SovUnion8

=U!S!S!R! in ‘ze houze.=

(1950-2008)
A map of the USSR.


 * 1950**- **30-year alliance** treaty is signed between Soviet Union and China (political)
 * 1950**-53- **Korean war**: the Soviet Union and the West grow apart politically (political)
 * 1953**, March- **Georgi Malenkov** and **Nikita Khrushchev** succeed after Stalin's death respectively as prime minister first secretary in the Central Committee of the Communist Party (political)
 * 1953**- USSR sets off a **hydrogen bomb** for the first time (political)
 * 1955**- **Nikolay Bulganin** becomes prime minister (political)
 * 1955**- **Warsaw Pact**- system of mutual defense & military aid in communist Europe (political)
 * 1956**- The **Hungarian uprising** is put down largely because of Soviet troops (political)

Post-Stalin thaw
Sputnik provided a source of pride for the Russian people, uniting them under the banner of scientific achievement.
 * 1956** February- **20th Communist Party congress**- Khrushchev secretly denounces Stalin's dictatorship (social)
 * 1957**- **Sputnik**, the first earth satellite, orbits the earth (social)


 * 1958**- **Khrushchev takes over** as prime minister and Communist Party chief (political)
 * 1950s** (later years)- Due to disputes on Moscow's policy of peaceful coexistence with the West, **China-Soviet relations break** (political)
 * 1961**- In the Space Race, Yuri Gagarin becomes the **first man to orbit the earth** (social)
 * 1962**- **Cuban missile crisis**- Soviet missiles found in Fidel Castro’s Cuba; international alarm (political)
 * 1963**- The USSR joins Britain and the US in a treaty prohibiting atmospheric nuclear tests, forming the **US-Soviet hotline** to prevent nuclear war by accident, miscalculation, or failure of communications (political)

The Brezhnev era
Brezhnev, a major contributor to the development of the USSR and Russia, rose through the ranks of the Communist Party to take the lead.


 * 1964**- **Leonid Brezhnev** replaces Khrushchev in the Communist Party as first secretary; **Aleksey Kosygin** moves in as prime minister (political)
 * 1965**- Soviet aid to Veitnam caused alarms the US to **Soviet expansion** (political)
 * 1968**- To end liberalization, USSR and Warsaw Pact armies **move into Czechoslovakia**; The **Brezhnev doctrine** allows communist states to intervene in other communist countries if policies endanger the communist movement (political)
 * 1969**- Troops from **China and the USSR battle** at the border (political)
 * 1972**- **The SALT** (Strategic Arms Limitation Talks) **-1 arms control agreement** is signed by the US and the Soviet Union, initiating the policies of **détente** to ease hostility (political)
 * 1974**- The Soviet Union **eases its emigration policy** in exchange for the highest favored **trade status with America** (economic)
 * 1977**- Under a new constitution, **Brezhnev becomes president** (political)
 * 1979**- The **SALT-2 agreement** is signed by the USSR and America to further control the use of offensive armaments; Afghanistan is taken by the Soviets, **ending the détente** with the West (political)
 * 1980**- **Nikolay Tikhonov** becomes prime minister (political)
 * 1982**- Brezhnev dies and **Yuri Andropov** replaces him as General Secretary (political)
 * 1984**- **Konstantin Chernenko** replaces Andropov after his death (political)

Glasnost & Perestroika
Mikhail Gorbachev's glasnost and perestroika were intended to please the people, but instead allowed for revolution.


 * 1985**- After Chernenko’s death, **Mikhail Gorbachev** replaces him in the Communist Party as general secretary and begins campaigns against alcohol and spreads policies of **glasnost** (openness) and **perestroika** (restructuring) (social)
 * 1986**- The nuclear power station in **Chernobyl explodes**, spreading radioactive material in Belarus, Ukraine, and other areas, greatly affecting the environment and inhabitants (social)
 * 1987**- **Intermediate-range nuclear missiles are agreed to be discarded** by the USSR and USA; For criticizing the slowness of reforms, **Boris Yeltsin is removed** from his position as the Moscow party chief (political)
 * 1988**- **Gorbachev takes over as president** and **fights nationalists** in several eastern European nations (political); **Private sector** is allowed (economic)
 * 1989**- The USSR **leaves Afghanistan** and several nationalist riots in communist Europe are crushed (social); The **Lithuanian Communist Party calls for independence** from the Soviets (political); For the first time, the elections for the new Congress of People's Deputies are openly protested (social)
 * 1989**- **Pope John Paul II and Gorbachev meet** in the first meeting between a Pope and a leading Soviet (religious)

Downfall of the Soviet Union
Map of the former Soviet Union showing Russia and other republics which broke off from the USSR.
 * 1990**- The Communist Party **ends rule by one-party**; Lithuania makes **Yeltsin president of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic** and he leaves the Soviet Communist Party (political)
 * 1991** June 12- **Boris Yeltsin** becomes first democratically elected Russian president (political)
 * 1991** August- **Gorbachev is imprisoned** by senior officials in a coup, but they are arrested; **Yeltsin prohibits the Soviet Communist Party** in Russia and acknowledges independence in the Baltic republics (political)
 * 1991** September- The **Soviet Union is dissolved** by a vote of the Congress of People's Deputies (political)
 * 1991** November- All republics from the Soviet Bloc except for two have declared **independence** (political)
 * 1991** 8 December- Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine set up the **Commonwealth of Independent States** (political)
 * 1991** 25 December- **Gorbachev resigns** and America recognizes the rest of the Soviet republics as Newly Independent States (NIS): Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan (political)


 * 1991** 26 December- **USSR offices are taken** by the Russian government (political)

The Russian Federation
Russian Federation, which creates a permament joint council indcluding Russia in NATO decision-making. (political)
 * 1997** 27 May- Yeltsin and Clinton sign **Founding Act on Mutual Relations,** Cooperation and Security between NATO and the
 * 1999** 16 August- **Vladimir Putin** confirmed Prime Minister (political)
 * 2000** 26 March- **Vladimir Putin** elected president (political)
 * 2002** October- Chechen **rebels seized a Moscow theater** and held about 800 people hostage. Most of the rebels and some 120 hostages were killed when Russian forces stormed the building (social)
 * 2006** 23 November- Former Federal Security Service agent and harsh Kremlin critic **Aleksandr Litvinenko** died in London, England of a mysterious poisioning (political)
 * 2008** 2 March- **Dmitry Medvedev** was elected president, earning 70.5% of the vote. (political)