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Union treaty formally joins Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and the Transcaucasus - which were divided in 1936 into Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan - into the Soviet Union. Germany recognises the Soviet Union.
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Adoption of first Five-Year Plan, with the state setting goals and priorities for the whole economy, signifies the end of the New Economic Policy. Collectivisation of agriculture begins; numerous relatively prosperous peasants, or Kulaks, killed; millions of peasant households eliminated and their property confiscated.
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United States recognises the Soviet Union.
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Soviet Union and Nazi Germany conclude a non-aggression pact; Germany invades Poland, triggering World War II.
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Germany invades the USSR and by the end of the year occupies Belarus and most of Ukraine, surrounds Leningrad. Although a Soviet counter-offensive saves Moscow, by June 1942 the Germans were on the gates of Stalingrad and close to the Caucasus oil fields.
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Stalin dies and is succeeded by Georgi Malenkov as prime minister and by Nikita Khrushchev as first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party.
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Warsaw Treaty Organisation, or Warsaw Pact, set up.
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Soviet Union and US sign SALT-2 agreement; Soviet troops invade Afghanistan, formally ending the period of detente with the West.
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Chernobyl nuclear power station explodes, showering large areas in Ukraine, Belarus and beyond with radioactive material.
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Soviet troops withdraw from Afghanistan (15,000 dead and missing, over 400,000 incapacitated by disease or serious illness).
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Berlin Wall falls (November), and in the next month, communist governments fall in Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, and Rumania.
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Senior officials, including Defence Minister Dmitry Yazov, Vice-President Gennadiy Yanayev and the heads of the Interior Ministry and the KGB detain Gorbachev at his holiday villa in Crimea, but are themselves arrested after three days; Yeltsin bans the Soviet Communist Party in Russia and seizes its assets; Yeltsin recognises the independence of the Baltic republics; Ukraine, followed by other republics, declares itself independent.
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Congress of People's Deputies votes for the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Leaders of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus sign agreement setting up Commonwealth of Independent States. Gorbachev resigns as Soviet president; US recognises independence of remaining Soviet republics. Russian government takes over offices of USSR in Russia.
