BLUE = ALEXANDER II, 1855-81
ORANGE = ALEXANDER III, 1881-94 PURPLE = STALIN’S DICTATORSHIP, 1928-1953
YELLOW = NICHOLAS II, 1894-1917 PINK = KHRUSCHEV AND DE-STALINISATION,
GREEN = PG/BOLSHEVIK SEIZURE OF POWER, 1917 1953-64
RED = LENIN TO STALIN, 1917-28
Russia Timeline (1855 -1964)
Date Event
1856 Alexander II tells the Marshalls of the nobility that it was better to abolish
serfdom from above
1857 Committee set up to consider how to abolish serfdom
Provincial nobles elect committee to consider reform
1857-9 Peasant disturbances on news of emancipation
Key decision in December that freed serfs would acquire land
1859 Editing Commission established to draw up the statutes incl. ‘enlightened
bureaucrats’ like Nicholas Milyutin
1861 19th Feb: AII signed the law the proclamation and statutes abolishing serfdom
Military reforms begin
1863 Changes in education begins
Primary and secondary education extended
Greater freedom for universities
1864 Local gov reforms
Judicial reforms
1865 Censorship laws formalising relaxation of censorship
1866 Karakov’s attempted assassination of AII = counter-reforms, more censorship
and tighter university controls
1870 Town councils set up
1873 Narodnik/Populist ‘going to the people’ movement begins
1877 Trial of the 50 and Trial of the 193
1879 Black Partition and the People’s Will revolutionary groups form properly
1880 Third Section abolished
Loris-Melikov commission to suggest reform
1881 Assassination of AII
Date Event
1881 AIII becomes Tsar
Statute of State Security – emergency powers introduced
Okhrana (secret police) established
1883 Over the course of several years the poll tax was abolished
Peasants’ Land Bank set up
1884 University Statute – stricter controls, more traditional curriculum, modern
subject discouraged
1885 Nobles’ Land Bank set up
1889 Office of Land Captain set up
1890 Zemstva Act – reduced independence of zemstva, control more centralised and
put under Ministry of the Interior, favoured landowners
1891-2 Widespread famine
1892 Municipal Government Act – number of people eligible to vote dramatically cut
to favour rich property owners (for municipal councils)
Town/city gov counter-reforms (restricting franchise)
1892- Sergei Witte made Minister of Finance, reforms focused on:
, 1903 1. State-sponsored development of heavy industry
2. Foreign loans, investment and expertise
3. High tariffs on foreign industrial goods
4. Strong rouble, gold standard in 1897
5. Raised taxation rates
6. Exports of grain
1894 Death of AIII
Date Event
1894 Accession of Nicholas II
1897 Russia adopts the Gold Standard
1898 Formation of Russian Social Democratic Workers’ Party
1899 Social Revolutionary Party established
1901- Economic slump =depression and famine
1905 Agrarian and industrial unrest
1901 Lenin publishes ‘What Is to Be Done?’
Peasant disorder
Commission on agriculture set up
1903 Main section of Trans-Siberian railway completed
Union of Liberation (moderate) established
Social Democrats split into Bolsheviks and Mensheviks
Labour strikes
Anti-Semitic pogroms
1904 Struve initiates liberal campaign of political banquets
Minister of the interior, Plehve, assassinated by Social Revolutionaries
1905 9 Jan - Bloody Sunday massacre
(messy 4 Feb – Assassination of the Grand Duke Sergei
year) May – Union of Unions formed
14 June – Mutiny of battle ship Potemkin
31 July – All-Russian Peasant Union signed
29 Aug – Treaty of Portsmouth signed – end of war w/ Japan (lost)
Sept – General Strike
12-18 Oct – Kader Party formed
13 Oct – St Petersburg Soviet formed
17 Oct – October Manifesto promises political change
3 Dec – Leaders of the St Petersburg Soviet arrested
Dec – Armed uprising in Moscow crushed
1906 Suppression of peasants and minorities
April – June – First Duma = Bad, nothing gets done
1907 Feb-June – Second Duma = ‘Duma of National Anger’ AKA right vs the left
1907 – Third Duma = more positive, although was failing by 1911
June 1912 Achievements:
Stolypin’s land reforms, although faced opposition
Education law in 1908, universal education, compulsory primary school
for 8-11-year olds
Improvements in army and navy
Restoration of Justices of the Peace, replacing the hated Land Captains
ORANGE = ALEXANDER III, 1881-94 PURPLE = STALIN’S DICTATORSHIP, 1928-1953
YELLOW = NICHOLAS II, 1894-1917 PINK = KHRUSCHEV AND DE-STALINISATION,
GREEN = PG/BOLSHEVIK SEIZURE OF POWER, 1917 1953-64
RED = LENIN TO STALIN, 1917-28
Russia Timeline (1855 -1964)
Date Event
1856 Alexander II tells the Marshalls of the nobility that it was better to abolish
serfdom from above
1857 Committee set up to consider how to abolish serfdom
Provincial nobles elect committee to consider reform
1857-9 Peasant disturbances on news of emancipation
Key decision in December that freed serfs would acquire land
1859 Editing Commission established to draw up the statutes incl. ‘enlightened
bureaucrats’ like Nicholas Milyutin
1861 19th Feb: AII signed the law the proclamation and statutes abolishing serfdom
Military reforms begin
1863 Changes in education begins
Primary and secondary education extended
Greater freedom for universities
1864 Local gov reforms
Judicial reforms
1865 Censorship laws formalising relaxation of censorship
1866 Karakov’s attempted assassination of AII = counter-reforms, more censorship
and tighter university controls
1870 Town councils set up
1873 Narodnik/Populist ‘going to the people’ movement begins
1877 Trial of the 50 and Trial of the 193
1879 Black Partition and the People’s Will revolutionary groups form properly
1880 Third Section abolished
Loris-Melikov commission to suggest reform
1881 Assassination of AII
Date Event
1881 AIII becomes Tsar
Statute of State Security – emergency powers introduced
Okhrana (secret police) established
1883 Over the course of several years the poll tax was abolished
Peasants’ Land Bank set up
1884 University Statute – stricter controls, more traditional curriculum, modern
subject discouraged
1885 Nobles’ Land Bank set up
1889 Office of Land Captain set up
1890 Zemstva Act – reduced independence of zemstva, control more centralised and
put under Ministry of the Interior, favoured landowners
1891-2 Widespread famine
1892 Municipal Government Act – number of people eligible to vote dramatically cut
to favour rich property owners (for municipal councils)
Town/city gov counter-reforms (restricting franchise)
1892- Sergei Witte made Minister of Finance, reforms focused on:
, 1903 1. State-sponsored development of heavy industry
2. Foreign loans, investment and expertise
3. High tariffs on foreign industrial goods
4. Strong rouble, gold standard in 1897
5. Raised taxation rates
6. Exports of grain
1894 Death of AIII
Date Event
1894 Accession of Nicholas II
1897 Russia adopts the Gold Standard
1898 Formation of Russian Social Democratic Workers’ Party
1899 Social Revolutionary Party established
1901- Economic slump =depression and famine
1905 Agrarian and industrial unrest
1901 Lenin publishes ‘What Is to Be Done?’
Peasant disorder
Commission on agriculture set up
1903 Main section of Trans-Siberian railway completed
Union of Liberation (moderate) established
Social Democrats split into Bolsheviks and Mensheviks
Labour strikes
Anti-Semitic pogroms
1904 Struve initiates liberal campaign of political banquets
Minister of the interior, Plehve, assassinated by Social Revolutionaries
1905 9 Jan - Bloody Sunday massacre
(messy 4 Feb – Assassination of the Grand Duke Sergei
year) May – Union of Unions formed
14 June – Mutiny of battle ship Potemkin
31 July – All-Russian Peasant Union signed
29 Aug – Treaty of Portsmouth signed – end of war w/ Japan (lost)
Sept – General Strike
12-18 Oct – Kader Party formed
13 Oct – St Petersburg Soviet formed
17 Oct – October Manifesto promises political change
3 Dec – Leaders of the St Petersburg Soviet arrested
Dec – Armed uprising in Moscow crushed
1906 Suppression of peasants and minorities
April – June – First Duma = Bad, nothing gets done
1907 Feb-June – Second Duma = ‘Duma of National Anger’ AKA right vs the left
1907 – Third Duma = more positive, although was failing by 1911
June 1912 Achievements:
Stolypin’s land reforms, although faced opposition
Education law in 1908, universal education, compulsory primary school
for 8-11-year olds
Improvements in army and navy
Restoration of Justices of the Peace, replacing the hated Land Captains
