1756-63

Seven Years War - An important factor in bringing the Germans to the Lower Volga. The areas of now central Germany were devastated, creating more instability for the peasants.

July 1763

Catherine II of Russia issues her second manifesto - Her first manifesto inviting foreigners to settle in Russia (1762) brought few results. Large numbers of German peasants accepted this invitation which spelled out the conditions under which they could immigrate and granted special rights and privileges.

1764-67

Founding of German colonies along the Lower Volga River - See other historic events from this time.

1771-74

Kirghiz Raids and Pugachev's Rebellion - Ravish the Volga colonies.

1786

Mennonites from West Prussia begin immigrating to Russia - The 1772 Partition of Poland threatened their military service exemption as conscientious objectors. Their settlements were established primarily in the Tauria region of South Russia.

1796

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Catherine II dies at age 67 - Her son Tsar Paul I begins his reign. Paul's reign would end in 1801 when Catherine's grandson Tsar Alexander I took the throne. See other historic events from this time.

1803

Alexander I reissues Catherine's manifesto - The manifesto renews the invitation to foreigners to settle New Russia. The Black Sea Germans respond to the invitation in great numbers. So many responded that, in 1804, a restrictive decree is issued that requires future immigrants to have families, possess at least 300 guilders worth of cash or goods, and be skilled in farming or handicrafts. See other historic events from this time.

1804-18

Colonists endure a long and difficult journey either overland or by river - Between 1804-1812, colonists were unable to make the trip by way of the Danube River because of the Russo-Turkish War. In 1817, thousands died of disease and exposure as the inexperienced colonists took barges down the Danube.

1825

The reign of Tsar Nicholas I begins - He is the grandson of Catherine and brother of Alexander I. See other historic events from this time.

1830

The Polish Insurrection - Brings about the immigration of many Polish Germans to Bessarabia, and some to the Volga region. See other historic events from this time.

1855

Tsar Alexander II takes the throne - He is the son of Nicholas I, great-grandson of Catherine II. See other historic events from this time.

1861-63

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Another wave of German immigration begins - The abolishment of serfdom left a significant drain on the work force and prompted the start of immigration to Volhynia. The second Polish Insurrection of 1863 brought more Polish Germans to Russia. See other historic events from this time.

1871

The Imperial Russian Government repeals the manifestos of Catherine II and Alexander I - The decree terminates, after a period of ten years' grace, the special privileges of the German colonists.

1872

Ludwig Bette, a former colonist who had immigrated to the United States, returns to the Black Sea colonies - Noting the unrest among the colonists, he extols the virtues of the United States, urging emigration to the U.S. See other historic events from this time.

1873

The first group of German-Russian settlers in the Middle West arrives - 175 men, women and children arrive in Yankton, Dakota Territory in one of the worst blizzards on record, the Easter Sunday Blizzard. After the storm, they find suitable land northwest of Yankton where Lesterville, S.D. is now located.

1874

A second decree institutes compulsory military conscription of the German colonists - The 1871 issuance and this latest decree impels thousands of Germans from Russia to immigrate to North and South America.

1881

Alexander III comes to the throne after his father, Alexander II, is assassinated - Russification becomes the official policy, requiring school to be taught in Russian and business to be conducted in Russian. All of the rights of self-government once enjoyed by German colonists were lost. See other historic events from this time.

1914

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World War I begins - The war caused severe restrictions on travel and ended the wave of German Russian immigration that had begun more than forty years earlier.

1915

Volhynian Germans are deported to the Volga Region and South Russia - The deportation is a result of the advancement of the eastern front during World War I. The war caused further difficulties for Germans in Russia. Although they fought and died in the Russian military, they were accused of being spies and saboteurs. Innumerable Germans were sent to Siberia for "crimes against the state." See other historic events from this time.

1916

Volga Germans ordered to be banished - Because of internal troubles in Russia, the order was never carried out.

1917

The Bolshevik Revolution in Russia ushers in the Communist regime - The revolution also ushered in a period of lawlessness. German villages were raided and robbed and Germans were murdered. Many Germans were driven from their homes and displaced to Siberia and Middle Asia.

1920-23

Period of famine in Russia claims hundreds of thousands of lives - Death by starvation in the Volga German colonies is estimated at 166,000, one-third of the population. See other historic events from this time.

1928-33

Second period of famine again claims many lives in Russia.

1939

Outbreak of World War II - Russian leader Joseph Stalin was, at first, allied with Adolf Hitler. In 1940, they revoked the Romanian annexation of Bessarabia and agreed all ethnic Germans in the region would be resettled in Germany. As there was no place for them in Germany, many settled in western Poland.

1941

War breaks out between Germany and Russia - The already-planned displacement of all Germans in Russia was carried out without exception. Men between the ages of 16 and 60 were sent to "Trudarmija," a forced labor camp, where the were treated as enemies of the state. Their possessions were seized and they were not permitted to return to their communities.
See other historic events from this time.

1945

The War is ended - In the years after World War II, about 70,000 German-Russians were able to make their way to Germany. The German Russians in South Russia (today southern Ukraine) trekked out with the retreating German army during World War II. Most were deported back to Siberia, Russia. Others were evacuated to the central and east Asian portions of the USSR.

1991

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The Fall of the Soviet Union - Brought major political changes and a significant immigration of more than 2 million ethnic Germans to Germany. See other historic events from this time.