Crisis Phase (December 30, 1922-March 27, 1958): The Bolshevik government established the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) on December 30, 1922. Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin died on January 21, 1924. Joseph Stalin and Leon Trotsky began a struggle for the leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). The All-Union Congress of Soviets ratified the USSR constitution on January 31, 1924. Britain, France, and Italy provided diplomatic assistance (diplomatic recognition) to the government in 1924. Leon Trotsky and his supporters were expelled from the CPSU on December 27, 1927. Nicolae Bukharin was expelled from the CPSU on November 17, 1929. The US provided diplomatic assistance (diplomatic recognition) to the government in November 1933. The Soviet Union was admitted to the League of Nations on September 18, 1934. Serge Kirov, a supporter of Joseph Stalin and a member of the CPSU, was assassinated on December 1, 1934. Gregory Zinoviev and Leo Kamenev were convicted and sentenced to prison for treason on January 17, 1935. Sixteen communist party leaders, including Gregory Zinoviev and Leo Kamenev, were executed on August 23, 1936. A new constitution was adopted on December 5, 1936, which provided for a two-chamber parliament (Supreme Soviet) consisting of a Council of Nationalities and Union Council. Georgei Piatakov, Karl Radek, and eleven other communist party leaders were executed on January 30, 1937. Marshal Michael Tukhachevski and seven other generals were executed on June 12, 1937. Parliamentary elections were held on December 12, 1937, and the Supreme Soviet convened on January 12, 1938. Nicolae Bukharin and several other communist leaders were executed on March 15, 1938. German troops invaded western Soviet Union beginning on June 22, 1941. Parliamentary elections were held on February 10, 1946. A Council of Ministers chaired by Joseph Stalin was established on March 19, 1946, and Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov was appointed deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers. Marshal Koniev replaced Marshal Gregory Zhukov as commander-in-chief of the armed forces on November 18, 1946. General Nikolae Bulganin was appointed as minister of defense on March 3, 1947. A. Vishinsky replaced Vyacheslav Molotov as foreign minister, and Marshal A. M. Vassilievsky replaced Marshal Bulganin as minister of defense on March 4, 1949. Joseph Stalin died on March 5, 1953. Georgi Malenkov was appointed as prime minister on March 6, 1953. Vyacheslav Molotov was appointed as foreign minister on March 6, 1953, and Nikita Khrushchev was appointed as general-secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU on March 20, 1953. Laurentia Beria, minister of internal security, was dismissed and expelled from the CPSU on July 10, 1953. Laurentia Beria and six other communist party officials were convicted and executed for treason on December 23, 1953. Prime Minister Malenkov resigned on February 8, 1955, and he was replaced by Marshal Nikolae Bulganin. Marshal Gregory Zhukov was appointed as minister of defense on February 9, 1955. General-Secretary Khrushchev denounced Joseph Stalin at a meeting of the CPSU Congress on February 25, 1956. Foreign Minister Molotov resigned on June 1, 1956, and he was replaced by Dmitri Shepilov. Foreign Minister Shepilov was dismissed on February 15, 1957, and he was replaced by Andrei Gromyko. Vyacheslav Molotov, Georgi Malenkov, Lazar Kaganovich, and Dmitri Shepilov were expelled from the central committee of the CPSU on July 3-4, 1957. Defense Minister Gregory Zhukov was dismissed on October 26, 1957, and he was replaced by Marshal Rodion Malinovsky. Marshal Zhukov was expelled from the central committee of the CPSU on November 2, 1957. Prime Minister Bulganin resigned on March 26, 1958, and Nikita Khrushchev was appointed as prime minister on March 27, 1958. Some 30 million individuals died as a result of political violence between December 1922 and March 1958.
Post-Crisis Phase (March 28, 1958-April 7, 1989): General-Secretary Khrushchev was deposed by the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU on October 13, 1964. Leonid Brezhnev was elected general-secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, and Aleksei Kosygin was appointed as prime minister of the Soviet Union on October 14, 1964. Prime Minister Kosygin was dismissed by the Central Committee of the CPSU on October 23, 1980. General-Secretary Brezhnev died on November 10, 1982, and he was succeeded by Yuri Andropov on November 12, 1982. General-Secretary Andropov was elected chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet in June 1983. General-Secretary Andropov died on February 9, 1984, and he was succeeded by Konstantin Chernenko on February 9, 1984. General-Secretary Chernenko died on March 10, 1985, and he was succeeded by Mikhail Gorbachev on March 11, 1985. General-Secretary Gorbachev implemented economic and political reforms – perestroika (economic restructuring) and glasnost (political openness) – beginning in 1986. In December 1988, the Supreme Soviet approved the establishment of a new legislative body for the Soviet Union – the Congress of People’s Deputies. Elections to the Congress of People’s Deputies were held throughout the Soviet Union in March and April 1989.
Crisis Phase (April 8, 1989-December 25, 1991): In response to several days of protests, General Igor Rodionov, commander of the Transcaucus Military District, ordered the mobilization of government troops in Tbilisi, Georgia on April 8, 1989. Soviet government troops suppressed anti-Soviet demonstrations in Tbilisi, Georgia on April 9, 1989, resulting in the deaths of 20 individuals. Some 300,000 Lithuanians demonstrated for independence in Vilnius beginning on January 11, 1990. Some 50 individuals were killed in pogroms against ethnic Armenians in Baku, Azerbaijan on January 13, 1990. Soviet President Gorbachev declared a state-of-emergency in Baku, Azerbaijan. Soviet government troops suppressed demonstrations in Baku, Azerbaijan on January 19-20, 1990, resulting in the deaths of some 100 individuals. Demonstrations took place in Moscow on February 4, 1990. On February 7, 1990, the Lithuanian Supreme Council declared the 1940 Soviet Union annexation of Lithuania as illegal. The Central Committee of the CPSU agreed to give up its monopoly of power on February 7, 1990. Lithuania unilaterally declared its independence from the Soviet Union on March 11, 1990, and Soviet President Gorbachev issued an ultimatum to Lithuania to repeal its unilateral declaration of independence on March 16, 1990. On March 30, 1990, the Supreme Soviet of Estonia declared the 1940 Soviet Union annexation of Estonia as illegal. The Soviet government imposed an economic blockade against Lithuania on April 17, 1990, and the Lithuanian government suspended its unilateral declaration of independence for 100 days beginning on June 30, 1990. Estonia declared its independence from the Soviet Union on November 16, 1990. Mikhail Gorbachev was elected president of the Soviet Union by the Congress of People’s Deputies on March 15, 1990. President Gorbachev issued a new ultimatum to the government of Lithuania on January 10, 1991, and Soviet government troops seized government buildings in Vilnius, Lithuania beginning on January 11, 1991. Soviet government troops and Lithuanians clashed in Vilnius on January 12-13, 1991, resulting in the deaths of 14 Lithuanian civilians and one government soldier. Soviet government troops and Latvians clashed in Riga, Latvia on January 20-21, 1991, resulting in the deaths of four individuals. Some 90 percent of Lithuanians supported independence from the Soviet Union in a referendum held on February 9, 1991. A referendum of the future of the Soviet Union was held on March 17, 1991, but the referendum was boycotted by Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Armenia, Georgia, and Moldova. Boris Yeltsin was elected president of Soviet Russia on June 12, 1991, and Boris Yeltsin was sworn in as president of Soviet Russia on July 10, 1991. Soviet government troops clashed with Lithuanian troops in Medininkai on July 31, 1991, resulting in the deaths of seven Lithuanian soldiers. Soviet Vice-President Gennady Yanayev, KGB Chairman Vladimir Kryuchkov, and other government officials attempted to overthrow Soviet President Gorbachev beginning on August 19, 1991. Russian President Boris Yeltsin and government troops loyal to President Yeltsin suppressed the rebellion on August 22, 1991. On December 1, 1991, more than 90 percent of Ukrainians supported independence in a referendum held in the Soviet Socialist Republic of Ukraine on December 1, 1991. Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus established the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) on December 8, 1991. Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan joined the CIS on December 21, 1991. President Gorbachev resigned as president of the Soviet Union, and the USSR was formally dissolved on December 25, 1991. Some 250 individuals were killed in political violence between April 1989 and December 1991.
[Sources: Bradley 1968; Clodfelter, 1992, 611-612, 615-618, 621, 622-623, 627; Ference, 1994, 337-391; Langer, 1972, 749-755, 1028-1036, 1214-1219; Lincoln 1989; Simpson, 1939, 62-116; Skran, 1995, 32-40.]