Breakdown of Создание этого фонда состоялось девятого октября две тысячи первого года.
этот
this [f: эта, n: это]
год
year
две
two (f)
первый
first (1st)
Questions & Answers about Создание этого фонда состоялось девятого октября две тысячи первого года.
Why are all the words in the date (девятого октября... первого года) in the Genitive case?
In Russian, to say that an event happened on a specific full date (day, month, and year), you put the ordinal day, the month, the ordinal year, and the word года (year) all into the Genitive case. You are essentially saying the event happened "of the ninth, of October, of the two thousand first year". You do not need any prepositions like "on" or "in".
Why didn't две тысячи (two thousand) change its ending for the Genitive case along with первого?
When using compound ordinal numbers—which is how years are expressed in Russian—only the very last word declines (changes case). Therefore, the "two thousand" part (две тысячи) stays in its standard form, and only the "first" (первый) changes to the Genitive первого to satisfy the date rule.
What is the verb состоялось agreeing with to get that neuter -ось ending?
Is этого фонда also in the Genitive case because of the date?
No, этого фонда (of this fund) is in the Genitive case simply to link two nouns together, similar to the English "of". It translates to "The creation of this fund." This Genitive chain is completely independent of the Genitive date structure at the end of the sentence.