1917
Revolution begins in February. Czar Nicholas abdicates in March. Bolsheviks take control in October.1918
Lenin founds Soviet Republic of Russia and moves capital to Moscow from Petrograd (St. Petersburg). Czar and family executed.
1919
Ukranian and Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republics are established. Komintern (Communist International) created.
1920
Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan become Soviet Socialist Republics.
1921
Tenth Communist Party Congress creates one-party system. Georgia is forcibly absorbed into the Union.
1922
Joseph Stalin elected general secretary of Communist Party.\ 1924
Lenin dies; Troika, comprised of Stalin and two others, takes over. The Uzbek, Turkmen and Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republics are formed.
1927
Stalin orders collectivization of farmland.
1929
The Tadzhik republic admitted to the Soviet Union.
1936
Stalin begins bloody purges to consolidate his power. Kirghzia admitted to Soviet Union as constituent republic.
1939
Soviets invade Finland. Nazi Germany and Soviet Union sign non-aggression pact.
1940
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are annexed to Soviet Union as a result of Soviet-German agreement.
1941
Germany invades Soviet Union. Soviets switch to Allied side. Approximately 27 million Soviets die in war.
1945
World War II ends. Soviets assert control over Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Poland, Albania, Romania, Bulgaria and East Germany.
1949
Soviet Union is first foreign nation to recognize People's Republic of China led by Mao Tse-tung.
1953
Stalin dies. Nikita Krushchev comes to power.
1956
Krushchev denounces Stalin: Chinese Communists accuse Soviets of revisionism. Soviet tanks end uprising in Hungary.
1960
Kremlin withdraws all 1,300 Soviet technicians assigned to China, heralding a split.
1962
Krushchev backs away from brink or war with the United States over arming Cuba with Soviet missiles.
1964
Khrushchev is deposed and replaced by Leonid Brezhnev.
1968
Soviets crush "Prague Spring" uprising in Czechoslovakia.
1979
Soviets invade Afghanistan to prop up Marxist government.
1982
Bre
hnev dies; replaced by Yuri Andropov; former head of the KGB.
1984
Andropov dies; replaced by Konstantin Chernenko.
1985
Chernenko dies; Mikhail Gorbachev is elected general-secretary of Communist Party, which adopts his platform of "perestroika," or restructuring of the Soviet system.
1989
Communist governments in Eastern Europe fall after Gorbachev says he won't use force to save them. Soviet troops complete pullout from Afghanistan.
1990
Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia declare independence. Boris Yeltsin is elected president of Russian republic, which declare sovereignty. By year's end, all 15 Soviet republics declare some form of sovereignty, and Gorbachev proposes Union Treaty to give them more power. Yeltsin and other rredicals quit party. Gorbachev purges several hard-line members from Politburo.
1991
Jan 13 Fourteen people are killed when Soviet tanks attack the main television tower in Vilnius, Lithuania.
March 17 Union Treaty is approved in nationwide referendum.
April 2 Consumer goods prices increase by as much as 1,000 percent.
June 27 Ukranian lawmakers reject Union Treaty.
July 26 Communist leaders overwhelmingly approve Gorbachev's party platform, abandoning decades of Marxist dogma.
August
18 -One day before Gorbachev plans to sign Union Treaty with several republics, hard-line communist junta overthrows him.
21 -Coup fails, Gorbachev returns to Moscow.
22 -Lithuania outlaws Communist Party.
24 -Gorbachev resigns as head of Communist Party and urges its disbandment; Ukraine becomes seventh of 15 Soviet republics to declare itself independent.
27 -Gorbachev appeals to 15 Soviet republics to preserve military and economic union; European Community recognizes independence of Baltic republics.
29 -Soviet lawmakers suspend Communist Party activities nationwide and freeze its bank accounts because of party's role in failed coup attempt; Russia and Ukraine bypass Kremlin to form military and economic alliance.
30 -Azerbaijan declares independence and begins forming its own army.
31 -Uzbekistan and Kirghizia become ninth and tenth republics to declare independence.
September
2 -Congress of People's Deputies approves plan to reduce Kremlin authority in the Soviet Union but retain a loose federation of states; U.S. formally recognizes Baltics.
5 -Soviet lawmakers approve creation of interim government to usher in new confederation of sovereign states.
6 -Soviet Union recognizes independence of Baltic states.
12 -Officials of Baltic states and 12 Soviet republics agree to maintain collective defense framework and single control over Soviet Union's nuclear arsenal.
21 -Armenia votes in favor of independence from Soviet government.
October
1 -Twelve Soviet republics agree to new economic union to coordinate everything from communications to defense.
18 -Gorbachev and presidents of eight Soviet republics sign treaty to create economic union.
28 -Twelve Soviet republics agree to share responsibility for repaying nation's foreign debts.
November
16 -Yeltsin issues 10 decrees declaring Russian Federation's control over Soviet money supply and trade in oil, gold, diamonds and foreign currency.
22 -World's richest democracies defer $3.6 billion in debt payments, and eight of the 12 republics agree to repay entire Soviet debt, estimated at more than $100 billion.
25 -Seven republics fail to endorse Union Treaty but promise to send it to their individual legislatures for consideration.
December
1 -Ukraine voters approve referendum declaring independence.
3 -Gorbachev issues appeal to save Soviet Union, warning of possible war and "catastrophe for all mankind."
4 -Supreme Soviet endorses Union Treaty; seven republics say they will sign.
8 -Russia, Ukraine, Bylelorussia form a "commonwealth" and declare Gorbachev's government and the Soviet Union dead.
17 -Yeltsin and Gorbachev agree to dissolve Soviet Union and proclaim new commonwealth by new year.
21 -Eleven of the 12 former Soviet republics proclaim a new Commonwealth of Independent States to replace the Soviet Union.
22 -European Community agrees to recognize the Russian republic as the successor to the Soviet Union.
23 -Gorbachev's formal resignation as president of the Soviet Union is expected within days and United States recognition of Russian republic expected to follow quickly.
25 -Gorbachev resigns. Control of the former Soviet Union's nuclear arsenal is turned over to Yeltsin.