852 The year when the timeline of the Primary Chronicle starts

c860 Novgorod was founded about this time.

862 Rus'–Byzantine War (860): military expedition of the Rus' Khaganate.

• 
  Arrival of Varyags: Rurik comes to rule Novgorod, establishing Rurikid Dyn, traditionally considered beginning of Russian state.
  

907 Rus’-Byzantine War (907): Oleg led an army to the walls of Constantinople.

• 
  Rus'-Byzantine War (907): A Rus'-Byzantine Treaty allowed Rus' merchants to enter the city under guard.
  

912 Oleg died and was succeeded by Igor, who may have been Rurik's son.

941 May Rus'-Byzantine War (941): A Rus' army landed at Bithynia.

• 
  Sep Rus'-Byzantine War (941): The Byzantines destroyed the Rus' fleet.
  

• 
  Igor died; his wife Olga became regent of Kievan Rus' for their son, Sviatoslav I.
  

965 Sviatoslav conquered Khazaria.

968 Pechenegs besieged Kiev. Rus' general created the illusion of a much larger army, and frightened them away.

969 July 8 Sviatoslav moved the capital from Kiev to Pereyaslavets in Bulgaria.

971 The Byzantine Empire captured Pereyaslavets. The capital moved back to Kiev.

972 Sviatoslav was killed by the Pechenegs during an expedition on their territory. His son Yaropolk I succeeded him.

980 Yaropolk was betrayed and murdered by his brother Vladimir I, The Great, who succeeded him as Prince of Kiev.

981 Vladimir conquered Red Ruthenia from the Poles.

988 Christianization of Kievan Rus': Vladimir destroyed pagan idols and urged inhabitants to baptize in Dnieper.

1014 Oct 6, Byzantine Emperor Basil II (958-1025) earned title "Slayer of Bulgars" after he ordered blinding of 15,000 Bulgarian troops.

• 
  Basil II was godfather to Russia’s Prince Vladimir.
  

• 
  Sviatopolk ordered the murder of three of Vladimir's younger sons.
  

1017 Yaroslav issued the first Russian code of law, the Russkaya Pravda.

1018 Polish Expedition to Kiev: Sviatopolk led the Polish army into Rus'. Red Ruthenia returned to Polish possession.

• 
  Aug 14 Polish Expedition to Kiev: The Polish army captured Kiev; Yaroslav fled to Novgorod.
  

1024 Rus'-Byzantine War (1024): A Rus fleet was annihilated by the Byzantines near the island of Lemnos.

1030 Yaroslav reconquered Red Ruthenia from the Poles.

1043 Rus'-Byzantine War (1043): Yaroslav led an unsuccessful naval raid on Constantinople.

1044-1050 The Cathedral of Saint Sophia was built in Novgorod.

1054 Yaroslav died. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Iziaslav I.

1068 Iziaslav was overthrown in a popular uprising and forced to flee to Poland.

1069 Iziaslav led the Polish army back into Kiev and reestablished himself on the throne.

1073 Two of Iziaslav's brothers, Sviatoslav II and Vsevolod I, overthrew him; the former became prince of Kiev.

1076 Dec 27 Sviatoslav died. Vsevolod I succeeded him, but traded princedom of Kiev in exchange for Chernigov.

1078 Iziaslav died. The throne of Kiev went to Vsevolod.

1093 April 13 Vsevolod died. Kiev and Chernigov went to Iziaslav's illegitimate son, Sviatopolk II.

• 
  May 26 Battle of the Stugna River: A Russian army attacked the Cumans at the Stugna River and was defeated.
  

1125 May 19 Vladimir died. His eldest son, Mstislav I, succeeded him.

1132 April 14 Mstislav died. His brother Yaropolk II followed him as prince of Kiev.

1136 Novgorod expelled the prince appointed for them by Kiev and vastly circumscribed the authority of the office!!

1147 Moscow was founded by Prince Yuri Dolgoruky, a ruler of the northeastern Rus.

• 
  He built the first fortress, or kremlin, along Moscow River.
  

1227 Boyar intrigues forced Mstislav, the prince of Novgorod, to give the throne to his son-in-law Andrew II of Hungary.

1236 Alexander Nevsky was summoned by Novgorodians to become Grand Prince of Novgorod and, as their military leader, to defend their northwest lands from Swedish and German invaders.

1237 Dec Mongol invasion of Rus: Batu Khan set fire to Moscow and slaughtered and enslaved its civilian inhabitants.

1238 Feb 3, The Mongols took over Vladimir, Russia.

1240 July 15 Battle of Neva: Novgorodian army defeated a Swedish invasion force.

1242 April 5 Battle of the Ice: The army of Novgorod defeated Teutonic Knights on surface of Lake Peipus.

1263 Nov 14 Nevsky died, his youngest son Daniel became first Prince of Moscow.

• 
  His younger brother Yaroslav of Tver had become the Grand Prince of Tver and of Vladimir and had appointed deputies to run the Principality of Moscow during Daniel's minority.
  

1317 Yury married sister of Uzbeg Khan. Uzbeg deposed the Grand Prince of Vladimir and appointed Yury to that office.

1322 Dmitriy the Terrible Eyes, convinced Uzbeg Khan that Yury had been stealing from khan's tribute money.

• 
  He was reappointed to the princedom of Vladimir.
  

1327 Aug 15 Ambassador of Golden Horde was trapped and burned alive during an uprising in the Grand Duchy of Tver.

1328 Ivan led a Horde army against Grand Prince of Tver, also Grand Prince of Vladimir.

• 
  Ivan allowed to replace him in latter office.
  

1340 March 31 Ivan died. His son Simeon succeeded him both as Grand Prince of Moscow and as Grand Prince of Vladimir

1353 Simeon died. His younger brother Ivan II, The Fair, succeeded him as Grand Prince of Moscow.

1359 Nov 13 Ivan died. His son, Dmitri Donskoi, succeeded him.

1380 Sep 8 Battle of Kulikovo: A Russian force defeated a significantly larger Blue Horde army at Kulikovo Field.

1382 The Mongol khan Tokhtamysh reasserted his power by looting and burning Moscow.

1389 May 19 Dmitri died. The throne fell to his son, Vasili I.

1395 Tamerlane, a Turkic conqueror, swept into Southern Russia and Georgia driving locals into the hills.

1407 Jan 21, Duke Vytautas led Polish and German forces for a 2nd time against the Duchy of Moscow.

1425 Feb 27 Vasili died. His son Vasili II, The Blind, succeeded him as Grand Prince of Moscow.

• 
  His younger brother, Yury Dmitrievich, also issued a claim to the throne.
  

• 
  Vasili II retained Duchy of Moscow, but Dmitrievich was given the Duchy of Dmitrov.
  

1433 Exodus of Muscovite boyars to Vasili II's court in Kolomna persuaded Dmitrievich to return Moscow to nephew and move to Galich.

1434 Vasily II burned Galich.

• 
  March 16 The army of Yury Dmitrievich defeated the army of Vasily II. The latter fled to Nizhny Novgorod.
  
• 
  April 1 Dmitrievich arrived in Moscow and again declared himself the Grand Prince.
  
• 
  July 5 Dmitrievich died. His eldest son Vasili Kosoy, the Cross-Eyed, succeeded him as Grand Prince.
  

• 
  Vasili the Cross-Eyed was expelled from the Kremlin and blinded.
  

• 
  Vasili II returned to the throne of the Grand Prince.
  

1444 Cossacks were first mentioned in Russian history.

1445 July 7 Battle of Suzdal: Russian army suffered defeat by Tatars of Kazan.

• 
  Vasili II taken prisoner; operation of gov fell to Dmitry Shemyaka
  
• 
  Dec Vasili II was ransomed back to Russia.
  

1450 The boyars of Moscow expelled Shemyaka from the Kremlin and recalled Vasili II to the throne.

1452 Shemyaka was forced to flee to the Novgorod Republic.

1453 Shemyaka was poisoned by Muscovite agents.

1462 March 27 Vasili II died. His son Ivan III, The Great, succeeded him as Grand Prince.

1463 Russia annexed the Duchy of Yaroslavl.

1471 July 14 Battle of Shelon: A Muscovite army defeated a numerically superior Novgorodian force.

1474 Russia annexed the Rostov Duchy.

1475-1509 Italian architects invited by Ivan III built the Kremlin Cathedrals of the Assumption and the Archangel.

1476 Ivan stopped paying tribute to the Great Horde.

1478 Jan 14 The Novgorod Republic surrendered to the authority of Moscow.

1480 Nov 11 Great stand on the Ugra river: Ivan's forces deterred Akhmat Khan of the Great Horde from invading Russia.

1485 Ivan annexed the Grand Duchy of Tver.

1493 Jan 4, Ivan III, Grand Duke of Moscow, announced the 1st war with Lithuania. In fact the war had begun in 1487.

1493 After a major fire in Moscow, Ivan III forbad the construction of wooden buildings in the old city.

1495 Feb 5, The 1st Lithuanian Russian war ended with the signing of a peace treaty in Moscow.

1495 Feb 15, Lithuanian Grand Duke Alexander wed Duchess Elena of Moscow.

1497 Ivan issued a legal code, the Sudebnik.

1501 Mar 1, Lithuania and Livonia established a 10-year union for protection against Russia.

1503 Mar 28, The 2nd Lithuanian war with Russia (1500-1503) ended with a treaty. Lithuania lost a fourth of its territory.

1505 Oct 27 Ivan died. He was succeeded as Grand Duke of Russia by his son, Vasili III.

1507 Russo-Crimean Wars: The Crimean Khanate raided the Russian towns of Belyov and Kozelsk.

1510 With the approval of most of the local nobility, Vasili arrived in the Pskov Republic and declared it dissolved.

1511 Vasily III became the new patriarch of Moscow.

1514 Vasily III, ruler of Moscow, captured Smolensk from Poland.

1517 The last Grand Prince of the Ryazan Principality was captured and imprisoned in Moscow.

1530 Aug 25, Ivan IV (Ivan the Terrible), 1st tsar of Russia (1533-84), was born.

1533 Dec 3 Vasili died; his son Ivan IV, The Terrible, succeeded him. His wife Elena Glinskaya became regent.

1537 Mar 25, The 5th Lithuanian war with Russia (1534-1537) ended with a peace treaty.

1538 April 4 Glinskaya died. She was succeeded as regent by Prince Vasily Nemoy.

1542 Ivan the Terrible at age 12 entertained himself by dropping dogs from the higher battlements of the Kremlin.

1547 Jan 16 An elaborate ceremony crowned Ivan the first tsar of Russia.

1547 Feb 3, Russian czar Ivan IV (17) married Anastasia Romanova.

1547 Jun 21, There was a great fire in Moscow.

1552 Aug, Ivan IV of Russia began his conquest of Kazan

• 
  August 22 Siege of Kazan (1552): Russian armed forces arrived at Kazan.
  
• 
  Oct 2 Siege of Kazan (1552): The Russian army breached the walls of Kazan.
  
• 
  Oct 13 Siege of Kazan (1552): The civilian population of Kazan was massacred, the city occupied.
  

1557 Feb 27, 1st Russian Embassy opened in London.

1558 Livonian War: Ivan demanded tribute from Bishopric of Dorpat. Bishop sent diplomats to renegotiate amount;

• 
  Ivan expelled them and invaded and occupied the Bishopric.
  

1561 Basilica of St. Basil in Moscow, begun in 1555, was completed under the reign of Ivan the Terrible to celebrate conquest of Khanate of Kazan.

1561 Nov 28 Livonian Order agreed to Union of Wilno, Livonian Confederation was partitioned

1563 Feb 15, Ivan IV led Russian forces in the takeover of Polocka, defended under the leadership of Stanislav Davaina.

1564 Jan 26, A Lithuanian Army under Radvila the Brown defeated a Russian force 5 times larger and stopped its entry into Lithuania.

1565 Feb Ivan established the Oprichnina, a Russian territory ruled directly by the tsar.

1569 July 1 The Union of Lublin was signed. Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania were merged into Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth;

1569 Dec 23, St. Philip, metropolitan of Moscow, was martyred by Ivan the Terrible.

1570 Jan 2, Tsar Ivan the Terrible began a march to Novgorod.

1570 Jan 9, Ivan the Terrible, Tsar of Muscovy, sacked the city of Great Novgorod, massacring most of its inhabitants

1572 The Oprichnina was abolished.

1577 Tsar Ivan sent an army to Volga region with orders to kill as many Cossacks as possible.

1577 Cossacks under Yermak migrated northeast and negotiated a deal with Stroganoff brothers to serve as "frontier guards" in the Ural Mountains.

1579 A 13th century Icon of the Virgin Mary miraculously resurfaced in Kazan.

1580 Jul, Some 540 Cossacks under Yermak invaded the territory of the Vogels, subjects to Kutchum, the Khan of Siberia.

1581 Nov 16 Ivan killed his eldest son.

1581 Stephen Bathory, King of Poland, invaded Russia.

1581 Russia began the conquest of Siberia. Cossacks under Yermak subdued Vogul towns and captured a tax collector of Khan Kutchum.

1582 Jan 15 Livonian War: Peace of Jam Zapolski ended Polish-Lithuanian participation in war.

• 
  Russia gave up its claims to Livonia and the city of Polatsk.
  
• 
  May, Cossacks under Yermak advanced on the capital of Sibir.
  
• 
  Jun 29, Tatar forces attacked invading Cossacks on the Tobol River but Cossack gunfire again repelled them.
  
• 
  Aug 10, Russia ended its 25-year war with Poland.
  
• 
  Sep, Tatar forces that included Voguls and Ostiaks gathered at Mount Chyuvash to defend against invading Cossacks.
  
• 
  Oct 1, Cossacks attempted to storm the Tatar fort at Mount Chyuvash, but were held off.
  
• 
  Oct 23, Cossacks attempted to storm the Tatar fort at Mount Chyuvash for a 4th time when the Tatars counterattacked.
  
• 
  Nov, Ivan IV sent letter to Stroganoff brothers accusing them of provoking Voguls and Ostiaks by sending Yermak and Cossacks into Siberia.
  

1583 Envoys of Yermak reached Tsar Ivan IV and presented him with valuable bundles of furs from Siberia.

1584 March 18 Ivan died of mercury poisoning. Throne fell to his mentally retarded son Feodor I;

• 
  his son-in-law Boris Godunov took de facto charge of government.
  

1589 Boris Godunov asserted Moscow’s Independence from Constantinople.

1589 The first Russian patriarch, Lov, was consecrated by Ecumenical Patriarch Jeremias of Constantinople

1590 Jan 18 Russo-Swedish War (1590–1595): The Treaty of Plussa expired. Russian troops laid siege to Narva.

• 
  Feb 25 Russo-Swedish War (1590–1595): A Swedish governor on the disputed territory surrendered to the Russians.
  

1595 May 18 Russo-Swedish War (1590–1595): The Treaty of Tyavzino was signed. Ingria went to Russia.

1598 Jan 7 Feodor died with no children.

• 
  Feb 21 A zemsky sobor elected Godunov the first non-Rurikid tsar of Russia.
  

1603 Nov 5, Irini Fedorovna, Russian daughter of Czar Boris Godunov, died.

1604 Oct False Dmitriy I, a man claiming to be the murdered Dmitriy Ivanovich, invaded Russia.

1605 April 13 Boris died. His son Feodor II was pronounced tsar.

• 
  July 1 A group of boyars defected in support of False Dmitriy, seized control of the Kremlin, and arrested Feodor.
  
• 
  June 20 False Dmitriy and his army arrived in Moscow.
  
• 
  July 20 Feodor and his mother were strangled.
  
• 
  July 21 False Dmitriy was crowned tsar.
  

• 
  May 17 Conservative boyars led by Vasili Shuisky stormed the Kremlin and shot False Dmitriy to death during his escape.
  
• 
  May 19 Shuisky's allies declared him Tsar Vasili IV.
  

1609 Feb 28 Vasili ceded border territory to Sweden in exchange for military aid against the government of False Dmitriy II.

• 
  Sep Polish-Russian War (1609-1618): The Polish king Sigismund III led an army into Russia.
  

• 
  July 4 Battle of Klushino: Seven thousand Polish cavalrymen defeated a vastly superior Russian force at Klushino.
  
• 
  July 19 Vasili was overthrown. A group of nobles, the Seven Boyars, replaced him at the head of the government.
  
• 
  July 27 Polish-Russian War (1609-1618): A truce was established. The boyars promised to recognize Sigismund's son and heir Władysław as tsar, conditional on severe limits to his power and his conversion to Orthodoxy.
  
• 
  Aug Polish-Russian War (1609-1618): Sigismund rejected the boyars' conditions.
  
• 
  Aug 27, Polish King Wladyslaw was crowned king of Russia.
  
• 
  Dec Hermogenes, the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, urged the Russian people to rise against the Poles.
  
• 
  Dec 11 False Dmitriy II was shot and beheaded by one of his entourage.
  

• 
  Oct 22, Russians, inspired by vision of captive Greek Archbishop Arsenios, won victory and took Chinese quarter, and two days later, Kremlin.
  
• 
  Oct 27, A Polish army which invaded Russia capitulated to Prince Dimitri Pojarski and his Cossacks.
  
• 
  Nov 1 Polish-Russian War (1609-1618): Russian nationalists rising against the Poles recaptured the Kremlin.
  
• 
  Nov 4, Russia drove Catholic Poles and Lithuanians out of Moscow. This marked the end of the "Time of Troubles,"
  

• 
  Feb 21 A zemsky sobor elected Michael Romanov, a grandson of Ivan the Terrible's brother-in-law, the tsar of Russia.
  

1617 Feb 27 Ingrian War: The Treaty of Stolbovo ended the war. Kexholm, Ingria, Estonia and Livonia went to Sweden.

1617 Mar 9, The Treaty of Stolbovo ended the occupation of Northern Russia by Swedish troops.

1618 Dec 11 Polish-Russian War (1609-1618): Truce of Deulino ended war. Russia ceded Smolensk and the Czernihów Voivodeship to Poland.

1619 Feb 13 Feodor Romanov, Michael's father, was released from Polish prison and allowed to return to Russia.

1623 The 1st case of smallpox in Russia was reported.

1631 Jul 23, Sweden's King Gustavus II repulsed an imperialist force at Werben, Russia.

1632 Oct Smolensk War: With the expiration of the Truce of Deulino, a Russian army was sent to lay siege to Smolensk.

1634 Feb 19, At the Battle at Smolensk Polish king Wladyslaw IV beat the Russians. [see Mar 1]

1634 March 1 Smolensk War: The Russian army, surrounded, was forced to surrender.

• 
  June 14 Smolensk War: The Treaty of Polyanovka was signed, ending the war. Poland
  

1643 Piotr Golovin, Cossack governor of Yakutsk province, sent an expedition under Vasily Poyarkov into the far eastern Amur watershed.

1645 July 13 Michael died. His son, Alexis I, succeeded him.

1648 Jan 25 Khmelnytsky Uprising: A Polish magnate, Bohdan Khmelnytsky, persuaded Cossacks of Zaporizhian Sich to join him against the king.

• 
  June 1 Salt Riot: Upset over the introduction of a salt tax, the townspeople launched a rebellion in Moscow.
  
• 
  June 11 Salt Riot: A group of nobles demanded a zemsky sobor on behalf of the rebellion.
  
• 
  July 3 Salt Riot: Many of the rebellion's leaders were executed.
  
• 
  Dec 25 Khmelnytsky Uprising: Khmelnytsky entered the Ukrainian capital, Kiev.
  

1649 In Russia serfs were made part of the land that they inhabited. A later edict allowed them to be sold with the land.

1653 Raskol: Nikon, the Patriarch of Moscow, reformed Russian liturgy to align with the rituals of the Greek Church.

1653 Oct 1, Russian parliament accepted annexation of Ukraine.

1654 Khmelnytsky Uprising: Under Treaty of Pereyaslav, Left-bank Ukraine, the territory of the Zaporozhian Host, became a Russian protectorate.

• 
  July Russo-Polish War (1654–1667): The Russian army invaded Poland.
  

• 
  July 3 Russo-Polish War (1654–1667): The Russian army captured Vilnius.
  
• 
  July 25 Deluge (history): The voivode of Poznań surrendered to the Swedish invaders.
  
• 
  Nov 2 Russia negotiated a ceasefire with Poland.
  

1656 Oct 24, Treaty of Vilnius (Lithuania): Russia and Poland signed an anti-Swedish covenant.

1658 Feb 26 Dano-Swedish War (1657-1658): Treaty of Roskilde ended Sweden's war with Denmark, allowing her to shift troops to eastern conflicts

• 
  Sep 16 Russo-Polish War (1654–1667): The Treaty of Hadiach established a military alliance between Poland and the Zaporozhian Host, and promised the latter a separate state within the Commonwealth.
  
• 
  Dec 28 Russo–Swedish War (1656–1658): The Treaty of Valiesar established a peace.
  

1661 Russo-Polish War (1654–1667): Polish forces recaptured Vilnius.

• 
  The Treaty of Valiesar expired. Russia returned Ingria to the Swedish Empire by the Treaty of Cardis.
  

• 
  On their arrival, they were countered by the military; a thousand were hanged or drowned. The rest were exiled.
  

• 
  The pro-Turkish Cossack noble Petro Doroshenko defeated his pro-Russian adversaries in the Right-bank Ukraine.
  

• 
  Jan 30 Russo-Polish War (1654–1667): The Treaty of Andrusovo ended the war. Poland agreed to cede the Smoleńsk and Czernihów Voivodships and acknowledged Russian control over the Left-bank Ukraine.
  

1669 Doroshenko signed a treaty which recognized his state as a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire.

1670 The Cossack Stenka Razin began a rebellion against the Russian government.

1671 Jun 16 (NS), Stenka Razin, Cossack rebel leader, was tortured & executed in Moscow. [see Jun 6]

1672 May 30, Peter I (the Great) Romanov, great czar (tsar) of Russia (1682-1725), was born [OS]. [see Jun 9]

1674 Cossacks of Right-bank Ukraine elected pro-Russian Ivan Samoylovych, Hetman of the Left-bank Ukraine, to replace Doroshenko and become Hetman of a unified Ukraine.

1675 Aug 6, Russian Czar Aleksei banned foreign haircuts.

1675 In northern Russia Solovki monks resisted church reforms. Tsarist forces broke through, following a 7-year siege.

1676 Russo-Turkish War (1676–1681): The Ottoman army joined Doroshenko's forces in an attack on city of Chyhyryn.

• 
  Jan 29 Alexis died. His son Feodor III became tsar.
  

1681 Jan 3 Russo-Turkish War (1676–1681): The war ended with Treaty of Bakhchisarai.

1681 Jan 8, The treaty of Radzin ended a five year war between the Turks and the allied countries of Russia and Poland.

1682 Feodor abolished the mestnichestvo, an ancient, unmeritocratic system of making political appointments.

• 
  April 14 Avvakum, the most prominent leader of the Old Believer movement, was burned at the stake.
  
• 
  April 27 Feodor died with no children. Peter was declared tsar. His mother became regent.
  
• 
  May 17 Moscow Uprising of 1682: Streltsy regiments belonging to the faction of Alexis's first wife, Maria Miloslavskaya, took over the Kremlin, executed Naryshkina's brothers, and declared Miloslavskaya's invalid son Ivan V the "senior tsar," with Peter remaining on the throne as the junior.
  

1686 Russians returned to Albazino on the far eastern Amur River and were again attacked by the Manchus.

1687 May Crimean campaigns: The Russian army launched an invasion against an Ottoman vassal, the Crimean Khanate.

• 
  June 17 Crimean campaigns: Faced with a burned steppe incapable of feeding their horses, the Russians turned back.
  

• 
  Sep 1, Russia began taxing men's beards.
  
• 
  Oct 11 Shaklovity was executed.
  

1689 Russian and Manchu delegates met at Nerchinsk and drew up a treaty in Latin.

1692 Peter the Great granted the Stroganoff family their lands in perpetuity.

1696 Jan 29 Ivan died.

• 
  April 23 Second Azov campaign: The Russian army began its deployment to an important Ottoman fortress, Azov.
  
• 
  May 27 Second Azov campaign: The Russian navy arrived at the sea and blockaded Azov.
  
• 
  July 19 Second Azov campaign: The Ottoman garrison surrendered.
  

1698 June 6 Streltsy Uprising: Approximately four thousand streltsy overthrew their commanders and headed to Moscow,

• 
  June 18 Streltsy Uprising: The rebels were defeated.
  
• 
  Aug 25, Czar Peter the Great returned to Moscow after his trip through West-Europe.
  
• 
  Sep 5, Russia's Peter the Great imposed a tax on beards.
  
• 
  Peter the Great spent several months at the Shipwright’s Palace in England learning how to build the Russian navy.
  

1699 Dec 20, Peter the Great ordered Russian New Year changed from Sept 1 to Jan 1.

1699 Peter the Great of Russian bans traditional dress, introduces Western fashions, and reforms the Russian calendar.

1700 Jan 1, Russia replaced the Byzantine with the Julian calendar.

• 
  Jun 23, Russia gave up its Black Sea fleet as part of a truce with the Ottoman Empire.
  
• 
  Aug 19 Great Northern War: Russia declared war on Sweden.
  
• 
  Oct 16 Adrian, the patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church, died. Peter prevented the election of a successor.
  
• 
  Nov 20, Sweden's 17-year-old King Charles XII defeated the Russians at Narva.
  

1701 German artisans created an amber room for Frederick I of Prussia. He presented it as a gift to Peter the Great in 1712

1703 May 27, Peter the Great founded St. Petersburg (Leningrad) as the capital of Russia.

1707 Oct 8 Bulavin Rebellion Don Cossacks killed a Russian noble searching their territory for tax fugitives.

1708 Jul 4, Swedish King Karel XII beat Russians.

1708 July 7 Bulavin Rebellion: After a series of devastating military reversals, Bulavin was shot by his former followers.

1708 Sep 28, At the Battle at Lesnaya the Russian army captured a Swedish convoy.

• 
  Dec 18 An imperial decree divided Russia into eight guberniyas (governates).
  

1709 Jul 8, Peter the Great defeated Charles XII at Poltava, in the Ukraine, effectively ending the Swedish empire.

1709 Dec 29, Elisabeth Petrovna, daughter of Peter the Great and Catherine, was born.

1710 Feb 4, Aug II with support of Russian army was recognized by parliament in Warsaw as King of Lithuania and Poland.

1710 Oct 14 The Russian guberniyas were divided into lots according to noble population.

• 
  Nov 20 Russo-Turkish War (1710–1711): Charles XII persuaded Ottoman sultan to declare war on Russia.
  

1711 Mar 19, War was declared between Russia and Turkey.

• 
  July 21 Russo-Turkish War (1710–1711): Peace was concluded with the Treaty of the Pruth.
  

1712 King Frederick I presented his amber room, made as a gift by German artisans in 1701, to Peter the Great [1716].

1712 Feb, Peter the Great married Catherine.

1713 May 8 The Russian capital was moved from Moscow to Saint Petersburg.

• 
  July 17 The Riga Governorate was established on the conquered territory of Livonia.
  

1714 Peter the Great instituted the Order of St. Catherine in honor of his wife, Catherine.

1714 Peter the Great of Russia founded a pharmaceutical firm later named Oktyabar.

1715 Oct 11 Peter demanded that his son endorse his reforms or renounce his right to the thron.

1715 Peter the Great held a funeral for his favorite court dwarf.

1716 Alexei fled to Vienna to avoid military service.

1716 Nov 3, Pacification Treaty of Warsaw Czar Peter the Great (1672-1725) guaranteed Saxon monarch Aug I's (1682-1718) Polish kingdom.

1716 Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm I gave the Czar of Russia an elaborately carved amber chamber.

1717 Aug 4, A friendship treaty was signed between France and Russia.

1717 Nov 22 The Astrakhan Governorate was formed on the southern lands of Kazan Governorate.

• 
  Dec 12 Government reform of Peter I: Peter established collegia, government ministries that superseded the prikazy.
  

• 
  Feb 18 After torture, Alexei publicly renounced the throne and implicated a number of reactionaries in a conspiracy to overthrow his father.
  
• 
  June 13 Alexei was put on trial for treason.
  
• 
  June 26 Alexei died after torture in the Peter and Paul Fortress.
  

1719 May 29 Lots were abolished.

• 
  The Nizhny Novgorod Governorate was reestablished.
  
• 
  The Reval Governorate was established on the conquered territory of Estonia.
  

• 
  Aug 30 Great Northern War: The Treaty of Nystad ended the war. Sweden ceded Estonia, Livonia and Ingria to Russia.
  
• 
  Oct 22 Peter was declared Emperor.
  

• 
  Apr 6, In Russia Peter the Great ended tax on men with beards.
  
• 
  July Russo-Persian War (1722-1723): Russian expedition sailed in support of independence of two Christian kingdoms, Kartli and Armenia
  
• 
  Sep 12, The Treaty of St. Petersburg put an end to the Russo-Persian War.
  
• 
  Peter the Great granted nobility status to the Stroganoff family.
  
• 
  Russian troops fought against Chechen tribes for the 1st time.
  

1725 Czar Peter chose Vitus Bering to lead an expedition to discover whether or not Asia was connected to America.

1725 Feb 8, Peter I (52) "the Great" Romanov, czar of Russia (1682-1725), died.

1725-1727 Catherine I (b.1684) served as empress of Russia.

1726 The Smolensk Governorate was reestablished.

• 
  Feb 8 Catherine established an advisory body, the Supreme Privy Council.
  

• 
  Districts were abolished; uyezds were reestablished.
  
• 
  May 7, Jews were expelled from Ukraine by Empress Catherine I of Russia.
  
• 
  May 17 Catherine died.
  
• 
  May 18, Peter II Alekseyevich (1715-1730) was proclaimed autocrat of Russia.
  
• 
  The Supreme Privy Council was to hold power during his minority.
  
• 
  Sep 9 Supreme Privy Council expelled its most powerful member, the liberal Menshikov.
  

• 
  Feb 25, Peter II Alekseyevich (1715-1730) was crowned as czar of Russia.
  
• 
  Vitus Bering (47), discovered the Bering Strait between Asia and North America.
  

• 
  Feb 1 Supreme Privy Council offered the throne to Anna Ivanovna, the daughter of Ivan V, on the conditions that the Council retain the powers of war and peace and taxation, among others, and that she never marry or appoint an heir.
  
• 
  March 4 Anna tore up the terms of her accession and dissolved the Supreme Privy Council.
  

1734 Mar 9, The Russians took Danzig (Gdansk) in Poland.

1736 May 20 Russo-Turkish War (1735–1739): The Russian army captured the Ottoman fortifications at Perekop.

• 
  June 19 Russo-Turkish War (1735–1739): The Russians captured Azov.
  

1739 Aug 21 Russo-Turkish War (1735-1739): Austria agreed by the Treaty of Belgrade to end its participation in the war.

• 
  Sep 18 Russo-Turkish War (1735-1739): Treaty of Nissa ended the war.
  
• 
  Oct 3, Russia signed a treaty with the Turks, ending a three-year conflict between the two countries.
  

• 
  Oct 18 Anna's lover, Ernst Johann von Biron, was declared regent.
  
• 
  Nov 8 Biron was arrested on the orders of his rival, the Count Burkhard Christoph von Munnich.
  

• 
  Jul 16, Vitus Bering (1680-1741) first sighted Mt. St. Elias, the second highest peak in Alaska at 18,008 feet.
  
• 
  Aug 8 Russo-Swedish War (1741–1743): Sweden declared war on Russia.
  
• 
  Nov 25 Elizabeth, youngest daughter of Peter led Preobrazhensky to Winter Palace to install herself as empress.
  
• 
  Dec 2 Ivan was imprisoned in the Daugavgriva fortress.
  
• 
  Dec 5-6, Russian princess Elisabeth Petrovna grabbed power. Petrovna (31), daughter of Peter the Great, and her husband led a coup d’etat, deposed the infant Czar Ivan VI, had him imprisoned and reigned until her death in 1762.
  
• 
  Dec 7, Elisabeth Petrovna became tsarina of Russia.
  
• 
  Dec 8, Vitus Bering, died on an island off the Kamchatka Peninsula, later named Bering Island.
  

• 
  Dec 1, Empress Elisabeth Petrovna ordered the expulsion of all Jews from Russia.
  
• 
  Russia’s Empress Elisaveta Petrovna presented lands south of Pskov to the A.P. Gannibal
  

• 
  Aug 17, By the Treaty of Abo, Sweden ceded southeast Finland to Russia, ending Sweden's failed war with Russia.
  

1745 Jan 8, England, Austria, Saxony and the Netherlands formed an alliance against Russia.

1750-1756 The Smol’ny Convent was built in St. Petersburg.

1752 In Russia Abram Petrovich Gannibal became a Major-General and was appointed in charge of all military engineering.

1755 Jan 12, Tsarina Elisabeth established the 1st Russian University.

1756 Aug 29 Seven Years' War: The Kingdom of Prussia invaded the Austrian protectorate of Saxony.

1757 May 1 Diplomatic Revolution: Second Treaty of Versailles, Russia joined the Franco-Austrian military alliance.

• 
  May 17 Seven Years' War: Russian troops entered the war.
  

1759 Jul 23, Russians under Saltikov defeated Prussians at Kay in eastern Germany, one-fourth of Prussian army of 27,000 was lost.

1760 Oct 9, Austrian and Russian troops entered Berlin and began burning structures and looting.

1761 Dec 25 The miracle of the House of Brandenburg: Elizabeth died. Her nephew, Peter III, became tsar.

1762 May 5 Seven Years' War: The Treaty of Saint Petersburg ended Russian participation in the war at no territorial gain.

• 
  Jun 28, Catharine II, Russian Tsarina, grabbed power. [see Jul 17]
  
• 
  Jul 17, Peter III of Russia was murdered and his wife, Catherine II, took the throne.
  
• 
  Aug 5, Russia, Prussia and Austria signed a treaty agreeing on the partition of Poland.