Cronology after 1945

1946

Tightening of discipline in collective farms and extending the collective farm system to the newly annexed territories.

August 14–15:

Zhdanov’s speeches in Leningrad attacking Zoshchenko and Akhmatova. Call for reimposition of ideological discipline.

1947

Famine.

December 14:

Currency reform.

1948

February 20:

Coup in Prague.

June 28:

Yugoslavia is expelled from Cominform.

July 31–August 7:

Lysenko’s theories imposed on genetics.

1948–49:

Berlin blockade.

1949

Struggle against “rootless cosmopolitanism.”

January 25:

Formation of Comecon.

September 25:

Announcement of the testing of the first Soviet A-bomb.

October 1:

Founding of the People’s Republic of China.

1950

June 26:

Korean War begins.

1952

October 5–14:

Nineteenth party congress.

1953

January 13:

Disclosure of arrest of nine Soviet doctors: “doctors’ plot.”

March 5:

Stalin dies. He is succeeded as first secretary and premier by G. Malenkov.

March 14:

Malenkov resigns as first secretary.

April 14:

Exoneration of surviving doctors in “doctors’ plot.”

June:

Riots in East Berlin.

June 26:

Beria is arrested.

July 27:

Korean armistice.

August 12:

Soviet Union explodes an H-bomb.

1955

February 8:

Malenkov resigns as premier and is replaced by N. Bulganin.

May 14:

Warsaw Pact is established.

July 18–23:

Geneva conference.

1956

February 14–25:

Twentieth party congress: Khrushchev’s “secret speech.”

October:

“Polish October.”

October 23:

Hungarian revolution.

November 4:

Soviet troops suppress Hungarian revolution.

1957

June:

“Anti-party group” attempts to unseat Khrushchev.

October 4:

Sputnik is launched.

1958

February 26:

Abolition of MTSs.

March 27:

Khrushchev assumes title “premier” (in addition to first secretary).

1959

September 15–27:

Khrushchev visits the United States.

1960

Beginnings of Sino-Soviet polemics.

May 1:

Soviet Union shoots down U2 spy plane.

1961

April 12:

Iu. Gagarin is first man in space.

August 13:

Berlin wall seals border.

October 17–31:

Twenty-second party congress: Stalin’s body is removed from mausoleum.

1962

October 22–November 2:

Cuban missile crisis.

November:

Bifurcation of industrial and agricultural sectors of the party apparat.

1963

July 25:

Test ban treaty.

1964

October 14–15:

Khrushchev is removed and replaced by L. Brezhnev.

November 16:

Bifurcation reversed.

1966

February 10–14:

Sinianvskii-Daniel trial.

March 29–April 8:

Twenty-second party congress.

1967

June:

Arab-Israeli war leads to diplomatic break with Israel.

1968

“Prague spring.”

August 20–21:

Warsaw Pact forces invade Czechoslovakia.

1969

March 2:

Fighting at Sino-Soviet border.

1970

October 8:

Solzhenitsyn wins Nobel Prize for Literature.

1972

May 22–28:

Nixon visits Moscow.

June 3:

Four-power agreement on the status of Berlin.

1973

October:

War in the Middle East leads to U.S.-Soviet confrontation.

1974

February 13:

After the publication of Gulag, Solzhenitsyn is expelled from the Soviet Union.

1975

August 1:

Signing of Helsinki accords.

October 9:

Sakharov wins Nobel Prize.

1977

June 4:

New constitution is published.

1979

December 24–27:

The Soviet army invades Afghanistan.

1980

January 22:

Sakharov is exiled to Gorky.

August 14:

Strikes begin in Poland, leading to victory of Solidarity.

1981

December 13:

Martial law introduced in Poland.

1982

November 10:

Brezhnev dies.

November 12:

Andropov named general secretary.

1983

September 1:

Korean airliner shot down.

1984

February 9:

Andropov dies.

February 13:

Chernenko chosen as new general secretary.

December 15–21:

Gorbachev in Britain.

1985

March 10–11:

Chernenko dies and Gorbachev is named general secretary.

May 16:

Anti-alcohol program introduced. Gorbachev introduces arms control proposals and calls for economic reforms.

November 19–21:

First meeting between Reagan and Gorbachev in Geneva.

1986

February 25–March 6:

Twenty-seventh party congress: Gorbachev criticizes Brezhnev era.

April 26:

Chernobyl disaster.

October:

Gorbachev and Reagan meet at Reykjavik in Iceland.

December:

Sakharov is allowed to return to Moscow.

1988

January:

Disturbances in Stepanakert, Nogornyi Karabakh.

March 13:

Nina Andreevna’s letter expresses frustration of hard-line communists over changes introduced by Gorbachev.

June 28:

Political changes introduced at nineteenth party conference.

1989

March:

Competitive elections for a national assembly.

April 9:

Suppression of demonstrations in Tbilisi.

May 25:

Congress of People’s Deputies convenes.

August 24:

Noncommunist government comes to power in Poland.

November 9:

Berlin wall is demolished.

1990

December 20:

Shevardnadze resigns as foreign minister.

1991

January:

Attempts at repression in Lithuania.

March 17:

Referendum on national unity.

July 10:

Yeltsin takes oath of office as president of the Russian Federation.

August 18–21

Attempted coup.

December 12:

Russian parliament ratifies establishment of commonwealth of independent nations.

1992

January 2:

Freeing of prices.

1993

April 25:

Referendum on Yeltsin.

September 21:

Yeltsin dissolves the congress.

October 4:

Bombardment of the parliament.

December 12:

Vote for a constitution and a new parliament.

1994

December 11:

Beginning of the first Chechen war.

1996

May 27:

End of the first Chechen war.

July 3:

Yeltsin reelected.

1998

August:

Devaluation of the ruble.

1999

September:

Bombing in Moscow and other Russian cities.

December 31:

Yeltsin resigns.

2000

March 26:

Putin elected president.

2003

October 25:

Khodorkovskii arrested.

2004

March 14:

Putin reelected.

September 25:

Putin abolishes election of governors.

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