The history of Soviet Russia and the Soviet Union (USSR) reflects a period of change for both Russia and the world. "Soviet Russia" often specifically refers to brief period between the October Revolution of 1917 and the creation of the Soviet Union in 1922. Before 1922, there were four independent Soviet Republics: the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Byelorussian SSR, and Transcaucasian SFSR. These four became the first Union Republics of the Soviet Union, and was later joined by the Bukharan People's Soviet Republic and Khorezm People's Soviet Republic in 1924. During and immediately after <a href="https://history-maps.com/story/World-War-II" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">World War II</a>, various Soviet Republics annexed portions of countries in Eastern Europe, and the Russian SFSR annexed the Tuvan People's Republic, and from the <a href="https://history-maps.com/story/History-of-Japan" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Empire of Japan</a> took South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. The USSR also annexed three countries on the Baltic Sea wholesale, creating the Lithuanian SSR, Latvian SSR, and Estonian SSR. Over time, national delimitation in the Soviet Union resulted in the creation of several new Union-level Republics along ethnic lines, as well as organization of autonomous ethnic regions within Russia. The USSR gained and lost influence with other Communist countries over time. The occupying Soviet army facilitated the establishment of post-WWII Communist satellite states in Central and Eastern Europe. These were organized into the Warsaw Pact, and included the <a href="https://history-maps.com/story/History-of-Albania" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">People's Socialist Republic of Albania</a>, People's Republic of <a href="https://history-maps.com/story/History-of-Bulgaria" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Bulgaria</a>, Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, East Germany, <a href="https://history-maps.com/story/History-of-Hungary" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Hungarian</a> People's Republic, <a href="https://history-maps.com/story/History-of-Poland" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Polish</a> People's Republic, and Socialist Republic of <a href="https://history-maps.com/story/History-of-Romania" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Romania</a>. The 1960s saw the Soviet–Albanian split, Sino-Soviet split, and de-satellization of Communist Romania; the 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia fractured the communist movement. The Revolutions of 1989 ended Communist rule in satellite countries. Tensions with the central government led to constituent republics declaring independence starting in 1988, leading to the complete dissolution of the Soviet Union by 1991.

Visual Timelines

History of the Soviet Union Timeline

History of the Soviet Union Timeline

Establishment

Russian Revolution

Russian Civil War

National delimitation in Central Asia

Women's rights in the Soviet Union

Dekulakization

Red Terror

Polish–Soviet War

New Economic Policy

Education in the Soviet Union

Young Pioneers

Soviet censorship of literature

Treaty on the Creation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

Ministry of Health

League of Militant Atheists

Stalinism

Great Break (USSR)

Collectivization in the Soviet Union

Five-year plans of the Soviet Union

Cultural Revolution in the Soviet Union

Industrialization in the Soviet Union

Population transfer in the Soviet Union

Soviet famine of 1930–1933

Great Purge

1936 Constitution of the Soviet Union

Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact

Soviet invasion of Poland

Winter War

Soviet occupation of the Baltic states

Great Patriotic War

Operation Barbarossa

Battle of Stalingrad

Soviet re-occupation of the Baltic states

Battle of Berlin

Soviet Invasion of Manchuria

Cold War

Tito–Stalin split

Soviet atomic bomb project

Korean War

Khrushchev Thaw

Khrushchev Thaw

Virgin Lands campaign

Soviet space program

Warsaw Pact

On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences

Hungarian Revolution of 1956

Khrushchev consolidates power

Sino-Soviet Split

Berlin Crisis

Cuban Missile Crisis

Era of Stagnation

Brezhnev Era

1965 Soviet economic reform

Prague Spring

Warsaw Pact Invasion of Czechoslovakia

1973 Soviet economic reform

Era of Stagnation

1977 Constitution of the Soviet Union

1979 Soviet economic reform

Soviet–Afghan War

Reforms & Dissolution

Rise of Gorbachev

1980s oil glut

Chernobyl disaster

Demokratizatsiya

Parade of sovereignties

Dissolution of the Soviet Union

1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt

Alma-Ata Protocol

Belovezh Accords

End of the Soviet Union

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