-
Period: to
Stalin's Russia 1924-53
-
Lenin's Death
Death of Lenin. Stalin survives the reading of the testament by the Central Commitee -
Marginalisation of Trotsky
Trotsky was forced to resign his military offices. -
14th Party Congress
The Fourteenth Party Congress endorsed the leadership of Stalin and his rightist ally Nikolai Bukharin, soundly defeating the New Opposition faction of Kamenev and Zinoviev. -
Expulsion of Trotsky and Zinoviev
Trotsky and Zinoviev were expelled from the Communist Party. -
Start of 1st 5-Year Plan
First Five Year Plan: Stalin announced the beginning of state industrialisation of the Soviet economy. -
Expulsion of Bukharin
Bukharin was expelled from the Politburo. -
Initiation of Gulag
The Gulag was officially established. -
End of 1st 5-year plan
First Five-Year Plan: It was announced that the plan had been fulfilled. -
17th Party Congress Elections
Elections to the Central Committee at the Seventeenth Party Congress revealed Sergey Kirov, the chief of the Leningrad Party, to be the most popular member. -
Kirov's Murder
Kirov was murdered by Leonid Nikolaev, possibly at the behest of Stalin. -
Stakhanov Record
Aleksei Grigorievich Stakhanov was reported to have mined over one hundred tons of coal in a single shift, sowing the seeds of the Stakhanovite movement. -
Period: to
Moscow Trials
Moscow Trials: The Trial of the Sixteen, in which Kamenev and Grigory Zinoviev were the primary defendants, began.
Moscow Trials: The defendants in the Trial of the Sixteen were executed. -
Period: to
Second Trial 1937
Moscow Trials: The Second Trial ended. Of seventeen defendants, all but four were sentenced to death. -
Execution of Military Leaders
Case of Trotskyist Anti-Soviet Military Organization: Tukhachevsky was executed, with eight other military leaders -
Start of Great Purges
Great Purge: NKVD Order № 00447 was issued. The order established a new judicial method, the NKVD troika, and set nationwide quotas for the execution and enslavement of "anti-Soviet elements." -
Period: to
Trial of the Twenty One
Trial of the Twenty One: The third Moscow Trial, at which Bukharin was the primary defendant, began.
Trial of the Twenty One: The defendants were executed. -
Nazi-Soviet Pact
The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was signed, promising mutual non-aggression between Germany and the Soviet Union and agreeing to a division of much of Europe between those two countries. -
Soviet Invasion of Poland
Soviet invasion of Poland (1939): The Red Army invaded Poland. -
Trotsky Assasinated
Trotsky assassinated, by Stalin's agents, in Mexico City. -
German Invasion of Soviet Union
Operation Barbarossa: Three million Axis soldiers invaded the Soviet Union. -
Siege of Leningrad
Siege of Leningrad: The German army cut the last land tie to Leningrad. -
Period: to
Battle of Stalingrad
Battle of Stalingrad: The German Luftwaffe began a bombing raid against Stalingrad.
Operation Uranus: The Soviet army began a pincer movement against the German forces besieging Stalingrad.
Operation Uranus: The German Sixth Army was surrounded. -
Initiation of Soviet Counter Atack
Operation Spark (1943): The Soviet army launched a military offensive to break the Siege of Leningrad. -
German Sixth Army surrender
Battle of Stalingrad: The German Sixth Army surrendered. -
Tehran Conference
Stalin meets with Roosevelt and Churchill in Teheran -
Yalta Conference
Stalin meets with Roosevelt and Churchill at Yalta -
Surrender of Nazi Germany
Battle of Berlin: The defenders of Berlin surrendered to the Soviet Union. -
Period: to
Berlin Blockade
Soviets blockade East Berlin. -
USSR's Atomic Bomb
Soviets explode their first atomic bomb. -
Sino Soviet Alliance
Sino-Soviet Treaty signed -
Doctor's Plot
Announcement of Jewish "Doctors' Plot" against Stalin, plans for new wave of terror. -
Death of Stalin
Death of Stalin
