Important Dates

May 3, 1729: Birth of Sophie Frederika Augusta.

December 7, 1741: Elizabeth, daughter of Peter the Great, comes to the throne of Russia, overthrowing the infant Tsar Ivan VI and his regent mother Anna Leopoldovna.

1743: Sophie arrives at the court of Empress Elizabeth.

October 2, 1754: Birth of future Tsar Paul, son of Catherine and Peter.

January 6-7, 1762: Death of Empress Elizabeth. Peter III comes to the throne.

July 10, 1762: Catherine overthrows her husband, and he is murdered by guards a week later.

October 4, 1762: Coronation of Catherine II.

July 1764: Ivan VI murdered by guards during attempt to release him.

November 16, 1764: Imperial Academy of Arts founded.

Summer 1767: Legislation Commission convened.

1768: War with Turkey begins, Legislative Commission dissolved.

January 10, 1769: Introduction of the first paper money in Russia.

July 18, 1770: Battle of Chesme, Ottoman navy sunk.

January 16, 1772: 158 paintings brought from Paris to the Hermitage, including Rembrandt’s famous Danaia.

Autumn 1773: Yemelyan Pugachov rebellion begins.

July 22, 1774: Treaty of Kuchuk Kainardji ends first Turkish war. Russia gets route to the Black Sea.

January 12, 1775: Pugachov executed in Moscow.

April 9, 1776: Founding of the Bolshoi Theater.

1780: Declaration of Armed Neutrality in support of American colonies.

April 20, 1783: Annexation of the Crimea.

1787-92: Second war with Turkey.

1788-90: War with Sweden.

1789: French Revolution begins.

January 9, 1792: Treaty of Jassy with Turkey. Russia expands to the Dniester river.

1793: Execution of Louis XIV of France.

October 12, 1793: Russian Language Academy set up under Princess Yekaterina Dashkova.

November 6, 1794: Marshal Suvorov quells Polish uprising, enters Warsaw.

December 26, 1795: Third and last partition of Poland. Russia expands to the Bug and Niemen rivers.

September 28, 1796: Catherine closes down private printing presses and introduces censorship by decree.

November 18, 1796: Catherine dies. Her son Paul accedes to the throne.