Soviet Union Events

1878 Dec 18 Joseph Stalin Is Born
Joseph Stalin, was born in Gori, Georgia on 21st December, 1879. He was his mother's fourth child to be born in less than four years. The first three died and as Joseph was prone to bad h...
1903 Joseph Stalin Joins The Bolsheviks
At the Second Congress of the Social Democratic Labour Party in London in 1903, there was a dispute between Vladimir Lenin and Julius Martov, two of SDLP's leaders. Lenin argued for a sma...
1906 Joseph Stalin Marries Ekaterina Svanidze
In about 1904 Stalin had married a pious Georgian girl, Ekaterina Svanidze. She died some three years later and left a son, Jacob, whom his father treated with contempt, calling him a wea...
1907 Mar 18 Joseph Stalin's Son Yakov Is Born
Yakov Dzhugashvili had never been popular with his father, whom he held in dread. Stalin disapproved of his choice of wife, Yulia Meltzer, a ballet dancer. When war broke out for the Russ...
1912 Joseph Stalin Becomes Editor of 'Pravda'
Stalin served as the editor of Pravda {Truth} in 1913 and wrote his first treatise, Marxism and the National Question in 1914. Just prior to its publication, Stalin was exiled to Siberia ...
1918
to 1920
Russian Civil War
Russian Civil War... (1918-20), conflict in which the Red Army successfully defended the newly formed Bolshevik government against various Russian and interventionist anti-Bolshevik armie...
1918 Aug 30 Fanny Kaplan Attempts to Assassinate Vladimir Lenin
According to official accounts, on August 30, 1918, Lenin was speaking at a Moscow factory called "Hammer and Sickle". As Lenin left the building and before he entered his car, Fanny Kapl...
1919 Feb
to 1921 Mar
Polish-Soviet War
In the Polish-Soviet War (1920–1921), the Soviets battled the Poles all the way back to Warsaw, but Polish forces eventually drove the Soviets out of the country. The Soviets sued for pea...
1919 Mar 24 Joseph Stalin Marries Nadezhda Alliluyeva
Stalin's wife, who was one of Lenin's secretaries after the revolution, married him when she was 17 and he was 40. As a schoolgirl she looked up to him as a determined and devoted revolut...
1921 Feb 15
to 1921 Mar 17
 Soviet Invasion of Georgia
In January, 1921 the Soviet Government decided to annex Georgia. The 11th Red Army was to advance into Georgia on the pretext of supporting the “peasants and workers rebellion against the...
1926 Feb 28 Joseph Stalin's Daughter Svetlana Is Born
Svetlana was Communist leader Joseph Stalin’s only daughter. Her mother was his second wife, Nadezhda Alliluyeva. Raised by a nurse she only occasionally saw her parents. She was only six...
1928 Stalin Begins Collectivization Of Agriculture
To satisfy the state's need for increased food supplies, the First Five-Year Plan called for the organization of the peasantry into collective units that the authorities could easily cont...
1928 Stalin's First Five-Year Plan Begins
The first Five Year Plan introduced in 1928, concentrated on the development of iron and steel, machine-tools, electric power and transport. Joseph Stalin set the workers high targets. He...
1932
to 1933
The Ukrainian Holodomor
In recent years this national tragedy has become widely known as the Holodomor (from moryty holodom ‘to kill by means of starvation’). This tragic event was (1) a planned repression of th...
1932 Nov 9 Nadezhda Alliluyeva Dies
It was customary to bury not only rulers, but their wives, too, at the Novodevichy cemetery. At this point we would like to recall the wife of Joseph Stalin, Nadezhda Alliluyeva. This wom...
1934 Dec 1 Sergey Kirov is Killed
Sergey Kirov, a leader of the Russian Revolution and a high-ranking member of the Politburo, is shot to death at his Leningrad office by Communist Party member Leonid Nikolayev, likely at...
1936
to 1938
The Great Purge of 1936-1938
At three publicized show trials held in Moscow between 1936 and 1938, dozens of these Old Bolsheviks, including Zinov'ev, Kamenev, and Bukharin, confessed to improbable crimes against the...
1939
to 1945
German/Russian occupation of Poland
This article deals with the occupation of Poland by Germany and the Soviet Union during the Second World War (1939–1945). In the beginning of the war (September, 1939) the territory of Po...
1939 Aug 24 Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact (Treaty of Non-Aggression between the Third German Reich and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics)
The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, colloquially named after the Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov and the German foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, was an agreement officially ti...
1939 Sep 12 German Forces Begin Siege of Lvov
Initially, the town of Lwów was not to be defended as it was considered too deep behind the Polish lines and too important to Polish culture to be used in warfare. However, the fast pace ...
1939 Sep 17 Red Army Joins Siege of Lvov
On September 17, 1939, the Soviet Union declared all pacts with Poland null and void as the Polish state had in their opinion ceased to exist, and joined Nazi Germany in the occupation of...
1939 Sep 17 Soviet Union Violates Polish-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact with Invasion of Polish Territory by Red Army
The Red Army entered the eastern regions of Poland with seven field armies, containing between 450,000 and 1,000,000 troops, split between two fronts. Comandarm 2nd rank Mikhail Kovalyov ...
1939 Sep 19 Soviet People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD) is Ordered to Create Special Administration for Dealing with Polish Prisoners
As early as September 19, the People's Commissar for Internal Affairs and First Rank Commissar of State Security, Lavrentiy Beria, ordered the NKVD to create the Administration for Affair...
1939 Oct 16 Finland and Soviet Union Hold Negotiations to Resolve Border Dispute
On 5 October 1939, the Soviet Union invited a Finnish delegation to Moscow for negotiations. J.K. Paasikivi, the Finnish ambassador to Sweden, was sent to Moscow to represent the Finnish ...
1939 Nov 26 The Shelling of Mainila
Seven shots were fired, and their fall was detected by three Finnish observation posts. These witnesses estimated that the shells detonated approximately 800 meters inside Soviet territor...
1939 Nov 30 Soviet Union Launches Invasion of Finland
On 30 November, Soviet forces invaded Finland with 21 divisions, totaling some 450,000 men, and bombed Helsinki. Later the Finnish statesman J.K. Paasikivi commented that the Soviet attac...
1939 Dec 1 Soviet Union Forms Puppet Government Intended to Rule Finland
On 1 December, the Soviet Union formed a puppet government intended to rule Finland once the war was over. Called the Finnish Democratic Republic, it was headed by O. W. Kuusinen. The gov...
1939 Dec 12 Battle of Tolvajärvi
The Battle of Tolvajärvi ['tol.va.jær.vi] was fought on 12 December 1939 between Finland and the Soviet Union. It was the first large victory for the Finns in the Winter War. After the...
1939 Dec 14 Soviet Union is Expelled from the League of Nations
At the start of the Winter War, Finland brought up the matter of the Soviet invasion before the League of Nations. The League expelled the Soviet Union on 14 December 1939 and exhorted it...
1939 Dec 16 Soviet Tanks Advance on Finnish Village of Summa
The Battle of Summa was fought between the Soviet Union and Finland, in two phases, first in December 1939 and then in February 1940. It was part of the Winter War and was fought near the...
1940 Jan 1 Joseph Stalin Is Named Time Magazine's 'Person Of The Year'
Since J. Stalin became the supreme power in Russia, much of the Revolution's history has been rewritten to magnify his part in those stirring events. Trotsky's part has been completely er...
1940 Jan 6 Heavy Fighting Along the Raate Road as Finns Break Soviet 44th Rifle Division
The Battle of Raate Road was fought during the Winter War between the Soviet Union and Finland in January, 1940, as a part of the Battle of Suomussalmi. This battle proved the effectivene...
1940 Feb 1 Soviets Launch All-Out Offensive on Karelian Isthmus
Although the Karelian Isthmus front was less active in December than in January, the Soviets began increasing bombardments, wearing down the defenders and softening their fortifications. ...
1940 Mar 5 Soviet Politburo Members Sign Order to Execute 25,700 Polish Prisoners
On 5 March, 1940, pursuant to a note to Stalin from Beria, the members of the Soviet Politburo — Stalin, Vyacheslav Molotov, Kliment Voroshilov and Anastas Mikoyan; signed an order to exe...
1940 Mar 12 Signing of the Moscow Peace Treaty Between Finland and the Soviet Union
The Moscow Peace Treaty was signed by Finland and the Soviet Union on March 12, 1940, and the ratifications were exchanged on March 21. It marked the end of the 105-day Winter War. The tr...
1940 Apr 3 Katyn Forest Massacre
On April 13, 1943, the Germans announced that mass graves had been discovered in the Katyn Forest, in their area of occupation, containing the bodies of thousands of Polish officers who h...
1940 Apr 3 Soviets Begin Month-long Murder of Polish Prisoners, Known as the Katyn Massacre
After 3 April, 1940, at least 22,436 POWs and prisoners were executed: 15,131 POWs (most or all of them from the three camps) and at least 7,305 prisoners in western parts of Belarus and ...
1940 Aug 8 Hitler Orders 'Aufbau Ost', the Mobilization of Troops as Preparation for the Invasion of Russia
Aufbau Ost (German: Building in the East) was the German operational code name for the mobilisation of forces prior to the commencement of Operation Barbarossa and the subsequent invasion...
1940 Aug 21 Leon Trotsky is Killed by Soviet Agent Ramón Mercader
Despite the misgivings of Natalia and Trotsky's guards, Mornard was again allowed to see Trotsky alone—"three or four minutes went by," Natalia relates: "I was in the room next door. Ther...
1940 Sep 15 Lossberg Study for the Invasion of the Soviet Union
Lossberg study is a German military plan prepared by Lieutenant Colonel Bernhard von Lossberg and developed under Alfred Jodl in OKW on September 15, 1940. Its northward direction of atta...
1941 Apr 13 Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact Is Signed
The Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact was signed between Russia and Japan two years after the war between Russia and Japan at the Manchurian and Mongolian borders slowed inconclusively. The...
1941 Jun 22
to 1941 Jun 29
 Battle of Białystok–Minsk
The Battle of Białystok–Minsk was a German strategic operation conducted by the Army Group Centre during penetration of the Soviet border region during the opening stage of Operation Barb...
1941 Jun 22 Operation Barbarossa Begins
Operation Barbarossa (German: Unternehmen Barbarossa) was the code name for Nazi Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million tr...
1941 Jun 23
to 1941 Jun 27
 Battle of Raseiniai
The Battle of Raseiniai (23–27 June 1941) was a tank battle fought between the elements of the 4th Panzer Army and two Soviet Mechanized Corps in Lithuania 75 km northwest of Kaunas in th...
1941 Jun 26
to 1941 Jun 30
 Battle of Brody (1941)
The Battle of Brody (other names in use include Battle of Dubna, Battle of Dubno, Battle of Rovne, Battle of Rovne-Brody) was a tank battle fought between the 1st Panzer Group's IIIrd, XL...
1941 Jul 6
to 1941 Aug 5
 Battle of Smolensk (1941)
The Battle of Smolensk was a successful encirclement operation by Army Group Centre's 2nd Panzer Army led by Heinz Guderian and the 3rd Panzer Army led by Hermann Hoth of parts of four So...
1941 Jul 15
to 1941 Aug 8
 Battle of Uman
The "Battle of Uman" (July 15 – August 8, 1941) was an English name given to the German encirclement of the 6th (General Lieutenant I.N. Muzyrchenko) and 12th (General Major P.G. Ponedeli...
1941 Aug 23
to 1941 Sep 26
 Battle of Kiev (1941)
The Battle of Kiev was the German name for the operation that resulted in a very large encirclement of Soviet troops in the vicinity of Kiev during World War II. It is considered the larg...
1941 Sep 8 Siege of Leningrad Begins
By September 8, 1941 German forces had largely surrounded the city, cutting off all supply routes to Leningrad and its suburbs. Unable to press home their offensive, and facing defenses o...
1941 Oct 2 Battle of Moscow Begins
The Battle of Moscow (Russian: Битва под Москвой, Romanized: Bitva pod Moskvoy, German: Schlacht um Moskau) is the name given by Soviet historians to two periods of strategically signific...