|
1921 Abkhazia
becomes an autonomous republic within the Soviet Union.
1922 Russia
, Ukraine
, Belarus
, and the Transcaucasia come together to form the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics
.
1923 Vladimir Lenin
suffers a stroke, his third, which renders him bedridden and unable to speak; consequently he retires his position as Chairman of the Soviet
government.
1923 Large hail
stones kill 23 in Rostow, Soviet Union
1924 Soviet Union officially declares that Lenin died January 21.
1924 The United Kingdom
recognizes Soviet Union.
1924 A Soviet
sports newspaper Sovetskiy Sport is founded.
1927 Leon Trotsky
is expelled from the Soviet Communist Party, leaving Joseph Stalin
with undisputed control of the Soviet Union
1929 Leon Trotsky expelled from Soviet Union; he moves to Turkey January 29 and applies for sanctuary in France and Germany
1930 Abkhazia
and Georgia, autonomous republics of the Soviet Union, are merged.
1931 ''Ready for Labour and Defence of the USSR'' programme, abbreviated as GTO, is introduced in the Soviet Union
1933 The United States
and the Soviet Union establish formal diplomatic relations
.
1934 the Candidate of Science degree is established in the USSR
.
1934 Soviet Union joins the League of Nations
1934 In the Soviet Union, Politburo member Sergei Kirov is shot dead at the Communist Party
headquarters in Leningrad
by Leonid Nikolaev (it is widely thought that Soviet leader Joseph Stalin
ordered this murder).
1937 31 people executed in the Soviet Union for "Trotskyism"
1938 Soviet Union announces officially that Nikholai Bukharin has been executed
1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact: Hitler and Stalin agree to divide eastern Europe between themselves (Finland
, the Baltic states and eastern Poland
to the USSR
; Western Poland to Germany
).
1939 Cease Fire ending undeclared Border War between The Soviet Union
(and Mongolian
allies) and Japan
.
1939 Soviet Union invades Poland
and then occupies eastern Polish territories.
1939 Winter War
begins: Soviet
forces attack Finland
and reach the Mannerheim Line, starting the war.
1940 Soviet Union and Finland
sign a peace treaty in Moscow
ending the Winter War
. Finns, along with the world at large, were shocked by the harsh terms.
1940 The three Baltic states of Estonia
, Latvia
and Lithuania
fall under the occupation of the Soviet Union.
1941 Soviet Union and Japan
sign a neutrality pact.
1941 Mass deportations by Soviet Union authorities take place in Estonia
, Latvia
and Lithuania
.
1941 World War II
: Germany
attacks the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa
1941 World War II: Finland
attack the Soviet Union to seek the opportunity of revenge in the Continuation War.
1941 World War II
: Operation Countenance - United Kingdom
and Soviet
forces invade Iran
.
1941 World War II
: Soviets
announce the destruction of massive Dniepr River dam at Zaporozhye to prevent its capture by the Germans.
1941 World War II
: Siege of Leningrad
begins - German
forces begin a siege against the Soviet Union's second-largest city, Leningrad
. Stalin orders the Volga Deutsche deported to Siberia.
1941 Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran is forced to resign in favor of his son Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran under pressure from the United Kingdom
and the Soviet Union.
1941 World War II: In their invasion of the Soviet Union, Germany
reaches the Sea of Azov with the capture of Mariupol.
1941 World War II
: Soviet Union government moves to Kuibyshev, but Stalin remains in Moscow
.
1941 World War II: Franklin Delano Roosevelt approves US$1 billion in Lend-Lease
aid to the Soviet Union.
1941 World War II: Soviet leader Joseph Stalin
addresses the Soviet Union for only the second time during his three-decade rule (the first time was earlier that year on July 2). He states that even though 350,000 troops were killed in German
attacks so far, that the Germans have lost 4.5 million soldiers (a gross exaggeration) and that Soviet victory was near.
1941 World War II: Battle of Moscow: Temperatures around Moscow
drop to −12 °C
and the Soviet Union launches ski troops for the first time against the freezing German
forces near the city.
1942 World War II
: Second Battle of Kharkov - In the eastern Ukraine
, the Soviet
Army initiates a major offensive. During the battle the Soviets will capture the city of Kharkov from the German
Army, only to be encircled and destroyed.
1942 World War II
: Battle of Stalingrad
- Soviet Union forces under General Georgy Zhukov launch the Operation Uranus counterattacks at Stalingrad, turning the tide of the battle in the USSR's favor.
1942 World War II
: Battle of Stalingrad
- The situation for the German
attackers of Stalingrad seems desperate during the Soviet
counter-attack Operation Uranus and General Friedrich Paulus sends Adolf Hitler
a telegram saying that the German Sixth Army is surrounded.
1943 World War II
: Soviet
officials announce they have broken the Wehrmacht
's siege of Leningrad
.
1943 World War II
: Soviet Union reconquers Kharkov, but is later driven out in the Third Battle of Kharkov
1944 Deportation of Crimean Tatars by the Soviet Union government.
.]]
1944 Ion Antonescu
, prime minister of Romania
, is arrested and a new government is established. Romania
exits the war against Soviet Union joining the Allies
.
1944 British
Prime Minister Winston Churchill
and Soviet Union Premier Joseph Stalin
begin a nine-day conference in Moscow
to discuss the future of Europe
.
1945 The Soviet Union recognizes the new pro-Soviet government of Poland
.
1945 World War II
: The Soviet Union begin the Vistula-Oder Offensive in Eastern Europe
against the Nazis
.
1945 World War II: Soviets
occupy Warsaw
1945 World War II
: President
Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister
Winston Churchill
leave to meet with Soviet
leader Joseph Stalin
at the Yalta Conference
.
1945 World War II: Soviet Union agrees to enter the Pacific Theater conflict against Japan
.
1945 World War II: President
Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
Winston Churchill
and Soviet
leader Joseph Stalin
begin the Yalta Conference
(ends February 11)
1945 World War II: Soviet Union forces capture Budapest
, Hungary
from the Nazis
.
1945 World War II: Soviet Union forces invade Austria
and take Vienna
. Alger Hiss
congratulated in Moscow for his part in bringing about the Western betrayal at the Yalta Conference
.
1945 World War II: Elbe Day, United States
and Soviet
troops link up at the Elbe River, cutting Germany
in two
1945 World War II
: The Soviet Union announces the fall of Berlin. Soviet so | 
Timeline
