The purpose of this timeline is to understand Russia and the Eurasian Republics history from emergence to development to the modern era. Students will research a variety of events and create a multimedia/interactive timeline and teach their classmates the development of Russia and Eurasian Republics.
Created by wcg1 on May 14, 2008
Last updated: 03/30/11 at 02:09 PM
Vladimir Putin was the second President of Russia Federation officially from 2000-2008 and is right now the Prime Minister of United Russia. During his rule the country came back from the low GDP. He has restored order to the country after the bad years of the last ruler.Putin quickly became popular in Russia for his September 1999 Invasion of Chechnya in response to the War in Dagestan followed by the Russian apartment bombings. After parties aligned with Putin won solid support in the December 1999 parliamentary elections, Yeltsin resigned, and Putin became acting president.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Putin
During the down fall of the USSR in 1989, Chechnya tried to declare itself a Former Soviet Republic. From 1989 to 1991, political parties from Chechnya tried to negotiate with the Russian government. The negotiations were stopped when in 1991 Russia threatened to use military force if Chechnya declared independence. Over the next couple of years there were no more military clashes. In 1994 the government of Chechnya tried to establish itself, but it struggled with corruption and fighting among each other. Russia then sent in its military to try and take Chechnya off-guard. The Chechen fighters, going up against one of the largest and best-equipped military forces in the world, chose to use guerilla tactics against the Russian army. After 6 months of fighting the Russian army had taken all of the major Chechen cities. Chechen fighters then started to take Russian hostages, which then caused Russia to negotiate with OSCE supervision.
http://www.peri.umass.edu/fileadmin/pdf/Russia.pdf
The CIS is an international organization or alliance made up of eleven former Soviet Republics and and one associate member. The eleven members are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. The associate member is Turkmenistan. The creation of the CIS signaled the breaking up of the Soviet Union.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonwealth_of_Independent_States
Boris Yeltsin was the first president of the Russian Federation, he was in office from July 10, 1991 to December 31, 1999. Yeltsin was the first president to be elected by popular vote. The Yeltsin era was remembered by widespread corruption, economic collapse, and enormous political and social problems.
Violence and organized crime began to dominate Soviet society and Yeltsin was unable to institute new econmic reforms.
By some estimates, he had an approval rating of 2% when he left office. The Communists and nationalist opponent of Vladimir Putin had begun to regain power.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Yeltsin
In 1990, the Soviet Union itself began to unravel. Its own constituent republics began to issue declarations of independence. In the Russian Republic, Yeltsin was elected chairman of the Parliament, taking a lead in the independence movement. Large scale strikes shattered the Communist Party's traditional claim to be the representative of workers' rights. Demonstrations against the government and the party intensified. The economy worsened, food shortages became a problem, and the crime rate began to skyrocket. Gorbachev, caught between popular demands for more radical reform and party demands for the re-imposition of strict control, failed to satisfy either side.
By the end of the year the Soviet Union had been voted out of existence, to be replaced by a Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). On December 25, Gorbachev resigned, and on midnight of December 31, the Soviet flag atop the Kremlin was replaced by the Russian tricolour.
http://www.geographia.com/russia/rushis07.htm
By 1990, Soviet people were becoming displeased with how communism was working. Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania broke free of the Soviet Union beginning the process of dismantling of the Soviet empire. In 1991, Russia held its first democratic elections, electing Boris Yeltsin.
Chernobyl was one of the worst nuclear power plant accidents in history. It was just about a level seven on a nuclear event scale, which level seven is the worst level. What happened is it started a fire which released a great amount of radioactivity and a massive power of excursion which destroyed through the reactor.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster
Soviet Union leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, created two reforms, Glasnost and Perestroika. Glasnost was the reform to openness and maximal publicity. Before this time, the Soviets used to be secluded and strict, while keeping away from mostly all the other countries. Perestroika was economic reconstruction. This was just a time period where the Soviets decided to become more worried about the economy, which created private ownership in businesses, manufacturing, and foreign-trade sectors.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perestroika
Instituted by new leader Mikhail Gorbachev, he believed major changes needed to be made in order to allow for the USSR survival. He instituted two policies. One called perestroika, or restructuring, and glasnost, or openess. His reforms were not enoguh to save the Soviet economy.
During the 1980 Olympics (Lake Placid), the Soviet hockey team was the heavily favored team to win the Olympics. Even though the Olympic Committee forbid using professional players the Soviet government ranked their players at amateur status, even though they wen 5-3-1 versus NHL teams. The Soviet and American hockey teams were rivals due to the ongoing Cold War. In addition, Jimmy Carter was threatening to boycott the upcoming summer games held in Moscow, which added further tension to the situation. Coach Herb Brooks led his US team into the medal round, shocking most of the world. In front of a patriotic crowd the United States defeated the USSR, 4-3 with two goals scored by Wisconsin Badger Coach Mark Johnson. This defeat was called the greatest sporting event of the 20th centru.
http://www.miracleonice.us/
In 1979 the USSR took control of Kabul, the Afghanistan capital, and tried to gain control of entire country and people. The reason the Soviets sent troops into the capital was to expand their influence in Asia, also to preserve the communist government, which they developed, and to protect their interests in Afghanistan from other western nations. This invasion turned into a war, known as the Soviet war in Afghanistan, and the Soviet troop stared to leave Afghanistan in May of 1988 and all the troops were out by Febuary 1989. This long war caused 15,000 Soviets to die and 35,000 were wounded and about 1 million Afghans were killed. But Afghanistan had other supporting forces from anti-Communist countries like the United States and Pakistan.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/afghanistan/cs-invasion.htm
President Nixon was the first president to visit the Soviet Union. He went to the Soviet Union to have a meeting with Leonid Brezhnev. At this meeting they made agreements to increase trade between the countries and two important arms control treaties. These two treaties are called SALT and the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. With SALT they agreed not to attack each other with their nuclear missiles, and with the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty they agreed not to design equipment that would block incoming missiles. This was the beginning of a new peaceful relationship between the U.S and the Soviet Union, instead of the angry relationship from the Cold War.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Nixon#Foreign_policy
The Cuba Missile Crisis was the closest thing to the world having a Nuclear War. The U.S. had missile that could wipe out the entire USSR while the Soviets were only capable of attacking Europe. There missiles would do no harm to the U.S. In the act of trying to be ready for an U.S. attack, Cuban official Fidel Castro decided to place missiles on the island. When the U.S. was informed of this, president John F. Kennedy advised his group of his most important advisors to handle the crisis. This group was called EX-COMM.
http://library.thinkquest.org/11046/days/index.html
On April 1, 1952 East German leaders met with the Soviet Union leader Joseph Stalin. Stalin and the East German leaders proposed that they should create a system of past ports for West Germans into East Germany. They decided to create a barrer that was to be heavily guarded. On Augest 13, 1961 the Berlin Wall, called the Berlin was because it seperated east Berlin from west Berlin, was finally built. It was guarded by the East German Troops that morning. The entire was wall was 97 miles long, and streets running alongside the barrier were torn up to make them impassable to most vehicles. It was also barbed-wired to ensure no one could get over,and was later built up into the full-scale Wall. Normally West Germans were allowed to visit East Berlin or East Germany, but only by seeing the East Germany Embassy wiht weeks in advance. Most of the Eastern Germans were not allowed to cross the wall. Only if Visits of relatives for important family matters, and for People who had to travel to the west for professional reasons. Although the vistits had to be indiviually and permission was never guaranteed. The final fall of the Wall was on October 3, 1990. Today there are only three sections of the wall left, and everyother part has been destroyed. From 1961 to 1990 the wall seperted a democratic West Geramny from a communist East Germany.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Wall
On October 4th, 1957, the Soviet Union launched the first ever man-made satellite to orbit the earth, named Sputnik. Sputnik traveled at 29,000 kilmeters per hour, and submitted radio signals at 20.005 and 40.002 MHz. The signals continued until October 26th, 1957, when the transmitter batteries ran out. Sputnik spent 3 months in orbit, traveled 60 million kilometers, and burned up in the Earth's atmosphere on January 4th, 1958.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_1
The intelligence and internal-security agency of the former Soviet Union, was organized in 1954. The KGB were almost part of everything the soviet had such as: propaganda, secret operations, getting rid of foreign threat, informing leaders, punishment, criminal investigation, economic efficiency,and protecting leaders.
http://library.thinkquest.org/10826/kgb.htm
Stalin died without naming an heir putting an end to the Stalin era. Nikita Khrushchev (1894-1971) rose after the death of Stalin in 1953. he tried to reform the industry and doing so created even greater problems. In a politically motivated move to weaken the central state bureaucracy, in 1957 Khrushchev did away with the industrial ministries in Moscow and replaced them with regional economic councils.Although he intended these economic councils to be more responsive to local needs, the decentralization of industry led to disruption and inefficiency. By 1964 Khrushchev's prestige had been damaged in a number of areas. Industrial growth had slowed, while agriculture showed no new progress. In October 1964, while Khrushchev was vacationing in Crimea, the Presidium voted him out of office and refused to permit him to take his case to the Central Committee. Khrushchev retired as a private citizen after his successors denounced him for his "hare-brained schemes, half-baked conclusions, and hasty decisions."
http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+ru0043)
With the outbreak of the Second World War, Russia and its leader Joseph Stalin were unprepared, as most of its expirenced military leadership had been fired. Production was also slow in converting from consumer goods production to military production.
The Germans invaded the Soviet Union opening a second front. The Soviets retreated, allowing a brutally cold and snowy winter to set in and destroy the morale of the Nazi troops.
World War II took more than 30 Million Soviet lives, but strengthened the nation through this adversity. The Soviets expanded their empire adding Poland and East Germany and further spread the forces of communism.
http://www.geographia.com/russia/rushis07.htm
Came to power in 1927 determined to make the Soviet Union a world industrial power. He took control over every aspect of Soviet life, causing thousands to die and others forced to labor camps. He acquired more territory than any other Soviet leader, conquering a total of 15 nations.
The Union of the Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) otherwise known as the Soviet Union existed from 1922 to 1991. This was a constitution the existed in Eurasia that emerged from the Russian Empire. On December 29th of 1922 a conference was held which resulted in a treaty that formed the USSR. The USSR was originally created to unify four Soviet Republics but than grew to make 15 republics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_Creation_of_the_USSR
After Stalin took control of the government and economy of Russia, not everyone agreed with him. War broke out between the Reds (Bolsheviks) and the Whites (Anti-Bolsheviks). The Bolsheviks won the war in 1921 and led to the establishment of the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics).
Also known as the October Revolution. It was the second part of Russian Revolution of 1917.After the Febuary Revolution The October Revolution overthrew Russian Provisional Government and gave power to the Soviets dominated by Bolshevik it is followed by the Russian civil war and Soviet union in 1922. It began with an armed fight for goverment in Petrograd.
The Bolshevik Revolution was led by Vladimir Lenin whose political ideas were based upon the teachings of Karl Marx. He withdrew Russia from WWI and moved the capital from St. Petersburg to Moscow.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolshevik_Revolution
Leader of the Bolshevik Revolution. Moved the capital from St. Petersburg to Moscow. Promised the Russian people "peace, land, and bread." Based philosophy on the teachings of Karl Marx. Took control of the entire Soviet economy, including mandating an 8-hour work day for all workers.
During WWI there were many hardships faced by the Russian people. Food, clothing, and fuel were all in short supply. Striking factory workers demanded "bread and freedom" and overtook the city of St. Petersburg. The army was called in to put down the demonstrators, but they joined the rebels and ended Czar rule in Russia.
Leonid Brezhnev was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union(therefore he was the political leader of the USSR) from 1964 to 1982. He served in that position longer than anyone other that Joseph Stalin. During Brezhnev's reign the Soviet economy stagnated and vast amounts of resources were spent on the armed forces. Brezhnev also sent Soviet forces to occupy Afghanistan in december 1979 and dragged Russia into a long and destructive war.
http://www.localhistories.org/russia.html
The Russo-Japanese War was a war between Japan and Russia. Russia wanted to expand its power throughout the east. Russia tried to take control of Korea and Japan, afraid that the Russian Empire was becoming too powerful, declared war against the Russian Empire and thus starting the Russo-Japanese War.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russo-Japanese_War#Origins_of_the_Russo-Japanese_war
Karl Heinrich Marx (May 5, 1818 – March 14, 1883) was a 19th century philosopher, political economist, and revolutionary. Often called the father of communism, Marx was both a scholar and a political activist. His approach is indicated by the opening line of the The Communist Manifesto (1848).
Socialism called for the ownership of all land and factories by peasants and workers. He believed the conflict between landowners and workers would lead to a revolution that would spread throughout the world and create a classless society.
http://www.historyguide.org/intellect/marx.html
Napoleon began his fatal Russian campaign; virtually all of Europe was under his control. The attempt was to force Tsar Alexander I to sign the treaty that Napoleon had imposed on him 4 years earlier. After gathering nearly half a million soldiers from France and the rest of Europe, Napoleon entered Russia at the head of one of the largest armies ever seen. The leader of the Russians, Marshal Kutuzov, knew that he couldn’t defeat an army of this size so he devised a defensive strategy to retreat and withstand the French forces. As the summer wore on, Napoleons supply lines were wearing thin and his force began to decline and without ever being in a battle the French army had been reduced more than 2/3 that of what it was before from fatigue, hunger, desertion, and raids by Russian forces. Then all they could do is wait until Alexander offered to negotiate, but he never did. Napoleon then ordered his troops to start the long walk home and having waited until October to leave the French army soon found themselves in the midst of winter and a very harsh winter at that. Only 10,000 men survived.
http://www.geographia.com/russia/rushis05.htm
Catherine was crowned at the age of 32. She was not born Russian but she did have distant relatives that lived there. During her time of power, Catherine extended the Southwestern Russia border into New Russia, Crimea, Right-bank Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, and Courland. Catherine led Russia to the dominant empire in southeast europe after the Russia-Turkish War. Catherine made relations with Japan and Russia through trading. Catherine died from a stroke while getting on a horse when she was only 67.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_the_great#Russo-Turkish_Wars
In 1696 he took control after his dad died.Peter remained monarch and brought in the greatest engineers, architects, shipbuilders and merchants to create his vew of Russia. Europe had begun to greatly modernize and Peter was determined to make Russia even more modern.
In 1700 he started the Northern War with Sweden, which lasted for 21 years,which resulted in a victory. Russia took the lands of the Baltic coast. During the war, St. Petersburg was found (1703) on the delta of the Neva River.This city rapidly grew and became a major seaport, as Russia gained greater and greater access to European trade routes. This city was nicknamed "window to the west."
In 1721 after the war ended, Peter the Great claimed Russia as an Empire and claimed himself as the Emperor. He greatly expanded the Russian empire and modernized its navy.
http://Saint-Petersburg.com
First when Russification happened in the 16th Century to conquer the what is now today Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan to implement the Russian language as the main language throughout the continent. In the 19th Century it only got worse when Russification replaced the Polish, Belarusian, and Lithuanian languages in the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. In 1831 Polish and Belarusian languages were banned from public places. 1880 Polish banned in schools and offices of the Congress Kingdom. Muravyov prohibited the public use of spoken Lithuanian and closed Lithuanian and Polish schools, Russian teachers then taught in all of those schools. Muravyov also banned the use Latin and Gothic scripts in publishing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russification#Early_1920s_through_mid-1930s:_Indigenization
Ivan the Great ruled form 1462-1505. Ivan succeeded in freeing Russia from the Mongols (Tatars). In this act of Ivan freeing Russia, the Mogols were bound to retaliate. This never led to a battle. Both sides were prepared to fight but they both retreated. Ivan wa sthe first czar, or supreme ruler, of Russia.
http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/history/russia/ivanthegreat.html
Before the Battle of Kulikovo, much of Russia was ruled by Mongol leaders. The Khan of the Golden Horde, wanted to limit the Growth and influence of the neighboring contries, Lituania. Which led the Khan build the city to become one of the most powerful cities in Russia. In 1380 the prince Dmitri Donskoy, led a russian army to defeat the mongol trops. After the battle Moscow took the role of liberating or removing the Mongols from Russia. This led the city to become the capital of the Russian empire and throught the years after the throne or ruler of Moscow changed a lot. But throught those years moscow rose to become the senter of Russia, siberia, and surrounding countries.
http://wikipedia.com
Muscovy was the beginning of Russia as a whole.
This area was settled by Slavs who were fleeing from the Mongols (Tartars) who controlled much of Russia. Many Slavs hid in nearby forests when Kiev was overran. These people settled along the Muscovy River. This became the future city of Moscow. For the next 200 years the Mongols and Muscovites lived peacefully, when Ivan III set up a Russian state and drove out the Mongols.
http://countrystudies.us/russia/3.htm
In 1223 the Mongol armies attacked the southeast territory of Russia. Under the Genghis Khan’s leadership the Mongol did not win against the Russian princes and went back to Asia. Fourteen years later, Khan’s grandson, Batu Khan, led the army back to southeastern Russia and overtook most of the major cities in the Vladimir-Suzdal region. Because of forest and swamp areas Batu Khan went to the southwest and took over Kyiv. This army became known as the Tartars in Russia because the people spoke Turkic.
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761569000_17____69/Russia.html#s69
During this perid many peasents became homless and settled on the land of wealthy Russians or nobles. By the end of the 16th century the peasents were under control of the landowner, much like slavery. By the 19th century, out of 40,000,000 peasents 50% were serfs (peasents of the serfdom). Alexander II realized Russia wasn't a military power anymore after the Crimean War, and thought the large serf population was the problem, and their standards were much lower than those of the industrialized Britian and France. In 1861 Alexander passed the Emancipation Manifesto which ended the Serfdom and gave freedom to everyone. He allowed the Serfs to buy land from the landowners by paying the landlords and allowing the them to pay it back.
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/RUSserfs.htm
Vladimir I, the Grand Duke of Kiev chose to change the main religion to Greek Orthdoxy and later, Christianity. He left Kiev in order to save his life. Later his brother took over Kiev and in order to regain control, he killed his own brother and became once again the Grand Duke of Kiev. Not only was Vladimir a strong, intellegent leader, but a forcefull man who founded many of Russia's cities, buildings, libraries, and schools. He also promoted trade and established relations with the pope and European rulers, and defended Russia against its eastern neighbors. Later after living to 100 years old, he died and Ukraine named him as a saint.
http://www.smokykin.com/ged/f001/f89/a0018921.htm
The Varangians are Swedish vanguards or sharers in the oath, who traveled eastward to Russia for travel and activities. One of the top vanguard chieftains named Rurik, gained control of Ladoga in 862, built the Holmgard settlement near Novgorod, and found the Rurik Dynasty which ruled Kievan Rus and then Russia until the 16th century.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rurik
These warriors from Scandinavia settled in the area near the Dneiper and Volga rivers. They became known as Kievan Rus. They set up the first state in the region near modern day Kiev. By the 900s they had adopted Slavic language and customs. The organized the trading towns into city-states similar to the Greeks. The capital became Kiev and their leader was known as the Grand Prince.
Update Sources