RUSSIAN HISTORY IN A NUTSHELL

by Andrew Andersen

NORMAN (RUS) PERIOD 862 - 1237	862 A.D. – Scandinavian chief Rurik becomes a ruler of Novgorod (Helmgaard). Same year two other Scandinavian chiefs Askold and Dir establish themselves in Kiev (Kengaard) starting the first Russian state. 877-912 – Chiefs Igor (Ingvar) and Oleg (Olgerd) create a unified Rus kingdom 988 – Vladimir (Reginald) the Great converts Rus to Orthodox Christianity 1015-1237 – Rus disintegrates into several smaller states fighting against each other
TURCO-MONGOL PERIOD 1237 – 1521	1237-1242 – Fractured Rus principalities are conquered by the Turco-Mongols and become dependencies of the new Turco-Mongol empire («The Golden Horde») Click on the below map to see the Mongol Empire that included China, Korea, Russia, Roumania and some other countries (Russian dependencies are green colored) Fragmented and occupied Russia gradually turns into a slave society. 1250 – Galician kingdom is formed in South-Western Russia. This is «the starting point» of the Ukrainian statehood. 1263-1377 – Western Russia is conquered by Lithuania
BIRTH  OF «THE THIRD ROME» Ivan the Terrible	1510-1521 – «The Golden Horde» declines and disintegrates while unified Russia is re-created with its center in Moscow. After Constantinople fell to the Turks, Russia claims to be the world center of Orthodox Christianity. Russian rulers start calling themselves «the Czars» (the Emperors). Moscow claims to be the heir of Roman Empire. 1533 – 1584 – Czar Ivan IV (Ivan the Terrible) establishes the reign of terror. Mass executions are becoming part of Russia's everyday life. The remnants of old aristocracy are wiped out, and the old elite is replaced with the new one. Russian armies under Ivan IV conquer the smaller Turco-Mongolic states (the remnants of «The Golden Horde») and the Novgorod Republic (free population of the latter massacred or enslaved). Russia unsuccessfully attempts to conquer German-dominated Baltic states. 1584 – 1613 – «The Time of Troubles». After Ivan the Terrible dies his country slides into anarchy and decline. 1613 – Michael Romanov is elected as a czar by the church and gentry starting the last Russian dynasty
Peter the Great Empress Catherine II Russian peasant-slave of the early XIX century	1683 – 1727 – Czar Peter the Great attracted by the culture of Western Europe, attempts by decree and forced reform to transform Russian society into a Western one. He promotes immigration from the West (especially from Germany), encourages education, development of trade and industry, as well as westernized arts and architecture. At the same time he further toughens slavery and creates a huge modernized army of slave-soldiers. Under Peter the Great Russia colonized Siberia, conquered Estonia, Latvia and Karelia from Sweden. 1741 – Russians colonize Alaska.             Same year «Russian-American Company» created. 1768 – 1795 - Empress Catherine II expands Russian Empire by annexing territories from Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (up to 70%) and Turkey. Slavery spreads to some of the conquered areas. Since Catherine II Russia is ruled by the emperors and empresses of German descendancy who «biologically» are not the Romanovs (although the last name is kept as a symbol). 1773-1774 – The Pugachev's Rebellion Catherine's successors Paul and Alexander further expand the Empire. In 1801 the Kingdom of Georgia is annexed by Russia in violation of the protection treaty. 1805 – 1813 - Russia is involved in Napoleonic wars.                         In 1913 Russian troops enter Paris. 1806 – 1812 - Russo-Turkish and Russo-Persian wars result in Russian annexation of parts of Romania, Armenia and Azerbaijan, as well as in autonomy for Serbia. 1808-1809 - Russo-Swedish war ends with Russian acquisition of Finland. 1812 – 1855 – Russian permanent wars with the North Caucasians (Chechens, Adygs and Dagestanis) ending with partial extermination of these peoples. 1815 – the Congress of Vienna awards Polish crown to Russian Emperor Alexander I. Polish uprisings of 1831 and 1863 are defeated by Russian troops of the Emperors Nicholas I and Alexander II 1853 – 1855 – Russia is defeated by the coalition of Turkey, Britain, France and Sardinia.
THE PERIOD OF REFORM AND MODERNIZATION «Alexander the Liberator»	1855 -  Alexander II («Alexander the Liberator») becomes an Emperor. 1858 – 1860 Russia acquires vast territories in Northern China. 1861 -  Emperor Alexander II abolishes slavery by Imperial Manifest 1864 – Reform of local government system. District and provincial assemblies are established. The judicial system is revised and trial by jury is instituted. Death penalty is abolished 1867 – Alaska is sold to the USA 1867 – 1884 - Russian colonial expansion in Central Asia 1877 – 1878 – Russo-Turkish war ends with the establishment and official international recognition of independent Balkan states: Roumania, Serbia. Montenegro and Bulgaria. 1881 – Alexander the Liberator is killed by radical revolutionaries.
THE LAST YEARS OF THE EMPIRE Vladimir Lenin (real name: Vladimir Ulyanov) Leo Trotsky (real name: Leo Bronsteyn) Russian propaganda poster of World War I	1882 – 1904 - Administrative reforms are curbed and freedoms restricted. Death penalty is restored. 1904 – 1905 – Russo-Japanese war ends with Russian defeat and territorial losses 1905 – The First Russian Revolution led by the Socialists is defeated by the imperial troops. Most of the socialists flee to Europe and North America. Radical socialists form Russian Social Democratic Workers' Party («the Bolsheviks») in exile under the leadership of Lenin and Trotsky 1905 – Emperor Nicholas II makes concessions. He issues decrees on more liberties and a representative assembly («The Duma»). However all the decision-making powers are reserved for the emperor May 1906 – the first session of the Duma. Two months later the Duma is dissolved by the emperor 1907 – Second Duma starts working and is also dissolved. 1914 – Russia enters World War I. 1914 – 1917 Russian army suffers a series of humiliating defeats. Empire collapses under the strains of war, economic problems, corruption in the government and in the army and growing public distrust of the regime demonstrating its inefficiency. February 1917 – Violent strikes in St. Petersburg (since 1915 - Petrograd). Riots in Moscow. Mutiny of the St. Petersburg garrison. State Duma leaders take power and form Provisional government March 15 1917 – Abdication of the last emperor. Provisional government declares a republic. Summer 1917 – Lenin and Trotsky come back to Russia from exile and prepare a coup d’etat. Bolshevik Military organization is formed. October-November 1917 – With the support of demoralized troops of Petrograd and Moscow garrisons, the Bolsheviks orchestrate a violent coup and take power in the two major cities. Lenin becomes president of the Council of People’s Commissars.
WAR COMUNISM “The Red Star” Red Army decoration Anti-Bolshevik “White Army” badge Anton Denikin, one of anti-Bolshevik leaders Nikolai Drozdowski, anti-Bolshevik guerrilla commander	1917-1918 – Lenin and the Bolsheviks declare the policy of “Military Communism” and “Red Terror”. Lenin’s party renames itself into the Bolshevik Communist Party of All Russia. The infamous secret police CHEKA is formed by Lenin’s decree (later renamed to GPU, NKVD and KGB). The Bolshevik authorities perform Mass confiscations of property and mass executions. The whole social groups are labeled as potential “enemies of the people”. Bolshevik policy is opposed by ethnic minorities as well as by a considerable part of Russian society. The civil war starts. 1918 - The former empire falls apart. Poland, Ukraine, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Karelia, Belarus, Ingria, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Siberia, Bashkortostan and Central Asian territories declare independence. 1918 – 1919 - Anti-Bolshevik forces gain control over the vast areas of Russian territory. In order to win the civil war, Lenin issues a decree allowing the peasants to confiscate the land of the landlords. Some of the new independent states answer with their own land reforms. However the anti-Bolshevik forces in Russia proper put the reforms on hold until the election of the new Parliament. The Bolsheviks mobilize hundreds thousands of peasants into the “Red Army” in order to “protect the achievements of the Revolution”. 1919 – 1921 – due to the support of millions of the nation’s peasantry and to the fragmentation and competition between various anti-Bolshevik forces, The Bolsheviks re-conquer most of ethnic Russia and win the civil war. The advance of “the Red Army” is accompanied by mass terror. Several million Russians flee abroad. Red Army also re-conquers some of the weaker successor states of Russian Empire: Ukraine, Siberia, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Ingria and some others. Bolshevik regime called “The Soviet Power”. More stable state formations (Finland, Poland, the Baltic states) withstand the invasion. The defeat of Red Army in the Soviet-Polish war (1920-21) buries Bolshevik plans of sovietization of West-Central Europe. Soviet Russia is recognized by major European powers and later the USA. Peace treaties are signed with Russia’s neighbors. The “Soviet block” is formed. It includes Soviet Russia with re-annexed territories, plus formally independent and sovietized republics of Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Khiva and Bokhara (the latter two soon transformed into Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan), plus “The People’s Republic of Outer Mongolia” and Tannu-Tuva. De facto however, all the sovietized countries are the dependencies of Soviet Russia
“NEW ECONOMIC POLICY”	1921 – Economic disaster of the War Communism, Famine and mutiny in the Red Army forced the Bolsheviks to adopt New Economic Policy: Russians are given back the right for private property, money is re-introduced, small business develops rapidly. Mass executions are put on hold. 1922 – 8 countries of the Soviet block (except Mongolia and Tuva) are united to form the USSR. It is formally a new country: a federation of “free states” with the center in Moscow. Russian is the only state language of the federation. 1924 – the death of Lenin and the stuggle for his succession brings Joseph Stalin to power. Stalin gradually becomes a political leader with absolute power in his hands.
THE ERA OF STALINISM Joseph Stalin (1924) Real name: Joseph Jughashvili NKVD badge Adolf Hitler Stalin called him: “The Ice-cutter of the world Revolution” General AndreyVlasov, the leader of “Russian Liberation Army” that fought alongside with Wermacht against the USSR Marshal George Zhukov Soviet WWII hero Joseph Stalin in 1945	1924 – Leo Trotsky and some of his followers are expelled from the communist party and forced to leave the USSR. Later Trotsky is killed in Mexico by Soviet secret agent. 1925–1928  - “The Great Industrialization”. By 1928 the “New Economic Policy” is abolished. Private business nationalized and ex-owners sent to concentration camps. Same year “the Iron Curtain falls down”. Soviet citizens are not allowed to leave the country. Restrictions are imposed on travel inside the USSR. 1929 – Forced “Collectivization”: all land is confiscated from the peasants and nationalized. Peasant uprisings put down by the Red Army using heavy artillery and chemical weapons. Wealthy peasants and those opposing collectivization are wiped out or sent to concentration camps. 1935 – 1938 – “The Great Purges”: mass repressions against potential opposition even within the communist party. Millions of Soviet subjects are tortured, executed and sent to concentration camps. The role of secret police (GPU / NKVD) gradually increases 1938-1941 – The USSR collaborates with Nazi Germany. The use of words “Nazism” and “Fascism” is forbidden in the USSR 1939 – Poland is defeated and partitioned as a result of joint military action of the USSR and Nazi Germany. The USSR annexes 50% of Polish territory, the rest left to Germany. Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact is signed in Moscow. Below: “Now we are the Partners”: (Stalin, Ribbentrop and Molotov) 1939 - 1940 – The USSR invades Finland. The aggression is repulsed but Finland loses some territory and the second biggest city (Vyborg). The USSR occupies and annexes the Baltic states (Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia) and parts of Romania. Soviet invasion is accompanied y mass repressions and executions 1941 – Both the USSR and Nazi Germany concentrate troops along their joint borders. June 1941 – Germany and the Axis troops invade the USSR without warning. 1941 – 1945 – “The Great Patriotic War”. The USSR fights the Second World War on the side of the Allies. More than two million Soviet subjects become turncoats and collaborate with the Nazis. Former Red Army general Vlasov becomes the leader of Russian collaborators. However mass atrocities committed by the Nazis in occupied territories change the attitude of Russians and Ukrainians towards Germany and boost the regime of Stalin. 1944-1945 – Red Army occupies Poland, Czechoslovakia. Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and a considerable part of Germany. After the end of World War II most of these territories remain under Soviet control until the collapse of communism in 1989-90 1945 – The USSR attacks Japan, annexes some of Japanese territories and puts N. Korea and China under Soviet control. China remains in the sphere of Soviet influence until 1959. 1953 – Death of Joseph Stalin
THE ERA OF STAGNATION Nikita Khrushchev Leonid Brezhnev THE COLLAPSE OF THE USSR	1956 – New Soviet leader Khrushchev denounces Stalin and his crimes. However Krushchev himself enjoys unlimited power just like his predecessor. 1956 –Anticommunist uprising in Hungary is crushed by Soviet troops. 1961 the Soviet Union and the East Germany build the infamous Berlin wall. 1962 – Cuban Missile Crisis 1964 – Khrushchev is removed from power and replaced by Leonid Brezhnev. Brezhnev runs the country until his death in 1982. 1968 – Liberal reforms in Czechoslovakia are crushed by Soviet troops. 1979 – Brezhnev sends Soviet troops to Afghanistan in order to support the crumbling communist regime of Amin. Brezhnev era is characterized by economic decline and erosion of communist ideology. 1982 – Leonid Brezhnev dies 1986 – Gorbachev comes to power