4000 BC Sledges for transport
In Mesopotamia, and on the grass steppes of southern Russia, oxen are used to pull heavy loads on sledges

1500 BC Slavs move west
The Slavs settle in the regions of eastern Europe and western Russia

825 Vikings trade as Russians
Viking tribes known as the Rus are established as traders in the region of Novgorod

882 Oleg in Kiev
Oleg, leader of the Rus, seizes the town of Kiev and makes his headquarters there

987 Russians become Orthodox
Vladimir, the prince of Kiev, decides that Greek Orthodoxy is the most suitable religion for the Russian people

1030 Yaroslav puts Kiev on map
Yaroslav builds up his Russian kingdom and turns his capital, Kiev, into a spectacular Christian city

1030 Yaroslav codifies Russian law
Yaroslav commissions Russkaya Pravda ('Russian truth'), a code of Russia's laws

1054 Polovtsy pester Russians
A Russian chronicle makes the first mention of the marauding Polovtsy, who persistently raid Russian cities from the steppes

1157 Andrei Bogolyubski moves to Vladimir
A Russian prince, Andrei Bogolyubski, makes his capital east of Moscow at Vladimir, where he builds a cathedral and several churches

1237 Golden Horde in Russia
Batu Khan and his Mongols sweep into Russia, where they and their descendants become known as the Golden Horde

1240 Alexander wins on the ice
Alexander, a Russian prince, defeats a Swedish army on the frozen river Neva, thus winning his name Alexander Nevksy

1252 Alexander Nevsky grand prince of Vladimir
Alexander Nevsky, appointed grand prince of Vladimir in 1252, thrives by collaborating with the Mongols of the Golden Horde

1270 Novgorod is independent
Novgorod asserts its independence, electing its own city magistrate to take over the role of the local Russian prince

1323 Sweden and Novgorod divide Finland
A treaty divides Finland between two powerfully competitive neighbours, Sweden and Novgorod

1326 Metropolitan moves to Moscow
Moscow acquires new prestige when the metropolitan (or patriarch) of the Russian Orthodox church moves his residence from Vladimir

1380 Dimitri defeats the Mongols
Dimitri, grand prince of Moscow, leads other Russian princes in a crushing victory over the Mongols on the Kulikovo plain

1475 Moscow seen as third Rome
With Constantinople in Turkish hands, Moscow begins to see itself as the centre of Orthodox Christianity - or the third Rome

1478 Novgorod subdued by Russia
Ivan III subdues proudly independent Novgorod, removing the city's famous bell

1480 Ivan III withholds Mongol tax
Ivan III, grand prince of Russia, becomes the first to deny the Mongols of the Golden Horde their annual tribute of tax

1547 Ivan is terrible
Ivan IV is crowned tsar of Russia and becomes known as Ivan the Terrible

1590 Boris Godunov creates serfs
Serfdom is introduced in Russia by Boris Godunov, whose measures tie the peasants to the land

1594 Barents explores north of Russia
Willem Barents sets off on the first of his three expeditions to find a passage to the east through the waters north of Russia

1604 First false Dmitry
The first false Dmitry marches into Russia with a Polish army to claim the throne

1608 Second false Dmitry
A second false Dmitry marches on Moscow, to be followed by a third in 1612

1613 First tsar of Romanov dynasty
Michael Romanov is elected tsar, beginning a new dynasty on the Russian throne

1617 Sweden keeps Russia out of Baltic
The treaty of Stolbova brings into Swedish hands the coast round the Gulf of Finland, ending Russian access to the Baltic

1648 Rebellion of Cossacks
A Cossack rebellion leads to the eventual transfer of their territory from Poland to Russia

1649 Russian empire expands to Pacific
The Russian empire, expanding eastwards through Siberia, reaches the Pacific coast

1652 Nikon patriarch of Russia
Nikon becomes patriarch of all Russia and introduces reforms which cause the Old Believers to form a breakaway sect

1689 Peter the Great is tsar
The 17-year-old Peter the Great becomes co-tsar of Russia with his half-brother Ivan V

1696 Peter the Great swoops on Azov
Peter the Great makes an unexpected raid down the river Don and captures Azov from the Crimean Tatars

1697 Tsar works in Dutch and English shipyards
The Russian tsar, Peter I, studies western European technology, working as a ship's carpenter in Dutch and English shipyards

1698 Peter the Great trims boyars' beards
Peter the Great makes a symbolic gesture of reform in trimming his boyars' beards

1700 Sweden's neighbours launch war
Poland, Russia and Denmark attack Sweden, beginning the 21-year Northern War

1700 Tsar promotes education and enterprise
Peter the Great sets up numerous schools and commercial enterprises to enable Russia to compete in Europe

1703 Tsar finds love of his life
Peter the Great falls for a Lithuanian serf, Catherine, who becomes his life-long companion

1703 Peter founds St Petersburg
Peter the Great founds the port and city of St Petersburg, giving Russia access to the Baltic

1712 Peter the Great marries Catherine
The tsar formally marries Catherine, his mistress for nearly ten years (though they may have married secretly five years earlier)

1718 Peter's son Alexis dies in prison
The tsarevitch Alexis, heir to Peter the Great, dies from violence inflicted on him in prison

1721 Sweden cedes Estonia and Latvia to Russia
In the treaty of Nystad Sweden cedes Estonia to Russia together with most of Latvia (the rest of which soon follows)

1721 Russia dominant in Baltic
With the transfer of Swedish territory on the Baltic coast, Russia becomes the dominant power in the region

1721 Peter acclaimed as more than plain tsar
In a ceremony in St Petersburg's cathedral Peter the Great has himself proclaimed 'emperor of all Russia'

1725 Peter the Great dies
The Russian tsar Peter the Great dies and is succeeded by his wife as the empress Catherine I

1764 Stanislaw II is Polish king
The Russian empress Catherine the Great secures the throne of Poland for one of her lovers, as Stanislaw II

1764 Catherine founds Hermitage
Catherine the Great founds the Hermitage as a court museum attached to the Winter Palace in St Petersburg

1768 War between Russia and Turkey
A border incident at Balta, in the southern Ukraine, sparks a war between Russia and Turkey that will last six years

1772 First slices of Poland
Russia, Prussia and Austria agree a treaty enabling them to divide the spoils in the first partition of Poland

1772 Russia begins to absorb Lithuania
The first partition of Poland begins the process of Lithuania being progressively absorbed into Russia

1774 Treaty of Kuchuk Kainarji
In the treaty of Kuchuk Kainarji, ending the recent Russo-Turkish war, the Ottoman empire cedes the Crimea to Russia

1783 Russia takes Crimea
The empress Catherine the Great annexes the Crimean peninsula, giving Russia a presence in the Black Sea

1793 Second slices of Poland
Russia and Prussia agree on a second partition of Poland

1799 Russia has plans for Alaska
The tsar, Paul I, establishes the Russian-American Company with the express purpose of developing Alaska

1807 Two emperors on a raft
Napoleon and the Russian tsar Alexander I meet on a raft at Tilsit and set about carving up Europe

1808 Russia attempts to win Finland
Russia, after winning much of Finland from Sweden during the previous century, invades again in 1808

1809 Russia acquires Finland
In the Treaty of Hamina (or Fredrikshamn), Sweden cedes Finland to Russia as an autonomous grand duchy

1812 Napoleon invades Russia
Napoleon launches an attack on his ally, the Russian tsar Alexander I, with an army of more than 600,000 men

1812 Battle of Borodino
The Russian army under Marshal Kutuzov confronts the advancing French at Borodino, and though defeated makes a successful withdrawal

1812 Napoleon enters Moscow
After victory at Borodino, Napoleon enters Moscow to find the city abandoned and burning

1812 Napoleon retreats from Moscow
Napoleon begins the retreat from Moscow, in arctic conditions and harried by guerrilla attacks

1815 Holy Alliance of autocrats
The rulers of Russia, Prussia and Austria form a Holy Alliance to preserve their concept of a Christian Europe

1815 Polish kingdom linked to Russia
Poland becomes a kingdom of very limited independence, since the Russian tsar Alexander I is to be its king

1820 Ruslan and Ludmilla
Russian poet Alexander Pushkin publishes his first long poem, Ruslan and Ludmilla

1825 December uprising in St Petersburg
A December uprising in St Petersburg ends when troops fire on the crowd, but the 'Decembrists' become revolutionary martyrs

1831 Boris Godunov
Russian poet Alexander Pushkin publishes a grand historical drama, Boris Godunov

1833 Eugene Onegin
Alexander Pushkin publishes a novel in verse, Eugene Onegin

1834 Pushkin's Queen of Spades
Alexander Pushkin publishes his best-known short story, The Queen of Spades

1836 The Inspector General
The Inspector General, a farce by Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol satirising Russian offialdom, has tsar Nicholas I in the audience for the premiere

1837 Pushkin dies from a duel
Alexander Pushkin dies from a stomach wound received in a duel with his brother-in-law, Georges d'Anthès

1842 Dead Souls
The publication of the first part of the satirical novel Dead Souls, by Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol, proves a sensation in Russia

1844 Turkey sick says tsar
The Russian tsar, Nicholas I, calls Turkey 'the sick man of Europe'

1849 Dostoevskyundergoes mock execution
Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky undergoes a mock execution, after being sentenced to death for revolutionary activities against tsar Nicholas I

1850 Dostoevsky given hard labour
Fyodor Dostoevsky begins four years of hard labour in Siberia for revolutionary activities

1852 Russia adamant over Holy Places
Russia insists that her exclusive rights over the Holy Places are enshrined in the treaty of Kuchuk Kainarji

1853 Russia's fleet put on alert
In a worsening diplomatic crisis, Russia puts her Black Sea fleet in a state of alert at Sebastopol

1853 Turkey declares war on Russia
In the expectation of British and French support, the Ottoman sultan declares war on Russia - launching the Crimean War

1854 Battle of the Alma
British and French troops land at Sebastopol, to besiege the port, and win a limited victory over the Russians at the river Alma

1854 Cold work besieging Sebastopol
An inconclusive engagement at Inkerman means that the allies in the Crimea have to dig in for the winter besieging Sebastopol

1855 Sebastopol falls
After a siege of nearly a year the Russians abandon Sebastopol, but the Turkish alliance is too exhausted to pursue the conflict

1857 Herzen and the Bell
Russian exile Alexander Herzen, publishes in London a radical newspaper called Kolokol (The Bell)

1861 Serfs freed in Russia
After four years of consultation, Alexander II issues a decree freeing Russia's millions of serfs

1862 Dostoevsky's House of the Dead
Dostoevsky publishes Notes from the House of the Dead, a semi-autobiographical novel about life in a Siberian labour camp

1864 Dostoevsky's Notes from Underground
Dostoevsky publishes Notes from Underground, the bitter memories of a retired civil servant that is often described as the first existentialist novel

1865 First volume of War and Peace
Leo Tolstoy publishes the first volume of his epic novel War and Peace, following the lives of several aristocratic families during the Napoleonic wars

1866 Crime and Punishment
Dostoevsky publishes Crime and Punishment, a novel narrated by Raskolnikov, a St Petersburg student and murderer

1867 Night on the Bare Mountain
Modest Mussorgsky composes his orchestral work St John's Night on the Bare Mountain, based on a story by Gogol

1868 Dostoevsky's The Idiot
Dostoevsky publishes The Idiot, a novel about the simple-minded and truthful Prince Myshkin

1869 Mendeleyev's periodic table
Dmitry Mendeleyev reads to the Russian Chemical Society in St Petersburg his formulation of the periodic table

1874 Boris Godunov
Modest Mussorgsky's opera Boris Godunov has its premiere in St Petersburg

1874 Pictures at an Exhibition
Mussorgsky composes Pictures at an Exhibition as a piece for piano in memory of an exhibition by the Russian painter Victor Hartmann

1875 Anna Karenina
Leo Tolstoy publishes the first volume of his novel Anna Karenina, in which the heroine develops a fatal love for Count Vronsky

1876 Tchaikovsky corresponds with Nadezhda
Russian composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky begins an intense correspondence with a wealthy patron, Nadezhda von Meck

1877 Swan Lake
The ballet Swan Lake, with choreography by Julius Wenzel Reisinger to music by Tchaikovsky, has its premiere at the Bolshoi in Moscow

1879 Eugene Onegin as an opera
Tchaikovsky's opera Eugene Onegin, based on Pushkin's poem, has its premiere in Moscow

1880 In the Steppes of Central Asia
Russian composer Alexander Borodin writes In the Steppes of Central Asia as part of the silver jubilee celebrations for Alexander II

1880 The Brothers Karamazov
Dostoevsky publishes his novel The Brothers Karamazov, featuring the four sons of the depraved Feodor Pavlovich Karamazov

1881 Pogroms in Russia
The first pogroms, or officially sanctioned attacks on Jews and their property, take place in Russia

1881 Tsar assassinated
Russia's reforming tsar, Alexander II, is killed by hand-made grenades thrown at his carriage in St Petersburg

1887 Prince Igor incomplete at Borodin's death
Alexander Borodin dies without finishing his opera Prince Igor (completed later by Rimsky-Korsakov and Glazunov)

1887 Lenin's brother executed
Lenin's elder brother Alexander, while still a student, is executed for his part in a plot to assassinate the tsar, Alexander III

1890 Sleeping Beauty
Sleeping Beauty, with choreography by Petipa to music by Tchaikovsky, has its premiere in St Petersburg

1892 Nutcracker
The Nutcracker, with choreography by Lev Ivanov to music by Tchaikovsky, has its premiere in St Petersburg

1893 'Pathetic' symphony
Tchaikovsky's symphony no. 6, known as the 'Pathetic' or Pathétique, has its premiere in St Petersburg

1893 Tchaikovsky dies in mysterious circumstances
Russian composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky dies after a short illness, possibly from cholera or perhaps in sinister circumstances that remain the subject of controversy

1894 Franco-Russian alliance
France and Russia, alarmed by Germany's ambitions, sign a defensive Franco-Russian alliance

1895 Petipa and Ivanov revive Swan Lake
Swan Lake is performed in St Petersburg in its definitive version, with choreography shared between Lucien Petipa and Lev Ivanov

1895 Lenin arrested and imprisoned
Lenin is arrested in St Petersburg, along with other members of the Union for the Struggle for the Liberation of the Working Class

1896 Seagull fails in St Petersburg
Anton Chekhov's play The Seagull has a disastrous premiere in St Petersburg (but is well received two years later in Moscow)

1897 Rachmaninov's First Symphony
Rachmaninov's First Symphony has a disastrous premiere in St Petersburg, probably caused by the incompetence of Glazunov as conductor

1898 Seagull succeeds in Moscow
Chekhov's The Seagull, directed by Konstantin Stanislavsky, succeeds at the Moscow Art Theatre

1900 Uncle Vanya
Anton Chekhov's play Uncle Vanya is directed by Stanislavsky at the Moscow Art Theatre

1900 Lenin edits Iskra
Lenin and comrades launch in Munich a radical newspaper, Iskra ('the spark')

1900 Pavlov experiments on dogs
The Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov keeps dogs alive almost indefinitely by severely curtailing their bodily functions

1901 Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto
Sergei Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto gives him renewed confidence after the disaster of his First Symphony in 1897

1901 Three Sisters
Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters has its premiere at the Moscow Art Theatre, directed by Stanislavsky

1902 Lenin asks What is to be done?
In his pamphlet What is to be done? Lenin argues for early action to promote revolution

1902 The Lower Depths
Maxim Gorky's play The Lower Depths is performed at the Moscow Art Theatre

1903 More Bolsheviks than Mensheviks
Lenin's supporters become known as the Bolsheviks ('majority') as opposed to the Mensheviks ('minority') after a split at the party's Second Congress

1904 The Cherry Orchard
Anton Chekhov's last play, The Cherry Orchard, is staged by Stanislavsky just a few months before the author's death

1904 Scriabin's Divine Poem
Alexander Scriabin completes his Third Symphony, The Divine Poem, which is given its first performance in Paris in 1905

1905 Bloody Sunday in St Petersburg
Troops fire on a demonstration in St Petersburg, in the event which becomes known as Bloody Sunday

1905 Strikes and riots in Russia
Strikes and riots sweep across Russia in the wake of St Petersburg's Bloody Sunday

1905 Scriabin discovers Blavatsky
The Russian composer Alexander Scriabin becomes influenced by the theosophy of Madame Blavatsky

1905 Maggotty meat on board Potemkin
A complaint about maggotty meat on the Russian battleship Potemkin leads to thousands of deaths after troops fire on a demonstration

1905 First Communist soviet
The first soviet ("council") of workers is set up in St Petersburg, introducing a word of great significance in Russian Communist history

1905 October Manifesto eases pressure
Tsar Nicholas II reluctantly signs the October Manifesto, authorizing an elected duma or legislature

1905 Rasputin mesmerizes empress
The monk Grigory Rasputin exercises a powerful influence over the Russian empress Alexandra

1906 Liberal majority in Russian duma
The Liberals win a majority in election for Russia's new duma and press ahead with proposals for land reform

1906 Tsar emphasizes his power
Tsar Nicholas II issues a Fundamental Law emphasizing his own autocratic power

1906 Stolypin is Russia's prime minister
Tsar Nicholas II appoints as prime minister the reformist aristocrat Pyotr Stolypin

1906 Duma in shock dismissal
Tsar Nicholas II summarily dismisses Russia's new duma when it has been sitting for only three months

1906 Land reform in Russia
The Russian prime minister Pyotr Stolypin introduces land reform

1907 Gorky's The Mother
Russian author Maxim Gorky completes his novel Mat ("The Mother"), written mainly during a visit to the USA

1907 Pavlova's Dying Swan
Anna Pavlova dances The Dying Swan, choreographed for her by Michel Fokine to music by Saint-Saëns

1908 Maeterlinck's Blue Bird
Maurice Maeterlinck's The Blue Bird is performed at the Moscow Art Theatre in a production by Stanislavsky

1908 Nijinska joins Nijinsky
Bronislava Nijinska joins her brother Vaslav in the Maryinsky company in St Petersburg

1908 Scriabin's Poem of Ecstasy
Alexander Scriabin's orchestral work, Poem of Ecstasy, has its first performance in New York

1909 Rachmaninov's Third Piano Concerto
Sergei Rachmaninov premieres his Third Piano Concerto during his tour of the USA as a pianist

1909 The Golden Cockerel
Rimsky-Korsakov's opera The Golden Cockerel has its premiere in Moscow

1910 Scriabin's Prometheus
Alexander Scriabin completes Prometheus, the Poem of Fire, first performed in Moscow in 1911

1910 Kandinsky pioneers abstract art
Wassily Kandinsky's paintings entitled Compositions are the first examples of purely abstract art

1910 Tolstoy dies a lonely death
The Russian novelist Leo Tolstoy, wandering from home in midwinter, dies of pneumonia in the stationmaster's house at Astapovo

1911 Stolypin assassinated
The Russian prime minister Pyotr Stolypin is assassinated in a Kiev theatre

1911 Diaghilev and Nijinsky emigrate
Sergei Diaghilev and Vaslav Nijinsky leave Russia for the west

1912 First issue of Pravda
The 'Workers' Newspaper' Pravda (meaning 'Truth') publishes its first issue in St Petersburg

1912 Akhmatova's first collection
The Russian poet Anna Akhmatova publishes Evening, her first collection of poems

1913 Gorky's Childhood
Maxim Gorky publishes Childhood, the first volume of his autobiographical trilogy

1913 Osip Mandelstam's Stone
The Russian poet Osip Mandelstam publishes his first collection, Stone

1914 Tatlin and Constructivism
The Russian painter and sculptor Vladimir Tatlin develops an abstract style to which he gives the name Constructivism

1914 St Petersburg becomes Petrograd
Tsar Nicholas II changes the name of his capital city to Petrograd, because St Petersburg sounds German

1914 July 30 Russia mobilizes
The Austrian attack on Serbia causes Russia to mobilize her army

1914 November 2 Russia at war with Turkey
Russia declares war on the Ottoman empire

1915 Malevich's Black Square
Kasimir Malevich exhibits his painting Black Square in Petrograd, in the final Futurist exhibition

1915 Mayakovsky's A Cloud in Trousers
The Russian poet and dramatist Vladimir Mayakovsky publishes his first major long poem, A Cloud in Trousers

1915 Rasputin rumours shock Petrograd
Petrograd buzzes with rumours about Rasputin's dissolute life, including salacious hints that he is the lover of the empress Alexandra

1915 September 18 Tsar commands Russian armies
The emperor Nicholas II moves to military HQ to take personal command of the Russian armies

1916 Rasputin murdered
Three members of the Russian imperial family assassinate the influential charlatan Grigory Rasputin

1916 Gorky's My Apprenticeship
Maxim Gorky publishes My Apprenticeship, the second volume of his autobiography

1916 June 4 Brusilov breaks through
Aleksei Brusilov leads a surprise Russian offensive against Germany and Austria-Hungary

1917  March 15 Prince heads new Russian government
Prince Georgi Lvov becomes prime minister in Russia's new Provisional Government

1917  March 10 Soldiers join protesters in Petrograd
A mutiny by soldiers, in support of Petrograd demonstrators, proves a turning point in Russia's February revolution

1917  March 11 Another Bloody Sunday in Russia
Crowds demonstrating in Petrograd are fired on after tsar Nicholas II sanctions the use of force

1917  March 12 Peter and Paul fortress falls
An uprising in Petrograd brings the Peter and Paul fortress into the hands of the rebels

1917  March 15 Tsar abdicates
With his capital city in the hands of rebels, tsar Nicholas II abdicates

1917  March 1 Qualified support from Petrograd Soviet
The Petrograd Soviet demands drastic reforms in return for supporting the proposed Provisional Government in Russia

1917  April Lenin's April Theses
Lenin expounds in Petrograd the new theory of his April Theses, predicting the possibility of imminent revolution

1917  April Trotsky returns to Russia
Trotsky hurries back to Russia from exile in the United States

1917 June Russia's summer offensive fails
A Russian summer offensive against the Germans results in massive loss of life and territory

1917 July 17 Armed rebels in Petrograd
An armed uprising in Petrograd disperses after Lenin declines to give support

1917 July Trotsky imprisoned, Lenin flees
Trotsky is imprisoned and Lenin flees to Finland as Russia's Provisional Government cracks down on the Bolsheviks

1917 July 21 Kerensky takes lead in Russia
Prince Lvov steps down as head of the Provisional Government in Russia and is replaced by Alexander Kerensky

1917 August Kerensky dismisses commander-in-chief
Kerensky dismisses Kornilov as commander-in-chief, antagonizing the right wing in Russia

1917 September Extremist parties gain support in Russia
Russian opinion polarizes, with support growing for left-wing Bolsheviks and right-wing Kadets

1917 September Trotsky chairs Petrograd Soviet
Trotsky, released from prison, stages a coup to win Bolshevik control of the Petrograd Soviet

1917 October Lenin back in Petrograd
Lenin, in disguise, returns from Finland to Petrograd, where he hides in the flat of a party worker

1917 October 23 Bolsheviks plan insurrection
Lenin persuades the Bolshevik central committee to vote for an armed insurrection

1917 November 3 Petrograd garrison mutinies
The soldiers of the Petrograd garrison mutiny on being ordered to the front

1917 November 5 Bolshevik troops control Petrograd
The Peter and Paul fortress is taken, giving the Bolsheviks control of Petrograd

1917 November 7 Winter Palace falls
Bolsheviks storm the Winter Palace in Petrograd and arrest the ministers of the Provisional Government

1917 November 8 Lenin's Decree of Peace
Lenin issues a Decree of Peace, inviting Russia's enemies to enter into immediate peace negotiations

1917 November 8 Lenin confiscates Russian estates
Lenin's Decree on Land abolishes private ownership of large estates and promises the land to the peasants

1917 November 8-12 Bolsheviks suppress opposition
The Bolsheviks attempt to stifle opposition in the run-up to the election for Russia's new Constituent Assembly

1917 December KGB founded
The Cheka (origin of the KGB) is established to suppress political dissent in Russia

1918 Aleksandr Blok's The Twelve
In Alexander Blok's poem The Twelve, Christ leads his apostles in support of Russia's revolution

1918 Malevich's White on White
The Russian artist Kasimir Malevich begins a series of White on White paintings

1918  January Civil war in Russia
Supporters of the old regime within the Russian army prepare to use force against the new Bolshevik regime

1918  January I9 One-party state in Russia
Lenin dissolves the elected assembly in Petrograd to establish a one-party Soviet state

1918  March White Russians in Ice March
Lavr Kornilov leads the heroic Ice March which boosts the morale of the White Russians

1918  March Russian Communist Party
The Bolsheviks, now in power, change their name to the more resounding Russian Communist Party

1918  March 3 Russia accepts Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
At Brest-Litovsk Lenin signs a peace treaty with Germany and Austria, ceding vast territories and valuable resources

1918  March 10 Moscow now Russia's capital
Lenin moves the capital of Russia from Petrograd back to Moscow

1918  March 13 Trotsky creates Red Army
Trotsky, given the task of creating an army for the Bolsheviks, conscripts peasants from the villages

1918 White and Red Terror
Russia's peasants, victims of White and Red Terror, suffer atrocities from both sides in the civil war

1918 War Communism and Food Brigades
Civil war enables the Bolsheviks to impose a rigid system of state control on the Russian economy, through War Communism and Food Brigades

1918 July 17 Tsar and family killed
Tsar Nicholas II and his wife and children are murdered by the Bolsheviks at Ekaterinburg

1919 Gulag slave camps
The Soviet system of Gulag slave labour camps is introduced, under the control of the secret service, the Cheka

1919 White army halted on road to Moscow
A White army, advancing on Moscow, is stopped about 250 miles from the city

1919 White army driven back from Petrograd
A White army occupies hills overlooking Petrograd before being driven back by Trotsky

1919 Kandinsky as abstract expressionist
The phrase Abstract Expressionism is first used, describing the work of Wassily Kandinsky

1920 Tatlin's Monument to the Third International
Vladimir Tatlin's model for a gigantic Monument to the Third International becomes one of the most significant examples of Constructivism

1920 White armies driven out of Russia
The civil war ends as the last White army on Russian soil escapes from the Crimea

1921 Lenin smashes Kronstadt mutiny
With massive force, and huge casualties, Lenin puts an end to a naval mutiny at Kronstadt

1921 Lenin's New Economic Policy
In a major economic U-turn, Lenin's New Economic Policy allows peasants to hold markets and sell the surplus of their product

1921 Concentration camps in Russia
Some 50,000 peasants are herded into Russia's first concentration camps

1921 Gorky leaves the USSR
Russian author Maxim Gorky goes abroad for medical treatment and lives for the next seven years in Italy

1922 Lenin boosts Stalin's career
Lenin creates a powerful new post for Joseph Stalin, as General Secretary of the Communist Party

1922 Lenin temporarily incapacitated by stroke
Lenin has a stroke, removing him for five months from active control of party and state

1922 Tsvetaeva's Encampment of the Swans
Marina Tsvetaeva completes an anti-Soviet cycle of poems, The Encampment of the Swans

1922 Germany recognizes Russia
Germany is the first nation to re-establish full diplomatic relations with Russia

1922 Pasternak's My Sister Life
Boris Pasternak makes his name with his third volume of poems, My Sister Life

1922 USSR has Stalin as midwife
Stalin devises the structure for a new federal state, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR)

1922 Lenin has a second stroke
Lenin has a second stroke, putting him finally out of action in political terms

1922 Soviet republics unite
At a congress in Moscow four soviet republics (Russia, Belarus, the Ukraine and the Transcaucasian Republic) agree to unite

1923 Lenin fails to remove Stalin from power
Lenin's third stroke prevents the publication of his Testament, which urges upon the party the removal of Stalin

1923 Gorky's My Universities
Maxim Gorky publishes My Universities, completing his autobiographical trilogy

1923 USSR formally established
The USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) officially comes into being, with a newly written constitution

1924 Lenin dies and leaves power vacuum
Lenin's death is followed by an intense power struggle in the Kremlin between Stalin, Trotsky, Kamenev and Zinoviev

1925 Trotsky deprived of war portfolio
The Central Committee of the USSR removes Trotsky from his influential post as War Commissar

1925 Battleship Potemkin
The Soviet director Sergei Eisenstein completes his film about the 1905 revolution, The Battleship Potemkin

1926 Babel's Red Cavalry
Russian Jewish writer Isaac Babel publishes a collection of stories, Red Cavalry, based on his own experiences in the army

1926 Shostakovich's first symphony
19-year-old Dmitry Shostakovich wins immediate attention with the public performance of his first symphony, his graduation piece from Leningrad Conservatory

1926 Ilyushin designs aircraft
Russian World War I pilot Sergey Ilyushin begins a distinguished career as an aircraft designer

1927 Stalin expels opponents
Stalin expels from the Communist party his main opponents, Kamenev, Zinoviev and Trotsky

1928 Gorky returns home
Maxim Gorky returns to the USSR to a rapturous reception after seven years abroad

1928 And Quiet Flows the Don
Russian author Mikhail Sholokhov publishes the first section of And Quiet Flows the Don

1928 Stalin wins absolute power
Stalin achieves complete personal control in the USSR after removing all his rivals from the Politburo

1929 Stalin exiles Trotsky
Stalin concludes his long-standing rivalry with Trotsky, expelling him from the USSR three years after removing him from the Politburo

1929 The Bedbug
Vladimir Mayakovsky's play The Bedbug is directed in Moscow by Meyerhold with incidental music by Shostakovich

1929 Russia's first Five Year Plan
Russia adopts a Five Year Plan aiming to boost industrial output by 200% within that period

1931 Russia's peasants forced into factories
25 million peasants are moved from the land to provide cheap labour in Stalin's new factories

1931 Russian peasants transported to Siberia
Six million Russian peasants die after being transported to agricultural labour camps in Siberia

1932 Gorky's birthplace named after him
The town of Maxim Gorky's birth, Nizhny-Novgorod, is renamed Gorky in his honour

1934 Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District
Dmitry Shostakovich's opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District has its premiere in Leningrad's Maly Theatre

1934 Rachmaninov develops Paganini
Sergei Rachmaninov writes the Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini in his villa beside Lake Lucerne

1934 USSR joins League
USSR joins the League of Nations, after Germany leaves the organization