istoryworld
Events relating to russia
Russia's reforming tsar, Alexander II, is killed by hand-made grenades thrown at his carriage in St Petersburg
Alexander Borodin dies without finishing his opera Prince Igor (completed later by Rimsky-Korsakov and Glazunov)
Lenin's elder brother Alexander, while still a student, is executed for his part in a plot to assassinate the tsar, Alexander III
Sleeping Beauty, with choreography by Petipa to music by Tchaikovsky, has its premiere in St Petersburg
The Nutcracker, with choreography by Lev Ivanov to music by Tchaikovsky, has its premiere in St Petersburg
Tchaikovsky's symphony no. 6, known as the 'Pathetic' or Pathétique, has its premiere in St Petersburg
Russian composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky dies after a short illness, possibly from cholera or perhaps in sinister circumstances that remain the subject of controversy
France and Russia, alarmed by Germany's ambitions, sign a defensive Franco-Russian alliance
Swan Lake is performed in St Petersburg in its definitive version, with choreography shared between Lucien Petipa and Lev Ivanov
General Alfred von Schlieffen devises plans for a potential two-pronged attack against France and Russia in a swift war
Lenin is arrested in St Petersburg, along with other members of the Union for the Struggle for the Liberation of the Working Class
Anton Chekhov's play The Seagull has a disastrous premiere in St Petersburg (but is well received two years later in Moscow)
Rachmaninov's First Symphony has a disastrous premiere in St Petersburg, probably caused by the incompetence of Glazunov as conductor
Russian forces seize the strategically important Chinese harbour known in the west as Port Arthur
Chekhov's The Seagull, directed by Konstantin Stanislavsky, succeeds at the Moscow Art Theatre
Anton Chekhov's play Uncle Vanya is directed by Stanislavsky at the Moscow Art Theatre
Lenin and comrades launch in Munich a radical newspaper, Iskra ('the spark')
The Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov keeps dogs alive almost indefinitely by severely curtailing their bodily functions
Sergei Rachmaninov's Second Piano Concerto gives him renewed confidence after the disaster of his First Symphony in 1897
Anton Chekhov's Three Sisters has its premiere at the Moscow Art Theatre, directed by Stanislavsky
In his pamphlet What is to be done? Lenin argues for early action to promote revolution
Maxim Gorky's play The Lower Depths is performed at the Moscow Art Theatre
Lenin's supporters become known as the Bolsheviks ('majority') as opposed to the Mensheviks ('minority') after a split at the party's Second Congress
Anton Chekhov's last play, The Cherry Orchard, is staged by Stanislavsky just a few months before the author's death
A surprise Japanese attack on Russian warships in Port Arthur launches the Russo-Japanese War for influence in the Far East
