The Rise and Fall of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics

A Brief Timeline on the Creation and Dissolution of a Superpower That Existed Once

The Soviet Union was a socialist country from 1922 to 1991. It emerged as the successor to Bolshevik Russia. It was one of the two world’s superpowers from 1945 until its dissolution in 1991.

Let’s see the key events that happened since the creation and dissolution of this giant union of states.

April 1917 — Many fighters, including Lenin, return to Russia from Germany.

October 1917 — Lenin along with the workers and sailors, overthrow the Bolsheviks, then the caretaker government led by Alexander Kerensky. Also, he captured the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, and finally Moscow.

1918 — Russia cedes most of its territory to Germany under the Treaty of Brest — Lidovsk. Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan have declared independence from Russia.

1918–20 — Civil war breaks out against the Bolsheviks. It erupted into a war against red and white. The territories of Murmansk and Archangel in northern Russia were occupied by Britain, France, and the United States until 1919. Japan controlled the eastern part of Russia, Vladivostok, until 1922.