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1922

October

25
- The end of the Russian Civil WarOn 25 October 1922 the Japanese left Vladivostok and the Far Eastern Republic’s army marched in. The last White bastion fell and the civil war was over.

1923

January

26
- The First United Front in ChinaOn 26 January 1923 Sun Yat-sen and the Soviet envoy Adolph Joffe issued a joint statement in Shanghai, opening the way to a Kuomintang–communist alliance.

1924

January

21
- The death of LeninOn 21 January 1924 Lenin died at Gorki near Moscow. His body was placed in a mausoleum, and a struggle for power began in the party, which Stalin won.

February

01
- Britain recognises the USSROn 1 February 1924 the first Labour government recognised the Soviet Union de jure. Britain was the first victorious great power to break Moscow's isolation.

1925

January

20
- The Soviet–Japanese Basic ConventionOn 20 January 1925 in Beijing, Japan and the USSR established relations. Japan gave up northern Sakhalin for oil concessions; Moscow recognised Portsmouth.

1926

April

24
- The Treaty of Berlin (1926)On 24 April 1926 Germany and the USSR signed a treaty of friendship and neutrality. After Locarno, Berlin assured Moscow it was keeping to the Rapallo policy.

1927

June

07
- The assassination of Pyotr VoykovOn 7 June 1927 at Warsaw station the White émigré Boris Koverda shot the Soviet envoy Pyotr Voykov, who shared responsibility for killing the imperial family.

November

12
- Trotsky expelled from the partyIn November 1927, after opposition marches on the revolution's 10th anniversary, Trotsky and Zinoviev were expelled. Stalin had won the fight to succeed Lenin.

1928

October

01
- The first Five-Year PlanOn 1 October 1928 the first Five-Year Plan began. Stalin built heavy and arms industry at the expense of the countryside, and collectivisation led to famine.

1929

February

09
- The Litvinov ProtocolOn 9 February 1929 in Moscow the USSR, Poland, Romania, Latvia and Estonia signed the Litvinov Protocol, bringing the Kellogg–Briand Pact into force early.

April

03
- Persia joins the Litvinov ProtocolOn 3 April 1929 Persia joined the Litvinov Protocol, renouncing war with the USSR – which in 1941, together with Britain, marched into its territory.

July

24
- The Kellogg–Briand Pact comes into forceOn 24 July 1929 Hoover announced at the White House that the Kellogg–Briand Pact was in force. It bound 46 states, while a railway dispute brewed in Manchuria.

1932

May

04
- The Soviet–Estonian non-aggression pactOn 4 May 1932 in Moscow the USSR and Estonia signed a non-aggression treaty. The 1939 bases pact called it a foundation of their relations.

July

25
- The Polish–Soviet non-aggression pactOn 25 July 1932 in Moscow Poland and the USSR signed a three-year non-aggression pact. The USSR broke it on 17 September 1939 by invading Poland.

1933

September

02
- The Italo-Soviet pact of friendshipOn 2 September 1933 Fascist Italy and the USSR concluded a pact of friendship, non-aggression and neutrality in Rome. Both feared Hitler’s Germany.

November

16
- The US recognises the USSROn 16 November 1933 Roosevelt and Litvinov exchanged notes in Washington establishing relations. The US was the last great power to recognise the USSR.

1934

May

05
- The extension of the Polish–Soviet non-aggression pactOn 5 May 1934 in Moscow Poland and the USSR extended their non-aggression pact to the end of 1945. Moscow also confirmed it did not dispute Polish Wilno.

September

18
- The USSR joins the League of NationsOn 18 September 1934 the League Assembly admitted the USSR and gave it a permanent Council seat. Moscow was betting on collective security against Hitler.

December

01
- The murder of KirovOn 1 December 1934 at the Smolny, Leonid Nikolaev shot Sergei Kirov, the Leningrad party chief. Stalin used the crime to unleash a wave of repression.

1936

August

19
- The first Moscow trialOn 19–24 August 1936 Zinoviev, Kamenev and 14 others were tried in Moscow for conspiring with Trotsky and murdering Kirov. All were shot.

October

01
- Key eventThe Great PurgeOn 1 October 1936 Nikolai Yezhov took over the NKVD. In 1937–1938 his men arrested 1.5 million people and shot about 680,000, including many army commanders.

November

25
- The Anti-Comintern PactOn 25 November 1936 Germany and Japan signed an agreement against the Comintern in Berlin. A secret protocol aimed at the USSR did not bind them to a joint war.

1938

July

29
- The fighting at Lake Khasan beginsOn 29 July 1938 the Japanese attacked a Soviet post on Bezymyannaya Hill by Lake Khasan. A dispute over two hills became a two-week battle.

August

11
- The end of the fighting at Lake KhasanOn 11 August 1938 a ceasefire took effect at Lake Khasan. The USSR regained the disputed hills at great cost; Japan judged them not worth fighting for.

1939

April

17
- The Soviet proposal of an alliance with Britain and FranceOn 17 April 1939 Litvinov proposed to London and Paris a tripartite alliance against aggression. The talks dragged on until August and ended in failure.

May

11
- The Battle of Khalkhin Gol beginsOn 11 May 1939 near Nomonhan, on the disputed Mongolia–Manchukuo border, Mongolian and Manchukuo horsemen clashed. So began the Soviet–Japanese battle.

June

07
- Germany's non-aggression pacts with Estonia and LatviaOn 7 June 1939 in Berlin, Estonia and Latvia signed ten-year non-aggression pacts with the Reich. In August Hitler handed them to Stalin in a secret protocol.

August

23
- Key eventThe Molotov–Ribbentrop PactOn the night of 23/24 August 1939 Ribbentrop and Molotov signed a non-aggression pact in Moscow. A secret protocol carved up Poland and Eastern Europe.

September

October

November

December

1940

January

February

March

April

May

25
- The USSR accuses LithuaniaOn 25 May 1940 Molotov accused Lithuania of abducting soldiers from Soviet bases. The contrived dispute led to an ultimatum and the occupation in mid-June.

June

July

August

03
- Key eventThe USSR annexes the Baltic statesOn 1–7 August 1940 the Supreme Soviet incorporated Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia as union republics and formed the Moldavian SSR from land taken from Romania.

November

December

18
- Key eventDirective No. 21: Operation BarbarossaOn 18 December 1940 Hitler signed Directive No. 21, Barbarossa: by 15 May 1941 the Wehrmacht was to be ready to crush the USSR in a rapid campaign.

1941

January

10
- The German–Soviet border and commercial agreementOn 10 January 1941 Germany and the USSR signed a border treaty, a trade agreement and a secret protocol selling Moscow a strip of Lithuania for $7.5 million.

March

01
- Bulgaria joins the Tripartite PactOn 1 March 1941 Prime Minister Bogdan Filov signed Bulgaria’s accession to the Tripartite Pact in Vienna. Next day the German Twelfth Army crossed the Danube.

April

13
- Key eventThe Soviet–Japanese Neutrality PactOn 13 April 1941 Molotov and Matsuoka signed a five-year neutrality pact in the Kremlin. The USSR secured its east; Japan its rear before the drive south.

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

1942

January

01
- Key eventThe Declaration by United NationsOn 1 January 1942 the USA, Britain, the USSR and China signed the Declaration by United Nations. A day later 22 more states, Poland among them, joined.

April

05
- Directive No. 41On 5 April 1942 Hitler signed Directive No. 41. In the summer the Wehrmacht was to destroy the Red Army west of the Don and seize the oil of the Caucasus.

May

June

27
- Convoy PQ 17 sails from IcelandOn 27 June 1942 convoy PQ 17 sailed from Iceland for the USSR – 35 ships carrying equipment for the Red Army, covered by British and American warships.

August

December

31
- The balance of 1942The year 1942 began with Allied defeats and ended with Midway, El Alamein, Torch, encirclement at Stalingrad and Japan's decision to abandon Guadalcanal.

1943

January

March

16
- The discovery of the Katyn gravesIn March 1943 the German Secret Field Police examined mass graves of Polish officers in the Katyn Forest. The world learned of them only in April.
- Stalin demands a second frontIn March 1943 Congress extended Lend-Lease, and on 15–16 March Stalin warned Churchill and Roosevelt against further delay to an invasion of France.

April

July

04
- Key eventThe death of General SikorskiOn 4 July 1943 a Liberator carrying General Władysław Sikorski crashed into the sea just after take-off from Gibraltar. Sixteen died; only the pilot survived.

August

05
- The liberation of Oryol and BelgorodOn 5 August 1943 the Red Army retook Oryol and Belgorod at opposite ends of the Kursk salient. That night Moscow fired its first victory salute of the war.

September

October

18
- Key eventThe Moscow Conference of Foreign MinistersOn 18 October 1943 Hull and Eden reached Moscow. Talks with Molotov yielded a pledge of the UN, the European Advisory Commission and a war crimes statement.

November

15
- Himmler's order on the RomaOn 15 November 1943 a circular for the occupied USSR equated “itinerant” Roma with Jews and sent them to camps. The Auschwitz decree dated from December 1942.

December

16
- The Eastern Front in mid-December 1943In mid-December 1943 the Red Army was eliminating the Gorodok salient, holding the Kiev bridgehead against Manstein and preparing a winter offensive in Ukraine.

1944

January

February

March

June

July

August

September

October

December

31
- Hungary declares war on GermanyGeneral Béla Miklós’s provisional government, formed in Debrecen under Soviet supervision, declared war on the Third Reich on 28 December 1944.

1945

January

February

04
- Key eventThe Yalta ConferenceOn 4–11 February 1945 at Yalta Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin agreed on the occupation of Germany, Poland’s borders and government, UN rules and war on Japan.

March

03
- Finland declares war on GermanyOn 3 March 1945 Paasikivi’s government recorded that Finland had been at war with Germany since 15 September 1944. There was no formal declaration of war.

April

29
- The surrender at CasertaOn 29 April 1945 at Caserta, envoys of Vietinghoff and Wolff signed the surrender of the German forces in Italy. The guns fell silent at 2 p.m. on 2 May.

May

June

July

August