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Soviet Union
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Joseph Stalin, Winston Chuchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt meet at the Yalta Conference. The main issue discussed is the future of post-war Europe. The three powers come to an agreement that an interim government will rule in the Eastern European nations. This will be followed by free elections in the nations.
Text of the agreement reached at the Yalta Conference.
The Soviet Union embarks on a sustained assult of the political structure of most of the countries in Eastern Europe. This prompts
Sir Winston Churchill
to remark that an "iron curtain" is descending over the middle of Europe.
The Soviet Union establishes the Communist Information Bureau (Cominform) with nine members - the communist parties of the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Yugoslavia, France, and Italy. Its main activity is to reestablish information exchanges among the European Communist parties.
Yugoslavia declares its independence from the Soviet block of East European nations.
The Soviet Union establishes the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance (COMECON). Its main purpose is to coordinate the economies of the countries under its control.
The Soviets detonate their first atomic bomb.
Read about the man who was responsible for the first Soviet bomb.
Joseph Stalin dies. Major changes follow. Soviet citizens are granted a greater degree of personal freedom, although still within the bounds of Communist ideology.
Telegram from China to the USSR on Stalin's Death.
How Moscow broke the news of Stalin's death to the people.
The Soviet Union explodes a hydrogen bomb.
Read about Andrei Sakharov, the father of the hydrogen bomb.
Nikita Khrushchev becomes leader of the Soviet Union.
See more pictures of Nikita Khurushchev.
Listen to excerpts from Khrushchev's speeches.
The
Warsaw Pact
is formed. It calls for the mutual defense of Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and the Soviet Union.
 President Eisenhower announces his "open skies" proposal in which the United States and the Soviet Union are to exchange blueprints of all military installations. They are also to allow the other side to conduct unhindered aerial reconnaissance. Khrushchev denounces the plan. Tension mounts between the two nations.
More information on President Eisenhower.
Pictures of President Eisenhower.
The Soviet Union and the Western powers hold the first of several summit conferences in Geneva, Switzerland, to address the key issues of the Cold War and to restore mutual trust between the countries. These issues include German reunification, the danger of nuclear attacks, and cultural and economic exchange. No conclusions are reached.
At the 20th Party Congress, Khrushchev begins a process of de-Stalinisation. He accuses Stalin of having built a personality cult around himself and having jeopardised peaceful relations with other countries. Pictures of Stalin in public places were removed, and buildings named after Stalin were renamed.
The Cominform is disbanded by Khrushchev as part of his effort to bring about a Soviet-Yugoslav reconciliation. Prior to this, Yugoslavia had been expelled from the Cominform.
The Soviet Union announces the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Learn more about ballistic missiles from this site put up by the
Centre for Defence and International Security Studies.
Sputnik,
the first artificial earth satellite is launched by the Soviets.
An American U-2 reconnaissance plane is shot down over central Soviet Union. Pilot Gary Powers is held by the Soviets.
The Soviet Union detonates a nuclear device, estimated at 58 megatons, more than all the explosives used during World War II. It is the largest nuclear weapon the world had ever seen at that time.
The superpowers establish a direct communications link, or a "Hot Line" between Washington and Moscow for use in crisis situations.
The Soviet Union, the United States and Britain sign an important treaty banning atmospheric nuclear tests.
Khrushchev is stripped of power by the Soviet Communist party leadership. He is replaced by
Leonid Brezhnev.
The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons is signed by Great Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union. They agree that they will not assist or encourage other nations to develop their own nuclear devices. The treaty goes into effect in 1970.
The text of the treaty
The Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) begins between the United States and the Soviet Union. The two nations negotiate curtailing the manufacture of strategic missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons.
Read more about arms control and disarmament.
The period known as detente begins. President Nixon visits the Soviet Union and signs several agremeents with Brezhnev. The SALT I agreements fix the number of ICBMs that can be deployed by the armed forces of the two nations. Other agreements sign cover cooperation in space exploration, environmental matters, and trade.
More about the period of the Cold War known as "détente"
The United States and the Soviet Union agree to limit their nuclear arsenals. Each side agrees to have no more than 2,400 strategic launchers.
 The United States and Soviet space programs cooperate. This leads to the successful docking in orbit of U.S. Apollo and U.S.S.R. Soyez satellites.
More about the Apollo-Soyez project, the first international manned spaceflight.
The United States, the Soviet Union and 33 other countries sign the Helsinki Accords, in which member nations vow to respect boundaries and human rights, and to cooperate in economic, scientific, and humanitarian issues.
The SALT II treaty is signed by President Carter and Brezhnev in Vienna. It bans new ICBMs and limits other delivery vehicles. It is submitted to the U.S. Senate for ratification. However the Soviet's intervention in Afghanistan later that year halts such ratification. The period of détente between the United States and the Soviet Union ends.
The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan to prop up the communist regime there causes tension between the United States and the Soviet Union. The United States responds by imposing a grain embargo on the Soviet Union, boycotting the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games and failing to ratify SALT II.
Mikhail Gorbachev comes to power as Soviet General Secretary. He is responsible for bringing a revolution to Soviet foreign policy, opening up the country to greater freedom in the media, and restructuring the economy and political strucure of the country.
Time magazine voted Gorbachev as one of the greatest men of the century.
A CNN clip on Gorbachev talking about his reforms.
A CNN clip of the meeting between Gorbachev and Reagan.
The United States and the Soviet Union agree to establish Nuclear Risk Reduction Centers in both countries to reduce the risks of accidental nuclear war.
Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan sign the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, agreeing to eliminate a whole class of their nuclear missiles in Europe.
Gorbachev replaces the no-choice ballots with competitive elections that allow the voter to choose from a variety of candidates. In March, the first openly contested elections since 1917 are held.
Gorbachev and George Bush initial a treaty to end the production of chemical weapons as well as a reduction of its stockpiles.
Boris Yeltsin
is elected as the first president of Russia. This comes after Gorbachev's decision in 1990 to allow non-Communist parties to take part in the political arena.
Yeltsin photo gallery.
A CNN clip on Yeltsin taking office.
The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I) is signed by Gorbachev and Bush. It outlines cuts in strategic nuclear weapons.
For fear that Gorbachev will sign a treaty granting greater autonomy to the Soviet Union's constituent republics, a group of senior Communist party officials detain Gorbachev at his dacha in the Crimea. They demand he either sign a decree declaring a state of emergency or resign. The
coup
ends three days later when Boris Yeltsin leads popular resistance to the coup. After this incident, de facto power passes to Yeltsin.
Gorbachev resigns as General Secretary of the Communist party. Four months later he resigns as president of the Soviet Union and transfers control of the nuclear arsenal to Russian President Boris Yeltsin.
In early December, Yeltsin and the leaders of Ukraine and Belorrussia sign an agreement announcing the formation of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). By the end of the month, the Soviet Union is officially dissolved.
Look at some
posters
from the Soviet Union.
Leaders During Cold War
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