Civilian and Political Life during the Crimean War
(1826-1852)

   


An antique British print produced by Virtue in 1857 entitled 'Last moments of the Tsar'

 

 
A historical overview of the political and civilian events
that took place during the years 1853 to 1856
 

This section will focus on a history of events that took place throughout the Russian Empire during the Crimean War.  The Russian Tsars of the period will also be profiled at a later time.  All dates are given according to the modern Gregorian calendar, some dates (given in parenthesis) are Julian calendar dates that were used by the Russian Empire during this period.

Political & Civil Events Historical Index
  

 
Statistics of the Russian Empire
1826-1852
 

Russian Leaders
(1826-1852)
1825-1855 Nicholas Romanov I
1855-1881 Alexander Romanov II

 

Timeline 1823-1856

1853
    Alexandr Herzen, pro-Western writer and thinker, founds a 'Free Russian Press' in London.  It led many Russians to talk about more open discussion of issues and a free press at home.
    Russian naval vessels make official visit to Nagasaki.
1854
    Alexander Nikolayevich Ostrovsky, Russian dramatic writer produces his popular play 'Poverty is no crime'.
    A group of Siberian Cossacks from Omsk found fort Zailiysky at the foot of the Tian Shan mountains.  The next year it was renamed Verny.  In the Soviet era the city would later become Alma-Alta, capital of the Kazakh republic.
1855
    Kazakhstan comes fully under Russian control, who now holds the Syr Darya river from the Aral Sea to Lake Issyk Kul.
  7 February

The Treaty of Shimoda is signed between Admiral Efimii Vasilevich Putiantin and Toshiakira Kawaji in Shimoda Japan.  The treaty defined the border between Japan and Russia.  It divided the Kuril islands and established Sakhalin as a joint possession.  The treaty also gave Russia most favored nation trading status with Japan and opened the harbors of Nagasaki, Shimoda, and Hakodate.  It also established protection for shipwrecked Russian sailors and stated that the Japanese would provide the Russian fleet with water and wood.
  2 March
(18 February)		 Tsar Nicholas I dies.
   

Novelist Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy writes the second of his three autobiographical novels 'Boyhood'.  The story tells of a rich landowners son who discovers how he is different from his peasant friends.
  14 September
(4 September)		 Russian statesman Count Sergey Semionovich Uvarov dies in Moscow.
  21 November Sweden concludes a treaty of alliance with Britain, France and Turkey against Russia.
1856
    Russian novelist and playwright Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev writes 'Rudin' the first of his six novels.
  18 December
(29 November)		 Russian revolutionary writer George Plekhanov born.  He would later become a Marxist and influence Vladimir Lenin.
  14 June Russian mathematician Andrey Andreyevich Markov is born.  He would go on to develop theories dealing with stochastic processes and Markov chains.
    Novelist Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy writes the last of his three autobiographical novels 'Youth'.  It continues the story of a rich landowners son who discovers how he is different from his peasant friends.

 

  

Statistics of the Russian Empire
(1853-1856)

 
Students in Russian schools (1856): 400,000
 

Selected Items from
the Crimean War era

Earlier Political Events

Back to the
Crimean War

Later Political Events