Russia · 19th century
Fyodor Dostoevsky
Фёдор Достоевский
The novelist who turned the darkest corners of the human mind into literature.
1821 – 1881 · Moscow → St Petersburg
Born
1821
11 Nov 1821 · Moscow
Died
1881
9 Feb 1881 · St Petersburg
Lived
59
years
Key works in the timeline
15
Marriages
2
Maria Isaeva, then Anna Snitkina
Children
4
two daughters, two sons
Years in exile
10
Omsk prison camp, then army service
Great novels
5
Crime and Punishment to The Brothers Karamazov
The short version
Fyodor Dostoevsky was born in Moscow in 1821, the second of seven children of an army doctor who worked at a hospital for the poor. He grew up among patients and paupers, trained as a military engineer in St Petersburg — and quietly wrote on the side. His first novel, Poor Folk, made him famous almost overnight, at 24.
In 1849 he was arrested for belonging to a circle of young intellectuals who discussed banned ideas. He was led out to face a firing squad, and the reprieve arrived only moments before the order to fire. Four years of hard labour in a Siberian prison camp followed, then years of army service. He came back to literature a different writer.
The books of his second life — Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, Demons, The Brothers Karamazov — are built around questions he never stopped asking: what is freedom, what is guilt, and what happens to a person who believes that everything is permitted. He wrote them in debt and in a hurry, often dictating to Anna, the stenographer who became his second wife, and they remain among the most widely read novels in the world.
A life at a glance
1821 – 1881 — 59 years
The timeline
Life, books and the world around them — in the order they happened.
- 1821
Born in Moscow
Born on 11 November (30 October, Old Style) in the hospital for the poor where his father worked as a doctor. - 1837 age ~16
His mother dies
Maria Dostoevskaya dies of tuberculosis; the same year he is sent to St Petersburg to prepare for military engineering school. - 1837Meanwhile in the world
Pushkin dies after a duel
Russia’s national poet is mortally wounded in a duel in St Petersburg. - 1839 age ~18
His father dies
By family tradition, killed by his own serfs — a death that haunted his later novels. - 1844 age ~23
Leaves government service
Resigns his commission in the engineering corps to live by his pen — a risky bet on literature, taken at 22. - 1845 age ~24
Belinsky champions his manuscript
The critic Vissarion Belinsky reads Poor Folk in manuscript — the start of his literary fame. - 1848Meanwhile in the world
Revolutions sweep Europe
The Tsar tightens censorship at home; discussion circles become dangerous. - 1849 age ~28
Arrested, sentenced, reprieved
Arrested in April as a member of the Petrashevsky Circle. On 22 December he stands before a firing squad — and is reprieved at the last moment. - 1850 age ~29
Siberia
Four years of hard labour in the Omsk fortress, followed by army service in Semipalatinsk. - 1853Meanwhile in the world
The Crimean War begins
Russia goes to war with the Ottoman Empire, Britain and France. - 1857 age ~36
First marriage
Marries Maria Isaeva, a widow, in Semipalatinsk. - 1859 age ~38
Returns to St Petersburg
After ten years away, he is allowed back to the capital and to literature. - 1861Meanwhile in the world
Serfdom is abolished
Alexander II’s Emancipation Manifesto frees millions of serfs. - 1864 age ~43
A year of losses
His wife Maria dies in April, his brother Mikhail in July. - 1866Meanwhile in the world
Attempt on the Tsar’s life
A student fires at Alexander II in St Petersburg, deepening the climate of suspicion. - 1867 age ~46
Second marriage, and abroad
Marries Anna Snitkina, the young stenographer who helped him finish The Gambler. To escape creditors, the couple leave Russia for four years. - 1868 age ~47
First daughter
Sofia is born in Geneva and dies a few months later. - 1869Meanwhile in the world
War and Peace is completed
Tolstoy finishes the novel that will define Russian literature alongside Dostoevsky’s own. - 1871 age ~50
Home again
The family returns to St Petersburg; their son Fyodor is born the same year. - 1878 age ~57
Loses his youngest son
Alexei dies at the age of three. - 1880 age ~59
The Pushkin speech
At the unveiling of the Pushkin monument in Moscow, his speech is greeted with an ovation. - 1881 age ~60
Dies in St Petersburg
Dies on 9 February (28 January, Old Style). Tens of thousands follow the coffin. - 1881Meanwhile in the world
Alexander II is assassinated
A month after Dostoevsky’s death, the Tsar is killed by revolutionaries.
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