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Abdication of Nicholas the Second
Nicholas steps down from being tsar. Revolution caused because of food shortages and civil unrest which led to open revolt and the revolution. -
The Bolshevik Revolution
While Russia was in chaos from the first revolution and without a leader Lenin and the Bolsheviks rose to power with a revolution against the government. -
Assasination of Vladimir Lenin
Vladimir Lenin was shot on August 30th, after speaking at a factory. The person who shot him was Fanya Kaplan, who was a member of the Social Revolutionary Party. Lenin surived the assasination attempt. This attempt angered the Bolsheviks and sent them after Social Revolutionists, executing thousands of people. -
Stalin Becomes Secretary General
In 1922 with no specific date Stalin is appointed as the secretary general of the Central Committiee of the Communist party. He slowly gets rid of his competition in the party untill he is the sole main leader of the Communist Party and the Soviet Union. He started to give his allies and friends jobs of power so he would have no competition and help getting to the top of the party. -
Death of Lenin
Lenin dies of a brain hemorrhage at age 54. Lenin's last will and testement told Trotsky, his trusted friend to give leadership to the top ranking people in the communist party and to not give power to Stalin. Stalin got Trotsky exiled. He also talked off Lenins last will and testement as a myth and soon began to rise into more power within the communist party. -
Soviets Declare War on Japan
The Soviet Union officially decided to declare war on Japan. They bring more than one million of their soliders into Japanese occupied Manchuria and take on the Japanese army. Japan's army had around 700,000 soliders. The Soviets hit them hard because Japan had not expected an attack from the Soviets and they were busy fighting America and Germany. -
Soviets Test Atomic Bomb
At a test site the Soviet Union successfully set off their first atomic bomb surprising and scaring Americans. Its code name was First Lightning and was set off in Semipalatinsk in Kazakhstan. Americans believed that there were spies in America giving the Soviet Union our secrets on how to make bombs and nuclear weapons. -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
As the Cold War was starting to end when the head of the East German Communist Party announced that citizens of East Germany could cross the berlin wall boarder whenever they wanted to. This ended the seperation of East and West Berlin. Everyone rejoiced because they could now have freedom over where they went. The people started bringing tools over and destroying the wall and soon cranes and bulldozers arived and took the wall down a section at a time. -
Mikhail Gorbachev Came Into Power
Mikhail Gorbachev was elected as the Soviet Union President for a five year term. He acheived a two thirds majority vote in congress only by a hair. -
The collapse of the Soviet Union into fifteen seperate countries
The Soviet Union totally collapsed in 1991 ending the Cold War with America.