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Stalin publicly attacks Trotsky for being unfaithful to "Leninism."
1924-1925 -
Stalin publicly articulates his theory of "Socialism in One Country."
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Death of Lenin
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Allied with Bukharin and the "Rightists," Stalin begins attacks on Zinoviev.
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At the Fifteenth Party Congress, Stalin attacks the "United Opposition" of Zinoviev, Kamenev, and Trotsky.
Lasted October-November -
Beginning of the first Five-Year Plan
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Kamenev and Zinoviev expelled from the Party; Trotsky expelled and sent to Central Asia.
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Stalin begins assault on Bukharin
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Bukharin removed from the Politburo
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Stalin announces "liquidation of the kulaks as a class"; collectivization begins in earnest.
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Terrible famine across the Soviet Union; millions die
lasted 1931-1932 -
Murder, by Stalin's agents, of Sergei Kirov. Beginning of "Great Terror," which continues until 1938.
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Zinoviev, Kamenev, and others are arrested, accused of complicity in Kirov's assassination.
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First "Show Trial." Zinoviev, Kamenev, and their allies confess and are executed.
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Second Show Trial
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Purge of the army begins, top generals are tried and executed
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Third Show Trial, conviction and execution of Bukharin, Rykov, others.
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At Eighteenth Party Congress, Stalin announces end of the Great Terror.
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Outbreak of World War II
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Nazi-Soviet Pact is signed in Moscow
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Trotsky assassinated, by Stalin's agents, in Mexico City
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Hitler invades Soviet Union
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Battle of Stalingrad. Germans are defeated, marking the turning point in the war.
August 1942-February 1943 -
Stalin meets with Roosevelt and Churchill in Teheran
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Stalin meets with Roosevelt and Churchill at Yalta
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United States uses atomic bomb against Japan, bringing an end to the war in the Pacific.
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Hitler commits suicide in bombed-out Berlin, ending war in Europe. Red Army controls all of Eastern Europe.
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Communists seize power in Czechoslovakia, cementing Soviet control of Eastern Europe.
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Soviets blockade East Berlin.
Lasted during the summer -
Communists, under Mao, are victorious in Chinese Civil War.
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Communists, under Mao, are victorious in Chinese Civil War.
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Sino-Soviet Treaty signed
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Announcement of Jewish "Doctors' Plot" against Stalin, plans for new wave of terror.
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Death of Stalin