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Period: to
Rise and Fall of the Soviet Union
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Beginnings
Bolsheviks overthrow the provisional government, with many workers and sailors capturing government buildings along with the Winter Palace in St Petersburg. Eventually, the Bolsheviks take over Moscow. The successful coup de etat marks the birth of the USSR. -
The Russian Civil War
Towards the end of the civil war era in Russia, a new policy of "war communism" is enunciated. The state takes control of the entire economy, causing millions of peasants starve to death due to the confiscation of grain for the military's needs. This is the first appearance of communist government in Russia, the first step in creating the USSR. -
The Official Start
A union treaty joins Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, the Transcaucasus, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan into the Soviet Union. Germany recognizes the Soviet Union the same year. Momentum is building in Russia, and political views are shifting. -
The Interwar Years / Rise of Stalin
With Lenin dead, Joseph Stalin rises to power as Russia's new dictator. The Soviet Union adopts a constitution based on the dictatorship of the proletariat, promoting the public ownership of land and business. Stalin has brought full communism into the USSR and the Soviet Union. -
World War II
After Nazi Germany failed to hold Stalingrad, the Soviet army launched an extensive counter-attack, sweeping through German occupied territory and capturing the Reichstag in Berlin. With the conslusion of the war at hand, the Soviet Union is proving its power. -
The Space Race
Following the second world war, the United States and Russia began losing the relations they had built in the wartime very swiftly. The Cold War began in 1947, and with it came many races to develop better technology between the two countries. Ten years after the start of the war, the famous Space Race was won by the USSR, launching Sputnik into orbit before the Americans could perfect an artificial satellite. This sparked fear in America, as the USSR was proving to be a dangerous enemy. -
The SALT-2 Agreement
Following the SALT-1 agreement of 1972, the new president of Russia, Leonid Brezhnev, signs the SALT-2 agreement. This agreement assisted in ending the agression between the two countries caused by SALT-1. The larger reason for the ending of the detente: the invasion of Afghanistan by Russia. The US and the USSR were in slightly better positions, but the Cold War still loomed above their heads. -
Internal Political Conflict
The communist party votes to end the one-party rule that has been in place since the early 1920s. Boris Yeltsin is elected president of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic by the latter's parliament, and leaves the Soviet communist party. The Soviet Union is beginning to crumble, as Russia is once again facing a change in political views and power. -
The End of the Soviet Union
A year after his election, Yeltsin completely bans the Soviet communist party in Russia and seizes all of its assests. This huge event marks the final days of the Soviet Union, finally reaching Russia. -
The Aftermath in Russia
The new Russian government takes over offices of the USSR in Russia. The Soviet Union has officially been destroyed.
