:: Timeline & Dates ::
Jump to the list of family days
Here is an ever-expanding list of important dates, and a timeline. I've made every effort at accuracy, but as ever, this is a work in progress. Plus, sources sometimes conflict, and I make mistakes. I will be adding to/correcting entries as I go along.
It should be noted that dates, when possible, are given in both old style (Julian Calendar) and new style (Gregorian Calendar). Otherwise (i.e., I'm too lazy to calculate), I'll mark the date given as either NS (New Style) or OS (Old Style), so you can make the calculations yourself.
The OS calendar was 12 days behind in the 19th century, with the gap broadening to 13 days behind in the 20th century. The Russian Orthodox church continued to use the old calendar, although Russia officially switched to the new calendar in February of 1918.
Though their yearly itineraries were rarely identical, there were certain commonalities. Prior to 1905, the family would pass the winter "social" season in St. Petersburg (New Year's on into February), spend much of the spring at Tsarskoe Selo, then move on to Peterhof in late spring. They often passed late summer in Poland in the early years (and in 1912, the year of the Tsarevich's big hemorrhage episode). Autumn was usually spent at Livadia, with late autumn/early winter passed at Tsarskoe Selo.
After 1905, Tsarskoe Selo became the official winter seat of the Tsar's court and the Imperial family's home base. It was their usual late autumn and winter location.
After 1910, the Crimea became a regular spring destination. For several years, they would spend Easters here.
There were specific periods when the family did NOT venture to the Crimea at all, Spring OR Fall. These periods included 1905-1908 (for safety reasons, after Grand Duke Sergei's assassination in early 1905), 1910 (during construction of the New Livadia Palace), and post-1914 (during World War I).
Late spring and early summer still spent at Peterhof, the Imperial estate on the Gulf of Finland. From there, the family would often cruise the Gulf and the Baltic Sea.
Chronology:
1868
6/18 May - Nikolai is born.1872
25 May/6 June - Princess of Alix of Hesse-Darmstadt is born.1881
1 March - Aleksandr II is assassinated.1884
Grand Duke Sergei and Ella (Alix's sister) marry; Nikolai and Alix first meet.1894
Nikolai proposes to Alix.
20 October/1 November - Aleksandr III dies; Nikolai becomes Tsar
22 October/3 November - Aleksandra is chrismated into Orthodoxy.
14/26 November - Nikolai and Aleksandra are married.
1895
3/15 November - Olga Nikolaievna is born at the Alexander Palace, Tsarskoe Selo.1896
14/26 May - Nikolai II's coronation in Moskva/Moscow.
18/30 May - Several hundred people are trampled to death at Khodinka Meadow as they wait for coronation favors and festivities. Nikolai writes in his diary: "...today a great sin has taken place. The crowd spending the night on the Khodinka meadow, in anticipation of the distribution of food and mugs, broke the barrier and there was a terrible crush...The news left an ugly impression."
24 August/5 September - Nikolai, Aleksandra, and Olga Nikolaievna visit Breslau, Germany, on a tour of Europe. They visit with the Kaiser and his wife, joined by Prince and Princess Henry of Prussia (The Kaiser's brother, Henry, and Irene, Aleksandra's sister).
They spend a day with Princess Henry at Kiel on the way to Copenhagen, Denmark. The pass ten days with the Emperor's grandparents, the King and Queen of Denmark, where a large family party had been gathered together to meet Nikolai and Aleksandra. "I am so happy that Alix enjoyed Denmark so much," Nikolai writes to his mother, the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, on 13/25 September, from Balmoral Castle, "she was quite sad to leave!'
10/22 September - Nikolai's new Imperial yacht, the Standart, makes her maiden voyage from Copenhagen to St. Abb's Head. They then travel from Aberdeen to Balmoral. There, they meet Aleksandra's grandmother, Queen Victoria, for a ten day visit. The Tsaritsa wishes to show her "precious treasure," Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaievna, to the Queen. Queen Victoria is both the little girl's great-grandmother as well as one of her many godparents.
21 September/3 October - The Imperial family embarks at Portsmouth for France. Parisians greet them enthusiastically upon their arrival in the capital. Eleven-month-old Olga Nikolaievna is a star in her own right. Even though she arrives separately from her parents and without any fanfare, she is met by a crowd of admirers cheering, "Vive le bébé et la nounou!"
In October, the family moves on to Darmstadt before heading back to Russia. In a letter to Queen Victoria dated 10/22 October, Nikolai writes: "You may well imagine Alix's joy of being once more quietly at home. I am happy to to be here and rest for a short while, after having travelled for nearly six weeks without stopping."
17/29 October - The family meets Kaiser at Wiesbaden on the return journey to Russia.
19/31 October - The family returns to St. Petersburg.
1897
29 May/10 June - Tatiana Nikolaievna is born at Peterhof.1898
FINISH here and then fix 1909-1912 and then move on to the rest of the years...
1899
14/26 June - Maria Nikolaievna is born at the lower palace/Alexandria Dacha at Peterhof. Soon after she is baptized: "When Marie was a fortnight old she was baptised in the church in the Great Palace in Peterhoff. The ceremony, which is a most imposing one, lasted for a couple of hours, or rather more" (Margaret Eagar, in Six Years at the Russian Court, Chapter 6).
June - Nikolai's brother, the Tsarevich Georgy, dies from tuberculosis. He writes his last letter to the Tsar on 15/27 June. Margaret Eagar writes of his death: "On the morning following the baptism the Czarovitch had got up earlier than usual. He felt better and brighter, and, notwithstanding the remonstrances of his valet, took a ride on his bicycle. He rode down a hill, and on reaching the bottom of it suddenly fell from his bicycle. An old peasant woman going to his villa with milk, accompanied by her grandson, were the sole witnesses of the accident. She ran to his assistance, and found blood pouring from his mouth. She despatched her grandson to the villa for help, and sitting on the ground took the young Grand Duke's head in her lap, but in a few minutes he was dead" (Ibid.)
Autumn - The Imperial family embarks from Peterhof on the Alexandra to Kronstandt. From there, the party boards the Standart for Copenhagen, where they spend time with the Dowager Empress' relatives. Then, they move on to Kiel to visit Princess Henry, and then on to Wolfsgarten, Aleksandra's childhood home, for 6-7 weeks. They see Aleksandra's brother "Ernie," the Duke of Hesse, and his wife Victoria Melita, also known as "Ducky." Their young daughter, Elizabeth ("Ella"), decides she wants to "adopt" little Tatiana Nikolaievna as her own sister.
The family moves on to Potsdam to visit the Kaiser, then to the Imperial estate at Skernevitzi, in Poland.
1900
The Imperial family spends January through most of Lent in St. Petersburg for the social season. "Every season five or six balls are given, beside many great dinners, and twice a week there is a representation in the palace theatre, either an opera or a play, followed by a supper" (Eagar, Chapter 12). The Prince of Siam visits, and befriends, the family.
April - Holy Week and Easter are spent in Moskva (3 week visit). Nikolai and Aleksandra spend time with Grand Duke Sergei Aleksandrovich and Aleksandra's sister, Grand Duchess Elizabeth ("Ella"). Aleksandra hires a painter to create portraits of OTM.
The family returns to Tsarskoe Selo before moving off to Peterhof in the late spring. From, there, they move on to Belovege and Spala, in Poland.
From Poland, in the fall, the family moves on to the Crimea, where they stay through Christmas.
Late October - Nikolai contracts typhoid at Livadia. According to Count Witte, his illness lasted from 1-28 of November OS. For part of this time, Aleksandra is also under the weather. When she recovers, she attends her husband in his illness. "I can only say that she was my guardian angel, and looked after me better than any sister of mercy!" the Tsar writes to his mother on 24 November OS.
1901
Nikolai and Aleksandra meet the celebrated mystic and hypnotist, Monsieur Philippe, through Grand Duchess Militsa of Montenegro.
9/22 January - Queen Victoria, Aleksandra's grandmother, dies. The Imperial family receives the news while travelling home from the Crimea on the Standart.
The family spends the the February "social" season at St. Petersburg, though no balls are held out of respect for Queen Victoria's passing. The Crown Prince of Austria visits.
The children go to Tskarskoe Selo without their parents, returning to St. Petersburg for Easter. The whole family then returns to Tsarskoe before shoving off for Peterhof. Olga Nikolaievna arrives ill with Typhoid, and is confined to her bed for five weeks.
5/18 June - Anastasia Nikolaievna is born at Peterhof. "Olga was still in bed when little Anastasie was born," notes Margaret Eagar in chapter 15 of her book.
Two weeks after her birth, Anastasia Nikolaievna is baptized. "The Grand Duchess Anastasie Nicolaivna was baptised when she was a fortnight old. I was not present at the ceremony as the Grand Duchess Olga had not yet quite recovered from the fever. But the ceremony was exactly the same at that observed for the baptism of the Grand Duchess Marie" (Ibid.)
In September (2/15), after a visit to Denmark (they stay at Fredenburg), the family meets Emperor Wilhelm en route to Danzig, where Nikolai has been invited to visit the German fleet. The family spends much of October (and into November, NS at least) in Poland, at their estates at Spala and Skernevitzi. They return to Tsarskoe Selo the first week of November, OS, and stay through Christmas.
October - Aleksandra's Brother Ernie, the Duke of Hesse, and his wife Victoria Melita ("Ducky") announce their intentions to divorce. "It's all so sad and awful," Nikolai writes to his mother from Skernevitzi (27 October/9 November). "Ducky" also happens to be the Tsar's first cousin, as the daughter of his father's sister Maria Aleksandrovna, the Duchess of Edinburgh.
1902
Sergei and Ella become guardians of Maria Pavlovna (the Younger) and Dmitri Pavlovich, as their father, Grand Duke Pavel Aleksandrovich, marries a commoner/divorcee named Olga A. Karnovich von Pistolkors in Livorno, Italy (October 10 NS) against the express wishes of the Tsar. Pavel and Olga take up official residence in Paris. Their exile is officially reversed in 1912.
The Tsar's brother and heir, Grand Duke Mikhail Aleksandrovich, meets and falls in love with his first cousin, Princess Beatrice of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. They initially plan to marry, but the Tsar and Dowager Empress remind "Misha" that the Orthodox Church forbids unions between first cousins.
The family begins the New Year at St. Petersburg, and stays through the social season. They spend much of spring at Tsarskoe Selo, then move on to Peterhof.
In the spring and summer, Aleksandra believes she is pregnant.
20 August/2 September- Aleksandra suffers a curious "miscarriage." Her doctors assert that she was never pregnant, and that her symptoms were the result of some other condition. Some who are close to the Empress blame Monsieur Philippe for leading her to believe she would be with child.
The family spends the autumn in the Crimea. They frequently see Princess Elena of Serbia, who is a favorite with OTMA.
1903
"We passed the year much as usual, only going to Moscow for Easter" (Margaret Eagar, Chapter 20)
January 22/February 4 - Nikolai and Aleksandra host the famous 17th century imperial ball at the Winter Palace. "I remember the date as it was to be the last spectacular ball in the history of the empire...while we danced, the workers were striking and the clouds in the Far East were hanging dangerously low" (The Tsar's brother-in-law "Sandro," Grand Duke Aleksandr Mikhailovich, in his memoirs).
March - Nikolai writes in his diary that Tatiana Nikolaievna has injured herself: "...When Tatiana was standing up in the car she badly pinched her leg..."
After Easter in Moskva, the family returns to Tsarskoe Selo. Aleksandra and the girls all develop whooping cough.
July - Kirill Vladimirovich seeks permission to marry Aleksandra's ex-sister-in-law, "Ducky."
18/19 July OS - Nikolai and Aleksandra travel to Sarov for the canonization of St. Serafim, a miracle-working staretz.
September - "There was a great family gathering in Darmstadt in September, 1903, to celebrate the marriage of the Princess Alice of Battenberg (a daughter of the Empress's sister) to Prince Andre of Greece (a nephew of Queen Alexandra)" (Eagar, Chapter 21).
The family then moved on to Wolfsgarten, then To Skernevitzi with Aleksandra's brother Ernie, the Duke of Hesse, and his daughter, Princess Elizabeth of Hesse ("Ella"). The adults form a hunting party, passing a few days at Spala. A bout with Typhoid kills little Ella while in Poland. OTMA are whisked immediately back to Tsarskoe Selo, but Aleksandra becomes ill and cannot follow. She spends six weeks recuperating at Skernevitzi.
Autumn - Tsarevich Mikhail Aleksandrovich finally "dumps" Ducky's sister Beatrice. On December 21/January 3, Misha's sister Grand Duchess Xenia writes about the aftermath in her diary.
1904
January 25/26 OS - The Russo-Japanese War begins. As a result, the usual St. Petersburg social season is cut short.
30 July/12 August - Aleksei Nikolaievich is born. The former Tsarevich, Nikolai's brother Mikhail Aleksandrovich, is delighted and relieved to be off the hook.
11/24 August - Aleksei Nikolaievich is Christened in the Chapel of the big Peterhof Palace. All of his older sisters attend in court dress. Olga Nikolaievna serves as one of his godmothers. According to Maria Pavlovna the Younger: "In honour of the Army, then fighting on the distant plains of Manchuria, all combatants were inscribed as godfathers to the young prince."
Margaret Eagar wrote: " The child had for his godfathers the King of Denmark, the King of England, the Emperor of Germany, the Grand Duke Alexis, the Emperor's uncle, and many godmothers, including Princess Victoria of Wales. He received the name of Alexis; he was the third born Czarovitch in the Romanoff dynasty. Michael, the first Romanoff's eldest son, was called Alexis; Peter the Great's eldest son, born Czarovitch, received it also, and this one, of course, had to get it. The name means "Bringer of Peace." I hope it may prove true.
"He is a very beautiful boy. In the middle of the baptismal ceremony, when he was being anointed for the first time, he raised his hand and extended his fingers as though pronouncing a blessing. Of course, everyone said that it was a very good omen, and that he would prove to be a father to his people. God grant it, but not for many years to come" (Chapter 31).
Soon after Aleksei's arrival, the children's nanny, Margaret Eagar, leaves Russia.
December - Port Arthur is captured by the Japanese.
1905
Tsarskoe Selo becomes the permanent winter seat of the Imperial Court: "Since 1905 the Court spends the whole winter in Tsarskoe Selo." (Viltchkovsky's Tsarskoe Selo, 1910)
Swiss citizen Pierre Gilliard is employed as a palace tutor, to teach Olga and Tatiana Nikolaievna French. Maria Nikolaievna would begin studying French the following year. Anastasia Nikolaievna begins studying French in 1909.
Grand Duke Mikhail Aleksandrovich meets and falls in love with a commoner: his sister Grand Duchess Olga Aleksandrovna's lady-in-waiting, Aleksandrina "Dina" Kossikovskaya. In July, he asks his brother's permission to marry her, and is refused. In the autumn, according to his sister Xenia, he informs the Tsar that he intends to marry her anyway (Grand Duchess Xenia Aleksandrovna's diary, 30 January/12 February 1906).
7/20 January - St. Petersburg workers go on strike. Peaceful demonstrations are planned, including the presentation of a petition to the Tsar at Palace Square.
9/22 January - On "Bloody Sunday," troops open fire on workers as they attempt to reach the Winter Palace to petition the Tsar. Over 1000 are killed.
4/17 February - Grand Duke Sergei is assassinated by Ivan Kalyaev as he leaves the Kremlin. The official police report reads: "In Moskva, while the Grand Duke Sergei Aleksandrovich was driving in his carriage from the Nikolsky palace to the Tverskaya, on the Senate square at a distance of 65 feet from the Nikolsky gates, and unknown criminal threw a bomb into his Highness' carriage."
Mid-June OS - Mutinies on the Russian battleships Potemkin and St. George.
6/19 August - Nikolai signs a manifesto creating the Duma. It will officially convene for the first time in 1906.
Autumn - Strikes and ethnic conflicts (including vicious attacks on Russian Jews) continue in various places throughout the empire. "The newspapers are full of terrible news! It's still no better in the Caucasus, the killings go on, as do the bombings, they are firing into the streets from the houses, the armenians and the tartars continue cutting each other up. In Moscow the bakers are on strike, as are the plumbers, the locksmiths, the tram conductors and the print workers, the newspapers do not come out..." (Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich, A.K.A. K.R., in a diary entry dated 28 September/11 October).
25 September/8 October - Against church custom, Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich secretly marries his first cousin, Ducky, in Tegernsee, located in Bavaria just south of Munich. The Tsar does not formally recognize their marriage until July of 1907.
17/30 October - Nikolai signs the October Constitution, diluting Russian autocracy. It grants certain fundamental rights to citizens and gives the Duma some legislative authority.
1/14 November - Nikolai and Aleksandra meet Rasputin through the Montenegran Grand Duchesses, Militsa and Anastasia. Nikolai writes in his journal: "We had tea with Militsa and Stana. We have made the acquaintance of a man of god - Grigory, from the Tobolsk region."
1906
Early in the year, Grand Duke Mikhail Aleksandrovich reiterates his resolve to marry Aleksandrina Kossikovskaya. (Grand Duchess Xenia's diary, 21 February/6 March)
27 April/10 May - The Duma convenes.
30 April/13 May - Vera Konstantinovna, daughter of Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich (A.K.A. "K.R."), is baptized at Pavlosk. Nikolai, Aleksandra, OTMA, Maria Pavlovna the Younger, and Dmitri Pavlovich attend together.
12/25 August - First assassination attempt upon Prime Minister Stolypin.
November - Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaievich ("Nikolasha") and his sister-in-law, Grand Duchess Anastasia of Montenegro, announce their marriage plans. "Stana" will divorce her current husband, Georgy Maksimilianovich von Leuchtenberg, the Duke of Leuchtenberg.
1907
30 April/13 May - Anna Taneeva, one of Aleksandra's ladies-in-waiting and closest friends, marries Boris Virubov. The marriages does not end up a success.
Spring - Maria Pavlovna the Younger is engaged to Prince Wilhelm of Sweden. At the end of May, OS, he comes to Russia to meet the family.
3/26 June - The first Duma session is dissolved.
Late July, OS - Grand Duke Mikhail Aleksandrovich is thwarted in his plans to marry Dina Kossikovskaya. He breaks things off with her when he meets Natalya Sheremetievskaya Wulfert, his future wife.
29 August/11 September NS - The Standart strikes a rock while cruising near Finland.
1/14 November - Second Duma convenes.
1908
Grand Duchess Xenia Aleksandrovna and her husband, Grand Duke Aleksandr Mikhailovich ("Sandro") embark on extramarital affairs.
20 May/3 May - Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna (daughter of Nikolai's Uncle Pavel), often called "Marie" and referred to by friends and relatives as "Marisha," marries Prince Wilhelm of Sweden.
9 June - King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra (Nikolai's Aunt), on the Victoria and Albert, meet the Russian Imperials travelling on the Standart on the Baltic.
June - The Imperial family pays a state visit to Stockholm.
1909
*13-16 June NS - The family spends time at Tulharn, Sweden. They visit with the Swedish royals, including Nikolai's cousin, Maria Pavlovna the Younger, who has married into the family.
Soon after, the Imperial family visits Cherbourg, France, to witness Naval manoeuvres at the invitation of President Fallieres. The president entertains his Imperial guests on the Montcalm, while the Imperial family stays aboard the Standart.
July/August - From Cherbourg the family visit Cowes, where they are received by the King and Queen of England. OTMA enjoy their first major touristing excursions abroad.
*5 August NS - On the way home, the family pays a visit to Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaievich, the youngest son of Tsar Nikolai I. Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaievich would die soon after the visit, in December of 1909.
September-October - Once back in the Empire, the Imperial family makes its first visit to the Crimea since Grand Duke Sergei's assassination in late 1905.
4 November NS - Visit to the summit of Mount Ai-Petri.
1910
*June - The family cruises on the Standart.
*August-October - The family visits Darmstadt and Friedberg, Germany.
*1 November NS - The family goes to Wolfsgarten, Germany, Aleksandra's childhood home. They visit with Aleksandra's family, including her brother, Ernie (The Grand Duke of Hesse),s and Aleksandra's sister Irene (Princess Henry of Hesse).
*6 November NS- The family visits Oranienburg, Germany.
1911
9/22 February - Nikolai writes in his diary about taking the Big Pair to the ballet: "...At 7.30 I brought Olga and Tatiana to town. Our favourite "Eugene Onegin" was on... We were all greatly impressed. We were home safely at 12 though we risked to get stuck in the snow because of the terrible snow-storm..."
17 February/2 March - Nikolai takes OTMA to the ballet: "...At 12.20 I took all my daughters to town to see "The Sleeping Beauty". It was excellent! Children enjoyed it...."
28 May/10 June - The family leaves Tsarskoe Selo for Peterhof, returning 10/23 June.
August - The Imperial family visits Kiev.
1/14 September - Prime Minister Pyoter Stolypin is shot while attending a performance of the Kiev Opera, sitting in the Royal Box with Nikolai and the Big Pair present. He dies four days later.
September - The family stops in Sevastopol before moving on to Livadia.
New Livadia Palace, designed by the architecht Krasnov, is completed. The family takes up seasonal residence in September.October - The Imperial family enjoys an excursion in the valley of Kokkoz, on the Eagles's Rest mountain.
3/16 November - Olga Nikolaievna's 16th birthday festivities at Livadia. The revelries include a supper and ball, which is attended by all of Nikolai's and Aleksandra's children. According to firsthand account, Tatiana is allowed to wear her hair up for the ball.
8 November - Olga Nikolaievna writes: "A deputation from my regiment was here." Olga reviews her Hussars on horseback, now wearing their new white pelisses, an old uniform tradition reinstated at Olga's request.
8/21 December - The family returns to Tsarskoe Selo.
1912
15/28 March - Nikolai writes in his diary: "...At 12 we said "good-bye" to Tsarskoe Selo and started for the Crimea..."
20 April/3 May - The family celebrated White Flower Day, a charity event raising money for the treatment and comfort of consumption (tuberculosis) patients, supported by the Tsaritsa. There are photographs on this site of the Imperial daughters wearing collection boxes and holding "white flower" standards.
30 May/June 12 - The family visits Moscow/Moskva, in particular Ella's Mary and Martha Convent.
June - A visit to Peterhof and the usual June cruise of the Gulf of Finland/Baltic on the Standart. While cruising the Baltic, NAOTMAA meet Kaiser Wilhelm.
6/19 August - The family visits Pitkopas, where they are joined by Nikolai's Mother, the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna. She arrives on her personal yacht, the Polar Star, and gives a dance on board for OTMA. While at Pitkopas, the Swedish royals also pay a visit.
Late August/Early September-October - The Tsarevich has an accident jumping into a boat at Belovege, as the Imperial family visits Poland. A few days later, he hemmorhages, making it impossible for him to be moved from the Imperial hunting lodge at Spala. He reinjures himself with a fall at the end of September. The whole Imperial Entourage returns to Tsarskoe Selo at the end of October/early November, when Aleksei is well enough to travel home.
20 August/September 2 - Nikolai writes in his diary: "...At 9 a.m. the whole family started for Tsarskoe Selo (from St. Petersburg) except Aleksei."
September - Russia celebrates the 100th anniversary of the France's invasion and subsequent retreat, during the Napoleonic Wars. On 25 August/7-8 September (Sophie Buxhoeveden claims it was the 8th). The family toured the battlefield of Borodino. Later, they moved on to Moskva/Moscow for related celebrations, as well as the dedication of a monument to Aleksandr III. Then, they moved on to Smolensk.
16/29 October - The Tsar's brother, Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich, marries his mistress, Natalya Wulfert, in secret in Vienna at St. Savva Serbian Orthodox Church. The Grand Duke had been exiled and stripped of his role as state regent for Tsarevich Alexei in September.
*
*Sep-Oct(FA), Spala
*On November 16th it was possible to think of removing the child, without too great danger of relapse but with extreme care, from Spala to Tsarskoe-Selo, where the Imperial family passed the entire winter.(PG)
*5 Nov, Nicholas' diary -"...I came to Tsarskoe Selo at 7.10. In spite of the thaw daughters and I went home in the sledge; Alix and Aleksey followed us in a motor-car. There was a service in the Corner Room. We had dinner in the Mauve Room..."
*24 Dec, Nicholas' diary -"...I came back to Tsarskoe Selo at 5 to be present at the children's New Year's party. At 6.30 I went to attend the night service. After dinner we had our New Year's party and our daughters were present at it for the first time..."1913
The Romanov Tercentenary; Tatiana Nikolaievna contracts Typhoid in St. Petersburg; Irina Aleksandrovna becomes engaged to Felix Yussupov.1914
9/22 February - Irina and Felix are married.
19 July/1 August - Germany declares war on Russia.
1915
2/15 January - Anya Virubova is seriously injured in a train accident.1916
17/30 December - Felix Yussupov and Dmitri Pavlovich murder Rasputin.1917
22 February/7 March - Nikolai returns to Mogilev from Tsarskoe Selo.
23 February/8 March - There are strikes in St. Petersburg (Petrograd since 1914) on International Women's Day.
28 February/13 March - Nikolai II goes to Pskov when he can't get through to Tsarskoe Selo.
2/15 March - Nikolai abdicates for himself and for the Tsarevich.
3/16 March - Nikolai's brother Mikhail refuses the throne.
7/20 March - Nikolai's family is placed under house arrest at the Alexander Palace.
1/14 August - The imperial family is moved to Tobolsk in Siberia, via train and steamship (Rus).
6/19 August - The family arrives in Tobolsk and is moved into the governor's house.
1/14 Septemper - Vasily Pankratov is put in charge of the imperial family in Tobolsk.
25 October/7 November - Bolsheviks overthrow Kerensky's Provisional Government.
17/30 November - In Tobolsk, Nikolai learns of the coup.
1918
16 April - Nikolai, Aleksandra, Maria Nikolaievna, Doctor Evgeny Botkin, and three servants are moved to the Ipatiev house in Ekaterinburg. Olga, Tatiana, and Anastasia stay behind in Tobolsk with Aleksei, who is ill.
30 April - NAM and company arrive in Ekaterinburg.
23 May - OTAA arrive in Ekaterinburg.
12-13 June - Grand Duke Mikhail is killed.
16-17 July - NAOTMAA are murdered in the cellar at Ipatiev house, along with Anna Demidova, the footman Trupp, the cook Kharitonov, and Dr. Botkin.
Tsar Nikolai II: 6/18 May 1868
Name Day: 6/19 December
Tsaritsa Alexandra: 25 May/6 June 1872
Name Day: 23 April/6 MayEmpress Mother Maria: 14/26 November 1847
Name Day: 22 July/4 August
Grand Duchess Olga N.: 3/15 November 1895
Name Day: 11/24 July
Grand Duchess Tatiana N.: 29 May/10 June 1897
Name Day: 12/25 January
Grand Duchess Maria N.: 14/27 June 1899
Name Day: 22 July/4 August
Grand Duchess Anastasia N.: 5/18 June 1901
Name day: 22 December/4 January
Heir Tsesarevich Aleksei N.: 30 July/12 August 1904
Name Day: 5/18 October
Grand Duchess Xenia A.: 25 March/6 April 1875
Name Day: 24 January
Grand Duchess Elizaveta F.: 1/13 November 1864
Grand Duke Mikhail A.: 22 November/4 December 1878
Grand Duchess Olga A.: 1/13 June 1882
Name Day: 11/24 JulyPrincess Yelena P.: 24 October/4 November 1884
Name Day: 21 May/3 JunePrincess Irina A.: 3 /15 July 1895