Name: Russia Continent: Asia Population: 145,500,000 Religion: Russian Orthodox; Muslim; Other

The defeat of the Russian Empire in World War I led to the seizure of power by the Communists and the formation of the USSR. The brutal rule of Josef STALIN (1924-53) strengthened Russian dominance of the Soviet Union at a cost of tens of millions of lives. The Soviet economy and society stagnated in the following decades until General Secretary Mikhail GORBACHEV (1985-91) introduced glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) in an attempt to modernize Communism, but his initiatives inadvertently released forces that by December 1991 splintered the USSR into 15 independent republics. Since then, Russia has struggled in its efforts to build a democratic political system and market economy to replace the strict social, political, and economic controls of the Communist period. A determined guerrilla conflict still plagues Russia in Chechnya. Information from the CIA World Fact Book

Timeline of Events Date Event 850   850 Vikings seize Kiev; Origin of Varangian empire of the Rus 1238 8 February 1238 Mongol leader Batu Khan sacks Vladimir; Establishes the Golden Horde 1561   1561 St. Basil in Moscow completed 1725   1725 Peter the Great dies 1772 5 August 1772 First Partition of Poland by Prussia, Russia, and Austria 1793 23 January 1793 Second Partition of Poland by Prussia, Russia, and Austria 1796   1796 Catherine the Great dies 1807 7 February 1807 Battle of Eylau 1812 24 June 1812 Napoleon leads French invasion of Russia, resulting in catastrophic defeat for Franch 7 September 1812 Battle of Borodino 1828   1828 Leo Tolstoi born 1848 21 February 1848 Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish the Communist Manifesto in London 1860   1860 Anton Chekhov born 1861   1861 Russia emancipates its serfs 1869   1869 Leo Tolstoy's novel War and Peace 1904 8 February 1904 Japan defeats Russia in the Russo-Japanese War; First victory of an Asian state over a European one in modern era 1918 3 March 1918 Bolshevik government of Russia signs the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, surrenders large territories to Germany, and formally withdraws from World War I. 1922 28 December 1922 Formal creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics by the First Congress of Soviets 1924 21 January 1924 Lenin dies; Stalin assumes power in the Soviet Union 1928   1928 Agriculture collectivized in USSR 1941 2 October 1941 Battle of Moscow begins 1942 18 January 1942 Battle of Moscow ends 1949 29 August 1949 The Soviet Union successfully detonates an atomic weapon 1957   1957 USSR launches Sputnik--Space race begins 1961   1961 Yuri Gagarin first person in space, Soviet Union 1965   1965 First woman in space, Tereshkova from Soviet Union 1968   1968 Yuri Gagarin dies 1972   1972 Andrei Tupolev dies 1985 11 March 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev elected by the Politburo as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the U.S.S.R. 1986 26 April 1986 Chernobyl nuclear plant accident 1991 19 August 1991 Communist hard-liners launch a failed coup attempt against Mikhail Gorbachev in the U.S.S.R. 1998 17 August 1998 Decline in commodity prices triggers financial crisis in Russia and discredits the government of President Boris Yeltsin 1999 31 December 1999 Vladimir Putin becomes acting President of the Russian Federation after Boris Yeltsin resigns Go here for timeline sources.