Russia topic key dates

Question 1

Emancipation of the Serfs by Tsar Alexander II.

Answer 1

1861

Question 2

Assassination of Alexander II; Alexander III starts repressive policies.

Answer 2

1881

Question 3

Nicholas II becomes Tsar.

Answer 3

1894

Question 4

Russo-Japanese War defeat; Bloody Sunday massacre; start of the 1905 Revolution.

Answer 4

1905

Question 5

February Revolution; Nicholas II abdicates, ending Romanov rule.

Answer 5

1917 (March)

Question 6

October Revolution; Bolsheviks seize power under Lenin.

Answer 6

1917 (November)

Question 7

Russian Civil War (Reds vs. Whites); Bolsheviks consolidate power.

Answer 7

1918-1921

Question 8

Lenin dies; power struggle begins between Stalin and Trotsky.

Answer 8

1924

Question 9

Stalin launches the first Five-Year Plan for industrialization.

Answer 9

1928

Question 10

The Great Purge; Stalin’s campaign of political repression.

Answer 10

1934-1938

Question 11

World War II; Nazi invasion and Soviet victory on Eastern Front.

Answer 11

1941-1945

Question 12

Stalin dies; Khrushchev begins de-Stalinization.

Answer 12

1953

Question 13

Khrushchev removed; Brezhnev takes power.

Answer 13

1964

Question 14

Gorbachev becomes General Secretary; starts glasnost and perestroika reforms.

Answer 14

1985

Question 15

Collapse of the Soviet Union; end of Communist rule in Russia.

Answer 15

1991