Moscow in History

Historical Events

Events 1 - 100 of 221

• 1380-09-08 Battle on Kulikovo: Moscow's great monarch Dimitri defeats the Mongols beginning the decline of the Tatars
• 1408-12-05 Emir Edigu of Golden Horde reaches Moscow

• 1448-12-05 Bishop Jona of Moscow chosen as metropolitan of Kiev/Intoxication
• 1472-06-24 Zoe Paleologa departs Rome for Moscow
• 1478-01-18 Grand Duke Ivan II of Moscow occupies Novgorod

• 1547-06-21 Great fire in Moscow, 2-3,000 killed
• 1552-10-29 Tsar Ivan IV escapes back to Moscow after battle
• 1561-07-12 "Trinity Church" (now Saint Basil's Cathedral) is consecrated in Moscow, Russia
• 1589-01-26 Job is elected as Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia
• 1612-11-01 (22 October O.S.) Time of Troubles in Russia: Moscow, Kitai-gorod, is captured by Russian troops under command of Dmitry Pozharsky
• 1613-02-21 Michael Romanov, son of Patriarch of Moscow, elected first Russian Tsar of the house of Romanov
• 1619-06-24 Tsar Michail's father Filaret becomes patriarch of Moscow
• 1642-03-27 The sixth Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Joseph takes office.
• 1648-06-10 Moscow's people uprise against regent Boris Morozov
• 1649-06-01 Russian Tsar Alexis throws English merchants out of Moscow


• 1665-05-05 Nicolaas Witsen visits patriarch Nikon in Moscow

• 1699-02-04 350 rebellious Streltsi executed in Moscow

• 1752-06-03 Moscow houses and churches destroyed by fire
• 1752-06-06 3rd great fire in Moscow in 2 weeks; 1/3 of city destroyed
• 1755-01-25 Moscow University is established by Elizabeth of Russia and founded by Mikhail Lomonosov on Tatiana Day
• 1755-04-26 1st Russian university opens in Moscow

• 1812-09-18 Great Fire of Moscow burns out after 5 days, 75% of the city destroyed and 12,000 killed
• 1812-10-19 Napoleon Bonaparte and his Grande Armée begin their retreat from Moscow numbering just 100,000 (started campaign with 500,000)
• 1812-10-24 Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Maloyaroslavets takes place near Moscow, French army then forced to retreat through the snow towards Smolensk
• 1812-11-17 Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Krasnoi during Napoleon's retreat from Moscow
• 1854-01-25 Aleksandr Ostrovsky's play "Bednost ne Porok" premieres in Moscow
• 1859-11-16 Aleksandr Ostrovsky's play "Groza" (The Storm) premieres in Moscow
• 1862-07-01 The Russian State Library is founded in Moscow

• 1877-03-04 Tchaikovski's incomplete ballet "Zwanenmeer" premieres in Moscow
• 1878-11-10 Aleksandr Ostrovsky's "Bespridannitsa" premieres in Moscow
• 1879-03-29 Tsjaikovski's opera "Jevgeni Onegin" premieres in Moscow

• 1882-08-20 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture" debuts in Moscow
• 1883-05-27 Tsar Alexander III crowned in Moscow
• 1888-03-20 The premiere of the very first Romani language operetta staged in Moscow, Russia.
• 1891-04-23 Jews are expelled from Moscow, Russia
• 1892-10-08 Sergei Rachmaninoff first performs "Prelude in C-sharp-Minor" in Moscow

• 1904-01-17 Anton Chekhov's play "Cherry Orchard" opens at Moscow Art Theater
• 1904-02-06 Japan notifies Russia that in view of Russia's delaying tactics and provocative military action, Japan is ending negotiations and recalling its members from Moscow
• 1905-12-22 Arrest of St Petersburg Soviet members leads to an uprising of Moscow workers and fighting in the street

• 1914-12-15 Battle of Lodz ends; Russians retreat toward Moscow
• 1918-03-11 Moscow becomes capital of revolutionary Russia

• 1921-03-16 Britain signs a trade agreement with the USSR and sends a trade mission to Moscow: this goes against the US, who in the same month refused to sign a trade agreement
• 1922-05-21 "On the Road to Moscow" is 1st cartoon to receive a Pulitzer Prize
• 1922-09-17 Radio Moscow begins transmitting (12 KWs-most powerful station)

• 1923-07-06 The Central Executive Committee accepts the Treaty of Union, signed in Moscow in December 1922, and the Russian Empire becomes the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
• 1924-01-27 Lenin placed in Mausoleum in Red Square, Moscow
• 1924-10-12 Sokolnicheskaya Radio begins broadcasting from Moscow
• 1925-12-21 "Battleship Potemkin", Soviet silent film directed by Sergei Eisenstein, starring Aleksandr Antonov, Vladimir Barksy and Grigori Aleksandrov, premieres in Moscow

• 1927-12-04 Dmitri Shostakovich's 2nd Symphony premieres in Moscow
• 1928-09-28 Valentin Katayev's "Kvadratura Kruga" premieres in Moscow
• 1929-02-13 Vladimir Mayakofsky's "Klop" premieres in Moscow
• 1930-04-21 Vladimir Mayakovsky's "Moskva Golid" premieres in Moscow
• 1933-05-24 Dmitri Shostakovich's Preludes premieres in Moscow
• 1935-04-28 Moscow underground railway opens (81 km long)
• 1935-05-15 The Moscow Metro is opened to public
• 1936-05-02 Sergei Prokofiev's musical "Peter and the Wolf" premieres in Moscow
• 1936-08-19 Trial against Ljev Kamenev & Grigori Zinovjev because of "Trotskyism" opens in Moscow

• 1937-07-12 -13) Tupolev ANT-25 non-stop flight Moscow to San Jacinto, California
• 1940-03-12 Finland signs the Moscow Peace Treaty in Moscow, surrendering to Russia and ceding 11% of their pre-WWII territory, ending the "Winter War"
• 1941-09-30 German assault on Moscow, Operation Typhoon, begins
• 1941-10-01 Dmitri Shostakovich evacuated by plane to Moscow
• 1941-10-02 Germans launch attack on Moscow
• 1941-10-12 Soviet government moves from Moscow to Volga as Nazis forces close in on Moscow
• 1941-10-16 Germany advances within 60 miles (96 K) of Moscow
• 1941-10-25 Germany attacks Moscow
• 1941-11-12 Germany's drive to take Moscow halted
• 1941-11-23 German troops conquer Klin, at NW of Moscow
• 1941-12-05 Soviet anti-offensive in Moscow drives out Nazi army

• 1942-08-16 British Premier Winston Churchill travels back to Cairo from Moscow
• 1942-08-26 Soviet counter offensive begins in Moscow
• 1943-10-01 Averell Harriman named US ambassador to Moscow
• 1943-10-19 Conference of foreign ministers in Moscow
• 1943-11-03 Dmitri Shostakovich's 8th Symphony premieres in Moscow
• 1944-04-28 Soviet leader Joseph Stalin meets Polish-American priest Stanislaus Orlemanski in Moscow to discuss religion and the future of post-war Poland
• 1944-10-19 British Prime Minister Winston Churchill flies back to London from Moscow
• 1944-12-02 General De Gaulle arrives in Moscow
• 1945-01-13 Sergei Prokofiev's 5th Symphony premieres by the USSR State Symphony Orchestra conducted by Prokofiev, in the Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory
• 1945-02-07 London, Washington and Moscow discuss final phase of World War II
• 1945-06-24 The Moscow Victory Parade takes place
• 1948-07-08 500th anniversary of the Russian Orthodox Church celebrated in Moscow

• 1949-07-29 Moscow ends the blockade of West Berlin

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Famous Birthdays

Birthdays 1 - 100 of 246

• 1350-10-12 Dmitry Donskoy, Grand Prince of Moscow (1359-89), born in Moscow (d. 1389)

• 1479-03-26 Vasili III of Russia, Great Prince of Moscow (1505-33), son of Ivan III (d. 1533)
• 1557-05-31 Feodor I (Fyodor/Theodore Ivanovich), Tsar of Russia (1584-98), born in Moscow, Russia (d. 1598)
• 1578-11-01 Dmitry Pozharsky, Russian prince (known for his military leadership during the Polish–Muscovite War 1611-12), born in Klin County, Moscow Governorate, Tsardom of Russia (d. 1642)
• 1596-07-22 Michael I, first Russian Tsar of the House of Romanov (1613-45), born in Moscow, Russia (d. 1645)
• 1629-03-09 Tsar Alexis I of Russia [Aleksey Mikhaylovich], Tsar of Russia (1645-76), born in Moscow (d. 1676)
• 1657-09-27 Sophia Alekseyevna, Regent of Russia (1682-89), born in Moscow, Russia (d. 1704)
• 1666-08-27 Ivan V, co-tsar of Russia (1682-89), born in Moscow, Russia (d. 1696)
• 1669-08-09 Yevdokiya Lopukhina, Tsarina of Russia as the first wife of Peter I of Russia, born in Moscow (d. 1731)

• 1727-11-01 Ivan Shuvalov, 1st Russian Minister of Education and founder of the Moscow University, born in Moscow (d. 1797)
• 1749-08-31 Alexander Radishchev, Russian writer (Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow), born in Moscow (1802)
• 1770-07-13 Alexander Balashov, Russian general and statesman, born in Moscow (d. 1837)
• 1782-12-26 Filaret Drozdov, Metropolitan of Moscow (d. 1867)
• 1784-07-27 Denis Davydov, Russian general and poet, born in Moscow, Russia (d. 1839)
• 1793-07-05 Pavel Ivanovich Pestel, Russian officer, born in Moscow, Russia (d. 1826)
• 1795-01-15 Alexandr Griboyedov, Russian playwright, born in Moscow, Russia (d. 1829)
• 1799-06-06 Alexander Pushkin, Russian writer and poet (Eugene Onegin), born in Moscow, Russian Empire (d. 1837)
• 1801-11-27 Alexander Egorovich Varlamov, Russian composer, born in Moscow (d. 1848)
• 1803-08-13 Vladimir Odoevsky, Russian philosopher & writer, born in Moscow (d. 1869)
• 1803-09-03 Alexander Gurilyov, Russian composer, born in Moscow, Russia (d. 1858)
• 1804-05-01 Aleksey Stepanovich Khomyakov, Russian poet, born in Moscow (d. 1860) [NS 13/05]
• 1806-04-03 Ivan Kireyevsky, Russian literary critic and philosopher, born in Moscow (d. 1856)
• 1813-06-18 Pavel Annenkov, Russian literature historian (Zametsjatelnoje desjatileti), born in Moscow, Russia (d. 1887)
• 1814-08-01 Ivan Gagarin, Russian Jesuit and founding editor of Études, born in Moscow (d. 1882)
• 1814-10-03 Mikhail Lermontov, Russian poet and writer (Demon & other poems), born in Moscow (d. 1841)

• 1821-06-04 Apollon Maykov, Russian poet, born in Moscow, Imperial Russia (d. 1897)

• 1823-04-12 Aleksandr Ostrovsky [Alexander Ostrovsky], Russian playwright (Artists & Admirers), born in Moscow, Russian Empire (d. 1886)
• 1827-05-21 Konstantin Pobedonostsev, Russian reactionary lawyer and senator, born in Moscow, Russian Empire (d. 1907)
• 1830-05-24 Alexei Savrasov, Russian painter, born in Moscow, Russia (d. 1897)
• 1832-12-27 Pavel Tretyakov, Russian businessman and patron of art, born in Moscow (d. 1897)
• 1835-06-14 Nikolay Rubinstein, Russian composer and pianist, born in Moscow, Russia (d. 1881) (O.S. 2 June)
• 1842-09-13 John H. Bankhead, U.S. Senator from Alabama, born in Moscow, Marion County, Alabama (d. 1920)
• 1842-12-09 Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin, Russian activist and anarchist, born in Moscow (d. 1921)
• 1850-01-15 Sofia Kovalevskaya, Russian mathematician, born in Moscow, Russia (d. 1891)
• 1856-11-28 Alexander Kastalsky, Russian composer, born in Moscow (d. 1926)
• 1861-04-27 Georgy Catoire, Russian composer, born in Moscow, Russia (d. 1926)
• 1862-07-18 Nikolai Nikolayevich Yudenich, Russian WWI general, born in Moscow, Russian Empire (d. 1933)
• 1864-10-25 Alexander Gretchaninov, Russian composer, born in Moscow, Russia (d. 1956)
• 1866-02-28 Vyacheslav Ivanov, Russian philosopher, playwright and poet, born in Moscow, Russian Empire (d. 1949)
• 1866-12-04 Wassily Kandinsky, Russian-French abstract painter (Dreamy Inspiration), born in Moscow (d. 1944)
• 1867-11-21 Vladimir Ipatieff, Russian-American chemist, born in Moscow, Russia (d. 1952)
• 1869-05-05 Hans Pfitzner, German composer (Palestrina), born in Moscow, Russia (d. 1949)
• 1869-12-22 Dmitri Egorov, Russian-Soviet mathematician, born in Moscow, Russia (d. 1931)
• 1872-01-06 Alexander Scriabin, Russian composer (Prometheus) and pianist, born in Moscow, Russia (d. 1915)
• 1872-03-08 Paul Juon, Russian-Swiss violinist and composer, born in Moscow, Russia (d. 1940)
• 1874-06-16 Mikhail Vladimirovich Ivanov-Boretsky, composer, born in Moscow, Russia (d. 1936)
• 1875-10-24 Konstantin Yuon, Russian painter, born in Moscow, Russian Empire (d. 1958)
• 1877-06-24 Aleksei M Remizov, Russian writer (Iveren), born in Moscow (d. 1957)
• 1877-10-24 Pavel Chesnokov, Russian-Soviet composer, born in Voskresensk, Moscow Oblast, Russia (d. 1944)
• 1880-01-05 Nikolai Medtner, Russian pianist and composer (Skazi), born in Moscow, Russia (d. 1951)
• 1880-06-26 Natalia Brassova, Russian noblewoman, wife of Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia, born in Perovo, Moscow, Russian Empire (d. 1952)
• 1880-10-26 Andrei Bely [Boris Nikolaevich Bugaev], Russian writer (Petersburg), born in Moscow, Russia (d. 1934)
• 1881-10-01 Leonid Sabaneyev, Russian composer, born in Moscow (d. 1968)
• 1882-01-22 Theodore Kosloff, Russian-born actor, ballet dancer and choreographer, born in Moscow, Russian Empire (d. 1956)
• 1883-02-01 Yevgeny Vakhtangov, Armenian-Russian theatrical director of the Moscow Art Theatre (Vakhtangov Theatre), born in Vladikavkaz, Russia (d. 1922)
• 1886-04-05 Jacques Handschin, Swiss musicologist (Der Toncharakter), born in Moscow, Russia (d. 1955)
• 1887-11-25 Nikolai Vavilov, Soviet botanist and geneticist (identified the centers of origin of cultivated plants), born in Moscow, Russian Empire (d. 1943)
• 1888-10-09 Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin, Russian politician and intellectual, born in Moscow, Russia (d. 1938)
• 1889-04-21 Paul Karrer, Swiss organic chemist (Nobel 1937), born in Moscow, Russia (d. 1971)
• 1889-04-24 Lyubov Popova, Russian avant-garde artist and painter, born in Ivanovskoe, Moscow (d. 1924)
• 1889-12-24 Vladimir Sokoloff, Russian actor (Road to Morocco), born in Moscow, Russia (d. 1962)

• 1891-08-24 Alexander Mikhaylovich Dzegelyonok, Russian composer, born in Moscow (d. 1969)
• 1892-10-09 Marina Tsvetaeva, Russian poet (The Train of Life), born in Moscow (d. 1941)
• 1892-11-01 Alexander Alekhine, Russian, French chess player (world champion 1927-35, 37-46), born in Moscow, Russia (d. 1946)
• 1893-08-19 Olga Baclanova, Russian actress (Freaks, Docks of NY), born in Moscow, Russia (d. 1974)
• 1896-05-07 Pavel Sergeevich Aleksandrov, Russian mathematician (topology), born in Moscow, Russia (d. 1982)
• 1896-08-09 Leonide Massine, Russian ballet dancer and choreographer (Diaghilev Ballet Russe 1914-20), born in Moscow, Russian Empire (d. 1979)
• 1896-09-25 Elsa Triolet [Ella Kagan], Russian-French writer and Resistance fighter, born in Moscow (d. 1970)
• 1896-10-11 Roman Jakobson, Russian-American linguist and Slavic scholar (Fundamentals of Language), born in Moscow, Russia (d. 1982)
• 1896-11-20 Yevgenia Ginzburg, Russian writer, born in Moscow, Russian Empire (d. 1977)
• 1899-05-31 Leonid Leonov, Russian writer, born in Moscow (d. 1994)
• 1899-06-04 Leo Spies, Russian-born German composer, born in Moscow (d. 1965)
• 1899-12-06 Nikolai Batalov, Russian actor (Tretya meshchanskaya, Mother), born in Moscow, Russia (d. 1937)
• 1900-01-20 Boris Semyonovich Shekhter, Russian composer, born in Moscow, Russia (d. 1961)
• 1900-03-21 Eugenie Leontovitch, Russian actress (Homicidal, The Rains of Ranchipur), born in Moscow, Russia (d. 1993)
• 1901-07-05 Sergey Vladimirovich Obraztsov, Soviet puppet master, born in Moscow, Russia (d. 1992)
• 1901-08-15 Pyotr Sergeyevich Novikov, Russian mathematician (group theory), born in Moscow, Russia (d. 1975)
• 1903-01-07 Vladimir Alexandrovich Vlasov, Russian composer and conductor, born in Moscow (d. 1986)
• 1903-04-18 Yury Sergeyevich Milyutin, Russian composer, born in Moscow (d. 1968)
• 1904-02-16 George F Kennan, US ambassador (to Moscow), born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
• 1906-02-16 Vera Menchik, Russian born British chess master, 1st official women's world chess champion (1927-39), born in Moscow, Russian Empire (d. 1944)
• 1906-09-24 Victor Wong, American actor (Mission to Moscow, War Correspondent, King Kong), born in Los Angeles, California (d. 1972)
• 1908-09-03 Lev Pontryagin, Russian mathematician, born in Moscow, Russian Empire (d. 1988)
• 1908-09-30 David Oistrakh, Soviet violinist considered one of the preeminent violinists of the 20th century (Moscow Conservatory), born in Odessa, Ukraine, Russian Empire (d. 1974)
• 1908-12-13 Victor Babin, Russian pianist and composer (Vronsky & Babin), born in Moscow (d. 1972)
• 1909-11-27 Anatoly Maltsev, Russian mathematician (decidability of various algebraic groups), born in Moscow (d. 1967)
• 1911-01-06 Nikolai Afanasyevich Kryuchkov, Soviet film actor (Telegram, Town People), born in Moscow, Russia (d. 1994)
• 1911-11-01 Henri Troyat, Russian-French author and historian, born in Moscow (d. 2007)
• 1912-03-28 Marina Raskova, Russian navigator, born in Moscow (d. 1943)
• 1913-03-13 Sergey Mikhalkov, Soviet writer and poet, born in Moscow (d. 2009) [NS]
• 1913-11-30 John K M McCaffery, TV host (One Minute Please), born in Moscow, Idaho
• 1914-01-01 Noor Inayat Khan, Indian princess and British Special Operations Executive agent in WWII posthumously awarded the George Cross, born in Moscow, Russian Empire (d. 1944)
• 1914-03-06 Kirill Kondrashin, Russian conductor (Bolshoi Theatre, 1943-56; Moscow Philharmonic, 1960-75; Concertgebouw, 1978-81), born in Moscow, Russia (d.1981)
• 1915-10-07 Roman Padlewski, Polish violinist and composer, born in Moscow, Russia (d. 1944)

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Famous Weddings

Famous Deaths

• 1303-03-04 Daniel of Moscow, Russian Saint, Grand Prince of Muscovy (b. 1261)
• 1340-03-31 Ivan I of Moscow, Prince of Moscow and Grand Prince of Vladimir (b. 1288)
• 1359-11-13 Ivan II, great ruler of Moscow & Vladimir, dies
• 1406-09-16 Cyprian, Metropolitan of Moscow (b. 1336)
• 1462-03-27 Vasili II of Russia, Grand Prince of Moscow (b. 1415)

• 1533-12-03 Vasili III of Russia, Great Prince of Moscow (1505-33), dies at 54
• 1569-12-23 St Philip II, Metropolitan of Moscow, martyred by Ivan the Terrible
• 1633-10-01 Filaret [Fjodor N Romanov], patriarch of Moscow, dies
• 1671-06-16 Stenka Razin, Cossack rebel leader, tortured & executed in Moscow
• 1797-11-14 Ivan Shuvalov, 1st Russian Minister of Education and founder of the Moscow University, dies at 70
• 1812-11-11 Platon Levshin, Metropoitan of Moscow (b. 1737)
• 1905-02-17 Serge Alexandrovich, Governor-General of Moscow, assassinated by a terrorist bomb; his carriage driver also died, the assailant survived, was tried and hanged
• 1918-07-06 Count von Mirbach, German ambassador to Moscow, dies
• 1922-05-29 Yevgeny Vakhtangov, Armenian-Russian theatrical director of the Moscow Art Theatre (Vakhtangov Theatre), dies of cancer at 39
• 1955-05-03 Philips C Visser, explorer/ambassador to Moscow, dies
• 1974-10-24 David Oistrakh, Soviet violinist considered one of the preeminent violinists of the 20th century (Moscow Conservatory), dies at 66
• 2015-02-27 Boris Nemtsov, Russian politician, dies at 55, shot four times in Moscow
• 2018-03-12 Oleg Tabakov, Soviet-Russian actor and artistic director (Moscow Art Theatre), dies at 82
• 2018-07-27 Vladimir Voinovich, Russian writer and dissident (Moscow 2042), dies of a heart attack at 85