Russian History

Ivan the Great [Russia's First Czar]

Jan 1, 1462

Ivan the great became great by uniting many of the previously autonomous provincs and succeedede in freeing Russia from the Mongols.

Russian Revolution

Jan 1, 1917

The revolution ended the rule of the czars. The Russian Communist Party took control of the government. The Party also took charge of the region's economy and gave Communist leaders control over all important economic decisions. McDougal Littell World Geography Textbook, page 363

Union of Soviet Socialist Republics creation

Jan 1, 1922

The communist Party had organized the different peoples absorbed during the centuries of Russia's imperial expansion. The leaders of the Soviet Union ruled the nation from its new capital in MoscowThe Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. Stalin (1870-1924), was a Russian revolutionary leader, political ideologist, and the creator of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).

Stalin comes into power

Jan 1, 1927

Starting in 1927, Josef Dzhugashvili%u2014better known as Stalin%u2014initiated the first of the Soviet Union%u2019s five-year plans, which focused on harnessing all economic power to the state. Industrialization proceeded apace and peasants were brutally collectivized.

Beginning of WWII

Jan 1, 1939

Stalin had taken over the leadership of the USSR. In 1941, he led the Soviet Union in the fight against Nazi Germany. However, as the war dragged on, relations between the Soviet Union and it's allies- including the US- began to get worse. (1941-1945)

Cold War begins

Jan 1, 1947

The Cold War was the state of conflict, tension and competition that existed between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies from the mid-1940s to the early 1990s. Throughout this period, rivalry between the two superpowers was expressed through military coalitions, propaganda, espionage, weapons development, industrial advances, and competitive technological development, which included the space race.

Berlin Airlift

Jun 24, 1948

estern Allies formed the Berlin Airlift to supply the city over pre-arranged air corridors. The effort was initially viewed with skepticism even in the countries mounting the attempt, as this sort of logistical effort had never been mounted before. The airlift to supply the German 6th Army at Stalingrad required 300 tons per day and rarely came even close to delivering this; the Berlin effort would require at least 5,000 tons a day, well over ten times as much.

Sputnik

Oct 4, 1957

Sputnik was the first object launched into outter space. This fueled a compeition between Russia and the US.
The unanticipated announcement of Sputnik 1's success precipitated the Sputnik crisis in the United States and ignited the Space Race within the Cold War.

Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev

Jan 1, 1960

Brezhnev joined the Communist Party in 1931, then held a series of local party posts. Named chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet in 1960, and after only three months in post, Brezhnev helped lead the conservative coalition that forced Krushchev from power. Wrote Brezhnev Doctrine that enforced socialism. National Archives . "Knowledge Banks: Profiles" CNN Cold War- Profile: Leonid Brezhnev. Dec. 16, 2008
http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/kbank/profiles/brezhnev/

U-2 Affair

May 1, 1960

Confrontation between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. On May 1, 1960, the Soviet Union shot down a U.S. U-2 reconnaissance plane and called the flight an %u201Caggressive act.%u201D The U.S. denied Soviet claims that the pilot, F. Gary Powers, had stated that his mission was to collect Soviet intelligence data.

Berlin Wall

Aug 13, 1961

The Berlin Wall was a physical barrier separating West Berlin from the German Democratic Republic (GDR) (East Germany), including East Berlin. The longer inner German border demarcated the border between East and West Germany. Both borders came to symbolize the Iron Curtain between Western and Eastern Europe.