Russian history

timeline
BY: AUSTIN GABER

Russian civil war

The Russian civil war was a multi party war in the former Russian
Empireright after theRussian revolution of 1917. The two main forces
fighting each other was the Red army fighting for the Bolsheviks and the
White army which consisted of many diverse people favoring
monarchism, capitalism, and socialism. This war hurt the Soviet union
as a nation because By 1921, cultivated land had shrunk to 62% of the
pre-war area, the harvest yield was only about 37% of normal. Also, the
number of horses declined from 35 million in 1916 to 24 million in 1920,
and cattle from 58 to 37 million. The exchange rate with the U.S. dollar
declined from two rubles in 1914 to 1,200 in 1920.

Creation of the politburo

The first Politburo was created in Russia by the Bolshevik Party Central
Committee in late October 1917 to provide flexible leadership in that years
uprising. The seven Politburo members included Vladimir Lenin, Leon Trotsky,
and Joseph Stalin. This event helped the Soviet Union because its formal role
would be to decide on questions too urgent to await Central Committee
deliberation and this remained until the fall of the U.S.S.R. Also, this group
would elect new leaders to the U.S.S.R when old ones died.

Stalin's five year plan

Stalins five year plan started in 1928 and the main goal of It was to concentrate on the
development of iron and steel, machine-tools, electric power and transport. Joseph Stalin set
the workers high targets. He demanded an increase in coal production, increase in iron
production and a ncrease in electric power. He justified these demands by claiming that if
rapid industrialization did not take place, the Soviet Union would not be able to defend itself
against an invasion from capitalist countries in the west. He also made farmers give up their
land and cattle and make a collective farm that everyone would use. This destroyed the
class known as the kulaks. Although this plan was harsh, it did overall help the soviet union
because production of a lot of things improved greatly but it was bad in the sense that wages
and living standards were low.

World War 2

The second world war that started in 1939 and lasted until
September 2nd 1945. It involved the majority of the world's
nations including all of the great powers at the time. Fought
between the Allies and the Axis. The axis which was mainly
Germany, Japan and Italy and Germany/the Nazis wanted total
control of Europe while the Allies, America, England, France and
the U.S.S.R meant to stop them. In the end, This bloody war did
not benefit the Soviet Union because Russia lost 26,000,000 men
and women/children in total.

Joe 1

The soviets first nuclear test RDS-1 but was renamed Joe 1 by the
Americans in reference to Stalin. The soviets tried to keep this
test a secret but failed because of American spy planes. Overall,
this helped the Union because it meant that they are one step
closer to creating an atomic bomb to destroy their enemies.

Hydrogen bomb

The first test of the hydrogen bomb was called the Ivy Mike in
1952. This test was preformed by the United States and it gave
the Americans an advantage in the nuclear race with the Soviets.
The hydrogen bomb weapon was about 1,000 times more
powerful than regular nuclear devices. This obviously did not
help the Soviet union and this whole situation led to the cold war
and a big nuclear arms race.

Warsaw pact

The Warsaw pact in 1955 was a collective defense treaty among

eight communist states of Central and Eastern Europe during the
Cold War. The Warsaw Pact was the military complement to the
Council for Mutual Economic Assistance. the regional economic
organization for the communist States of Central and Eastern
Europe. The Soviets feared the consequences of a strengthened
NATO and a rearmed West Germany and hoped that the Warsaw
Treaty Organization could both contain West Germany and
negotiate with NATO as an equal partner. This pact helped the
Soviets as a nation because it brought peace and lowered fear
from the Soviets

Sputnik

the worlds first artificial satellite. The spacecraft sputnik is

named after the Russian word for satellite. Sputnik had a
diameter of 22 inches and weighed 184 pounds and circled Earth
once every hour and 36 minutes. In January 1958, Sputniks orbit
deteriorated, as expected, and the spacecraft burned up in the
atmosphere. This helped the Soviet Union because they were
the first ones to have a satellite in space that allowed them to
broadcast radio signals.

Laika and Sputnik 2

Laika was the first dog in space and Soviet Scientists sent her up
there to test the conditions of take off to see if humans could
survive it. Sadly, the dog died within hours due to overheating
and a monument was built in her honor.

Sputnik 2 was the second satellite sent up by the Soviets in 1957

and the first biological spacecraft. This would transmit data to
earth for 15 minuets about solar radiation. Both of Laika and
sputnik 2 benefited the soviet union because it provided the
soviets with data on a living organism on space and better tech
with spaceflight.

Creation of the Berlin wall

A wall that was built around Berlin that completely cut off wet
berlin from surrounding east Germany from 1961 to 1989. The
wall served to stop the emigration and defection. This wall didnt
really help or benefit the Soviet Union because this involved
Germany.

Invasion of Czechoslovakia

On August 20, 1968, the Soviet Union led Warsaw Pact troops in
an invasion of Czechoslovakia to put an end to reformist trends in
Prague. This invasion was beneficial to the Soviet Union because
after a lot of fighting and arguing, Czechoslovakia once again
became a cooperative member of the Warsaw Pact.

SALT 1

For the first time during the Cold War, the United States and
Soviet Union had agreed to limit the number of nuclear missiles
in their arsenals. SALT I is considered the best achievement of
Nixon. SALT 1 is when the United States learned that the Soviet
Union had embarked upon a massive Intercontinental Ballistic
Missile buildup designed to reach parity with the United States.
Since they found out of this, Johnson therefore called for strategic
arms limitations talks (SALT), and in 1967, he and Soviet Premier
Alexei Kosygin met at Glassboro State College in New Jersey.This
helped the S.U because the U.S agreed to limit the amount of
missiles they had.

SALT 2

Since SALT I did not prevent each side from enlarging their forces
through the deployment of Multiple Independently Targeted ReEntry Vehicles onto their ICBMs and SLBMs, SALT II initially
focused on limiting, and then ultimately reducing, the number of
MIRVs. On June 17, 1979, Carter and Brezhnev signed the SALT II
Treaty in Vienna. SALT II limited the total of both nations nuclear
forces to 2,250 delivery vehicles. This helped the soviet union
because the U.S and the Soviet union finally came to an
agreement.

Soviet Afghan war. Start was 1979

Attempting to shore up the new pro-Soviet regime in Kabul,

nearly 100,000 Soviet soldiers took control of major cities and
highways. Foreign support sparked up the diverse group of
rebels, going into from Iran, Pakistan, China, and the United
States. In the brutal nine-year conflict, an estimated one million
civilians were killed, as well as 90,000 Mujahideen fighters,
18,000 Afghan troops, and 14,500 Soviet soldiers. This did not
benefit the Soviet Union in my opinion because many people died
that did not have to and this war was unnecessary because it left
a lot of people without homes and the Soviet union didnt really
need to take over Kabul.

Gorbachev becomes leader

At the age of 54 the youngest man to take over as general

secretary of the Soviet communist party. Mikhail Gorbachev
drastically changed the course of Soviet foreign policy, signing a
number of agreements with the United States on nuclear
disarmament. Also, He introduced a policy of openness or
glasnost and he was also the architect of perestroika or deep
political and economic reforms. This looked beneficial at first for
the Soviet Union with all the new rules and treaties he was
dealing with. Plus, he supported many soviet leaders

Glasnost

Glasnost was one of the new reforms made by Gorbachev which

allows the freedom of speech and just greater freedom of
information. This reform helped the Soviet union because people
were finally getting to have freedom in the soviet Union.

Perestroika

Another reform by Gorbachev that allowed people to open small

private businesses. Also, it tried to preserve communism and
help with economic restructuring. This reform help the Soviet
Union because it was giving the people a chance to not be ruled
by the government.

Chernobyl Disaster

the result of a flawed reactor design that was operated with

inadequately trained personnel. Furthermore, two Chernobyl
plant workers died on the night of the accident, and a further 28
people died within a few weeks as a result of radiation poisoning.

The April 1986 disaster at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in

Ukraine was the product of a flawed Soviet reactor design
coupled with serious mistakes made by the plant operators. It
was a direct consequence of Cold War isolation and the resulting
lack of any safety culture. This did not help the soviet union
because they lost a nuclear power plant and many people along
with land.

Voting reforms by Gorbachev

Gorbachevs reforms touched all parts of society. It included

freeing press restrictions and releasing political prisoners and
dissidents from jail and internal exile. He was not a democrat, but
he was trying to get more efficiency out of the system and
reduce the extent of coercion and oppression. All of his new
reforms helped the Soviet Union because the Soviet union
needed new reforms badly.

Lithuania and Latvia Protests

With the implementation of perestroika and glasnost in the USSR in 1985,

Lithuanian resistance took on new levels. Although Lithuanian Communist
Party leaders did not favor these new policies, Lithuanian intellectuals
took advantage of the new openness by publishing new literary
magazines that critiqued Soviet rule. On June 3, 1988, five hundred
intellectuals and young Communist Party officials gathered at the
Academy of Sciences and formed the group called Sajudis, which would
go on to lead the campaign for Lithuanian independence.

On October 7, 1988, there was a mass public demonstration, calling for

Latvia's independence and the establishment of regular judicial order. On
October 8 and 9 the first congress of the Latvian People's Front was held.
This organization, which attracted 200,000 members, became the main
representative of the return to independence.

This did not help the Soviet Union because they were losing 2 republics
and were becoming smaller.

Fall of the berlin wall

On November 9th, 1989, the Berlin wall fell and a huge amount of
people poured into west Germany and finally, the 28 years of the
nightmare was over. It ended when mass demonstrations against
the government and the system in East Germany begun at the
end of September and took until November 1989. Also, In 1989
the first free labor union was founded in the communist Poland.
The end of the communist system had begun. This fall of the
wall triggered another situation that led to the end of the Soviet
Union. So it did not help them.

Free elections in Poland,

Czechoslovakia and Hungary

Poland became the first country of the Eastern section in which

democratically elected representatives gained real power.

For Czechoslovakia, they were the first elections held in the

country since the end of Communist rule seven months earlier,
and the first free elections since 1946.

For Hungary, the first free parliamentary election was held in

may 1990 and between 12 March 1990 and 19 June 1991 the
Soviet troops left Hungary.

This did not help the Soviet Union because

Once again they were losing three country's and
Becoming smaller.

Gorbachev steps down

On December 25th, Gorbachev announced that he is resigning as

president of the Soviet Union. Although now there was not much
of a Soviet Union from which to resign. Just four days earlier, 11
of the former Soviet republics had established the
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), effectively
dismembering the USSR.

He declared that the Russian people were living in a new world

in which an end has been put to the Cold War and to the arms
race. Admitting there were mistakes made, Gorbachev
remained to his points that he never had any regrets about the
policies he pursued.

Boris Yeltsin becomes president

He was the first president of Russia and elected on June 13 th

1991.

A sixty year old man who had a reputation for alcohol abuse who
also had some time advocated political and economic reforms.

Two months after his election as president in 1991, Yeltsin faced

his first crucial challenge. In August, Communist hardliners
attempted a coup aimed at Gorbachev, and ending his and
Yeltsins competing reform efforts.

Overall response

Overall, the Soviet Union collapsed because they had too much
central power over too many local geographic and social areas.
Also, they had an unsustainable foreign policy. In conclusion it
was their invasion of Afghanistan that led to financial ruin. When
it came to the government, they were way too involved in social
and economic life. Do I believe it could have survived? No I dont
because the changes and the coups that were always arising all
over the place always had a certain flaw in them and it just kept
hurting Russia. Maybe if they looked at China and saw what they
were doing they couldve gotten ideas for their future.

MLA Citations

"United States Tests First Hydrogen Bomb." History.com. A&E

Television Networks, n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2015.

Gitomirski, Sasha. "The Cold War Museum." Cold War Museum.

Cosby High School, n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2015.

Piskunov, Egor, RT. "Prominent Russians: Mikhail Gorbachev."

Mikhail Gorbachev Russiapedia Leaders Prominent Russians.
Russiapedia, n.d. Web. 24 Apr. 2015.