KEY DATES OF THE RUSSIAN AND THE MIDDLE EAST EMPIRE

1200s: Mongol armies conquer the loose confederation of Slavic principalities led by the ruling-class merchants of Kiev, Novgorod, and Moscow
1480s: Ivan III brokers agreements with Muslim rulers in the steppe, hastening the decline of their common ruler, the khans of the Golden Horde
1552: Ivan IV overruns Kazan, opening the Volga region to Russian colonization
1696: Peter I defeats Ottoman forces at the fortress of Azov, expanding Russia’s empire to the south
1720s: Russia continues to extend southward, gaining control of the Caspian Sea’s northwest coast, though loses the territory two years later
1774: The Ottoman-Russian Treaty of Kuçuk Kaynarca is signed, giving Russia political control of the Crimea, and introduces Russia’s claim to be the protector of all Orthodox Christians in the Ottoman Empire
Late 1700s: Russia tries to consolidate power in the Black Sea region by convincing fellow Orthodox Christian rulers to fall under the Russian Empire
1813: Iran and Russia enter the Treaty of Gulistan, giving Russia control of Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan, and opening up Iran to Russian influence
1833: Russia and the Ottomans reach a military alliance by signing the Treaty of Hunkar Iskelesi
1848: In Russian-controlled Azerbaijan, the first modern oil well was drilled, attracting foreign investment in the region
1853: The Crimean War begins with the Ottoman Empire declaring war on Russia. France and Great Britain side with the Ottomans, hoping to gain influence in the region and balance Russia’s growing power
1856: The Treaty of Paris ends the Crimean War
1877: The Russo-Turkish War begins, inspired by Pan-Slavic ideas, with Russia looking to free fellow Slavs from Ottoman rule
1878: The Congress of Berlin settles the Russo-Turkish War, with the Ottoman Empire shrinking by one-third and new boundaries set in the Balkans, creating the states of Macedonia, Albania, and Bosnia-Herzegovina
1914: The assassination of Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria, leads to the outbreak of World War I, with Russia joining sides with French and British forces against Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy, and the Ottoman Empire
1917: The Bolshevik Revolution ends the Russian Empire

In the book 'Encyclopedia of Western Colonialism since 1450' Thomas Benjamin, editor in chief, Thomsom Gale, Farmington Hills,U.S.A, 2007. p. 427. Edited to be posted  by Leopoldo Costa.