Novgorod and established an aristocratic oligarchy.

Middle of the 14th and 1st half of the 15th century
The first Russian heretical sect, the Strigolniki, was established in Pskov and later in Novgorod and Tver. This movement critisized corrupt priests, their overeating, overdrinking, ignorance and bribery. The heresy did not refuse the practices of the Orthodox church. They had attacked the demoralization of priests and only refused the rituals which were held by the decadent priests.
In 1375, Ieaders of the heresy, Karp, Nikita, and another were punished with death, but the heresy survived.

Late in the 14th century
The Golden Horde disintegrated into the independent Tatar khanates of Kazan and Astrakhan on the Volga River, Sibir in western Siberia, and Crimea.
(Russia conquered the first three of these khanates in the 16th century, but the Crimean khanate became a vassal state of the Ottoman Turks until it was annexed to Russia by Catherine the Great in 1783.)
1478, 1485 Annexation of the Novgorod Republic in 1478 and the Grand Duchy of Tver in 1485 by Grand Principality of Moscow.
Alarmed at the growing power of Moscow, Novgorod had negotiated with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Rus in the hope of placing itself under the protection of the neighboring Catholic Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Casimir IV, King of Poland and Grand Prince of Lithuania, against the increasing attacks by the Muscovite dynasty, a would-be alliance that was proclaimed by the Moscow rulers as an act of apostasy from Orthodoxy. Ivan took the field against Novgorod in 1470, and after his generals had twice defeated the forces of the republic — at the Battle of Shelon River and on the Northern Dvina, both in the summer of 1471 — the Novgorodians were forced to sue for peace.
Ivan visited Novgorod several times in the next several years, persecuting a number of pro-Lithuanian boyars and confiscating their lands.
In 1477 he marched against them. Deserted by Casimir and surrounded on every side by the Moscow armies, Novgorod ultimately recognized Ivan's direct rule over the city and its vast hinterland in 1478. Ivan dispossessed Novgorod of more than four-fifths of its land. Subsequent revolts (1479–1488) were punished by the removal en masse of the richest and most ancient families of Novgorod to Moscow, Vyatka, and other north-eastern Rus' cities.
The rival republic of Pskov owed the continuance of its own political existence to the readiness with which it assisted Ivan against its ancient enemy.

The other principalities were eventually absorbed by conquest, purchase, or marriage contract: The Principality of Yaroslavl in 1463, Rostov in 1474, Tver in 1485, and Vyatka 1489.
After annexing the multinational Viatka Republic in 1489, Moscow laid formal claim to all Udmurt lands but controlled only the north.

1491 Skhariya the Jew, the founder of The Thought of Skhariya the Jew, or the Heresy of the Judaizers (Zhidovstvuyushchiye) was executed in Novgorod by the order of Ivan 3.
Heresy of the Judaizers was a religious concept that existed in Novgorod the Great and Grand Duchy of Moscow in the second half of the 15th century and marked the beginning of a new era of schism in Russia.
Their beliefs arbitrarily presupposed their adherence to Judaism, even though most of Skhariya's followers had been ordinary Russians of Russian Orthodox faith and low-ranking Orthodox clergy and had never confessed Judaism.
1537 Andrei Staritsky’s rebellion, uncle Ivan the Terrible, against Elena Glinskaya. Adult uncle was a dynastic rival for the young Ivan. He was thrown into prison and soon died of starvation in prison.

1547 A large revolt of Moscow population. The reason was the grandiose fire that destroyed a significant part of the city.
Instability of the supreme power in the country gave rise to feudal lords' tyranny in the provinces, what resulted in upgrowth of people's discontent and even overt revolts in a number of cities. This revolt was suppressed by the government. One of the Tsar's uncles - Y. Glinsky was lacerated, the houses of the others were plundered.
With a view to strengthen the central power the 17-years old Grand Duke Ivan was recognized the Tsar of Russia and thus was formally equated with the West-European emperors.

1565-1572 The oprichnina was a state policy implemented by Tsar Ivan the Terrible.
The late 1560s under Ivan the Terrible were rife with conspiracies and violence. Ivan's mental state was continually deteriorating and was exacerbated by his wars with Sweden, Lithuania, and Poland.
Oprichnina was run by the Tsar's own guards, the oprichniks. Drawn mainly from the lower levels of the military and society, they were rewarded for their services with land, property and payments. The result was a small army of individuals whose entire livelihood was owed to Tsar's generosity and whose loyalty was without question.
The oprichniks are frequently portrayed as unhinged black-robed killers, who slaughtered people just as frivolously as they killed dogs whose severed heads they carried around as a symbol of their 'snapping at the heels' of the Tsar's enemies. They carried around brooms as another representation of their campaign to sweep away traitors.
Using forged documents as a pretext, thousands were hanged, drowned or deported, while the buildings and countryside were plundered and destroyed. Estimates of the death toll vary between 15,000 and 60,000 people.

1570 The Massacre of Novgorod was an attack launched by Tsar Ivan the Terrible's oprichniki on the city of Novgorod. The sheer number of casualties combined with the extreme level of violent cruelty makes this campaign possibly the most vicious in the brutal legacy of the oprichnina.
In 1569 the tsar evicted several thousands from Novgorod and the neighboring town of Pskov in an attempt to avoid a betrayal from boyars, ц the Tsar believed was planning to ally with Lithuania.

1578-1580 The beginning of Russian conquest of Siberia.
The Russian conquest of Siberia took place in the 16th and 17th centuries, when the Khanate of Sibir had become a loose political structure of vassalages that were being undermined by the activities of Russian explorers.
The conquest began when some 540 Cossacks under Yermak Timofeyevich invaded the territory of the Voguls, subjects to the Khan of Siberia. They were accompanied by 300 Lithuanian and German slave laborers, whom the Stroganovs had purchased from the tsar.
1601–1603 The Russia's worst famine in terms of proportional effect on the population, killing perhaps two million people, about 30% of the Russian people. The famine compounded the Time of Troubles, when the country was unsettled politically and later invaded by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The many deaths contributed to social disruption and helped bring about the downfall of Boris Godunov.

1606-1607 Bolotnikov rebellion. The uprising was part of the Time of Troubles in Russia. Bolotnikov led rebel forces loyal to Tsar Dmitry against the usurper Tsar Vasily Shuisky. Wrongly believing that Dmitry I had escaped Shuisky's assassins, the rebels essentially renewed the civil war that had brought Tsar Dmitry II to power.

1648 Salt riot: The Moscow uprising of 1648 started because of the government's replacement of different taxes with a universal salt tax for the purpose of replenishing the state treasury after the Time of Troubles. This drove up the price of salt, leading to violent riots in the streets of Moscow. The riot was an early challenge to the reign of Alexei 1, eventually resulting in the exile of Alexei's advisor Boris Morozov.

1650 Novgorod and Pskov Uprising, caused by the Russian government's bulk purchasing of grain (traded to Sweden) and the resulting increases in the price of bread.

1662 Copper Riots. Russian government began producing copper coins and assigning them equal value to silver currency to meet expenses. The effort failed and silver vanished from circulation, the entire economy collapsed and unemployment rose dramatically. The copper money was naturally devalued in purchasing power and then there was widespread counterfeiting operations since the official value of the copper coinage became far in excess of the cost of production.

1667-1676 Solovetskoe uprising: the monks of the Solovki monastery were opposed to church reforms. The siege of the Solovetsky monastery lasted 8 years and ended with the capture of the monastery by the tsarist troops.

1670-1671 Cossack uprising led by Stepan Razin.
Cossack Stenka Razin led a major uprising against the nobility and tsarist bureaucracy in southern Russia. Razin became a symbol of peasant unrest, his movement turned political. Razin wanted to protect the independence of the Cossacks and to protest an increasingly centralized government. The Cossacks supported the tsar and autocracy, but they wanted a tsar that responded to the needs of the people and not just those of the upper class. Razin's movement failed and the rebellion led to increased government control. The Cossacks lost some of their autonomy, and the tsar bonded more closely with the upper class because both feared more rebellion.

1682 1st Streltsy uprising (The Khovansky Affair).
An uprising of the Moscow Streltsy regiments that resulted in supreme power devolving on Sophia Alekseyevna. Behind the uprising lurked the rivalry between the Miloslavsky and Naryshkin relatives of the two wives of the late Tsar Aleksey for dominant influence on the administration of the Tsardom of Russia.

1698 2nd Streltsy uprising, suppressed by Tsar Peter 1.
Possible reasons: rebellion against the progressive innovations of Peter the Great, serfdom oppression, military-service hardships and harassment.
The Moscow Streltsy, who had participated in Peter the Great's Azov campaigns in 1695–1696, remained in Azov as a garrison. In 1697, however, the four regiments of Streltsy were unexpectedly sent to Velikiye Luki instead of Moscow. In 1698 they left their regiments and fled to Moscow to file a complaint. They secretly established contact with Sophia Alekseyevna, who had been incarcerated at the Novodevichy Monastery, and hoped for her mediation.
The runaway Streltsy, despite their resistance, were sent back to their regiments, giving rise to discontent among the rest of them. Peter availed himself of savage tortures while investigating the incident. Between 1698 and 1699, 1,182 Streltsy were executed and 601 were whipped, branded with iron, or sent into exile. The investigation and executions continued up until 1707. Streltsy and their family members were removed from Moscow.
A number of social grievances were prevalent in the peasant population of Russia of 18th century due to:
- Peter the Great's radical reforms designed to «Westernize» old Muscovy;
- Peter's newly formed police state was expanding territorially: with the massive recruitment into the army for campaigns to Azov and Sweden, unfolded construction;
The whole groups of serfs and even villages fled with their families to the Volga, Don and Sloboda Ukraine.
In general, the entire rural Russian atmosphere was in an agitated state, waiting for a catalyst of some kind.

1705-1706 Astrakhan uprising: an antifeudal action by streltsy, soldiers, posadskie liudi (merchants and artisans), and rabotnye liudi (bound or free industrial and trade workers) in Astrakhan.
Causes: the intensification of tax oppression (new taxes on salt, on baths, cellars, and ovens) and the arbitrariness and coercion of the local administration and garrison officers. The salaries of the soldiers and streltsy were lowered, and they were forced to work for the officers. The immediate cause of the uprising was Peter 1st ukase prohibiting the wearing of Russian dress and beards (cutting off beards «with blood.»)

1707-1709 Bulavin Rebellion: a war of Don Cossacks against Imperial Russia was led by Kondraty Bulavin, a democratically elected Ataman of Don Cossacks.
The war was triggered by a number of underlying tensions between the Imperial government under Peter 1st of Russia, the Cossacks, and Russian peasants fleeing from serfdom in Russia to gain freedom in the autonomous Don area.
The Bulavin Rebellion bore striking similarities to Razin's Revolt a generation earlier. Both were Cossack rebellions in part, aimed against an imposing governmental institution and driven by animosity for the miserable state of peasant life. They effectively set the stage for the Pugachev Uprising under Catherine the Great. In response to the uprising, Peter tightened his grip on the Cossack states.


1769-1771 Kizhi uprising: a movement among state peasants attached to the Olonets metallurgical works in Karelia, provoked by increased feudal exploitation in the form of compulsory labor at factories (cutting wood, stoking coal, processing ores) and by abuses of the local administration.
After heavy artillery fire by the punitive expedition about 2,000 peasants surrendered. The leaders of the movement were branded, whipped, and sentenced to hard labor for life in Nerchinsk. About 52 persons were deported to Siberia, and many were conscripted into the army. As a result of the uprising, peasants were no longer forced to quarry marble or construct new plants.

1771 Plague riot caused by an outbreak of bubonic plague.
The measures undertaken by the authorities, such as creation of forced quarantines, destruction of contaminated property without compensation or control, closing of public baths, etc., caused fear and anger among the citizens.
The city's economy was mostly paralyzed because many factories, markets, stores, and administrative buildings had been closed down.
All of this was followed by acute food shortages, causing deterioration of living conditions for the majority of the Muscovites.

1773-1775 Pugachev's Rebellion (major Cossack and peasant rebellion in Russia).
Claiming to be Emperor Peter 3rd (who had been deposed by his wife, Catherine 2nd the Great, and assassinated in 1762), Pugachov decreed the abolition of serfdom and gathered a substantial following, including Yaik Cossacks, peasant workers in the mines and factories of the Urals, agricultural peasants, clergymen, and the Bashkirs. Planning ultimately to depose Catherine, Pugachov stormed and laid siege to Orenburg in 1773.
Catherine recognized the seriousness of the rebellion and sent an army, but Pugachov proceeded to Kazan and burned the city (1774). He was defeated again several days later, but he crossed the Volga River, intending to gather reinforcements among the Don Cossacks. He captured Saratov (1774) and besieged Tsaritsyn (now Volgograd), where General A. Suvorov finally defeated him (September 1774). Pugachov escaped but was betrayed by some Yaik Cossacks, sent to Moscow, and executed.
Salawat Yulayev is a Bashkir national hero who participated in Pugachev's Rebellion.
1820е Creation of secret organizations «Union of Welfare», «Northern society», «Southern Society» by Russian advanced nobility. The general ideas: the abolishment of autocracy and serfdom and introduction of constitutional form of government.

1825 Decembrist uprising: a revolutionary movement born during the reign of Alexander 1st.
The background of the Decembrist Revolt lay in the Napoleonic Wars, when a number of well-educated Russian officers in Western Europe during the course of military campaigns were exposed to its liberalism and encouraged to seek change on their return to autocratic Russia.
Army officers created the Union of Salvation, aimed at the abolishment of serfdom and introduction of constitutional monarchy by means of armed revolt at the next emperor’s succession to the throne.
The revolt occurred on December 1825, when about 3,000 officers and soldiers refused to swear allegiance to the new tsar, Alexander’s brother Nicholas, proclaiming instead their loyalty to the idea of a Russian constitution and a constitutional monarchy .
The revolt was easily crushed, and the surviving rebels exiled to Siberia, leading Nicholas to turn away from the modernization program begun by Peter the Great.

1830-1831 Cholera riots - the riots caused by the anti-cholera measures, undertaken by the tsarist government, such as quarantine, armed cordons and migratory restrictions.
Influenced by rumors of deliberate contamination of ordinary people by government officials and doctors, agitated mobs started raiding police departments and state hospitals, killing hated functionaries, officers, landowners and gentry. (in Tambov, St. Petersburg, Novgorod Province, Sevastopol, etc.).

1840-1844 Potato riots - the introduction of potato cultivation culture met with strong resistance from the peasants (in the Perm, Orenburg, Vyatka, Kazan and Saratov gubernias).
The forcible measures accompanying the introduction of the sowing of potatoes provoked the disturbances; the peasants’ best land was chosen for potatoes, they were subjected to severe penalties for failure to observe the directions of the authorities, and various requisitions were imposed on them.

1860-1870e Student Movements. Caused by: social composition and financial situation of students; the activities of revolutionary secret societies; increased student oversight.

1860-1870e Narodnichestvo movement («Populists») - socialist movement in Russia who believed that political propaganda among the peasantry would lead to the awakening of the masses and, through their influence, to the liberalization of the tsarist regime.
Because Russia was a predominantly agricultural country, the peasants represented the majority of the people (narod): hence the name of the movement, narodnichestvo, or «populism.»

1860-1870e Proletariat movement: caused by increase in the number of the proletariat and difficult working conditions (up to 17 hours a working day, lower salary for female and child labor).

1860-1890e Strike movement: 1861- 1869 ~ 63 strikes, 1870-1879 ~ 326 strikes, 1880-1884 ~ 101 strike (~ 99 thousand workers), 1885-1889 ~ 221 strike (~ 223 thousand workers).

1890e The spread of Marxism: Marxism made important inroads among Russian intellectuals, gaining adherents in academic circles and in the radical and revolutionary movement. Among them were young intellectuals V. Ulianov (Lenin) and J. Martov.
Both decided to dedicate their lives to revolutionary struggle and soon emerged as leaders of Russian Marxists. In the 1890s Marxism appealed to many young intellectuals, including many future liberals, like P. Struve, N. Berdiaev, S. Bulgakov, who would later renounce their early Marxist learnings.
1905-1907 1st Russian Revolution. Causes: lack of reforms, poverty and powerlessness of peasants (70% of the population), powerlessness of workers, the national question (forced Russification), failures on the Russian-Japanese front.
Events: Bloody Sunday, mutiny on the battleship «Prince Potyomkin Taurian» and the cruiser «Ochakov», All-Russian strike. Results: the formation of the State Duma, trade unions, voting rights.

1917 February February Revolution. Causes: anti-war sentiments, the plight of workers and peasants, political powerlessness, the decline of the authority of autocratic power and its inability to carry out reforms.
Events: strikes and strikes, transfer of the tsarist regiments to the side of the workers, Nicholas 2's abdication from the throne diarchy - the Council of Deputies as an organ of people's power and the Provisional Government as an organ of the bourgeois dictatorship.

1917 October October Revolution. Causes: the diarchy ended with the victory of the bourgeoisie, which did not fulfill the demands of the working people, the announcement of the dictatorship and the intention to disperse the Soviets.
Events: the creation of the Military Revolutionary Committee, the overthrow and arrest of the Provisional Government, the transfer of power to the Soviets, the «Peace Decree» and the «Land Decree».

1929-1933 Rebellion and discontent against collectivization and dispossession of kulaks. Holodomor. Seizure of property for transfer to collective farms. Fines for non-fulfillment of grain procurements.

1960-1980s The dissident movement in the USSR. Criticism of power, the struggle for human rights, stagnation in science, the movement on the originality of Russia. Fighting dissidents: arrests, links, mental hospitals.

1990 Mass rally (more than 200 thousand) for the abolition of the one-party system (Article 6 of the Constitution). Adoption of the law of the USSR on recognition of a multiparty system in the country.
1990 The aggravation of interethnic and interfaith relations in the 1990s.
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Wars
Russia-Sweden-Finnish relations.
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The Vikings traded along the Russian rivers and founded settlements.
The controversial subject was the coast of the Gulf of Finland, which both the Novgorodians and the Swedes sought to take over.
1142-64 Swedish Crusade.
Swedish–Novgorodian Wars were a series of conflicts in the 12th and 13th centuries between the Republic of Novgorod and medieval Sweden over control of the Gulf of Finland, a part of the Varangian-Byzantine trade route. The Swedish attacks against Orthodox Russians had religious overtones.
After the marriage of Yaroslav 1 (Grand Prince of Novgorod and Kiev) to Ingegerd of Sweden in 1019, Ladoga became a desired territory in the orbit of Kievan Rus.
According to the First Novgorod Chronicle, the Swedish troops attacked the Novgorod merchants somewhere in the Baltic Sea region and killed 150 Novgorodians in 1142. It is the first known case of hostilities between Sweden and Novgorod. In 1164, a strong Swedish fleet approached Ladoga but was soundly defeated with most of its ships captured by Novgorod.
1240 Battle of the Neva. The Swedes invaded Russia to punish the Novgorodians for encroaching on Finnish tribes and to bar Russia’s access to the sea. Aleksandr Yaroslavich (Saint Alexander Nevsky) defeated the Swedes at the confluence of the Rivers Izhora and Neva. At the time of the battle he was not even 20 years old.
By defeating a Swedish invasion force at the confluence of the Rivers Izhora and Neva, he won the name Nevsky, «of the Neva».
1311 Novgorod raid on Finland.
1313 Burning by the Swedes Ladoga.
1314 Korela rebelled against Novgorod and called on the Swedes. Restraining Korela.
1322 After an unsuccessful attempt to seize Vyborg, the Novgorodians set up the Oreshek fortress.
Wars with the Swedes after the annexation of Novgorod to Moscow.
Ivan 3 concluded an alliance with Hans of Denmark.
He built a strong citadel in Ingria, named Ivangorod after himself, situated on the Russian-Estonian border, opposite the fortress of Narva held by the Livonian Confederation.
1495–97 Russo-Swedish War. Ivan 3 unsuccessfully attempted to conquer Vyborg from Sweden.
1508 A 60-year peace treaty under Vasily 3.
1554 Under Ivan the Terrible, Scandinavians attacked the Oreshek fortress. Russian troops laid siege to Vyborg. The Swedes staged a merciless pogrom in Korel lands.
1595 In troubled times, the people of Novgorod called upon the Swedish Prince and threw the Novgorod to the Swedes.
By the time of the accession of Mikhail Feodorovich in the hands of the Swedes were Ingermanlandia and part of the Novgorod lands.
1610-17 The Ingrian War between Sweden and Russia. This war was a part of Russia's Time of Troubles with the attempt to put a Swedish duke on the Russian throne. It ended with a large Swedish territorial gain in the Treaty of Stolbovo in 1617, which laid an important foundation to Sweden's Age of Greatness.
Russia lost the Izhora land and the Karelian county, which included the north-western Priladozhie.
As a result of the war, Russia was denied access to the Baltic sea for about a century, despite its persistent efforts to reverse the situation. This led to the increased importance of Arkhangelsk for its trading connections with Western Europe.
1656–58 The Russo-Swedish War - was fought by Russia and Sweden as a part of the Second Northern War. It took place during a pause in the contemporary Russo-Polish War (1654-1667) as a consequence of the Truce of Vilna. Despite initial successes, Tsar Alexis of Russia failed to secure his principal objective—to revise the Treaty of Stolbovo.
1700-21, 1741-43, 1788-90 Northern Wars.
The causes: Russia’s access to the Baltic was blocked by Swedish-held Karelia, Ingria, Estonia, and Livonia by Sweden’s expansion in the Baltic Sea coastlands during the 16th and 17th centuries.
1700-21 Great Northern War - military conflict in which Russia, Denmark-Norway, and Saxony-Poland challenged the supremacy of Sweden in the Baltic area.
1700 Siege of Narva by Russians and victorious attack on Swedes at Narva.
1700-3 The reorganization of Russian army by Peter 1 the Great.
1703 Peter 1 had founded the city of St. Petersburg and the naval port of Kronshtadt.
1704 Capture of Dorpat and Narva.
1709 The Battle of Poltava with main Sweden forces. Victory at Poltava. Defeat in The Northern War knocked Sweden out of the ranks of the great powers.
1710-11 Charles fled to Turkey and induced the Turks to declare war on Russia. However, the Turks, satisfied with a negotiated peace that gave them control of Azov, withdrew from the war.
1714 the Russians defeated the Swedish naval fleet at Hangö (Hanko) and, having captured the Åland Islands, threatened Stockholm.
1721 The Treaty of Nystad - which concluded the war between Sweden and Russia. Sweden ceded Ingria, Estonia, Livonia, and a strip of Finnish Karelia to Russia.

1741-43 The Russo-Swedish War - obliging Sweden to cede a strip of southern Finland to Russia and to become temporarily dependent on Russia.
1741 Empress Elizabeth of Russia agreed to return the Baltic territories to Sweden in exchange for Swedish support in her efforts to seize the Russian throne from the infant emperor Ivan 6.
The Swedes advanced toward St. Petersburg; their threat to the Russian capital enabled Elizabeth to stage a successful coup d’etat (to gain the power).
1742 Elizabeth reneged on the agreement with Sweden. Russian troops conquered Helsingfors and Åbo (modern Turku, then the capital of Finland) and occupied a large portion of Finland.
1743 Treaty of Åbo - Russia got a strip of southern Finland; Russian forces were to be allowed to occupy Sweden to make sure that nothing interfered with his selection.
1744 All the Russian troops were withdrawn from Sweden and Sweden quickly ended his dependence on Russia.

1788-90 The Russo-Swedish War, known as Gustav III's Russian War in Sweden.
The Western powers were alarmed by a string of Russian victories in the Russo-Turkish War (1787–92) and lobbied for the war in the north, which would have diverted the attention of Empress Catherine 2 of Russia from the Southern theatre. Sweden concluded an alliance with the Ottoman Empire in the summer of 1788. However, only the Ottoman Empire was willing to ally with Sweden while Great Britain, the Dutch Republic, and Prussia rejected efforts to form an alliance.
The Swedish attack foiled the Russian plans of sending its navy into the Mediterranean to support its forces fighting the Ottomans, as it was needed to protect the capital, Saint Petersburg. Russia land troops were tied up in the war against Turkey, and Catherine 2 was likewise concerned with revolutionary events in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and in France (the French Revolution). The war ended with status quo.
1808 Alexander 1 sent Russian troops to conquer Finland. Swedes after the resistance signed a peace treaty, yielding Finland to Russia.
1809-1917 An autonomous status of the Grand Duchy of Finland (Governor-General in the Russian Empire).
1917 - Finland became an independent republic.
1918 The Finnish Civil War fought for the leadership and control of Finland during the country's transition from a Grand Duchy of the Russian Empire to an independent state.
The Finnish Civil War was fought between the socialist Reds and the non-socialist Whites in the newly sovereign state. The conflict lasted from late January until mid-May 1918 and resulted in a White victory.

1939-40 Soviet-Finnish war or the Winter War - a military conflict between the Soviet Union (USSR) and Finland.
The League of Nations deemed the attack illegal and expelled the Soviet Union from the organization.
The underlying cause of the Winter War was Soviet concern about Nazi Germany's expansionism and protection of Leningrad.
1940 The Moscow Peace Treaty Finland ceded 11% of its territory representing 30% of its economy to the Soviet Union. Soviet losses were heavy, and the country's international reputation suffered. Soviet gains exceeded their pre-war demands and the USSR received substantial territory along Lake Ladoga and in northern Finland.

1940-44 Finnish cooperation with Hitler's Germany. In 1944 a truce was signed between Finland and the USSR.
Russia's western, north-western borders, south-western borders
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Russian-Byzantine Wars (9th - 11th centuries). The aim of the Russian Princes was the recognition of Kievan Rus by Byzantium.
907 The Rus'–Byzantine War associated in the Primary Chronicle with the name of Oleg of Novgorod. The chronicle implies that it was the most successful military operation of the Kievan Rus' against the Byzantine Empire.
Oleg resorted landed on the shore ~2,000 boats equipped with wheels. After his boats were transformed into vehicles, he led them to the walls of Constantinople and fixed his shield to the gates of the Imperial capital.
The threat to Constantinople was ultimately relieved by peace negotiations which bore fruit in the Russo-Byzantine Treaty of 907. Pursuant to the treaty, the Byzantines paid a tribute of twelve grivnas for each Rus' boat.
941 The Rus'–Byzantine War which took place during the reign of Igor of Kiev.
980-90 Vladimir had consolidated the Kievan realm from modern-day Belarus, Russia and Ukraine to the Baltic Sea and had solidified the frontiers against incursions of Bulgarian, Baltic tribes and Eastern nomads.
1043 Prince Yaroslav the Wise's a naval raid against Constantinople led by his son Vladimir. Although his navy was defeated in the Rus'–Byzantine War, Yaroslav managed to conclude the war with a favorable treaty and prestigious marriage of his son Vsevolod 1 of Kiev to a Byzantine princess. It has been suggested that the peace was so advantageous because the Kievans had succeeded in taking a key Byzantine possession in Crimea, Chersonesus.
1018 Svyatopolk Vladimirovich asked for help from the Polish Tsar against Yaroslav.
In 1030 Yaroslav the Wise conquered lands between Lake Peipus and the Baltic Sea and founded there the city of Yurev (named after Yaroslav's Christian name, Yurii-Georgii), now Tartu in Estonia. In 1030–31, with Mstyslav's help, he regained the Cherven towns (part of modern Ukraine and Poland, 12-14 centuries - Galicia) from Bolesław I the Brave and annexed the Polish-ruled lands between the Sian River and the Buh River, where he founded Yaroslav (now Jarosław).
1044-74 The struggle for the Polotsk principality between Vseslav, Izyaslav and Vsevolod.
1084 The defeat of the Polotsk land by Vladimir Monomakh.
1127 The prince of Kiev, Mstislav Vladimirovich, began a war with the princes of Polotsk over trade routes and pillaged several cities including Polotsk (The area around Vitebsk was controlled by the principality of Polotsk beginning from the 10th century).

In 1193, Pope Celestine III declared the Northern Crusades, encouraging the Holy Roman Empire and Kingdom of Sweden to advance east into pagan-occupied territory. From then on, the Church would support any knights attempting to spread Rome’s influence farther to the north and east. For German Crusaders it was also the chance to get new lands and free labor.
Starting 1198 The Teutonic Knights — a German Order in the northern Holy Roman Empire — were working through Baltic tribes to grab hold of modern Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania. They formed buffer between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox branches of the Christian faith.
1208, 1236 Germans moved into Estonia. With the ally of the Russian soldiers Estonians managed to force the Teutonic Order into a 30-year slog to acquire the territory. In 1236 on the Battle of Saule the Germans vanquished the Estonians.
1240 An assault on Pskov by Teutonic Order. In early 1242 Alexander Nevsky reclaimed Novgorod lands, liberating Pskov and pushing the German knights back into Estonia.
1242 Battle of the Ice - Russian soldiers under the command of Prince Alexander Nevsky defeated the German knights, who wanted to strike at Novgorod the Great. That prevented the Germans from entering Russia, hardening the dividing line between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches. The battle served as the last real attempt by Western armies to conquer the Russians for centuries. Alexander Nevsky was canonized as a Saint.
1268 The Livonian Order's attempts to invade the Novgorod Republic were unsuccessful and its army was defeated in the Battle of Rakvere (The Livonian Order was an autonomous branch of the Teutonic Order, formed in 1237).

Starting 1253 The Kingdom or Principality of Galicia–Volhynia was formed (modern states of Poland, Ukraine and the Slovak Republic).
At the peak of its expansion, the Galician–Volhynian state contained not only south-western Rus' lands, including Red Rus' and Black Rus', but also briefly controlled part of the Black Sea.
Galicia–Volhynia competed with other successor states of Kievan Rus' (notably Vladimir-Suzdal) to claim the Kievan inheritance.
Galicia–Volhynia's King Danylo was the last ruler of Kiev preceding the Mongolian invasion.
Galicia's rulers were not concerned by religious succession to control over the Kievan Church and obtained a separate Church from Byzantium. Galicia–Volhynia, Poland and Hungary belonged to the same psychological and cultural world.
1246 Following the destruction wreaked by the Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus' , Prince Danylo was forced to pledge allegiance to Batu Khan of the Golden Horde. He strove to rid his realm of the Mongol yoke, however, by a formal orientation to Western Europe and tried, unsuccessfully, to establish military alliances with other European rulers.
1323 The extinction of the Rurikid dynasty in Galicia–Volhynia - the brothers Andrew and Lev II died together, fighting against the Mongols, and left no heirs.
Partition of kingdom: Volhynia passed into the control of the Lithuanians, while the boyars took control over Galicia.
1349 Galicia–Volhynia ceased to exist as an independent state after successful Invasion of Poland's King Casimir III. The Polish conquest of the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia ended its vassalage to the Golden Horde.
1340-92 The civil war in the region transitioned into a power struggle between Lithuania, Poland, and Hungary.
By the mid-14th century, the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania divided up the region between them: Galicia and Western Volhynia now were part of Poland, Eastern Volhynia together with Kiev came under Lithuanian control. A significant part of Russia was under the rule of the Lithuanian principality, which acted as a counterbalance to the Golden Horde.
1385 Krevo union - a treaty between the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (in Krevo, now in Belarus). It united the two countries in their struggle against the invading Teutonic knights. Ukrainian and Belarusian lands under the rule of Lithuania were incorporated into the Kingdom of Poland. Ukrainian and Belarusian nobles opposed the union.
At 15-16 centuries, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania is the main rival of Moscow for domination over the territories from Smolensk to Bug and from the Baltic to the Black Sea.
Muscovite–Lithuanian Wars (also known as Russo-Lithuanian Wars)
It relates to a series of wars between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, allied with the Kingdom of Poland, and the Grand Duchy of Moscow. After several defeats at the hands of Ivan 3 and Vasily 3, the Lithuanians were increasingly reliant on Polish aid, which eventually became an important factor in the creation of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
1492–94 First border war.
Ivan 3 considered himself an heir to the fallen Byzantine Empire and defender of the Orthodox Church. He proclaimed himself sovereign of all Rus' and claimed patrimonial rights to the former lands of Kievan Rus'. Muscovite territory growed in power: 1456 extended influence to the Principality of Ryazan, 1477 annexed the Novgorod Republic, 1483 annexed the Principality of Tver. Further expansionist goals of Ivan 3 clashed with the Lithuanian interests.
1492 Without declaring war, Ivan 3 began large military actions: he captured and burned Mtsensk, Lyubutsk, Serpeysk, and Meshchovsk; raided Mosalsk; and attacked territory of the Dukes of Vyazma.
1494 An «eternal» peace treaty was concluded. The Lithuanian territorial losses to Moscow were to be approximately 87,000 km2.
1500-3 Second war.
The pretext was the alleged religious intolerance toward the Orthodox in the Lithuanian court.
1500 The Muscovites promptly overran Lithuanian fortresses in Bryansk, Vyazma, Dorogobuzh, Toropets, and Putyvl.
1501 The Livonian Order joined the war as an ally of Lithuania.
1502 Ivan 3 organized an successful campaign to capture Smolensk.
1503 Peace negotiations ended with a six-year truce on the Feast of the Annunciation. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania lost approximately 210,000 km2 or a third of its territory: Chernihiv, Novhorod-Siverskyi, Starodub, and lands around the upper Oka River.
The Lithuanians also acknowledged Ivan's title, sovereign of all Rus'.
1507-08 Third war.
1505 Vasili 3, son of Ivan 3, advanced his bid for the Polish throne, but Polish nobles chose Sigismund I the Old. Sigismund I sent envoys to Moscow to request the return of the territories acquired by the 1503 truce.
1508 The war eventually ended with the inconclusive «eternal» peace treaty, which maintained the territorial accords of the 1503 truce.
1512-22 Fourth war.
1512 Muscovy Rus' invaded the Grand Duchy of Lithuania seeking to capture Smolensk.
1514 The capture of Smolensk.
1514 The Russians suffered a major defeat at the Battle of Orsha.
1518 Russian forces were beaten during the siege of Polotsk.
1519 The Russians invaded Lithuania again, raiding Orsha, Mogilev, Minsk, Vitebsk, and Polotsk.
1519-1521 The Polish–Teutonic War, when Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor allied with Vasili 3.
1522 A treaty was signed that called for a five-year truce, no prisoner exchange, and for Russia to retain control of Smolensk. The truce was subsequently extended to 1534.
1534-37 Fifth or Starodub war.
1534 The Polish–Lithuanian monarch and the Tatars devastated the area around Chernigov, Novgorod Seversk, Radogoshch, Starodub and Briansk. They decided to take advantage of the situation when Elena Glinskaya, acted as the regent of 3 years old Ivan 4 , was engaged in power struggles with other relatives and boyars.
1537 Lithuania and Russia negotiated a five-year truce.

Livonian War.
1547 The Grand Duchy of Moscow officially became known as the Tsardom of Russia, with Ivan IV crowned as Tsar and «Ruler of all Rus». The tsar sought to gather the ethnically Ruthenian lands of the former Kievan Rus', engaging with other powers around the Baltic Sea in the Livonian War.
1568 Tsar Ivan 4 invaded Livonia.
1570 Ceasefire divided Livonia between the participants, with Lithuania controlling Riga and Russians expanding access to the Baltic Sea by taking hold of Narva.
1569 Union of Lublin pact between Poland and Lithuania that united the two countries into a single state, forming the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (Rzecz Pospolita). The whole of Southern Russia (Ukraine) passed from Lithuania to the Polish crown.
1577-82 Ivan 4 took advantage of the Commonwealth internal strife and invaded Livonia, quickly taking almost the entire territory, with the exception of Riga and Reval (now Tallinn). Stefan Batory replied with a series of three offensives against Russia, trying to cut off Livonia from the main Russian territories.
1579 Stefan Batory retook Polatsk, Polish–Lithuanian troops also devastated Smolensk region, and Severia up to Starodoub.
1580 An army Stefan Batory took Velizh, Usvyat, Velikiye Luki.
1581 the Lithuanians burnt down Staraya Russa, with a 100,000-strong army Stefan Batory started the Siege of Pskov but failed to take the fortress.
1582-83 Yam-Zapolskoye and Plyusskoy truce, that deprived Russia of all conquests on the border with the Republic of Poland and the Baltic coastal cities. The division of Livonia between the Rzecz Pospolita, Sweden and Denmark. The Livonian War, which lasted for more than 20 years, was lost.
1605-18 The Polish–Muscovite War, also known as the Polish–Russian War or the Dimitriads - was a conflict fought between the Tsardom of Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Starting 1598 Poland began influencing Russian boyars at the Time of Troubles, and supporting False Dmitris for the title of Tsar of Russia against the crowned Boris Godunov and Vasili Shuysky.
1605-09 King Sigismund III informally invaded Russia until the death of False Dmitry I in 1606, and invaded again in 1607 until Russia formed a military alliance with Sweden in 1609.
1610 Polish forces entered Moscow and Sweden withdrew from the military alliance with Russia, instead triggering the Ingrian War.
Sigismund's son, Prince Władysław of Poland, was elected tsar by the Seven Boyars, but Sigismund seized the Russian throne for himself to convert the population to Catholicism, with the pro-Polish boyars ending their support for the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
1611 Kuzma Minin and Prince Dmitry Pozharsky formed a new army to launch a popular revolt against the Polish occupation. The Poles captured Smolensk in June 1611 but began to retreat after they were ousted from Moscow in September 1612.
1613 Michael Romanov, the son of Patriarch Filaret of Moscow, was elected Tsar of Russia, beginning the Romanov dynasty and ending the Time of Troubles.
1618 The end of Polish-Muscovite war with the Truce of Deulino, which granted the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth certain territorial concessions but preserved Russia's independence.
1654 Pereyaslav Agreement - an act undertaken by the rada (council) of the Cossack army in Ukraine, led by Bohdan Khmelnytsky, to submit Ukraine to Russian rule, and the acceptance of this act by emissaries of the Russian tsar Alexis.
Starting 1648 Ukraine had many problems with Poland, the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean Tatars and therefore decided to turn to Moscow for protection.
With the unification the Cossacks were granted a large degree of autonomy, and they, as well as other social groups in Ukraine, retained all the rights and privileges they had enjoyed under Polish rule.
Ukraine continued to be a part of the Russian empire for the next 263 years (until the empire collapsed in 1917) and it gained vast northern territories granted by various Russian tsars.
1654–67 The Thirteen Years’ War between Russia and Poland for control of Ukraine.
The unification of Ukraine with Russia was unacceptable to Poland. During the war, control of Ukraine shifted back and forth many times.
1667 Truce of Andrusovo - piece treaty that ended the Thirteen Years’ War, favorable to Russia.
According to the truce Ukraine was divided along the Dnieper River; Russia received the eastern portion of Ukraine, the city of Kiev, and the provinces of Smolensk and Seversk. The truce was confirmed by a treaty concluded in 1686.
1708-09 Mazepa uprising attempts to free the eastern Hetmanate from Russian rule, during the prolonged Great Northern War that ranged Russia against Poland and Sweden at the time.
The causes: the growth of social discontent in Ukraine caused by endless wars and abuse of the Ukranian population by Russian troops were the causes, that in 1700 Hetman of Ukraine Mazepa entered into secret negotiations with Charles XII of Sweden. In 1709 Mazepa, however, was able neither to inspire the Ukrainian population to revolt against the Russians nor to supply the Swedes with enough Cossacks to prevent the Russians from inflicting a major defeat upon them at Poltava. After that battle, Mazepa escaped with Charles into Turkish-controlled Moldavia, where he died.
1764 Russia abolishes the eastern Hetmanate and establishes the Little Russia governorate as a transitional entity until the full annexation of the territory in 1781.
1772-95 Decline and collapse of the Commonwealth of Poland.
The Commonwealth was facing many internal problems (civil war) and was vulnerable to foreign influences.
1768 The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth became a protectorate of the Russian Empire. Control of Poland was central to Catherine the Great's diplomatic and military strategies.
1772, 1793, 1795 A partition of Poland in three stages between Prussia, Austria and Russia. In 1795 Commonwealth of Poland collapsed.
Poland and Lithuania were not re-established as independent countries until 1918.
1806 Prussia joins Britain and Russia against Napoleon.
1807 The Treaty of Tilsit - the treaty between Tsar Alexander 1 of Russia and Napoleon Bonaparte of France. The treaty mediated peace between Russia and France.
1807 Transition of the Poles to the side of Napoleon. Napoleon created a French protectorate in Poland Duchy of Warsaw. Napoleonic campaign in Russia.
1812 Patriotic War with Napoleon expelled from Russia.
Battle of Smolensk. Moscow evacuated. Battle of Borodino. Napoleon arrives in Moscow to find the city abandoned and set alight by the inhabitants; retreating in the midst of a frigid winter, the army suffers great losses. Beginning of the Great Retreat. Battle of Maloyaroslavets. Crossing of the River Berezina. Grande Armée expelled from Russia
1813-1814 Campaign of the Russian army liberated European countries from the domination of Napoleon.
1815 The formation of the Polish Tsardom - after the defeat of Napoleon the Duchy of Poland was transferred to Russia. Russification of the Tsardom of Poland.
1914-18 1st World War.
Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire (the Central Powers) fought against Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Romania, Japan and the United States (the Allied Powers).
Russia’s simmering instability exploded in the Russian Revolution of 1917, spearheaded by Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks, which ended czarist rule and brought a halt to Russian participation in World War I.
1918 Treaties of Brest-Litovsk.
Lenin, realizing that the new Soviet state was too weak to survive a continuation of the war, was accepting German terms such as:
Russia lost Ukraine, its Polish and Baltic territories, and Finland (Ukraine was recovered in 1919, during the Russian Civil War.)
1918-22 Russian Civil War - civil war fought between several groups in Russia. The main fighting was between the Red Army and the White Army. The Red Army was an army of communists. The White Army opposed the communists. Other forces fought against both these groups or sometimes helped one against the other. The Red Army fought against Denikin in the south, Krasnov-on-Don, the countries of Atlanta in the Black Sea region, Yudenich in the West.
After this war, the communists established the Soviet Union in 1922.
1919-20 Russo-Polish War - military conflict between Soviet Russia and Poland, which sought to seize Ukraine. It resulted in the establishment of the Russo-Polish border that existed until 1939.
Although there had been hostilities between the two countries during 1919, the conflict began when the Polish head of state formed an alliance with the Ukrainian nationalist leader S. Petlyura.
1920 The Treaty of Riga - provided for the bulk of Ukraine to remain a Soviet republic, although substantial portions of Belorussia (Belarus) and Ukraine were ceded to Poland.
1939 Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact with A. Hitler - as a neutrality pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.
The non-aggression pact contained a secret protocol dividing Northern and Eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence in the event of war.
1939 Polish campaign of the USSR.
One week after the signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, German forces invaded Poland from the west, north, and south. The Soviet Red Army invaded Poland from the east.
The result of the war was the two-way division and annexation of the entire territory of the Second Polish Republic by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.
1941-45 Great Patriotic War or the German-Soviet War - the conflict fought along the many fronts of the Eastern Front of World War II between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany and its allies.
It was part of the Eastern Front of World War II - conflict between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union (USSR), Poland and other Allies, which encompassed Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Northeast Europe (Baltics), and Southeast Europe (Balkans).
Outcomes of Great Patriotic War:
The USSR’s losses are now estimated at about 26.6 million, accounting for half of all WW2 casualties.
Germany and its capital Berlin were divided into four parts. The zones were to be controlled by Great Britain, the United States, France and the Soviet Union.
The division of Europe between the USSR and the «West»: the partition of Poland (the east of Poland passed to the USSR), the USSR-controlled GDRs, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland and Yugoslavia.
The division of Europe was the beginning of the Cold War - the war between the democratic nations of the west and the Communist countries of eastern Europe.
During World War 2 , four of the Allied powers—the United States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union and China— agreed to create an organization that should work for peace .It gave birth to the United Nations.
1968 The suppression of the «Prague Spring» in Czechoslovakia.
The Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries viewed plans for the liberalization and democratization in Czechoslovakia by A. Dubček as tantamount to counterrevolution.
Soviet armed forces invaded the country and quickly occupied it. As hard-line communists retook positions of power, the reforms were curtailed, and Dubček was deposed the following April.
1980s-90s The collapse of socialism in Eastern Europe after the collapse of the USSR.
The Revolutions of 1989 formed part of a revolutionary wave in the late 1980s and early 1990s that resulted in the end of communist rule in Central and Eastern Europe and beyond.
The events of the full-blown revolution first began in Poland in 1989 and continued in Hungary, East Germany, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and Romania. One feature common to most of these developments was the extensive use of campaigns of civil resistance, demonstrating popular opposition to the continuation of one-party rule and contributing to the pressure for change.
Russian-Turkish wars
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1243 Part of the Crimean peninsula became the Ulus of the Golden Horde (Crimean Tatars).
1443 The formation of the Khanate of Crimea, one of the successor states to the Mongol empire. Centred at Bakhchysaray, the Crimean khanate staged occasional raids on emergent Muscovy.
1475 The Khanate of Crimea became a Turkish vassal (Ottoman Empire) . The Crimean Khans were appointed by the Sultan of the Geraev clan, the Crimean Khan had no right to start a war and make peace. For almost three centuries, the Crimean Tatars regularly raided the Russian lands. The lands of Russia and the Crimean Khanate were divided by the Russian and Ukrainian territories of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
1480 Ivan 3 formally declared Moscow independent from The Khanate of Crimea.
Crimean Khans constantly interfered in relations between Russia and Poland, entered into an alliance with Moscow, then with Poland, looted Moscow and Polish Ukraine, sold prisoners.
1507 1st raid of the Crimean Tatars for slaves on the land of Moscow Russia.
1511-1512 Raids on the Ryazan and Bryansk lands.
1521 1st raid on Moscow.
1568-70 1st Russian-Turkish War was a war between the Tsardom of Russia and the Ottoman Empire over the Astrakhan Khanate. It was the first of twelve Russo-Turkish wars ending with World War I in 1914-18.
The Ottoman Empire of Suleiman I sought to regain the influence of the Astrakhan and Kazan Khanates. The army was defeated by the army of Prince Serebryanny, the military governor of Astrakhan. The Ottoman fleet that had besieged Azov was destroyed by a storm.
1666–71 Polish-Cossack-Tatar War was the war between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Ottoman Empire (a war between the Cossack Hetmanate and Crimean Khanate) over Ukraine. It was one of the aftermaths of the Russo-Polish War (1654–67) and a prelude to the Polish–Ottoman War (1672–76).
1666 Hetman of right-bank Ukraine P. Doroshenko, aiming to gain control of whole Ukraine, signed a treaty with Crimean Khanate (Sultan Mehmed IV) that recognized the Cossack Hetmanate as a vassal of the Ottoman Empire.
Later on the Ottoman Empire tried to gain control of that region for itself.
1676–81, 1687, 1689, 1695–96 Russian-Turkish wars.
1676–81 Russo-Turkish War.
The Ottoman government strove to spread its rule over all of the Right-bank Ukraine.
1676 Chigirin (the capital of the Cossacks of Ukraine) was captured by the pro-Turkish hetman Doroshenko. The city was recaptured thanks to the soldiers of Hetman Samoilovich and Prince Romodanovsky.
1681 The Treaty of Bakhchisarai ended the Russo-Turkish War by Russia, the Ottoman Empire, and the Crimean Khanate, with the agreement of 20-year truce and demarcation line as the Dnieper River.
1687-69 Two failed attempts to subdue Khanate of Crimea by Prince Vasily Golitsyn. Khanate of Crimea survived to stage raids on Russia until Catherine 2 the Great.
1695–96 Peter 1 the Great’s forces succeeded in capturing the fortress of Azov.
1710–12, 1735–39, 1768–74, 1787–91 Russian-Turkish wars.
1710-12 Turkey entered the Northern War against Russia, and after Peter the Great’s attempt to liberate the Balkans from Ottoman rule ended in defeat with return of Azov to Turkey.
1735-39 Russia and Austria alliance against Turkey. The Russians successfully invaded Turkish-held Moldavia, but their Austrian allies were defeated.
1736 Another war with the Ottoman Empire, prompted by raids on Ukraine by Crimean Tatars and the military campaign of the Crimean khan in the Caucasus.
1768–74 Turkey demanded that Russia’s ruler, Catherine 2 the Great, abstain from interfering in Poland’s internal affairs. The Russians went on to win impressive victories over the Turks. They captured Azov, Crimea, and Bessarabia, and under Field Marshal P. Rumyantsev they overran Moldavia and also defeated the Turks in Bulgaria.
1774 The Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca made the Crimean khanate independent of the Turkish sultan; advanced the Russian frontier southward to the Southern (Pivdennyy) Buh River; gave Russia the right to maintain a fleet on the Black Sea; and assigned Russia vague rights of protection over the Ottoman sultan’s Christian subjects throughout the Balkans.
1783 Catherine 2 signed a manifesto on the annexation of the Crimea, Taman Island and the Kuban Region to Russia.
1787-91 Turks declared war on Russia. The Russian-Austrian army (Russian army commanded by General A. Suvorov) captured Belgrade, Ishmael and Anapa.
1792 The Treaty of Jassy - Turkey ceded the entire western Ukrainian Black Sea coast (from the Kerch Strait westward to the mouth of the Dniester) to Russia.
1811 With the prospect of a Franco-Russian war in sight, Russia sought a quick decision on its southern frontier (Ottoman Empire was Napoleon's ally).
1812 The Treaty of Bucharest - when victorious campaign of Russia against Napoleon forced the Turks to cede Bessarabia to Russia.
Its subsequent wars with Turkey were fought to gain influence in the Ottoman Balkans and expand into the Caucasus.
1828-29 The Russo-Turkish War sparked by the Greeks’ struggle for independence from Ottomans, in which Russian forces advanced into Bulgaria, the Caucasus, and northeastern Anatolia before the Turks sued for peace. The resulting Treaty of Edirne gave Russia most of the eastern shore of the Black Sea, and Turkey recognized Russian sovereignty over Georgia and parts of present-day Armenia.
1853-56 Crimean War: fought mainly on the Crimean Peninsula between Russia on one side, and Great Britain, France, the Ottoman Empire, and Sardinia on the other (France and Great Britain wanted to stop Russia's Empire growing influence).
Reasons:
The Russians demanded better treatment of and wanted to protect the Orthodox subjects of the Sultan of Turkey.
A dispute between the Russians and the French regarding the privileges of the Russian Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Churches in Palestine. With the backing of Britain, the Turks declared war on Russia in 1853. In 1854 France and Britain also declared war against Russia.
Throughout the war, the Russian army's main concern was to make sure that Austria stayed out of the war.
1856 Congress of Paris - diplomatic meeting held in Paris, France, to make peace after Crimean War.
Crimean War outcomes:
Russia lost part of Bessarabia and was forced to demilitarize the Black Sea.
The territories of Russia and Turkey were restored to their prewar boundaries. The Black Sea was neutralized so that no warships were allowed to enter; however, it was open to all other nations. A major consequence of this agreement was the reopening of the Black Sea for international trade and commerce.
The sultan of Turkey agreed, in return, to help improve the status of the Christian subjects in his empire.
The Crimean War thus instigated an era of self-evaluation in Russia which threw off the archaic traditions and embraced modernization by liberal reforms of Alexander 2.
The Crimean War saw the balance of power change hands in Europe. Whilst Russia suffered a major defeat, Austria, which had chosen to remain neutral, would find itself in the coming years at the mercy of Germany.
1877-78 Slavic peoples of the Balkan Peninsula (Herzegovina, Romania, Bosnia and Bulgaria), supported by Russia, revolted against the Ottomans. End of Turkish rule in the Balkans.
The Treaty of San Stefano with Turkey in 1878 freed Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro from Turkish rule, gave autonomy to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and created a huge autonomous Bulgaria under Russian protection.
1878 The union of Germany (Bismarck) and Turkey. Austria occupied Bosnia and Herzegovina, Britain gained Cyprus, Russia's influence is limited.
The Ottoman entry into World War I resulted from an overly calculation of likely advantage.
The long-standing hostility to Russia combined to produce an Ottoman bombardment of the Russian Black Sea ports in 1914 and a declaration of war by the Entente against the Ottoman Empire.
The Ottomans held down a substantial numbers of Entente troops. In 1918 they dominated Transcaucasia
(Transcaucasia, Russian Zakavkazye, a small but densely populated region to the south of the Caucasus Mountains. It includes three independent states: Georgia in the northwest, Azerbaijan in the east, and Armenia, situated largely on a high mountainous plateau south of Georgia and west of Azerbaijan).
During the war the Young Turks (political reform movement) took the opportunity to attack certain internal problems.
The Young Turks didn't get support among Armenians in Eastern Anatolia, who largely remained loyal to Ottoman Empire and hoped that Christian Europe would pressure the Ottoman Empire to implement new reforms and protections for Armenians.
The Armenian community in eastern Asia Minor and Cilicia was massacred or deported to eliminate any domestic support for the pro-Christian tsarist enemy on the Eastern Front. Between 600,000 and 1,500,000 Armenians were killed. These events are now widely described as a genocide of the Armenian people.
After 1916, army desertions took place on a massive scale, and economic pressures became acute.
The Ottoman entry into World War I ended with the partition of the Ottoman Empire's remaining territories under the terms of the Treaty of Sèvres.
Russia was promised Istanbul and the straits and some the Ottoman provinces in eastern Asia Minor.
1917 Russia withdrew from World War I and ceased hostilities against the Ottoman Empire.
The Russian withdrawal in 1917 and postwar bargaining led to some modifications of the partition of the Ottoman Empire: the Ottomans retained Istanbul and part of Thrace but lost the Arab provinces, ceded a large area of Asia Minor to a newly created Armenian state with access to the sea. The straits were internationalized, and strict European control of Ottoman finances was established.
1921 Treaty of Moscow - pact concluded at Moscow between the nationalist government of Turkey and the Soviet Union that fixed Turkey’s northeastern frontier and established friendly relations between the two nations, also settled border disputes by giving Kars and Ardahan to Turkey and Batumi to Russia.
1922-23 The proclamation of the Turkish Republic, which ended the Ottoman Empire, which had lasted since 1299.
The southern borders of Russia, the Mongol invasions
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According to Genesis 8:4, the Noah's Ark came to rest «on the mountains of Ararat». Early commentators record the tradition that these «mountains of Ararat» are to be found in the region then known as Armenia, roughly corresponding to Eastern Anatolia.
Through the foothills of the Caucasus in the 2nd century BC The Great Silk Road was laid. Ancestors of Armenians and Georgians, as early as 4-5 centuries, adopted Christianity, establishing a spiritual connection with the European world. In the 10th-12th centuries the ancient Georgian state was located from the Black to the Caspian Sea.
The Pechenegs (a semi-nomadic Turkic people from Central Asia) in the 9th century began a period of wars against Kievan Rus'. For more than two centuries they had launched raids into the lands of Rus'.
«Khazar Khaganate» (a semi-nomadic Turkic people with a confederation of Turkic-speaking tribes that in the late 6th century CE established a major commercial empire covering the southeastern section of modern European Russia), collected tribute from East Slavic tribes. It controlled the territory between the Black and Caspian Seas, Ciscaucasia, the Volga region, and Kazakhstan. Controlled the most important trade routes.
920 War on the Pechenegs by Igor of Kiev.
The Pecheneg wars against Kievan Rus' caused the Slavs from Walachian territories to gradually migrate north of the Dniestr in the 10th and 11th centuries.
964-66 Prince Svyatoslav’s campaigns against the Kama Bulgarians, Khazars, Yasovs and Kasogs.
964–66 Svyatoslav war with the Khazars for power of the Vyatichi Slavonic tribe.
This campaign resulted in the crushing defeat of the Khazar kaganat and destruction of its capital Itil and the fortresses of Sarkel and Semender.
At the same time he defeated the Volga Bolgars and took their capital Bolgar.
In the northern Caucasus he displayed himself in his victory over tribes of Yasy and Kasogi.
968-72 In 968 Pechenegs attacked Kyiv, thereby forcing Grand Prince Sviatoslav 1 Ihorovych to cut short his campaign against Bulgaria. In 972 a Pecheneg force led by Kagan Kuria routed Sviatoslav’s army and killed the prince.
968-72 Wars of Vladimir 2 Monomakh with the Polovtsy, who had settled in the steppe region southeast of the Kievan state. Vladimir recounted participating in 83 noteworthy military campaigns and recorded killing 200 Polovtsy princes.
Polovtsy (Kipchak, Byzantine Kuman, or Cuman) a loosely organized Turkic tribal confederation that by the mid-11th century occupied a vast, sprawling territory in the Eurasian steppe, stretching from north of the Aral Sea westward to the region north of the Black Sea.
Marriage unions of Russian Princes with the ruling houses of the Caucasus. 1154 - Izyaslav Mstistlavich's marriage to the daughter of Georgian Tsar Dimitri.
1036 The siege of Kiev by the Pechenegs. The defeat of the Pechenegs (the last invasion of the Pechenegs against Russia).
1077 Inter-Prince feuds with the participation of the Polovtsy: the Russian-Polovtsian army led by Oleg (son of Svyatopolk expelled from Vladimir) and Boris launched a campaign against Chernigov land.
1078 The Battle of Nezhatina Niva: Oleg Svyatoslavich and Boris Vyacheslavich rebelled against the sons of Yaroslav the Wise - Izyaslav, Prince of Kiev and Vsevolod, prince of Chernigov.

11-13 centuries The Kingdom of Georgia reached its Golden Age during the reign of King David IV and Queen Tamar the Great. The Georgian Empire was a medieval Eurasian monarchy which emerged circa 1008AD. Georgia became one of the pre-eminent nations of the Christian East, her pan-Caucasian empire stretching, at its largest extent, from Eastern Europe and the North Caucasus to the northern portion of Iran and Anatolia. It was the principal historical precursor of present-day Georgia.
After the death of Vladimir Monomakh, the Polovtsy participated in the internecine wars of the Russian Princes and in the defeats of Kiev as allies in 1169 and 1203.
1155 Prince Gleb Yuryevich took Kiev with the help of a Polovtsy (Cuman) army under the Cuman prince Chemgura. By 1160 Cuman raids into Rus' had become an annual event. These attacks put pressure on Rus' and affected trade routes to the Black Sea and Constantinople, in turn leading Rus' to again attempt action.
1170s-80s The Polovtsy Khan Konchek united the tribes of the eastern Cumans in the later half of the 12th century.
In the 1170s and 1180s he launched a number of attacks on the settlements of Kiev, the Principality of Chernigov and the Principality of Pereyaslavl. Konchak gave aid to the princes of the Principality of Novgorod-Seversk in their struggle for control with the other Rus' princes.
1185-86 Ihor Sviatoslavych unsuccessful campaign against the Polovtsy (in literature “The Song of Igor’s Campaign”). In 1186 Igor escaped from captivity and returned to Novgorod-Seversky.
1223 Battle of the Kalka River. During the first Mongol invasion of Russia, an army defeated an alliance of Russian princes and the Polovtsy.
1237-38 Invasion of Mongolian troops led by Batu Khan (the eldest son of Genghis Khan) to Russia. Batu Khan led his 35,000 mounted archers to burn down Moscow, Ryazan and Kolomna. Only Novgorod and Pskov were spared major destruction during this time.
1240 Invasion of Batu Khan into the great capital of Kiev and of the South Russian lands (Pereyaslavl, Rostov Veliky, Suzdal, Ryazan, Smolensk, Chernihiv, Galich). Kiev was sacked, starting a long era of Mongol rule in the region.
1239 The invasion of Batu Khan to the Crimea.
1241 The conquest of Volga Bulgaria.
1243 Batu founded the Golden Horde. Volga Bulgaria became part of the Golden Horde. Polovtsi ceased to exist as an independent people and made up the majority of the population of the Golden Horde. Part of the Crimean peninsula became the Ulus of the Golden Horde (Crimean Tatars).
1293 Khan Duden destroyed and burned 14 cities of northeast Russia.
1378 The victory of the Russian army over the Golden Horde in a battle on the river Vozhe. The Vozha battle was the first serious victory of the Russians over a big army of the Golden Horde. It had a big psychological effect before the famous Battle of Kulikovo because it demonstrated the vulnerability of the Tatar cavalry.
1380 Battle of Kulikovo on the Don River. This battle celebrated as the first victory for Russian forces over the Tatars of the Mongol Golden Horde since Russia was subjugated by Batu Khan in the 13th century. It was a giant step for the Duchy of Moscow in its rise to leadership of the Russian people.
1382 Siege and destruction of Moscow and other cities of North-Eastern Russia by Khan Tokhtamysh. Mamai’s successor and rival, Tokhtamysh, sacked and burned Moscow and reestablished the Horde’s dominion over the Russians.
1395 Tokhtamysh had his own power broken by his former ally Timur, who invaded the Horde’s territory in 1395, destroyed Sarai Berke, and deported most of the region’s skilled craftsmen to Central Asia, thus depriving the Horde of its technological edge over resurgent Muscovy.
During Vasily 2 reign the Golden Horde collapsed and broke up into smaller Khanates: Kazan and Astrakhan, Siberian Khanate.
1439 Moscow was besieged by the ruler of the Kazan Khanate. Vasily 2 had to flee the capital. Six years later, he personally led his troops against Ulugh Muhammad, but was defeated and taken prisoner. The Russians were forced to gather an enormous ransom for their prince, so that Vasily 2 could be released some five months later.
During that time, the control of Muscovy passed to Dmitry Shemyaka. Dmitry had Vasily 2 blinded and exiled him to Uglich, in 1446. Hence, Vasily 2 nickname, «the blind» (Tyomniy, literally «dark»). As Vasily 2 still had a number of supporters in Moscow, Dmitry recalled him from exile and gave him Vologda as an appanage. That proved to be a mistake, as Vasily 2 quickly assembled his supporters and regained the throne.
" 1466 The final collapse of the Kingdom of Georgia into anarchy.
1480 Battle of the Ugra - bloodless confrontation between the armies of Muscovy and the Golden Horde, traditionally marking the end of the «Mongol yoke» in Russia. By this time the Golden Horde had lost control of large portions of its empire. Khan Akhmet of the Golden Horde led an army to the Ugra River, and waited there for his Lithuanian allies. The Muscovite army was drawn up on the opposite bank of the river. The two armies faced each other but did not fight. When the Lithuanians did not appear and Akhmet received word that his base camp near Sarai had been raided by allies of Ivan, he withdrew his army.
" After the emergence of a centralized state, Russia resumed progress in the South Caucasus direction.
1490-93 The mutual recognition constituent kingdoms of Kartli, Kakheti and Imereti as independent states. It led by a rival branch of the Bagrationi dynasty, and into five semi-independent principalities – Odishi, Guria, Abkhazia, Svaneti, and Samtskhe – dominated by their own feudal clans.
1491 The ambassadors of the Kakhetian Tsar arrived in Moscow, initiating diplomatic relations.
The Kazan Khanate (1438-1552: emerged in 1438 and was incorporated to Russia in 1552; the state in the Middle Volga region, formed as a result of the collapse of the Golden Horde on the territory of the Volga Bulgaria), in alliance with Turkey, the Crimea, the Astrakhan Khanate and the Nogai Horde, pursued an aggressive policy towards Russia, closed for Russian Volga trade route, made constant raids, in the middle of the 16th century in Kazan there were about 100 thousand Russian prisoners.
1547 1st campaign of Ivan 4 to Kazan.
1550 2nd expedition of Ivan 4 to Kazan.
1552 Fall of Kazan.
Forces of Ivan 4 the Terrible laid siege to Kazan. After two months of siege and destruction of the citadel walls, the Russians entered the city. Some defenders managed to escape but most were put to the sword: about 110,000 killed, both civilians and garrison.
After the fall of Kazan, territories such as Udmurtia and Bashkortostan joined Russia without a conflict. The administration of the khanate was wiped out; pro-Moscow and neutral nobles kept their lands, but others were executed. Tatars were then resettled far away from rivers, roads and Kazan. Free lands were settled by Russians and sometimes by pro-Russian Tatars. Orthodox bishops such as Germogen forcibly baptized many Tatars.
1556 Fall of Astrakhan.
Russia sent more troops and occupied Astrakhan, proceeding to destroy the largest slave market on the Volga. In 1558 'Astrakhan' was moved 12 km south to its present location.
1569 The Ottomans unsuccessful campaign to regain Astrakhan for Islam.

Under Ivan the Terrible, Russia came out in a Caucasian direction in open confrontation between Turkey and Persia: Circassian Princes asked the Russian tsar to save the population from the Crimean-Turkish slavery.
1589 The protection of Kakheti by Tsar Feodor 1 of Russia after Tsar of Kakheti Alexander II sent a letter to the Russia asking for protection from the Ottomans and Safavid Iran as both empires vied for the hegemony in the Caucasus.
Suspension of Russian foreign policy in the south and southeast during the Time of Troubles.
1603-18 The strengthening of Persia in the Caucasus after Ottoman–Safavid (Ottoman–Persia) War.
The destruction of the Turkish garrisons by the Persians in Azerbaijan, Eastern Armenia, Eastern Georgia. When Persians were laying siege of Armenian city Kars, whole population was ordered to accompany the Persian army in its withdrawal. Some 300,000 people were duly herded to Persia.
In the first half of the 17th century Greater Armenia was divided between the Ottomans and the Safavids, under which Eastern Armenia remained under Persian rule, and Western Armenia remained under Ottoman rule.

Strengthening of Turkish expansion in Kuban –Priazovie –Predkavkaze, which prevented Russia from rendering assistance to the Christians of the Caucasus.
The strategic goal of Peter 1 was to expand ties with the countries of the East and search for secure borders in the south of the empire. A Georgian sloboda, or ‘free settlement’, was formed in Moscow in the early 18th century. The goal of Catherine 2 - driving Turkey out of the Black Sea coast, Persia from the Caspian Sea, protecting Christians Georgians and Armenians from the Turks in the Caucasus.
1722-23,1732-35 Russian-Persian Wars.
1722–23 The Russo-Persian War (Persian campaign of Peter the Great) - a war between the Russian Empire and Safavid Iran, triggered by the tsar's attempt to expand Russian influence in the Caspian and Caucasus regions and to prevent its rival, the Ottoman Empire, from territorial gains in the region at the expense of declining Safavid Iran.
1723 The Treaty of Saint Petersburg - the Russian victory ratified for Safavid Iran's cession of their territories in the North Caucasus, South Caucasus and northern Iran to Russia.
1732-35
1732 The Treaty of Resht - Empress Anna Ioannovna returned many of the annexed territories to Iran to construct an alliance with the Safavids against the Ottoman Empire on the eve of the Russo-Turkish War.
1735 Treaty of Ganja - the remaining territories were returned, and Iran was again in full possession of its territories in the North and South Caucasus and in contemporary northern Iran.

This sequel was additionally disastrous for the Georgian rulers who had supported Peter's venture. In eastern Georgia, a georgian royal prince lost his throne and sought protection of the Russian court in 1724. Western Georgia had to accept an Ottoman suzerainty on more stringent terms. The Ottomans, further, alarmed by the Russian intervention, strengthened their hold along the Caucasian coastline.
1783 Russia guaranteed Georgia’s territorial integrity with Treaty of Georgievsk - an agreement concluded by Catherine 2 the Great of Russia and eastern Georgia. Under the terms of the treaty Russia was obligated to defend Georgia against enemies and allow continuation of Bagratid dynasty reigning, and Georgia renounced dependence upon Iran or any other power.
Russo-Georgian alliance, however, backfired as Russia was unwilling to fulfill the terms of the treaty.
1801 The annexation of Georgian kingdom, and reducing it to the status of a Russian region (Georgia Governorate).
1810 The western Georgian kingdom of Imereti was annexed by Russia as well.
Russian rule over Georgia was eventually acknowledged in various peace treaties with Persia and the Ottomans.
1813, 1828 The Treaty of Gulistan and the Treaty of Turkmenchay - Persians ceded Kakheti and the rest of Georgia, Southern Caucasus and Dagestan to Imperial Russia.
1804-13 Russian-Iranian war. The result of the war - Iran losses of most of Georgian territory. It showed ʿto Iran the necessity of reforming its military forces.
1829 Turkey recognized the rights of Russia in western Georgia and to Armenia.
Russian rule offered the Georgians security from external threats and unprecedented social and economic change, but it was also often heavy-handed and insensitive to locals.

1817-64 Caucasian War.
The war took place during the administrations of three successive Russian Tsars: Alexander 1, Nicholas 1, and Alexander 2.
The Russian invasion encountered fierce resistance.
Reasons:
The colonial policy of Russia and the instigation of the Islamist sentiments of the Highlanders by Turkey and Persia.
The Caucasian War was an invasion of the Caucasus by the Russian Empire which resulted in Russia's annexation of the areas of the North Caucasus, and the ethnic cleansing of Circassians.
Stages of war:
1817-21 Russian army achieved little success, especially compared with the then recent Russian victory over the «Great Army» of Napoleon in 1812.
1821-26 The suppression of the uprisings in Kabarda, Adygea and Chechnya; the formation of an Imamat and the declaration of a holy war against Russia.
1825-33 Little military activity took place in the Caucasus as wars with Turkey (1828/1829) and with Persia (1826–1828) occupied the Russians.
1834-59 Imam Shamil united 30 thousand army of highlanders.
1859 The capture of Imam’s army. After the fall of the state of Shamil, the Caucasian army was aimed at conquering Circassia. It was decided to start settling the mountains with Cossack villages and evicting Adygei and Circassians to Turkey or the Kuban. «The Circassian Question» became a symbol of resistance to Russia's imperial policy. It also called Muhajirism, or population transfer of the Muslim population to the Ottoman Empire.
Shackling 200 thousand Russian army in the Caucasus was one of The causess for the defeat of Russia in the Crimean war.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Caucasus was shaken by social and national unrest.
1917 Coalition government of Transcaucasia (Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia).
1922 Georgia (together with Abkhazia), Armenia and Azerbaijan formed a federal union the Transcaucasian Federation.
1979-88 War in Afghanistan: civil war of democratic forces (supported by the USSR) against radical Islamists (supported by NATO).
1991 Ethnic, religious diversity and national liberation movements as causes of instability in the Caucasus after the collapse of the USSR.
1991 Declaration of independence of Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.
1991-93 Civil war in Georgia. Conflicts between Georgia and autonomies (1991-1992 South Ossetian war, 1992-1993 war in Abkhazia).
1994-96 1st and 2nd of the war in Chechnya.
Eastern frontier
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The Khanate of Sibir is a state in Western Siberia, which was formed at the end of the 15th century during the disintegration of the Golden Horde. The Khanate was a Turkic Khanate located in southwestern Siberia with a Turco-Mongol ruling class.
The area of the Khanate was itself once an integral part of the Mongol Empire, and later came under the control of the White Horde and of the Golden Horde.
The Khanate of Sibir ruled an ethnically diverse population of Turkic Siberian Tatars, Bashkirs and various Uralic peoples including the Khanty, Mansi and Selkup.
The path to the Urals and to Siberia opened after the Russians conquered the Kazan Khanate. But the Siberian Khan Kuchum regularly conducted raids on these settlements.
1581 Ermak's campaign to Siberia and capture of the capital of the Siberian Khanate (Siberia).
1632 P. Beketov founded Lensky burg (Yakutsk).
1639 Cossack expedition went to the shores of the Pacific Ocean.
1648 S. Dezhnev's ships left to the strait separating Asia from America.
1649-53 E. Khabarov, with an expedition to Amur, assigned the Amur region to Russia. By the end of the 17th century, Russian troops reached the Pacific Ocean.
Atlasov, a Siberian Cossack, was the first Russian to organize systematic exploration of the Kamchatka Peninsula. The movement continued on Kuril Islands and Sakhalin. The beginning of the development of Primorye and Ussuri region.
1741 Expedition of V. Bering and A. Chirikov landed in Alaska.
1784 1st Russian settlement in Alaska.
1792 1st official contact with Japan.
1806 Raids on Japanese settlements of frigates «Juno» and «Avos».
1867 After the defeat in the Crimean War, Alaska was sold to the US government.
1875 The Treaty of Saint Petersburg: recognition of the entire Sakhalin territory for Russia in exchange for the cession of the entire Kuril archipelago to Japan (Russia was denied access to the Pacific Ocean from the Sea of ​​Okhotsk and access to its resources).
1896 Russia had concluded an alliance with China against Japan. China gave the rights to Russia to extend the Trans-Siberian Railroad across Chinese-held Manchuria to the Russian seaport of Vladivostok, thus gaining control of an important strip of Manchurian territory.
1898 Russia had pressured China into granting it a lease for the strategically important port of Port Arthur in southern Manchuria. Russia thereby entered into occupation of the peninsula.
The expansionist policy in the Far East was causing the military conflict between Japan and Russia (Russia-Japanese war in 1904-1905).
1904-05 Russian-Japanese War - the defeat of Russia in military conflict between Russia and Japan for dominance in Korea and Manchuria.
1905 The Treaty of Portsmouth - Japan gained control of the Liaodong Peninsula (and Port Arthur) and the South Manchurian Railway (which led to Port Arthur), as well as half of Sakhalin Island. Russia agreed to evacuate southern Manchuria, which was restored to China, and Japan’s control of Korea was recognized. Within two months of the treaty’s signing, a revolution compelled the Russian tsar Nicholas 2 to issue the October Manifesto, which was the equivalent of a constitutional charter.
1931 USSR support of China soviet government established by the communists.
1937-45 War between China and Japan was supported by Soviet Union on Chinese side.
1945 War against Japan after the victory over Nazi Germany.
1950-53 USSR support North Korea during the Korean War.
1964-75 USSR support North Vietnam during the US war in Vietnam.
1970-75 USSR support for the rebel movement in Cambodia.
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Society structure and classes The increasing role of Kiev as a trading city and border point from external enemies caused concentration of armed people in Kiev, which had been spread throughout the Russian cities.
Under the hand of Prince Kievsky, an armed class was formed from a diverse roving military-trading people who had accumulated in the trade cities of Russia.
The military class with the Prince of Kiev at the head of led the country's trade movement , sending boats with goods to Byzantium and other Black Sea and Caspian markets every year.
The military support of the trade cities was constituted by the city regiments, or thousands, who participated in the Princely campaigns under the command of the electoral merchants of the city merchants of the military-urban elders, men and women.
Until 11th century, society was divided into two classes: the conquerors and the vanquished.
Druzhina represented the administrative apparatus and the main military force of the Old Russian state. The most important duty of the squad was to ensure to collect tribute from the population.
Senior squad of the Prince - Duma’s Prince (professional military men, Prince husbands and boyars). Higher places: posadniki (represented the power of the Kiev Prince and were in charge of branches of the Princely economy), stable, tysyatskie, governor of the Zemsky regiments.
The junior squad of the Prince: ordinary soldiers who were the military support of the power of the posadnik, the sons of the Prince's warriors: grid, youths, children. We occupied the lowest positions of the key-keepers, the grooms, and managed the less important volosts.
In the initial period, the clergy was not a class, but was a separate and privileged class. Beginning with St. Vladimir, the division of persons belonging to the church community into categories began:
1) Persons of black (monasteries) and white (churches) clergy. The purpose of these persons is to lead Christians on the path of spiritual salvation to perform church rituals, a pastoral word and a living example of instruction.
2) Laymen , who served to the material needs of the church : make a jerk and sveshegas (church attendant at the service).
3) The lay people whose classes were subject to the supervision of the clergy : midwives and doctors. They helped to monitor whether all newborns were baptized, and the dying instructed them according to church rules. In addition, doctors were obliged to serve in hospitals, which established and maintained the church.
4) The lay people who, due to illness or injury, lost their ability to work and who needed charitable support , were blind, lame, crippled.
5) The lay people, from pious motives, needing legal protection or material assistance : pilgrim travelers, wanderers, forgivers or ascendants, strangles.
6) lay people, by their own fault or accident, deprived of their rights or livelihood (rogues).
The church clergy (a group of people serving in the same church or parish) consisted of a priest, a deacon, a deacon and a sexton. Sometimes ponomari were called sveshegasy or sveshnesenami.
In 11c there are clearly marked 3 classes , into which Russian society disintegrated: these are Princes men, people and slaves . They differed in political signs - the unequal attitude of people towards the Prince and the attitude of the law towards people.
The society was divided into three parts: the military-governmental class, free common people and serfs.
Princely men bore personal service to the Prince, people paid him tribute, slaves did not bear any state obligations, to individuals.
Princes of men were divided into military and government dignitaries (senior squad) and younger squad, youngsters or children: palace servants, grooms, cooks, rural clerks, who were equated with ordinary people at the rate of life.
People did not treat the Prince as lonely individuals, like the junior squad, but as whole worlds, urban or rural societies, connected by round-the-clock responsibility for paying taxes and worldly responsibility for police order.
Lower level: serfs, servants. Slaves became either by law or by contract. By law - captivity, crime and unpaid debt. Under the contract - selling to servility, marrying a servant and joining a private yard service without the servant and the owner.
The slave was not a subject (person), but an object (thing) of law. The condition was considered the property of his master. Slave's identity is not protected by law. For his murder was charged a penalty for the destruction of property.
The church had a strong influence on slavery and slaveholding right: 1) The church introduced the custom of the charitable liberation of slaves by will. The custom was brought from the Byzantine society, where its source was inspired by Christian consciousness of moral injustice of slavery.
2) Establishing a compulsory free release of serfs at will for
1. Slaves, who took children from their own master, after his death.
2. Slaves, over which free violence was perpetrated by a free person. 3. Slave or slaves who were injured by the fault of their master, became free.
3) Establishment of a forced redemption of a slave for cases of slave abuse and captive redemption.
In the 12th century, 6 classes were designated : boyars, free citizens, smerds, purchases, boyars tiuns and serfs. They differed in political, economic (property) and legal (inequality of civil rights) signs.
The society was divided into privileged landowners, free citizens, state peasants, owner peasants, and slaves, privileged and ordinary.
!!! At the top were boyars. They formed the upper class of Kievan society. The boyars were reciprocal with merchants and the urban elite on the land of Kiev by their legal status. Their immunities and rights were: free of taxes, to be landowner (just boyars), if a boyar or a druzhinnik dies, his estate does not return to the prince. If there are no sons, the daughters will inherit, the word of boyars was the evidence in the court, and Russkaya Pravda protected life and property of boyars more careful. Their duty was a military serving. The clergy were a part of a free population and they were divided into secular (white) and regular (black) clergy. The regular clergy played the main role in the state at that time; it was the clergy of monks and nuns. The best scientists (Nestor, Marion, Nikon), doctors (Agapitus), artists (Alimpiy), who held chronicles, rewrote books, organized different schools, lived and worked in monasteries as well. They also didn’t pay taxes. The middle group of free people was given by cities. Townsmen were legally free, but in fact, they were dependent on the feudal top. They paid taxes, repaired the roads and bridges, in case of war they had to carry a military service. The lowest group of a free population was represented by peasants – smerdy (servs). They owned land and cattle. Smerdy formed the majority of the Kievan Rus’'s population, they paid fixed taxes and they served in the compulsory military service with their own weapon and horses. Only smerd’s sons could inherit his property. Daughters could inherit only mother’s property. Russkaya Pravda protected a slave's property and his personality as well but a penalty for the crime against him was less, than for the crime against a boyar. Half-dependent peoples were called zakupy. Russkaya Pravda protected this category of population by “Ustav pro zakupov”. On their legal status they were equal to the free people. They could be a witnesses in a court, they paid taxes e. g. Zakup was called a person who took a loan (kupu). When he returned this ‘kupa’, he would be free again. If he doesn’t give it back in time, he would turn to slave. Dependent people were called slaves (kholopy). First only men were called so, but some time later all dependent people were called so. They were equal to the things; they had no rights, any property (they were property); they could be sold, changed, pawned; the owner bore the responsibility for the crimes committed by slave, and, in other hand, owner took fines for the crimes against his slave. The sources of slavery were: birth from slave, prisoners of war, marriage with slave, self-selling, runaway or non-payment debt zakup. The Russkaya Pravda also contained the norms wich protected this category of population - “Ustav pro kholopov”. All categories of population weren’t closed. For example, smerd could turn in merchant, or boyar (for certain services to the state prince could grant a land and title). Or merchant could fail and become an izgoy. These were people who didn’t belong to any of other categories. There was no question of all being equal under the law: the rape or abduction of the daughter of a boyar merited compensation of 5 grivnas in gold and the same sum as a fine for the bishop; but only one grivna of gold was demanded for the rape or abduction of a daughter of 'lesser boyars', and smaller sums further down the social scale. !!! Boyars - large privileged slave owners and landowners, appeared among the Princely men. Boyars had the right to bequeath their movable and immovable property.
1st layer of boyars: Princely - Princes men. The best boyars elders of the city ruled together with the Princes or they were on the council of Princes as representatives of the people.
2nd layer of boyars: Zemsky (Gradsky elders) - descendants of tribal nobility. Zemsky boyars of Slavic origin were considered sedentary and had a strong relationship with the population.
Rich Princes, Zemstvo boyars and Princely warriors were holders of hereditary land holdings or estates («from the father»), in which they had absolute power.
The urban population consisted of craftsmen, small traders, merchants. It was subject to tax (taxes) in favor of the state, performed construction and military duties.
With the appearance of the boyars, in the class of people, there were 2 special classes of bhats and purchases. Smerdy - free rural inhabitants who lived on land not belonging to private owners (ie, Princely, state). They farmed the state land with their inventory.
Zakupy - plowmen from the free population. They received from landowners loans for land plots that were treated with lordly cattle and implements. Zakup had the right to redeem at will, returning the loan.
Smerdy remained personally free people. Zakupy were below the serfs. The loan made purchases by debtors of the owners and put them in personal dependence on the latter, telling them the nature of semi-free people.
Boyarsky tiuns (clerks) - the rank of senior serfs, who differed from ordinary laborers by the fact that they were entrusted by gentlemen with positions to manage their estates.
Political fragmentation did not make fundamental changes to the state structure of the Russian principalities. With the weakening of the Prince’s power, the economic power of the boyars increased , their political influence, their desire for independence increased.
The palace-patrimonial control system was developed, in which control was exercised from the Princely palace by its apparatus without separation into public and private functions.
In the Galicia-Volyn principality, the Novgorod and Pskov republics, the boyars solved all matters with the help of boyar councils.
The influence of the boyars in the Chernigov, Polotsk, Minsk, Murom-Ryazan Princedoms was so great that they could not form a strong grand ducal power.
Nobility - the category of service people formed into a class based on military needs of the state and service positions in the apparatus.
In the hands of the state there were no financial means of payment for the service, the nobles received land for the service ( «landlords» - for the service) . Unlike patrimony (hereditary property), estates were temporary possession.
The urban population, engaged in craft and trade, lived in posad (on the streets and in the settlements, most often united by one profession - potters, shoemakers, etc.) and was called posad.
Using the rights of free citizens, merchants united in corporations (guilds) - closed class organizations with their charters. This facilitated the conduct of trade and, if necessary, provided material assistance.
Merchants were divided into ranks . The highest belonged to the guests. The bulk of the merchants was combined into hundreds. The cloth hundred became especially known.
Merchants and townspeople were taxed in favor of the state. They did not pay taxes in the cities: aristocracy and boyars, service people (archers, gunners, etc.). This created unhealthy competition for the townspeople and merchants.
In the Mongolian period, the clergy stood out in a separate class - the spiritual. The clergy, more than any other class, taught their children to the Holy Scripture and the order of administration of church services.
The Metropolitan had enormous land plots, received duties from the supply of bishops, duties from the laity and from the clergy. The clergy paid the entrance to the maintenance of the metropolitan with his retinue and gifts. The situation of other hierarchs was similar.
Also in the Mongolian period, a detailed division of the areas of jurisdiction of the spiritual and civil courts was made.
With the process of strengthening the Princely power, the estate of good boyars was formed - the separate territories were given to them for feeding (stable, falconry, chalnyk, etc.).
The good boyars did not replace the apparatus of Princely tiuns and governors, but, like the first, could correct the local economic administration, but, like the second, they had judicial functions within their patrimonial possessions.
The boyars continued to occupy top ranks of service people in the fatherland, the first ranks of the Boyar Duma, occupied the main administrative, judicial and military posts, headed the orders, were warlords.
The rural dependent population came to be called «peasants» (from «Christians").
The peasantry was divided into two categories: possessory and black-and-white (state land was called «black», and the peasants on them were «blackosos»).
The position of black-and-white peasants was somewhat easier; they were not subject to obligations in favor of the feudal lords, paying only taxes to the state. https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/pomestie Pomestie, "service landholding," was a parcel of land (hopefully inhabited by rent-paying peasants, later serfs [see Serfdom]) in exchange for which the holder (not owner) had to render lifelong service to the state, typically military service, but occasionally service in the government bureaucracy. Ideally, when the service ended, the landholder had to surrender the pomestie to another serviceman. The pomestie was granted for use only to support the serviceman and his family (including slaves) by peasant rent payments to him in lieu of cash. It has been calculated that this was far more efficient than paying servicemen entirely in cash: the transaction costs of collecting taxes, taking them to Moscow, and then paying them to the servicemen were likely to result in a fifty percent loss, whereas there was no such shrinkage when the rent and taxes did not go through Moscow.
With the rise of Moscow, property and political rights of the boyars began to be limited, there were changes in the social composition of the boyars. Instead of many Princely courtyards, by the end of the 15th century, one Sovereign's courtyard was formed - the Grand Prince of Moscow.
Under Ivan 3, the right of free transition from one Prince to another was abolished, the boyars signed about «not moving» from the Prince of Moscow.
There was also a gradual eviction of the boyars-patrimony from the central regions, the liberated lands were distributed to the nobles under the condition of service.
The total number of noble families increased, there were already more than ~ 900 genera. Foreigners and foreigners (including the Tatars) also entered the service in the noble army.
Among the Russian noble families there were ~ 22% of the events from Rurik, ~ 31% of Polish-Lithuanian origin, ~ 30% of Western European, ~ 16% of Tatar.
The formation of a relationship of nationality between the feudal nobility and the sovereign of Moscow gave rise to a ladder of officials, which the aristocracy complained about.
The highest was the rank of boyar introduced, then okolnichy, then came the palace ranks. These ranks were not inherited and could be saved in the genus only as a result of continued service.
This gave rise to localism - the place of the boyar in the hierarchical office was determined by the service of the ancestors at the court of the Grand Prince. Appointments to posts were not determined by the suitability or ability of the person, but by his «patronymic» (nobility) and the position of his relatives (father, grandfather).
Hierarchical ladder according to localism: descendants of Russian Princes of the Rurik clan, then descendants of large appanage Princes, then descendants of old Moscow boyars, then descendants of small appanage Princes, etc.
By the middle of the 16th century, there was a reorganization of the central government bodies (the system of «orders» was created), which replaced the palace and patrimonial apparatus.
State administration was divided into two spheres: in one - the country's external defense and the structure of its military forces acted on the orders of the sovereign ( clerical ), in the other - matters of internal security and the state economy with electoral power of the local societies ( Zemstvo ).
Clerks who, as a rule, came from the nobility environment, were in charge of all the clerical work of the orders. Despite the fact that the boyars or okolnichie were at the head of the most important orders, the proportion of boyar aristocracy in governing the country was significantly reduced.
1555-56 Lip and Zemstvo reforms, as a result of which the power of the local boyars and the feeding system was undermined. The meaning of these reforms was reduced to replacing the boyars' governors by Zemstvo administration bodies, , elected from the population of the townspeople and the well-to-do circles of the black-farms peasantry.
The lip and zemstvo institutions were the estate-representative organs of the nobility, as well as the tops of the tenements and the wealthy black-nosos peasantry. Zemsky authorities created the court and collected taxes, which had previously been paid to feedmen, and now went to the royal treasury and went primarily to ensure the noble army.
1555-56 «The sovereign's genealogy» - a reference book containing information on the origin of the most distinguished Princely and noble families. «Sovereign discharge» contained records of the service of the boyars and nobles since the 70s 15v. These official directories were supposed to help control the local disputes of the feudal nobility.
1556 The Code of Service - each secular feudal lord had to put on full-armed cavalry warriors ( 1 warrior for every 150 acres ). The equation with regard to the service of patrimonial landowners and landowners deprived the privileges of representatives of the feudal aristocracy, who finally turned into service people obliged to the Tsar of military service in his troops.
The 2nd half of 16c. The Know suffered greatly and the established system, based on success in service, generosity and proximity to the monarch, collapsed with the introduction of the oprichnina by the Tsar Ivan the Terrible, and after its cancellation - with the creation of a special court. Mass executions of representatives of the former nobility significantly weakened its political influence.
A significant expansion of the territory of the Moscow state, the emergence of the Cossacks, the consequences of the oprichnina and the Livonian war caused a peasant movement: the peasants left their lands and went to the Cossacks or to new lands in the Volga region conquered by Grozny.
1588 The first election of the Patriarch in Russia - he became the Metropolitan of Moscow Job. Prior to this, the Russian Tsardom was considered the metropolis (part) of the Patriarch of Constantinople church. The church of Constantinople from the fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453 to the middle of the 16th century lost its greatness.
1597 The decree on runaway peasants set the period of five years ago claims on runaway peasants, which actually meant a rigid attachment of them to the land of the owner.
From the beginning of the 17th century, the layers of the higher service class, which previously differed sharply between themselves, began to mix up noticeably: the old high-born surnames, Princely and boyars, died out or became poor and fell; New, ignoble people by personal merit reached an influential position in the government and became the founders of the new aristocracy. This change in the composition of the high service society led to the abolition of localism, which held the old high ranks. 1613 The chartered diploma to the highest capital merchants (forerunner of the chartered class letters of Catherine 2) is the 1st legal document on estate rights. According to this certificate: the merchant yards were exempted from taxes and standing; they, their children and clerks were not subject to the judgment of local rulers; only the Moscow Government Order accepted the claims against them.
1648-49 The Zemsky Sobor accepted the Code on the ordering of social classes: 1) personal land ownership became the exclusive right of serving people and those of the Zemsky who carried out the state election service.
2) The right to trade in the city was assigned exclusively to the people of the city, other urban merchants and industrialists were obliged either to give up their trades and industries, or to be assigned to the urban society.
Thus, the Council's Code returned to them the «white settlements» rejected by them, belonging to land estates, monasteries and churches, as well as the white-washed (exempted from tax) courtyards of clergy children, clerks, ponomaars and other churchmen , shops and courtyards of peasants.
These provisions of the Cathedral Code facilitated the tax burden of the townspeople and expanded their rights to practice handicrafts and trade, but also attached citizens to the burden. The exit from the tenements, from the tax, was forbidden henceforth under threat of exile to Siberia. Thus, the Code introduced a specific version of serfdom in the cities.
3) The rural population, hitherto divided into various legal states (peasants, daughters and arable serfs), was united. Before that, the serfs and the people were people who were slaves, and the businessmen and backstage slaves were not burdensome. Now the owner has become responsible for tax payments, and he exacted the arrears of both the peasants and not burdensome serfs.
1670s «Honor of the ranks» as a source of class rights is the state assessment of the comparative advantage brought by the state by various public officials. The most tactile form in which this grade of bureaucratic honor was expressed, was the punishment for dishonor, i.e. for insulting a person with an action and, predominantly, a «bad word».
1682 The Sovereign and the Duma adopted a decree according to which the appointment of commanders of military units was to be made from all service families «without seats and without selection», i.e. not by the fatherland, as before, but by personal suitability or merit, thus abolishing «God-hating and hostile localism.»
1699 Decrees of Peter 1 on restoration and expansion of urban self-government - the commercial and industrial population and the peasants of the state-run rural volosts could choose the burghers who repaired the court and collected state taxes between them.
1700 The extension of military service to the lower classes under Peter 1 - before the Northern War, Peter made a recruitment from the population, the townspeople and the peasants. Then these sets were repeated periodically throughout his reign.
1702 The introduction of the nobility in the order of local government - with the district governors noble councils were established for the selection of district noble societies. After the new division of Russia into provinces was introduced in 1708, the district councils of the nobility were replaced by Landrat councils under the governors.
1706-1710 To encourage the most distinguished in service, Peter 1 introduced in addition to the Princely titles - count (from 1706; before that, a number of people in Russia received this title from the emperor 20c there were more than ~ 300 count genera) and baron (from 1710).
1710-1720 Peter 1 declared that «from the lands, service people of any rank serve the service, and nobody owns the land for nothing», that to some extent equalized landowners and landowners . He legally designed a tradition that had existed since ancient times, according to which the nobility service was a regular, mandatory, lifelong; The service began at the age of 15.
1721 Peter 1 abolished the office of the patriarch and in place of the Patriarchate established the Holy Synod . The purpose of the reforms of Peter 1 was the elimination of autonomy (the Patriarch was perceived almost as equal to the Tsar) and the incorporation of the institution of the church into the state apparatus.
1722 Table of Ranks replaced the principle of parenthood in the public service with the principle of personal service - all posts were divided into 3 parallel rows of posts: ; and each row is divided into 14 grades , or classes.
The ladder of military posts began as a field marshal and ended with a fendrik; at the head of the hierarchy of state ranks were placed, firstly, the chancellor, secondly, the real secret advisers, and below - the provincial secretaries and collegiate registrars (classes 13 and 14).
1736-1746 Anna Ivanovna limited the noble service to 25 years, and also gave the right to one or several sons to remain at the house to manage the estate, but with the obligation to learn to be fit for civil service. Elizaveta Petrovna forbade anyone except nobles to buy peasants and land.
1762 Peter 3 issued a «Manifesto on the granting of liberty and freedom to the Russian nobility», which freed him from compulsory service; Within 10 years, more than 10 thousand nobles left the army.
1785 The charter to the nobility Catherine 2 carried out the codification of the nobility, which contributed to the consolidation of the estate. It confirmed the freedom of the nobility from the service. Estate institutions were established - noble societies, deputy meetings, guardianship.
1785 The chartered diploma to cities is the codification of legislation on the status of the urban population. There were 6 categories of urban population: 1) urban merchants (were divided into guilds); 2) urban intelligentsia, bankers and capitalists constituted a stratum of honorary (eminent) citizens; 3) petty bourgeoisie, engaged in small trade, made up a significant layer of urban inhabitants; 4) tradesmen engaged in the craft, received the legal status of artisans; 5) separately allocated foreign citizens, as well as non-resident; 6) all other townspeople.
In Russia, by the end of 19c , estates and classes coexisted - the transition from the feudal system (class division) to the capitalist (class division). 5 estates: nobility (~ 1.1%), clergy (0.5%), peasantry (~ 84%), urban inhabitants (~ 11.9%), Cossacks (~ 9.9%). 4 classes: bourgeoisie (merchants, nobility, petty bourgeoisie, peasantry), proletariat (petty bourgeoisie, peasantry), landowners (nobility), peasants (peasantry).
Beginning 19c The nobility is the economically and politically dominant class. Rights: ownership of land and serfs, estate self-government, exemption from taxes, recruitment duties and corporal punishment. Part of the nobility imbued with Republican sentiment. Many nobles joined masonic lodges or secret anti-government organizations.
Clergy. Black clergy - monks and nuns (among them were appointed bishops). White clergy - parish priests, deacons, hymns. Awarded with orders, the clergy acquired noble rights. Rights: ownership of land and serfs, estate self-government, exemption from taxes, recruitment duties and corporal punishment.
Peasants. They were subdivided into landowner, state, sessional and specific, belonging to the royal family. Responsibilities as property of nobles: corvee, dues, and other duties. Responsibilities as subjects of the state: recruitment, payment of taxes. Rights: communal ownership of land, communal self-government.
City inhabitants . They were divided into 6 groups: honorary citizens, merchants, shop foremen, tradesmen, small owners and working people, i.e. employed for hire. The urban population was made up of burghers, mostly employed in factories. Rights: the occupation of urban fisheries and small-scale trade, estate status. Responsibilities: recruitment, payment of taxes.
1837 The state sought to distinguish Cossacks from the rest of the population. Police duties: night patrols in cities, catching fugitives, a convoy of public transports, prompting to pay taxes and correcting arrears, monitoring decency at fairs, etc. Housekeeping: transport storage and sale of food, collection of taxes, etc.
The second half of the 19th century, after the abolition of serfdom, the Nobility lost free labor, most of them went bankrupt, the other - embarked on the path of entrepreneurship. The nobility managed to maintain its privileged position. In his hands was political power.
Clergy. The legal status of the estate has changed significantly. The ministers themselves received even more privileges.
Peasants were declared free rural people with civil rights. They had to pay a head tax, taxes and fees, give recruits and could be subjected to corporal punishment. Until the time of the redemption of land from the landlords, the peasants were called temporarily bound.
City inhabitants. The town's position in 1870 removed the estate principle from the city government as harmful to urban prosperity. The right to the title of «urban inhabitants» has lost all meaning, becoming in reality the property of all permanent residents .
Cossacks. The provision of 1869 enshrined the endowment of the Cossacks «we drink» in 30 dessiatinas per Cossack . By the mid-19th century, there were 9 Cossack troops in Russia: the Don, Black Sea, Terek, Astrakhan, Orenburg, Ural, Siberian, Trans-Baikal and Amur regions.
Sources of formation of the bourgeois class were wealthy peasants, merchants and nobles. By the end of 19c, the number of bourgeoisie reached ~ 1.5 million people. Although its economic power was considerable, social influence and political weight were not great enough.
The proletariat in Russia was quite small (~ 10%). It was characterized by a sharp stratification into the labor aristocracy and unskilled laborers, whose standard of living was extremely low, and working conditions very difficult. The poorest strata of the proletariat were extremely revolutionary.
1917 After the October Revolution, all estates in the RSFSR were liquidated by a decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee «On the destruction of estates and civilian ranks». Important features of the social structure of the new socialist society were: the absence of exploiting classes, the socio-political and ideological unity of the people, the strengthening of the union of workers, peasants, the social strata of the working people, the convergence of all social communities.
The social structure of socialism included not only classes, but also social groups and layers: urban and rural population, workers of mainly physical and mainly mental labor, workers of performing and administrative work, socialist intelligentsia and employees.
1939 The social composition of the Soviet Union: ~ 33.7% of workers, ~ 16.5% of employees, ~ 47.2% of the collective-farm peasantry, ~ 2.6% of individual farmers and non-cooperative handicraftsmen. The employees included: employees and intellectuals, heads of organizations, the nomenclature itself, the state elite.
1955 Conic model of Soviet society : 1) the ruling elite, the nomenclature, command of the army, the KGB; 2) the highest layer of the intelligentsia - academics, artists and writers; 3) the highest working class, the StaKhanovists, the drummers; 4) the middle intelligentsia - middle managers, high school employees, scientists, officers, etc .; 5) white-collar workers - employees, doctors, teachers; 6) collective farmers in advanced collective farms; 7) middle and low-skilled workers in the cities; 8) the middle strata of the peasants; 9) other - prisoners and others.
1959 The social composition of the Soviet Union: ~ 50.2% of workers, ~ 18.1% of employees, ~ 31.4% of the collective-farm peasantry, ~ 0.3% of individual farmers and non-cooperative handicraftsmen
1970 Social composition of the Soviet Union: ~ 57.4% of workers, ~ 22.1% of employees, ~ 20.5% of the collective farm peasantry.
1982 Social composition of the Soviet Union: ~ 60.9% of workers, ~ 25.8% of employees, ~ 13.3% of the collective farm peasantry.
end of the 80s Conic model of society end of the 80s: 1) the ruling elite, the nomenclature, command of the army, the KGB; 2) economic elite, oligarchs and top managers, «new Russians»; 3) medium business; media elite and small business, serving in capitals in large firms, managers; 4) Professionals in profitable areas - lawyers, programmers, accountants, skilled workers; 5) the new poor from the fallen intelligentsia, employees and workers; 6) the old poor of collective farmers and workers; 7) marginalized (marginal - personcentury, located on the border of various social groups, systems, cultures) layers.
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Literature 863 Moravian Prince Rostislav asked the Byzantine Emperor Michael 3 to translate Christian liturgical books from Greek into Slavic. Michael 3 commissioned the translation of the Greek monks Cyril and Methodius.
They made up first Slavic alphabet , first a verb was composed, and then Cyrillic.
On the basis of the Cyrillic alphabet, not only Russian writing, but also writing of other Slavic peoples - Serbs and Bulgarians, arose.
The Cyrillic alphabet was much simpler than the verb in writing letters, and that is why it became more widely used.
Subsequently, the Cyrillic alphabet completely supplanted the verb.
The brothers Cyril and Methodius are canonized and venerated as saints in the East and in the West.
Saint Methodius and Saint Cyril conducted church-religious and educational activities.
885 After the creation of the Slavic alphabet, Cyril and Methodius were transferred to the Slavic Psalms and the New Testament. The Old Testament was translated by Methodius and the disciples after Cyril's death.
These translations are widespread among the Slavic peoples, including in Russia.
After the Baptism of Russia, many translations appeared in the Old Slavonic language in order to familiarize with the philosophical and ethical doctrines of the new religion and with church rites and customs. Up to 99% of the monuments of medium-centric writing are translations.
A large place in ancient Russian translated writing was occupied by patristics , that is, the writings of those Roman and Byzantine theologians 3-7b,
who enjoyed special authority in the Christian world and were revered as «Fathers of the Church» ( John Chrysostom and others).
Parable as a literary form: The parable came into Russian literature along with the Christian script, with the first translations of the texts of Scripture.
Preaching as a literary form: in Ancient Russia, the first sermons were translated works in the collections of Byzantine authors:
«Golden-jet» by John Chrysostom, «Parenesis» by Efrem Sirin, «Announcement» by Cyril of Jerusalem, «The Ladder» by John Laestvich
Apocrypha - writings interpreting the objects contained in the Holy Scriptures, but not recognized as inspired and forbidden by the Church.
Apocrypha spread in epic or song form. They in detail complemented the story of peacemaTsar with purely fabulous features, tied up and continued the fate of the Biblical characters.
Thematically, the Apocrypha were divided into Old Testament (about Adam and Eve, Tsars David and Solomon), New Testament (about Jesus Christ) and eschatological (narrations about the afterlife, the ultimate destinies of the world).
The history of the world told chronographs ; about the history of the fatherland - chronicles , monuments of historical writing and literature of ancient Russia, the narration in which was conducted by years. They told about the events of Russian and world history.
The literature on the lives of the saints, or hagiography, was developing. Collections of short stories about the life of monks were very common - batericialist.
Rev. Nestor was the 1st chronicler of the Russian land. His 1st hagiographic work, «Reading about the life and destruction of the blessed martyrs Boris and Gleb,» is dedicated to the memory of the first Russian saints .
Under Yaroslav the Wise, a lover of scholarship, flourished the culture of Kievan Rus . By order of the Prince in Kiev, they created a workshop in which monks copied old parchments, translated Greek and Latin books.
1037-1050e «Word of Law and Grace» Hilarion is an outstanding monument of public speaTsar eloquence, which described the «Presentation» of Law and the triumph of Grace in the history of mankind.
Peculiarities of the «Words about the Law and Grace» style: rhetorical exclamations and appeals, impersonation, parallelisms, comparisons, rhythmic organization of speech.
Not later than 1088 2nd essay work of Nestor is dedicated to St. Theodosius. Theodosius of Pechersk is depicted as the embodiment of the ideal of renunciation of the world, immersion in God-communion and earthly ministry to suffering humanity.
The 1090s Chronograph on a great presentation - the Old Russian chronographic code ( chronographs - works, which systematically described the stages of world history from the creation of the world)
1099 «The Instructions» by Vladimir Monomakh as an example of teaching and didactic literature. In an autobiographical manner, he described the image of an ideal Prince-warrior and ruler.
1110th Annals of Nestor's Tale of Bygone Years . Nestor spoke about the emergence of the ancient Russian state and its first Princes, the military-political and religious relations with Byzantium,
about the Baptism of Russia and the spread of Christianity in it, the unity of the Russian land in the struggle with the steppe peoples and the problem of Princely strife.
Metropolitan of 1147-1155 Metropolitan of Kiev and All Russia Clement Smolyatich - church writer, 1st Russian theologian. His message to Presbyter Thomas is a monument to philosophical, theological and philological culture.
1130-1182 Prelate Kirill Turovsky - one of the prominent church leaders of the 12th century, the greatest thinker and writer of Kievan Rus («The Tale of Beloritz Man of Century and Monasticism», «Parable of the Human Body and Body») .
In his writings, he reflected on the ascetic ideals of monasticism , the meaning of human life, the nature of human feelings.
1185 «Word about Igor's regiment». «The Word» was a chronicle story about Igor’s campaign against the Polovtsy. The genre and style of «The Word» is oratorical prose, a military novel, a folk epic song. Authorship of the «Word» is not installed.
12-13bv The apocrypha was spread by Russian pilgrims , called Kaliki or pilgrims (wanderers), in the 12-13th centuries as whole detachments walTsar to the Holy Land through the Balkan Peninsula.
The accusatory treatises were written against the «heretical» apocrypha and the whole indexes of the apocrypha were compiled as «renounced books», thus giving rise to the beginning of ancient Russian theology.
end of 12c. Distribution of transferable military narratives: «History of the Jewish War» by Joseph Flavius, «Alexandria» and «Devgeniyevojie» with images of a positive hero.
The literature of the period of feudal fragmentation and the Mongol-Tatar invasion was characterized by: an assessment of the events connected with the Mongol-Tatar invasion; the emergence of cultural centers in the Vladimir-Suzdal, Galicia-Volyn principalities, Novgorod.
Kiev-Pechersk Paterik: religious, educational, and narrative-historical. It reflected the monastic life and the relationship of the monastery with the Princes.
1223 «The Tale of the Battle of the Kalka» - the chronicle story about the invasion of the Mongol-Tatars in Russia , about the origin of the Mongol-Tatars, about the reasons for their arrival in Russia.
1237 «The Tale of the Ruin of Ryazan by Batu» - a description of the tragic fate of the Ryazan principality as the fate of the entire Russian land, glorification of the greatness of the spirit and heroism of the inhabitants of Ryazan, the Princes and the Princely squad in the struggle with the troops of Batu.
1270s Teachings Serapion of Vladimir - in the teachings, he argued that repentance and spiritual rebirth were needed to overcome internal strife and unite strength in the struggle against the enemy.
1238-1246 «A Word about the Death of Russian Land» - a lyrical response to the events of the invasion of the Mongol-Tatars. The work reflected patriotism, national identity, strength and military prowess of the Prince-warrior, lyrical perception of nature.
1260s-1280s «The Life of Alexander Nevsky» - military story, secular biography and life. The work presented the spiritual feat of Alexander Nevsky , the embodiment in it of a special type of religious asceticism.
During the period of the unification of the lands around the Moscow principality, the monuments of culture and literature reflected «gathering» of Russia in spiritual and state unity , overcoming separation and separation.
"The Life of Metropolitan Peter» - first saintly life. This is the hagiobiography of Metropolitan Peter, who promoted the rise of Moscow among other Russian cities.
«Zadonshchina» is a chronicle story about the Kulikovo battle. In the story is given the image of Dmitry Donskoy and glorified victory won over the hordes of Mamaia.
1382 «The Tale of the Moscow capture from Tsar Tokhtamysh» - the story was condemned by the betrayal of O. Ryazansky, who missed the hordes of Tokhtamysh through his lands, and the perfidy of the sons of D. Suzdalsky, who believed the Muscovites opened the gates.
Born in 1330, Cyprian Bulgarian (an outstanding church leader of Bulgaria and Russia), Metropolitan of All Russia: united the Russian lands into one metropolitan country ; promoted the spread of Christian enlightenment in Russia;
the author of hagiographic, epistolary, homelestic and other works; He was an active confessor, politician, diplomat and writer.
beginning in 1337 The Trinity Sergius Lavra Library was founded by . The founder and first hegumen of the monastery Sergius of Radonezh was considered the founder of the Lavra book depository.
The beginning of the monastic colonization - the disasters that have befallen Russia have generated in society a depressed, dejected mood, the thought of the vanity and vanity of worldly life.
Sergius of Radonezh had an extensive influence on the development of monastic settlements in the north. In addition to the Trinity Monastery, St. Sergius founded 8 more monasteries.
By 15c, monasteries became national centers of spiritual and literary culture. Plots about the continuity of the empire of world royal power and its divine origin have become popular. The concept «Moscow is the third Rome» was born .
The beginning of 15c «The Tale of Mamayev Battle» - a monument of ancient Russian literature about the Battle of Kulikovo, tells about the courage and suffering of the Russian people and its commander Dmitry Donskoy.
With the weakening of Byzantium, relations of Russia with Athos and the Second Bulgarian Tsardom developed; new monasteries were created according to the Greek model, with new translations of the liturgical books,
with new language and design standards. The second South Slavic influence is a change in the written norm of the Russian literary language in the direction of convergence with the Balkan norms.
1420 Epiphanius the Wise died - a monk, a spiritual writer and thinker, author of lives and messages revealing the worldview of Ancient Russia ("Life of Stephen of Perm,» «Life of Sergius of Radonezh").
DR 1433-1508 Neil Sorsky - spiritual writer, founder in Russia of skitsky living, personal work of monks; developed the ideas of asceticism; founder and head of non-possession (refusal of the church to gain) in Russia.
DR 1439-1515 Joseph Volotsky - church leader, writer. Head of Josephite Composers . One of the participants in the struggle against the Sorian non-besiegers and the Novgorod-Moscow heresy of the Judaizers. The author of the «Enlightener» and many messages.
1466-1472 «Going beyond three seas» by Afanasy Nikitin - the Tver merchant set off on a dangerous voyage and made a trade route from Europe to India.
1480s «The Message of Vladychne on the Ugra» by Vassian Rostovsky - a monument of eloquence and political thought - after the death of Byzantium Russia remained the only independent Orthodox state in the whole world.
In the 16th century, the formation of state ideology and national identity takes place. In literature there were disputes about the relationship between spiritual and secular power. There was also a flowering of journalism.
1520-1550e Publicism I. Peresvetova: «Petite», «The Legend of the Books, Magmet Saltan and Tsar Constantine.» His writings had an anti-Boyar orientation and a desire to strengthen centralized power.
1520-1530e Chetyi-Minea the Great (Makarievskie) - a collection for reading for each day of the month: 12 large books, the content of each book is broken down by day . The Chetyan Minees united Russian literature into a complete set of all Old Russian writing.
1547 «Domostroy» is a moralizing collection based on the teachings of the Fathers of the Church. The book had useful information, teachings and instructions to every Christian — husband, wife, children, servants, and maids. Priest Sylvester, an associate of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, prepared this set of tips and rules.
1560-1563 «The Power Book» - an attempt to systematically present Russian history from Vladimir Svyatoslavich to Ivan 4. The sources of the book were: cheti-miney, chronographs and chronicles, «The Legend of the Princes of Vladimir», «The Sovereign's Cattery», a cycle of stories about the icon of the Vladimir Mother of God, the holy fool Basil the Blessed, and others.
1564 The first printed edition in Russia by the command of Ivan the Terrible - published by Ivan Fedorov and Peter Mstislavts «Apostol», which presents the original technique of two-color printing, clear and beautiful font, excellent layout, perfectly literate text superb frontispiece.
1564-1566 «The story of the Kazan Tsardom.» The annexation of Kazan to Moscow in 1552 was the largest event of the century. It was perceived as a retribution for a two-hundred-year Mongol-Tatar yoke. The capture of Kazan was widely reflected both in oral folk art in legends, songs and tales, and in literature.
1564-1579 The correspondence of Ivan the Terrible with Andrei Kurbsky is one of the most famous monuments of ancient Russian literature. The correspondence touched on a wide range of social and political issues. The emotional messages of Ivan the Terrible show irony and sarcasm.
1568-1576 The Facial (i.e., illustrated, with the image «in the faces») the chronicle or Tsar-Book was created by order of Tsar Ivan the Terrible. The set consisted of about 10 thousand sheets and over 17 thousand illustrations.
The literature of the transition period - from ancient Russian literature to a new type of literature. New genres: everyday story, satire, verse, «comidia». Strengthening secular elements and the growth of personal beginnings in all spheres of literary creativity. The struggle of old and new in cultural life.
1612 «Crying about the captivity and the ultimate ruin of the Moscow State» - comprehending events of the Time of Troubles, attempts to explain the causes of the Troubles, depicting the tragic fate of participants in the events.
1637 «The Tale of the taking of Azov» - historical story with elements of innovation in content and style. The story combines the techniques of a military story, genres of business writing and folklore.
1620-1630e «Life of Juliania Lazarevskaya» - biography of the mother, written by her son, about the life and lifestyle of a noble estate. Juliana spent her whole life in continuous work and in charge of the fate of her serfs, whom she during the hungry years, denying yourself and your family the most necessary things, reaching complete poverty.
Controversy «Latin» and «Greek» orientation of the development of Russian culture. Activities in Moscow, Ukrainian and Belarusian writers. The role of Kiev scholarship in promoting the traditions of Western European culture in Russia and the contradictions of this process.
from 1653 Correction of church books under Patriarch Nikon in order to unify them with modern Greek. A «book on the right» was made, which was expressed in the editing of texts of the Holy Scripture and liturgical books. The adherents of the old rites and books ("Old Believers") were anathematized.
1660s «The Life of Avvakum, the Archpriest, written by him» - Old Believer Avvakum described his biography. After opals, Patriarch Nikon was exiled to Pustozer'e, where he wrote his life. He was held for 15 years in an earthen prison, but he «remained stubb12orn» and in 1682 he was burned in a wooden house along with other Old Believers.
the second half of 17c Baroque style - pompous, official, spread mainly in court poetry, in court theater. Presented in the works of Simeon Polotsky, Karion Istomin Sylvester Medvedev, in the dramaturgy of the late 17th century.
second half of 17c Poem and versification - the influence of Byzantine liturgical poetry. Dosillabic verses and principles of the syllabic versification system. Genres of syllabic poem. The Psalm Corpusive Psalter was a poetic experience of transcribing psalms.
1672 «Artaxerxes action» - the first Russian play in the period of the birth of the court theater. Written by the decree of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich by the Lutheran Pastor I. Gregory in a poetic form in German to the plot of the biblical book of Esther and translated by the Ambassadors of the Order.
The literature of the early 18th century was formed under the influence of the socio-political state transformations. Russian literature of the 18th century developed from classicism to sentimentalism, from the ideal of an enlightened monarch to intimate emotions of people.
DR1708-1744 The genre of satire in the work of A. Kantemir - his satires were divided into Russian and foreign: the Russian - «picturesque» with a gallery of portraits of carriers of vice; foreign - «philosophical» about vice as such.
DR1711-1765 The name of M. Lomonosov is associated with the era of classicism and enlightened absolutism. In his odes he celebrated the greatness of the motherland and its people, the development of education, science and industry, advocated wise rulers, issuing national interests.
DR1703-1769 The poetry of V.Trediakovsky was a transition from syllabic (syllabic) verse to the syllabic-tonic system of versification developed by his feet (trochee, dactyl, etc.), which is still used today. Creativity Trediakovsky caused controversy: contemporaries considered him worthless and mediocre.
DR1717-1777 A.Sumarokov, playwright and lyricist, tried his hand in all genres of classicism, wrote odes, stanzas, sonnets, poetic tragedies. In 1756 he was appointed 1st director of the theater in St. Petersburg. There was a 1m nobleman who devoted himself entirely to literature.
DR1745-1792 D.Fonvizin - Russian writer, playwright, journalist, translator, representative of Russian classicism, the creator of national household comedy. In 1768 he created the satirical comedy «Brigadier», in 1782 - the comedy «Under-age» , in which he condemned the methods of the traditional education of nobles, their stupidity and maliciousness.
DR1743-1816 Lyrics by G. Derzhavin - the poet boldly combined the high, middle and low trends of classicism into one lively image (the «high» is associated with the heroic and patriotic beginning, the «middle» and the «low» genre - personal feelings). He wrote meritorious and spiritual odes, poems, praises, cantatas, ballads.
1769-1844 Fabulist I. Krylov - after transferring several fables to Lafontaine in 1809, Krylov released the first edition of his fables (number 23), immediately became a celebrity, and since then, except fables, nothing more did not write. In total, they wrote over 200 fables. The main advantages of Krylov's fables are their nationality and artistry.
DR1766-1826 Sentimentalist prose of N.Karamzin, of the writer-innovator: the story «Poor Lisa» (1792). Karamzin sought to create one language for books and for society. In 1803, he «tonsured historians» and began working on the «History of the Russian State».
DR1749-1802 A.Radishchev - a writer, poet, philosopher, translator, author of Travels from St. Petersburg to Moscow (1790). In the book, he boldly talked about the serf system in Russia, for which he was arrested and sentenced to death, but was replaced with 10 years of exile.
19c - «Golden century» of Russian poetry, the century of Russian literature on a global scale, century of Russian literary classics, the time when the Russian literary language was formed, which was mostly shaped by A.S. Pushkin.
DR1799-1837 A. Pushkin - the founder of realism in Russian literature. Pushkin showed himself as a great poet, able to comprehend the essence of the most important phenomena of Russian history and reality, depicted by him in all its diversity, complexity and inconsistency.
The type of «extra human century» (Pushkin's Eugene Onegin, «Lermontov's« Hero of Our Time ») and type of« small centuria » (Gogol's Overcoat) main artistic types.
1847-1866 Edition «Contemporary» ed. N. A. Nekrasova and I. I. Panaeva
From the middle of 19c, the formation of Russian realistic literature, which responded to the socio-political situation in Russia ( Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Goncharov ). Between Slavophiles and Westerners there was a dispute about the ways of the historical development of the country.
1860-1870e Literary struggle over peasant reform - Chernyshevsky, Nekrasov, Herzen. In their works expressed high civic consciousness, the depth of the image of life inherent in Russian literature. The predominant literary genre was the novel.
The end of the 19th century Chekhov, Ostrovsky, Leskov, Gorky flourish . In the literature, pre-revolutionary moods have passed. The realistic tradition has been replaced by decadent literature, with mysticism, religiosity, and also a premonition of changes in the socio-political life of Russia.
1870-1910e Symbolism is one of the modernist trends in Russian poetry (the expression by means of symbols of intuitively comprehended essences and ideas, feelings and visions); movement came from france. The heyday of Russian symbolism is associated with the arrival in the literature of Blok, Bely, Ivanov, Annensky and others.
1880-1920s Silver Age - the period of development of Russian literature, when social cataclysms of the end of the 19th century - beginning of the 20th century gave rise in the artists' souls the feeling that the world turned upside down, and there was a desire to unravel the causes of disharmony of the world and the soul and find ways of healing.
The philosophers Solovev, Fedorov, Berdyaev, and Florensky had an influence on the poetry of the Silver Age. They put forward ideas of eternal, divine beauty and saw the salvation of the world merged with the Soul of the World. Representatives of the poetry of the Silver Century: Blok, Akhmatova, Tsvetaeva, Gumilyov, Mayakovsky, Yesenin.
the beginning of 20c The beginning of 20c was characterized by a universal burden to culture: not to be at the premiere of the play, not to be present at the evening of the sensational poet, in literary salons, not to read the book just released was considered a sign of bad taste, outdated not fashionable.
The turning point of the beginning of the 20th century brought to literature and art: the hope of change, pessimism and anguish with the possible death of the old culture. The 1917 revolution brought new leaders who were stronger than the Tsar, who took his place and who abolished God . Chelocentury 20c increasingly began to experience the influence of non-religious ideas.
since 1920 The division of literature into three branches: Soviet literature, , «delayed» (domestically, M. Bulgakov) and Russian foreign literature. Soviet writers dreamed to remake the whole world, exiles - to preserve former cultural values.
since 1932 The emergence of «the main method of Soviet literature» - of «socialist realism». Over time, social realism began to turn into frank normativism and illustration of political slogans. Bright representatives: Bitter, Fadeev, Sholokhov, Ostrovsky, Fedin, Furmanov, and others.
from 1953, the death of Joseph Stalin (1953.) marked a new stage in literature. Weakened the dictatorship of the party. Writers hoped for creative freedom. However, instead, Secretary General Khrushchev announced the persecution of Nobel Prize winner B. Pasternak for the novel Doctor Zhivago. Poets, writers emigrated from the USSR (I. Brodsky). Honest works found readers through «samizdat.»
60s However, already in the 60s, the «thaw» was marked by young poets: E. Evtushenko, B. Akhmadulina, A. Voznesensky, R. Rozhdestvensky.
Also appeared deep prose about contemporaries, about their movements of the soul, suffering from such writers: Shukshina, Kazakova, Rasputin . Solzhenitsyn and Rybakov wrote epic novels about the terrible time of the personality cult. In drama, plays appeared that illuminate the inner world of people (for example, Duck Hunt and Senior Son by playwright Vampilov).
since 1991 New Russian literature was born in 1991, after the collapse of the USSR. The start was given to works denouncing, among which stood out Solzhenitsyn's «Gulag Archipelago», as well as works of emigrants that were authorized in the homeland: Nabokov, Shmelev, Bely, Balmont.
Then, during perestroika time, a new wave of writers was initiated in Russian literature: Pelevin, Ulitskaya, Akunin, Lukyanenko. The data of novelist writers characterizes the compositional mastery of the classic, a unique artistic vision of the problems of the present, a masterly plotting, the fascination of the narration.
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Religions Религия Christianity
Slavs worshiped natural phenomena and deified them. They also believed in evil and good spirits, they had the cult of the clan and ancestors in honor. The first religious belief of the Eastern Slavs was paganism . The main feature of paganism is polytheism. Eastern Slavs worshiped Svarog, Rod, Dazhdbog, Yarilo, Khoros, Veles, Stribog, Mokosh and Perun.
For many centuries before the baptism of Russia Christianity was consolidated on the Crimean peninsula, the main center was the city Chersonese . After the Russians attacked Tsargrad in 860, Patriarch Photius sent St. Cyril to the Khazars to attract them and the Slavs to the Christian faith.
The holy brothers Cyril and Methodius compiled the Slavic alphabet (Cyrillic) and translated the Holy Scriptures and liturgical books into Slavic. Thanks to them, the Russian people from the very beginning could learn the Orthodox faith in their native language.
At the end of the 9th and the beginning of the 10th century, the first churches were built in the southern Russian cities. The Christians were among the warriors who made up the Princely squads, and among the Russians who traded with Constantinople.
957 The baptism of Princess Olga in Constantinople under the name Elena. Her son Svyatoslav remained a pagan, although he did not hinder the conversion of others to the Christian faith. Olga had a strong influence on her grandson Vladimir, who continued the Christianization of Russia. By the end of the reign of Princess Olga, a new Russian center was formed in the North Caucasus, in Tmutarakan, through which Christianity from Byzantium began to penetrate into Russia.
Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavovich at the beginning of his reign was considered an ardent pagan. It was he who erected a temple in Kiev for the 6 most revered gods, before whom human sacrifices were made. Polygamy was quite common. Vladimir had five legitimate wives and several hundred concubines.
Prince Vladimir wanted Russia to join the culture and enter the family of civilized nations, he talked with preachers of many religions. Faith Jews rejected because of the loss of their land, and Islam - for strict restrictions on food and drink. After a long spiritual quest, Prince Vladimir decided to adopt Christianity from Byzantium.
988 Prince Vladimir was baptized in the spring of 988 in Korsun. The adoption of Christianity by Vladimir was a condition of the Byzantine emperors, when Vladimir was going to marry their sister Anna. In the same year, the Prince who returned to Kiev began the baptism of close warriors and boyars, thereby beginning the process of the Christianization of Russia.
Prince Vladimir created the first church charter in Russia and established a church tithe , or a special allowance for white clergy. Tithing - a deduction in favor of the church of a tenth part of Princely income, was evidence of the material dependence of the church on the Prince.
The ancient Russian state maintained contacts with representatives of not only Eastern ( Orthodox Byzantium ), but also Western ( Catholic Rome ) Churches.
The church glorified Prince Vladimir in the face of the saints as Equal-to-the-Apostles (those who served with their lives preaching the Gospel and spreading the Christian faith) His son, Yaroslav the Wise, sought to consolidate Christianity. He cared about the distribution of spiritual literature, founded a public library. He built a palace in Kiev, the Golden Gate and the magnificent temple of Sts. Sofia (1037) - he wanted to see Kiev as great as Constantinople.
The church structure was originally presented in the form of the Metropolis of the Constantinople Patriarchate. It was headed by the Metropolitan, who was sent from Constantinople, in many cities bishops were created. During 11-12, the Russian Church was ruled by by metropolitans of Greek origin, which made it independent of the sympathies of power.
1051 Yaroslav appointed Hilarion the first Russian by birth to be the metropolitan in Kiev without the consent of Constantinople. This act established Russian church autonomy. The name of Hilarion is connected with the drafting of the church charter (nomocanon) of Prince Yaroslav.
Immediately after the adoption of Christianity in Russia began to establish monasteries. The first monastery with proper regulation was a monastery in the name of St. George the Victorious, which Yaroslav built with his own money. St. Anthony from Athos founded Pechersky Monastery (he stayed in a cave, which the future Metropolitan Hilarion had dug for himself.).
The contacts of the Russian Princes with Rome were not interrupted, and after the split of the Christian church in 1054. In the 11-12th centuries, a large number of marriages were concluded between representatives of Russian and western Princely houses (only with Polish Princes more than 20).
The 12th century was the epoch the heyday of the Christian preaching (St. Cyril, Bishop of Turov (1183), Simon of Vladimir, Clement of Smolensk). Also 12c is rich in translated literature: books of spiritual content, the lives of saints, the works of the Fathers of the Church, and apocryphal legends about Old Testament and New Testament events.
At 12c, there was great Greek and Byzantine influence in building churches and icon painting. From the Byzantines, Russia adopted the cross-domed form of the church (St. Sophia Cathedral in Kiev, St. Sophia Cathedral in Novgorod). Feudal fragmentation contributed to the uniqueness of the construction of churches (the Intercession on the Nerl, Dmitrov and Assumption Cathedrals in Vladimir).
Andrei Bogolyubsky, who left Kiev to Vladimir in 1155, built the Cathedral of the Assumption of Our Lady (1160) and the Church of the Intercession of the Virgin Mary (1165) there. In 1164 Andrei created the Golden Gate of Vladimir (similar to Kiev and Constantinople). In 1155 Andrei brought the icon of the Virgin to Vladimir,
which was considered one of the most revered shrines of Russia, laying the foundation of heartfelt cult of the Virgin. In 1163, Andrei Bogolyubsky tried to establish an independent Vladimir metropolis, but the then Patriarch of Constantinople rejected this intention.
1237 During the period of the Mongol-Tatar invasion, many monasteries and temples were destroyed. From 1283, Tatar Khans began to issue the Orthodox Church special letters (labels) that provided the church with great advantages: exemption from paying tribute, church property was recognized as inviolable. As gratitude, Russian priests and monks expected that they would pray to God for Khan and his heirs.
The Yasa Law, prescribed to the Mongols by Genghis Khan, obliged them to tolerate any religion if its adherents prayed for the health and successes of the Khan. Thus, the church has created a privileged position for itself.
Rome promised Russia military aid in response to permission to Catholic priests in the North-West to act. Alexander Nevsky preferred forced submission to the Horde . The church saw in the expansion of the Roman Catholic Church a greater danger than in the tolerant Horde rulers.
1261 An Orthodox Diocese was established in the capital of the Golden Horde Saray. She was a connected node between numerous monasteries and churches of Russia, and the Khan's power.
End of 13c The spread of Christianity in the North thanks to the preaching of devotees who fled in the northern deserts. The Monk Kirill, who founded the Chelmogorsky Monastery, spread Christianity among the Chuds. The Monk Lazar founded the Murmansk monastery, whose monks enlightened the Lapps.
1299 Metropolitan Makary (Maxim) with the clergy moved from Kiev to Vladimir. Vladimir was not only political but also the religious center of Russia.
After accepting the Golden Horde of Islam in 1312, the Russian church still retained its privileges. In 1343, Khan Janibek attempted to impose an annual tribute on the church. And after the victory in 1380 in the Kulikov battle the attitude of the Mongol-Tatars to the Russian church changed greatly : when Tokhtamysh came after Mommy to Moscow, he did not refrain from plundering monasteries from killing clerics.
1326 (1333) Metropolitan Peter transferred his residence from Vladimir to Moscow. Anticipating the great significance of Moscow , he bequeathed to Prince Ivan Kalita to build in Moscow a stone church of the Most Holy Theotokos.
In 14c continued the spread of Christianity in the North of Russia. In 1329, Rev. Sergius and Herman founded Valaam Monastery. Christianity spread among the Karelians. Rev. Zosima and Savvati founded Solovetsky monastery, which was the enlightener of the Northern Pomerania.
the middle of the 14th 1st attempt of the Lithuanian feudal lords to subjugate Kiev to their domination: while the power of the Golden Horde weakened due to acute internecine struggle, new conquerors came to the south-western Russian lands . In 1354, the Prince of Lithuania Olgerd wanted to dedicate his protege Roman to the metropolitans of Kiev and «all Russia»,
but the people of Kiev did not agree. Lithuanian troops marched against Kiev. In 1363, Kiev was annexed to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Lithuanian troops opposed the Golden Horde and received the support of the people of Kiev. For almost 4 centuries, Kiev fell under the rule of Lithuanian, and then Polish feudal lords.
The Lithuanian principality was the border zone between the Russian lands and Latin Catholic Europe. After the conclusion of the Polish-Lithuanian Union at the end of 14c Catholicism was in a privileged position.
1440e The Union of Florence was concluded between Constantinople and Rome in 1439 (union) - Constantinople was interested in helping Rome against the Ottoman Empire. The Russian Orthodox Church rejected Florentine union and displaced Isidore from the post of Moscow Metropolitan. The reasons for the rejection of the union: the strengthening of the state around Moscow, the commitment to Orthodoxy, the fight against the «non-Orthodox» Lithuania. In 1448, Basil 2 initiated the election of bishop Jonah as the metropolitan of Ryazan.
1458 The division of the Kyiv Metropolis into two metropolises: upper (Moscow) and lower (Polish-Lithuanian) . The reasons: 1) the seizure of Constantinople by the Ottoman Empire in 1453, after which Russia is the stronghold of Orthodoxy; 2) hostility between the Polish-Lithuanian and Moscow states;
3) Moscow Russia moved away from the old Christian centers - Rome and Constantinople and strengthened its independence in the church life; 4) Kiev continued communion with the western Catholic and Eastern Greek churches, torn between the West and the East.
1470s As early as the end of the 14th century, a stream of «strigolniki» appeared in Pskov and Novgorod, which protested against ecclesiastical bribe and greed (see Revolts). On this fertile soil in the 1470s, first in Novgorod, and then in Moscow, «Jewish heresy»: the Jew Shariya taught that God is one and does not have a Son and the Holy Spirit ).
the second half of the 15th Formation of 2 church trends: non-covenant and Josephism. The principles of non-possessors: a ban on the use of the labor of others, the refusal of churches to acquire land and property values. Josephite Principle: Increment of Church Wealth, «Divine Origin» of Tsarist Power,
Moscow is the Third Rome ( the only stronghold of Orthodoxy after the fall of Constantinople ).
Council 1504, Council 1531 Condemnation of the heresy of the «Jewish» at the church council of 1504: some of them were sentenced to death by burning. Condemnation of «non-possession» at the Council of 1531. Prior events: the protest of Nil Sorsky against the landowning rights of the monasteries at the Cathedral 1504; support for «non-attachment» by boyars and noblemen who tried to increase their possessions by reducing church holdings; The Josephites, led by Joseph Volotsky, convinced Ivan 3 of the refusal of support to non-colliers.
1550-1551 «Stoglavy Cathedral» - a church council with the participation of Tsar Ivan 4 and representatives of the Boyar Duma. Received its name from the collection of cathedral decisions, divided into 100 chapters. Decisions of the council: the inviolability of church property, the jurisdiction of the clergy exclusively to the ecclesiastical court, the unification of church rites and duties, the regulation of the norms of internal ecclesiastical life in order to increase the educational and moral level of the clergy, control over the activities of scribes and icon painters.
1589 Establishment of the Patriarchate in Russia: it was not only recognition of the independence of the Russian Orthodox Church, it was also an act of heritage of church significance and glory of ancient Byzantium which Ottoman rule. In the Assumption Cathedral of the Kremlin, led by Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich, the Patriarch of Constantinople Jeremiah 2 made a canonical delivery of the first Russian Patriarch, Job.
1509 1569 1596 The situation of the Orthodox in the Lithuanian principality and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth: 1509 - The Council in Vilna, which issued decisions on the protection of Orthodoxy and freedom of religion; 1569 - the unification of Poland and Lithuania into the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the preparation of the Jesuit Order (Jesuits - Society of Jesus) union with Rome; 1596 - the conclusion of the Union of Brest between the Orthodox hierarchy of the Commonwealth and the Roman Curia, the persecution of the Orthodox clergy, fraternities and laity, the flight of peasants from persecution to the South.
1566-1572 The Russian Church and the Oprichnina of Ivan the Terrible: Metropolitan Philip (1566-68) spoke out condemning the oprichnina. Semi-monastic oprichniki clothes made them look like God's people. The Metropolitan refused to bless Ivan the Terrible, reproaching the evil brought by the oprichnina and the innocently shed blood. Metropolitan Kirill (1568-72) and Anthony (1572-81) took the path of non-resistance to the will of the Tsar.
Condemnation of Martin Luther’s reforms by the Theologians of Russia : they talked about it in Moscow, and Grek Maxim wrote a Word about Luther heresy, where, without praising the worldly domination of popes, he strongly condemned the news in the Law, blaming the new faith infidelity to true Christianity.
1604-1649 1604 - Dmitry Lzaretsvitch adopted Catholicism. He promised Pope Clement to support the Catholic faith in Russia - to open Catholic churches, to accept Jesuits. After the end of the Troubles, a brutal reaction came to for Catholicism: access to the Catholic clergy in Moscow was denied; Patriarch Filaret ordered the re-baptism of the Orthodox outside of Moscow. «Cathedral Code» in 1649 for the seduction of Orthodoxy into a different religion provided for the death penalty by burning. Only foreigners were allowed to practice a religion different from Orthodoxy.
1652 Church reforms of Patriarch Nikon. 1653 - church ritual reform. An attempt to unify the theological system: to eliminate differences in rites and discrepancies in theological books. The beginning of the split: Nikon, with the support of the Tsar, proposed the use of Greek designs, which would help the unification of all the Orthodox Churches of Europe and Asia; Archpriest Avvakum and Daniel proposed to rely on ancient Russian theological books.
Nikon’s reforms consisted of the following: 1) Church books were republished and translated according to Greek canons; 2) The double-finger sign, introduced together with the Baptism of Russia, was replaced with trio-finger (2 fingers two natures of the one Christ, and 3 symbolized the Holy Trinity); 3) The spelling of the name of Christ is changed: Jesus became Jesus; 4) The bows of the earth were transformed by belt bows, etc.
Beginning in 1653 In 1653, after the accession of Ukraine to Russia, there was an increase in the number of Catholics. However, the Orthodox clergy began to persecute them. Catholic churches and monasteries began to close: the buildings that were deserted after the departure of the Catholics were either destroyed or converted to Orthodox churches. The Catholic clergy were expelled from the new Russian territory. The Catholics remaining in their native land were forcibly justified.
1666-1667 Condemnation of Patriarch Nikon at the church council. Causes: Nikon left the patriarchal department; complication of the relationship between Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and the Patriarch; the boyars, who did not like Nikon's proximity to the Tsar, wove intrigues against the patriarch. For about 15 years his imprisonment continued, first in Ferapontov, and then in the Kirillo-Belozersky monastery as a simple monk.
https://nashavera.com/en/articles/nikons-reforms-the-beginning-of-schism/ - the two-finger sign of the cross, received by Russia along with Christianity, as part of the holy apostolic tradition, was replaced with the three-finger sign; - the name of our Savior, conventionally spelled, Isus, was unaesthetically converted to, Iisus; - the clockwise procession around the church was reversed; - the word, True, was deleted from the Creed, with reference to the Life-giving Holy Spirit; -the double Alleluia was replaced by a triple pronouncement; - two of the seven prosphorae used in Divine Liturgy were negated; In 17c, Orthodoxy became the state religion, which was enshrined in the Council Code. Old Believers (those who did not accept Nikon’s church reform) were called schismatics and heretics, and for crimes against Orthodoxy they were subject to harsh punishments (including the death penalty).
Peter 1’s Board: 1) tolerance towards foreign confessions (an influx of Catholic Catholic migrant workers from Europe), 2) the prohibition of the transition from Orthodoxy to another religion (part of the Russian intelligentsia sought to master European culture and were cases of violation of the prohibition), 3) formation of the Holy Synod and degrading of the role of the church (see below), 4) toughening of the order in Orthodoxy: the landed estates of the clergy were transferred to the Monastery order, becoming state property, 5) banning the construction of new monasteries and reducing the number of monasteries and monks ).
1721 The formation of the Holy Synod for general church administration and abolition of the patriarchate - Tsar Peter introduced a church system in Russia similar to the synodal structure of the Protestant church. The Orthodox Church was deprived of independence and became part of the state apparatus. The property belonging to the Patriarchate was taken to the treasury.
Catherine 2 Board : 1) continuation of Peter’s policy 1, 2) conclusion of diplomatic relations between Russia and Rome, 3) in 1765 principle of freedom of religion was declared, 4) the desire of Catherine 2 to subordinate control of the Roman Catholic Church in Russia, 5) 1st (1772), 2nd (1793) and 3rd (1795) sections of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth made 8 million Catholics by Russian citizens; a institution of a Catholic episcopate was established with a center in Mogilev;
after 1795, about 10 thousand Catholic churches and ~ 400 Catholic monasteries, ~ 30 Catholic monastic orders functioned in Russia, 6) in 1762 a manifesto on colonists came out, about ~ 30 thousand people were transported to Russia; the main task of the government was the development of agriculture (a colony of the Volga Germans), 7) Manifesto on secularization 1764: transmission ~ 9 million ha. more than 50% of monasteries were abolished.
Paul 1 Board : 1) easing policy towards the Orthodox Church: increasing the salaries of the clergy, abolishing corporal punishment to priests, increasing the number of monasteries, creating spiritual academies in St. Petersburg and Kazan, land was allocated to the dioceses and monasteries, 2) the emperor joined the Order of the Knights of Malta, 3) patronage of the Catholic Church, the equation of political rights of the Catholic and Orthodox Church, 4) the legalization of the activities of the Old Believers' churches, 5) Paul 1 was a member of 2 Masonic lodges.
Board of Alexander 1: 1) expansion of the representation in Russia of various Catholic orders, 2) recognition of the merits of the Church during the war of 1812, 3) the inclination of Alexander 1 after the war of 1812 to mysticism (pietism) and the spread of sects, 4) the establishment in 1817 of the Ministry of Spiritual Affairs and the Bible Society for the implementation of Christian principles - the Church was dependent on the Bible Society, 5) the initiation of Philaret in 1819 to the archbishop and the publication of his Catechism in 1823; 6) a favorable attitude towards the monasteries — in the 19th century monasticism experienced a genuine spiritual revival.
Nicholas 1 Board : 1) the resumption of repressive policies towards religious minorities and sects, all religions were divided into 3 groups: state, tolerant and intolerant ( sects), 2) 1825 - getting out of the cell of the monk the position of the impoverished rural clergy,
5) deterioration of the position of Catholics in connection with the Polish uprisings 1830-31, 6) 1847 - concluding a concordat with the Vatican for settling Catholicism, 7) prosecuting Old Believers, banning Old Believers from accepting fugitive priests.
Alexander 2’s reign: 1) repressions of the Catholic Church in Russia in connection with the suppression of the uprising in Poland in 1863-64, «Russification» of the Catholic Church, 2 ) reforms of 1863: use of the ROC to ensure social reforms and education, allowing clergy to participate in zemstvo institutions, abolishing estate isolation, etc., 3) 1866 - breaTsar off diplomatic relations with the Holy See, 1870 - politics of liberalization of relations with the Catholic Church.
Alexander 3’s reign : 1) the policy of persecuting Russian sectarians: Dukhobors, Stundists, Tolstoyans and others, 2) the movement to create parochial schools to eradicate illiteracy and the rapid growth of their number, 3) intensive growth of brotherhoods, especially in the Western Territory, where they opposed the influence of Catholicism, as well as sobriety societies, 4) time of intensive church building: ~ 250 churches and ~ 10 monasteries were built every year .
Charity flourishing in 19c: by 1877, there were ~ 438 charitable institutions, including ~ 210 in St. Petersburg, ~ 97 in Moscow, ~ 131 in the provinces; the community of sisters of mercy of the Red Cross; 1882 - the founding of John of Kronstadt home diligence, where they received help not as alms, but remuneration for work.

Nicholas 2 Board: 1) 1901 - establishment of a care committee on Russian icon painting to restore church antiquities, 2) 1905 - Manifesto on strengthening the principles of religious tolerance (from 1905 to 1909 ~ 233 thousand people came from Orthodoxy in Catholicism), 3) the spiritual crisis of Russian society and the church - the seminarians from a support turned into rebellious socialists (Gapon) , 4) influence of the «old man» Rasputin to the royal family, 5) interest in esotericism and mysticism, analysis of mystical knowledge in works on theosophy, freemasonry, occultism and ancient them religions.
Provisional Government: 1) 1917 - Local Council, which was patriarchate was restored, conciliarity was restored in the life of the Church (there were no more than 200 years during the Synodal Council). Lenin's rule: 1) 1918 - decree on freedom of conscience or decree on the separation of church from state, 2) 1918 - monks and clergymen of churches and cults were deprived of electoral rights., 3) 1922 - decree «On the seizure of church property in favor of the starving» (~ 140 thousand priests, deacons, monks and other believers were shot, net profit amounted to ~ 2.5 billion gold rubles) 4) 1923 - the cathedral of the renovation Russian Orthodox Church, when the priests loyal to the Bolshevik government tried to create a collective church authority.
Stalin’s rule: 1) 1927-29 - most of the monasteries closed, the clergy were arrested, destroyed and reported, 2) 1937 - census with the inclusion of the issue of religion («firing census» - the organizers were destroyed, the terror began), 4) decree on fighting the enemies of the Soviet power - about 136 thousand clergymen were arrested, of which ~ 85 thousand were killed, the killing of the clergy continued until the end of the Second World War, 5) by the end of the Great Patriotic War, Stalin allowed the restoration of the patriarchate and controlled church life under the influence of the United States and Great Britain, and as a counterweight the loyalty of the fascists to the churches in the occupied territory, 6) 1943-53 — restoration of relations between church and state.
Time of Khrushchev's rule: 1) time of the «golden century» of church-state relations (1943-53) as a relic of the «personality cult», 2) 1954 - ruling on strengthening atheistic propaganda, 3) the decree «On measures to eliminate violations by the clergy of the Soviet legislation on cults» and «On strengthening control over the activities of the Church», 4) 1961 - church reform : restructuring of church management, fencing of children from the influence of religion, the transfer of religious ministers to firm salaries, the elimination of benefits and the cessation of social services for civilian personnel of the Church, the removal of trade union services ( deprivation of workbooks ), 5) criticism of the Soviet leadership by Western countries believers.
Brezhnev Board: 1) the creation of the Council for Religious Affairs under the Council of Ministers of the USSR (the ROC fell under complete control of the government), 2) atheistic propaganda (mass construction of wedding palaces), 3) 60s - appearance religious dissidence.
Changing attitudes to the church after perestroika: 1) celebrations in honor of the 1000th anniversary of the baptism of Russia, 2) 1990-91 - opening 200 abandoned church buildings, 3) decree «On the transfer of property to religious organizations religious purposes. «
Religions: Islam
9 century: Religions: Islam
The penetration of Islam into the Khazar state began in the 7th century thanks to the Arab merchants. The Khazar rulers viewed Islam as the religion of their enemies of the Arabs, and Islam was not established in Khazaria as the state religion. For a long time Islam remained the religion of the lower classes and Arab traders.
10 century: Religions: Islam
919 - 922 Volga Bulgaria of the early period was under the protectorate of Khazaria and its political influence. In an effort to get rid of the Khazar dependence, Bulgaria entered into an alliance with the Baghdad Caliphate. Volga Bulgaria sent an embassy to the Baghdad Caliph with a proposal to send the clergy to the country's conversion to Islam. Islam is the state religion of Volga Bulgaria since 922.
11 century: Religions: Islam
With the adoption of Islam by the Itil Bulgaria, the previous runic writing was replaced by Arabic, and the foundations of the Bulgarian written culture and the formation of scientific and philosophical thought were laid. The number of mosques, and with them schools, began to grow rapidly. In Bulgaria, talented scientists appeared in various fields of science: mathematics, astronomy, medicine, history, etc.
In the cities of Bulgar, Suvar, Billyar, Kazan large centers of science were formed, which spread the views of famous Arab philosophers and scientists. Volga-Kama Bulgaria in the 10-13th centuries occupied a territory from the Volga-Kama interfluve in the north to the Samara bow in the south (now it is the territory of Tatarstan, Chuvashia, Ulyanovsk, Samara regions).
12 century: Religions: Islam
13 century: Religions: Islam
After the victory on the river Kalka (1223), the Mongols defeated the southern Bulgarian cities and the capital Bilyar. The Mongol army passed the whole country: all the cities and fortresses were destroyed. After that, they freely went to the Russian land.
In 1224, Genghis Khan divided his state into 4 ulus, according to the number of sons. 1st son received land in the northwestern outskirts of the empire, 2nd son, Chagatay-Central Asia (Chagatai ulus) 3rd son - Western Mongolia and Dzungaria. The 4th son is central Mongolia. Chagatai ulus occupied the territory of modern Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and also Semirechye in Kazakhstan.
14 century: Religions: Islam
1312 From the mid-13th through the 15th centuries, the descendants of Genghis Khan began to convert to Islam. When Khan Uzbek in the Golden Horde, Islam became the state religion. The religious policy of Uzbek, with a loyal attitude towards all religions, was aimed at strengthening the role of Islam in public life and politics.
15 century: Religions: Islam
1430 The collapse of the Golden Horde began: the Crimean Khanate, the Kazan Khanate, the Siberian Khanate formed. The Golden Horde broke up into the Great (1433-1502) and Nogai (1440-1634) Horde. The Great Horde, the successor of the Golden Horde, claimed suzerainty over Muscovy. Kazan Khanate (1438-1552) - Middle Volga;
Astrakhan Khanate (1459-1556) - Lower Volga; Nogai Horde (1440-1634) - between the Volga and the Urals, as well as modern western Kazakhstan; Crimean Khanate (1443-1783) - modern Crimea, southern Ukraine, Krasnodar Territory; Siberian Khanate (1490-1598) - from the Ural Mountains to the rivers Nadym and Pima.
16 century: Religions: Islam
At the end of the 15th century, the attempts of the Moscow grand Princes began to establish control over Kazan. In 1552, Ivan 4 the Terrible conquered Kazan, and in 1556 the Astrakhan Khanate. In 1582-1598 the Siberian Khanate was conquered. Gradually, other Islamic states were annexed to Orthodox Tsarist Russia by military means.
After the conquest of the Kazan, Astrakhan, and Siberian Khanates, the influence of Islam in these areas sharply decreased. Muslims were subjected to Christianization right up to the beginning-middle of the 18th century.
17th century: Religions: Islam
The Islamization of the peoples of the Western Caucasus is associated with military-political activity in this region of the Ottoman Empire and its vassal - the Crimean Khanate.
18 century: Religions: Islam
By the end of the 18th century, the position of Islam in the Western Caucasus had become stronger: in 1717, the Ottoman sultan ordered the Crimean Khans Devlet-Giray and Kaza-Giray to spread Islam among the Adygs; Turkic peoples of the Western Caucasus converted to Islam in the middle and end of the 18th century. Many Adygian clans, who refused to accept Islam, went to the Cossack villages along the rivers of the Kuban and the Terek.
1788 Creation of the OMDS in Russia - the Orenburg Mohammedan spiritual meeting led by the mufti. The composition of the OMDS and the candidacy of the muftis were approved by the emperor. Most muftis were elected from Kazan Tatars. In the 19th century, the Ministry of Spiritual Affairs determined that the mufti should be elected by a Muslim society.
19 century: Religions: Islam
From the end of the 18th century in the Caucasus, the idea arose of reviving and reviving Islam, when Caucasians could throw off the Russian yoke. In 1834, the movement of jihad and the fight against the infidels was led by Shamil, during which the teachings of muridism reached enormous influence in the Caucasus. Only with the end of the Caucasian War in 1864, the influence of Muridism was significantly reduced.
In the 19th century, among the Russian Muslims (Volga and Crimean Tatars), the Jadidism movement developed. Jadidism was a movement for the dissemination of enlightenment, the development of Turkic languages ​​and literature, the study of secular disciplines, the use of scientific achievements, and the equal rights of women.
20 century: Religions: Islam
1970-90s 1917 - appeal «To all the working Muslims of Russia and the East» - the Muslim population was intended to support the formation of Soviet power. The Bashkir, Tatar, Turkestan and other republics were established for the Muslim peoples. After a short period of encouraging Islam, from the mid-1920s, the Soviet government switched to the direct suppression of Islamic religious life and culture. About ~ 12 thousand mosques were closed and destroyed, in the years of the Stalinist terror from 30 to 50 thousand Muslim clerics were killed. During the Second World War there was a weakening of religious oppression of Muslims.
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, there was an intensification of Muslim religious and nationalist sentiments in the southern republics of the USSR, aided by the war in Afghanistan and the Islamic revolution in Iran. The KGB noted that among the Tajik and Uzbek youth, Wahhabi teaching was widespread. In 1992, after perestroika, the collapse of the Muslim Spiritual Administration into regional spiritual administrations occurred.
Религия Иудаизм
9 century: Religion Judaism
In the 8th-9th centuries the Khazars adopted the Jewish religion, which helped them to occupy an independent position between the fighting parties: Byzantium and the Caliphate. Judaism was professed by the Tsar, the Tsar's entourage and his family. The rest of the Khazars confessed Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and pagan cults.
10th century: Religion Judaism
The history of Eastern European Jews is associated with the Khazar state in the North Caucasus. Jewish merchants - radanity, traded under the auspices of the Khazar rulers. They spoke several languages, including Slavic.
11 century: Religion Judaism
At the end of the 10th century, the Khazar Khaganate was defeated by the troops of the Kiev Prince Svyatoslav, and the Jewish communities in Eastern Europe fell under the rule of the Princes of Ancient Russia.
12th century: Religion Judaism
1113 During Svyatoslav Izyaslavich, Jewish trade flourished, causing resentment among Christians. In 1113 in Kiev, after the death of the money-loving Prince, unrest occurred in the Jewish Quarter.
13 century: Religion Judaism
Kiev Jews transferred from Hebrew to Old Russian biblical books by Joseph Flavius, a cycle of legends about Solomon, etc. The Tatar-Mongol invasion of 1240 destroyed the first Jewish community.
14th century: Religion Judaism
During the Tatar-Mongol invasion, the Jews were either exterminated or fled to Lithuania or to the Southern Crimea.
15 century: Religion Judaism

Poland opened the doors to Jews expelled from Spain. In Novgorod, a sect of «Jews» appeared after Novgorodians invited a representative of Lithuania to reign. Together with him a suite arrived in Novgorod, which included several Jews, one of whom was a learned Jew Sharya (see «Rebellions).
16th century: Religion Judaism
After the condemnation of the heresy of the «Jews», Ivan the Terrible issued a decree banning Jews from living in Russia, and to merchant Jews, even foreign nationals, entry to Russia. This royal decree was the first open step in the struggle of Russia against Jewry.
17 century: Religion Judaism
During the Russian-Polish wars, Jews defended themselves together with the Poles. The prisoners were sent to Novgorod, Smolensk, Kazan, Little Russia. It was the beginning of the 1st Jewish communities in central Russia. Jewish merchants appeared in Moscow, creating competition for Russian merchants. The trade regulations of 1667 forbade foreigners to trade at retail. In 1676 a decree appeared forbidding Jewish merchants from coming from Smolensk. This is how the prototype of the future «Pale» appeared.
18th century: Religion Judaism
The annexation of a large part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, in which Jews constituted a significant proportion of the population with a special legal status. Catherine 2 introduced the Pale of Settlement and interest rates to universities for Jews. If a Jew converted to Christianity, these norms ceased to apply to him. Devil was called the border of the territory of the Russian Empire, outside of which, from 1791 to 1915, the permanent residence of Jews was prohibited.
19 century: Religion Judaism
The stereotypes of «Jewish exploitation» and «religious fanaticism of the Jews» were the cause of the tightened policy towards the Jews. 1881-82 - Jewish pogroms in ~ 166 cities of Russia. The shock of the pogroms and the new wave of restrictions led to their inclusion in the revolutionary struggle. At the same time, the number of the Jewish population in the period 1795-1897 increased by ~ 6.7 times, reaching almost ~ 6 million. The 2nd wave of pogroms took place in 1903-05. Mass emigration of Jews began, ~ 2 million Jews left the country.
20 century: Religion Judaism
The February Revolution of 1917 lifted restrictions for Jews. In the 1st years after the October Revolution, Jews from other countries migrated to the USSR. 1930 - formation of the Jewish Autonomous Region Birobidzhan. During the Great Patriotic War, almost half of the Soviet Jews were exterminated by the fascists. In 1948, the USSR 1m recognized the state of Israel. In 1953, relations with Israel were severed after the initiation of the «Doctors' Case» in the USSR. In 1968, relations broke again after the 6-day war, and Jews were allowed to emigrate from the USSR. The 2nd wave of emigration began after perestroika in 1989.
Religion Buddhism
9th century: Religion Buddhism
698-926 Bohai State (Primorye and Amur). The Bohai, whose culture was greatly influenced by neighboring China, Korea and Manchuria, practiced Buddhism in one of the Mahayana movements.
10th century: Religion Buddhism
Tuva (located in the upper reaches of the Yenisei, on the border with Mongolia): until the middle of the 9th century, the territory of Tuva was part of the Turkic and Uigur kaganates. Together with the ancient Turks, Buddhism came to Tuva.
11th century: Religion Buddhism
12th century: Religion Buddhism
Tuva: at 11-12, the Mongol-speaTsar tribes began to come to the territory of Tuva. In the 13th century under Khubilai Khan, Buddhism in Mongolia and the lands under its control entered its heyday.
13th century: Religion Buddhism
14th century: Religion Buddhism
15th century: Religion Buddhism
16th century: Religion Buddhism
Buryatia, Kalmykia: in present-day Russia, Buddhism became widespread in 16-17 centuries from Mongolia through the nomads of Kalmyks (Oirats) who settled in the northern Caspian region (Kalmykia) and on the lands of present-day Buryatia (Buryatia).
17th century: Religion Buddhism
Kalmykia: Buddhism in the Volga began with the arrival of nomads of Oirat-Mongols from Central Asia. In 1608, the Oirat ambassadors met with Vasily Shuisky in Moscow. In the Volga region, the 1st and the only Buddhist Kalmyk Khanate in Europe (1640-1771) was established as Russian autonomy. In 1655, the Dalai Lama granted Shukur-Daichin the title of Khan. Shukur-Daichin recognized the protectorate of the Russian Tsar.
18th century: Religion Buddhism
During the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna, Buddhism received official recognition as one of the state religions. Tibetan Buddhism was spreading in Buryatia. In 1764, Catherine II established the post of Pandita Hambo Lama, the head of the Buddhists of Eastern Siberia and Transbaikalia. In 1766, the Buryat lamas recognized Catherine as the embodiment of White Tara on earth.
19 century: Religion Buddhism
Kalmykia: after the liquidation of the Kalmyk Khanate in 18v, Kalmykia became one of the regions of Tsarist Russia. Buryatia: after the construction of the Trans-Siberian railway. Highways population of Siberia increased by ~ 71%, the land and administrative reforms caused a split in the Buddhist church. Tuva: after the conquest of Tuva by the Manchus in 18th century, Buddhism became especially widespread. At the beginning of the 20th century, Tuva became a protectorate of Russia.
20th century: Religion Buddhism
In 1915, a Buddhist temple was opened in Petrograd, the 1st in Europe. In the first years after the October Revolution, the new government supported the Buddhists, but already in the 1930s, the Buddhists were persecuted, the monasteries were closed and ravaged. In 1945, the authorities again allowed the Buryat Buddhists to practice their faith, and the Ivolginsky Datsan was opened, where the residence of Lama, the head of the Buddhists of Russia, was located. Since the beginning of perestroika, many Buddhist groups have been registered.
9 century: Techonology, Science      to top table 10 century: Techonology, Science      to top table 11 century: Techonology, Science      to top table 12 century: Techonology, Science      to top table 13 century: Techonology, Science      to top table 14 century: Techonology, Science      to top table 15 century: Techonology, Science      to top table 16 century: Techonology, Science      to top table 17 century: Techonology, Science      to top table 18 century: Techonology, Science      to top table 19 century: Techonology, Science      to top table 20 century: Techonology, Science      to top table
Techonology, Science Hut. Nails and saws were rarely used, as the metal was expensive. The gaps between the logs were filled with clay, moss, hemp or tow. The oldest huts were chicken (burned in black, with the release of smoke through a window or door).
Steam baths are known in Russia since ancient times - the legend from the Tale of Bygone Years spoke about their existence already in the 1st century.
A kosovorotka is a shirt with a slanting collar, with long sleeves, reaching the middle of the thigh. The traditional upper garment, known since ancient times. The gate looked beveled when unbuttoned.
Lapti - East Slavic version of shoes from bast. Like a basket in the form of a foot. Bast shoes were mainly of linden bast or birch bast.
Baked milk and ryazhenka - made from whole milk by boiling and subsequent prolonged uniform heating (8 hours or more).
Schi - Russian soup with cabb12age as the main ingredient, which allowed the cooked dish to be safely stored for a long time without losing taste.
The harp is the oldest type of Slavic and Russian multi-string plucked instrument.
The harp could have come from the Byzantine form of the Greek Kithara.
Pancakes - a culinary product from dough. Pancakes had a ritual meaning in the pre-Christian period, since they were a symbol of the sun because of the round shape.
Sour cream - fatty sour cream, containing about 40% of milk fat. Sour cream is ideal for dishes that require long cooTsar in the oven, because did not fold.
A multi-headed church is a common form for Russian churches, which distinguishes Russia from other orthodox nations and Christian denominations.
Kokoshnik is a traditional female headdress, tied at the back of the head with a long thick ribb12on like a big bow.
Kissel is a dessert consisting of sweetened juice (usually from berries), oats, corn or potato starch were used for thickening, sometimes red wine or dried fruits were added.
Kvass is a fermented drink made from rye or rye bread. It depended on bread whether there would be dark or light kvass. Although it contained alcohol (1.2%) as a result of fermentation, it was nevertheless attributed to non-alcoholic beverages.
Mead - an old Slavic alcoholic drink based on honey.
Fermented honey was exported as a luxury product to Europe in large quantities (Fermentation took place naturally for 15-50 years).
Birch bark letters - letters and notes made on birch bark. In Russia, birch bark was used as a cheap substitute for parchment and paper.
Koç was an ancient form of an icebreaker. This is a one-or two-masted wooden sailing ship used for navigation in the Arctic seas and rivers of Siberia.
Koch was developed by the Russian Pomors in the 11th century, when they mastered the shores of the White Sea. A characteristic feature of the body of a coch was the egg-shaped form.
The skeleton of the kocha is protected from floating ice floes with cladding (made of oak or larch) along the possible waterline, and had a false hood for crossing over ice.
In the 11th century, the Eastern Slavs discovered a way to accelerate fermentation by heating the honey mixture, which made mead widely available in Kievan Rus.
Russian fist fight is an ancient Russian martial art, similar to modern boxing.
Silver coinage.
The horn (bow) is an ancient stringed musical instrument of the Eastern Slavs.
First - type of club with feathers (plates) welded to the knob.
Checker - a special type of saber, very sharp, one-sided sharpening, one-handed and without guard. By sight checker something between a saber and a straight sword.
A bear or spear spear is a midcentury type of spear used in hunting for bears or other large animals, such as bison and war horses. The pointed tip of the ratine is enlarged and usually has the form of a bay leaf.
Ratchet - Russian folk ethnic autophone musical instrument, which was used to simulate the clapping.
Soha is a wooden plow that could be pulled by one horse. The plow was a development of a scratching plow. The coulters, who turned the earth over in the plow, simply pushed aside the layer of earth in the plow, which made it possible to preserve soil fertility. Lapta is a Russian game with a ball and a bat (lapto), reminiscent of modern baseball.
Dumplings - a dish originally from Siberia. The word «dumplings» came from the Finno-Ugric languages: Komi, Udmurt, Mansi. Mongol-Tatars brought the main idea of ​​ravioli from China to Siberia and Eastern Europe.
Abur is an alphabet designed and introduced by Russian missionary Stephan Permsky in 1372.
The name comes from the first two letters «A» and «Bur». The alphabet is based on the Cyrillic alphabet, the Greek alphabet and the Komi tribal signs. It was used up to the 17th century when it was supplanted by the Cyrillic alphabet.
The belfry is a large rectangular structure containing many arches or beams on which the bells were attached. The bell-ringer, who drove the bells from below with long ropes, played them like a giant musical instrument.
A sundress is a long, shapeless apron type part of a traditional folk costume worn by girls and women.
Berdysh is a long ax, uniting the merits of an ax and a spear. In Eastern Europe, it was used instead of a halberd. Berdysh was regularly and widely spread at the beginning of the 15th century in Russia.
Gulyai-gorod is a mobile fortress made of shields mounted on carts or sleds. The use of shields instead of armored carts allowed more combinations during assembly.
The boyar's cap, also known as the gorlatnaya cap, is made of fur and was worn by the Russian nobility between 15-17 centuries, mainly boyars, who emphasized their status. The higher the cap, the higher the status.
Russian stove or Russian stove - a unique type of stove / hearth. It was used both for cooTsar and for heating.
Rassolnik is a Russian soup made from pickled cucumbers, pearl barley, pork or beef kidneys, although there was a vegetarian version. The dish is known from the 15th century, when it was first called «kalya».
1430 Russian vodka is a distillation drink made up only of water and ethanol. Produced by fermentation of rye, wheat and others. The standard percentage of alcohol - 40.
Berdysh became the weapon of archers, servicemen, armed with handguns, who used the riders as a support when shooting.
1515 The Stroganovs salt-mining industry opened.
1563 Beginning of printing.
Hip roof - technology in Russian architecture, widely used in the 16-17th centuries. Until that time, tent conical (polygonal) roofs were made of wood for the same wooden churches. The idea of ​​such a roof shape originated in the Russian north: it did not allow snow to accumulate on wooden buildings during the long winter.
Kokoshnik (architecture) is a semi-circular or keeled element of traditional Russian architecture, a type of protruding blind arches.
The end of the 16th century Russian abacus or accounts is a decimal type of abacus, which is a frame with a dozen beads on each wire. The tenth of the Russian abacus and simplicity led to the widespread use of accounts up to the invention of the calculator.
The Battery Tower is a late type of siege tower, carrying artillery inside, developing the idea of ​​a walTsar-city. The first such tower was built by Russian military engineer I.G. Vyrodkovym for the siege of Kazan in 1552 and could carry 10 large-caliber guns and 50 small.
Towns is an old Russian-national sports game. The goal is to break a group of pins laid in a certain order by throwing a bat at them. The pins were called «towns», and the square zone where they are folded is «city».
Roller coasters - winter sleigh races conducted on hills specially made of ice, sometimes up to 80 meters high, were the precursors of modern roller coasters.
The triple is a traditional Russian horse cart, the only one in the world of different allure sleds: the middle horse («root») had to run a clear trot, and the side horses («buckle») - at a gallop, which allowed them to develop very high speeds (up to 40-50 km / hour).
Balalaika is a stringed instrument with a characteristic triangular deck and three strings. The balalaika family consisted of: a balalaika prima, a second balalaika, a balalaika alto, a bass balalaika, a balalaika double bass.
Barrel roof or just a barrel - a type of roof in traditional Russian architecture, which was a semi-cylinder with a raised or pointed upper part, similar to a pointed kokoshnik.
Khokhloma - painting on wood with bright floral patterns, red and gold on a black background on cheap and light wooden utensils or accessories.
The bird of happiness is a traditional toy for the Russian North, carved in the shape of a bird. It was invented by the Pomors, the inhabitants of the coast of the White and Barents Seas.
The bird of happiness was made without glue or other fastenings, carefully cutting out thin petals for the wings and tail of the bird.
1704 Decimal money system. Russia was the 1st country to introduce such a currency after the reform of the financial system in 1704. After 91 years, the example of Russia was followed by France.
1717 A lathe with a mechanized composite support of A.K. Nartov made it possible to grind a part easily and with great precision.
1746 A.K. Nartov invented the optical sight for artillery guns.
1754 M.V. Lomonosov invented a working prototype of the vertical take-off apparatus for lifting meteorological instruments.
1763 A two-cylinder steam engine was designed and built by I.I. Crawler. He was also credited with creating the first economizer in the world.
1776 I.P. Kulibin made a model of a bridge across the Neva with a length of 298 meters in 1/10 scale, marTsar the beginning of the modeling of bridges.
1791 I.P. Kulibin designed a mechanical prosthetic leg. This invention was highly appreciated by military doctors and former military men.
1790s A.O. Sichra invented the Russian guitar.
1793 Screw elevator - a type of elevator that used a screw system instead of a winch, led to the creation of modern passenger elevators. The first such elevator was invented by I.P. Kulibin and installed in the Winter Palace.
1800 1834 1838 1839 In 1834 B.S. Jacobi (German and Russian inventor physicist) created the 1st in the world with the direct rotation of the armature electric motor.
In 1838 he discovered electroplating - the process of deposition of metal on the form, allowing you to create perfect copies of the original object.
In 1839 he invented the electric boat.
1832 1839 1850 In 1832 P.L. Schilling was invented by the Electromagnetic Telegraph. Information was transmitted using codes invented by them.
In 1839 B.S. Jacobi created a writing telegraph, and in 1850 - direct printing.
1847-1854 N.I. Pirogov owned a palm for the introduction of anesthesia with ether in the field - in the hospitals of the fronts of the Caucasian and Russian-Turkish wars. He also founded field surgery.
1848 In 1848, at the suggestion of a member of the Central Administration of the Transcaucasian Region V.N. Semenov 1e took place in the world oil drilling for oil production.
1857 1864 In 1857 FK San Galli was invented by a radiator (a heat exchanger used to transfer heat from one medium to another).
In 1864 M.O. Britney built an icebreaker (this is a ship for movement through ice-covered waters). Also 1864 - the year of the creation of a torpedo (self-propelled military projectile) I.F. Alexandrovsky.
1867 1869 In 1867 N.A. Teleshov was the author of one of the 1x in the world of jet aircraft projects.
In 1869, D.I. Mendeleev invented the Periodic System of Chemical Elements. « 1872 1873 В 1872 A.N. Lodygin invented the electric lamp. In 1873, under the leadership of A.A. Popova was built the 1st in the world oceanic armored cruiser.
1876 ​​In 1876 PN Yablochkov was invented by Yablochkov Candle. It was first demonstrated as street and theater lighting at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1878.
1880 1881 In 1880 F.A. Pirotsky was invented by an electric tram. In 1881 N.I. Kibalchich created the scheme of the aircraft on the jet propulsion - the project of the rocket. 1882 1895 В 1882 A.F. Mozhaisky was built Aircraft Mozhaisky - one of the 1x in the world of aircraft, intended to lift man centurya.
In 1895 A.S. Popov invented a radio receiver (extracting signals from radio emissions).
1901 In 1901 I.P. Pavlov opened the conditioned reflex. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1904 for his work on the physiology of digestion.
In the same year, I.I. Mechnikov created the Phagocytic theory of immunity. For his work in the field of immunity, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1908, along with P.I. Erlich.
1903 1904 In 1903 K.E. Tsiolkovsky formulated a theoretical rationale for the possibility of space flight.
In 1904 proof of the lifting theorem N.E. Zhukovsky can be considered the year of birth of aerodynamics as a science.
1907 1913 In 1907 B.L. Rosing invented the first electronic method of recording and reproducing an image.
In 1913, I.I. Sikorsky invented a passenger plane - the 4-engine aircraft «Russian Knight» and «Ilya Muromets» appeared in the world 1st.
1920s 1937 1939 In the 1920s, V.I. Vernadsky made a huge contribution to the creation of geochemistry. He became the founder of biogeochemistry.
В 1937 V.P. Demikhov created the Artificial Heart.
In 1939, the Katusha Self-Propelled Multiple-launch Vault System was invented. In 1940, M.I. Koshkin created the T-34 Tank.
1947 1954 In 1947, the Kalashnikov machine gun was invented. The AK and its modifications were the most common small arms in the world.
In 1954, under the leadership of I.V. Kurchatov was built 1st in the world nuclear power plant (nuclear power plant). And the reactor for it was designed by N.А. Dollezhal.
1955 1957 1961 The mass supersonic MiG-21 was launched in 1955.
The first artificial Earth satellite Sputnik-1 was launched in 1957.
In 1961, the 1st manned spacecraft (Yu.A. Gagarin) launched the Vostok-1 spacecraft.
1966 1967 In 1966, the 1st artificial moon of the Moon «Luna-10» was launched. In 1967, for the first time, docTsar was carried out between the spacecraft Cosmos-186 and Cosmos-188.
1970s Created by J.I. Alfair semiconductor heterostructures played an important role in the development of electronics in the 1970s (Nobel Prize).
In 1970, the 1st Planetary Rover Lunokhod-1 was sunk.
1973 1975 In 1973 S.N. Fedorov was the first to have a glaucoma treatment. In 1975, the nuclear-powered icebreaker «Arktika» was the 2nd Soviet nuclear-powered icebreaker and the 1st ship that reached the North Pole in surface navigation.
1985 1987 In 1985, the Komsomolets Submarine set an absolute record of immersion - 1027 meters.
In 1987, the Mir deepwater submersible reached the bottom at the North Pole.

Developed by:
Larisa Kryukova
Лариса Крюкова
Ⓒ 2017-2019