Note: All dates are in New Style (modern calendar). Some may be disputed due to the confusion when reporting Old Style dates, but I have tried to align them as well as I could.

Note: Largest headings denote which group is in power and smaller headings denote which one person has the most and/or all the power (when applicable).

Romanovs

Tsar Alexander II (1855-1894):

1856 – Russia defeated in Crimean War

1860s – Populist Movement begins (no significant events)

• Considerable amount of Marxist ideology, e.g. communal ownership & production, no private property

• Don’t like industrialization and cities, believe society should be agrarian (peasants/farmers)

• Believes Russia should provide more for the communes

• Openly critical of Tsar

• More radical factions wanted to revolt & overthrow Tsar – don’t like autocratic system

1861 – Emancipation Manifesto – serfdom is abolished – nobles sell portions of their land to state, state to peasants, but peasants must pay back “mortgage” to state

• Most peasants still struggling, many went back to work for nobles just to receive small amounts of compensation (food, shelter, some amount of money)

• Some formed communes: groups that would move between farms together and work together

• Populists dissatisfied with this solution

1863 – Populist novel What is to Be Done? by Nikolai Chernyshevsky published

• Required reading for all populists

1864 – Russia conquers Caucasus

1864 – Zemstvo established – rural self-government of appointed & elected delegates made of electoral bodies for three classes, each with one vote: landowners, merchants/industrialists, peasants; agricultural innovations, education for rural population, social welfare programs

• Orthodox clergy & Jewish people forbidden from holding office

Nov 1864 – Judicial Reform Statutes – public trials & trials by jury

• ‘balances’ censorship – not completely free press but slightly freer – if he gave full freedom it would be ‘judicious vigilance’

• Industrializes and expands railroads

Apr 1870 – Lenin is born Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov

1870s – Populists’ ‘Going to the People’ Campaign

• Sent people from the city to dress as peasants to join their farms and try to spark revolutionary activity

• Many peasants did not respond well, often reported the revolutionaries

1876 – Ems Ukase Decree – Ukrainian language & theater/arts banned

1879 – People’s Will splits from Populists

1881 – Alexander II assassinated by People’s Will (after six unsuccessful attempts)

Tsar Alexander III (1881-1894):

1881 – Alexander III executes assassins of Alexander II

1883 – ‘Russification’ campaign begins

• Believes that the problem with Russia is that it has ethnic ‘impurities’ (ethnic non-Russians) – wants to force them all to assimilate into Russian culture

• Non-Orthodox religions or non-Russian language banned in schools & public buildings

• Encouraged pogroms against all non-Russians (not just Jewish people)

• Reinstates strict censorship

• Invests in Russian Revival architecture

1885 – First Fabergé Egg created

• Commissioned from artist Fabergé by Alexander III as an Easter present for his wife

1889 – Land Captain Statute – appointed nobility as ‘land captains’ to control small portions of land; brings back the freedom for nobles to whip peasants in public

Mar 1891 – Begins Trans-Siberian Railroad construction

• Begins construction under his rule, builds about 700 km; cost 1 million Rubles (20 million USD in 2023)

Spring 1891 – Famine of 1891-92 begins

• 36 million peasants starve, 500,000 will die

• Government continues to export grain – angers citizens

• Newspapers prohibited from reporting on famine – led people to believe they were alone in suffering

Spring 1891 – Evicts 20,000 Jewish people from Moscow to the Pale

• Places cap on Jewish enrollment in Russian universities

• Persecution encouraged Jewish people to affiliate more with revolutionary/radical groups

1892 – Famine ends

1894 – France invests in Russian industry

• Industrial boom à economy is doing quite well

• Ruble is very stable

• Russia is now a world power

• Army is equipped with a new 30 caliber bolt action rifle

• Education standards raised

• Navy gets 114 new warships (now 3rd largest in the world)

• Russia shifts main alliance from Germany to France – no wars are fought during Alexander III’s reign

1894 – Alexander III dies of illness

Tsar Nicholas II (1894-1917):

1894 – Wedding of Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna

• Only approved by Alexander III on his death bed

1890s – Continuation of Russification campaign

• Very antisemitic like his father, allowed continued persecution of non-Russian ethnicities

• Publicly condemned pogroms but never legislated against them

1890s – New parties emerge

• Idealistic Parties – less activity, more based in ideology

  • Liberals – want Western European style government (not autocratic), mostly middle class, believe that state should protect individual liberty through legislature

  • Socialists –  want the support of the peasants and workers, want revolutionary change

• Political Parties – want active change

  • Socialist Revolutionaries – split from the Populists (People’s Will), focus on peasants in rural areas, led by intelligentsia who believed peasants couldn’t lead themselves, slogan of ‘Land and Liberty’ to represent goals of socialization of land for communes and replacing the monarchy with a democratic republic; had issues organized peasants as they were too spread out, had lots of police opposition

  • Social Democrats – Marxist ideology, believe industrialization requires socialism to be fair, focus on the workers in the cities but don’t trust them to organize themselves, believes they need the leadership of professional revolutionaries

1896 – Khodynka Tragedy

• Nicholas II’s coronation ended with a celebration for the commoners that had an offering of small free gift packages, originally meant to be filled with food, but also rumored to contain more valuable items – led to stampede to get the packages before they run out that caused about 1,400 deaths

• Nicholas II is scheduled to travel to France to attend a party – leaves for France instead of coming out to talk to the people after the tragedy

Feb 1897 – Lenin sentenced to three years of exile in Siberia

1899 – Middle class emerges

1900 – Lenin settles in Pskov (Northern Russia), establishes Social Democrats Party (RSDLP) and Iskra (radical newspaper)

July 1900 – Lenin leaves for Western Europe, meets with other Russian Marxists in Switzerland

Sept 1900 – Lenin relocates to Munich, Germany

1900s – Industrialization continues rapidly, peasants move to cities

• Urban population increases from 7 million to 28 million

• Terrible living conditions in cities

• Increased pressure on people – workers become hostile to authority due to working conditions

• Beginning of labor groups

• Nobles’ income decreases due to agricultural lag

1901 – Socialist Revolutionaries Political Party officially formed

Dec 1901 – Lenin officially adopts pseudonym Lenin

1902 – Lenin publishes pamphlet What is to Be Done?

• Name taken from Populist work of same name

• Outlines his plan to form political party to spread Marxism

• Basically prompted the split of the RSDLP (Social Democrats Party)

Jul 1903 – Social Democrats party splits (informally)

• Occurs at second RSDLP Congress in London

• Mensheviks (led by Julius Martov, originally included Leon Trotsky) – actual majority of the party (despite the name), wanted patient and gradual change, don’t believe Russia is ready for socialism and that they should wait for the rest of Europe to transition to socialism first, currently want to organize the workers and raise political awareness to prepare for eventual transition

• Bolsheviks (led by Vladimir Lenin) – strongest Marxist ideology, directed by elite group of highly trained militant revolutionaries, wanted socialist revolution soon, believed that workers needed guidance, discipline, and organization from intelligentsia to revolt

• Lenin resigns from Iskra board

• Not an official split yet; they are still two factions of the RSDLP (Social Democrats)

Feb 1904 – Russo-Japanese War Begins

• Conflict over Trans-Siberian Railroad and control of Korea and Manchuria region of China

• Japanese navy carry out a surprise attack at Port Arthur (the current end of the railroad) – no formal declaration of war, lose Pacific Fleet to attack; Nicholas II sends Baltic Fleet (crown jewel of their Navy, currently in the Baltics) to respond, arrives too late

May 1904 – Lenin publishes anti-Menshevik work One Step Forward, Two Steps Back; relocates to Switzerland

Dec 1905 – RSDLP (Social Democrat) Central Committee entirely Bolshevik, found newspaper Vperyod

Jan 1905 – Bloody Sunday

• Wave of workers’ strikes in St. Petersburg

• Father Georgy Gapon marches to Winter Palace (where Nicholas II lives, however he was not home, unknown to crowd), crowd singing hymns and ‘God Save the Tsar,’ wanted to peacefully speak to Tsar about reforms, believed in a benevolent Tsar

• Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich (Nicholas II’s uncle) is in charge at the time, orders Imperial Guard (police) to fire on unarmed demonstrators, kills between 40 and 100 people

• Leads to a wave of outrage and strikes in other cities – called ‘First Revolution;’ peasants start uprisings against landlords in the country (many are killed), mutinies occur in armed forces

• Revolution (definition): mass uprising that brings about fundamental change in a system of government or social order

April 1905 – Third RSDLP (Social Democrats) Conference held in London

• Despite Lenin urging against it, Bolsheviks still attend

May 1905 – Ivanovo Textile Mill Strike

• Bolshevik revolutionaries in Ivanovo strike against regional factory inspector for better conditions – workers’ delegates and inspector meet often to discuss demands

• Cossacks arrest 20 striking workers, leading to more violent acts from the workers in protest

• Many mill owners flee to Moscow after seeing destruction

May 1905 – Russo-Japanese War Ends

• Baltic Fleet only reaches in time for Battle of Tsushima Strait

• Japan has new technology that destroys Baltic Fleet (unexpected by Europe from Asian country) – considered first ‘modern’ naval battle and established Japan as major military power

• Russia defeated

September 1905 – Treaty of Portsmouth

• Official end of Russo-Japanese War

• Mediated by Teddy Roosevelt

• Russia loses South Manchuria, control of railway in that region, any ports in that region, and access to Korea

Jun 1905 – Mutiny on Potemkin Battleship

• Radicals on battleship planned to mutiny (disobey orders) beginning August

• Given food filled with maggots in June – they’ve had enough and refuse to eat out of defiance

• Officers threaten to kill those who don’t eat and begin firing on them, radicals hide behind gun terret and then start killing the officers and throwing them overboard

• Took over ship and went to Odessa port, rallying the workers there once they reached

• Tsar’s forces took over the city and killed about 1,000 Odessan civilians, forcing Potemkin to leave

Jul 1905 – Ivanova Strike ends

Jul 1905 – Mutineers forced to surrender Potemkin to avoid arrest in Constanza port, end the rebellion by sinking the ship before leaving

Sept 1905 – General Strike

• Organized & widespread resistance led by Trotsky & St. Petersburg Soviet

• Reasoning – autocracy & conservative political structure, rapidly changing & industrializing society, unrest among laborers, peasantry, and militant moderates who want a political voice

• Both Bolsheviks and Mensheviks involved; Trotsky (Men.) exiled to Siberia as a result

Oct 1905 – October Manifesto

• List of recommended reforms delivered to Tsar in early October – no response

• More strikes, forcing Nicholas II to listen to demands – list called October Manifesto, signed by Nicholas II in late October

• Demands – guarantee civil liberties, elect national legislative assembly

• Legislative assembly established, called Duma, bicameral with upper house half appointed by Tsar and half elected by nobility and lower house elected by citizens, could be dissolved and recreated by Tsar whenever he wanted; led to four different Dumas created and dissolved

• Liberalist party splits into Octobrists and Constitutional Democrats

• Major goal is to decrease the power of the Tsar

Nov 1905 – Lenin returns to St. Petersburg

Apr 1906 – Pyotr Stolypin appointed as interior minister

Apr 1906 – Fundamental Laws

• Civil liberties guaranteed by October Manifesto – includes universal suffrage

• Tsar can declare martial law and control the budget still

Apr 1906 – First Duma established – does not get along well with Tsar

• Contains members of two major parties

• Octobrists: believe in October Manifesto, want limited suffrage

• Constitutional Democrats (Kadets): want civil rights and universal suffrage

• Third – Conservatives (Union of the People): pro-Tsar, funded & appointed by Tsar; military group from this party called Black Hundred

Jul 1906 – First Duma dissolved

Jul 1906 – Stolypin appointed as Prime Minister by Nicholas II

• Cooperated with the local zemstvos

• Appointed because there were no revolutions in his previously governed region

• Necktie = noose, carriage = trains to death camps

• Cancels payments to mir (bank within communes) that peasants had to pay previously (mortgages from Emancipation Manifesto) – kulak class will be created

• Many will still go back to communes when they realize they can’t afford to run their own farms

1906 – Lenin sets up Bolshevik Centre in Finland (autonomous state of Russian Empire)

Feb 1907 – Second Duma created

• One member (Vladimir Purishkevich) strongly opposed the October Manifesto

• Social Revolutionaries, Mensheviks, and Bolsheviks won many seats in this Duma (after previously boycotting elections)

Jun 1907 – Bolsheviks under leadership of Joseph Stalin carry out an armed robbery of the State Bank in Tiflis, Georgia

• Lenin knew they wouldn’t have enough financial backing purely from membership fees and occasional donations, decided that robbing public buildings would be the solution

Jun 1907 – Second Duma dissolved

• Stolypin accused Social Democrats of planning an armed uprising and asked to exclude many of them from Duma sessions and remove over a dozen of them

• Duma refuses so it gets dissolved

1907 – Tsar orders secret police (Okhrana) to arrest revolutionaries, Lenin flees Finland to Switzerland

Nov 1907 – Third Duma created

• Made up almost entirely of pro-Tsar landowners and businessmen

• Lasted the longest and successfully produced 200 pieces of legislation

• Supported improvement of Russian military, social welfare, and continued Russification policies

May 1908 – Lenin lives briefly in London, writes Materialism and Empirio-criticism, a critique of fellow Bolshevik leader Alexander Bogdanov

Dec 1908 – Bolshevik Centre relocates to Paris; Lenin moves to Paris as well

Aug 1910 – Lenin attends Eighth Congress of the Second International in Copenhagen as RSDLP’s representative

• Holidays shortly after in Stockholm with his mother

• Afterwards, moves to Bombon and then Paris, France

Jun 1911 – RSDLP Central Committee moves focus of operations back to Russia, closes Bolshevik Centre

Jan 1912 – Bolsheviks (under Lenin) officially form their own party called RSDLP(b), now completely separate from the Mensheviks

• Lenin still heavily criticized for factionalism

1912 – Lenin moves to Kraków, Poland (currently part of Austria-Hungary)

Jun 1912 – Third Duma ended due to end of planned 5-year term

Nov 1912 – Fourth Duma created – very little political impact

Jan 1913 – Stalin visits Lenin in Kraków

1913 – Lenin and his wife move to Biały Dunajec (south Poland, still part of Austria-Hungary)

1913 – Russia is the 5th wealthiest country in the world

Jun 1914 – WWI begins

Jul 1914 – Russia joins WWI

• Food shortage since all grain was on trains going to military and not to the people

• Influx of people into the cities since many head-of-households in peasant farms went off to fight in the war

• Leads to Scorched Earth Famines: Scorched Earth tactic destroys supplies, ruins farmland, and sends more people into the cities

Sept 1914 – St. Petersburg renamed to Petrograd to remove German root-words

Feb 1916 – Lenin and his wife relocate to Zürich, Switzerland

Feb 1917 – February Revolution

• Nicholas II is leading the military

• International Women’s Day Protest – female workers lead protest and gather larger crowd of other women and children

• Nicholas II summons military to deal with protests, they begin to fire on crowd but become reluctant to fire on mostly women and children and are sympathetic to their cause so they join and march with them

Feb 1917 – Trotsky (now Bol.) returns to Russia after escaping exile

Mar 1917 – Lenin (among other revolutionaries) are transported by Germany through Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, Finland, and finally back to Petrograd

Mar 1917 – Nicholas II abdicates throne

• When news of February Revolution reaches Tsar he is informed that the citizens hate him and that his best option would be to abdicate the throne

• Abdicates to his son Alexei (14) who refuses, then abdicates to his brother Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich

Provisional Government and Petrograd Soviet

Mar 1917 – Petrograd Soviet established as second governing body

• Want to restore public order – returned troops to barracks

• Elect their own deputies post-February Revolution

• Believe that Provisional Government is made of bourgeois politicians and don’t trust them (they don’t trust the Soviet either)

• Mostly made up of Social Revolutionaries and Mensheviks

• Plan to convene an All-Russian Congress of the Soviets in October 1917 – brings together Soviets from all of Russia’s major cities to form a larger/more representative governing body

Mar 1917 – Petrograd Soviet First Order – grants mutinous soldiers immunity from conviction to make them loyal to the Soviet

Mar 1917 – Grand Duke Mikhail, upon learning he is the new Tsar, refuses and gives the leadership position to the new Provisional Government – doesn’t want Petrograd Soviet in charge

Mar 1917 – Provisional Government formed

• Duma leaders appoint themselves as leaders of Provisional Government – intend to restore order

• Prince Georgy Lvov chosen as Prime Minister – convinces military to support them

• Pass series of reforms – full civil liberties, removal of many legal restrictions (like those on ethnic minorities) , universal adult suffrage

• Wanted control over domestic & foreign affairs

Mar 1917 – Nicholas II and family placed on house arrest in Alexander Palace (near Petrograd) by Provisional Government

Mar 1917 – Constituent Assembly planned

• Plan created to establish democratically elected legislature with members of Provisional Government and Petrograd Soviet

• Until then, Soviet had to approve actions from the Provisional Government and vice versa

Apr 1917 – Lenin arrives in Petrograd, delivers ‘April Theses’ speech

• Returning from 17-year exile

• Condemns (Soviet) Menshevik and Social Revolutionary support of the Provisional Government

• Wants to lead another revolution that will be violent and place the Soviets in power

• Advocates Russia’s withdrawal from WWI

• ‘Peace, Bread, Land” slogan; withdrawal from war, providing more food, socializing the land for the peasants

• Some reacted by calling him a German agent

May 1917 – Alexander Kerensky (Provisional Government, People’s Minister of War) pressures army to go on offensive against Germany

• Wants to rally the people and to make them side with Provisional Government

Jul 1917 – Lvov resigns as Prime Minister of Provisional Government

Jul 1917 – Russia loses the Kerensky offensive

• Damages reputation of Provisional Government

Jul 1917 – July Uprising

• People want social, economic, and political change

• 500,000 workers (originally striking for higher wages, food, and 8-hour workdays) protest against Provisional Government – want them to take over factories to stop lockouts (owners temporarily shutting down to avoid paying wages) and women wanted equal pay and the end to child labor

• Demand that the Soviets take all the power, protests turn violent

• Many Bolsheviks participate – Lenin is away during event, only returns after

• Provisional Government has leaders arrested for inciting violence, Trotsky arrested

• Lenin hides in Petrograd safe houses, escapes to nearby train station with Grigory Zinoviev (senior Bolshevik), begins trip to escape to Finland

Jul 1917 - Kerensky becomes Prime Minister of Provisional Government

• Kerensky highly popular among higher class – supported by many military leaders and the bourgeoisie

• Appoints Lavr Kornilov to commander-in-chief of the Russian Army – well-respected general

1917 – Red Guard occupation in Petrograd increases substantially due to increased unrest

Aug 1917 – Lenin arrives in Finland and stays in safe houses owned by Bolshevik sympathizers

Aug 1917 – Kornilov Affair

• Russian army officers want to restrict public gatherings, restore death penalty, and restore discipline in the military after soldiers mutinied during February Revolution

• Pro-Tsar, wants to prevent further revolutionary action; plans to mobilize troops to Petrograd to squash any revolutionary activity

• Plans to enter Petrograd to eliminate the Soviet

• Tries to enter city and everyone immediately responds:

  • Soviet mobilizes all parties to defend the capital

  • Railroad workers divert & block trains

  • Newspapers refuse to print in support of Kornilov

  • Red Guard (factory security forces) on alert

  • Kronstadt sailors (revered Baltic navy sailors) arrive

  • Trotsky and other Bolsheviks released from prison to defend Petrograd

• Metalworkers talk Kornilov’s troops into standing down and no longer support him, leading to his arrest

• Petrograd Soviet establishes Military Revolutionary Committee (MRC) – armed militia loyal to Bolsheviks

Aug 1917 – Romanov family evacuated to the Governor’s Mansion (Kuklin House) in Siberia – lived in considerable comfort

Sept 1917 – Bolsheviks gain majority in workers’ sections of Petrograd and Moscow Soviets

Oct 1917 – Trotsky elected chairman of Petrograd Soviet

Oct 1917 – Lenin returns to Petrograd and attends meeting of Bolshevik Central Committee

• Convinces party to lead an insurrection against Provisional Government

Oct 1917 – Fourth Duma dissolved by Provisional Government – seen as unnecessary post-February Revolution

Oct 1917 – October Revolution

• Lenin wants a violent overtaking of the Provisional Government; leads coup

• Coup (definition): sudden, often violent attempt to take over government, usually by small military or political group – can lead to the dissolution of a government or removal of a dictator; junta is specifically a military coup

• First All-Russian Congress of the Soviets meeting planned for night of coup, Lenin convinces them to postpone it to next day

• MRC take over government buildings, telegraph offices, railways, city entrances; no violence/bloodshed

• Takes the Winter Palace (where Provisional Government is held) on night of October 25th, arrest officials (except Kerensky who escapes out the side)

• People originally believe that the Soviets took power, though it was only the Bolsheviks – revolutions continue in other cities

• Lenin announces at Petrograd Soviet that the Bolsheviks have taken over the government – Mensheviks and Social Revolutionaries walk out in protest

Nov 1917 - All-Russian Congress of the Soviets

• Bolsheviks form new government: Council of People’s Commissars (proposed by Lev Kamenev)

Bolsheviks

Lenin (1917-1924):

Nov 1917 – Kerensky-Krasnov uprising

• Attempted uprising against Bolshevik-led Petrograd Soviet led by Kerensky

• Defeated within 5 days by Red Guard

• Considered to be early anti-Bolshevik roots of the Civil War

Nov 1917 – Council of People’s Commissars officially created

• Trotsky is now People’s Commissar of Foreign Affairs, Stalin is Commissar for Nationalities

Nov 1917 – Voting for Constituent Assembly

• Lenin believes that Bolsheviks will win majority, so he allows election to continue

• Bolsheviks only win ¼ of the seats, Social Revolutionaries win majority, angers Lenin, claims election was unfair

Dec 1917 – Cossack armies, Kornilov, and other Tsarist officers escaped prison (from Kornilov affair), rebelled in Rostov, taking city from Bolsheviks

• Sometimes regarded as beginning of Civil War

Dec 1917 – Russia and Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria)  sign armistice to begin peace negotiations

• Central Powers proposed concession of large portions of (former) Russian Empire, angering many

• Trotsky (representing Bolsheviks in negotiation) refused to sign, creating policy ‘No war, no peace’

Jan 1918 – First (and last) meeting of the Constituent Assembly

• Lenin proposes legislature (that would give Bolsheviks the most power) and the rest of the assembly refuses à Lenin closes the assembly

• Begins imprisoning and/or murdering people who advocate for democracy after this point

Jan 1918 – Bolsheviks take Kiev, Ukraine

Feb 1918 – Germans invade Russia with ease due to ‘No war’ part of Trotsky’s policy

• Even Red Guard couldn’t stop invasion

• Bolsheviks realized they had no choice but to sign for peace

Mar 1918 – Romanov family placed on soldiers’ rations

Mar 1918 – Treaty of Brest-Litovsk signed

• Treaty between Russia and Central Powers, took Russia out of WWI

• Gave up Poland, Ukraine, Finland, and Baltic states to Germany

• Led to nationalist movements in Finland, Bavaria (Germany), and Hungary (after dissolution of Austria-Hungary in WWI)

Mar 1918 – Bolshevik Party becomes the Communist Party

Mar 1918 – Capital moved from Petrograd to Moscow due to abundance of Central Power troops still nearby

Apr 1918 – Kornilov killed while fighting for White Army

May 1918 – Romanov family moved to The House of Special Purpose

• Incredibly bad living conditions and looming threat to Nicholas II

Jun 1918 – White Volunteer Army start campaign to take large Russian city (Yekaterinodar) – official start of Russian Civil War

• Landlords, generals, business leaders launch counter-revolutionary Civil War against Bolsheviks – White Army

• Many Tsarist military figures join White Army – generally want to return to Tsarist system

• White Army backed by Allied Powers – fear that their weapons will end up in German hands after Brest-Litovsk

• Cossacks join Whites since they are upset about grain seizures – targeted heavily by Stalin and later declare independence

• White Army wants to annul Brest-Litovsk and enter back into WWI

• Ukraine, Baltics, and Central Asian states (Kazakhstan, etc) want independence

• Whites outnumber Reds but are very disorganized and worsened when original leader Kornilov is killed early on (Apr 1918)

• Trotsky is appointed as Commissar of War and leads Red Guard (now Red Army)

• Trotsky establishes Bolshevik secret police force called Cheka – brutal, create concentration camps and carry out deportations

• Kronstadt Sailors played a major part in quelling White rebellion

• Many citizens fled from cities – populations halved

Jul 1918 – Siege of Tsaritsyn begins

• Stalin takes part in defense of city – gains strong reputation

• Later heavily used in Soviet propaganda

Jul 1918 – Romanov family executed

• Entire family was taken to downstairs basement where a family photo was taken as proof of life for other monarchies – hadn’t been seen publicly in months

• Executed by firing squad

Aug 1918 – White Volunteer Army successfully takes Yekaterinodar

Aug 1918 – Socialist Revolutionary Fanny Kaplan attempts to assassinate Lenin after a rally at Michelson Plant

• Directly after leader of Cheka Moisei Uritsky was assassinated

• Led Soviet government to declare the beginning of a Red Terror & increased surveillance of the people

Sept 1918 – Resolution confirms Red Terror

• Campaign of political repression and executions carried out by Cheka

• Meant to eliminate any opposition or threat to Bolshevik power

• Kills any opponents or those labeled as ‘counter-revolutionary’

Oct 1918 – Lenin returns to Moscow after recovering from assassination gunshot wound

Nov 1918 – Lenin establishes War Communism economic system

• Ends private trade, nationalizes industry & manufacturing – leads to a decrease in production and industry

• Collectivizes agriculture & requisitions surplus grain (grain seizures) from peasants to feed Red Army

• Ration system made into six classifications to decide how much you get –manual labor, heavy work (miners), shock groups (specialized for trade), mental/office, non-workers, exemptions for children and sick

• Later replaces with state rationing – rations decided by classification of difficulty of one’s work

• Includes some reforms: legalizes abortion and divorce on demand, socializes industries, increases education programs, provides childcare

• Mass unrest, deaths from famine, and low living standards make Lenin worried about another revolution

Apr 1919 – First Gulag is built

• Not in much use yet

Jun 1919 – Treaty of Versailles, end of WWI

• Baltics, Poland, and Finland given back to Russia; continue to fight for independence

• Reds control most of central Russia; capital + large cities, industry, fuel, railway, propaganda

• Whites divided between fronts (since Allies are still fighting) – relied on Allies for supplies; overall not in a great state

1920 – Lenin converts some military units into ‘labor armies’

• Enforce labor rules

• Armies & laborers shared food

• Register each worker & item produced

1921 – Gulag system now has 84 camps

• Still not heavily used

Mar 1921 – Kronstadt Rebellion

• Upset that some commissars were leading more comfortable lives during economic crisis caused by Civil War; Bolsheviks also aren’t holding up to their promises of democracy

• Form Provisional Revolutionary Committee (PRC) and effectively declared independence from Red Army

• Send list of fifteen demands to Bolsheviks – Lenin said that if Bolsheviks agreed to demands than everyone else would begin demanding things of them – no tolerance for counter-Bolshevik ideas

• Sailors beat Red Army quite badly at Kotlin Island (where Kronstadt is located)

• Needed people in the city to back them – people were too exhausted to join new revolution – Lenin used as an opportunity to get them back on Bolshevik side by providing bread for city’s workers

• Sailors lose 2nd battle at Kotlin and surrender – many flee to Finland, those who stayed either executed or brought to concentration camps

Mar 1921 – Lenin puts New Economic Policy into effect at 10th Congress of the All-Russian Communist Party (Congress of the Soviets)

• Many saw it as a retreat into capitalism; Lenin describes as a ‘temporary deviation’ and a ‘tactical retreat’

• Seen as necessary to revive the economy

• Changed system from war communism – everything goes to the state to support the Red Army

• New system – state takes half and farmers sell half for profit, small businesses reopen, factory managers run factories again

• Collectives are now optional but incentivized – less people join collectives than Lenin predicted

• State retains control of core economy – steel, coal, railways

• State regulates & develops socialist economic sector – cooperatives & communes; method to prevent backsliding into capitalism

• Works well to repair economy

Apr 1922 – Stalin becomes General Secretary of the Communist Party – appointed by Zinoviev

May 1922 – Lenin has his first stroke

• Stalin visits often – Lenin asks Stalin to help him die with cyanide if he becomes fully paralyzed

• Lenin is slowly being kept at home more

• Stalin is political rivals with Trotsky – partners with Zinoviev and Kamenev to plan takeover

• Lenin soon learns of this ‘clique’ and believe there is a conspiracy growing against him (and encouraged by Trotsky) – becomes closer with Trotsky

• Lenin wants to offer ethnic groups independence while Stalin did not (Commissar for Nationalities, he has the power to veto) – once again grows closer with Trotsky and further from Stalin

Oct 1922 – Russian Civil War ends; Red Army defeats Whites

• More Russian deaths than in WWI – about 5 million troops & millions of peasants due to grain seizures and Cheka

• 13 million dead from the war and 5 million dead from famine, 2 million emigrated away

Dec 1922 – Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Soviet Union or USSR) officially formed

• Many had to leave cities to find food

• Inflation increased rapidly, most reverted to bartering as currency

• Widespread famine and drought occurred

• Lenin decides that they should begin communism now; ends private trade, nationalizes industry, collectivizes communes (merges them all into one large agricultural group), replaces money with a ration system

Dec 1922 – Lenin has his second stroke

• Put under care by Stalin

• Lenin writes his Testament – criticized all Communist Party leaders (including Trotsky); especially critical of Stalin – also upset because Stalin called Lenin’s wife and made her cry – insultingly calls Stalin the ‘grey blur’ (he is insignificant)

Mar 1923 – Lenin has his third stroke (man is not okay)

• Stalin appoints uneducated people to the party because he knows they will stay loyal to him

• Lenin continues criticism of the party but Stalin dismisses these statements as the words of a sick man and doesn’t let anyone read his writings

• Lenin wants Trotsky to succeed him – Trotsky decides to agree with the rest of the party and approves the continuation of current policies to avoid the members isolating him

Jan 1924 – Lenin has his fourth stroke and officially dies

• Public is very sad

• Stalin takes control of funeral and embalms and displays Lenin’s body (against Lenin’s wishes)

• Tells Trotsky the wrong day for the funeral when he is away so he believes he can’t make it – makes Stalin look like he was the closest person to Lenin and that Trotsky does not care – showed that ‘Leninism’ lived within Stalin now

• Stalin also accuses Trotsky of supporting the NEP and being too capitalist – Stalin will go on to embrace the NEP himself and accuse Kamenev and Zinoviev of being anti-Communist by not supporting it

Stalin (1924-1953):

Jan 1924 – Petrograd is renamed Leningrad

Apr 1925 – Tsaritsyn is renamed Stalingrad

1925 – Trotsky removed from Commissar of War position

1926 – Trotsky outmaneuvered by Stalin and friends, expelled from Politburo

• Accused of factionalism and trying to divide the party leadership – politically ostracized

1927 – Trotsky expelled from Communist Party

1927 – Stalin places heavy taxes on kulak (wealthy peasant) farms

• Gives credits to collective farms (communes) – grow rapidly, many peasants join smaller informal collectives as well

1928 – Trotsky exiled to Kazakhstan

1928 – First five-year plan implemented

• Meant to speed up industry

• Creates command economy – all economic decisions are made by a central government

• High production goals for mining, railway, electric plants

• Quotas set for agricultural production – farms forcibly consolidated into state collectives

• Some kulaks destroy fields and slaughtered livestock in protest of their property being taken from them

• Quotas are extremely high and often unachievable

• Meant to control peasants, more easily collect taxes, and provide more food in cities

• Peasants no longer owned land & are required to give up equipment, livestock, produce, and homes; required to work on collective farms

• Drop in standard of living for peasants

• Any violent revolts suppressed by Red Army

• Agricultural production drops – mostly blamed on kulaks (though only 4% of population) – many shot, sent to labor camps, or deported

• Increased competition in industrial centers to encourage increased output – managers organized workers into brigades with quotas – those with highest production rates were called shock brigades + given rewards or medals

• Gains in heavy industries, e.g. mining, construction – USSR lead producer of oil, coal, iron ore, cement, and minerals

• Standards of living decreased – years of poverty for most people

1929 – Trotsky deported to Turkey

Dec 1929 – Cult of Stalin begins

• Begins on 50th birthday

Apr 1930 – GULAG organization created – workers sent to gulags (labor camps) increases substantially

• Forced labor camps – mostly in Northern Russia or Siberia

• None of the Soviet officials would freely go to oversee workers – sent to be guards as punishment

• Laborers would mine diamond, gold, platinum, nickel, oil, coal, and harvest timber

• Prisoners dug mines, canals; built railways, hydroelectric stations

• Harsh conditions, inadequate food, insufficient clothing, physical abuse from unhappy guards, death rate high from exhaustion and disease (90%)

1931 – 1,000 special settlements set up for about 300 kulak families in Siberia – 2 million people exiled over next year

• Want to remove defenders of ‘old’ rural life

• Destroyed Soviet economy’s agricultural sector

Spring 1932 – Holodomor begins

• Ukraine is one of the most prolific states in producing grain in the USSR

• Harvest is bad this spring and state quotas keep increasing – some officials would submit exaggerated harvest figures to win favor from Moscow

• Widespread famine began

• Managers appointed for loyalty to party – no expertise, few tractors, ran farms poorly

• Agricultural surpluses were used to invest in industry

• Ukraine production goals are not met – entire harvest including seed grain for the next year were taken

• Soviet government halted trains to prevent people from leaving & newspapers prohibited from reporting as an attempt to conceal the crisis

• Government especially distrusted Ukrainian peasantry – used them as an example for others

• ⅓ of people in region died – about 13 million people

1932 – First five-year plan ends

• Regime used workers to explain away failures – sometimes called them ‘wreckers’ and ‘bourgeois specialists’ said to be spies for saboteurs, often shot and sent to labor camps

• Workers’ earnings were one tenth of those in 1926

Sept 1932 – Ryutin Affair; Ryutin arrested for conspiracy against Stalin

• Half of workers’ wages went to food, few consumer goods are available à new wave of workers’ strikes & demonstrations – support of Stalin is waning

• Martemyan Ryutin – Old Bolshevik – circulated manifesto about Stalin breaking from Leninism & being a hypocrite in condemning Trotsky than doing exactly what he said was bad

• Charges violence against the party and the masses

• Calls Stalin a dictator & calls for end of collectivization

• Created paranoia in Stalin that enemies were everywhere

• Ryutin and his followers were arrested (including Kamenev and Zinoviev) – Kamenev testified that he was completely guilty and executed (his family was most likely threatened to force a confession)

Nov 1932 – Stalin’s 2nd wife Nadezhda Alliluyeva commits suicide

• Stalin told the public and their children that she passed from appendicitis – children only learned the truth ten years later

• Stalin is left with almost no one – basically only has one friend (Sergei Kirov) left

1932 – Moderates like Kirov helped stabilize the party

1933 – Second five-year plan goes into effect

• More emphasis on material well-being as a goal of socialism – ‘Cadres (small group of professionals) decide everything’

• Wages increase, more customer goods available, peasants could keep more of their harvest

Apr 1933 – Stalin begins Great Purge

• Purges anyone he has reason to suspect – party members

• “Great Terror” refers to anyone (outside of party) who Stalin will execute for counter-revolutionary ideas

• Targets groups opposing Stalin’s leadership – labels them as ‘opportunists’ and ‘counter-revolutionary infiltrators’ and whatever else he can insult them with

• ‘Purging’ includes party expulsion, banishment, sending to gulags, execution

• 18% of 3.2 million party members expelled or killed – mostly new recruits who don’t remember Leninism are left

• Some members switch on friends or superiors to avoid their own persecution or to climb the ladder

• Intelligentsia censored & targeted

• Religious groups persecuted, driven underground

• Branded some as ‘enemies of the people’ – leads to public persecution & abuse

• Interrogation & torture not uncommon – frequently threatened victims’ families to force (often false) confessions

• Promoted factory floor workers to technicians and managers to make them loyal to himself – eventually became large portion of senior party leadership; conformist, obedient, uneducated, malleable

• Notable people removed from Soviet history books and photographs

• Stalin excludes Trotsky and diminishes Lenin from history; adds that five-year plans were completely successful

Summer 1933 – Stalin’s Cult of Personality increases rapidly

• Puts his photo next to Lenin’s – projects himself as Lenin’s one true disciple

• New persona: The Architect of Socialism – wise & paternal teacher of the nation, the People’s Man

• Takes photos with Soviet heroes and frequently does publicity stunts

Jul 1933 – Holodomor ends

• Good harvest this year eased crisis

1934 – GPU (formerly Cheka) becomes NKVD

Dec 1934 – Murder of Kirov

• Kirov is a popular Leningrad party leader, member of ruling elite, member of Politburo

• Stalin sends assassin to kill Kirov after realizing he was more popular than Stalin and had a chance of taking power

• Stalin pretends to the public that he was enraged about the murder – uses search for murderer as an excuse to instate harsh laws and continue political manhunt – furthered Great Purge

1936 – Show Trials begin

• Goal to expose ring of spies & terrorists of opposition, prove existence of conspiracies by forcing accused to confess guilt before the world on TV – death sentences are decided preemptively

• ‘Spread of terror’ – if one person is accused (party leader, family member), then everyone associated with them is arrested as well

• 116,000 party members are executed between 1937 and 1938 – majority were innocent

• Nikita Khrushchev (young party member) became head of the party committee when his superiors were accused

• Stalin didn’t need a basis to accuse & execute someone – ‘if 10% is true, we should regard the entire report as true’

• Informers everywhere – millions reporting on their colleagues, neighbors, friends

• Party paid workers, students, watchmen, caretakers to be eyes and ears

• Increased police presence and surveillance

• Became a rush to denounce someone before they denounce you – empowered the masses; ambitious workers could move up easily

• Many families packed a ‘go bag’ in case they needed to leave suddenly

• Millions of victims were ordinary citizens – many former kulaks recently returned from Siberian settlements and became easy targets

• Stalin killed families as well (even when promising their safety to force confessions) because he feared revenge from them

• Many ethnic minorities purged – especially Poles and Jewish people during WWII

Aug 1939 – Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact signed with Hitler

• Neither side will attack each other or ally against each other

• Plan to divide Poland, Baltics, and Finland between themselves

• German Gestapo & NKVD coordinated occupations

Sept 1939 – German invasion of Poland and beginning of WWII

• Stalin orders invasion the next day to claim Russia’s sphere of influence as well

• Create new border (now in Ukraine and Belarus)

Sept 1939 – USSR invades ‘their portion’ (as assigned in Molotov-Ribbentrop) of Poland

• Liquidate the Polish state, collectivize the agriculture, and nationalize and redistribute private- and state-owned Polish property

• Eventual Eastern bloc state

Nov 1939 – USSR unsuccessfully attempts to invade Finland (Winter War)

Mar 1940 – USSR annexes regions of Finland

• Agreement with Finland after Winter War allows USSR to annex eastern portion of Karelia, merging it with the Soviet-owned western portion to form the KASSR, an autonomous republic in the USSR

• Annex Baltics and parts of Romania (mostly in Ukraine) as well

Apr 1940 – Katyn Massacre

• USSR interrogates 300,000 Polish prisoners of war (includes military officers and intelligentsia)

• 22,000 POWs executed

Jun 1940 – Initial occupations of the Baltics

• NKVD troops raided border posts in the Baltic states

• Liquidate their state administrations and replace them with Soviet cadres

• Elections for parliament and other official positions were held with a single pro-Soviet candidate listed and fabricated results that showed high public support – puppet governments established and declared all three countries as Soviet Socialist Republics (SSRs, as are Ukraine and Belarus (Byelorus) at the time)

• New SSRs’ governments then requested their “admission into Stalin’s Soviet Union”

Jun 1940 – Soviet Ultimatum demanding regions from Romania

• Soviets enter and Romania caves to the demands

• Eventual Eastern bloc state

Aug 1940 – Trotsky assassinated on behalf of Stalin in Mexico

Aug 1940 – Soviet Union annexes Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia (illegally, by international law)

Jun 1941 – Operation Barbarossa begins – Hitler invades USSR

• Stalin didn’t expect Hitler to open a 2nd front

• Battle for Stalingrad is long and bloody – Russians slash & burn while retreating; leaves Germans stuck without resources

1944 – All areas annexed by USSR since Operation Barbarossa (excluding Moldavian SSR) were part of Germany’s Ostland – eventual Eastern bloc states

Sept 1944 – Moscow Armistice obliges Finland to give up more land to the KASSR

Feb 1945 – Allied conference at Yalta

Aug 1945 – Berlin (and Germany as a whole) divided into 4 Allied zones

• Berlin is in the middle of East Germany but is a strategic location (capital) so it also gets split

Sept 1945 – End of WWII

• Old European empires power have decreased, Britain is bankrupt, France and Italy filled with poverty and social upheaval, zones of occupation (sphere of influence) created in Germany by the Allies

• Only countries that made it out stronger are US and USSR

Nov 1945 – Nuremberg Trials – Ribbentrop is convicted of war crimes

1945 – Soviet has successfully negotiated for control of much of central Europe by promising Western Allies that they will push for democratic, free, and fair governments

Mar 1946 – Iron Curtain

• Winston Churchill (Prime Minister of UK during WWII) says – “From Stettin in the Baltic, to Trieste in the Adriatic, an iron curtain has descended across the continent.”

• US + UK and USSR alliance quickly dissolved after WWII

• US citizens wouldn’t want to keep American troops in Europe for more than two years – diplomats wanted to convince them to be okay with allowing the troops to stay for fear of communism spreading in Europe

Oct 1946 – Ribbentrop is executed for war crimes

1947 – Germany/Berlin have basically become two zones; West’s ‘Reconstruction Zone’ and East’s Soviet zone

• Soviets are particularly harsh on East Germany as a way of revenge – confiscate all their belongings and force them into communism

• Many East Germans flee to West Germany to escape, especially intellectuals and scientists – leads to a ‘brain drain’ from East Germany

1947 – George Kennan’s ‘Containment’ Idea

• Combatting the expansion of communism past the USSR borders – influential among US policymakers

Mar 1947 – Truman Doctrine

• Truman wanted to be tough on communism – based many ideas off of containment

• Wanted to ‘support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressure’

• Requested Congress for military aid to Greece and Turkey for fear of communist expansion amid political unrest

• Led to Marshall Plan and NATO

Feb 1948 – Soviet backed Communist coup in Czechoslovakia – eventual Eastern bloc state

1948 – Eastern bloc contains East Germany, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, and Yugoslavia

• USSR demands war reparations from East Germany, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria through Soviet-dominated joint enterprises and trading arrangements

• Moscow controlled Communist parties in Eastern bloc countries – followed orders from the Kremlin (USSR government, Moscow)

Apr 1948 – Marshall Plan begins

• Congress approves European Recovery Program (becomes Marshall Plan) – sends aid to many European countries to help them reconstruct after WWII

• Soviets refused any offers and prevented Eastern Bloc states from accepting any as well

Jun 1948 – Berlin Blockade begins

• USSR blockades again West Berlin– want to unify Berlin under communism

• Prevents food and people from entering West Berlin

• US, UK, France, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand respond by airlifting supplies, food, propaganda, sweets for children, and more to West Berlin (Berlin Airlift)

Apr 1949 – North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

• Military & political alliance to counter Soviet expansion

• US, Canada, and 10 countries in Western Europe – includes Western Allies and Italy

• Article 5: “an attack against one is an attack against all” – only invoked once (on 9/11)

• Four more states joined during Cold War – Greece (Feb 1952), Turkey (Feb 1952), West Germany (May 1955), Spain (May 1982)

• Created due to concerns about USSR attacking

• Allowed US to maintain military presence in Europe to project power and defend alliance members

• Still exists – has 31 countries as of 2023 (29 in Europe)

• Many bloc countries will join or make partnerships in 1991 (after USSR fall)

• First major crisis-management operation was in Bosnia & Herzegovina in 1995

1949 – (estimated year) Security Pact between USSR, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, and Poland

• Created due to worry about a remilitarized West Germany

May 1949 – Berlin Blockade ends

• USSR lifts blockade after Western Allies place an embargo on exports from Eastern bloc countries

Aug 1949 – USSR successfully explode their first atom bomb

• Worries US – build up their own conventional military forces and increase military presence in Western Europe to deter the Soviets

• Try to increase US nuclear weapon production

Oct 1949 – People’s Republic of China is established under communist leader Mao Zedong

1950s – US concerns about the USSR

• US is at height of global power – produces 52% of world’s income

• Senator Robert A. Taft – believes that the US shouldn’t focus too much on foreign affairs because it might undermine our values of democracy

• Secretary of Commerce Henry Wallace – believes that Truman and the containment policy would ‘divide Europe into two warring camps’ – wanted to promote cooperation of the powers through the UN

• Many citizens shared Wallace’s opinion but realized eventually that it will most likely happen regardless

• Also concerned about the USSR’s first atom bomb, Mao Zedong being in control of China, and the Korean War

Jun 1950 – Korean War begins when communist-backed North Korea invades US-backed South Korea

Feb 1952 – Greece and Turkey join NATO

Mar 1953 – Stalin dies

• Suffers stroke → unconscious for 5 days

• Paranoid that doctor might have a plot against him – prevented him from being checked up on

Malenkov (1953-1953):

Mar 1953 – Power struggles post-Stalin’s death

• Four deputy Prime Ministers in charge: Beria (head of NKVD), Georgy Malenkov (involved in purges), Vyacheslav Molotov (foreign minister, of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact), and Khrushchev (involved in purges)

• Malenkov succeeds Stalin as premier and party leader (note: titles are rarely important, it’s really just about out-maneuvering people)

• Within weeks, Khrushchev got control of party – now he’s the leader

• Malenkov retains premier position but is still powerless

Khrushchev (1953-1964):

Jun 1953 – Malenkov, Molotov, and Khrushchev depose Beria – accuse him of being a traitor

Jul 1953 – Korean War ends with armistice agreement

Sept 1953 – Khrushchev named First Secretary of the Communist Party

• Responsible for de-Stalinization – immediately denounces and exposes him; will send copies of speech around the world to publicize even further; removes everything Stalin-related from the USSR (though he will basically act like baby Stalin)

• Improves USSR’s international relations – want to show off their achievements

• Lived quite lavishly (unlike Stalin)

• Will construct the Berlin Wall

Dec 1953 – Beria is executed

Jan 1954 – US Secretary of State John Foster Dulles delivers speech, “massive retaliation” policy begins

• The US response to Soviet aggression would be “at places and with means of our own choosing” – interpreted as threatening nuclear attack if USSR attacked their allies (Western Europe)

Feb 1954 – USSR requests to join NATO over worries of German militarism, rejected by US

Feb 1955 – Malenkov forced to resign from premier position – still a member of the Politburo

May 1955 – West Germany joins NATO

• Worries USSR and its allies further since it allows West Germany to remilitarize

May 1955 – Warsaw Pact is established

• East Germany allowed to re-arm by the USSR to counter rearmament of West Germany

• Observer states (not full members): Mongolia (July 1963), China (May 1955, withdrew 1961), North Korea (May 1955), and North Vietnam (May 1955)

• Romania remained independent while being a permanent member – still technically a bloc country but does not have to answer to Moscow

May 1955 – China, North Korea, and North Vietnam becomes observer states of the Warsaw Pact

Jun 1956 – Molotov removed as Foreign Minister by Khrushchev

Nov 1956 – Soviets invade Hungary to put down Hungarian Revolution

• Hungary wants to leave Warsaw Pact (and form new government) but USSR won’t let them; successfully invade and replace their government with a pro-Soviet puppet government, Hungary does not leave

Jun 1957 – Malenkov and Molotov expelled from Politburo (a.k.a. Presidium) after failed attempt to remove Khrushchev as First Secretary

Mar 1958 – Khrushchev becomes premier

Nov 1958 – Khrushchev demands that US, UK and France pull forces out of West Berlin to turn Berlin into an independent free city – they refuse

1961 – Albania withholds support from Warsaw Pact due to Albanian-Soviet split (hasn’t fully left yet)

1961 – Malenkov expelled from Communist Party and exiled to Kazakhstan – officially leaves politics

Aug 1961 – Berlin Wall built – originally only barbed wire and cinderblock – later concrete with guard towers, guns, and mines

• Separated West and East Berlin – West is capitalist and progressive while East is communist and poor

• East Berliners are forbidden from leaving – only 5,000 people successfully evacuate while 100,000 attempted and at least 200 died trying

Sept 1961 – Non-Aligned Movement is formed

• Contains 120 developing nations not formally aligned with either major power bloc (Western or Soviet)

• Began after the Korean War

• 2nd only to the UN in size

• Created by Tito of Yugoslavia, Nehru of India, and Nasser of Egypt

• All members had equal weight

• Convene every three years

• Only rule is that they cannot be apart of any other military alliances but there is no obligation to stay either

• Individual countries make their own decisions about military intervention (e.g. unlike Article 5 of NATO)

Nov 1961 – Stalingrad is renamed to Volgograd during de-Stalinization process

July 1963 – Mongolia becomes an observer state of the Warsaw Pact

Aug 1963 – Limited Nuclear Test Ban treaty signed (a.k.a. Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty) – no testing nuclear weapons above ground

Oct 1964 – Khrushchev deposed by political opponents

• Loses First Secretary and premier positions because Leonid Brezhnev (Second Secretary) and his allies out-maneuvered him and took over

Brezhnev (1964-1982):

Oct 1964 – Brezhnev takes control

• First leader to come up entirely under the USSR

• Joined youth organization as a teenager, fought during WWII

1966 – First Secretary position becomes General Secretary

1967 – Nixon’s Détente policy begins – Brezhnev will cooperate

• Efforts to decrease tension between US and USSR

• Brezhnev will increase trade with US and their allies

Jul 1968 – Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons Treaty

• Allowed everyone to have nuclear technology only for energy production

• No longer allowed to enrich uranium for creation of nuclear weapons

Aug 1968 – Prague Spring in Czechoslovakia

• USSR led all other members in an invasion of Czechoslovakia to put down reformist ideals

• Only join action made by the Warsaw member states

Sept 1968 – Albania formally withdraws from Warsaw Pact in protest to government control – agrees to play nice with Moscow so the USSR allows it

Sept 1968 – Brezhnev Doctrine

• USSR will intervene in countries where socialism or communist rule was under threat – direct response to Truman Doctrine

• Will be used for 1979 invasion of Afghanistan

May 1972 – SALT I signed by Nixon and Brezhnev – each country will decommission a certain amount of their nuclear weapons

Dec 1979 – USSR invades Afghanistan to put down reformist government

• End of détente – US viewed invasion as an attempt to overthrow a sovereign government

May 1982 – Spain joins NATO

Nov 1982 – Brezhnev dies

Andropov (1982-1984):

Nov 1982 – Yuri Andropov (previous Second Secretary) succeeds Brezhnev as General Secretary of the Communist Party – irrelevant for our purposes

Feb 1984 – Andropov dies

Chernenko (1984-1985):

Feb 1984 – Konstantin Chernenko (previous Second Secretary) succeeds Andropov as General Secretary of the Communist Party – irrelevant for our purposes

Mar 1984 – Chernenko dies

Gorbachev (1982-1984):

Mar 1984 – Mikhail Gorbachev (previous Second Secretary) succeeds Chernenko as General Secretary of the Communist Party

• Radical reformer – unexpected by the Party

• Spent the first few months of his rule visiting different cities and Soviet states and speaking with crowds, urging party members in those areas to take more responsibility in fixing local issues

• Less egotistic than his predecessors – West saw him as a more moderate and less threatening Soviet leader

• Encouraged older Politburo members who wouldn’t agree with him to retire and promoted his own allies to higher positions – secured dominance in the Politburo within a year

Mar 1984 – Gorbachev first pitches ‘perestroika’ idea

• Idea encompasses a series of reforms to restructure society and repair the economy

• Concerned by country’s low productivity, poor work ethic, and inferior quality goods – predicted that country would no longer be a world power

• Wanted to prop up the centrally planned economy – plans to decentralize production and allow a freer market for the people

• Will not work well – rush into new system will leave citizens in confusion and will lead to a worsened economy and food shortages

1985 – Five Year Plan of 1985-1990

• Gorbachev knew the USSR was behind the US in production – claimed that plan would accelerate industrial output to match the US by 2000

• Targeted to expand machine building by 50-100%

• Merged five ministries and a state committee into a single entity (Agroprom) to increase agricultural productivity – later admits this merge was a failure

1985 – Gorbachev introduces ‘glasnost’ idea

• Means ‘openness;’ functionally allows for freedom of speech and the press and also allowed opening of secret Soviet archives

May 1985 – Gorbachev speaks to diplomats about “radical restricting” the Soviet foreign policy – leads to withdrawal from war in Afghanistan

• Will also work toward better relations with US and China

Nov 1985 – Gorbachev meets with Reagan to de-escalate tensions between US and USSR

• Bush will later say that USSR is no longer acting as an adversary to the US

Dec 1985 – Yeltsin rises rapidly in party; gains role of party secretary in Moscow

• Prominent critic of Gorbachev’s reforms – believed he wasn’t going far enough in his reforms

• Gorbachev was skeptical of Yeltsin’s quick rise to power

1980s – Caucasus and Baltic states were demanding more autonomy from Moscow – Kremlin losing control over bloc states

Feb 1986 – Yeltsin begins openly criticizing Gorbachev in Politburo meetings

• Gorbachev opens the floor for comment which leads to the entire Politburo berating Yeltsin – Gorbachev later joins in

• Yeltsin proceeds to resign as Moscow party secretary and as a Politburo member – they hate each other now

Apr 1986 – Chernobyl disaster occurs

• Officials feed Gorbachev incorrect information to cover up the incident

• After this point, Gorbachev becomes even more openly critical of the Soviet system, including food production, state bureaucracy, the military draft, and the large prison population

Nov 1986 – Molotov dies

Jan 1988 – Malenkov dies

Nov 1988 – Estonian SSR issues a declaration of sovereignty – many other bloc states will follow in making similar autonomy statements

May 1989 – Lithuania declares sovereignty days after Gorbachev lied that there was no revolutionary action happening there

Jul 1989 – Gorbachev renounces use of force against bloc nations

• Counters Brezhnev Doctrine by saying that they shouldn’t try to restrict the sovereignty of the bloc states – dubbed Sinatra Doctrine

Aug 1989 – Anti-communist newspaper editor nominated as Polish Prime Minister with no protest from the USSR

• Go on to establish a new non-communist government – first in the Eastern bloc

Oct 1989 – Communist regime in Hungary formally abolished

Nov 1989 – Berlin Wall comes down

• Signaled the end of the Iron Curtain and the weakening Soviet influence in Europe

1989 (estimated time) – Gorbachev holds referendums to gather public opinion on whether USSR should stay together and to elect a president of the Russian Federation; Yeltsin wins

Feb 1990 – Lithuania holds democratic elections

Mar 1990 – Lithuania declares independence

Jun 1990 – Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria hold first elections since 1946 – leave Soviet influence

October 1990 – Unification Treaty – Germany reunified into one sovereign state

• East Germany leaves Warsaw Pact since it was reunifying

• Reunified Germany joins NATO – US tells Gorbachev that NATO wouldn’t move further east – eventually does (Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic (formerly part of Czechoslovakia))

Feb 1991 – Warsaw Pact is disbanded due to the USSR being on the brink of falling

• Formally ended by Havel of Czechoslovakia who disestablished any military alliance with the USSR and withdrew their military support of the pact

Jun 1991 – Soviet military occupation of Hungary and Czechoslovakia ends

Aug 1991 – Attempted coup against Gorbachev

• Military and high-ranking political officials opposed to a planned treaty to turn USSR into a union of sovereign states attempt to depose Gorbachev

• Surround his vacation villa in Crimea – ask him to give up his power and declare state of emergency – he refuses

• Coup leaders also send military into Moscow – plan to apprehend Yeltsin as well but don’t

• Yeltsin denounces coup group – takes command of Soviet military and demands to let Gorbachev address the people

• All coup organizers arrested

Aug 1991 – Belarus (Byelorussian SSR) and many other Soviet states declare sovereignty

Nov 1991 – Due to unrest and general lack of cohesion, CPSU disbands and is eventually banned in Russia by Yeltsin (though an illegal decree under Soviet law)

Dec 1991 – Russia tells UN that it will inherit the USSR’s membership in the UN (including Security Council spot)

Dec 1991 – Gorbachev resigns as President of the USSR, the upper chamber of the Supreme Soviet votes the USSR out of existence

Dec 1991 – Official fall of the USSR