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| 1907–12 |
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| The THIRD DUMA, elected on the new basis, returned a conservative majority. It fostered stern suppression of all revolutionary outbreaks and disorders, formed conservative groups like the Union of True Russian Men and the League of the Russian Nobility, and sponsored drumhead courts-martial. At the same time Stolypin, with cooperation of the Duma, continued his reform activities: social insurance, zemstvo reform, education, police reorganization, land banks, encouragement of emigration to Siberia. With the restoration of order came the resumption of economic expansion and industrialization. | 1 |
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| 1907, Aug. 31 |
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| The conclusion of the Anglo-Russian Entente (See Aug. 31), an important milestone in Russian foreign policy, definitely aligned Russia with Britain and France against the Central Powers. | 2 |
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| 1908–9 |
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| Tensions between Russia and Austria over the annexation of Bosnia and Herzegovina marked the revival of Pan-Slav, or Neo-Slav, agitation. | 3 |
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| 1911, Sept. 14 |
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| Stolypin was assassinated by a revolutionary, at Kiev. He was succeeded by Vladimir Kokovtsev, an able financier and a moderate statesman, lacking, however, the prestige and willpower of his predecessor. | 4 |
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| 1912–16 |
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| The FOURTH DUMA was similar to the third in character and purpose. This period was taken up largely with major questions of foreign policy, notably by the crisis of the Balkan Wars. | 5 |
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| 1912–13 |
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| The Balkan Wars, in which Russia played a very prominent role (See Oct. 18). | 6 |
| Meanwhile, the reforms inaugurated by the government proved insufficient to quiet the political and social unrest. The massacre in the Lena goldfields in April sparked a wave of strikes. The national minorities, too, were antagonized by the policy of the government (especially in Poland and Finland). On the eve of World War I, there was growing dissatisfaction, which spread even to moderate circles. The latter were irritated particularly by the state of affairs at court, where the tsarina, a deeply religious person, had become the center of a group of mystics and magic healers, originally called in to cure the only son of the imperial couple of an incurable disease. Of this group, Grigory Rasputin was the most remarkable and powerful, and he was to play a most important role in the history of Russia during the war. | 7 |
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| 1914, Aug. 1 |
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| GERMANY DECLARED WAR ON RUSSIA. (See The Western Front, 1914–1915) (See Russia (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics)) | 8 |
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