Pre-World War Two
1917
• October: Bolshevik Revolution in Russia.
1918-1920
• Unsuccessful Allied Intervention in Russian Civil War.
1919
• March 15: Lenin creates the Communist International (Comintern) to promote international revolution.
1922
• December 30: Creation of the USSR.
1933
• United States begins diplomatic relations with USSR for the first time.
World War Two
1939
• August 23: Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact (‘Non-Aggression Pact): Germany and Russia agree to divide Poland.
• September: Germany and Russia invade Poland.
1940
• June 15 – 16: USSR occupies Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania citing security concerns.
1941
• June 22: Operation Barbarossa begins: the German invasion of Russia.
• November: US begins lend-lease to USSR.
• December 7: Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour causing the US to enter the war.
• December 15 – 18: Diplomatic mission to Russia reveals Stalin hopes to recover gains made in the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact.
1942
• December 12: Soviet-Czech alliance agreed; Czechs agree to co-operate with the USSR after the war.
1943
• February 1: Siege of Stalingrad by Germany ends with Soviet victory.
• April 27: USSR breaks off relations with Polish government-in-exile over arguments about the Katyn Massacre.
• May 15: Comintern is closed to appease Soviet allies.
• July: Battle of Kursk ends with Soviet victory, arguably the turning point of the war in Europe.
• November 28 – December 1: Tehran Conference: Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill meet.
1944
• June 6: D-Day: Allied forces land successfully in France, opening a second front which liberates Western Europe before Russia needs to.
• July 21: Having ‘liberated’ east Poland, Russia sets up the Committee of National Liberation in Lublin to govern it.
• August 1 – October 2: Warsaw Uprising; Polish rebels attempt to overthrow Nazi rule in Warsaw; Red Army sits back and allows it to be crushed to destroy the rebels.
• August 23: Romania signs armistice with Russia following their invasion; a coalition government is formed.
• September 9: Communist coup in Bulgaria.
• October 9 - 18: Moscow Conference. Churchill and Stalin agree percentage ‘spheres of influence’ in Eastern Europe.
• December 3: Conflict between British and pro-Communist Greek forces in Greece.
1945
• January 1: USSR ‘recognises’ their communist puppet government in Poland as the provisional government; US and UK refuse to do so, preferring the exiles in London.
• February 4-12: Yalta summit between Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin; promises are given to support democratically elected governments.
• April 21: Agreements signed between newly ‘liberated’ communist Eastern nations and USSR to work together.
• May 8: Germany surrenders; end of World War Two in Europe.
Late 1940s
1945
• March: Communist dominated coup in Romania.
• July-August: Potsdam Conference between US, UK and USSR.
• July 5: US and UK recognise communist dominated Polish government after it allows some members of the Government-in-exile to join.
• August 6: US drops the first atomic bomb, on Hiroshima.
1946
• February 22: George Kennan sends the Long Telegram advocating Containment.
• March 5: Churchill gives his Iron Curtain Speech.
• April 21: Social Unity Party formed in Germany on Stalin’s orders.
1947
• January 1: Anglo-American Bizone formed in Berlin, angers USSR.
• March 12: Truman Doctrine announced.
• June 5: Marshall Plan aid programme Announced.
• October 5: Cominform Founded to organise international communism.
• December 15: London Foreign Ministers’ Conference breaks up without agreement.
1948
• February 22: Communist Coup in Czechoslovakia.
• March 17: Brussels Pact Signed between UK, France, Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg to organise mutual defence.
• June 7: Six Power Conference recommends a West German Constituent Assembly.
• June 18: New currency introduced in Western Zones of Germany.
• June 24: Berlin Blockade Begins.
1949
• January 25: Comecon, Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, created to organise Eastern bloc economies.
• April 4: North Atlantic Treaty signed: NATO formed.
• May 12: Berlin Blockade lifted.
• May 23: ‘Basic Law’ approved for Federal Republic of Germany (FRG): Bizone merges with French zone to form new state.
• May 30: People’s Congress approves German Democratic Republic Constitution in East Germany.
• August 29: USSR detonates first atomic bomb.
• September 15: Adenauer becomes first Chancellor of Federal Republic of Germany.
• October: Communist People’s Republic of China proclaimed.
• October 12: German Democratic Republic (GDR) formed in East Germany.
