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World War II
A global war fought between Axis powers and Allies. -
Soviet invasion of Poland
Soviet forces invaded Poland in September 1939 after a formal declaration of war. The invasion lasted 20 days and resulted in a Soviet occupation until 1941, when German forces drove them out until 1944 when the Red army reclaimed Poland. The invasion resulted in over 1,500 Polish deaths and the Soviet occupation and operation of 3/5s of the land and control of over 13 million citizens. -
Russo-Finnish War
The Red Army invaded Finland in November of 1939 with tens of thousands of tanks and soldiers whilst Finland struggled with a military only a tenth of the size. -
Stalin becomes leader of USSR
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Stalin's governance
Stalin remained the dictatorial governor of the Soviet Union from the 40s until his death in the early 50s -
Red Army drives Nazi's out of Hungary
Hungary became occupied by Germany during WWII but in February 1945, the USSR drove Germany out, occupying Hungary instead. Soviet forces would occupy Hungary until 1991 and their government would be influenced heavily by the Soviet Union -
Red Army captures East Germany
At the end of WWII the Red Army captured East Germany and Berlin was split into 4 sections -
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Cold War
A state of geo-political tension after the end of World War II -
Soviet coup in Prague- Czechoslovakia becomes communist
To create a buffer zone after WWII, the Soviet Union occupied and governed several countries to ensure unity and protection for themselves. This coup was bloodless but resulted in the arrest of non communist politicians. They were the last non communist government in Eastern Europe. -
Death of Stalin
Stalin died of a stroke. -
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Khrushchev's governance
Khrushchev was Stalin's successor and denounced some of Stalin's actions yet his policies were midly ineffective. He was less repressive in policy than Stalin -
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact was established by the Soviet Union to create military unification between East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Albania, Romania and Bulgaria. This pact also meant that Soviet troops in these countries would have to be maintained by them -
Poznan Protests
Protests occured in Poland against the Soviet style government. After Stalin's death many Stalinists remained in government and workers wanted a better quality of living, wage increases and decrease in price of food. Workers staged a strike in which 30,000 demonstrators marched through the city. The strike was apprehended by police forces -
Hungarian Uprising
A revolt against the Soviet restricted government occurred in 1956. Workers and soldiers attacked Soviet police in an attempt to intimidate and show the Soviet forces that they were not afraid to die for their cause. The death of Stalin proved to inspire this revolt and gave Hungarians hope that Stalinism would be lifted. After 5 days of freedom, 1,000 Russian tanks came in and attacked civilians and Janos Kadar was established as the new leader, a Russian supporter -
Hanos Kadar becomes first secretary of Hungary
Kadar is put in place as leader after Hungary uprising. He is a supporter of Soviet communism. -
Construction of Berlin Wall
East and West Berlin was first sealed of with wire and then they began construction on the wall. Citizens of both sides would be banned from crossing the wall. The wall was built to prevent refugees from crossing the border and also to distinguish heavily between the two governments. Many people were killed trying to cross the war during its existence. -
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Brezhnev's governance
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Albania withdraws from Warsaw Pact
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Alexander Dubcek becomes first secretary of Czechoslovakia - Prague Spring
Alexander Dubcek became the first secretary of Czechoslovakia and attempted to introduce less restrictive policies, but this was met with the invasion of the Soviet Union as they felt threatened. -
Prague Spring
Czechoslovakia was sick of Soviet reign and wanted to democratise the country. Citizens believed that the Soviet Union was exploiting the country and its exports, as a great deal of them were being shipped and consumed by the USSR. People also believed that the USSR were hindering and restricting the countries autonomy. Alexander Dubcek, the Prime Minister at the time, lead the protest and allowed ministers to challenge party policy and brought an end to censorship. This lead to Soviet invasion. -
Soviet Union invades Czechoslovakia
The USSR's response to possible democratisation in Czechoslovakia was strong and brutal. They invaded with 600,000 Warsaw Pact troops and Dubcek's reforms were repealed. -
Gustav Husak becomes first secretary of Czechoslovakia
After Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, Husak was put in place to replace Dubcek as he was a communist supporter. -
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Andropov's governance
His post lasted for only 15 months until he died. -
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Cherneko's governance
He lead the Soviet Union for 13 months until his death -
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Gorbachev's governance
He was the last leader of the Soviet Union. -
Glastnost and Perestroika
These were policies implemented by Gorbachev in an attempt to democratise the government, as the Soviet Union was struggling with its current policy. Glastnost refers to openness and made the press freer and allowed for criticism of the government. Perestroika was Gorbachev's attempt to create a semi free market in which some privately owned businesses would be allowed to function. -
Fall of Berlin Wall
As the Cold War began to draw to the end across Europe the spokesperson for the East German government declared that people would now drink with those across it. Chunks of the wall were hammered down and there was a celebration involving 2 million people. -
Velvet Revolution
After Gorbachev introduced new policies to Russia, the communist party in Czechoslovakia was hesitant to implement any of them. This lead to non violent protests in which the communist party was overthrown. The revolution was started by a student protest which lead to strikes all over the country. -
First free election in Czechoslovakia
After the Velvet revolution, elections were held, in which Vaclev Havel was voted to be Czechoslovakia's first non communist President. -
East Germany withdraws from Warsaw Pact
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Germany reunited
East and West Germany disbanded and Germany reunites as a whole. -
Soviet troops withdrawn from Czechoslovakia
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Disolvement of Warsaw Pact
After several democratic revolutions in 1989 in East Germany the Warsaw Pact was declared non existent at a meeting -
Boris Yeltsin becomes Russia's first President
After the fall of the USSR the first democratic elections were held in July 1991 and Yeltsin promised to transform the economy into a free market. He remained President until 1999 when he became very unpopular due to corruption and oligarchy created by the new economy. He also banned political opposition and ordered the dissolution of parliament in 1993. -
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Yeltsin's governance
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Collapse of Soviet Union
After the loss of Soviet Satellites in 1990 and increase pressure on the adoption of democracy the Soviet Union was disbanded and a democratic election was held. -
Split of Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia splits in two and becomes the Czech Republic and Slovakia.
