Pre-World War Two

1917• October: Bolshevik Revolution in Russia.

1918-1920• Unsuccessful Allied Intervention in Russian Civil War.

1919• March 15: Lenin creates the Communist International (Comintern) to promote international revolution.

1922• December 30: Creation of the USSR.

1933• United States begins diplomatic relations with USSR for the first time.

World War Two

1939• August 23: Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact (‘Non-Aggression Pact): Germany and Russia agree to divide Poland.• September: Germany and Russia invade Poland.

1940• June 15 – 16: USSR occupies Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania citing security concerns.

1941• June 22: Operation Barbarossa begins: the German invasion of Russia.• November: US begins lend-lease to USSR.• December 7: Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour causing the US to enter the war.• December 15 – 18: Diplomatic mission to Russia reveals Stalin hopes to recover gains made in the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact.

1942• December 12: Soviet-Czech alliance agreed; Czechs agree to co-operate with the USSR after the war.

1943• February 1: Siege of Stalingrad by Germany ends with Soviet victory.• April 27: USSR breaks off relations with Polish government-in-exile over arguments about the Katyn Massacre.• May 15: Comintern is closed to appease Soviet allies.• July: Battle of Kursk ends with Soviet victory, arguably the turning point of the war in

Europe.• November 28 – December 1: Tehran Conference: Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill meet.

1944• June 6: D-Day: Allied forces land successfully in France, opening a second front which liberates Western Europe before Russia needs to.• July 21: Having ‘liberated’ east Poland, Russia sets up the Committee of National Liberation in Lublin to govern it.• August 1 – October 2: Warsaw Uprising; Polish rebels attempt to overthrow Nazi rule in Warsaw; Red Army sits back and allows it to be crushed to destroy the rebels. • August 23: Romania signs armistice with Russia following their invasion; a coalition government is formed.• September 9: Communist coup in Bulgaria.• October 9 - 18: Moscow Conference. Churchill and Stalin agree percentage ‘spheres of influence’ in Eastern Europe.• December 3: Conflict between British and pro-Communist Greek forces in Greece.

1945• January 1: USSR ‘recognises’ their communist puppet government in Poland as the provisional government; US and UK refuse to do so, preferring the exiles in London.• February 4-12: Yalta summit between Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin; promises are given to support democratically elected governments.• April 21: Agreements signed between newly ‘liberated’ communist Eastern nations and USSR to work together.• May 8: Germany surrenders; end of World War Two in Europe.

1945• March: Communist dominated coup in Romania.• July-August: Potsdam Conference between US, UK and USSR.• July 5: US and UK recognise communist dominated Polish government after it allows some members of the Government-in-exile to join.• August 6: US drops the first atomic bomb, on Hiroshima.

1946• February 22: George Kennan sends the Long Telegram advocating Containment.• March 5: Churchill gives his Iron Curtain Speech.• April 21: Social Unity Party formed in Germany on Stalin’s orders.

1947• January 1: Anglo-American Bizone formed in Berlin, angers USSR.• March 12: Truman Doctrine announced.• June 5: Marshall Plan aid programme Announced.• October 5: Cominform Founded to organise international communism.• December 15: London Foreign Ministers’ Conference breaks up without agreement.

1948• February 22: Communist Coup in Czechoslovakia.• March 17: Brussels Pact Signed between UK, France, Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg to organise mutual defence.• June 7: Six Power Conference recommends a West German Constituent Assembly.• June 18: New currency introduced in Western Zones of Germany.• June 24: Berlin Blockade Begins.

1949• January 25: Comecon, Council for Mutual Economic Assistance, created to organise Eastern bloc economies.• April 4: North Atlantic Treaty signed: NATO formed.• May 12: Berlin Blockade lifted.• May 23: ‘Basic Law’ approved for Federal Republic of Germany (FRG): Bizone merges with French zone to form new state.• May 30: People’s Congress approves German Democratic Republic Constitution in East Germany.• August 29: USSR detonates first atomic bomb.• September 15: Adenauer becomes first Chancellor of Federal Republic of Germany. • October: Communist People’s Republic of China proclaimed.• October 12: German Democratic Republic (GDR) formed in East Germany.

1950• April 7: NSC-68 finalised in US: advocates a more active, military, policy of containment and causes a large increase in defence spending.• June 25: Korean War begins.• October 24: Pleven Plan approved by France: rearmed West German soldiers to be part of a European Defence Community (EDC).