A TIMELINE OF RUSSIAN HISTORY

862: The Rurik dynasty is founded

c. 1113: The Russian Primary Chronicle
is created

1547: Ivan the Terrible becomes the first tsar of Russia

1613: The Romanov dynasty begins when Michael I comes to the throne

1711: Peter the Great builds a stone house that would become the Winter Palace

1754: The architect Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli finishes his plans to rebuild the Winter Palace

1762: Catherine the Great comes to the throne

c. 1890: The first
Russian nesting doll
is created

1892: The
Nutcracker debuts in Saint Petersburg

1894: Nicholas II becomes tsar of Russia

1905: Rasputin meets Emperor Nicholas and Empress Alexandra

1914: World War I begins

1916: The Trans-Siberian Railway is completed

1917: The Romanovs come to an end during the Russian Revolution

1922: The Soviet Union is created

1924: Joseph Stalin becomes the leader of the Soviet Union

1941: Russia joins the Allies to fight Germany during World War II

1961: Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man in space