1901 - The Socialist-Revolutionary Party was founded.
June 30, 1901 - Russification of Finland: The Military Service Act incorporated the Finnish and Russian armies.
1902 - Russification of Finland: Nikolai Ivanovich Bobrikov, the Governor-General of Finland, was given the power to dismiss opponents of Russification from the Finnish government.
March 20, 1903 - Russification of Finland: The office of the Governor-General was given dictatorial powers.
April 6, 1903 - Kishinev pogrom: A three-day pogrom began which would leave forty-seven Jews dead.
November 17, 1903 - At the second congress of the RSDLP, the party split into two factions: the Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, and the less radical Mensheviks.
February 8, 1904 - Russo-Japanese War: Japan launched a surprise torpedo attack on the Russian navy at Port Arthur.
January 3, 1905 - Russian Revolution of 1905: A strike began at the Putilov Works in St. Petersburg.
January 9, 1905 - Bloody Sunday: Peaceful demonstrators arrived at the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg to present a petition to the tsar. The Imperial Guard fired on the crowd, killing around one thousand.
May 28, 1905 - Russian Revolution of 1905: The first soviet was formed in the midst of a textile strike in Ivanovo-Voznesensk.
June 14,1905 - Russian Revolution of 1905: A mutiny occurred aboard the battleship Potemkin.
June 25,1905 - Russian Revolution of 1905: The Potemkin sailors defected to Romania.
September 5, 1905 - Russo-Japanese War: The Treaty of Portsmouth was signed, ceding some Russian property and territory to Japan and ending the war.
October 17, 1905 - Russian Revolution of 1905: Nicholas signed the October Manifesto, expanding civil liberties and establishing and empowering the first State Duma of the Russian Empire.
March, 1906 - Russian legislative election: The first free elections to the Duma gave majorities to liberal and socialist parties.
April 23, 1906 - The Fundamental Laws were issued, reaffirming the autocratic supremacy of the tsar. The First Duma was called.
July 21, 1906 - The First Duma was dissolved.
July 23, 1906 - The Constitutional Democratic party (Kadets) issued the Vyborg Manifesto, calling on the Russian people to evade taxes and the draft. All signatories to the Manifesto lost their right to hold office in the Duma.
November 9, 1906 - A decree by Prime Minister Pyotr Stolypin signaled the start of the Stolypin reform, intended to replace the obshchina with a more progressive, capitalist form of agriculture.
February 9, 1907 - The secret police units of the MVD Department of State Police were unified under the authority of the new Okhrana.
February 20, 1907 - The Second Duma began. The Kadets dropped seats, benefiting the RSDLP and the Socialist-Revolutionary Party.
June 3, 1907 - The Second Duma was dissolved.
Nicholas changed the electoral law and gave greater electoral value to the votes of nobility and landowners.
November 1, 1907 - The Third Duma began.
April 4, 1912 - Lena goldfields massacre: The Russian army fired on a crowd of striking miners, killing 150.
June 9, 1912 - The Third Duma ended.
November 15, 1912 - The Fourth Duma was called.
July 23, 1914 - World War I: Austria-Hungary issued the July Ultimatum to Serbia, demanding, among other things, the right to participate in the investigation into the assassination of Franz Ferdinand, which Serbia refused.
July 28, 1914 - World War I: Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia.
July 30, 1914 - World War I: Russia mobilized its army to defend Serbia.
August 1, 1914 - World War I: Germany declared war on Russia in defense of Austria-Hungary.
May 2, 1915 - Gorlice-Tarnów Offensive: The German army launched an offensive across the length of the Eastern Front.
August 4, 1915 - Gorlice-Tarnów Offensive: Germany conquered Warsaw.
September 19, 1915 - Gorlice-Tarnów Offensive: German forces captured Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania.
June 25, 1916 - Basmachi Revolt: Nicholas issued a decree ordering the conscription of Central Asians.
November 5, 1916 - By the Act of November 5th, the German government established the nominally independent Kingdom of Poland.
December 16, 1916 - Royal adviser Grigori Rasputin was murdered by a group of nobles in the house of Prince Felix Yussupov.
February 22, 1917 - February Revolution: The workers at the Putilov Plant in Petrograd went on strike.
February 23, 1917 - February Revolution: A series of demonstrations were held, demanding the end of the Russian autocracy and the end of Russian participation in World War I.
February 25, 1917 - February Revolution: A battalion of soldiers was sent to Petrograd to end the uprising.
February 26, 1917 - February Revolution: Nicholas ordered the dissolution of the Fourth Duma. The Duma ignored his order and decreed the establishment of a Provisional Government with Georgy L'vov as Prime Minister.
February 27, 1917 - February Revolution: The soldiers sent to suppress the protestors defected and joined them. Menshevik leaders were freed from the Peter and Paul Fortress and founded the Petrograd Soviet.
March 2, 1917 - February Revolution: Nicholas abdicated the throne.
March 17, 1917 - A legislative council, the Tsentralna Rada, was founded in Ukraine.
March 30, 1917 - The Provisional Government established the autonomous province of Estonia and scheduled elections to an Estonian legislative body, the Maapäev.
May 10, 1917 - The Rumcherod, the Soviet government of southwestern Ukraine and Bessarabia, was established.
June 23, 1917 - The Tsentralna Rada ratified Ukrainian autonomy.
July 3, 1917 - July Days: A spontaneous pro-soviet demonstration occurred on the streets of Petrograd.
July 6, 1917 - July Days: The rebellion was put down. The Provisional Government ordered the arrest of Bolshevik leaders.
July 21, 1917 - Alexander Kerensky succeeded L'vov as Prime Minister.
August 27, 1917 - Kornilov Affair: General Lavr Kornilov ordered an army corps to Petrograd to destroy the soviets.
August 29, 1917 - Kornilov Affair: The Provisional Government armed tens of thousands of Red Guards to defend Petrograd.
August 31, 1917 - Kornilov Affair: Kornilov was arrested.
September 4, 1917 - Under public pressure, Bolshevik leaders were released from prison.
October 23, 1917 - Estonian Bolsheviks under Jaan Anvelt captured the capital, Tallinn.
October 25, 1917 - October Revolution: Soldiers directed by the Military Revolutionary Committee of the Petrograd Soviet captured the Winter Palace, ending the power of the Russian Provisional Government.
The Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets convened. Menshevik and moderate SR representatives walked out to protest the October Revolution. The Congress established and elected the Sovnarkom, and Lenin its first chairman, to run the country between sessions.
October 26, 1917 - The Second All-Russian Congress of Soviets issued the Decree on Peace, promising an end to Russian participation in World War I, and the Decree on Land, approving the expropriation of land from the nobility.
November 21, 1917 - The Moldavian legislature, the Sfatul Ţării, held its first meeting.
December 5, 1917 - A local nationalist group, the Alash Orda, established an autonomous government in Kazakhstan.
December 7, 1917 - The Cheka was established.
December 12, 1917 - A Muslim republic, the Idel-Ural State, was established in central Russia.
December 25, 1917 - Ukrainian Bolsheviks established the Soviet Ukrainian Republic in Kharkiv.
December 27, 1917 - Russian Civil War: The counterrevolutionary Volunteer Army was established.
January 12, 1918 -The Tsentralna Rada declared the independence of the Ukrainian People's Republic.
January 14, 1918 - The Rumcherod declared itself the supreme power in Bessarabia.
January 15, 1918 - A decree of the Sovnarkom established the Red Army.
January 24, 1918 - The Moldavian Democratic Republic declared its independence from Russia.
January 28, 1918 - The Transcaucasian parliament held its first meeting.
January 31, 1918 (O.S.) - The Bolsheviks adopted the Gregorian calendar. All dates hereafter are given in the New Style.
February 18, 1918 - The Red Army conquered Kiev.
February 23, 1918 - Mass conscription to the Red Army began in Moscow and Petrograd.
February 24, 1918 - The Red Army retreated from Estonia in the face of the German armed forces.
The Transcaucasian parliament announced the independent Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic (TDFR).
March 3, 1918 - Soviet Russia signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, ending its participation in World War I, relinquishing Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Belarus, and Ukraine, and ceding to the Ottoman Empire all territory captured in the Russo-Turkish War.
March 6, 1918 - Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War: Two hundred British marines arrived at Murmansk.
March 25, 1918 - The Belarusian National Republic was established by its German occupiers.
April 30, 1918 - The Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (ASSR) was established on the territory of the defunct Russian Turkestan.
May 26, 1918 - Russian Civil War: The Czech Legion began its revolt against the Bolshevik government.
Georgia seceded from the TDFR.
May 28, 1918 - Armenia and Azerbaijan declared their mutual independence.
June 8, 1918 - Russian Civil War: An anti-Bolshevik government, the Committee of Members of the Constituent Assembly, was established in Samara under the protection of the Czech Legion
June 28, 1918 - A decree by the Central Executive Committee made war communism, under which all industry and food distribution was nationalized, the economic policy of the Soviet state.
June 29, 1918 - Russian Civil War: The Provisional Government of Autonomous Siberia was established in Vladivostok.
July 10, 1918 - The Soviet Constitution was approved by the Fifth All-Russian Congress of Soviets. The legislative power was transferred from the Sovnarkom to the Central Executive Committee, which also received the power to pass constitutional amendments.
August 30, 1918 - After giving a speech at a Moscow factory, Lenin was shot twice by SR Fanny Kaplan, but survived.
September 3, 1918 - Red Terror: Izvestia called on the Russian people to "crush the hydra of counterrevolution with massive terror."
September 23, 1918 - Russian Civil War: A meeting in Ufa established a unified anti-Bolshevik government, the Ufa Directorate.
November 11, 1918 - World War I: An armistice treaty was signed, ending the war.
November 18, 1918 - A military coup overthrew the Ufa Directorate and established its war minister, Aleksandr Kolchak, as dictator.
November 22, 1918 - Estonian War of Independence: The Russian Red Army invaded Estonia.
November 24, 1918 - Béla Kun, a friend of Lenin, founded the Hungarian Communist Party.
November 29, 1918 - Estonian War of Independence: The Red Army captured the Estonian town of Narva. Local Bolsheviks reestablished the Anvelt government as the Commune of the Working People of Estonia.
December The Idel-Ural State was again occupied and dissolved by the Red Army.
December 8, 1918 - The Communist Party of Lithuania established a revolutionary government in Vilnius.
January 1, 1919 - Local Bolsheviks established the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR).
January 3, 1919 - Latvian War of Independence: The Red Army invaded Latvia.
January 5, 1919 - The Red Army occupied Vilnius, the Lithuanian capital, in support of the local Communist government.
The Red Army captured Minsk and pronounced it the capital of the Byelorussian SSR.
January 16, 1919 - The Orgburo was established to oversee the membership and organization of the Communist Party.
February 14, 1919 - Polish-Soviet War: The Polish army attacked Soviet forces occupying the town of Biaroza.
February 27, 1919 - Lithuania was absorbed into the Lithuanian-Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic.
March 4, 1919 - The First Congress of the Comintern began in Moscow.
March 21, 1919 - Seeking a military alliance with Russia against the French, the Hungarian Social Democrats merged with the Communist Party, released Kun from prison and appointed him Commissar for Foreign Affairs. Kun dismissed the president and proclaimed the Hungarian Soviet Republic.
March 25, 1919 - The Eighth Party Congress reinstituted the Politburo as the central governing body of the Communist Party.
April 16, 1919 - The Romanian army invaded Hungary.
April 21, 1919 - Polish-Soviet War: The Polish army consolidated its control of Vilnius.
June 16, 1919 - Hungarian occupiers established the Slovak Soviet Republic.
July 7, 1919 - The Czechoslovak army reoccupied its territory and dissolved the Slovak Soviet Republic.
August 25, 1919 - Polish-Soviet War: After its total occupation by Polish forces, the Lithuanian-Byelorussian SSR was dissolved.
February 2, 1920 - Estonian War of Independence: Soviet Russia signed the Treaty of Tartu, renouncing all claims on Estonian territory.
An insurgency in the Khanate of Khiva forced the abdication of the Khan.
February 7, 1920 - Russian Civil War: Kolchak was executed by a Bolshevik military tribunal.
March 26, 1920 - Russian Civil War: The Volunteer Army evacuated to the Crimea to join the army of Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel.
April 25, 1920 - The Russian Eleventh Army invaded the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic.
April 28, 1920 - With the Azerbaijani capital Baku under Eleventh Army occupation, the parliament agreed to transfer power to the Communist government of the Azerbaijan SSR.
June 12, 1920 - The Soviet Union recognized Lithuanian independence.
July 8, 1920 - Polish-Soviet War: The Galician Soviet Socialist Republic (SSR) was established in Ternopil.
August 11, 1920 - Latvian War of Independence: The Treaty of Riga was signed. Soviet Russia renounced all claims on Latvian territory.
August 13, 1920 - Battle of Warsaw: The battle began with a Russian attack across the Vistula.
August 26, 1920 - The Bolsheviks defeated the government of the Alash Orda and established the Kyrgyz ASSR? (1).
August 31, 1920 - Battle of Warsaw: The total defeat of the Russian Fourth, Fifteenth and Sixteenth Armies marked the end of the battle.
September 2, 1920 - The Red Army attacked Bukhara, the capital of the Emirate of Bukhara.
September 21, 1920 - Polish-Soviet War: The Polish army occupied Galicia and ended the rule of the Galician SSR.
October 8, 1920 - The Bukharan People's Soviet Republic was established.
November 14, 1920 - Russian Civil War: Wrangel fled Russia.
November 29, 1920 - The Eleventh Army entered Armenia.
December 1, 1920 - The Armenian Prime Minister ceded control of the country to the invading Communists.
February 16, 1921 - Red Army invasion of Georgia: The Eleventh Army crossed into Georgia.
February 22, 1921 - Gosplan, the economic planning committee of the Soviet Union, was created by a decree of the Sovnarkom.
February 25, 1921 - Red Army invasion of Georgia: The Eleventh Army captured Tbilisi and announced the formation of the Georgian SSR.
February 28, 1921 - Kronstadt rebellion: The crews of the battleships Petropavlovsk and Sevastopol, harbored at Kronstadt, published a list of demands on the government.
March 17, 1921 - Kronstadt rebellion: After over a week of fighting, government troops pacified Kronstadt.
March 21, 1921 - A decree of the Tenth Party Congress replaced war communism with the more liberal New Economic Policy.
March 18, 1921 - Polish-Soviet War: Poland and Soviet Russia signed the Peace of Riga, ending the war. The disputed territories were divided between Poland, Russia and the newly reestablished Ukrainian and Byelorussian SSRs.
July The Red Army captured Ulan Bator, the Mongolian capital.
July 13, 1921 - The writer Maxim Gorky brought world attention to the looming famine.
February 23, 1922 - A decree published in Izvestia authorized the seizure of church valuables for famine relief.
March 12, 1922 - The Georgian, Armenian and Azerbaijani SSRs were merged into the Transcaucasian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (SFSR).
April 3, 1922 - The Eleventh Communist Party Congress established the office of the General Secretary of the Communist Party and appointed Joseph Stalin to fill it.
May 16, 1922 - Tikhon, the Patriarch of Moscow, was put under house arrest.
August 4, 1922 - Basmachi Revolt: Enver Pasha was killed in Turkestan.
December 29, 1922 - The Treaty on the Creation of the USSR united its signatories, the Russian and Transcaucasian SFSRs and the Byelorussian and Ukrainian SSRs, under the power of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
May 3, 1923 - A council of the pro-government Living Church declared Tikhon an apostate and abolished the Patriarchate.
October 15, 1923 - The Declaration of 46 was written. The Declaration echoed earlier concerns expressed by Leon Trotsky, the Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council, that the Communist Party was insufficiently democratic.
January 21, 1924 - Lenin died.
January 31,1924 - The 1924 Soviet Constitution came into effect.
February 18, 1924 - The Thirteenth Party Congress, led by Stalin, Comintern chairman Grigory Zinoviev and Politburo chairman Lev Kamenev, denounced Trotsky and his faction, the Left Opposition.
October 10, 1924 - The territory of the Khorezm SSR was incorporated into the Turkestan ASSR.
October 12, 1924 - The Moldavian ASSR was established in the Ukrainian SSR.
October 14, 1924 - The Kara-Kyrgyz Autonomous Oblast was spun off of the Turkestan ASSR and incorporated into the Russian SFSR.
October 27, 1924 - The Uzbek SSR was spun out of the Turkestan ASSR.
November 25, 1924 - The Mongolian People's Republic was established.
November 27, 1924 - The Bukharan People's Soviet Republic was incorporated into the Uzbek SSR.
January 6, 1925 - Trotsky was forced to resign his military offices.
February 19, 1925 - The lands of the Karakalpaks became the Karakalpak Autonomous Oblast, an oblast of the Kyrgyz ASSR.
April 7, 1925 - Tikhon died. The Communist government would not allow elections to the patriarchate to be held; Metropolitan Peter of Krutitsy became the Patriarchal locum tenens according to his will.
April 19, 1925 - The Kyrgyz ASSR was renamed the Kazakh ASSR.
May 13, 1925 - The Uzbek SSR joined the Soviet Union.
The remainder of the Turkestan ASSR became the Turkmen SSR.
December 10, 1925 - Peter of Krutitsy was arrested. Sergius of Nizhny Novgorod, whom he had named to succeed him, took the title of Deputy Patriarchal locum tenens.
December 23, 1925 - 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.
February 11, 1926 - The Kara-Kyrgyz Autonomous Oblast was reorganized into the Kyrgyz ASSR.
October 23, 1926 - Trotsky was expelled from the Politburo.
February 25, 1927 - Article 58 of the RFSR Penal Code revised the penalties for counterrevolutionary activity.
July 29, 1927 - Sergius affirmed the loyalty of the Russian Orthodox Church to the Soviet government.
November 12, 1927 - Trotsky and Zinoviev were expelled from the Communist Party.
December 2, 1927 - The Fifteenth Party Congress expelled the remainder of the United Opposition from the Party.
March 7, 1928 - Shakhty Trial: Police arrested a group of engineers in the town of Shakhty and accused them of conspiring to sabotage the Soviet economy.
October 1, 1928 - First Five Year Plan: Stalin announced the beginning of state industrialisation of the Soviet economy.
November 17, 1929 - Bukharin was expelled from the Politburo.
Collectivisation in the USSR: A Central Committee resolution began the collectivisation of Soviet agriculture.
December 5, 1929 - The Tajik ASSR of the Uzbek SSR became the Tajik SSR.
April 15, 1930 - The Gulag was officially established.
July 20, 1930 - The Karakalpak Autonomous Oblast was transferred to the Russian SFSR.
March 20, 1932 - The Karakalpak Autonomous Oblast became the Karakalpak ASSR.
August 7, 1932 - Collectivisation in the USSR: The Central Executive Committee and the Sovnarkom issued the Decree about the Protection of Socialist Property, under which any theft of public property was punishable by death.
September 11, 1932 - Holodomor: Stalin sent a letter to a Politburo ally, Lazar Kaganovich, demanding the subjection of the Ukrainian SSR.
December 27, 1932 - A decree by the Central Executive Committee and the Sovnarkom established a passport system in the Soviet Union.
December 31, 1932 - First Five-Year Plan: It was announced that the plan had been fulfilled.
January 22, 1933 - Holodomor: Police were instructed to prevent Ukrainian peasants from leaving their homes in search of food.
February 8, 1934 - 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.
July 10, 1934 - The Main Directorate of State Security (GUGB) was established under the NKVD as a successor to the OGPU.
December 1, 1934 - Kirov was murdered by Leonid Nikolaev, possibly at the behest of Stalin.
August 31, 1935 - 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.
August 19, 1936 - Moscow Trials: The Trial of the Sixteen, in which Kamenev and Grigory Zinoviev were the primary defendants, began.
August 25, 1936 - Moscow Trials: The defendants in the Trial of the Sixteen were executed.
December 5, 1936 - The Stalin Constitution came into effect. The Central Executive Committee was renamed the Supreme Soviet.
The Kyrgyz ASSR (2) became a Union-level republic, the Kyrgyz SSR.
The Kazakh ASSR became the Kazakh SSR.
The territory of the Karakalpak ASSR was incorporated into the Uzbek SSR.
January 23, 1937 - Moscow Trials: The Second Trial began.
January 30, 1937 - Moscow Trials: The Second Trial ended. Of seventeen defendants, all but four were sentenced to death.
May 22, 1937 - Case of Trotskyist Anti-Soviet Military Organization: Mikhail Tukhachevsky, a Marshal of the Soviet Union and hero of the Russian Civil War, was arrested.
June 12, 1937 - Case of Trotskyist Anti-Soviet Military Organization: Tukhachevsky was executed, with eight other military leaders.
July 30, 1937 - 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."
August 11, 1937 - Polish operation of the NKVD: The NKVD chief signed Order № 00485, classifying all potential Polish nationalists as enemies of the state.
August 15, 1937 - Great Purge: NKVD Order № 00486 made relatives of accused traitors subject to imprisonment in labor camps.
October 10, 1937 - Peter of Krutitsy was executed in solitary confinement.
1938 A new decree required the teaching of Russian in all non-Russian schools.
March 2, 1938 - Trial of the Twenty One: The third Moscow Trial, at which Bukharin was the primary defendant, began.
March 15, 1938 - Trial of the Twenty One: The defendants were executed.
July 29, 1938 - Battle of Lake Khasan: The armed forces of Japanese Manchukuo attacked the Soviet military at Lake Khasan.
August 31, 1938 - Battle of Lake Khasan: The battle ended in a Japanese defeat.
August 23, 1939 - 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.
September 17, 1939 - Soviet invasion of Poland (1939): The Red Army invaded Poland.
October 22, 1939 - Elections were held to the Supreme Soviets of the Polish areas annexed by the Soviet Union.
November 26, 1939 - Shelling of Mainila: The Red Army shelled the Russian village of Mainila and blamed the Finns for invented casualties.
November 30, 1939 - Winter War: The Soviet army attacked Finland.
December 1, 1939 - Winter War: The Soviet Union established the Finnish Democratic Republic in the border town of Terijoki.
March 5, 1940 - Katyn massacre: The Politburo signed an order to execute 27,500 imprisoned Polish nationalists.
March 12, 1940 - Winter War: The Moscow Peace Treaty was signed, ending the war at great cost to Finland and anticipating the evacuation of Finnish Karelia.
March 31, 1940 - The Karelian ASSR merged with the Finnish Democratic Republic into the Karelo-Finnish SSR.
June 15, 1940 - The Red Army occupied Lithuania.
June 17, 1940 - The Red Army occupied Estonia and Latvia.
June 28, 1940 - Soviet occupation of Bessarabia: Bessarabia and northern Bukovina were occupied by the Soviet Union.
July 21, 1940 - Lithuania became the Lithuanian SSR; Latvia became the Latvian SSR.
August 2, 1940 - The Moldavian ASSR became the Moldavian SSR, with much of its territory on the former Bessarabia and Bukovina. The old territory of the Moldavian ASSR remained in the Ukrainian SSR.
August 3, 1940 - The Lithuanian SSR was accepted into the Soviet Union.
August 5, 1940 - The Latvian SSR was annexed by the Soviet Union.
August 6, 1940 - Estonia became the Estonian SSR and was incorporated into the Soviet Union.
April 13, 1941 - Soviet-Japanese Border Wars: A Soviet-Japanese Neutrality Pact was signed.
June 22, 1941 - Operation Barbarossa: Three million Axis soldiers invaded the Soviet Union.
Lithuanian 1941 independence: The Lithuanian Activist Front (LAF) began an uprising against the Soviet government.
June 24 Lithuanian 1941 independence: The LAF government took power in Lithuania.
June 25, 1941 - Continuation War: The Soviet Union launched a major air offensive against Finnish targets.
June 28, 1941 - Operation Barbarossa: The Germans captured Minsk.
July 27, 1941 - Operation Barbarossa: The German and Romanian armies entered Kishinev.
August 21, 1941 - Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran: Three Soviet armies invaded Iran from the north.
September 8, 1941 - Siege of Leningrad: The German army cut the last land tie to Leningrad.
September 17, 1941 - Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran: The Soviet and British armed forces met in Tehran.
September 19, 1941 - Operation Barbarossa: Kiev fell to the Germans.
October 2, 1941 - Battle of Moscow: Three German armies began an advance on Moscow.
November 20, 1941 - Siege of Leningrad: The first food was carried into Leningrad across the Road of Life on the frozen Lake Ladoga.
December 5, 1941 - Battle of Moscow: The Soviet army launched a counterattack from Kalinin.
January 7, 1942 - Battle of Moscow: The Soviet counteroffensive ended between sixty and one-hundred fifty miles from Moscow.
August 21, 1942 - Battle of Stalingrad: The German Luftwaffe began a bombing raid against Stalingrad.
November 19, 1942 - Operation Uranus: The Soviet army began a pincer movement against the German forces besieging Stalingrad.
November 22, 1942 - Operation Uranus: The German Sixth Army was surrounded.
January 12, 1943 - Operation Spark (1943): The Soviet army launched a military offensive to break the Siege of Leningrad.
January 18, 1943 - Operation Spark (1943): The meeting of the Leningrad and Volkhov Front units opened a land corridor to Leningrad.
February 2, 1943 - Battle of Stalingrad: The German Sixth Army surrendered.
May 15, 1943 - The Comintern was dissolved.
September 8, 1943 - Stalin allowed a church council, which unanimously elected Sergius to the Patriarchate of Moscow.
November 6, 1943 - The Russians recaptured Kiev.
January 6, 1944 - The Red Army crossed into Poland.
January 27, 1944 - Siege of Leningrad: The last German forces were expelled from the city.
July 21, 1944 - The Communist Lublin Government of Poland was established.
August 1, 1944 - Warsaw Uprising: The Polish Home Army began an attack on German forces in Warsaw.
August 22, 1944 - Warsaw Uprising: Stalin denied the Allies use of his landing strips to supply aid to the insurgents.
August 31, 1944 - Soviet occupation of Romania: The Red Army captured Bucharest.
September 12, 1944 - Romania signed an armistice with the Allies, placing itself under the command of an Allied Commission led by Marshal of the Soviet Union Rodion Malinovsky.
September 19, 1944 - Continuation War: The Moscow Armistice was signed, ending the war at roughly the prewar borders.
September 21, 1944 - Soviet and Czechoslovak partisan armed forces entered German-occupied Czechoslovakia.
November 14, 1944 - The Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia was established in Prague.
January 17, 1945 - The Soviet Union captured Warsaw.
January 18, 1945 - The Soviet Union captured Budapest.
February 2, 1945 - Alexius I was elected Patriarch of Moscow.
February 11, 1945 - The Soviet Union gained the right to Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands at the Yalta Conference
April 20, 1945 - Battle of Berlin: The Soviet army began shelling Berlin.
April 21, 1945 - The RTRP ceded control of Poland's internal security apparatus to the Soviet government for forty years.
May 2, 1945 - Battle of Berlin: The defenders of Berlin surrendered to the Soviet Union.
May 9, 1945 - The Soviet army captured Prague.
June 18, 1945 - Trial of the Sixteen: Leaders of the Polish Secret State were tried in the Soviet Union for collaboration.
June 21, 1945 - Trial of the Sixteen: The defendants were sentenced.
June 28, 1945 - The coalition Provisional Government of National Unity (TRJN) was established in Poland.
July 5, 1945 - The United States recognized the TRJN.
August 2, 1945 - The Potsdam Agreement moved Poland's borders to the west and established the shape of occupied Germany.
August 16, 1945 - Operation August Storm: Soviet armed forces landed on Sakhalin.
August 18, 1945 - Operation August Storm: Soviet amphibious forces landed in Korea.
August 20, 1945 - Operation August Storm: The Soviet Union captured Changchun, the capital of Manchukuo.
August 25, 1945 - Operation August Storm: The Soviet Union captured Sakhalin's capital.
November, 1945 - The Soviet Union established the Azerbaijan People's Government in Iranian Azerbaijan.
January 22, 1946 - The Soviet-backed Kurdish Republic of Mahabad declared its independence from Iran.
March 2, 1946 - Iran crisis: British troops withdrew from Iran. The Soviet Union violated its prior agreement and remained.
March 10, 1946 - The Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church was united with the Russian Orthodox Church.
May 26, 1946 - Czechoslovak parliamentary election, 1946: The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ) won a plurality of votes, enabling their takeover of the information and interior ministries.
November 19, 1946 - Romanian general election, 1946: Rigged elections gave a vast majority of seats in the Romanian legislature to the Romanian Communist Party and its allies.
January 19, 1947 - Polish legislative election: Rigged elections gave the Communist bloc 80 percent of the vote.
August 31, 1947 - The Hungarian Communist Party won a plurality of seats in elections to the Hungarian legislature.
October 5, 1947 - The Cominform was established in order to coordinate Communist parties under Soviet control.
November 27, 1947 - A speech to the Central Committee of the KSČ by Chairman Klement Gottwald denounced "reactionary forces" and triggered the purge of non-Communists from the Czechoslovakian security forces.
December 30, 1947 - King Michael I of Romania was forced to abdicate.
February 20, 1948 - Non-Communist ministers resigned from the Czechoslovakian parliament in order to force an election.
February 21, 1948 - The KSČ established the Workers' Militia, banned non-Communists from television broadcasts, and occupied the non-Communist ministries.
February 25, 1948 - Czechoslovakian president Edvard Beneš accepted the resignations of the non-Communist ministers and replaced them according to the demands of the KSČ.
April 13, 1948 - A new Romanian constitution declared that country a People's Republic.
June 24, 1948 - Berlin Blockade: The Soviet Union blocked rail and road access to West Berlin.
June 25, 1948 - Berlin Blockade: The commander of the American occupation zone ordered an airlift of supplies into West Berlin.
June 28, 1948 - Yugoslavia was expelled from the Cominform.
September 9, 1948 - The Democratic People's Republic of Korea was established.
May 11, 1949 - Berlin Blockade: The Soviets lifted the blockade.
August 18, 1949 - A new Communist constitution came into force in Hungary.
August 29, 1949 - Joe 1: The Soviet atomic bomb project culminated in a successful test detonation.
January 30, 1950 - Korean War: Regarding a mass invasion of the South, Stalin wrote to his ambassador to North Korea: "Tell him [Kim] that I am ready to help him in this matter."
June 25, 1950 - Korean War: The North Korean army launched a 135,000 man surprise assault across the 38th parallel.
November 1, 1950 - Korean War: Soviet-piloted MiG-15s first crossed the Yalu River and attacked American planes.
November 20, 1952 - Prague Trials: A series of show trials purged the Czech Communist Party of Jews and insufficiently orthodox Stalinists.
January 13, 1953 - An article in Pravda accused some of the nation's most prominent doctors - particularly Jews - of participating in a vast conspiracy to poison top Soviet leaders.
March 1, 1953 - After an all-night dinner with party members Lavrenty Beria, Nikolai Bulganin, Nikita Khrushchev and Georgy Malenkov, Stalin suffered a paralyzing stroke.
March 5, 1953 - Stalin died.
March 6, 1953 - Malenkov succeeded Stalin as Premier and First Secretary of the Communist Party.
March 14, 1953 - Khrushchev became First Secretary.
April 3, 1953 - The Presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party officially acquitted those arrested in connection with the so-called "doctors' plot".
April 8, 1953 - First Indochina War: Viet Minh and Pathet Lao forces invaded Laos and attacked French bases there.
June 16, 1953 - Uprising of 1953 in East Germany: In response to a 10 percent increase in work quotas, between 60 and 80 construction workers went on strike in East Berlin. Their numbers quickly swelled and a general strike and protests were called for the next day.
June 17, 1953 - Uprising of 1953 in East Germany: 100,000 protestors gathered at dawn, demanding the reinstatement of old work quotas and, later, the resignation of the East German government. At noon German police trapped many of the demonstrators in an open square; Soviet tanks fired on the crowd, killing hundreds and ending the protest.
June 26, 1953 - Beria was arrested at a special meeting of the Presidium.
July 27, 1953 - Korean War: An armistice was signed, ending the conflict.
September 7, 1953 - Khrushchev was confirmed as head of the Central Committee.
March 13, 1954 - Battle of Dien Bien Phu: Viet Minh forces loosed a massive artillery barrage against the surrounded French airbase at Dien Bien Phu.
May 7, 1954 - Battle of Dien Bien Phu: The battle ended in a French defeat.
May 16, 1954 - Kengir Uprising: Prisoners at a Gulag adjacent to the Kazakh village of Kengir occupied the camp's service yard.
June 25, 1954 - Kengir Uprising: The prison camp at Kengir was invaded and subdued by Soviet troops and tanks.
July 21, 1954 - Geneva Conference (1954): The signing of the Geneva Accords promised a complete French withdrawal, partitioned Vietnam into a Communist North and a monarchist South, and scheduled unifying elections for July 1956.
June 2, 1955 - Khrushchev and Tito issued the Belgrade declaration, which declared that "different forms of Socialist development are solely the concern of the individual countries."
July Ho Chi Minh visited Moscow and agreed to accept Soviet aid.
February 25, 1956 - At a closed session of the 20th Party Congress, Khrushchev read the "Secret Speech," On the Personality Cult and its Consequences, denouncing the actions of his predecessor Stalin. The speech weakened the hand of the Stalinists in the Soviet government.
April 17, 1956 - The Cominform was officially dissolved.
June 28, 1956 - Poznań 1956 protests: Poles upset with the slow pace of destalinization turned to protests, and then to violent riots.
June 29, 1956 - Poznań 1956 protests: Konstantin Rokossovsky, the Polish minister of defense, ordered the military in to end the riots. At least 74 civilians were killed.
July 16, 1956 - The Karelo-Finnish SSR became the Karelian ASSR of the Russian SFSR.
October 19, 1956 - The liberal Władysław Gomułka was elected leader of the Polish Communist party.
October 23, 1956 - Hungarian Revolution: A small pro-Gomułka demonstration in Budapest expanded into a 100,000 head protest. The protestors marched on Parliament; when they were fired on by the Hungarian Security Police, they turned violent and began to arm themselves. An emergency meeting of the Central Committee appointed the reformist Imre Nagy Prime Minister.
October 31, 1956 - Hungarian Revolution: Hungary under Nagy withdrew from the Warsaw Pact.
November 4, 1956 - Hungarian Revolution: A Soviet invasion, involving infantry, artillery, airstrikes, and some 6,000 tanks entered Budapest. 2,500 Hungarians were killed in the ensuing battle.
November 8, 1956 - Hungarian Revolution: Pro-Soviet János Kádár announced the formation of a new "Revolutionary Worker-Peasant Government," with himself as Prime Minister and leader of the Communist Party.
December 2, 1956 - Cuban Revolution: Fidel Castro and his followers in the 26th of July Movement landed in Cuba.
December 10, 1956 - Angolan War of Independence: Two Angolan independence movements united to form the Marxist Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola.
June 18, 1957 - Led by the Stalinist Anti-Party Group, the Presidium voted to depose Khrushchev as First Secretary. The Presidium reversed its vote under pressure from Khrushchev and the defense minister and deferred the decision to a later meeting of the full Central Committee.
June 29, 1957 - A Central Committee vote affirmed Khrushchev as First Secretary and deposed Anti-Party Group members Molotov, Kaganovich, and Malenkov from the Secretariat of the CPSU Central Committee.
March 27, 1958 - Khrushchev replaced Bulganin as Premier of the Soviet Union.
January 1, 1959 - Cuban Revolution: Cuban president Fulgencio Batista fled Cuba for the Dominican Republic.
April 16, 1960 - Sino-Soviet Split: A Chinese Communist Party newspaper accused the Soviet leadership of "revisionism."
July 16, 1960 - Sino-Soviet Split: Moscow recalled thousands of Soviet advisers from China and ended economic and military aid.
December 20, 1960 - Vietnam War: The National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam was formed, with the intent to overthrow the government of South Vietnam.
April 17, 1961 - Bay of Pigs Invasion: After a U.S. bombing run against the Cuban air force, a group of 1,500 armed exiles landed at the Bay of Pigs on the southern coast. As the invasion faltered, President John F. Kennedy called off the airstrikes.
April 20, 1961 - Bay of Pigs Invasion: Castro announced that all the invaders had been defeated.
August 13, 1961 - Construction began on the Berlin Wall.
December 2, 1961 - In a nationally broadcast speech, Castro declared he was a Marxist-Leninist and that Cuba was going to adopt Communism.
December 10, 1961 - Sino-Albanian split: The Soviet Union severed diplomatic ties with Albania.
June 2, 1962 - Novocherkassk massacre: Soviet workers gathered in the town square of Novocherkassk to protest an increase in food prices and work quotas. The government fired on the rioters, killing nearly a hundred.
June 25, 1962 - Mozambican War of Independence: The Mozambican Liberation Front (FRELIMO) was founded.
October 16, 1962 - Cuban Missile Crisis: President Kennedy was shown U-2 surveillance images of SS-4 launch sites in Cuba.
October 22, 1962 - Cuban Missile Crisis: Kennedy announced that any nuclear missile attack from Cuba would be regarded as an attack by the Soviet Union, and that the island would be placed under "quarantine" to prevent further weapons shipments.
October 26, 1962 - Cuban Missile Crisis: The Soviet Union offered to withdraw the missiles in return for a U.S. guarantee not to invade Cuba or support any invasion.
October 28, 1962 - Cuban Missile Crisis: Khrushchev announced that he had ordered the removal of the Soviet missiles in Cuba.
October 14, 1964 - Khrushchev's rivals in the party deposed him at a Central Committee meeting. Leonid Brezhnev and Alexei Kosygin assumed power as First Secretary and Premier, respectively.
January 1, 1965 - The Marxist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) held its first congress.
February 7, 1967 - Sino-Soviet split: The Chinese government announced that it could no longer guarantee the safety of Soviet diplomats outside the embassy building.
June 10, 1967 - The Soviet Union severed diplomatic relations with Israel. see Soviet Union and the Arab-Israeli conflict
January 5, 1968 - Prague Spring: The liberal Alexander Dubček was appointed to succeed Antonín Novotný as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia.
April 5, 1968 - Prague Spring: The Czech Communist Party published their Action Programme. This document guaranteed a number of new freedoms including free speech, travel, debate and association.
August 20, 1968 - Prague Spring: Between 200,000 and 600,000 Warsaw Pact troops crossed the Czechoslovakian border.
August 21, 1968 - Prague Spring: Leading KSČ liberals - including Dubček - were arrested, flown to Moscow and forced to repeal the reforms of the Prague Spring. They agreed to the presence of Soviet troops in Czechoslovakia.
March 2, 1969 - Sino-Soviet border conflict: A Soviet patrol came into armed conflict with Chinese forces on Zhenbao Island.
June Qahtan al-Shabi, president of the People's Republic of South Yemen, was overthrown and replaced by Salim Rubayi Ali of the Marxist National Liberation Front.
October 21, 1969 - Somali military and police occupied the capital of Mogadishu. The Supreme Revolutionary Council was established as the new government, with the Marxist revolutionary Siad Barre at its head.
January 27, 1973 - Vietnam War: The Paris Peace Accords pledged the signatory parties to "respect the independence, sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity of Vietnam as recognized by the 1954 Geneva Agreements on Vietnam," and promised a complete withdrawal of United States forces from Vietnam and Laos.
July 11, 1974 - The Soviet Union signed a treaty of friendship and cooperation with the Somali government.
September 12, 1974 - Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie was overthrown by a council of military officers, the Derg.
December 20, 1974 - The Derg declared that socialism was the new ideology of the Ethiopian state.
January 31, 1975 - Angolan War of Independence: A transitional unity government, consisting of the National Liberation Front of Angola, the Soviet-backed MPLA, and the Maoist UNITA, took office under the terms of the Alvor Agreement.
March 11, 1975 - Vietnam War: A large-scale North Vietnamese offensive began with the conquest of Buon Ma Thuot.
March 27, 1975 - The Pathet Lao began a military offensive against the Laotian government.
April 30, 1975 - Fall of Saigon: The South Vietnamese capital of Saigon was captured by the Vietnam People's Army.
June 25, 1975 - Mozambican War of Independence: The FRELIMO government received independence from Portugal. Party leader Samora Machel, a Marxist, became the nation's first president.
November 11, 1975 - Angolan Civil War: Portugal accepted a declaration of independence from the MPLA, which controlled the Angolan capital of Luanda.
December 2, 1975 - The king of Laos abdicated the throne, leaving leadership of the country to the Communist Pathet Lao.
July 23, 1977 - Ogaden War: The Somali National Army invaded the Ogaden region in eastern Ethiopia.
September 7, 1977 - Ogaden War: The Soviet Union ended its arms shipments to the Somali government.
November 13, 1977 - Ogaden War: Barre cancelled the Somali-Soviet treaty of friendship.
April 28, 1978 - Saur Revolution: Military units loyal to the PDPA assaulted the Afghan Presidential palace, killing President Mohammed Daoud Khan.
May 1, 1978 - Saur Revolution: The PDPA installed its leader, Nur Muhammad Taraki, as President of Afghanistan.
July, 1978 - A rebellion against the new Afghan government began with an uprising in Nuristan.
December 5, 1978 - A treaty was signed which permitted deployment of the Soviet military at the Afghan government's request.
December 25, 1978 - Cambodian-Vietnamese War: The Vietnamese army invaded Cambodia.
January 7, 1979 - Cambodian-Vietnamese War: The Vietnamese army captured Phnom Penh, ending the reign of the Khmer Rouge.
January 10, 1979 - Cambodian-Vietnamese War: The People's Republic of Kampuchea was established.
July 19, 1979 - The armed forces of the Marxist Sandinista National Liberation Front (FSLN) entered Managua.
September 14, 1979 - Taraki was murdered by supporters of Prime Minister Hafizullah Amin.
December 24, 1979 - Soviet war in Afghanistan: Fearing the collapse of the Amin regime, the Soviet army invaded Afghanistan.
December 27, 1979 - Operation Storm-333: Soviet troops occupied major governmental, military and media buildings in Kabul, including the Tajbeg Presidential Palace, and executed Prime Minister Amin.
September 17, 1980 - The trade union Solidarity was founded in Poland.
October 10, 1980 - The Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front (FMLN) was founded from an assortment of leftist and Communist Salvadoran revolutionary organizations.
December 13, 1981 - In response to the growing influence of Solidarity, Wojciech Jaruzelski, the First Secretary of the Communist Party, declared martial law in Poland.
January 25, 1982 - Suslov died after a severe stroke.
November 10, 1982 - Brezhnev died of a heart attack.
November 12, 1982 - Yuri Andropov was elected General Secretary of the CPSU.
October 19, 1983 - The Grenadian military overthrew the government of Maurice Bishop and installed the pro-Soviet Stalinist Bernard Coard to lead the nation.
October 25, 1983 - Invasion of Grenada: The United States and her Caribbean allies toppled the Coard government.
February 9, 1984 - Andropov died after long kidney disease and was succeeded as General Secretary by Konstantin Chernenko.
March 10, 1985 - Chernenko died of Emphysema.
March 11, 1985 - The Politburo unanimously supported Mikhail Gorbachev as General Secretary of the Communist Party.
April 14, 1988 - Soviet war in Afghanistan: The Soviet government signed the Geneva Accords, which included a timetable for withdrawing their armed forces.
April 27, 1988 - A strike at the V.I. Lenin Steel Mill in Nowa Huta touched off months of striking across Poland.
June 3, 1988 - Singing Revolution: The liberalization movement Sąjūdis was founded in Lithuania.
October 9, 1988 - Singing Revolution: The Popular Front of Latvia was founded.
February 15, 1989 - Soviet war in Afghanistan: The last Soviet troops left the country.
April 4, 1989 - The Polish Round Table Agreement legalized independent trade unions and reinstated the Senate.
June 4, 1989 - Free elections were held to the Polish parliament, resulting in a landslide Solidarity victory.
August 23, 1989 - Baltic Way: Two million people joined hands across Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to demonstrate for independence.
October 23, 1989 - The Hungarian parliament declared their country a republic.
November 9, 1989 - The East German government loosened restrictions on travel into the West, effecting the end of the Berlin Wall.
November 11, 1989 - El Salvador Civil War: The FMLN launched an offensive which would capture part of San Salvador.
November 17, 1989 - Velvet Revolution: An anti-Communist protest in Czechoslovakia was ended violently by the police.
November 28, 1989 - Velvet Revolution: The Communist Party of Czechoslovakia announced the end of its monopoly on political power.
December 7, 1989 - Singing Revolution: The Lithuanian parliament ended the political monopoly of the Communist Party of Lithuania.
December 16, 1989 - Romanian Revolution of 1989: A protest broke out in Timişoara in response to an attempt by the government to evict a dissident Hungarian Reformed pastor, László Tőkés.
December 25, 1989 - Romanian Revolution of 1989: Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceauşescu was captured in the countryside and executed.
January 15, 1990 - The Bulgarian Communist Party repealed its constitutional supremacy.
February 23, 1990 - Singing Revolution: Elections in Lithuania gave Sąjūdis an absolute majority in the legislature.
March 11, 1990 - Singing Revolution: The Lithuanian government declared its independence from the Soviet Union.
March 18, 1990 - Singing Revolution: Elections to the Latvian Supreme Soviet gave the majority of seats to a pro-independence coalition, led by the Popular Front of Latvia.
April 8, 1990 - The Hungarian Socialist Party received only 8% of the seats in elections to parliament.
June 9, 1990 - Velvet Revolution: Elections in Czechoslovakia reduced the Communist Party to a minority.
August 21, 1990 - Conflict in Transnistria and Gagauzia: The Gagauz declared a new soviet republic on Moldavian soil.
January 11, 1991 - January Events: Soviet troops violently seized important buildings in cities throughout Lithuania.
May 23, 1991 - The Moldavian SSR became the Republic of Moldova.
June 12, 1991 - Russian presidential election, 1991: Boris Yeltsin was elected to the presidency of the Russian SFSR.
August 19, 1991 - Soviet coup attempt of 1991: A group of high-ranking officials calling themselves the State Emergency Committee announced that Gennady Yanayev was to replace Gorbachev as President of the Soviet Union.
August 20, 1991 - Singing Revolution: The Estonian government declared its independence.
August 21, 1991 - Singing Revolution: The government of Latvia declared its independence.
Soviet coup attempt of 1991: The military refused State Emergency Committee orders to take the capital. The leaders of the coup were arrested.
August 24, 1991 - The Ukrainian parliament adopted the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine.
August 27, 1991 - Moldova declared independence.
August 30, 1991 - The Kyrgyz SSR became the Republic of Kyrgyzstan.
August 31, 1991 - The Republic of Kyrgyzstan declared independence.
September 6, 1991 - Singing Revolution: The Soviet Union recognized the independence of the Baltic states.
Militants belonging to the separatist All-National Congress of the Chechen People (NCChP) stormed a session of the Supreme Soviet of the Chechen-Ingush ASSR. NCChP leader Dzhokhar Dudaev was appointed to the presidency.
October 27, 1991 - A national referendum confirmed the Dudaev presidency. Dudaev unilaterally declared the independence of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.
December 8, 1991 - The leaders of Russia, Belarus and Ukraine signed an agreement dissolving the Soviet Union and establishing the Commonwealth of Independent States.
December 26, 1991 - The Soviet Union was officially dissolved.
September 21, 1993 - Russian constitutional crisis of 1993: Yeltsin announced the dissolution of the Russian legislature. The legislature, in turn, responded by impeaching Yeltsin and declaring Aleksandr Rutskoy the new President of the Russian Federation.
October 4, 1993 - Russian constitutional crisis of 1993: The army occupied the parliament building and arrested a number of its leaders.
December 12, 1993 - Russian constitutional crisis of 1993: A new Russian constitution was approved by referendum, vastly increasing the power of the presidency.
August 2, 1994 - First Chechen War: The leader of the Russian-backed Provisional Council of the Chechen Republic announced his intention to overthrow the Dudaev government.
December 11, 1994 - First Chechen War: Russian troops invaded Chechnya.
July 3, 1996 - Russian presidential election, 1996: Yeltsin narrowly defeated his Communist challenger, Gennady Zyuganov.
August 30, 1996 - First Chechen War: The Khasav-Yurt Accord was signed, signaling the end of the war.
August 7, 1999 - Dagestan War: A Chechnya-based militia invaded the Russian republic of Dagestan in support of local separatists.
August 16, 1999 - The State Duma confirmed the appointment of Vladimir Putin as Prime Minister of Russia.
August 23, 1999 - Dagestan War: The militias began their retreat back into Chechnya.
August 26, 1999 - Second Chechen War: The militia that had invaded Dagestan was bombed inside Chechnya.
September 4, 1999 - Russian apartment bombings: A car bomb outside of an apartment building in Buynaksk killed sixty-four people.
October 2, 1999 - Second Chechen War: Russian ground troops invaded Chechnya.
December 8, 1999 - The treaty of creation of the Union of Russia and Belarus was signed.
December 31, 1999 - Putin succeeded Boris Yeltsin as President of the Russian Federation.
March 26, 2000 - Russian presidential election: Putin was elected president with 53 percent of the vote.
August 12, 2000 - Russian submarine Kursk explosion: An explosion disabled the Russian submarine K-141 Kursk.
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