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Firsts gulags
The Gulag was first established in 1919, and by 1921 Lenin had 84 camps. But it wasn’t until Stalin’s rule that the prison population reached significant numbers. -
USSR adopts constitution
USSR adopts constitution based on the dictatorship of the proletariat. Lenin dies and is replaced by Joseph Stalin. -
Five-year-plan
Adoption of first Five-Year Plan. The state set goals and priorities for the whole economy. Collectivisation of agriculture begins; numerous relatively prosperous peasants, or Kulaks, killed; millions of peasant households eliminated and their property confiscated. -
United States recognised USSR
United States recognised USSR -
Period: to
The Great Purge
Announcement of the discovery of a plot against Stalin's regime headed by Leon Trotsky ushers in a large-scale purge. Stalin gained lots of enemies, so he sent all the anticommunists and the oppositors to the gulags, were they probably died because of the freeze winter, or the physical work. -
Soviet troops defend
Soviet troops enter Poland, which is then divided between Germany and the USSR. -
The broken pact
Soviet Union and Nazi Germany conclude a non-aggression pact; Germany invades Poland, triggering World War II. -
USSR invade Lithuania , Latvia and Estonia
Soviet troops occupy and Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, which are then incorporated into the USSR; Romania cedes Bessarabia and North Bukovina to the USSR - the present independent republic of Moldova. -
Peace With Japan
Soviet Union and Japan sign a non-aggression pact. -
Germany invades USSR
Germany invades the USSR and by the end of the year occupies Belarus and most of Ukraine. -
Soviet Union declares war on Japan
Soviet Union declares war on Japan, eventually annexing the southern half of Sakhalin and the Kuril islands. -
Soviet Union and China treaty
Soviet Union and China sign 30-year alliance treaty. -
Stalin's Death
Stalin dies and is succeeded by Georgi Malenkov as prime minister