1918: RUSSIAN CIVIL WAR

OVER 14 MILLION PEOPLE DIED IN THE RUSSIAN CIVIL WAR.

THE WAR INCLUDED THE RED AND WHITE ARMY.

THE RED ARMY CONSISTED OF LENIN AND THE

BOLSHEVIKS WHO WANTED TO CREATE A DEMOCRACY.

THE WHITE ARMY CONSISTED OF MANY DIFFERENT

GROUPS BUT COULDNT COME TOGETHER TO DEFEAT LENIN

AND THE BOLSHEVIKS. THE WHITE ARMY WANTED THE CZAR
BACK IN POWER.

1919: CREATION OF THE POLITBURO

CREATED BY THE BOLSHEVIK PARTY CENTRAL
COMMITTEE TO PROVIDE CONTINUOUS AND
FLEXIBLE LEADERSHIP IN THAT YEARS UPRISING.

SOME OF THE MEMBERS WERE VLADIMIR

LENIN, LEON TROTSKY, AND JOSEPH STALIN.

AFTER LENIN'S DEATH STALIN GAINED

COMPLETE CONTROL OVER THE POLITBURO

1928: STALINS FIVE YEAR PLAN

STALIN USED HIS FIVE YEAR PLAN TO DEVELOP THE

SOVIET UNIONS ECONOMY.

STALINS FIVE YEAR PLAN SET UNREALISTIC QUOTAS TO

INCREASE THE OUTPUT OF STEEL, COAL, OIL, AND
ELECTRICITY.

THE GOVERNMENT LIMITED THE AMOUNT OF CONSUMER

GOODS DURING THIS TIME.

THIS CAUSED SEVERE FOOD, CLOTHING AND HOUSING

SHORTAGES.

1939: WORLD WAR II

GERMANY, RUN BY HITLER WAS IN A WAR WITH
RUSSIA.

HITLER HATED STALIN AND COMMUNISM.

HITLER WANTED ALL LAND IN EUROPE AND
WANTED TO RID EUROPE OF ALL JEWS.

IN THE END, RUSSIA DEFEATED GERMANY AND

GERMANY WAS CHARGED WITH MANY
REPARATIONS FOR THE COST OF THE WAR.

1947: FREE ELECTIONS IN POLAND

CZECHOSLOVAKIA AND HUNGARY
ELECTIONS HELD IN POLAND,

CZECHOSLOVAKIA AND HUNGARY

WERE NOT REALLY FREE UNTIL 1956.

STALIN WOULD RIG ELECTIONS SO

THAT A PRO-COMMUNIST MEMBER
WON. IF THAT WASNT THE CASE,
STALIN WOULD MAKE SURE THE
COMMUNIST PARTY HAD THE
MAJORITY.

The orange states above were controlled by the USSR

1949: JOE 1
JOE 1 WAS THE NAME GIVEN TO THE ATOMIC BOMB
AFTER JOSEPH STALIN.

PART OF THE SOVIET PROJECT TO DEVELOP AN

ATOMIC BOMB.

1953: HYDROGEN BOMB

RUSSIA DETONATED ITS

FIRST HYDROGEN BOMB

AROUND THE SAME TIME WE
BEGAN TESTING.

STALIN MADE THE SOVIETS

NUCLEAR PROGRAM A
PRIORITY AND THROUGHOUT
HIS LIFE THERE WERE THREE
NUCLEAR TESTS.

1955: WARSAW PACT

INCLUDED THE SOVIET UNION, ALBANIA, POLAND,
ROMANIA, HUNGARY, EAST GERMANY, CZECHOSLOVAKIA
AND BULGARIA AS MEMBERS.

THE PACT STATED THAT ANY MEMBER STATE WILL HELP

PROTECT ANOTHER MEMBER STATE IF THAT STATE
COMES UNDER ATTACK BY AN OUTSIDE FORCE.

THE PACT REMAINED UNTIL 1991

1957: SPUTNIK
THE FIRST SATELLITE IN SPACE.
RUSSIA BEAT US IN THE SPACE RACE WITH SPUTNIK.

1957: LAIKA AND SPUTNIK 2

LAIKA THE DOG, WAS THE FIRST
ANIMAL IN SPACE ABOARD THE
SPUTNIK 2.

HOWEVER, SINCE RUSSIA DID NOT

PLAN A RE-ENTRY INTO EARTHS
ATMOSPHERE LAIKA DIED IN SPACE.

1961: CREATION OF BERLIN WALL

THE BERLIN WALL WAS CREATED
OVERNIGHT BY EAST GERMANY

THE PURPOSE OF THE BERLIN WALL WAS

TO KEEP WESTERN FASCISTS FROM
ENTERING EAST GERMANY

1968: INVASION OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA

THE SOVIET UNION LED TROOPS IN AN
INVASION OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA TO HELP
STOP REFORMIST TRENDS IN PRAGUE.

THE SOVIET UNIONS ACTION HALTED

THE PACE OF REFORM IN
CZECHOSLOVAKIA

THOUGH SUCCESSFUL, IT HAD

CONSEQUENCES FOR THE UNITY OF THE
COMMUNIST BLOC.

1972: SALT I
SALT I WAS THE FIRST OF THE STRATEGIC ARMS
LIMITATION TALKS BETWEEN THE U.S.S.R. AND THE U.S.

COMMUNIST LEADER LEONID BREZHNEV, WHO WAS

THE GENERAL SECRETARY OF THE SOVIET COMMUNIST
PARTY, MET WITH U.S. PRESIDENT RICHARD NIXON IN
NOVEMBER OF 1969 TO COME UP WITH A TREATY THAT
WOULD CONTAIN THE ARMS RACE.

1979: SALT II
SALT II SET MORE SPECIFIC REGULATIONS ON
THE DIFFERENT MISSILES.

LIMITS WERE SET ON THE NUMBER OF

STRATEGIC LAUNCHERS, AND THE VARIOUS
TYPES OF MISSILES.

EACH SIDE WAS LIMITED TO NO MORE THEN

2400 WEAPONS SYSTEMS.

1979: SOVIET-AFGHAN WAR

THE SOVIET AFGHANISTAN WAR WAS FOUGHT
BETWEEN AFGHANISTAN REBELS CALLED THE
MUJAHIDEEN AND THE SOVIET SUPPORTED
AFGHANISTAN GOVERNMENT.

THE UNITED STATES SUPPORTED THE

AFGHANISTAN REBELS IN ORDER TO TRY AND
OVERTHROW THE COMMUNIST GOVERNMENT
AND TO PREVENT THE SPREAD OF COMMUNISM.

1985: PERESTROIKA
PERESTROIKA WAS A POLITICAL
MOVEMENT FOR REFORM WITHIN THE
COMMUNIST PARTY OF THE SOVIET
UNION DURING THE 1980S.

ASSOCIATED WITH SOVIET LEADER

MIKHAIL GORBACHEV AND HIS
GLASNOST (OPEN-NESS) REFORM
POLICY.

1985: GLASNOST
GLASNOST WAS A POLICY THAT CALLED
FOR MORE OPENNESS AND
TRANSPARENCY IN GOVERNMENT
INSTITUTIONS AND ACTIVITIES IN THE
SOVIET UNION.

THIS POLICY CAME TO BE UNDER

GORBACHEV.

1988: VOTING REFORMS BY GORBACHEV

GORBACHEV, UNLIKE OTHER SOVIET LEADERS,
WANTED THE GOVERNMENT TO BE MORE OPEN.

GORBACHEV DID NOT PUT HIS POLICIES INTO

ACTION, HE IS THE MAIN REASON WHY THE
SOVIET UNION COLLAPSED.

1989: FALL OF THE BERLIN WALL

THE SOVIET UNION WAS LOSING THEIR HOLD ON
EAST GERMANY. A FEW YEARS LATER ON
NOVEMBER 9, 1989 THE ANNOUNCEMENT WAS
MADE TO KNOCK DOWN THE WALL.

THE BORDERS WERE OPEN AND PEOPLE COULD

FREELY MOVE BETWEEN EASTERN AND WESTERN

GERMANY.

MUCH OF THE WALL WAS TORN DOWN BY PEOPLE

CHIPPING AWAY AS THEY CELEBRATED THE END TO
A DIVIDED GERMANY.

ON OCTOBER 3, 1990 GERMANY WAS OFFICIALLY

REUNIFIED INTO A SINGLE COUNTRY.

1990: GORBACHEV BECOMES LEADER

GORBACHEV CALLED FOR A MORE OPEN
ECONOMY. HE LOOSENED HIS GRIP ON THE
PEOPLES PRIVATE AND PUBLIC LIVES.

THOUGH GOOD FOR THE PEOPLE WHO WANTED

COMMUNISM TO END, THIS WAS THE MAIN
REASON WHY THE SOVIET UNION CAME
CRASHING DOWN.

1991: GORBACHEV STEPS DOWN

A GROUP OF HARD-LINERS DETAINED
GORBACHEV AT HIS VACATION HOME ON THE
BLACK SEA AND DEMANDED HIM TO RESIGN.

THE PEOPLE WERE NO LONGER AFRAID OF THE

GOVERNMENT ANYMORE SO ANOTHER
REVOLUTION HAD BEGUN.

1991: BORIS YELTSIN BECOMES PRESIDENT

BORIS YELTSIN LOWERED TRADE BARRIERS,
REMOVED PRICE CONTROLS AND ENDED SUBSIDES
TO STATE OWNED INDUSTRIES.

BORIS YELTSIN USED SHOCK THERAPY WHICH

MADE PRICES ON GOODS RISE BY OVER 800%.

FACTORIES HAD TO CUT DOWN ON PRODUCTION

WHICH PUT MANY RUSSIANS OUT OF WORK.

1991: LITHUANIA AND LATVIA PROTESTS

AFTER THE COLLAPSE OF THE SOVIET UNION.
THE ONCE USSR WAS SPLIT INTO 15 SEPARATE
COUNTRIES INCLUDING LATVIA AND LITHUANIA.

TWO MILLION PEOPLE FROM ESTONIA, LATVIA

AND LITHUANIA JOINED HANDS ON THE VILNIUSTALLINN ROAD IN PROTEST AGAINST ILLEGAL
SOVIET OCCUPATION.

WOULD THE SOVIET UNION HAVE BEEN

SUCCESSFUL?
IN MY OPINION, NO. THE AMOUNT OF CONTROL THAT THE GOVERNMENT HAD OVER ITS PEOPLE WAS
UNFAIR.

IT WAS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE PEOPLE STARTED REBELLING AND WANTING CHANGE.
GORBACHEV WAS ON THE RIGHT TRACK WITH OPENING UP THE ECONOMY.