Civil and Political Life
in Russia during the Winter War Era
(1938-1940)

 
A historical overview of the political and civilian events
between 1938 and 1940.
 

This section will give a brief history of the civil and political events that took place throughout the USSR during the conflict filled years just prior to the Great Patriotic War.  Joseph Stalin himself will also be profiled at a later time.

Political & Civil Events Historical Index
  

 
 
Statistics of Stalin's Russia
1938-1940
 

Russian Leaders
(1938-1940)
1924-1953 Joseph Stalin

 

 

 

Timeline 1938-1940

 

1938

 

 Stalin purges the officer corps of the Red Army.  These began in 1937, but lasted in some form until the German invasion in 1941.

-

 Eisenstein releases 'Alexander Nevsky'
- Bukharin and numerous Communist Party members are put through show trials and shot.
7 August Soviet director Konstantin Stanislavsky dies.  He was also the founder of the Moscow Art Theater and developer of the 'method acting' theory.
16 August The cosmonaut Oleg Grigoryevich was born in Kononenko, Russia.
20 September Czech President Benes asks the Soviet Minister in Prague if the Soviet Union would help the Czechs in case of a German attack.
30 September President Benes again asks the Soviet Minister if they will assist them in the event of a German attack, and if they would do this without France or the League of Nations.
2 October The Soviets finally reply that they will assist Czechoslovakia if they fight the Germans, but the reply is too late.  The German army had already marched into the Sudetenland.
Third Five-Year Plan is announced.  It lasts from 1938-1941.

1939

 

 10 March 18th Party Congress is held.  At this meeting both Stalin and Molotov claim that the Western nations were spreading false rumors that Germany was planning to attack the Soviet Union.  They also said that there were no signs of a Russo-German conflict. 
- Minimum labor days are set for work on collective farms.

24 August

 Molotov-Ribbentrop non-aggression pact is signed between Germany and the Soviet Union.
- World War II begins with the German invasion of Poland.
Soviet forces occupy Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
Joseph Stalin is named 'Man of the Year' by Time magazine.
Soviet forces invade Poland from the East.
28 November The Soviet government revoked the non-aggression treaty that it had previously signed with Finland.
The Winter War begins as Soviets attack Finland.
14 December Soviet Union is expelled from the League of Nations.  This was because of their attack on Finland.

1940

 

 

 - Sholokhov completes work on 'Silent Don'
End of Winter War.  Portions of Finland and the Baltic states are annexed.

28 June

Romanian regions of Bessarabia, Bucovina, and parts of Eastern Poland are annexed after the war with Poland.

20 August

 Leon Trotsky (also known as Lev Bronstein) is murdered in Mexico by Ramon Mercador del Rio.  Trotsky was 63.

 

 

Statistics of the Russia during the Winter War
(1938-1940)

• Coming Soon!!

Civilian Items from the 
Years of 1938-1940

Earlier Political Events

Return to the
Wars of 1938-1940

Later Political Events