Russia and the Soviet Union have played a major part in European and World History. The Romanov dynasty, rulers from 1613 to 1917, saw Russia develop as a nation, then empire. It experienced highs and lows as the country sought to embrace the best of other cultures whilst retaining her own identity. A feudal like system of the nobility and serfs was long established in Russia. This and other features of society were challenged, then changed. Adapting to new methods of rule was often hard. Russia saw assassinations of Tsars, rebellions and in 1905 and twice in 1917, Revolutions.
Russia: The Bolshevik RevolutionThe Revolutions of February 1917 and October, 1917, brought about a seismic change in Russian politics. The Tsar abdicated in 1917, giving way to a Provisional Government. A further Revolution saw the Bolsheviks seize control. During the Civil War that followed, the execution of the Romanov family was authorised and carried out in secret. With victory in the Civil War, Lenin and the Bolsheviks began a period of rule that was to last until 1991.
The USSR and StalinismFounded in 1922, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Soviet Union), was the first single party socialist state in the world. Policies were introduced to speed up the process of creating Socialism. Agriculture was Collectivised. Industry became state controlled. Opposition was censured, censored, oppressed, imprisoned or exterminated. A Cult of Personality was fostered around the second Bolshevik leader, Joseph Stalin. Great purges took place to rid society of any real or potential opponents.
Both Russian and Soviet states saw reformers and reactionaries. They both endured long, bitterly contested wars. The government throughout all of this contended with the problems that the physical features and size of the nation(s) posed. People starved. Some, due to natural catastrophe. At times, due to the negligence or actual policy of government and/or their officials. Life was often hard as a result.
Decline, Revolution and DisintegrationTsarism and the Soviet state both went into decline. Society, Government and the Economy had weaknesses. These contributed to the fall of the Romanov’s and the End of the USSR.
Romanov Russia and the Soviet Union: Chronology- 1613 – The Romanov’s become rulers (Tsar’s) of Russia
- 1812 – Napoleon invades Russia and is defeated on the outskirts of
Moscow - 1861 – Tsar Alexander II emancipates (frees) the serfs (peasants)
and introduces some reforms - 1904 – Russia is humiliated in her war against Japan
- 1905 – Tsar Nicholas II forced to reform following failed Revolution
- 1914 – Russia entered the First World War
- 1916 – Rasputin is assassinated
- 1917 – Tsar Nicholas II abdicates in February and is replaced by a
provisional government - 1917 – Bolshevik Revolution
- 1918 – Treaty of Brest-Litovsk
- 1918 – Romanov family executed by Bolsheviks
- 1918-1922 Russian Civil War
- 1921 – New Economic Policy introduced
- 1922 – Soviet Union formerly declared as a state
- 1924 – Lenin dies. After a power struggle, he is replaced by Stalin
- 1928 – First of the Five Year Plans. Collectivisation and Industrial change begins
- 1934 – Soviet Union joins the League of Nations
- 1939 – Non Aggression Pact with Nazi Germany
- 1939 – Occupation of Eastern Poland
- 1939-40 – Russo-Finnish War
- 1940 – occupation of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia
- 1941 – Non Aggression pact with Japan
- 1941 – Operation Barbarossa. German invasion of the Soviet Union begins
- 1943 – Stalingrad. German troops begin to retreat
- 1945 – Yalta and Potsdam conferences agree spheres of influence
- 1945 – Enters war against Japan
- 1945 – Victory in Europe and the Pacific
- 1948 – Berlin Blockade sees the USSR attempt to block Western supplies to Free Berlin
- 1953 – Stalin dies. He is replaced by Nikita Khrushchev. Khruschev’s policies are known as the Khrushchev Thaw.
- 1955 – Warsaw Pact established
- 1955 – Hungarian Uprising crushed
- 1956 – Khruschev’s ‘Secret Speech’ and the Destalinisation programme
- 1957 – Sputnik launched. The first ever Satellite
- 1958 – Khruschev dismisses Bulgarin and takes on the role of Prime Minister in addition to the position of General Secretary of the Communist Party
- 1960 – U2 Spy Plane shot down during the Paris Peace Summit
- 1962 – Cuban Missile Crisis
- 1964 – Khruschev is ousted and replaced as Chair of the Party by Leonid Brezhnev and as Prime Minister by Aleksey Kosygin
- 1968 – Intervention of Soviet forces in Czechoslovakia. The “Brezhnev doctrine” of the right to intervene is established
- 1969 – Soviet troops clash with Chinese forces in a border dispute
- 1971 – SALT 1 Treaty
- 1977 – New Constitution adopted. Brezhnev elected President
- 1979 – SALT 2 Agreement
- 1979 – Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan
- 1980 – Nikolay Tikhonov replaces Kosygin due to the latter’s health. Kosygin dies shortly after.
- 1982 – Brezhnev dies. He is replaced by Yuri Andropov.
- 1984 – Andropov dies. He is replaced by Konstantin Chernenko.
- 1985 – Chernenko dies. He is replaced by Mikhail Gorbachev.
- 1985 – Gorbachev launches anti-alcoholism campaign
- 1985 – Glasnost (openness) and Perestroika (restructuring) policies introduced by Gorbachev
- 1987 – US and USSR agree to scrap medium range nuclear missiles
- 1988 – Gorbachev becomes President and retains role as Chair of the Party
- 1988 – Politburo agree to the introduction of some Private Enterprise
- 1989 – Year of Counter Revolutions. Popular uprisings against Soviet domination across Eastern Europe. The Berlin Wall falls.
- 1989 – Soviet Forces withdraw from Afghanistan
- 1989 – First freely contested elections in the Soviet Union
- 1990 – Communist Party votes to end One Party Rule
- 1990 – Sanctions imposed on Lithuania
- 1990 – Boris Yeltsin is elected President of the Russian Soviet. He leaves the Communist Party shortly afterwards.
- 1991 (August) – Senior Party officials detain Gorbachev at his holiday retreat. They themselves are arrested after 3 days.
- 1991 (August) – Boris Yeltsin as President of the Russian Soviet bans the Communist Party. It’s assets are seized by the Government.
- 1991 (August) – Boris Yeltsin recognises the independence of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Ukraine declares independence.
- 1991 (September) – Party Congress votes for the dissolution of the USSR.
- 1991 (December 8th) – Signing of documents creating the Commonwealth of Independent States by some former Soviet Republics.
- 1991 (December 25th) – Gorbachev Resigns as Soviet President. Power and the key to the Russian Nuclear arsenal handed to the Russian Government.
- 1991 (December 26th) – Russian Officials take over the Soviet offices and positions of Government.
This consisted of a combination of Zemstvos and Dumas.
A Zemstvo was a district council. It was established to maintain and provide roads, medicine and education within its area. The councils for urban areas (towns) are sometimes called municipal dumas. These local councils were elected by landowners, merchants and artisans. Power though, was held by an executive controlled by the Governor of the region – who
was appointed by the Tsar.
Just like a Phoenix, Russia has risen from the ashes multiple times. Hence the confusion many have when asked how old Russia actually is. The key to this question lies in a different one: Exactly which Russia are we talking about?
Modern Russia
A brief period of chaotic power struggle in the political corridors of Moscow in the late 1980s and early 1990s resulted in the official dissolution of the USSR in 1991.
Russia Day, a public holiday celebrated annually on June 12, commemorating the adoption of the Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic is oftentimes confused with the birthday of the modern, post-Soviet, Russian state. However, it’s misleading to track the existence of the modern Russian state to the declaration adopted on June 12, 1990.
Although the document paved the way for the dissolution of the Soviet Union by establishing the priority of Russian laws over the laws of the USSR, the actual emergence of the modern Russian state happened only a year later, when the Russian Parliament announced the country would be called ‘Russia’ or the ‘Russian Federation’ and the USSR officially disintegrated on December 25, 1991.
Hence, the modern Russian state turned 30 in 2021.
The USSR
Despite a relatively recent reset of its life clock, the Russian statehood is actually much older than 30. For 69 years before the emergence of Russia as a modern and independent state, the country — albeit with a different name — was a part of the Soviet Union, along with other states, members of the communist alliance.
In that capacity, Russia existed from December 30, 1922, and up until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. And before the Soviet Union was fully and officially formed, Russia existed in the form of The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR), which was not yet a part of the USSR. In that capacity, Russian statehood has existed since 1917.
Adding the number of years Russia existed as the RSFSR within and outside of the USSR with the number of years Russia existed as a modern independent state makes Russia 104 years old in 2021.
The Russian Empire and the Russian Tsardom
The often romanticized time of the Russian Empire ended with the revolution in 1917, but it had been around for quite some time. It’s known that Peter the Great proclaimed the emergence of the Russian Empire — and himself as its Emperor — in 1721.
But even before that, the Russian state existed in a different form, as the Tsardom of Russia was formed under the rule of Ivan the Terrible in 1547.
This is not to mention the formation of the Grand Duchy of Moscow in 1263. Ivan III, who ruled this political entity from 1462, assumed the title of the Grand Prince of all Rus’.
Add this into the equation and Russia turned 758 in 2021.
The summoning
Officially, however, it is agreed to trace the emergence of Russian statehood as far back as to the 9th century. Back then — according to the Primary Chronicle — Varangian prince Rurik was called upon by the Finnic and Eastern Slavic peoples of the Northwestern lands to rule over them. He settled in Novgorod in 862 and, thus, launched the first official Russian statehood.
Obviously, for Rurik to be summoned, there must have been people who would have sent for him and his entourage to show up. People had lived on these lands before the Rurikids dynasty was established, however, it is universally accepted to trace back the emergence of the Russian statehood to 862, nonetheless.
So, the next time someone asks you how old Russia is, you now know it turns 1159 in 2021... or does it?
Click here to find out more about the people who founded Russia and ruled it before the Romanovs.
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